Get ready my werewolf and fox lovers, this chapter's about to get a bit bumpy.
Recap
I feel my cheeks warm up and look down. As I do, I see his hand open for me and I think for a second before realizing he wants me to hold it.
*****
Derek is taking me to what they call a garage that holds cars. Once the word car came out of his mouth, I began to get a bit nervous, but I don't want to ruin this date. His hand is leading me there the whole time.
I can do this.
I can do this.
I was unaware when we even got to the car because the whole way I've been lost in my thoughts.
"Delilah, are you okay?" I faintly hear.
I nonchalantly nod my head.
It'll be alright Delilah. Raine encourages soothingly.
No matter what she says, I can't help but think back to that day.
(Flashback)
"Come on sweetie. Lets go celebrate you deserve it." My mom smiles lovingly down at me with her warm brown eyes being framed by her red/orange colored hair.
"Okay, but where's Angel?" I ask a little worried about my little brother.
"Don't worry, him and your father are already in the car waiting." She assures me.
I skip to the car in my soccer uniform, with the number 1 on it. I've never been number 1 on the team, they usually say I bring them down and get in the way because I'm too clumsy and weak. But tonight I showed them! I scored the winning goal, along with 3 other goals.(This is american soccer for people who have soccer as a different meaning.)
I sit in the car and strap my seatbelt on. "Angel, do you have on your seatbelt?" I ask.
"Yes, w-what are you, my m-m-mom?" He asks. My little brother has a slight stutter in his speech, but it's been getting better little by little over the years.
"No, but if you give me more of that attitude I'll tell mom." I sass back.
"T-Tattlet-tit!"
My mom and dad gasp. "Angel where did you learn that word from?" My dad asks sternly.
"A girl named M-Michelle in my class s-said it. She heard it from her older s-sister. He answers innocently.
"Well we don't want to ever hear you repeat that word again. Got it?" My mom states.
"G-Got it." My brother says quickly.
My mother's always been the one to put us in place when we get out of line. Dad usually works more than she does, so he's not there much to do it.
My dad had hazel eyes that my brother inherited, and the same hair color as my mom. They say they're mates and explained a lot to me about foxshifters and that I'm one, but not old enough to shift yet. I'm not really sure if I want a mate. I don't understand much about them, but it seems really nice if I have the same relationship with them as my parents have with each other. Mom says I'll understand when I'm older. I hate it when they always say that.
"B-By the way, Delilah, I was r-really impressed on how you took on all of those s-soccer players! You shoved them so hard you can even be in f-football! A-And you didn't even trip once!" Angel says with awe in his voice.
I just give him a smile, "I'm glad you feel that way."
The next thing I know there's a loud honk and a bright light takes over my vision before I feel pain in my chest, hear a ringing in my ears, and pass out.
****
A bright light takes over my vision, and a cough escapes my from my unusually dry throat.
"She's awake!" I hear a loud unfamiliar voice whisper.
Once I'm able to finally open my eyes, a tall plump looking lady with brown hair tied into a bun gives me a gentle smile and plastic cup of water. "How are you feeling?"
My hand skims my body and I slightly sit up. "I feel fine." I whisper in a small voice.
"That's good. Do you remember anything?" She asks and her smile falters a bit.
My mind is blank for a moment before everything rushes back in one wave. I gasp. "Is Angel okay? Is my family okay?" I rush out and hear something beep faster in the backround.
A face full of sorrow covers the woman's features. "I'm sorry."
I begin to bawl as everything soaks in. "What do you mean sorry?! Sorry's not going to bring them back!" I scream and begin to go ballistic.
I hear the beeping in the backround go faster.
The lady in the blue lab coat eyes grow wider, "You need to calm down." She says.
Calm down. Calm down...she wants me to calm down after finding out my little brother and parents are dead! Calm down?!
That night, I remember crying until I blacked out and next thing I know, I'm being carried into an orphanage by a skinny yet kind lady whos blond hair was graying.
(Flashback Ends)
"Delilah! Delilah, baby answer me!" I hear and snap out of the blank stare I realize I was once giving the car.
My eyes turn to my worried looking mate. "Yes?" I whisper in a broken voice.
Relief washes over Derek's features. "Oh Goddess," He mumbles now holding me tight to him. "Don't do that!" He growls pulling me away from him to get a good look at me.
"I'm sorry." I mumble and my eyes water. I just had to mess up the date and ruin it didn't I? I think mentally scolding myself.
My mate's eyes soften upon seeing my watering eyes. "It's okay Delilah. I was just worried about you. I've been shaking you and calling your name for the last five minutes." He explains. "Now tell me what's wrong." He says softly.
"Nothing." I immediately say and straighten up. "I was just thinking."
