The Dream - Marline (e textbook reader TXT) 📗

I was tired and in a boost of daringness I leaned against him. He wrapped his muscular arms around me. Suddenly I was wide awake. I felt safe and comfortable with his arms around me; it felt great. All the chatter around me faded away.
“Em,” I heard someone call from far away.
“Emily!” The person called again. I forced myself back to the real word.
“Yeah?”
“Finally! I had to call you three times!”
“Sorry, I’m tired, I’m about to fall asleep!” I knew this wasn’t the real reason why I hadn’t responded and I was sure Lilli knew this too.
“Can you come with me to get some water?” Lilli asked.
“Sure.” I answered reluctantly. I didn’t feel like getting up but otherwise it might have seemed too obvious to Jesse how much I enjoyed him holding me. Jesse let me go and I stuck out my hand to Lilli to let her help me up. Together we walked towards the door.
“Thanks for coming with me.” Lilli said.
“Sure, why not?” I asked, rather surprised.
“Well, I saw how much you enjoyed Jesse holding you.” Lilli answered. “But I’m really freaked out of Todd and needed a body guard to come with me.” I burst out laughing. “I can imagine why. Did he really hold your hand the whole time he talked to you?”
“Yes!” Lilli said, with a sour expression on her face. “I mean what’s his problem? Can’t he just stay away from me? Haven’t I made it clear to him that I am NOT interested?”
“I think his love for you is just too strong to stay away from you.” I said sardonically.
“Oh no, there he is!” Lilli said annoyed. I looked up and saw Todd coming our way. I searched for a place we could hide but couldn’t find any. So instead I started talking loudly.
“So Lilli, how is it being together with Sam? He is so hot! Did he ask you to get together or did you ask him?” Lilli immediately understood what I was doing and answered. “Oh, it’s great! He is so sweet. He asked me when we were walking on the beach. It was really romantic.” By this time Todd had walked by and when he was out of hearing range we burst out laughing.
“Did you see his expression? He looked so disappointed!” I giggled.
“Well, he has a crush on enough other girls so he’ll just devote more attention to them.” Lilli said carelessly.
“Lilli, mom called, we have to go.” I suddenly heard Jesse say. My heart started beating faster the moment I heard his voice. Lilli and I both turned around but when I saw he was looking at me I quickly looked away. I was glad it was dark because I was probably blushing. Two of Jesse’s friends were with him.
“Ok. Is the driver at the gate?” Lilli asked.
“Yes.” Jesse answered. The five of us walked towards the gate.
“I feel like going swimming!” Lilli said out of the blue. “Do you?” She asked me.
“Sure, if you promise to wake me up if I fall asleep in the pool.”
“Nah, I’m going to let you drown. Then I’d have some peace and quiet.” Lilli teased.
“Hey!” I punched her playfully. “Don’t be mean! I’ve had enough meanness from Chris for one day.”
“You should be used to it by now, he’s always mean to you.” Lilli said.
“Oh well, I’m mean to him too. It’s fun teasing him. And he doesn’t mean any of it.. I hope.” I added. We had arrived at the front of the school and the car was waiting to pick us up. We stepped in the car and I asked Lilli what movies we were going to watch tonight.
“We’re using the flat screen.” Lilli announced as a result to my question.
“No you’re not, two more of my friends are coming over so we’re using the flat screen.” Jesse told her.
“I don’t care, we’re using it.” Lilli said stubbornly.
“It depends on the movie you guys are watching.” I pitched in. I actually just wanted to be with Jesse, I couldn’t care less what movie we were watching.
“Em! Don’t give in so easily!” Lilli commanded me playfully. “Well, what movie are you watching?” She asked her brother.
“Rush Hour 2.” Jesse answered. This was Lilli’s favorite movie I suddenly realized. Had he purposely answered this because he wanted us to come watch the movie with them? I hoped so but wasn’t sure. It might just have been coincidence.
“Ok, we’re watching!” Lilli said enthusiastically. “But we’re first going swimming.”
“You really feel like going swimming don’t you?” I asked Lilli.
“Yes, don’t you?” She asked me back.
“At least I’ll wake up when I go swimming.” I avoided the question. All I actually wanted was to be near Jesse but I wasn’t going to tell her that.
“You know, swimming doesn’t sound like such a bad idea.” Luke, one of Jesse’s friends said suddenly.
“Copy cats.” Lilli teased him. I couldn’t believe how well thing were turning out. If everything happened as planned this evening, I would be able to spend the whole evening with Jesse.

Jesse stood at the edge of the pool. I couldn’t help myself and pushed him in. Everyone burst out laughing.
“I’m sorry, it was too tempting!” I told him when he got up from the water.
“I’ll get you back for that!” He threatened.

