Chapter 8.5: It Can't Be Real

Chapter 8.5: It Can't Be Real

“Oh, please, Lion, Just tell me where we’re going!”

"Nope. You've just gotta be patient, Miss Mousey."

A  mixture of frustration and confusion clouded her eyes, and she glared at me as we slowly made our way up the palm-sprinkled hill.

The fronds of the giant palm trees all around us swung gracefully in the wind, and a cool sea breeze swirled around us, carrying the scent of the ocean.

She walked next to me, pouting over the fact that I didn’t want to ruin my little surprise. I could still see traces of the Oasis I once knew, but beside me walked a much more vivid version of that person, filled with zeal and curiosity.

~~~~~

"Oh, please, Lion, just tell me where we're going!"

"Nope. You've just gotta be patient, Miss Mousey."

We were walking down a lonely path, leading into rolling hills sprinkled with palm trees, their palms gracefully swaying in the crisp ocean breeze. The sunlight beat down, and I was grateful that I'd thought to put up my hair. Lion walked next to me, striding calmly with his signature smirk stamped on his face. During the past two years of being apart, he had grown and changed; his hair longer, traces of a beard on his jaw. His face had grown more slender and his eyes older, but he was still Lion and I was overjoyed to see him.

“Fine.” Her voice rose in pitch a little, and I turned to see her pouting.

That was my first time seeing her in two years, the last time being in the lobby of a hospital. I looked at her now. She had changed over our time apart. She had gained an air of grace, I could see it in the bend of her neck and the way her hair fell. Even now, as she hissed at me and demanded I tell her where she was being taken, she was beautiful.

I was in town that weekend for school, studying techniques and practices at the local hospital  (to my mother’s dismay). Medical school was an enormous challenge, and I spent many nights asleep on a text book, and even more dreaming of her. She clouded everything I did, including my thoughts and dreams, whether waking or not. I was going insane.

Which is why as soon as I got the opportunity, I arranged to take her out that day. I needed to see her, just to make sure she really wasn’t just a figment of my imagination.

~~~~~

"Fine." I pouted. Since Lion was in town for the weekend, he'd looked me up, and arranged to take me out for the day.  (Dad reluctantly agreed when I reminded him of all the help Lion was when I was in the hospital.) Try as I might, I could not squeeze the day's plans out of Lion. He simply chuckled every time I asked, and gave me the same "Miss Mousey" schpiel. It was, however, hard to stay angry with him.

Our leisurely pace gave us time to talk and catch up. I told Lion about Spectrum, taking care to skip over Blaize's flirtations. He told me about medical school and all the challenges and late nights it presented him with. It explained the unshaven fuzz that shaded his jawline, accentuating his dimples when he spoke.

We came to a stop at a beautiful, secluded stretch of beach. The tide lazily rolled up onto the surf, filling the air with the calming, rushing sound of water. Oasis stopped and looked around, her eyes wide. A smile spread onto her face as she took it all in.

~~~~~

As we rounded a final bend in the long, uphill path,  a beautiful and isolated stretch of beach came into view.  The sand sparkled like billions of tiny diamonds and the ocean was perfectly clear. Seagulls swooped and dived in midair, performing mesmerizing airborne acrobatics. I stood and stared for a moment, taking every detail, memorizing it as best I could. Lion watched me, his lopsided grin making my stomach do summersaults.

"So, whaddaya think, Mousey?" I walked up behind her, and she turned to me, eyes wide.

"This place is stunning...how did you know it was here?" Her voice was heavy with tones of awe.

“"Well, my mom and I came here on vacation when I was fourteen, and my mom asked me to navigate and...I got lost." I looked around at the deserted beach. 

“It’s beautiful.” I stood there watching her take t in. She walked from tree to tree, eyes wandering over every grain of sand. She seemed to glide around, and it seemed almost impossible to me that she was the same girl who, only a few years ago, could barely move at all. Oasis seemed to be more like an apparition that a real person. The way she smiled and spoke, I was once again hit with the fear that she wasn’t even real.

~~~~~~

          "So, whaddaya think, Mousey?" He had walked up behind me, and I turned to face him, suddenly aware of how close he was. Unlike with Blaize, I wanted nothing more than for him to come closer....

