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Notes: Read Doppelganger before you read this, please.
“What?”
His eyes opened just a little, seeing a smiling Rayan looking at him. His hair was different. It was red and Ethan sat up, rubbing his eyes. He reached out to touch the now red locks and frowned.
“Why red? Your blonde hair was better.”
“I don’t like blonde hair. It reminded me too much of Tom. And you took the brown and since we can’t look too much alike, my only choice was red. And red makes me more interesting! But come on. We have to get ready to go to England!”
England. He had never planned on going there ever. But now with the way things were, they had been to so many different towns and cities and even countries. Places he had never even thought of.
“You’re excited,” Ethan murmured, pulling on his clothes without much thought. He hated having to leave so early in the morning. It was still dark. He should have still been sleeping. He yawned again and wiped away the tears that had formed in his eyes.
“Of course I am. We‘re going to England! One of the greatest places to go. With all its history and everything.” He said it with all the excitement of a child on Christmas. Rayan was always excited to go somewhere new and to Ethan, it could have been anywhere. It didn’t matter. He wouldn’t admit it aloud but he was home sick. He missed the United States. He missed his own customs. He was sick of all the foreign food.
He couldn’t admit it because Rayan was so thrilled to go to different places. And knowing Rayan, he’d act like a woman if Ethan even mentioned being homesick.
“Rayan,” Ethan said, ready to bring Rayan out of his happiness because it was too early. He could at least do that much. “It’s not like we can actually see any of it. We have to stay inside, remember?”
He had been pulling his shirt on when Rayan wrapped his arms around him and planted his lips on Ethan’s neck, sucking gently. When he stopped, he straddled him and grinned.
“We could see a few sites. And it’s another new place to have sex, right?”
“Your mind works weird,” Ethan commented with a small smile. “Are you seriously thinking about something like having sex in different countries?”
“Aren’t you?”
“No,” Ethan answered. “I’m not a fucking weirdo like you, remember?”
Rayan laughed a little and got up off Ethan, crossing his arms. “But you’re the horny dick, right? It’s weird that you don’t think the same thing.”
“That’s because I’m not a weird horny dick.”
Ethan stood up and Rayan pulled the shirt down all the way rather roughly, teasingly, smiling.
They always teased each other in the most immature ways. If it was just as simple as calling each other weird and stupid or hiding pants. They always did it. Ethan could remember when he had been in high school; he had done the same thing with this first girlfriend. Always joking around with her. Just like he did with Rayan.
It still bothered him a bit he had found his lover in the form of a man. A man that had pulled him into a life of crime and looked exactly like him. The entire thing confused Ethan like nothing else. He didn’t even bother to talk about it with Rayan. Rayan would get sad he still didn’t ‘accept’ him or he’d just say they were soul mates.
And even through all the eccentricity he had gone through, he couldn’t pin the whole thing on them being soul mates. Yes, some weird stuff had happened but he was still a bit of a skeptic. Just a more understanding one.
“Are you still tired?” Rayan wrapped his arms around Ethan again, looking up to him. “Should I make you some coffee? Or do you want to nap in the car?”
“Nap in the fucking car, please. I can’t stand that shitty coffee.”
“So you’ve complained like a million times. I’ll be driving?”
“No. I’ll be driving as I nap. Hopefully we don’t get into any car accidents!” Ethan said sarcastically and Rayan let go of him and playfully punched his arm.
“Just go finish packing your things, you asshole,” Rayan said, leaving their bedroom. There wasn’t much left to pack. Just some clothes and a tooth brush. Knowing Rayan, he had probably packed the shampoo and soap up already. Plus anything else they had to share. So Ethan yawned once more and put all his clothes (which really were more like a few) into his backpack. He went to the bathroom and as he had guessed, everything was packed. Including his toothbrush which actually had been a surprise. He smiled.
They were all ready to go.
“You’re predictable,” Ethan said when he met up with Rayan to the door. “I knew you’d pack everything up.”
“I was trying to be nice but you know, maybe I’ll leave you to do all the work if you‘re going to be so pompous about it.”
“Who uses the word pompous?” Ethan asked.
“Me, that’s who. Now let’s go. I want to get to England and we can’t miss our flight!”
They didn’t have much at all. Just the essentials. They couldn’t spare too much else. Moving around a lot didn’t give them much time to settle down. They were actually lucky and were going to be staying in England for two weeks. It would reserve them some relaxation.