We got out of the pool and walked towards the changing room. Suddenly I was pushed in the pool. I screamed softly but from years of experience I grabbed on to the person who pushed me and the person fell in the pool with me. When I oriented myself I noticed it was Jesse who had pushed me in the pool. We were both laughing. I looked at him triumphantly.
“That’s the second time you get pushed in by a girl!” One of Jesse’s friends teased him. Jesse put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me under water. I wasn’t scared under water so when I felt that he was holding me down, I didn’t panic. To my surprise I felt his hand run over my cheek. I didn’t have very long to wonder if it was done intentionally because by now I was running out of breath. Apparently he noticed because he let me go. I gasped for breath when I got out of the water. He chuckled.
“You two lovebirds can do your little thing; we’re going to change.” Luke announced.
“I was just getting back at her!”Jesse told Luke. But in the meantime he poked me teasingly underwater. I swam to the edge and got out of the pool. He copied me and we walked towards the changing rooms. I was happy that the boys and girls changing rooms were a few meters apart, this way I could talk to Lilli without any of the guys hearing.
“What happened underwater?” Lilli was curious.
“I’m not sure.” I was confused.
“Don’t lie.” Lilli was prying information out of me.
“Fine, fine, he might have purposefully touched my cheek underwater but I’m not sure.” I confided in her.
“Of course it was purposefully, otherwise he wouldn’t have pushed you underwater.” Lilli told me.
“Maybe.” I kept it at that. I desperately wanted to believe her but what if it had been an accident? I decided to shrug it off and just get changed.
We got changed and walked towards the palace. Obviously we had taken longer than the boys. We first went to Lilli’s room to dump our stuff.
“Lil, can I borrow some perfume?” I asked her.
“Sure,” she answered.
“I think I might be getting a crush on Luke.” Lilli announced.
“Really? Luke? Well, he is really hot. And nice. And funny.” But my thoughts weren’t with Luke right now.
“Shall we go?” Lilli asked.
“Ok.”
We walked the few meters to the T.V. room. Jesse’s friends were already sprawled all over the room while Jesse was turning on the movie. I sat on the couch and Lilli decided on a spot close to Luke. When the movie was playing Jesse turned off the lights and then sat down on the couch next to me. I decided that it wasn’t coincidence anymore. The movie was funny, in fact, it was hilarious but I couldn’t concentrate on it at all. My thoughts were with Jesse. He was hot, and cute, and funny and sweet and every girl in the school wanted him. Not just in school. Every girl in town, maybe even in the country. I suddenly felt Jesse’s arm around my shoulder. There was no doubt left, he had to like me. I put my head on his shoulder and together we watched the movie. At a certain moment I looked up at him. I saw he was looking at me as well. He leaned towards me.

I woke up because the sun was shining on my face. Abruptly I sat up in bed. My heart was still beating fast. I looked around me and then realized it had all been a dream. To my surprise, a wave of disappointment swept over me. But the way Jesse’s touch had felt, the way he had looked at me, the fun we’d had… I wished he was actually like that in real life. But what if he was? What if I just didn’t know the part of him that was funny and romantic? I desperately wanted to see Jesse, maybe he had changed. I needed to make sure. I looked over at Lilli who was still fast asleep and got out of bed. I then got dressed. In the meantime I was trying to convince myself not to get a crush on Jesse. But that dream had confused me. I slowly opened the door, taking care not to make a lot of noise, and slipped out of the room. I walked to the veranda which looked over the palace’s gardens. Behind the gardens was the forest. Lilli’s dog was lying lazily on the veranda and I walked over to her. I sat next to her and pet her while I looked out over the gardens. I realized it was much too early for Jesse to be awake. But I was wrong because I suddenly heard footsteps. I turned my head and saw Jesse standing there. He was wearing boxers and no shirt. Momentarily I couldn’t breathe. But when he started talking, I knew nothing had changed. Actually, I was happy nothing had changed because I was used to things being this way. The first things he said weren’t exactly very mean, it was just the way he said it. He asked me why I was awake so early.
“The sun shone through the window and woke me up.” I replied, biting away a nasty comment.
“Hmm.” Was the only thing he said, in a rather grim tone. Even though I was sure now that the dream had not been real, and that it had nothing to do with real life whatsoever, I couldn’t help myself and looked at his arms. His strong, muscular arms which had held me in my dream. What was my problem? I suddenly asked myself. This was Jesse I was thinking about! The same Jesse who never had a nice word to say, couldn’t care less what happened to me and annoyed me every time I saw