JM BENAVIDEZ

Lael wrapped his arm around my shoulders as we walked and I smiled up at him. "You know, I feel like I might be willing to become a morning person with you around." He laughed as we entered the dining room. "I don't know. That might even be too much of a miracle for me." I snorted and he squeezed my shoulders playfully. "You can be anything you want." I smiled and he dropped his arm from my shoulders as he motioned for me to lead the way into the kitchen. I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye of Elijah and Aureliana eating at a table together and I marveled at the fact that it didn't really bother me. As we walked into the kitchen Lael clapped his hands together. "It looks like we're the last ones here, did they leave us anything?" I glanced over my shoulder at him. "I think I'm just going to grab some cereal." He smiled. "You're usual eh?" 

I turned to face him, placing my hand on his chest. "How do you know what my usual is?" He gave me a quick peck on the cheek. "You think I have only paid attention to you after the dreams started?" He stepped past me grabbing two bowls out of the cupboard and setting them on the counter. I leaned back against the counter. "When you say pay attention, do you mean in general or that you were romantically interested in me before they started?" Lael glanced at me over his shoulder as he pulled my favorite cereal out of the cabinet. "What do you think?" He poured two bowls, covered them with milk and put everything away as I watched him. His depth of sentiment towards me did seem more founded than the others had been. Not to mention he had taken great care to not only secure my affections before acting on his own but he had gone out of his way to do things he knew I'd liked. That was something that took time to learn, it took dedication. His eyes met mine as he handed me a green bowl filled with the perfect amount of both milk and my favorite cereal. "How long?" He shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know. Several months maybe even half a year?" 

He cupped his own green bowl of cereal in both hands. "Come on, let's eat." He headed towards the door and I narrowed my eyes at him. "What's your favorite color?" He smiled as he opened the door. "I like green, blue and brown." I nodded and followed him to an empty table on the far side of the dining room. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" I asked sitting down in the chair next to him. He leaned over his bowl preparing to take a bite. "You never asked." He took a bite of his cereal and I shook my head. "I meant about liking me for so long, not about your favorite color." We took turns taking bites and glancing at each other in between talking. "It didn't seem relevant I guess." I frowned. "How is that not relevant? That's a huge deal." He set his spoon in his bowl as he looked up at me. "Is it?" I nodded. "That means you liked me before we all knew it was ok." He smiled, looking down at his bowl as he scooped up a bite. "Actually, I talked to my dad about it long before everyone started having dreams." He stuffed the bite in his mouth as I stuttered at him. "So why didn't you say anything to me?" 

Lael turned towards me leaning his arm on the table. "And say what? Excuse me Meira, I know you just think of me as your older brother and this might sound creepy but I think I love you. So would you like to go out sometime?" His words were sarcastic and borderline condescending but I knew he had gone over it in his head dozens of times. "You never even tried to hang out with me more. You just pretended like nothing changed." He nodded, relaxing his posture. "I didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to myself. I figured that either it would work itself out eventually or it wouldn't. But I wasn't going to sabotage myself if I didn't have to. At least if you were clueless then you didn't hate me and I still had a chance." 

I placed my hand on his arm. "So what started it? Was there a specific event?" Lael shook his head. "No, not really. It's just the more I interacted with you, the more I caught myself watching you. When I realized I felt an attraction to you, I started forcing myself to pay attention to all of the girls to see if it was purely hormonal." He shook his head. "While they played a part, I didn't feel the same way towards the others." I swallowed the last bite of my cereal and sighed. "It must have bummed you out when you found out I hadn't dreamt about you that first night." He looked down at his bowl chuckling. "Or second." I snorted. "Yeah, well as far as I'm concerned, that second night doesn't really count." We both laughed and Lael motioned with his head as Elijah approached the table. 

"Good morning." He smiled, pulling out another chair casually and sitting down. I felt comforted by the fact that he didn't ask permission, but had just sat down like he belonged. "Good morning." I smiled back at him. He leaned forward looking into Lael's bowl. "Cereal? Ugh." Lael smirked, stuffing a bite into his mouth and I scrunched my face at Elijah. "Yeah? What did you eat for breakfast?" He grinned. "Eggs Benedict." I frowned, disappointed I had missed it. "Just rub it in why don't you." Elijah laughed. "Sometimes it pays to get up early." I nodded. "Yeah, yeah. The early bird gets the worm." Lael smiled and Elijah raised an eyebrow. "You're pretty quiet there sir." Lael nodded. "Meira's been talking my leg off and I wanted to finish eating before my cereal got soggy. I was grateful for the distraction." He winked at me playfully and I crossed my arms over my chest. "If I was talking your leg off, my cereal would have been soggy, not yours." He stuck his tongue out at me and I smiled at his suddenly playful attitude. Unlike Zuriel who seemed competitive, Lael was more laid back and tried to set everyone at ease.

