Bottled Dreams Ch. 02

"Hey Zoe...Zoe?" I heard someone say my name gently through a haze of sleep while my shoulder was lightly shaken.

"Hmm?" I groaned in response while my eyes refused to open.

"I need to leave to go to class. I'll see you later, ok?" the soothing voice continued.

"Mmm hmm..." I murmured, still not completely awake.

I vaguely heard a door opening and closing, but I almost immediately fell back asleep. A couple of hours later, I awoke again and felt well-rested. I yawned widely and stretched my body on the very comfy bed I was lying on. Wait, this bed...where was I again? Soon, memories of last night started to flood my brain and my eyes flashed wide open. I relived the incredible arousal, the granting of the first wish, and the passionate sex. Just remembering how good it felt made my body feel tingly.

I sat up to look around for Henry, but I didn't see him anywhere. It was then that I finally remembered the hazy exchange from earlier this morning and I squinched my eyes in frustration. It wasn't a dream after all. I was abandoned again, but this time it was totally on me. Hold on, if he just left a couple of hours ago, did that mean we slept together the whole night? The mere thought made me blush. Ugh, dammit, why did I have to sleep in so late and miss waking up with him?

I laid back down on the bed and sighed deeply in disappointment. Not only did I miss out on the opportunity to have a tender moment with him, but now he might think that I was a lazy djinn. Irritated with myself, I rapidly kicked my feet under the sheets in frustration. I knew that I would now have to try a lot harder with him if I was going to have any hope to charm him into falling in love with me.

Slowly getting out of bed, I stumbled into the adjoining bathroom. I turned a lever that caused magically created water to pour into a basin and splashed some of it on my face. While my hands patted against my face lightly, my mind started to recall the moment from last night when my master's arm wrapped around me on the bed. Immediately, my face felt hot and a surge of warmth spread throughout my body. I smiled so widely that my cheeks started to hurt. I couldn't believe that a human touched me so tenderly like that.

However, just because he cuddled with me one time didn't mean he liked me and sure as hell didn't mean he was anywhere close to being in love with me. Humans were known to be wildly unpredictable, so he might act completely different the next time I see him. However, I desperately wanted to feel his arms wrap around me again. I sighed and reminded myself that even though last night was a good start, I couldn't let up in my seduction.

Staring at my reflection, I noticed that my teal and black hair was a tangled, frazzled mess. Looking closer at my face, there was dried drool near my lips, and my skin looked irritated. Damn, I looked terrible. I guess it was a good thing he didn't see too much of me this morning after all. Taking a deep breath, I raised my hand and snapped my fingers. In an instant, my skin was spotless, my face looked radiant, and my hair was perfect. Still naked, I snapped my fingers again and dressed myself in the same clothes from yesterday.

Walking out of the bathroom, I snapped my fingers again to perfectly make his bed before sitting on it. Lowering my elbows to my knees, I rested my face on my hands and wondered what I should do today while he was at class. As I pondered different things I could do to entertain myself, a bolt of realization struck me, and suddenly jumped off the bed in a state of excitement. I wasn't confined anymore!

Unlike yesterday, he didn't tell me I had to stay inside his room. That meant I was totally free to leave, right? I mean, if he wanted me to stay inside his room again today, he definitely would have mentioned it before he left. Maybe he finally trusted me enough that I could finally go out and explore? Either way, it wasn't like I was about to go double-check with him.

Leaving the bedroom, I quickly walked across his residence to the door that he always walked in and out of. Reaching for the door handle, I realized my hand was trembling in excitement. Taking a deep breath, I turned it and stepped out. His personal residence was inside a large building, so I had to walk various hallways for a little bit until I found a set of doors that led to the outside. Once I stepped out though, my body was bathed in bright light. It was still spring, but the sun's rays felt warm on my body.

Pulling some loose hair behind my ears, I happily started to walk around the area. There had to be hundreds of humans walking around outside, many holding a very similar bag to Henry's. I assumed that the bag was some sort of symbol of being a university student since everyone proudly carried it around. I was also surprised to see so many girls walking around too. Since he was studying at a university, I thought it would be only men but it appeared humans allowed girls to learn here now too. How strange, but so wonderful at the same time!

