The Dream Walker

Brown hair, but not just any brown hair, the brown hair I knew all too well. The brown hair that was such a light brown, that in the light, had traces of blond highlights. The brown hair that curled slightly on the ends and was always stylishly messy. Green eyes, the green eyes that always made me smile and send a wave of warmth through me. The green eyes that seemed to look right through me and know all my secrets. Those green eyes that reminded me so much of the ocean that rushes up to the hot sand and quickly retreats, causing the foam from the waves to spin around. I knew that face, that was devastatingly gorgeous, you couldn’t look away…

“Brynley?”

“Bryn, heyyy!”

“Uhm, what?” I mumbled looking at my friends Ari and Kryslyn who had called my name. I was in lunch now. They are both my age, but I am just slightly older. Ari has shoulder length blond hair and blue eyes, while Kryslyn has red hair and blue eyes. They have been my friends for years, ever since we met in first grade.

“You’ve been staring at the new guy for the past 10 minutes,” Kryslyn told me, fixing a random strand of her red hair behind her ear.

“Yeah,” Ari agreed, taking a sip of her soda. “Oh wait, is that drool on your chin?” She added, teasing.

“I haven’t been drooling!” I protested, but found myself checking self consciously, causing the two to giggle. “Its just…” I took a breath. “I had a dream about him last night.” I hoped I didn’t sound too strange. The two of them glanced over at him and back to me. As if he knew we were talking about him, he looked up and they quickly turned away and focused back on me.

“That’s crazy.” Ari said. “How can you have a dream about someone you have never met or seen before?” Her statement made sense, for that was exactly what I had been asking myself.

I shook my head. “That’s exactly what I thought,” I told them. “Its just, this dream just startled me so much, because I’ve never had a dream about someone I didn’t know before. It wasn’t like any normal dream either. It was just him standing there in this dark nothingness and when I was about to ask him what was going on, he shushed me and then I woke up. The whole thing made no sense at all.” I didn’t go into detail about my dream, besides, there really wasn’t anything in my dream other then him. The two of them stared at me as though I was crazy, much to my disappointment. They didn’t understand why this bothered me so much, but hey I didn’t know either. Kryslyn was the one who spoke next.

“Are you sure it was him? It could’ve been anyone. Are you absolutely sure it was him?” What she said startled me and I looked back over at him. I thought of what I realized earlier about how his hair and eyes and face were exactly as I remembered. There wasn’t even the slightest difference.

“Yes,” I told her. “I am absolutely sure.” There was no denying it. The person in my dream was surely him, but how that was possible keeps haunting my thoughts. I desperately wanted to know who he was and how I had had a dream about him.

“That’s just strange. Maybe your weirder than we thought,” Ari teased. “Maybe you have some special power we never knew about before. That’d be certainly interesting.” She laughed. That was Ari for you. She’s always making jokes and has always had a twisted sense of humor. I laughed along with her, in spite of myself.

“Oh well, it doesn’t really matter does it? It was just a dream.” I said more to convince myself then to convince them. Besides, it was my dream and I would be the one to be more alarmed than anyone. I was still confused about the whole thing. Maybe I was crazy. Maybe it was just a silly dream that had no significance at all. I decided not to think about it too much, for the reason couldn’t be anything important, could it? I chose to change the topic. “Anyways, what was I missing while I was spaced out?”

My topic change worked and Ari and Kryslyn went on to fill me in on what I missed. I was only half paying attention though, so unlike me, but I was still confused. Even thought I told my self to stop worrying about it, I couldn’t help it. The thought kept creeping back up to the front of my mind, like an annoying little kid who couldn’t take a hint. Ari and Kryslyn were talking about a movie that was going to come out this weekend that they really wanted to see. Something about vampires, that I knew. I thought the whole theme of the movie was quite strange. Vampires aren’t real, there was no proof of it at least. They were just meant as a form of entertainment, and like all other Vampire movies, this one was also portraying Vampires as something sinister and evil. The two of them seemed excited about it, so I acted as though the idea thrilled me too. Truthfully I thought it was strange that all Vampire movies made them seem so evil. Just like there were both bad and good people, surely there would be good and bad Vampires too, wouldn’t there be?

The whole time I kept stealing glances at the mysterious guy across the cafeteria. He was eating his lunch silently, listening to his ipod, seeming content. He was sitting alone, not all that surprising considering he was new, but I thought he would be sitting with at least one person. It appeared as though the fact he was sitting alone didn’t bother him in the least. A part of me wanted to go sit with him and talk, even if it was for a moment. I pushed the thought away, though, and looked back at my friends.

Kryslyn was just telling us about a part of the movie she saw in a trailer about a hot vampire guy luring in his victim to violently drink her blood, but it turned out she was no ordinary human. Of course the trailer didn’t say what she was though. As I listened, I looked back up at the new guy again. I was shocked to see him staring straight back at me with a curious look on his face. Curious of what? I wasn’t sure. I looked away shyly, feeling my cheeks flush under his stare. I looked back up, trying to be inconspicuous, but I failed. He smiled at me then looked away. I found my self smiling too at a sudden warmth that coursed through me.

“So what do you say, Bryn?” Ari asked me, smiling happily, her blue eyes shining as she thought of the vampires, the blood, and the unsuspecting victims the trailers promised.

I had no idea what she was asking, I had missed the last part while my thoughts were of across the cafeteria. “Think of what?” I asked teasingly, so she wouldn’t know I had spaced out, again.

“Of going to the movies with me and Kryslyn Friday night to see the vampire movie. Trust me, this one is supposed to be really good.” I smiled, recalling some of the movies we had gone to in the past that turned out to either be really bad, or just so stupid you couldn’t help but laugh. Nonetheless, they were always worth it. We always had a lot of fun.

