Crossed Dreams

The Sound of Familiarity

Melissa sat at the kitchen table wrapping the multicolored light blue stone in silver wire. She crisscrossed the wires, effectively wrapping the top half of the stone. Sitting back, she admired her work. "Nice," Emily said in between a mouthful of food.

"What are you eating?" Melissa had watched as her friend dug around in the freezer and pulled out a bag of pizza rolls but hadn't seen her heat them up.

"A frozen pizza roll. Don't give me that look. I just wanted to try it and you know what, I like it." Emily retrieved a bowl from the cabinet and poured some still frozen pizza rolls into it then walked over to where Connor sat on the couch.

"Oh, it's almost time. I can't wait to hear Tae-joon's voice." Connor reached over and grabbed a pizza roll, wincing as he bit into it. "Mel, I think our microwave is broken."

Melissa laughed inwardly. "It works just fine."

"Then why...oh, don't tell me." He looked accusingly at his sister.

Emily hugged the bowl to her chest. She turned a glare onto her brother. "Fix your own then if you're going to complain."

"I will. And, I will fix them right." Connor huffed. He stood up and puffed his chest out.

Melissa could no longer contain her laughter. "What are you doing!" He looked absolutely ridiculous and very ape-like with his chest puffed out like that.

Connor exhaled and his shoulders sagged. "I was trying to be intimidating."

"Ha!" Emily barked out. "That takes confidence." She snapped her fingers and sneered at her brother. "Which you have none."

Melissa shook her head. This was nothing new. The siblings quibbled and teased each other like this on a daily basis. She turned back to the necklace she was making. Putting the charm onto some black chord, she tied two double slip knots.

Connor reached into the freezer and made his own bowl of meat lover’s pizza rolls. He then slid the bowl into the red microwave that she had bought when their last one blew a fuse. She thought it was only fair since Connor had bought the first one.

Melissa slipped the necklace over her head, the cool stone hitting the warm skin just above her breast. Connor nodded his chin at the necklace. "That does look good. Your best work yet."

"Then why do you sound so dumbfounded." Melissa tapped her fingers against the table, waiting for a reply, though she was teasing him.

Connor held his hands up in front of him in surrender. "I did not mean to. I greatly apologize." He dipped his head downward and bowed.

"Did you just bow?" Melissa laughed at the silliness that was her friend. Scooting the kitchen chair back, she walked over to the couch and sat down by Emily. She pulled her legs up so that they were for the most part, underneath her. "By the way, you lost your seat."

"Wha...I was only up for like two minutes." The timer for the microwave went off, signaling that his pizza rolls were done.

"Think of it as me accepting your apology."

"Which was unconvincing and totally fake," Emily added.

Connor shook his head at the betrayer. "Then, I won't bother sharing." He lifted up the bowl, indicating it.

"Did you already forget that I don't eat that stuff. Vegetarian, remember?" Melissa shook her head in exasperation. She honestly didn't know how dense and oblivious these siblings could be. Though, she had to admit that she could be just as bad or even worse at times. Like when it came to her dream boy. She still couldn’t remember where she had seen him in the real world.

Connor's eyebrows rose with shock. "I actually did forget. And you fix the best hamburgers that I have ever eaten.”

"That's because she's the only one who knows how to cook out of the three of us," Emily said in between bites.

Connor shot her a disgusted look. "Chew your food before you speak." Emily stuck her tongue out at him.

Melissa winced and turned away from her. "Eww. That's disgusting, even for you."

"Whatever." Emily glanced down at her phone. "Oh, my gosh. It's time! The music video will be released in one minute." She started flapping her hand, hitting Melissa in the arm. "Hurry up!"

Sighing, Melissa turned on both the TV and the laptop. She turned on the Bluetooth on the laptop then connected it to the tv. Then she went to JPEntertainment's official website. The clock on the laptop turned to three and a brand new video was uploaded. She clicked on it.

She really hoped this video was worth staying up into the wee morning hours. Guess it was a good thing that it was Saturday.

JPEntertaiment’s logo flashed across the screen. The screen turned white then a colorful villa with a pond popped up. The six members of Vortex were scattered apart, sitting on the steps.

Connor gasped from where he sat on the sofa chair. "There's Tae! Oh, he looks so good!" He pointed to the screen. Melissa shook her head and ignored her friend, that boy had a serious obsession with Tae-joon. Just like how Emily had one with In-jae and how Melissa herself had one on him before her.

The camera focused on each member before the music started. When the camera landed on Tae-joon, Melissa felt her heart thump. Butterflies took flight in her stomach and her throat tightened.

