"Wait here," I told him. If it were my parents, they would never ring the doorbell.
I peek through the hole before I open the door. "What is it?"
Marcelo leans against the doorframe, "Well, hello to you too."
"What are you doing here?"
"Courting. You?"
"Busy."
He ran his tongue across his cheek, "Did I not earn some brownie points today?"
I chuckle, "For what?"
"I played my role."
"And I thank you for that."
"That's all? A thank you?"
"Very much," I add.
He licks his dry lips and leans inward, "You know what I wanna do right now?"
I tilt my head, "Shpank me?"
Marcelo's lips curl upward, "You should be thankful that God made you so adorable." His face was less than an inch from mine. "What are you doing this Friday?"
"Laser tag."
Marcelo didn't respond. Instead, he stares at me for a long time.
"What is it?"
"I'm waiting for my invitation."
"Do you have any shame?"
He laughs, "None whatsoever."
"What I'm about to do means nothing, and you should go home after." I lean inward and kiss his lips. Surprisingly, it's soft.
And I didn't dislike it at all.
More so, I actually enjoy it.
How horrible.
"Friday. Mall. Six-thirty. Bring a nicely wrapped gift. A doll."
I didn't give him a chance to respond.
Once the door closes, I cover my face with my hands. I cannot believe I did that. In the distance, I could hear the engine. When I looked outside, Marcelo's car was gone.
I wouldn't say the rest of the week is too bad. Everything was mostly normal.
The only difference was the townspeople only got more and more anxious about the werewolf.
Then again, they're always anxious about something.
Friday rolled around, and I got Kai ready for the birthday party.
"Is it okay if I come without a gift?"
I straighten out his shirt. "Don't worry." I fixed his wig. "You just need to have fun. Now, what do you need to do?"
"Climb out the window and try not to break a leg when I jump down the roof."
I would make a fantastic mom one day.
When I finished getting ready, I gave Kai the signal by tapping the top of the ceiling. I straighten out my coat and walk downstairs.
"Going out?" Dad question.
"Yeah. I'm hanging out with the guys at the mall. It's a kiddo's birthday." I tug on my boots.
Dad exhales before he takes off his glasses. "Hon, when are you and your friends going to grow up?"
"We are grown up. I'm very tall for a girl."
"No. I mean, think more about your future."
I took a few blinks, "I applied for college earlier this month."
"Be serious about it."
"I'm serious about getting into at least one of them."
Dad exhaled dramatically before he stood up. "Julia," he says. "You know your mother, and I had never pushed you because we want you to choose your own path."
"Yeah?"
"But, lately, we're getting concerned."
"Concern?"
"About-" We can hear a loud crash from the side of the house "what's that?"
"Probably the neighbor's cat?"
Dad looked out the window, but there wasn't anyone outside.
"Is there a boy out there?" His intuition is on point.
"How did you know?"
"Father's intuition."
"Interesting." I can hear a car honk. When I opened the front door, my usual friends were outside.
"Come on!" Eric screams. "Evening, Mr.Elias!"
I look at dad, "Your intuition is so good. It's almost scary. Not just one boy but two boys and a girl." I clap sarcastically slow.
Dad rolls his eyes, "Have fun." He went upstairs.
When I hear the door closed, I rush towards the garage door. "Kai. Psst. Kai!"
Kai's head pops over the fence. "Kai here."
"Come on." I help him get over and dust him off. Quickly, I grab him and rush towards the front door. Once I'm outside the house, I slow down.
"Who's that?" Brian asks.
"Kailyn. Say hello to Brenda, Brian, and Eric. They're my friends."
"Hello," Kai says.
"I'm babysitting Kailyn."
They all nod. "Cool," Eric says. "Hop in."
"Wait," Brenda stops Kai from going in. "We don't have a baby seat."
"She'll be fine. She can sit between you two. Come on. We'll be late."
Kai sat between Brenda and me.
Brenda smiles, "Hello. How are you?"
Kai looks at her for a moment before he moves closer to me. I told him not to interact too much with anyone that's not a kid. My friends may not look or act like it, but they're actually pretty perceptive. One slip up, and it's all over.
"She's shy," I said.
Brenda nods, "I'm not going to bite silly."
Kai only comes closer to me.
Brenda exhales, "Parents must pay you pretty well."
