Mate?

Chapter 1:

        There are people in this world who don’t believe in anything whether it be from supernatural beings to true love and I’m one of them. Or well I was one of them, until I met him. I met him at a school several thousand miles from home with my brother. My name is Renee and I’m 18 years old and this is my- no our story.

         *****

           “Renee! Come on it’s time to go!” My Aunt yelled up the stairs. She looked after us after my mom died 10 years ago ago. I lugged my bags down the stairs and to the car. “Aunt Rosa,  are you sure grandma is expecting us for the whole school year and not just a week before?” James, my little brother 

asked. My aunt just chuckled and nodded whilst saying, “ Yes, dear, I’m quite sure.” I got up front and my mom drove us to the airport. 

       The flight to Washington state was long, considering we had flown in  from Orlando, Florida. About an hour in I had fallen asleep while listening to music, and James was playing on his PSP. 

      James looked just like my dad, with his dark, black hair and the same pointed nose. He had my mom’s bright green eyes. He never liked to be told that he looked like our dad, especially since he left. He left us a couple days before our mom died. We all found out he was cheating on our mom. Mom always thought that he loved her as much as she loved him, but it turned out he didn’t.  I still remember the words he said to mom right before he left.

 •Flashback•

       “Marie, you and I both know that you are not my true mate. She is. I completed the mate bond with her yesterday.” My father calmly said. I looked at my mom and seen she had tears in her eyes. I wanted to go down there and comfort her but I also knew that it’s best I stayed where I was. 

         “What about the children? Huh, Tom? What am I supposed to tell them when they see that you’re not here in the morning?”

       “Tell them, I left and I love them. It was an important matter. In two weeks time, tell them you got a phone call and that I died. Tell them I loved them. Marie, I really am sorry but I have to go. Your mate will come soon.” 

           “My mate?! My mate?! My mate is dead! You knew that! You know that there are no second chance mates, there hasn’t been one for a thousand years! You expect me to tell them you died when in all actuality, you left?! You expect me to raise them alone, wondering why their father couldn’t even say goodbye to them!” My mom grabbed the vase that he got her for their anniversary and smashed it on the ground. She took all the pictures of him off the wall and threw them in the fireplace. 

  “Marie-“ my dad tried to talk to her but she cut him off. “Get out!” My dad never expected that reply judging by the look on his face.

       “I’m sorry.” My dad tried apologizing, but my mom wasn’t having it. “I said. Get. Out. Just leave. I’ll tell them what you wanted me to. Here take these pictures of them so you can remember what they look like.” She said and handed him the photos. My dad nodded and walked out the door. 

•Flashback ends• 

              I have no clue what he meant when he said mate or what my mom meant. 

          “Renee, Renee. Wake up. We’re here. Well sorta, we have to take a bus to Blue Crescent.” James said. I nodded and grabbed my carry on from overhead, and got off the plane. James was following my actions. “Renee, do you think Jake will pick us up from the bus station?” James asked. I just shrugged my shoulders and grabbed my other bag from the baggage claim and James did the same.

          You may be wondering who Jake is, well he is our older brother. He moved in with grandma, after our mom died. He was 16 at the time. He’s 26 now and has a wife and two kids of his own. He met his wife when he was 16 and they have stayed together since.  He said it was true love, but I said it was stupid.  It was just a mere coincidence that they stayed together. I mean this isn’t Disney, this is the real world and in the real world there is no such thing as love. Only lust and temptation. People nowadays only want to use you for their pleasure and then when they find someone better they leave you, just like my dad did to us. 

             My thoughts were broken when I saw the sign that read: Welcome to Blue Crescent. Home of the Werewolves. I scoffed when I saw the last sentence. Werewolves? You’re joking right? They’re not real! I mean I’ll believe werewolves are real when pigs can fly. “Do you actually think there are werewolves here?” James asked. I shook my head. “They’re just myths. Stories. Non-existent.”  I looked at James. “Honestly I believe it’s all just a hoax to get more people to visit the town and it doesn’t seem to be working.”  The town was empty, like there was literally very few people who seemed to be walking around but that’s it. It was literally in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by trees. It looked like it just got done raining a couple hours ago, only because of all the puddles of water everywhere.

