The Lost Wolf

CHAPTER FOUR.

    I didn’t see Carter or Tyler for the rest of the day. Not that I looked for Carter, of course, but I couldn’t help other than to notice his absence. Tyler I did look for. We don’t have any classes together anyway but even at lunch he was missing. He normally always came to find me at lunch and toyed with my hair while eating his sandwich. He was really mad at me for something I couldn’t control. At this moment, I was glad that I hadn’t told him about the almost- kiss.     I got home around three pm and placed my bag on the kitchen table. I had so much homework. It was impossible but somehow I had to finish it before tomorrow because tomorrow was my first day back at cheer practice and there was no way I was missing that. The scratching in my head was still there but it seemed to be dulled a bit this week. At least enough so that I could ignore it and focus on more important things. Like Chemistry.      I went to the sink and poured myself a glass of water before I dove in. Chemistry, calculus, European history. Now I was groaning at the fact that I had insisted I take these courses to qualify for the Common Wealth Diploma. After being a week behind I’d happily drop out and into easier classes to slide by this year.     Finally, I completed my last assignment on Anne Bolin and my stomach rumbled. Just in time. I checked my phone where I had a message from my parents explaining an emergency at the hospital and that they wouldn’t be home until tomorrow. They had to pull doubles today. Typical. I got up from the table and stretched. Noticing it was dark outside, I had gotten everything done but I had worked until 9pm.      I grabbed some left over lasagna from the fridge and popped it into the microwave, letting it heat up as I cleaned up the table and put everything back into my bag. My mom seriously made the best lasagna. Even the noodles were made from scratch. She absolutely loved to bake and when I had time, away from school, friends and practice, I enjoyed being in the kitchen too.     Once I finished eating I put my plate in the dishwasher and headed upstairs to take a shower before bed. I grabbed my iPhone and connected it to the speaker affixed to my shower wall and got undressed. I turned my music up, loud. Why not? No one is home. I started the music and stepped a foot into the shower when I swore I heard someone pounding on the front door. I paused my music and strained my ears but whatever it was, had stopped. I pressed play on my phone and got into the shower.     It was the most relaxed I’ve been in two weeks. Since the first time I dreamed about the wolf and his piercing golden eyes. After I was done washing I stood under the faucet and let the water rush over my body. Taking the fears and the frustrations along with it. I felt calm and like I could think clearly. The scratching and tugging was gone. I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around myself, letting my hair pool at my waist in thick, wet waves.     I opened my bedroom door and flicked the light on and screamed. In less than a second there was a hand covering my mouth.     “Shhhhh. It’s okay. Your okay.” He soothed and took a step back from me. He then noticed that I was naked and wet covered up by a towel. His golden eyes raked over my body from my toes to my forehead and back down again. It made me feel raw and bare. Twists of excitement turned in my belly at his gaze. You’re not seriously thinking about this. Get it together. I shook my head in surprise at myself. This wasn’t me.      “What are you doing here, Carter?”     “I knocked on the door but there was no answer,” he explained, “so, I came through the window.”     “But WHY?” I pushed     “I needed to see you.” He took a step closer, and another, “I needed to apologize for today. My wo- sometimes it’s hard for me to remember that you aren’t mine. That I can’t go around beating people up in your honor.”      He placed his arms on either side of my head and I was pinned against the door. Electricity shook my body in waves and my heart was pounding. What is he doing to me? I couldn’t think straight. All I wanted at this moment was his lips on mine.     “I know you can feel it,” his eyes boring into mine and his husky voice covering my body like a blanket. I was yet again, in a trance. He reached up to stroke my cheek and shivers coursed through my body. “See?” He continued, “I can feel it too.”     My phone started ringing and it snapped me out of my hypnotic state. I took a deep breath and pushed him away. I recognized Tyler’s ringtone playing in my ears and guilt overtook me. Tyler. This isn’t fair to Tyler. Even if I didn’t actually do anything, I wanted to and that’s not okay.     “This isn’t right. You can’t just come through my bedroom window and push my boyfriend up against lockers. You can’t take me to random cabins when I’m unconscious. This thing between you and I, Carter. It can’t happen.”     “I know. I just came to apologize and see if we can be friends.”     “Friends,” I repeated the sentiment felt weird on my tongue. The truth was, I didn’t want to be Carter’s friend. I wanted more than that with him but the guilt for wanting that ate at me until I couldn’t stand it. It wasn’t fair. Not to Tyler, not to Taylor and not to me. I didn’t even know Carter. I couldn’t change my life for him but I could be his friend, right? The line had to stop there. I drew a line in the sand in my head and forced myself to take a step back over it. Done. Friends.      “Yes, I can be your friend.” He smiled at me. That dazzling, panty dropping smile. This is not friends, Kenzie. Friends don’t call their friends panty droppers. I forced a smile back at him and realized that I was still naked, in a towel. A blush crept up my neck and I made my way over to my dresser to grab some pj’s and underwear. Making my way to my closet when I tripped over a shoe I had left in the floor. I went crashing to the ground and my hands came out to catch myself on the carpet and my towel went flying from my body in the commotion and landed in a heap beside me.      I was sitting on the floor of my bedroom wet and naked. Butt naked. I stilled for a moment as the realization of what was going on hit me, embarrassment and excitement flooding my body. The towel! I snapped out of it and grabbed my towel. My apology dying on my lips as I turned around to see nothing but an empty room. Carter was gone. Vanished through the open window. Did that even just happen? Am I having a mental breakdown? At this point distinguishing between fantasy and reality was getting harder and harder.      I put on my clothes and went to close my window when I saw it. A flower with a note sitting on the window sill. He was here. I wasn’t crazy. Two simple sentences turned my world upside down as I realized what had just happened. Not even Tyler has been into my room with no one home and certainly not with me in nothing but a towel. I laid the note and the flower on my dresser and climbed into bed, set my alarm and drifted off to sleep. Forgetting all about Tyler and his ignored phone call. The tugging came back that night as did the golden eyes of the wolf-boy. Trapping me in the forest to give me a note.

 You aren’t crazy. I’m excited to be your friend.