Jackson Hart
I was speechless. How did she know what I was? I stared at her as she sat down at the table and began to read the leaves in Jeremy's cup. I decided that I must have heard wrong and resumed to look around on the shelves.
"Your future is steady. You will settle down in your hometown and have the family you've always dreamed of. You will meet your love very young and stay with her until the end," she predicted. Jeremy smiled at Alexa and kissed her.
Yucks, I wrinkled my nose. That's not fortune telling, that's just saying what the person wants to hear. I snorted and found a dark green stone to inspect.
"Let me see your cup dear," the old lady said to Alexa.
"Hmm.. This is interesting... Your future is all laid out for you. You are on your way to a steady life, but you will meet someone, who can change it."
"Who?" Alexa asked intrigued.
"A wolf."
A.. a wolf.. Her answer took me by surprise. I laid back the stones and peeked over my shoulder to see Alexa's reaction. She was speechless as well. Jeremy looked rather confused. I was certain Alexa knew what she meant, she had seen the wolf. My wolf. The old woman took both of Alexa's hands in her own.
"Listen to me dear. When you see the wolf you need to follow it. Follow it before it's too late. He will know the answers to your questions and help you find what you seek."
Alexa nodded slowly at this.
"A wolf? You must be kidding me," Jeremy laughed, "Come on Alexa let's go".
He took her hand and directed her out of the tent. I followed behind but turned around as I reached the exit. The old woman looked at me and bowed her head, making the pearl necklaces dingle back and forth. She knew who I was. It was clear she knew more than she was telling. I took her wrinkled soft hand and squished it in farewell.
"Take care," I said, leaving the tent.
✵
"For a moment I actually believed her, but when she started to talk about wolves she totally lost me. The woman is clearly not well," Jeremy kept talking about as we continued to look for a shooting game.
Alexa didn't answer, she just nodded when he talked. She was buried in her own thoughts. Anyone who cared to look at her could see it, she furrowed her brows and didn't look at Jeremy raving about the old lady. I wish I knew what was going on inside her head.
"Look!" Jeremy exclaimed and pointed at a stall. The stall was a game of archery. Jeremy went over to the stall and immediately picked up the bow. He hit the targets but not in the middle. Alexa hesitated but slowly picked up a bow and gave it a try. The arrow was nowhere near the target.
"Well I guess I'm not cut out for this," she giggled and looked up at me. Jeremy was in his own world, too focused on winning a prize to even notice us.
"Here let me me help you."
I put my arm around her and helped with the bow. She was so close. Her back against my chest, my hands on hers. So close I could smell her hair and her perfume. My head was right beside hers, so close our cheeks was almost touching. So close I could hear her breathing and how I almost didn't breathe. It felt like pure joy ran through my veins. It was overwhelming.
"You need to steady your grip on the bow," I said in a low voice and moved her hands further down. "And pull the arrow up to your eye instead of chin. You'll get a better aim this way. Now just breathe in and release."
She let go and the arrow hit in the middle of the target. She turned her head and looked at me. Our faces only an inch apart.
"I did it," she said almost whispering.
"Alexa I.." I whispered.
"Alexa what are you doing?" Jeremy interrupted and looked hurtful at Alexa. He shook his head and stormed off in the direction of the entrance with Alexa following behind him.
How could I be this stupid? The only thing I needed to do was break the bond, but instead I ended up hurting Alexa and her relationship. I walked over to the entrance and waited for Leslie to come out . I leaned up against a wall and closed my eyes. The sun was setting and the last sun rays felt warm against my cheeks. The air was getting colder and there was a light breeze. At least it was a nice spring evening.
I heard something dump down besides me. I opened my eyes and looked down on a sad Alexa. I sat down beside her and waited for her to say something. She didn't look at me, I actually doubted she looked at anything. She was in her own head again. She was beautiful as she sat there, anyone could see it. The sunset gave her hair a golden tinge to it and lit up her face. Her eyes was crystal blue as the sun reflected in them.
She was shaking a little, so I pulled my sweatshirt off and handed it to her. I was wearing a t-shirt underneath it and I barely ever felt cold, so I didn't need it. She hesitated but put it on anyway. She looked really cute in it, it was a plane grey sweatshirt and oversized on her. For a brief moment I wondered why my clothes always looked better on her, but pushed the thought away.
"He drove without me. He didn't even look back or let me explain," a single tear rolled down her cheek. I nodded to indicate I was listening.
"You know, he used to be that really shy kid that didn't dare speaking to other people," she said, drying her eyes in the sleeve, "Recently he just started to hang out with a lot of the popular people at his school and he's turning into something he's not. I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault, you didn't do anything wrong. I should probably not have helped you with the bow."
"There wasn't anything wrong in you helping me, I don't know why he's so oversensitive these days."
I didn't know what to say to her, so we just sat there in the silence for at couple of minutes.
"Leslie and I will give you a ride home, but she has the keys and I've no clue were she's gone of to," I laughed, trying to start the conversation again.
"Thank you, we can just watch the sunset until she comes by the exit," she pulled her knees up to her chest and watched the sunset. Suddenly she looked at me like she had got an idea. "If we go to the ferris wheel we might be able to see her?"
"Why not," I said and followed her.
✵
The seats in the ferris wheel was narrow, so we sat quite close. The view was breathtaking, I hadn't seen a sunset like that in years.
"Woaw," Alexa sounded just as amazed by the view as I was. The sky was filled with golden, orange and red nuances.
I felt bad about being up here with her. I was supposed to break the bond with her, but every time I saw her, it felt like she took a little piece of me. Like slowly more of me became hers, pieces of me that I would never get back or be able to give to anyone else.
I felt bad for Caroline, I would never be able to give her what she deserved from a mate. I needed her to be there for the pack, and because of that she would never be able to find her love. How was that fair to her. I knew she wanted the real thing, but she was strong and loyal to the pack. She couldn't get herself to say no to me. Another reason she agreed was because of our history. When we were younger we had a thing, but it never turned into a bond, so we just ended up being friends. If only..
"Do you believe in fate?" Alexa asked with her lovely blue eyes looking curiously at me.
"Uhmm.. I don't know."
If fate was a real thing you would be a part of my pack and I would actually be able to be with you, I thought to myself. Or maybe faith is a real thing and it just has a wicked sense of humour.
"Do you think it's fate we need to sit up here to spot Leslie?" I asked.
"Yes fate wanted me up here to spot my wolf like the fortune teller told me," she joked and laughed.
I laughed with her, even though it made me a little sad, that she didn't believe the fortune teller. The old lady was wrong though, I knew that much. And if she was right, then I was not the wolf she was referring to.
"I see her, I see Leslie!" Alexa exclaimed and pointed out of the carriage, her sudden motion making the carriage to swing. She flung her arms around me trying to steady it.
We looked at each other laughing. Again we suddenly found ourselves in a position where our lips were only an inch from each other. We were so close I could hear our heartbeats racing each other. We got closer, so close I could feel her breath on my lips. So close I could almost feel her lips on mine.
Then I turned my head away and I broke my own heart doing it.
"We should go down and find Leslie," I muttered, not daring to look her in the eye.
✵