Young Writers Society

We had to go to the mall this afternoon and that meant leaving the house and the guys. They haven’t left the basement since morning and the only time I was allowed to go was to bring them lunch. I had tried to invite them to go out, and divert them, but each time, Devin had came up and told me that they didn’t want me there. Eventually, I had given up and Rose had called a few of our friends to go hang out.

“You have to get out of this house. Too many negative emotions,” she had said with a professional voice.

We had to take the bus, since Ben wouldn’t let us use his car and my parents were gone god knows where. When we passed the double doors, Adam, Bailey and Scott were already sitting on a bench. Close to them where Riley and his girlfriend of two days, a girl I knew only by sight.

“Hi guys, hope you didn’t wait long,” Rose said to our friends.

“It has been 52 minutes and counting,” Riley said, looking down at his wrist where his watch should have been. Rose turned to him, a murderous look in her eyes. She had been hugging Adam and he took a step back, like he was afraid of her. When Rose took a menacing step toward Riley, he smiled and opened his arms for a hug. A laugh escaped my friend’s lips and she hugged Riley.

“You guys scare the shit outta me sometimes,” Adam said, trying to smile but I could still feel the fear in him. He didn’t like it when people were mad, and well... It was kind of regular stuff for Riley and Rose.

“But we know you love us!” Rose came back beside him and put his hood on his head.

“Hey!” He protested, putting it back where it had been. “And how do you know that?” He challenged her.

“Because you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t,” Riley and Rose said at the same time. I could hear Scott and Bailey laugh beside me. For me it wasn’t that funny since they always did that, they were like twins separated when they were born.

“Maybe I like Alicia better and that’s why I came,” Adam said, interrupting all the laughter around us.

“Okay, Adam, if you say so... But you don’t have to do this. We came here to shop, so let’s do it,” I said, taking his hand and Bailey’s, pulling them with me. We got in the first store, and it took only one look around to know there would be nothing for me. Unfortunately Riley’s girlfriend, whose name I found out was Vanessa, and Bailey liked it, so I had to sit down with the guys and watch them try on a few tops and some jeans. They asked for my advice, but honestly, everything looked good on these girls.

So we went like that from store to store, girls trying and guys watching with me. After a moment, though, Rose was exasperated.

“Alicia, you’re a girl and that means you’re supposed to like shopping and trying on clothes you know you’ll never buy,” she said, pulling me up.

“You know, I can have as much fun as you, sitting here and watching you guys playing dress up,” I answered her but she didn’t listen to me.

“Here, put that on,” she passed a pair of booty shorts and a V neck shirt. Yes, I found them cute and it would have been something I would’ve at least tried normally, but right now I wasn’t in the mood. If Rose wanted me to be a girl, fine, but as soon as I was back in my own clothes again, I would be back with the guys and I wasn't going to move this time.

I went to the changing room and showed how many items I had to the girl there. She opened a room and I quickly undressed to put on the skanky outfit Rose had gotten for me. I looked in the mirror at myself, to make sure I still looked good and opened the door only to see two faces I hadn’t expected to see.

“You look incredibly sexy, dear,” Cole said, winking at me. Aiden was beside him, his eyes luminous like he had a fever. His left eye was now swollen and purplish.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. I tried to get around them, but Cole blocked me with his body.

“Well I searched for you yesterday, but I couldn’t find you anywhere. And I happened to have to go to the bathroom, and what do I find there?”

He stopped there, letting his words sink in. The problem was that I had no idea what he was talking about. The bathroom? The word echoed in my blank mind. And then it all came back. The kiss... just beside the men’s bathroom. He had seen that? No, he couldn’t, if he did he would’ve had stopped us, said something, laughed...

“What are you talking about?” I asked, looking as innocent as I could. He had seen us once before, the first time Liam had kissed me.

“I’m sure you can’t forget a kiss like that easily. I was there for over five minutes and he was still sucking you in. Ah, young love,” he said, smiling in a disapproving way.

“It was nothing,” I said, looking away and instantly hating myself for it. I shouldn’t look away like that, it basically screamed 'hey look at me I’m lying'!

