Running with the Wolves

chapter 40: because you trust everyone

As I'm trying to sleep, I keep thinking about Liam.

why is he acting like this?

is he having trouble with the full moon again?

why does it feel like he's shutting me out?

I'm finally falling asleep when I hear three gentle taps on my window. I get out of bed and pull the curtains aside.

It's Liam.

I open the window.

"Hey." I say.

"Hey, can I come in?"

I look off to the side, thinking about my answer to his question.

I turn to him. "No." I say and begin to close the window.

He quickly grabs it, not allowing me to close it. "Please."

"Fine." I say, letting go of the window and stepping aside so he can come in.

Once inside, he stands in front of me and shoves his hands in his pocket. He does this when he doesn't know what to say.

I cross my arms and look at the floor, waiting for him to say something.

"I'm sorry about earlier." he says.

"I accept your apology." I say, looking up at him. "Thank you."

After that, neither of us says anything. I don't think either of us knows what to say. Since Liam and I have known each other, we have always had something to talk about. We didn't have to be talking about anything personal, sometimes our conversations were completely random, but even if we didn't have anything to say, the silence between us was never awkward. But now, here we are...in complete and awkward silence.

"Are you gonna tell me whats going on?" I finally ask.

"Theres nothing going on." he says with a shrug of his shoulders.

I sigh, frustrated. "And here we are again Liam, back at the beginning. There's something wrong and you don't want to tell me. You don't even want to admit it. You could at least do that."

He doesn't say anything.

"The only reason I'm asking," I continue, "is because I want to help. Because I care about you."

He furrows his eyebrows, maybe in thought, deciding whether or not to tell me what has been going on with him lately. Maybe he'll finally tell me what's on his mind and I can finally stop guessing. But he doesn't.

"I should go." he says, talking a step back.

"Liam..." I say, trying to reach out to him one last time before he leaves.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow." he says.

He reaches for my hand and pulls me towards him, meeting my lips with a sweet but passionate kiss. It's not like any kiss we've had before...it feels different, but I don't know why. He brings his forehead to mine. We stand like that for a few seconds, but it feels longer than that.

He lets go of me and goes out the window. I watch as he makes his way home in the darkness of the night. After he's out of sight, I go back to my bed and try to sleep.

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monday; beacon hills high school

In Biology class, I sit next to my new lab partner Andrew.

I honestly wish my lab partner was still Josh. We had a lot of fun working together on our labs and he's one of my closest friends. He sits in front of me now, turning around occasionally to whisper something to me or pass me a note. But like he said, just because he's not my lab partner anymore, doesn't mean we can't hang out.