When the hell did she start liking Tae-joon?

. . .

Melissa found herself standing in an abandoned Walmart. Not a soul in sight. Why would she dream herself here, and all alone at that?

She walked out of the store. The parking lot wasn't any different. No cars or people whatsoever. Shopping carts laid tipped over and scattered across the lifeless parking lot.

"What happened here?" A voice said from behind her making her jump. The sound of footsteps from behind her came to a stop beside her. When her dream boy saw her looking at him, he flashed her one of those lopsided grins that he always seemed to wear. "What?"

She looked away, a blush rising to her face. "Nothing." He let out a deep, infectious laugh that caused her heart to flutter. What was with her, becoming all flustered over someone that didn't exist?

Her dream boy took a step forward. When he looked back at her, his brown eyes were sparkling and that mischievous grin of his was showing. "Let's have some fun. There's no one around."

Her heart skipped a beat then began to race. It was pounding so hard in her chest to the point where it almost hurt. Her face felt like it was on fire. She put the back of her palms against her cheeks hoping to cool them.

Was he being serious right now? And what kind of fun did he mean? Her heart fluttered and raced just thinking about it. "We can have a race and not get into trouble." What? He moved away from her and came to a stop by the nearest shopping cart. He picked it up and gave it a long stare.

Her beating heart slowed then sunk low into her chest. He wanted to race? Here? Now? That was definitely not what she had in mind when he had pointed out that the two of them were alone. She cleared her throat. "That's what you meant? You want to race shopping carts?"

He looked at her with a wide grin. "Yeah!" He grabbed a second shopping cart and wheeled them both to where she stood. "Haven't you ever thought about trying it? I know I have. I even attempted it once with Jay and Chan-woo but we were busted then kicked out of the store."

"Who?" Those names sounded familiar to her but she couldn't place where she heard them before. "Wait, you were kicked out of a*****e?" The smile that he flashed her made her believe him. His smile told her that he was the type of person to pull a stunt like that.

"They're my brothers. My older brothers."

He pushed a cart in front of her. She wrapped her hands around the handle, not really sure what to do. "You have brothers?" She realized that she didn't really know anything about him. Strange. He was a part of her imagination so shouldn't she know everything there was to know about him?

"We're not related by blood. We actually work together. They're the closest I've ever had to having siblings." His expression was filled with love when he spoke of them.

She knew what he meant. To have someone unrelated by blood to become a part of your family. She had that exact same experience almost two years ago. That was when she had met the siblings and thanks to them, she now knew what it felt like to have siblings of her own.

"Ready?" He asked her.

"I actually don't know what I'm supposed to do." She confessed.

He barked out laughter. "It's easy, I promise. You just have to hold on to the handle and push off using one foot."

It wasn't as easy as he had made it sound. She fell off a couple of times and lost her balance on others. It was also really hard to steer.

They came to a stop, falling onto the cement laughing. "What next?" She panted in between her laughter.

Her dream boy gave an awkward shrug from where he laid beside her. "Wanna go inside? Make goofy faces at the camera?"

Were there even cameras in the dream Walmart? "Sure." Even if there weren't any, it still sounded like fun.

They picked themselves up from the ground. The store was abandoned just as she had first assumed. They walked down the aisles and listed all the things that they wanted to try. One by one, they went down the list. They sang and played air guitar. When they came to the hat section, they tried on the hats, scarves, and sunglasses.

One of their trips down a food aisle revealed an empty shopping cart. Somehow, she wound up in it with her dream boy pushing it, running down the aisles. She swiped a bag of chips and started eating them. She figured that since it was a dream then why not. "Mel."

"Did you say my name?" Melissa asked her dream guy.

"No."

"Then where-" Melissa looked around her surroundings finding nothing out of the ordinary. The voice had sounded oddly familiar. "Mel." Her vision started to blur then turn black and her head pounded. Melissa shut her eyes as the familiar dizziness from when her dreams ended take over.

"Not yet!" She heard her dream guy shout over the pounding in her head.

"Mel." Someone shook her shoulder. Groaning, she rolled over and shielded her eyes from the sunlight that seeped in through the blinds. The person shook her shoulder again. "It's two-thirty in the afternoon. Didn't you want to go to the library to study?"

She groaned again before opening her eyes. That's right, it's almost finals week and she wanted to get some studying in. She looked around and found that she had fallen asleep on the couch. Connor was curled up on the chair, his legs hanging precariously off the edge. "Should we wake him?"

"Leave him," Emily grunted.