Moonlight upon the Sea - Chapter Seven

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Chapter Seven

The stars were silver.

They always were in Ash’s dreams. Ever since he was a kid, the stars in his dreams were silver, and the sky was whatever color his mind seemed to think mattered the most. It didn’t matter what he was doing in the dream—whether playing medieval knight or flying on the back of a dragon—the sky was always the color that made him the happiest.

But when Ash opened his eyes and saw a lavender sky and silver cosmos, he wasn’t happy. He was confused.

He hadn’t been inside one of his own dreams in months.

Sitting up, he saw sprawling hills, distant mountains, and white flowers. Gardenias littering the grass that were drifting back and forth with the wind, bathed in faint silvery moonlight. The mountains were tipped in snow, but it wasn’t cold on the hill he sat atop. When he got to his feet, in the distance to the left he could see the ocean stretching the length of the horizon. He glanced to the right and saw more hills and fields of thick, lush grass covered in glowing white flowers.

Ash.

Well, this was odd. He’d been watching Tayshia’s dreams for so long that he’d forgotten what it was like to have one of his own.

Tayshia’s dreams were always memories. Pieces of her experiences with the people around her each day. They could be arbitrary, like studying in her bedroom or doing cornrow braids in her hair. Or they could be a little more exciting, like the time that Tayshia and her friends had driven to Seattle for a shopping trip right after graduation.

The only thing that was certain was that they were flashes. Never her entire day—only the things that felt safe to see.

Ash’s dreams were more whimsical, which was in sharp contrast to the way he felt when he was awake. He dreamed of things like flying, doing magic, or sitting and watching the sunset. Peaceful things that didn’t cause him fear or concern. He was always alone, with no other humans or civilization nearby, and that was something he’d always liked.

It felt almost alien to be inside his own head for a change.

Ash.

He decided to head down the hill towards the white flowers.

Ash always had liked flowers. Especially gardenias. They were his mother’s favorites, and they were the only thing he missed about his home. The only part of Gabriel that Ash liked. At any given time, fresh gardenias could be found in every windowsill, on every shelf, and in every vase just for the family.

At least, until his father fell apart.

Kneeling down, he plucked a flower out of the ground with a quiet snap. Eyelids fluttering shut, he inhaled the scent of the flower in his hand and a sense of calm washed over him. Perhaps he would take the flower to the seashore. It would feel like his mother was there with him, watching the water crash along the sand. They used to go to the Oregon coast sometimes, but not as much as they should have. His mother loved it.

Standing, he turned and headed west across the field.

ASH!

Ash nearly leapt out of his skin, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. He whirled around to look behind him.

Tayshia.

She was here.

“Can you hear me?” she said.

Ash stared down at her. She wore the same pajamas she’d been wearing when she came into his room that night, and the breeze was playing with her curls. There was a strange curiosity in her eyes that didn’t match the fearful frown on her lips. Around her neck was the crystal.

“I guess you can’t,” she said. “But you can see me.”

“No, I—” He cleared his throat, the sound of his voice a little jarring. His dreams were usually devoid of words. “I can hear you. Can you hear me?”

She nodded. “Is this a memory?”

“No, it’s—” His brow furrowed. “Tayshia, the sky is purple and the stars are silver. Come on.”

“Well, I didn’t notice!” she said, throwing her hands up into the air. “I was a little busy wondering how the Hell I got into your dream!”

Ash bit his lower lip, reaching up with his free hand to touch his crystal.

Was now the perfect time to tell her? He wanted to. He was just scared what she would think. Months of walking her dreams, watching her life unfold and progress, and he’d never said a thing to her.

If he was ever going to win her trust, he needed to start somewhere.

“Well, given that I’ve been watching your dreams for four-and-a-half months now, I’m not as surprised to see you as I probably should be,” he said. “I’m trying to figure out what’s different.”

Her jaw dropped. “You’ve been doing what?”

Ash twirled the flower stem vertically between his forefinger and thumb, grimacing. “Walking in your dreams for four-and-a-half months?”

She was speechless, eyes wide underneath the eerie lavender light from above. He didn’t blame her, knowing how shocked he’d been the first time he dreamed of her. His nineteenth birthday, right after putting the necklace on.

A few moments passed by and then Tayshia held her hands to her cheeks.

“You didn’t see that dream I had the weekend I moved in, did you?”

Ash’s face contorted with his confusion. “Wait—what?”

“The dream. In September, the dream!” She leapt forward and grabbed his wrists. Her eyes were wild. “The one I had about you! Did you see that dream?!”

“No. You don’t dream like...well, like this. You dream about your day.”

“No, I don’t. I dream like normal.”

Ash frowned and said, “Then why can’t I see them?”

“I dunno.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m a little freaked out here. I’m standing inside your dream, talking to you and—wait, you said I dream about my day?”

“It’s usually memories,” he said. “Glimpses of points in your life. They’ve been chronological, too.”

“That’s so weird. Why would you see my memories, but not my dreams?”

