Simply Wicked

CH 5: A Very Awkward Dinner

A loud knock came from the door, the sudden sound in the dead silence of the room startling Juliet enough for her to drop her book in surprise. She fumbled for a few seconds to catch it but ultimately the piece of literature was sent tumbling down onto the ground.

The book was open when it landed, and the sound of a page ripping made Juliet cringe. “Hey, you ready?” Liam poked his head curiously inside the room.

“Oh, yes,” Juliet quickly replied, her eyes flickering over towards the clock to see that is was already six. She got up from her seat on the bed, stopping for a moment to pick up the book and place it down onto her bed, before she walked out from the room.

“What where you reading?” Liam inquired curiously as they both made their way down the corridor.

“Sherlock Holmes,” Juliet replied back politely, “Have you ever read any of the books?”

“No, I’m not much of a reader,” Liam admitted, and with this their conversation came to an awkward end.

“Sooo..” Liam continued on, unwilling to give up so easily. “What’s it like being a Wicked?” Liam had no idea why he asked this, but the moment his mouth had opened the words had tumbled out as if his brain had pushed them out, panicked that if he didn’t say something quickly the conversation would be forever lost.

“Tough,” Juliet answered honestly, much to her own surprise.

“How so?” Liam prodded further.

“You know..” Juliet muttered our, slightly embarrassed by her previous honesty. She should have just lied and said some like ‘its nice’ or ‘its great’.

“Oh,” Liam said, admitting defeat and allowing the conversation to end in silence as they both continued on their way into the dining room.

The silence was short lived, because as they began to draw nearer towards the dining room, sounds of excited chattering and playful bantering began to drift into their ears. Juliet found herself slowing down as they neared the large double doors, a small part of her unnerved by the loud sounds coming from behind the oak wood.

Juliet was not use to this. Not at all. Her house was always quite, and her dinners were almost always eaten alone. So, when Liam began to open one of the double doors, giving her a glimpse of the large mass of people giddily chatting and eating away inside of the room, Juliet froze. “Are you okay?” Juliet’s reaction did not go unnoticed by Liam, and he quietly shut the door closed again, turning his full attention onto Juliet.

“No I’m fine, I’m just not use to dinners like this,” Juliet said with a quick shake of her head.

“What do you mean?” Liam questioned, unconsciously titling his head as he racked his brain as to what Juliet meant. A small smile tugged its way onto Juliet’s lips at Liam’s little head titling quirk.

For being one of the strongest alpha’s in the America’s, Liam couldn’t have looked more cute and innocent at this moment. “Nothing,” Juliet told him, half giggling. Slightly confused, and sensing he wouldn’t be able to get more information out from Juliet, Liam moved to open the again.

The sound that burst out from the dinning hall rattled Juliet into a brief state of shock. It was a maelstrom of laughing and screaming, and Juliet once again was hesitant to enter. “Lets sit over there,” Liam suggested to Juliet, unfazed by the noise to which he was now so used too.

At the sight of Liam beginning to move, Juliet quickly followed after him, not wanting to be left standing at the doorway like an idiot. Liam moved them towards the end of the table, where an empty, throne like chair stood.

The chair belonged and was specifically reserved for Liam only, it was in a way a sign of how highly held his position as Alpha was regarded among the pack. “That’s your seat, isn’t it?” Juliet guessed, but Liam shook his head no.

“Nope, today its your seat,” Liam said without thinking. “You are my guest,” Liam pulled out the chair, gesturing with his hands for Juliet to sit down. She obeyed the request, but soon afterwards wished she hadn’t.

The entire room had gone silent, all eyes now focused on Juliet and Liam. Liam was ignorant of their stares at first, to busy reveling in how simply adorable Juliet looked sitting in his chair, but soon enough he became aware of them.

He forgot to tell the pack about Juliet. Liam realized with a sudden start. He had never wanted to hit himself more than he did at this moment. He had, had two hours of free time earlier, why hadn’t he come up with and excuse for Juliet’s presence here earlier!!? But then, Liam recalled that he had spent those two free hours daydreaming about how cute Juliet’s smile was. “Hey,” Liam recognized the voice to speak up as Ethan’s and looking up he could see his friend, and top Beta, staring up at both him and Juliet questioningly. “I’m Ethan Blake, and you are?”

“Juliet Olivia Wicked,” Juliet answered before Liam could interfere. At the mere mention of the name Wicked, the room grew even more silent.

“Wicked?” Ethan repeated, but when he spoke he was staring at Liam. “As in-”

“ETHAN,” Liam growled out the words in a way that told his beta to shut up. “I’ll explain everything to you later. Right now, lets just eat,” An awkward silence followed its way into the room after Liam’s statement, and the pack, now panicked as to why there was a Wicked family member amongst them found themselves unable to carry on their earlier conversations. Instead, they did as their alpha had said, and ate.