“Well, here we go,” Kalen said as he went to answer the door.
He walked back with four people trailing behind him – a young woman and three men.
Aoki stood up and gave a hug to each of them, clearly happy to see them.
“Thank you so much for coming here to help us,” Aoki said.
“This is the chance we’ve been waiting for. And you know I’d – I mean we’d do anything for you,” one of the men replied.
“Let me make introductions,” Aoki said with a proud smile, first introducing Lilyette, Kalen, and Rhiannon then the newcomers.
“This is X,” she said pointing towards a young woman with hazelnut colored hair in a pixie style and tattoo sleeves on both arms, “she is a quarter fairy and has already attempted entering Adira’s dreams before.”
“Hey,” X said with a casual tone addressing everyone, “I’ll be briefing you on what I encountered during my few travels there, and hopefully it will give you an edge on your travel.”
“This is Jeremiah and Ken,” she said, pointing to two striking men – identical to each other except for one having a beard and the other not, “they’re our equipment guys.”
“Hi,” they said in unison.
“I’m Ken,” the one with the beard said, “I handle equipment setup and maintenance.”
“And I’m Jeremiah, and I take care of monitoring and maintaining the equipment during dream travel,” the non-bearded one said shyly.
“And last, but never least, this is Malcolm,” she said, pointing to a man of similar age as herself with kind eyes and black-rimmed glasses.
“Hello everyone,” he said, shaking everyone’s hands.
“He’s the one who invented and designed the machine that will record your travel into Adira’s dreams,” Aoki said beaming.
“The initial idea may have been mine, but it wouldn’t have become a reality without all of you,” he replied, looking only at Aoki.
Kalen looked between the two of them with confusion as he felt a strange energy passing between them. Clearing his throat, he got everyone’s attention and spoke.
“Well, it’s very nice to meet all of you,” Kalen said.
“Yeah, thank you all for coming,” Lilyette said, eyes locked on X, her heart fluttering.
“It’s our pleasure,” X said, returning Lilyette’s gaze.
“When can we get started?” Rhiannon asked eagerly.
“Tonight will be fine. We’ll just need to know where we are setting up,” Malcolm replied.
“In my room, I’ll be going in,” Rhiannon said resolutely, “I’ll show you the way.”
“You seem determined,” X said with admiration.
“Lilyette and Kalen have already been through so much in such a short amount of time, I want to step up and find the answers and proof that we need without putting them in harm’s way again,” Rhiannon replied.
“That’s very admirable,” Malcolm said, “we can record your entire journey into her dreams and if you can get past them into her memories that will be even more definitive. The recordings can’t be altered from start to finish to preserve accuracy. If we were to edit the file in any way it would give them wiggle room to place doubt on us.”
“Got it,” Rhiannon replied.
“So, don’t go getting naked or farting loudly,” Lilyette joked, then inwardly scolded herself for the immature joke.
She looked anxiously to X but was relieved to see that she was laughing.
“Will we be able to watch this live?” Kalen asked eyes widening.
“Yes,” Malcolm replied.
“Great, feel free to go the naked route then,” Kalen laughed.
Rhiannon smacked Kalen and Lilyette on the shoulders but couldn’t help laughing along with them.
“I’ll pass on that one,” she replied, then turning to Aoki’s friends, “follow me, I’ll show you to my room.”
Chapter 26
Rhiannon walked back downstairs after showing the way to her room to see Kalen sitting alone in the living room.
“Where’s your mom?” Rhiannon asked.
“She went to go get something from her room when she said she’s going to go upstairs to assist everyone in set up. Where’s Lilyette?” Kalen replied.
“She is sitting on the bed watching the set up happen,” Rhiannon answered.
“Looks like it’ll be cramped up there so we can just chill down here together while they do that,” Kalen suggested.
“Sounds good to me,” Rhiannon said as she walked over and sat right next to him on the couch.
“Do you want to watch some tv?” he asked.
