Elizabeth sighed as she slipped Dwayne's jacket on, half pausing and thinking to tug it right back off again.
Her own jacket was still in the main cave and while she didn't want to be cold, she also didn't want to do anything to further encourage her soon to be brothers. Strolling out there, covered in her mate's oversized and over worn jacket would definitely lead them to believe that she was deliberately covering up after getting partially naked during her little...show...and she was positive they would find it just oh so amusing.
She grinned ruefully, rubbing her tongue inside her cheek a little as she shook her head, the jacket half on and half off, resting on the crooks of her elbows.
She felt like she couldn't win.
She knew that they would be absolutely beside themselves with glee if they knew she was huddled in the room, so in her own head after their little prank that she was debating whether or not she should wear a damn jacket.
God, she could kill them!
She had always bit of an over thinker, a bit in her own head but she really didn't know how to not think about it. She didn't know how she could face them, she didn't even know how she was going to get over it! She wasn't just the butt of the joke – she was a gullible idiot who had listened to their nonsensical words and believed them without a shadow of doubt.
She'd truly believed them.
She wished she could say that there had been a slither of doubt in her head all along, that there was a nagging bite of question in the back of her mind but she couldn't. She had fallen for it, she really had believed that Dwayne was keeping a secret trauma from her...a trauma she could rectify, that she could make better with a chant and some skin ship and things that no longer bared thinking about.
"...God..." she mumbled, closing her eyes through her smile.
Despite the extreme mortification of it all, she found it funny. How could she not? It was a good joke, even though it was at her expense. It was so difficult, half laughing at herself and half wanting to curl up and die.
Dwayne had said he'd be pretty disappointed if she did go down the death route but all the same, it had taken him a while to stem his laughter. It had mingled with that of his brothers and while he stopped laughing long before they did, he'd been unable to stop himself from breaking into bursts of chuckles, deep belly laughs and sympathetic wincing. He'd covered his mouth with the palm of his hand when she mentioned the moon cycles to him, it had been the only way for him to hide his reaction. He was being a sympathetic ear, assuring her that she wasn't stupidly gullible, that it was a damn good lie she'd been fed but she kept pushing him over the edge of his calm façade.
She'd sat there, beet red and almost hysterically groaning through everything the guys had told her and he'd sat right there with her, trying to be stoic, trying to reassure and comfort her, trying to suffocate his laughter while absorbing every word.
Thanks to him she found out that full moons weren't rare or special at all. She'd protested indignantly, how the hell was she supposed to know that? Books and movies always made full moons seem like such a big deal, she'd just assumed they were these rare events.
It had been mortifying on top of everything else, having to explain to him that she'd been so ignorant. Compared to them, she really was a baby...but of course, she hadn't been expecting such a playful and childish prank from them.
She thought they were tough guys, all blood and guts and sex but no.
They were goof balls, too.
She laughed once again and shook her head.
There was no other way to describe them; pulling a prank like that was so goofy. That was the word. It was goofy and silly and really, compared to what she knew they could do, it was pretty tame. Still, all thoughts aside, they had gotten her and there really was no getting away from it.
How the hell was she going to go out there?
It wasn't like she could stroll out with her head held high but hunched over, trying to avoid their eyes would just propel them into even louder laughter.
Separate as they were, she was sure she could still hear titters and chuckles.
Yes, they were definitely waiting for her.
She knew that Dwayne had gone out to warn them off teasing her. Well, half to warn them off and half because it was hard for him to keep a straight face, too. He was obviously very aware of how embarrassed she was and so he had lied quite badly about wanting to light some more fires for her and put her now cold pizza next to one to warm up.
He was gracious about it, promised he'd be back soon but all alone in the room and left to her racing thoughts, she figured that she should just face the music.
It would be even more embarrassing, maybe, to have him come back and fetch her.
She looked down at her feet.
Dwayne had been so sweet though. He'd laughed hard but cuddled her, fussed over her in a way she found pleasant despite the intense mortification of it all and even his bad lie was endearing.
Make the pizza warm…it really was a very sweet lie.
She liked to see that side of him - she loved discovering everything about him, all the parts of his personality - but she still couldn't believe it. She'd stripped in front of him and tried to rip out his heart, sincerely and truly believing she was doing something so moving and pure. She couldn't begin to imagine the thoughts that had been running through his head.
Had he been confused? Turned on?
What had he thought was happening?
She laughed once herself, burying her head in her hands before taking a breath. She was just lucky he'd stopped her when he did. David had told her so much; there was the sacred braiding, the chant, the caress of the breasts...
She groaned, closing her eyes and feeling herself blush all over again.
Of all the people, why did it have to be David? How could she live that down? She didn't have that kind of relationship with him, talking about intimate acts and touching and, "God…"
Truly mortifying.
She'd ask Dwayne about his take on it in the future, when it was a little less raw and a little less fresh. As it was, she could still feel the warmth of her cheeks, even more so now that she was reflecting on her one-on-one chat with the usually untouchable and serious leader.
She really wasn't ready to analyze the prank nor Dwayne's reaction to it...though she doubted the guys would let her off.
But it was time to face the music, she couldn't avoid them forever.
