Advice for the week:
Be patient, it's harder than hell at times, but it pays off…eventually.
Paul
Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. How could I do this? Can I do this? I need to tell her what I am and how I feel. Shit.
"Calm down, you're driving me crazy." Leah yelled.
"What is it, Paul? Are you ok? You look like you're gonna throw up." Lila was too beautiful that my mind went blank. "Paul? Hello? Earth to Paul."
"Lila, I know that we haven't known each other that long, and I know that we've been dating for a really short time." I paused, the more I said the cold truth the more I didn't want to tell her yet.
"Paul, stop." She put her cool, soft hands on my burning-hot face. Her eyes were so sweet and caring. "You can tell me anything or everything, I'm not going anywhere. Well, not yet at least."
"Ok, here we go." I took a deep breath. "I have a certain condition."
"Oh, my gosh! Are you ok? Are you terminal?" she looked like she might start crying.
"Nononono! Oh no! Not like that kind of condition. I'm just…a werewolf." Lila looked so relieved almost like she hadn't heard me.
"You are a what?" a look of utter disbelief crossed her face, she crossed her arms.
"I am a werewolf." I held my breath and waited for a reaction.
"So you turn into a big fuzzy thing every full moon?" She asked with humor in her eyes. Not the mean humor just a calm and sweet humor.
"It doesn't work exactly like that." I replied. Lila just shrugged.
"Ooook." She clearly didn't believe me; we walked to the car and I started driving home.
"So do you believe me?" I asked lamely.
"I believe that you think you are a werewolf." She replied trying to stifle a laugh. I had to laugh too because she had no idea how much of a werewolf I actually am.
"Whatever, are you freaked out?" I kept my eyes on the road even though with my werewolf senses I didn't really need to.
"No way. Look Paul, I really like you and if you have a few quarks I don't really care. I think it's cute you like wolves so much." She giggled a little. "I've always had a secret fascination with wolves."
"Nice. So my friends all liked you. They wanted me to let you know." I shrugged and Lila brightened. She blushed a little then got a confused look.
"I liked them too. But, how do you know that they liked me? You didn't even get a chance to talk to them after you dragged me away." She laughed, I could tell that she was glad that they liked her.
"It's a werewolf thing." I teased her. I could feel that she was rolling her eyes at me. "What?"
"I'm sorry Paul." She said between laughs. "It's.just.super.cute.that.you.think. that you are a werewolf." She continued laughing. I pulled the car over and walked outside; Lila followed and seemed distressed. I had a hard time with people laughing at me and I needed a little air.
"Lila!" I realized how harsh my voice sounded and I took a few deep breaths. "Lila, you are so special to me. More special than I feel like I can express."
"Oh Paul." Her face had a mix of emotions playing. I needed her to understand how extreme my feelings happened to be. I got down on one knee so that we could be more on the same level. "You better not propose to me right now."
It was my turn to laugh. "No, I promise. Lila, I am a werewolf. I would show you right now but I don't trust myself to phase in front of you. I wouldn't want anything bad to happen." I further explained all the nitty gritty details of werewolf-dom. Lila kept a straight face through all of my explanation. I knew that the information was sinking in, but she didn't believe a word of it.
"That's all very interesting Paul. You are so cute." I felt like she was patronizing me. I got off my knees and took a few steps away. I turned back and stared hard at her.
"Lila, I love you." She looked like I had slapped her.
"I-uh thank you. I think I might really love you too." It was almost like as she was saying the words she was realizing the truth to it. "Oh!"
"Is that such a surprise? We are just about perfect for each other." I was being overly cocky now to help ease her sudden realizing. "Lila, I knew that I loved you the moment we met."
She looked scared and almost hurt. "This is too strange. I need some time to think this over. I can't-I can't be in love with you because I will be leaving at the end of the summer. I walked over to her and put my arms around her. She let me just hold her. I couldn't let our relationship remain on a timeline.
"I'm sorry that I have to leave." her drawl was thick now, she was so good at hiding her roots.
