Inevitably Yours

QUINN

I stood at the kitchen counter chopping lettuce while my mom pushed meat around the pan. The whole kitchen smelled like food which was my favorite. My mom managed to get someone else to come in and finish the shift so she could come home to spend time with us.

“So, how was swimming today?” she asked.

“Fine,” I said. I concentrated harder, trying to make sure I didn’t cut myself.

“Did any of your friends go?” she asked.

“Uh, one showed up for a little bit but had to leave,” I told her.

“I appreciate you taking your brother either way,” she said. “He said he had a lot of fun with his friend Tyler.”

“Yea, they hung out basically the whole time,” I told her. She moved away from the stove to start melting the cheese while I moved on to chopping the tomatoes. My mind wandered to Michael.

Kent said he didn’t know what Micahel told Tyler to get him to leave. All Tyler said was that their mom would want them home soon. I wondered if she had linked Micahel, and he knew he was going to get his little brother to leave. That meant he cheated.

He had been on my mind since we left. The whole ride home, I couldn’t get his eyes out of my head. They had this glint to them that took his attractiveness to the next level.

“He is dreamy,” Sapphire sighed in my head.

“First, you rag on the guy I like; now you want to pine over the one that will clearly break my heart and not feel bad about it?” I argued with her. She could be such a pest.

“How do you know he would do that?” she posited.

“You heard that Tyler kid. He told Kent to keep us away from Michael,” I said.

“Not enough evidence,” she declared.

“Stuck in your head over there?” my mom laughed. I turned to look at her, realizing I had been silent for a few minutes arguing with Sapphire and thinking about Michael.

“Oh, sorry,” I mumbled before going back to the tomatoes. When the cutting board was drenched in red juice and seeds, and I had an ugly bowl of diced tomatoes, I brought them and the lettuce over to the kitchen island where mom was getting things out while the meat and queso finished.

“You’ll have to wait until this weekend to go to the bookstore,” she said, grabbing plates out of the cabinet. “Dad will be home late all this week.”

“Alright,” I said. I had a few uncracked paperbacks under my bed to tide me over. After today’s letdown at the pool, I saw lots of reclusive reading on my forecast.

My dad came in from the backdoor, ready for dinner. “Hey, sweetie,” he said, going to my mom for a hug and k**s. “How’s my quirky girl?” he asked me.

“Fine, Dad,” I said. I took my seat at the table, waiting for mom to finish. Dad peppered her with k****s while I tried to ignore them. Finally, my mom pushed him away.

“Quinn, go get Kent. Dinner is about to be ready,” my mom directed.

“KENT!” I screamed. My mother’s face dropped, and I felt her glare on me.

“I could have done that,” she said. She pointed out the door, and I knew that was my cue to do as she asked without question.

–

I sat on the couch while my parents and brother watched a movie. For the most part, I was not paying any attention. My mind kept wandering to Michael and Brandon. I wondered if Michael hadn’t interrupted us if Brandon would have stayed longer. Did he ruin my chance? Brandon also sounded disappointed when he found out that none of our other friends were coming, so I probably couldn’t blame it all on Michael.

My phone started to ping with messages. I ignored the first two, but when a succession of notifications was going off in my pocket, my dad stopped the movie from his seat in the recliner.

“Silence it or take it to your room,” he said.

“Sorry, Dad,” I said, hopping up. I rushed up the stairs to my room to see what was happening. I closed my door gently before plopping down on my bed. I opened my phone to see fifteen messages from Courtney, one of the girls I didn’t really like in our friend group.

COURTNEY

| dude

| omg

| you will not even guess

| i need to spill

| hey

| hey

| hey

| hey

| hey

| answer your phone

| your killing my vibe

| hey

| hey

| hey

| hey

I rolled my eyes. This was probably super important to her but not for anyone else. More than likely, I was not the only person she was texting.

ME

| what?

COUTRNEY

| call me!!!!

I sighed as I dialed her number and stared up at my ceiling fan. She answered before the phone even completed one ring. “Oh, my Goddess! You will never believe what happened to me today!” she squealed happily.

“You are special and found your mate three years early. He’s a charming Alpha from another pack, and he’s whisking you away?” I teased.

“Don’t rain on my parade, Blue!” she snipped.

“Sorry,” I said. “Long day, and I am tired. What happened?”

“Eeeek!” she screamed. I could just tell by her reactions that she was jumping up and down. “Okay, I am calmer. So I have been texting that guy, right?”

“Yea?” I said. I vaguely recalled her mentioning this last week.

“Okay, so he was supposed to go hang out with some people, but it ended up being totally lame. He left and texted me. Guess what he said!”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Want to hang out?” I guessed.

“Well, sort of,” she breathed. “His text actually said ‘wanna hook up?’ so obviously I was like ‘duh,’ and he came over. We hooked up and b***h, it was amazing!”

“Wait, you had s*x with him?” I asked, sitting up. Wolves had s*x before finding their mates frequently, but it was sort of a split issue. Some looked down on it, and my mom told me there were even people who rejected their mates for being that way before they found each other.