Well, she could theoretically wait them out until sunrise but that would leave her all alone to trek back to the house and answer questions from her family, so it wasn't a practical option.
A tempting one...but not really doable.
She wished she could get the boys back in turn but she had no idea what she could do.
If it was Sammy, honestly, they'd probably end up play wrestling or chasing each other around the house. She'd maybe try to land a wet whistle in his hear because he hated those but she didn't see that working with the boys. She'd never get close enough to David for one, Marko was far too above such things and Paul would probably make a sexual joke and try to stick his tongue in her ear in response. No, she couldn't get revenge with them like she would with Sammy...and Michael?
She squinted a little, thinking.
The last time he'd pranked her, he'd slipped extra hot sauce on her burger and then spent about twenty minutes frantically apologizing as she downed milk with watery eyes and sweat beading on her temple. He'd actually ended up fighting with Sammy - they were always a little rougher with each other than they were with her - because he'd been laughing at his older brother's guilty conscience.
No, Sammy and Michael were excellent brothers, they had certainly taught her well and helped round her humor out but this was in another realm.
This was new territory for her.
Sammy and Michael pranked each other, they annoyed each other and they fought with each other. She wasn't usually involved in it. They often treated her with the respect they thought she was due as a girl but the boys...the pack...they were treating her as if she was one of them.
She knew it was a good thing, it was welcome, really, but damn she wanted to get them back.
She'd probably be thinking of her revenge for years to come but she wished she could think of something – anything! – in the short term.
"Fuck it…" she soundlessly mumbled to herself.
She immersed herself in Dwayne's jacket, straight away thankful for the warmth it offered and then, with a breath, she walked out of the door, leaving her cozy, comfortable space behind. Her safe space was gone...she was walking into the lion's den but if they were going to laugh at her – and she knew they were – then they were going to do it on her terms, at least.
She was going to deal with it face on.
As she got closer to the main cave, she wasn't surprised to hear the pleased, warm, almost joyful words of Paul floating through the air.
She paused to listen, not even having to strain.
"…way, as if! Nah, I'm serious. That was fucking ace, man!"
"And I'm serious, don't tease her, alright?" - a bemused Dwayne.
"What did you think was happening?" - Marko, chuckling.
"He didn't have a clue but I'll bet he was excited by it" - a sardonic comment from David.
"Well-" laughter as Dwayne began to admit that he had been turned on by the display.
"Horny fucker" - Paul.
"I didn't think she'd fall for it that hard" - Marko, amused and kind but still laughing as he spoke.
"I did" - David.
More laughter.
"She's going to kill you. I've never seen anyone blush like that; her whole face was red. She was hot, physically hot" - Dwayne.
"She's always hot" – Paul.
"No, her face was roasting, man. I've never…" - Dwayne's words were cut off by the roaring laughter of his friends.
"Hah, she ain't got that killin' instinct. We're in the clear, she can't do anythin' to us. She's too nice, she ain't got it in her yet. We gotta get her again, it's the fucking best" - Paul.
"She was upset when I started to speak" - Dwayne, his voice bright.
"Upset?" – a mild note of concern from Marko.
"I didn't know it right at that second but she was hurt I was breaking your stupid ritual. She didn't know where she'd gone wrong" - Dwayne, laughing now but sort of softer.
"My baby!" - Stupidly sympathetic cooing from Paul.
"She's too nice. She's OK thought, right? We heard her laughing with you" - a warm comment from Marko.
Elizabeth frowned at the back of the poster, listening to the boys laugh and relish in their prank.
While she could admit to herself that it was a good prank, pride would keep her admitting it to them.
She was also glad to hear the note of worry in Marko's voice, glad to know he cared about not crossing the line...for a second, she wondered if she could use that to her advantage but their continued conversation distracted her from that fleeting thought.
"She's-"
"-right here" Elizabeth interrupted, pushing her way past the thick and heavy poster hiding the backrooms of the cave.
Some of the damp wetness from it seemed to sink into the sleeve of Dwayne's jacket and she was glad she'd slipped it on in the end. The guys must have been too happy in their conversation to realize that she was right by them, lingering behind it, listening to every word.
"We know" David told her and, as the four of them laughed Elizabeth exhaled a breath of air - something that she supposed resembled a tired laugh - and shook her head, rolling her eyes.
They did realize, they just had no shame.
"You're all assholes"
"Him, too?"
Elizabeth smiled forgivingly at Dwayne as he moved towards her. She allowed him to pull her against his side and as his arm weighed heavily on her shoulder, she placed her hand against his chest and smiled, "...nah, not so much. Only ten percent" she glanced up at him, explaining, "You did laugh"
He kissed the top of her head, happy enough with her answer.
"So, Indy-" Paul began as Marko interrupted with a grin, his eyes twinkling and a devilishly playful smirk dancing over his face, "we mean, Lizzie. How did you find the ritual? Deeply moving?"
"Suck a nut"
They all laughed, Marko included, as Dwayne led her to the sofa.
Paul, who looked wild but ecstatically happy kicked his legs down and moved from his lying position, "suck a nut? I gotta train you up. We can do better than that. You are literally the most innocent-"
"-you can suck a nut, too!"
"How embarrassed were you?"
"Mortified"
"On a scale of one to ten, though" Paul asked as she sat down, Dwayne squeezing in beside her.
