Behind the Lines

“Blaine… Please, don’t-“and before I can say anything, Blaine storms off, the tears finally leaving his eyes and creating a channel on his face. I turn around angrily to face Bryn but before I can even scold him, he follows Blaine out of the room, looking as guilty as ever. I guess he realized his mistake.

Rolling my eyes and Bryn’s stupidity, I walk out of the room knowing Bryn will chastise Blaine. They are meant for each other and without Blaine, Bryn would be a mess.

I go back down to the meeting in the yard, but it is coming to an end as Rob says his final words. He dismisses everyone to do whatever they want. Everyone stands up at the same time, creating a barrier between Rob and Claire who are trying to find each other amidst the chaos of gossip and guffawing. Caleb sees me standing on the porch and comes over to me. He puts his arm around my shoulder, pulling me close and giving me a kiss on the side of the head. We head into the pack house to the kitchen, where we usually hang out the most.

There, we see the usual gang and a bunch of other people, new faces and old, mingling and… hitting each other. Weird, I know, but that is us for you. Caleb and I sit in the unoccupied chairs at the table, just chatting away with each other, talking about nonsense. About thirty minutes into talking, I start to yawn.

“You tired?” Caleb asks.

“Yeah,” I say, yawning once more.

“You wanna go and take a nap?”

“Yeah,” I say, yawning for the third time.

“Let’s go then,” Caleb says, picking me up from the chair and holding me bridal style.

“Where are you love birds going?” Violet yells from the group.

“We are taking a nap,” Caleb explains.

“That’s what they all say,” Violet murmurs to herself, though we can still hear her.

“Use protection, guys!” Xavier yells out from the group, causing a couple of groans and slaps on the back of his head. Caleb and I roll our eyes at Xavier’s perverted ways but continue to proceed on to our room. As soon as we reach, I collapse on the bed, while Caleb closes the door and the light, soon joining the bed with me. He kisses me on the forehead and I snuggle closer to him, laying my head on his chest as he wraps an arm around my waist, pulling me closer. Soon enough both of us are in a deep sleep.

“Xavier! You better run for your life!” Piper yells, waking me up from my sleep.

I hear laughter coming from a few doors down, obviously being emitted by Xavier. He is the only one stupid enough to prank Piper a day early. Before things get heated, I groggily roll out of bed and out of Caleb’s embrace.

I unlock the bedroom door and enter the hallway. The walls are a bright yellow and blue color. A major difference from its once tan painted walls. I walk down the hallway and see Xavier’s door open and Piper’s yells of complaint seem to be coming from there as well. I enter Xavier’s room, messy to the point of no return, and see him on his bed laughing like a hyena at Piper. I turn around to calm down Piper, but stop as soon as I see her. With wide eyes and an open mouth, I just stare at her for a long time, until I join Xavier in laughter.

There standing there in only a towel is a very red Piper. Not from anger, but her skin is literally a bright red color. Her whole body is dripping from a bright red apple color. .

“What the hell happened to you?” I start, trying to calm myself down, but only being able to start laughing again because of how stupid Piper looks.

“This asshole,” she yells pointing at Xavier, “put red dye in my shower head,” she explains. If she was a cartoon, her ears would be steaming.

I stop laughing and look at Xavier, before bursting out in laughter all over again. When it comes to color pranks, Xavier is the master of it all.

“Journey, stop laughing at me!” Piper stomps, which only makes me laugh harder and fall to the ground.

“What is going on in here?” Caleb says, rubbing his eyes clear of sleep and entering Xavier’s room.

When his eyesight comes back and his gaze lands in Piper, he immediately starts laughing along with Xavier and me. “Holy shit, that is classic!” he laughs out, clutching his stomach from laughing so hard.

Piper huffs and storms out of the room in anger, pushing Caleb out of the way, and storming into her own room, slamming the door in the process. We all laugh harder and Blaine comes in the room with his arms crossed and an annoyed expression on his face. By now, we have all reduced to chuckles, but we still lay on the floor with tears in our eyes.

“What is going on?” Blaine asks.

