Chapter Twenty-Nine
"Alright, it seems this place only has a few things OnDemand," Allie chirped from the end of the bed. "And since I have a sneaking suspicion that you two will be making out all night like you're doing right now, I think I'll skip movie night all together and just go back to my room."
She was being a little presumptuous on that one. Everyone had changed out of their party gear and even though I really wanted to throw on some comfy pj's I had somewhere to be at midnight. So Cecil and I had snuggled up at the head of the bed while Allie flipped through the movies on the movie. There was no making out, no groping, just...cuddling.
"We're not making out." I slapped at her arm, grabbing for the remote. "We're not even kissing."
She looked over her shoulder and smiled. "But you want to. You're being good because I'm here."
"That's part of it," I admitted. "But we actually have somewhere to be in ten minutes."
She frowned. "Elite stuff?" I nodded. "Is it something..."
"You can't come," Cecil piped up and his hand stilled in his mission to trace every life line on my arm. "It's bad enough I have to worry about her. I don't want to have to worry about you too."
"Aw, Ce, that's so touching." She put her hand over her heart. "But unrealistic. My brother taught me quite a few tricks. I'm quite capable. What beastie is it this time, though? At least tell me that. Ghoul? Sphinx? OoOo how about one of those stick monsters?"
"Stick..." Cecil sighed and I could tell he was trying not to get angry. "How do you know about the tenius monstrum?"
"The tennis what?" I said.
"Tenius monstrum. It translates to thin monster but we just call them..."
"Stick monsters," Allie said happily. "Because they look an awful lot like sticks but bigger. Like a tree but not. The only way to kill them is to blow them up or set them on fire. If you stab them, they heal. If you cut them in half, they multiply."
I stared at my best friend like this was the first time I'd really looked at her.
"Really?"
She nodded enthusiastically. "It's how they reproduce. They cut off little bits of themselves and..."
"Ohkay." Cecil sat up which just made me sit up since I was resting back against him. "That's enough. She doesn't need to know all of that."
"Sure she does. Eventually she's going to be out there..."
"And I'll always be there to protect her so, no. She doesn't need to know about it."
"And as noble as that sounds, she can protect herself and she needs to learn," Allie snipped. "This isn't the Victorian era after all. She's not going to stand behind you in a big hoop skirt and scream daintily. She's a kick ass woman of the twenty first century. Besides, you'd be surprised what she can do. Have you seen her wield a golf club lately? Girl has a nice swing."
"If you're going to bring up the self defense class you signed us up for so you could oogle the instructor, please wait for me to leave the room first."
"Who said anything about that?" Allie said the same time Cecil said, "You took a self defense class?"
I got up to grab my shoes, letting Allie do the explaining since the whole thing was her fault.
"Yeah, you know the one they offered at the school our sophomore year? I thought it would be nice for us to do some extracurricular activities together..."
"Besides the one you already do...together?" Cecil mocked.
I couldn't help but chuckle at that one. "Anyways," I jumped in because of the way Allie was glaring at him. I thought it best to turn the attention on me since I knew she wouldn't be as harsh. "Allie signed us up and was supposed to come with me but..."
"Hey, I had a valid reason."
"Getting your toenails painted is not a valid reason, Alagracia." I sat back down on the side of the bed and started putting my shoes on. "It was a six session class. I went to four of them alone. She only came the first two and then got bored."
"You weren't in there alone. Chris was there and from the way the two of you talked..."
"That doesn't count." I looked over at her. "You talked me into it and therefore should've been there, right next to me, suffering as that drill instructor made everything hurt every Tuesday and Thursday for three weeks straight. There was no wonder the count dropped from thirty the first week to fifteen the next."
"At least you know how to kick some ass," Allie tried to rationalize. "I'm sure it'll come in handy."
"You're lucky Chris didn't mind getting his ass beat. He was the only boy by the end."
"Yes, yes. We are all grateful for Chris." She glanced at Cecil. "Except maybe him but at the time he didn't count."
"Why maybe me?" he asked, looking from one of us to the other. I shot Allie a look, shaking my head so she would get the picture but of course she didn't. Allie always went for blood and it was rather stupid of me to think otherwise.
"Because your homeboy was hitting on your girl for the whole three years you were absentee-vo."
Cecil cocked an eyebrow and stared at her like he used to do me during those three years Allie just happened to bring up. His face was back to looking like it was carved out of stone.
"Allie." I didn't want a fight and I didn't understand why she wanted one so bad. "Stop."
"I was just pointing out a fact. That's all."
"What is it with everyone and wanting to point things out tonight? It doesn't matter so can we move on, please?"
"Sure. No reason to get your panties in a twist."
"I'm going to say this once and I never want to have to say it again, ok?" I said as I stood up, facing them both. She nodded and Cecil did too. "Chris is my friend. As is Andrzej. As is any of the other countless guy friends I have. I'm dating Cecil. I'm with Cecil so no one else matters, ok? Pointing out Chris asked me out a couple of times is irrelevant. Because it doesn't matter."
"I'm sorry, Nat." She stood up. "I was just..."
"I know what you were doing. And I know half of the people we hang out with don't understand why I'm with him after everything. But you need to understand something. I'm happy and that's all that should matter."
I grabbed the jacket that was hanging off the back of one of the two chairs I had in my room.
