AURORA ☾ Leah Clearwater ✔

Chapter 12... Slipping

☾

Emily 

Arriving home from school the next day, I found Sam standing at the end of my driveway, waiting for me. Again. I paused to take a deep breath, readying myself to walk past him like he wasn't even there, then strode forward, keeping my eyes fixed on my front door.

"Emily," Sam said with a nod of his head as I breezed past. "I want to talk."

I stopped suddenly and was immediately frustrated with myself for doing so. "Sam," I replied, turning slowly to face him. "Why are you back? I thought told you to go away."

Sam looked at his feet. "You did, but you didn't order me to go away," he said, quietly, before he looked up again and caught my eyes with his. "You can though. Say the words, and I'm gone."

I just looked at him. Yes, as always, that was an option. After seeing his true form—his wolf form—I no longer doubted that there was actual truth to the story he had told me. About how I had the power to turn him away forever because he had imprinted on me. 

But, for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to do it.

"If you left forever, you'd be leaving Leah behind as well," I said, trying to sound disinterested. "And I don't want that."

His brow fell together. "We're not going to do this again, are we?"

"Do what again?" I asked, with fake innocence. 

"Keep pretending that this can all go back to the way it was."

My frustration began to bleed into anger. "How dare you—" I began, but just as I started, I spotted my mom standing in the kitchen window. Her gaze was fixed downwards, and she hadn't spotted us, but I didn't definitely want her to. That'd bring up too many awkward questions.

I grabbed Sam's arm and dragged him to the side of the house—where no one could see us—before I let him go.

"You can't be here," I hissed, stepping back from him. "You should leave."

"Why?" he asked, though he didn't look confused at all.

Was he challenging me to say what I was really thinking out loud? I wasn't afraid to. "Because I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea."

"And what idea would that be?" he prodded. "That you're hanging out with me?"

"Exactly," I shot back. "Which is why you shouldn't be here."

Sam folded his arms and tilted his head. "So, why don't we go somewhere else?" he said with a smirk, like it was the simplest thing in the world to do. Like we could just walk down the street to the local diner, like no one would care or even notice.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Who said I'd go anywhere with you again?"

The cocky smile on Sam's face fell away. "I just want to talk."

The temptation to just send him away was strong, but something made me hesitate. This thing we had going... It couldn't continue like this. I couldn't keep sending him away, and then let him come creeping back. If he was insistent on returning again and again, then I had to use the opportunity to do something about this... There had to be something I could do.

In my heart, I already knew what I should be doing. "Fine. Actually, I want to talk to you too," I said. "Wait here." I span around and darted around the corner of my house, then climbed the front steps and slipped inside.