I Wanna Dream – 8.13 – First Kiss

Nobody woke me up so when I finally came out of my sleep the room was empty and the clock looked close to striking nine. Sam must have gone to class. I guess I got out of them for the morning. But dang I had to pee. I slithered out of bed and found the bathroom to take a wiz and give a loud groan of relief which I regretted once I came back out and found Eidan sitting in the chair.

“Oh. Uh. Hi.” I said. He stared at me with a strange look on his face. And silence. My groan probably disturbed him. “H–how are you?” I went over to sit back on the bed.

Eidan glanced at the door like he wanted to run off but then he faced me once more. A faint breeze ruffled over me despite the window being closed. “Are you okay? You were screaming pretty loudly,” he said bluntly.

“Yeah. I’m all right.” I waited for more that never came. “Are you skipping class?”

His face went a bit pink and the breeze felt a bit stronger for a second. I remembered Sam saying Eidan could talk to wind. Could he control it as well? No other explanation for the breeze. “Yes,” he finally admitted. The breeze moved his hair, covering part of his face. “You see the end of the world?”

I shook my head. I tried to explain to him a bit about the vision without revealing too much. I explained about the rain and the fact I saw myself yelling about it. No evidence that the world was going to end. “I yell that someone is going to destroy the world and kill everyone but come on, how feasible is that?” Maybe a day ago I wouldn’t have been sure but Sam’s comment about all the end-of-the-world predictions made me feel a lot better.

Eidan wound some of his hair around one finger, looking very serious. “Do you only see miserable visions?”

“No. Sometimes they’re nice. Proposals, births, marriages, reunions.” I waved my hand to indicate more then settled back. “I can’t make myself see anything specific though.”

He shot upright. “That’s not what I–“

He was cut off by the door opening and Professor Summer coming in. She gave him a curious look and, after going bright pink, he ran off without saying anything else.  Summer checked me over, made sure I felt fine, then sent me on my way. I wouldn’t need to go any classes till after lunch but I went to the one right before lunch anyway, not wanting to sit alone in my dorm.

*

After that Eidan seemed to become my second shadow. He rarely spoke to me just followed me occasionally and gave me strange faces whenever I glanced over. Lilah teased me about someone having a crush. She joked that Eidan and Kiley would have to duke it out over me.

“My money’s on Kiley,” she said with a giggle.

I tried to shut her up but Sam laughed and said, “I dunno, Eidan’s got some good relationship going on with the air. Who knows, he could even be all ‘hey stop having oxygen right here’ or something and out she’d go.”

“Guys, stop!” I grumbled while they both chuckled about my face going as red as my hair. Thankfully they both dropped the conversation though occasionally they’d snicker and I knew they were thinking about… this stupid thing. Why me anyway? Why–what the heck did Kiley see in me? Sure she flirted with everyone but she definitely singled me out the most and saved the most seductive looks and perverted innuendos for me. As for Eidan… well, I had no idea what he might want.

*

Kiley stood at the window, staring out at the blustery weather. She wore nothing but lacy panties. No bra. I quickly looked away, feeling horribly embarrassed for seeing her like this. Then I glanced back–at her face. I realized she was older than she really was, or really older in this vision than in real life. Not much older. Only by a few years. Twenty at most, eighteen at least; either way definitely an adult. She chewed at her thumbnail nervously. One arm wrapped around her stomach.

She turned and looked almost directly at me. I took a step back and my eyes tried to focus on her face and not her… ahhh… bare… um, her… nudity. “Watcher damn it all, hurry up!” she hissed and I turned to see that she was staring at a clock. She walked over–nearly brushing past me–and stood right in front of the clock. Least all I could see was her bare back now and her… well… okay fine, so her butt looked good in those panties. “Hurry up!” She tapped at the clock then groaned, turning to flop back against the wall. Tears went down her cheeks.

Kiley then grabbed for her cell phone and stared at it, finger hovering over the touchscreen. “…can’t…” She set the phone down and then began pacing.

This felt so weird. A vision about someone I knew in such an intimate setting. I had seen naked girls in my visions before but this felt so different. This felt almost like voyeurism. Especially since she was obviously so upset.

The minute hand hit the six and Kiley dove for the door. I followed her into a bathroom. She picked up a white and pink stick though she didn’t look at it. “Please. Watcher, please,” she breathed out then slowly lifted the stick up. “Oh. Oh. Oh.”

Slowly she set the stick down then sat down on the toilet crying. Happy crying, judging by the smile on her face. I didn’t want to look but something compelled me. I bent in and just as I saw a bright pink plus sign on the pregnancy test I jolted awake in my dorm room.