          "This place is stunning...how did you know it was here?" Lion ran his hand through his brilliant orange hair and looked sheepishly at me.

          "Well, my mom and I came here on vacation when I was fourteen, and my mom asked me to navigate and...I got lost." I smiled.

“That sounds typical of you.” She laughed.

I shot her a wry look.

"Oh, does it? You know what sounds typical of you, O?"

"What?"

"Being sopping wet!" 

Suddenly, she was soaked down the entire front of her shirt, via a water balloon that I’d been hiding from her. For a moment she stood, shocked, allowing the cold water to run down her shirt. She looked up as me slowly, a scolding look etched into her features. And then, she smiled, spotting the bucket of pre-filled balloons I’d left before getting her. She ran to them, grabbing an armful before I realized what was happening.

“It takes two to tango, Lion!” And she was off, firing balloons wildly into the air, with non-existent accuracy.

~~~~~

          "That sounds typical of you."  Lion raised an eyebrow, leaning forward, one hand hidden behind his back.

          "Oh, does it? You know what sounds typical of you, O?"

          "What?"

          "Being sopping wet!" I noticed that he was holding a water balloon behind his back, but it was too late. With a mighty battle cry and an enormous splash, the entire front of my shirt was soaked, my skin chilled. I could already feel the cold, biting water seeping trough the thin denim of my shorts. I'm reasonably sure I shrieked, which was my natural reaction to the sudden chill gripping my torso. My mind set on revenge, I whipped around out of the reach of Lion's grasp, and found my target. Hidden in a cluster of bushes was a small bucket full of more balloons, begging for me to put them to use.

“It takes two to tango, Lion!” One of my balloons had just narrowly missed his head.

Right away, she shot off several balloons at me, widely missing.

She was giggling, filling the air with a musical sound that echoed off the rocks surrounding our secluded strip of beach. 

I fired a few shots back, laughing too hard to actually hit her with one.

~~~~~

I'd already pelted Lion with a fair few balloons before he decided to fight back, lunging for the bucket and barring me from the rest of his stash of the brightly colored, latex, water-filled weapons. Thus ensued our (what we would someday refer to as ) epic battle, a struggle between Orange and Purple.

We both had absolutely terrible aims. Oasis managed to hit me exactly once, and I never even managed to graze her with a balloon. 

“You win! You win!” I walked over two her, feigning weakness. “You’re just… too… strong!”

She popped the balloon she held over my head, plastering my hair to my head.

~~~~~

I had to admit, Lion's aim was a formidable adversary, but out of sheer luck, his shots never even grazed me. On a strange twist of events, when I blindly threw my last balloon at him, as if by miracle, the projectile struck him and burst, covering his shirt exactly where he'd soaked mine.

“You win! You win!” He was laughing and out of breath, pretending to be injured. “You’re just… too…strong!” I popped the last balloon over his head, and crossed my arms.

The water was freezing, now seeping from my hair and chilling my upper body. Luckily, I’d worn my swim trunks. My shirt stuck to my skin, and I had to wrestle it to get it off. I kicked off my shoes and dug my feet into the sand, hoping to warm myself up.

Oasis was making a strange face. I figured she was cold, too, and I remembered a question I should’ve asked earlier.

"You DID wear your swimsuit underneath that, didn't you?" Her eyes lit up, I assumed remembering the fact that she could escape from the dripping cold of her shirt.

"Yes, I did ." 

~~~~~ 

Lion laughed, doing his best to disencumber himself from his sopping shirt. To my delight and embarrassment, he simply pulled his shirt over his head, exposing a toned and golden bare chest. I felt frozen stiff, sure my violet cheeks were filling with pigment, as he kicked off his shoes and digest his toes into the warm sand. He looked at me quizzically, as if he was about to ask me something. Oh, no, he noticed my staring…!

"You DID wear your swimsuit underneath that, didn't you?" Relief over that fact that I hadn't yet been found out flooded through me.

"Yes, I did ." My speaking was disjointed and awkward, and my mind launched into a silent wrestling match.

Was I attracted to Lion? I had never felt that way about anyone before, but I'd never had much of a chance. Here he was, shirtless and toned, with dimples that made my heart stop.

She still stood there, frozen, staring at me with an expectant expression. “Well…do you wanna change?”

