*Chapter 34*
"What?" Bottle Cap looked up from the heap she was in, confusion evident on her light face.
"Well, its a shot in da dawk but...its shoah woith a try!" Silver finally picked herself up off of the ground and brushed the dust away before helping BC.
"What are you waiting for?" Bottle Cap exclaimed, "What?! Tell me how he looks!"
"It ain't that easy, silly." Silver Fists laughed, "Listen, he came from ya imagination, so ya got all ya need ta know in theah." She pointed to her head matter-of-factly. At first, Katie looked flustered, her hand slowly moving toward her forehead. Silver didn't know what to make of her friend's action, and decided it was nothing.
"He was six feet tall with brown eyes that gave ya the chills. His voice was deep and smooth, and he laughed alot." She began to say slowly, as if remembering. "He was drunk, Silver, he didn't mean it. Did he?" Suddenly, Bottle Cap's vision blurred and everything began to spin.
"BC?" Silver approached her worriedly, "You okay? We need ta get ya back." She told her, leading her friend back toward Brooklyn. Bottle Cap willingly went without speaking so much as a word the whole way back.
*
"Ya find 'er?" Caps dared to ask Spot as he entered. Spot shook his head and Dibs ran his fingers through his hair. He tried to push away his feelings for the girl, but they wouldn't budge. He was a mess.
"Dibs, you okay?" Locks asked worriedly. It wasn't often that you caught Micah McKlan with his feelings on his sleeve and Locks knew it. "You ain't lookin' sa good."
"Thanks." Dibs chuckled, "Jus' worried, I guess." Right then, the door swung open and the two girls entered, everyone inside just stared at them.
"Well?" Silver cocked her head at them as Bottle Cap flopped down in her bunk and closed her eyes.
"Well what?" Spot spit back, "Wheah ya been?"
"It don't mattah." She said simply, "She remembahs what 'e looks like. C'mon, Spot, I'll tell ya while she sleeps...or whatevah." The two headed back outside to go over Ben's looks while Dibs took a deep breath and approached Bottle Cap. He cleared his throat and shoved his hands into his pockets, looking at the back of her head as it rested on the pillow.
"You okay, BC?" He asked quietly as the others got into their bunks, paying them no mind. Bottle Cap rolled over and looked up at the boy standing before her. Her eyes wandered over him for a minute, taking him in.
"I'll be alright." She gave him a small smile, "Now that you're here." She surprised herself with that, and blushed as Dibs' lips broke into a winning grin. She fought a battle in the mind, though her face was at peace. Could she fall in love with this guy? There was a huge risk that she would get hurt, and hurt him in the process. Dibs was fighting a similar one of his own, risking losing his tough, no-heart guy image by falling head over heels for his best friend's sister.
"Well, dat's good ta hear, doll." He said softly with a small nod. A thoughtful silence fell, and they both ransacked their brains for something to say. Bottle Cap reasoned with herself, she might never have another chance to be with Dibs. What if she went back to her real life tonight, in her sleep? She wouldn't be able to live with herself.
"Dibs...I gotta tell you something." She began, sitting up and motioning for him to sit.
"Yeah, I got somethin' ta tell you, too." He muttered, seeming to be in pain at the thought of letting his feelings show.
"You can't tell anyone this, Dibs. Especially not Spot." She paused as Dibs' face turned from soft to shocked, wondering what this secret could be. "If anyone found out, things would never be the same for them."
"Okay..." He furrowed his brow. "Well, ya secrets are always safe wit' me." Katie took a deep breath, readying herself for any reaction Dibs might have toward the revelation.
"I'm from the future." She said, then added quickly before he could say a word, "But listen, it's hard to explain, Micah. I...I thought you up. You're everything I've ever wanted."
"You what?" Dibs exclaimed, though quietly so that no one would hear. BC placed a finger to his lips to stop his words.
"I know its hard to believe, but you have to. I was writing a story about you guys...all of you. It was based on a movie."
"A what?"
"Movie." She repeated then shook her head, "It doesn't matter. What matters is that I hit my head and fell into my story...I think. I don't know how, I don't know why, and I don't know when I'll be sucked back."
"Well, what do you know?" He threw his hands up in frustration. Katie's heart pounded in fear that he would hate her.
"I know that I have to face Ben." She whispered, "That he's every fear in my real life and I have to fight him, win or lose, to ever see my family again." She told him slowly, tears welling up in her eyes, then slipping down her cheeks one by one.
"No!" Dibs objected, "Ya don't hafta fight 'im! You can stay heah, wit' us. Ya don't nevah hafta go back ta wheah ya were."
"But...for the first time in my life Dibs. For the first time, I miss them." She said softly, all of these words rolling out of her mouth before she had a chance to think them over. She had begun to figure it all out, and she knew it was right. "That's why I had to come here. To realize how much I love them, even when they fight and yell."
"But what about us?" Dibs asked quietly, his resolve breaking down, "What about Spot? He's ya bruddah."
"I'll be here." She touched her hand to his chest gently. "And I'll miss you...always. Micah, I tried so hard to stop it. I begged and pleaded, I fought hard...but I couldn't keep myself from falling in love with you."
"So, dis is love?" He looked into her eyes, his watery though he would let no tears fall. "Den why does it hoit so much?" Katie shook her head, she had no more answers to give. They were silent, both being held by the other's gaze. Finally, exhaustion took over, and the two fell asleep in one another's arms. They could do nothing but hold on to what they had now, because the future was about to rip them apart.
