Little Sweet Dreamer - Wattys Edition

Chapter 31

Grey met me inside a diner as the rain poured outside. I had a cup of coffee in my hand and took a sip as he sat across from me in the booth. The seats were red and cushioned, and the table was wooden and small. Our knees pressed together under the table.

"Do you feel uneasy?" Grey asked. "It feels a little weird in here."

"It's because you're in my dream," I commented. He smiled at the sound of my voice. "So you feel like you don't belong."

"So you can take people into your dreams?" he asked. "That's a part of your cool abilities?"

"I don't know," I said and shrugged slightly. "This is new to me. I fell asleep expecting to be in your dream."

"Well, we're here together, and that's fine with me," he said. He took my hand and pressed a kiss into it.

"Can I admit something to you?" I asked quietly. He squeezed my hand as he nodded. "Of course. What's up?"

"When Sasha was there at the skating rink... I thought you set me up. I thought you were both about to humiliate me somehow."

I watched as his face grew solemn. His thumb caressed my hand as he said, "I could tell seeing her bothered you. I didn't realize you thought it was because I was setting you up. I guess you don't trust me."

"Not as much as I want to. Not yet." I shifted uncomfortably. "It's a little hard after all that happened between us; we haven't necessarily had an easy start."

"Yeah," he said and sighed, releasing my hand. He clasped his fingers together and leaned his face into them. "What can I do to change that?"

"I think that'll just be something that'll take time, and not much you can do about it now." A waiter walked over to us with a pitcher of water. Grey accepted and allowed him to fill up his glass. I shook my head politely. The waiter walked away as Grey took a sip, and the rain outside continued to pour down.

"I guess that's true," he said finally. "Let me know if there's any way to help you not worry as much."

"I mean, there is. Do you still like her?"

He laughed. "Hell no. Sasha and I had a weird relationship." He looked out the window and tapped his fingers against the table. "Sometimes it was perfect, and other times I didn't know why the h-e-double hockey sticks I was still with her. Part of me thinks it's because she reminded me of my mom. Her good aspects, at least. And, disclaimer..." He held my eyes. "... I'm not perfect either, I know that. I have a lot of crap to sort out, and we couldn't handle each other's crazy. But I assure you Sasha is nothing to me now. She's in the past and will stay in the past."

"Thank you," I said shyly. I intertwined my fingers with his. "Y'know... you weren't the only one affected by these dreams."

"Oh?" He looked interested and dropped his guard. He nudged me under the table with his leg and wore a tiny smile. "So I wasn't alone in all my feelings for you?"

"I probably wouldn't be with you if that were the case," I teased. "If it weren't for the dreams, I wouldn't have known that you were a nice person underneath all that tough guy act."

"It's not an act," he said with a small laugh. "I don't like people like that, and teachers and our classmates don't get to me. But, for some reason, that got me popular. I don't even understand the hype." He shrugged. "I guess it's a good thing, though. I don't have to deal with people trying to mess with me. They already know the deal."

"You've been nice to me, though," I pointed out.

"Yeah, my dad taught me to be nice to females." He looked embarrassed to say that.

"Well, seems like your father is a stand-up guy, huh?"

"Yeah, he's not half bad. Just wish my sister could see that."

"What's happening with them, if you don't mind me asking?"

Grey sighed. "My dad took my mom's death hard. And in effect, took out a lot of that on my sister. He hadn't realized how much he affected her until it was too late. He didn't hold her back when she said she wanted to go live with my grandparents, who she had gotten particularly close to by that time."

"I can't imagine how either of them was feeling. Or even you."

"I miss her. We FaceTime a lot. I wish she would visit--"

We heard a roar in the distance, leaving Grey's mouth agape. Stomps followed, shaking the earth as they got closer to us.

"What's going on?"

"I may or may not have watched Jurassic Park before this," I admitted sheepishly.

"No, no, no, lucid nightmares are not fun; I will never forgive you," he said as a T-Rex's eye and face appeared in the window next to us. He reared away from the window.

The creature let out an earsplitting roar that had us covering our ears and the other patrons running away from the glass. Some hid under tables, and others ran to the back where the kitchen was. 

The dinosaur launched itself into the restaurant. Grey grabbed my hand, and we scrambled away from the crumbling roof. Grey cowered behind me with everyone else as the rain poured in around us. The T-Rex's snout pushed towards us, teeth bared. 

I have to stop this before poor Grey has a heart attack.

I put my hand out and pet its snout. Its face felt leathery and cool. Its hot breath from its nose blew past me and onto everyone else behind me. The other people in the restaurant cried out as Grey stood. He hesitantly joined me in putting his hand on the dinosaur's snout, the other resting on my back. It made me warm.

The rain stopped, and the dinosaur disappeared. The scene around us shifted so suddenly that even Grey got caught off guard, saying, "Whoa!"

We were in a hotel room. Plain and simple. It looked like a typical hotel you would find driving down the highway when you knew you could no longer keep your eyes open. He looked at me and raised his eyebrows. 

"Don't look at me," I said. "I don't know why we're here either." 

The TV he was standing beside turned on, and I saw my mom on the television saying, "My only rule is no sleeping with him. Got it? I feel like I'm letting you get away with murder at this point."

"I don't want to sleep with him, mom," I signed, and you could see my hands moving through the television screen.

"Maybe not yet," she said. It paused on her knowing smile. 

Mortified, I covered my eyes. My stupid, stupid brain full-on exposed me to Grey without hesitation; I was losing control over the dream. 

Grey removed my hands from my eyes, and I looked up into his amused ones. "Trying to hint at something?"

"N-no," I said nervously. "I mean, I like you a lot. I just never thought of..." 

"It's okay," he said. "Then don't force yourself into something you're not ready for."

I nodded. He kissed me gently and held my face in his hands. I gripped his shirt in my hands and pulled him closer to me. He pushed me back into the wall and deepened the kiss. I ran my fingers through his hair. Then, he moved from my lips down to my neck with a trail of kisses. 

His fingers snaked into my hair and pulled my head back, so he had more access to my neck. I let out a quiet gasp as he lifted my leg and lightly squeezed it while slowly and gently continuing to kiss my neck. 

I felt unable to hold onto the dream anymore--it already started slipping when he pulled my head back. Finally, the dream crumbled around me until I woke to the rest of the Jurassic Park movie.