That night, I tossed and turned in the guest room bed. A pair of blue eyes held me in contempt, and I kept trying to scowl back, but instead reached out to them, asking them to love me. They pulled away from me, and I cried out, begging. They were so far. And I was so alone. Then I saw a green ball of light, blinking before my eyes. I knew in an instant that whatever it was, was trying to separate us. And it had been successful. I swatted at it, and then everything was a sickening green and I felt ill.

I sat up in the dark room, panting, holding my heart. It had felt so real. The light on the CD player in the corner was blinking green. That must have been what I saw in my dream. I breathed out, as my head hit the pillow. What a nightmare. My mouth was sticky and dry. I got up, and went downstairs to the kitchen, and took a glass out of the cupboard. Putting it under the spout in the refrigerator door, I let it fill.

"What are you doing?" came a voice.

I whirled around to see Fi blinking at me in the dim light.

"I had a weird dream," I said.

"Oh yeah?" she asked. She filled a cup of her own, and we sat down at the table.

"Cheers, Cuz," I said, and we hit our glasses together.

"What was your dream about?" she asked, sipping her water.

"I don't know if I can describe it," I said, twirling a piece of my curly hair. "There was this green blinking light that was trying to separate me from something I loved. It was very surreal, hardly corporeal."

Fi had gone very still. "Describe the light. In detail."

I squinted trying to remember. Little particulars came back. "It was hard to see, but the light was alive. Like…"

"Like what?" She leaned forward, staring at me.

"Like… I don't know. Like a little person? With wings. Almost like…"

"A fairy?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"I guess. Not Tinker Bell, but yeah, like a fairy."

"Whoa. What were they trying to separate you from?"

It hit me. They were trying to separate me from a boy. A boy whose blue eyes haunted me all night. They were trying to separate me from Clu. "I… I don't know," I said. It was humiliating. I couldn't tell Fi. This was her friend, who I'd only met hours ago, and who obviously didn't want to think about me in return. New Delia's clothes be damned.

"If you think of anything else, let me know. There has to be a reason."

"Maybe, but I think it was just a weird dream. You know, new place, new adventure. Just my brain processing." I said. I was placating her. I felt terrible, but I wanted to stop talking about it.

She looked skeptical. But she shrugged after a while. "Well," she said. "Big day tomorrow. You excited?"

I took her hand and squeezed it. "I am. I'm so ready."

We stood up and went back to our beds. I slept through the rest of the night, green light free.

…

I'd set up my room to functional status on the bus. It was livable. I'd have to work on it. Molly had been right, there wasn't a lot of room, but I had been able to set up my easel in the corner, and there would be room to store a few paintings until I was able to ship them out to the coffee shop and gift store. Everyone was busy setting up their own rooms, so I pulled out my sketch book and a 2B pencil and sat on the cushioned bench with my knees up. The bus rumbled down the road, and I started sketching the line of trees outside the window. It would be lunch soon, and then I'd meet with Irene to talk over my intern duties.

The sketch was coming along nicely. I avoided what I really wanted to draw: The pair of hooded blue eyes from my dream.

"Whoa, nice," came a voice behind me from the door.

I jumped, dropping my book, as my pencil rolled across the floor. Clu picked it up and handed it back to me.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said.

"No, it's… that's alright." My heart hammered in my chest from his jump scare. I took the pencil warily, and he stuck his hands in his pockets.

"So, you draw. Fi told me. I didn't know you were this good. Can I see?" His voice was so much more surfer dude than I'd noticed yesterday. I guess I'd been lost in his eyes, and thinking he hated me.

My mouth gaped open, and I was positive I looked like a complete idiot. I closed my jaw. "Sure," I said. I handed him the book. He leafed through it, really staring at each drawing closely. If I wasn't sure it was a trick, I would've said it was really sweet. Just when he'd gotten to the middle, I suddenly remembered the life drawing class I'd taken earlier in the year.

"Oh, wait, there might be…" He flipped the page and dropped the book. "Sorry! I was trying to warn you," I said. I picked it up and hugged it to me.

"They were… very naked," he said, his cheeks red.

"Yeah… Life drawing. You stop thinking about it in class, but it's a little jarring when you're not expecting… flesh."

"Ch-yeah, definitely unexpected." He looked out the window, and I couldn't help but analyze his face. I wanted to sketch it so badly. It was insanely symmetrical but had such a sweet raw quality to it. And that full bottom lip looked like a challenge… He flicked his eyes back at me, and I blushed glancing at the floor.

"Well, I should…" I started.

"I have to finish…" he said. We smiled at each other. "Take it easy," he said, and walked out with a tap of his hand inside my wall. I pursed my lips together. As second meetings went, that one wasn't so bad…