Rayan had probably put everything they needed into the car already and he clutched Ethan’s hand, leading him outside to the darkness. He could see a bit of the sun peaking out but that didn’t do him much good and he looked back at the apartment one last time. Maybe it was sentimental but they’d never see it again. They’d only been there for five days anyway.
Ethan still wasn’t sure how the hell they were able to rent all these apartments like this but from what Kale said ‘it was a bunch of mumbo jumbo that would bore him’. And Kale was usually right. He didn’t bother to ask again.
“You can take a nap in the back,” Rayan said when he got to the car. “The ride will take at least an hour so you’ll have some sleep. I’ll wake you up then.”
He yawned loudly and nodded once, showing he heard and walked to the back of the car. He used his backpack as a pillow and laid down on the back seats.
“Comfy?” He heard Rayan asked.
“Better than the damn floor I still have to fucking sleep on,” Ethan mumbled, closing his eyes. He felt the car begin to move and Rayan giggle. He still giggled. It wasn’t so weird anymore. It was actually comforting.
Rayan had turned him into one big romance book.
He yawned again and fell asleep quickly.
--
“Ethan! Wake up!”
Déjà vu was the first thing that came to Ethan’s mind. Those words had only been said to him an hour ago. He could feel Rayan shaking him awake and he pushed him off groggily.
“I’m up!” He yelled out, still tired. His eyes were closed and he found it tough to open them. He liked to sleep in, what could he say?
Rayan forcefully lifted him up. He was still stronger and it pissed Ethan off greatly. Although it did make him finally able to make his eyes open up and he saw Rayan was smiling in a satisfied way.
“The flight leaves in half an hour, Ethan. Come on. We don’t have to wait for long. You can sleep on my shoulder if you want.”
He pushed Rayan away from him and got out of the car irritably.
“I don’t think so. Come on. I’ll sleep on the plane ride.”
“You’re much too macho macho to sleep on my shoulder,” Rayan teased, handing Ethan a pair of sunglasses. Contacts were too much of a pain and if anybody saw them next to each other, it’d be obvious they were identical. Sunglasses were better than getting plastic surgery or some other extreme. They hardly had any bags and that didn’t take very long.
Rayan tried to grab Ethan’s hand and he held it back, although he kept looking around to see if anybody noticed. As much as he cared about Rayan and showed him that in their own privacy, he still felt uncomfortable showing it in public. Being with a guy in plain sight bothered him and made him feel even more paranoid. And not to mention he was a wanted man. Both reasons made him feel overly suspicious.
“You’re nervous,” Rayan noted when they got inside. “Is it because I’m a guy still?”
Ethan sighed. Rayan still wasn’t very understanding about his uneasiness in public and so he held his hand tighter. He understood the most he’d probably get from his open affection of Rayan was a dirty look. He just wasn’t comfortable with it yet. He didn’t want Rayan upset with him, though. Rayan was an asshole when he was.
“No. Just tired and wondering if anybody will notice we look alike.”
They sat down in the waiting area and Ethan felt his eyes closing again. He tried to remember how many hours had gotten in. He probably should have tried to go to sleep earlier but Rayan had come out of the shower and he’d look fuckable. And then it had all evolved from there.
Rayan wasn’t tired because Rayan was amazing. He never seemed hungry, tired, or weak. At least physically. Only when he had been shot. And that was a time Ethan didn’t like to think about.
It worried him sometimes. When was he vulnerable? But thinking like that got him nowhere.
He felt his eyes begin to close and his head lull to the side. That was until he was shaken.
“Don’t fall asleep here.”
“I’m tired.”
“And whose fault is that?”
He looked over to Rayan, glaring. It probably didn’t look as fierce as it was supposed to since he was tired. And he had sunglasses on. Still, it got the point across with his accompanied frown and at that moment, who cared if he didn’t look ready to kill.
“Yours. You came out of the shower sexily.”
Rayan only laughed and crossed his arms. “I just came out of the shower. That was it. I didn’t do anything ‘sexily’. You’re an idiot.”
“You seduced me.”
“I came out of the shower and then you jumped me. How is that seducing?”
He’d been ready with a comeback but then he had yawned and it ruined his stance.
“It just is.”
Nothing else was said and Ethan was glad because he observed some old woman looking at them in a curious way. How loud had they been talking? He felt embarrassed but was glad they hadn’t been saying anything that they weren’t supposed to talk about. He could handle some humiliation better than he could a jail situation. Though the fear had woken him up some.
