Chapter 2- Totally my Bitch Forever

"I'm hoooome!" John practically skipped through the doorway, dropping his bag and coat on the floor as he walked in.

"Cool." A distracted monotone reply greeted him whilst simultaneously describing its owner. Because if there was anything Dave Strider was, it was cool. Large aviator shades hid his expression below a shock of blonde hair, the kind that looked like he'd just gotten out of bed; in reality Dave had probably spent an hour in front of the mirror that morning, even though he hadn't left the house today. Being an online artist had that kind of perk- he worked from home as much as he liked. He was currently on his laptop, the reflections of his latest ironic masterpiece reflected on those massive shades.

"Did you keep any dinner for me? I'm starving," asked John as he crossed their single room apartment to check the fridge. He didn't mention he'd had pizza with the band an hour ago. Hey, a growing boy needed his food, and it wasn't like he could afford food everyday.

"Nope- Rose texted me to make sure I didn't." That traitor!

"Sometimes your sister's a jerk." John flopped on the bed in the corner, since Dave currently had the only armchair in the place.

"Nah man, she's trying to help you. If you rely on everyone for stuff all the time you'll never get a job, grow into an adult, all that jazz."

"Really?"

"Sure, why not." John had no idea if Dave was messing with him or actually saying something sincere behind a veil of sarcasm and his cool-guy facade. The Strider siblings were tough nuts to crack. But considering Dave let him slide on the rent sometimes, and shared his stuff so freely- basically everything in their apartment including the TV, computer, and the mattress on the floor they shared was all his- he knew he was one of his best friends.

"So, what kind of name is Kanaya, anyway? I'm assuming she's Indian or from Europe or some shit. That or an alien." Okay, not best friend.

"She's Chinese, her parents just like funny names," he answered, turning on the TV. "You haven't told anyone have you?"

"I made a joke just before you got here, it has about 30 likes on Facebook all at your expense. That count?" John cursed the Strider-Lalonde family name. Names. Ooh, Ghostbusters two was on. He turned up the TV, hoping to drown out the blond. "Oh, and your sis wants to talk to you about this new girlfriend the moment you get home, so get on that."

"That's not fair!" John cried accusingly. Dave merely shrugged.

"But bro," Dave looked up for the first time since he'd walked in, staring him in the eyes. Or so he assumed he was, behind those glasses, anyway. "Is this just you being a goof and dating a high schooler because she's chill, or are you going crazy on me. I need to know if I'm sleeping with a crazy person. Like, for my own safety here. Are you gonna stab a dude next time someone cool finishes the milk and you have no cereal to eat with your Saturday morning cartoons? What I'm asking is is this Kanaya chick cool or are you slowly turning into a serial killer on me here."

"Can I get back to you on that?" John fell back on the bed heavily. Kanaya was nice. Was it so wrong to date someone nice? Especially after how his last relationship ended. "I think you're safe from me though. For one thing, even as a crazy John I still need somewhere to live." Dave smirked at that.

"True, you'd be out in the snow, all alone. I can see it now, a bunch of rolled up Z-list movie posters under one arm, your bass under the other, one of your dad's suitcases full of clothes at your feet. 'Will perform shitty magic tricks for food and shelter.' Eventually you have to make a house in an alley out of movie posters, you wake up every morning staring at Nic Cage's face. He's probably what made you crazy in the first place, too much Cage isn't good for the soul."

"You take that back! He is one of the best actors in our generation!" insisted John hotly. "You could even say Nicolas Cage is a national treasure. Get it? National treasure?" Dave groaned with pain at his clever wordplay, and for that moment everything was like normal.

Then John had the dream.

The desert sun beat down on him, fierce and unyielding like the boss at the end of a particularly annoying RPG. Nothing grew out here, not even cacti. John had been walking out in the desert for what felt like several lifetimes. For some reason, he could hear creepy horses whinnying in the distance. He took off his glasses and rubbed them against his shirt, before throwing them back on and looking every which way. Try as he might, he couldn't find the source of the eerie noises.

"Why horses?" he wondered aloud.

"Beats me; it's your boring dream," came the reply. John spun to see the back of a girl whirl past, skating by on red roller blades. A dark jacket flapped behind her like a cape, followed by the smaller stream of her hair.

"How are you rollerblading on sand?" he called out after her.

"I just told you!" she yelled, not looking back. "You're in a dream you dork!"

"Does this mean we can go on an adventure together?" She faded from view without another word, though John knew with the certainty of a dream she was smiling to herself about something. He woke up with a start, heart pounding.

"Hey Dave, Dave, wake up. I just had the most intense dream." His roommate didn't open his eyes, but made a sound halfway between 'what?' and grunting. Good enough. "There was this really strange girl that reminded me of spiders and pirates and mint ice cream, all at once!" The blond checked his phone sleepily without answering him, then glared at John through one bleary eye. John rambled on, too caught up to notice: "Well okay I didn't actually talk to her really, or see what she looked like, or catch her name. But wow! It was so vivid, she seemed so alive and different from anyone I've ever met, like she wasn't even human or something."

"Christ Egbert. You did not just wake me up at five in the morning to tell me you had a wet dream about an alien chick. These sheets better be dry or I'm gonna handcuff you to lil Cal for a week." The threat of terrifying puppets was enough to calm John's excitement, and soon Dave fell to sleep again, dead to the world. But John lay on the bed silently staring at the ceiling, way too amped to sleep. Whatever that had been, it really hadn't felt like a dream at all.

He hoped it meant something.

A/N: Thanks for every review and fav so far guys, it means a lot! I have been awake for about 24 hours straight now and am making smart decisions with my time, so here have an update.