A/N: Guys and girls (if there is any female readers), I want to apologize for the extremely long delay in the publishing of this chapter. Its been a crazy mixture of working with no days off, a couple funerals and the holidays. Anyways here is the long awaited next installment in this story and I really hope it was worth the wait.
Kate was laid across her bed on her stomach while totally engrossed in the latest issue of Cosmopolitan to hit the stands. There was some old school Rob Zombie playing in the background from her phone as some background noise. It wasn't one of her favorite bands, but she was in the mood for something different and older, and this definitely filled the bill. As the song Living Dead Girl came on, she reached over and turned the volume up before returning back to an article entitled 11 ways every she-wolves' body changes on her 20s. She was casually texting Humphrey about nothing in particular as she read the article before going on to the next one that caught her eye. She was enjoying the solitude of her room this particular Sunday morning as her parents was gone for the morning and her little sister was sleeping the world away in her own room. That is at least she thought her sister was sleeping, but Kate was in for a somewhat rude awakening. As that moment in time, Lilly came barging into her room unannounced and unexpectedly.
"Kate, guess what!" Lilly exclaimed as she flung open Kate's door and effectively scaring the shit out of Kate, who jumped figuratively twenty feet in the air.
"What The hell Lil?!" Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" Kate angrily asked.
Lilly looked at her sister with a look of hurt in her eyes by Kate's response. She proceeded to lower her head and ears before trudgin slowly back out the bedroom door. Kate realized at this point what she had done and began to argue with her self in her head. 'I've told her time and time again to knock on my door and not to just burst in unannounced. You know this time she seemed like she had something to tell me, something really important, but that doesn't make it right does it?' Kate's thoughts trailed off as she moved to sit up and call for her little sister. "Lilly... come here please."
"Why, so you can bitch at me?"
"No, I just... you seemed really excited about something and I feel bad for snapping on you like I did." Kate hoped that would help soothe things over, but she knew better from the silence that followed. "Lilly please? I need to talk to you anyways about something, something important." Lilly still didn't respond, but Kate could hear her sister getting up from the bed in her room. Which was soon followed by the sound of paw-steps coming back down the hall on the hard wood floor. A few seconds later a shorter but solid white wolf appeared in the doorway, still in her pajamas and hair slightly a mess. Lilly looked at Kate through her soft but hurt violet eyes, with one partially covered by her head fur. She leaned against the the frame of the door way before finally replying, "What is it?"
"Why don't you come on in here and you can tell me what you seemed so excited about." Kate patted the bed beside her as she gave her sister a warm smile, trying to convince Lilly that she wasn't really mad at her. Which seemed to have worked or maybe Lilly just really wanted to tell someone her exciting news. Either way, she walked slowly across the hardwood floor of the bedroom before climbing up onto Kate's mess of blankets onto the bed. She scooted the blanket off to the side up against the wall, and commenced to face Kate while sitting cross legged, her tail wrapping around to the side of her leg. Kate looked into Lilly's hurt eyes and trying to think of what to say to try to smoother things over. "Look I'm sorry, it's just you know how I feel about people just barging into my room. I guess I overreacted..."
Lilly nodded and swallowed before replying. "Kate it's ok and I'm sorry aswell," she leaned over and wrapped her arms around Kate in a hug. As Kate reciprocated, Lilly whispered in her ear "So I totally meet this really hot boy last night" Kate's eyes grew wide and a small smile formed across her face as she pulled away and screamed in excitement "You're joking right? Oh my God Lilly that is awesome..." Lilly smiled sheepishly while a look of happiness was conveyed from her only visible violet eye. " Well... don't just sit there... what is he like? How hot is really hot? Where did you meet him?" Kate was so full of questions and excitement that Lilly barely had a chance to react, much less get a word in.
"Well... first you have to promise you won't say anything to Mom. You know how she gets when it comes to her family."
"Of course Lil, Mom gets bat-shit-crazy over nothing and it's really blows sometimes you know." Kate replied.