"I'm going to check on wolf boy. I'll be back in a little bit."
"I'll come with you," Cecil said, standing up from the bed. "You shouldn't go by yourself."
"I have to go to the Schola first..."
"I'll come with you." He shoved his hands in his pockets, nervous. "If you want."
"Are you sure? It's outside your comfort zone."
"If you let me, I'd like to come."
"Me too," Allie piped up.
"You can't," Cecil said. "You're not even supposed to know about any of this. Walking you into the Schola would be bad."
"And like a hermai showing up there would be any better?"
"Why don't you both stay here until I get back from getting what I need from the Schola? Then we can continue this argument."
"Tally..."
"I'll be back." I grabbed him by the shirt collar and planted a kiss on his lips. "Hang tight."
"Oh I'm sure he'll be hanging something," Allie muttered.
"Be nice, Allie."
"As long as he does, bestie."
"Don't call me that. Makes it sound like we're in an episode of Pretty Little Liars."
"OoOo, I love that show."
I rolled my eyes and headed for the closet, not forgetting to look in the corners of the doorway before walking through.
"There you are. I was starting to think you weren't going to show."
Caroline came bustling over from the stairs, a back pack slung over her shoulder. I couldn't help but smile and let out a breath of relief that it was her and not some random person I've never met before.
"Hey."
"So you're attending the big bad wolf tonight, huh?" I couldn't help but smile and nod. "I have to warn you. The live-ins who dealt with him the past two nights said he was...not very nice. Very temperamental."
"I'm sure I can handle it."
She looked at me skeptically. "You're new to all of this. We normally don't introduce the newbies to our resident wolf for a few months. And even then we're hesitant."
"He's not a pet, you know. In fact, he's very human."
Caroline smiled, ignoring the hint of hostility in my tone. "I'm glad he's made a friend. Normally he's very withdrawn and not many people talk to him, other than the girls, of course."
"Why am I getting the sense you're trying to tell me something?"
She shifted her feet a little. "He's mysterious and I know some girls like that sorta thing. I just don't want you to...you're a nice person, Nat. I don't want you to get hurt."
I was touched by her concern but it was unwarranted. "I'm good. Andrzej...we're friends and nothing more is going to happen. He knows that. Besides, I'm taken."
"I heard." Her eyes lit up with happiness. "You're taking the saying 'sleeping with the enemy' to the extremes. But it's good to hear that the two of you are together. Others around here might think it's scandalous but...ever since I can remember the two of you were a pair. I think it's only right it's back that way. Besides, you won't be the first Assarion to be with a hermai. It's not common and most of the time it doesn't work out but sometimes...I have a feeling you're going to be one of the lucky ones." She handed me the bag and someone called her name from across the entryway. "Just be careful with the wolf, Nat. He's not as easy to handle as you might think."
"Thanks, Caroline."
She gave me a smile and went on her way, leaving me to stand there and think over what she just said. Doubting whether Cecil and I would make it wasn't something I liked to think about or even consider. Most of the time I was sound in my conviction that it would work but every once in awhile, I had my worries. But I wouldn't be human if I didn't...
But you're not entirely human, that little nagging voice in my head said. And neither is he.
That's exactly what I needed right now, my inner nag coming out to haunt me. With that new thought in my head, I headed back to the doorway. There was no one in line or around even. They must've been out and about already.
But as I stared at the doorway, waiting for it to open, I got a very...weird feeling. And the longer I stood there, staring at the doorway, the worse it got.
Until someone actually stepped up next to me.
Only one person could make me feel like that and I didn't need to look over at them in order to know who it was. The urge to run was stronger than any I'd ever felt when Cecil was around.
"You can go first," I said, taking a few steps back.
He didn't look back at me, just continued to stand there staring at the doorway. Union was one of those nuts I never wanted to crack. I'd rather avoid him at all costs when possible.
"You were here first."
"And I can wait."
The doorway did it's thing and before I knew it, he was gone and I was back to standing in the entryway by myself. I breathed out a sigh of relief and stepped back up to take my turn. Avoiding him was getting easier since this past week I'd spend my lunch time rethinking my swing strategy while watching my old videos in the school library. I only stayed in the cafeteria long enough to eat my lunch and then I was gone. Of course there was the two classes we had together but we usually just sat on opposite sides of the room from each other.
I was a little distracted as I walked through the doorway when it lit up like a match.
So when I walked into very dark room, you can imagine my surprise when I looked around and it definitely wasn't my room back at the golf course.
"Where..."
A growl off in the darkness made me take a step back, retreating into the closet I just came out of. Only problem was, the doorway was long gone and I was now stuck somewhere with something that growled. There was no door on the closet which made me worry. How was the doorway even created without a door?
After a few seconds, my eyes adjusted to the dark and somehow I was able to see a little, even though it wasn't very well.
The growl came again and I looked in the direction it came from. Fear started building up on the inside and it only got worse when movement came from the shadows.
"Who's—who's there?" Yeah, Nat, that's exactly what you should say. Damn I was being blonde tonight.
A very large and very familiar shape stepped out of the shadows and into a little more light coming from the set of windows on its right. Its eyes flashed at me, a little more on the green side than the yellow. The only thing that really had time to register was "Holy crap, a werewolf" and "that's definitely not my werewolf" before the big thing came barreling in my direction.