Special thanks to Lena77 for my first review! I appreciate it! ;)
We walked out of the theatre, still holding hands.
"That movie was awesome," I said to him, grinning. He looked down at me—because he was so tall now—and nodded, smiling too. He opened my door for me and then got into the driver's seat.
We were quiet as he drove us back to my house, still holding my left hand. With my thumb, I was tracing circles on the back of his hand. I mean, we've held hands before but now it seemed different. Like we were supposed to be holding hands. Like it was meant to be. My tiny hand inside his massive hand, we just fit. And I never wanted to let go.
When we arrived at my house, he looked at me. "I had a great time tonight," he said, finally.
"Me, too," I replied, my voice barely over a whisper. He leaned in and my heart was hammering like a jack-hammer. I was pretty sure he could hear it because he half-smiled before planting a sweet kiss on my lips.
"Goodnight, Lizzie," he said.
"Goodnight, Seth," I whispered before getting out of the car and walking to my front door, watching him as he drove away. Ashley's car was still gone so I guess she's spending the night at Danielle's house.
I was about to open the door when I heard my parents shouting at each other. I sighed. Not again. I briefly heard some of their conversation before going out in the backyard. I climbed the tree right outside my window and then opened my window that I always kept unlocked for moments like these.
I climbed into my room and shut the window behind me. After I changed into sweats and a tank top, I shut off my light and climbed into my bed but right before I fell asleep, I heard a wolf howl.
The next morning I woke up at 10:00am. I walked downstairs to see that I was alone. Again. I heard the doorbell ring and I put my hair up in a ponytail before opening the door for…Seth! "Hi, what's up?" I asked, letting him in.
"Nothing I got bored so I came over here," he said.
"Ah…so how'd you sleep?" I asked. It was a joke we had made up and asked each other almost every morning. He laughed and replied before asking me the same question.
I hesitated and said, "Fine." He looked at me, concerned but I just waved him off to the couch. He went to the couch and sat down and I sat next to him. We watched TV and listened to music for a couple hours and we were sitting next to each other on the couch when Ashley walked in.
"Hey guys," she said watching us on the couch, looking pointedly at Seth's arm which was around me. I waved at her and mouthed 'later'. She nodded and tapped Seth on the head as she walked by. "Hey, Ashley," he said as she walked upstairs.
"I'll be right back," I said to Seth while getting up to follow Ashley.
"Mom and Dad were fighting again last night," I said, leaning in her doorway. She sighed and plopped down on her bed.
"Well we'll talk about that later. Dad will be home in a minute and if he sees Seth just sitting there on our couch, he'll flip. I giggled and nodded "Let's go."
We went downstairs and took Seth outside for we had been inside all day.
"Hey, Lizzie! Do you remember what I taught you?" Ashley asked, practicing her cheerleading moves and flips. I left Seth on the bench for a second and did a round off-back handspring thing into a forward roll.
"Ninja power!" I yelled when I was done. I looked up to see Ash and Seth sitting on the bench laughing. I giggled with them until I noticed my Dad watching me as well.
"Hey, Dad!" I waved at him, pretending I didn't hear anything last night. He waved back.
"Hi Liz, Ash, Seth," he nodded at each of us in turn. He was used to seeing Seth around here.
"Hey, Lizzie, can I talk to you for a sec?" Seth asked. Ash got the hint and went inside.
"Do you wanna go to a bonfire tomorrow night?" he asked. I nodded, "Sure."
"Great, I'll pick you up at 5:30."
"Ok," I said, watching him walk to his car. He waved to my mother because she just pulled into the driveway. She waved back.
"Sorry I was working so late last night."
"It's fine."
"So what did you do last night? I didn't hear you come in."
"Um…I went to the movies with Seth but forgot my key so I went in through the back but I was really tired so I went right to bed," I replied casually. I didn't want her to know that I went through my window when I hear them fighting.
"Oh, did you have fun?"
"Yeah. We saw the best horror movie ever!"
"How can you watch that stuff?" she asked, wrinkling her nose.
"I find it very amusing thank you very much. I'm going to take a shower." I took the steps two at a time. My mom was left outside, still giggling. After I unwillingly got out of the shower, I went to my room and watched TV. After a few hours of mindless soap operas, I went downstairs to ask my mom if I could go to the bonfire.
"Hey, Mom, can I go to a bonfire with Seth tomorrow?" I asked.
"Sure, honey."
"Thanks," I said as I went back upstairs to talk to Ashley.
"You know, they've been fighting a lot lately," I said, worriedly, leaning against the doorway.
"I don't want to talk about this," she said, shutting the door in my face. I sighed. Denial. I was about to walk downstairs when I heard Mom and Dad fighting yet again! I walked to my room instead and climbed out my window.
I went into the forest and walked around, aimlessly, for a while. I sat down on the damp grass, crying for a while. Then, I heard something behind a tree.
I gasped when a huge sandy wolf pop out from behind the tree. I started to back away slowly when the wolf whined. The wolf had the same eyes as Seth. I stared into them through my tears. They didn't look like normal animal eyes, hungry for food.
The mystery wolf's eyes were love-filled and also concerned. I don't know how long I just stood there like an idiot but when I shivered, the wolf whined again and its nose pointed in the direction of my house. Shocked that he had a brain so intelligent that it knew where my house was and that I was cold, I just stared.
After a few minutes of solid staring, I slowly back away from the wolf, moving in the direction of my house.
When I got back in my house, I ate a quick dinner and went straight to bed.