Liam was so disappointed by Mary not showing up where she'd promised that he called Sean and asked him to pop by where he was and talk with him.
"I can't believe Mary just left you like that," Sean told him. "I thought for sure that she would wait for you to catch up with her."
"Well, she told me before that she didn't tell her parents she was leaving because she knew they'd stop her." Liam replied. "Maybe it's the same way with me."
"Perhaps," Sean nodded. "Mary has had a lot of anxiety about this over the years, and I think that trying to change her mind about the way she's chosen to deal with it won't be easy." He paused. "But I think you can do it Liam, even if it takes time. If she'll open up to anyone, it's you. I know that."
"I hope you're right," Liam sighed. "Now, what about you? Are you still having issues with Eva and her panties?"
"No, I'm working through that," Sean replied. "But getting past the fact that she's sixteen and I know I shouldn't be feeling these things for her, especially with all Mary is going through…that's a tough pill to swallow."
"I know," Liam agreed. "And I know you have every reason to be worried about your sister, but I really think that it's pointless to have so much worry be sucking the life out of both of us. I know you're her brother and it'd be stupid to tell you to stop worrying, but I think you should try and relax. Mary will be Mary and do what she does, and there's no way around that, so I personally think you should focus on Eva, or some other woman, and leave this whole mess with Mary to me. Can you do that?"
"Yeah," Sean nodded. "I think I can. Thanks, and good luck."
"You too," Liam replied. "Talk to you later, buddy."
"You too," Sean replied. "Good luck." He then ended the call and decided that a way to ease his mind would be to see Eva the next day…in a purely platonic way, of course.
Eva was surprised when she opened her locker and found a note in it. "Will be picking you up from school today," it read. "Mary's been causing all sorts of trouble for Liam and I've had to hear about it. I could use some cheering up."
"What's that?" Christine asked, coming to stand behind Eva's shoulder. "A note from a secret admirer?"
"No, it's from Sean!" Eva replied and gave a little bounce. "He's gonna pick me up from school!"
"You know, I envy you," Christine told her. "To be able to devote so much energy to one guy is…impressive. I mean, it's a werewolf thing, but it only works with other werewolves. This guy is a warlock. You'll have to toss him aside eventually."
"That can't be right!" Eva told her. "Maybe it was a long time ago, but things have changed. And even if they haven't, I'm not dumping Sean for any stupid old werewolf just because tradition says I have to."
"Well, I'm just saying," Christine told her. "Mating is very particular for werewolf women. Men can be with human women, but female werewolves have to be with male werewolves."
"I think you're wrong," Eva replied, folding the note and sticking it in her pocket. "You might be all about werewolves, but I'm not. Sean's the one for me, and I won't fall in love with anyone else."
After school, Eva met Sean at his car, and Sean handed her a single red rose.
"Well thank you!" Eva remarked, feeling genuinely surprised. "Red roses are my favorite!"
"That's good," Sean replied and opened the door. "I'm glad I didn't get you something you hated. It's to apologize for my behavior the other day. It was rude of me to throw you out of my house the way I did when you just came over to help me out."
"So is picking me up part of the apology too? Eva told Sean as she got in his car. "Not that I'm not happy about it, but I'd have to be an idiot to at least note that I irritate you."
Sean sighed. "No, you don't. You're perfectly lovely. I just…I don't know what to do about my life anymore. I promised my father I would take care of Mary, then I started living the fast life, which led her being taken in by your aunt and uncle when she was orphaned, and I guess…I guess I've always felt so much guilt about that that I didn't feel entitled to have my own life anymore. That I had to make it all about Mary."
"Well, the thing you've dreaded has come to pass and Liam's on it, so instead of making yourself sick with worry, why don't you start living a little?" Eva encouraged.
"I suppose I can try," Sean gave her a smile. "You're a real darling, you know."
"Thank you," Eva replied. "Can I…can I kiss you? You know, for giving me the rose and all?"
"All right," Sean nodded. "But only on the cheek. We can't show the physical closeness we had the other day at my house in the middle of the school parking lot."
Eva smirked. "But that's what you really want, isn't it? To feel that closeness again? You can admit it. It's all right." Then she gave him the gentle, quick kiss he'd asked for, kept his chin in her hand so he couldn't move away while her lips met his. She had just barely pulled away when a guttural sound escaped his throat and he pulled her to him again, kissing her much deeper than she'd kissed him, and as his hand went up her blouse, he quickly pulled away and came back to his senses.
