Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

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RYST

Dream Journal

There was a flower growing from the ground— a white flower. I took one step to my left. Another white flower grew out of the ground. I took a step to my left. Another white flower grew out of the ground, but it was vague. Barely there. I took a step to my left. A clear flower grew from the ground. I took a step to my left. An outline of a flower grew out of the ground. I took a step to my left. An idea of a flower grew out of the ground. I took a step to my left. I thought a flower grew out of the ground. I took a step to my left. Did a flower grow out of the ground? I took a step to my left. A flower—

I blinked heavy eyes open and reached for my journal. I was still blinking away the dream when Nayth came in, smiling and wearing dark grey baggy lounge pants and a pale blue t-shirt. "Yummy," I said as he leaned down to kiss me.

"Good afternoon, Methela."

"Hmm? WHAT?!"

He chuckled, and I thought it was my favorite sound. "It's 1:00."

"AGH! That's why I feel like my bladder is going to explode!" I ran to the toilet.

When I came back out, the yummy man was sitting cross-legged on the middle of the made bed, holding a smoothie in his left hand, and his right arm was open. I crawled into his lap, taking the smoothie. He kissed the left side of my neck and nipped my earlobe with his teeth. "How are you feeling, Ryst?" he asked cautiously.

"Aahh, well, there's more than one way to answer that question. Hungry. Horny. Wondering why we are sitting on the made bed, clothed. Weirded out?"

Sexy chuckle. How was chuckling sexy? It just was— because it was Nayth. "Hey, will you say 'Do you want me to catch a starliner and come over for a cuddle little buddy' in your drippy sex voice?"

Booming laughter. "Oh clouds, Ryst. I think Ren is the second funniest person I've ever met. I talked to them, by the way. A bit ago."

"Yeah, how are they? Good?"

"Hilarious, that's how they are. Listen. I want to talk to you about something, okay? It's just an idea. Something to consider. I got worried, alright? When you didn't wake up for so long. I thought maybe you were in a relapse. So I called them to see if I should do something. I hope that's okay?"

I waved him off, "Sure, Ahtah. You can call whoever you want. They're good, though?"

"They're great. Peydran told me about your relapses, so I was fine once he explained everything."

"I'll tell you if I'm in a relapse, Nayth. Usually I don't sleep when that happens."

"I know. But Ryst, I think we need to make an effort to sleep regularly. I'm concerned about how little sleep we've been getting. So, do you think we can maybe try to dial back all of this — um, well, horniness? Is it possible to turn the volume down, um, together? To decide together to dial it down, and talk and sleep? And then, we can turn the volume back up as loud as we want to after we've gotten regular sleep? What do you think?"

I got off his lap and put the empty smoothie glass on the nightstand. I looked at him, pensively. He was trying not to look at the thin camisole I was wearing. I could feel how much he wanted me, and I was practically panting for him. But his eyes looked worried. I pinched my lips together, trying not to burst out laughing in his sexy face. I was unsuccessful.

After I laughed for a second—or ten seconds, I schooled my features. "Okay. Let's make a deal. Give me ten naked minutes— volume all the way up. Ten naked, hot, blasting minutes, then we can try to turn down the volume?"

He lunged for me.

Two climaxes later, I was drowsy on the bare chest I loved so much, as Nayth hummed and strummed down my naked back with his fingers. How was I going to turn the volume down? "Do you think that will actually work, Nayth?"

He sighed. We were still in each other's thoughts and feelings. We didn't need to talk out loud, but it was nice to. I liked hearing his voice beneath my cheek. "I don't know Ryst. Do you want to try it now? Is two enough?"

"I'm trying not to laugh in your face, Nayth Carmidee. You are sighing like you're the most disappointing lover ever because I only got two orgasms in ten minutes— really, it was three since I felt yours too."

"I think Ren might write a symphony about how many orgasms two girls together can have in a row."

I ran to the toilet again so I wouldn't wet myself. I decided to tell the mystical force of erotica to go away for awhile. When I came out, teeth brushed, Nayth handed me another smoothie and said, "Come on, I never finished telling you about the knowing yesterday. I never even answered your question about 'Lovers are never separate.'"

I had forgotten about that. Yesterday I had gone off flying into space, then slept on the couch until Nayth woke me up for dinner. Then, apparently, after a romp in the hay, I had slept for almost sixteen hours. Nayth did have a point about sleeping more regularly. So, I followed him out to the living room.

