Intimacy | ✔️ {Wattys 2017}

The Cliché

Am I the mistress? You read about them or watch them in the news, how they tear apart a couple and it never ends well. You see how they are given tons of publicity and people turn their heads from them. Am I the mistress now? Sure, this is high school, only high school, but high school never leaves you, especially when you're a werewolf. As a wolf, your pack is your family, and when plenty of your pack members are at the same school as you, especially your mate, high school is more than just a chapter in your life. High school is when you become that warrior you wanted, you becomes besties with the Alpha, date an omega, and countless other possibilities. It's where you make your mark on who you will become as part of the pack. If you're vital....or nothing more than a member. To Augustus and Molly, high school is just those for years of your life and then you move on. To them, it's just a memory.

"Amory?"

Am I the mistress?

"What's next for us, Augustus?" I ask, leaning my head back against the headrest. He still keeps his eyes focused upon me, turned to face me as we are still parked on the side of the road. It's a quite road, one many only travel when going to or from school. "Molly is your girlfriend."

"We're on a break," he explains, turning down the radio. "We are about to graduate anyway, Amory, what are we worried about? The crowd of high school? The drama?" He's human, high school, once it's done, it's done. For me, high school sets you up in the food chain for your place in the pack. "If what we have is right, if what we have is true, that we both feel these things for one another, then what is in our way?"

I know what he means. We have nothing in our way. But then again, as relating to pack business, what would having a relationship with Augustus place me as to my pack? What would my pack see me as? Weak? How could they see me as weak as I am simply claiming my mate? I think it's my respect for myself. I do not want to be the girl that tore a couple apart even if we are mates.

"Tell me, Amory, what stands in our way? What is keeping us from a beautiful relationship?"

"Nothing," I reply, watching as a smile crosses across Augustus's lips, my heart fluttering. Nothing but the fact that I will also have to tell him one day. One day I will have to expose him to a world filled with creatures his kind calls monsters. They makes movies and shows off of our kind, depicting us as wild being that have to be slaughtered. As it ever occurred to the humans, that the only monster out there, is those who kill us for the fun. They do not kill to protect, they kill for game.

"Still want dinner?" Augustus asks, his eyes scanning my face as I agree.

Within ten minutes we've arrived at a small burger joint, grabbing food as we talk the hour away. We talk about old memories, about ones that made us laugh or cry. We discuss the event of us meeting, how that day we became best friends. But we stay clear of Molly. We stay clear of all of that. I wish I could tell him about the time I discovered he was my mate. I wish I could unleash the emotions and tell him how much I wanted to run away because I saw him look at her when I was right beside him. Augustus has confessed his love for Molly...is love that hard to love ahold of? He was content with her weeks ago and now they are falling apart? What's going on? Fate perhaps?

As we finish up our meal, I watch as he smiles, how the creases form around his eyes, how his eyes light up, how his pearly white teeth are on display. I watch his smile as if the most beautiful thing I have ever witnessed. How have I gone on for so long suffering?

Back in his truck, the radio surrounds us as we are left to our thoughts. Tonight was fun, it was not a mistake nor something I will look back on and cringe. Tonight was the night I told Augustus my feeling and he didn't not push me away, because he had those feelings as well. "What about Molly?"

Augustus sighs. "I need to let her know. I need to tell her about this, about us," he explains, taking the familiar rode back to my place. He's right to do so, to let Molly know, but I don't want to watch her break. I don't want to watch her fall apart like I did. But she's human, she will never be able to feel what I feel for Augustus because he is not her mate. Because she's not his mate, she will get over him. One day she will let him go, but it will be hard. I feel awful knowing she will feel miserable. "Better now than later. It's my job to inform her, not a friend or classmate." I agree.

"Do what is best," I add, agreeing with Augustus as we pull up before my house. The lights are off, my mother's car absent as well as my father's. They said they would be gone at a pack meeting, a dinner with the Alpha and his Elders. As the car comes to a stop, Augustus turns off the engine, rushing around to my door before I can open it. "Thank you." Augustus shuts the door behind me, sliding an arm around my waist as we walk side by side to the front door. Sparks fly everywhere as all it takes is a simple touch, my body electrified as I know Augustus feels it as well. It's just a matter of time before he brings up the topic. The only question is, will I be able to tell him? Tell him what he is entitled to know.

Digging through my purse, I search for my keys, rummaging through the leather object as my eyes widen.

"Shit."

"Are you locked out?" Augustus asks, a playful tone in his voice as I roll my eyes as I watch him. "Let's find an unlocked window or see if the back door it either." Little does he know I could just grow out my claws and open the door. It's simple for a wolf to break in without any sign of violence or damage.

Taking my hand, Augustus leads me over to the fence, smiling as I know this will be another memory. It may not seem like much, but one day we will look back on it as one of our first adventures. Letting go of my hand, he holds out his hands as they are locked together. "Step onto my hands and I'll hoist you up to climb the fence."

Doing as Augustus instructs, I just want to show off, to show my skills, how I can easily jump this fence like its nothing. As my hands reach the top of the fence, I pull myself up, shifting my body to the other side of the fence as I see the backyard before me. Once my feet hit the grass, I wait ten seconds before Augustus is over, walking beside me as we head for the back door. Taking out his wallet, Augustus grabs a credit card, sliding it between the door and doorway, hearing a click as we are in. "Are your parents home?"

Shaking my head, I turn on the kitchen lights, setting my purse down as Augustus locks the back door. "Out for another hour or two I suppose. Dinner at a old friend's place." It's not a lie, it's a vague term to use for Flynn's family.

Arms wrap around me, pulling me into a hard chest as his lips are pressed against my temple. I know he's no stranger to the world of 'romance,' as I've felt the pain every time he had sex with Molly. Every time he had it, I felt a pain at the pit of my stomach, it felt as if it was eating me alive as it made its way up to my heart. Bruises would form in the morning and I would have to remind myself that Augustus had no idea what he was doing. He as no idea that having sex with Molly would hurt me in ways I can never forget.

"Tell me something," I whisper, leaning my head back upon his shoulder.

"What?" He asks, taking me down playfully onto the couch in the living room. As we sit beside one another, I spit something moving in the shadows outside. Something not good lurks in the backyard, watching us, and I know it won't be good tomorrow.

"Why did you talk to me that day, years ago?"

He knows what I'm referring to: the day he talked to me and we become best friends.

"Some would call it fate I assume," he begins. It's true, fate had a major play, as we are mates. "But it was your smile. It was soft and kind, one that let me know you were someone I could trust in and find loyal."

I find myself smiling, watching as he leans forward, pressing a soft kiss upon my lips as my eyes shut.

A howl fills the night sky. I should of pulled the curtain shut.