"My God, Andri, could you chew any louder? Please, I'd love to know," Isaac yelled out at Andri while she shoved chips into her mouth. To be fair, Andri did chew pretty loudly.
"Like you're one to talk, Mr. "I need to borrow your computer to study". You're not fooling anyone! We all know what you're really doing with my laptop, and unless your class is called How to Fake an Orgasm, you're not as sly as you think you are!" Andri argued, also bringing up a valid point. I didn't even want to think about all the stuff our laptop had been through.
I shuddered.
...
Isaac had been living with us for about a week now. At first, there was so much tangible sexual tension that you could've cut it with a knife. However, now, it was actual tension that you could cut with a knife. After about Day Three with our new roommate, things started to get hot and heavy, and not in a good way.
People always say that it's hard living with someone, and that after the honeymoon phase is gone, it's argument city. And that couldn't be closer to the truth.
For Andri and I, it was pretty rough for the first couple of days. We kept getting on each other's nerves. But for them? They're not just getting on a couple of nerves, it's like they're getting on literally every single nerve down to the last one. It was exhausting always being the referee. Both of them have such strong, stubborn personalities. With people like that, they typically either love or hate one another. And right now, they definitely were feeling the latter.
...
"Okay, guys, this has got to stop. It's driving me insane. If you don't, I'm going to have to put one of you in time-out."
Isaac scoffed. "Fine."
"Andri? You have to stop too. Don't even try to pretend that you weren't chewing especially loudly just to piss Isaac off."
"Fine," Andri begrudgingly said, while pursing her lips.
"Okay, well I'm going to go to the store. I need to pick something up," I stated, hoping that they wouldn't start fighting again, or even worse, having sex; but also glad that if they did either of those things, I wouldn't have to hear it because I'd be out of the apartment.
...
Okay, I lied. I wasn't actually going to the store. I was actually going to Scott's house. He said he had something he wanted to show me.
Plus, the full moon is in less than a week, and I'm already starting to feel the impact of it, so I thought that I should probably stay away from situations where I'll have to help other people control themselves, seeming as I'm having quite a bit of trouble controlling myself.
I think it's kinda funny how this is the first full moon I'm actually going to be helping out with, and instead of doing the helping, I'm going to be needing a lot of the helping.
...
I knocked on the door, and about a minute later, a pretty woman who looked like she could be in her thirties opened the door.
Scott ran down the stairs, and so I figured I could assume that the woman was probably Scott's mother.
"Hi," I smiled at her, while walking towards Scott. She smiled and said hi back.
"Come upstairs!" Scott said, obviously in a rush.
I came up to Scott's room, to find Lydia passed out on his bed.
"Whoa! Is she okay?"
"Yeah, but she's passed out," Boyd replied.
"We found her passed out in the woods," Scott explained, "we don't know what's happened to her! We were hoping you could help."
"What? How could I help her?"
"Well," Boyd began, "you said that you're a kind of healer, so we thought maybe you could do something to help."
I shook my head. "Yeah, maybe in a couple of weeks I'd be able to help, but I don't even know how to control the voices in my head, much less use my powers to wake someone up while they're all blacked out."
Boyd looked down, disappointed. I think he was really hoping that I could find a way to help her out. He and Scott were such great guys and I just hated to let them down like this.
"Wait," Boyd perked up, "what if healing people for a synthe is done the exact same way as taking away people's pain is for a werewolf?"
Scott agreed. "Yeah! That could work. Okay, Dylan, try this," Scott said as he guided my hand onto Lydia's shoulder, "now, think about healing her."
"Visualize it," Boyd added.
I closed my eyes; I tried to focus.
I imagined sucking up whatever made Lydia pass out, like a vacuum.
The three of us heard a feminine groaning noise, and I opened my eyes.
"Oh my God," I whispered, "I just did that."
I looked up at Boyd. "You're a freaking genius."
"What the hell?!" Lydia's body flung up. "Where the hell am I?!"