"Ok... So Danielle and me kind of snuck out to the warehouse district last night and were just kinda chilling with a couple others from school when this..." Kate suddenly interrupted her before she could get any further in her story.
"What the hell are you doing sneaking out, much less to the warehouse district?" Kate injected.
"Look we were bored, plus don't you go out there all the time?"
"That's different Lil. I'm older and I'm out there with Humphrey and the others, what if something happened and no one knew where you two had gone?"
"We had our phones and I'm only a year younger than you I might add. Plus we hung out with Hutch when we got there." Lilly responded with a slight aggravation in her voice.
"I just worry about you, that's what big sisters are for right?" Kate replied with a smile.
"Yea I guess. Anyways where was I... oh ok yea...we were chilling with a couple others when this beautiful black Mustang came creeping through the crowd before pulling into a spot a few feet away. You know i have a thing for mustangs, so Danielle and me walked over and started checking it out. The car was dope Kate, dope as hell. It was slammed to the ground on a set of black wheels and it sounded like Humphrey's car... only meaner. Then he stepped out and Oh... my... God... Kate... he was like an angel sent from heaven. Dark reddish-brown fur with his muscles showing through a tight Ford Racing shirt that looked almost painted on." Lilly breathing quickened as she began to describe the handsome wolf. "Sis I swear if Channing Tatum had a twin, this boy would be him." Her tail was beating excitedly against Kate's mattress as her eyes got a twinkle in them that is only there when someone talks passionately about something. "After what seemed like eternity, I finally mustered up the courage to tell him that he had a badass car and if he wasn't careful I would steal it." She let out a giggle before continuing her story.
(Flashback to last night...)
"So..." the red wolf said nervously. "Does the beautiful girl that wants to steal my baby have a name?"
Lilly blushed a bright red that was more than visible beneath her soft snow white fur. "Ye... yea..." stumbling over her words as the butterflies in her stomach were doing acrobatics while she got lost into his green eyes.
"Well... do you care if I know? I could always just call you beautiful if you'd like, that is if you don't want me to know your name." He smiled a nervous smile while trying to figure the girl in front of him out. 'God she's a fine little thing. Fur as white as the winter snow and those eyes... those beautiful violet eyes. I've never seen eyes that color before... just so... captivating.' He thought to himself as he attempted not to get lost in them.
Lilly's eyes got big as a wave of embarrassment came over her. She quickly smiled before replying. "Oh I'm so sorry... my name is Lilly, like the flower."
"Lilly... such a fitting name for such a pretty girl. I'm Garth" He replied as Lilly turn another shade of red or three from his compliment.
"Thank you" she replied with a smile, not noticing that Danielle had went back over to where Hutch and the others were watching them talk from. "So does she have a name?" Lilly replied as she slowly walked around the car, admiring the beauty.
"Name... um... name... you know I never really named her, i usually just call her Baby" Garth replied as he watched her walking slowly around his car. He wasn't really sure what to make of her, as most girls he came across were more interested in him. Lilly was different it seemed. She was more than pretty and seemed to be more interested in his car and not that it was a bad thing, but it's just that most girls barely knew how to check their oil. There was something about her that he seemed drawn to, a certain something that he couldn't quite put his paw on. He figured that he would figure it out in time, but for now he would let it go.
"That's kind of weird, a guy that has a car and doesn't have a name for her. Even my sister has a name for her car..." she replied as she rounded the front of the car and was back where she started, in front of Garth.
"Well... i guess i never really gave it any thought." He replied.
"So, where are you from? I don't think I have ever seen you around here before." She asked as she gently leaned her butt and tail against the fender of his car.
Garth's eyes got big as she did so and had any other person leaned against his car, he would have freaked out on them. He quickly decided to just play it cool and act as if nothing was wrong as he replied to her question. "I'm not actually from around here. To be honest I am up here for the weekend from Kalispell, Montana visiting some family and friends I have here."
"Oh" Lilly replied, somewhat disappointed knowing that her chances of seeing him again are almost non-existent. "Well... speaking of friends, do you know a wolf named Humphrey? He is a really good friend of mine and my sister."