The longer I walked around, the more amazed I was at everything that I saw. There were so many new human inventions I had never seen before and some were completely baffling. The most confusing one was a small, thin, rectangular thing that most humans held in their hands and kept staring at. Was it a type of magic mirror? Maybe a sorcerer ruled this country? How fascinating!

While I was happy to explore and watch so many different humans, it made me start to miss my master. Honestly, the feelings were a little surprising. I didn't expect to feel such a strong desire to see Henry's smile again. I guess it wouldn't hurt to check in on him to see if he was doing ok. Maybe once I saw that he was safe and saw his smile, I wouldn't feel so curious about him anymore.

Even though the area I was in was huge and packed with people, I was fortunate that I could sense the location of my master. After walking several blocks and through an area that looked like a park, I came across a large building and I knew he was somewhere inside. After walking in, I saw dozens of students walking around the hallways and was amazed by how diverse everyone was. Like a hound following a scent, I scoured the different floors and finally found the room that he had to be in. I saw several people go in and out, which I hoped meant I could sneak inside.

Poking my head in, I saw a huge room that was designed like one of those amphitheaters that the Greeks were always so proud of. Since the professor was at the bottom, I figured if I slinked in very quietly at the back, I could get in without anyone noticing. Gently opening the door wide enough for me to slip in, I quietly and quickly stepped through the room and immediately sat down in an empty seat in the back. Looking around to see if anyone noticed me, I didn't see any reactions from anyone. Phew, no one seemed to be any the wiser.

Ignoring the professor as he droned on about some boring topic, I scanned the room trying to find my master. While I could sense he was in this room, it wasn't so exact that I knew exactly where he was. There had to be hundreds of students here, and it was a little difficult trying to find him. As I continued to look around, I eventually noticed several guys looking at me and smiling. Not wanting to be rude, I smiled back, but I was getting increasingly agitated that none of these guys were my master.

My concentration was broken when the professor ended the class and most of the students immediately stood up to leave. There were so many students moving around that it was now almost impossible to spot him. I stood up as well, trying to get a better viewing angle, but I felt like I would have a better chance trying to spot a specific fish in an ocean.

"Hey, I haven't seen you in class before," I heard someone say near me and when I looked to my side, I saw a handsome guy standing next to me, smiling charmingly.

"Oh, hi," I looked at him while I responded, but my head and eyes quickly turned to continue the search for my master.

"I'm Nate by the way, and you are?" he asked again after sticking out his hand, similarly to how Henry did with me yesterday.

Not wanting to draw attention to myself, I smiled kindly at him, shook his hand, and said, "I'm Zoe."

I thought that being in human form was the reason I was so horny, but I strangely didn't feel any arousal with Nate. He was undoubtedly attractive, but my heart wasn't beating fast and I didn't feel any butterflies in my stomach. I thought touching his hand would make me feel something lascivious, but instead, I found myself quickly moving my eyes away from him and scanning the room once again.

"Would you like to grab something to eat with me at the cafeteria? I don't think I have ever seen a girl as pretty as--" he started to say before I interrupted him.

"Mast--uhh, I mean Henry!" I shouted when I finally spotted him near the bottom of the room.

I saw him turn his head and when he saw me, his eyes went wider than I thought possible. Cheerfully waving at him, he was clearly surprised to see me and I could only assume that he was happily surprised. He must have missed me as much as I missed him, right?

"Bye Nate, it was nice to meet you," I said without looking at him and quickly walked over to join my master.

"Wait...him? Seriously?" I heard Nate scoff behind me, but I ignored him and dodged other humans while trying to get to my master.

After sidestepping the last student, I was finally able to stand next to him. Unlike earlier with Nate, once I was next to him, my heart was beating hard in my chest and I felt my body heat up. Why did I only feel this way around him? I smiled warmly at him and I yearned to see him smile back at me. I had a strong instinctual desire to throw my arms around him, but I resisted since I didn't think he would like that.

"Hi, Henry! How are you? How was class?"

