JM BENAVIDEZ

We exited the dining room towards the right. We passed the lounge and the library, stopping at the empty art studio. I raised my eyebrows. "You're taking me to the art studio?" He nodded opening the door and turning on the lights. I followed him inside and he closed the door behind me. "Have you ever seen the movie ghost?" I shook my head. "No I haven't." He smiled. "Well then, this will be even better." I shrugged. "Ok? Are we recreating a scene from a movie?"  He laughed. "I guess it sounds strange. But it was a pretty romantic scene." I stepped closer to him, placing my hand on his chest as I looked up into his eyes. "Then I can't wait for you to show me." 

His smile faded as he looked down at me. "What happened this morning?" I shrugged, dropping my head. "I don't know. I woke up freaking out and jumped into the shower to clear my head. When you guys woke up, it was pretty clear you had spent the night with other people in your dreams and it upset me even more." Amadeus nodded. "But you didn't even talk to us about it. You just assumed the worst. It made us assume the worst too." I took a deep breath, placing my forehead against his chest. "I spent the night doing an aerialist dance with Zaaz. Nothing else happened. But it was beautiful and exhilarating. And just before I woke up he leaned in to kiss me." I looked up into his eyes. "I wanted him to and it was the most awful feeling ever. Even now I'm not sure how I feel about it. It feels horribly wrong, but I'm intrigued." He nodded. "We all dreamed we were at a dance and we took turns dancing with everyone. There wasn't anything romantic, maybe a few flirtatious glances but nothing like the first night's dreams."

I shook my head. "No wonder Zuriel seemed so upset." He tilted my head so I was looking up into his brown eyes. "One minute you were ours and the next minute you weren't and we didn't know what happened or how to fix it." I shrugged. "Part of me is still yours. But I want you to try on the other girls too." He shrugged. "I'll think about it later. Right now I want to enjoy these few precious moments that I get to have with you." He held out his hand towards the back corner of the room. "Over there." I crossed the room, looking down at the pottery wheel curiously. "So we're going to make pottery?" He nodded, smiling. "We're going to try. The couple in the movie was more interested in each other than the vase." I stepped closer to him, looking up into his eyes. "Is that what you were aiming for?" He ran his hands down my arms. "I just want you to look at me the same way you looked at me yesterday." I sighed looking up into his face. "Then remind me what yesterday felt like." He smiled, wrapping his arms around my waist and drawing me close to him. "With much pleasure." He brought his lips to mine sweetly easing the ache in our hearts.

I hummed happily as he released me, smiling down into my face. "So are you ready to try this out?" I nodded. "I'll follow your lead because I have no idea what we're doing." He pointed to a stool. "Have a seat and I'll get us some clay." I sat down on the stool and wiggled back and forth testing its spin. I backed away from the spinning wheel and then kicked my feet, spinning myself in a circle as I lifted my feet up off the floor. I giggled at my childishness as Amadeus laughed from across the room. I kicked my feet again, adding momentum to my spin as he brought the clay over to me. I put my feet down, stopping the spin and grinned up at him. "It was just too tempting to resist." He sat the clay down on the spinning wheel and then bent over, placing a kiss on my lips. He smiled as he pulled back. "I could say the same thing about you." I blushed looking up into his face. "Is that so?" He nodded, kissing me one more time before standing back up.

He pulled up another stool and sat behind me, scooting close so that his knees were on either side of mine. He placed his cheek close to mine, looking over my shoulder. "We need to get a little closer to the wheel if we actually want to work with the clay." I tucked my feet up on the stool and then wrapped his arms around me, crossing my arms over his. "So get us closer." His eyes met mine and a slow smile crossed his face as he pushed us closer to the wheel. He reached over to the right side and plugged the tiny sink before filling it halfway with water. "We'll need to wet our hands if the clay gets too dry." I wrinkled my face at the brown square of clay sitting in the middle of the wheel. "So we are going to try and turn that square into a vase?" He nodded. "I thought it might be a nice addition to your apartment. I could fire it and paint it to match while you were out on your other dates." My eyes met his, knowing he wanted a task to keep his mind off the thought of me being with someone else. He also wanted to have a physical presence in my apartment. "Which room should I put it in?" He smiled. "Let's see how we do first. You may want to set it on the back of your toilet to hold extra rolls of paper." I laughed. "Let's aim for something better than a wobbly bowl then."

Amadeus took my hand in his. "This clay has already been worked so all of the air bubbles are out, so we can get right to the fun part. We'll want to get it circular first, then we will worry about hollowing out the center and decide the shape last." He placed a quick kiss on my cheek. "It's all about having fun and working together. If we mess it up, we just bring it back to the beginning and start over." I bit my bottom lip, looking into his eyes. "Have you done this before?" He pointed to several bowls and vases lined up in the window. "Those are mine." I lowered my lashes, looking at his lips as I leaned towards him. "Then I'll let you set the rhythm." I brought my lips close to his so they just barely touched but we weren't kissing. "Teach me." I whispered against his lips and he brushed his lips against mine, teasing me back but not giving in either. "Anything you'd like." I exhaled against his lips, opening my mouth and pushing his lips open, but still not kissing him. There was something highly erotic about our mouths being so close and yet neither of us giving in to our desires.

