"For one night,huh?"Beck teased.
Enid rolled her eyes as she looked up from her phone.She was texting Wednesday at the moment.Mostly to elaborate on some boundaries they should agree on before starting on their ruse.
"Look,it kinda..blew up on me."
"You're whipped."
"Am not!Her brother is coming here this year and neither of us have a good excuse,so we figured-"
"No harm in continuing to date?"Collin popped in.
"Fake date."
"Whatever you say,sis."
Alec patted her head,ruffling her hair.
"Don't worry,we won't tell mom."
"Or dad?"
"Don't think he'll care much,to be honest."Darron muttered.
With a glare from Alec,he shut his mouth.
"Alright,we won't tell dad.Not that we'll need to,considering she didn't even show up yet."
And then,speak of the devil,Wednesday Addams swung the door open.Profoundly dramatic,though Enid was sure the brunette wouldn't describe it like that.To her,lightning strikes following behind her was normal.
Wednesday dropped the luggage on the floor,expression not even changing.She cleared her throat,as if the entrance and the noise was not enough to get the attention of all the Sinclairs.
Maybe Enid got her pegged wrong and Wednesday Addams did have the flare for the dramatic.Or maybe it was just a flare for striking fear into the soul.
"Oh good.The whole pack is here."
She bent down,opening her suitcase,Thing popping out.
"That seems like appendage abuse."
"He can handle it."
Enid scoffed and turned towards her brothers for agreement.Only to see them huddled in the corner,horrified.
"Yeah,that's Thing."
"A severed hand!?"
Enid shrugged.Guess the effect of the morose just wears off after a while.
"Do they know?"
"Huh?"
"About our arrangement."
"Oh that.Yeah"
Wednesday hummed,turning swiftly to the Sinclair boys.
"Your mother will not know of this,will she?"
"Yep..We promised."Alec said,on behalf of all four.
"Good.I thought I was gonna have to resort to drastic measures."the brunette said,pulling a saw blade.
Suffice to say..The boys scrammed.
-
"Alone at last."Wednesday remarked.
She was able to horrify Enid's siblings without much effort at all.Good,she hasn't lost her touch.
"You could've just asked them to leave.You know that,right?"
"Well aware,but I don't have the energy for it at the moment."
"You have energy?When?"
She tossed one of her shirts at Enid.
"My brother has met Eugene.I can only handle one at a time,so I decided to seek refuge here.At this point I think that meeting can only end one of two ways."
"Meaning.."
"Battle to the death or they create a monstrosity in the name of their new friendship.Either way,a climax worth witnessing."
"Speaking of-"
"Eugene also thinks we're actually together.Though,mostly because Pugsley was there at the time the subject came up."
Wednesday actually felt a bit bad about that.And not just because she didn't get to experience what being chased by a swarm of bees was like,even though missing out on that was a bit of a shame.
Eugene's crush on Enid was painfully obvious.And his face sunk as soon as Wednesday told him her and Enid were together.He muttered something about Hive code,dismissing the topic pretty much as soon as it came up.
However,it didn't bother her enough to speak to Eugene privately.
Enid seemed to be relieved at the news,keeling onto her bed.
"Good..Wait!Was Ajax there?"
Wednesday considered lying and saying no,purely because she had never approved of Ajax and sending Enid his way would be asking for the werewolf's heart to break.But Enid's panicked face persuaded her otherwise.
"Yes.He's not aware of the situation yet."
"That's good."
Why is that good?Why does she not want it to be?
"Do you wish to be reunited with him?"
"What!?No!It's just..Nevermind."
-
It would hurt Ajax too much.He already thought she had a crush on someone else.To know it was Wednesday..It would make it seem much worse.Like she was cheating.
After all,they were roommates.
Wednesday raised her brow,intrigued.However,she turned back towards her luggage
"Very well.I'm not gonna ask.But he'll find out eventually.It depends on you whether you tell him the truth of it all or the truth we want everyone to believe.However,might I ask something else?"
"Sure.."
"Was he your mate?"
Enid blinked at her.Not a blink of confusion,but more of a "Are you stupid?"type blink.Which was rude.After all,Wednesday just asked a question.
"Separation from your mate can be quite painful,I've heard.So,for your sake,I hope he wasn't."
"You can't really..Do that."
"Huh?"
"We don't mate long term.We mate for life."
"But scientifically that makes-"
"It's magic.No real science to it.When you find the one,you find the one."
They sat there for a couple seconds.
"Eww..I said it like Taylor Lautner in "Twilight."..Gross."
"Enid,do not expect me to understand what you're referring to."
"Right,right.Excuse me,Ms Addams."
"However..I'm intrigued by this..Ancestral love spell of yours."
"That makes it sound even worse Weds."
Despite her scrunched up expression,the blonde continued on.
"Well..A lot of it is about smell.We will seek people whose scent we find soothing.That helps narrow it down.We tend to gravitate to them.Whenever we're in the same room with them we'll go to them almost immediately."
Wednesday hummed,taking her typewriter out.She might need to take notes.For the sake of Pugsley's obsession,obviously.
"Go on."
"And over time..You recognize their scent just like you recognize your own face.You can follow it despite small changes or other interfering scents."
The Addams girl nodded.Interesting.Her mind wondered to her rescue at Enid's hands..well,paws at the time.Perhaps she was an option.But surely Enid,loyal and lovely as she was,wouldn't cheat on Ajax even in the misty confines of her own subconscious.
