The Difference Between Dreams and Reality[CHPT 10]

A/N: Hey again! I’m really surprised at how far this one-shot has gone. I didn’t plan on dragging it out more than one chapter, but I’ve grown to really enjoy writing this story. As always, thank you a lot for the reviews! They really do mean a lot to me! ^^

Enjoy~

Chapter four: A visit in the night, and those teal eyes


Last night was when he had come for me. He had embraced me in the cereal isle and I had never felt a feeling so complete. I kept thinking about how much I was falling for him…and now it was all ready 10:00 P.M. and he still hadn’t come for me again like he’d promised.

I was feeling let down all ready, but not as let down as I felt worried. From what I’d seen, Nine seemed like the kind of guy who would stick to his promises. He wouldn’t lead me on with false hope. If I knew it not from his actions, I knew it better from those teal eyes than anything. He was an honest person. I could tell.

The clock was ticking away and I had to get some sleep soon. I decided to write an entry in my question journal before I dozed off if he decided to turn up a little later than usual.

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Entry four:
Did you forget about me?
Are you all right?
Why can’t I stop worrying?
Will you ever reveal your true identity?
If I told you I was falling for you, would you leave me?

Do you own a dog?

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I know the last question was a really crazy one. I decided that if we were going to have a relationship where I knew nothing but his teal eyes and the touch of his lips and fingers, than I was going to learn more about him some way. I decided to start with a simple question, “Do you own a dog?” Sounds simple enough, but by telling me this, it helps me in my search to one day find him.

I loved not knowing who he was, but then again, I wish I did know. The excitement of kissing a stranger is one unknown to most people and one that gives a large feeling of danger. One the other hand, if I knew who he was and where he was I could go visit him.

I decided to keep a hidden agenda of my facts about him.
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Nine:
Teal eyes
Thick hair
Low voice
Thin but muscular build

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The list seemed so small compared to what I thought it would be. It seemed like I really didn’t know him at all. I didn’t know who he was but I knew I was falling for him.

I hid the list of facts underneath my bed and left the journal closed on my desk. I turned out the lights and shifted toward my bed. I was all ready in my pajamas, which consisted of a large T-shirt and a pair of sweat pants. No bra(too uncomfortable to sleep in), of course.

Sliding beneath the covers I whispered “Nine,” and my eyelids fell shut and I drifted into a deep sleep like Snow White.

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The covers fell from my shoulder in the night. I scooted over, towards the wall and tried to pull them up. Suddenly a large hand that felt all too familiar pulled the covers up and lie beside me.

“Cold night,” came a whisper toward my ear from behind. I immediately knew who it was, both by the size of his hands and the tender low note coming from his voice. I had no reply; nothing could explain my happiness. I was being cradled like a baby by his large hands and I felt so warm and safe. It’s amazing how safe I could feel in the arms of a stranger. Nine was my blanket throughout the rest of the night.

I’m not sure how long he held me closely in the night, but when I awoke, I was in my bed alone, and he was no where to be found. It was Wednesday and my alarm went off as if to tell me “Get off your lazy ass or be late again!”

I rolled out of bed in the routine way I always had and got an early start on my morning. I brushed my hair after a shower, then blow-dried it and pulled it back into a pony tail. My brown bangs slightly fell in my face, just the way I liked it. I felt nice and refreshed from the night before.

As I was putting on my Jacket over a T-shirt and jeans I remembered the journal entry I had made the night before.

I walked toward my desk, and there was my journal. Open and filled out.
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Entry four:
Did you forget about me? I’d never forget you
Are you all right? I’m doing well
Why can’t I stop worrying? Because you miss me
Will you ever reveal your true identity? I think that maybe one day I will
If I told you I was falling for you, would you leave me? I’d never even consider leaving you. Tell me anything you wish.

Do you own a dog? I do not.

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I read it and felt as entertained and gleeful as I always felt I should’ve been. It was a wonderful way to start off my morning. I now knew that he didn’t own a dog and made a mental note to add it in later. Hopefully, I would not forget.

I grabbed my bag and headed downstairs. I saw my mother on the computer and knew she was probably taking a day off to hang around the house and go shopping. I sighed.

