Dreamland

Prologue

"That was an utterly boring movie," stated Ryan.

"Seriously? You thought it was boring?" I responded as we made our way through the theater parking lot. "What, were you sleeping through the action scenes?" I knew full well that he hadn't been. But that wasn't to say he hadn't been distracted.

Ryan gave me a look. "You call that sleeping? Obviously I need more practice."

At that I laughed and shoved him playfully. "I hope you mean on me. I would never forgive you if you kissed another girl," I said, grinning. "I'd have to sic my friends and family on you."

"Yeah," he agreed. "unless, of course, it's your friends and family I practice on."

"Ryan!" I exclaimed, hitting him only sort of lightly on the arm as we came up to his car.

"Worry not, fair Alicia, I would never betray you like that." He quickly made his way to the passenger side door of his car and opened it for me.

I smiled. "And I thought chivalry was dead." He smiled at me, but didn't respond, and waited as I got into the car. I closed the door for myself before he could bother. This was, after all, the age in which girls weren't actually supposed to like chivalry.

Ryan quickly got into the driver's side of the car. "Do you wanna know why I wouldn't?"

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I know that you are much more frightening than any of your friends or family. Maybe the most frightening girl in America!" he said with a wide grin.

I grinned back. "I'm my own secret weapon!"

"Yes, and I wouldn't have you any other way." We began to lean into each other and my eyes fluttered closed in anticipation.

And then my phone started screaming ALERT! at me. My parents. Perfect timing, I thought sarcastically. My eyes fluttered back open and I leaned back into my seat, briefly noticing Ryan was no longer leaning in to kiss me either. I sighed in disappointment as I opened my texts on my phone.

Movie almost over?

"From your mom or your dad?" Ryan asked with hands on the steering wheel.

"From Dad asking if the movie's almost over. I'm pretty sure he already knows," I groaned.

"A warning text then. We should probably get going then," he said, turning the key in the ignition and pulling the car out of park. I simply nodded in disappointment. His eyes flickered toward me, then quickly reverted back to what he was doing. "Don't worry. We've got plenty of time."

"I know," I said. "but it would've been nice to get a good-bye kiss."

"Haven't you heard?" he asked with a grin. "Good-bye kisses are for in front of houses, in full view of the parents."

"Good for being rudely interrupted," I scoffed. "Not to mention the fact that if they see me there'll be a full on investigation of how much making out I did to how much movie I actually watched."

"Which wasn't a lot compared to how much that other couple sitting in front of us did."

"But still more than my parents would've liked."

"Any kissing at all would've been more than your parents would like."

"Touché," I said, leaning my head against the window to stare at the scenery as it rushed by in a blur of color. As I lay there, the rumbling of the engine and the rush of wind through my cracked window acted as a lullaby and soon I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.

The next thing I knew, Ryan was gently shaking me awake. "Alicia, you're home." I found it very difficult to open my eyes even a little bit, but I forced myself to. Despite the ease of which I fell asleep, Ryan's car wasn't a very comfortable place to do it.

Sitting up, I heard my neck crack, and I shook my arm in an attempt to wake it up. Yeah, beds were definitely better for sleeping.

"Come on. I'll walk you to your door," Ryan said. Having come all the way around the car to my side of it to wake me up, he took my hand and helped me out.

"Thanks," I said, still a bit groggy from my unintended nap. I hadn't even known I was that tired. I resolved to go to bed as soon as my parents released me from the small interrogation that I knew was coming.

We walked across the street to my front door, but he stopped me before I could go in. He leaned in and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. "Good-bye," he said and made his retreat before my parents could form any sort of reaction to his thievery.

"Good-bye," I said quietly before opening my front door and making my way inside. Both my parents were up and about as I'd expected. "I'm home," I said, not bothering to make any attempt at sneaking to my room. I had no doubt that they'd known full well that I has home without my saying anything. Parents were psychic like that, even adoptive ones. That or they were unnaturally observant. I suspected it was a little of both.

"So how was the movie?" Mom asked from where she was rinsing off dishes and putting them in the dishwasher in the kitchen. She liked it when the house was pristine, couldn't stand much disorganization. In that way we were alike.

"I liked it, but Ryan thought it was boring," I said, purposely leaving out that we did a bit of making out for Dad's benefit. What they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

"Yeah?" Dad asked. "And how much did you actually watch?" He was sitting on the couch, seemingly doing a crossword puzzle. The fact that he didn't really like crosswords gave away his act. I didn't even know why he'd bothered to try. Baseball would've been a better cover for him.

"Dad, this is Ryan we're talking about. He was a perfect gentleman." In the sense that my definition and my parents' definition of 'gentleman' was slightly different, to which only Mom suspected. So while Dad was seemingly satisfied, Mom wasn't. She narrowed her eyes at me ever so slightly.

"So he didn't kiss you?" she asked. I could tell Dad was listening for my response, despite the fact that that he was starting at his crossword like he actually meant to finish it.

I resisted the urge to divert my eyes and forced myself not to hesitate when I said, "Only at the door when he was dropping me off." I figured I couldn't get around that one.

Mom thought about it for a bit, her eyes not leaving me for a second. "Alright," she said finally. "You'd better get to bed. We're going up to Denver tomorrow to spend the day at Elitches."

I didn't waste any time questioning her, I was really tired now, and I worried I'd say something that I'd regret later, instead I made my way up the stairs to my room. I didn't bother to change into pajamas, I simply slipped my shoes off my feet and plopped myself onto my bed. The moment my eyes closed, I found myself lost in Dreamland.