Eyes of the Wolf

19
Jazz drove me home. We had gotten the pictures done, and I was in definite need of a shower. And some chocolate. I didn’t look to my right as we passed the trees.

True to what I had decided, I was in the shower mere moments after profusely thanking Jazz. Hot water was a miracle cure sometimes. When I was mostly clean, though, I turned on the lower faucet and plugged the tub. Now that I wouldn’t be soaking in leftover puppy spit and such, I was up for a soak. I cranked the temperature control sharply left until the water was almost too hot to stand, and gingerly lowered myself into it. My palms seared the moment they hit the steamy water, but I gritted my teeth and dropped them in anyway. They calmed to me after a bit. I leaned my head back against the side of the tub, reveling in the steam, the way my muscles were sliding into utmost relaxation, the smell of the body wash I had used…

:o3

I flopped onto my bed an hour later, after my dad had gotten worried and checked on me, waking me up with a brisk knock on the door. Groaning, I dragged myself across the top of my comforter and dug in my bedside table for my second need—chocolate.

Sitting up against my pillows, I pulled my chocolate orange out of its box and appraised the wrapper. Yes, I decided, I did want to open my new one. I leaned left and smacked the sphere against the wood of my table, right on the sticker. My fingers peeled apart the foil, and I lost my self in minty-chocolatey Yumminess. Forget Niko. I had citrusey minty chocolate…

My phone buzzed.

I contemplated dropping it in a fishtank.

It would be detrimental to the health of my roommates, I reminded myself, grasping the phone and looking at the caller ID. Niko again.

Answer?

Don’t answer.

I’d have to talk to him sooner or later….

….

Later sounded awfully nice…

When it suddenly stopped vibrating, I felt a mob of guilt stab my innards, as if I had somehow dealt the technology some kind of fatal blow, and it had shuddered out its last breath. Groaning at myself more than anything else, I opened it and returned my missed call.

“Maya?”

“Hey Niko.”

My voice sounded really bad….

“You okay?” Was I that obvious?

“Yeah.” I wasn’t scared, was I? Clearing my throat, I tried again. “I’m fine.”

“Okay…” He didn’t sound convinced. “Listen, about last night. I’m really sorry.”

“You didn’t tell me we were meeting your family,” I said. When had I decided to say that? Though it was nice to pretend none of the wolf stuff had happened…Who knew? Maybe it hadn’t. Maybe it was some kind of weird dream projected by a brain that was up way past its bedtime.

Riiiiight.

“Umm…my family?” Niko sounded unsure.

“Yes.” My tone was more certain now. “Usually people are going out for much longer before you start bringing them to parties with all your relatives.” Wow, I was on a roll. But since when was I so confident about talking about that kind of stuff? Maybe it was just comparative; the alternative topic WAS much more intimidating than relationship jargon.

He didn’t answer. “Usually people are official by that point,” I said. My voice had gotten shaky again. He was still quiet for quite some time.

I was about to pull the ever-typical “Hello? Hello?” when he asked in a somber, soft tone, “Do you want us to be official?”

Wait. What?

“Look,” he said. “I’m really sorry about the stuff that happened last night. Do you want to get—” He paused briefly. “—to get together and talk somewhere? How ‘bout Cold Stone?”

“Uh…” I stared stupidly ahead of me until something clicked in my brain and I sat up and rolled to get off the bed. “Yeah. Yeah. I’ll ask my dad and see if he can drive me.”

“You want me to come pick you up?”

“Lemme ask my dad.”

:o3

How stupid was I?

I scrambled for clothes, cursing myself for what I was doing. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to go to Cold Stone. Maybe I could persuade Dad to stay at the shop with us? If I asked, he would comply for sure, since he was still leery about the condition in which I had been returned home. But Niko was driving us, and I had no idea how I would get Dad to come with us with that whole arrangement.

I tugged one of my older shirts over my shoulders and tugged it into place. It was baggy, so it didn’t make much of a difference, but it always seemed more comfortable when the effort was made. I brushed some shadow over my eyes without any real attention paid, and I never picked up my hairbrush before tossing my hair into a loose ponytail.

What if I pretended I was sick? Heck, what if I WAS sick? With the way my midsection was churning, the idea was definitely not to be dismissed.

I sucked at my palm—cracked scab again—on my way out of my bedroom, and checked for my cell phone in my pocket just as the bell rang. I steeled myself before opening the door.

He was dressed in the usual mismatched attire, with the usual collar. His blue eyes held new concern as they flicked over my face, then skimmed my arms with a gaze that made the hair stand on end wherever they rested. Was this the usual attraction? Or was it fear?

Finally he looked at my hands—one of which still in my mouth—and immediately looked very guilty, and he turned an odd gaze on me that it took a moment for me to identify.

He looks like Balto when he’s done something wrong, I thought. That same bowed head with the raised eyes that make you feel like he’s ducking his head in shame, yet checking your face to see if there was forgiveness.

But why the dog comparison?

There was no reason, I grumped to myself, in heavy denial. Besides, there was no way he could really be giving me that look, since there was no way he could look UP to me without at least kneeling, and even then he might be too tall.

I smiled inanely, realizing that I had probably just fed what was sure to be a really awkward silence, and looked around him. “Where’s your car?”

“I thought we’d walk.”

I stared. Walk? How much time did he think I had? It didn’t really matter, since I didn’t exactly have anything else to do for the rest of the day, but still…walking all the way to Cold Stone?

He seemed to shrink a little, and I felt bad almost immediately. “Sure,” I heard myself say. “We can walk.” Whatever was afflicting him seemed to go away, and he nodded with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. Wasn’t even the usual twisted grin he usually had.

“I’ve got my phone!” I called back into the house, waiting for the muffled, unenthusiastic “’Kay” that followed it before closing the door behind me.

“Sorry I don’t have a car,” he mumbled.

“Oh.” Was that what had made him react so oddly? “It’s fine.”

Silence.

“Look, Maya,” he seemed to force out, “a lot of weird things happened last night…”

I felt an altitude drop somewhere in my torso as I realized that talking was probably the reason he had brought me for a walk.

“…and I want you to know that you’re in no real danger.” I looked up, only to meet the blue eyes focusing intently on my face. He walked to the left, and I grew bemused as he reached the trees that skirted my neighborhood. The trees guarding the rust-red grass.

He turned to me, apparently noticing that my footsteps had stopped. “You coming?”

“Cold Stone’s not that way.”

I stiffened as he walked slowly back to me. It was strange, that we were standing in the middle of the road and yet the only important things were him and me. I felt his hand on my cheek even before it actually reached it, I was so aware of him. And with the time it took his hand to reach my face, he was probably just as sensitive. I didn’t want to meet his eyes again. Not right then.

“Maya.” His hand trailed from my cheek to my jaw, contacting me with just his fingertips, and then down my neck before gripping my shoulder. I pointedly looked at the ground to my right as I saw him lower himself in my peripheral vision, his knees bending until he was in a crouch. They didn’t bend far enough to make him shorter than me.

Feeling like my efforts were futile, I finally looked up at him. His hand touched my cheek again, making it all the more obvious that I was blushing, since his hand got colder as we looked each other in the face. I was the one that broke eye contact. The hand on my cheek drew back, and I glanced up to see him standing.

“You coming, Maya?” he said.

Wondering what exactly it was that I was getting into, I nodded.