“Move it, punk!” Shouted my brother as he pushed by me and opened the door, revealing Toby before he had even stepped onto the porch.

“Good morning, Melissa,” Toby addressed me. I smiled and nodded back in response. First thing in the morning and I had almost forgotten about Toby. He was at school yesterday, and all, but my thoughts had been so curved around Nine lately that it was hard to stay focused sometimes.

“Shut up,” snared Kenneth, as if I was going to answer Toby and my nod wasn’t enough. I gave him a rude look and pushed past them both to my car. I got in my car.

“Are you sure you don’t want to ride with us? I got a car the other day from an old friend, seeing as how my mother had arranged for me to have something to drive now that we’re back,” Toby offered.

“No thanks, I’ll be fine on my own. I’m a big girl now,” I said, shooting him down. I knew Kenneth would throw a fit if he was seen arriving in the same car as his “beloved” younger sister.

I headed out before them. In my car I turned the radio station to 104.5 FM to listen to some oldies. I didn’t feel much like listening to the usual pop. I didn’t seem much like a pop person, but I couldn’t help that I liked it so much. This oldies station played all kinds of hits from the 70’s until now. I turned up the radio and drove.


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When I reached the school, I parked pretty far from the entrance, as I always did, and walked to the front doors. I was actually on time for once! It was nice to be early enough to school to actually have time to get my things and make it to class without getting a tardy.

I turned around, because I had this weird feeling and there was Toby and Kenneth completely surrounded by Kenneth’s fans and a huge load of girls with short skirts, bleached hair, and fuzzy boots. I thought to myself “What a pimp.”

I was also thinking about how much cuter Darcy is in slutty clothes than those girls. They couldn’t pull off the “revealing but classy” look that Darcy had. I almost let out a little laugh, but I always try to avoid as little amounts of public attention as possible.

I moved on inside and made it to my locker. I put in my combination and was shocked when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned and there was Hannah. She was with some guy, actually.

“Hey Melissa, How’s it going?” greeted Hannah. She was always so easy going; it was almost hard to believe. This guy had his arms around her waist and she acted like she couldn’t even feel it. Everything about her always shouted “Hannah!” I loved that about her, though.

“I’m fine. You don’t look so bad yourself,” I stated the obvious in a playful tone. The guy she was with was drop dead gorgeous. He had black hair in an irregular cut, died with a little bit of green here and there; totally a guy Hannah would love. He wasn’t emo, but he was definitely someone of interest. I could tell he was trying to have her to himself.

“Isn’t he cute? He’s my newest boyfriend! His name is Zeal, isn’t that cool?” Hannah whispered in my ear. After that, I opened my locker and Hannah and Zeal moved on to a thousand other groups. I found it almost entertaining that Hannah could find someone so totally…Hannah. I giggled a little, just thinking about it.

I grabbed my things from my locker and the bell rang. I dashed to class and made it before the second bell— the tardy bell. I was on time to English and the first of my classes started off with a very boring lecture on picking up after ourselves. That lady was living in the ice age, I swear.

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I had my head resting on my binder as I looked out the window. I could see our small garden, and a Jaguar figure made out of stone that turned into a bench at the bottom of it, facing the garden. The Jaguar was our school mascot. We were the Jackson High Jaguars. Lame, but the stone figure was so lively, even though it was grey and old. Beneath it sat one of our eleventh grade teachers. I only knew this because I knew he didn’t teach me or my brother and that meant he taught the one grade that separated us.
He had a newspaper out in front of his face and he was sitting on the bench. I watched him for a moment until I was interrupted by the bell and my thoughts about Nine came rushing back. I was looking forward to another encounter all ready.

I made it to second period in time. It was Math and I had actually done my homework so I worked on the next assignment in class. It was relatively easy. Algebra 2 had become a bit easier with time. I didn’t even want to think about how difficult algebra was for me at one point.

On my paper, I wrote out a very simple expression:

X+Y= ?

X= Nine Y = Me

Nine + Me = ?