There was a small space between her and Paul. It would have been bigger but he was sat with his legs spread wide.
"Well, what do you think?" she asked him sarcastically.
"A ten" David, Marko and Paul chorused together, their different tones, volume and voices making an interesting sort of rumbling laugh that almost echoed in the cave.
She smiled, shook her head and felt her fingers twitch.
She was so, so tempted to just flip them all off.
"So, come on then! Where did you get to in the ritual?" Paul asked eagerly, waiting to receive a blow-by-blow recount of their prank. He kicked his legs up underneath him, tugged the pizza from near an oil drum that was far too close to him and would surely have been burning him if he was mortal and turned to face her.
She didn't want to humor him, "...I hate you guys. And that's my pizza, don't even think about it"
"Hurt me by denying me food – my baby knows the key to my heart and is trying to break it!" he cooed, touching his chest and looking gleeful.
Dwayne was silently laughing, his arm still wrapped around her.
"Did you get to the nipple tweaking part?" Paul asked with the same eager excitement, unbothered by her faux-anger and opening the pizza box despite her order against touching it.
"I got to the-I-" she didn't want to say it. She didn't want to talk about being topless but she thought if she got it over with, they'd drop it, "...I got...you know" she gestured to her chest, "and then I said the stupid chant and touched Dwayne's heart and that's where he stopped me"
"Aw damn" Paul said, snapping his fingers.
"You would've been in for a treat if you'd shut your mouth" Marko advised his friend.
"Not that much of a treat" David's chuckle rang through the cave as he slouched comfortably in the wheelchair he seemed attached to. He looked between Marko and Paul, "I didn't think I could express the importance putting her nipple in his mouth and I couldn't even think about describing the testicle massage, so I left that part out"
Dwayne, she noticed as she glanced up at him, had his knuckles in his mouth but it didn't matter. She could feel his laughter through the shaking of his body.
She prayed that David was joking.
Paul and Marko didn't bother to try and hide their own laughs and Elizabeth clenched her jaw and closed her eyes in embarrassment. Why did it have to be David?! They didn't have the easy, comfortable relationship that she shared with Paul or even Marko. Of all the people she didn't want to talk about sex or anything even remotely sexual with, he was top of the list.
Mortification central.
"Why?" Dwayne asked his friend just as Elizabeth groaned, "stop!"
"...because I knew she would fall for it and that really was too funny"
"She is sitting right here!" Elizabeth protested over the raucous laughter of the boys. She elbowed Dwayne and while he buried his lips against her head, kissing her hair, she knew he was still struggling to keep his laughter contained.
There was even more to the stupid story, their stupid ritual that they hadn't told her?
She was grateful because she knew it could have been so much worse but it was mortifying. She couldn't imagine listening to David instruct her on giving…God, she couldn't even think about it.
"I hate you all!" she cried, not really meaning it but finding herself without anything else to say.
"You would have done it though, wouldn't you?" Paul probed and she pursed her lips, pouting because the honest answer was yes. They'd gotten her, hook, line and sinker. David could have added something ridiculous about sniffing Dwayne's bellybutton after aligning hers with it and she probably would have gone for it. She would have done it all. God, she would have played with his balls in the palm of her hand if she thought it would put his wrongs to right. All she could say was a repeat of, "I hate you guys!"
"You're a fucking hoot! You're a fucking lobster, girl!"
"I'm glad I amuse you. Put my pizza down"
That propelled more joy from Paul, who choked on a particularly big bite of her second dinner, "or else what? Gonna rip out my heart?"
Marko laughed through his swig of beer, almost choking and she laughed herself, unable to help it.
That was a pretty witty comeback.
"Ass" she grinned at him.
His whole face was bright and animated. He reached out and offered her the slice he'd taken a chunk out of but Elizabeth shook her head, rejecting it. It was her pizza, it had been bought for her but she wasn't that hungry anymore.
Paul was welcome to it, though again, she wasn't going to outright say it.
"I hope you choke on it" she told him before addressing the cave at large, "you know what? You guys aren't scary vampires, you're big kids"
"It's fun to have fun" David told her, eyes dancing.
Marko watched her with a smile. He stretched a little, leaning back on the fountain.
"We've all had some form of initiation-" his voice was kind but the grin was still laughingly wide. Paul was all joy, "-yeah! It's like a rite of passage!"
"Really?" Elizabeth sat up a little straighter, looking at Marko.
He nodded, gave an affirmative sort of grunt, glancing at Paul. She studied him, noticing he seemed serious and somewhat contrite. There was laughter on his face still but it was fading. There he was: the Marko she loved. Ready to inform and comfort.
Maybe he felt a little guilty about his part in the joke?
The idea of them all joking and teasing each other gave her some comfort, too. Knowing that they'd experienced her feeling of embarrassment gave her a twinge of satisfaction.
She blinked at him, "what was yours?"
"Oh, I took a leap off a very high building" he said ruefully, "I'll let you guess who had what role in that little trick but I didn't realize I was walking towards a ledge until my foot was off it"
That sounded terrible!
"Was it scary?"
"...yes and no" he told her, eyes dancing, "mostly no. I knew they wouldn't do anything to kill me but it was still an unpleasant fright"
"You did end up dead, though" David pointed out with amusement.
