Once Upon a Dream
One, two, three. One, two, three. See the flowing skirts twirl across the dance floor. Figures bow and curtsey upon meeting each other, taking gloved hand in gloved hand, joining together for short moments, gracefully moving across the room.
A gentleman in a royal blue suit bowed to her. She smiled and curtseyed, taking his arm as he led her to the center of the ballroom. He wasn't the first person she danced with that night, but there was something special about his presence. He smiled gently, sweeping her close as they gracefully stepped to the music. One, two, three. One, two, three.
When the waltz ended, the gentleman kissed her hand and spoke, though there was no voice. Despite that, Kairi understood what he was saying.
"What is your name, fair maiden?"
She smiled slyly. "I'll tell you my name after you tell me yours."
He laughed silently. "Fine then. We can play it that way. My name is-"
"Kairi, if you think this class is just another nap time, then perhaps you'd like to spend after school with me?" Mr. Vexen stood over the redhead, his icy glare piercing into her skin as he stood there before her, arms crossed and foot tapping the ground.
Kairi's eyes shot open. She looked around frantically, until she realized she where she was.
"Now that you're up, how about you give the answer to this equation?"
"I can't believe you fell asleep in the middle of class like that, Kairi," Selphie said once the bell chimed, signaling the end of class.
"Yeah, me either," she replied, shaking her head. "I'm actually amazed that he let me off the hook this time. I don't know how my parents would react if they found out I received a detention for sleeping in class."
"He must have been in a good mood today, because he almost never threatens detention and changes his mind later on."
They reached their lockers, exchanging books and then proceeding to head to their next class.
"So did you just not get enough sleep at home or something?" Selphie asked with a concerned look on her face.
"Of course I did, but for some reason, when I just closed my eyes for a second, I fell off into a dream-state and I didn't realize I was sleeping. It just seemed too real. Though there were some strange things about it…"
"Oh, you dreamed? Might it have been about something or someone in particular? And what was so weird about it?"
The bell chimed again. "I'll have to tell you later. See you, Selphie."
"See you, Kairi!" she yelled in a sing-songy voice as she ran in the opposite direction towards the next class.
Kairi left the school that afternoon thinking about her dream. Who was that man? He seemed awfully familiar, that was for sure. Perhaps they'd met before? Kairi wasn't sure.
She sighed. She was thinking too much about a stupid dream. Every girl had fantasies of dancing with some prince-like gentleman. It was nothing, nothing at all.
"Kairi, wait up!" Selphie called when Kairi was nearly a block away from the high school. She waited for her best friend to catch up before continuing. "So, tell me about this dream you had. If it was interesting enough for you to sleep through class, it's probably good."
The redhead blushed, thinking about it again. "Well… you see… I was at this ball-"
She stopped dead in her tracks. In front of her, one of the other high schools in the city had just dismissed their students, and one of them happened to be the same familiar gentleman from her dream. Tall, well built, and even with silver hair to boot. It was the spitting image of the man she danced with.
"Everything okay, Kairi?" she asked, trying to see what Kairi was staring at.
She pulled Selphie along, until they both stood behind a tree with Kairi peeking out from behind it.
"What's wrong?" she asked quite loudly.
"Shhhh!" she hushed her harshly. "I don't want him to notice!"
Selphie smirked. "Want who to notice?"
Kairi sighed and proceeded to tell her everything about the dream. Everything that happened, down to the last detail.
"And you're telling me that some guy that goes to this school is that prince in your dreams?" she concluded, a little skeptic at what her best friend told her.
Kairi nodded. "Yep, he looks exactly like him."
The brunette squealed. "That's sooooo romantic! You should go talk to him!"
She shook her head frantically. "But I don't even know who he is! I couldn't hear his name, let alone the sound of his voice."
"Well, we'll just have to change that, won't we?" she giggled, pushing Kairi in the direction of the handsome silverette, ignoring all of Kairi's protests.
The teenaged boy turned around when the two girls came up, raising an eyebrow at the sight of how they approached him. "Can I uh… help you?" he asked, cocking his head at Kairi and Selphie.
"I'll leave you two alone," Selphie whispered, patting Kairi on the shoulder as she skipped off happily.
"No wait! Selphie!" she called after her, extending an arm as if to grab her friend, but the distance was too far. "You're so evil…" she mumbled to herself.
"Did you say something?" the boy asked.
"What? Oh, no, I didn't," Kairi shook her head frantically, trying to hide her blush. She sighed. "This is getting off to bad start, isn't it? Let's start over, shall we?" Extending her hand out, she said, "I'm Kairi. And you are?"
