“What are your dreams, Marlo?” she asked. I felt no need to avert my stare this time around, as I saw myself become suddenly welcomed, accepted.

“Dreams?”

“Yeah, what do you wish for more than anything in this world?”

I thought for a moment, not really sure how to describe my dreams. For how did I say I dreamed of sandcastles which never fell, or wished to be a part of a world that would accept my complications and true identity? So too I could have said I dreamt of spending an entire day with her at the beach, where we could talk and laugh all day...and maybe even kiss like she and Gerard had. But I knew I could never tell her this. Despite her probing eyes, she really had no clue I found her so dreamy and alive. “I'd have to say my biggest dream is to make myself be known—to touch people and show myself through art and craft.”

“An artist,” she said. “I should have guessed. Those drawings you showed me the other day were incredible. They remind me of something...” She stood quiet, looking away from me as she stared up at the sky, nearly stealing away some of the stars that seemed to spell my name. “Now I remember,” she uttered slowly as she turned my way again. “Your friends. I've met them before…You were the one on the beach that day, the one who built that sandcastle.”

My entire body felt it lost a blanket that had kept it warm and safe for an entire lifetime. Hushed I stayed as I tried to scrape away my frozen afterthoughts.

“I thought you looked familiar when I first walked into class—though I couldn't quite place you. You were the one who built it, weren't you?” I nodded, forgetting how to say yes aloud. “I've never seen anything like it before,” she went on. “Something out of a fairytale book.” She looked towards the sky again, as if she really could read my name high above the heavens. “It was more like an image out of a dream you don't want to wake up from. More than just magnificent...It was magical—mystical. I'm sure not many guys can do what you do, even in their dreams.