"Here me out," Dream sat up in Sapnap's gaming chair and spun around, his foot colliding with Sapnap, who was supposedly standing directly behind him the whole time, "We go to North Carolina."
The pair had been planning a trip for the past week or so, intent on going on their first ever vacation without supervision. It had taken some time to get their parents to agree, but eventually, after many lectures and safety lessons, they had agreed.
Now, they were sat in Sapnap's room, scrolling through popular vacation locations, trying to figure out what they could afford and where was going to be comfortable enough to fit their needs.
They had found several candidates, ranging from beach resorts to questionable road side motels, but Dream was sure they had yet to find the perfect place.
He was very picky when it came to vacationing, wanting the place he settled to be absolutely incredible, catering to his every need. If he was hungry, he wanted access to food almost immediately. If he was tired, he wanted to lie down in a comfy bed and sleep for hours.
Now that he was going somewhere alone with Sapnap, it had to be twice as perfect, and twice as memorable.
"I don't wanna go to North Carolina," Sapnap pressed a finger to his monitor, "What about New Orleans?"
"Louisiana?" Dream turned back around to click on the link, finding that it took him to a fairly big hotel on the outskirts of New Orleans, decorated in a very vintage, rustic fashion.
It was the type of place that would house a ghost hunt, but Dream assumed the majority of New Orleans was that way, if the things he had seen and heard were correct.
He scrolled through the list of accommodations, finding that they had free room service, breakfast, and a pool. It would be pleasurable, he was sure, and he was quick to click on the button that would send him to Groupon.
"Might as well," Sapnap said, his chest now pressed up against the back of the chair, his arms somehow coming to rest on Dream's shoulders, "I've always wanted to go and now is as good a time as any."
Dream hummed in agreement, swiping his cursor to the far left. From there, he pressed the book room button and relaxed back into his chair.
They had somehow come to come to an agreement, and now he was going to New Orleans, alone with Sapnap, in a room that only had one bed. But the whole one bed situation wasn't out of the ordinary, as they had been friends most of their lives, but it was certainly an added bonus.
"Plus," Sapnap came around the side of the chair so he could face Dream, putting his hands on Dream's shoulders and looking at him seductively, "New Orleans is very romantic."
Dream shuttered under the touch, trying his best to remain calm is such an uncomfortable moment, but there was a certain panic rising through him, causing his mouth to clamp shut, and his hands to fall slack in his lap.
Sapnap laughed and made himself comfortable on Dream's lap, curling up into a ball, obnoxiously settling in and pretending to sleep. Dream brought himself to chuckle as well, nervously wrapping his arms around Sapnap and rubbing circles into his back until Sapnap's fake snores turned to real ones, and they had both drifted off.
***
"Do you have everything?" Dream's mum was hesitant to hand over Dream's keys, which were the final step to getting them out of this town, "Gas money? Suitcases? Swim trunks? Remember you left your swim trunks last time?"
"Mom," Dream put his hand on top of his mom's, which was positioned on the window that Dream had rolled down, "Even if I forgot my swim trunks, I'd just buy new ones."
"That's not the point!" His mom exclaimed. Sapnap snickered from the passenger side, covering his laughter with his palm, "Don't make this into a joke or I won't let you go!"
"First of all, I'm 18," Dream smacked his hand down on Sapnap's leg, willing him to stop laughing. He decided to leave his hand there, inching it just a little closer up the thigh, "Second of all, I'll be fine. I can take care of myself."
"Okay," She nodded her head, her 60s curtain bangs flopping in place, "Okay. I love you. Be safe. Please."
"We're gonna be okay," Dream assured, pulling the gearshift out of park, "I love you too. See you in a few weeks!"
Dream pulled out of the driveway, only for the sun to almost immediately affect his vision. In order to search around for his sunglasses, his hand left Sapnap's thigh and he couldn't just disregard the small whimper he heard from Sapnap's side of the car.
