Ian and Amy - Meant To Be

Chapter 2

Amy blinked. She must have nodded off. She shook her head, trying to clear it, and slowly the world came back into focus.

It was still nighttime. The bedside clock read 3:17. Amy stared at it for some time, then started to move her gaze to the window, intending to see how dark it was right now. Instead it paused on Ian.

When he was awake, he always managed to annoy everyone with his high-and-mighty Kabra attitude. But when he was asleep, he almost seemed like a normal guy. Well, normal except for the fact that he was devastatingly handsome.

But Ian seemed to be far from a peaceful sleep. His brows were knitted together, his hands twitched, and occasionally he muttered something. His expression was so troubled that Amy was tempted to wake him, then thought better of it. He would need as much sleep as he could get.

But as the minutes went by, he began to be worse. He tossed and turned, his hair damp with sweat. His mutterings became louder, his fingers clutching at the bedsheets.

"Ian?" Amy was getting scared. What's he dreaming?

Now she could hear him. He was muttering something. "No.........no.........no........." Over and over, Ian was repeating that one word in a hoarse whisper, getting louder with each passing second, shuddering visibly now. Pleading?

"Ian!" She couldn't stand it anymore. She was terrified for him. She would wake him from this nightmare. "Ian!  Wake up!" she yelled, shaking him.

His eyes snapped open and he sat bolt upright. Involuntarily, Amy took a step back. His caramel-colored eyes were wide and bewildered, his breathing hard and ragged.

"Ian?" Amy whispered. He whipped his head around, fixing her under his stare. Then he blinked. "Amy."

She nodded tentatively. "You okay?"

"I..." He sighed, absentmindedly running a hand through his hair. All the tenseness in his body drained out of him, replaced by obvious exhaustion. He looked so human. So thoughtful and sad.

Amy slowly approached, sitting down next to him on the bed. "It looked like you were having a really bad dream."

He shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. "It was nothing."

I don't think so, she thought, but just said, "You had me scared. You were muttering and-"

"Look," he interrupted. "I'm fine, all right?"

"Are you sure?" Amy asked softly. Ian stared at the wallpaper, saying nothing.

"You can trust me. I won't-"

"You won't what?" he asked angrily. "Talk behind my back? Think I'm a cold-blooded monster?"

"N-no, that's not true." Amy couldn't help stuttering, taken aback by Ian's ferocity. "No one thinks that, or does anything like that. We're family, we'd never-"

Ian laughed without humor. "Family. Right. Look, I know you don't trust me." He waved off a sound of protest she made. "Don't try to lie, I know you don't. None of you do. And it's for a good reason, isn't it? Sometimes even I can't trust myself." He looked down at his hands.

"I say to myself, I'm a Kabra, I'm superior. There used to be a time when I could actually believe it, thinking it might be true. That was where my confidence came from. But nowadays, I feel useless. God, I feel lonely, especially since Natalie-" He paused, and Amy could actually see how much pain he was in.

"So that's your nightmare," she said quietly.

He closed his eyes. "Every night, it's the same dream. Every night, I relive that horrible moment. And there is absolutely nothing I can do." He took in a shuddering breath. "Nothing I can do," he repeated softly.

Amy put a hand on his shoulder, wanting to comfort him. But he flinched, as if he wasn't used to physical contact. He looked at her and seemed to see her for real for the first time, as if waking from another dream.

"I shouldn't have said any of that."

"Ian-"

He looked out the window. "Go back to your room. Get some sleep. Tomorrow's going to be a busy day." He was shutting himself off from her, pushing her away.

Amy didn't want to, but she stood. "All right. See you in the morning." But just in front of the door, she hesitated, and turned. "Ian?"

His eyes flicked back to her. "Yes?"

"If you want to talk, anytime at all," she hesitated, then said, "Just know I'll be there, okay? You can come to me."

Ian smiled at that, but it was a truly melancholy smile, without any trace of his usual glamor. It looked real. And Amy had never seen him look so handsome.

"Amy," he said, in his real voice, no sweet-talk. "Don't you see I'm doing you a favor? If I push you away first, you won't have to push me away to avoid trouble with your boyfriend. So don't mind me. Don't let it distract you."

Amy was speechless. Then she managed to get out a hurried good-night and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her.

——

Hi! The writer here. I just wanted to let you know I'll be adding another chapter (maybe within two weeks), 'cause I discovered I really hate stories that have unresolved endings. So I'm going to skip ahead to the very end of my imaginary ghost plot and write that part out. Thanks for reading! Please comment and vote!