LIAM: WHEN WE PULLED INTO THE RESTAURANT AN HOUR LATER I FELT A LITTLE UNDER-DRESSED FOR A DATE.
Even though Briar didn’t seem to mind at all, I felt a little self-conscious when he came to my side of the car to escort me into the restaurant as if it were fine dining. It wasn’t, we’d decided on somewhere more homey than fancy. Just because it’s what I wanted.
When we were seated I decided now was the time to get to really know him. I asked him things like his favorite music, TV shows, his favorite thing to get at coffee shops even. He was a perfect gentleman the entire time, answering each question with a smile.
“What do you like to do in your spare time?” I asked.
“I enjoy going for runs through the woods near my house,” He began, “Otherwise I used to whittle pretty often.”
“Whittling? Like carving little creatures?”
“Exactly that.” He hummed.
“Why’d you stop?” I asked.
“Well, it's not so much that I used to, but more so that I haven’t had the time for it. Grading homework usually takes it out of me, so I usually prefer to relax once I finish with that.”
“That makes sense. I’m sorry it takes so much of your time.”
“Don’t worry about it, teaching is my passion. I love it, even when it’s tiring.”
“Do you have any funny stories or drama from the workplace that you’d be willing to share?”
“Hmm… One time, one of the rudest boys in my class messed with his seatmate for the last time, and he couldn’t take it anymore, so he asked me to move him.”
“Uh huh.” I nodded, as the waitress added more water to my glass.
“So I moved him to the last kid in the world I wanted him to be with. Shy little girl, meek and basically what you imagine for a stereotypical omega.” he continued. “But I had him sit next to everyone else already, this was the last chance before I had to try to have him removed from the class. I didn’t wanna do that, you see.”
I nodded again, “Of course, kids probably got other stuff going on to make him act out.”
“Exactly. So he’s sitting next to her for half the class, picking on her and ignoring me anytime I tell him to stop. Then she stood up, like a rubber band snapped.” he made a gesture with his hand. “And punched him as hard as she could in the side of the head. She hit him so hard, the kid hit the floor. I thought—y’know, I felt bad for it at the same time—but I thought that was karma, you know?”
I put my hand up to my mouth to conceal my gasp. “No way. That little girl did that?”
“Then she just sat back down in her seat and kept taking notes. It was incredible. Of course, I had to punish them, so I brought them out into the hall to talk to them. She understood she had to get written up and took it like a champ, then sent her on her way. The boy though, he was on his hands and knees, begging and crying for me to not tell anyone that he was floored by a girl.”
“Holy shit.” I was still shocked by this story. “That sounds fake, holy-…”
Briar laughed. “I know, but it’s not! I promise you that actually happened.”
“That’s actually crazy.”
“The funniest part, you wanna guess?” He leaned in to whisper conspiratorially.
“What, tell me.”
“They’re dating now.”
“No way. Really? Tell me he’s not acting that way, still.”
“Not to my knowledge, they’re in another grade, now. So I don’t have them, but from what I’ve heard they worked out their differences.”
“Wow, I wasn’t expecting that story. Do you have any other dramatic ones?”
“Oof, dramatic. There was the time one of my coworker’s students sat on a pencil and had to go to the hospital.”
“Like…?”
“Vertical pencil. Someone was sitting behind him holding it upright, he didn’t think the kid would sit down so heavily.”
“What was he thinking!?” I exclaimed, before needing to lean back for the food to be passed over our places and set in front of us. I shifted my demeanor for the waitress. “Oh, thank you!”
“Let’s not worry about that now. He’s okay, for the record.” Briar chuckled, “What about you, any office drama?”
“Nothing that funny or shocking. The best I got is that Larry from HR got caught cheating on his wife with some 20 year old mistress recently. Larry is in his 40s.” I let my expression show my distaste.
“Yikes.” Briar agreed. “Age gaps freak you out?”
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“A little bit, mostly when it's obviously predatory. This girl isn’t even out of college yet and he’s so… I feel bad for saying this but he’s always given me skeevy vibes.”
“Yikes. Not a pretty guy, I take it.” He guessed. I shook my head with a grave expression.
“And his wife, oh I feel so bad.” I started. “They got married like… the same year the mistress was born, how messed up is that?”
“Very, I can’t even imagine.” He sounded like he genuinely felt bad. “Cheating is… almost unheard of, for werewolves. Sure, people fall out of love and break up sometimes. Intentionally going out of your way to be with another person is chemically difficult to do.”
“How so?” I asked.
“We are hardwired to be loyal to our mates.” He said seriously. “Going against that is… impossible in my mind.”
“So I have no reason to think your eyes will wander elsewhere?”
“None. They’re only for you.” He reached out, holding my unused hand in his own.
I flushed, but smiled. He was so pretty and so warm, like he radiated sunlight. I couldn’t help but sigh happily.