When he looked back at Sapnap to figure out just what that sound was, he found that Sapnap was unable to make eye contact, eyeing the window as if their houses were something intriguing he had never seen before.
Dream tried to look around again, to see what exactly was happening to Sapnap, before finally he just burst into a fit of laughter and wheezes, unable to hold himself back.
"What the fuck was that?" He teased, Sapnap snapping his head to look at Dream, embarrassment causing his cheeks to tint a significantly dark pink.
"I pinched my finger," Sapnap used a terrible excuse, pressing his palms to his cheeks in order to hide his blush.
"So you pinched your finger," Dream breathed out, "and you couldn't look me in the eyes, because you were so embarrassed that you pinched your finger."
"Correct."
"Not buying it."
"Why not?" Sapnap pouted, twisting around to look out the window again, "It's true."
"It isn't," Dream reached over and hovered his hand over Sapnap's upper thigh again. He listened as his best friend's breath hitched, "Do you want me to touch you again?"
"No. That's stupid," Sapnap scooted further into his seat, looking down to fiddle with his hands.
"Is it?" Dream placed his hand back on the gearshift and finally started moving down the road, leading out of their neighborhood, "Then I won't."
"Fine," Sapnap muttered under his breath.
"Fine," Dream echoed.
A few moments passed as they navigated towards the interstate - which was soon to be paved with memories ;) - and a silence rested over them like a thick cloud of smoke, suffocating the entire car.
Just as Dream went to take the aux cord, Sapnap's hand brushed over his. As he looked up, he realized Sapnap had also been reaching for it.
"Don't start this," Dream pulled the aux cord towards himself, "We all know I have the better taste in music."
"Sure, but I don't feel like listening to sad love songs the whole way to Louisiana," He took the aux cord from Dream's hand and quickly plugged it into his phone, "Plus, I'm the passenger."
"Not fair," Dream remarked, a slight smirk settling over his features, "If you don't give me the aux cord I won't touch you the rest of the car ride."
"Fine, take your stupid aux cord," Sapnap unplugged his phone and threw the cord at Dream, sudden realization washing over him, "Wait! That's not what I meant! I don't care if you touch me! Give the cord back."
"Too late," Dream teased, turning up the radio to reveal Girl in Red's lyrics to 'i wanna be your girlfriend' playing loudly, "Deal with it."
Dream let the song play for awhile before the fight between the opposite sides of his conscience ended and he finally brought himself to place a hand on Sapnap's knee.
He drew shapes across his knee, slowly drawing spirals until his hand rested about half way up his thigh, and then he stopped. Making sure to keep his eyes on the road the majority of the time, he only let them wander for a few moments in order to see how Sapnap was reacting.
Sapnap had pressed his back against the back of the seat, his head falling back and eyes shut. He looked as if he were in a whole other world and Dream made sure to take a screenshot with his brain and tuck it into that same folder where he kept every other memory with Sapnap.
He let out a small laugh at the way Sapnap looked to be thoroughly enjoying himself and then turned back towards the road, just in time for Sapnap's eyes to flutter open and look at him.
The song had ended and now 'Be Nice To Me' by The Front Bottoms was on. Dream had always loved that song and often it played on repeat, despite his entire family disliking it. To be fair, his parents were somewhat of a hardcore rock and roll family, and he just wasn't about that.
"What are you laughing at?" Sapnap questioned, his expression void of much emotion. He must've been tired, them having not gotten much sleep last night, as they were too busy excitedly planning.
"Nothing," Dream turned down the radio slightly so he could effectively hold a conversation, "Having fun?"
"As much fun as I can possibly have when I'm low on caffeine and my best friend won the battle over the aux cord."
Dream hummed, removing his hand from Sapnap's thigh once more to merge off the highway. Sapnap didn't make any questionable noises this time, having learned his lesson after last time; although, Dream almost missed hearing it, as creepy as that sounds.
