Morning came sooner than he expected. Last night, he went to bed early in hopes that the sooner he went to sleep, the sooner it would be Monday. Thrilled, he got up quickly and started to pick up clothes for today. Ever since he was with Kieran, he put a lot of effort into choosing clothes and looking good.
Evan has never been a morning person, but since his parents wanted him home immediately after school and didn't let him hang out outside North Hallson at weekends, the only way to see his friends and Kieran was at school. He could still spend time with Angie, but it wasn't the same. That's why Evan worked to get his parents to trust him more and let him hang out with his human friends more often. And until that happened, Evan focused on getting up earlier.
Thinking about Kieran, he snatched his phone from the nightstand and sent him a good morning text. It was cheesy, he knew, but at the same time, he couldn't help himself. Kieran responded right away, and the stupidest grin appeared on his face. He was head over heels for that boy, and even when he was constantly telling himself that it was only temporary, he enjoyed every minute with him. Especially when he knew that in a few months, Kieran would be in another state, and Evan would still be in a small town and an even smaller neighbourhood.
He stood up, preparing to get ready.
First, he headed to the bathroom to rinse his face and brush his teeth and then headed straight to the kitchen. Evan always left getting dressed for last, knowing that with his luck, he would get his shirt dirty at breakfast. He learned from the experience.
His parents were already there, drinking their morning coffee. While Evan had to train his early risers, his parents were naturally morning people.
"You're up early," was the first thing his mother told him. She gave him a quick smile, which she immediately hid behind the newspaper in her hands, sipping her coffee.
"Good morning to you, too," he noted and went for the fridge. It was too early for him to tame his answers. Fortunately, his parents knew him and did not take his tone seriously.
"Right, at least he is the same moody teenager in the morning," his father commented. Rolling his eyes, he grabbed the first thing he saw, which were lasagne leftovers from yesterday.
"Lasagne for breakfast?" His mother didn't seem happy about his choice. He just shrugged, putting his meal on a plate so he could heat it up. He had enough time to enjoy a hot meal and still have time to get ready for school.
"With your appetite, you're lucky you're a wolf." Just as Evan had his bad habit of rolling his eyes, his parents had the same habit of commenting on his behaviour. He was used to it, so he didn't even take a breath in response. Lately, he only talked back to them when they spoke ill of his friends, and that hasn't happened in a long time.
The microwave tinkled, signalizing his breakfast was ready. He swiftly took the plate out, putting it on the table. He hurried with eating since he wanted to be done with this family breakfast. Although he tried to get along with them, he knew that the more time he spent with them, the more chances there were for things to go wrong.
"No one will steal it from you, son. Don't choke," his mother admonished.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he answered, his mouth full of lasagne.
After his plate was empty, he quickly finished and put the empty plate in the sink. He couldn't care less about washing the dishes. Before his parents noticed, he promptly left the kitchen and ran back to his room, so he could change and prepare his school stuff.
As usual, he chose black skinny jeans with a black T-shirt, putting on a hoodie of the same colour. Casual was his everyday look (and he knew that black was definitely his colour), and he wasn't planning on changing it. At least not with his parents around.
---
Evan came to school only to find out that he had the first period free since their teacher called in sick at the last minute. Luckily, he and Angie shared this class, so they decided to hang out in a coffee shop near their school until they needed to go back for their second period.
They were always one of the first students in school, considering their bus, and first to put their stuff into their lockers before their friends came. Today was no different, except for the fact, that they decided not to wait for them and go get some coffee.
"Not craving any morning kisses, huh?" Angie teased as soon as they were outside our school. Evan looked at her unbothered. It was only morning, but this girl never hesitated to get on his nerves. Not that she was successful with it.
"You offering?"
She made some gagging noises before she told him, "No, thank you."
Many people thought that since they had been friends since they were little, there must have been a moment between them when they had a crush on the other. Or at least they had to practice kissing together. Maybe if they weren't wolves, it would be true, but in their case, neither of them could imagine anything resembling romance with the other.
The coffee shop was almost empty when they arrived, so they sat at their favourite table and ordered the usual. For Evan, it was double espresso with sugar (a lot of it), and Angie practically lived for iced coffee. He never really understood her obsession but learnt to not comment on it since she got defensive pretty quickly.
"I've got news," Angie started the conversation, somewhat excited. She was a morning person as much as Evan was, so seeing her this thrilled at 8 am was strange to him, to put it mildly.
"Good news, I suppose," he answered, letting her know he was listening, waiting for her to continue.
"The best. Well, not for my hot girl summer... well winter, but I can deal with that later," she told enthusiastically and quickly added, "I wrote down a list that will help us find my mate."