"Riku," he replied, shaking her hand. "So what was all that with your friend earlier?"
"It's a long story," Kairi said, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly as she thought of the events that caused this to happen.
"I was planning on going to the ice cream parlor. If you want, you can tag along and tell me this long story of yours," Riku offered, already starting to walk in the direction of the parlor.
"That sounds…delightful," she replied, gritting her teeth as she thought of actually having to tell Riku, a boy she just met, about some crazy fantasy she had in the middle of her science class. But then, as she walked beside him, a new thought appeared to her. Despite the awkward entrance she made, how suspicious Selphie made Kairi seem in front of him, he still talked to her calmly. He even asked her to join him and have ice cream together! That, alongside the fact that he practically resembled the man she danced with in her dreams, made it seem too good to be true.
Her cheeks grew crimson in color. iWhat if I somehow mess this up in the next few minutes?/i Even if it did seem too good to be true, the last thing she wanted to do was mess up this illusion.
After walking a few blocks, the two reached the parlor. It was a cute little building, with an old-fashioned retro theme to the interior. It was a popular hang out spot due to its welcoming atmosphere and delicious frozen treats. They stepped up to the counter and ordered their ice cream. Riku with vanilla and Kairi with rainbow sherbet.
"So, tell me about this story. Sounds interesting," Riku said as he took a seat in the nearest booth.
"Well… you see…" Kairi nervously fiddled with the bottom of her uniform shirt. iGreat, if I tell him, he'll get creeped out!/i
Seeing the embarrassed look on Kairi's face, the silverette smiled. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. It's obviously bothering you."
The redhead sighed in relief.
"So, Kairi, wanna tell me more about yourself. We're basically strangers to each other."
The two proceeded to talk to each other for hours. Kairi was amazed. It was rare for her to find someone so easy to talk to. She was a friendly person, yes, but normally they would run out of topics to converse about. And even though Riku at first seemed a little unapproachable, he was a lot nicer than she would have suspected.
Soon enough, the sun was nearly finished setting. "Kids, I'm sorry to tell you, but I need to close up shop for tonight," the shopkeeper said, key in hand, ready to lock up the building.
"I'll walk you home if you want, Kairi," Riku offered, letting her take his hand as they left the shop.
She smiled shyly. "I'd like that."
They reached the park, exactly half way between the parlor and Kairi's house. Images flashed through her mind of twirling skirts and bowing gentlemen. Music sounded in the distance. One, two, three. One, two, three.
She stopped immediately.
"Something wrong?" the silverette asked, confused at her stopping out of nowhere.
"Dance with me," she said all of a sudden.
"What?"
"Dance with me, please. It sounds like a stupid request, but could you? Just one little dance," she looked down and watched her feet trace small circles in the ground. Just then, she felt her right hand in his and an arm around her waist. She was startled at first, but then the feeling of euphoria swelled inside her. He actually responded to her ridiculous request! "Uh… Riku?"
"You said you wanted to dance," he replied simply, stepping in three to the silent song. One, two, three. One, two, three. "Honestly, I don't know why I'm doing this. It really isn't like me to dance with someone I just met. But, to tell you the truth, it feels so…"
"Familiar," Kairi finished his sentence. Her face was hot and butterflies were in her stomach. They were no longer in the park. Riku was no longer wearing a school uniform; instead, it was replaced by the royal blue suit. As for Kairi, she was twirling in a red ballgown, one a princess would wear. Just like her dream.
"Riku, this may sound really weird to you, but this is exactly how my dream went. I was dancing with you, and we were in some ballroom," she explained quickly. "I guess you're creeped out by me, aren't you? Some girl you just met saw you in one of her little dreams."
He laughed. "It is a little weird, but I've heard stranger from my classmates."
The couple stopped. The illusion went away, and they were back in the park under the twinkling stars. Nothing was said as they walked to Kairi's house. The female's mind raced with flashbacks of dancing with Riku.
At last, they reached the doorstep. "Well, I guess this is goodbye, isn't it, Kairi?" He began to walk away, off her doorstep and to wherever his house was. It might be the last time she would ever see him again.
"Wait! Riku!" she called. He turned around immediately. "We should do this again sometime," she shouted, her face beat red by her daring offer.
Riku smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that."
Her eyes widened at his reply. That certainly meant he liked her, too! She raced into her house to her bedroom, closing the door behind her and hugged a pillow. She was never one to believe that fairytales were real, but it seemed as if she just experienced one for herself.