“This next song goes out to someone very special in the audience,” Caleb said, staring straight at me with his brilliant, dark eyes. 

Even in the dark, somehow I knew he could see me smiling up at him. 

The song started with Caleb’s part, just a few notes, not even in a melody per se. It almost sounded like the beeps and boops of a computer. But gradually, it resolved itself into a  peaceful, upbeat rhythm. If anything it sounded oddly familiar. Then as the lyrics started, I broke out into a full, rapturous laugh. This was the song he learned for me? Of course it was. 

You would not believe your eyes

If ten million fireflies

Lit up the world as I fell asleep

'Cause they fill the open air

And leave teardrops everywhere

You'd think me rude but I would just stand and stare

I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly

It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep

'Cause everything is never as it seems

“Annie, are you ok?” Olivia asked, grabbing my shoulder. 

The laughter just wouldn’t stop, but I managed to gasp out. “Yeah, yeah.”

She let go and stepped back into Roger’s waiting arms. He pulled her into a hug, standing behind her as they gently rocked and swayed to the music. 

I had to admit they were a cute couple. Olivia kept stealing glances behind her and biting her lip. Roger held her like he’d never let go. Before tonight, that might have made me jealous, made me wish it was Caleb holding me like that. But now, I just felt happy for them. My fingers found the beads of the bracelet that Olivia had given me. When I first asked Caleb out, admittedly, I was just thinking about myself. I never realized the impact I could have on the people around me. I guess courage spreads like a flame sometimes. 

'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs

From ten thousand lightning bugs

As they tried to teach me how to dance

A foxtrot above my head

A sock hop beneath my bed

A disco ball is just hanging by a thread

I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly

It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep

'Cause everything is never as it seems

We had done it. We really had. We’d cleaned up the mess Caitlyn and I had made. Still I couldn’t be mad at her anymore. In a way, I owed all of this to Caitlyn, good and bad. Who knows if I would have ever tried hypnosis without her. She was always the one I looked up to, the one who could do anything. But for the first time, I didn’t feel like I needed her or anyone to look after me. Besides, she was otherwise occupied. 

I looked over to see Caitlyn and Melissa standing very close together. Very close. They whispered in each other’s ears, breaking into the occasional fits of giggles. No one else would see so close and in the dark, but Caitlyn had slipped one foot out of her shoe and was gently sliding it up and down Melissa’s calf. 

Even Lackeys One, Two, and Three had joined us. It turned out their names were Kylie, Kaya, and Candace. They actually weren’t so bad either once you got to know them. 

To ten million fireflies

I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes

I got misty eyes as they said farewell (they said farewell)

But I'll know where several are

If my dreams get real bizarre

'Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar 

I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly

It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep

Because my dreams are bursting at the seams 

It looked like we’d all ended up with our happy endings, even me. My gaze drifted up to Caleb, up there playing, in his element, no one heckling him or judging him. In the end he was nothing like I’d imagined him, but everything I could ever want. It was funny to think how little I’d known, and how much I’d seen in just a few months. 

Just then, a flash of light caught my eyes as the front door opened. I turned to see a figure highlighted against the streetlight, a white button up shirt and a messy bun: Dr. Santos! I mean, Nina. I had to return her watch. I hurried after her and slipped out, as the sweet sound of Caleb’s voice echoed behind me. 

The sight took my breath away. The fireflies came back, not imaginary hypnotic ones, but real, honest to goodness fireflies, like on my first date with Caleb. Hundreds of little flashing lights, dancing in the air on a grey city street, turning the expanse of concrete and asphalt into a pulsing curtain of dreams. For a moment, I almost forgot why I’d come. It just seemed so fitting I’d see them again tonight. But I got a hold of myself in time to see Nina turn a corner towards the parking deck. My feet carried me through the beautiful swirl of sparkles as quickly as they could. I finally reached her just outside of her car. 

“Nina, wait!” 

She turned, eyes widening in surprise, but then softening as she spoke. “Oh, Annie. Shouldn’t you be inside?”

“I had to,” I said between panting breaths, “Return your watch.” Gosh, I was out of shape. 

“Keep it.” 

“No way!” I pulled the brass bauble free of my clutch. “It means a lot to you. It’s yours.” 

“You’ll get more use out of it than I will.” She smiled, but it couldn’t cover the sadness tinging her voice.

“But, Nina . . .”

