We're not so distant.

Zack sat up.

Rubbing at his eyes he slipped out of bed and lumbered to the porthole window to catch his breath. His heart was pounding. He could still see it, the dream, every detail imprinted finely on the black of his eyelids.

The bathroom light was blinding. He squinted, crossing to the sink and working the faucetknobs. Two parts hot, one part cold. He splashed water on his face. Then he brushed his teeth and dried off and went out.

It was only three, the night still full blue.

Snatching his school notebook off the nightstand he clambered back into bed and opened to a blank page and wrote until he was tired again, until his letters became lazy, until his eyes fluttered shut.

'I need to talk to you,' he informed Bailey the next morning at breakfast.

For a long time she didn't say anything, confused. 'Me?'

Zack nodded. 'It's about this dream I had.'

'Later?' Cody implied, wrapping an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders.

Zack frowned. 'Am I interrupting?'

'Intruding's the word I'd use.'

With a sigh Zack slapped down his tray. 'Two minutes.'

'Can't it wait?'

'You don't understand.'

Bailey looked concerned. 'What's wrong, Zack?'

Already he was thumbing through his notebook. 'It's about this dream I had,' he said again. 'I wrote it all down.'

'You wrote?' Cody gasped, feigning shock.

Zack ignored him. 'I was at this nightclub,' he explained. 'Some ritzy-glitzy place. But retro at the same time. You know, like in Scarface?'

Bailey grinned. Then, sensing Zack's sincerity, her grin faded.

'Girls everywhere,' he went on. 'On the dancefloor. In cages. Everywhere.'

'Sounds lovely,' Cody muttered, chewing his bacon.

'I was dressed funny. I had on this tophat. And a black blazer. And really tight, uncomfortable shoes. With spats and everything.'

'Did you have a cane, too?'

'No, brother of mine. No cane.'

Bailey knuckled Cody's arm to shut him up.

Zack said: 'For a while I was just sort of standing around, peering out at the dancefloor and at all the girls. Then suddenly I was in the middle of it. And you were there with me.'

'I was there with you?' Bailey sputtered.

'We were dancing,' he explained. 'Well. You were dancing.'

'Oh my God,' Cody groaned.

'You were all over me.'

'Zack?'

'I tried to get you to stop,' he added. 'I didn't want to upset Cody. But you couldn't hear me over the music.'

Bailey blinked. 'Dancing how?'

'Well.' Zack bit his lower lip. 'At first you were sort of holding me. Like this.' In a flash he'd rounded the table, his arms poised to demonstrate.

Cody stood in his way. 'That's enough.'

'Hello?' Zack's arms flopped to his sides. 'She asked me a question.'

'This is your sick fantasy,' Cody snapped. 'You're not practicing on my girlfriend.'

Zack grimaced, looking to Bailey for help, but she only shrugged and flipped her hair. 'Fine,' he said flatly, flashing his palms in surrender. Then he stomped on Cody's foot. Cody yelped, plunging to the floor.

Zack hurdled him. 'Like this,' he repeated, carefully threading his arms around Bailey's waist, not touching. 'Except you were a lot closer. Then you turned around.'

Cody sprang up, shoving his brother aside. 'Zack, you're nuts!'

Using the table to break his fall, Zack shot back: 'I have nuts, if that's what you mean.'

'Get the hell out of here!' Cody screamed, grabbing him by the collar.

'One more thing,' Zack said slowly. 'This is what got to me.' He extricated himself from Cody's grip.

Bailey wrinkled her brow.

'When you were finished,' Zack murmured, staring through her, 'you gave me this look. I'm not sure what it meant, but I could feel it. And in that moment it was as if I wasn't dreaming. And you said to me: We're not so distant.'

Bailey gazed down at her feet. 'That's,' she stammered, 'very interesting, Zack.'

'What did you mean by that? Not so distant?'

'I don't know,' she said. 'But if it's bothering you, you ought to talk to someone. Like a counselor?'

'Or a shrink,' Cody amended.

Zack smiled weakly, gathering up his notebook and his tray. 'Maybe you're right.' He turned to go.

'Zack, wait.'

He froze.

Bailey said: 'We're not, you know. So distant.'

His smile broadened. 'Thanks, Bailey. I was hoping you'd say that.'