Chapter 12: Odd Dreams

(PJ's POV)

Floating. I was floating. The darkness was all around me, pressing against me, but all I could feel was an overwhelming sense of calmness. Somewhere in the distance, I could hear my mother singing a lullaby I used to fall asleep to as a small child. It grew steadily louder, slowly consuming the space around me until it was all I could hear, all I could feel.

Slowly scenery came into focus. I was lying down in the park I'd often used when recording videos. My most recent visit, though, was with Tara, when she needed a live model. The air was still, no sound except my mother's lullaby as it slowly faded back into the darkness. There was a tree above me, slightly obscuring the view of the bright blue sky. It was quiet. So quiet that even the ringing in my ears seemed to be silenced. I made a move to sit up, but body refused. I tried again, only to let out a small grunt from the effort.

"PJ…" a soft, but distinctly familiar voice called, "PJ…"

The sky and the tree disappeared, then, blocked out by a giant shadow. It took a second for my eyes to catch up, but when they finally came into focus on the object I realized it wasn't a shadow at all, but a person. A girl with long black hair and blue eyes.

Tara.

"Hey, PJ," she whispered in a voice of silky smoothness. There was something in the way she spoke my name that sent a chill running down my spine. There was an intensity in her eyes that I only ever saw when she was photographing something that caught her interest. It was in that moment that I became all too aware of our position. Her hands were gripping my shoulders tightly and she straddled my waist, legs pushed against my sides.

This was different; Very, very different.

"T-tara," I stammered, trying not to focus too much on our comparable position, "What're you doing?"

"Shhh," she whispered, the air changing some as her warm breath hit my face. It smelled heavily of spices. 'Did her breath normally smell of spices,' I wondered, 'I guess I never really thought about it.'

"Hey, don't zone out on me now," she breathed, a teasing smile playing across her. Her face was much closer now and her eyes were dark with an emotion I'd never seen on her. Lust. She lowered her mouth and ghosted it along my jawline, sending chills down my spine again. 'This isn't right,' my brain screamed, 'This isn't Tara.'

"Tara, you should r-really think about this," I tried to rationalized as her mouth crept across my skin, moving closer to my mouth. "Shhh," was her automatic response. I braced myself, but instead of soft lips against my own, they moved up further, stopping at my ear.

"Wake up, PJ," she chimed, her voice suddenly bubbling with childish energy, "Wakey, wakey."

I shot up in bed, my eyes focusing on my half-opened door. My brain caught up a few seconds later and I turned my head to the left; Tara was smiling brightly at me, eyes filled with excitement.

"Good, you're awake. Dan and Phil are already here, but I told them to wait out in the living room while I woke you up," she swiftly spoke and I almost didn't catch what she said, my brain still bogged down with the dream I'd been woken up from.

It was a dream, thankfully. But it struck me as incredibly odd, and not to mention uncomfortable. Not to say that I'd never had dreams about girls before; I'd had my fair share of less than appropriate dreams, but they were always about girls I was involved with, never my friends. Something was tugging at my brain, but I couldn't focus on it. And I really shouldn't right now, it was much too early and, as Tara had just pointed out, I had company that was ready to get on a plane to Ireland.

I focused in on Tara again and gave her a wide smile, pushing the dream to the back of my mind, "Tell them I'll be out in a second, I have to get changed." "Gotcha," she chirped, standing up and skipping out of the room. I looked over at the clock: 6:12. How could she possibly have so much energy at such an ungodly hour?

Shaking my head and laughing at Tara's excited actions, I got out of bed and pulled on a pair of black jeans, a white button down, and my favorite grey hoodie.

I stepped out of the room lightly, noting that Jaime's door was still closed, and travelled down the hallway to the sitting room, where voices conversed happily.

"… don't like Youtube? But surely you go on Tumblr!" Dan's voice sounded so flabbergasted I thought he might drop dead.

"Mmm, nope," came Tara's easy response, "I don't much care for the internet, let alone social networking sites."

"What?!" Dan nearly shouted, I smirked some and leaned against the corner of the hallway, watching contently, "How do you live?"

"Not everyone needs the internet to function, Dan," Phil chortled, sinking further into the couch, "Though getting onto Tumblr might actually be a good idea for you, Tara. PJ said you have quite the knack for photography and Tumblr has a network of artists and photographers for you to converse with and further get your name known in the art world."

"I like to take pictures," Tara mumbled, blushing some, "I wouldn't say I have a knack for it."