“Oh nothing,” Caleb slurs, trying to hold in a new round of laughter.

Bryn comes in behind Blaine, wrapping his arms around his waist from the back. I see they made up.

“What is with all the noise, guys?” Bryn asks.

Xavier, Caleb, and I all look at each other hesitantly, then burst out laughing again, rolling on the floor in hysterics.

Bryn and Blaine look at each other in confusion then roll their eyes. Bryn walks up to me and Blaine walks up to Caleb.

“Come on, Journey,” Bryn says, picking me up bridal style while Blaine pulls Caleb up with his hands. Caleb comes over to me and takes me out of Bryn’s arms, taking me into his own. He gives me a quick peck on the lips and we go into our own room. I help Caleb open our door and he closes it with his leg once we are in. He drops onto the bed making me bounce a few times and making me giggle. He comes on top of me, holding himself up with his arms so he does not put any weight on me.

He leans in for a kiss and I meet him halfway. I wrap my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. The kiss is slow and sweet, much like Caleb himself. Soon enough, he flips us over so I am on top and he is on the bottom. His hands rest on my sides, moving up and down softly.

He slides his tongue along my bottom lip, asking for permission to enter. I grant him that and our tongues fight for dominance while we explore each other’s mouths. I break away from the kiss for air, but he still continues to down my jaw, all the way to my neck where my mark spot is. He teases me by kissing around the spot, which makes me very annoyed. In urgency, I grab a handful of his hair and plant his lips on mine. We exchange in a heated kiss and I tug in his hair, making him groan into my mouth, which makes me smirk.

We kiss a while longer until we cannot go any longer due to lack of oxygen. We pull away and my body flops on the bed, while my head still rests on his chest and my leg is wrapped around his waist. His hands still rest on my waist and together we fall into a comfortable silence, with only our quickened heartbeats heard.

Caleb kisses the top of my head and I wrap my arm around his waist to snuggle closer to him.

“Now…. That is how I should have woken up,” he jokes. I hit his chest playfully and he chuckles and kisses my head once more.

“Thank you,” I tell him.

“For what?” his eyebrows furrow.

“For inviting Blaine and Claire here, for being a great boyfriend, and listening to me,” I list.

“You’re most welcome, Journey,” Caleb kisses me lightly on the lips. “Journey… I’m really glad you’re in my life. I don’t want to scare you off, but even though I haven’t known you for that long, I am really falling hard for you,” Caleb admits, blushing like crazy.

I blush as well, “I’m falling for you too, Caleb,” I whisper, and we fall into a comfortable silence.

“Journey?” Caleb mutters after a few minutes.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t want to find my mate,” he states.

“Well, you are going to and when you do you’re going to love her more than you will ever love me, and boy are you going to spoil her rotten,” I state.

“And you’re going to get yo’ man whipped and beggin’ on his knees,” Caleb says in a southern gangster accent, kind of like Piper when she is mad. We laugh loud and hard before we settle down.

“And what about us?” Caleb asks.

“Well, we’re going to be the best of friends and with the best of mates with the best family.”

“And this is why I love you,” he states.

“Why do you love me?” I ask.

“Well… I love your positivity. You make light in the darkest situations. I love the way your hair bounces whenever you walk or run. I love the shine in your beautiful eyes. I love how you put others before you. I love how you never hold grudges. I love how you listen to me. I love everything about you,” he states, looking at me right in the eyes, only truth shining in his eyes. I smile and blush like Chris Hemsworth just called me beautiful at a red carpet event. Fuck that, I probably look like the red carpet right now. I give Caleb a small peck on his lips and tell him how sweet that was, until we fall into another comfortable silence.

“Caleb?” I start after a few minutes.

“Yes?”

“You better sleep with one eye open this week,” I threaten.

“What? Why? What the hell did I do?” he shrieks.

“You didn’t do anything. But don’t think just because you’re my boyfriend I am going to go easy on you this week. Babe, you don’t know what the hell hit you,” I warn.

“Well obviously I would think you go easy on me,” he grumbles.