“I’m glad I decided to go to that parent-teacher conference.” I told him.
“Me too.” He said, smiling.
“Did you know I was planning on going there as a crusade against you.” I told him suddenly, it felt like so long ago but it was only a week or two ago.
“Against me?” He scoffed.
“I had it in my head that you were judging me for how I was raising Pete.”
“I’d never do that.” He snorted. I looked sheepish.
“Well I know that now. But, you know… you had such a positive effect on him, I felt like I was being swept under the rug.” I ducked my head.
“If you believe that, you should have been in my classroom with me. All he’d talk about is how you were saving him.”
“Oh come on now.” I couldn’t believe that.
“It’s true.”
“Sounds like it was a team effort, then.” I grinned, squeezing the hand that held mine.
“We make a good one.” He agreed, squeezing back.
“Is it crazy that I feel like I know you better than I do?” I asked him suddenly, withdrawing my hand. “It feels crazy. We barely know each other.
He frowned slightly when I pulled away. I felt similarly, wanting nothing more than to go across the table and hold him in my arms, but I wanted to rationalize my feelings somehow.
I’d been in love before, but it ended messy. I didn’t like how fast I was falling, now.
“No, Liam, it’s not crazy, it’s…” I saw him hesitate. He swallowed thickly.
“Let’s finish up here before continuing this, I think it’s time we had that talk.”
I agreed, if only to find out sooner what was so obviously bothering him.
We finished our dinner with much more normal conversation topics, before getting into the car and driving in relative silence on the way to my house.
We got inside, and Briar urged me to sit down before we started talking.
“So, what I’m about to explain to you is very important, and you’ll need to think about it seriously if this continues.”
“… okay.” I was wary, it was never a good way to start a conversation that wasn’t leaden with serious consequences.
“I don’t mean to scare you, I just need you to understand. You’ll be experiencing this a little differently as a human.”
“Experiencing what?”
“I mentioned the concept of mates before, right?”
“Sure, I figured you were just old fashioned.”
“No. I mean wolf mates, the concept of belonging to one another for life. You don’t choose it, your wolf side does, your instinctual side.”
“Like soulmates?”
“Like soulmates.” He agreed.
“And… I’m yours?” I gathered. He nodded, looking serious as can be.
I stood up, despite his earlier urges to be sitting for this conversation. He arose with me, watching me with these saddened eyes as I paced the living room.
“This is-…”
“Hard to believe, I know.”
“No, one thing I’ve learned the past few days is that you never lie to me. I believe you.” I began, undoing my bun and carding my hand through my hair. “I meant to say this is… too sudden. I don’t understand why you would pick me, and how… final it sounds.”
“That’s where I need you to consider. If you aren’t interested in being my mate, you need to tell me now and have me walk out the door. Any longer of this and… I fear I may never be able to let you go. It took everything in my power to not come driving back once I went home yesterday, but I can do it again.” He explained, walking closer but not touching. “I need you to look within yourself for the answer, Liam.”
“I don’t have time to decide?”
“The more time we spend together the more attached I get.” He said, “You must feel it too, at least a little? That inescapable feeling of needing to be close?”
“I-I know it. I’ve felt it, I just… What if I’m not what you want? I’m just a human, you need—you deserve someone who can keep up with you. A wolf.”
“I don’t care what you are. I care who you are. I want you.” He stepped even closer.
“What if I change my mind later?” I whispered. I couldn’t physically imagine doing so, but it entered my head anyway.
“I would do everything in my power to keep that from happening.” He whispered back. “You’d never want for anything. I could make you happy. You and Pete.”
“What if he doesn’t understand?”
“We can show him. He could learn, just like you are.” He stepped even closer. He was close enough to touch, if I wanted to, I just needed to reach out. I knew if I did, though, I may as well be making my decision.
“I… I can’t decide.”
“Then…” He swallowed. “Then I’ll leave.”
“-No!” I panicked, stepped forward, even closer. We were so close now.
“I mean…” I trailed off, but it seemed like he knew.
He finally, finally reached over, brushing a strand of hair away from my eyes.
“I know.” He whispered.
“How do I know I’m not going to regret this?” I asked him, eyes trained on his own.
“You wont. I’ll make sure of it. You’ll never regret choosing me…”
I couldn’t help it, I stepped closer, filling in that small gap between us. I pressed my mouth to his, finally kissing him.
I thought books and movies were ridiculous for it, but it’s true. Sparks went flying between us, blinding my senses to anything other than the man before me, holding me close. One of my hands went to the back of his neck, while the other held tight to his shoulders.
He stood bent over me, hands equally held fast to my body. Carefully, too, like I was bound to shatter if he released me. Perhaps I would have.
Perhaps he’s the one who would shatter, instead of me.