Rejecting Him

A few days later, on my day off, I allowed myself the simple creature comfort of sleeping in. At least, that was the plan.

Somewhere in my sheets I felt the subtle vibrations of my cell phone followed by the jumpy synths of a Lady Gaga song. I swore under my breath and groped around for the stupid thing. On the second round of the song, I finally found my phone. I gripped my baseball bat in one hand while pressing the green "answer" button with the other.

"Yullow," I mumbled in a bleary voice. Well, croaked is more like it. I cleared my throat and tried again. "Hello?"

Some of my friends' phones had personalized ring tones for each of their contacts, but mine had nothing so fancy. Unlike them, I only knew who was calling if I actually looked at the caller ID.

"Hey. It's Logan."

I sat straight up, suddenly more awake. Because of all the werewolf business, I had almost forgotten about Logan. We'd only texted a handful of times these past couple weeks, mostly on our work breaks or close to bedtime. Lately, though, texting him had slipped my mind. I'd been too busy trying to get through to Dad about the rogue. I hadn't heard from Dad since he arrived in Seattle.

A pang of guilt hit me right in the gut. Poor guy. How does he still like me?

"Hey, Logan! What's up?" I smoothed down my hair, stopping myself when I remembered he couldn't see me.

"Not a lot, actually. I was just planning on going to Saturday Market today, and, well, didja wanna go with me?"

As soon as he said this I was up and about, rooting through my closet. What I'd worn on our blind date was far too casual. I needed something nicer.

"Yeah, I'd love to. Saturday Market's my favorite part of the summer," I said. In my hands I held up a yellow chiffon dress with a white ribbon tied around the waist. Pressing my lips together, I silently shook my head and hung the dress back in my closet. It was too nice, too look at me for today. Maybe if I'd been more invested in the blind date, I'd have worn it, but I hadn't expected much from Logan since I'd known next to nothing about him at the time.

"Awesome!" The smile came through in his voice. I couldn't help but crack a smile of my own as well.

"Wanna meet me around one?" I asked, pulling out a white eyelet lace blouse. Perfect! Now where are those capris...

"Mm-hmm, that'll work. How bout we meet by the fountain? We can grab some elephant ears and see some live music."

"Sounds good," I said, smiling.

After a shower and a light dash of makeup, I hopped the number seventy bus to Lloyd Center Mall, and from there the MAX light rail Red Line downtown. I had hardly forgotten about my follower; even as I was getting ready I kept peeking outside my window. Armed with a crossword puzzle during breakfast, my bat held between my knees beneath my small, round wooden table, I hoped any passers-by would only think I was trying to figure out a difficult clue.

In the present moment I just tried to push my troubles from my mind. Any time I spent among humans I tried to pretend I was one of them. I had done so for the majority of my life and it made me feel like I was normal, for once.

A whiff of werewolf grabbed my attention and I stiffened. I caught the straps of my purse in a steely, white-knuckle grasp. My palms stung; I realized I had been digging my nails into them. I inhaled softly to get the smell again, and frowned. At once I recognized the strawberry and vanilla against the werewolf. I deflated in my seat with a relieved sigh. It was only Alanna.

I looked over my shoulder to see Alanna brightening at the sight of me. She wove her way through the standing passengers to claim the empty seat my purse had occupied until only a couple of minutes ago.

"Callie! Fancy seeing you here!" The bubbly, wide-eyed blonde cried. She pulled me into a hug.

"Yeah, what's goin' on?" I said.

Alanna was tall and graceful, with an always perky demeanor. She loved gymnastics and was now taking aerial arts classes up in Northwest Portland. Her parents were also loaded, and she had gone to a private school that was popular with our pack. (My mom, on the other hand, had fought tooth and nail to keep me in a purely human school system and out of the pack's political games.) I figured her parents were paying for her aerial silk classes, since I'd seen how much they cost. I didn't think a beauty school student could afford them without some kind of assistance.

"I've just been at Lloyd Center, actually. It's such a nice day, you know? Too nice to stay inside." Alanna grinned and held up her bags--Forever 21, H&M, Old Navy. A few of our favorites. "Oh! Check this out!"

She withdrew a soft, plush-pink dress from the H&M bag. The dress reminded me of something Marilyn Monroe would have worn, which didn't surprise me since Alanna idolized her. There was a large Marilyn Monroe collage taking up almost an entire wall in her bedroom.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Alanna gushed. Smiling, I ran my fingers lightly across the dress.

"Wow. What's it for?"

Alanna's ever-present smile vanished on the spot. She eyed me like I had suddenly sprouted a third head on the spot.

What is this, the Twilight Zone? I shifted in my chair.

"Wait a minute, you don't know."

"No, I'm afraid I don't..." I said uneasily.

"There's gonna be a pack meeting soon. Dad told me all about it." Alanna's eyes widened. To her, this was more than jarring news, it was also juicy gossip. That's just how our pack operated. There was no such things as secrets among us. At least, that's how it seemed. "They're electing a new Alpha."