It seemed like just a few seconds until Rayan was telling him to get up so they could go. Their baggage check went well. Rayan gave some slip and smiled, and was allowed to have his gun. The one he always had. Ethan still didn’t understand how he was able to get by with it all. The world was scarily stupid.
When they got on the plane, Ethan let Rayan go in first because they always made sure Rayan got the window seat. He said he loved watching the view or something like that. It just made Ethan worry more about crashing.
The same old women that had been in the waiting area sat down next to Ethan and his face paled.
The world was also scarily coincidental obviously.
“Ah, you,” she said with a smile. “I saw you with your…?”
He had been about to answer ‘friend’ until Rayan had cut in.
“Boyfriend.”
Ethan looked away from the old woman and saw that Rayan was smiling pleasantly.
“Oh, your boyfriend?” She seemed momentarily set back but then continued to smile courteously. “Well, I saw you two in the waiting area.”
Ethan wasn’t very certain what he’d been expecting. Maybe he had thought that he was going to burst into flame. Or she was going to get a gun and shout out “Faggots!” and shoot them both. But he was relieved to see she didn’t make a big deal about the fact the guy next to him was his boyfriend.
Boyfriend.
The word was still so foreign to him. He had hardly even used the word girlfriend.
“So why are you two going to England?” She asked out of politeness. She didn’t seem like too bad of a woman. Very motherly. “Also, my name is Elaine. Yours?”
“Ryan,” Rayan answered. It had been decided it was better to use that since it was so close to his own name. In case it slipped out. It easily could have been Ryan.
“Evan.”
Elaine nodded. “Ryan and Evan. Cute names for a couple. They sound alike.”
“Haha! That’s what our friends tell us all the time,” Rayan replied, still smiling and with a giggle.
It was the truth. Tom made it a point to note how both their names ended with ‘an’. And then how their fake names did the same thing. Luckily, he couldn’t shorten Ethan. Eth sounded weird. Or Eeth. And it wasn’t anything like Ray so he was still just Ethan to the annoying man. Except he still pulled gay jokes on them. Any chance he got.
“So why are you two going to England?”
“Oh, just for a vacation. I’ve always wanted to go to England!” Ethan always let Rayan handle all the answers to questions. He was worried he’d get confused and then blow their cover. Rayan always knew how to seem so carefree and unsuspicious.
“It is a wonderful place,” Elaine agreed. “I’m going for family reasons. My sister died.”
“I’m sorry.” It was said with a heartfelt frown and actual regret on Rayan’s end.
“Sorry,” Ethan said quickly. He hated when things like that popped up. It was always so awkward. He wasn’t sorry. He’d never met the woman. Feeling bad about some woman he didn’t know dying was stupid. It was a waste of time.
Elaine waved her hand as if to dispel their apologies. “Nah, don’t. She was a smoker and died of lung cancer. Even when she was diagnosed, she continued to smoke. Besides, we hated each other.”
“Still, it’s the habit that’s bad. Not the person.”
“That explains a lot of things,” Ethan said, cutting in and pinning Rayan with a look.
“You’re right.” Elaine smiled and sighed.
The plane lurched and Ethan knew that the plane was about to begin flying. He hated this part the most. He quickly fastened his seat belt and clutched at the armrests. He had never flown on a plane until he and Rayan had begun their little escape trips. He seemed to have a little bit of a phobia.
Rayan put his had over Ethan’s in a comforting way and smiled.
“Evan, you aren’t about to die. Stop worrying.”
“Shut up,” Ethan said with a growl. He was surprised at himself. He usually jerked his hand away but that time, he held onto the hand back. “You don’t know that.”
They were brought out of their conversation by Elaine chuckling and they looked over at her.
“Sorry, it’s just you two are adorable with each other. How long have you two been together?”
Ethan felt like digging a hole into the ground but at the moment, there was no ground and he didn’t want to fall out of the plane and die.
Wait, he thought to himself. How long had they been together?
“A year,” Rayan answered with ease.
“No way! I mean, we met like a year ago but no way have we been together for a year,” Ethan said, frowning.
“Yes, we have. Basically. You just didn’t know it.”
Rayan was trying to get him to say something embarrassing. Probably about how they’d began having sex a year ago. Since he had never been out in public with Rayan those first two weeks, he hadn’t known about Rayan’s passion to try to embarrass him in public about their relationship. Ethan was sure it was some form of sick punishment because he wasn’t always so comfortable in admitting to it.
