Tidal Pools and Stars

Chapter 3

June 14th

8:12 am

The first thing Dream saw when he woke up was the blinding sun beaming through the thin curtains on the balcony doors. The light hurt his eyes and he groaned lightly as he rubbed them, squinting at the glistening waves reflecting rays of sunshine directly into his pupils. Sure, Isla meant well with giving them the most central room in the resort, but Dream couldn't help but think she also did it to get her idea of joke in. What a painful wake-up call.

However, the second thing Dream saw was George.

At first, Dream didn't notice since he was still busy rubbing the stabbing pain of sun rays from his eyes. But as he sat up, he finally noticed his friend tucked under the throw blanket at the very edge of the bed. One of George's legs was dangling off and his back was turned to Dream with his body balancing on the lip of the mattress. Dream scoffs lightly as he plucks at a pillow sitting between where he slept and where George slept, eyeing the other two in a conga line against Dream's leg. It was funny. He built the wall...and then still slept on the very edge of the bed. That can't be comfortable, Dream thought. George spared one pillow for himself. One. Meanwhile, Dream was practically drowning in fluff and sheets on his side of the bed.

George, as if he had sensed Dream was up, suddenly rolled over and shifted so he wasn't dangerously close to tumbling off of the bed, but he stayed asleep, and Dream relaxed a bit. Dream gazed down at George as he grabbed a handful of his blonde hair. The bright sun wavered on George's pink face like golden water as the curtains fluttered from the fan, and it made his dark eyelashes stand out against his cheeks. Dream could see light freckles showing because of the sunburn and they were clustered on the bridge of his nose before slowly dissolving out across his cheeks.

He knew George was pretty. He wasn't blind or stupid. Dream saw the pictures on Twitter and all those edits, so it was safe to say that he was not the only one who knew about George's effortless looks. But here, in the morning sun, was a whole new level of effortless Dream saw. George's hair was ruffled and dark against stark white pillowcases and lips parted slightly as light breaths puff out them slightly. Dream wiped the dry drool from his own mouth and cringed. He doubted he slept as nicely as George did.

"Okay..." Dream whispers to himself, shaking his head. Don't be a creep, Dream. Staring at people is weird, especially when they're sleeping. He gives a quick look at the pictures from yesterday on the TV stand. Definitely weird when they're your fake boyfriend too.

Just as he reaches for his phone on the charger, he hears a sharp knock at their door and it makes his heart jump into his throat. George's face scrunches, but he still doesn't wake up. Dream, as slowly and deliberately as he could, slides out of bed and tiptoes over to the door. Through the peephole, he can see Isla smiling as she waits for him to open the door with her clipboard stacked with papers and notes.

Mustering up his energy to talk to her, he opens the door. "Good morning, Isla!"

"Dream! Hello, how are- I'm sorry, do you prefer Dream or Clay?" Her voice was loud in the silence of the hallway and Dream looks back to his friend before stepping out and shutting the door behind him. George needed the sleep.

"Um, Dream is fine," he responds.

"Okay, good! Because I know you put 'Clay' on the contract, but I noticed that George calls you by your Youtube name so I was just curious to know if that's the name you prefer," Isla says. Before Dream could explain that George pretty much only knows him as 'Dream', she swiftly moves on and folds her hands in front of her. "Anyway, I came here to tell y'all to get hustling because the next activity the resort has planned for the ad leaves in an hour. I just know you and George are going to love it! It's out on this boat and it takes you out a few miles offshore-"