"Whoa, Lydia," Scott cooed, trying to calm her down, "You're fine. You're at my house and we're taking care of you."
"Lydia, are you okay? Do you need anything?" Boyd felt Lydia's forehead to see if she had a fever.
"I feel fine, except for being in dire need of a shower and a manicure," She rolled her eyes before eyeing her nails.
"Do you remember anything from the past week?" I looked her in the eyes, while trying to keep her steady since she was a little off-balance.
Her face froze. "No, I can't remember anything. Just a sound."
"What kind of sound?" Scott asked.
"A scream," she answered vaguely, as her eyes drifted. She looked like she was re-playing it in her head. I decided to zero-in on her thoughts, by trying to hear hers more loudly than Boyd's or Scott's.
But I couldn't hear anything from her. I was getting complete stereo silence, which wasn't a good sign.
"Lydia?"
She returned my glance. "Yeah, what?"
"What are you thinking about?" I asked her. "I can't hear anything from you. I can't hear your thoughts. What are you thinking about?"
"I was just thinking about the feeling I had. I just had this really strong feeling that someone was about to get hurt. It kind of ached." She held her stomach, as if she was having cramps.
I tried to hear her thoughts again.
Still nothing. Nada.
I could definitely still read minds. I could hear Scott's thoughts from a mile away, and while Boyd's thoughts were gentler and quieter, I could still hear them too. But I got absolutely nothing from Lydia and I wanted to know why.
"Well," I said, "I should probably get you home. Your parents are going to want to see you."
She nodded and we got into my van.
...
Being alone with someone you just met it always kind of awkward. I never really know if I should make small talk, or if I'm just over-analyzing the silence and that's why it feels awkward.
I decided to try small talk.
"So," I started talking, "this must feel pretty weird for you, all of this supernatural stuff."
She nodded.
"Lydia, are you alright?"
"Yeah, I just," she paused, "have never had people care for me like that. You guys searched for days just to find me."
"Well, duh," I laughed, "Of course we would. Why would you think we wouldn't?"
"No one's ever really stood up for me, or cared about me like that. I guess it's just something you get used to over time."
"Well, I guess some of us know that there's more than meets the eye when it comes to you."
She looked down at her hands. "You really think so? I mean, most people just think of me as some bimbo. No one ever takes me seriously or listens to what I say."
"Maybe you should start taking yourself seriously. Don't ask me how, but I saw your transcripts. You're taking some of the hardest classes they offer, and acing all of them, and yet you never let anyone know how smart you are," I glanced at her in the passenger seat, while she was looking out the window.
"I'm just so tired of having to prove myself time and time again. I hate that boys fake friendships with me just to try to get into my pants. I hate that every single time I speak my mind, people will call me things like sweetie or baby with that condescending tone and try to shut me up," tears started to steam down her face, "I just hate having to time and time again prove to people that I matter." She started sniffling.
I pulled over to the side of the road and stopped the car.
"You know what my best friend Andri always says to me?" I asked Lydia.
She stopped sniffling for a second.
"Whenever someone makes me feel like crap, she says: when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. But when life gives you someone who fucks with you, you show 'em who's boss." I looked at her and smiled.
She laughed faintly.
"Look," I turned to her, "you're stronger than this. You don't have to pretend to be brainless just because you like to go shopping and get manicures. And, you especially don't have to censor your brilliance just because people feel threatened."
She nodded and hugged me. "You're right."
...
After I dropped Lydia off at home, and started to make my way back to the apartment, I hoped that what I said got to her. It made me flash back to when I was younger, and would always giggle at the crude things boys said because I didn't feel confident enough in myself to fight back. It really hurt seeing some of the exact same qualities in Lydia, and so I really hope that it would help her become more confident in who she is.
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Thanks so much for reading!! I'm excited to write my first full moon. It'll be fun to see where the writing takes me. And stay tuned!!! Vote, comment, and follow. Thanks!! :)