He slid back a section of wood-paneled wall. Instead of instruments, this one covered bookshelves. "Ohhh… a library?"

"Sort of," he nodded. "I got a reputation for being a collector of rare books, antiques. Most of it isn't interesting to me. It's more the appearance of a hobby more than anything."

Then he waggled his eyebrows. "You might like this one, though." It was an old, linen-bound tattered book in a language I didn't know.

"It's Florian," he chuckled. "To Really Dance is the title."

I flipped it open and burst out laughing. "This is dancing? This is dancing in Floria?"

"Or something! No— but I did it all trying to find you. And, hey, it apparently works. Telepathically or in real life. You liked the closet, right?"

"Hey, I can't read this, I'm just looking at stick figures fucking standing up here. What is this book?! Are there tips for the women?"

Nayth shook his head, laughing, "No, no. It's just a stupid book, and it reads like it's a big, long joke. It's pretty funny, actually, which is very Florian. But the whole idea is that you can fuck standing up without needing the wall. You do all those wall squats and build up your quads and hamstrings so—"

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

We were laughing too hard for him to finish the sentence. "Here, we'll get it uploaded and translated and you can peruse it later. Alright, here's the one that's actually important."

He pulled out a really small book— it fit in his hands almost perfectly. "The Pathless Path, it's in Sturm. We'll get it uploaded and translated for you too. Here, I'll read this page for you. Ah, in Universal it's:"

"Twists and turns

on roads unknown;

the path of life."

"That's kind of what the whole book is like," Nayth concluded.

"Is it a book of poetry, Nayth? Where is it from? Or when is it from?"

He nodded, "It's sort of poetry and wise sayings, I think. I found it when I was fourteen. Actually, I found it a few months before I wrote my song 'Before Dusk.' There's a carnival in Sturm every autumn. It's really pretty. Anyway, during the carnival, there's stalls all through the main roads of the cities, and there was this stall with old books. It's one of those things I did. Where I didn't know what I was doing or why. My sister Freya and I were just going through the market— she's only a year younger than me."

I nodded that I knew, and he continued, "So, we're pretty much like twins. We did everything together as kids. Anyway, Freya always loves to shop and be in the middle of everything, so we were just going through the market, and I knew I would go over to that book, and I knew I would buy it, and I knew Freya would make fun of me, and I knew it didn't matter. So, I bought the book, and it changed my life."

"That was when I started buying old books, and I knew I was going to become a Minister. I knew I had to rise as high as I could go. I set my sights so high, so much higher than Dad. He was a little confused when I started planning a new business— not Carmidee Manufacturing. He wasn't upset or anything, just surprised. I couldn't blame him. I didn't understand it myself. I just knew that I needed to do it. So, he and mom and Freya supported me. And Borden. You know about Borden?"

"The guy who works so close with your dad at Carmidee Manufacturing?" I clarified.

Nayth nodded, "Ummm hmmm. He's going to fall in line for the next Minister of Manufacturing behind my dad. Borden is a good man. Trustworthy. And his wife is wonderful— Nika, you'll love her, I know. Anyway, it worked out in the long run, but for years I had no idea why I kept doing odd things. It made a strange kind of sense since my mom is Florian, and I was able to use the Tunnico glass from Mom's business and the Chalimin metal from Carmidee Manufacturing in all the hotels I built. So, on the outside it looks like I started Carmidee Hospitality as a blend of Sturm and Florian products from my families' businesses. But, all of that is just dressing. I did it because I knew I would, even though I didn't know why."

"Then, five years later, when I was nineteen, I started dreaming of a woman. A woman I wanted more than I wanted anything. And a lot of things started making sense. I know this is coming out in bits and pieces, and that's how it's all happened to me. It hasn't been a story in the right order. Hold on."

He started searching in his pad. "Lovers are never separate," he muttered. "That was it, right, Ryst?"

"Umm hmm," I agreed.

"Strintch!" he grabbed the pad and flipped it away. "Sorry, Ryst. Please, can I have one surprise?"

"What?" I asked, genuinely confused.

He pointed to his head, "It's not a secret, it's a surprise. I think I have managed to keep it a surprise, haven't I?"

