Prank Me Love

In A World Where Roses Bloom

Do you believe?" he cried.

Tink sat up in bed almost briskly to listen to her fate.

She fancied she heard the answers in the affirmative, then again she wasn't sure.

"What do you think?" she asked Peter.

"If you believe," he shouted to them, "clap your hands; don't let Tink die."

- An excerpt from "Peter Pan" by J.M. Barrie

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CHAPTER SIX:

I woke up this Saturday with a strange dream.

It wasn't a dream I usually have. Nor a nightmare. It's just a dream where I was laughing at a place full of flowers everywhere and a guy was talking to me. He was holding my hand, in a very intimate way and I was leaning my head against his shoulder. But the weirdest thing of all about it is that the guy was James. And we were constantly just talking but it felt strange... Because we were acting like a couple in love. And we even kissed in the end.

Oh, god. What did I dream about?

I sat upright, trying to shake my head so that I would know I am fully awake. I dreamt about James. Is it some kind of subconscious fantasy? It really felt so real, though. Like a Déjà vu-real thing.

Today was supposedly my scheduled appointment with Dr. Flynn. He's a psychologist, a friend of my dad, who has been looking out for me since the incident two years ago.

Surprisingly though, I hadn't seen James nor felt his presence around this day. And it made me wondered what he's doing right now. Was he still asleep somewhere? I didn't see any blanket on the coffee table... Maybe, he'd finally found something more interesting than annoying the hell out of me. Well, whatever anyway. Why do I even care?

I was still so deep in thoughts throughout the whole drive with dad to the hospital this morning, that I didn't even realize we're now standing at the out-patients department lounge and dad is watching me intently from where he stood in front of me.

"You gonna be fine by yourself?" he asks me worriedly, his brows forming an almost V. I stare at him silently as he quickly checks the beeper from his pocket with a concerned look marking his face. I gave him a small smile when he looks up at me and hugs me.

"I'll be fine," I gently say against his ear, "Now, go and save more lives," I told him and he kisses my forehead. He slowly pulls away then leaves me with one last glance before he walks off to start his rounds on the second floor.

"Ms. Shane Woods?" I hear the nurse on the receptionist's desk call out and I turn around raising my hand as I walk my way towards the room I have been walking in and out for almost two years now. The room where I could only re-open the buried thing behind my past that I've never wanted anyone else to see.

And the last thing that crosses my mind as I walked through the door, already finding Dr. Flynn sitting on his seat inside with those signature thick glasses, was the most unexpected thing I'd ever wanted to think of. I saw a picture of a guy smiling at me... But instead of him-whom-I-can't-be-named, it was someone else. A first. A new guy...

It was James.

I blinked back to reality, trying to figure out where I really was... Dr. Flynn looks at me for a second, his eyes silently asking me and I smiled back reassuringly, not knowing entirely the reason why I just saw that image of James inside my head nor why he was even in my dreams last night. But it felt different. It felt new... And I felt suddenly trapped.

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"How are you, Shane?" Dr. Flynn smiles at me from behind his desk once I settled down on one of those clients' seats across from him. I smiled back at him, feeling somehow lost at the moment but still fine.

"I'm good," I say, getting comfortable as I speak.

"It's a really bright Saturday for September, huh?" he grins wider then nods, "Anything to share about the past month that had passed?"

I took a deep breath and thought for a minute.

"Well, nothing really happened that much. But I met this guy two weeks ago," I began and Dr. Flynn gestures at me to go on. "Though he's a little bit weird."

"Weird? How?"

I went back to the first day I met James sleeping on our driveway. The image of him lying there like a dead creep made me smile again. "I don't know. He's just so different."

"And?" Dr. Flynn waits for me to further explain it. But I didn't know what to say next so I rambled on what comes into my mind.

"He's... I'm not really sure..." I trail off, a little bit anxious about how to describe it, "I felt like I've known him somewhere before. He just weirdly fits right into my life, you know? And it's very strange that it felt so familiar in some way. Like he'd been already there for so long, I just didn't realize. Even when he annoys me and I get mad at him, he's so funny that he just gets away with it all the time."

I laugh lightly as I mentally recall that day when he was driving me back from school to my house. He was telling me these crazy experiences he had that I found so hilarious. I can't even remember what they were about but the mere memory made me giggle.

"I see you're getting along with this guy just perfectly fine, you're even laughing just thinking about him," Dr. Flynn says to me, making me blush. I suddenly become so conscious of the look on my face. Is it obvious?

By the end of the session, he was already grinning widely at me, finding it amusing that I was beginning to smile again. I look at him patiently, waiting for what he was about to say next.