“Maybe it’s harder to see them because they’re blocked by something?” he suggested, careful not to bring up Paris. “Maybe you have to let me in.”

“How am I supposed to let you in when I have no idea what the fuck is going on? I mean...” She laughed, but it was mirthless and out of clear nervousness. “Being here means that the legends at the caverns are true. And if that’s the case, not only is it weird, but we’re also soulmates...? That’s so far outta pocket that we are nowhere near the clothing article, okay?”

"Just because we’ve never heard of it doesn’t mean it’s not real. I mean, the legends had to come from somewhere, right?”

“So, what do we do?”

“We could research it? What other option do we have?”

Tayshia’s frowned deepened and she looked down at her crystal, lifting it up to inspect it.

“Do you think it could be the crystals?”

“The only times I’ve seen your memories were when I was wearing the crystal,” Ash said. “So, yeah.”

“I’ve literally never taken this off,” she said. “Never once. I shower with it on. Maybe it only works when we’re both wearing it?”

“But this is the first time you’ve been inside my head,” he said. “And I’ve only been able to see your memories. If I have never been able to see your dreams, and you have never been able to see my memories or my dreams until right now, tonight, then what’s going on? Like, what are the requirements?”

Tayshia chewed the inside of her cheek for a long moment, then said, “Guess we’re gonna have to do some research. Crystal Springs is old—there has to be something somewhere in town.”

Ash thought she was taking this whole thing rather well, given that it was basically the same thing as finding out magic existed. Then again, he’d been coping fine himself. He had barely questioned the dreams—he’d simply embraced them.

The dreams made him feel less alone.

“Wait,” he said, a smirk slow to spread across his lips. “You dreamed about me?”

She grimaced. “It doesn’t matter—you didn’t see it, so it’s for the best.”

“Now I wanna know what it was. What did you dream about?”

“Nothing,” she said, her voice taking on a bit of a whine as she gave him a scathing look. “And I’m not telling you, so you’re just gonna have to accept it.”

“You hated me when you moved in,” he said, still smirking. “What could you possibly have dreamed about?”

“I’m not telling you.”

“But I wanna know.”

“Cry about it.”

Ash opened his mouth to protest but stopped himself. His brow furrowed and he lowered his gaze in thought.

“It wasn’t a nightmare, was it?”

“Ash, you’re a terrifying person,” she said, clasping her hands behind her back, “and I can’t pretend you didn’t terrify me back then. But was it a nightmare? Yeah, no. Not a nightmare.”

“At least you haven’t deluded yourself into thinking I’m a good person,” he said with a small laugh.

“No, I haven’t deluded myself. But I don’t think you’re a bad person.”

His heart skipped a beat. What was that supposed to mean?

Ash held his hand out, and she took the proffered gardenia from him. Tayshia stood there, barefoot in the grass with the fingers of both hands clutching the stem. He watched her lift the petals to her nose so she could smell it.

“You’re forgetting that I stood there and watched your dad bleed out. So, don’t convince yourself that I’m in any way heroic,” he said. “I would absolutely have stood there while he died. Back then, I mean.”

Tayshia’s brow furrowed. “Are you saying that to scare me away from being your friend, or because it’s true?”

“Both,” he whispered, looking over her head, past her at the mountains.

“But, you’re different now,” she said with an air of finality that told him there was nothing he could say to change her mind. “I think if it happened again tomorrow, you’d make the right choice.”

Ash could feel the blood rushing up to his cheeks, trying to force him into blushing. He ran his fingers through his hair to distract himself from it.

“I tell you I’ve been in your dreams for months and you’re more interested in the fact that I’ve changed, but not in why I was in your head in the first place?”

She pressed her lips into a flat line, still gazing down at the gardenia. He could tell she was thinking, so he remained quiet, choosing to listen to the wind rustling through the flowers until she spoke again.

“I am curious as to why but I think there’s an explanation. There’s always an explanation. It just might take a bit of research.”

“You are way too calm,” he said, slipping his hands into the pockets of his joggers. His dream had chosen to keep him clad in his pajamas, too. He felt the breeze against his shirtless torso. “And so am I. Why are we both so fucking calm about this?”

“You’ve been watching my memories for months,” Tayshia said, still looking at the gardenia, “and I never noticed. But now, I’m here inside of your dream. That means we have a connection of some sort, we just don’t know what it could be. There’s no point in panicking about something we don’t know anything about.”

Ash watched her, wondering if the reason why she was so calm was because she didn’t want to be lonely anymore, either.

Tayshia tucked the gardenia in place behind her ear. The flower added a bit of light to her face, making her look pretty in a way that Ash found himself unable to look away from. But before he could think of what to say, she shoved past him.

“Where are you off to?”

“To sit by the water. We might as well embrace this shit, instead of standing around waiting to wake up. Come on—it’s not that far.”

Ash fell in-step beside her and they walked across the grass towards the seashore. The closer they got, the heavier the air felt. Its salty scent grew thicker and headier, a sense of peace settling over him in a way that made his lips curve into a soft smile. He wondered what it would be like to sit by the sea with Tayshia in reality.

