I found my mate

James found his mate

“I didn’t… Okay, yeah. I guess I do.” I realized. “Well, I’m telling her tonight… so it’ll make up for it.”

He smiled and shook his head a bit, looking down at his food. “You’re-” He looked up suddenly, towards the cafeteria entrance.

I followed his gaze and found James headed our way. He plopped down into the seat across from me.

“So? What’s up?” I asked.

He didn’t look at me. “Can we not talk about it here?”

“Can you look at me when you talk to me?” I asked.

He looked up at me. “Happy?” He looked like he hadn’t slept for days and his hair was a mess. He didn’t look very happy either.

“James,” I said in a soft voice. “What happened?”

“She ran from me. I was chasing her all night.” He hung his head. “I don’t know why she would run from me in the first place.”

“Did you catch her?” Dylan asked before I could.

James gave a tiny nod. “I managed to convince her to give me a chance to talk with her.” He said. “And then she somehow convinced me to go home and go to bed.” He shook his head. “By the time I got home it was 5:30 and I couldn’t sleep. She said she would meet me tonight to talk.”

I reached out my hand and touched his arm. “You’ll work things out.”

Alicia came back then. “Hey, James! Where have you been?”

“Hey Alicia.” He mumbled.

She looked at me. “What’s up with him?” She whispered.

“I’ll explain later.” I said.

We chatted about little things for the rest of lunch, while James kept his head down, probably filling his brain with bad thoughts. When lunch was over, the four of us stood up and headed out. Dylan pulled me back a bit.

“Hey, I’m going to go straight to my class, give you two a little time to talk.” He said. “I’ll see you later?”

“Of course, thank you.” I smiled at him.

He gave me a peck and then walked off as I caught up with Alicia and James once more.

“I have to go print my paper.” Alicia remembered suddenly. “I’ll see you guys later.” Then she was gone also.

James and I walked a bit in silence before I broke it. “Why did you even come to school? You could have just skipped the whole day.”

       He shrugged. “Mainly to see you.”

       We were at my locker now and he leaned heavily against the wall of lockers as I opened mine.

       “I miss the way we were before Dylan.” He said. “We hung out more, talked more…” He stopped and paused. “I’m not sure if I still like you as more than a friend… I feel like I do, but I also want my mate.” He looked down. “It seems like she doesn’t want me though.”

       “James, who wouldn’t want you?” I said. “You’re a great guy, you’re intelligent, you know how to do things, you’re athletic. You could probably take on our pack’s third in line.” I paused. “Okay, maybe the 4th best fighter, but that’s great for not being a fighter yourself. You’re funny and playful. And to top it all off, you’re even attractive.”

       “So why won’t my mate stay with me?”

       “I don’t know, James.” I said honestly. “Maybe she thinks she doesn’t deserve you, or she just got out of a bad breakup.”