I chuckle, "You have no idea." When we arrived at the mall, I saw a group of protesters. I wish I could say I don't know what they're protesting about, but the sign is pretty straightforward.
"Find the wolf! End his life before he ends ours!"
"Geez," Brenda grumbles, "And here I thought they couldn't get any more extreme."
This isn't too surprising in a closed territory.
A man walked up to us and gave Eric a flyer. It was a picture of Kai. "We must find him and end him before he ends us." His eyes say he's a high level of crazy.
"Bro," Eric returns the paper, "He's just a kid, and he hasn't even killed anyone."
"Don't be stupid!" The man shouted, causing Kai to flinch. I pull him behind me, and Brenda steps forward. "This isn't a werewolf! He's a monster!"
What bullshit. Everyone knows these types of people hate werewolves. They'll find any reason to kill one.
"He ruthlessly tore off his own uncle's arm! Who knows what he would do to us!"
Kai whimpers.
"Let's go." I carried Kai away from the crazy people. Everyone else followed me.
"You're going to regret it! He's here to kill us all! It's only the beginning!"
I pat Kai's back, "It's okay," I whisper. "Everything will be okay."
Brenda elbowed Eric, "Why you gotta stop and grab the paper! You should've ignored him like everyone else!"
Eric frowned, "My bad. I mean, he was shoving it in my face."
Brenda grunts lowly.
We all stopped at the front of the arcade when we saw a familiar face. He smiles at everyone.
"Hey, dude," Brian said. "What are you doing here?"
The sweats return. "I was invited here for a party."
The three of them speak through eye contacts, trying to figure out who invited Marcelo.
"I did," I said.
They all stop talking with their eyes.
"I saw Mark after school at the store, and I invited him." And the lies pile.
No one rebuttal against what I said. It would make the situation too awkward.
Marcelo smiles, "So, who's birthday is it?" He looks at the other three. I'm sure he knows it's not my birthday.
"She's inside," Eric says.
Marcelo turns his head to see a bunch of children. Rubi spotted us. "You guys came! They're here!" Everyone rushed towards us.
While they dogpiled Brian and Eric, they gave sweet hugs to Brenda and me. Kai and Marcelo stood there - almost in a stunned state.
Rubi peeks from behind me and smiles. "Hi!" She walks towards Kai. "Who are you?"
Kai wiggles his nose slightly before his brows furrow, "Kailyn?"
"Hi, Kailyn!" Rubi says. "Are you here for my birthday?" Her eyes went to Kai's hands, "Is that for me?"
Kai looks at me, and I nod firmly, "Yes."
Rubi claps enthusiastically while squealing. "Let's go everyone!" All the kids scream and rush inside. Rubi grabs Kai's hands and drags him in with everyone else.
"So, this is the birthday party you're talking about?" Marcelo asks me.
"Yeah. So, how are you with laser tag?"
"Never played it."
"Hm." I look at Brian, "He's on your team." I walk inside with Brenda and Eric.
It didn't take long for Kai and Marcelo to get comfortable.
"This is DDR," Rubi says. "You dance! Turn it on Triston!" Triston, in his dark sunglasses, clicks the on button.
The music blast, and Rubi starts dancing. Kai observes her for a moment before he copies the steps on the screen. I watched as he went from a confused state to a happy one.
The sweats beam off his plump red cheeks as his lips spread into a wonderful smile.
This is the life he should live.
"Woah!" Someone shouted. I turn my head to see Marcelo and Eric at one of the shooting games. Both of them had their eyes pinged at their enemies, but the biggest enemy would be each other.
Highest score.
I peek over Marcelo's shoulder to see a terribly high score. Maybe, I should have told him to be on my team.
After an hour, it was time for war. Everyone strapped on their gears. I help Kai with his gears while telling him the rules and regulations since he never played laser tag before.
I notice how he's staring at Rubi.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
Kai fidgets slightly before he leans inward, "Rubi smells really good," he whispers.
"Wait. Wha-"
"Ready!" Before I could question Kai's statement, it was time to head into war.
Inside the darkroom, there was a large white timer. Everyone groups together to make a plan before they split up.
I would like to say my team is on fire.
But we're not.
Brenda threw her sweaty self at me, "We're dead! Mark should've been on our team!"
We could hear Brian's devil-like laughter.
"We don't need him." I pretend to click my gun. "Baby girl. We got this shit. Watch my back."