“You should have a lookout,” I advise, “but I’d probably prank him too.”

“You hate me,” he mutters.

“No I don’t.”

“I know you don’t.” He kisses my cheek and snuggles his head between my neck and shoulder, getting comfortable.

“Don’t make yourself at home Caleb. I need to go get ready for the bonfire,” I state.

“No!” he whines like a baby.

“Caleb!” I complain.

“No!” he huffs, holding onto me tighter.

“I swear I will make you suffer this week,” I threaten.

“Ugh, fine,” he retreats, letting go of me.

“Thank you baby,” I say in a really innocent voice.

“Yeah, yeah, go get ready,” he pushes me off the bed, jokingly and splays his arms and legs once I am off, taking up all the room on the bed.

He gives me a quick kiss before lying down and closing his eyes. I grab some clothes to wear and go to the bathroom and do whatever I need to do. I come out after twenty minutes to see that Caleb also got ready. He is not wearing a shirt and has droplets of water coming off of his chest. He is wearing his favorite ripped jeans and I see his shirt on the bed. I do not realize I am checking him out until he clears his throat. I look up at his face to see him smirking. I blush like crazy and look down on the floor.

“See something you like?” he jokes.

“Nope. I was just admiring the view outside the window behind you,” I lie.

Caleb rolls his eyes, but comes up to me and wraps his arms around me as I do the same.

We pull apart and Caleb puts his shirt on so we can go down for the bonfire. The kitchen is full of people eating snacks or preparing food or just socializing. The women push everyone outside so they have room to cook. We head outside and see our group by the pool with their feet in the water. In the middle of the pool, I see some men assembling the wood for the fire while other men are on the patio barbequing.

Caleb and I walk over to our group and we sit next to Bryn and Blaine. I sit next to Bryn and Caleb sits on the other side of Blaine. I purposely push Bryn with my shoulder so he would knock into Blaine.

“You’re annoying,” Bryn glares.

“Only for you,” I joke.

“Cannonball!” Someone yells from behind before jumping over us and into the pool. The person creates a huge splash which splashes all of us sitting on the edge of the pool.

Yells of complaint can be heard throughout the group. Girls shriek and stand up immediately, while boys’ growl, very angry at this sudden “attack.” One thing you never want to do to a werewolf is get them wet without notice. No one knows why it irritates us, but please take this advice very seriously.

We look over to a group of young teenage boys laughing at the other end of the yard, some patting their “splasher” on the back, who I guess had successfully gotten away. But of course, my boys would team up and prank them back. They are so lucky that it is a nice, hot day, and with our high body temperatures, the water will dry quickly from our clothes. When the “splasher” turns around, I recognize him as Rider, Riley’s younger brother, who idolizes the Terrible Four. Not a very good idol, Rider.

From the right, I hear Riley screaming at her brother to get his ass over here while Johnston shakes his hair which is full of water. There is another round of laughter coming behind me and when I turn around I see Rob, Claire, and Gavin laughing at us. I glare at them while I stand up along with everyone else who got wet, so we could get let our clothes drip free of water. When I am fully standing, I give them all the bird and stomp my way inside to change. I hear Caleb behind me who follows me into our room. Once we are in, I lock the door and head over to my dresser to pick out a new pair of clothes and Caleb does the same.

“You know,” Caleb starts, “you look really hot when you’re wet,” he smirks.

I look down and notice that the white shirt that I am wearing is completely see through and showing my hot pink bra. My face probably matches that color right now, now that I realize that I just stomped through the whole house looking like a tomato.

“I hate you,” I mutter, picking up the last of my clothes from the dresser.

“No, you don’t,” he says, coming behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing my neck. I shiver in pleasure and exhale sharply.

“You don’t know that yet,” I tease trying to sound strong as he sucks on my mark spot on my neck.

He sucks even harder and nibbles on it. I restrain myself from moaning and bite my cheek so I will not give in.

“Just give in already,” he smirks into my neck.

“Give into what,” I muster out.