Lael glanced up casually at his best friend. "So, we're all dying to know. How did your date go last night?" Elijah's demeanor changed and he rubbed the back of his neck. "A lot better than I thought it would have actually." His eyes met mine and I was able to give him a genuine smile. "That's great. Aren't you glad I made you go?" He wrinkled his brows and then looked at Lael before looking back at me. "That doesn't upset you?" I sighed and reached across the table, touching his hand gently. "Like I said before, I want everyone to be happy. I'll admit last night it was a little uncomfortable seeing you together. But by this morning, you seemed so comfortable together that it actually made me happy." Elijah leaned back in his chair looking at me with a mixture of confusion, relief and sadness. "So what are you saying?" I shrugged, looking at Lael and then back at him. "I'm saying the same thing I said yesterday. You are going to have to make up your own mind. I can't do it for you." 

I wondered if Lael had ever told Elijah that he had liked me before the dreams and judging by the casual expression on his face I figured he probably hadn't. I got the impression that Lael was secretly hoping Elijah would chose Aureliana over me, but he wanted to be supportive to everyone at the same time. Elijah wrinkled his brows. "I don't want to hurt anyone." I smiled reassuringly. "You won't. We are all grownup enough to understand and not take it personally." Elijah shook his head. "Zuriel wasn't." I clenched my teeth and Lael locked eyes on Elijah. "What makes you say that?" Elijah shook his head. "He's just butt hurt and prickly as all hell. The good news is that Aureliana won't take his shit and she's whipping him into shape. She really is good for him." I nodded thoughtfully. "And what about you? Being in a relationship with her puts you in his path also." He wrinkled his brows. "Not in the same way you were talking about. It would definitely be two separate relationships." I snorted. "I guess he learned his lesson the first time." Elijah tilted his head and Lael nodded as he continued drinking the milk from his cereal. 

Elijah leaned over the table towards me, looking into my eyes. "I don't know if I could do that. I would try if you wanted me to but I think it would be awkward." I nodded and glanced at Lael who set his bowl on the table. "I would like to ask Lael to move in. I have already spoken to him about it and he said he wanted to talk to you first." Lael and Elijah locked eyes and Elijah nodded. "I see." He looked down at me. "So what you're saying is that if that if living in a house with three of us made me uncomfortable, then it would be the two of you in one house and me in another." Lael shook his head. "I think we could all share a house, but I think if you felt awkward, we could have separate bedrooms." Elijah nodded thoughtfully. "I could see that. It's really just the thought of waking up with your hair in my throat that bothers me." He joked, smiling at Lael. 

I sat back in my chair. "I think maybe you two should take some time and talk about this. You have been friends your whole lives and I don't want to come between you." Elijah wrinkled his brows. "What about you?" I smiled. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to go home and take a shower and change. When you guys have talked it over, come find me and tell me what you've decided." Lael nodded reassuringly at me and Elijah shook his head. "Tell you what we've decided? So you can go either way, like it doesn't matter?" I sighed, understanding the hostility sneaking into his tone. I bit my bottom lip and then looked up into his eyes with a little annoyance of my own. "Elijah, if I didn't care I would tell you to walk not talk." He closed his eyes, ducking his head slightly. "I'm sorry, you're right." 

I nodded as he looked up into my eyes. "The decision is ultimately yours. We'll figure it out as we go but as far as I'm concerned either one or both of you are moving in." Elijah looked across the room to where Aureliana was sitting, flirting with Zuriel and he wrinkled his brows. He looked down at the table and then up at Lael. "I think it will just be Lael." I blinked slowly, digesting his words and then meeting his eyes. "If that's what you want." He nodded. "You're wonderful Meira, but I think everyone will be happier with this decision." I nodded, fighting back a giggle. "Will you do me a favor though?" Elijah raised an eyebrow. "It depends." I grinned at him. "Will you give Zuriel a run for his money? He could use some real competition." Both Elijah and Lael burst into laughter and Elijah nodded at me. "I'll give him all I've got." I stood up and walked around the table, hugging him around the shoulders. "We're going to be fine. I just want you to be happy alright." He smiled up at me. "And I thank you for that." 

Lael stood up, picking up our bowls and taking them into the kitchen. I think he needed a private freak out moment and I smiled at his back as he left the room. Elijah looked up at me. "You're crazy about him." I nodded, smiling down at him. "Almost as much as he is about me and that's saying something." Elijah nodded. "He's pretty good about hiding what he feels and keeping himself in check." I shook my head smirking. "Yes he is." Elijah stood up as Lael came back into the room. "Well, I'll leave you to it." I smiled and he gave me a hug. "We're all still friends' right?" I laughed. "Of course we are. I'd like to think I'm still friends with everyone." I cast a pointed glance to where Zuriel was getting up from his table. "Even people who aren't being friendly right now." Elijah nodded. "I'll make sure to mention that to him."