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Ellie and Sandie had settled into a regular routine in their new flat.
Sandie would appear in the wardrobe mirror around 9:30 in the morning, they'd chat a few minutes, and Ellie would bring the compact mirror to class so Sandie could see what she was designing. Once home, Sandie would disappear from the compact, reappear in the wardrobe mirror, and not make an appearance until Ellie went to bed. Ellie always wondered what she did until then.
Since the bedsit had burned down, Ellie's dreams had turned from something she dreaded into something she looked forward to.
The difference between her previous dreams and the new ones is that the new ones seemed to be set in the present day, in the flat, and not visions of the past.
They also were happier, more light, as if someone had edited them with a pleasant, warm filter.
Ellie knew what she'd seen in the previous visions wasn't all of Sandie's life, and that there was still more that she hadn't seen yet.
She got a bit worried.
What if Sandie didn't want to let her in anymore?
She didn't really have time to think about it, though.
Sandie was a constant fixture in all her dreams, leaving no time for...other sorts of dreams Sandie had sparked Ellie's desire to have.
In fact, Ellie's only alone time was in the mornings or when Sandie disappeared from the mirror after classes, leaving her enough time to let her mind...wander.
She didn't feel bored being with just one person all the time.
Eloise wasn't an extrovert by nature, and besides being with Sandie all the time was much more interesting than being with any of her classmates from the college.
In the dreams, they'd play board games, watch movies on Ellie's laptop (though Sandie wasn't really sure how it worked) or just talk.
Another pleasant thing about the new dreams were that if John came over and slept in Ellie's bed, or Ellie in John's, he'd also appear in her dream.
In this way, he, Sandie, and Ellie were able to have lots of fun despite John not being able to see Sandie in real life like Ellie could.
Ellie waited with a sense of growing dread, knowing that one day she or Sandie wouldn't be able to keep the thoughts at bay and she'd have another nightmare. The uneasy feeling was always there, lingering in the back of her mind, and making it hard for Ellie to fall asleep.
One such day, John and Ellie had gone to bed quite quickly after a long day.
They had had to submit their designs on a much earlier deadline than expected, resulting in a lot of sleepless nights for both of them.
Ellie wanted to make up for not seeing Sandie in so long.
She'd hardly even talked to her other than rushed 'goodbyes' to the wardrobe mirror before she hurried off to class early to add more to her design.
On top of that, she was so sleepy she didn't dream the whole week, so Sandie didn't get to see her at all.
Eloise was determined to make it up to Sandie, so she'd invited John over.
The blonde had taken quite a liking to John, after overcoming her initial suspicions.
Ellie squeezed her eyes shut, no longer having to cover them with the blanket to block out the flashing red, white, and blue lights that accompanied her visions.
She tried to make her breathing steady and even.
Almost instantly, thoughts of what-if crept into her mind.
What if she had another one of the awful visions?
John was right next to her, sleeping peacefully. He could enter the dreams, what if he entered the nightmare visions too?
The last thing she wanted was for John to witness something like that.
Relax. Sandie won't be able to see you if you don't relax.
The thought of seeing Sandie again was enough to get Ellie to calm down and she felt herself being jolted into a dream.
She sat up and found herself in the dream-realm, an almost exact replica of the flat.
Sandie was cross-legged on the bed next to her.
She lit up when she saw Ellie, leaning over to rest her head on her shoulder.
It was taking John longer to begin dreaming, so he hadn't made an appearance yet.
Of course, this didn't escape Sandie's notice.
"Where's John? He promised to show me a game on his phone."
"He's coming," Ellie assured her.
Sandie snuggled in closer to her side as they talked.
"Why haven't I seen you all week? I've been really bored," she told her, fake-pouting as she did so.
She ran her tongue over her lips without thinking and Ellie felt could barely register a tingling feeling in her core.
She shivered with pleasure at the feeling.
Sandie mistook her shivering for coldness and moved in closer.
"I've been...working on a project," Ellie tells her, struggling to come up with a coherent sentence when Sandie was this near.
"Oooh, what is it?" Sandie asked, her eyes lighting up.
If there was one thing that could get Ellie to stop being randy, it was talking about her designs.
Sandie also was very intrigued by modern fashion and clothes design, so the two girls passed the time in this way.
They were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't even notice John appear until he announced his arrival.
"John!" Sandie beamed at him.
"Hi, Sandie," he said, waving at her with an awkward smile.
Sandie giggled. John was just so polite and awkwardly charming, like a puppy. "Do you want to show me the game now?
"Oh, yeah, of course," he said, pulling out his mobile from his pocket.
"I still can't believe telephones are so small," Sandie marvelled, disentangling her limbs from Ellie's and making her way across the bed towards John.
