Hey guys! I'm sorry it's been such a long time. I've just been so busy with deciding where I'm going to college, prom, APs...the list goes on.
I wanted to crank out at least one chapter since it's been so long, and if you're still sticking with me on this story, thank you. I want to try and get a lot done with this over the summer before I go on to college, so hopefully this works out! I want to work on this story, along with Daywalker so check that out if you haven't already!
xoxo,
Morgan
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The drive to Nana and Pops' house takes about fifteen minutes – they still live in the same general area as us, and even in the same school zone, but on the opposite side of it. A lot of the people in their neighborhoods are a bit older, since when their house was a built a lot of people were doing the same thing they were.
Once we pull up in their driveway, I grab my backpack and lead the way to the big blue house. It's familiar to me, since I'm over all the time, and especially because this is the house that my mom grew up in. There's evidence of her childhood all over the place, from the worn spots in the floor and the fact that her room is still there whenever she wants it. She doesn't come by and use it all too often, but it's usually the room I use when I spend the night.
Nana opens the door before I can even ring the bell, a smile on her face as she sees not one, but two granddaughters on her doorstep.
"Hi Nana," I greet her, smiling as her eyes brighten and she gives me a tight hug. "I hope it's okay we stopped by."
"Of course it is, sweetheart," she replies, letting me inside so that she can greet Cassie as well. I pull off my shoes, and say hi to their dog – Snickers is turning ten come this April, but she still manages to muster up the energy to bark and wag her tail excitedly when she has visitors. "Hot chocolate, Vivvy? And Goldfish for you, Cee Cee?"
I can't even begin to explain it, but Goldfish have been Cassie's favorite snack ever since she's tasted the stuff. She thanks Nana as she gets out the package, pouring a decent amount in there, and then I watch as Nana grabs my favorite mug and serves me within a few minutes.
"Thanks, Nana," we chorus, and then watch as she pours herself a glass of apple juice.
"Mhm," she replies, tucking a hair behind her ear as she leans her arms on the island to face me. "So what brings you ladies to visit?"
"We can't just miss you?" Cassie shoots back playfully.
"It has been a while," Nana concedes, and then smiles at us. "How's it been with you two? Viv, your mother was telling me something about a boy the other day...?"
"That's true," I tell her, a smile breaking out on my face. "His name's Jace Whiteheart, and he's officially my boyfriend as of last night."
"Tell me about him," Nana says, while Cassie leans toward me with interest. She's heard me talking to Jace on the phone and seen me texting him all the time, but has never heard me really talk about him to anyone other than Adam and Eve. "What's he like?"
"He's really funny," I say immediately. "We always go back and forth and he just gets me, you know? Plus he understands we can't always hang out because I have pointe and he does swimming, which is a plus...he's just a really cool guy. I really like him."
"I feel like I should know better not to ask, especially after Adam, but..." she trails off, and then raises both her eyebrows at me. "Is he...?"
I know exactly what she's asking – the question everyone asked once Adam and I both hit sixteen – is he your mate? But especially after Adam, since we turned out not to be mates, people learned just not to ask if I had found the right guy yet. Not that it ever stopped either of us from dating other people.
"Please don't tell my mom," I beg. "I don't want her to freak out, but yeah. He is."
Nana breaks out into a grin, as she makes her way over to my side of the island and gives me a hug. Cassie smiles widely as well, hitting my right arm in excitement. "Oh, I'm so happy for you! Where did you two meet?"
"After pointe one class, I went to Starbucks to wait for Fiona to come get me," I answer. "He was leaving just as I was going in – he almost spilled coffee on me, but I forgave him for that."
"That's a lot better than how I met your grandfather," she replies, and we all chuckle.
"No offense, but it is," Cassie says, making Nana chuckle.
Nana disappears from sight for a second as she bends down to pet Snickers, who's trotted into the kitchen and is demanding affection. The three of us work up an easy conversation, discussing everything from Jace to how annoying our siblings are to Cassie and I's other grandparents, Grandma Kristy and Grandpa Dylan.