She looked to her side as Dwayne's fingers curled around her neck, comforting and strong. She asked Paul, "What was yours?"
He shifted, looking down at his pizza as Marko laughed, "he doesn't like to talk about his"
She grinned a little, somewhat mollified by Paul's look of embarrassment. He wasn't going to let go of her prank so she wouldn't let him not talk about his, "come on, seriously, what was it?"
"Let's not" Paul said, glancing furtively at David.
Dwayne's fingers were dancing on her neck and Elizabeth shook her head, "nuh-huh. You're not getting off. Spill"
Marko laughed again and Paul glanced up at her before mumbling, "I had to suck David's dick"
"What?!"
She couldn't keep the incredulous shock from her voice. It sounded like a screech but she couldn't help it.
She sat up even straighter, Dwayne's hand falling from its place on her neck. She looked at Paul in horror, her eyes wide.
That was disgusting, it was cruel, it was assault and abuse! Making someone perform a sexual act as an initiation was sexual abuse. There was no other way to describe it. That was sick. It was terrible; it wasn't a prank, it wasn't an initiation, it was horrific.
"Oh my-wh-really!?"
She pushed herself closer to Dwayne, seeking comfort and support, feeling simultaneously repulsed and heartbroken for Paul.
There was silence in the cave before Paul absolutely exploded with laughter, "NO!"
This time the laughter was riotous.
Even Dwayne was laughing beside her, his shoulders shaking and his hand now sort of limp against her lower back where it had fallen.
She could feel her face flame again and she knew that it would encourage their reaction. Hitching her knees up on the sofa, she buried her face in them and, shrugging Dwayne's arm away fully away from her body, she mumbled a laughing, tired and resigned, "I hate you guys"
The second time that night?! How could she be so stupid!?
"You're so gullible!" Marko told her brightly, his previous moment of contrition nothing more than an act, "Elizabeth! Come on! Suck David's dick?"
"What do you think of us?!" Paul howled.
"Us? What does she think of me?" David laughed.
"I swear to God..." she groaned.
Dwayne's hand was rubbing her back now but he was still chuckling with the rest of his brothers.
"Did you really jump from a high place?" she asked her knees.
Marko was right, she was gullible. She didn't know if he was lying just to set the lie with Paul.
"Yeah" Marko replied, laughingly. She heard a shift and wasn't sure if it was him getting comfortable on the fountain or Paul kicking his legs up on the sofa, "but it was mostly accidental. Paul wasn't part of our pack when it happened, so I wouldn't say it was a prank or an initiation. More of a mistake. If he was there at the time, it probably would have been a lot different"
"How can you accidentally take a drop from a high place?" she moaned, not wanting to trust him.
She was tempted to warn them all about what happened to the boy who cried wolf.
"I'll tell you one day" Marko promised as Paul happily sighed, "I do like the idea of an initiation though. It's very good for bonding. This is so fuckin' fun"
"It's not fun for me!"
David's chuckle was loud.
"This is the best night I've had in a while that doesn't involve blood" Marko said.
"Yeah, this is ace" Paul agreed.
"Well, I disagree!" she cried, "it sucks being laughed at!"
As if her words meant absolutely nothing, Paul laughed. He nudged her with his foot and she realized the noise had been his getting comfortable and stretching out, "you're tellin' me you don't find this funny? You little liar!" he nudged her again, "you're tellin' me it doesn't feel great to be one of the gang? You don't feel loved and accepted and like you're one of us?"
"...I did before" she said, lifting her head.
"And now?"
"Ask me again in ten years when I've lived this down"
"Got it"
"Ugh, I hate you guys" she repeated for the umpteenth time.
"You gotta get us back" Marko told her with a satisfied smile, "it's the only thing for it"
"I'm not sure she's up for the challenge" David goaded, his eyes quite as bright as his brothers.
Paul evidently agreed with him, "Get us back?! Nah, man. Ain't no getting us back? Come on, she-"
"-she is sitting here!" Elizabeth said interrupting Paul, looking between him and David. She wasn't angry with them but she couldn't help the sudden strong, sassy tone lacing her voice, "if you're going to talk about me, if you're gonna laugh at me, you're going to do it politely!"
Paul seemed to love being scolded. He laughed quite hard, clearly pleased with her reaction.
She felt a little bit like Lucy, the sudden burst of fierceness. Her mom had the same tone, sometimes.
"Yes, Paul. Be polite" David agreed sarcastically, his smile reaching his eyes.
"You guys are so rude. Who's she, anyway? The cat's mother?" Marko asked his two brothers, wagging his finger in a matronly way.
He was teasing her, mocking her and Elizabeth was once again tempted to make an unpleasant gesture towards all three of them. Paul got there first, however, and cheerily flipped his friend off.
Instead, not knowing how to tell them off anymore, Elizabeth rounded on Marko, "what does that even mean?"
"It's a proverbial expression, Elizabeth" Marko said formally, still laughing and making a point to say her name, to address her as if she was a teacher. He grinned at her, asking frankly and dropping the act, "what? You've never heard of it?"
"Well, yeah, I have..." she replied, "I just never really knew what it meant. I thought it was just something people say"
"It is something people say. That's why Marko said it"
"Edifying" she said, tilting her head as she answered David.
