His Moon, My Alpha

Fire

Feeling a little pathetic and a lot like a fan girl, I take a seat on the floor outside of the classroom and wait for Gabriel to finish. I purposefully didn’t pack away my Spanish dictionary and I open it flipping through the pages until I find what I am looking for.

“Aha! Here, ‘amor’ means.. love.”

But he’s been calling me that since he first saw me this morning. So clearly its just some pet name; a custom originating wherever he’s from. He can’t mean that I’m literally his love. I realize that thinking he might mean that literally, should scare me. I mean, we have just met and know nothing about each other. But, it doesn’t scare me. Or rather, what scares me is how much I like the idea of him considering me his love.

Just thinking about all of this causes me to blush. And as my cheeks heat from the rush of blood, I feel it. I mean.. I feel every little thing that’s happening. I feel the blood flowing through my veins and rushing towards the outer layers of skin on my face. I feel the crispness of the air being pumped through the school’s AC unit. I feel the microscopic bits of moisture in the air around me from my breathing. I feel the electricity thrumming through the tiles on the floor where I sit.

At the same moment I make this realization, the intense noise from this morning returns. Only now, it’s the normal noises you would find in any high school, except amplified by a thousand. My heart begins hammering in my chest and my breaths become unsteady.

I put my head in my hands and tuck my knees to my chest while trying to regulate my breathing. Suddenly, my new favorite scent fills my nostrils. I breathe it in, focusing solely on that smell, and manage to calm myself.

“Jules?”

I slowly remove my head from my hands and look up. Gabriel is crouched down in front of me. There is a pained expression on his face and his arms are awkwardly out between us as if he started to reach for me but stopped. His expression changes when he meets my eyes, as if asking for permission to continue. I just barely move my head in confirmation.

He swiftly leans forward smoothing my loose hair back and placing his large calloused hands on my upper arms. This small touch ignites my body. Fire, burning in such a pleasant way, spreads. Beginning from that small contact and reaching every part of my body, planting itself in my very soul.

“I’m okay,” I manage to say.

“Want to talk about it?”

“Is that your first question?” I smile, hoping to distract him. I don’t think I’m ready to talk about it yet. Especially considering I don’t really know what’s going on.

He huffs at me in frustration and replies, “No. Thats not my first question mi amor. And if you don’t want to talk about it yet that’s fine. We have our whole lives ahead of us.” He smoothly winks, stands, and holds his hand out to help me up.

I grab his hand and we start toward the cafeteria. While we are walking, he doesn’t let go of my hand. The fire he started within me is flaring brightly. I wonder if he feels this insane connection as well? I mean, he is holding my hand. He hasn’t really talked to anyone other than me today, and there have been plenty of girls sending flirty glances his way. And I think he just suggested we would be spending the rest of our lives together.. I don’t know, maybe I’m overthinking things. I tend to do that.

I need an outsiders point of view. And the only person I would want to ask about this is bounding up to us right now!

“Jules! Who’s your new friend?” CC asks, sounding too excited.

“Oh, hey CC,” I reply as I release Gabriel’s hand.

“Gabe. My name is Gabe. It’s very nice to meet you CC.” He nods his head and gives her a polite smile as he says this.

“Will you be joining us for lunch Gabe?” She asks.

“Regrettably, I already planned to have lunch off campus with my uncle today. Him and his wife are hosting me while I’m here and I promised to eat with them and finish getting my stuff out of their yard during my free period.”

He looks towards me, his eyes apologetic as he says this. I try not to seem to disappointed, “oh, okay. Well that will give me and CC time to catch up anyways. Maybe you could join us tomorrow?”

“Of course, mi amor.”

He grabs my hand and raises it to his lips, pressing a painfully gentle kiss to the back of it. When he releases my hand I realize I am now holding a folded piece of paper. He says goodbye to my friend and turns to me one last time. He winks and a mischievous smile spreads across his face.

I watch, probably looking dumbstruck, as he walks away. Once my senses have mostly returned, I look up at CC who is clearly waiting for me to explain.

“Okay,” I sigh deeply. “Let’s go get to our usual table and I’ll tell you everything.”

She replies, “yes, let’s!” And as we make our way to edge of the cafeteria I try to gather my thoughts and decide where to start.