He still appeared to be in a state of shock and he continued to stare at me blankly. However, I eventually saw his eyes unable to resist roaming across my body and I appreciated how much he liked my human form. When his eyes finally stared into mine, they had a passionate look to them that I relished seeing yesterday. Did my eyes match the passion I saw in his?

"What...what are you doing here, Zoe?" he eventually stumbled out.

"Well, when I woke up alone in your room, I decided to go out and explore. But I...umm...well, started to miss you and went to find you," I said softly and found myself shyly looking away from him while I brushed a teal strand of hair behind my ear.

"Oh, yeah, ok," he responded simply.

Looking back at him, I was surprised by his cool reaction and I said excitedly, "Really? You don't mind me being here?"

"Of course not. I would have asked if you wanted to join me, but I figured you would find it too boring and--"

"I could never feel bored when I'm with you, master!" I said excitedly while my face was lit up in a beaming smile.

"Well, if you really want to hang around me..." he started to say, but trailed off before lowering his head and whispered to me, "No magic, ok?"

I nodded to him and said, "No problem! You can trust me!"

Once I responded, I heard a deep, loud rumbling sound. It sounded extra loud now that the amphitheater room was practically empty. He clearly heard it too and we both looked down to see where it was coming from. It happened again, this time even louder, and it was definitely coming from my stomach. We both slowly lifted our heads back up and when our eyes met, I smiled at him awkwardly.

"Zoe, when was the last time you ate?" he asked in a concerned tone.

"Oh...umm...like, 300 hundred years ago?" I answered shyly, but honestly.

He stared at me with a deadpan expression and said, "Ok, you totally need to eat. It's lunchtime anyway, so let's go to the cafeteria."

Before I could even respond, I felt him grab my arm and he started to pull me with him as we left the room. Staring at his hand grabbing my arm, I felt myself blush deeply while feeling a surge of arousal. Once we walked out of the room and into the hallway he let go of me. However, wanting to keep physical contact with him, I wrapped my hand around his arm and walked closely beside him. I was happy when I was exploring this new land earlier, but I felt extra excited now that I was around him.

As we walked through the building, I noticed a surprising number of both guys and girls looking at us weirdly and quietly gossiping with each other. I had no idea why they were so interested in us. Did they think we looked weird together? Oh my, was I dressed weirdly? Were they judging him for being with such a poor-looking girl? I felt horrible if he was getting judged because of me, but he seemed to be ignoring them, so I did too.

Arriving at the cafeteria, I realized that it was a huge food hall and hundreds of students were in long lines, collecting food on large trays. Henry graciously grabbed a tray and handed it to me before we quickly joined them. My eyes lit up when I saw all of the different foods available and I was very impressed. This must be one of the richest schools in the world to have so much food in such a variety! Eager to try everything, I grabbed as much food as I could.

When we arrived at the end of the line, he looked over at my tray with a mixture of surprise and concern. I had a lot of food on my tray, but I didn't think it was that much. Walking away from the rows of food, we walked into a seating area and we both sat down at an empty table. With my small mountain of food in front of me, I immediately started to taste everything and flavors exploded in my mouth. I gasped at how good everything tasted and proceeded to start shoveling food into my mouth. I knew I should be more reserved while eating in front of my master, but I was so hungry that I couldn't stop.

Finally spooning the last bit of food into my mouth, my tray was completely empty. Finally looking up for the first time in a while, I saw Henry seemingly frozen in front of me. He had some food on a fork halfway up to his mouth and was staring at me with a sort of horrified look on his face. Was there some food on my face? I was pretty sure I didn't leave a mess or anything. Maybe there was some etiquette I was supposed to follow?

I smiled innocently at him and said, "What's wrong? WAIT, don't tell me...I have something in my teeth don't I?"

Moving my hands to hide my mouth, Henry replied, "No, it's the fact that you ate enough food for like 3 meals and finished it in under 5 minutes. How are you even alive?"

"Oh...so there isn't anything in my teeth?"

I saw his face glare at me for a brief moment before he gave me a slight smirk and continued to eat his food. It was the first time I saw his smile today and my heart fluttered after seeing it. Since I was done eating, I stared at him while he ate, and I noticed he acted a bit shy. I didn't quite understand it, but being around him made me feel very calm and happy.