It didn’t matter how many times they talked about it, Rayan wasn’t about to be understanding. It pissed Ethan off so badly sometimes. He had learned to put up with it as one of his boyfriend’s quirks. Just a very annoying one.
Elaine and Rayan continued to talk. Ethan tried to be considerate and talk back but he was too tired and he felt himself falling asleep.
“So why do you two wear those sunglasses?”
He was too tired to freak out although a bell rung very loudly in his head.
“Fashion statement? I’m not sure. We’re kind of stupid, I guess,” Rayan replied with a small chuckle and Ethan smiled. Rayan always knew how to take care of everything. He always knew how to act and what to say.
It was comforting, Ethan thought as he felt himself nod off.
--
As he slept, he had a very weird dream. He knew it had to be a dream even in his sleep because nothing was that weird. Or that terrifying.
He dreamt him and Rayan were walking down some street. The letters on the posts spelled nonsense words. They weren’t words at all actually. Just things like ‘frug54b’ and ‘t74bfhefge’.
Their hair was black again and they were back to their old selves. Obviously identical. Rayan was holding onto his hand tightly. Too tightly and it hurt.
“Rayan, that hurts.”
“Do you hate me, Ethan? Are you ashamed of me?”
“No!” He shouted. “I can’t hate you! Why would I?! But it hurts when you hold my hand like that, Rayan…”
All of the sudden, sirens went off and police surrounded them.
“We heard you say Rayan! Are you two Rayan White and Ethan Martin?” They commanded and Ethan could feel his blood begin rushing. He had said Rayan’s name!
“Ethan, you said my name, you idiot! Can you be anymore stupid?!” Rayan yelled, his eyes turning red for a split second before turning back to their regular brown shade. All of the sudden, Tom, Melanie, Kale, Timmy, and Jason showed up.
“Geesh, Ethan, I always thought you were stupid but not this stupid!” Tom insulted, laughing mockingly.
“Look what you’ve done now!” Melanie said, glaring coldly.
Kale pulled out a laptop from what seemed like nowhere and began typing. “I always knew you’d do something like this. I always knew you were an idiot. Why I even thought you could do something as simple as keeping your identity secret is beyond me. I put too much faith in you. Now look what you‘ve done. You‘ve gotten you and Rayan killed.”
“No! It isn’t like that!” Ethan cried out, looking desperately to Timmy and Jason, who were just looking at him callously. He looked to Rayan who was crying. “Rayan! I wouldn’t do this on purpose! I’m sorry!”
Suddenly, they were in a courtroom and different people were in the crowd. Ethan could see his mother and father looking at him in shame. He could see his old boss sneering at him. Everybody was looking at him in disgust. Even strangers. People who didn’t even know him.
“Order! Order!” The judge said, bringing silence over the courtroom. “Now, we have these two fags under trial.”
Fags…? How did he know. He looked over at Rayan who was standing proudly. He was unwavering and his stance was full of confidence.
“Now, thanks to the gay moron, Ethan White, he said Rayan’s name out loud and got them both caught. Rayan White is committed with murder, thievery, assault, and a whole bunch of other bad stuff. Not to mention he’s a faggot,” the judge said in a matter of fact tone. “Now, Rayan White, do you admit to being a gay criminal?”
“I do.”
“Well, we’ll kill you then.” Everybody in the crowd cheered when the judge said that and Ethan could feel tears sliding down his cheeks.
“No! You can’t kill Rayan! You can’t! I’ll do anything!” Ethan began begging and looked over to Rayan who was still grave looking. “Rayan, I don’t want you to die!”
“Then why did you say my name in public?! Why did you want to let go of my hand?!”
“Yeah! Why!” Everybody in the mob asked simultaneously.
“You were hurting me!” He tried to explain, his voice sounded hoarse and somehow whiny. “And I didn’t mean to say your name! But you said mine!”
“Like you matter,” Kale said, laughing and everybody else in the crowd laughed along.
“Who cares if I was hurting you? Never let my hand go!” Rayan sounded too cold and too angry. Ethan had only heard him sound like that a few times before and he cried harder. Rayan looked to the judge. “Because I love Ethan so much and would give my life for him, I will gladly die.” He pulled a gun out.
The judge nodded. “At least you’re a brave fag.” He then looked to Ethan. “And what about you? Do you admit to being an accomplice and that you’re totally gay for Rayan White?”
“I-I was an accomplice…I guess…and I guess I am with Rayan…”
“Guess?” The judge reiterated. “Are you in love and dating Rayan White or not?”