Amadeus leaned back, lifting my hands and dipping them into the sink so that both of our hands were wet. He shook off the excess water and then extended our hands towards the clay, leaning over me and curling his body over my back. I closed my eyes as his neck brushed across my lips. There wasn't a part of him that I couldn't feel through my thin tank top and sweats as he leaned against me. The hardness of his chest and stomach, the growing bulge of his desire for me, his thick thighs pressed against mine, his muscular arms curved against the outside of mine and his strong hands gently holding mine. He lowered his chin, looking down at me. "Are you going to watch me or the clay?" I placed a kiss on the edge of his jaw line. "Can't I do both?" He smiled and placed my hands on the clay. "You may want to keep an eye on what you're doing. This can get messy." I turned my attention towards the clay and he pressed down on the foot pedal, starting the wheel.

It didn't take long for the clay to become circular. He kept adjusting our hands and changing the pressure until the clay was shaped like a cone. He dipped our hands in the water again, pausing to kiss me on the cheek before returning our hands to the clay. We reshaped the clay into a short circular disk and then back into a cone. I turned my head to look at him. "Didn't we just have it shaped like this?" He nodded looking into my eyes. "You have to work the clay a little until it's pliable. It's wetter now and reshapes easily, this is how we want it before we start turning it into our vessel." I spread my fingers, lacing them through his. "So now we can start hollowing it out?" He nodded. "We'll use our right thumbs to start hollowing out the center and our left hands to hold the outside stable." I placed my right hand over his allowing him to take the lead on hollowing and he took my left hand in his, doing exactly as he had explained.

This was a very slow process and I kept stealing glances at him. He smiled, keeping his focus on the clay, but fully aware that he was the center of mine. "So what would you like this vase to look like? Tall or short? Wide or thin? Skinny or flared neck?" I shrugged. "I' don't know. Curvy? Something unlike what you've done before." He nodded. "Alright, we are going to start raising the height and widening the walls. This is going to require some focus on your part though. We're going to have to keep our outside hand, even with the one inside." I sighed and turned my attention back towards the clay. He slowly positioned our hands and began shaping the vase. Periodically he would place a kiss on my neck or shoulder. When I'd turn towards him he'd smile and scold me for taking my eyes off the clay. "Focus or you'll make it collapse." I'd turn my head back and he'd do it again. We repeated this process until the vase had a lovely shape. 

"I like that." I smiled as we finished shaping the neck and he pulled our hands free, stopping the wheel. "What about texture? Do you like it smooth like that or would you like it to have ridges or ripples?" I looked down at our muddy hands. "I don't want to kill it. It seems so fragile." He smiled. "Hold your fingers out." I opened my right hand and he laced his fingers through mine, barely touching the vase as he spun it very slowly, using our entwined fingers to make lines in the clay in the base. He brought our hands up slowly, pulling the pattern up towards the neck. He pulled our hands away and stopped the wheel, leaving the top part smooth. "How about that?" I curled my fingers around his, turning my head towards him. "It's beautiful, just like you." 

He set our forearms down on the edge of the wheel, so we didn't get clay on our clothes. "Did you have fun?" I nodded, bringing my lips close to his again. "Yes a lot more fun than I thought I'd have when you said we were going to make pottery." He looked down at my lips and then back up into my eyes. "And yet you went along with it anyway?" I looked down at his lips, bringing mine closer. "I trust you." He leaned forward, kissing me sweetly. I closed my eyes, losing myself in his kiss.

The door opened with a creak and someone cleared their throat. I cringed and instantly turned ten shades of red as I remembered we were in a public area. Amadeus winked at me and then turned his head. "Sorry dad. We were just finishing up here." Aftiel crossed the room to inspect our handy work. "You two did that together?" I nodded. "Well he did most of the work, but I loaned him my hands." Aftiel looked at the vases in the window and then down at our vase again, smiling at his son. "I think you do better work with her than without her." Amadeus nodded, leaning forward to look at my expression. "I agree. She forces me to focus because she doesn't want to. But when I'm by myself I get distracted thinking about her." I lowered my head blushing. "Ok, that's enough. Let me up now." Amadeus backed up, letting me slide out from between him and the wheel. 

