His name was Nathaniel

9

Nathaniel woke with a start, his heart pounding in his chest, the remnants of a vivid dream clinging to the edges of his consciousness. For a moment, he lays still, trying to orient himself, but the images from the dream wouldn't fade-they were too intense, too real. His face flushed with heat as he realized what he had been dreaming about. It was about Adaliya, and it wasn't like any dream he'd ever had before.

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to push the images away, but they wouldn't leave him. Adaliya, her body pressed close to his, her lips on his skin, her hands tracing paths down his chest and stomach. He had never experienced anything like it before— never even imagined something like that, yet his mind had conjured it up with such vivid detail that it left him feeling embarrassed, ashamed, and more than a little confused.

His whole body felt hot, his sheets tangled around him as he shifted uncomfortably in bed, trying to shake off the dream's lingering effects. Nathaniel couldn't believe that his mind had gone there, that he had dreamt about Adaliya in such a way. She was his friend-more than a friend, perhaps, but still. Thinking about her like that felt wrong, especially because ' wasn't sure how she felt about him. But dream had felt so real, so intense, that it was hard to ignore.

He sat up in bed, running a hand through his tousled hair, his breathing still uneven. This was something new, something he didn't know how to handle. Nathaniel had never been in a relationship, never even kissed a girl. The idea of being intimate with someone
-especially someone like Adaliya-was both thrilling and terrifying. But now that the thought had been planted in his mind, he couldn't seem to shake it.

He looked around his dimly lit room, trying to ground himself in reality. The dream was just a dream, he told himself. It didn't mean anything. But the way his body responded to the memory of it made it clear that it did mean something-something he wasn't ready to confront. He needed to pull himself together, to focus on anything else but the images that were now burned into his mind.

Nathaniel forced himself out of bed, hoping that getting up and moving around would help clear his head. But as he went through his morning routine, he found that the dream clung to him, no matter how hard he tried to shake it off. His thoughts kept drifting back to Adaliya, to the way she looked, the way she made him feel. He was scared, confused, He had never been this close to anyone before, and now that his feelings for Adaliya were growing more complicated, he wasn't sure how to handle it.

The dream had stirred something in him that he wasn't ready for, something that left him feeling vulnerable and out of control.
By the time night fell, Nathaniel had managed to regain some semblance of composure, though the memory of the dream still lurked in the back of his mind, casting a shadow over his thoughts. He was supposed to meet Adaliya by the shore that evening, a place they had chosen for its privacy and the way it allowed them to escape from the rest of the world. But now, as he made his way there, his nerves were on edge, the memory of the dream making him anxious about seeing her.

When he arrived, Adaliya was already there, sitting on the sandy shore with her feet dangling in the water. She looked beautiful, as always, her hair catching the moonlight, her smile bright as she waved him over.
Nathaniel's heart skipped a beat, his earlier anxieties rushing back as he approached her, trying to act normal, trying to ignore the way his body reacted to just the sight of her.

"Hey," Adaliya gree V him, her voice and cheerful. "You're here."

"Yeah, sorry l'm late," Nathaniel replied, trying to keep his tone even, though his mind was racing.

"No worries," she said, leaning back on her hands and looking out at the water. "It's such a beautiful night, don't you think?"

Nathaniel nodded, his eyes drawn to the gentle waves lapping at the shore. The night was peaceful, the sky clear and full of stars, the air cool and fresh. It was the perfect setting for one of their secret meetings, but tonight felt different to him-he felt different, and it was making it hard for him to relax.