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It's my birthday~
Tree lazily blinked her eyes open as the blurry outline of a dorm room slowly sharpened into the picture of a familiar chaos, and then she sat up so fast it gave her a moment of pixelated brain 404.
"Oh, hey, you're up," An also familiar voice sounded from her left as Carter straightened up, and with him, her heart rate rose as well, "I wasn't sure if you wanted to sleep in or not."
Was it a dream?
The fear and confusion must have shown on her face because Carter raised his phone with a sheepish smile and a tinge of worry in his voice: "Sorry, it was me. I called your phone."
This is different, Tree noted with a mix of relief and disappointment. It was a dream then.
She still didn't understand why she was in Carter's room, or how her dream world could replicate the dorm so accurately without her ever having been there before. Did her dreams suddenly possess predicting qualities?
"It's September 19," Carter said out of nowhere, and the date on Tree's lock screen confirmed the same.
Did she lose an entire day? Or did that really happen yesterday? No, that would be crazy! Not mentioning super unrealistic.
"Do you," Carter started hesitantly, snapping Tree out of her inner turmoil, "Do you remember what happened? Yesterday, I mean."
Memories flashed before her eyes of a diner and soft laughter, of watching a movie in bed, of Carter's lips on her forehead.
But it was all a dream, wasn't it?
"Why?" Tree poked around tentatively, "What should I remember?"
Carter pouted at her, and although she had never had a dog for a pet, those eyes served the "kicked puppy" look to a T.
"The hospital?" Carter prompted, but Tree only frowned. That was definitely not part of the dream. "You're back then."
Tree had never felt this lost and conflicted before. She had no idea what Carter was talking about, even less so why he sounded so dejected, and to top it all off, she was waking up in the boy's dormitory with no recollection of how she got there.
Again.
But that was just a dream. It had to be.
A very realistic dream where she was dating Carter, Danielle's boyfriend. Jeez.
"Your pants are on the desk. I folded them."
Tree was immensely thankful for the way Carter turned around to give her some privacy while she dressed, but it was also incredibly strange to feel a kind of loss with this sudden new dynamic between the two of them.
Old! Old dynamic, Tree reminded herself. She had always been a bit distant towards Carter, although the boy was dating her sorority sister and friend. Not that Carter wasn't friendly and inviting, it was just that Tree had never really associated with people like him, and could never quite grasp why Danielle chose a geek of all options.
With their history - or lack of - it made no sense for Tree to dream up scenarios like that with Carter. Or was it her subconscious? That didn't feel right. Neither did the way they were acting like strangers right now when Tree had a vivid picture of them cuddling very much non-platonically in her head. And Tree didn't have memories of the previous day to guide her (well, she had, but made-up fantasies so don't count), and it all amounted to the current precipice of a mental breakdown.
"Why am I in a dorm room?" She asked eventually, the words giving her a doozy deja vu. Or would it be deja reve in this case?
"Um, well, you passed out yesterday and I wanted to make sure you were okay," Carter explained, and he eyed Tree like he was waiting for her amnesia to suddenly lift.
Maybe she drank so much that she forgot about her entire birthday?
Carter's fingers in her hair-
She shook her head, plastering on her most brilliant fake smile.
"Thanks for playing Knight in Shining Armor and keeping me safe, or whatever."
"Of course," Carter replied with a light frown, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking expectantly at Tree.
She couldn't handle this much attention from him right now, so she fled the room as soon as Ryan arrived, and hoped that Danielle would be understanding of the situation. (Or better yet, would have no clue of it.) Of course, as Murphy's law dictated, Danielle's voice rang out behind her the moment she stepped onto the stairs of the sorority house, nipping her attempt to avoid the girl in the bud.
"You sneaky little beyatch," Danielle smiled sharply, hands perched on her slim waist, "You completely ditched on me last night! I would have appreciated a 'thank you', you know, for all my efforts that saved your sorry asses from failing epically, but anyhoo, I know you spent the night at Carter's."
Tree's eyes widened as flashes of her dream had shame sinking in her stomach like lead.
"Look, Dani, nothing happened, I swear-"
"Yeah, I don't believe it for a second, you slut," Danielle scrunched her nose up in distaste before flipping her hair over her shoulder in fake nonchalance, "I mean, that's why you told Carter that I was cheating on him, right? So you could make your move."