"Humphrey...Humphrey..."Garth said as he racked his brain trying to remember if he knew a Humphrey. Lilly seen this and she remember that Humphrey had made the comment before that cars are easier to remember than names and alot of car guys know each other by what they drive. "He drives a early 2000 orange Camaro lowered on a set of black corvette wheels... at least i think he said they are corvette wheels. I'm not sure to be honest."
"Oh yea i know him" Garth replied with his tail wagging a little. "He seems a little distant at times but over all a good guy and a nice car as well, even though I'm not a Chevy fan."
This excited Lilly. If he knew Humphrey then maybe she would be able to see him again. 'Not that it really matters, I bet he has a girlfriend back where he is from. One that's pretty, ditzy and knows nothing about cars... the dumb cheerleader type.' She thought to herself as he continued talking, not that she was paying attention. Her tail tip flicked slowly side to side as she got lost in her thoughts. 'Then again, he could be single and ready to mingle... yea I bet I'm not that lucky. I bet I'm not even his type...' Suddenly she was pulled away from her thoughts as she heard him call her name. "Lilly... earth to Lilly" he called playfully.
"Huh... oh" Lilly replied embaressedly. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?"
"Well I was going to see..." Garth was suddenly interrupted by an unknown wolf calling his name.
"Garth! Hey man we didn't see you pull in." The unknown wolf said. "Come here for a minute, there's a guy who has been looking for a race and I think you would do good against him."
"Can you give me a..."
"We got to go right now, I don't know how much longer he is willing to wait." The unknown wolf grabbed him by his arm and started pulling him away from Lilly.
Garth looked like he was unsure of what to do. A part of him wanted to stay and talk and a part of him also wanted to go see what the wager was on tonight's race. Unfortunately it seemed as if his decision was made by the one who was dragging him away. He looked at Lilly with a look of confusion and slight disappointment on his face. "I guess... I'll um... catch up with you in a bit..." He stumbled over his words as he was quickly disappearing into the crowd of people and cars.
"Oh ok..."Lilly responded sadly as she stood up and watched her knight in shining armor get dragged away, before sighing with her ears slightly back and tail hanging down loosely.
(End of Flashback...)
Lilly looked up at Kate with a look of disappointment as she finished her story about last night. Kate noticed the look on her sister's face and wasn't really sure as to what she could do to help, even though she really wanted to. 'I wonder...' She thought as she reached over to the night stand and picked up her phone, before turning to Lilly with a smile on her face as she knew what she was going to do. "Hey you said that he knew Humphrey right?"
"Um yea... why?" Lilly looked at her sister with a slight bit of confusion on her face, watching her go to town typing something on her phone.
"Well that's part of what I was wanting to talk to you about. Humphrey and the guys are going to Shakey's parents lake house in Sawtooth and was wanting us to go spend at least the weekend with them on spring break. You know Mom and Dad wont let me go without you, but I really want you to go as I think you would have fun. That is if you want to go, if not I understand." Kate replied to her sister as she was waiting on Humphrey to text her back. "Sweets and the other girls are going too and you might see if Sweet's little Sister Danielle wants to go, so that you aren't the youngest one there."
"Well I mean I guess I could go, it would be better than spending my spring break here at the house like I usually always do. I still fail to see how this has anything to do with Garth." Just as Lilly finished replying, Kate's phone lit up and dinged with a text message notification. "Do you have any plans for today Kate? Mom and Dad are going to be gone all day according to the letter Mom left on the table along with forty bucks to order us a pizza or something for lunch."
"I have a better idea" Kate replied totally ignoring Lilly's comment about Garth, as she glanced over to the clock that read 12:26pm. "How about we do our chores, get dressed and afterwards we can head over to Humphrey's to hang out with the crew. He just asked if I had any plans for today. That Salty was wanting to grill some burgers and if we wanted, we could come over, eat and hang out for a bit."
