Look at Me

Paige made herself walk very slowly to the car. She forced her feet to stay steady as she put a nervous hand on Hayden’s back. It helped to know he was there, even if he was in canine form. Paige’s fingers lingered on him and eventually her breathing wasn’t quite so shallow.
She was still worried though, because her best friend was dragging Gabriel like he was a rag doll. That was a very bad idea considering the new boy was a completely unknown entity. He could freak out and rip Terry apart before anyone could bat an eyelash.
The worst part was, Terry still didn’t know. She was clearly incredibly confused, but no closer to figuring out what was going on. Paige wasn’t sure she wanted her to know, but it would be so much easier if she did…

Paige opened the back door to the car almost at the same time that Terry opened the door on the other side. They stared at each other across the dark back seat for a moment, before urging the dogs [boys] onto it. Hayden jumped up quickly, but Gabriel was obviously trying to be difficult.

***

“Jump up,” crazy chick said, sounding suspiciously like a boot camp instructor. [She looked suspiciously like she’d come from the planet of the bad hair people, but that whole a whole other thing.]
What ever happened to asking nicely, Gabriel wondered as he sat down in the dirt. Really, he might be an animal, but she was just being a Grade A bitch. He wanted to change back into himself and tell her that, but he was going to be good. For the moment…
So, he finally leaped onto the back seat and sat down beside Hayden. Sure, his nails cut into the tacky fabric underneath him a little more then was absolutely necessary, but that was just too bad for her.

***

Stupid freaking dog…
Jesus, what was the matter with that…that thing? The black doggie listens easy as you please, but the silver one was a mega sized pain in the ass. Terry Finchly has never been a “dog lover” and this was exactly why. She was still grumbling and moaning to herself as she got into the drivers side of the car and started the engine. She knew they would still have to come back in a few minutes and pick up the boys though and that was slightly annoying. God only knew what they were doing or maybe he didn’t want to. Terry was pretty sure she didn’t, because once again…Terry Finchly did not do weird.
No, that wasn’t true. Well, at least the part about not wanting to know. She needed to know what was going on. She couldn’t bear being in the dark another second about the mysterious Hayden and his collection of oddities. He was affecting her friend so she needed to know every last detail about the boy. And of course, they would be weird. He was clearly a weird cookie, but Paige was obviously in love with him nonetheless. Go figure… some people had the strangest taste in men.

***

Paige waited for Terry for to say something once they started down the road, but she was just looking ahead with a scrunched up frown twisting her lips.
Finally, she muttered, “So, where do we meet the guys?”
Clearing her suddenly dry throat, Paige asked, “What do you mean?”
“I mean there still out there in the woods and if I circle around, I can probably pick them up. Unless, they want to spend the night in the woods…That’s cool with me, but whatever…”
“Ummm….Terry,” Paige started slowly.
“Yeah.”
“What if I told you we already had the boys?”