She took the watch and pressed it firmly into the palm of my hands. “I had my time, Annie. I’ll always be grateful to you for letting me relive those memories, but my days of being a, what did you call it, ‘hypno-slut?’ Those days are long over. My story’s been done. It’s your time, so you should keep the watch.” 

With that, she turned and began opening the car door. I panicked, my pulse still pounding from the run. This was wrong. I saw the unbridled joy Nina felt in trance, the pure delight plastered across her placid features. I couldn’t let her give up on that. So I did the only thing I could think of. “Nina,” I said in the firmest voice I could muster. 

She looked over her shoulder, tilting her head in confusion. 

“Stop the clock!”

Her eyelids fluttered, and her head began to list to the side. Then she snapped back awake. “Annie . . . what are you?” 

“Not Annie! Master! Now obey your Master and stop the clock!”

For a heartbeat everything was still and I thought my gamble had failed. But then, a soft, “Yes, Master,” escaped her lips before her eyes slammed shut. Then she crumpled at the waist, bending forward as her legs held her up. Her glasses tumbled loose and onto the pavement.

Shoot. I made a mental note to be more careful trancing people with glasses. They were always falling off. “Nina, can you hear me?”

“Yes, Master,” she mumbled. 

“I want you to stand up straight, and open your eyes.”

She did so, and I carefully replaced the spectacles. They were barely scratched. She stared at me with those blank, unseeing eyes, not questioning, not thinking, simply waiting. Waiting for orders. My orders. 

My breath hitched as fantasies bloomed in my head. Surely, we could keep her. The thought sounded so innocent. I imagined myself presenting her to Caleb, like a stray puppy I’d found on the side of the road. Before I knew it my hand was on her cheek. Even in trance, she leaned into the touch, her skin soft and warm in the night air. A whisper of a smile drifted across her slack expression. 

Caleb couldn’t say no to that face. I saw the scenes of our life together unfolding. Nina, cooking for us in Caleb’s kitchen, wearing nothing but an apron. Nina showering with me, rubbing suds over my pale skin before we both turned our attention to Caleb. Nina curled up beside us in bed, her warm breath tickling my neck as she fell asleep. “Kneel,” I said without thinking.

“Yes, Master.” She complied instantly, somehow remaining perfectly poised and graceful as she sank to the ground before me.

“You like being my slave don’t you?” I said as much to myself as her.

“I like what I’m told, Master.” 

 Still, that wasn’t clear. “But you do like it? Being my slave, I mean. Tell me how you feel deep down, regardless of what you’re told.”

“I love being your slave, Master. I missed it so much,” she purred, the faint smile growing into a dopey grin. 

Slave. My slave. And I was her Master. The weight of that settled over me for the first time. When Caleb had asked me to call him that, I hadn’t understood, not like I did now. Nina had given me a gift, a precious gift. Her whole self. I wasn’t even sure if she’d really meant to, but regardless she was mine now. “Nina, you’re mine, aren’t you?”

“Yours, Master,” my professor affirmed.

She trusted me so profoundly, just like I trusted Caleb. No. No, that wasn’t right. It wasn’t the same. “Nina, who am I to you?”

“Master.”

“No, not that. Who am I? What’s my name?”

“Bruce, my love,” she answered in a dreamy sigh. 

My stomach dropped. Even if consciously Nina understood, her subconscious still saw me as her old Master. Who loved her. Through our session, I’d inadvertently hijacked years of conditioning. Nina would obey me, maybe she’d even be happy doing it, but it wouldn’t be what she truly wanted. She deserved love, real love, someone who chose her above everyone else. Suddenly my fantasies felt childish and silly. I imagined walking into a party and saying, ‘Hi, this is my boyfriend, Caleb, and my slave, Nina.’ I saw myself sitting at the table at Thanksgiving, struggling to explain the presence of my psychology professor to my parents. No, Nina deserved better than that, better than reliving some distant memory in her mind. “Nina,” I said, my voice shaking. “You obey your Master, right?”

“I do as I’m told, Master.”

“Nina, I want you to listen very carefully to me.” 

“Yes, Master.”

“You don’t give up! Got it?” I blurted, barely thinking ahead of my mouth. 

“Master? I . . .”

“No you listen,” I said, trying to channel the aura of command I’d felt as Bruce. “You deserve love and happiness as much as anyone. You know I’m not Bruce and you know Bruce is gone, but you still deserve love. You have to move on. Say you understand.”

She paused for a moment as though the words wouldn’t form, but eventually she spoke. “I can’t. . . ”

“You do as you’re told, remember?”

“I do as I’m told,” she said flatly.

“Then do this,” I said, cupping her cheek once more and forcing her glazed eyes to lock with mine. “It doesn’t matter how things ended in the past or what unresolved feelings you have about it. You don’t give up. I want you to find someone to use this watch with you. Someone you trust. Someone who cares about you.”

“I . . .I don’t think.”

Again, I fumed, “You don’t think. Your Master thinks for you. You think what you’re told.”

“I think what I’m told.”

“Then stop thinking. Stop resisting. Just let me help you, dammit.”

Her cheek twitched, like she was searching for some objection, but at last she said, “Yes, Master.”

Suddenly my hand was on her breast. I didn’t even remember how it got there. Then I was whispering in her ear. “Your Master wants you to find a new Master, and you’re going to do it because you know it will please me.”

Her only answer was a shuddering sigh.

My hand began kneading as I forged ahead. “When you wake up, I will no longer be your Master. Bruce will no longer be your Master. You will take this goddamn watch and find someone new to use it on you, someone you trust, someone who loves you.”

“But, Master . . .”

“You do as you're told, remember?”

“But . . . but . . .”

“Don’t you want to obey and please your Master?” I insisted. 

That broke her. I felt the tension melt from her as she slumped into my touch. “I . . . Yes, Master.”

“Now, what are you going to do?”

“Find a new Master, Master,” she said with that same dreamy cadence.

God, she was hot when she did that. I had to end this before I started having second thoughts. “Your story’s not over, unless you let it be over.” I pressed the watch into her hand and this time she kept it. “And you wouldn’t let me give up, so I’m not letting you give up either.” 

“Yes, Master.”

I took one last look at her peaceful face, the look of utter surrender and drank in the total power I had over my teacher. But finally, I stepped back and said, “And wide awake!”

Nina blinked back to awareness, looking down at the watch and back to me, then to her own kneeling position, then back to me, trying to piece the last few minutes together. At last she stood and gave a snorting laugh. “You are one stubborn Master. You know that, Annie?” 

“Me?” I feigned a shocked gasp. “You should be glad I’m usually a sub. Otherwise I could be a menace.” 

“Well, you have no power over me anymore, remember?” 

“Bruce has no power over you,” I corrected. “Maybe I just wanted to put you under my own spell,” I teased, wiggling my fingers like they’d shoot enchanted fairy dust, and trying to suppress a fresh flight of fantasy. 

“Careful, young lady. You try hypnotizing me again, and I’ll have to revoke your sub status and declare you a switch.” 

We both laughed. Then Nina spoke again. “But in all seriousness, thank you, Annie. I don’t think many people would have done what you just did for me.” 

“Thank you!,” I said back, managing to not confess that I’d nearly gone the opposite way. “I don’t think I could have done what I did tonight without you.”

She shrugged. “You always had that inside of you, as astonishing as it was to watch. I just helped you open the door. Now if you don’t mind, I have a few doors of my own to open. I suddenly have a strange compulsion to get back on the dating scene.” 

I jumped up and hugged my professor. Nina returned the embrace, still holding the watch. 

“Take care of yourself, Nina.”

“You too, Master.” Then she kissed my forehead. For a moment everything stopped, the tender warmth of her lips blocking out the rest of the world. But at last, she broke away. “Now get back inside. We wouldn’t want Caleb missing you.”

“Yes, Professor,” I said, turning to leave. 

“Not your teacher anymore,” she called as she got into her car. 

I stifled another laugh and then headed back to the party, back through the pulsing lights of the lightning bugs. The headlights of Nina’s car flashed past me as she drove into the night, scattering the swarm of Fireflies. I had a feeling her story was only beginning.

***

The venue had a modest green room, walls with chipped paint covered in a palimpsest of faded band posters. The space felt a little cramped with all of Echo Street inside. Thankfully, Caleb‘s bandmates gave us the room as soon as I entered, all of them leaving with waves and encouraging smiles.

And there he was, the boy I’d done all this for with those kind eyes and that soft smile peeking out from a dusting of stubble. We just looked at each other for a moment, neither of us sure where to start, but it was me who eventually broke the silence. “You were amazing up there.” 

“I should be saying that to you, Miss Annette Marie.“

“It wasn’t a big deal.” Suddenly, I felt the tide of self-consciousness returning, as I started fidgeting with Olivia‘s bracelet. “I just did what anybody would have.”

“Are you kidding? There’s no one else in the world who would have done that madness.” He crossed to me and wrapped his arms around my back, pulling me close. “And I love you for it.” Then he kissed me, unleashing a wave of heat and casting in agonizing detail just how much I missed this.

“So you’re not mad? You forgive me?” Maybe it was silly to even ask at this point. Obviously he did. Of course he did. Right?

“Annie?“

I mean, people don’t kiss people they’re still mad at and say that they love them, right? Of course things were still going to be okay, although part of me worried that we had just been caught up in the moment and he hadn’t really forgiven me.

“Earth to miss Annette Marie Haskins.“

I honestly didn’t know what I would do if he hadn’t forgiven me. I wasn’t sure I would ever find someone else like him. Maybe I’d end up like Nina always looking back at what could have been.

Caleb kissed me again, snapping me back to reality. “That seems to have done the trick. Of course I forgive you. I know you didn’t mean for any of that to happen. If anything, I’m the one who should be apologizing to you.”

“You don’t have to do that…” I started before he cut me off.

“Yes I do, Annie. I should’ve told you about the hypnosis recordings. Things were just going so well and I didn’t want to ruin them. I should’ve known I could trust you and you had a right to know.”

“Caleb, I…“

“And then if that wasn’t bad enough, I dropped off the face of the fucking earth. I try to keep things under control, but I was just so upset and I had no idea what to do and I didn’t wanna screw anything else up.”

“Caleb, that’s…“

“And by the time I calmed down, it had been so long, I figured you wouldn’t want to see me or talk to me again. I knew I had hurt you and I didn’t know how to make it right and I just…”

I silenced him with a kiss of my own, swallowing all his doubts and worries with tender warmth. When we separated, the words just came pouring out of me. “It’s okay, it’s really okay. We both screwed up. That doesn’t matter. In fact, I would bet that we’ll screw up again. I know I certainly will, and try as you might to be perfect, you probably will too. I wish I could say that we’ll never have any more problems or mistakes, but that’s just not life. What matters is that we choose each other, and that we keep choosing each other, even when it’s hard, even when we make mistakes. We work through them together. So how about it? Do you choose me with my many faults and all?”

All the tension melted from his face. “It’s funny. You said, ‘with your many faults,’ but from where I’m standing, you look like the perfect one. Of course, I choose you. Do you choose me?” 

“Always.” I suppressed the urge to giggle. I’d have to tell Roger and Olivia that I used something from their game in my talk. “Although, if you wanted to make it up to me, there may be something you could do.” 

“Anything.”

“Well you, Master,” I said, letting the word linger on my tongue. “Have been very rude, teasing me with the same suggestion twice now and never letting me have the full experience.” I stood on my toes so I could whisper in his ear. 

“That’s what you want to do? Right here in the green room?”

“Yes, Master.”

He chuckled. “Here I thought I was supposed to be the bad influence.”

“Maybe you already have been,” I said, walking my fingers up his chest. “Maybe you did this to me, took sweet innocent little Annie and turned her into a good little hypno-slut. Or maybe I always was one, and I just never had the opportunity before. I guess we’ll never know. Regardless, I want what I want, Master.”

“Not gonna lie, the image of me corrupting you is getting me going. But what changed your mind on the Master thing? I thought that was too far for you. It’s alright if it is.”

“I think it came down to fear.” My fingers paused their march towards his jawline. “I was afraid that you were training me, changing me, making me into your slave. But I’m not afraid anymore.”

“Why not?”

“I really just don’t care,” I said, realizing it myself as I said it. “I thought that if I called you that, I’d be giving up a part of myself, but that’s not really true. I’m giving it to you, trusting you with it, with me. All of me. Can you handle that, Master?”

Even this close, I could see the erection tenting Caleb’s pants as he fumbled for words. 

“Besides, once you’ve seen it from the other side, it’s not so scary.” 

It took him a second to process. “Wait, someone called you Master?” 

“Oh right,” I said, my cheeks heating up again. “I suppose, if we want to start things off right, we need to be honest. I may have hypnotized Nina.”

He blinked. “Who’s Nina?”

“Right, sorry. Dr. Santos.” 

“You hypnotized our professor!?”

“She started it!”

“That only raises more questions.” 

I felt my pulse accelerating like a sports car tearing down the highway to anxiety. Had I ruined everything by doing that? Caleb and I weren’t really together at the time. She clearly wanted it so badly that I just acted on instinct. And she’s such a good girl. How could I have said no? Still would that make Caleb jealous and set everything back? “Are you upset?” I mumbled.

The pause before he spoke felt like a grueling eternity, but at last he opened his mouth. “No. Like you said, I trust you and I choose you. Besides, after what we just did on stage, I don’t have room to object to much. Though I’m incredibly curious to hear what happened between you two. It’s like every time I leave you alone you hypnotize someone else.”

All the tension melted out of me. I leaned in close to him, pushing our bodies together. “Then I guess you should stop leaving me alone, Master. Who knows what trouble I could get into without you to guide me.”

“Now that is an excellent idea.” His hand landed firmly on my ass, pressing me against his hardness. “I’d better keep you close at all times, confine you to my bed, for your own good of course.”

“Naturally. I’m so lucky to have such a thoughtful, caring Master.”

“Exactly. I’ll do all the thinking for both of us, if you don’t mind. And I know you don’t, because that’s what I tell you to think.” There it was, that husky, hungry growl to his voice. Before I could react, he said those three little words. “Watch the fireflies.” 

I wanted to resist, to draw it out, to savor this moment. But the effects of the stage show were still lingering and resisting was far beyond me. The world lost focus as my eyes glazed over and then closed. I was vaguely aware of slumping against Caleb, burying my head in the crook of his neck. But more than that, I knew I was floating in a place beyond space, beyond our bodies, just drifting to the sweet sound of Caleb’s voice as it wove itself into my thoughts. I couldn’t even process the words. I just knew they made me feel safe and loved.

And then I blinked back into awareness. The broad arc of Caleb’s shoulder filled my horizon, my world. I knew I should lift my head, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. He just smelled too good. 

My breathing devolved into a giddy giggle. “You did it, Master. You brought the scent back.” 

“I aim to please.”

I managed to contain another fit of giggles, and take a deep, steadying breath, which may have been a mistake. Caleb’s scent flooded my nostrils, submerging my brain in an ocean of lavender and sandalwood. Moving on pure instinct, I nuzzled deeper into his flesh, rubbing my face across his skin and spreading his delightful aura through my senses. My lips moved on their own, as they feverishly kissed his neck, his shoulder, anything they could reach. Every contact sent his taste dancing across my tongue, and sent me spiraling further under his spell. 

It only took the slightest prompting of his hand to send my hips into motion. Then they swung on their own, a mindless pendulum grinding relentlessly against my Master. He kept his hand on my ass, setting my pace, guiding me, controlling me. It only made it hotter. He pressed in and I obliged. He released the pressure and I eased back, before surging forward once more. A low groan escaped his lips as he led me into full on humping him. I was pleasing my Master, and that pleased me. I loved to please. I loved to obey. Ding.

The sound of the zipper barely registered through the billowing clouds of desire. I finally realized my dress was coming loose when it began to slip down my body. But I was too far gone to care. I just gyrated my hips, hastening the removal of the distraction. Once it fell to my feet, I could get back to acting on my instincts. 

“No bra?” he muttered between heavy breaths. 

“MmmHmmm,” was the most coherent thought I could manage. I had totally forgotten that my tight little dress didn’t allow for bra or panty lines, so I was only wearing pasties and a thong. Those things weren’t kissing Caleb, so they didn’t warrant consideration. 

My lips had reached the end of their long journey up Caleb’s neck and jaw, and had arrived at his mouth. As our tongues met, I knew I was lost to him. His taste overpowered my sense completely. I couldn’t dream of resisting, or even dream of dreaming. I could only smell, and taste, and fuck. I knew in that moment Caleb could tell me to do anything and I wouldn’t even hesitate. 

And I didn’t, even as he gently guided me to my knees. The second the bulge of his member entered my eye line, I knew exactly what to do. My fingers found his belt buckle and tore it loose from his pants, tossing it heedlessly aside. Then I yanked the intruding fabric away, peeling back every layer between me and my prize. Then I saw it, his cock, so long, so hard, so delicious. I pounced on it with a ferocious hunger, pulling as much of him into my mouth as I could manage. Gag reflex? That also landed in the “not worth considering” pile. Every centimeter of my tongue that could touch him was worth it. I bobbed up and down with a relentless hunger, dragging my lips across his length. I didn’t think about techniques or my inexperience or how-to tips from Caitlyn or silly clickbait. No, I just sucked, like a good hypno-slut, or rather like an animal, wild, primal, savage. 

My only protest came as a soft growl when Caleb gripped my hair and brought me back to my feet, but still I obeyed. 

“I don’t wanna finish too soon,” he said in a breathy whisper. 

Dimly the remnants of my imagination wondered about the taste of his cum, but I wanted to fuck more, and I couldn’t wait. I jumped onto him, visceral desire compelling every motion. He was surprised, but he caught my ass cheeks as I wrapped my legs around him. 

With slow, unsteady steps, he carried me over to a beat-up old makeup table, and set me down on it. I leaned against the mirror without a care for the impressions of sweat my back would leave on its smooth surface. I only cared that it let me spread my legs farther, which I eagerly did. Somehow my brain managed to dredge a few words from the ocean of lust, just enough to whimper, “Please, Master. I need you.”

I hadn’t even registered the ripping of the foil packet before his return. I just knew that he wasn’t touching me, and that was unacceptable. But then the heavenly presence of his finger returned, yanking my thong to one side, and stroking my sex. Not that he needed to. I was already dripping wet for him, a fact that Caleb quickly realized. Without another wasted moment, he pressed my legs back together and sent the thong flying into the abyss that was everywhere Caleb wasn’t. Finally, I was naked, open, vulnerable for my Master.

And he wasted no time, plunging into me with a wet squelch. That sound quickly gave way to the sound of slapping flesh as he drove forward again and again. The creaking protests of the old desk joined the concert, but neither of us paid it much mind. Every panting ragged breath was another spell, sending my desire higher. Every thrust, another flare of heat roaring through me. 

“Oh, fuck, Annie. I won’t last long. You’re too hot.” 

My first response was animal hunger, deeper than words. I wanted him to cum, to let go, to give himself to me. But with all the effort I could manage, I slotted that feeling into the crude, imperfect vessel of my fragmented words. “Don’t hold back. Want Master’s cum. Master’s cum.”

Hold back, he did not. His fingers dug into my hips, anchoring himself for a final rush. In another life, I might have been self-conscious that my hips weren’t wide enough or curvy enough, but that was orders of magnitude more complex than what drove me on now. How could I ever doubt myself? Caleb wanted me. Caleb loved me. Caleb came. His body trembled against mine, going rigid and then melting forward. 

I had done it, I had pleased my Master. Ding. That knowledge carried me over my own edge. My voice fell into a low, guttural moan as my body spasmed, once, twice, three times. The orgasm felt like it lasted forever, but eventually forever ended, and Caleb and I were leaning against each other, sweating and panting. 

The makeup desk collapsed.

Flimsy sheets of particle board snapped beneath the combined weight. Our final surge had been too much for the old thing, and it could stand no more. We tumbled to the ground along with it. Caleb managed to pull me with him as he fell backwards. He landed on the much too thin carpet with a thud, only to have me land on top in the next instant. 

“Are you ok?” he gasped. 

The combination of the orgasm and the fall had shaken me halfway free of my haze of arousal. I waited for a flash of pain to start after the initial shock faded, but it never came. “Yes, Master. Are you ok?”

He looked deeply into my eyes and said, “I’ve never been better.” 

I slapped his arm. “That was a serious question.”

“That was a serious answer.” Then he kissed me. 

When the kiss broke we both started laughing, like children, silly, carefree ridiculous laughter. 

***

“Sorry, sorry, sorry.” I jostled my way down the aisle, doing my best to follow Caleb without bumping the already seated passengers, and failing miserably. 

“Chica!” Caitlyn’s voice crackled in my ear buds. “It’s an airplane, you don’t have to apologize. People expect it.” 

“Still, it feels rude,” I said as we mercifully reached our row. Caleb took my bag and hoisted it into the overhead. Then he stepped aside, so I could take the window. Granted there wasn’t much of a view in the darkness of the late flight, but curling against the wall still made me feel safe. Bless him. 

“I guess some things never change,” she teased. 

“Like me being polite? I’m not seeing the problem.” Now that I had sat, I could finally take my phone back out and look at Caitlyn. She sat in a fancy chair in an equally fancy hotel room, swaddled in a plush bathrobe. “I can’t believe you’re already back in Spain. It’s been less than a week since graduation.”

“Es lo que hay,” she answered with a shrug. “When the vineyard saw the kind of impact I could make, they just had to have me as their social media manager, and you know how dedicated I am to my career.” She raised a glass from out of frame and took a long sip. 

