He had a beautiful innocence about him. His smile, his eyes, his voice... Everything about him was beautiful. Except for that one little thing, of course.
"Why does this always happen to me?" Alex wondered aloud. She sat in her room, looking at all the pictures of her and Mason. He hadn't come over today; he'd been out with his family, apparently. Alex still hadn't met them, and she had no inclination to. The shock of Mason's secret had been enough, and Alex didn't think she could handle meeting his parents yet.
She thought back on when she first met him. He had been so sweet to her, complimented her on her painting, asked her to have tea with him. Alex remembered telling Harper later, "He's so British!" He'd been so naïve when it came to New York antics, and water ballooning people from the rooftop had almost seemed to frighten him. I'm beginning to change him, though, Alex thought to herself. But was that a good thing?
A question that Alex had always asked herself rose up once again. Was it her that awakened the monster inside of Mason? Was it her fault that he was a werewolf? That's impossible, she told herself. But still, she couldn't be sure. She felt so guilty, and she didn't know why.
She fell asleep that night, wondering to her self. Mason loved her, and she loved him back, so why was she making excuses? He would never change his mind.
But maybe Alex would.
Maybe she had.
She awoke in the middle of the night, the headache from her heartache taking over. She opened the bathroom cabinet, grabbed a couple of Tylenol, and downed them with some cool water. On the way back to her room, she passed Justin's open doorway. She gazed at him, sprawled out on top of his covers, shirtless. He'd probably fallen asleep while studying for some test. Alex's eyes lingered a bit longer than necessary on his bare chest, and she gasped.
She ran back to her room, closing the door quickly and quietly, and sank down into her bed. She began to cry silently, so that no one would wake up and ask what was wrong. If they'd asked five minutes ago, she wouldn't have had a clue. But now she knew. She understood everything.
Alex made excuses about Mason to convince herself that they didn't belong together. Because it wasn't Mason that she thought about, wasn't Mason that she wanted, and it wasn't Mason that she loved.
It was Justin.
Her own brother, the brains of the family, and her parents' pride and joy. She'd always stood in his shadow, a place from which she could admire him without being notice. But it wasn't until now that she noticed.
And now that she had, it was going to tear her life apart.