Smile When Your Heart Breaks

Paul opened his mouth to answer me, but I interrupted before he could speak. “I don’t want to hear from you.” A vein popped from his forehead and an agitated look appeared on his face, putting the other three on edge.

“And why not?” he ground out.

“Based on the shallow dispositions of the company you associate with, it’s safe to assume you’re about to dish me a load of bull,” I retaliated.

Damn, she’s good, Leah thought as Paul clenched his jaw. “Paul…” Sam warned as Jacob stepped towards me and took my arm. I shook him off with a sharp snap.

I looked up into my cousin’s eyes, doing nothing to hide my confusion and betrayal. “I’ve never hidden anything from you. I’ve never betrayed your trust once in my life, and I’ve even taken the blame to keep your secrets. So if you’re going to act all parental with me, I know something is going on. What have I done to wrong to make you not trust me?”

Jacob looked away. Leah avoided my gaze. I deliberately looked past Paul at Sam. Yes, I was being consciously manipulative, but my sentiments and emotions were true as day. And I wasn’t hurting anyone.

Sam looked like he was struggling with himself. “We’re wolves.” Paul blurted out. Sam threw him a sharp look, but he ignored it and stared at me instead, apparently expecting a reaction. Was I supposed to dance around and sing?

I, for one, was getting increasingly frustrated with every passing second. I never really could keep my anger in check. “FUCK ALL OF YOU!” I shouted, before breaking a run for it, straight to the woods.

Several things happened then. Leah caught my wrist and yanked me back, Paul and Jacob both shook and glared murderously at each other and Sam…ordered them to calm down. They did, but with what seemed to be enormous restraint.

I looked into the brown eyes of my best friend. “Don’t. Don’t try to control me, Leah.” She looked at the three males briefly. “I’ll leave this to you. Try not to cause any permanent damage to anyone.” She turned and left.

I tapped my foot, at the end of my leash now. “You just need to stay out of the forest because you’re a little girl and can’t handle the big bad forest.” That asshole did NOT-

And that was the end of any conscious thought before I shot my mouth off. “Oh yeah? Well look at you, so macho and brave- just because you take steroids to puff up your pathetic ego, you think you’re a man. Just because you fuck whores to make yourself feel wanted while you’re really just not good enough to hold up a relationship, doesn’t make you sexy. Your horn-dog tendencies don’t mean shit to me, so don’t fucking tell me what to do!” I snarled.

I must have been really messed up, because Paul exploded, Jacob blew up, Sam ran to a bush and shreds of their clothing flew in every direction. A familiar red-brown wolf was fighting a dark grey wolf, and a larger black wolf barked loudly from the side. They were al the size of bears, at the least.

“For the love of God,” Leah voiced, sounding exasperated as she pulled me down onto a log not too far away. I felt strangely like she just sat me down into the front row seat of a circus.

“Leah…” I bounced my knee anxiously up and down. “I think someone put shrooms in my breakfast omelet.” I racked my brains. Did I have omelet for breakfast? It was really hard to battle short-term memory while watching two gigantic wolves duke it out twenty feet away. Silver was stronger, but Redhead was faster.

I thought hard. I didn’t sleep all night. I did workout exercises, drank a can or so of Redbull, then ran around the forest. It was still nighttime, maybe 5 or 6 in the morning. There was a vampire…two… and a reddish-brown wolf- the same one that was right here in front of me now! I blacked out and it was daytime when I woke up again.

The black wolf leaped forward with a deafening “WOOF!” knocking the other two into trees yards away, and there were audible sounds of cracking bones. “AHH!!!” I screamed, covering my head and falling off the log. “Ow!”

Now if you think my day is crazy, you’re in for a surprise. The black wolf bounded out of sight into the trees and I turned back to see – not two wolves- but my cousin in his birthday suit and Paul with every inch hanging off, going commando.

“AHHHHHGH!” I scrambled up, slammed my face into something solid that reminded me of a shirtless Sam, and blacked out.