Kylie’s Pov
Damn. Damn. Damn. Why was this happening to me? I peered down from the branch I was balanced on and sure enough he was still there. Jake. I woke up from a long nap in my favorite oak tree and saw him sitting beneath me with his back against the trunk. I didn’t know if he was awake or not, I couldn’t see his face, but either way he was blocking my way down. I pounded my fist against the branch in frustration. Of course I could just ask him to move, but I wasn’t going to. I had taken sort of a vow of silence when it came to him, not that that had stopped him from talking to me. Damn, stubborn wolf.
I stood up on the branch and considered jumping on his head. That would teach him.
“Kylie?” His voice rang out clearly in the night. I hated his voice. He always sounded amused, like he was laughing to himself. No one should be that happy all the time. It wasn’t healthy.
“Do you need something?” Yeah, I need something, you idiot. I need you to move your big ass out of my way.
“Well,” he drawled, “If you don’t need anything, I’ll just go back to sleep.”
That’s it! I’ve had it! I’m jumping down! And if I happen to land on his balls and prevent him from ever having kids, I’ll be doing the world a goddamn favor! I closed my eyes launched myself straight down, waiting to hear a crunch.
Instead, when I landed it was surprisingly soft and…dear god! What was that? I felt around once more. My eyes shot open. Jake’s face was heart-pounding close as he smirked down at me. What?! I looked around and saw that I wasn’t, in fact, standing on his balls or even on the floor. He was standing up holding me against his chest. He caught me. I pushed forcefully on his chest fell out of his arms and landed on the floor with a smack. My breath flew out. Ouch.
“Are you alright?” I hate his voice.
“You didn’t have to do that. I would have put you down…eventually.”
I stood and brushed myself off with what little dignity I could muster. Damn annoying wolf. Everything was his fault, his stupid voice and face and hands. I hated him. Everything was a joke to him. He thought he was so funny, but he wasn’t. Oh, and this, what was happening right now, was his fault too. He had me ranting in my head all day long. I was going crazy.
“Kylie?” I looked up to glare, but my jaw fell open when I realized how close he was. When had he moved so close to me?
“You’re so beautiful.” He reached up to touch my face. I jerked away quickly and backed away from him. Was this another joke? He walked towards me with a glazed look in his eyes. I ran away.
As my feet pounded the forest floor, I did my best to stop thinking. It would have been easier if I couldn’t feel him running right behind me. I sped up and twisted through the trees. I leapt over streams and went through shortcuts that only I knew about. I had spent a lot of time in the forest lately. He was still behind me. Damn. I was a fast runner, I knew that, but I would’ve killed to be just a bit faster at the moment. Then, as if the universe was conspiring against me, it started to rain. I felt one drop on my face and then it was pouring. In no time the ground was slick and wet branches slapped my arms and legs. If I slipped once, he would catch up to me and then… I don’t know what would happen. He would probably look at me like that again and that would be bad. No thinking, just running.
Underneath my skin, I could feel my wolf’s frustration. She loved running, but she would prefer to be running towards our mate, not away. I flinched as I thought that word.
Suddenly, the trees opened up and I was facing a giant cliff. I wouldn’t be able to climb it, not in the rain anyway. I was trapped. My eyes darted side to side until I noticed a shadow at the bottom of the cliff. It was a cave. I walked into it and waited for my eyes to adjust. When I saw the inside of the cave, I backed away quickly, but it was too late. Jake was standing in the entrance.
“I was hoping you would run in this direction. This is the best set-up. You should’ve seen the other ones. The ceilings were low and leaky and the ground was uneven, but this one… perfect.”
I looked at him and noticed the soft smile on his face, then back at the cave. Right in the center, where there should have been nothing but dirt, there was a basket and next to it was a pile of blankets. He had brought all this to a random cave in the middle of the forest. Then I realized what he had said. Somewhere in the forest, there were other caves, and in those caves there were other baskets and blankets.
“Did you make it rain, too,” I asked, totally stunned. When he smiled hugely, I realized my mistake. I had just been thinking out loud. But, in a way, I had also been talking to him.
“No, that was just luck. At this rate, we might be stuck here all night.” I jerked around and stared at him in fear.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I won’t try anything. I swear. But you don’t really want to walk home in that, do you?” He motioned at the rain, which had gotten harder. Damn. The universe hates me.
I stalked over to a wall and sat down angrily. I crossed my arms, trying to warm myself up. I reached out lazily and grabbed the basket. What was in this stupid thing anyway? I opened it and pulled out a plastic container. It was one of those thermal ones, meant to keep food warm. I yanked the lid off and threw it. Then, very casually, I looked in the container. Chicken. Roasted chicken, still warm. I lifted a drumstick like it was disgusting and stared at it for a moment. Who knew if something that he cooked would even be edible.