Sam sat in his bed, rubbing his forehead and looking bewildered. Crap, did I mention her name? Her boobs? I slithered out of bed hoping he wouldn’t be his usual uber helpful self whenever I had a vision but he got up and headed to the door. I shrugged and, after grabbing my small bath bag with my towels and stuff, followed. I didn’t really need a shower. I wasn’t shaken up or anything just seriously weirded out. Still, I kinda wanted to wash my face or something.

Just before going in the bathroom I blurted out, “What did I say? In my sleep?”

Sam reached the bathroom door and hesitated. “You kept saying ‘she’s waiting for it to be done’. You said that at least three times that I heard. Then, ‘what she wanted it’s what she’s always wanted’.”

“N–nothing else? Nothing about…”

“About what?”

I pushed past him lightly and opened the bathroom door. “Nothing, nothing. I just wanted to–oh Watcher.” I stopped as Casimir’s head snapped up, eyes filling with fiery anger. He was partially bent over a sink, a stained washcloth in one hand.

“What the fuck are you assholes doing up?” he hissed, fingers digging into the rag.

“This isn’t your personal bathroom,” Sam said as he waltzed in, shoulders back, chin up. “Wh… I smell blood!” I realized then that the washcloth was stained reddish. There was some red streaks in the sink he stood by, too.

Casimir flicked the faucet on, sending reddish water swirling down the drain. When the water stopped the red streaks had diminished a bit but were still there. Casimir began scrubbing. “And I smell two nosy idiots who deserve to be kicked out of this school.”

“Whose blood is that?” Sam pressed, his voice rising a bit in a way I never heard before.

“My own. I cut myself shaving.”

“At three in the freaking morning?!”

Casimir whirled around, pointing the bloodied rag at them. “I don’t need to fucking sleep, you miserable little elf! I do what I want, when I want–and if either of you keep asking more of these damned questions it’ll be your blood!” He threw the rag in the trashcan and stormed out, slamming his shoulder into me so I fell back painfully into the wall.

Sam stood still though his nostrils flared a bit as he breathed heavily. I shut the door and went to the sink, turning the hot water on full blast until the blood all but disappeared. I didn’t want to touch the blood but I got some paper towels to finish getting rid of it. By the time I got rid of all traces Sam still hadn’t spoken. “You okay?”

“I doubt that’s his blood.” Sam shook his head slowly. “He probably hurt someone and is trying to get rid of the evidence.”

“Maybe he did cut himself shaving.”

“With what?” Sam snapped. “His invisible razor? Unless he stuck it in his boxers which is weird and dangerous even for a werewolf. No. I think Casimir hurt someone… bad…”

I bit my bottom lip and began peering into each of the bathroom stalls and behind all shower curtains as if expecting to find a half-mauled body there. Had Casimir hurt someone? “It seems odd he’d clean up the evidence. I don’t think he’d kill anyone.” I also didn’t think he had been shaving either. Sam was right, Casimir had nothing in his hands and not even he would stick a blade down into his underwear. “And no one is around. The blood is just in the sink and not like, trailing around the hallway.”

Sam looked into the trashcan. “It’s pretty bloody for just a shaving nick.”

I pressed my fingertips to my forehead. My eyes were starting to fade from being solid and my head had started to hurt, more from this situation than the vision itself. I went to a different sink and began washing my face. Kiley apparently wanted a baby more than anything else in the world and Casimir had sloshed blood all over the bathroom. This night couldn’t get any weirder. Famous last words, I thought but thankfully that was that. Sam and I returned to our room to go back to sleep.

*

The next few days were very tense. Every time Casimir saw me and Sam he’d draw a finger across his throat in a threat made more terrifying by the idea he had hurt someone. Lilah kept pressing us for what happened but Sam and I kept silent. Then there was the fact I felt embarrassed and awkward around Kiley. I kept imagining her bare breasts, her round butt in those lacy panties. She had a few years to go before getting that exact body but I imagined (against my will, I swear!) how her boobs and butt might look right now. Made worse by the sultry looks and air kisses she sent my way.

Then it hit the school. Valentine’s Day. Thank the Watcher there wasn’t a dance or anything, though when I expressed my relief Sam and Lilah warned me that there would be a dance on spring equinox. Still… decorations were put up and half the students got all excited. A trip into town was planned the weekend before and pretty much everyone went. Lilah bought a huge box of cards and some chocolates. I bought some chocolates. Was it okay for guys to give their guy friends chocolates? I didn’t think anything of it, girls gave their friends chocolates all the time and it never meant anything. I bought some for Sam and Lilah then a small box of fancy chocolates for… errr… someone. I also got some cards to send home to everyone. I bought a small plushie for Angel–a little bear with wings and a halo holding a heart that said ‘For My Angel’. How could I not buy it for her?

I missed my baby sister so much. She had turned a year old in January and everyone sent me dozens of pictures but it wasn’t the same as being there. I really wanted to go home and see her in person. I couldn’t wait till summer..

