Tidal Pools and Stars

Chapter 1

June 12

12 p.m

Okay, okay.

Let's get one thing straight: this was an accident—a hilarious and awkward one, but still completely accidental. And honestly? Seeing the look on George's face when he slowly handed the invite to him was totally worth the embarrassment.

"Dream."

"Mhm?"

"What is this?"

They were sitting outside of the airport with their suitcases next to their bench. The air was thick and muggy, and both of them were sweating their asses off as they waited for their Uber to pick them up. Luckily, the wind would blow here and there to prevent them from dying of heatstroke.

"It's a funny story," Dream starts as George reads the paper email he printed out. "So, a few weeks ago, a manager of this resort emailed me and said he really liked our videos."

"Oh no," George mumbles. Oh good, he was already picking up on things.

"And I was like 'Oh, thanks! That means a lot; I'll be sure to tell George that,' and then- oh my God," Dream says. He pauses to scratch his eyebrow as he musters up enough courage to finally blurt out: "And then he said that he and his marketing team would love to have us stay at their resort for a week in exchange for interviewing us about it during our stay."

George's eyebrows furrow and he looks at Dream. "That's not...that bad? I mean, I don't know why you made me wait until we got all the way to Miami to give me this."

"Just...keep reading."

George studies him for a second, but Dream did anything to avoid eye contact as his friend slowly scanned the invite confirmation email, stating what they were doing and where they needed to go. Granted, at the time, it was a good deal. A full week at some new five-star resort in the Florida Keys, and all they had to do was sit pretty and say that they loved it there at the end of every day. No payment for the room or passes, no hassle. Except for one tiny detail.

"Wait- boyfriend?!" George yells, pulling the paper closer to his face. Dream cringes and hides his face in his hand. "Dream, I-! I don't even know what to-"

"Relax! Relax, I'm not asking you out!"

"Why does it say 'you and your boyfriend are welcomed guests?!'"

"Because they think we're dating."

George falls silent as he gawks at the paper in his hands. Dream wanted to crawl into himself because one: this situation was humiliating and showed how easy it was to make him give in to doing something, and two: he felt bad for George. He dragged his friend all the way from London to stay a minimum of three days in his house before throwing him back on a plane to Miami. Now, he just found out he was posing as Dream's boyfriend at some random resort. Not his proudest moment, but surprisingly, not his worst.

"So..." George says slowly, "this guy invited you to promote his resort...because he thinks we're dating..."

"It's a couple's resort technically. I've heard my parents talk about it months ago when they first opened, and when they emailed me, they said that we were a good pair to mirror the paradise that is the-"

"Moonlight Resort," George finishes for him, reading the name at the top of the paper.

"Yep."

"Dream, we aren't dating."

"Obviously, yeah. We aren't."

"Well, you clearly told them otherwise. Why'd you even bring me up?"