         The bus finally lurched to a stop. I grabbed my bags and James did the same and we got off the bus. It seems we were the only ones to get off, which only made me hate this town all the more. I looked around to see where grandma was, but I couldn’t see her. “Renee? James?” I heard a voice ask. I looked over to see Jake, smiling. “Jake!” James and I said at the same time. I ran over to him and hugged him. I missed him so much, it’s hard to explain how I felt. I hadn’t seen him in five years. He was only there for a week. I had met my nieces and they were adorable, if I do say so myself. And I do. “I missed you.” Jake said, patting my head. “I missed you too.”  Which probably sounded weird because my words were muffled by his chest. He pushed me back a bit, to get a better look at me. “You look just like mom.” He had tears in his eyes.  I knew he missed her too. We all did. 

            We all walked to the car and James shot to the passenger side door and yelled, “Shotgun!”  I rolled my eyes and Jake chuckled. 

         We drove 10 minutes from the bus station and pulled into a driveway. The house wasn’t small but it wasn’t big. It had faded blue paint on the outside and chipped white paint around the windows and on the porch. There were flowers in the windowsill buckets and around the house and fence line. They also surrounded the sidewalk up to the porch. Jake just walked into the house like he owned it, not even bothering to knock. 

               The inside of the house looked a little nicer and smelled like chocolate chip cookies. The house was decorated like any grandparent’s house would be. Knick Knacks everywhere, photos, and antique furniture. “Oh! My! You guys have grown so much.” An elderly lady walked into the living room.  She was holding a tray with cookies and milk. 

      “It’s been so long since I last saw my precious grandchildren. I missed you so much!” She said as she placed the tray on the coffee table and walked over to us. I don’t remember much about my grandparents, because the last time I saw them was when I was three. It was right before we moved to that stupid town I call home. Now that I think about it, I don’t remember anything about where I’m actually from. My dad always hated it here and we moved because my mom always did what my dad wanted. It sucked because look where that got her. She’s dead because of him. She committed suicide because she couldn’t handle the thought of him leaving her.

          I know my life is pretty f****d up,  but it is what it is, I guess.  I’m pretty f****d up. My life is like one of those teen dramas except there is no happy ending.

       “Renee, do you have a boyfriend yet?” My grandma asked and I just shook my head. Honestly finding “the one”- no let me rephrase that dating is the last thing on my mind. I don’t date. Dating leads to loving and love leads to heartbreak, and heartbreak is the last time I need.  I just wanna focus on school and go to college and get my life in line. 

            The doorbell rang breaking me out of my thoughts. “Oh, I almost forgot the al- mayor and his son were coming to meet you two.” Grandma said rushing  to the front door and - wait! Did she just say the mayor and his son were coming to see us?! Why?! 

          Two men walked in the door. The older man would be attractive if you’re into older guys. He kinda looked like George Clooney. His son looked nothing like him except for the hair. He had blue-grey eyes with dark brown hair. I’ve seen his eyes before but I don’t know where. They looked oddly familiar. He had pink plump lips that looked oh so kissable. Wait! Why am I thinking about his lips being kissable? He was saying something but I couldn’t exactly hear as I was too busy watching his lips move and his biceps bulge.  What the f**k is wrong with me?! 

        When I realized he asked me a question I didn’t hear I just said, “huh?” I looked around the room and noticed everyone smiling except James, he was annoyed. “I asked if you wanted me to show you around Blue Crescent.” Before I could even answer, my grandma beat me to it. “Yes. They would like that very much!” She said. I groaned and so did James. Great. 

           “Are there really werewolves here?” James asked. He was still hooked on the whole “home of the werewolves” sign. It was kinda pathetic, really, but what could I do? I wasn’t one for crushing another’s dreams. “What did you say your name was again?” I asked. The guy whose name I cannot, for the life of me, remember chuckled then said “Tyler.” 

         “Well Tyler, is there anything fun to do around here?” James questioned emphasizing his name. Tyler just shrugged. “I thought so.” James said a little disappointed. 

         “Well, actually we do have a bowling alley around here and a movie theater, but if you wanna go to the mall or something you’re gonna have to go to the next town over.”

       “So there is something to do!” 

         “Yep.” Tyler said popping the “p”

        “Cool what movies are they playing?” Tyler just shrugged. 

         “We can go see, do you wanna go Renee?” He said turning to look at me. I looked over at James and he had his puppy dog eyes out. God, he knew o couldn’t say no to those puppy dog eyes. I sighed and just nodded and I swear I seen excitement flash across Tyler’s eyes but it left as soon as it showed up. Tyler just nodded with that freakishly adorable smile on his face, leading the way. Wait, did I seriously just say his smile was adorable? What is going on with me?