His eyes become stern. "Now Delilah, you know how I feel when you keep things from me. What's really going on?" He asks.
I gulp, "The car." It comes out just above a whisper.
"The car?" He asks confused before realization goes upon his features. "Oh." He sighs. "I should've thought about that. I'm sorry."
"No. No, it's fine." I quickly say.
"No, it's not fine. I should've thought about that with you." He says, then gives me a small smile. "We'll walk."
"No, I don't want to ruin-" I protest.
"Don't worry, it won't ruin it. In fact, it'll be even better because we'll get to know each other more along the way." He assures me.
"Okay." I whisper and try to hide the small smile that creeps upon my face.
*****
We've arrived at a small restaurant that is westerned themed, and Derek and I have already ordered our food. I needed his help on reading certain words, but I'm still learning slowly. He ordered a burger, as did I.
So far everything's been great, the walk was nice, and Derek has a sense of humor behind that serious exterior that I never really knew about.
"Here is your western cheese burger and hamburger. Enjoy!" Said the enthusiastic brunette named Ashlynn who's been serving us this evening.
"Thank you." I mumble, but I don't think she heard. I stare down at the western cheese burger and my mouth waters. I haven't eaten a proper meal all day, so this burger is bound to be gone in a few seconds.
Just as I'm about to bite into it, Derek stops me. "Wait! Before you bite it, take out the stick." He says and slowly takes out the sharp wooden stick I didn't notice before. "Now go ahead." He says and my mouth is already gobbling it down.
I hear a chuckle and swallow the barely chewed meat. "What?" I ask innocently.
He smirks, but answers nonetheless. "Nothing it's just-" He cuts himself off to smile. "I've never seen anyone eat like you before. Not even a fox."
"And how do I eat?" I ask.
"Like it's your last meal." He smirks when he sees my cheeks warm up at his true statement. "And you eye it so hungrily, I wish you'd look at me like that sometimes." He chuckles.
"Well you're no better." I sass back. "You've only taken one bite and half of that burger is gone." I say ignoring the last part of his comment knowing I don't know how to respond to it.
"Whelp, an Alpha's gotta eat." He says and pats his stomach to exaggerate his point.
We eat in silence for the rest of the time, which isn't long and eventually order dessert.
Once it arrives to the table Derek starts digging in, but I just stare at it a bit confused.
"Oh, do you not like chocolate? I can order a different dessert." He quickly offers and I think it's nice how for once, he's showing emotion in his voice without even realizing it.
"No, that's not it at all." I say giving a small smile. "It's just that I can't remember the last time I had chocolate." I confess. "I can barely remember what it is if Jenn didn't eat it so much." I slightly stumble on my words.
"Oh, in that case. I think you'll like it." He says with a wide smirk. I stare at him suspiciously with a furrow of my brow only making him chuckle. "How about this?" He intwines our arms, so my spoon full of what he calls ice cream and brownie is against his lips and his is against mine. "Ready. One. Two. Three." My mouth automatically opens on its own accord as does his and I assume I'm suppose to feed him it as he did to me.
I unconsciously moan at the taste. When I do, I see Derek's eyes darken a bit. No matter, I have no time to pay attention to his weird eye color change when I have this delicious cake/brownie treat in front of me! Without really thinking, I begin untwining my arm and feed myself the dessert, as does my mate.
Once we're both done-
"Delilah, you've got some chocolate on your cheeks." Derek says with amusement shining through his eyes.
My brows furrow and I grab what he says is a napthin to wipe my face.
"Uh- You only smeared it." He says slowly.
I look at the water I had gotten earlier from the kind waitress, but never drank. I dip the napthin in there and wipe the smears off, now feeling satisfied. That is, until I look down at the now makeup covered napthin. What was it again...oh yeah, concealer.
I knew I'd mess it up somehow. I think to myself as I glare down at it.
"What's wrong?" I hear a voice say near me.
I look up a bit embarrassed to face my mate.
His eyes travel down to where mine once were. "Oh that silly little thing, Delilah?"
Hearing my mate call it silly now made my ears warm in embarrassment as well. This never happened before...
I never knew your ears can blush too.
Derek picks up his napthin and wets it to wipe off the rest of the concealer. "You shouldn't be embarrassed about that, you're just as beautiful without the makeup. More so even." He continues. I put my head down becuase my face is blushing too much for me to register, but he lifts my chin up to look into my eyes and kiss my nose from across the table. "I love your freckles," He says trying to kiss each. "Even the bags you get under your eyes from either allergies or lack of sleep." He kisses each eye. "I love the way you blush. It's the cutest thing in the world." He kisses my cheek. "I love everything about you, Delilah."
The butterflies in my stomach are never ending.
He loves me.