“Yeah, of course I will go. Why wouldn’t I?” It wasn’t often I passed up the chance hang out with them.

“Great!” Kryslyn said, excited. I smiled back at her. Although she wasn’t as crazy and twisted as Ari, she was crazy in her own way. She was the kind of person to always be there for her friends.

Just then the bell rang and everyone began to file out of the cafeteria to go to their 5th period classes. We stood up and got in line with the others. I was half way up the stairs with Ari and Kryslyn when I remembered I forgot my Chemistry book back at the table we were sitting at. “Ugh!” I exclaimed, cutting off Ari telling us about a fight in her 3rd period today. “I forgot my Chemistry book. Sorry guys, I’ll meet up with you in 7th period.” They nodded and continued up the stairs.

I turned around and went back down the stairs, pushing my way through the crowd and back into the cafeteria. I was mentally cursing myself for having forgotten my book as I walked back to the table I had shared with Ari and Kryslyn. When I reached it, I realized it was no longer there. I turned around in time to spot the last person walking out of the cafeteria. Realizing it could’ve fallen off the table in everyone’s rush to get out of the cafeteria, I began to look around, but came up empty. I glanced at the clock and realized I would be late for Chemistry if I didn’t hurry, so I decided to worry about it later, and borrow one of the extra books in the classroom if I needed it.

When I got to Chemistry I noticed the seat beside mine at the lab table wasn’t empty. It had been for last 3 weeks, when my old lab partner, Leslie, moved. I hadn’t minded, I was good at Chemistry and I enjoyed the extra space at the desk. Sitting in her place, however, was the new guy. Slightly nervous, I walked over and took my seat beside him. I hadn’t realized we would have any classes together, or for him to sit next to me for that matter.
“Hello,” he said to me, smiling politely, showing perfectly straight, white teeth. I felt myself blush slightly. “Looks like we are lab partners now, huh, Brynley?”

Shocked, I stared wide-eyed at him. “H-how do you know my name?” I managed to stutter. It felt kind of strange that he would know my name when I didn’t even know his.

His smile faded slightly, but remained, now taking on a more embarrassed look. “Oh, Mr. Burg told me, when he told me where to sit.”

“Oh.” I replied stupidly. Of course our Chemistry teacher would’ve told him the name of the person he would be sitting beside, I thought to myself. I sat there, staring at the carvings on the old lab desk, until Mr. Burg started class. After attendance, he went on to give a lecture about the current chapter we were working on. I already knew it, but decided to busy myself with taking notes. Becoming bored quite easily, I began to doodle in the margin of my notebook. I started by doodling random things and without even realizing, I began to draw a pair of eyes, but not just any pair of eyes. They reminded me of the guy’s eyes sitting next to me and I knew his had been my inspiration, even if I hadn’t realized as I was drawing them. I smiled to myself. I was so content and calm, I didn’t notice what was going on around me.

“Brynley?”

I looked up, startled to hear my name. Beside me, the new guy whispered something to me that I figured must’ve been an answer to a question I must’ve been asked, though I didn’t know what the question was. I decided to trust him and repeated what he told me. Mr. Burg thanked me and moved on to ask someone else a question. He was obviously unaware of the help I was given. I glanced over at those gorgeous green eyes and mumbled a thank you.

“No problem,” he replied. “You seemed so focused on what you were drawing.” I glanced down at the things I had doodled on my notes. “Those are really interesting, you know?” He added. I met his gaze and smiled slightly, no doubt I was blushing. I wasn’t sure if he had made the connection that the pair of eyes were his eyes.

“Thanks,” I told him. “But I’m not really that good.” It was true. I was no artist. Ari was the one who could draw.

He studied my doodles and a smile returned to his face. “Hmm, but I like them.” I felt a shock go through me, making me blush. I was about to thank him, but that was apparently impossible, because Mr. Burg began his lecture again. It was always impossible to get away with even passing notes during his lectures. It was like he knew they were so boring, he always had to be sure everyone was paying attention.

For the rest of the class, we were silent. I was consciously aware that he was just a few inches away from me and if I reached out my hand, I could touch him. I didn’t of course, but the thought was thrilling. Mr. Burg went on and on in his lecture and it felt as though his class would never end. Not that that would’ve been all that bad, I felt quite at ease with the mysterious guy beside me. But, as I knew it would eventually, Mr. Burg finished his lecture, assigned homework, and gave us the last 5 minutes of class to ourselves. I wrote down my homework, not so sure of how I was going to do it, since I had lost my Chemistry book. As though I had spoken my thoughts aloud, the new guy turned to me.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” he said. “You left this in the cafeteria.” He slid my Chemistry book across the lab table to me. I recognized the worn corners on the book. Just to be sure it was actually my book, I flipped it open and was shocked to see my name on the inside cover. I looked over at him and he was smiling warmly. I thought of several questions I wanted to ask him right then, like why he returned it, and how he knew it was mine, but I asked another question instead. One I wanted so desperately to know.

“What, is your name?” I asked, somewhat shyly. I felt silly always referring to him as ‘the new guy’ and wanted a name to go with his lovely face.

“Adrian,” he replied, looking in my eyes. I felt an electric shock go through me again. His name was more lovely then I thought it would be. I repeated his name quietly, liking the way it sounded as it rolled off my tongue. “Adrian.”

The bell rang and he stood up, gave me one last smile and walked on to his next class. I sat there, stunned. I couldn’t move just yet. Adrian. It suited him. I waited a second longer, then followed the others out of the room. I kept saying his name in my head as I walked to my 6th period, Trig class. Adrian, Adrian. Adrian.