“No, I’d rather just talk,” Rhiannon replied as she fiddled with a loose string on her shirt.
“Oh, what’s up?” Kalen asked nervously.
“Well, first, I feel like I want to tell you something. I don’t know why but I feel guilty about it, and I know technically we aren’t together…but still…” Rhiannon said.
“You can tell me, it’s okay,” Kalen replied.
“Well, when Oberon and I went upstairs yesterday…we kissed,” Rhiannon said, looking down.
Kalen swallowed hard and thought for a moment.
“I see…” Kalen said slowly, “I honestly don’t know how to respond to that.”
“It was before I knew what he did to Lilyette, and to be honest it felt like I owed it to him to try and see what it felt like before I made any decisions about who I should be with,” Rhiannon said.
“And what did it feel like?” Kalen asked, holding his breath.
Rhiannon turned towards Kalen and looked him in the eyes. She saw the turmoil in his eyes and realized that what she was trying to get across wasn’t coming outright. She took his face in her hands and brought her face closer to his.
“Nothing like this,” she said as she leaned in and began kissing him.
Kalen’s eyes remained open for a few seconds as he was taken aback by her sudden action, but soon they shut, and he wrapped his arms around her and lost himself in the kiss.
The passion between them was palpable in the air as they forgot about everyone else in the house and kissed each other eagerly.
Kalen’s slick and sweet tongue grazed Rhiannon’s lip, sending a tingle through her body and making her own actions grow bolder as she allowed her lips to part and her tongue to do some exploring of its’ own.
Kalen placed his hand on her waist and gently pulled her on top of his lap. She followed his lead and happily spread her legs to straddle his lap, not once breaking their kiss.
The moment grew so heated as Kalen become suddenly aware of how exposed they were. With her legs around him, he grabbed under her and stood up, bringing her with him.
Rhiannon’s eyes shot open in surprise as she was lifted off the couch.
“Let’s go to my room where we can continue this with more privacy,” Kalen said, his voice husky with lust.
Rhiannon nodded, and slid her legs down to the ground and held his hand as she followed him eagerly to his room where they closed and locked the door – not wanting to be interrupted like they’d been before.
Chapter 27
Lilyette sat cross-legged on the bed, watching X.
I want to say something to her, but what can I say, she thought.
At that moment, Aoki entered the room with a toolbox in hand. She looked at Lilyette and was surprised to see that she didn’t bother to look in her direction at all and had her eyes locked on X.
“I’ve brought my tools,” Aoki said, getting the rooms attention.
“Perfect,” Jeremiah said, waving her over to what they were working on.
X moved out of the way to make room for Aoki and sat on the bed next to Lilyette.
Lilyette bit her lips and felt her stomach flip from the sudden proximity to X and looked towards everyone else.
“I’m not much help in this stage,” X said, “I’m better at using technology not putting it together.”
Lilyette let
out a small laugh and replied,
“I’m pretty crap at both.”
“I can teach you a few things,” X said with a half-smile, looking Lilyette up and down.
“I’d like that!” Lilyette replied eagerly.
“Cool, after all this mess with the Villagomez family is done with, you should come over to my place sometime,” X replied.
“Just me…or like all of us?” Lilyette asked, forcing herself to look into X’s eyes.
Her breath hitched as she admired the viridescent eyes looking back at her. They were a magical shade of light green, with bright dashes of turquoise throughout. Lilyette couldn’t seem to steady her breath while looking into her eyes, so she refocused her gaze towards X’s nose only to see that she had a beauty mark on the right side of it.
Why do I suddenly want to kiss that beauty mark? Lilyette wondered as she swallowed the saliva that had pooled in her mouth.
“If you want to bring your friends, that’s fine. But yeah, I meant just you,” X said, tilting her head curiously at Lilyette.
“Oh, they know enough,” Lilyette said hurriedly.
“Then it’s a date,” X said.
“A…date?” Lilyette asked, face turning bright red.
