North Star

Chapter Seven: Caralye

The field was the same as it always was. I stood at the fringe, which was different, because usually I found myself in the grass, rather than the tree line. I considered walking around to try and find Selene, but I felt like I should stay here, so I sat down, leaning up against a tree as I waited, examining the lace detail of my dress so I could perfect the drawings I'd done of it. 

I wished I could bring my sketchbook into the dream so I could show Selene my sketches of her. I'd done so many more of them since our last dream—my favorite was one was done with the watercolors that I'd bought during a moment of weakness and desire to depict Selene in color rather than grey graphite. It was beautiful, if I do say so myself—when Selene and I had a house, I would get it enlarged and have it framed, that's how much I liked it. The painting was just of her face, staring straight ahead, looking like it was cut from the night sky; her eyes were big blue, her hair the colors of a nebula—midnight blue and turquoise and magenta—her lips were soft and pink, and constellation-like freckles danced in the pink and blue galaxy across her cheeks. She was my whole universe, so it made sense to paint her out of stars.

I waited for what felt like an eternity, but I felt calm. I stared off into the trees, wondering what was in them and beyond them, wondering about the mechanics of the dreamworld.

There was a "hey," and then there she was, on her knees in front of me, looking flushed and disheveled and beautiful, with her smile brighter than the moon that hung low overhead, and her hand half reaching out, like it wanted to move forward and pull back at the same time. 

"Hey." I answered, drowning in the silky brown of her eyes. Selene laughed a perfect bell-like laugh, and I sat up a little straighter, self-conscious. "What's so funny..?" 

"Nothing—I just, I'm really happy to see you." She admitted, looking up bashfully from under her lashes.

I smiled slowly, her words spreading through my veins and replacing my blood with a silky, buttery liquid that warmed me from the inside out. "I'm really happy to see you, too."

Her face flushed a delightful scarlet. "How long do you think we have?" She asked. My hand, which had made up its mind to reach out and touch her, was dissuaded by her question and lay limply in my lap.

"I'm not entirely sure." I shook my head, letting my hair fall down like a curtain, resisting my habitual urge to hide behind it, and wishing I knew the answer to her question. "I think it depends on how long we stay in R.E.M sleep together." 

Selene nodded, as if that was the perfect answer. "So, we're both asleep right now?"

"Yup." I answered. Selene stared at me, silent, and I instantly regretting popping the 'p' on the end of my 'yup' because it made it sound like the sarcastic response that I usually gave Mrs. Lincoln when she asked me something.

Selene shifted to sit next to me, her arm barely an inch from mine. I wanted to reach out and touch her, to see if her skin was really as soft as it looked. It felt like there was lightening between us, electricity crackling in the inches that seprated us. I wondered if Selene could feel it, too.

I wanted to ask her so many things, but my memorized lists of questions blurred from my mind in her presence, which was both enchanting and annoying, because, God, I wanted to know everything there was to know about this beautiful girl next to me.

We sat in comfortable silence for a while, before Selene asked what I had been doing before.

"Eating soup." I answered, and she giggled. "How about you?" Gathering up courage to take her hand, I turned a little towards her. She met my eyes, and I smiled loosely, liking the way she was looking at me. I felt the kind of warm that you feel sitting in a patch of sun coming through the window on a cold winter morning. Like Selene was my own personal sun, and I was a lonely planet that revolved around her, basking in her warmth.