Brenda muffled a laugh, "Baby girl?"
"Yeah. I'm serious about not losing!" I got out of the safe zone and rushed towards Marcelo. If I'm going out, I'll take the biggest threat with me. At least that way, my teammate would have a chance.
I know it's a suicide mission, but there is no I in team.
It's do or die.
When my eyes met Marcelo's light green, my heart accelerated. Steadily, his lips curve into a devious smile.
"It's a trap!" Brenda's voice somehow sounds slow.
Before I could even react, Brian leaped out and aimed his gun at me. "No!" I scream slowly.
When my button turns from green to red, I collapse on the floor dramatically.
"Julia!" Brenda said in a slow dramatic way. I can see Eric pulling her back.
Marcelo went down a single knee beside me.
Triston hops behind him and turns his light from green to red. "Gotcha!" While he ran away, he tripped on his untied shoes.
Marcelo exhales softly before he turns his attention back towards me. "Was that necessary?"
I tilt my head up, "Shut up. I'm dead right now." I put my head back on the foam floor.
Marcelo clears his throat before he lays on the ground with me. His face was in front of mine.
"What are you doing?"
He grins, "Shut up. I'm dead right now."
I could hear numerous footsteps around us and various forms of "Aw man!"
"So-" he says, "You die around here often?"
I never thought a guy would flirt with me using that sentence.
"No," I responded. "Most of the time, I'm on the winning side."
"Maybe we could be on the same team next time." He glances at the large board, "I mean, my team is winning."
"You're dead on the floor with me."
He inches closer until our faces were less than an inch apart, "It was a choice. I choose to die with you."
"Oh, how romantic."
He smiles, "I try." Marcelo tilts his head and kisses me.
Before I could rebuttal, the buzzard went on, and the winning team was announced. Immediately, Marcelo leaps up, "Don't say I didn't give you an offer to be on the winning side."
When Marcelo left, Brenda rushed towards me. She helps me get up. "You two were laying there suspiciously. What did he say?"
"He offers me to be on his team next time."
Brenda let out a high pitch sound before looking at Marcelo. "How dare he offer it to only you?"
I glance at her, "I told you to cover me."
"Sorry." She chuckles, "I was stuck on the baby girl part."
After laser tag, it was the classic party pizza time. I watch as Kailyn laughs with the other children. His cheek was turning redder by the second, and his smile was so wide, I thought his face might break.
I lean towards Marcelo and elbow him. He stops talking with Brian and looks at me. My eyes went towards the bathroom.
I put the pizza down and excused myself.
Not too long after, Marcelo followed.
I grab his hand and pull him towards an empty hallway. "Hey. I have a question."
"Yeah?"
"How did you feel when you first met me?"
"Feel?"
"Yeah. The whole soulmate fiasco."
"I don't know. Warm? Like-"
When I finally turned towards Marcelo, he was staring at me with such intensity that it got my panties soaked. "Like?"
"Like I found my other half."
I couldn't help but laugh, "Sounds like such a werewolf thing to say."
He rests an arm beside my head and leans forward, "Something tells me you're not exactly the romantic type."
"I prefer to be the realistic type."
He smiles, "I like that."
I know we're staring at each other a bit too long for others not to misunderstand. "So, what else?"
"About?"
"The soulmate thing."
"Oh. You're asking this for Kai, right?"
"Huh?"
"You know, how he met his soulmate."
"You know?"
"Yeah."
"How?"
He chuckles, "It doesn't take a genius to see a young wolf being head over heels for his soulmate."
"I see." I turn away and rub my chin. I wonder how I should approach this situation.
First, I should talk to Kai about how he found his soulmate. Then, I should make some plans for them to meet up. Before that, I should help Kai control his emotions, so he doesn't shift.
"Hey."
"What?" I turn my head back to see Marcelo right in front of me. "What do you want?"
"Think about that later," he says. The closer he leaned inward, the more I moved back until I couldn't anymore. "Since we're here alone. Do you wanna make out?"
"Huh? Are you crazy?"
Marcelo bounced off of me, "Worth a shot." He smiles, "Don't worry about the boy. He's smart. He'll know what to do." I watch as Marcelo walks back towards the room.
"Hey," I said.
He stops and looks at me.
I know I'm a hypocrite. I don't want to be with him, but I also know I want more of him. I hate my indecisive self.
"Yes."