Paul reached forward and took another slice of her cooled down and since warmed up pizza though it was probably cool again.
He threw his head back and began to lower it towards his mouth, "she's simple and gullible. I guess with looks like yours, you don't need to be smart" before Elizabeth could whack him for his cheeky little jibe, he told her, "it means you gotta be polite and you gotta careful about pronouns. Or, wait, did you mean that you don't know what proverbial means?"
"Huh? Of course I know what pro-"
"-s'ok. Marko used big word" he interrupted, patting her thigh.
She groaned to herself, taking a breath. Still, they were teasing her!
Marko grinned, speaking before she could wallop Paul, "it's impolite to refer to someone as 'she' when the person is there with you"
"Well, I know that, that's why I told you not to call me she"
"So that's what, 'who's she, the cat's mother?' means, potato"
She laughed and kicked Paul with her foot. He dropped a bit of pepperoni on his shirt, "don't call me a potato. What are you talking about with pronouns? What are you on about? You've lost me"
"Well, like I said. You're kinda slow sometimes" he shrugged with a playful grin, picking up the dropped slice of greasy meat and placing it back on the pizza, "she is the third person singular pronoun, my sweet little potato cake. Hence my talking about pronouns. Do you see?"
She didn't know what to say or how to reply. She had been the victim of their prank and was losing in their game of wits, too. Instead, she commanded with a smile, "stop finding cute was to call me stupid!"
"Yes ma'am" – Paul.
"Yes Miss Emerson" – Marko.
She opened her mouth, ready to tell Marko to shut it but smiled and snapped it shut when she saw how brightly he was smiling…she'd told them not to talk about her as if she wasn't there, she'd told them not to call her 'she' and now they were calling her anything but 'she' and anything but her name.
She opened her mouth, ready to say something about not being their teacher when she snapped it shut.
Miss Emerson...Miss Emerson...
…it had sparked a little thought in her mind and now she found the cogs in her head were turning.
Her tired, playful frown was loosening and she found her sulky little pout turning into a smile.
She wasn't sure it was revenge in the classical sense but she was suddenly thinking of a damn good way to leverage their little prank to work in her favor. Big time work in her favor. She wasn't stupid, she got good grades but compared to the boys she supposed she was kind of dim.
Paul wasn't wrong though she knew he wasn't being serious, he didn't really think her stupid but there was a hint of reality to his jibing. She wasn't up to their level, that was for sure. They were smart. There was no denying that they were smart. They could throw around grammar rules just to tease her. It was easy for them, natural. They didn't have to think about it. Honestly, she'd have had to get a book to be certain what Marko was talking about with pronouns but for him...nothing.
They'd been around long enough, so it made sense that they knew a lot.
And Marko...Marko had been mildly concerned before, hadn't he?
In that moment, she realized how she could use it to her advantage.
She smiled for a second before letting it fall.
Perhaps her experiences as sister to Michael and Sammy could come in handy.
A few years ago, Sammy had taped a plastic roach to the toilet seat after she and Lucy had complained at him for leaving it up all the time. It was the usual complaint, the same tired story but Sammy had himself gotten tired of being, as he said, nagged at all the time and he'd decided to show his annoyance.
Elizabeth had gotten to the bathroom, shut and locked the door, turned to the toilet, readying herself to do her business. She had lifted the lid...and screamed in shock and surprise at the sight of the fat, shiny roach. She had slipped while backing up and knocked her hip against the sink. She'd cried a lot from a mixture of shock and pain and Sammy...poor little Sammy...he hadn't known what the hell to do with a crying sister.
He later confided that he'd take Lucy's shouting over her crying.
And then when she was upset, stressed with school or friends or whatever, Michael often didn't know what to do when she cried. He tried to comfort her, she'd get a side hug or a tentative back-pat but he never really looked comfortable with it.
Were the guys the same?
Playful and rough and tumble and manly men...did they know how to handle a crying woman?
"You guys are smart, huh?" she said, looking at each of them in turn.
"Yeah" Paul said unabashedly, his voice happy as Marko shrugged, not as vocal as his friend but agreeing with her comment and his reply all the same, "smarter than you, Indiana-"
"-ha ha" she interrupted, watching as David gave her an indulgent, 'no shit' sort of look but his face was still unusually bright from his laughter.
It was a little odd to see David so relaxed and so happy, a little weird to see him partake in such a childishly fun joke. She honestly thought he would prefer cruel pranks but at that moment such thoughts were neither here nor there.
She was thinking about bigger things.
The guys weren't just being arrogant, there was no denying it. They were playful idiots but intelligent playful idiots. They'd been around a long time - they'd read enough books; they'd practically lived history-
"-you speak French?" she asked Paul.
Paul had a governess; he had his own personal, private tutor. She remembered that, he'd had the best education for his time.
"Oui, mademoiselle. Je parle français. Pourquoi?"
She could see the chewed up pizza in his mouth but whatever he'd said sounded good enough.
"And Spanish?"
Paul gave an easy shrug, reaching for another slice of the pizza.