"Ok, I think Danny (short for Danielle) wanted me to go do something, but I don't think I really want to go since I've been around her all weekend. I just really wish that I had gotten Garth's number or gave him mine or something last night." Lilly sighed heavily as she got up from Kate's bed and walked slowly out the door and down the hallway to start doing her chores. Kate on the other hand, was smiling as she sent Humphrey a text saying that they would be over in a bit, before sitting her phone down on the wireless charger and getting started on her own chores.
A few hours later Kate and Lilly were making their way across town to Humphrey's place, jamming out to the radio and singing along with every song that came on. The drive really wasn't far, but Kate decided to take the longer way and drive around town instead of straight through it to Humphrey's. As they pulled up to a stop sign, Lilly turned to Kate and asked "Hey you think there's a chance that Garth may be at the lake house with the guys?" Kate eased the M3 on through the intersection as she gave it a quick thought to herself before answering her sister. "To be perfectly honest with you Lil, I'm not sure. He might but I wouldn't get your hopes up too awfully high as I don't think I have ever heard Humphrey talk about him, but then again you never know who Humph knows and who he doesnt." She smiled as she glanced over at her sister through the corner of her eyes. Who was sitting there not sure if she should be bummed out, excited at the thought of Garth maybe being there or even a combination of the two. Lilly just sat there staring blankly out the passenger side window, seemingly lost in thought. 'Great, I really hope she isn't like this when we get to Humphrey's, I don't think I can deal with the two of them being indifferent together.' Kate thought to herself as they neared Humphrey's neighborhood. It wasn't long before they were pulling onto Humphrey's street and that seemed to make Lilly perked up. "Looks like we are the last ones here." Lilly commented as they both began to look for a place to park on the street.
"It looks that way doesn't it," Kate replied as they crept down the street. "I think Candy said she was going to be running behind, I just hope you know who isn't here."
"Jealous much Kate?" Lilly
"Dont go there..." Kate playfully snapped. "There we go, there's room in the driveway for one more car behind Humphrey's." She said to herself as she angled the BMW into the driveway slowly so as not to scrape the underside. She slowly eased it up behind Humphrey's Camaro, before setting the e-brake, shutting the car off and placing it in gear to help to keep it from rolling backwards down the drive way. As they exited the car and walked up the drive to the open garage door, she glanced back at her car and thought to herself with a smile 'Damn she's a pretty thing.' In doing so, she was totally oblivious to the wolf who was crouched down directly in her path rummaging through the fridge with the door open for something to drink. As Kate was turning her head back around, she noticed the young wolf in the corner of her eyes but it was too late. She let out a loud yelp as she crashed into the unknown wolf, falling onto the floor on the other side of him.
"Oh my God Kate are you ok?" Salty asked as he stood up and quickly dashed over to check on her. Kate laughed nervously, trying to play off any apparent pain she may have been in before slowly getting up as she replied. "Yea I'm ok, takes more than a little fall to keep me down." Salty leaned down and helped her up slowly, making sure she was alright. Lilly on the other hand, had watched the whole thing play out before her eyes and was trying her hardest not to laugh. Kate smiled as she dusted her jeans off and made sure nothing was broken or knocked over on her trip down. "Thank you Salty, even though my sister could've warned me or even helped me just the same." She said as she gave her sister a look that translated into thanks alot.
Lilly rolled her eyes at Kate and said "Well your spose to be the older and smarter one, its not my fault you can't watch where you are going because you were to busy staring at Humphrey's car. Now come on, I bet someone would be excited to know you're here." Kate never even got a chance to defend her self before Lilly disappeared through the door. Kate sighed before Salty and her followed Lilly through the screen door and into the back yard where everyone else was at. No sooner than the screen door shut, Humphrey's voice could be heard over everyone elses. "Lilly... Kate... I'm so glad you guys made it." Lilly's tail began wagging quickly as she ran up past Sweets, Shakey and Salty, pretty much tackling Humphrey as she pressed her head into his chest as she gave him a hug.
