"Clio?"

"Yes, Charlotte?"

Lottie beamed at her older sister, her smile dazzling. So far, Lottie was the only one of the Santangelo children who had escaped the need for braces. First Clio, then Francie, and now Brina, had to make regular trips to the dreaded orthodontist for regular adjustments to the bands around their teeth, the hardware in their mouths, and it looked like little Finn was going to have the same issues. Charlotte, however, was lucky in that she didn't share the same genetics as the rest, and her teeth lined up in perfect symmetry, a shining row of straight white pearls that shone in a beautiful smile whenever she was happy, which was often. She loved being called Charlotte these days, it made her feel very grown up.

"Are you going to move away, now that you're in college?"

"No, I'm going to stay right here at home with all of you guys, I told you that already." Clio looked at her little sister in the mirror where she was braiding her unruly black hair into dozens of small braids. "I love living here, you're my family." She leaned forward and pressed a kiss on top of Lottie's ten year old head.

"But now Archie's here, and you like him, too, right?" Lottie pressed, her small face scrunching up with worry.

"I do, very much, but you're my family, and I want to live with you for as long as possible," Clio explained, snapping a small rubber band around another braid and moving on to another section of hair.

"But Archie left his family to come be with you, right? He--he left his twins? And the rest of them?" Archie had come to dinner the night before and told some funny stories of how Kiki and Lulu had tried to thwart his plans to move to New York City.

"But he didn't do that to be with me, he did that for school," Clio told Lottie, skating over the fact that she, Clio, lived where school happened to be.

"So you're going to stay with us forever?" Lottie asked carefully, turning her head to enjoy the effect of her braids swinging back and forth.

"No, not forever," Clio answered. "I'm sure someday I'll want to live on my own, or with my husband or wife or whatever, just like you will."

"I never want to leave," Lottie said firmly. "I never want anyone to leave."

"Well, we'll just have to see about that," Clio said with a laugh as she finished the last braid. "There you go, all finished."

"Never," Lottie repeated one last time for emphasis. "Thank you, Clio!" She turned and jumped into her sister's arms for a kiss, then ran out of the bathroom.

"Brinaaaaa!" she called as she ran. "I'm all done! Where are you?"

Clio laughed as she sent Archie a text.

"I'm all done!" she echoed her little sister. "Where are you?"

They were supposed to go look at apartments together, and she was really looking forward to it. They arranged to meet at Columbus Circle and met their realtor, Adam, at the first listing on Central Park South.

"So, are we looking for a starter home?" Adam asked discreetly as they rode the elevator up to the first listing?"

"Oh, no, we're not buying together," Archie told him. "She's just helping me shop."

"I see, my mistake," Adam corrected himself with a laugh.

"And may I ask why this apartment is so reasonably priced?" Clio asked as they stepped out on the seventeenth floor?"

"Sometimes bargains hit the market at just the right time, you know?" Adam said, spreading his arms wide in a "who knows" gesture.

"Right," Clio replied, shaking her head slightly.

It was a beautiful apartment, on a northeast corner so it got plenty of morning light, a nice, bright kitchen, two large-ish bedrooms, and one and a half baths.

After Clio opened a cupboard in the kitchen and found a separate washer and dryer she turned to Adam and asked, "What's the name of this building?" Her face was one suspicious question mark.

"Trump Parc Tower," Adam admitted in a small voice.

"Oh no," Clio said.

"Adam, Adam, Adam," Archie said at the same time. "You should've told us that at the very beginning, and you know it." He looked around. "What a shame. I guess we're done."

Adam sadly took them back down to show them the next listing.

"No more Trump properties," Archie said firmly.

"Understood," Adam said meekly.

One by one, they struck properties off the list for one reason or another, whether it was that it didn't allow pets ("I don't have one now, but I might want one later") or it didn't allow children ("What if my nieces want to visit? Besides, what a barbaric rule"), until finally they saw an apartment on Central Park West that seemed like it might meet all of Archie's needs.

"Let's see, door man, pets, children, washer, dryer, outdoor space, two bedrooms, only a couple of blocks from Columbus Circle, check, check, check, check check check," Clio said happily, grabbing Archie's hands and swinging him around in the middle of the empty living room. Adam waited in the other room while they "discussed" things. "But can you afford this? I mean, of course I know you can afford this, but did you want to spend this much?" She stopped swinging to look at his face.

"I love this place, actually, enough to put in an offer," Archie told Clio, leaning in to kiss her. When he tried to pull back she chased his mouth, not wanting to end it.

"Speaking of which," Clio said when he was finally able to break the kiss, "when are we going on a date? Hm?"

