“Graham. We just moved in. Could you turn off the charm until we are settled? Ms. Hathaway and her daughter seem like a nice few; we don’t wanna frighten them off. Ok Sweetheart?” Mrs. Greenidge insisted her elder son.
“Sure Mom. Deactivating my looks are on a list of things I need to do, but that’ll have to wait until after I get the key to the universe and meet Zeus,” one of Graham’s snaky comments.
“Look Graham. I know your gift is particularly difficult to control but I need you to control it.” Emily cupped Grahams face ad angled it to her own, “Please... Please.”
Emily gazed into his eyes and began to feel the effect of his gift and dropped her hands. Graham ran up stairs and sat on the roof directly outside his window, which was coincidently facing Spencer’s bedroom. He sighed and lay back with his hands under his head.
“You know she wasn’t trying to get you upset or anything,” Jennifer, Grahams younger sister sneaked up behind him.
“Easy for you to say. Your fire is far easier to control than when you’re dealing with someone’s mind. There’s something about that girl.”
“Who girl?” He point towards Spencer’s window. “Oh that girl.”
“There’s something about her. Dang and it gets more and more frustrating with the fact that I don’t know what is it about her.”
“Then gaze her dreams, browse her memories, something if it bothers you that much.”
“You know I cant do that. It’s against the Code of Ethics”
“Suit yourself but don’t say I didn’t try to help.”
Jennifer dismissed herself from the conversation and left Graham to his own thoughts once again. He was going to do it, not too intense and not too long. He’s going to haze her dreams. He needed to know about this girl.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
“Here are your keys back?” Cassandra dropped the keys in the center of my abdomen.
“Where’s the car?” I never trust my sister with my property.
“In the garage.” She began to get exasperated.
“In one piece?”
“Listen Spencer. If you’re gonna be such a nag about it, give me back the keys so I can go wreck it. If that’s what you want that’s what you’ll get.”
“Sorry Sandy. I was just pulling your leg.” I sat up on the edge of my bed, “Cassandra, can I ask you a question?”
“Is it about a guy?”
“No, not exactly?” Who was I kidding? Graham was on my mind ever since this morning. I haven’t been able to do anything right. Even TV failed to hold my interest. I was almost one finger less when I was helping Mom make dinner. My mind was so focused on Graham that I nearly hacked off my thumb.
“Shoot.” Cassandra seeming more interested than usual. “It’s about that Graham guy next door isn’t it. Mom told me you guys this moring,” she laughed, “and insisted that I go meet them. Yup, he is definitely a looker; the kind of guy I’m in to. Who knows, by the end of the summer we’ll probably be dating.”
I’d give Cassandra 4 weeks. She’s a Pro at the dating thing and a master of the minds of men. What chance do I have against her, really?
“So what were you gonna ask me?” she flashed the million dollar smile at me. Joy.
“Did you remember to readjust the mirrors?”
I found it easier than usual to fall asleep, maybe because I had a lot on my mind to think about or rather a lot of one thing… Graham. No surprise there, he was in my dreams as well. Gosh, what is it about this guy?
“Hi.” His voice velvety smooth and deep.
“Hey.” I answered. This dream feels oddly real.
“Spencer,” he took my hand and led me into a room. This room was filled with my dreams, pleasant ones though. They were like paintings hanging from the walls. The images were like DVD cases where I was the star of all of them and the minor character stood unnoticed in the backgrounds. Wow! Graham was giving me a tore of what I will now call ‘My Personal Netflix of Dreams’. He dropped by hand when we arrived at one of my most animated dreams. I remember that one. It was last week actually, when I was dreaming about hanging Cassandra off Niagara Falls and throwing cheap clothes at her. That made me smile sub-consciously.
“You like this one?” Graham asked. He began to thread his fingers through mine.
“Yeah… It’s my way of doing things I wanted to do in real life, but I could only dream about. Which reminds me, what are you doing here? Where’d this room come from? Where’d this place come from?
He shrugged and wore a small smile. “Its your dream.” It was almost like the Gods themselves painted this vision and once again I was drowning in him eyes.
“Show me,” he gestured his free arm at the painting that was now in motion, employing me to walk into it. In the back of my mind somewhere I was thinking of the absurdity of walking into a wall but I shoved my logic back into the box where it belonged for now. It drew on like this for the rest of the dream. Graham was very quiet. I was doing most of the talking and it felt so natural. It felt so real.
The disaccorded chime of my half dead alarm clock dragged me from my dream. Damn you.
