I looked around my room, dazed. Hey, you would be dazed, too, if you had just been ripped from a very…uh…explicit fantasy involving the super-hot dead cowboy who lived your bedroom.
I looked out the window, noting the full moon still high in the sky, casting an ethereal glow around my room. And then my eyes came into focus, and I noticed something that wasn't exactly welcomed at the moment.

Jesse. Sitting on my bay window. Reading an upside-down book. And looking very hard like he was trying not to laugh.

I frowned at him, wondering why he was acting so…strange.

"Jesse?" I said.

Jesse looked up, shocked, from his upside-down book. He looked at me. "Oh, you're up," he said, grinning. Still looking as though he were about to crack up.

"Yeah," I said drowsily. "Um, is it really that funny to read Of Mice and Men upside-down? Because I never thought it was much fun right-side-up."

He looked at the book on his lap. Then he looked back at my face. And exploded. I mean, seriously. Thank God nobody could hear him but me.

"What?" I whispered as loud as I could without waking everyone. "What are you laughing at? Is there something on my face?"

Jesse seemed unable to speak. He was actually getting blue in the face. Tears were streaming from his eyes. Whoa. What the hell did I miss?

"Jeez, Jesse, breathe," I said, getting up, genuinely concerned. Not that he needed to breathe. I mean, he was dead for crying out loud.

Now I was getting mad. I put my hands on my hips, and glared at him. I glared at him for four minutes, which was how long it took him to finally calm down. If he were alive when he'd started laughing, I'd say he'd be dead by now.

"Susannah," he said, still laughing. "Oh, god, Susannah."

"What?" I said fiercely. "Oh god what, dammit?"

Jesse sat up again, wiping tears from his eyes. He looked back at me, and at my angry face, and burst into fresh peals of laughter.

"Nombre de Dios," I said mockingly in my very heavily accented English. Then I stomped back to my bed, and, ignoring his laughter, pulled the covers of my head and turned away from him. After a while the laughs turned to chuckles, then snickers. Then there was silence. He probably disappeared.

If only that were the case.

When I lowered the covers to check if he was gone, I was shocked to find his face a mere inches from mine. He still had a smile and an amused look in his eyes. But there was also something else there, that I couldn't quite place.

His proximity was a bit shocking, I'll admit. I mean, he kissed me a few days before, but he hadn't made another move since. And he's a pretty damn good kisser, you know, for a dead guy.

So we just kind of looked at each other for a minute. His smile had faded, and we were both dead serious (pun intended), just kind of gazing at each other. After some of this, he reached out and stroked my cheek. "Querida," he breathed. He smiled faintly. My heart was doing somersaults. I mean, come on, the guy was about to kiss me again! His hand moved up my face and tangled itself in my hair, gently massaging my scalp.

Mmmm. Very good

But instead of leaning down and giving me the kiss of the century, he whispered into my ear, "You were talking in your sleep."

First of all, I was shocked when his lips had missed mine by about four inches as he came toward me. I mean, I had my eyes closed and everything. I was totally ready for his soft lips. And then I noticed where he was and I was this close to going, "Dude! My lips are up here!"

But then I froze as he said the words. Because I remembered my dream quite clearly. And I had a feeling I knew the general gist of what he had heard.

And let me tell you, I suddenly felt like I was about to internally combust.

"Is that why you were laughing at me?" I asked, burning up in my humiliation. Except that all that came out was a squeak and something that sounded like Spike coughing up a hairball.

I guess Jesse felt me stiffen, because he put his other arm around me, and whispered, "Relax, querida. You have nothing to be ashamed of."

But boy was I ashamed. "What - what did you h-hear?" I stuttered.

Jesse only chuckled.

Never mind, I didn't want to know.

"Shhh," Jesse lifted his head and looked into my eyes. "Querida…" he said it so lovingly, I had to smile, however small that smile was.

Then he leaned over and kissed me.

Again.

And this time, it was for real.