I stood up and walked over to a larger sink on the other side of the room. Amadeus slid back under the wheel taking a wire and cutting the vase off the wheel. "It really looks good." Aftiel remarked as his son lifted it in the air. "I'll let it dry over the next two days and then I'll glaze and fire it for her." Aftiel raised an eyebrow as I glanced at them before washing my hands. "You should have her come back and you should paint it together." Amadeus turned towards me. "It shouldn't take too long to paint. Do you think you could squeeze me in between your dates?" I tried not to giggle at the expression on Aftiel's face. "I'm sure I could. Do you want me to paint it with you? I got the feeling you were trying to stake a claim on my apartment." Both of their heads snapped up and stared at me as if I had said something horrific and I broke out in giggles.

Amadeus shook his head and stood up, placing the vase on the sill next to the others he'd made. "If that were the case, you'd be getting all of these also." I grinned. "You mean I'm not?" I shrugged. "Well, I guess your other girlfriends should get one too." I turned my back to them, drying my hands off on a towel as I fought to control my laughter. Aftiel snorted. "You shouldn't joke about things like that Meira. He doesn't know if you're serious." I turned and faced them both, leaning casually against the sink. Amadeus had his back to me as he washed his hands. "I did think he was trying to stake a claim on me and he should be dating other girls. After all I have nine dates lined up after this one. But I was joking about him giving his work to other girls. I think I know him well enough to know that he will treat us all differently and appeal to us in different ways." 

I shook my head, watching as Amadeus kept his back to me as he cleaned up the workspace. "Although I'm sure Aureliana would have understood the Ghost reference, where I didn't. But I still enjoyed it." Amadeus looked over his shoulder at me smiling. "I knew you would. You aren't as rough as you pretend to be. Besides, you're comment about dad's art books gave me the idea yesterday." I smiled; impressed that he had created this private moment for me before I had crushed him. "Really?" He nodded before turning and washing his hands again. "Alright dad, the place is all yours." He smiled at his dad before crossing the room and placing a hand on the center of my back. "Shall we?" I nodded, eager to be away from his dad's emotion reading and meddling. 

Amadeus escorted me out of the art studio and then around the building. "Well, that was really all I had planned. Would you like to come see how they changed up our dorm before I walk you home for the night?" I looked up into his gentle face. "Sure, but it may stir up some trouble. Are you sure you want to put up with that?" He laughed. "This is my date so I'm willing to fight for it if I have to." I looked up at him sternly and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "No. Seriously though, I wanted you to feel comfortable if you wanted to come get any of us. It's not like it was before." I nodded leaning against him. "Then I'd love for you to show me." He hugged me against him and led me through the gardens, past my uncles' houses to the guys dorm.

Amadeus paused at the front door and held up his hand to me. "Give me just one second." I nodded and he poked his head in the door. "Female on the floor!" He turned towards me, raising his eyebrows. "Just want to make sure no one tries to make a run from the bathroom without a towel." I shook my head laughing as he poked his head back through the door. "Are we all clear?" I heard someone yell from the back of the building and Amadeus shook his head laughing as he turned back towards me. "You aren't interested in seeing Zebulon streak through the hall are you?" I wrinkled my face. "No thank you." He poked his head back inside. "She said she's not interested, but thanks." There was another yell and more laughter from Amadeus as he pulled his head out of the door closing it. "Alright, now that the coast is clear. I'd like to welcome you to the guys' dorm." 

I smiled nervously and Amadeus poked his head back in cautiously before opening the door wide. The dorm had been transformed into a long hallway with rows of doors on both sides. The walls were paneled in dark wood and the floor was made of dark maroon carpet with a golden diamond pattern printed on it. At the end of the hall opposite the front door was the entry to what was obviously a joint bathroom. To my right just as you entered was a small sitting area with brown leather couches and chairs. It was very manly in appearance and I smiled. "Nice place you have here." He motioned down the hall. "All of our rooms are labeled, so unless some joker switches the names, you shouldn't have trouble finding whoever you're looking for." 

Zebulon poked his head out of a door, his dripping hair evidence that he had in fact been in the shower. He was shirtless and leaned casually against the doorjamb. "We all know that she'll only be coming here for me." I smiled, remembering what Nathanael had said about him. "Not today Zeb." His eyes sparkled as he noted the change in my demeanor towards him. He nodded and stepped back into his room, closing the door quietly behind him. Amadeus cast me a curious glance and I nudged his shoulder. "So which one is yours?" I giggled. "Before someone else tries to steal me." 

He pointed further down the hall. "They put us in age order also." I wrinkled my face. "At least you don't have to share a wall with Etienne or Matthias." He shook his head smirking. "No, I get the bathroom and Zebulon." I patted his elbow. "Hey, I'll never forget which room is yours! I just have to make sure I don't end up in the bathroom." He chuckled and opened the door to his room. "This one is me." I smiled as I stepped into the light colored tropically decorated room. "You were right. It could easily fit in my place." He nodded leaning against the doorjamb but not entering or closing the door. "Yeah it seems our dad's thought we had similar tastes." I turned and looked at him. "Do we have similar tastes Amadeus? Sometimes it's hard for me to tell." He crossed the room fisting his hands in the hair at the base of my neck, tilting my head back as he kissed me passionately. 