“Mmhmm!” she hummed happily. “No more v-card! That isn’t even the best part!”

“Wait, Court, do you think it was smart to have s*x with this guy so fast? I mean, have you two even really spent any time together, like in person?” I asked her.

“He asked me out after! Well, in so many words. But it is official! We are dating!” she gushed, ignoring my questions.

“Woah,” I said. “Isn’t that like backward?”

“No, no, no,” she assured. “It was totally cool. He isn’t into girls who need all that courting stuff anyway.”

“Who is this guy? Do I know him?” I asked her.

“Yep! It’s Brandon!” she said happily. My heart sunk. What?

Courtney continued, yammering about what happened, but I didn’t hear what she was saying. Brandon was hanging out with me and left to hook up with another girl. The pang of disappointment I felt at him leaving earlier turned into a sharper pain. He literally left to hook up with someone.

“So, do you want to go?” Courtney asked, her voice finally registering again in my brain.

“Uh, sure, I guess,” I said, blindly agreeing.

“Oh great!” she said. “I hope this won’t be weird with all of us now. You should try and bring someone since it will be mostly couples!”

I swallowed, realizing I just agreed to go out, which probably included tagging along with Courtney and Brandon. “Uh, maybe. Just text me the details, so I don’t forget. I got to go help my mom wash dishes. I will talk to you later,” I said.

I got off the phone and tossed it over to the pillows, laying back again. I stared at my slowly moving ceiling fan, feeling weird. Sapphire did not care at all; she didn’t like Brandon. I knew I should probably listen to her since she would be the part of me who knew our mate when it came time, but that was still years away.

I felt crummy. Courtney was nice but also kind of vapid. She skated by in school, doing the bare minimum, and she didn’t care about anything of substance. I could not recall one conversation I ever had with her that wasn’t superficial or tedious.

She was pretty, while I considered myself pretty average. I couldn’t decide if the blue hair was an asset or hindrance. I tried dying it black once, and it washed out in just a few days. I never bugged Mom too much about why I was the only one in our family with blue hair, even the whole pack it seemed, but I was starting to think I should.

“While I do not chalk this one up to a real loss, it sounds like you need some cookie dough,” Sapphire said.

I laughed hollowly. “Just because you didn’t like him doesn’t mean I didn’t. It hurts, okay?”

“Okay, cookie dough and frozen hot chocolate,” she offered. That made me smile a little. We may have opposite personalities, but my wolf did care. Her caring came by food, but that is always how Mom tried to cheer us up too.

I dragged myself downstairs and rummaged around the drawers of the fridge until I found the tub of cookie dough I had made the day before. Opting for ease, I grabbed a small bottle of chocolate milk and a spoon and went back upstairs. “Feeling okay, Quinny?” my dad called from his recliner.

“Fine, Dad,” I called.

“Is it a book character?” he asked. I knew he meant well, but he wasn’t as much of a reader as I was. He was a sports guy, so he didn’t always get me.

“Yep,” I said, leaving it at that. I trudge back into my room, setting my snack down at my desk. I flipped on my radio and let it play while I went over to my dresser. I dug around, finding some pajamas to slip into. I switched on the tiny air conditioner in my window to make my room extra cold and pulled on a big sweater over my shorts and tank top. Now that I was comfortable, I grabbed my snacks and climbed into bed. I reached under my pillow for my notebook and pen before tossing my phone onto my nightstand without bothering to plug it in.

I scribbled in my book, letting my emotions guide the short bits of writing I did while I ate the occasional spoonful of peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie dough. Mom wanted me to actually bake the cookies, so I planned to make more tomorrow to avoid the lecture.

My hand was beginning to cramp when my phone rang. I g*****d, hoping it wasn’t Courtney again. I grabbed it, looking at the ID. I didn’t recognize the number on the screen.

“Hello?” I answered. “Who is this?”

“Forget about me already?” Michael said smoothly. I hung my head. This guy was persistent, and I didn’t want his brand of trouble.

“Look, I’m having a bad night. Think we can do this little tit for tat thing another time? When I gave you my number, I never actually thought you would call,” I told him.

He was quiet for a second. “What happened?” he asked softly.

“Nothing important, I guess,” I said; I picked at the corner of my page.

“It sounds important if it got you upset,” he said.

“Not everything you get upset about is important,” I argued.

“You could tell me; then I could tell you if I think it’s important or not? I mean, maybe it is, and you’re keeping it all hidden away,” he said. I laughed a little.

“I don’t think you want to hear about my problems,” I said.

“Did I say that?” he asked. I paused, and he continued, “You can’t assume I don’t want to hear what you have to say unless I’ve told you I don’t want to hear it. I actually thought it was pretty clear that I do want to hear what you have to say.”

“You don’t know me, so why should I assume you care?” I asked.

“I happen to have a vested interest in all the pack members,” he said nonchalantly. “Plus, how do I get to know you if you won’t let me?”

“It’s a novelty that will wear off, I assure you,” I told him.

“Try me,” he said.