𝖧 𝖮 𝖬 𝖤 ─ 𝗉𝖺𝗎𝗅 𝗅𝖺𝗁𝗈𝗍𝖾

| 𝟢𝟦

     I TUCKED A STRAND of hair behind my ear as I bit my lip and looked around the beautiful shop that I was in. Native American jewelry, blankets, and extravagant dreamcatchers lined the walls and I found my fingers running along the fabrics and beautiful designs as an elderly woman appears at my side.

"See anything you like?" She smiles up at me, and I giggle slightly as I gesture around the whole place.

It had been so many years since I had been in La Push, and close to the reservation. I knew that these businesses looked obnoxious to outsiders who didn't understand the way all the shops helped the communities on the reservation stay running, but I had grown up with my mother always taking me here to buy souvenirs and enjoy the culture embedded into the roots of the Quileute tribes foundation.

The woman continued to smile at me, before taking both my hands into her own as she glances up at my locket. "Oh my, you're Eleanor's great granddaughter!"

I smile and raise my eyebrow before she let go of my hands and I let them go to the locket around my neck. "You knew my gran?"

She nods her head and chuckles as she throws her head back in pure joy. "Oh yes, your gran and I were very close, who do you think made that locket?"

I stare at her with wide eyes, trying to figure out how old she was, before she just let out another laugh and pat me softly on the back.

"Don't worry, it wasn't me." I can't help but laugh and shake my head as she guides me towards the back. "But my grandfather was very close to your family and had handcrafted that locket right here in this shop!"

We came to a stop, before she pointed up at the wall where a picture hung of a handsome man with long black hair and a bright smile standing next to a beautiful woman with the kindest eyes that could ever be photographed. Around her neck was the same locket I wore around my own today.

"That's my grandfather and your great grandmother, she was always by his side- even in death."

I couldn't comprehend the timeline, but I still smiled and gave her a tight hug.

"Thank you, for showing me this." She nodded kindly and guided me back to the front before placing a wooden piece in my hands. I raised my eyebrow as she smiled in what seemed like a knowing way, before looking down to the carved out wolf that I was now holding.

It was beautiful, and was painted different shades of gray and had beautiful gold painted eyes.

She whispered something under her breath in her native tongue that sounded awfully romantic, causing me to giggle as she just reached up and grabbed both sides of my face to lay a gentle kiss on my cheek.

A few minutes later, I leave the store holding a bag with the gray wolf and a dream catcher to hang above my bed.

The sidewalk wasn't packed, but I still managed to collide into a hard chest the moment the shop door's closed behind me.

Strong arms clutched my hips as I stared down at the guy now laying underneath me with my legs on either side of him. "Oh god, I'm so sorry!"

I began moving to try and get up, but his strong arms gripped my hips tighter as he groaned and looked up at me with one eye closed. "Please, stop moving."

I raise my eyebrows in confusion before feeling something hard press against my thigh and my cheeks immediately flush as he lets out an uncomfortable sigh.

I want to get up and run away in embarrassment, but I can't help but look down into chocolate eyes the held hints of gold as the sun hit them at the right angle.

Tan and unbelievably warm skin felt like a furnace against my own as he tries to lift me up so that I wouldn't continue to grind against him in an attempt to get up.

Our almost provocative state made my cheeks burn harsher as I notice how handsome he is and can't help but scold myself for not watching where I was going and finding myself in this embarrassing situation.

"Seriously dude?" I throw my head over my shoulder at the new voice behind me and groan as another guy comes up laughing at the two of us lying on the ground the way that we were.

The guy beneath me almost seems to growl, and the guy that was laughing at the two of us immediately went quiet and disappeared into a shop.

"I'm gonna lift you up, okay? Stay still."

I nod my head and can't help but let out a shocked giggle as his strong arms carefully lift me up as if I weighed nothing at all. "Don't drop me!" I squeak, leaning forward in fear as he shifts so he was sitting on his butt and no longer lying on his back.

My chest came forward quickly, almost knocking him out before my face crashed into his.

Both of us groaned in pain as we held our bruised noses.

"Oh my god, I'm so very sorry!" I covered my face in pure embarrassment, before his booming laugh made me slowly open my eyes to look up at him just laughing his head off despite everything.

He shook his head, and chuckled one last time before picking us both up off of the floor and setting me safely down on my feet.

"If you wanted my attention, all you had to do was ask nicely, you didn't have to knock me off my feet!"

I roll my eyes and punch him in the shoulder, shaking my head as he doesn't budge. "As if you seemed to mind!" I gesture towards his crotch as his eyes widen and he turns around in embarrassment that I noticed his erection. "I can't help it, I'm a growing man and you kept moving around, it's not like I can control it when a pretty girl is laying on top of me like that."

I go to laugh at him, before my cheeks burned and I can't help but bite my lip at his compliment. "Oh, so you think I'm pretty?"

He opens and closes his mouth in realization before groaning and shoves past me. "Shut up!"

I giggle and turn around to watch him head towards the shop I had just left. Before he could enter, he turned his gaze back towards me and winked. I bite my thumb as I smile and turn on my feet to head towards the bus stop to go home.

I didn't know who he was, but I couldn't stop smiling to myself even after I got home and crawled into bed for the night.

The dream catcher hanging securely above my head and the gray wolf that I was gifted today laid safely on my nightstand watching over me as I drifted off to sleep.