“I mean like, I love it here. I just kinda wish it was closer to home. That I could visit on occasion like some of the students here who grew up nearby can visit,” I said a couple days before Valentine’s. “Ugh I sound pathetic.”

“No you don’t,” Grandpa promised. “I miss you too, Poliwag. Aren’t you able to visit or anything? If others can visit on weekends…”

I sniffed. “No, it’s fine. They all live close by. I’d need a round trip plane ticket! Just for a weekend? I’m not doing that.”

“Oh. Okay. How are the–vision… uhhhh… psychic classes going?”

I rolled my eyes. “Not as helpful as I’d like. Mr. Hunter is really trying to just get me–um, to get me to accept my visions… you know… I dunno.” I kicked at the wall uncomfortably. “They’re still happening. I can’t do anything about them still.”

“They’re part of who you are. Like, um, Reeny’s elfy blood. And Zaid and Lumie’s connection, where you got that power from. It’s part of you. I don’t think you’ll ever be able to stop them. In fact it might be bad if you did somehow, uh, stop them.” I chewed at my bottom lip until I tasted blood. I hadn’t told my family about the incident with the sleeping potion.  “You know how your aunt is now that her connection is gone… we didn’t tell you this or the other kids, so don’t say anything, but she’s had to spend time in a hospital. A, um, mind hospital.”

I remained silent though I did nod. Her head rubbing had gotten so bad that she had a bald patch on the side of her head that she tried to keep hidden. She was getting worse and worse as the years went on. Over the winter holidays when they visited, Cat and I had been talking and she said something about not wanting her mom to ‘go away again’. When I asked what she meant Cat clammed up. I suspected Aunt Lumie had gone to a mental institution at some point, that I didn’t know about. Now I knew.

“Grandpa…” I whispered and then the whole story about the sleeping potion incident came tumbling out. I told him everything. The incredible pain, being forced to throw up, how much hell it had been.

“Poliwag!” Grandpa cried out when I finished. He actually sounded like he might be crying. “Does your dad know?!”

“N–no. Unless they contacted him without me knowing. They might have.” I licked along the wound I had caused on my lip, the blood taste already fading. “It was a couple weeks ago. When school started again. Hey who are you telling?!” I demanded as Grandpa began whispering the bare bones of my story.

“Your grandfather. You need to tell Noah though, okay?” Then he went back to talking to his dead husband. “No, don’t yell–well I know that! He must have been super scared. I would be too if that happened to me. No you can’t go hurt the nurse, I’m sure she didn’t know what would happen.”

“Damn it is grandfather threatening Professor Summer?!” I growled out. “She definitely didn’t know what it would do! None of us did! She helped me get rid of the potion, she was very upset at what happened!”

“Did you hear that?” Grandpa asked of Grandfather. “Okay. Good.” Then he returned to his call with me. “Sorry. He’s just really worried. So’m I. You need to tell Noah, all right?”

I sighed and agreed to tell Dad the next time I talked to him.

*

Okay, so I planned on telling Dad but on our next phone call I panicked and didn’t tell him anything. Anything about the incident, at least. I mostly talked about Valentine’s Day and confessed to him in whispers I had a vision involving a girl who seemed to be after me and I saw her boobs in the vision. I could tell Dad was trying not to laugh when he told me how rough that situation was and he knew I’d be mature about the whole thing.

At dinner that night Kiley sashayed over to me and sat down, striking a seductive pose. She then handed me a card. She winked before sashaying off, hips swaying. I gulped and opened the card. Heart. Swirly letters stating ‘Be Mine’. Inside she asked to meet me in the pool at midnight. I closed the card, burning red, refusing to show the card to Sam and Lilah.

I couldn’t help but shoot a glance over at Romance. Between lunch and dinner some of the older students had gone around giving everyone mystery Valentines. The days before Valentine’s Day we could go leave cards and gifts with Professor Valedez who led one of those secret Valentine thingies. I had left a card and box of chocolates for Romance, too embarrassed to give her them myself. I had seen her receive it in the hallways between classes. The older student had come over and given her a small bag full of gifts and cards. I wasn’t the only one wanting to give her something. Not that I had a crush on her… umm… yeah, no. Just… well, okay… In any case, I had been given my own small bag full of cards and chocolates. Sam had a bag about the same size as mine. Lilah had a huge bag and she had eaten about half the candy before dinner which resulted in her wings beating so fast we kept calling her a hummingbird.

Did Romance like the card and candy? Probably not, probably they weren’t as nice as what else she got in that bag. Who else had gifted her stuff? Don’t torture yourself over this, I told myself and  did my best to focus on the card from Kiley. The meeting request. Dare I go? I wondered all evening.

At eleven-forty I changed into my swimming trunks (were we going to go swim?), put a t-shirt and jeans over them, and waited impatiently. I didn’t want to show up too early. For what? I wasn’t sure. I had no idea what would happen or why I was even going. Fifteen till. I got up and tiptoed out, careful not to wake Sam. Cold air drifted in from the open window. Some snow dusted the windowsill.