I laughed, "Well, I guess so. I don't know what you're talking about. But I have surprises for you too. You don't know about them, do you?" I asked, pointing at my own head.

His eyebrows were up, "Really? Surprises? More than one?"

I laughed, "Yeah. But I'm not going to think about them, or I'll accidentally push them into your mind."

He nodded, "Okay. I'm sealing that all up in a lock box. No peeking."

"Promise," I nodded.

He flicked a few things on his pad, then pulled me onto the sofa with him. "Oh wait, need the guitar for this. Odd."

Once he retrieved the guitar, he shook his head ruefully. "This is kind of stupid. Here, read it. This is how the song goes:" He strummed some chords and sang a song that was basically a few words with a lot of "Ohhhhh, ohhh, ohhh" in between the words.

"Two In One"

Pot.

Ohhhh. Ohhhh. Ohhhh.

Lid.

Ohhhh. Ohhhh. Ohhhh.

Kettle.

Ohhhh. Ohhhh. Ohhhh.

Drum.

Ohhhh. Ohhhh. Ohhhh.

Strands.

Ohhhh. Ohhhh. Ohhhh.

Chord.

Ohhhh. Ohhhh. Ohhhh.

Two

in

one.

Lovers are never separate.

Ohhhh. Ohhhh. Ohhhh.

1/13/37

It was really easy to harmonize with him, so my alto joined his bass. He smiled at me as we finished the last "Ohhh. Ohhh. Ohhh."

"Your voice is pretty, Methela."

I shook my head, "Not like yours. I'm not tone deaf, but I'll never be a performer like you could be, Nayth."

"Well," he shook his head ruefully, "This song isn't—"

"Nayth, that song is written in Universal, and look at the date. Is that when you wrote it?"

His eyes widened in recognition, and he nodded.

"My birthday! Do you know what happened that day?! I was in the water! Scuba diving! And you were there. I felt you. I kept telling you to speak Universal. I saw Lucky, the Durn. A great sea beast. Magnificent! Then that night I dreamt of you, and you whispered, 'Lovers are never separate.' Were you dreaming? What happened Nayth? Here," I showed him a picture of Lucky the Durn, and a few other favorites from my birthday scuba diving trip.

His fingers strummed absently on the guitar, then he switched back to the chords of the song we'd just sung. His brow was furrowed, and he was looking off in the distance.

He shook his head, "I don't know. I just knew when we were in the porter, after dinner. I knew all of a sudden that you were going to say that you had a dream, and I knew I'd say 'Lovers are never separate.' It was like a memory or like a dream all at once. I don't really know how else to explain it. I had the feeling that I had whispered it before, but I don't really even remember writing this song. That's how I get. Everything is just bits and scraps. It doesn't really tell a story. . ."

"Well, I suppose you could've been writing this song and singing it while I was sleeping, dreaming of you and hearing it. That's kind of beautiful isn't it? If I heard you singing while I was asleep? You sang into my dreams?"

He grinned, "Yeah. But surely there's a better song somewhere else in here. Can we pretend it's one of my good songs, and not this one? Let's say it was 'Say my Name'. I wrote it the same night."

And then my Ahtah sang the most beautiful love song I'd ever heard. He'd been singing it to me on my birthday when I'd dreamt of him after seeing Lucky, the Durn.

Play "Say My Name" by Nayth Carmidee.

"Say My Name"

Say my name, baby.

Say it again.

Over and over.

And never stop.

I hum for you.

You hear me.

Your voice

It's the breeze.

Say my name, baby.

Say it again.

Over and over.

And never stop.

I'll hum

against your hair

Say my name.

Say it again.

Over and over.

And never stop, baby

Your name

A whisper on my lips

Say my name.

Say it again.

Tell me to never stop.

I'll never stop, baby.

I felt

you there.

It's not

only a dream.

Your voice

A breeze

A whisper

against my skin.

Say my name.

Say it again.

Over and over.

And never stop, baby.

I felt your need.

I know you hear me.

It's not only a dream.

Say my name.

Say it again.

Over and over.

And never stop.

It's not only a dream.

It's not only a dream.

1/13/37

I took the guitar out of his hands so I could put myself in his lap instead. "Sing that for me every day, for the rest of our lives, Nayth. And I'll pretend that's the song that said 'Lovers are never separate,' not the pot song. Can I undress you now?"

"Mmmm," he hummed his agreement against my lips.