― do over

chapter | 14

Everyone seemed to know what was going to go down when Dream asked politely to take one of the cars himself.

Bad gladly offered up his and went to ride with Sapnap and Karl, bless his heart, and Skeppy was forced to go along with it.

But that left Dream, George, and unspoken promises and broken feelings.

These things always sound so terrifying and hard in books and movies, but somehow, it felt natural. Dream had faith there was a common understanding of what was to happen.  He had a small feeling they both knew what was going to come out of this.

So why didn't he? 

Clay just couldn't figure it out. He knew the words, but he didn't know the meaning. Its like he skipped reading the text and now was being forced to paraphrase what happened.

He had no idea. 

George pulled at his fingers absently, avoiding looking at anything that resembled Clay. Every once in a while, Dream would catch out of the corner of his eye a faint, nearly invisible pink dust on his face. George would make this concentrated expression, and it would go away. 

Dream didn't know where they were going. Once they had driven past the lake house, he had gotten relatively lost and decided to stick to the road that followed the lake. He wasn't about to admit that, however, and make a complete fool of himself. On the left of the road, he noticed an abandoned dock leading out to the water.

He turned on his blinker and pull into a shabby parking spot, if you could even call it that. The sun was setting along with Dream's deflating confidence. Well, if one was to look back at the last few hours, they would notice it was literally non-existent, but he had built it up in the last ten or so minutes. It was definitely gone now.

The dock was old and rotting, flaking bark peeling off of it at certain parts. One of the wooden planks had split in half, providing a hazardous misstep. The fine water lapped at the shoreline and tore small weeds with it. 

Dream hesitantly stepped onto the platform, surprised when it held his weight. George was only a few feet behind him, and worse comes to worse, Clay wanted to be the one to fall in and not him. 

The end of the dock was more serene than he could have imagined. Loons called across the lake, their voices mingled into a beautiful night song. The sun danced on the lake, the metaphorical dance floor swirled around in its beautiful shades of orange. Streaks of clouds that looked as if they should have been painted shone on the yellowing backdrop, and splatters of faint white stars freckled the sky. 

Dream sat down, rolling up his jeans and balling his socks into his shoes to dip his feet into the water. It was chilly but warm, somewhat inviting yet wary. It sent tiny shivers through his feet. A fish from below the surface rushed out, its silver scales catching in the glittering sunset. A smile rested on the blond's upper lip as he rested back on his hands.

George joined him, but didn't dangle his legs off the dock, instead sitting crisscross and leaning on his elbows. 

"George," he began, sort of quietly. The only witness was them and the minnows, and perhaps the stars if they looked their direction. "Were you afraid?"

Dumb question, he ridiculed himself. Of course he was. 

George shrugged instead, choosing his words with precision. "You'll have to be more specific."

"Of your parents. And our friends finding out about our relationship." He clarified, just as his fingers pulled at a strip of rotting bark. A bird called to their left, and drifting across the soft waves was a single goose.