“I didn’t poison it.” He was still leaning against the entrance of the cave. His eyes were laughing at me. Did I mention that earlier? Well, I hate his eyes too. Add that to the list.
I sat down and bit into the chicken angrily. Then, I took another bite. Soon it was gone, so I grabbed another one. After I had four drumsticks I glanced up. He was smiling. Stupid, overly-happy wolf. I stretched one leg out and kicked the container in his direction.
“I don’t want anymore,” I said, with all the grace of a queen. His stupid smile got bigger. He straightened up and walked closer me, staring at me the whole way. I shivered.
“Are you cold,” he asked.
I was very cold. “No,” I snapped.
He reached into the basket and pulled out a box of matches. Then he walked towards a small teepee of twigs that I hadn’t noticed. I heard the match strike and then a huge blaze appeared almost instantly. The fire crackled gently and sent a soft, pulsing light over the walls. He turned to me and smiled, his eyes glinting in the firelight. I looked at the ground.
When I looked up again, he was holding a blanket out to me. I snatched it and stood up. I wrapped the blanket around me and walked towards the fire, grabbing the basket on my way.
I stood near the fire and looked through the basket. There was tons of food in this this thing. And at the very bottom there was a container that was ice cold. I set the basket down and pried the lid off of the container. Chocolate bars, graham crackers, marshmallows. I finally realized that those were the ingredients for s’mores. I hadn’t made s’mores in years! And next to the chocolate bars there was a container of ice cream! I fought hard not to let my happiness show on my face. I looked at Jake. He was watching me, waiting for a reaction. I casually placed the container on top of the basket and crossed my arms.
“What? You think I’m fat? You think I would actually eat all that?”
He smirked and eyes travelled slowly down my body and back up. “No, I don’t think you’re fat,” he said huskily. I growled. That was more of an answer than I had asked for.
He grabbed the other blankets and the container of chicken and walked over to where I was. He sat down deliberately and looked up at me. I sighed and sat down as well.
He ate some chicken and I ate some fruit salad and mashed potatoes and anything but s’mores. And I didn’t even look at the ice cream. After he ate some potatoes and green beans, he picked up the bag of marshmallows.
“Want to make s’mores?”
I shook my head. Hell no. I didn’t want him to think that I was enjoying this…whatever it was. He shrugged and started roasting marshmallows. When he was done he offered the stick of marshmallows to me. I shook my head again. He assembled his s’more and soon the smell of melting chocolate filled the cave. When he had two perfect looking s’mores he set them down on the basket and looked up at me.
“I have to piss. Please, don’t eat my s’mores while I’m gone.”
And with that he left the cave. I smiled evilly. I was going to eat his s’mores. That would make him mad. At least, I hoped it would make him mad. Stupid, overly-happy wolf. When he came back I had cheeks full of s’mores and marshmallow on my face.
“Kylie, why did you eat my s’mores? I told you not to.”
He was trying to sound mad. Wait, why would he be…Damn. I can’t believe I fell for that. He casually scooped some ice cream into a bowl.
“You forced me,” I said, pointing the marshmallow stick at him.
“Oh, sure. I forced you to eat my s’mores. So, I guess if I told you to eat this ice cream that would also be forcing you.”
“Oh, no,” I said shaking my head, “I’m not falling for that again. I’m eating this ice cream by choice.”
I grabbed the bowl out of his hand and devoured the delicious Cherry Garcia ice cream. When I finished, I put the bowl down and looked up to smirk at him. He was smiling. What? Damn. He had tricked me again, hadn’t he? I glared.
He picked up the empty containers and bowls and put them back in the basket. Totally ignoring me, he started laying out the blankets. He laid three blankets on the floor and three more right next to them. Then, he walked over to the fire and moved the sticks apart so that the fire would die soon. I guess it was time to sleep. I took the blanket that was wrapped around me and laid it on top of the others. When I crawled into my makeshift bed it was surprisingly warm.
Jake walked over to his pile of blankets. I could feel his eyes on me.
“What,” I hissed, turning around to glare at him.
“Nothing, Kylie.”
“So stop staring at me.”
“Why would I do that Kylie?”
“And stop saying my name.”
“Does it bother you, Kylie?”
“Yes!”
“Then, why would I stop, Kylie?”
“Ugh! You are so stubborn,” I yelled.
“Then, we have something in common.”
“I’m not stubborn.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Okay. You’re not stubborn. You just like to get your way.”
“Exactly.” Damn straight.
“Alright, Kylie.”
“You said my name again!”
“Hey, Kylie?”
“What?!”
“I’m glad you’re talking to me now.”
"I'm not."
He crawled under his blankets and I turned back around.
“Goodnight,” he said.
I closed my eyes. I hate him. His voice, his face, his eyes, his hands, his stupid jokes, his stubbornness, everything. Oh, and this feeling I’m getting right now, this awkward feeling I get whenever I know that he’s watching me. I hate that too.