My gown brushes against my fingers, the material feeling itchy around my neck as my name is called. I do the rehearsal walk, doing a quick little walk out of the isle of the row of chairs and back into my seat. Four hundred students and I just have to make it through seventy more until we are through here. In two days I will put on my cords and pins for my gown to be decorated in, my cap decorated with my graduation year, and a lump in my throat. I watch as Augustus walks, doing the rehearsal as I see Molly waving at him. High school sweethearts. Barely anyone knows the drama.
In another ten minutes I'm free from the auditorium, grabbing a drink of the way back home as I need my caffeine. With the radio station Flynn set yesterday still on, I start my drive home, taking a sip of the cold coffee in my hands. My phone rings, my eyes rolling as I set down my coffee and answer the call. "Hello?"
"You never answered me last night."
Augustus is on the line. It's true, I never replied to his invite for dinner last night. After all, Flynn was sitting at my table, chatting up a storm with my parents, laughter occurring, chats of the future, and making me forget that Augustus was in love with someone else.
"I was busy," I respond, pulling into my driveway as my parents are not home yet. "I didn't have the chance to text you back."
Heading into the house, I await Augustus's next words. "How about we meet up for dinner tonight? The diner, in an hour?" The diner is where we would spend hours and hours of our lives talking about school, people, and just life in general. The diner was our place, a place where I opened up to Augustus, where we took me in the first few weeks of our friendship. It was our place...until he took Molly there and made it their place. "You still there, Amory?"
"Yah, I'm still here," I reply, leaning my head against the front door. "Could we eat somewhere else?" I know he's confused now, he's wondering what's wrong. It used to be that I would jump on the idea, not ask for another location like I just have. "I just ate their the other night." It's true, somewhat, as I ate there with my mother the other night.
"Okay, how about I pick up and we'll decide from there?" Augustus suggests, background music playing as I assume he's in his car. Why does he keep pushing for this? No, I'm not mad, but I'm hesitant. Hesitating because he's in a relationship and I knew he's beginning to see me as more than a friend. I don't want to be the girl that interrupts a relationship and only causes drama, but he's my mate. Is it even wise to go and grab dinner with him now? Sure, before all of this mess I would of thought nothing more of it than best friends grabbing a meal, but now it's different. Different because we are mates and he has a girlfriend. A girlfriend that could give him a normal life. "You still there, Amory?"
"Yah, yah I'm still here," I state, scratching the back of my head. Opening the house, I place my items upon the living room couch, going back to giving Augustus a response. "I'll be ready in an hour."
"See you then," Augustus responds, hearing me end the call as I place my phone down. For the next ten minutes I stand by the kitchen table, looking outside as cars pass bye. This is not all a good idea, the idea of heading out for a dinner with Augustus while he has shown signs of something more than a best friend to me. Don't get me wrong, I am overjoyed, but it causes drama. By risking a relationship between Molly and Augustus, I am only causing drama, but I want him. I need him.
He is my mate and there's nothing in heaven or hell that could alter that decision of fate. Augustus is mine, at least he should be mine, not hers. He should be mine and not that female's who has him. Has him on a loose leash because now, Augustus has had a faint feel of what the mate bond can do to a person. Augustus has had a taste of the drug called a mate bond and he will never be able to push it behind him.
Until Augustus arrives, I spend half of the time just laying on my bed, and the rest of the twenty minutes or so staring at the girl in the mirror. She's broken yet she's strong in some ways. There's a piece of her missing, digging a hole deeper into an abyss she may never come out of. That piece of me has been absent much of these past months. I remember the first time he told me that he loved the human female, how he was here, in my room, his eyes brighter than the sun and his smile wider than I'd ever seen. He was happy. He was overjoyed. He was head over heels and swearing to me that she was perfect, yet his perfect girl was standing beside him the entire time.