Rayan looked to him sadly. “Don’t you want to be with me, Ethan? Isn’t that why we have sex? Isn’t that why you kiss me and hold me?”
“What does this even have to do with the court?!” Ethan asked angrily and nervously looked around. He didn’t want to answer the question. He didn’t feel ready. He looked to Rayan with a pleading look. “Rayan, you know…”
“Shut up.”
The words were said with severity and Rayan seemed to have fire in his eyes. They looked red again.
“I almost died because of you,” he said, taking his shirt off and pointing to the scar from where he had been shot once before. “I got this because you couldn’t tell me you wanted to be with me! Because you’re a selfish asshole!”
“Yeah!” The crowd rooted.
“I apologized! I apologized!” He kept repeating it and felt himself fall down that he was on his knees. He knew it was all a dream. He knew it. He wanted out but he couldn’t. He couldn’t open his eyes. He looked to Rayan again and stood up. “Rayan, you know how bad I feel about it. You know that I want to be with you…”
“But you wanted me to let go of your hand!” Rayan screamed.
“Because it was hurting me! You were holding it too tightly! It hurt!”
“I don’t care!”
It wasn’t a dream. It was a nightmare. He couldn’t get out of it. Nothing like this could have possibly been real. No judge would have been like that. And Rayan…Rayan wouldn’t have ever acted this way. He would have listened. He wouldn’t have acted so horribly because he wanted him to let go of his hand. He got a little bitchy about it occasionally when he did tug his hand away but Rayan…Rayan wasn’t this asshole. This Rayan looked almost like a demon. His eyes were red and his hands were still clutching onto the gun he had pulled out earlier.
“I’ve heard all I need to hear,” the judge said, sighing sadly. “From what it sounds like, Ethan Martin is an asshole and should be castrated. But since this isn’t allowed anymore, unfortunately, I guess his punishment will be to watch his beloved fag, Rayan White, kill himself and die.”
“What?!” Ethan looked around and everybody was nodding in agreement with the verdict. He looked to Rayan who was also nodding. “Rayan! You aren’t going to die! You aren’t!”
“Didn’t you already hear, you moron? I’ve already been charged with everything and my punishment is to die. Which I’ll do because I love you so much and would do anything for you.” Rayan seemed so calm about it all. He smiled and touched the gun shot scar he had. His shirt was still off. “Ethan, even if you are a coward and an asshole and deserve to die, I love you. More than anything. Besides, we all knew I had to die. The doppelganger curse.”
“No!” Ethan screamed. “It doesn’t exist! You lived! You’ll keep living! I want you to live! You told me you would!”
Rayan only continued to smile and put the gun to where his scar was. “Let’s see if I’ll live this time.”
“If you live, we’ll take the gun and shoot you in the head,” The judge explained.
It was all so absurd. It made no sense. He had to wake up, he had to wake up.
BANG!
He looked to see Rayan lying on the court floor, blood pooling all around him. He had shot himself exactly where his scar was and his eyelids were twitching. He was still alive. Ethan felt his jaw drop open in horror and he tried to go to his side but it was as if there was some barrier. He couldn’t get to his side.
“Rayan! Rayan!”
“He’s still alive, huh?” The judge asked and the crowd nodded. “Bailiff, shoot him in the head, please.”
“No…!”
He had to wake up. He had to. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. Nothing was this bad. Nothing. Rayan wouldn’t do that. A judge wouldn’t. Tom, Melanie, Kale, Timmy, and Jason…they wouldn’t treat him so badly. He had to wake up.
BANG!
Ethan gasped and sat up quickly, looking around. It was somewhat dark and he could tell he was on the plane. He sighed in relief. He had woken up from that dream. Finally. He put a hand to his heart and could feel it beating rapidly. He had to calm down. He looked to his right to see Rayan sleeping. His chest moving up and down with each breath he took. He was alive and Ethan let out another relieved breath.
He looked to his left to see that Elaine was sleeping as well and to everybody else. He could hear clicking, probably somebody was typing on a laptop but that seemed far away. Everybody was most likely asleep.
Looking over to Rayan again, he smiled and leaned forward to kiss his lips softly. Lingering for just a few seconds before pulling away. It wasn’t much of a shock when Rayan’s eyes opened. He was a light sleeper and even the slightest sound would wake him up. Except randomly when it was hard to wake him up. Rayan really was a weird guy.