“This,” he breathes into my neck before turning me around by the waist and greedily crushing his lips to mine. I gasp from the suddenness and he takes this opportunity to stick his tongue in my mouth.

After getting over the shock, I start to kiss back just as hungrily, and I feel Caleb smirk into the kiss. My fingers find themselves tangled in his hair while his own hands grip my hips hard, pulling me as close as he can. His tongue massages mine and I moan into his mouth, making him smirk even more.

Soon enough, his mouth leaves mine and he rests his forehead against mine while we both pant heavily, giving our lungs the air we deprived them.

“I win,” he teases, kissing me lightly once more and pulling away before I can respond back.

I disregard the comment and untangle my fingers from his hair. I wrap my arms around him and pull him as close as I can, soaking up the warmth radiating off of him.

“Feeling a bit cuddly today aren’t you?” he teases, resting his chin on top of my head.

“Shut up and hug me, bitch,” I mumble, burying my face into his neck.

“As you wish, your majesty,” he chuckles.

“That’s more like it.”

“Will you go out on a date with me tomorrow?” he asks, totally out of the blue.

“Obviously, you dimwit. Why wouldn’t I go out on a date with you?” I reply.

“I can’t wait!” he says excitedly.

“Where are we going to go?”

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out.”

“I hate surprises,” I mumble, breaking away from the hug.

“But you’ll love this one,” he smirks.

“Doubt it,” I tease.

“Just you wait, Journey Allen. Tomorrow will be the best date you will ever have,” he proclaims.

“I’ll have to see about that!” I yell back, entering the bathroom to change into my clothes while grinning like an idiot about the fact that I will be going on a date.

I change my clothes and head outside after a few minutes. I enter the room again to see Caleb putting on his shirt. After he is done, we head outside to get seated for the bonfire.

When we get back to the backyard, about half of the yard is full of people sitting while the other half is still talking. Caleb and I go over to our group and chat for a while before Rob clears his throat and tells everyone to sit and get started. The whole introductions part lasted for two hours. It was hilarious and we got to know how these new or old people thought or had changed from before.

“My name is Harley and yesterday morning I stepped on a cornflake. My brother labeled me as a cereal killer.”

“My name is Blaine and I have always wondered if a receptionist at the sperm bank has ever used the phrase “thank you for coming.”

“What’s up, yo? Name’s Victor and I haven’t slept for ten days because that would be too long.”

“Hey there. I’m Jesse and I believe no one dies a virgin because life fucks us all.”

“Hey, I’m Caleb and I think having a smoking section at a restaurant is like having a peeing section at the pool.”

“Hey, I’m Journey, and I am a werewolf.”

“Name’s Xavier and have you ever noticed that only drug dealers and software companies call their customer’s “users?”

“I’m Brooke and I don’t know if it is time for your medication or mine.”

And this is how the two hours passed—full of laughter and mingling and eating. Everyone here got along together and it I could feel the aura everyone was radiating. They felt like they belonged here, and when every guest goes home, they would always remember this week. Making new friends and meeting new ones. It was a happiness that we never wanted to end.

But what we want we cannot get.

As we all head inside after a night full of fun, a thunder of footsteps can be heard near our pack house. As on cue, the males quickly run to the front of the house where the noise resides, Rob and Gavin taking the lead, to inspect any upcoming danger. The women all follow, but some stay behind with younger kids in case anything bad happens. In moments, the mood goes from happy to anxious.

I walk up to the front to see what is going on.

And what I see, I do not like.

My old pack stands at the length of the driveway, all looking distraught and looking like they caught on fire or got into a fight. Tears stream down some faces as if they lost loved ones. Others put their effort into supporting people about to collapse.

I look over at the morbid group of people, my eyes landing on my family who look just as bad as the rest. I guess they sense me looking at them and they turn their heads to look at me, their eyes changing from fright to shock. A collective gasp is heard from them, making the rest of the pack look over to see what my family had just seen. Again, as if a conductor was standing in front of them, they gasp together, realizing that they had recognized me.

And in that moment, my life went from being perfect to rock bottom between seconds.