Wolf City

At the Top of the Mountain

I woke up on the couch not long after, Zane by my side. His elbow was on propped up underneath him, his head on his knuckles. Ava was on the other side of me sleeping as well. There was no telling the time, though a little bit of light leaked through the blinds next to the front door. I stood up and stretched and then went to go take a shower. When I came out in a band tee and regular jeans I noticed that the siblings still hadn’t moved and that the television was still on some science fiction movie.  I went into my room and noticed it was still the same as I had left it. The comforter was tossed to the side, my bag of clothes on the corner of the room. On the dresser I saw a rose and two slips of paper next to it. I went over to them and lifted the dead rose in my hand, petals falling off of it onto the floor as I did. It still had the sweet smell, but death had already rolled into it.

             I tossed the rose into a small trash can next to the dresser and then picked up the two slips of paper. I looked at the one with the address, rubbing my fingers on the letters and numbers he had written and thinking again about how he had chosen the tea shop to meet at. Could it be coincidence? Or, the whole time, had he really known who I was and what my family had been doing in the city. Was the entire ‘run into me at the store’ fate, or had he planned it the entire time? I threw away the paper and then looked at the other one. I admired the way he wrote his numbers so neatly, and then threw it away as well.

            There was no reason to keep them; the rose was dead, the meeting over and done with, and I had his number in my phone. I walked back out into the room and started looking for my phone. I had already known it would be on the bar that split the large room in half. There had been a few messages from my mom, but nothing other than that. I wasn’t quite ready to talk to them considering they were my parents and had kept me in the dark and expected me to join a pack knowing what they had been a part of.

            When I turned around from the counter I smacked right into a wall of warm flesh and looked up at those beautiful sea blue eyes. “Hey there,” I said almost breathless. He was wearing a tight blue tee and jeans, his feet bare and his hair tossed to the side. His pecks were staring me right in the face, as well as his biceps. I leaned forward and put my head against his chest, hoping he would wrap his arms around me. As if on cue, his arms pulled up and surrounded me, pulling me close to him once again. It was funny, how in the spot I had always wanted to be, it was just as I had pictured it. I felt perfect against him, feeling absolutely at peace.

             Did I feel comfortable belonging to him? Did I feel contented dating my best friend? What was Alice going to say? What was Jad going to say? Was I even going to see Jad again? What would I say when I did see him? I sighed heavily with the enormous amount of questions I had rolling through my noggin. Zane, hearng my unintentional gust of breath, pulled away from me and tilted my head up to his. “Whats wrong?” he asked.

            I opened my mouth even though I didn’t know what I was going to say, but then shut it again realizing there was nothing I could really tell him. “It’s nothing,” I decided would be best. “I’m just happy that you finally figured out what you wanted from me.” I said trying to turn it into a joke.

            His lips pulled up and he shook his head. “Sorry it took so long, and sorry I almost had to lose you to figure it out, though I guess in a way, I had always really known. I just didn’t think I deserved you.” He brushed his lips slightly against mine, and that’s when I heard a small gasp from behind him. Moving over I saw Ava’s face lift in shock. Her eyes almost looked like they were bulging out of her head.

            “What is going on?” she asked even though she clearly could guess. Zane turned around, almost protective like, and held up his hands. “are you two…” she looked between the both of us.