READER'S ROCK LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE VOL 2 ISSUE 4 NOVEMBER 2014 VOL 2 ISSUE 8B APRIL 2015 | Page 27

My nose itched . Well , it wasn ' t exactly an itch , more of a tickle .
“ Leave me alone Matt , I ' m trying to sleep .”
I brushed my hand across my face . If Matt didn ' t leave me alone , I was going to clobber him . The tickling continued . “ Matt , I ' m warning you !” I felt the tickle again , which had now become more than just a little irritating .
“ That ' s it !” I sat up and looked around .
I was definitely not in my room any more .
It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the brightness of the sun , but my other senses were exploding with sensation . The combination of salt with something floral assaulted my nose . Simultaneously , my ears were filled with a familiar roar . The ocean ? My eyes finally caught up with the rest of me , and my breath came out in a rush . Josh !
“ Hello , beautiful . About time you woke up .” Josh leaned back against a rock , a white flower in his hand .
“ Were you tickling me with that flower ?” “ Guilty .” “ You ' re lucky you stopped when you did . I thought you were someone else .”
“ Speaking of which ,” he began , “ should I be jealous of this ' Matt ' guy ?” His eyes sparkled as if he had some private joke . He didn ' t really seem jealous .
“ For your information , Matt is a friend . A good-butannoying friend . Tickling my nose while I try to sleep would be just like him . You , however , are either just a dream or a figment of my imagination , anyway , so why should it matter ?” I shrugged and looked out at the ocean . I plastered a pout on my face which I hoped screamed Hayden Panetierre .
“ Ouch . You really know how to hurt a guy . And after I brought you to one of my favorite places , too ," said Josh , holding the flower out as a peace offering . I pretended to ignore it .
“ Okay , so where are we , anyway ?” I asked as I took in my surroundings .
Josh leaned over to brush a strand of hair off my face , his hand lingered on my cheek for a second .
“ Hmm , so beautiful ,” his eyes bore into mine , “ but I digress .” He sprea d his arm s
wide . “ This is paradise , or at least the nearest thing to it in this place . It ' s a replica of one of the smaller , less known of the Hawaiian Islands . Welcome to my world .”
I looked around , and it was amazingly , achingly beautiful . The water was the clearest blue I ' d ever seen , not like some of the Gulf beaches I ' d been to . Part of the beach was shaded by draping palms . To the left of the beach area was a steep cliff and to the right what appeared to be giant lava rocks .
How could a dream be this vivid ? Maybe there was something to this other world stuff after all .

FRANVEAL . COM