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He grinned, forehead knocking against hers. ‘Just you, Hodge. Seems you have a habit of distracting me.’

And, surprisingly, she was quite okay with that – because he’d distracted her, too. From the phone call, from work, from all of her insecurities and doubts.

He didn’t have to know it, but his lesson had worked. She had surrendered: to the clay and to him.

It was almost impossible for Juniper to keep the huge smile from her face that Friday. She had never carried anything as carefully as the jewellery holder on her return trip from the kiln. It had survived the firing process with only a tiny crack, one that would easily be fixable with a glaze.

The icky self-doubt from the last couple of days had been chased away. She’d done it. What’s more, her vase was ready and waiting to go in, too, which would leave her with two –two! – fired pottery pieces to her name.

As she reached the workshop, she winced, wondering how she was going to push open the door without any free hands.She turned around, trying to use her curves to her advantage, but the door didn’t budge. The classroom was locked.

Before she could ponder why that might be, Christopher appeared down the corridor, his ginger hair a messy, wind-swept tuft on top of his head and his glasses slightly wonky. Juniper had soon learned that he wasn’t a morning person, though nobody held it against him the way he did her.

When he saw her, he stopped short in the hallway, checking his wristwatch with a mystified expression. ‘Is it the apocalypse? Is the world finally ending?’

‘It’s been ending for a while now, just very slowly,’ she replied. ‘Why is the workshop locked?’

He blinked. ‘Because it’s ten-to-nine, Jupiter. You’re… early.’

Was she?She hadn’t really looked at the time on her way out this morning, eager to see how Yggdrasil had fared in the kiln.

She would like to think her new enthusiasm came more from her own skills than the ones Aiden had taught her the other night, but she couldn’t pretend as though his unique methods – and the part that had come after, literally – hadn’t played a part. He’d been right about surrendering. Clay must have sensed her fear; when she let go, her hands moved with ease, the usually raucous world quietening to a hush. This new comfort in her own abilities had changed something in her.

And something in them. They’d already planned their research paper and began sketching ideas for their final exhibition. After the museum visit on Sunday, Juniper hoped they’d have everything they needed to make headway with this project.She’d fallen asleep with her nose stuck in a book about Ancient Greek ceramics last night, phone slipped between the pages midway through texting Aiden about her findings. And they’d already began their first piece, an amphora. While Aiden threw the perfect shape, she’d began sculpting her creatures.

Somehow, they actually did work well together. The knowledge she lacked, he made up for, and vice versa.

‘Oh my lord.’ Christopher covered his eyes suddenly. ‘There’s something on your face.’

‘What?’ Juniper frowned, almost dropping her piece at the worry that she’d left the stale chocolate croissant nabbed from work’s leftovers on her chin. ‘What is it?’

‘It’s…’ Christopher peeked through his arm and exclaimed, ‘A smile!’

A smile that was quick to leave her face at his terrible joke. She hadn’t realised she’d been smiling, and she didn’t intend to do it again. Not in front of Chris, and not in front of anyone. She didn’t want people thinking it was all for Aiden. It certainly wasn’t. Even if she had spilled the beans to Tilly because she was terrible at keeping secrets and some orgasms simply had to be discussed with friends.

‘Well, I’m happy with my work,’ she grumbled. ‘Can you let me in before I drop it?’

She budged aside and he unlocked the classroom before motioning her in.

‘Is it a tree?’ he asked as she set it down on her desk. It brought her joy to see just a hint of approval on his face.

‘The tree of life,’ Juniper said. ‘And a jewellery holder.’

‘Not bad at all, Juniper.’ He nodded. ‘Let’s just hope it holds up during the glazing.’

Juniper froze. Had he just called her by her real name instead of a planet?

She didn’t want to jinx it, but she could only assume that she’d earned at least a modicum of his respect. It was difficult to keep from doing a happy dance when his back was turned, but more classmates were already filing in, and she was working onnotsmiling now.

She tried not to look towards the door, because she was also absolutely not eager to see Aiden. A few classmates complimented her, some eager to show off their own pieces. Luc had made a kitchen set to keep herbs and spices inside, the square pots smooth and sleek even without a glaze. As Tilly arrived, she revealed a yarn storage bowl that had turned out lovely.

By the time Aiden showed up, Chris was already delivering another lesson on glazing, running through the different methods, some of which Juniper had already tried either with her jewellery or the classes she’d paid for. She tried to listen closely nonetheless, but her eyes kept getting pulled to the work in Aiden’s hands. He’d made the paint palette she’d come up with, along with holders and cups for water and brushes. It was almost annoying how good it looked, and she felt some of that familiar resentment rising to the surface again. She’d been wrong before about him trying. He coasted through life, but not through pottery, every detail of his work painstakingly thought out.

‘Couldn’t you have made just one mistake?’ she whispered. ‘It isn’t fair that you do a decent job of everything.’

‘That was almost a compliment,’ he remarked as he took his seat, and then waggled his fingers. ‘What can I say? I’m good with my hands. But you already know that, don’t you, Juni?’

She glared and pretended to be more interested in Chris’s teaching, though her body reacted as it always did, worse now since they’d had sex on this very table. It hadn’t been the last time, either. Last night, he’d touched her in a quiet corner of the library, his shushes vibrating against her neck and his fingers rubbing her clit. The memories felt like someone else’s. She’d never been very adventurous before, not unless the other person initiated it, and usually she was far too worried about being caught to enjoy it.