Ravenwolf's Rose

Shattered Roses

The next day while I was at the art studio Rae approached me. I must have been a little distracted. She told me I was mixing awkward colours together and my palette looked weird.

"Is there something on your mind again?"

"Nothing... I was... just thinking about what it will be like when I return to my apartment..." I sighed and when I looked up at Rae her eyebrows were furrowed together.

Aside from my afternoon shopping trip with Kai... recently I wondered what life would be like after Ravenwolf.

"I feel like... there's something you're not telling me."

"There's nothing, really Rae..." Rae leaned in towards me and placed her hands on the arms of my chair.

"You might not notice this, but there's been a significant change in you."

"In what way?" I was a little startled by her observation... what could she mean?

"I can't quite put my finger on it. I don't know if it's because you've fallen in love with someone or..." there was a large crash coming from the entrance. When we both turned to look, the flower pot near the front entrance was now shattered on the ground in pieces. West was in the background picking the pieces up with his bare hands.

"Are you alright?!" I shouted. Rae and I raced towards him.

"It's okay! Don't worry about picking it up! Rae, can you get the broom and some paper towels please?" she nodded while running towards the backroom. I moved his hands away and he grabbed a hold of my hand. I looked up at him but he was looking down. He then slowly looked up at me.

"Be careful Hazel... I don't want you to cut yourself either..." there was a coldness in his voice. I wasn't expecting him to arrive a little earlier before class started...

"West..." he started squeezing my hand a little tightly.

"West... it... it hurts..." a moment later there seemed to be a sudden flash of realization cut across his face and he looked like the person I was used to seeing. His eyes creased together apologetically and he released my hand.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to... I just was worried about you... I'm sorry," I nodded, retracting my hand from his grasp and stared at him. He looked down at the mess on the floor. The water from the flower pot had flowed over to my shoes, wrapping around my soles.

"I didn't want to break it... it wasn't my intention..." I watched him pick up the bright red roses on the ground. "I'm sorry I ruined the roses..." he looked at me and I couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something a little deeper happening right now... my pulse started racing.

Rae arrived with the broom and I shook my head. I must have been caught up with his words. I stood up.

"It's okay, it wasn't your fault..." I said. I looked over at West and he was smiling now. He offered to help Rae, and the two of them started clearing things up...

"I'll go and find another vase... I'll be right back," Rae nodded and I turned around, thinking about what had just happened... but I didn't want to dwell on it more than I had to. After that, Rae and I had consecutive classes to teach together.

"So, have you thought about what I said earlier?" we were now grabbing our belongings from some of the lockers in the back room. We were done work for the day.

"What did you say earlier?"

"Before West came in..." I tried recalling what she had said and then it dawned on me and I laughed.

"I'm not falling in love with anyone."

"Really?"

"Seriously..."

"There has to be someone impacting your life then..."

"There's not really..." and then I thought of Kai and my heart started racing. It must have showed on my face and Rae half-grinned.

"See? There is someone... now tell me who..."

"There isn't!" I grabbed my jacket and started walking away and she followed after me, hugging me from the behind and I laughed nervously. "There really isn't!"

"Spit it out..." I tried wiggling out of her grasp and the two of us stayed close to one another for a little bit more before we were both bursting out into laughter. Finally she released me and I turned around. She held onto my wrists and looked at me sincerely.

"You know that I'm here to support you, right?" I nodded, feeling another twinge of guilt inside my gut. "You know that you can come to talk to me about anything?"

"Of course..." I could always tell that Rae knew when it was best to stop pressing me about something I wasn't ready to share. I always knew that. But deep down it felt like that was a ticking time bomb. It genuinely felt like that kind of goodness in her would be tested  when I tell her what happened to me during this crazy year living in a mansion...

I didn't know what else to think... but I hoped she would stay by my side if anything did ever happen... shortly after we parted for the rest of the day I received a message from Mackenzie.

I had promised her I would arrange a 'family,' dinner for her and the rest of her cousins in the house... I didn't know how to finesse something like that into existence... but I had been asking Edna how to get them all together in the same room for an hour and she recommended it be a little later into the night for convenience.

I was able to get Charlie on board easily. I asked James in person when he was in one of the studies and he said he would be open to it. Jackson was, once again, out of town... but as for Kai, that had been my stuck...