The Protective Wolf

"Wake up, Reagan," a voice, companied by a hand gently moving my shoulder to try to wake me up, spoke up through the dim morning air. I was lying in Lukas's bed, which oddly enough was almost exactly like my own color wise. The curtains still covered their windows, but with the way the light was fighting against them, I knew it was probably somewhere around noon. "Reags," the same voice whispered, suddenly closer to my ear than they had been, "come on, wake up." It was then that my body suddenly realized how close Lukas was to me.

"I'm up," I replied, keeping my eyes shut. Damn, my voice sounds tired. I'm tired.

"Oh," Lukas spoke up, "can you open your eyes then?" His voice, though it still held the depth it had carried all of yesterday, seemed more careful and child-like. Innocent. I shifted my head in the direction of his voice before finally opening my eyes. He was resting on his side with his head propped up with his right arm. I gave him a smile which he quickly returned. "How was your sleep? No snoring right?"

"Good and you're correct. Thank you, Luke." Something flashed in his brown eyes.

"Oh, you guys are finally up," a different, also deep, voice rang out to us from the doorway of the small dorm room. It was now that I decided to take a look around at their room now that it wasn't almost impossible to see in complete darkness. On one side was what appeared to be Markus's bed and desk, along with the rest of his possessions. On the side I was on was all of Lukas's things, but each side was identically set up. "Good morning, Reagan," Markus smiled at me from the doorway, leaning his body forward as if it was a sign of greeting.

"It's noon," Lukas's spoke up.

"Then good afternoon," Markus corrected, moving to take a seat at his desk, "glad you two could finally wake up and join the waking world."

Lukas's snorted, gently reaching out for my arm and tugging me closer to his chest so he could hug me to him. I didn't protest, though I did find it rather awkward seeing as I didn't really know the guy. There was something about the way he did it though, like he'd been doing it his whole life and didn't even notice he'd done it to begin with at all. "Did you check up on the guys?" Markus nodded, "How about Molly?"

"She had just woken up when I'd gotten down there," he answered, his eyes flashing to me before going back to Lukas's, "and I told her where Reagan is. She seemed a little confused at first, so she'll probably ask you," he looked at me again, "about what happened last night. Why you left and such. She went to shower when I left and I told her she could come up here when she wanted to." I nodded to him, mouthing a thank you. "You're welcome, Reagan." Lukas nuzzled his nose into my hair once again. "I'm just going to go by the guys. Bye you two."

"You don't have to go," I spoke up, but Markus just gave me a smile before he left. Lukas shifted me closer to him, even though it felt like we physically couldn't get anymore closer. I tugged his white blanket over my hands and up to my chin. "I should probably go find Molly and explain to her what happened," I piped up after a few minutes of laying in silence.

"She can wait a little longer," Lukas mumbled into my hair.

"But I don't want to make her wait," I spoke back to him, "it's only our second day. She's probably sitting in our room bored and alone. We haven't really had the time to meet any people yet. I don't want her to think I ditched her." With that said, I attempted to pull the blanket away from me, thankful that I had turned down Lukas's offer of borrowing clothes to sleep in. My sweats and hoodie would work excellently for going back to my dorm one floor down. Lukas didn't release his hold though. "Luke, really, let me go. Please."

He sighed, squeezing me close to him for a moment before he completely let me go, "Tell Molly I said sorry for keeping you. If she's upset, tell her it was my fault." I nodded to him, getting off the bed and going over by the door to where my shoes were. I tugged them on quickly, not bothering to look over at Lukas since I could feel his eyes watching me. "See you later, Reagan." His voice sounded soft and out of place compared to his appearance. That's what made me finally look up and meet his eyes.

"Goodbye, Luke," I smiled, before closing the door behind me.
----
"Molly Dearest," I called out, unnecessarily loud considering I now stood in our dorm room's open doorway and she was merely a few feet away on the futon beneath her loft. Molly looked up at me, grunted, and went back to doing her early reading. Every year she starts reading ahead of time and then once school starts, she falls behind on readings because she read before school and wants a break. "I'm sorry for not leaving a note. I thought I would be coming back before you even woke up."

"When did you even leave," she asked. Her voice sounded a bit disappointed in me. I sighed, moving to sit at my desk a cross from her, which was conveniently underneath my own loft. It hurt to know she was upset with me, but I deserved it.

"At like one," she stared at me, a blank look in her eyes, "because you snored, and it kept me up."

"Oh my god, really?" Molly groaned, dropping her book in her lap to put her face in her hands in shame. I laughed. "I'm sorry, Reags, I've been taking stuff for the snoring. It should ease it up, but apparently it isn't working like it should. I'll call my mom and see if there's anything else I can do. It isn't fair for you to lose sleep because I'm part chainsaw."

"You're too nice sometimes. It's fine if you snore. I'll just go to sleep before you so then you're snoring won't keep me up. It's fine. I enjoy your snoring; it lets me know you're still alive."

"Okay, since that's cleared up," Molly perked up, sliding her textbook completely off her lap and onto the velvety soft seat beside her, "why were you with Lukas and Markus? We barely know them."

"I know," I answered, sighing, "and I'm not sure I even want to get to know them. They're a weird group of guys, well, the twins are at least. Markus acts like Lukas is his leader. I'd understand if he was the older twin, but I think they take it too far. And Lukas, oh boy, Lukas is way to attached. He kept having to be right beside me, or touching me, like a dog always needing to be petted and in contact with its owner. It was kind of awkward. He made me go back to his room because he saw an animal and didn't think it'd be safe for me to go alone."

"We live in the same building," Molly added, making a face.

"I know, and he offered me his bed to sleep in so I didn't have to sleep on the floor. Which was very sweet, but then he still slept in his bed...beside me. Oh yeah, they don't have their beds lofted; it's kind of nice. I don't know how they made everything fit," I rambled, "but back on topic, yeah, he kind of creeps me out. I mean, it was nice of him to be so caring and concerned, but he didn't need to touch me as much as he did. He invaded my personal space a little too much."

"That's weird, Reags," Molly commented, resting a hand on her textbook and staring at it like the damn thing was made of gold bricks, "maybe it's best if we stay away from them."

I smiled, "Glad we're on the same page."