To the Ends of the Earth

Chapter 4

*

Lilly

This dream started out much like all the others I've had had about him. There I was, impatiently waiting for the misty dreamscape to come into focus along with his handsome face, when I noticed something was different.

"Oh my god! What happened to you?"

He smiled at me, sheepishly it seemed, and shrugged.

"Nothing. I'm fine. Really."

There were what looked like mild burns on part of one arm and the side of his neck, reaching down to the front of his chest. And... holy crap is he not wearing a shirt? That's never happened in one of my dreams, no matter how many times I may have wished it had.

Aside from the injuries he has smooth golden brown skin stretched over a lean frame. He has the body of an athlete, muscular and agile, and it takes everything I have not to reach out and stroke him. I subconsciously lick my lips then look up at his face. He was watching me check him out. Oh crap.

For some horrible reason I blush. In my dream.

"You don't look fine." I managed breathlessly. I was referring to the burns of course. The rest of him was fine indeed.

"Just a little mishap with a bellows. It took me a few tries to get the pressure right."

"Like one of those accordion looking things that stoke fires?"

"Yeah, exactly. I think. What's an accordion?"

"It's a... oh man, this is not how this usually goes. I'm at a loss here guy. And why were you using a bellows?" I ran a hand down my face and blinked rapidly. Nope, still happening.

"Usually? You've been like this before with me? Not just the last time?"

"The last time? You're always in my dreams. But never... injured (I wanted to say shirtless but couldn't make myself). Or talking about bellows. Or talking much at all. This is the most I've ever heard you say." I looked away from him into the misty walls of our little meeting area and wanted to pace.

He looked at me wearing a confused expression. "Always? How long have you dreamed of me?"

The question would have sounded a lot more egotistical if it hadn't been delivered with a whole heaping pile of uncertainty and a dash of hopeful wonder.

"I don't know, years I guess. At first it was just your face. I would see your face in my dreams and it brought me...peace." I said, my turn to be shy. "I didn't know your name or who you were. I described you to my family but you didn't mean anything to them. In fact they..." I let the sentence drift off awkwardly.

If possible he looked even more confused, and maybe a little bit afraid. "I don't understand. How is that possible?"

"I wish I had answers for you, for us both. Oh! But thank God you can answer one for me! What's your name?"

"My name is Gabriel."

"Gabriel..." I let it roll around in my head for a moment. I liked it and told him as much. "It suits you." I smiled at him, overjoyed to finally have something to call him. I also had to firmly ignore the voice in the back of my head screaming at me that all this was nonsense. It was just a dream. I was somehow giving myself what I had longed for because I had cracked for good.

His answering smile made it almost worth being certifiable.

We stood like that, grinning like idiots at one another, until it inevitably became awkward again. We both shifted and looked away at the same time, our smiles falling.