Little Sweet Dreamer

Chapter 9

After we were allowed back on the ice, I skated alone for a bit, drowning in the thoughts overwhelming my mind. Why did Andy kiss me? What did Evan and Grey think? And Sasha? Faces blurred as I glided past them, and I refused to make any eye contact. I felt self-conscious as if everyone was staring intently at me.

"So, the nerds do date within the friend group," Grey said. I glanced at him, surprised by his sudden appearance. He didn't look at me, though, just skated by my side effortlessly. I came to a halt by the wall, signing, "No, I'm not dating him."

"No?" he asked, his facial expression growing grim. "So you're dating Evan? I didn't know you were brave enough to take your fill of our lot."

"What? No!" He smiled at me, making his following rude comments surprisingly disingenuous. "Sure, I get it. You've gotten braver since you got placed on the radar." I clenched my teeth together, subduing my confused, rising anger. Why was he toying with me?

"I'm not braver. You're the ones who won't stop messing with me."

"I'm not messing with you," he said.

"Yeah, well, your girlfriend is. And what you like reflects you, so I guess that's very telling then."

Our eyes locked, and we stayed there, unmoving for a bit. Then, I saw my friends coming toward us from the corner of my eye.

"You should probably go," I signed to him. "My friends don't like you."

"They're gonna pass us," Grey said, not bothering to spare them a glance. I looked at them, and they didn't look back.

"What's going on?" I asked. "What did you do to them?"

"I don't want them to talk to you right now, that's all." He held his arm out for me. "Skate with me?"

Hushed whispers built around us as I hesitantly accepted his offer. The rink cleared, and it was just him and me. Something was off and so wrong about this.

"What's your favorite color?" he asked. I glanced up at him warily and whispered, "Teal."

"Mine is auburn," he said. "Like your hair." I slipped, and he caught me, lifting me back up. He held me close to his body, and my eyes widened at our closeness. What the hell is going on here?!

"Your voice is nice," he said.

"I can't speak," I said. And then my eyes widened. I was speaking. I shoved Grey, sliding effortlessly back into the wall. I pressed my finger into my hand, and it phased through it.

I. Was. Dreaming—now lucidly.

Now things were starting to make sense. I straightened up and looked at Grey. There was no way I wanted to stay trapped in this dream with that menace. I couldn't even stand to look at him.

"Wake up!" I commanded.

He laughed, startled. "Yikes. You don't like me as much in the dreamworld as in the real world." My world started spinning. How could that be possible? Unless... did he have the same talent like me? Could he go into people's dreams? 

"You know you're dreaming right now?" I asked, pushing myself off the wall.

"Yes...?" he asked. But I didn't feel uncomfortable. So that means he was in my dream. He traveled into my dream?! Is that even possible?! I thought I was the only one?

"You can go into other people's dreams?"

His eyes narrowed. "Um... what?"

I shook out of my daze. I had to figure out more. With a slight smirk, I said, "Wanna see something cool?"

He nodded warily.

I closed my eyes. When I reopened them, we were on a boat in the middle of a calm sea. The sky was a vast twilight fading into a near black-purple; bright stars scattered across it like freckles on a sun-kissed face. The water and sky laced together, seeming almost infinite—it was hard to see where one ended, and the other began. Salty air flooded my nose, along with heat, even in the cool night air.

The boat we were on was a small wooden thing. Grey sat on one end, and I sat on the other. He looked around, his eyes as wide as saucers. "Wow." His reaction made me feel great. It wasn't my first time being here. Sometimes I could lucidly dream without having to be sucked into someone else's. In those rare cases, I went to the ocean. I'd lay down in the boat and look up at the stars while caressing the water, creating the only ripples on the otherwise still surface. Then, when I wanted more color, I sunk my hand in the ocean. And that was the best part.

"I know," I said, way too shy for my liking. "Want to see another cool thing?"

"Definitely." He was so strange whenever he was in dreams. It was almost as if he was a different person—he was playful. The Grey I saw at school was arrogant and a sucker for Sasha. I wondered why he changed so much into a different person whenever he was asleep?

Or was this who he indeed was? Was he a decent person over the facade he had put up?

I leaned over the boat, using my index finger to tap the water. As the ripples spread, so did a fluorescent neon blue color in the ocean; it spread to the horizon, the star's in the night sky then dulled in comparison.

He couldn't say a word. Instead, he looked back and forth between me and the ocean. Triumph flooded into my chest. I'd never done it before, but I already knew that I loved amazing him.

A bathing suit replaced my coat, not needed in this tropical air anyway. "Want to go for a swim?" His head spun toward me and took in my form. "When did you get on a bathing suit?"

"We're in a dream. You can do anything."

I stood up and dove into the water. I could see amazingly clearly; the light around made my skin glow. As I swam through the water, I heard music all around me. The tiny creatures that lived in them serenaded me as I passed. Grey stood on the boat when I resurfaced, pulling off his shirt; he was already in swim trunks. I shyly looked away from him until he jumped into the water. He came up beside me, face glistening with droplets, hair plastered against his head.

"This is amazing," he said. "I don't ever want to wake up." For the first time, he looked delighted. He had a small smile, and his face looked brighter than usual. His eyes were calm, and they squinted as he smiled. Without a second thought, I caressed his cheek. Although he was treading water, he seemed frozen. My stomach dropped in embarrassment, and I suddenly felt ashamed. I don't know what came over me! There was no reason, and it was wrong, right? He was rude to me and also dating Sasha. It was the dream world, but he was conscious that he was there.

Gosh, I was such an idiot.

I dipped my hand back in the water and dove under the surface. I swam deeper towards the increasingly bright lights—the further away from him, the better.

Fingers clasped around my ankle, stopping me in place. Grey slowly flipped me over me to look up at him. His hands wrapped around my waist and pulled his body close to mine. His hair floated around his face and eyes. I wanted to push it out of the way, but I kept my hands where they were on his shoulders. His eyes held mine, and my heart started to flutter in my chest.

"Grey...?" I asked, bubbles floating from my mouth. He hovered above me, hands still on my waist, and I could see the boat some distance away on the surface. We sank deeper underwater together with each passing second.

"I'm going to kiss you," he whispered. My eyes widened.

"What about Sasha?" I asked. If he heard me, he ignored what I said. 

Before I could get out another word, his lips captured mine as an alarm blared in the distance.