Lizzie was turning on all of the monitors and starting the playlist. Jade was standing behind the counter, resting her chin on it, staring into space. Today’s theme was duos and Duets. Jade and Lizzie were wearing the outfits from Donghae and Eunhyuk’s Oppa, Oppa. Jade was in Eunhyuk’s yellow suit and Lizzie was in Donghae’s red suit. Oppa, Oppa was the first kpop dance that they had decided to learn together. Anything EunHae related was left to these two.

                The older girl started the playlist and Trouble Maker played first. Lizzie came and bent down on the counter and stared at Jade’s face. “Aww, what’s wrong with our Hyukkie today?” Jade started laughing as the other girl came behind the counter. She clung to her. “Donghae!! Hyukkie is still dreaming about that Pigeon.” Both girls started geeking out. Lizzie contained herself. “So tell me about it.”

                Jade sighed. “Well my dreams have all been continuations of the previous one. I can remember everything, it’s almost like I’m awake, but I know better. Last night, I didn’t wake up and he didn’t disappear before…” she paused and smirked. “or during.” The older girl laughed. “So you finally got him.” She smiled and nodded. “Yup. He started it though. He has been changing the same way that he has been in real life. He posted that eyebrow piercing and then last night my dream version had it. It’s entertaining.”

                Lizzie sighed and leaned against the wall. “I wish I could have dreams like that with Chanyeol. So… was he good?” the older girl said winking at her. Jade blushed and that told Lizzie all she needed. “You are an odd one. You can write in all different styles but Krisus help you if you have to say it out loud.” Jade pouted and some customers came in. The younger girl pointed at the older one “No talking when customers are around!” Lizzie nodded.

                After a few hours, some customers were eating inside since it was winter and was getting cold outside. Oppa, Oppa’s intro came on and the girls grinned. A couple of the regulars laughed and automatically turned to watch the Lizzie run to the stage to get there in time for her cue. She started off with Donghae’s opening part and then Jade jumped onto the stage for her cue. They danced around on the stage and after the break down; they jumped off the stage and danced around the café with the customers.  

                This was one of the shows most popular performances. It made everyone laugh and get into it. The song ended and the two girls got applause from the few customers who were there. They bowed and went back to work. Lizzie sighed and caught her breath “Our show is tomorrow, isn’t it?” Jade nodded. “Yeah, tomorrow is Saturday.” Their shows were every other Saturday. Normally they would close at 7 but on show days, the show started at 7.

                Soon it was closing time and Shelby, Elle and Kiwi showed up at closing. Shelby had a bag with her and the three of them were dressed in clothes that were easy to move in.  They went right into the back as Jade and Lizzie closed up. Lizzie put on her pair of harem pants and her EXO hoodie. Jade put on a tight gray tank top that showed a bit of her stomach below her belly button and a pair of sweatpants and tied her hair up. 

                Shelby was grinning when Jade came back into the room. She handed her a red bull, expecting a dirty look but she smirked instead. She laughed at her. “You aren’t fighting your feels anymore?” Jade opened the red bull and drank most of it. “Nope, I accepted that he has become my ideal type and last night, I dreamed about him again and he didn’t disappear and I didn’t wake up.” All of the girls suddenly knew what she meant and started laughing.

                They started practicing their dances. Since it was Friday night, Kiwi didn’t have to go home so Katie didn’t come and check on them. Around 11pm they took a break. Jade and Lizzie were lying on the floor, using Shelby as a pillow. Elle was going over the list of songs in order for the show tomorrow and setting the playlist. Kiwi was playing on her phone and started laughing. “Jade, your man posted another selca.” Jade sat up and crawled over both Shelby and Lizzie to grab Kiwi’s phone.

                She stared at it wide eyed. “That’s… weird…” Kiwi looked at it, confused. “Well he is making a weird face…” Jade shook her head and moved back to the picture from the day before. “Guys, I think I’m going insane. Look at the picture yesterday, and the one today. What difference you see in his expression?”

                They all hovered over and watched her flip back and forth. Elle laughed “It looks like he got some last night.” Jade nodded awkwardly. The girls laughed. “You had a dream about him last night and his new selca looks like he got some! Maybe he knew about your dream!” Lizzie laughed. Jade laughed “What’s even weirder is that last night I was wearing my tank top that said Rawr on it and his tweet says rawr.”

                Soon they got back to practicing and around 4am they decided that they needed to go home and sleep. On show days, Katie worked the café while they rested and then practiced all day. Shelby drove them all home, Kiwi was coming to stay with them for the night. Jade crawled into her bed and laid there, exhausted. She was tired but had to wait for the energy drinks to crash. She finally fell asleep around 5:30am.