My mother's parents and my father's parents were actually good friends before they found out their kids were going to end up together. My mom's best friend, Amber Thompson – she's Eve's great-aunt – and Grandpa Dylan met in their college days, and introduced him to Nana when she was nineteen. And Grandpa Dylan and Pops have known each other since they were kids, since their parents dragged them to Alpha Conventions.
Lucky for me, my parents don't do that to me. Neither Cassie nor I are remotely interested in becoming Lunas, so it's down to either Landon or Evan to continue the line. But Evan's too young to even think about what it means to be an Alpha – his training consists of him learning the most basic hand-to-hand combat and agility drills – so most of the pressure has fallen on Landon so far. Sure, we've all been to an Alpha Convention here or there, but now that he's turning twelve, Mom's going to start making him get serious about it. Take notes, pay attention when the grown-ups are talking. Become buddies with the kids with powerful parents.
I'm thankful I don't have to deal with it, because I've never wanted to be in charge of the pack. I've always been content to let someone else deal with the hard stuff and run the small stuff, the stuff that I can handle. Mom wasn't even that upset when I explained all this to her at the ripe age of fourteen – probably because she had three other kids to sell the job to. But then Cassie said she didn't want it, either, and Landon has only a few short years left before he can say he wants out. And then it'll be down to Evan, who won't even have the option of saying no.
"How's it going at the hospital?" I ask Nana.
Nana volunteers at the hospital all the time as a psychiatrist – she used to get paid, but since her and Pops are set for a hundred lifetimes, she just volunteers her services now – she works with mostly teenagers, and they teach her all the new words that we think up. She and Eve's grandmother, Tatiana, work in the werewolf hospital located above St. Luke's Medical Center.
Nana told me how when she was in her twenties, the hospital used to be underneath an animal clinic or some medical offices or something. But they moved to St. Luke's in 2006, since so many people were complaining about being underground, and haven't looked back. There's a secret back entrance and everything – emergency cases go to the ground level, but the rest of our hospital starts at floor three. It's really a nice place, especially since there's so many windows everywhere. The higher-up humans are aware that we're there, but the majority of the nurses and doctors don't even know what we do up there – they just assume it's some top-secret clinical trial of some sort. We have our own interns, residents, nurses, and doctors, and they work their asses off every day to make sure we turn out okay if something happens to us.
"It's going really well, actually," she replies. "Daniella Brooks – the girl I was telling you about, with the really bad eating disorder? She's gained a pound and a half, which is a really big step for her."
"That's really awesome," I answer. "How long has she been there again?"
"About a month and a half now. I'm just happy she's getting better," Nana says, and then the conversation turns into silence. She then starts unloading the dishwasher while Cassie seems to be lost in thought. I hear her take in a breath, almost like she's steeling herself, before speaking.
"Hey Nana?" Cassie asks, breaking the comfortable silence we were sitting in. I have my phone out and am in the middle of texting Eve about when we're hanging out next, while Nana just looks lost in thought, having finished the dishwasher.
"Hmm?" she replies, her green eyes coming back to reality to focus on Cassie.
"Do you know why Pops and Mom fought the other day? I didn't want to ask her, and I didn't want to ask him..." Her voice trails off uncertainly as she bites her lip, a bit of pink appearing on the apples of her cheeks as she loses her nerve. "Never mind. Forget I even asked in the first place."
"No, no, it's okay," Nana reassures her, leaning over the island to pat her hand. "I'd be curious myself, if it were me out of the loop. Do you happen to know how upset she was?"
"She was pretty mad," I jump in, saving Cassie from having to do all the talking. "She came home and she was in a pretty bad mood."
"Hmm," Nana says, and is just about to continue when all three of our heads snap toward the door connected to the driveway. "I would honestly tell you, but it would appear we're about to be interrupted."