He looked a little bit bored, as if he'd be much happier to tease her or relive their little joke, "you know I've picked Spanish up, yeah. It's really not so difficult. I gotta be honest, bein' from Arizona it's kinda weird that you don't know any, I still don't get that. I did Latin, too, remember? Marko's fluent in Italian"
She glanced at Marko, surprised but in that moment he was looking at the one of the oil barrels.
Well, that was a big old check for languages and of course for history. She wasn't even going to ask about that. If Paul knew two languages, plus Latin and Marko spoke Italian that meant they must have a solid understanding of grammar, too. Solid enough to use it in toss away jokes, solid enough to get the constructs behind it and use it with second, third languages...
What else could they do?
"You've read the classics?"
"Meaning?"
"You know like Pride and Prejudice and stuff"
"They weren't classics when we read them" David told her, looking at her with mild interest, the laughter gone from his face.
The laughter was gone from the room in general now that she had engaged them in something else. Paul and Marko still looked thrilled with themselves, their whole aura was one of satisfied happiness but the chuckles and laughter had gone away.
David must have been wondering why she had suddenly changed the subject, why she wasn't flushing in embarrassment.
"I was just this night talkin' about Romeo and Juliet, chica-" Paul said with a burst of eager excitement.
He didn't seem distracted by the change of pace.
She guessed he would always be content as long as he had something to talk about, even the fleeting look of boredom had gone now, "-we read a lot. We read 'em all, all your classics and shit. Got first editions of a bunch of shit right here in this cave, actually. They're worth bank now. Well, some are" he said somewhat thoughtfully, asking Marko, "didn't you buy a fuck ton of Animal Farm?"
Marko shook his head, "nah, it was only twenty copies of Animal Farm. I got a hundred of 1984. I had a good feeling about that one and I was right" he smiled at Elizabeth, telling her, "Animal Farm's not getting much now but a first edition of 1984's already a pretty high-value item. I'm holding onto them"
"...why do you care about that?" she asked, momentarily distracted.
"Because we can sell them in the future" Dwayne offered. It was the first time he'd really spoken, "sometimes it's good to have a way to make some honest money without raising too many questions"
"Gotta sit on it a while. Books ain't big mad sellers but they're not suspicious, either" Paul said with a shrug, "but it ain't like we don't got time and if a book isn't worth shit, we just dump 'em or donate or whatever. Not a big deal"
"Huh..." that was interesting, it was edifying to get an insight into the way they lived and she wanted to know more but not at that moment. Such a discussion wasn't going to help her right then, "OK but not modern classics, like Orwell" Elizabeth clarified, "things like Bronte and...Wuthering Heights and stuff and uh...I don't know…" her memory was failing her, she couldn't think of the name, "like, the one about mice?"
"Of Mice and Men was published in 1937, I'd hardly compare it to Wuthering Heights" David sounded a tiny bit bored but there was a mild twang of curiosity in his voice, too.
He looked almost like a cat, the way his eyes were trained on her.
Yes, he was certainly wondering why she was grilling them on this all of a sudden.
It was a big leap, going from being the butt of a mortifying joke to grilling them on their intelligence but the other two didn't seem to care.
"Why wouldn't you compare the two?" she asked him.
Marko answered for David, "Because Wuthering Heights is from, what? 1845? '47?"
"'47" Dwayne confirmed, his arm around her once more, tugging her close to him.
If he was curious about her subject change, he wasn't showing it.
English literature seemed like something they would certainly excel at. It was a subject she did well in, too. She was confident that of the things she was good at, the guys were better.
How about the stuff she couldn't quite master?
"How are you guys at math? I'm terrible at math"
"They've done studies with chimps, Elizabeth. Math isn't difficult"
She grinned at David.
What a rude reply.
She expected nothing less of him.
"But you're good at it?"
"Yes"
"Even if we weren't" Paul said, "I'd just use my nifty little mind skills to get someone who does understand it to explain it to me. Or just mooch off of their smarts. Being a vampire's dead useful"
"Yeah. You could get a chimp to explain it to you" Marko suggested to his friend and Pau laughed, once again showing a mouth full of the pizza she'd yet to touch.
So even if there was a math problem or science problem they didn't know, they could just use their - as Paul said - nifty vampire skills to educate themselves?
That was excellent...
She felt her smile widen before she closed her eyes and took a small, calming breath. Her lower lip began to quiver and David, who had been watching her quite intently narrowed his eyes a little.
She knew what she had to do.
She knew how she could get them back and benefit from it.
"You know..." she said, taking a heaving breath, thinking about every sad movie she could muster, "...that was a really mean prank"
Bambi's mother, Bambi's mother, Bambi's mother.
Her eyes began to well up.
"That was really hurtful. You-you set out to humiliate me..." she sniffed. She looked directly at Paul, "I thought we were past that? Past the cruel tricks?"
She took a deliberately shaky breath.
"You set out to hurt me again...after everything...Paul you-after what happened..." she tried to think about Paul's part in the prank as being truly malicious. It was hard, at first, to imagine him being deliberately cruel to her but as she imagined how much it would hurt her if he had been, she found the tears were coming fast and heavy, "and Marko you-I thought you we-were bu-bu-better than that..."
Marko sat bolt upright, his face contorted in a sort of horrified shock.
Paul's eyes were wide and dancing, following the tears tracking down her cheeks.
