“Could anything be better than this?”         

Zico shakes his head. “I think this is as good as it gets babe.”           

He starts playing in my hair as I lay my head on his chest. I curl into him and grow more content. If only we could stay like this forever. I don’t really have the strength or desire to leave anyways. I like this. As if he’s reading my mind he says, “I feel like I can do anything. Why would you ever want to leave? This place is so perfect.”      

I laugh. When have I been able to be this open and honest with anyone before? It feels weird being this intimate with someone without the intimate part, and then it clicks.      

“So how long have I been dead?”      

He laughs. “Baby I can promise you, you’re not dead.”      

I sit up and look around, past the sea of sheets and Zico’s body to see that our bed is in the middle of a wooded forest filled with trees that touch the sky and flowers in all colors and unnaturally beautiful lights. I can’t help but fall on his chest, overcome by the breathtaking scene.           

I hear some sort of faint noise in the distance and decide to ask, “What’s that?”      

He absentmindedly replies, “Maybe a bird? Don’t worry about it.”        

He kisses the top of my head and I close my eyes.

“Is this real?”     

“Why do you ask so many questions? Can’t you just enjoy the time we have together?”     

“Will you not answer any of my questions?”      

He pauses and laughs at me. “To answer your question, it’s only as real as you want it to be.”      

“So I’m dreaming?” I conclude.      

“Yes baby,” he nods. “This is just a dream, unfortunately.”          

I exhale and look at Zico. Unable to contain myself, I kiss him, savoring the taste of sweet tea and whiskey, feeling his soft supple skin against mine and I succumb to his strength and size. Zico exhilarates me. We share a passion deeper than physical, a need more primal than ever before, a love so reckless and wanton it almost overwhelms me. Our hearts race in rhythm as we become lost in each other, not knowing where one begins and the other ends and all breath is gone as we leave our false heaven.      

When we regain knowledge and words all I can manage to force out is, “I love you.”

Though he says it back, his words feel empty and then I remember, it’s not real. The noise returns, this time a little louder and a little closer and I begin to wonder where it is or why I hear it.           

“It’s morning isn’t it?”      

“No,” he says casually. “That was the nightingale and not the lark that pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear.”      

I giggle.“Quoting Shakespeare are we?”      

“Nevermore,” he mutters under his breath.

“Poe? It seems I am falling in love with you all over again.” I kiss him and the noise grows louder and more urgent.“Zico, is it morning? The truth this time. Please?”        

He sighs, accepting defeat. “Perhaps morning might be fast approaching.”       

I start to get up when he roughly pulls me back down. “Don’t go. I mean, do you really want to? You’re always talking about how no one cares about you and how they wouldn’t miss you if you were gone. I love you. I want you here and you’re just gonna throw that away? All for some idiots who don’t even want you?”           

He grows desperate, gripping my wrist tighter as the sky turns red with fury. Smoke covers the once beautiful flowers and  surrounds the bed. His eyes go black. Anger radiates off of his skin and I begin to fear the worse. I try to get loose but it’s to no avail. I place my free hand on top of his and let him know the truth.      

“I don’t want to go. I’d much rather stay here but I can’t,” I pause. ”No matter how much I want to stay, I simply can't. You’ll always be my Peter Pan and I’ll always come back to Neverland. I promise.”     

His grip loosens and the sky slowly changes it’s color as he calms down.

“Okay,” he forfeits.

I kiss him him one last time, holding his face in my hands, and without giving it a second thought, I let go. “I'll be back before you know it.”

He flashes that gorgeous smile of his grins. “I'll be here waiting for you.”              

Just like that I wake up in my college dorm and my roommate rushes in, "Are you coming to class or not?”      

"Yeah I'm coming," I reply mechanically.

On our way to class her eyes get very large, "what happened to your arm?"

I look down and see a large red mark around my wrist. My mind instantly goes to Zico. Maybe I really was in Neverland after all…