“Why’d you kiss me just now?” Rayan asked quietly, trying not to wake Elaine or anybody up. “Did you wake me up so we could join the Mile High Club, you horny dick?”
“Why didn’t I ever think of that?” Ethan pondered to himself. He kissed Rayan again and grinned. “We’ll have to join that club later. I’m too tired to fuck.”
“Why are you up anyway? Last time I was awake, you were dead to the world.”
“I had a bad dream,” Ethan explained. He scratched the side of his face and noticed his sunglasses weren’t on anymore. He frowned and looked around to find them on his lap. He put them back on. Rayan had his sunglasses hanging on his jacket. Ethan was jealous of how organized he was.
“A nightmare? You know, they say dreams sometimes tell the future.”
“No way. There’s no way this one could have told the future. It was too bizarre.” The image of his parents flashed before him and he frowned. “Besides, there were people in that dream that couldn’t see me right now anyway. So, it wasn’t some prediction.”
Rayan looked out the plane’s window for a moment randomly before turning his attention back to Ethan. “What was your nightmare about? I’ve read stuff about hidden dream meanings.”
“I told you, it made no sense so it didn’t mean anything,” Ethan replied gruffly. There was no way he was about to tell Rayan his dream. Who knew how he’d react? Rayan was a weirdo. But one look to Rayan and Ethan could tell he wanted to know all about the dream and he sighed. “Listen, I’ll tell you in England, okay? I don‘t want anybody hearing anything.”
“Mysterious,” Rayan teased. Although Ethan wanted to know what was more mysterious than two identical men who happened to be criminals running away from the law? “But as long as you tell me, I’m happy. You’ve got me all curious now.”
“It isn’t that big a deal. Seriously. It was a stupid nightmare.”
“If it was so stupid, why’d you kiss me like that? It was affectionate. You’re not very affectionate. Obviously, I was in that dream and obviously, something happened to me and it scared you.”
Rayan was too perceptive for his own good. He could always catch onto anything he did. Unless he was just easy to read. He sighed and kissed Rayan once again, this time, Rayan kissing back. It didn’t last long but when he pulled away from Rayan, he had a satisfied smirk on his face. He was looking forward to getting to their apartment in England.
“Rayan,” he said, suddenly feeling serious. He wasn’t sure why but he did. “Rayan,” he repeated, grabbing onto his hand. “You know how…well, you know how you got…you know…that one time…?” He couldn’t say it out loud where anybody could hear. He wasn’t sure if Rayan was going to understand what he was saying.
“When I had lung surgery?” And how was he able to remember small details like that? Ethan had completely forgotten that had been the cover up for his surgery. “Is that what your nightmare was about?”
“Not really but you do know I’m sorry, right? I mean, you know how bad I feel and I still want to do anything to make it up, right?” One thing he had learned while being with Rayan was just to say anything you had to say right out. Otherwise, things would get messed up more.
Rayan began stroking Ethan’s hand with his thumb and smiled gently. “Shut up, okay? You need to stop with this whole guilt trip. You nursed me back to health and you basically saved my life. You did. Anything you did wrong has already been fixed by everything you did right.”
“And you say that you aren’t an artist, talking like that.”
“Whatever, but listen, go back to sleep. We’re getting a new place tomorrow and so it’s going to be busy. Just go to sleep and we can talk about all this later, ‘kay?”
Ethan nodded. “Yeah, okay. Night, Ra--” He stopped himself. “Ryan.”
“Night.”
They both leaned back in their seats and Ethan closed his eyes. His mind was still buzzing from that dream and he found he couldn’t slow it down long enough to go back to sleep again. It was frustrating. He had to go to sleep because they had a busy day tomorrow just as Rayan had said. And really, the dream shouldn’t have bothered him. Rayan had told him that he had forgiven him. That everything was fine.
“Never let my hand go!”
The words replayed in his head.
The dream couldn’t have meant anything. It was just a stupid nightmare.
“Never let my hand go!”
His eyes had been red. He had looked so angry. Everybody had…
No. No. It meant nothing. Rayan was just being stupid again and saying stupid things about dream predictions. Dreams didn’t predict anything. It was just a dumb nightmare. It didn’t mean anything.
Rayan had been angry with him before about not showing their affection publicly. Maybe that was just his annoyance about Rayan not understanding crossing over into his dreams. And he was always afraid of being caught. And he did still have a guilty conscience over what he had happened to Rayan.
It was just his mind overworking. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Although he would call Kale when he had time.