"This relationship doesn't have to mean anything if you don't want it to mean anything. I can tell you what it means to me." Lila was just watching me, I did my best to stay calm. "I don't know if I even want to hear this. I don't want things to be any harder. Can't we just…have fun?" she didn't seem like she even believed me.
"I have imprinted on you." I took a deep breath and held it; I hadn't meant to blurt this out, but I did.
"So what? I'm like your mommy?" she let out some nervous laughter. "Now, that would just be a disappointment." She stepped closer to me and put her hands on my chest. I could feel my pulse quicken and a slow bush spread across my cheeks.
"Not exactly." I took another deep breath to build the nerve to explain imprinting. "Normal people search their whole lives to find a soul mate. There is a phenomenon among us werewolves. After our genes are activated and we've been werewolves for a while something happens and we fall in love-"
"Aww puppy love." Lila made a cute face even though she was teasing.
"Anyway, we fall in love but it is something really special. There is this deep connection, the best way to explain it is that it is more than a soul mate. There is something much more supernatural about imprinting. It means, well, I am here for you for whatever you need me to be." I was waiting for her to react.
"Oh? Is that all?" she started laughing that sweet musical laugh of hers. This obviously wasn't sinking in, she didn't understand the severity of what our relationship meant to me. "You had me worried for a minute because I-" I cut her off with the most passionate knee shaking, heart melting, fall-on-your-knees-and-thank-god kiss I could muster. I hope that in one passionate kiss I could express how deeply I cared for Lila.
Lila
No words. There isn't a single word or phrase to explain what happened. I'd seen Paul as a townie guy who was incredibly good looking, sweet, smart, funny, and interesting. I never thought that one kiss from this amazing guy could make me forget everything. The kiss made me forget everything except the two of us. It took me five solid minutes to remember that I even had a family to get home to. All day Paul had gotten stranger and stranger, telling me that he is a werewolf. He managed to work up this elaborate explanation of what being a werewolf entails. It would make for a great premise to a book, but I didn't think it could be real. He even said his friends were werewolves. I loved his friends; I had made a connection with each and every one of them. I just didn't buy it; but the imprinting idea was sweet. I almost swooned when he said that he would be whatever I needed him to be. Strange but at least he was sweet. I hadn't realized exactly how much we liked each other. No. He didn't just like me, he actually loved me.
"Hey Paul!" he was shoveling horse crap, like usual.
"Oh, hey you!" He ran over and kissed me on the mouth for a good five seconds. I loved that he made every kiss count. Every time Paul kissed me it felt like he thought it would be our last kiss. And every time he kissed me it sent shivers down my spine. He had tasted faintly of sweat and mint. "What's up? I'd hug you but…"
"Yeah, no problem." He wasn't wearing a shirt and his perfectly sculpted chest was gleaming in the sun. "So I heard this weird noise last night."
"Oh?" he was still working while I sat on the fence watching him work. He was such eye candy.
"Yeah, it was strange. It sounded like a wolf howling; you weren't stalking me were you?" I teased. Paul gave me a look. He didn't seem to like my werewolf jokes; I watched him take a deep breath.
"Lila, I love you but I still can't believe that you don't believe me." He shrugged and looked disappointed. I couldn't help myself, belief can be a hard pill to swallow.
"I'm sorry wolf-boy but it's just so unlikely." I smiled and jumped off the fence I leaned over for a kiss before I went back to work but Paul just shook his head.
"I need some time to think." He frowned and I felt bad.
"I love you, even if you are a wolf-boy." I smiled.
"Yeah, love you too." He muttered and continued with his work. I was too lost in thought to notice José watching me. We hadn't hung out for a long time; I had spent just about every free moment I had with Paul and his friends. So much time that I was forgetting my own friends. I continued walking oblivious to José, but with the distinct feeling that I was being watched. It was a large farm and just about anyone could walk in and do who-knows-what with innocent farm-girls. I took a deep-calming breath and turned around quickly to see Jo standing there watching me.
"Oh my stars!" I couldn't help it; my mother always said this to me as a child.
"Hello, Lila. Long time no see." His voice was monotone and flat, this made me a little nervous.