"I really like kissing you," he assured her, "But…I don't want you to feel like this will lead to anything between us yet. It's just that with everything going on with Mary, I can't…I can't deal with anything else that captures my attention the way you do. I need something frivolous that doesn't require a lot of commitment so I won't completely neglect my sister. And you deserve more than that. Do I make any sense?"
"I guess," Eva nodded. "But even though we can't be together now, will you kiss me one more time anyway?"
"All right," Sean nodded. He gave her one more quick kiss (which of course nearly turned into something much deeper before he stopped himself), and then drove her home. When he walked through his own door, he headed straight to his bedroom and looked under his bed, where the stuffed dalmatian she'd given him a long time ago sat gathering dust.
He picked it up and looked it over, sighing. It was a perfectly good toy. Not worn out, soft and cuddly...and a reminder of Eva, of the feelings she had for him. He was treating it as callously as he was treating her. He held the dog close to himself for a moment, staving off the fact that he felt kind of foolish, being a grown man who was hugging a stuffed toy, and then put it on his pillow. Even if he couldn't bring himself to be too close to Eva, at night or any other time, this would be a good enough substitute until he was able to pull himself together.
"Can I ask why your parents send you to a different school than me?" Aaron asked Rosalie. "I mean, we saw each other every day when we were kids, and now things are…different."
"It's kind of hard to explain," Rosalie replied. "The school I go to is kind of…special."
"Like how?" Aaron pressed. "Is it for super smart kids or really religious kids, or what?"
"I-I don't know how to explain it," Rosalie told him.
"What's it called?" Aaron continued. "Maybe I can transfer there."
"Oh, I don't think you'd get much good out of it," Rosalie tried to stave him off. "Where you are right now is the right place for you. And it's not like we can't see each other on the weekends, right?"
"Yeah," Aaron sighed. "I guess. I just…I hate not having you at school with me. Everyone sees me as the kid whose mom was murdered. They're all scared of me. I don't have many other friends."
"Well, I'll always be your friend," Rosalie promised. "We don't have to go to the same school for that to be true."
"Are you sure?" Aaron wanted to know.
"Of course!" Rosalie replied. "Why would I lie about that?"
"I hope you wouldn't," Aaron smiled. "But I had to make sure."
Much to Rosalie's surprise, soon after this conversation with Liam, posters went up in the hallways at her school announcing that the boys' basketball team would be playing against the team from Liam's school.
"Are they nuts?" She asked Amanda as the two of them walked to math. "All this secrecy about our supernatural natures and now they want our sports team playing a human school?"
"I'm sure they have their reasons," Amanda replied. "And I bet the coach will be telling all our players to be careful about using their special abilities. It's what my soccer coach always says when he doesn't want us beating up on each other too much." She shrugged. "I don't usually go and cheer on sports teams that aren't mine, but I think this game could be amusing. You wanna come with me?"
"Sure," Rosalie nodded. "It could be fun."
But it turned out not to be as fun as she hoped. Aaron was on his school's basketball team, and after the game was over (the human team won, perhaps because, as Rosalie suspected, it was thought that a win for her school's team would give their secrets away,) Rosalie tried to talk to him, but he ignored her. Finally, she followed him into the boys' locker room and cornered him, telling him that she wouldn't leave until he spoke to her.
"You're really something, aren't you?" He said dryly. "What's so important that you have to stalk me like this? Why couldn't you have just left me alone?"
"Well, you said all that crap the other day about how you wished we went to the same school and stuff. What's wrong with you now?" Rosalie wanted to know.
"You apparently think you're too good for me," Aaron replied. "That's probably why you don't want me here."
"No, that is not it!" Rosalie shook her head. "There are other reasons that I wish I could explain to you, but I can't."
"Oh, I'm sure!" Aaron replied sarcastically. "Now, if you don't mind, could you leave? You're making us all uncomfortable."
Rosalie scoffed. "Well, that's just bull!" She said and stomped to the door. "There've been many a boy born who think that they deserve to sneak into a girls' locker room just to have a look, but the second I sneak in here, you force me to leave because I make you uncomfortable." She rolled her eyes. "You're all pathetic, you know that?" She slammed the locker room door closed and came face to face with a grinning Amanda. "See anything good?" She asked.
"No," Rosalie shook her head irritably. "Just a bunch of assholes. I wanna go home."
"All right," Amanda nodded. "Let's go."