What was there for us, if I never saw him. I couldn’t help myself from thinking about it. I wasn’t falling for him like I had for other people. I was falling in love with him, and I feared what kind of future we could have together, if a future together was even an option at this point. Maybe I was just being a stupid, love crazed teenager, but I felt like I knew more about him and he knew more about me than I had ever experienced before.

Sure, I didn’t know him by his face or house or telephone number, but I knew the touch of his lips and the caress of his hands. I knew he’d come when I needed him. Somehow, I knew him in a far deeper level than the facts could ever explain.

I decided that X+Y = A foggy future

That’s all I felt I could hope for at this point.

The bell rang and as second period had flown by, so did everything else. Lunch arrived and I found Hannah and Darcy with Zeal at our table.

This was sure to prove to be a very interesting lunch period. Darcy was going to test this guy out for all he was worth. Darcy never believed anyone was ever good enough for Hannah, so she had her own little form of tests for him to either pass of fail. Their was no in between. It was either win or lose with Darcy.

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I sat down and listened in on the heated conversation Zeal and Darcy had all ready begun. I smirked on the inside, but kept a neutral face. I felt bad for Hannah. She had to witness this every time she brought a new guy to the table. I sent her a reassuring smile, but I wasn’t sure that she could see it through all the fog of “argument” clouding her vision.

“Who was your last girlfriend?” asked Darcy, as if to pretend to be kind to him. Zeal looked a little afraid of the question but answered anyways.

“Her name was Rachel,” Zeal replied with a little edge of annoyance.

“Hmm… why didn’t it work out?” asked Darcy, being as nosy as she could without being too obvious.

“It was a mutual break-up. Lack of interest,” he answered without a tinge of anything but honesty.

“You mean you got sick of her? How long ago was this? How long was the relationship?” Darcy questioned. Now she had gone just a bit too far. Too many questions. I made a bet in my head with myself. I bet he was gonna run. He was going to run as far as he could from Hannah and from Darcy. Poor guy never saw it coming.

“I did not get sick of her. She just changed after we got back together and I missed how we used to be,” Zeal began “We were together for about nine months and the relationship ended about a year ago. I’ve dated a little in between the time break from now and then, but Hannah is the first girl I have really taken a liking too, and I’d hope I can be with her for a long while. Please ask away if you have any more questions,” Zeal spoke as if he was the king of the world and even Darcy couldn’t bring him down.

Darcy accepted him. He was the first to pass the test without dumping Hannah or running away for a long time. I could instantly tell, by the way he handled Darcy, he was a keeper. I was very glad to see Hannah so happy with a guy who fit her so well.

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The bell rang again and it was time to go back to class. I said my goodbyes to Hannah, Darcy, and Zeal and headed on my merry way back to class. Seeing Hannah so happy and Darcy approve put me in a good mood. I was wondering where Toby went off to, though.

As I walked to class, I decided to try taking a different way. I headed down the upstairs hall, It was just a spur of the moment decision. Since I’m not a senior or a junior with a class upstairs, I’ve never really been up there. I decided I’d have a look.

Little did I know, that the halls upstairs were twice as busy as the halls downstairs. I was shoved around wildly. When I was finally done being shoved around I picked up what I had dropped and looked up as I stood up. In the far back of the hallway I saw them.

The very teal eyes I had become so familiar with. Just for a moment, they flashed and our eyes met. I saw nothing but them, with all the people around, but I saw them for sure. When I looked again, they were gone all ready. The rush in the upstairs hallway continued and I finally made it downstairs and to my class.

Seeing those very teal eyes in the light of school made a mental image in my mind. I could never see anything but those eyes, and they blinded my site for the rest of the day.

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That night I fell asleep with the same words I had before.

“Nine,” I said aloud “I saw you, and soon I will find you.”

With that I fell asleep and drifted into a new land of dreams. All I could see were those eyes. For now, that was enough.

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A/N: With this chapter, I wanted a more sentimental feeling. I wanted to produce the feeling of searching for Nine, as well. Slowly I will piece together the chapters and I plan on revealing Nine’s identity soon.

I hope nobody will be disappointed when you find out who Nine is. I’ve all ready got it all planned out in my head. All that’s next is to type it!

If you want another chapter and want Nine to be revealed, please drop me a review.

- Jenna