Mask | ✓

45

"Let's do something then," I interrupted. "If you're not going to be here for long, then let's do something we haven't already done."

There was a pause before Tatum nodded. "Alright, I know something we can do."

I grinned. "What?"

"Let's have a movie night."

My grin dropped and was replaced with confusion. "That's the opposite of what I was expecting."

"Are you saying you don't want to?"

It wasn't that I didn't want to, but the idea was drastically different from the ones that had run through my own mind. It just reminded me how different Tatum and I were, but then again, it was those differences that made us work.

For a second, I thought I may have offended him until I saw the change in his expression. "For someone who doesn't even know who Rapunzel is, you should be jumping at the opportunity. It's time for you to make up for those lost years, Nix."

I rolled my eyes, recognizing the name as one of the characters Tatum had tried—and failed—to explain to me in the past. While watching movies wasn't necessarily my idea of doing an activity that was "new and fun", there was something about it that was so undeniably...Tatum. He would most definitely be the type to sit at family game night with some movie in the background that he likely wasn't even watching but wouldn't let anyone turn off for "nostalgic reasons" or "just because". In fact, I didn't doubt that he'd already done that in the past.

"Okay, let's have a movie night," I agreed to the green-eyed man's suggestion. "But there are some problems."

"What are they?"

"One being that I have none of these movies you're so desperate to introduce me to. Two, it's not night yet, and the idea of spending the whole day on a couch sounds like my personal idea of hell, no offense—" Tatum rolled his eyes. "What are we going to do until then?"

"Easy solutions," he told me and moved toward a bag that I initially hadn't noticed sittings against the side of the couch. He crouched down and unzipped it, revealing a collection of DVDs along with the DVD player itself.

I blinked twice. "You came prepared."

"I always do," he teased, the double meaning not lost on me. "As for problem two, well, I'm sure you and I can find a way to keep ourselves occupied until then, right?"

There was a grin on his face, and my eyes glanced at the bag, which was packed to the brim, and then back at Tatum once again. Every day it felt like I was always learning something new about him. When I first met him, I wouldn't have pictured him to be a closeted board game and movie-obsessed alpha, but the more I learned about him, the more I began to realize—

"You're crazy, Tatum Knowles."

Tatum snorted and met my eyes. "And you're not?" He challenged. "Besides, that's why you're attracted to me."

And as much as I wanted to deny it, he was right. I was attracted to the closeted board game, movie-obsessed alpha who had a habit of overpacking and always having what we needed on hand. What did that say about me? I didn't know, but whatever it was, well, I didn't mind at all.

...

Turns out, finding something to do wasn't hard at all. Not long after we discussed our plans for the day, Tatum suggested going to get food seeing as it was early in the morning. While I suggested hunting, seeing as he hadn't gone on one yet during his stay, Tatum firmly shut the idea down. So instead, we went to the pack house.

What started off as a semi-peaceful morning changed when we ran into Eli at the pack house. The two of us made eye contact before he shifted his attention to Tatum, and I could immediately see the way his expression changed from the normal Eli to the "I'm going to embarrass the hell out of you" Eli.

Despite how much the beta made me want to sucker-punch him from time to time, I was happy to see him out more and to introduce him to Tatum, though they weren't under desired circumstances. The two got along a lot better than I had expected them to. I had originally worried that Eli might've been too much for Tatum, but that clearly hadn't been an issue once they started talking and found common ground: attacking me. Listening to the two of them reminded me to ask more about Tatum the next time I went to the Howling Night. He had a gun and more than a lifetime of stories to use as ammunition. I needed to start learning my own about him.

I attempted to take Tatum and leave once he and Eli had stopped talking, but it seemed like once one person stepped aside, six more appeared. Right before we could make our great escape, two wolves called out to Tatum. Wolves, I didn't even know he knew. One I recognized to be Nolan's friend, Mara? Maria? Mika? I didn't know her name, but she, along with some other guy, walked up to Tatum and began to talk. Seeing Tatum speak to others and actually smiling was something that warmed me; however, the day was supposed to be a "Tatum and Nixon" day, not a "Tatum, Nixon, and everyone else in a five-mile radius, minus the Nixon" day.

Eventually, we did get to leave and decided to head back to the house, where we did everything but lounge around. Time passed by fast, and before we knew it, the afternoon had come. Apparently, DVDs weren't the only thing Tatum had stuffed in that bag. At one point, he had disappeared into the kitchen before returning with popcorn, claiming it would "enhance the experience".

Once the DVD player was set up, it was time to decide what we were going to watch first.

"You decide," Tatum told me.

"I haven't seen any of these," I reminded him.

"Which is why you should pick," he said as if it was obvious. "Pick whichever sounds the most interesting to you."

So I scanned over the movies before choosing one with a fox and long-earned hound dog on the cover. Tatum stared down at the case and then up at me. He repeated the action again before saying, "Pick another one."

"I thought it was my choice," I argued.

"It can get a little depressing."

"It's a children's movie, Tate. I think I'll survive."

His mouth opened, likely to object, but I took the case before the words could leave his mouth and made my way over to the DVD player. I placed it inside before returning back to my spot. I could feel Tatum's eyes on me for a few moments before he turned off the lights and moved to sit beside me. He let out a sigh before hitting the play button.