"Well I'm happy to see you too Lilly." He laughed as he squeezed her, while attempting to regain his footing and not fall into the grill he was attempting to cook on. She looked up into his blue eyes with excitement as they released from the hug and motioned for him to lean down to her level. As he lowered himself down, Lilly whispered into his ear "I met one of your friends last night, I cant belive that you wouldn't tell me that you had such a hottie as a friend. I thought we were better friends than that." He looked at her at her with a confused face, as if he was thinking about who she could possibly have met that she couldn't have already met by now. "Who are you talking about? You know all of my friends I'm pretty sure of." Lilly gave him that 'are you fucking serious look', before she whispered into his ear. "What about a sexy piece of wolf meat named Garth?"
Humphrey leaned up with a smile before replying "Well...I mean... I guess it never crossed my mind, but where did you see him at and when? He hasn't been around the past few times I have been out."
Lilly had a huge smile as she replied. "Well... last night me and a couple friends snuck out and I met him at the District when he pulled in and parked a few cars away. Humphrey... you gotta get me a ride in that car. Pretty please... you will be my most favorite wolf ever to walk this earth." She begged with pleading eyes and her paws clasped together in front of her about chest height. He pretended to ignore her as he flipped the burgers and hotdogs with a smile across his face. Seeing this made her beg even harder. "Humph... pu-please... your like a big brother to me, which makes you my favorite person already. Please..." He took a deep breath before responding calmly, "I will see what I can do." Once again he was blindsided with a huge hug from Lilly as her tail wagged excitedly and she squeezed him until it felt as if his insides were going to be crushed from the pressure. "Oh thank you... thank you!" She exclaimed before she let go and made her way over to Salty and the rest of the group, who were sitting around in some old bucket seats that Humphrey's Dad had turned into chairs. Humphrey turned back to the grill, flipping the burgers and hotdogs so that they wouldn't burn one oneside.
"So what are you burning this time?" Kate asked as she walked up on him.
Humphrey rolled his eyes playfully as he closed the lid and responded with "Oh you act like I can't grill."
"Well I seem to remember last October you burned everything on the grill, including the hot dogs." Kate responded with a smile and a certain happiness about her. "We ended up just going out to eat because everything was rather, um... extra crispy."
"Well this time will be different." He replied.
"Really? Because there's flames coming out from under the top of the lid." Kate pointed out. Humphrey looked at her like she was joking until he turned to look and quickly flung the lip back open as a massive fireball flared up. "Shit shit shit..." he exclaimed. Glancing back at Salty, Sweets, Lilly and Shakey to make sure no one else was paying attention, he desperately searched for his glass of water as Kate popped the lid off her fountain drink and poured it onto the flames to extinguish the flare up. He mouthed thank you as she laughed coyishly at him while he pulled the burgers and hotdogs dogs off the grill before turning off the propane and walking over to join the others. "Foods done" Humphrey hollared out as he sat the plate down on the table made from old car wheels and piece of wood sat ontop of them. The others looked at the plate of food as Humphrey sat down on a bench seat that appears to have been taken out of a old truck or van. Kate, on the other hand, disappeared into the garage to replace the coke that she had poured out to help Humphrey.
Salty was the first to comment as everyone looked over at the hot food resting on the table. "So should I have ordered pizza earlier or are we going to actually be able to eat this time around?" Everyone laughed as Salty gave him some hell, but Humphrey just shrugged his shoulders as he responded. "Hey now, I think these look a lot better than last time."
"Yea, which means they're probably still raw in the middle." Sweets chimed in jokingly. "So, who's going to be the test subject?"
"Kate" Humphrey said softly as he watched her return from the garage with two sodas in her hand, before sitting them down and grabbing a paper plate. The group fell silent as they watched her fill up the plate with a burger and some chips. After she was done, she picked up the two cokes and walked over and sat down beside Humphrey. "Hey I grabbed you a drink while I was getting me one." She said as she got sat the plate down on her lap and handed him the soda. She was still oblivious to everyone watching her as she picked up the burger, taking a bite and then a swallow of her soda before looking at everyone who was busy watching at her silently. "What?"She questioned them, while looking around the group. All of a sudden Sweets asked "Well... how is the burger?"
