Isaac POV*
I ran up to Ava and walked with her back to the village. "You're not going to learn how to fight over such a stupid reason?" I asked as we walked. "Of course I am. I want to be able to defend myself." She said. I let out a sigh, not wanting to argue about this anymore.
"So who was that anyway?" She suddenly asked. "Lukas sister, Aubrey," I answered. "He has a sister?" She asked surprised. "Didn't he say his family was away?" I nodded. "I thought so too but she came back?" I said back, not sure myself.
"Well she seems cool," she smiled. "Much better than Lukas." She added quickly. "I wouldn't say that..." I mumbled. "You're just biased because you're in love." She shot back. "I- what, that's-" I stuttered, "what?" She asked innocently, "You are though...?" She shrugged. I stopped walking for a second as I stared at her, feeling my face turn bright red. After a second I shook it off and walked back up to her.
"So- how did it go?" She continued the conversation. "How did what go?" I asked confused. "At the festival, when you told him. You guys seemed normal so I'm assuming it went okay." She continued as she kept walking, not looking at me.
"I- well, I didn't tell him," I admitted. Ava stopped, turning around. "You didn't?!" She asked surprised. I shook my head. "Why not?" She asked, a little irritated. "Well I was going to but then we kept getting interrupted..." I explained, "And after that, I just never found the right time." I shrugged.
"That settles it then," Ava said firmly. "We're both going back there tomorrow," she said as she started walking again. "What? No-" I ran after her. "Yes, we are, so Aubrey can teach me how to fight and you can tell Lukas you like him." She explained. "I don't know about that- " I tried to stop her, "no, no argument, that's the plan." She said firmly.
"You said you never found the right time, then we'll just have to make time." She said proudly. I let out a sigh. "You're right," I admitted, "I know." She said smugly. "You sure this isn't just an excuse so you could learn how to fight?" I smirked. She laughed. "Perhaps a little."
We continued to walk until we reached the village. We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. She went home while I got back to the store. It was empty when I entered, my dad must've closed it earlier. I wasn't there to help him so that would explain why. I got in and walked towards the back, where I found my dad looking through a book.
"I'm home," I said as I closed the door behind me. "Oh hey, you're early." He said surprised. "Not really, It's already five," I said back. "It is?" My dad looked up surprised. "I must've lost track of the time." He rubbed his eyes. I walked up to him and sat down. "What were you doing anyway?" I asked curiously,
I looked at the table where I found my mom's recipe book on the counter. "Just looking through this." He smiled sadly. "There's still a lot of useful things in there," I added. He nodded. "I never even knew she kept one of these too," he said softly. I could see in his eyes that the nostalgia was making him both sad and happy. He took a deep breath and leaned back into his chair.
"Hey, dad?" I asked carefully. "Could you tell me more about how you and Mom... got together," I asked. He looked very confused. "You know how we met, we were friends when we were kids." He said back. "Yeah I know, but at some point, you must've realized you liked her as more than a friend.." I said, not looking at him. In the eye. "I guess."
"Well... could you tell me about that?" I asked as I sat down opposite him. "Why? Is there someone you like?" He smirked. I panicked a little. I started to panic a little.
"N-no, I just want to learn more about you and mom is all." I defended, he didn't look like he completely believed me, but he let it go. "Well, sure if you want to know.
- - - -
20 years ago
Nigel POV*
"Hurry up Nigel, we're waiting for you!" Ayleen yelled from across the lake. "Yeah, you're way too slow over there," Marc yelled after her. "I, trying," I said but they probably could hear me. I tried my best to swim as fast as possible, but how could I compete with them? Ayleen was already in the water when we arrived, and I can't beat a werewolf... I signed as I kept swimming.
"You're almost there!" Ayleen encouraged me. "Just a little more." I was tired, I was cold, why did I agree to this? I pushed myself as I swam further, but I was so exhausted, and my body decided it was enough. I slipped and soon I sank under the surface of the water. I could hear my friends yell at things but soon everything went black.
"Nigel!" I slowly opened my eyes. "Nigel- are you okay?" I hear the muffled sounds of Marc and Ayleen's voices above me. "Thank goodness." As soon as I opened my eyes, Ayleen pulled me into a hug. "I thought we lost you!" She cried. I put my hand on her back, hugging her back. I looked up to see Marc staring at me, with a similar expression. "I- I'm fine." I tried to smile. She let go of me and looked at me. "Fine!? You almost drowned. If it weren't for Marc jumping after you-" she couldn't even finish the sentence as she thought about the other possible outcome.
It was then I noticed Marc's was also soaked. Even though we just swam across a lake, he got there way before I did and had already dried up quite a bit. I looked around more and noticed I was across the lake this time.
"Well, at least I made it to the other side?" I joked. Ayleen let out a sigh that slowly turned into a laugh. Marc just rolled his eyes and dropped down. "He's fine." He laughed.
"Don't ever scare us like that again." They both said to me. We stayed on the ground for a while longer, as they both lay down next to me. We started up at the clouds until the sky turned dark and we decided it was time to go home, so we got up and started to walk home.
Ayleen had to split halfway because she lived on the other side of the village. So it was just Marc and me now. "Next time I'm choosing the route." I joked referring to my near-death experience. Marce laughed but agreed. "It's not my fault she wanted to cross the lake." He defended. "She is something else.."
We got quiet for a bit as we kept walking when I suddenly broke the silence. "Hey- can I tell you something?" I said carefully. "Yeah- you know you can." Marc smiled back. "I- I think I like her," I admitted. Marc looked at me confused. "What do you mean?"
"I think- I. In love with her.." I finally admitted. Marc stopped in his tracks, staring at me shocked. "You what," he said back