Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
THIRD PERSON'S POV
"Can we talk?" Willa paused the movie she and River were watching on Rio's couch.
"Yeah. What's up?" River turned her head to look up at Willa while her head was in her lap. "It's about last week" Willa says. "The competition or...?" River questions. "Yeah, the competition" Willa nods; "Again, I'm sorry about flaking on you".
"Babe, I told you that I was over it" River smiled.
"But I'm not!" Willa groaned. "Willa" River sighed. "No matter how hard I try to get over it, Riv, I'm just not" The wolf admits. "I panicked last week about the comp'," She says. "The thing with Wyatt didn't take long and I would've been there on time but-".
"I- I started to panic because I began to realize that the competition might change everything whenever you win" Willa said.
"But I didn't win" River reminds her. "So?" Willa scoffs. "It still doesn't change the fact that you're going to college soon!" She said. "That's what you're so worried about?" Rio asked. "Think about it, Ri! We haven't even started talking about how we're gonna deal with this" Willa stated as River sat upright.
"What's there to deal with? You and I are going to make this work" River says.
"Yeah but for how long?" Willa asks. "Why are you being so doubtful about college all of a sudden?" River questions while crossing her arms. "I'm not— I'm not being doubtful! I'm being realistic" Willa corrected.
"Sooner or later, after senior year ends, you'll realize that long distance is going to break us".
"Willa, stop" River frowns. "Riv, there's no college for monsters" Willa said. "Yeah, I know that, but it's not going to change anything" River told her. Willa threw her head back before she stood up from the couch; "Yes it is!".
"We're going to have that conversation where we have to say "Goodbye" or- or "We should see other people" and I don't want that!".
"We're not gonna do that, Willa!" River says. "How do you that?! You're not a fucking physic." Willa huffs. "How did this conversation end up being an argument?" The Barbadian girl asked. "I'm not trying to argue" Willa kept her composure while she ran her hands through her hair. "Then can you stop?" River asked, annoyed.
"Okay, now, why don't you want to talk about this?" Willa asked her girlfriend.
"Because it's pointless!" River huffs. "Pointless?" Willa questions. "We still have two months before we have another year together, Wils" River says. "You don't have to worry about us breaking up because we— I lo..." River gulps before she looks away from Willa. "Say it" The she-wolf thought, hopeful as ever.
"Willa, I- I know that we're going to make it through it. Together" River states; "If you don't believe me, you can believe that".
"You just have to have a little bit of faith, okay?" Rio said. "Yeah- yeah, whatever... Faith" Willa nodded as she lay down on the couch. "Can we get back to the movie and pretend like this didn't happen?" River asked. "Mmhm" Willa hummed as she rested her head on River's lap, getting lost in her thoughts.
In her new, bigger, bedroom in the werewolf's pack house, Willa laid on her back as she had woken up from another recurring dream.
Though it wasn't real, it still pained her heart that she and Rio's conversation about college could end up being like that. One trying to communicate and the other shutting them down. "Would she actually react like that?" Willa thought. Summer break was over. It ended way too early. Everyone felt as if they had just gotten out of school. It couldn't have been three months, the break was too short!
Most would be thrilled to get the year done and over with but Willa?
She was dreading it.
Within four hours — Willa Lykensen would be walking into Seabrook High with her girlfriend, River Noelle, as a Senior.
This year would fly by just as fast as the last and Willa was not prepared. The weight of the feeling was heavier than she expected it to be. She feared it. Willa Lykensen feared very few things. Such as losing her pack, thunderstorms, losing her girlfriend, and how she had no idea of what she had, wanted, and needed to do after the school year ended.
The fear of change was catching up to her and so were her nightmares.
She had barely slept the day before and River told her it was "just your excitement for the new year". Willa knew that wasn't the case. It couldn't have been. She would've been excited, not scared. As much as her nightmares had been bugging her, with heavy eyelids, Willa lets out a yawn and shifts in her bed. She rolled her eyes at the time on her clock and tried to get some sleep.
She couldn't.
Tossing and turning to get comfortable, Willa laid on her back and huffed. Her heavy breathing filled the shared air of her room and she grew frustrated with herself. "Go to sleep!" Willa thought to herself. "Please, go to sleep" The wolf felt a lump in her throat.
Feeling the wet droplets that had found themselves on her neck, Willa bites down her bottom lip and sniffles. She was crying.
The wolf uses her free hand and wipes her tears away before turning on her side. Face to face with her sleeping girlfriend, Willa smiled to herself and carefully and gently placed River's curls behind her ear. "Everything's gonna work out, baby. I promise" Willa whispered as she went to kiss her girlfriend's forehead. Willa doesn't get that chance since River stirs in her sleep and hums.
"Promise what?" River's raspy Barbadian accent lingered in Willa's mind and her pounding heartbeat started to calm down.
The Barbadian girl fluttered her eyes open before closing them again. She turned on her side and opened her eyes again to look at Willa. "Go back to sleep" Willa says, softly and gently rubbing Rio's back. Finally kissing her forehead, Willa buries her face into the crook of River's neck. "You okay?" River asked, drifting in and out of her sleeping state.
"I'm—" Willa gulped as the lump in her throat disappeared; "...fine. I'm fine, love. It's nothing you need to worry about".
"Go back to sleep and I'll hold you" Willa's soft kisses against Rio's neck caused her to hum. "Okay" River submitted as Willa caressed her bare waist. River's grip tightened on her body as she was wrapped comfortably in the arms of her werewolf girlfriend. "This is our year, Wolfe" River whispered.