John let her hold the phone in her hands for a bit before taking it back and tapping on it to pull up the game.
Meanwhile Ellie, feeling a bit self-conscious, scrolled through her own phone.
It wasn't something she normally did. She didn't have any social media, the only messages or calls she got were from John and her gran, and she was slowly building up a new collection of records to listen to music with, since her old ones had burned away. Currently she was looking at her playlists.
She had downloaded Spotify at Sandie's request; the ghost girl insisted on wanting to see how music was played nowadays.
In the corner of the bed, John and Sandie were still laughing and talking away as he taught her how to play Flappy Bird.
Ellie organized and reorganized her playlists silently, adding new songs and removing ones she'd tired of.
She made a mental note to let Sandie make her own playlist as well, since she was the one who'd convinced her to download the app once she figured out what an app was.
Bored of her phone, she watched the corners of Sandie's lips play upwards in a genuine smile, her eyes squinted almost closed as she laughed at something John had said.
Ellie wanted to capture it in a photograph, that smile.
She could watch Sandie all day. Not even in a randy way.
Just seeing her here, existing and being happy and laughing and having fun...it was all Ellie ever wanted to do.
The way she marvelled at the most simple of things like a little child, and the way she was drunk on life, in love with the whole world and now, she finally had the chance for the world to love her back.
She was so engrossed in watching Sandie that her phone was practically slipping out of her hand.
At least, until it decided to blast one of her playlists.
Loudly. Very loudly.
The brunette let out an undignified yelp in surprise at the sudden noise, luckily her voice was drowned out by the loud singing of a female voice.
John and Sandie both turned to look at Ellie, as though they'd forgotten she was there.
"S-sorry," Ellie mumbled, hurrying to turn it off.
John didn't seem put off by her awkwardness.
Meanwhile Sandie looked as though she was about to burst into giggles.
The two spent some time teasing Ellie about it before they all decided to watch a film on the couch.
Sandie rested her head on Ellie's shoulder, while Ellie snuggled close. John watched the pair with a knowing look in his eye.
Halfway through the film, Sandie started to yawn, looking very sleepy indeed.
Now that Ellie was close to her, she could notice dark circles under her eyes.
She chewed on her bottom lip anxiously, wondering if the ghost girl was getting enough sleep. Did ghosts need sleep?
Within the next few minutes, it was clear Sandie did.
Her eyelids were heavy, long lashes fluttering in a last-ditch attempt to stay awake.
"To bed with you," Ellie declared, trying to maintain a stern voice like the one her gran would use on her when she was small.
"Mmh-mmh," Sandie mumbled, adamant even though she'd practically fallen asleep sitting up. "Not sleepy, Eloise."
Eloise realised she liked the sound of her name -- her full name -- on Sandie's lips.
She laughed, bumping her hip against Sandie's. "You're ridiculous, Sandie. You're about to fall asleep."
"I can't sleep in this," Sandie said, waving a hand lazily at her peach-coloured, chiffon tent dress.
Ellie realized she was right, however glamourous it was there was no way Sandie could sleep comfortably in that.
"You can borrow my clothes," she offered, blushing at how it sounded.
Sandie didn't seem to notice, extending a hand to the brunette girl so she could help her stand up.
"Change quickly, you need a good night's sleep," Ellie told the other girl as they made their way to the wardrobe.
Normally Sandie was able to make it all the way through the dream without falling asleep, but tonight was different.
Sandie opened the door of the wardrobe and instantly broke into sleep-deprived giggles.
"Someone's inspired," she commented teasingly, holding up her find.
Ellie's white PVC coat.
"I can explain--" Eloise rushed to say, but the blonde cut her off with a giggle.
"Don't, I think it's cute," she said, giving her a bright smile and then yawning.
She sifted through the wardrobe and pulled out one of Ellie's shirts. A simple one, white cotton and over-sized.
After getting changed, the two lay on the bed, John already sleeping beside them.
Sandie slept on her side, and Ellie on her back.
Ellie looked over at Sandie, curled up next to her.
She looked so small, swathed in Ellie's over-sized shirt.
Sandie rolled over, looked at Ellie, and gave her a small, drowsy smile.
"Want to know why I'm so sleepy?" she whispered, careful not to wake up John.
Eloise nodded, it was an unexpected question but it was nearing 1 in the morning, so it wasn't odd.
Sandie hesitated for a while, unlike her usual bold nature.
"It's cos...cos I stayed up all week, waiting for you to come visit."
She gave her another small, shy smile. "I just knew you'd come. I can...count on you to."
The next morning, Ellie awoke with a dazed smile on her face, feeling the warmth of Sandie's arms wrapped around her as she slept.