Military Mate

Chapter 21

Eugene POV 
   
     Olivia's been acting weird all day since I showed her the pool.  She's been talking to herself and her wolf. I'm starting to worry if I did something wrong or if everything's OK.
    ________________
1 hour later
     I think I've come up with an idea to make Olivia happy again. I was planning on doing a little bit later but now seems about as good an idea as any.

Olivia's POV
I've been worried about the close call all day. I don't want Eugene to give me that pity look, like everyone else does, I don't need that from him. 

    'What happened anyway? Why are you so scared of water?' Grape asked with genuine worry in her voice.

     'I hate it when people ask me this... ' I tell her looking down. 

     'If you don't feel comfortable talking about it.... '

    'No,  you are part of me you should know. When I was younger...  Right before the rogue attack that killed my mom, I was learning to swim. Well, at this point I was as sucky at swimming as any eight year old. I was about to swim to my mother when I went under for no apparent reason. I kept trying to come back up but for some reason, I...  couldn't.  I was in the shallows nowhere near the deep end and I just went down.
    When I did come back up I was having such a hard time breathing that my mom told me we should take a break and she promised me that she would help me swim,  but the attack happened later that day. She never got the chance, and since then I haven't gone near a body of water. ' I finally whimpered out. 

   'Why didn't your dad help you?'

   'After my mom died my dad shoved himself into his work for a while and so I never asked. '

     'I'm sure Eugene would be willing to help. '

     'Yeah let's just worry about that later for now how about we just relax' I said as the image of my punching bag and my favorite music enter my mind.

I woke up screaming; my memories haunting me of that day.

Ever since I found out what I am. I saw the last bit of life in my father's last moments, but in my dream, they weren't his last. I dreamed he was in a cage, in shackles, barely holding on to life, with my mother on the other side. She is just far enough apart, so they can't touch. I may not be there, but I could feel the pain that they held. It was antagonizing.

I lifted up my hand to my cheek feeling the dampness of the tears on my face. The last time I had a night this bad, I was eight. Eugene walks in with, what I assume is breakfast, but it breaks when the plate falls and he rushes over to me.

"Are you OK? "he asks, worry evident in his eyes.

I shake my head, "I honestly have no idea what happened, but there is one thing I do know. We need to go back. I need to find out what's going on. I didn't feel it before now, but I feel like they're alive... Like my parents are alive and we need to save them."

Hugging Eugene and getting ready, we started packing and cleaning up in order to go back to the house. Putting the final t-shirt into my suitcase I slumped against the beanbag I was sitting on.

" Tired?", Eugene comments, walking into the room.

" I never thought that packing clothes could wear you out. Remind me when we get home to thin out our closet. If I pack that many clothes again, take them out and make me do two- hundred push-ups.", I sigh exasperated.

" I like the sound of that.", he says glancing my way.

"What?"

"You using the word 'Us'."

" I like the U.S. too!" Grape interjects, destroying what little of a moment we just had. We both laugh and continue to get ready to leave.

________________________________________________________________________________

We dragged the bags into the room with the fragrance of food bouncing around. Eugene must have called ahead to tell the people here that we were coming home.

"In here! I'm making food! " says a voice from the kitchen. We go in there to see Eugene's mother, Alese making a stir-fry and other delicious things at the stove.

I run out of the room to put my bags away, but not before mentioning that I would be back. Placing my suitcase on our bed I race back down the stairs to help. Washing my hands in the sink, I look to Alese for something to do.

She shakes her head and brings me over to the corner where she has dough in a pan ready for use. She shows me how to make the rolls and, even some turtles out of the dough, before setting me to work.
🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞

After setting the table; we sit down to eat the food that Alese mainly worked on. Looking at the rolls you never would have thought that they would be so addictive, but oh yes they were. Biting in, they were just the right amount of crunch and softness to make you want to come back for more, and with the stir-fry and other sides added in, this was food made in heaven. As we cleaned up I thanked Alese for showing me how to make the rolls and we all grabbed some soda before relaxing down on the couch to watch a movie. I have to say, the day may have not started out good but this has to be about the happiest I've felt for the past week. I hope everyone else felt the same.

Tomorrow I was going to look into what my dream may have meant, but until then I just had to live in the moment.