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Wolf Moon Pt. I

(Prologue)

I jumped over the back of the couch, my foot catching, and my would-be graceful landing turning into an unceremonious flopping onto my best friend in the whole world, Jay. He just rolled his eyes, shoving me off him so I went sprawling on the hardwood floors. Very kind hearted, I know.

He grinned down at me as I groaned, amused by my pain. I don't know why I suffer through this abuse.

I scrambled up, pushing my thick, long brown hair from my face and curling up on the couch. I wrapped a blanket around me like a burrito before looking at the screen expectantly. "Alright, movie time. Where's…" I glanced around on either side of me, before looking around the room, confused. "Where's the remote?"

"I thought you had it," Jay shrugged.

"No, you had it." I eyed him suspiciously, before trying to roll him off the couch so I could search around him. But considering he was bigger than me, he didn't even budge. And he was long past the days where he'd pretend like I could actually move him—now, he didn't even let me delude myself into thinking I had at least a little bit of muscle. "Don't you be hiding it from me."

He didn't even blink at the accusation. "Where did you have it last?"

"You stole it, didn't you? You—,"

His hand snaked under my butt, before he withdrew his arm, the remote in hand. "You were sitting on it, idiot."

"Okay." I took the remote from him, turning to the TV and pressing play. The screen flickered to life as the opening credits to Titanic played out. I grinned widely, "Yay!"

Jay groaned, his head flopping onto the back of the couch, his sandy blonde hair fanning out across the brown material. "I hate this movie. There's totally enough room on that raft for both of them—she doesn't deserve him."

"Hush, it's my house, I get to pick the movie."

"I'm the guest, shouldn't I get to pick the movie?" Jay asked, raising an eyebrow.

I scoffed. "No."

"I don't want to watch this."

"I don't care. Now be quiet, you're ruining it."

"Ana, choose a different movie." He reached forward, trying to take the remote from me to change the movie himself.

"No." I moved the remote away from him, licking his hand as it got close. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Did you just lick me? Jesus, Ana, how old are you?! Just give me the remote!"

We fell back, as I tried to hold it out of his reach, but he was taking advantage of his considerable bulk—maybe I should eat more vegetables—and I squirmed, trying to get away as we wrestled for the remote. "Never!"

Then Jay started tickling my sides and I let out a shriek of laughter, yelling about his underhanded tactics. My blanket tangled around me, holding me captive and preventing an escape. Oh no! Mayday! Mayday! My cocoon of warmth has become my coffin of doom! SOS! Send help!

We fell to the floor, landing with a thump and I wriggled and rolled, fending him off with one hand while holding the remote above my head. He lunged for it, and I pulled it down, clasping it to my chest before shoving it under my shirt. I grinned triumphantly at him. "Ha."

He smirked in the way that said he could one-up me. "It's cute that you think that'll stop me. I'll give you to the count of three to hand it over before I get it myself. One."

I shrieked again, rolling and twisting frantically to get away, "No!"

"Two."

"AAAARRGH!" I shouted, as his fingers tickled my sides again. "NOOOO!"

"Three."

Before he could grab the remote himself, my mother walked into the room, dressed in her nurse uniform, and sighing as she took in the scene before her. It didn't even come as a surprise to her to find us like that; Jay and I had been friends since we were in diapers, and our love was so platonic, our parents didn't even care if we rolled around on the floor together.

There was no chance we'd ever be together romantically. There was absolutely no sexual tension. No chemistry between us. And there never had been.

That's what made our friendship so perfect.

We both turned to look at her as she glanced at the TV where Titanic was still playing, deducing exactly what was going on. "Ana, you can't make him watch a movie he doesn't like."

Yes, we have had this argument before. But I would never give up.

"Sure I can."

She rolled her eyes, pulling her brown hair—a slightly darker shade than mine—into a ponytail at the base of her neck before scrounging around in her bag, checking she had everything. "No, you can't. Now, give the remote to Jay and let him choose a movie."

"But he has awful taste in movies!" I gasped as Jay sat back on his heels, holding his hand out with a smirk. My mum just waited and I sighed, grumbling. "Fine."

I reached under my shirt before handing him the remote. This was going to suck for me.

"Whatever movie he picks, Ana, you have to watch it. No arguments." Then she turned to the stairs, shouting, "SCOTT!"

There was a pause before I could hear my brother's heavy footfalls. He paused at the top of the stairs, dressed in loose exercise pants and a white shirt. He'd grown recently, so he was taller, more filled out, but his shaggy brown hair falling about his face made him look younger still. He almost looked like an adorable puppy.

"I have the late shift again," mum said to both of us. "Make sure you go to bed soon; school starts tomorrow. Brush your teeth. No more ice cream, Ana."

"But—!"

"Jay's in charge while I'm gone." She pointed at Jay, and it made me forget about my ice cream argument.

"What?" I gasped, outraged, despite the number of times this happened. "But he doesn't even live here!"

Mum gave me a pointed look. "I know. And when Jay goes home, Scott's in charge."

"Wait, wait, wait," I said, holding up my hands and jumping off the couch. Scott sent me a smug look. "No way. I'm older."

"Right, what was I thinking?" Mum said, and I deliberately chose to overlook her sarcasm. "Ana, you're in charge."

I went to turn away, satisfied, when I caught her giving Scott a look that said you know you're really in charge, right? And Scott nodded in a trust me, I know kind of way. They were conspiring against me. I wrinkled my nose in indignation.

"Now, there's snacks in the cupboard, and a frozen pizza if you guys get really hungry." Mum walked to the front door, pausing for just a second to look at me seriously. "You know the rule."

"Wait," Jay said as mum closed the door behind her. He looked between Scott and me, a confused expression on his face. "What rule?"

I adopted a purposefully innocent expression. "I have no idea."

He ignored me, looking up at Scott, "What rule?"

"The rule that expressly forbids Ana from entering the kitchen."

Jay nodded like this made complete sense. There may have been a few incidents over the years that I'm not going to go into now, but let's just say they involved fire and scorch marks on the walls, a fire truck showing up and multiple trips to the ER, that culminated in this particular rule.

I still thought they were overreacting, though.

"It's such a ridiculous rule. I mean, how am I supposed to get to the fridge?" I looked up at Scott, willing him to be on my side. "You and mum know we're going steady, and I feel like we're at that critical point in our relationship where it's make or break. You wouldn't want to break us, would you?" He rolled his eyes at me and walked back to his room. "Wait, Scott! Right? Scott?"

He ignored me.

When I turned back around, Jay had already chosen a movie and was placing the disc onto the tray of the DVD player. I sighed, sitting back on the couch. "What movie did you choose?"

"An American Werewolf in London."

"No!" I said quickly. "No way. We are not watching that."

"Yes, we are. Your mum said so."

"But that's not fair!" I cried as he pressed play. I did not do well with scary movies. My imagination was uncontrollable, and watching a scary movie sent it into overdrive.

"Too bad. Better get comfortable."

I made a face, bringing the blanket back up and covering most of face with it. My eyes peeked out over the top, and Jay draped his long body over the chair, completely calm. This was such a bad idea.

Thanks so much for reading—any thoughts?

(Thank you DancerOfDanger for making the awesome cover for this story!)