“Oh! Yes, I’m going to change, but, do you think you could…?” I got the message. She wanted privacy, and I mentally kicked myself for not figuring it out earlier.

I jogged over to a small bush, behind which was hidden a small basket. I double checked to make sure all I packed remained there--it did--before I heard Oasis’ voice, telling me it was alright to turn around. I picked up the basket and umbrella that I’d brought.

~~~~

"Well...do you wanna change?”

"Oh!" I sprang back to real life, thrust out of my momentary indecision. "Yes, I'm going to change, but, do you think you could...?"

It dawned on him that I was asking for some privacy, and he nodded his head vigorously and went over to poke around with something hidden behind the trunk of a tree.

I extricated myself from my clothes, leaving a (thankfully) modest one-piece.  I called out to Lion, and he turned around holding a picnic basket and an umbrella.

“I figured you’re be hungry!” I yelled. “It’s dinnertime!”

I’d packed hot dogs for us, hoping she wouldn’t notice that it wasn’t me who had cooked them, but rather a fast food restaurant a few miles away. 

Oasis told me about how she met Calypso, and how frightened of Calypso she was at first. I snorted at this, and my drink when up may nose, which set her off laughing as well. By the time we’d finished the hotdogs, Oasis was nearly in tears.

~~~~~

"I figured you'd be hungry!" He yelled. "It's dinnertime!"

We ate together on the beach, laughing so hard that I was nearly in tears and liquid had gone up Lion's nose. By this time, the sun had begun to cast a rosy glow around everything, reflecting off the water as it grew in size and sank lower. Lion packed up the picnic and grabbed me by the hand.

“C’mere, O! You need to see this.” I pulled her by the wrist to the edge of the shore, inwardly laughing at the way she looked at the water suspiciously. I stopped, and she ran into me absentmindedly. “Do you see that, Mousey? When was the last time you watched the sun set?” I gazed at her, the rosy glow of the sun reflecting in her bottomless, unfathomable eyes. She couldn’t be real. Even though I was standing there, holding her hand, she couldn’t be….

I realized that I was still holding her hand, and quickly dropped it.

"You know what, Lion? I've never actually watched a sunset...sure, I've glanced at it, but---" Sha was rambling.

"Shhh.” I teased.  “You're being too loud, Mouse."

Did she notice that I wasn’t even paying attention t the sunset? I was watching her, through my sunglasses, wishing for her to be real.

~~~~~

"C'mere, O!  You need to see this." I was following nervously as we neared the water's edge, weary of the chance that he might have simply been trying to throw me in. The ocean looked cold. Lion stopped abruptly, and I ran strait into the back of him as I'd not noticed his sudden halt. He pointed toward the pink sky, truly smiling, with no smirk or lopsidedness in sight. " Do you see that, Mousey? When was the last time you watched the sun set?" 

He had dropped my wrist, and I wished he would have held it longer. "You know what, Lion? I've never actually watched a sunset...sure, I've glanced at it, but---"

"Shhh. You're being too loud, Mouse."

It was beautiful sundown, soft and pink with hints of orange and rose. The light played off of Lion's skin, reflecting in his lively orange eyes, so full of zeal. I found myself watching him instead of the setting star, and soon enough, he noticed.

“Oasis, you’re gonna miss it!” But, I wasn’t looking at the sunset, or anything lse really. The only thing I could see was her, surrounded by a halo of light.

I didn’t even realize I was doing it until…

~~~~~

         "Oasis, you're gonna miss it!" Our faces were a mere eight inched apart, and instead of turning back, he froze, his eyes searching mine.

          I didn't really understand what was happening, the main thing I remember was his face being six inches away...five...four...three...two...one. 

 

I kissed her. I could fell her tense up, and for a moment I was afraid that she would pull away. But then, she wrapped her arms around me and I was lost in the moment.

~~~~~

Our lips met, and his arms wrapped around me, a fire burning through my whole body. Every place we touched singed white-hot, and as my lips danced with his, the thirst for him I'd been feeling over the past two years had been quenched.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Lion... We missed sundown. It was so pretty..." Eventually, the both of us had to come up for air. 

         "Given the choice, I would've missed it again." Out of breath with adrenaline rushing through my veins, I smiled at her, and then scooped her into my arms.

