He goes to stand up, but then he falls back on the chair.
“What the hell?” That’s my cue to jump out of the closet.
“Hey!” I shout, and he jumps in shock.
“Michael?!” he yells and then he scrambles to throw something in his lap; the closest thing he finds is his beanie on his head.
Ew, seriously?!
“What the hell did you do that for?” The usually nice and caring Mason is way gone now, and he’s replaced by angry-because-he-was-just-left-hanging-and-embarrassed Mason.
“Payback’s a bitch, huh bro?” I tease.
“Glue me once, I glue you right back.” “That’s not even funny!” he protests.
Marianna and I exchange smirks.
“It’s a little funny,” she says.
His eyes go as wide as saucers.
“You were in on this?!” She smiles coyly and leans over to whisper something in his ear that she knows I can hear.
“Don’t worry, mon amour, I’ll make it up to you.” He stares at her longingly, his anger forgotten.
I make my repulsion known by gagging loudly.
“Get a room, you two!” Mason glares at me.
“We’re in my room.
You get out.” “Marianna has to pack,” I object, a little jealous.
“She’s right,” she backs me up before he could say anything.
Then she smiles seductively at him.
“Later.” His gaze is full of promises.
“You better.” God, their horniness is so obvious and unbearable to watch.
I literally have to drag Marianna by her arm out of Mason’s room.
“Can I help?” he calls after us.
“No!” I reply.
When we make it to the guest room, I close both bedroom doors for extra precaution.
My only solace is knowing that Mason is struggling to get out of his glued situation right now.
“That was fun,” Marianna comments, beaming.
I give her a flat look.
“You didn’t feel my repulsion.
You and I enjoyed that for different reasons.” She laughs joyously, and I can tell she’s still high over making out with my brother.
“Oh, just wait till you’re in love, Dylan.
Then you’ll think differently.” Suddenly, I’m not up for packing anymore.
Dejected, I look away and wait for her to catch on, which she does a couple of seconds later.
“Ah, Dyl, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to make you sad,” she apologizes sincerely.
Like I always do, I shrug it off.
“It’s no big deal.” Then I go to the closet to start emptying it, but she stops me with a hug.
She doesn’t say anything this time, because she knows there are no words to comfort me about this.
I can never find love.
I can never get married and have kids of my own.
I’m destined to live alone for the rest of my life.
Most of the time, this fact is easy to ignore because there’s so much going on to distract me.
Almost every time the subject comes up, I manage to breeze out of it without making anyone suspect a thing.
I got so good at hiding it that I’ve even convinced my family that it doesn’t bother me.
But this is the second time it comes up tonight, and it’s really frustrating.
No matter how much Marianna understands me, this is one thing she can’t ever relate to, so I don’t talk about it, even to her.
I’m not about to change that now.
“Your plane leaves in four hours,” I remind her.
“We should really finish packing.” Her expression tells me how much it pains her to see me hurting and not be able to do anything about it.
For her sake, I put on a strong smile.
“It’s okay, Mary,” I reassure her.
“It’s just life.
I’ll adjust.
I’ll be fine.” She doesn’t seem convinced, but she knows not to push me.
She shakes her head in frustration.
“Un jour, soeurette, tu trouveras l’amour, et tu pourras enfin vivre librement,” she says, of which I only understand the words “soeurette” and “amour”, which is what she calls Mason.
Love.
Whatever she said, I’m sure I disagree.
From then on, the atmosphere is heavy.
We do keep up conversation, but we pack faster than we would have if we were talking animatedly.
It’s not like she has a lot stuff, anyway.
It’s the only reason why she didn’t pack until the last minute.
Before I know it, we’re loading her suitcase into the back of Dad’s car.
Mary, Mason and I are hopping in, with me calling shotgun.
There’s no point in all of us going to the airport to drop her off, so the others say their goodbyes in the driveway before we leave.
On the way, the three of them keep up conversation, but I’m too distracted to join in.
I hate how affected by this I am right now, and I wish I can snap out of this sad and lonely feeling already.
I may not have had my first attack, yet, but I still get mood swings that are very hard to get out of.
At the airport, Mason and Marianna go to check her luggage in and get her boarding pass while Dad and I wait in the cafeteria.
We’re an hour early, anyway, so we have some time to kill.
“Are you okay?” Dad suddenly asks me.
“You barely said a word since we left.” I try to think of what to tell him.
“I’m just…
I’m really going to miss her,” I finally say, which is completely true.
His lips tighten in sympathy.
“I know, kiddo.
We’re all going to miss her, but aside from Mason, you probably will miss her the most.” I nod wordlessly and stare at my cup of hot chocolate.
I would kill for some coffee right now, to wake my senses up again.
I know my dad would definitely object.
I can’t ever have anything harmful in public, because who knows what I’ll do when I’m too pumped or too drunk or too high to care about boundaries?
A coffee right now would probably be harmless, but to my dad, it’s just like the college thing.
A small risk can lead to a big risk, so avoid them altogether.
Mason and Marianna take more time than they should have, but I understand why when they join us.
Marianna’s hair is untied and her face flushed.
Looks like later finally came around; and probably in an airport bathroom, too.
How classy.
God, I’m so bitter when I’m upset, I remark.
Marianna and I exchange looks when they meet up with us.
“Boarding’s in ten minutes,” she says.
Dad stands up immediately and gives her a hug.
“Have a safe flight home, Marianna,” he tells her kindly.
“Call us when you land, no matter what time it is.” “I will, Steven,” she promises.
“Tell Brooke goodbye again for me, please?
And thank you so much for having me.” He pulls away and smiles at her.
“You know you’re always welcome.
You’re family.
Don’t take too long to come back, okay?” She grins back.
“I won’t,” she assures him.
He leans forward and kisses her forehead.
I feel a stab of jealousy.
He never treats me as tenderly as this, but I push it away.
It’s just my frustration at the whole love situation, and It’s making me more emotional than usual.
I guess it doesn’t help that I’m a werewolf, too, and that emotions are felt much faster and take longer to dissipate than with humans.
After Dad, it’s my turn, and I’m reminded again of how much I’m going to miss her.
We hug closely for a long moment.
Before we pull away, she whispers to me only, which is covered from my dad and Mason’s ears by the murmur of the crowd around us, “Don’t let life get you down.
Stay happy no matter what, okay?
I promise, someday, everything will make sense.” I really doubt it, I want to say, but I hold back from doing so.
I doubt things will ever make sense.
I’m always going to wonder why out of all the werewolves in the world, I had to be the first one who had to hide her gender.
When Marianna and I break apart, Mason spins her around before we can look at each other and crashes his lips to hers.
His arms wrap desperately around her waist.
I don’t say a thing about it this time, because I know how he’s feeling.
It’s never easy to say goodbye.
When we get home, it’s almost 9 pm.
My brothers are in the living room playing video games, at least Nate and Danny are, while Connor is watching, and I’m guessing my mom is cleaning up in the kitchen after dinner.
The sight of video games doesn’t even cheer me up.
All I can think about is that I need a long hot shower to calm myself down.
Sadly, I get interrupted on my way to my room.
“Yo!
Mickey!” Connor calls my name.
“Want to go for a run?” My ears perk up with interest.
‘Go for a run’ is what we say when we’re talking about shifting into wolf form.
This is just what I need to vent out and distract myself from my emotions.
It works a hundred times better than a shower does.