“Dang X, you don’t waste time,” Ken said, “I was going to ask her out.”
Lilyette looked bewildered as her eyes darted between the two who were now sharing a hearty laugh.
“Huh?” she said, confused.
“You’re scaring her, stop it,” X said between laughter.
“No, that’s not it, I just…I don’t know if you’re messing with me or if it’ll really be a date,” Lilyette said honestly.
“Well, I said that to gauge your reaction, since I’m not completely sure about how you’d feel about that,” X replied.
“I’d feel great,” Lilyette said, lifted her chin confidently.
“Okay, then it is definitely a date,” X said, pulling out her phone, “let me get your phone number?”
“She shoots, she scores!” Ken said as he turned away and went back to work.
Lilyette smiled brightly and took the phone and entered her phone number.
Chapter 28
Kalen and Rhiannon stared up at the ceiling of his room, catching their breaths.
Kalen sat up partially, the blanket falling down his side and exposing his muscular torso. He turned on his side and looked at Rhiannon then took a deep breath.
“Rhiannon,” he said.
“Hmm,” she replied dreamily.
“Will you be my girlfriend?” he asked.
Rhiannon smiled and looked back at him. His eyes seemed filled with nervous energy as he awaited her reply, which she couldn’t help but find charming.
Even after what just happened, he’s still nervous, she thought.
She sat up to meet him and gave him a quick kiss on his lips.
“Is that a yes?” he asked after she pulled away.
“Yes,” Rhiannon said, “I will gladly be your girlfriend.”
Kalen smiled widely, exposing all his teeth and exclaimed, “Yes!”
He bent down and kissed her first on her forehead, then each cheek, then her mouth.
“No kissing other guys,” he said happily.
“You either,” Rhiannon replied, laughing.
“I don’t want to kiss anyone else but you,” Kalen said.
“Me either,” Rhiannon replied with a smile as she pulled him in for another kiss.
“We’d better get dressed and go see how the progress is going with the setup,” Kalen said reluctantly.
“I don’t want to leave this bed,” Rhiannon said, laying down and putting the blanket over her head in protest.
Kalen followed her under the covers and tickled her sides, causing Rhiannon to enter a fit of laughter.
“Okay, okay, I surrender,” Rhiannon said, coming up for air.
“If I could stay in here with you forever I would. But it’ll be awkward if someone some comes looking for us and finds us in here undressed,” Kalen said as he climbed out of bed and began pulling on his clothes that were scattered on the floor.
“Yeah, that is not an interaction that I wish to have,” Rhiannon said as she searched for her own strewn clothing.
Once she was dressed, Rhiannon sat down for a moment on the bed as she collected her thoughts.
“You don’t think anyone heard us, do you?” she asked, feeling worried.
“Nah, my mom had my room soundproofed when I took up guitar lessons,” Kalen said, sitting next to her.
“Are you that bad?” Rhiannon asked, laughing.
Kalen laughed and put his arm around her.
“I was when I started, but I’d like to think I’ve improved a bit,” he replied.
“Play me a song sometime?” Rhiannon requested.
“Anything for my girlfriend,” Kalen exaggerated.
Rhiannon groaned and stood up and headed for the door.
“Okay, don’t get all cheesy on my now that we are official,” she said as she opened the door.
“You know you like it,” Kalen said as he followed her out the door.
“Maybe a little,” Rhiannon said, kissing him on the cheek.
The pair walked into the hallway and headed straight into the guest room to see what everyone else was up to.
“Hey! Where have you two been?” Lilyette asked as Kalen and Rhiannon walked through the door.
Rhiannon felt her body temperature rise as she searched for an acceptable answer.
“Well, if you must know, I was asking this beautiful young lady to be my girlfriend,” Kalen said joyfully.
“WHAT?” Lilyette squealed, “OH MY GOODNESS! Rhi-Rhi, what was your answer?”