~~~~~

"Oh, I'm sorry, Lion... We missed sundown. It was so pretty..." Lion leaned in, his famous smirk worn proudly once more.

           "Given the choice, I would've missed it again." His half lidded orange eyes plunged me so deep onto mind-numbing ecstasy that I almost didn't notice when he picked me up. Almost.

“Lion! What are you doing!? No! Don‘t!” I threw her in, soaking her for the second time while I howled with laughter. It didn’t last long, as she ran at me and pulled me in after her.

~~~~~

“"Lion! What are you doing?! No! Don’t!” He threw me in, just as I had been expecting. I could hear him howling with laughter, even under the surface of the warm water. I burst out of the water, intent on revenge, as I grabbed his wrist and yanked him after me.

The water was surprisingly warm, and so I felt no guilt in attacking Oasis with a series of well aimed splashes.
Revenge for the water balloons was utterly sweet.
Laughing and hooting, it almost seemed as though we’d both forgotten about what had just happened, and I wondered what would happen when we were through goofing off.

~~~~~

Lion was persistent, showering me with violent splashes, resembling tiny tsunamis.
We were ignoring the painfully large elephant in the room. We’d just kissed. Passionately, judging from all the romance novels I’d read as a teenager.
What would we do about it? Would it even be acknowledged?

The sun had gone down completely, and it was getting dark. I would need to take Oasis home soon, and I was dreading parting from her.

What should I say? We sloshed out of the water, sand sticking to our feet. The moon peaking out from behind one of the beach’s bordering hills, I decided to take the plunge and grabbed Oasis by the hands.

~~~~~

It had gotten dark by the time we finally made our way back onto the shore. Uncomfortable silence engulfed us, and Lion stared off into the horizon, his eyes unfathomable behind his sunglasses. Then, as if determined, he whipped around and took my hands in his. I felt like I was about to burst with joy, but couldn’t make a sound.

“So, what are we going to do about this?” I’d meant it to come out differently, talking about what we would do about our long-distance-friendship-that-might-be-more. Instead, it was lower and gruff, and sounded way more seductive than I’d intended it to be.

Oasis leaned in, close to me. I wondered whether it was from a chill, or something else…

“I don’t know, Lion.”

~~~~~

“So, what are we going to do about this?” His voice was barely a whisper, and I might’ve imagined it. I felt myself unconsciously moving closer to him, as if through instinct. It was beyond my control.

I don’t even think I registered that I was speaking, but the words that came out of my mouth were: “I don’t know, Lion.”

 

I pained look crossed over her face. She looked like a small storm was raging through her head, thoughts of indecision whirring through her eyes, much like mine, hidden behind sunglasses.

“This won’t work if we never see each other. I can’t do that, and neither can you.” Her lips barely moved.

“Why don’t we forget about that for now, then, and just enjoy the moment?”

She nodded.

~~~~~

The realization that it wouldn’t work for us hurt, like a knife in between my ribs. I looked at Lion, face stoic behind his mirrored glasses, and my heart who, just a few minutes ago was filled with joy, was now haunted with despair.

“This won’t work if we never see each other. I can’t do that, and neither can you.” 

“Why don’t we forget about that for now, then, and just enjoy the moment?”

His voice intense and driven, I nodded.

I don’t remember how long we stood there, reveling in each other. I don’t remember what happened next. In fact, the only thing I remember next was that…

~~~~~

I would never know what happened after that. It seemed as though we stood there for an eternity, but somehow, it seemed to be leaving me as well.  And then, I jerked to a stop, and…

 

I sat bolt upright in the stiff dorm bed. What had I been dreaming about? I sat there, lights on, wondering for minutes on end, but eventually gave up and laid back down.

 

I sat up in bed. I think I’d been dreaming, but I had no idea what about. I sat there for about ten minutes, trying to remember what had evidently been a good dream, but eventually I wrote it off and laid back down in bed.

AN: So, obviously, this isn't an actual chapter. But, the blog just hit 1000 vies, and I felt like celebrating. So, here all of you go: My gift to you for 1000 views, as well as a little celebration of summer's approach. LET THE LION X OASIS SHIPPING COMMENCE!