They both looked genuinely stunned.
She sniffed and, glancing at David, seeing the way his eyes were narrowed, she buried herself into Dwayne's chest. He wrapped his arms around her and she found herself sobbing into him, the tears real and warm and positively flowing.
Bambi's mother.
Paul deliberately set out to hurt me, Paul wanted to see me cry.
Marko wanted to embarrass me.
Bambi's mother, the gun. Poor Bambi, calling for her…
Clarence Odbody got his wings at the end, sweet and innocent Clarence...what a nice angel, God, what a sad movie...
What would I do if Dwayne said he didn't want me-
Her last thought really did it and she found herself crying in earnest.
The idea of Dwayne deciding he no longer wanted her as a mate was almost crippling.
She didn't know if he knew what she was doing but his arms tightened around her
There was movement behind her and she felt a tentative, unsure hand on her back. It certainly didn't belong to her mate, "Lizzie, we didn't-"
It was Paul. He was desperately scared, he sounded almost aghast.
"-it was just-"
Marko, too, sounded mildly horrified.
"-mean to hurt you-"
"-like a game to welcome you-"
"-are you OK? We really didn't mean-"
"-to hurt me?" Elizabeth cried out, clutching onto Dwayne, "how do you think this could not hurt me?!"
Paul gave a panicked, "she laughed! She laughed about it, too, in the room we heard her laugh. You laughed, man!"
She could imagine the look on his face, imploring and surprised.
"We were just talking about it- I don't get it" Marko fumbled and Elizabeth cried harder.
He sounded close to her, though not as close as Paul was.
It was fun, to hear the two men panic, to fluster but now that she was crying, it was so easy to keep it up.
She was going to do it.
She was going nuclear.
Fuck it, why not?
"Dwa-Dwayne" she choked, "I don't-I can't co-c-come here a-a-anymore"
She hoped that he knew what she was doing, she hoped he understood but she didn't want to risk trying to send him a sign or anything. She was pretty sure if she signaled to him, even mentally, that the other guys would pick up on it, too.
Hell, she was just lucky they were respectful and honest and not probing her mind at that moment.
"Lizzie!" Paul sounded shocked.
He sounded horrified.
She wondered if he had recoiled.
She wished she could see their faces.
"Elizabeth, no-"
"What can we do, how can we help?"
"-what can we do?"
"Tell us how to make it right"
Elizabeth noticed that David wasn't involving himself as Paul and Marko spoke over each other.
Paul had even dropped the pet names.
She could imagine David, sitting there just watching, thinking and waiting and she swore to herself that she would get him, too. Even if his pack mates had to force him, she'd be getting something from him. Maybe not in that moment but in the future, she'd make sure he owed her.
"Whatever we can do, Elizabeth" Marko continued, "tell us. We never intended for -"
"-Lizzie, c'mon-yo, loosen your hold I'll give her a hug-" she felt Paul try to pry open Dwayne's arms and she disguised her laugh as a wail of upset. Dwayne held her tighter, "-aw fuck, girl I'm sorry-"
"-ho-h-how can I-I eh-eh-ver j-join thi-this pack?!" she sobbed.
"Oh my fucking-"
"-Elizabeth-"
She could imagine Paul jittering on the spot, Marko crouching over her.
"-chica we'll do anything, anything at all, anything-"
Paul was desperate, Marko was agreeing whole heartedly.
She wondered if they were scared, if they believed they'd crossed the line, she wondered if they were worried about potentially having destroyed Dwayne's happiness and then she wondered if they just didn't know how to deal with an emotionally distressed woman.
Still, their proclamation was good.
She trusted them.
They'd do whatever it took.
They wouldn't lie about it.
Satisfied, pleased that she'd turned the tables on them and proud of herself for thinking so quickly, she sniffed.
Dwayne's grip loosened and she popped up, knowing that her eyes were swollen and a blotchy red and that her cheeks were covered in her tears but she was smiling brightly.
"One year of perfect homework assignments with relevant and correct references if needed plus an overall passing grade of either A or B in Spanish, math, chemistry and physics"
Paul and Marko stood there stunned, their mouths slightly open, words of panic frozen.
Paul was still crouched over her on the sofa, Marko stood frowning before her.
"What?"
"And I suck at the latter ones, so you're probably going to have to work your voodoo magic to get me to pass because even if you ace my homework, I'll tank the tests"
"Ace your homework?"
She nodded, smiling at the two of them.
"...you little sneak" Paul breathed, a smile spreading over his face. He flopped back onto the sofa as if he'd been shot, "she's not upset at all!"
"Christ, Elizabeth" Marko took a step back and sank onto the rim of the fountain.
She could hear the relief in his voice.
David laughed and while Elizabeth was pleased to hear his laughter directed towards his two brothers, she wasn't going to let them off scot free. She'd had a flash on inspiration and dammit, she was getting a year's worth of perfect grades.
She wanted to ask them who was gullible now but David got there first.
"You're just as gullible as she is" he told his friends.
"Jesus, Liz" Marko cursed, hand on his chest.
"That was cruel" Paul told her.
She sniffed, "you were cruel"
"Save it!" David laughed, holding up his hand.