"This seems to be a development, Shane." He tells me then, writing something down on a paper on his desk. "You're in a better mood today compared to the last time we've met."

"Yeah," I said, sighing in relief. And so, he goes on with the same thing he does every time we end a session. He tells me of such things and that and more other things that I've already long heard before. But I still went with it, because I knew it was for my own good.

"This guy seems good, Shane," he finally says to me, when I stand up to leave. "I really hope this friendship you both have would continue to grow even more." He tells me this with a smile I can't quite figure out what means. I smiled back, though.

Yeah, he's right. James is a really good guy. Even more, he's really something. Something I'm looking forward to seeing more.

And more.

"Why are we here?" I asked James from the passenger seat, just when he decided to park on the side of the highway.

After my appointment with Dr. Flynn, I got a text from dad telling me that James was going to wait for me at the hospital's parking lot. He told me that he wasn't able to drive me back because of an emergency he needed to attend to. I never wanted to admit it out loud, but knowing that I was going to see James this day made my mood even brighter than what Dr. Flynn had told me. I guess, being with this creep isn't really that bad at all.

Now, here we are, near the borderline of the town, up the hill where you can see the view of the whole neighborhood down the cliff by the edge of the highway exiting Parkerville. I found it ridiculous and weird that he's here up to something. With me.

"This is a new place I've discovered," James says to me simply, turning the engine off. I watch him get out of the car and look out to the view ahead of us. The scene was just too momentarily breathtaking that I didn't mind nagging him out of here. I decided to go on with it instead.

"Come on," James turns around and gestures his hand at me to come out. I followed, smiling as I close the door on my side. I walked and leaned beside him on the hood of my truck, trying to breathe in the sweet breeze of the wind.

"This place is so beautiful," James sighs, his eyes staring straight ahead. I glance up at him and back to the scene in front of us, starting to see what he was seeing now. Yeah, it is. It really is beautiful.

"Something like this shouldn't be ignored," James continues, "I wonder how many people out there had seen this place aside from us. It's sad to know there's not too many of them."

"I don't think it's really sad, though," I say all of a sudden, not knowing where the words are coming from. "It doesn't need too many pairs of eyes to prove that this kind of beauty exists. As long as someone knows this is real, it's worth existing. We're worth proving it." It felt like the words have been said before, but I can't remember when and how... But it sounds so strangely familiar leaving my lips like that.

I turn to James, half-smiling at my words, and was surprised to see him staring down at me with that strange expression again. I wonder what he's thinking whenever he looks at me that way... What is he thinking right now?

"James?" I looked at him nervously, unable to tear my gaze away. He was looking at me with that kind of intensity that just melts my insides. And ever so slowly, everything around us just seemed to disappear. I looked at him and he had those beautiful eyes, those ones that just kind of captivates you in a way that you had no other choice but to stare back at them and give in to the weight of its hold.

I was too caught up with the moment, just staring at him. I didn't even realize James was already leaning down towards me. His eyes pierced right through me. I stopped breathing for a second.

And all of a sudden, we were kissing.

I couldn't sleep.

The memory of James' lips touching mine this afternoon made me squirm alone on my bed, trying to force myself to sleep. I keep replaying the moment inside my head, over and over again, like a jammed cassette tape. It was so entirely startling at first, I haven't even registered it right away when it happened.

I closed my eyes tightly. How will I face him tomorrow when he shows up again? I can't imagine it.

A knock on my floor-to-ceiling window made me jumped in surprise. I quickly turned my bedside lamp on and adjust my vision through the dim light. I see James standing at my balcony, knocking on the glass door, looking at me.

I sharply intake a deep breath, not very sure of what I would do next. Should I let him in? What if Dad or Mom wakes up and finds him here?

"Open up," he mouths at me, pointing down to the lock on my window. I just stared at him for a minute, just leaning against the bed frame with a startled look on my face. Then after a while, I don't know what prompts me to get up, I'd let him in.

"What are you doing here?" I ask in a whisper.

"I need someplace to crash in," he answers as he gets inside. He quickly shrugs his black jacket off, revealing a blue cotton shirt beneath it.

"I thought you're sleeping on our couch?" I frowned. Didn't dad let him in?

"It was a last-minute thing," he explains, "Your dad thought I was going to sleep someplace else, but then I didn't found one and by the time I went here, your house's locked already."

"Oh, James," I said out of pity.

"Nah," James smiles down at me, "I'm already fine now since you're letting me crash in."

"Okay," I said, returning his smile, "Just don't make too much noise when you go downstairs—"

"Who said I was going downstairs?" he frowns back to me.

