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Chapter 2:

The Sage Willow

"Maybe," Vivian replied stubbornly, tying her hair back. She wanted, more than anything, to be out, either running with the pack or doing something. She just wasn't too apt to do anything with Gabriel, not yet anyways.

"There's a concert playing over at the college."

"Oh," she wanted to see Aiden and make him jealous, but she knew it wouldn't be fair to Gabe. "Who's playing?"

"A new band called Snap Shot. I thought you might want to check them out."

"Sure, I'll just get changed."

"Okay," Gabriel went back to his magazine as if he didn't hear what she just said.

"Gabriel," Vivian stood with her arms folded, her weight resting on her left leg.

"If I must," he smirked and closed the door on his way out of her room, magazine still in hand. Once he was out of sight, she looked down at her own outfit. She had on blue, jean, short, shorts and a sloppy, old, T-shirt that she wore whenever she gardened with her mother.

'Ew,' she silently grimaced. She took off her shirt, threw it in her hamper and put on a white T-shirt that had a unique, swirl design that she got at a flee market and it clung to her body in the humid weather, but she didn't mind. Next, she discarded her sweaty shorts into the hamper. This time she chose a cute, little, mini skirt. Then she opened her closet and grabbed her sandals. Finishing up in her room, she walked swiftly to the bathroom. She pulled her pony tail out of its tight knot and shook her head vigorously. She brushed through it once, getting out the minor tangles. Then she ran her smooth fingers through her hair. She looked at herself in the mirror and stared straight into her eyes, dazzled at how her shirt brought out her eyes and noticed her cheeks. They were flushed deeply so she didn't bother putting any blush on, but a little mascara couldn't hurt she decided.

Once she was done grooming herself, she slipped her sandals on and walked to the living room. When Gabriel saw her he whistled with pleasure.

"Let's go, shall we?" he walked over to her, throwing the magazine on the table and taking Vivian's waist.

As they neared Gabriel's motorcycle, he slung his leg over the bike. 'Slick,' Vivian thought. Then it was her turn to seat the bike. As she used both of her hands to steady herself, she remembered.

"Gabe, I forgot my purse inside."

"No you didn't."

"Wh…" Gabriel held up a pink hand bag with dark swirls on it, almost from out of nowhere. Vivian blushed.

"I grabbed it on my way out of your room."

"Why did you do that? How did you know that I was going to wear something that matched that bag?"

"Your shirt was flung over your chair, so I figured that you would wear it. The bag matched, so I grabbed it. I wondered if you would say anything." Gabriel just shrugged his shoulders, revealing no expressions on his face.

"Well, thank you," she took the bag and Gabriel met her eyes, smiling. She slid the bag down her arm, took the helmet he offered her and wrapped her arms around him, tight.

If she was going to use him at the concert, she, at lest, wanted him to think was as into him.

When they finally arrived, he took her helmet and placed it in the traveling compartment in the bike and locked it. She waited patiently taking his waist when he was done. They walked and found the line waiting to go in. She didn't have anything to say to him so she just stared at the setting sun.

"Vivian?" Gabriel asked.

"Hmm? Sorry," she answered staring into his perfect, blue eyes.

"Are you okay? You look……lost," his eyes betrayed his concernedness and Vivian instantly felt bad for how she planned to use him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just looking at the sunset," her voice got soft, "I'm going to miss it."

"Vivian, what are you talking about? None of us have even mentioned leaving here. I know how you must be feeling, but nows not the time to talk about it," his smooth hand played across her cheek, "later. I promise." Vivian smiled back sweetly. Although she was unaware of it, she was steadily falling for Gabriel.

"I wonder why they're having the show inside tonight," he said looking around.

"Oh well, I don't mind," she was starting to regret going to the concert. She was feeling tired and, and much as she didn't want to admit it, she wanted to lye in Gabriel's arms.

"You never wanted to move here did you? To Maryland, I mean."

"No, but once my father pasted away, I bare to live in that house. Everyday I would wake up and walk straight past his room and I would see an empty spot at the table or a toothbrush missing in the bathroom," she stared at his face somberly, "missing home, is like missing my father, and sometimes…..sometimes, the memories are to painful."

Gabriel stared down; right back at her, trying to understand what it would feel like, to have everything and completely lose it. They finally took their seats and the show started right on time. After the first song she no longer felt tired. The music had such a good tempo and she could feel the singers' passion in her soul.

"You like them, don't you?" said Gabriel watching Vivian as she danced to the music and sang with the band every time they played a chorus the second time.

"Yeah," she said. Gabriel just smiled and sat in his seat while everyone else around him was jumping up and down in synchronization with the drums' steady beat.

At the end of the concert Vivian was pumped and had no desire to go home. As she plopped herself on Gabe's bike she hugged him tight and took in his scent. He smelled fresh, like shampoo and soap and Vivian preferred it next to some of the nasty cologne that the Four wore.

The Four.

No longer the Five, now with Rafe gone. She had liked Rafe. He had made her laugh, even though she hated admitting it, and the pranks that he always played could get annoying but she never hated him. Until, of course, he started killing people with, Astrid. Vivian felt so bad for Ulf and felt worse because she couldn't do anything to help him. That's where everything went wrong.

Astrid was so old and how Rafe could find her appealing was beyond her. Rafe had endangered the pack and now they had to start over, again. Although Gabriel said that it wasn't definite that the pack was going to move, she knew they would have to.

"So, Viv, where do you want to go?" Gabriel said before starting the bike.

"Anywhere but home and Tooleys."

"I know just the place." Vivian didn't bother to ask him where he was taking her because she knew he wouldn't tell her. They rode, for what seemed like hours, into the country side. The breeze chilled Vivian as the rode, but it was refreshing.

When Gabriel stopped the bike, she got off, hesitant at first, looking at the surroundings.

"Where are we?"

"I'm not sure what the people call it here. There are variations of the name, but I come here to think. Everything is so peaceful here." Gabriel had taken them to a vast meadow with flowers everywhere. On the edge of the meadow was an old, sage looking, weeping willow, like the one from Pocahontas. The branches hung low to the ground and the roots were gnarled in between the grass. They sat down and faced the city below.

"Wow," said Vivian softly, "how did you find this place?"

"It was after the pack had found out about the attacks and I got so frustrated. I changed form and just ran. It felt weird when I did. I wasn't running away, but no matter how fast I ran I couldn't run fast enough to take me away from all the havoc of the pack. It was frustrating and I felt like ripping my chest to shreds to take away the gnawing feeling that I felt there. That's why I ran, to try to rid that annoyance I felt there, but it didn't help. And then I found this place and focused on the city. I dreamed about you Vivian and everyone else down there. I tried to think of how much harder life for some of those people probably was. It helped, forgetting my selfishness and thinking of those who actually have something to grieve about," he paused and tore his gaze away from the city looking to Vivian, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to babble."

"No," she couldn't bear to look at him so she looked at the city, "I know how you must have felt. Not being able to run away when you're not. It's like a nightmare. You're stuck in your dream until your body wills you out of it, and most of the time you're stuck facing something dreadful. Something that you can't run away from until you wake up and it's over and you have no clue how long it might last. I know that feeling exactly."

There was silence as the two contemplated everything that had been said. They listened to the crickets singing their song and watched the glow of the city steadily decrease as the night went on. They fell asleep against each other on the trunk of the tree and slept soundly until morning.

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