Dwayne was silent and, turning to his chest one more, she surreptitiously squeezed his nipple. She could have sworn she felt him jerk, almost laugh but dutifully he growled, "if I lose my mate because of this-"
"-you won't" David said coolly.
He sounded so sure of himself and while Elizabeth had no intention of doing anything to hurt Dwayne, would never make him choose between her and his pack, she wasn't going to let them off.
She would wait them out if she had to. She would cry again if that's what it came to. She would sob, she would stay away from the cave, she would recoil from them.
She was invested now and she knew that she could do it.
All she had to think about was Dwayne rejecting her and it seemed the tears would come fast and steady.
Paul laughed, "I'm down, I'm down. Peace! Jesus..." it sounded like a relieved curse, "let's call a truce. My heart's going a thousand miles a fuckin' second and it don't even beat. I'm in, you can let go of his nipple. I'll get you through your final year, you sneaky delight"
Marko stared at her, shaking his head.
"That was good, wasn't it?" she asked him.
"Yeah" he replied, shaking his head again in shocked disbelief. He looked almost angry in his seriousness and Elizabeth loved the difference between him and Paul. Still, he had yet to agree like his brother and so asked, "are you going to keep your promise or do I have to cry again?"
"I'm in" he told her, "no more tears, not after last time"
He seemed eager not to engage and she grinned. Marko had been remembering how hard she had cried, how terrible it had been when she'd been under Star's unintentional lure, when she'd found out what Dwayne was, when she had been the real victim of David and Paul's thoughtlessly cruel revelation of what they were.
She felt a twang of guilt for putting Marko through that worry again but then she remembered the ritual she was about to undertake and so she grinned, the champion and the victor.
Marko gave a fleeting smile in turn, looking at her in a sort of proud, exasperated way.
He must have known what she was thinking.
She looked around the cave to find David, still sat with crossed arms with a wide smirk on his face. His pose was clear, he didn't need words to communicate that he would play no part in homework assignments or tests but she hadn't expected it, anyway.
Smiling, she shrugged, "that's fine. I don't expect anything from you"
Paul, Marko and Dwayne laughed and for a second – for a fleeting second – she could have sworn there was a flash of happiness in the cold blonde's eyes but it was gone before she could really confirm it.
There was silence for a moment and she smiled, basking in her success.
She was proud of herself.
She looked up at Dwayne, "are you taking me home?"
He nodded and she heaved herself up from the sofa, her mate following closely.
"Well, this has been fun!" she told the guys, feeling lighter after her humiliation. It was fun to leave as the victor. She had entered the cave just now feeling nervous and embarrassed and now she could leave without fanfare, leave on her terms and leave as the undisputed winner, "see you tomorrow!"
There was an easy chorus of "byes" (she was sure David's wasn't quite sincere but there was a note in it that she hadn't heard before, something that made her feel oddly pleased) and it made her laugh a little, how much it felt like a cliché sitcom. The laughing, the jokes, the hijinks and then the easy goodbye.
"…Liz?"
She turned and looked back at Paul as Marko sat down on the space she and Dwayne had just vacated.
"You know you've solidified it, right, baby girl?" he was no longer panicking, he looked somewhat frazzled still but there was a discomforting cockiness in his face.
"What?"
Marko grinned, still looking mildly distressed but also quite like a cat that caught itself a mouse. His expression was even more discomforting, "we pranked you, you got us back. You've solidified it"
"…solidified what?" she asked slowly, looking between the two, Marko having clarified nothing.
She suddenly felt her sense of control and victory slipping away.
Paul stretched his arms out over the back of the sofa, the pizza box now balancing on his lap, "David? Care to illuminate?"
"Prank Wars"
"…what?"
That sounded like something she definitely didn't want.
She didn't look at David.
"No. No, you got me and now I've got you. We're even, we're done" she told them, eyeing the two on the sofa, "and done pretty fast, I'm pretty proud of myself-"
She stopped as David laughed. She looked at him, saw the way he was shaking his head.
"If you'd left it, they wouldn't have been able to do anything else. It's bad form, you know? You can't torment someone over and over"
"That's just cruel" Marko said.
"Mean" Paul supplied.
They were both back to their sly, confident selves.
That did not bode well.
She reached behind her and gripped Dwayne's hand.
"Had you left it alone, they would have had to leave you alone in turn but now that you've 'gotten even'" David grinned, "you've opened the gates. They're now free to 'get you' again"
"No" she shook her head.
"Yes" Marko and Paul chimed together.
She looked at Dwayne, her face falling when she saw the set of his mouth.
"How can we top that, Marko?"
"I don't know, Paul"
"I'm quite impressed by the speed in which she got us back"
"I was impressed by the outcome she managed to orchestrate"
"She's got us doin' her homework..."
"...what can we make her do for us?"
"Is that the route we want to go down?"
"I'm not sure?"
"That-" she fumbled, looking between the two of them.
She wanted to protest, to say that it wasn't fair, that she didn't know it wouldn't end but all she could mumble was a quiet, defeated and worried little, "fuck"
She left the cave to their laughter and Dwayne's chuckling commiserations.
A/N: just some fluff because things are going to get very serious very fast! Thank you so much for the reviews, having some engagement and feedback really motivates me. Be safe, everyone!