All Her Secrets

Him - Pigeon

    It took ten minutes for Grace to even notice that Tyler had left. She had been talking about her plans for their fifth anniversary. I was beginning to wonder why she hadn't put a damn ring on Jess yet, and then I remembered:

    We're still in college. We're broke.

    Once she noticed that Tyler was gone, Grace became oddly anxious. Her eyes glazed over for a moment before she walked, somehow not even having to dodge any flailing body limbs, and pulled Jess by the elbow away from another kid. Sharing a look- Jess' annoyed and Grace's concerned- she followed Tyler out the door, leaving Jess with me.

Thanks a lot, Grace. 

She does realize that I don't need a babysitter, right? 

Yeesh, just because I'm younger than her doesn't mean I can't take care of myself...

    I rolled my eyes as she left, and Jess gave me the silent look of agreement. It wasn't like we didn't like each other, I liked her plenty and she seemed fine with me, but she didn't know a lot of ASL. Most of the time when Grace threw us together we just synced our phones and played Words With Friends. Which is plenty of fun, but God, this party was plenty boring before now. 

Ladies and gentlemen, we have now reached our cruising altitude of please just kill me now. 

    Three rounds into Words With Friends, I was about ready to bite off my own fingers than enter another word. Looking around the room for something to do, I was even open to helping with a keg stand at this point, I caught eyes with Donovan and internally groaned. As he headed toward Jess and me, I was wracking my brain trying to remember the fastest way out of the house that would keep Donny away from me. 

    His trademark smirk pulled at his lips as he began to walk toward us, and now completely desperate, I grabbed Jess's arm and weaved us through the crowds to the stairs. Climbing them as quickly as I could, I turned left and ducked into an abandoned bedroom. 

Thank God it's empty.

    "So, we don't like Donny, do we Pigeon?" Jess smirked as she closed the door and locked it, smiling as she slammed it in his face. Violently shaking my head, I smiled at her. At least we had something in common- a shared hatred of the complete and utter d**k-wad that was Donovan Garcia. 

    Taking a breath, I searched the room, hoping I had chosen the right one. Pulling back the curtains and unhooking the latches, I pushed on the windowsill, and luckily for us, it was the window that opened. Jess looked at me in surprise and shock, and I texted her before leaning outside.

    "Not the first time I've been here or had to get away from Donny quickly."

Yes! 

    Inspecting the roof tiles below the window, I quickly swung my leg out and tested the strength before sliding out and onto the roof. Sliding down to make room for Jess, I slapped the siding and beckoning to her. Bracing myself against the rain gutter- which clearly hadn't been cleaned in a while- I beckoned to Jess again. Her eyes were wider than dinner plates as she walked slowly toward the opened window, saying, "Pigeon, if you get us killed tonight, just know that Grace will bring us back to kill us again."

Clearly she hasn't had to escape somewhere before. 

    Carefully, she tested the strength of the roof before sitting close to the open window. "Are you sure this is safe? Grace would hate me if either of us got hurt." With a smirk, I looked over my shoulder and rolled my eyes. 

Well, Grace can't hate her if I don't get hurt. Even if she really isn't going to like this next move... 

Oh well.

    Standing up was easy for me now, but by Jess's gasp, I could tell she wasn't expecting me to do anything else. With a smile, I turned around and inched closer to the edge before reaching up and grabbing onto a tree branch. 

    Pulling it down, I bent my knees and pushed off from the roof. 

    "PIGEON! OH, MY GODDESS!" Jess screamed, but luckily the party was too loud for anyone below us to hear. 

    Bending backward, I flipped myself over the end of the branch and held tight until it stabilized itself. A minute of bouncing up and down later, I managed to slide down and grab onto a sturdier branch, jumping onto that and walking down it to the center of the tree. Knowing that there was a small seat-like area in the middle, I used other boughs as handholds and stabilizers until I was safely standing on the flat portion of the trunk. 

    Jess had pushed herself down to the rain gutter and was staring at me with her mouth gaping like a fish. 

I think I gave her a heart attack.

    c*****g an eyebrow, I saw her face redden as she scrambled up and through the window, undoubtedly about to come murder me. 

    I leaned back, allowing a branch to support me before texting Grace:

"Warning, I did something crazy. No murdering Jess. Or me. