A/N: Okay, so I bought this book around Thanksgiving, and I have totally gotten sucked in. I just had to make a category for it. Heheh. (If it's not currently in that category, it will be soon) ;) If you haven't read the book, you should. I'm only about ¼ of the way through, so maybe my pained feelings over the issue I'm trying to resolve in this fic will be solved by then. Who knows? Regardless, the story is awesome and I am beyond inspired to write fics for it! *cheers*

This fanfiction – which will definitely at least be a 2-parter – takes place after Neri goes back to Clara after beating up poor Daniel who walked in on them. *tear* (mostly, if not all, in Clara's POV)

Ch.1- Everyone But Me

When Neri came back maybe ten minutes later, I had been shaking with anticipation again and pulling him nearer to me and harder into my core than he had ever gone before, even previously to the interruption – whatever it had been – when I had been clutching to his skin and digging my fingernails into every sweaty inch I could get my hands on.

"Adrian," I purred into his ear. He pounded faster. It seemed he was more desperate than I was, more than the two of us had been earlier. I didn't question it at the time. I had been left empty and open to the cold for ten long minutes and in the warmth of his body, I felt I could lose myself. And I did, for an hour following, until we had finished and been asleep with our limbs entangled for at least twenty minutes.

My music teacher – my Maestro – was alluring in every sense of the word. I did not like the way he pushed around little Daniel, who had been nothing but my friend for the last six years. The boy was no threat at all, even if he liked to pretend that was so. Still Adrian Neri had persisted. It didn't occur to me until later that Daniel could have been the reason for Adrian's sudden departure. I was so wrapped up in my music teacher, what I felt for him and how I needed him in that moment. My body couldn't say no to him, and my mind insisted this transformation from Daniel's friend to Neri's lover couldn't be anything but good.

Adrian Neri was cocky, and a spoiled rich kid in every sense of the word. But during our lessons, he would smile at me, and I at him, and I just felt a connection. I couldn't see him, but somehow I knew he was smiling. His presence would seem to brighten, and I would feel warm. It seemed as if sometimes I was the only one he looked at and cared about, though I always heard how he would charm the rest of the household.

All except Daniel.

Neri was everything and nothing to me. As much as I tried to convince my heart of it, I certainly did not love him. He satiated my passion, encouraged my musical talent, and made me feel I was the only one in the room always. But he insulted poor Daniel, and it was the key reason I had avoided his fifteen-year-old presence for so long recently. I believed myself to be falling for Neri, and I knew that would kill him. I knew from the moment I met Daniel Sempere that he was going to fall in love with me. I tried to deny it countless times over the years, but the older he got, the stronger I could feel his warmth emanating toward me. All I could do was fall into despair. And Neri pulled me out, even if he did so by pushing Daniel in.

"Neri," I murmured, turning my body towards him. I could feel him sensing my movements and bringing me closer to him. He also drew up the blankets farther up around up. It warmed me how much he sought to satisfy my level of comfort.

"Mmm," he moaned softly, clearly still set in his sleep.

I brushed by hand up against his soft skin and felt the twitching of his lips when my fingers passed across them. His eyelashes were feathery and he blinked, confused, when I touched them. There was still sweat at the brim of his forehead, though for the most part it had cooled. I loved pushing my fingers through his hair. If there was grease, it didn't bother me. How we were placed now, seemed like a fairytale.

Then, I remembered.

"Neri," I nudged at his shoulder, and could hear him sigh. If he had not opened his eyes yet, he was going to. He had resigned to paying just a little more attention to him than to his tired body.

"What, Clara?" he asked. There was annoyance in his voice, but I chose to dismiss it once more. It was not as if he could just run off now that we had slept together. He was my music teacher, and my family was paying him well. I would not believe that he was a womanizer, not after the time we had spent together. Even at 26, I believed firmly in the possibilities that lie in true love, and that it should be the easiest to see. I decided not to think long on the fact that I wavered in my feelings of truly loving Adrian Neri.

"Wh-What was the disturbance last night?" I asked innocently. My eyebrows were fused and I truly wanted to know. I just had to block out the slight possibility that had been gnawing at me in the back of my horny mind from the moment he had left the room.

"You mean, an hour ago?" he asked, amused. He began running his hand down my arm and it both soothed my chills and created them. I said nothing, but leaned my head gently on his shoulder. He sighed and I knew he had taken the action as a desire to want more.

"It was nothing you need concern yourself with," he promised, pressing his lips to my forehead, which was as dry as desert sand.

"Tell me," I pleaded. When he didn't speak, I placed my hands over his face again and felt him succumb to my touch.

"It was that little brat," he stated, clearly trying to be casual, but I could feel the venom in his voice. I wanted him to be referring to something, someone else, but I knew there was no chance of it. Daniel was the only aspect of my own life which Adrian seemed to be frustrated and angered by.

"Daniel?" I breathed, hoping for the life of me still that I was wrong.

"Well, whatever his name is," Adrian muttered, clearly desperately trying to reign in his anger – for my sake.

"What happened?" I begged, curling my fingers into the skin covering his collarbone. Neri sighed, clearly not wanting to get into it. But he wrapped a lock of my own hair loosely around his finger and I knew he was going to tell me.

"I saw him watching up," he began.

I swallowed hard. How awful.

"That's why you left?" I choked, trying myself to contain the sobs I knew would come with whatever Neri said next. I could feel him nod and could almost hear the click that went with his jaw locking in place. His teeth were grinding.

"Yes," he whispered, "I taught him a lesson too."

I felt his other hand curl up into a fist from where it lie along my back.

"I punched him senseless. I stole the keys he had to this house. I don't know where he got them from, but I stole them back. I kicked him out, bloody-lipped and black-eyed and I told him to never come back."

He was in the zone and couldn't hear the quiet sobs that had erupted from me. But soon he felt the dribbling moisture on his neck and stopped in his rant. I could feel how his demeanor changed. He instantly felt bad – not for his actions, but how I was affected by them. I could imagine how he was cursing himself for actually telling me what had been done. But I was glad he had. So many thoughts went spinning through my head right then, but I couldn't stop crying. I couldn't hear when Neri tried to console me, and apologized profusely – in so many words.

I unwrapped myself from his hold, which was not very easy at first. I felt around the room for my soft, fluffy robe, and I put it around myself, tying the belt securely around my waist. I turned back to where Neri was. I couldn't entirely sense him as well as I could moments earlier, but I knew he would take pity on me for my blindness and not say anything in the regards of where I looked.

"Daniel's sixteen," I spat at him. "He's been infatuated with me for six years, and you have the nerve to beat him up for accidentally stumbling in on the shocking revelation that his feelings aren't mutual?!"

He didn't move across the room, and I made for the door.

"Clara!" he scoffed, in disbelief. "He's a boy," he emphasized.

I shook my head. "And you're an asshole." I shut the door behind me, not allowing him to follow me into the hall. It almost didn't surprise me when I didn't even hear or feel an attempt. I made my way to where I knew the closest phone was, and dialed the Sempere's number. How awful I had been to the boy who had done nothing but adore me from Day one.

It was then that I remembered, and dropped the phone quickly to its base before picking it up again once I had almost recovered from my shock. It was Daniel's 16th birthday today, and I had been invited to the party.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review! Tell me your thoughts! =D I want to hear! Hehe. If you're just one of my usual GG reader/reviewers, I really appreciate you taking the time to dip yourself into a different genre entirely. Thanks! ;)