"She's just being modest," I piped up from my spot in the hallway, making everyone look up, "She's really quite brilliant."

Tara's blush darkened, but before she had the chance to argue, there was a knock at the door.

"I got it," I spoke, heading for the door before anyone could get up, "Is Jamie up yet?"

"Yeah, he's making tea for us while we wait for the rest to arrive," Tara mused.

I opened the door to Chris's tired face, which quickly lit up when he saw me. "PEEEEEEJ," he drew out my name as he wrapped his arms around my neck in a tight hug.

"Hey, Chris, ready for Ireland," I asked, hugging him back and shutting the door. "You bet I am," he beamed, letting go and plopping down on the couch in between Phil and Dan, "Are you going to record our trip for your channel?"

"Of course," I nodded, turning to the cluttered desk pushed against one of the sitting room walls and picking up my camcorder. "So am I," Dan bubbled, pushing his hair out of his face and grabbing his phone from his pocket before Phil added, "Me too."

A squeak sounded from the recliner and all eyes shifted to Tara, whose eyes were wide with fright. "You guys are… recording our trip," she managed, looking around at each Youtuber, "I- I wasn't aware."

"Well of course," Dan laughed, shoving his phone back in his pocket, "I mean it is our jobs."

Her eyes grew wider, which I hadn't thought possible, and she bit her bottom lip into her mouth.

"Is that… a problem?" Phil asked, worry hanging at the end of every word.

Tara chewed on her lip some before letting it go and relaxing slightly into the recliner. "N-no," she stammered, "Not at all. I just… your fans won't get mad… if I'm in your videos?"

"Why would they," Dan questioned, looking confused, "You're our friend. And even if they are bothered by it they can just kiss my ass."

"Dan," Phil scolded, "They are your fans."

"Yes and we all ninety-five percent of them would gladly kiss my ass if given the chance," he boasted, winking over at Tara.

Chris's laughter erupted from his chest, "He's got a point there. Fangirls can be… crazy."

"You don't have to tell me," Tara joked, giving me a tiny smile because we both knew she was talking about Isabelle.

Jaime walked in then, carrying five cups of tea in his arms. "Here," he spoke quickly as he passed out the tea. "I put them in cups we could take with us because I just saw Sophie and Louis getting out of the car through the window. Which means it is time to grab our stuff and head to the airport. I apologize for not making you a cup, Chris; I didn't know you would be here so soon. You can drive with me, Louis and Sophie, since I know you best and Dan and Phil can go with Tara and PJ. We are trying to take as few cars as possible as to minimize parking fees."

"Jamie," I managed before he could continue talking, "Calm down, we have everything we need and plenty of time to get to the airport." I took my tea from him and he stared at me for a moment before slowly nodding. "Yes, I suppose your right," he agreed, grabbing his bag from the corner of the room.

There was a hard knock on the door, signifying Sophie and Louis were indeed here and that we needed to get going. I grabbed my bag out of my room and quickly ushered the rest of the group out before taking one last look around the apartment. Locking the door, I made my way down to the car and stuffed my suitcase into what little room was left in my trunk. I scrambled into the driver's seat and quickly looked at everyone. Dan was sitting in the passenger's seat and Phil and Tara had taken the two seats in the back and were chatting quietly about childhood stories.

"Let's get going already," Dan whined, pulling his phone out of his pocket and finding a game to preoccupy him for the short trip to the airport. I gave a sharp nod then and put the car into drive, swiftly pulling out of the apartment complex, right behind Jamie.

Why am I posting this so late at night (for me)? Because I was just so wired that I had to finish and post it tonight. I HAD TO.

So I figured I would just mess with everyone's head a bit and give you a little PJ conflicting emotions to spark a little interest in this friendship and remind you that this is going somewhere!

Don't think this is the end, because it isn't even close. I apologize, I am really hyper and awake right now and it sucks because I have school in a couple of hours.

I would like to make a comment that it is really hard RPF one Youtuber that you have never actually met, but FOUR, it is honestly so hard. There is so much to take into account when it comes to each person and I really hope I didn't screw up their personalities too much. If you feel I really screwed up one of your favorite Youtubers please just leave a review telling me how you think someone would actually act and I will totally take it into consideration when writing future chapters!

PJ isn't mine. Dan isn't mine. Phil isn't mine. Chris isn't mine. Nobody is mine. Ugh.

-Boots