"You have enough hints?" Surprised, he glanced at her. He knew from experience that the visions showed more useless things than useful ones, so he was astonished that Angie was even able to make a list.
"Maybe. But most importantly I saw his closet, and let me tell you, he is one hot piece of a man," she said. He gave her one of his looks that said she was crazy. Evan practised it to perfection just for her.
"And you found that out thanks to his closet?" he asked her, truly interested in her answer. After a second, he realized the rest of what she said and popped another question: "How is that supposed to help us find him?"
"Of course. Clothes say a lot about the person. For example, yours scream boring," Angie mocked him, clearly ignoring the second question.
"Ha ha," he gave her a short sarcastic laugh. Evan didn't think there was anything wrong with his clothes. It wasn't exactly stylish, but it didn't look bad either. His parents were too controversial for him to dress differently. He already had a problem hiding his painted nails for a week, he couldn't imagine changing his clothes every day at school so they wouldn't be noticed. If it were up to him, his outfits would definitely look different. He knew exactly what he liked and at the same time, he knew how they would comment on it at home.
"But for real, E. You have a hot boyfriend. You should keep up with him," she advised him, slowly drinking from her cup. Evan chose not to comment on her milky coffee moustache.
"I don't have a boyfriend. Besides, we were talking about your mate," he immediately became defensive. He didn't want to think about Kieran as his boyfriend, and since he couldn't talk about him using that word, he hated when others did. He knew he was overreacting, and it was practically his fault, but he hated being reminded of it.
"Kieran's so your boyfriend. You are doing this almost-boyfriend thing for months. You should finally make up your mind." Angie ignored his attempt to change the subject back to her. Deep down, he knew she was right. Most of the time, she was. Although, he was aware of the fact that if he should change the type of relationship he and Kieran had, he would most probably break things off with him and tried to be just his friend again. Not that it was that easy.
"It's complicated," he put in shortly. His good mood was slowly disappearing, so he tried to save it one last time. "Can we talk about your mate now?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She rolled her eyes. Evan felt like he was looking in a mirror. Apparently, they spent too much time together.
She sipped again, biting the straw with her teeth, which was something he found very irritating before she continued their conversation. "I think I might find him with the information I have. Think about it – I saw his clothes, I know his hair colour, and I know what his dog looks like. If I meet him, I'm 100 percent sure I will know it's him." Her eyes sparkled as she was talking about someone obviously so important to her. Evan wished he were as thrilled as her to meet the one person who could turn his world upside down.
"I think it will be more than challenging. I don't remember the last time I saw someone well-dressed in our pack," he remarked. Not that he took any extra notice of the members of their pack.
"True. But like a proper princess on a white horse, I'll find my handsome man whose shoe will fit."
---
English was the last period of the day, and even when Evan loved the subject, he couldn't wait for it to be over. The day went quickly, too quickly for his opinion, only 25 minutes ahead of him and he, paradoxically, could not wait for the last bell. He was looking forward to those last few minutes with his friends before he had to catch the bus.
Currently, they were supposed to read some articles and make notes, but he found himself staring at the same paragraph for a while, not even knowing what it was about. Evan was a daydreamer and try as he might when his mind decided not to cooperate, he couldn't get it to focus.
With a sigh, he decided to take a break. He was sitting in the back, so he wasn't scared about being caught. He folded his hands on a desk to make a makeshift pillow and rested his forehead on it. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but it had to do for now.
He closed his eyes for a second, not caring about the surroundings, and then it happened. Another vision. He didn't expect it to come out like this in public when he was around people who weren't supposed to know about this werewolf ability. Fortunately for him, no one was paying attention.
To his surprise, he was seeing Rock Pop Diner, a place in North Hallson where mostly wolves were hanging out. He tried to notice every little detail, just to be sure he was seeing right, but as he was trying to convince himself it couldn't be possible, he saw a small plump woman in a pink blouse and a white apron – Dorothy, the waiter. There was no doubt. As Angie's mate was at North Hallson, so was his.
No one could prepare him for what he saw next. Or rather, who he saw. In front of his mate was seated his least favourite person. He never saw Michael laugh, well, nicely laugh, and he was sure he never needed that picture in his mind, but now it was there, and he started to panic. He knew exactly what it meant. Only one person could make Michael look like a decent person.
"Evan, you alright?" He swiftly awakened from his vision, immediately seeing Aiden's concerned look. He nodded quite stiffly, but he could attribute that to the fact that he looked like he had just woken up. In reality, however, he was far from fine. He finally had an answer to a single question that was complicating his life.
Ryan Saunders was his fucking mate.