                She was suddenly in a room where one wall had a huge clock on it. She was confused for a moment and remembered the Tick Tack video. She sighed, the set changed. She saw a door in the wall farthest from her, under the over hang. She walked towards it and opened it. She was in the destroyed room and she sighed again. “Why do they have so many videos with lack of sitting spots…”  She saw the other door and opened it, revealing the dark room with the wall of vertical lights.

                She stayed in the destroyed room and kicked around some of the dirt. She suddenly wished that she had fallen asleep with her shoes on instead of just her practice clothes. She climbed onto the cement pillar that was sticking out of the wall and sat on the top with her back against the wall and brushed off her feet.

                After a while she heard the door to the vertical light room open and she turned her head and saw Eli walk in. He had a t-shirt and sweat pants on. She noticed that his hair was now brownish. She smiled “You are less blonde.” Eli turned and smiled at her. “I am. I will be dying it more brown tomorrow for our Japanese promotions.” She nodded as he looked around. He pointed to the other door. “I’m assuming the giant clock room is in there?” She smiled and nodded again.

                He walked up to her and smiled. “You are taller then me up there.” She laughed and realized that his head only came up to her chin. She grinned and patted him on the head. “Shorty.” They both laughed. “So what is with UKISS sets and having a lack of usable furniture?” Eli shrugged. “Maybe tomorrow we will be at 0330 or a shared dream?” She laughed.

                Eli picked her up off of the pillar and moved her over to the wire bed frame with out a mattress on it and set her down. “Now we can sit next to each other.” Jade looked down at the wire frame under them. “Honestly, the cement pillar was more comfortable.” Eli laughed as he sat down and a wire stabbed him in the hand, leaving a scratch.  He nodded and stood up and sat on the wooden crate he sat on in the video. Jade smiled and sat on the floor in front of him, facing him.

                Eli leaned forward on his knees and bent down so that he was at her eye level. “You ran away last night. You didn’t even get dressed first.” Jade laughed and covered . “I’m sorry. I had to wake up for work.” Eli leaned back and smirked at her. “That’s a likely story.” She scooted closer so that she was in between his legs and leaned on one of them, looking up at him.

                He smiled and looked at her curious. “You were about to say something before you disappeared.” She nodded. “I was going to say that I wished you were the real Eli.” He nodded. “I am the real Eli.” She laughed again. She wanted to believe that so badly. But that was impossible. She wrapped her arms lightly around his thigh and rested her chin on it. “I wish I lived in Korea, but I am stuck in America.” Eli nodded.

                He rested his hand on her head. “So what did you do today?” he asked curiously. She laughed. “Well I worked all day and then practiced for the show tomorrow until like 4 in the morning.” He smiled. “So what songs will you perform to?” She thought for a moment, counting on her fingers. “We have a seven song set right now. Me and Lizzie open up with Oppa, Oppa. Then Elle, Kiwi and Shelby dance to Hello by SHINee. Then all five of us dance to Kara’s Mister. There is a break and we come back with Block B’s Nalina, Teen Top’s Supa Luv, B1A4’s Baby Good Night and we close up with SHINee’s Sherlock. We are still learning a bunch of other songs and solo dances.” Eli pouted. “Are you going to add some UKISS into that set someday?”

                She smiled up at him. “We are learning DoraDora and will add that as soon as we get better.” He smiled again. She was happy that her dream Eli seemed interested in what she did when awake. It was almost like he was really there and not a figment of her imagination. Logic told her better though.

                Eli suddenly stretched “My back hurts.” He stood up and sat on the floor against the wall and motioned for her to come and sit next to him. She sat with her back against the wall as well and he put his arm around her and pulled her against him. She rested her head against his shoulder. He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “I wish this really existed. Idol’s don’t get to date easily. Dating in your dreams would be perfect. No one could take pictures and it’s private between just the two of us.”

                She blushed and looked at him, shocked. “Da… Dating??!” Eli laughed and nodded. “Well that’s what it feels like. We keep meeting every night and we can remember everything that happened before hand. I could consider myself dating you, even if I’m not sure you really exist.” Jade was even more shocked now. She has never been asked out in a dream before. He looked down at her with a smile.

                “That is, if you would date me. I would feel kind of dumb if the girl in my dreams even turned me down.” She shook her head frantically. “I would date you! Even if you aren’t the real Eli.” He grinned at her. “This is crazy!” She laughed and nodded. He kissed her on the forehead and suddenly disappeared. She laughed. “That was the best timed disappearance so far.”

                Suddenly Kiwi was poking her in the face. “It’s noon! We need to go prepare everything!” Jade sat up and was smiling. She ruffled her hair and went to go shower. Kiwi went over to the other girls. “I woke her up and she was smiling…” They all looked at the bathroom door, slightly worried.