Chapter Two
Breakeven
"What am I supposed to do when the best part of me was always you?"
Derek
I should have saw this coming. Her return was inevitable. But my heart still aches.
I had caught her scent during my usual jog. It made every single hair on my body stand on end. She smelled of flowers, and rosin, the solid amber she rubs against the hairs of her bow before she plays. From there, the animal inside me could not resist. I followed the trail.
I awaited her arrival in an alcove of trees, watching. When I saw her step out of her parent's silver Volvo, it had felt like the wind had been knocked out of me, and suddenly all I could focus on was her beautiful presence. I wait for hours, until I catch the sound of her slowed breath. Asleep. Finally.
I'm amused to see her window unlocked, as it always used to be. I climb through as I used to so many times as a teenager. And there she lays, my sleeping beauty. She is tangled in her sheets. Her hair is cropped short now, and is spread out on her pillow. I long to card my fingers through it like I used too, sometimes braid it even. I look to the corner to see her cello. It's new, I can tell because the wood is glossy and unscratched. Her old cello was so worn and torn, but I loved it all the same.
I used to love to watch her play, to watch her fingers move up and down the cello's neck and gracefully, and her shoe tap the ground to the beat of her metronome. I close my eyes, just for a moment, and the whole world seems to melt away.
"Hey, do you guys mind?" Her eyes are fiery, and she stands with her hands on her hips, lips pursed. "I'm tryna practice."
"How do you know we're not tryna practice here too?" I smirk.
"I would say that I was practicing in the music room and I'm pretty sure basketball practice takes place in the gym."
"I'm pretty sure basketball practice takes practice any place you got a basketball."
I smile to myself, rubbing the stubble on my jaw absentmindedly. She starts to stir, and I quickly dive out her window, hitting the ground with a somersault, and using it to get a running start. I turn my head just enough to catch sight of her gorgeous face peering out her window, and that's when I lose control. Those deep brown eyes always did have that effect.
An anguished howl leaves my lips, and the slowly my shift takes place. I can feel my pain reverberate against the surrounding trees. The full moon makes things ten times easier. I give in to my instincts and run.
"You love me."
"Hate you."
"You love me…"
…
"Are you sure you're okay?" Scott asks for the umpteenth time. I rub my face.
"I'm fine." I grumble. They had found me by the side of the road, in my human form (luckily) and drenched by the rain. Stiles snorts, and I send him a warning glare, which quickly shuts him up.
"Well, I just have to finish some paperwork, and then you're free to leave." Mrs. McCall smiles warmly and leaves the room, dragging an annoyed Stiles with her.
"You smell… sad." Scott notes quietly, scratching the back of his neck. I chuckle softly, before sighing.
"I think you'll learn at some point Scott, that time doesn't heal all wounds." I admit.