I went through the dark school as quietly as I could. Down, down, down to the basement and to the poolroom. The lights in the pool were on and a couple of the overhead lights were on.

Kiley sat on the opposite edge of the pool, wearing a bikini, legs dangling in the water. She smiled when I came in.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d show up,” she said.

“I… wasn’t sure if I would either,” I admitted.

“No swimsuit?”

I subconsciously stripped down and sat across from her. She hopped into the water sending small waves lapping at my legs. I slithered in, not as graceful as her. We began swimming. No talking at all, just swimming and splashing. Races and breath holding contests. After an hour we dragged ourselves onto the floor, exhausted.

Kiley reached over and trailed a finger down the inside of my arm. “I baked you some chocolate chip cookies. Do you like those kind?” I nodded silently. She laughed. “Good. I’ll give them to you tomorrow.” She sat up and twisted some water out of her hair. “I like to come swimming sometimes in the middle of the night. It feels amazing.” She gave me a heavy-lidded look. “Sometimes I go skinny dipping. You ever do that?”

“Ah–n-no…”

“It’s even more amazing. Mr. Hunter lets students swim whenever since we have magical beings who need water. One time in the autumn I was skinny dipping and one of the vamps came in and saw me.” She began giggling. “He just stood there staring before fleeing. It was hilarious.”

I sat up as well and began speaking quickly. “Ihadavisionofyouandyoudidnthaveashirton.”

Her head tilted to one side, her eyes opening wide. “Were you in the vision too?”

“What? No–wh-why would I be?”

“It’s kind’ve obvious, Apollo. Or are you that dense?”

I took in a deep breath. Why did this have to happen when I only had wet swimming trunks on? Any more intensity in the moment and I’d have to figure out how to hide a boner. “I–I’m not that dense. I mean, I know you–uh–like me.”

“Do you like me?” Her eyebrows went up high.

“I… don’t know,” I answered honestly. “Um, don’t you want to know what I saw?”

“You saw my boobs, apparently.”

“Uh. Well. Accidentally.”

Kiley got up and shook her hair out. “Damn it, Apollo.” I scrambled to my feet, giving her a questioning look. “I hoped you’d be more forward and not prudish.”

“I’m not a prude. I just–I–it’s not right that that happened! It feels like I took advantage of you. I saw… you… without your permission. It’s not right.”

She stared into my eyes then bent in close, lips just maybe an inch away from mine. “I tried to see you naked without your permission. Do you hate me?”

“I’m uncomfortable about it.”

Her fingers brushed against my cheek. “So I make you uncomfortable?”

“I don’t know. Stop giving me that look! This–this is all new to me! I don’t have any experience with girls! I was homeschooled for a long time, the only interactions with girls I’ve ever had was staring from a distance! The only ones I talked to before I came here were all related to me, or might-as-well-be related to me like the Fluff kittens are.”

Her hand dropped away and she stepped back. “If I make you uncomfortable, I’ll stop. I don’t want to… you know, do that.” She began wringing her hair out again. “I may be a perv but I’m not a jerk.”

“I never thought you were a jerk. I just–don’t know how to deal with someone like you.”

“Well if I ever bother you too much just tell me and I’ll stop.”

“You don’t bother me. As I said, I’m not sure how to…” I trailed off as our eyes met again. “I don’t think I… have feelings for you.”

“Hmm. ‘Don’t think’ is a better thing than ‘definitely don’t’.” Her eyes sparkled as she leaned again. “So I guess you aren’t my valentine this year but… maybe next year?”

“Maybe. I’m not going to, um, promise anything.”

“Damn. I was hoping for at least a kiss.” She tossed her damp hair back and sighed. “That gives me something to look forward to though.”

“I wouldn’t say no to a kiss,” I managed to get out.

She froze then her body relaxed, her tongue darting out to lick her lips. “You sure?” Yes? No? I didn’t know! I certainly wanted a kiss, I wanted a lot of things that I shouldn’t do at fourteen. Kiley was gorgeous. I couldn’t deny that one bit. “I won’t kiss you unless you say yes,” she said, her words coming out a bit ragged.

Before I could talk myself out of it I nodded and then she was on me, pressing against me. Not just her lips against mine but her whole body against mine. Nearly falling over, I stumbled a bit to keep balance. She pushed against me, lips hard on mine. How am I supposed to breathe? Do I keep my eyes closed? Do I open them? Can she feel–

Of course she could feel that. I was jammed against her thigh. Oh Watcher.

Then Kiley pulled back looking as if I had given her the moon. “G’night Apollo.” She grabbed her robe and slid it on as she left the room.

I just pressed my hand against my chest and breathed heavily.