He could feel that something had shifted between them, too. He wasn’t sure if it was on Tayshia’s part or his own, but it didn’t feel like he was traversing a thousand mile-high wall any longer. Something felt inevitable between them, like the passage of time. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen, but he didn’t think he’d be seeing it happen without Tayshia.

In a strange way, it was exciting.

“I think,” Tayshia said as their feet crossed from grass to thick, cool sand, “that we’ll have to research it when we wake up.”

“Right when we wake up?” He chuckled.

She stumbled in the shifting grains. Ash’s hand shot out to wrap around her own. To his surprise, she squeezed it and held on while they made their way closer to the water. Her words continued.

“No, we have class, smart one. But I’m going to get started as soon as I can and once we both have free time, we should go to a bookstore.”

“Do you think the answer will be there?”

“I don’t know.” She slipped again and he pulled on her hand, keeping her upright. “At the least, it’ll be a good start. Either it has something to do with stars or we’re soulmates. Which is just ridiculous.”

Tayshia Cole and Ash Robards soulmates?

Their laughter ripped through their guts, causing them to double over. Tears of mirth gathered in Ash’s eyes. She wiped her own away.

“It’s probably the stars,” Tayshia said, still laughing. “Because the alternative is just—”

“Wild.”

“Exactly.”

She was still stifling hysterical giggles as they found a massive piece of driftwood to sit on. Ash kept hold of her hand to assist her in sitting, and then he sat down next to her. Resting his elbows on his knees, he wrapped one hand around the opposite wrist and gazed out to sea.

“This is weird,” she said.

“Yeah.”

“Like, really weird. I’m in your dream, talking to you. And in real life, I’m just...asleep next to you.”

“Yeah.”

They sat and watched the waves kiss the shore for what felt like hours. The soft sounds mingling with the somewhat forceful whip of the oceanside wind offered a strangely familiar sconce within which to exist. It wasn’t uncomfortable, perhaps because this was Ash’s dream and he was in control. He knew that nothing could happen here that he didn’t want to happen.

No one could hurt her.

“Is it all right if we’re friends?” Her voice was quiet, swallowed by the immensity of the sea.

“Yeah,” he said in a voice that was just as soft. He tried to glance down at her but instead got a face full of curls. His heart was racing, and he couldn’t place the reason why. “We’re friends.”

Ash felt Tayshia tracing the outlines of the waves he’d gotten tattooed on the outer part of his forearm. In spite of the sensitivity of his skin, there was a tension in the air that kept Ash frozen. He feared that if he moved, it would shatter.

“Ash, I...”

“Hm?”

“Earlier, when you asked me what I would say if you asked me if you could kiss me, I wasn’t clear enough. Do you remember?”

His heart nearly tore its way out of his chest. He forced himself to stay as calm and still as possible. Of course he remembered, but he wasn’t going to destroy any sort of moment they were having with sarcasm.

“Yeah.”

“I should have been clearer.”

“Okay,” he murmured, watching the waves on the choppy sea with intensity. “And what would you have said?”

“I think I would have said—I mean, I’d like to think I would have said yes.” Her fingers moved down his forearm. “I haven’t exactly kissed many guys, but I think it’s all right with you.”

“But you were avoiding me.”

“No,” she countered, “you were avoiding me.”

“Well, you slapped me.”

“And you screamed at me for the dishes multiple times.” She lifted her head, her arm remaining linked with his and her hand curving over his fingers on his wrist. A glare was affixed to her face. “We all have stupid things we get angry over.”

“Having a clean kitchen is not stupid. It’s basic human decency.”

“Because you’re the expert on basic human decency. Not you, the boy who went out of his way to be a jerk to me just because I followed the rules. I know you’re not the one saying that to me.”

Annoyance broiled in the heat of his stomach. “Not the girl who was despised by me telling me she wants me to kiss her.”

“Not the guy who despises me pretending he doesn’t want to kiss me by way of deflection,” she snapped.

“Not you pretending like you’re the one in control of this dream.”

“Not you acting like I’m not.”

Ash looked at her with scorching hot anger for two seconds before he felt the desire rising inside of his body. It drowned everything else he felt out, the anger fading into a firestorm of lust. The way she was looking at him, like she wanted to throttle him until he died, was quite possibly the most attractive thing he’d ever seen.

Maybe he’d just gone crazy.

He surged forward, dipping his head down to press his lips against hers. It was just for a moment, because he didn’t want to mistake her comments for consent if they weren’t, and then he pulled back.

Her lips were as soft as gardenia petals.

“There,” she said, her voice quivering. “It wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“Nah,” he said. “But what was it for? Practice for Kieran’s sake?”

“No. It was for me.”

Tayshia laid her head on his shoulder. Ash’s lips twisted up into a half of a smile as he looked out to sea again.

He knew when they woke up, they’d have to discuss the fact that she’d been in his dream like this. They’d also have to figure out why he’d been dreaming of her for so long. Eventually, they’d have to talk about Paris. But the rest?

The rest could stay here in his dreams, witnessed by the sea.