The Love Triangle

18!

     The day is finally here! I’m finally 18! It’s 6 pm. Carson was supposed to arrive at 6 which means I have at least 15 more minutes to get ready. After many minutes, I have gotten my hair to stick up perfectly since I am assuming my mom will take 50+ pictures to remember the occasion. Family holidays are always complicated at our house. My dad died when I was 2 years old. I tried asking my mom how he died a while back, but she cried at me just mentioning him. Luckily, since she only has me and Carson, we have like a billion pictures together which I scroll through every now and again.

     My mom is definitely reserved when she’s home. She’s really the best mom I could ask for considering she is a single parent. It is hard though. She’s always traveling for work. I think she is some type of sales agent. That’s at least how she explains it to me. I don’t know why a sales agent travels so much but I have never heard any other answer from her. She says I have his eyes, but I don’t know. I hope I do. I hope I have some part of my dad in me. She has a few stories she will tell me of him, but I don’t know if I should believe them. They sound so farfetched, but maybe my dad was just a hero. I wish I could meet him. I wish I had just one day of my adult life with him where I could actually remember him. The only memory I have from when I was that young is a big, brown wolf. I don’t know why I remember a wolf. I guess Mom or Dad were watching a nature documentary and I was just really close to the TV.

     “Ow!” I screamed and I fell backward, hitting my head. “Ow, again.” My teeth were aching, and my mouth was burning. I looked in the mirror to see what was wrong. It looked like my canine teeth were getting bigger, but that doesn’t make sense. Can I actively see my teeth getting larger? No, that’s impossible. Why would my adult teeth be getting larger? I ignore the thought. I must be going insane. Then, I jump. Suddenly, I hear footsteps, but like… It sounds like they are coming from outside. I can’t hear footsteps from outside. The doorbell rings. It must be Carson. I splash water in my face to come back to the regular world. Then I head downstairs.

I open the door. Carson is standing in the doorway. “Hey handsome! Look at you all dolled up for your birthday. It’s adorable.” He’s always really flirtatious with me. I don’t think it’s normal, but I also just assume that’s how he treats his best friends. He reaches his hand forward to ruffle his hair, but I grab his hand. He looks shocked. I probably look the same. Neither of us believe what just happened. My reflexes have never been so fast.

     He looks absolutely incredible as usual. He always looks good. There is never a single thing wrong with him. I think about telling Carson, but it would be a bad idea for me to try to explain these weird delusions to him. I don’t want him to think I’m crazy. “The strippers will be here at 7 so we have an hour for dinner and cake.”

     “I know you are kidding, but you better not have ordered strippers.”

     “Don’t worry. I got you men and I got a woman for your mom.”

     “My mom likes men.” Carson smiles. I get antsy. “Did you or did you not order strippers?” I start panicking. The thought of seeing strippers with my mom sitting next to me is terrifying. She knows I am gay, and that Carson is. She is super cool with it. We don’t really care about who people are. We care about their actions, but I still don’t want to see my mom with a stripper.

     “Of course! I didn’t actually order strippers.” He winks.

     “I’m gonna kill you!” He laughs.

     “Dinner’s ready!” my mom calls out.

     Dinner was fantastic and the cake my mom made was too die for! Luckily, no strippers surprised us, much to Carson’s dismay. I just finished cleaning up the dishes. I walk into the living room, and Carson is passed out on the couch. He looks so cute when he’s passed out. I need to calm myself. As I said, I still have a tiny crush on Carson. I think I always will, but I don’t like him like that anymore. I start heading upstairs to go to sleep. One more day of school and then it is the weekend. I have to figure out tomorrow morning if Carson is going to go or if he is gonna claim that he has a sugar hangover. I look one last time, and he lets out a gigantic snore. I crack up laughing, but I make sure it’s silent, so I don’t wake him.

     Another week passes by. My canine teeth still hurt from time to time for no reason. My sense of smell and hearing have highly increased. I put my glasses on this morning, and I think my glasses prescription has massively changed. I don’t understand what’s going on. I feel like I should talk to Carson or my mom, but I feel like I am going insane. I’m a very academic and logical person. I like science and logic, and this defies all science and logic. I keep shrugging it off. Luckily, it’s a Friday night so I can go to sleep. I slump over on my bed, exhausted from the busy day, and slowly fall asleep.

     A Timber wolf is running through the woods. Its coat is dark grey on top of the head and down the back with strips of light brownish blonde down the middle of his back and on his sides and a white belly. The moon glistens through the tree line. The wolf finds a cliff and howls. A grey wolf comes from the shadows. The Grey wolf is different shades of dark and light grey all around his back with a white belly. The Timber wolf turns and smiles through a growl. The wolves run through the woods again, dashing through trees, ducking or jumping over logs, and more until they find a clearing. When the Timber wolf arrives from the clearing, it looks up again and transforms. When it looks down, it has my face with green eyes.

      I jump out from my bed, grasping for air. I splash water in my face and look in the mirror. I stare at my bigger canine teeth. I was hallucinating. This isn’t real. This is just a dream. I’ve been stressed. It makes sense. I dragged my sleepy, drooping eyelids apart to see my still blue eyes. Cool. They are blue. They aren’t green. Nothing is wrong. I looked outside the small window at the moon. It feels like it’s taunting me. It’s not a full moon yet, but it’s really close to a full moon. I think it’s going to be full tomorrow night. I feel a lump form in my throat. My stomach forms butterflies. Am I a werewolf? No. I can’t even consider this. But if I did, who was the other wolf in the dream?

     I stand in the woods by my house. I’m waiting in the woods like I am going to suddenly change into a werewolf. None of this makes sense. Why am I acting like an i***t? It’s finally nighttime. I gulp. I look at the full moon shining bright in the sky. If I wasn’t so scared, I’d call it beautiful, but I’m petrified.

     It’s 11:59 pm. I look at the moon again, but it is covered by some clouds. I chuckle. How could I actually believe I was going to turn into a werewolf? What was I thinking? Maybe, I’ve been spending too much time around Carson. I turn around to head inside. I figure if it hasn’t happened yet, it isn’t gonna happen. As I walk away, I can tell the clouds disappear when the moonlight shines through the forest. I stumble. I hear a crunch sound and panic. I see my right foot has extended and a part of my foot has jutted out. I fall backward in shock. My hips jut forward, and I feel it spasm. My head snaps left and snaps right. I let out a big howl. I cover my mouth embarrassed, but my hands feel different. I look and notice they are both paws! What. Is. happening?!?