A weird similarity that's all.Wednesday cleared her throat.
"How do you know?"
"What?"
"How do you know which one of your options is the one?"
Enid picked at her nails.
"I guess you just..You just know.It's overwhelming I guess.It's just..Too much.Their smell,their heartbeat,you can feel all of it.It washes over you like some weird..love tsunami,I guess."
"That's..oddly detailed."
"So I've heard!"Enid sputtered"From my dad.He talks about how he met my mom all the time.Or use to.I have a really good memory so.."
"Right."Wednesday said,clipping the blonde's sentence short.
She paused,smacking her lips together.Something occurred to her and she scoffed.
"So,that's why you and Ajax broke up."
"Huh?"
"Because he wasn't your mate so you found the relationship pointless."
"Not..Not exactly ."
She was close at the very least.
"I thought maybe he was.I mean our first kiss was really good."
Wednesday scrunched her brows at this.As much as she can without letting Enid tell how displeased she was.She didn't know why it annoyed her that her roommate enjoyed herself.After all,it meant she was happy and it was in the past.But still,the urge to rip every snake out of that stupid boy's skull was nearly too much for Wednesday not to act.
"But it wasn't like what I told you.I thought that..If I tried hard enough I could make it happen.I think gorgons might have mates too,so it could happen.He was great.Smelled nice.It could work.But..No matter how hard I tried.."
She trailed off,gesturing vaguely around the room.
-
"He also thought I lost interest,ya know?After the incident he said I became..distant."
"You?Distant?Clearly Petropolis doesn't know you very well."Wednesday said,not looking up from her typewriter.
"Cut him some slack.He was actually really sweet about the whole break up thing."
She swore she saw the brunette's mouth twitch at the word sweet.
"Glad it wasn't that painful for you."
She must've imagined that twitch.Maybe it was a muscle spasm.
"Yup."
Oh,it was painful.Very.Not because she lost Ajax.Maybe it was rude to dismiss it like that,but Enid was less upset about him specifically.More that she didn't find a mate,even once she wolfed out.Even with a transformation she was still not a real werewolf.She would still probably die alone.
"If it means anything to you..I think he's an idiot for doing it."
"Thanks.Not that he was in the wrong but still..That's sweet of you to say."
Another mouth twitch.
"I mean if we're gonna talk about bad break ups,you really take the cake,Weds."
"Tyler doesn't count.I refuse the comparison."
"Yeah..But still,you went out a couple times.And kissed.You asked him to the dance.."
"No.That was Thing's doing."Wednesday said,looking up and throwing the hand a glare
Oh.That explains..A lot actually.
"And if we're counting the dance,we should count your unfortunate tryst with Lucas."
"Tryst is..generous."
"So is calling Tyler my boyfriend."
"Touché."
They were silent again,Enid kicking her legs back and fourth.
"I was wondering.."
"Don't you always?"
"Shush.About our arrangement."
"Go on."
"Well.."Enid took a deep breath"Do we hold hands in private or not?How much PDA is appropriate?Do we go on dates to keep it up or no?Do we just say they're dates and do nothing?Where would we even go?I mean,the coffee shop is like off limits because of Tyler-"
"Calm yourself,Sinclair.You'll pass out.Secondly,I though we were done with Galphin."
Enid cleared her throat and tried to say that sentence again,like a normal person,but the words sorta dried up.
"Galphin's workplace might be shut down,but I'd have no problem going there.His actions don't sully it for me."
"Oh..Good.Good."
"As for the rest of your questions..We won't hold hands in private,unless it's practice for doing it in public.In terms of PDA anything that isn't too perverse will be fine."
Enid tilted her head,confused.Wednesday sighed.
"That means:no tongue,your hands won't go under my waist and there will be no biting on my neck.Period."
-
And then Enid laughed.It was a shrill,clear,almost melodic sound.Wednesday shook her head,disregarding the impact of it.She furrowed her brows.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing,nothing.It's just..Your parents are so..Into.."
The blonde's eyes widened.Now she got it.
"Precisely.I don't desire any relationship of mine to bear a similarity to that of my parents.Would be awfully Freudian,don't you think?"
"I mean..They don't seem to be that bad."
"You say so because you haven't lived with them.I assure you,you'd get quite annoyed."
"Right.."
The blonde cleared her throat.
"We shall go on dates and as for the location,your pick."
"Huh?You sure?"
"Well,you're the one with more experience.It only makes sense."
She looked up from her typewriter.Enid was smiling.No,she knew Enid's smile.Big and all teeth.This one meanwhile,was closed and slightly crooked.
"Ok."
Why did she suddenly regret giving Enid reigns on where their dates would be?Whatever,not like it matters.
"Very well."
"One last question."
"Mhh?"
"Do we push the beds together?"
Wednesday looked up again.
"Why would we do that?"
"If you don't-"
"I didn't say that.I just don't understand the use of something like that."
"Ok..Don't get mad-"
"Of course not."
"But you don't know anything about teen relationships and it sorta shows."
She understands relationships perfectly well!?What is she talking about?
"I understand relationships perfectly well."
"You think tongue is perverse.That's like..Just the top of the horniness iceberg."
"Horns have to do what with this?"
Enid blinked,taken aback.
"It's like a casual way to say lust."
"Ah..That doesn't mean I know nothing."
"Well..Was Tyler like..your first?"
"..Unfortunately."
"Hmm..Doesn't mean I know nothing,she said."
"Shush..We'll push the beds together.No touching though."
"Gotcha."