"Where are we going?" Sapnap asked, suddenly aware that they were taking a slight detour, "Are you taking me on a drug run?"
"No, loser," Dream took a left at a stoplight and started heading towards all of the fast food and gas stations, "You said you were low on caffeine. There's a Dunkin' down here."
"Oh," Sapnap laughed, "Thanks."
The town they had entered was quaint, small, and seemingly old. Beyond the fast food restaurants, the street was inhabited by small houses, maybe two bedrooms each, with torn paint and patched up roofs.
Dream pulled into the Dunkin' Donuts line, ordering for each of them with a list he had memorized well.
"Hi," He greeted, as any person would, "Can I get two medium iced lattes, one with barely any ice, two hash browns, a chocolate sprinkle donut, and an iced water?"
Once the order girl (I honestly have no clue what they're called. I tried. I really did.) told them to pull around, Dream was left to wait for an excessively long time, khai dreams playing softly in the background.
Sapnap waited patiently as well, neither of them saying anything, just sitting and waiting, until finally, after an estimated fifteen minutes, they brought their stuff to the window.
"Sorry about the wait," A girl greeted them with their drinks, following up with a bag of food, "One of our machines was broken and we had to bring out an old one."
The girl seemed somewhat nervous, as if it was her first time greeting someone at the window, and she wasn't sure what to do. She went to turn back around so Dream and Sapnap could leave, but Dream caught her attention.
"Hey," She turned around a blush apparent on her lightly freckled cheeks as Dream called out to her, "We haven't paid yet."
"Oh!" She tucked a stray hair behind her ear and started pressing buttons on the screen of the paying thingy doodle (again. bear with me.), "I apologize, your total is $10.36."
Dream handed the girl his card, her taking it and swiping it, failing twice, before finally figuring it out.
"Thank you," She handed him his card and a receipt, "Sorry about all that. Have a good day!"
She waved as they drove away, Sapnap almost immediately sorting out the food. Dream was handed an iced latte - the one with a normal amount of ice - and both the hash browns, followed by the iced water. He placed the water in the drink holder that was built into the car door, and then put the latte down in the center console drink holder.
Looking down at the receipt, just before he was about to wad it up and toss it in the back seat, a row of numbers was scribbled out across the bottom. He went ahead and crumpled it up and tossed it to the back anyway, but not before considering his options.
"I'm surprised she still hit on you," Sapnap said, his voice muffled by the donut he was loudly chewing, "She was like super nervous and I didn't expect her to do anything other than drool."
"Oh, come on now," Dream rolled his eyes and continued onto the exit, "She wasn't into me."
"You just read her number on that receipt," Sapnap threw a look at Dream, 'I'm right, deal with it' written all over his face.
"Whatever," Dream muttered, bringing his hand over to turn up the radio. Sapnap was quick to smack his hand away.
"We're discussing," Sapnap teased, "Why don't you wanna call her? We're barely away from home and she was totally cute."
"Not my type," Dream answered quickly, acting as if he was focusing super hard on switching lanes.
"What's your type, then?" Sapnap asked idly, folding his straw wrapper into a tiny accordion.
"Men."
Sapnap's eyes widened as he turned to look at Dream, "What?" He exclaimed, nearly choking on the drink he had just taken.
Dream sighed, "Why do you think all my past relationships never worked out? I don't wanna label myself, because I'm fairly certain I would still y'know, but I like guys."
"Um," Sapnap obnoxiously threw his hands in the air, "Fucking epic, bro."
Dream laughed, still focused on pretending he was too busy switching lanes to truly tune in to their conversation.
In reality, he was ecstatic. He hadn't even had this conversation with himself yet, and here he was spilling to his best friend. It was kind of exciting.
"Dude," Sapnap turns up the radio, almost as soon as another Girl in Red song starts playing, "This is so fucking cool."
***
Word Count: 2,372