"Hey there, you." I said weakly. "It is so good to see you, but I should get back to work." I turned to leave but Jo was one step ahead of me. He'd gotten fast and he looked different, sadder and paler.
"What is with the southern accent? You didn't used to have one. Don't take this the wrong way but it makes you sound stupid." He said maliciously.
"Welp," I popped the p. "Paul likes it and I don't have to be so careful with my speech anymore. This is who I am, Jo, and I am beginning to love it." I turned again but Jo was there in front of me still. He was so fast.
"You two are very close these days, no?" I really didn't like his tone now. Now, he was starting to scare me. Worst of all, we were so far out that no one would hear me scream. Shit.
"Yeah, we are close. He's really great." I said backing away slowly.
"DON'T tell me he is great." Jo spat at me, "I don't want to hear it, Lila. Why do you call him wolf-boy? Is there something different about Paul?" he was walking closer to me now. It was time to lie, time to lie my ass off.
"It's because he is so harry. You've seen his arms, you know." I looked down, when I looked back at Jo he had a strange expression on his face and I noticed that his eyes were eerily dark.
"I think you are lying to me. Lila, I never thought of you as a liar." He smiled darkly at me and I froze. Behind José, my not-so-sweet-anymore Jo, was the biggest dog/horse thing I'd ever seen in my life. It was the shape of a dog but the size of our largest horse. A few months ago this would have scared me shitless, but for some reason I felt calm and safe in this monster's presence.
"Wolf-boy, indeed." Jo sneered. The oversized dog stalked its new prey and I had a sinking feeling. Why wasn't I pooping my pants right now out of fear? Why did this strange creature feel so familiar? The animal circled closer and closer and I noticed that it kept a watchful eye on me. The eyes were gentle and calm with me but dark and fierce with Jo. Jo was standing in front of me; he was protecting me for the dog-thing. Only, I didn't want to be protected from it, if anything I wanted protection from Jo. He had changed a lot when I wasn't paying him any attention. He had become devastatingly handsome and pale. I caught the eye of the dog-thing and I swear it winked at me. I started to back away slowly from José and ran for it. Now, I'd never thought of myself as a fast runner. I had a distinct edge in that Jo was so focused on the dog-thing.
"Oh no no." Jo was standing calmly in front of me. I looked back and he had easily cleared a quarter of a mile in seconds, without breaking a sweat. Shit. I was really in trouble. "The way I see things you have a few choices: come with me and be happier beyond your wildest dreams, or stay with Paul and die." He was walking closer to me now and I started to sweat. I saw the dog-thing stalking up behind Jo.
"Jo, you know I've always wanted you." I decided to seduce him until the dog could get him. "I can't imagine what I would do without you, baby." I placed both hands on his temperature? I leaned in close enough for Jo to kiss me, this caused him to become so flustered and distracted that he didn't sense the dog-thing closing in. At the last minute I chickened out. I saw something in José's eyes, I saw the boy that was my first love. Jo realized what was happening and ran away faster than I could have ever imagined a person could run. I watched the blur until he had completely vanished. I turned around to be facing a very naked, very worried Paul. I tried extremely hard not to look too south, but it was too hard not to sneak a peek.
"Hey!" he covered his man-bits, "Can I burrow you shirt until I can get to my pants?" I was wearing a swimming suit under my shorts and tank top. I gave up my shirt and Paul tried to fit it around his waist, but my shirt was too small. I started giggling nervously. "Oh shut up." That only made me laugh harder.
"Wait. How did you end up naked? Did you see that dog-thing? What is wrong with José?" My head was spinning with questions.
"Lila! You are so frustrating! I am a werewolf! I just saved you." He put both of his huge hands on my shoulders; however this gesture made him drop my shirt and expose himself again.
"That was you? No… Wait! I-I don't believe it." The realization that maybe his little wolf fetish might have been something supernatural was starting to sink in. I found myself strong and unafraid of what this could all mean. I knew that I needed time to adjust, but I also knew that this summer was going to be very interesting.