The Dreamer

Chapter 6

After a few days of practicing with our new weapons, we decided to take the day off and relax. Zeke and I both agreed that a swim might help us to relax and cool off. Over the past few days, Zeke and I grew closer and learned more about each other. I learned that he likes to read too and likes to listen to different types of music. He likes to try new things and write short stories. It's still a working progress, but we've become friends faster than I would've imagined. Then before I knew it, I started to enjoy being around him.

I finish eating and immediately went to change into my bathing suit. I have a two piece black swimsuit. The top is loose and wraps around my torso and the top sinks to reveal more of my back, yet it's still hidden by my hair. To hold it up, two strands clip together around my neck. The bottom part is a black skirt that stops mid thigh on me.

I grab a towel and go outside where Zeke's already waiting in the weird cave pool. I throw my towel on the floor next to him and he turns to see me. As soon as he does, I tense and start blushing. Cut it out! It's just like swimming in a regular pool. Only it's not a pool, it's a beautiful cave with a lot of sunlight peeking through the opening on the ceiling of the cave. I see him look at me with wide eyes as well. Getting flustered, I quickly turn and hurry to the edge of the cave pool and jump in. The water is freezing and when I reach the surface, I start gasping. "It's colder than I thought."

"It's a pool in a cave, what did you expect?" He chuckles when I glare at him and he jumps in next to me. I squeak when the cold water splashes on me. When Zeke jumps up about the surface, he sighs. "That feels nice."

"To you," I mumble, wrapping my arms around myself. "You'll get used to it." I roll my eyes and duck my head back underwater for a second to help. The longer I stayed in the water, the warmer I got. I start floating on my back in the water with my eyes closed, just relaxing. I start going over my recent dream that I had last night.

I was just standing on the balcony that I have next to my room, looking out at the stars. I remember feeling at ease and happy. I think something exciting recently happened to me because I also remember a weird feeling in my chest and a fluttery feeling in my stomach. It's the same feelings I started getting around Zeke.

The dream didn't last long though. Soon, it just changed into something else. My surroundings changed from the balcony to Zeke's room. I'm just standing in the room, but I see Zeke's back facing me. I can tell that he's frustrated, but I don't know why. Then out of nowhere, he turns around and he sped towards me. Before I could tell what happened, I woke up. I didn't know if it was warning that he was going to hurt me or just a dream.

As I float, I feel myself suddenly submerge underwater. I kick and squirm, but whatever grabbed me immediately let me go and I get to the surface quickly. I start coughing and gagging and I turn around to see Zeke. I glare at him as he softly laughs, covering his mouth shortly after. "Not funny."

"It's a little funny." I roll my eyes and jump out. "Hey, where are you going?" I smirk and turn around. "Nowhere." Then I jump back in, splashing Zeke while I'm at it. When I resurface, I see that his hair is covering his eyes and he frowns. "Seriously?" I start laughing and swim closer. "Revenge can be pleasing sometimes." As if by instinct, I reach up and brush his hair aside, still smiling.

It wasn't until I saw how he looked at me that I realized what I'd done. I feel my heart skip a beat as I start blushing again. "I-I'm sorry." Even though I said it, I wasn't. I'm not sorry at all. I try to tell myself to move away, but instead, I move just a bit closer. It was like I wasn't in control over my own body anymore. We just stared at each other as if entranced by each other. I feel a bond suddenly strengthen as I look into his eyes. I feel a strange tug at my heart. I told my body to move away, to not get too close. I already know that it won't last long. It never does.

"We should go," I whisper, yet neither of us moved. Not until we hear a voice. "Are you guys hungry?" I jump away but lost my footing on the bottom of the pool and I accidentally dunk myself underwater. I feel something suddenly pull me back up and I start coughing. "Yeah, food sounds great," I hear Zeke say above me. I look up and see him smiling down at me. I slightly blush and smile back.

We get out and wrap the towels around ourselves, walking inside. "Go change first, you aren't sitting the table soaking wet." We both snicker and hurry to our rooms. I took a quick shower before changing into comfortable clothes.

"What are we having?" I sat down next to Zeke and Rose sets two plates of sandwiches down on the table. I start digging into it, but she chose a bad time to bring up an awkward topic. "So is there something I should know about you two?" Immediately, I choke on a bite of a sandwich and glance to Zeke for just a second who glanced back at me. "No."

"Really?" I nod, trying to look convincing. "I see." Rose gave another look of suspicion before going on with whatever she was doing. After we ate, we went to the theater room that Rose somehow has here to find something to watch instead. After looking around a bit, we agreed on Harry Potter.

"Do you want any popcorn?" Zeke asks me. "No thank you. I'm not a big fan of popcorn."

"What? How can you not be a fan of popcorn?" I look at him and chuckle at how he looked at me. "Ever since I got sick eating popcorn. I don't know what it was, but I never ate it again." He huffs and walks away to get popcorn. I softly laugh to myself and wait for him to come back.

As I wait, the image of us in the pool flashes in my mind and I blush. What even happened? Why did I react that way? I pondered over the thought for god knows how long. It wasn't until Zeke got back that I came back to reality. "Are you okay?" I turn to him and he looks a little concerned. "Yeah, I'm fine." I smile reassuringly and we watch the movie.

*********

Today was relaxing for me. Even when Zeke suddenly changed into a wolf in the middle of the movie, I still had fun. He just lay in the chair with his head resting on my lap. His body was stretched out across a few chairs since he's bigger than most wolves I've seen.

After I finished eating, I went to my room and changed and without thinking, I went out to the balcony. I just stood there with a soft smile, thinking about today. I couldn't stop my heart from trying to beat out of my chest or the butterflies flying in my stomach or just the thoughts of him from flowing into my mind. I couldn't stop it, nor did I want to.

I spent just another few minutes outside before I went inside to go to bed. I closed my eyes and fell peacefully asleep.