Waiting patiently for a few seconds, we all hear the sounds of Pops arriving home – the garage door rumbling closed, the slamming of the car doors. Sure enough, within another minute, the doorknob turns, and he walks through the door.
"Hey, Tess," he greets Nana, letting the door close behind him as he takes off his shoes. "What are you kids doing here?"
"We're not allowed to visit our grandparents?" I retort.
"Yeah yeah," he grumbles, snorting as he walks over to Nana, giving her a kiss on the cheek before coming over to kiss my temple softly. He breaks out into an even bigger grin when he approaches Cassie – she's always been his favorite out of us two girls, that's not even a question. However, his smile seems a little off, and Nana notices, her eyebrows furrowed together.
"How was it?" Nana asks him, and then her face falls as they make eye contact. "Oh, Zack..."
"What? What happened?" Cassie asks, looking between our grandparents frantically.
"I went to go visit my father at the hospital," Pops says flatly. "He's getting worse."
A dejected silence falls over us. What once was a fun and happy conversation has gone extremely sour at the mention of Gramps – he's in his mid-nineties, and he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's last year.
"What – what do you mean he's getting worse?" I ask, at a loss for words. It had already been getting pretty bad, with his forgetfulness occurring more and more commonly that it was a rare moment when he would even recognize you. I had visited him a while ago, hoping that he would make some kind of miraculous recovery, only to discover he had no idea who I was, and kept asking "Tess, did you dye your hair?"
Pops looks at the ground for a few painful moments, until he sighs and looks me dead in the face. "They're trying to convince me to move him to a facility instead of the hospital. They want to make him more...comfortable."
My stomach drops right then and there, making me feel icy cold all over. Gramps has been in my life since I was a little girl, taking me out for ice cream after school and teaching me about the history of all the packs in my free time. He convinced me to audition for DAB when no one else could.
"I...what?" I get out, standing up out of my chair. "Please tell me that isn't true. Please."
"Vi..." Cassie reaches out to me, pulling me to her as I start to cry. "Hey, it'll be okay. That doesn't mean he's going to –"
"Of course it means that," I snap, yanking myself away from her. "They wouldn't be putting him there if it wasn't serious."
Nana and Cassie are both staring at me with wide eyes, but Pops still has that hollow, empty look on his face. I need to get out of here, I think to myself, and then turn on my heel and slam out through the front door.
I storm down the block quickly, making a sharp right at the bottom of the hill and continuing on for a few minutes until I get to the park. It's next to the local elementary school, and I quickly climb to the top of the slide and wedge myself in there. It's empty for now, since the elementary school kids aren't yet out from school, but I know I don't have too long in here.
I can't process the fact that Gramps – my Gramps – is dying. I know, logically, that it would have had to happen sometime, especially because Alzheimer's leads into dementia which leads to death, but I can't believe that it's happening to someone who means so much to me.
It was already hard losing Grams – Pops' mother, who was one of the sweetest people I had ever known. She had died during my junior year, in her sleep, and if it were hard enough losing her, watching Gramps lose her was even harder. The day of her funeral was a perfect October day – cool, crisp, and sunny – but it couldn't have been a gloomier day to the rest of us.
What if it happens to Pops next? A dark voice whispers in my head. You know it's genetic. It could be Mom next, and then it could be you.
Stop it, I tell myself sternly. You are seventeen years old. You are not going to die.
I just...I couldn't believe this moment was actually here. I had been dreading this for so long, knowing it would happen eventually, but I had always hoped in a little corner of my mind that it would work out and he would start to get better.
But of course, he wouldn't.
When Gramps dies, he may not even know who I am. He probably won't even recognize any of the family that have come to say their goodbyes to him, not even his only son. I think that's the part that tears me up the most – that he'll think he has no one in the world. That he wakes up every morning, expecting to be living in a world where his wife is still alive and young, and where his son was a young man rather than an older one, only to be reminded of the fact that that's not his world anymore.