Tree froze, wondering how many more confusing plot twists the day would bring.
"Whatevs, I moved on," Danielle said with a flick of her wrist, "But if anyone asks, I'll say I was the one who dumped him. Toodles!"
Tree looked after her in a daze, letting everything sink in, before continuing up to her room. Lori wasn't there, which was just Tree's luck. She would have loved to talk to someone about her dream and impending insanity but perhaps it was better to keep those matters to herself.
She slumped onto her bed with a bounce and tried to piece the puzzle together with a hole-digging stare at the ceiling.
Okay, so the day before her birthday she went out with some friends and got so shitfaced at a party that she slept through the following day, aka yesterday. While she was unconscious, she had a dream where she woke up in Carter's bed, had lunch with her parents, went on a date with Carter, and watched a movie with him while sharing a box of pizza before falling asleep in Carter's arms. She then woke up today in his bed where she must have spent the entire Monday, which would consequently also explain why he was so heavily invading her dream space, although the domesticity of those imaginary scenarios was still highly strange. She didn't know Carter that much, not well enough to fantasize about a committed relationship at least, and he had always been off-limits until now, which... Tree wouldn't say she was surprised by Danielle, but she did feel bad for Carter. He deserved so much better, like...
He must have found out. His breakup and anger with Danielle could be the reason why he had acted so weird around Tree this morning, and if he harboured Tree's drunk ass for a full day, the least she could do was comfort the guy. It wouldn't be too weird to spend time with him, right?
Before she could overthink it, she went to her incoming calls and pressed Carter's number (he had been trying to reach her ever since she stormed out of his room).
"Hey, Tree, hi," Carter greeted, his peppy voice somehow unfitting of a guy who had been recently cheated on.
Tree smiled despite herself: "Hey, um... what are you doing this evening?"
There was a pause, one where Tree bit her lip and almost smashed her head into the back of her bedframe, before Carter's soft and almost eager (great, Tree was now projecting as well) voice came over the line: "Nothing, why?"
"There's this basketball game tonight," She said, the picture of a poster of it popping into her head, "You wanna... I don't know... hang out?"
Carter's amusement and shock were both audible as he replied: "I didn't know you liked basketball."
"So you're accusing me of not being an enthusiastic supporter of our school?"
Carter huffed, short and amused. "Oh no, I would never resort to slander."
"Great. So since we're both very loyal to our sports team, it makes sense to go together, right?"
"Totally," Carter agreed in an instant, "I'll pick you up at 7."
Even after hanging up, Tree couldn't stop smiling.
Tree was honest to God trying to keep some distance between their thighs but it was hard not to brush up against the boy when there were people bracketing them from both sides of the bleachers. The forced proximity and her consequent squirming were probably the reason why Carter was sending her unsubtle looks from the side, which had her on edge even more so.
"Why did you invite me?"
His question was understandable, taking into account that they had never shared more than two words before this day, but there was only one believable and non-creepy explanation Tree could offer him as some form of the truth.
"I feel bad because of the way Danielle treated you," She said with a grimace, hoping Carter wouldn't be too aggravated with her for bringing the topic up.
"What?"
"She was an ass to cheat on you."
Tree didn't want to add "an idiot, too", but that was her unarticulated opinion.
Carter's shoulders sagged immediately, and the kicked-puppy look was back with full force. "She cheated on me?"
He didn't know.
Oh, shiiiiiit.
"I'm sorry," Tree pulled an apologetic face for lack of a better reaction, but couldn't help her brows from furrowing at the implications, "But why did you break up with her then? If you didn't know."
Carter didn't answer - unless the very intense look he was giving her was supposed to be a response - and then everything was too loud with boisterous cheering as the game started for Tree to properly interrogate him.
Over the game, her phone signalled an incoming message, which she opened without any second thought. It was a picture of her and her mom feeding each other cake, but it wasn't any previous birthday Tree could recognize. With the picture came her mother's short and sweet words: I love you, sweety (seriously). And I meant what I said yesterday. You'll find what you need. Don't worry.
Tree might have been hyperventilating while trying to push past all the grumbling people blocking her way towards the exit.