“Yeah, with the way he just ditched Lisa. Of course it was nothing,” Cole said sarcastically. Behind him, Aiden laughed. I tried to shoot him a dirty look, but I was unable to look away from Cole’s eyes.

“You know, you guys are really interesting. How he’s passionate whenever I see you two alone together, but doesn’t even look at you the rest of the time... I should do my psychology project on you two. Share the observations I’ve made...”

“No!” I screamed a little too quickly. Cole cocked his head to one side and lifted an eyebrow.

“Or maybe I can just talk to him on one of our little wolf bonding?” He asked. As soon as the words left his lips, he smiled at me and continued.

“Knowing there’s such creatures walking among mundane humans, walking beside you, should freak you out a little bit”

So he finally said it. Really said it. The word and all, somehow it made it even more frightening. He knew that I knew and that I was a threat for him.

“I won’t tell anyone, I promise,” I close my mouth, having nothing more to say.

“Yes, that’s what they all say. But that’s not what I’m concerned about,” he simply said. He didn’t say anything else after that, only continued to stare into my eyes, somehow communicating a message. A message that clearly said that I should be afraid of him. And little by little, I could feel the urge to run away, stay away from him. He was bad, nothing good for me or anyone else, that is.

“Yeah, but you like bad boys. They attract you like magnets and since I’ve attract you it seems, I’m not gonna let you go that easily,” he said, reading my thoughts. Again a smile was forming on his lips but didn’t light his features. Instead it seemed to only make him look scarier.

His hands caught my hips so suddenly that I didn’t even have the time to react and was forced to look in his eyes. I lift my hands, ready to push him away in a second but as soon as I had them at the level of his chest, they stopped moving. My head clouded up in confusion and I couldn’t hear or see anything clearly from that moment on. Only that I could definitely feel the pressure of his lips pressed against mine and Cole’s hands roaming across my back. I screamed in despair, knowing too well that my body was far from screaming. Actually, it seemed pretty much to enjoy the moment as I could feel my hands go under Cole’s shirt, feeling all his muscles. Why was I doing this? I knew I was scared of him... I hated him and loved him at the same time.

A shiver passed through my back when one of his hands went under my tank top and cupped my boob while his other hand was in my back pocket, making me lose my train of thoughts. All I could feel was his touch, all I could smell and taste... I loved him so much. The thought was nagging me, pushing at all the other thoughts in my head. Yes, I loved him, definitely

And then everything became clear again, as arms were pushing us apart, ripping Cole’s hands from my body.

“What the hell?” I heard Rose scream. She was facing Cole and all I could see was her back, but I knew that tone too well. She was mad.

“First, this was disgusting and it’s a public place. Second, you’re not gonna rape anybody. And certainly not Alicia,” and then she turned to me and gave me a weird look.

“She didn’t seem to mind,” Cole said from behind my friend. It took half a second for Rose to turn around and put her face inches from his.

“This little game of yours is sickening me. And if you don’t want me to beat you to death right now, you better go. And fast,” she said. They starred at each other for a few minutes, not even blinking. I didn’t even know if they knew I was still there. But as I tried to call her back to me, I realized not one word could escape my mouth. It was like I didn't even have a tongue anymore.

And right at this moment, Rose turned around, eyes empty, like she had just woken up. Cole, behind her smiled at us and opened his mouth.

“Nice to see you girls today, but I have somewhere to be; maybe we’ll see each other another time, perhaps?” He said before turning to Aiden, who I realize was still there, and had watched the entire scene, from beginning to end...

“Bye girls,” he said, winking at me before finally turning to follow Cole. We watched them go, and when all we could see was only two silhouettes, I turned to my friend. Her eyes were still empty, but color was creeping back into her features, and she smiled at me, giving her face a little more life.

“I didn’t know Aiden was friends with Cole,” Rose said, her tone a little monotone for what had just happened. She doesn’t remember a thing, a voice in my head told me. In my head, something was spinning, so fast; I couldn’t even decipher exactly what it was. And somewhere, buried deep in my subconscious, a memory was stocked there, the memory of the past minutes.