"What?" I said a little louder and suddenly remembered dad and mom are just across my room, enough to hear my voice. I settled into a sharp whisper, "You're not going to sleep here!"

"Sure, I am," James smirks and I scowled back to him.

"No, you won't."

"I can't go downstairs there alone. It's too dark and I'm scared," he says, giving me that weird puppy eyes that eventually made me smile a bit.

"No," I tried to remain my straight face but failed, "You serious?"

"Hell, yeah," James says walking past by me, plopping down on my bed with a bounce.

"Get out of there, Jamey boy," I warned, staring him down.

"No, I'm already sleepy." He fakes a yawn and settles himself comfortably on the soft mattress. I groaned in frustration and walked towards the other side—opposite of where he was—and sat on the farthest corner.

"We can't sleep here together," I said stubbornly, making it sound reasonable.

"We can," James counters back, looking weirdly feel-at-home on my own bed, "I'm not going to do something to you, trust me." He says, closing his eyes then turned my bedside lamp off.

"James!" I whispered, half-shouting against the darkness.

"C'mon," he tells me, "It's already late, we all need to sleep."

I muffled a scream against my pillow and lied down in frustration on the edge of my bed, making sure I was putting more distance than needed between us.

"You're gonna pay for this tomorrow," I muttered, shifting to my side, my back facing him.

"Don't really care," he groggily replies, as if he was already half asleep. "It's already worth it," he adds in a soft whisper.

I sighed and decided to let him get away for tonight. Just for tonight. And just as I was about to close my eyes again, I suddenly thought of asking him one last thing.

"James?" I asked through the silence, wondering if he already had fallen asleep. After a few seconds, I feel him shift slightly from his side of the bed.

"Yeah?" he says softly, waiting for what I was about to tell him.

"Are you really scared of the dark?" I asked out of curiosity, thinking if he was just kidding a while ago. It was a dumb question, though.

"Alone? Yeah." He answers shortly, sighing heavily, "But with you? Not at all."

I was still deep in my thoughts, wondering about what he meant by those words. Was he saying it literally or was it some kind of a metaphor? And by the time I began to hear the first round of his soft snores through the calming noises of the crickets outside, I fell asleep.

It was the first-ever real sleep I had for the past two years I stayed half-awake. And the only one that made me dream of a good one too. A very good and happy dream.

"You look chipper this morning, honey." Dad notices me, glancing up from the newspaper, with one cup of coffee hanging by his free hand. "Got a good night's sleep?"

I nodded at him, smiling. Yeah, he got that right. I woke up this morning feeling better than I ever did, only finding the other side of the bed empty, as if James hadn't happened last night. But I felt somehow relieved that I didn't have to deal with him this morning because I knew for a fact it'll just get weirder between us after what had happened yesterday. The kiss.

"Morning, dad," I gave dad a kiss on the cheek, sitting beside him were a French toast is already waiting for me. 

"Morning," dad sighs, flipping another page as he stares down on the news section.

"Morning, guys," I look up, finding James settling down on a chair across us with a knowing smirk on his face. I gave him a warning glare and continued on with my breakfast instead.

"You did great last night, James," I hear dad say beside me, making me froze down on my seat. Did he know about last night? Did he hear my voice talking? Oh god, I'm so dead.

James, on the other hand, just looks to dad with a calm expression and nods. "Yeah, I did?"

"What are you talking about?" I said nervously glancing at the both of them while I try to hide my uneasiness with a shaky smile. Luckily, dad was too busy reading the newspaper to even notice my face.

"Apparently, James here, cleaned the garage last night," Dad answers me, still not bothering to look up, and I silently sighed in relief. So THAT was what he was talking about.

"Really?" I turn to James, who is also too busy indulging his way through our breakfast to even look at me.

"Generous of him, honey," dad replies instead with a nod of approval, looking across the table to James, "He said your truck needed someplace warm and comfy for her to stay."

"Oh," I was taken aback. I never expected him to even think about my car with such concern. Why would he even care that much about the truck, anyway?

"You didn't have to," I tell James, feeling touched all of a sudden.

"Can't ignore a lady when she needs help," he simply shrugs, giving me a glance with a small smile tugging the corners of his lips, "She looked pretty lonely out there in the dark night. So, I thought of giving her a place to stay so she'd be happy."

I paused, feeling my heart stopped for a moment. It was with him being like this that makes it all together so hard for me to ignore it. The way he just simply puts everything like it's something he needs to do for me. I watch him from where I sat and thought for a second, Yes, he really did made her pretty damn happy—so happy it almost made her cry and wanted to kiss him. Once again.

Once more. I wanted to kiss him again.