“Ha, impact?” I snorted. “That’s one way to put it. I’m just glad the clips of the show went more viral than your original post. No one even remembers the scandal anymore. They just think it was all a publicity stunt.”

“I never thought you’d be glad to have videos of you cumming your brains out all over the internet.”

“It’s a small price to pay. Besides, I still don’t look at that stuff.” And neither did my mother, thank goodness. She knew even less about social media than I did. She’d probably find them eventually, but that was a problem for future me. 

“No, you just record it,” she prodded.

“It’s different!” I yelped, as Caleb politely shushed me. “Caleb just turns his recording set up on and I ramble about embracing your sexuality and whatever else I feel like. He says the videos do well, and I don’t have to deal with them.” I conveniently neglected to mention that I’d also guested recording hypnosis inductions for Caleb’s channel. 

“Unbelievable. My little Annie, an influencer. You finally found a way to monetize your rambling. I never would have thought I’d see the day.”

 I rolled my eyes. “I just know it paid enough for this trip. That’s good enough for me.”

“Typical Annie, give you all the money in the world and you just wanna go look at castles in England.”

“We’re starting in Scotland, thank you. It has some music venues that Caleb wants to see. Plus they have castles too. Are you still coming to meet us in Glasgow? Even Olivia and Roger will be there.” They hadn’t signed on to the whole trip, but had said they could swing a few days. Roger had sold part of his Magic collection to pay for it, but said they wouldn’t miss it. 

“Claro!” She said, before her confidence dissolved. “But I did have one question about that. . . Is it okay if I bring a friend?” 

A mischievous little grin sprouted across my face. “Oh? Who might that be?” 

As if on cue, a figure walked through the background in a white bathrobe of her own. Perfectly straight black hair fell elegantly down her back, and her tawny complexion somehow looked even more flawless after some sun. Melissa leaned down into view and said, “Hey, betch.”

When I finally stopped cackling, I said, “Tell her I say hi, and of course she can come.”

“Stop laughing! It’s not funny,” Caitlyn squealed, her tan face turning bright crimson. “We just had a lot of catching up to do, and when I heard she’d never been to Valencia, well, one thing led to another.”

“Hey, you don’t have to explain anything to me,” I interrupted. At that moment, the flight attendant came by and shot me a dirty look. “Looks like I gotta go. See you soon!”

“Hasta luego. Tell Caleb to take care of my precious cargo.”

“Don’t start with that again,” I said, hanging up. 

Caleb looked up as I set the phone down. I did my best not to get lost in his eyes. “So?” 

“I was right, they’re together!”

“I guess you win the bet.” He leaned down and kissed me deliciously slowly. “Okay if I give you the rest of your payment later?”

“Okay, but I’m charging interest, Master,” I whispered into his ear. 

“I warned you about saying things like that in public,” he said as his voice dropped into that low growl I loved so much. 

“Oh no,” I gasped. “I guess you’ll just have to punish me.” 

“Later.” Just then the plane lurched into motion, and my hand darted out for Caleb’s. He wrapped it in both of his. “You know after everything you’ve been through, I wouldn’t expect you to be afraid of flying.” 

“Shut up! I can be afraid of whatever I want. Are you gonna do the thing? The take off’s always the worst part.”

“Any time, beautiful.” He leaned close to me as the plane lined up on the runway. I stared expectantly at his focused gaze and waited for those sweet little words. “Annie, watch the fireflies.”

Our continued hijinks had made me extremely susceptible to my trigger. I hardly ever needed an induction anymore. Going into trance for Caleb felt as natural as breathing, except in trance nothing could bother me: not the unsteady rocking of the plane, not the crushing pressure of the air as we lifted off, not the death-defying physics of flight. It all just faded into the background. I wasn’t rocketing along in a flimsy metal tube thousands of feet above the earth. I was floating above it all, watching the stars transform into the comforting swirl of blinking lights that I knew so well. I could look safely down on our plane and the whole airport, all the people, flying and circling, each one a tiny sparkle in the night sky. In a way, we were all fireflies, dancing in the dark, flashing signals to each other, saying we were still there, or on our way, or coming home. We each had our own journey, our own story, our own little light to share, and I was so happy that mine had brought me to Caleb. And with that last thought, I finally drifted off to sleep, hand in hand with the man I loved, before the seatbelt sign even went ding. 

The End