Once she was outside, nothing made more sense than before but the night air managed to regulate her breathing enough that she was no longer in the throes of a panic attack. Because, apparently, she spent her birthday with her mom yesterday, and yet, she couldn't recall a single moment of it.
"Tree! Tree! What's wrong?" Carter heaved as he ran out after her, putting her back on the move.
She just had to be far away from him. Maybe then she could get her old, unconfusing life back.
"Hey! Slow down," Carter tried to reach out as he easily caught up to her. Damn his long legs. "You can tell me. Believe me, there's basically nothing I wouldn't believe from you."
Tree exhaled loudly, her hands carding restlessly through her hair so she wouldn't do something as irrational as pulling Carter closer. She missed his arms around her, though, and maybe that craving for a lost sense of security was what made the words tumble out of her mouth like an avalanche: "I feel like I'm missing a piece. Like, literally, my world took a complete turn overnight and nothing seems real anymore, even though I know this is my life, but this... This feels..."
"Like a dream?"
And something in the way Carter finished her sentence so easily had Tree turning on him with suspecting eyes and accusations on the tip of her tongue. He had a crucial piece of the puzzle, she knew it, and he was purposefully keeping it from her.
"You know what doesn't make sense?" Tree narrowed her eyes at him, "I'm almost certain I was passed out in your room all throughout yesterday, but my mom just texted me a picture of us from the birthday we celebrated together yesterday, but no, because I distinctively remember you mentioning a hospital after I woke up."
"That's not important."
"Carter, please," Tree blinked away the tears of frustration, "I have a feeling whatever you're keeping a secret is gonna sound crazy, or downright insane, but I need an explanation! I feel like I'm going crazy, and believe me, I wouldn't want to know it otherwise-"
"Otherwise?"
"If it wasn't for you," Tree finished quietly. Carter's mouth opened and closed, seemingly out of the loop for the first time.
"Why?"
Tree laughed, embarrassed and a bit maniac. "You're gonna think I'm nuts."
"I won't," Carter shook his head sternly, "I promise."
It didn't make sense. Those feelings from the dream weren't real, they weren't Tree's. And yet, she felt like she could tell anything to Carter. Like she could trust him with anything, even her life.
"I had a dream," She started with a pounding heart, "Of us. Together. Dating. It felt so real, like-"
"Like an alternate universe?"
Tree put her arms around her middle with her thoughts racing back and forth in her head.
"I'm really scared, Carter," She confessed, "But I need to know. I need to know I'm not crazy."
"Come with me," Carter extended his hand, and after a moment of hesitation, Tree took it.
"It's true." The words fell a little flat from Tree's numb lips.
Behind her, the door to Lori's hospital room where her roommate had just given a recount of everything that happened yesterday closed with a loud shut that had Tree flinching away on instinct.
Everything that happened yesterday, and to a Tree from another universe. It wasn't a dream.
"Hey, you're alright?" Carter asked, the hand he lay carefully on Tree's arm comforting and anchoring in a foreign and yet familiar sense.
The boy had previously dragged her to his friend, Ryan, who explained everything about his machine and multiverse theories before offering his own take on her "dreams": Ryan was convinced that Tree had been thrown into a different dimension yesterday where she and Carter were a couple, and then she returned to her original universe once the other Tree disappeared from the loop. On top of it all, there were apparently 2 (not 1, two) killers after Lori and her yesterday, and Tree could only be glad that she hadn't been there for it, except maybe the part where Carter kissed her.
Carter, who took her to his room after she passed out following the kiss. Cared, who accompanied her to the hospital and who was now offering comfort to her, even though he went through all the horrors himself. He was the one secure thing in Tree's life, and if Tree wanted to believe in faith, she would even say that they were destined to be together.
Screw this, Tree decided.
She surged forward and kissed Carter with all the complex feelings whirling inside her like a tornado, and after a few seconds of surprise, Carter eagerly reciprocated. With her hands clasping at his flannel and Carter's arms around her waist, all that chaos seemed unthreatening and unimportant.
"I'm guessing this means you're okay?" Carter asked as they parted, giddy but with worry lines still marring his forehead.
Tree grinned back, unable not to love this caring idiot in every single universe.
"I'm okay," She reassured him while intertwining their hands, "I'm finally where I'm supposed to be."