The sun set behind the trees as we all sat around the bonfire that the football team started. One would think that Wesley couldn't get anymore perfect; he was playing his guitar and singing a popular country song. I couldn't help but stare at how his blonde locks partially covered his face as he looked down at the frets on his guitar. I caught myself when I realized that Blake was giving me a glare. I let my guard down and my arch enemy seen it. I was messing up a lot this weekend.
Despite the small moments that included Blake's glaring at me or the disappointed look from my brother, I actually had a great time.
The only thing that has stopped me from completely enjoying myself is my brother still being mad at me. Despite us having our small fights, we are pretty close, and it bothers me that he still hasn't gotten over the Rhett thing. I am also mad at myself for still being annoyed with him from his accusation.
My eyes danced around the circle of people that sat around the fire until they landed on my brother. He was intently watching Wesley's fingers move across the strings. I wondered what was going through his head and if he was going to get over himself anytime soon.
Some movement behind him in the trees caught my attention. From the shadows, I could have sworn I saw Rhett. I quickly flicked my attention to my friends to see if they noticed anything. When I looked back to where I saw him, there wasn't anything there.
For some reason, I knew I wasn't seeing things. In my gut, I had a feeling that it wasn't a coincidence that Rhett suddenly showed up at the game, Sugar's, and then here. I have no idea why that is, but something urged me to figure it out.
About a half an hour later, more people from our school showed up, turning the creek into a huge party. Wesley was no longer playing his guitar for everyone. His strumming was replaced by the loud music that was coming from the speakers that someone brought. Almost everyone had a red solo cup in their hand, and the party began to get crazy like it usually does around this hour.
Every time I tried to distract myself from my thoughts, the image of Rhett popped back into my head. I couldn't shake this guy. I knew that I would have to talk to my brother, who was still ignoring me. I knew that he would listen to my crazy thoughts, unlike Savannah. Molly would, but she is wrapped around Austin's finger at the moment. And honestly, I missed talking to him.
After a few minutes, I finally found Sawyer having a conversation with another football player. As I approached him, the guy nodded at me awkwardly as if he saw our argument last night and left. A confused Sawyer turned around to see why his friend left him. His glare said it all. He still was upset at me. I swear that he is so stubborn sometimes.
"Sawyer..." I began.
"Rae, I just.... I don't want to talk to you right now. Okay?" He rubbed his temple as if I was giving him a headache.
"You don't understand. I need to talk to you about last night—about Rhett."
He sighed heavily and his angry eyes met mine. "I definitely don't want to talk about that or him," he spat as anger surged in his light eyes. "Just go have fun, Rae—away from me, please." He began to walk away from me before I could respond. I wasn't making up with my brother tonight.
I was alone with my crazy thoughts about Rhett.
I decided to walk to where I thought I saw him in the woods. As I made my way over there, Savannah noticed I was moving away from everyone.
"Where are you going?" She called out after me.
She wouldn't understand.
"To the bathroom," I lied and continued walking.
"Okay! We are gonna play a game when you get back."
"Okay." I gave her a small smile in response.
No one in this town would understand what was going through my mind, but I had to figure out what was going on.
Hairs on the back of my neck began to stand up as the darkness surrounded me. I was getting deeper into the trees. The moonlight barely reached through the branches to the ground I was walking on. As I ventured further, a howl echoed around me. It seemed far enough away, but I couldn't help the fear that it placed in me.
It turns out that I was right to be scared because I heard the howl again awhile after, but this time it sounded like it was not that far from away. My eyes immediately widened, and I cursed at myself for being too curious and naive. I needed to think more before doing things. I wasn't even thinking about the danger of wandering around the woods alone at night.
Why was I doing this again?
That second howl was enough to put my curiosity to rest. I didn't see Rhett out here, and I definitely didn't want to encounter a wolf.
A scream filled my ears, which made me want to run back to safety. Before I could turn back, the sound of a twig snapping behind me made my stomach drop. Instinctively, I turned around in an attack position. I sure felt stupid when I saw the figure in front of me.
"Rae? I've been looking everywhere for you. What are you doing out here?" The small amount of moonlight that shown through the trees illuminated against Wesley's body and blue eyes. He looked worried.
Why was he looking for me?
"Um..." I tried to come up with an explanation and just settled on what I told Savannah. "I had to use the bathroom."
"All the way out here?" He stepped towards me with concern etched onto his perfect features. "You're like ten minutes from the creek."
Had I wandered that far out?
It didn't seem like much time has passed.
"Wait, why do you look so worried, Wes? I told Savannah where I was going," I replied and didn't answer his question.
I'm not sure if it was the way the shadows covered part of his face, but I could have sworn he blushed. Wesley Bedford blushing? That thought caused a small smile to creep onto my lips. It felt like my stomach was doing somersaults.
"Uh... It's just dangerous out here. When someone asked where you were so that we could start the game, Savannah said you went into the woods a little bit ago and hadn't returned. I volunteered to look for you," he explained, a little flustered.
How sweet. Wesley cares for me.
My heart wanted to melt.
"Well, I think I'm okay," I replied with a smile and rested my hand on his shoulder for a brief moment. "Especially since the star quarterback came to save me."
Wesley's laughed echoed in my ears. It would never be a sound I would grow tired of. A couple seconds went by before he insisted on escorting me back to everyone. We walked in an awkward silence for a few minutes before he spoke again.
"Rae, have you ever seen a wolf?"
My eyes cut to his serious, blue eyes, and it was as if my breath caught in my throat. What he said was random. It was weird that he was bringing up a subject of a wolf the night after I saw one.
"A wolf?" I asked, wondering where this conversation was going.
"Yeah... When you asked why I went looking for you, I wasn't being entirely honest. Last night... You're going to think I'm crazy." He exhaled loudly and smiled at himself. "I saw a wolf running at the edge of the woods. I didn't believe it at first and thought that maybe it was a dog, but then it howled. I know it was one, which is crazy because are their even wolves in this area?"
He was trying to convince himself that what he saw was real. I took his question as a rhetorical one and stopped walking. I gave him a look that told him to continue.
"Anyways," he looked down at me and nervously combed his hand through his blonde hair. "When I heard you went by yourself into here, I got worried because of seeing that wolf. I don't want you to get hurt."
I know I should be thinking about the wolf thing and how strange it was, or how I wasn't crazy for seeing a wolf in our town, but all I could process was that he didn't want me to get hurt. He cared about me, and that made happiness explode through my body. It took everything in me not to embrace him or to scream in excitement.
I composed myself and remained quiet for a couple of seconds before responding so I could pull myself together. "I've actually seen one too. Last night. It was in front of my house just at the edge of the trees. I thought I was crazy too," I admitted.
"Well, I'm happy I'm not crazy," he laughed at himself. "That is strange though. I don't think I've ever heard about a sighting in our town. Isn't the wolf population in Georgia super low?"
"Me too. Maybe it's just a lone wolf that's traveling through or something."
His blue eyes bore into mine, and the dimple on his left cheek was showing slightly. "Maybe," he whispered. "We should get out of here before we come across it though."
I agreed with him, so we made our way back to the party. The close proximity of my crush gave me comfort, and his words still gave me butterflies, but I couldn't help but wonder about that wolf and that dream of Rhett Dixon last night. Things were getting weirder and weirder.