"Wow, you're one aggressive young lady," Archie murmured.

"Oh, you have no idea," Clio agreed, nodding and grinning as she pulled him close by his hips.

"Adam? Help!" Archie called.

"Sorry, what?" Adam came from the next room. "Did you call me?"

"Yes," Archie said with a laugh as Clio released him.

"I'd like to put in an offer at five below, what do you think?"

"I think that sounds perfect," Adam said with a nod of his own. "I see no issues getting approval, even with your age and everything, because of who you are, so this should go through very quickly, if you don't mind my saying so."

"Good, because I'd like everything to be settled before school starts," Archie told him.

"He starts at Columbia in a few weeks," Clio explained.

"Oh? I thought you were a musician," Adam said, looking confused. "I guess I had you mixed up with someone else."

"You had me confused with my brother, Heath," Archie said with a smile. "Happens all the time, no big deal."

"They do look a lot alike," Clio agreed. "Archie is much better looking, though, I think, don't you?"

"I, uh, suppose so," Adam said, unsure of what to say.

They waited until they were downstairs and well away from Adam before they started laughing.

"Did you see the look on his face?" Clio asked rhetorically, nearly collapsing in Archie's arms.

"I did, you mean girl," Archie answered, hugging her slender body to his, feeling dizzy at the closeness of her on the warm New York sidewalk. "Now let's go back to my room, order room service and watch a movie, what do you say?"

"Sounds like a plan, chief," Clio agreed.

So they hailed a cab, half an hour later were devouring a vegan pizza in the cool darkness of Archie's room while they watched a very scary Korean movie about twin sisters who didn't seem to know they were dead. Archie, who wasn't very good about watching scary movies, spent most of the time with his face buried in Clio's shoulder while she laughed at him.

"God, Archie, stop being such a pussy!" Clio admonished, trying in vain to push him off her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I have a delicate psyche," Archie declared, refusing to move.

"I'll protect you," Clio said, putting her arms around him and pulling him close. She kissed the top of his head, which was so very dear to her, and stroked his hair away from his temples while he stole looks at the TV.

"Oh my god, how can you watch this?"

Clio pulled his chin up and kissed his mouth with great energy.

Archie kissed her back, quickly forgetting his fright, the movie, everything but the beautiful girl in his arms, the beautiful, willing girl.

"Mm, Clio, god, you're marvelous, everything about you, you know?"

"Why thank you, Archie, I think you're pretty great, too."

Archie put his large hand on the back of her head, anchoring it in place, turning his head and planting his lips on her luscious mouth and exerting a bit of suction so he could really taste it.

God, how could anything that wasn't food taste so delicious? He put his other arm around her back and pulled her as close as he could, ensuring that there was no space between them before kissing her again, feeling like he wanted to suck her soul out of her gorgeous mouth.

Mmm, mmm," he moaned as he nipped at her lips in between licking into her, touching the tip of her bubble bum tongue with his own.

"Archie, is kissing everyone this incredible, or just you?" Clio asked breathlessly in between kissing him back.

"Hmm? Oh, just me," he assured her, putting a hand on her bottom and pressing her nether regions into himself, thereby creating the most amazing feeling of friction and pressure either of them had ever known. "Kissing anyone else feels roughly like brushing one's teeth, if I'm honest, yeah."

"Oh. Oh, okay, as long as I'm not missing anything," Clio said, taking a deep breath as she gazed into Archie's eyes before she leaned forward to kiss him again.

"Not a thing, no worries," Archie responded, rolling on top of Clio's slender body, feeling like his head was spinning.

He felt his hands pulling her shirt out of her pants, his palms sliding under it, to the secret skin of her midriff, and he sternly told himself no in no uncertain terms. It didn't help matters that she was obviously willing and that her hands were pulling at the back of his shirt, lifting it over his head.

Finally, he sat up, his shirt rucked up over his head, breathing hard, pupils blown, looking down at her as she stared up at him, looking impossibly stunning and sexy. He could even smell how sexy she was, Jesus.

"Clio, we have to stop."

"Hm? Why?" Her eyes were starry and bright, her lips puffy and sensuous as her mouth formed the words.

"Because I don't want to go this far with you yet, okay?"

She exhaled, her ribcage moving up and down as she did so, forcing his eyes to move to her pretty bra.

"Okay, she said, sliding off the bed.

She walked to the bathroom to straighten herself out, putting an extra shake in her hips, knowing he was watching. "Chicken," she said over her shoulder.

"You're killing me, Santangelo," he responded, falling backward on the bed so he wouldn't have to watch her walk away.

He heard her laugh as she shut the bathroom door.