Blizzard

chapter 21

Throughout the first few episodes, Shelby subtly moved closer to Toni every once in a while. At first, Toni didn't notice but after the fifth time of Shelby suddenly repositioning herself and somehow ending up a little bit closer to Toni again, she couldn't help but look at her questioningly.

"What?" Shelby asked innocently.

"I–" Toni started but as Shelby didn't let anything on and just kept on looking at her innocently, she started to doubt herself. What if she was just imagining it?

"Nothing." Toni pursed her lips. She turned back to the TV, but her focus remained on Shelby in her peripheral vision.

It took barely a few minutes for the blonde to move again.

Toni turned her head to look at her directly. "What are you doing?"

Shelby shrugged while doing a really bad job of suppressing a smile. "Just wanted to see if you would fall for it."

Toni furrowed her brows, smiling hesitantly. "For what?"

"For the same thing you thought was 'subtle' when you tried to get closer to me–my wolf form I mean–a few months ago."

Toni raised her eyebrow. "Oh, so you're mocking me. I see."

"I–no. It's just–"

"No, no. No need to explain. I get it. You think I'm stupid." Toni joked, feigning offence.

"Oh, stop." Shelby rolled her eyes. "What on Earth made you think I was stupid enough to fall for that back then?"

"Well, I thought you were an animal." Toni shrugged.

Shelby raised her eyebrows. "You know that even a regular wolf's senses are better than yours, right? With their hearing and their sight, they would've been able to pick up on it just as easily as me."

"I–well..." That did sound vaguely familiar to Toni. It was probably something she'd seen in Biology. She wished she'd payed more attention in that class so she wouldn't have to look so stupid to Shelby right now.

"Did you really think you were being subtle?"

"Well, yeah." Toni rubbed the back of her head. "But apparently not?"

Shelby shook her head, whether it was as an answer or just out of disbelief, Toni wasn't sure. The blonde was barely suppressing her smile anymore.

Shelby didn't move back to her original spot now that got caught, sitting now barely a foot away from Toni. Maybe she hadn't just done it because she'd wanted to prove something. Maybe she wanted to sit closer to– Toni stopped her thought process there. Trying not to overthink it, she turned her head back to the TV, remaining acutely aware of Shelby's proximity.

Shelby was leaning against the backrest of the couch. She raised her hand to her mouth and yawned.

"Maybe you should lie down again? And rest more?" Toni was starting to sound like a broken record to her own ears, but it had barely been 12 hours since Shelby had shown up with the dagger in her flank. Toni wasn't very knowledgeable when it came to medical shit, much less when it had to be applicable to a werewolf, but, human or werewolf, it definitely didn't seem like a good idea for someone to be even remotely active again so shortly after what Shelby had gone through.

"Yeah. You're probably right." Shelby nodded, right before she lay down, but, instead of lying down with her head on the pillow on the other end of the couch, she lay down with her head on Toni's lap, just like she had on movienight. She turned so she was looking up at Toni, who looked back in shock.