Chapter 14 – Awkward Conversations

The next morning, Zed expected to wake up to Wynter's limbs wrapped around his, and her hair over his face as it often was. He was surprised, however, when he rolled over to find the other side of the bed empty. Zed, gently rubbed his eyes and glanced over at his alarm clock, seeing it was only 6:47am, and the fact that Wynter was hardly ever awake early confused him. He quickly pulled on some clothes and rushed out of his door in search for Wynter.

He didn't have to look far, but by simply following the smell of breakfast down to the kitchen, where he saw her carefully placing blueberry muffin batter into cake cases. He stopped in the doorway and watched her for a second, admiring her attention to detail as she meticulously placed exactly the same amount in each case. After the final one, she opened the oven, and placed the tin into it.
"You know you didn't need to make breakfast," Zed said finally, as he walked into the kitchen, wrapping his arms around her from behind and gently kissing her neck.
"You know I don't need another hickey, Zed," Wynter moaned, as he continued to kiss her neck. "It's going to be hard enough hiding the first three from your dad and sister today."
"Well maybe, if you weren't so beautiful, I would be able to restrain myself," Zed laughed, spinning her around to face him. Then, he kissed her passionately, and they both allowed themselves to get lost in the moment. Wynter gently pushed her hands through his thick, green hair, as Zed pulled her closer by the waist.

"And this is why we need to talk this morning," Zevon said, disapprovingly, as he walked into the kitchen. "The first thing I see in the morning does not need to be you two shoving your tongues down each other's throats."

Wynter and Zed quickly broke apart, and glanced at each other, blushing like crazy. Zevon poured a cup of coffee from the pot Wynter had made earlier, and sat down at the table, staring at his son and Wynter. "Sit, now," he said sternly, pointing at the two seats opposite him.
"Dad, I-" Zed started, before being interrupted.
"Zed, no. I'm the one asking the questions here, young man," Zevon said, glaring at the two of them. "I know you said you didn't want to talk about it, but if you two are living together, I want honesty. What happened with Addison? And when did this start?" Zed looked at Wynter and sighed.
"Ok, but it's a long story," Zed replied, reluctantly. For the next 45 minutes, he explained almost everything to Zevon, from first seeing Addison and Wyatt, to Halloween, only leaving out certain intimate parts in an attempt to not further embarrass Wynter. During this time, Wynter sat silently, painfully reliving parts of the story as Zed told it, only getting up to take the muffins out of the oven and put in the next batch.

By the time, he had finished, both Wynter and Zed were emotionally exhausted. Zevon leaned back in his chair, taking everything his son had told him in. "Well, you did say it was a long story," Zevon chuckled to himself. "Zed, can I speak with you, upstairs," he said pointing up the stairs.

Zed turned and gave Wynter an apologetic look, before following his dad up the stairs, leaving Wynter alone once again in the kitchen. She sat scrolling aimlessly on her phone, waiting for Zed and his dad to return.

A few minutes later, the sound of someone walking down the stairs caught Wynter's attention. Expecting it to be Zed, she looked up, but was slightly surprised to see Zoey. "Morning Zoey!", Wynter said, cheerfully. "I made blueberry muffins if you want to try one."
"Not hungry," Zoey scowled at Wynter, as she sat down across from her at the table, pulling out her phone and completing ignoring Wynter's friendly gesture. Zoey yawned, and gently rubbed her eyes, causing Wynter to look up.
"Did you not sleep well?", Wynter asked, trying to start any interaction with Zoey.
"Surprising not," Zoey said, looking up from her phone. "Zed and I share a wall. A very thin wall."
It took Wynter a second to realise what Zoey was talking about. When it hit her, embarrassment spread across her face, as she stuttered, "Zoey, I'm, I'm so sorry. I, I mean we, we weren't-"
"I'm 13, not an idiot. I know exactly what you were doing. Addison at least had the decency to try and be quiet," Zoey muttered.

Wynter had never been so embarrassed in her life. Her face went as red as a tomato, as she tried to reason and explain, but no words came out. She sat, opposite her boyfriend's 13-year-old sister, trying to justify herself.

"You know this is just a phase, right?" Zoey said, interrupting Wynter's thoughts. "Zed and Addison have had fights and broken up before, but they always end up back together."
"Zoey, I know you don't like me," Wynter finally said. "But I love Zed. And you have no idea what he's been through these last few months. You can't just assume that you know what's best for him."
"You've known him, what? 3 months? I'm his sister! I've known him my entire life!", Zoey shouted back. "And I know that Addison is good for him, and you're not." She stormed out of the kitchen, back up the stairs and into her room, slamming the door behind her, leaving Wynter alone at the table, silently sobbing.

After a few minutes, she went upstairs to tell Zed that her being there was a bad idea, and she would go back up to college, when she heard Zevon and Zed's slightly raised voices coming from his bedroom.

"Dad! It's not like that!", Zed exclaimed.
"Bullshit! You think I can't see the hickeys all the way up her neck! I know exactly what you two have been doing!", Zevon replied. He sighed heavily, before continuing, in a softer voice. "Look, Zed. I know that Addison hurt you, but sleeping with Wyatt's girlfriend isn't going to change anything. You need to sit down with Addison and work it all out. You two are supposed to be together, not with a werewolf."

Wynter didn't think her heart could break more than when she found out about Addison and Wyatt. But it just shattered 10 time the amount it did last time. She couldn't cope anymore; she just had to get out of there. And with that, she ran.