Christian's P.O.V.-
To my total surprise, Paul opened the door of the journalism club before I had the chance to knock. I'd just finished up with my environmental hours and was on my way to see Anastasia. I had to see her again; as soon as possible. Ever since that night with the black market and my conversation with the panda…. I just had to see her; I needed to hear the sound of her voice. It'd calm me down, I knew it would. But I was shocked to find Paul in Anastasia's clubroom, and what's more, he looked equally as stunned to see me there.
"Christian?" Paul blinked, stepping out and shutting the door behind him. "Paul? What are you….?" "Oh! Wait a minute- did you come to check on how the article's doing?" "No! Er, yes… uh…." Is that why he's here? I almost forgot about that article for coach…. "Ah, don't worry, bro. She's working on it; it'll be done for next week's paper," Paul sighed reassuring. "She?" My heart skipped a beat. "The editor. She's writing it." "Oh, that's good…. Erm, is she…. inside?" I squirmed while asking this. Paul's face lit up in slight confusion.
"Who? Ana?" Ana? "Um, yeah; Anastasia. She's the editor here, right?" That's when Paul's grin began to fade. "What do you want with Ana? Do you… know her?" "Yes, well… kind of. We've spoken a couple of times," I felt my nerves heighten. To my surprise a second time, Paul actually placed his hand firmly on the wall beside him, effectively blocking my access to the door and inside.
"Ana's busy right now; you shouldn't disturb her." So, she is inside? My eyes widened puzzled. Why would he block the door like that then? He's in a pretty dominant stance right now. "I understand. I just… wanna talk to her." "About what?" Why should he care? And why is he acting defensive all of a sudden? "Nothing really. I just…." My eyes glanced away as I rubbed the back of my neck in an awkward fashion.
Paul eyed me, then let out a small sigh. "Listen, Christian. I like you; you're a good friend. But Ana isn't like me; she's not used to talking to larger carnivores. I'm afraid it might scare her if you try and approach her all of a sudden. She is a lamb, after all," he shrugged. Paul… "I don't know about that," I retorted calmly, trying to sound as passive as I could. "She's just a little on edge right now. We just heard about another attack downtown." "Really?!" My voice cracked. "Yeah," Paul sighed once more, lowering his eyes sadly. I sensed he wanted to say more so I waited for him to continue, which he did seconds later. "It shook Ana up a bit. It's not like she's scared, and I know you'd never do anything to her, obviously. It's just… I don't want her to get surprised or scared, you get me?" "Y-yeah, I get ya…." I said more for Paul's sake than mine. Still, all urges inside me screamed at me to go in and see her, check on her…. Anastasia, I peered at the shut door again.
Seemingly satisfied with this, Paul nodded affirmingly. Then he patted my shoulder and started to lead me away from the clubroom. "Come on, let's go tell coach the good news about the article." "Uh, yeah, sure…." Seeing no way to change his mind right away, I followed suit. Though I really wanted to run to her, maybe even comfort her if she needed. Huh, that's weird; the more I think about her, the more….. I think about her, if that makes any sense. It's like a never-ending cycle; never-ending because I never stopped thinking about her….
"So…." "So?" "Just out of curiosity, how'd you meet Ana? Share any classes?" Paul asked me as we wandered through the halls towards coach's office. I didn't answer immediately, allowing myself some time to construct an appropriate response. What should I tell him? Should I be honest? Well, technically the first time I spoke to her was that day when we went to the journalism club. "Erm, coach told me and John to go to tell her about the article. That's how I met her." "Oh yeah! That was like a while ago. I was wondering who told her to do that, on coach's behalf course! No one's blaming you or John; hell, even Ana doesn't. All on coach," he sounded happy, like this explanation pleased him… for some reason.
"And what about you?" "Huh?" "How'd you meet Anastasia?" "Oh, we're old friends; we've known each other since the first year of high school. Met her through a mutual acquaintance named Jose." Jose? I think I remember him. So they've all been friends for a long time then? Huh, friends…. "Are you…. friends with Anastasia?" "What do you mean?" "I mean are you "friends"?" My eyes met Paul's. He watched me, remaining quiet for a minute. Now it looked like his turn to formulate an answer to give me.
"Er, it's…. complicated. Let's just say that we are friends…. for now." For now? What does he mean by "for now"? That's when it finally hit me: the scent of Anastasia all over Paul's skin and clothes. The pink smell of hair, her sweat, her gentleness….. Why is Paul covered in it?! They didn't have sex; I can tell that much. But there was something here; he had touched her in some way, shape, or form. In that moment, it felt like my heart was being coiled agonizingly by a steel bar.
I had to kick my quickly raging brain. Wait, why am I getting all worked up? They're simply friends, and friends can hug each other. Well, I didn't hug Jason or Paul often, but girls might be different. It's not like he likes her or anything. Paul doesn't like Anastasia, does he? No…. he would tell me, wouldn't he? But then again, he did say "for now". Ugh, I'm probably overthinking this; Paul has a girl that he likes- he told me himself. I doubt Paul and mystery girl are "just friends". No, there's to worry about….. But my nose kept creeping over to his pink-scented clothing. Right?
"What about you? I heard about that Elena chick from Aylin. Sounds like she likes you, dude," Paul patted my back casually. "Elena? Oh, her. Yeah, she's alright, I guess….." "You guess? Bro, there's a really hot wolf on campus and you think she's just "alright"? Granted, I haven't seen her in person, but Aylin has assured me she's gorgeous. At least give her a shot, man," more pats. "Eh, I don't know…." "What's there to know? Just ask her out! The worst that can happen is she'll say no."
I shrugged, not really sure what else to say. I can understand where he's coming from. Elena's a wolf and it's socially acceptable, even encouraged for us to get together. But…. I gazed forward, lost in thought about the whole situation. Paul's got a point; I am a meat-eater and ever since the black market, I've been afraid to look at myself in the mirror. Yet despite all that, more importantly…. much more importantly, I'm afraid that I'm drifting away from Anastasia.