BURLINGTON, VT—In an impromptu conversation held in the elevator of your office building Monday, coworker Andrew Pagano announced that he had a dream about you the previous night. In the moments following the announcement, Pagano added that he "just thought you'd find that funny" before assuring you that the dream wasn't what you're thinking.
"I just thought it was weird, just because you and I have been working so many hours together on this Hendricks account, and now you're popping up in my dreams," said Pagano, chuckling nervously and taking a single step back. "Ha, no, totally G-rated."
He then issued a number of additional statements in rapid succession, confirming that you had all your clothes on, the dream was really short, and it was actually one of those dreams where no one has faces. Upon reaching the door to your office, witnesses said, he playfully slugged you on the shoulder and walked back to his cubicle.
According to company records, Pagano graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1991 with a degree in marketing, and since May 2005 has worked in your office as a senior account manager. In the past three years, he has had an estimated 18 separate dreams featuring you; however, this is the first time the 39-year-old has acknowledged one publicly.
"Really, I have dreams about people from work all the time," Pagano said less than an hour later, when he returned to your desk to reiterate the complete lack of erotic undertones in his dream. "It wasn't like that. My friend Paul was there, too."
"Besides, it's not like I can control what I dream or anything," he continued. "Not that you needed controlling in it. It's—do you dream a lot, too?"
Despite your assurances that everything was fine and that you were not mad, just working, Pagano persisted in his attempts to convince you of the dream's innocence by describing what you both were doing in the dream—working together at a Baskin-Robbins—and questioning how logical it would be to tell you about a dream if it were a sex dream.
"Don't worry, if I ever had a dream where you and I were…you know, like that, I'd keep it to myself," Pagano said. "Not that it has happened. Because it hasn't. Because if it had, I'd tell you now, obviously. Because, you know, I brought it up, and, yeah."
He then attempted to change the subject to last week's staff meeting with CFO Mark Gentry, but, after several moments, abandoned the new conversational direction to clarify that it wasn't because you're not a very attractive woman.
"I really got to cut out the spicy foods before bedtime, is what it is," Pagano said. "I've been having the craziest dreams ever since my divorce."
You have not spoken to Pagano since he coincidentally ran into you in the parking garage after work, but sources report he is expected to "make it up to you" tomorrow at lunch, when he drives across town and purchases you a cookie from your favorite bakery.