"Hi, are you two doing okay over here?" Our Ashlynn asks, probably refering to the food.
Derek's eyes briefly leaves mine to answer the waiter. "Yes, everything's fine. Thanks for asking. Can we get the check." Although my mate's voice was gentle with me, with everyone else it seemed quite opposite. It was well thought out, stern, and clipped. Not to mention every word he says sounds as if a demand. You could tell when the waitress first took our order, she was a bit weary of him.
As nice as she is, I can't help, but feel a small pang of some emotion when she interrupted a small moment we had.
He loves me... I think thoughtfully to myself again. I wasn't expecting him to say that so bluntly on this date. Or say it at all on this date for that matter.
Love...
*****
"One large popcorn and large fruit punch please." Derek tells the guy with blonde hair that had black at the roots. It looks like hd has something metal in his lip too, but he doesn't seemed phased by it.
Doesn't that hurt?
"Is that all, sir?" He asks, but his eyes wander to mine for a split second before quickly going back to Derek's.
"Yeah, that's all." My mate says and puts some green paper on the counter while wrapping his free arm around my waist. I can't help, but notice that his voice is a bit deeper when he responds to the guy.
The man who looks around our age turns back around to tell the workers our order.
"What's that green paper for?" I whisper.
"You mean money?" He asks kind of shocked.
"Oh, yeah that."
"Jennifer never explained that to you?" He asks.
"No." I say and shake my head slowly.
"Well, it's what we use for practically everything. Food, shelter, clothes. You need money to buy things." He explains.
"But, how do you get money?" I ask.
"You get a job. That guy over there at the cash register is working for money right now. It's his job." He says and nods in the guys direction.
"Oh." I say. "That sounds like a lot of work." I feel my brows furrow.
My mate chuckles. "You get use to it."
"Here's your large popcorn and fruit punch." The guy says and hands the drink to me while giving Derek the popcorn.
"Thank you." I whisper.
I didn't think he heard, but that's until he responds, "No problem sweetheart." With a wink.
In the corner of my eyes Derek swiftly turns around to give the guy a hard glare. I softly touch his arm, yet his eyes stay on the guy at the counter.
The same guy fumbles nervously before shouting, "N-N-Next!"
Derek slowly tears his gaze from the guy and begins stalking away with his hand on my lower back.
"T-Too fast." I stutter to Derek when 1 of his long strides equal 3 large steps for me.
He abruptly stops and faces me. "Sorry my little vixen, I'll slow down."
I give him a small smile in return. He removes his hand from my lower back and I take a deep breath before walking again.
Splash!
All of the red drink spills on me and this asian girl who looks a few years older than me with black hair and brown, nearly black eyes.
I begin to stutter apologies endlessly and begin to help her up when I realize she fell to the ground from the impact. "I-I-I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean to."
When she stands to her feet she gives me a forgiving look that morphs into a disgusted one when she looks over my features. "What's your name?"
By now Derek is by my side asking me if I'm alright, but I ignore him. "D-Delilah." I answer. "Again I'm s-"
She cuts me off with a sneer, "You're that freak Delilah from the orphanage!" She screeches.
My eyes water, but all I feel is pure anger.
"Remeber Becky?" She smirks.
I remember a girl named Becky who always wore pigtails and was the leader of the group of bullies I had. She's 3 years older than me and took me in under her wing until I told her what I was. It went all downhill from there.
"Everyone thought I was crazy when I told them where you went when you disappeared!" She screeches making the people she came here with and everyone else in the lobby stare at us. Or specifically, me. "You little brat! They put me in a mental hospital because of you! Why are you still alive! Nobody Ever wanted you."
I open my mouth to say something, but it closes and opens, and closes again.
What's wrong with me?! I'm been waiting my whole life to be strong enough to say something back! To finally stand up for myself! And even now, after all these years I can't do that? I'm pathetic. The realization of it hits me hard and she makes it no better when she says these last words.
"Just what I thought. You were and always will be, weak." She sneers through her perfect teeth.
That's all I can take, and I sprint out of there to get some fresh air, but most of all to get away from her.
I don't care about my now red-stained dress, or the cold night air, or even that I'm just realizing that I showed how weak I am in front of my mate who I'm now running from yet again. I'll just find him and explain that I wasn't running from him, but just needed some fresh air.
That is until I realize I'm lost. And no, not in the woods that I am adapted to and can easily find my way around, but in a place of unfamiliar stinky smells, loud noises, lights on sidewalks, buildings, and so many cars.
I'm lost in the city.
Phew, about 3,000 words in 5 school-filled days. Gimme some props. Anyways I hope this chapter wasn't too long or boring or too cliche. I'm just happy summer is coming in just 5 more days, not counting weekends XD!!!