Above Water ✔️

23 - gone south

I dreamt I could fly that night.

Back in New York. I dreamt that me and Nelly Furtado each defied gravity and flew between the skyscrapers of the city, not a care in the world but definitely with a destination in mind. Eventually, we found it. It was a courthouse. We flew in the window of the court room where a judge with a powdered wig demanded we leave immediately. But the defense team, lead by a gorgeous man with blonde hair and blue eyes, insisted we stay.

That was around when I woke up.

I squinted my closed eyes, the sun beating onto my skin from a crack in the curtains. There was no longer a body beside me, sleeping soundly with an arm under my head. That was how I fell asleep, at least.

"Dallas, are you here?" I groaned into the air. No response.

Last night, after having the most amazing oral sex of my life, Dallas requested I sleep in his bed with him. I argued that we wouldn't fit in the twin bed, but he disagreed and slept with his back pinned to the wall and his arm losing circulation with me laying on it.

I slept like a baby. I normally did after having an intensive orgasm. Dallas and I stayed up whispering sweet-nothings to each other until I must have dozed off first.

I dragged myself out of bed, pulling on my sweats from last night. My abdomen was sore from the lengthy clenching when I came. It'd been a while since I had actually good sex. Kudos to Dallas, who knew he had it in him.

My journal was just waiting to be filled with everything that happened yesterday. Somehow, hooking up with Dallas was more believable than my swimming in the ocean. It was the most that had happened since I got to Florida and my brain was somewhat exhausted.

I made my way downstairs tiredly, following the sound of talking. I could hear Erick's booming voice and Carlos's annoying ass laugh from the second floor. By the time I was about to turn the corner into the kitchen where they were, I heard Erick say my name and I stopped.

"–to get in the ocean since we were, like, nine. I don't know how you did it, man, but you must be pretty convincing."

Then I heard Dallas chuckle and I furrowed my eyebrows, leaning against the wall to listen further. He said, "Yeah, I don't know. We've just really bonded this summer." I rolled my eyes. That's one way to put it.

"You know, you kinda remind me of his dad," Erick said and my face fell. "Only the good parts, ya know? I don't know if he's told you about him, but he was really serious most of the time. Worked a lot . . . when he was around. But when he was off and just hangin' out with us, Meek was happier than ever. Just laughing and smiling the entire time."

What the hell?

Erick had no right bringing up my dad. I never even talked about him, so why the hell would he talk about him with Dallas?

Dallas didn't say anything about it. Instead, Chris, who I didn't even know was in there, made it worse. "I only met him once, before he left. I thought he was an asshole," he said.

"Yeah, but you met him towards the end. When we were little, his dad was fun. Before he started drinking, I mean."

Carlos chimed in. "I never met that motherfucker, but like I said, it's on sight. Don't listen to him, Dallas."

Erick scoffed and then they started bickering like kids. I didn't really want to listen to it anymore, so I stepped into the kitchen. I feigned oblivion, yawning as I entered the kitchen. Everyone turned to look at me and I ignored all eyes except Erick, who I glared at.

"Good morning," Dallas said. I nodded towards him curtly, turning my back to them to make a cup of coffee. Footsteps approached me and then there was a warm hand on my lower back. "You hungry?"