The Vaticinator

29. Back in Time

There are a lot of things I dislike in life. And I do not just mean the massive, significant things like the Occultists. I mean the trivial things. Like how I absolutely despise dirty surroundings. I can’t sleep until the sheets are squeaky clean. In fact, I can’t sleep till I am squeaky clean. Other things to make to that list would be bullies, like Viktor and his minions. A word out of their mouth is enough to make my skin crawl. Similarly, I hate it when I am kept from certain things, like a whiny kid who is pissed on not being in on the secret. I dislike unwanted attention, fake facades and lady gaga. Hell, I hate the taste of anything not cooked by my mother. I dislike humid weather. I dislike not being exceptionally good at sparring. I dislike romantic movies and clingy people. And I dislike disappointing my father.

I can think hundreds of more things to add to that list. As I will grow up, that list is only going to lengthen. I will begin to dislike my tight college schedule and the hefty hangovers. I will start disliking staying away from my family. I’ll start hating my job; my boss even more. I’ll start hating that I cannot afford the car that I so love, and hate it even more if I can afford it because I like to run. Even more, I’ll hate when I’ll continue to hide my therian nature from the human friends I’ll make. The list will go on and on. Maybe I’ll even start detesting things that are tolerable to me now.

There is only and only one thing that I am absolutely sure I’ll never feel animosity towards.

“That’s creepy.” I hear Neal’s voice from somewhere above me.

I sleepily grunt, snuggling to the touch of Neal. From what I can feel, he is sitting right next to me as I snuggle even closer to his side. There is fabric of his clothes between our skin but that doesn’t stop his aura from overwhelming my senses. I can feel waves of his aura surpassing the fabric, humming into my senses through his side that my face is snuggled into, his thigh where my chest brushes it and his legs that I have taken the liberty to tangle mine with.

Slowly coming out of oblivion I realize that Neal is referring to me snuggling him as creepy. I pull my head back, opening and squinting my eyes against the light in the room. I have to tilt my head to look at Neal’s face as he is sitting. He has ignored me after his comment. He is calmly sitting, very calmly considering a guy is literally hauling him in sleep. He has a book in hand that he seems to be reading. From my side I can see a bust at the corner of his lips that is visible to me and also the spectacles that are resting on his nose.

“Why are you wearing glasses?” I say, my voice hoarse from sleep.

Neal raises his eyebrows as he looks at me as if he wasn’t expecting me to wake up. He looks down at me, tilting his face sideways and takes in my sleepy and curiosity filled face. He forcefully sighs.

“Well,” he says, adjusting the book in his lap, “I thought its time I put a cherry on top of my nerd status.”

I roll my eyes. I let my head slump back against Neal’s side. He doesn’t complain. He doesn’t even detangle his legs from mine. I quietly sigh, waiting for myself to fully waken up. I revel in his aura till then, side by side wondering about his busted lip.

Busted lip.

It takes me all of three seconds to get up into a sitting position, which is quite long considering my therian reflexes. When I look at the reason for my slowness; directly at my right arm which is in a firm cast, all the events come rushing back to me. I turn to look at Neal who is now watching me with his eyebrows raised above the thick frame of his glasses.

I instantly frown when I notice his eyes.

“Your eyes are rimmed red.” I blurt.

“Yeah, well.” That’s all he says.