He released me much sooner than I would have liked and he stepped backwards, putting space between us as he held out his hand to me. "I'll walk you home now." I took a deep breath, fighting off the feeling in the pit of my stomach as I took his hand. He led me out of the room, closing the door behind me. He led me out of the main front door and then paused to yell inside. "Floor clear!" He closed the door and then smiled down at me. "I know that seemed a little awkward and I'm sorry. I'm just trying to be respectful to everyone and I'm not exactly sure how." I smiled patting his arm gently. "It's alright. I appreciate the fact that you mentioned it though. I thought maybe I said something to upset you." 

He motioned for us to continue on our way and then looked down at the ground as we walked. "Yes, I think we do have similar tastes in many things. But I also think I'm a little more of a bookworm than you realize. I'm a lot like my dad in that way." I smiled up at him. "Mister I'm a super dancer, closet potter, male model, sporty guy is also a book worm? Who knew these things?" He shook his head before raising his head and looking at me. "I know that you are only joking in your tone and not your words. Don't build such a bridge between us." I sighed. "I'm not trying to, but I feel like you have all of your hope resting on me. I just don't want to disappoint you because right now I have no idea what I want." 

We stopped on my doorstep and I looked up at him. "I have all of these dates planned and you're talking about painting and firing our vase in a few days as if you have no other possible plans. You are a beautiful person, inside and out. And there is more than one of our sisters who would love to make you their own." I watched as he chased all negative emotions from his face, putting on his mask for me. "If any other plans come up, I'll let you know." I placed my palm to his cheek, still holding his hand in my other one. "Thank you for the date Amadeus. I really did have a great time." He nodded. "So did I." 

I stepped closer to him, kissing him softly on the lips. "I also can't wait to see the finished vase. I'm sure it will look lovely in any room in my apartment." He nodded. "It'll be ready to paint in about two days. If you still want to help, I'll wait until we get some free time together." I nodded. "I'll help, but I'm kind of curious to see what you'd do if I wasn't looking over your shoulder." He smiled. "I'll have the others fired by then. Maybe I'll let you have one." I raised an eyebrow and he bent down and kissed me. "If no one else claims them first." I sighed looking up into his eyes. "It would serve me right." I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him close. "Now kiss me goodnight Amadeus." He wrapped his arms around my waist, holding me tenderly. "Good night Meira." He kissed me sweeter than he ever had and I wondered if he was trying to make a point or if he was saying goodbye. He leaned back, looking down into my eyes and I nodded. "You too Amadeus." He released me and then turned away, tucking his hands in his pockets as he walked out of sight.

I sat down on my front doorstep, leaning back against the door. I knew that eventually everything would work itself out but it seemed like it was taking its sweet time. I was just about to get up and go inside the house when Salathiel came around the corner from the theater. "Hello Meira." I smiled up at him. "Hello Salathiel." He walked up the doorstep. "Can I sit with you for a minute?" I nodded, scooting over so he could fit on the step beside me. "Did you have a nice date?" I nodded. "Yes, but I'd prefer not to talk about it." He nodded. "I can understand." He wrinkled his brows. "I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I think I'm going to have to cancel our date." His eyes met mine. "You're really great and I'd be lucky to get someone like you. But honestly, I see a lot of Khittania in you and it kind of makes me uncomfortable. I wanted to try to give it a shot but I don't think I can." I smiled, feeling relieved. "You know what? I was feeling a little uncomfortable about it also. Not that there's anything wrong with you. I meant everything I said during speed dating." 

He smiled and wrapped his arms around me in an obvious brotherly hug. "Thanks for not getting upset. I was really dreading backing out." I nodded. "Sure no problem. Hey, do you think you can tell Elijah and see if he wants to move up his date to your spot?" Salathiel grinned. "I'll tell all of them that they've been shifted up a date. I'm sure it will make them all happy." I laughed and he stood to his feet. "So what were you planning for our date anyway?" He chuckled. "Rock climbing of course." I shook my head and he waved. "Have a great night." I smiled and stood to my feet. "I will, you too!" He walked away, whistling cheerfully and I walked inside my house.

I locked the door behind me and walked into my dark bedroom. I stripped out of my sweats and bra, climbing into bed in my tank top and panties. I pulled the covers up and pulled my pillows around me. I sighed as I caught a whiff of Zuriel and Amadeus on the pillowcases. I jerked off the pillowcases and tossed them off the side of the bed. "No shared dreams tonight alright!" I shouted into the air. "Please?" I begged, feeling guilty for yelling. I smothered my face between the pillows miserably and then fell asleep.