You're Mine

9. Alex

5.14.19

I watched Ash drop heavily into the chair next to me and begin to sulk. I was quite frustrated that I just straight up almost revealed myself and got rejected in just 5 minutes. I suppose that it can only be a win to become friends with him, but I would rather get to know him more romantically. I tuned into the front of the room much easier today, I noticed, and I fell down the rabbit hole of why that could be. Maybe it's because he friend zoned me? No, probably not. Oh I know! Dad used to tell me that cravings for a soulmate are stronger on your birthday because that's when your wolf is closer to your consciousness. "Could you please get your life together and stop being fucking shy? I want to be with mate and you're not helping."

"Would you mind being a bit less salty Camden? It isn't as easy as you think."

"Just give me the control and it'll be over in a jiffy."

"No way, you would probably kill the poor boy with overbearing attention and scare him away."

"Why do you have to be right?"

"You know I'm always right."

"Oh shut up."

​​​Finally, the bell rang through the building, so I was walking out of the door until I felt a hand gently tap my shoulder. Camden began shouting something about not being a pussy at me, and I turned around to look at Ash. "Follow me. Don't worry, I'll make sure that we get to class on time."

I trailed after him when he walked away, and it was the first time I noticed how he had the whole school trapped beneath his pinky toe. The massive crowd parted like the red sea in front of him, and the constant whispers about him gave the allure of him being some kind of God to these people. He got onto his tip-toes to reach the top part of his locker once we arrived, and I was struck with the knowledge of just how small he truly is. However, his posture and presence made up for what he lacked vertically, and he was still able to strike fear into those around him with a single glare. He slammed the metal door back to its original position, and we began walking back to the gym, taking a long route. The winding hallways had my head full instantly, so I swallowed my pride and asked, "What part of the school is this? I've never seen it before."

He gave me a belittling look for the question before pointing at a door that had English 12 written on it in sparkly letters. Okay, so that wasn't the most observant thing I've ever said, but at least it wasn't completely foolish? Give me credit. 

"I've only been to this school for two days, it isn't my fault that I'm unable to navigate it well," I snarled back. He looked slightly guilty for the shortest second, but then covered it up with his usual stone face. My heart fell a bit at the transformation, but I buried it deeply in my chest. I don't have time to be getting sad at any ring detail.

"You coming!?" he shouted from down the hallways, so I jogged up to him and we continued our journey to the gym. As I expected, we arrived together right before the bell, and we walked into the locker room. I opened mine and swapped clothes swiftly, not even risking a glance at Ash changing beside me before walking out to the main gym.

***

Lunch was just beginning, and I was in line for food wondering what half of the options even were. I felt Ash's presence behind me before he even spoke a few words, so I wasn't shocked when he taunted, "What are you doing staring at the menu like it killed your family or something?"

"Nothing important," I replied, not interested in giving him more hints into the fact that I wasn't human. He's starting to get suspicious of me, and I'm not going to let myself be revealed right now.

"Okay, then go order, dumbass," he told me, giving me a little push. This must be how humans show affection! I looked up briefly at the menu and picked whatever food my eyes landed on.

"I'll have a... ham-bur-ger?" I demanded in almost a question, hoping that I had pronounced it right and proceeded to not make even more of a fool out of myself. The person behind the counter handed me a meal and directed me to sit down in the cafeteria, so I sat down at an empty table and ate my food. While fattening, this stuff isn't actually half bad! After a few minutes of focusing on the Ash sat down across from me.

"I hope you don't mind, Brad was being an ass hat," he muttered, looking up at me with those ice colored blue eyes that drew me in.

"It's fine," I responded, returning to my meal. 

"Why are you looking at that like you have never seen it in your life? I thought most hu- people in this country knew what a burger was," he asked me quietly.

"Oh, uh... I'm not from this country."

"Really? Where are you from?"

"Um... Somewhere not here," I was struggling to find any answer. If there was one thing that we had absolutely never talked about in my schooling it was human geography. I could tell you all about a wolf pack in Afghanistan, but putting that country on a map would be hard.

"Stop kidding around with me, you have to know where you came from," he joked easily. Oh buddy, you have no idea. Camden needs to stop being so quiet already.

"I really kind of don't."

"But you have to."

"But I don't."

"Are you so bad a geography that you don't know where you came from?"

"Yes."

We stared at each other for a few minutes until he broke the silence.

"Same," he laughed out awkwardly. "See, I was 7 when I got... Forcefully removed, I guess, from my home. I think it was somewhere around here. I would really like to find it though so that I can bury my c- parents," he recovered quickly. What could start with a C that involves family..?

"I wish I could go home too," I whispered softly, longing for the partnership of a pack.

"Why can't you go home? And also, if you haven't been going home when we leave each other in the forest at night, where are you going?"

"Well... I have a homophobic father and my mother was killed in... something. I found an alleyway to sleep in, though. There's a gap behind the trashcan that I can fit in," I responded truthfully, seeing no reasons to lie to that specific question.

"Oh... I think I lived there a few years ago," he told me. Yes! I finally got him to open up about something. I now know that he spent a while living the way that I'm living now. I wonder if he ever found someone else to lean on, or of he's still suffering alone.

"Where do you live now?" I wondered.

"There's a hollowed out log in the forest. It was safer for me since I turned... well I don't know, I lost track of my birthday. I know that it's October 10th though."

"Really? I'm fairly certain that's in a few days, I'm still not great with calendars yet," I informed him. Calendars were quite hard for me to grasp, especially since I had no clue what day it was when I got kicked out. We didn't have them when I was growing up, we used the moon instead. I do know it was somewhere around late September just by looking at the moon last night and that my birthday was yesterday

"I haven't kept track of my birthday since my family died. They used to celebrate it every year. It really was a big deal, and a lot of their closest friends came too. W-we were in the middle of one of those celebrations... when something happened and my parents died. I was heartbroken. I vowed to myself, never to celebrate again without them. It would just bring back the awful memories of her smile."

A singular tear slid down the corner of his eye just as the bell rang, but he swiped it away almost faster than I could see it.

"We don't talk about this ever again, got it!"

"You don't have to be upset." He stormed away as I said the words, and I felt as if I had done something wrong... No, I didn't. I just hope he comes back soon.