Arise

Val had suggested eating at a diner in the town next to the pack before we left the state. We soon found ourselves sitting in a booth at Moonrise Diner. I was currently eating a strawberry crepe when I peered up and found Dylan staring at me.

I stared back. Thirty seconds later, she blinked. I grinned. “I win.”

She sipped some chocolate milk through her straw. “You turn everything into a staring contest.”

“Only with you, sister dearest.” I took another bit of the crepe and washed it down with chocolate milk.

“Storytime?” she asked hopefully. We used to do this as kids whenever Dylan had trouble sleeping. We would make up stories and tell them until we fell asleep.

I propped my elbow on the table and rested my chin on my hand. “What are we calling it?”

“When Jordy met Dilly.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re ridiculous, but continue.”

She started with when they first met. They had met years before I even befriended Valerie. When she was in the sixth grade, the cafeteria at her school required students with nut allergies to sit at the end of a lunch table to prevent contamination and allergic reactions. Jordan was the only kid in his class with a peanut allergy and so he sat alone. Jordan was teased for having an allergy, but Dylan didn’t care since kids were making fun of Dylan for her name. She believed that they were safer in joining forces to work against the universe.

“So, this was when you asked mom and dad to send a doctor’s note with claiming you had a peanut allergy?” She nodded, a blush creeping up her cheeks.

Apparently, Jordan was excited about making a new friend and told her all about werewolves. Naturally, she believed it because she was a kid and promised to never tell a soul. From then on, they had remained the best of friends. Well, up until he decided to move away with Valerie.

“The worst day was when—” The bell over the door sounded behind Dylan. I lifted my gaze towards the noise. My lips parted in disbelief. It was Logan.

Everyone in the diner stopped what they were doing, making the entire place dead silent. People usually greeted him when he entered a room, but just by looking at his face, they knew not to speak.

He approached me with purpose, and everyone else turned their heads towards me. I kept my head down, wiping my hands on the napkin. I tried to calm my heart, but the closer he got, the faster my heart jumped.

I could feel every single person’s eyes on us. No one dared to move, and I didn’t dare to breathe.

I opened my mouth. “What are you doing here?”

He didn’t answer, but put a firm grasp on my arm and pulled me up. He nodded towards Dylan and she nodded back. Her eyes flitted to me before she took ate a French fry. “What? You didn’t think I would let us leave without saying goodbye to him, did you?”

I stood frozen, but not for long as he pulled me out of the diner to the parking lot.

I let him lead me towards his car, and then shrugged his hand off me. I moved my neck side to side. “Don’t man-handle me.”

His eyes remained hard but began pacing back and forth in front of me. He seemed to pace every time he was thinking.

“You’re pacing again,” I mumbled, folding my arms over my chest.

He stopped and stepped into my space. My back felt the car as I inched back. I moved my head slightly back against the window, as his head moved towards mine. He planted both his hands on either side, caging me. His gray eyes stared at me intensely.

I felt his breath on my lips, and parted mine to speak, but he beat me to it. “Were you lying when you said you were coming back in the summer?”

I gulped. “I’ll be back for the wedding.” He smelled of winter and mint.

“Forget it.” He tried to move but I unexpectedly raised my hands to his cheeks and brought him closer. His eyes rounded in surprise, and I was just as surprised as he was. My own actions working without me thinking.

He had the most mesmerizing smile I had ever seen, and I wanted to see it once more before I left, but the dimple was nowhere to be found and his lips were in a straight line. I had realized the mistake of touching his face and quickly moved my hands. I was only fooling myself.

“Logan, I’m graduating in the spring. I don’t even know what I’m going to do after that.”

His eyes were pleading. “Come back.” I went to protest but he interrupted me. “I can’t let you go.”

I crossed my arms over my chest again, but then held my hand out to him. “Give me your phone.”

He pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to me without a question. I unlocked his phone and put my number in his contacts. I clicked the profile button and turned around so my back was to him. Ignoring the warmth of his body and the feel of it against me, I brought my face close to his so our cheeks were almost touching.

I smiled. “Say cheese!” I handed his phone back to him and tucked a lock of my hair behind my ear. “There. Now, you can text me whenever you miss me.”

He grinned, gracing me with the sight of his dimple. I smiled and looked at him hopefully. There was no way I could stay away from him; I was already falling for him. To heck with my principals. To heck with what my last relationship did to me.

I stood up on my toes and leaned toward his cheek and kissed it. “Give me a chance, Logan,” I said, repeating his own words back to him. I moved back and saw his eyes dilate, the outline of his irises turning gold and vibrant. I parted my lips in awe. Fascinating.

Dylan came up behind Logan. “I paid the bill. Ready to go?”

I didn’t break eye contact with Logan and nodded my head. She walked off to the car and I heard the ignition start behind me.

I licked my lips and gestured to behind me. “I should probably go. Don’t want to get home after dark.”

His eyes were still on my mouth. “See you around, Toots.”

I tilted my head to the side and smirked. “Doll or Toots? You can’t call me both.” I turned around and walked to the car. I sat inside with a smile still plastered on my face. Logan would cause me a lot of trouble.

Dylan reversed the car out of the parking lot and headed towards the main road. I saw his figure get smaller through the side view mirror before disappearing completely. Five minutes later, my phone vibrated, and text message notification popped up.

I opened the text and it was a screenshot of my contact name and under it he wrote: “Looks like you chose for me, Doll.”

“Your welcome for calling him.”

“Oh, whatever. Just finish your love story.” The first hour of the car ride consisted of Dylan catching me up on her life.

She laughed and pressed on the gas when the light turned green. “Brace yourself because it’s going to be a long one.” She cleared her throat and began.

“He told me that he had feelings for me, but he couldn’t act on them because he had a mate that was waiting for him. He said that no matter how hard he tried he could never get me out of his head and said he would never forget me. That’s when he kissed me all dramatically and left me like they always do in the movies. From there, it was just keeping in contact through emails and when I finally got a phone, we started texting. It wasn’t as frequent as he expected it to be. I was hurt that he had a mate he needed to be with. He played with my feelings and at the end of the day, he stomped all over them. After a couple months, we stopped contact all together.

Two years later, he texted me saying he was coming home for his birthday. As you know by now, werewolves shift at the age of 16. His parents felt it was more appropriate if he shifted in his own pack. I told him we should hang out, but I didn’t have intentions of going through with it. I was still angry. Wolves shift the night of their birthday, so I purposely invited him to a party that night because I knew he wouldn’t be able to come.

Lo and behold, he showed up to the stupid party anyways. His whole family was calling his cellphone, but he kept ignoring them. I could tell he was holding in whatever was trying to come out. I yelled at him for being stupid and reckless and then he just ran away. I followed him out of curiosity and concern. I heard a loud scream and a couple minutes later I found him on the ground. I saw his arms dislocate and relocate. I heard his bones crack. He was pulling at the grass and he was in so much pain. I tried to approach him but he told me to stay back. When the screaming stopped, a wolf stood in his place.

I called his parents, and by the time they found us, he shifted back and was crying in my lap from the pain. That’s when he told me we were mates. Obviously, I was angry at him so I turned him down and told him to leave me alone. We slowly started talking again and then a year ago, I told him I started talking to someone and…here we are now.”

I smiled knowingly. “Here we are indeed.” I stared at the window completely struck by how our lives were changing so unexpectedly. “Who knew our lives would turn out like this because I definitely didn’t.”