Not wanting to interrupt him while he was eating, I waited until he was done and asked, "Do you have some classes to attend after this?"

Wiping his mouth with a napkin he swallowed the last bit of food and said, "Actually, no. Today my afternoon is free. Usually, I catch up on homewo--"

"Really? You're free?" I said excitedly, interrupting him.

"Why?" he replied slowly and carefully.

"Would you be willing to take me to your local bazaar?" I asked while giving him a hopeful look.

He stood up while picking up his tray and I mirrored his actions when he said, "A bazaar? Why?"

We walked over to where they disposed of the food, and after putting our trays down, I replied, "Because I want to pick out some different clothes. People keep staring at us and I think it's because I'm dressed weird."

Both of us turned our heads to look around the room, and just like I said, dozens of people were staring at us and quietly whispering to each other. I didn't care what they thought about me, but I didn't want to stick out like a sore thumb when I was around Henry. The last thing I wanted was to be a burden to him, especially since he was willing to have me out and about with him.

"You know, I don't think that is why they are staring," he said softly after looking back at me.

"Well, why else would they be staring at us like this?"

Suddenly, I saw my master's face turn red as he blushed and I tilted my head in confusion as to why he would suddenly feel embarrassed. He started to nervously rub some of his long hair behind his head and I couldn't help but wonder what was going through his mind. It seemed easier to read his thoughts yesterday rather than today.

"So, whaddya think? Will you take me?" I said while giving him a cute look, hoping to convince him with my impeccable charm.

"I mean...sure, why not," he replied.

"Yay!" I exclaimed while I jumped up and down in joy.

"I guess I should take you to the mall then," he said with a thoughtful expression.

"Sounds great! Wait...what's a mall exactly?"

He sighed heavily and told me to follow him. As we walked, he explained to me what it was, and it definitely sounded like a bazaar, but I couldn't believe that the whole thing was inside some giant building. We soon went outside and immediately walked to his car. I often heard cars or saw them on television, so I was very excited to see what it would be like to ride in one. While he drove us to this mall, my face was practically pressed up against the window the entire time, enchanted by everything I got to see about this strange new world.

Once we arrived, we walked inside and my jaw hit the floor when I saw how huge the place was. By the stars, Henry wasn't kidding. This entire place was inside a huge building! Humans were truly more amazing than I gave them credit for if they could build structures this big. Not even the palaces I saw hundreds of years ago were anywhere near this big. As we walked deeper inside, I saw dozens of different types of shops, one after another. It seemed like this place had everything; from clothes, to toys, to accessories, and even food! This 'mall' was truly a wondrous place.

I immediately started to check out one of the clothing shops nearby that appeared to have some cute looking clothes. I clearly wasn't up to date on the fashion of this era, so I decided I would have to rely on the wares of the shops and of course, any recommendations from the shopkeepers.

"Let's start with this one!" I said before I grabbed my master's arm and pulled him with me.

After we walked in, my eyes widened in shock from the sheer selection of what looked to be thousands of different clothes. I don't think I ever saw so many clothes in one place before! Browsing around, it seemed like female fashion in this culture was incredibly varied. They had dresses of course, but also a wide variety of different kinds of shirts, skirts, shorts, and even pants! I was used to cultures demanding women only wear one type of outfit, so this was incredible.

I felt the need to try everything on and began picking up dozens of different pieces that I thought would look nice. Carrying a huge pile of clothes, Henry directed me to something called a changing room. It was a small room where you could try on your clothes in privacy. Once inside, I started to excitedly go through my selections. Not wanting my gracious master to become bored, I stepped outside and modeled some of the outfits that I liked and I felt my heart skip a beat whenever he told me how pretty I looked. His comments were always brief but were enough to make me feel special.

Picking a bunch of items that I wanted to keep, I walked out with them and asked Henry, "Where do I find the shopkeeper to purchase these?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, and looked at the clothes with a concerned look while saying, "I don't know if I have enough money to pay for all of that."