The doorbell rings, my eyes shifting to the vehicle out front. He's here and I still have to get ready. Sliding into a pair of jeans and cream blouse, I rush down the stairs, grabbing my purse on the way out, opening the door in a hurry to find Augustus just about to knock again. A smile falls upon his face and my heart melts. "Hey, you ready?"
"Yah." Following Augustus out and towards his truck, I grab the door for myself before he can. If anything, I need this night to be one of friendship, not one of a possible spending the night at someone's house. Augustus...When I learned he was my mate, I had wished that I could of taken away the memory of my first night with a boy, to have him be my first. Sex was fun before I met Augustus, and now, now that I know who he is, sex is a constant reminder that my mate has never held me in such a way. Has moved with me in such a way.
"So, burger?" He asks, gaining a nod from me as I set the radio to the station Flynn played the other night. "Since when do you listen to this?" Augustus asks, his tone happy as he meets my gaze.
What do I say? That I had Flynn here and he showed me my new favorite music? The mate bond is taking greater effect now, meaning I have to start being selective of my words.
"Spotify suggested it," I lie, looking out the window as we begin our drive. "How's Molly?"
He's tense. What happened between them? I'm used to him confessing when they have fights. I'm used to him telling me the things he loves about her as well. I'm used to him breaking my heart.
"We had a slight argument yesterday," he explains. I press him on with a raised eyebrow. "She...you know I am telling you this because I trust you, right?" I nod. "She says that I care more for you than a best friend should."
"Augustus-
He pulls over onto the side of the road, turning off the radio as he puts the truck in park. "Do I?" I let him continue talking as I know better than to speak right now. I've seen Augustus like this before, before he confesses something that has been eating him alive. "I know you lied that the kiss meant nothing to you, Amory. I've been your best friend for years and I know a lie when I hear one." My throat becomes dry. "That night, when I texted you that the kiss was just a game, a dare, that was a lie as well." I know what he means.
Leaning forward, Augustus searches my eyes for any type of signal, any detail he is missing. "I need you to hear me out, Augustus," I whisper, my mind running blank as he awaits my next words. "I cannot be the side chick or the girl that causes drama to unfold within a relationship." He nods.
"What do you feel? What do you feel for me?"
Tears begin to brim, close to letting loose as I can feel all the pent-up anger and sadness wanting to be let free. I want to unleash all the emotions I've locked away for months and months.
"Augustus, I cannot break Moll-
"This is your chance, Amory. This is your one chance to tell me the truth and tell me what is really going on in that head of yours."
"Or?"
"Or you can be a coward and I will forget that we even have a possibility for something greater."
I know what I have to do. I know what must be done here.
"Amory?"
A tear escapes, letting me know I have to tell him what I must.
"That kiss...this whole thing we have going, Augustus..." I pause, watching as he leans in closer. "I-I don't want you as a friend anymore, but-
I'm cut off, lips pressed against mine as I welcome them in, pulling him closer to me. My fingers run through his blond hair, the locks thick as I hold him closer, his hand on the back of my neck as he makes sure I do not back away.
Sparks. Sparks is all I can feel as I thirst for more and more. My wolf begins to surface, a tingling beginning in my fingers as I haven't felt my wolf surface in months like this.
As he pulls away, his eyes peeling open slowly as I do the same, my gaze locked with his own. I did it. I admitted.
"Amory?" A slight blush creeps up and onto my cheeks. "I want you more than I have ever wanted anything in the world. I want a relationship with you not of just best friends, but something more." I smile. "I want the simple intimacy of holding hands, of looking into your eyes as I wake up or go to bed, to kiss you without caring who sees, and to hold you as if the world is falling apart around us and all we have is one another."
"August-
"Amory, will you let me? Will you let us... have this?"
I seal my decision, pulling in Augustus for another kiss as my wolf feels alive within me. A smile traces my lips as they are pressed against his own, one I cannot contain as I pull away from the kiss. "Believe me, Augustus, I want this as well," I comment, pulling him back in as a set of hunter green eyes flash through my mind. Flynn is going to be pissed.