Lauren + “Zendi”

Date: 4/19/2023

I’m in a waiting room for something (not sure what). I drink some water that tastes like apple juice — specifically the kind that I used to drink in preschool, which I remember having a very distinct taste (in real life). I leave and walk through a dimly-lit and very crowded mall department store. While trying to find my way out of the store, I almost walk behind two different checkout counters. I finally make it through and find myself in the food court, which looks more like a school cafeteria. I sit at a table with Lauren and some other people I used to go to school with — two of them being Christy Parke and Sophie Goldstein. I tell Lauren about my embarrassment in the department store, but now that I’m telling the story aloud, it doesn’t seem all that funny, so I drop it. She doesn’t really acknowledge the story at all and continues on to say “I have a relationship update for you… It’s Zendi.” I ask “Who?” and she points over to Zach Mendiguren, who’s sitting across from me. Completely surprised, I reply “Oh! Congratulations you guys!” I awkwardly try to play my reaction off by saying that I was confused because I didn’t realize that he was sitting there. I want to tell her that I got married since the last time we spoke, but I remember that she knows already. She also wasn’t invited to the wedding, so I didn’t want to make things weird by bringing it up. I look down at my hands and notice that my rings are on my right hand instead of my left. Chad Denson walks up to our table, asking for Renee. He mumbles something, and I hear “Do you think she thinks I’m cute?” I turn to Raeanne, who’s suddenly sitting at the table, and we start laughing. I go to text Renee but I happen to glance up and see that she’s at another table nearby. I excuse myself from the table to go and tell her face-to-face. I also see Blane sitting at her table, but he’s separate from everyone sitting there, so I want to keep him company too. I say hi to Blane real quick first and then I go over to Renee and Mellina and tell them about Chad. They said they already heard about it — I assume from Raeanne — and we laugh about it again. I ask if they heard what he said after he was looking for Renee. She said that Raeanne heard him say “I think she’s really cute,” but I tell her what I had heard, which makes her laugh even harder. I wonder what he actually said. I’m leaving my apartment, but when I get in the car, I see some stuff in the passenger seat that I meant to take inside. I grab it and go back to drop it on the couch. I left the car running, so I run out a few times to check that no one is near it. I finally come back out, but now there’s a dispute happening in the parking lot. A girl (maybe a couple years younger than me) is arguing with her dad. He won’t let her leave in her own car, so she runs to my car and jumps into my driver’s seat. My first instinct is to hop into the passenger seat before she runs off with my car. She drives the car toward the edge of the parking lot, which is surrounded by a body of water (not really). I think to myself “There’s no way she’ll actually drive off”, but seconds later, she swerves off the edge. I try to roll my window down before we hit the water, but the child-lock is on. I quickly hit the button to turn it off (which is only on the driver’s side in real life) and I get my window open just in time. I start panicking as soon as we’re in the water, but then I realize that I’m breathing like normal under the water.