“I said yes,” Rhiannon said relieved to have this be the topic of discussion.
“Yay! I’m so happy for you guys,” Lilyette said as she hopped off the bed and went to hug Rhiannon.
“Thanks,” Rhiannon said, returning the hug.
“I’m going on a date with X after all this is done,” Lilyette whispered into Rhiannon’s ear as they hugged.
Rhiannon pulled back and held Lilyette at arm’s length and smiled a huge smile, then drew her back in and squeezed her tighter.
The two finally pulled apart, feeling happy for each other and went to sit on the bed.
“So how is it going in here,” Kalen asked.
“We are actually just about finished,” Aoki replied, “we just need to run a few more tests to make sure it’s performing properly, then it’ll be good to go.”
“Just in time; the sun is starting to go down,” Rhiannon said.
“Yep, we will be able to have dinner then you can get hooked up to the machine and go to sleep,” Malcolm replied.
“I’ll probably take a bath after dinner to relax if that’s okay. I doubt that Lady Villagomez is an early sleeper anyways,” Rhiannon said.
“Of course, sweetie,” Aoki said.
“I can join you if you’d like,” Kalen whispered to her.
Rhiannon blushed and lightly hit his knee.
“I’m kidding,” he whispered, “Unless you want to…”
Rhiannon laughed out loud, causing Lilyette and Aoki to look at her quizzically.
Rhiannon cleared her throat and quickly changed subjects.
“So, X, how did you end up coming to the Lucid Dreamers instead of attending Hada Academy?” she asked.
“I was adopted by one of the families here, and they actually didn’t even know that I had fairy blood until I was about eighteen and accidentally went into my mom’s dream,” X replied.
“Wow! I bet they were surprised,” Lilyette answered.
“Yeah, I can relate to your experience,” Rhiannon said.
“It was definitely shocking. They helped me keep it a secret ever since because not a lot of people around here are welcoming to fairies. But Aoki sensed that I had become standoffish and asked me if I was okay, and I told her everything,” X said, lookin
g thoughtfully at Aoki.
“Done!” Jeremiah suddenly exclaimed.
“Impressive,” Kalen said, looking over the various computers, screens, and wires that now filled the right wall of the room.
“It’s getting late, so I’m just going to order food in for dinner. Everyone cool with that?” Malcolm said.
“I could just cook?” Aoki asked.
“You’ve been just as busy as the rest of us. You should take a break,” he said, pulling out his phone.
“Takeout will be fine,” Kalen said agreeing.
“Okay, okay, what does everyone want?” Aoki answered.
After a bit of discussion, everyone agreed on Thai food and went downstairs to wait for the food to arrive.
Aoki watched as Kalen and Rhiannon sat near to each other, hands interwoven as they got lost in a quiet conversation all their own.
My ship has sailed, she thought happily as she chuckled to herself and went to find her own seat next to Malcolm.
“What’s so funny?” he asked when she sat down.
“Oh, you saw that?” she replied.
“With a smile like yours, it’s hard to miss,” he answered.
“Just thinking how happy I am for Kalen and Rhiannon,” she said, smiling even brighter at his comment.
“It seems like everyone here is seizing their moment, yet we still seem stuck,” he said quietly.
“I know,” Aoki replied even quieter.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t want to pressure you,” he said quickly.
“No, don’t be sorry. My life has been so centered around safely raising Kalen, that I didn’t even give us a fair shot. And I’d like to,” Aoki replied.
“Really?” Malcolm asked, hopefully.
“Yeah, I would,” Aoki said.
Malcolm smiled and took her hand boldly.
The doorbell rang, and Aoki stood up quickly, feeling cautious.
She rushed over to the door.
It’s been so long since I’ve been in a relationship, she thought uneasily as she opened the door and took the food from the delivery person.
“Thank you,” she said to them, then she turned back and headed to the dining room table to set everything out, happy for the distraction.
“Time to eat,” she called out to the group.
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