Kate looked at them, closed one eye and pretended to inspect the burger before taking a deep breath "Well..."
"Well what?" Lilly asked as her stomach was demanding sustenance rather loudly.
Kate looked at Humphrey and gave him an unhappy look, before looking towards her feet. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath "Well... I hate to be the bearer of bad news..." her voice trailed off as she paused before finishing her response "They're awesome... absolutely awesome!" she exclaimed as she looked Humphrey in the eyes with a look of excitement. "No offense Humph, but these are a million times better than the ones from before." As she went about finishing her burger, the others all got up and made themselves a plate or two. It wasn't long before the once towering mound of burgers and dogs quickly diminished down to no more than a few hot dogs and burger crumbs. While everyone was enjoying the company of each other and the first cookout of the year, no one seemed to notice Salty motioning with his eyes at Humphrey and Humphrey giving him subtle yet dirty looks in response. Humphrey felt the need to break away after some intense eyeball language and stood up to walk over and throw his now empty plate away. " Anyone want another coke or anything from inside the house?" He asked everyone. Salty looked at him and smiled, while knowing what he was doing. "Yea me and my baby girl could use another" Lilly looked down at her bottle of water before responding "Yea I'll take another bottle of water Humph." As Humphrey started walking to the garage to get everyone another drink and to get away from Salty's silent badgering, he never noticed the second set of paw steps that was slightly off beat to his own. Once inside the garage Humphrey opened the fridge and leaned down to start pulling enough cokes and bottle waters out for every one. "Humph" Kate called out. "Here let me help you out with a few of them." She offered and unknowingly startled Humphrey as he banged his Head hard on the top of the inside of the fridge with a loud bang.
"Oh my God Humphrey are you ok!" Kate exclaimed as he sat back on his rear and rubbed his throbbing head before replying. "Yea I'm ok but jeez Kate, sneak up on wolves much?" He sat back and looked up at her laughing softly with a smile on his face.
"Humph, I'm so so sorry. I really didn't..." Kate got out before Humphrey cut her off. "Its ok Kate, it really doesn't hurt that bad." He looked up into her eyes as a sudden wave of butterflies came over him and fluttered wildly about in his stomach. 'A girl of her stature couldn't like a wolf like me... could she" He thought to himself before asking her a question. "Hey... " Was all he could get out and made the situation even more awkward than it really was as Kate looked at him strangely. "Um... hey" Kate replied as she looked at him with a bit of confusion. 'Way to go idiot.' He thought to himself as he slowly stood up. 'As if the situation needed to be thrown into awkwardness more than it is when she is around.' He quickly shook the thoughts out of his head before responding, "So you going to help me out or just stand there all day?" He asked playfully as he handed her some of the drinks before grabbing the rest of them and saying "You know if we stay gone much longer, they will start thinking things." Kate laughed as she took the drinks and leaned against the side of the fridge watching Humphrey pick up the shaken cokes on the floor. "Would that be such a bad thing?" She asked jokingly with a wink before walking out the door into the backyard and leaving Humphrey blushing a bright red under his fur to the point that it was pretty much visible through his fur.
A/N: Well how was it? Its been a wild ride the past few months and I really am sorry for the wait. I had intended to have this chapter and one more out before Christmas but that obviously didn't happen and neither did getting this one out for Christmas Morning. After one of my classmates died in a motorcycle accident a few months ago while working on the early stages of the chapter, I had to take a break as it hit home. We ride fast and speed is always a factor when we are out and mix in some carelessness and cockiness, then you have a recipe for disaster. His death though was no more than inattention on the driver of the car as she cut across two lanes of one way traffic to turn in to a store, and in doing so, cut in front of him leaving him no time to react. Then it was a two more funerals, the holidays and working 80-90 hour work weeks with no days off until Christmas Day that I rarely found time to write, with the latter being the main reason. Work is slowing down for the most part, but wont truly slow down completely until after Easter, but I will be able to get chapters out more quickly as I have more time to do so now. See you guys in the next chapter but no promises as to when that is. :P