Rejected

• SIX •

Patrick

I knew there was no use in chasing after her.

Nothing I could do or say would make her stay or undo what had just happened.

I stood at the top of the stairs and looked down over the banister as I watched her run out of the house...she ran away from me, again.

And this time I only had myself to blame.

I was livid as I walked back to my room.

"Patrick." A female voice filled my ears.

I had all but forgotten that the girl was still in my room, I couldn't remember her name, I hadn't bothered to ask when she got here.

"Leave." I grumbled.

"Wait, why?" She pouted.

"I said leave!" I yelled.

This had her jumping up and as she scrambled to pick up her clothing, I felt even worse, I knew it wasn't this chicks fault that Mariah was pissed at me.

I pulled on some fresh boxers and then fell into my chair.

"Mariah was here." I whispered

'She came for us.' My wolf cried.

"I fucked everything up."

She had wanted to try and fix things...I might have let her try too.

But at the end of the day I messed everything up in the stupidest way possible, and worse...even if she had put her all into it, things just wouldn't workout one hundred percent, because I rejected her.

I admit that, that night when everything happened I know I acted on impulse, but now I was actually a little glad I had done it, clearly she deserves better than a guy like me.

Only I was too selfish to let her have happiness if it wasn't with me.

I had told her so this morning before class.

I sat in my room for hours dwelling on my own self inflicted emotional pain before I finally left my room to find something to eat.

I wasn't the only one either, and I was grateful for the PAK brothers that were in the house, no doubt some of them would've heard or even seen what had happened but none of them would bring it up.

"Hey Pat."

I turned to see Jon, once upon a time we were best friends, then everything happened with my parents divorcing and I moved and he'd also moved when his Mom passed away, but he came back to stay with his grandparents when he shifted as his dad's a human and didn't quite know how to raise a young Were by himself.

Jon was a good friend...had always tried to stay in contact as much as he could with me, and I use to push him away because I was embarrassed for him to see my new life and jealous because he lived such a happy life.

Jon is like the all American dude that guys can easily find a friend in and girls crush on. Being a Were like the rest of us he knew one day he'd find his mate, so he's always been really selective of his girlfriends, and I use that term all too willingly as Jon is very much a relationship sort of guy.

Never understood why knowing that he would only end up breaking up with the girl and having to deal with the heartache later on, but he just didn't believe in sleeping around with random girls.

"Hey man what's up?" I smiled.

It was only recently when I had moved back that we had reignited our old friendship.

"So I bumped into your friend earlier."

"Oh...yeah?" I asked.

"Don't worry, she said she was just an acquaintance."

I was instantly relieved, for a minute I thought he was talking about Mariah...but the way Mariah had stormed out of here I highly doubt she talked to anyone on her way out the door.

"Yeah, I felt bad but I had to ask her leave...I had something else to deal with."

He nodded, "I heard some shit went down earlier, I hadn't realized it was with you, and to think I was in my room during all of it."

"It was one hell of a show, that's for sure."

"Anyways, I know the timing might not be the greatest...but your friend, she was really cute-"

"Dude, take her...please." I chuckled as I interrupted him. "If you want you can have my phone and take whichever girl out of there you want...I've had too much damn drama for an entire lifetime to never make me want to mess with another girl again."

He laughed. "Sure dude, I give you a day of swearing off women then you'll be back to your old ways."

I shook my head, and we talked a little more about classes and how our families were doing (since we spent summer away from each other) and then he ended up leaving while I only went outside through the back doors, after the day I had, I needed to let my wolf out.

I ran and shifted all at the same time.

I felt amazing in my wolf form and greedily stretched as my tendons and bones cracked and popped. I shook out my fur before darting into the woods as I zigzagged through the overgrowth of trees.

I must've run circles inside of the forest that sat behind the frat house, but I didn't care.

I loved running in my wolf form when I was stressed, aggravated, sad, or just plain lost. Running didn't require much thought, it was simply my body reacting.

After a while I had actually grown a little tired and knew I would need to shower.

I went straight back up to my room (thankfully I had left all of my doors opened and walked into my room. I used my back paw to kick the door shut and then went onto my bathroom where I walked into my walk-in shower.

I pushed the lever up with my nose and let the hot water soak my thick fur and as I let go of my mental concentration that held me in my wolf form I began to shift back into myself.

The water was too hot but I didn't care, I washed my hair and then my body. When I got out I wrapped a towel around my waist and walked over to my large mirror.

I took in my reflection.

Past the reddened skin (from the water being too hot) and the damp hair that clung to my forehead I looked into my eyes.

I seemed older.

Then I looked at my face.

Everyone use to always remark on how much I looked like my father. Of course when I was little it was the highest compliment, because when I was younger (to me) my dad was a superhero. As I aged a little the complimentary aspect was still there, as my father had always been one of those classically good looking dudes and you could always find women of all ages checking him out.

But here and now I didn't hear the compliment in it anymore.

In fact, for the first time I see in my reflection just what they actually meant. Yes my father and I had similar features: dark hair, blue eyes, tall frames...but we were also liars, manipulators, users, and we both hurt the people who loved us the most.

I couldn't stand to look at myself any longer as it only angered me further.

I pulled on some boxers and a pair of pajama bottoms before I laid down for the night...I couldn't wait to get this day behind me.

But as I laid there the same images popped into my head as they always do right before I go to bed...my favorite memories.

Mariah and I in my car, hand in hand as she looked up at me and smiled...the wind blowing her wild hair around as her other hand tried to tame it into place.

I sighed and finally closed my eyes to fall asleep.