A Wider Sky: Beyond Eclipse Series
by Talyis Bagley Ellison
Copyright first edition 2013, 2015
Chapter 15
After Windsor's class, I got a private message from Haazic on my social scroll. My arm was suddenly laced with Lance's while we walked back to the dorms together. He held my arm tighter to his and hummed taking advantage of our closeness to glance at my tablet over my shoulder.
"Look who is becoming Miss Popular," Lance chuckles
"I'm just tutoring her and she is going to help me with my thesis."
"I can help you with your paper. Anyways, Haazic isn't the best student. And I must admit Kiowa, I'm a bit hurt. I'm second in class... to you," Lance blushed and I couldn't help but chuckle.
I remembered how much I liked Lance when we first met. He was my best friend and just as I thought about how much I really loved his friendship, I thought of my other "friend." And like a cosmic slap, Gaelen blissfully jogged past me with his seconds in tow behind him - not even looking in my direction. Bane and Taxa were tossing a ball between themselves. It looked like they were coming from a skirmish game of football. Gaelen's usually purple, blue-black hair was not just midnight black and glistening with sweat. The three of them together was a bit intimidating. They all had a presence of royalty but their boyish charm was mixed with dangerous dose of being lethal warriors. Gaelen was walking backwards while laughing with Taxa who wore a scowl on his face, it was difficult to discern that this was Taxa having fun. Gaelen nearly ran us over but he squeezed out of our path and even worse, he didn't say a thing to me.
Once the trio were in the distance also heading back to the dorms, Lance shrugged, "He still wont patch up your relationship with him because you stood him up at the Festivities?"
Lance was right. It seemed like Gaelen was avoiding me with all costs. We no longer sat next to each other in Windsor's class.
"I dunno." I hugged myself. Now I was even more eager to just sulk away to lick my emotional wounds alone. "I got to go. I need to study for tomorrow's lectures. See you later?"
"Sure." Lance sighed and shifted his backpack tighter against his body. "Oh...Kiowa." Lance rocked on his heels looking at the ground. "You deserve someone who is going to be sensitive to your needs and if you don't want to attend Festivities no one should fault you for it. You deserve someone who will love you for you. That's all I am going to say. Ok. Take care. Kiowa. See you in class tomorrow."
Those were wise words that meant more than what he meant. I didn't know how to respond because the moment I touch the handle to the dorm door, my mind narrowed on my massive study obligations. I had about three hours to study on my own before I was to meet Hazzic. I awkwardly hugged Lance goodbye, I couldn't think about relationships right now, with Gaelen or Lance. It only made me loss valuable energy on my true purpose of going to school.
Focusing on school was going to be a godsend because the more I thought about the exchange, the more I felt that I was missing out of important discussions that would make me a better person who could be relatable. The more I felt that my friendship with Gaelen was on ice and what were were was hard to define. And I guess that is what we were aiming for. A relationship that was in secret and that no one else could penetrate our wall of safety even though it felt more out of self-esteem and fear of being left with no one.
In mere seconds after sitting in my room to begin studying, my usual guest intrusively entered my room. I gave him a dose of his own medicine ignoring him. Gaelen sauntered over to my side of the room and got comfortable as he saw fit which was lying across my bed, dominating it more so than politely sitting. I tried my best to not even take him in as I worked on m first year thesis that wasn't about the rebels but on something I hadn't yet figured out yet. At the moment I was just researching and starting mini-thesi and ultimately boring my somewhat friend/boyfriend who should be studying but instead spent the time hassling me to take a break.
Like a panther, he stalked over to my desk and startled me as he lifted my sweater off my body. Without effort, he pulled me out of my chair and towards the bed. I expected him to push me onto the bed and then languishingly drape his body over mind but instead he pushed me against the wall, his hands snaking behind me as he pulled my hips to his. He simply just pressed his forehead to mine and inhaled deeply, his emerald eyes closed as if in prayer. He stood perfectly still, sandwiching me between himself and the wall.
What was he thinking? This was another side of Gaelen who often loved possessing me, pushing my buttons to bring me to the edge. Gaelen was a persistent and skilled lover. What this man could do with his lips was a near losing battle. He was a warrior in trying to get me to pull down my guards and allow him to pluck my virginity. Most of all he was a skilled general in finding tactics that challenged my scarred-fear which paralyze me from accepting that I could possibly be loved.
He pulled away in a startling retreat so unlike Gaelen yet he still moved like a fearsome predator back to my desk. I huffed and tried to gather my wits. My whole entire body was tingling especially in my core and my thighs trembled. That had to be the most sexiest thing I've ever experienced. I plopped on my bed and pulled my tablet out, swiping it so that it projected a geological table onto the wall in front of Gaelen.
Back to studying, I said to myself.
Gaelen kicked his feet up onto my desk and leaned back in my chair, crossing his muscular arms across his chest. This man was handsome without any effort. He fluffed his raven hair and then snuck a peek at me with a wily eyebrow smirking. He knew I loved watching his hair change from midnight black, to steaks of purple and hunter green in the sunlight.
All the tease.
"I am glad I have to meet Haazic in an hour, because then maybe you will actually get some work done," I snipped. Gaelen only gave a Cheshire grin and batted his big green eyes to stir the pot in my loins. "You are terrible," I said as I walked over to kiss him, I was drawn to him like a fly to sweet vinegar and soap. He was going to cause my death that was for sure. "We aren't even really dating or friends or soul-whatever."
"Exactly, we are just Gaelen and Kiowa." He pulled me into his lap and nuzzled my cheek with his nose "Don't talk about Gaelen and Kiowa behind their backs especially not to Haazic. It would totally ruin the Gaelen-and-Kiowa-special-kind-of-magic which makes this somewhat friendship/dating/soul-whatever work." he said so sweetly into my neck before nipping it with his lips.
He was right though. Whatever he was trying to do with me was magic and it was obvious he was also trying to avoid contact with Sebol. He was spending his time with me -in secret- and this was exactly the gossip fodder that Sebol needed to justifying going bats shit crazy on Gaelen or more so, on me.
Oh my god, I had to laugh at myself. Imagine if she knew her sweet king, Gaelen, had fallen in love with a human.
The thought didn't even leave me as I walked to the Harvard building art room. I left Gaelen to his own devises either continue studying or go party like a king. I hummed with smothered chuckles with the thought of me and Galen - together.
"What are you laughing about?" Haazic snapped. She sat on a table, swinging her legs under it and had a pissed off look on her face as if she had been waiting a long time.
"Nothing just something my mom told me. Sorry I was late. I was on a call with my 'rents."
"Sure. Whatever. Let's just get this over with."
We worked in silence for a while, me creating a mini-me-David right beside her. I went through the quadrants for each segment until she had tiny piles of masses that needed to now be chiseled and sculpted. She was on a roll already, working on David's calf. A smile pulled across her chin, she was humming to herself, enjoying "human tricks".
"You're not a bad teacher, Kiowa."
"Thanks, but this assignment is hard. I don't know if I can say it will be perfect."
"Well lets see?" She wiped her clayed hands on a towel hanging across her lap and then grabbed her tablet from her book bag slung over the chair. The tablet lit up and scanned the finished David leg calculating its perfection. "Fuck! It's not perfect." She became disheartened and then threw her head back, sucking her teeth.
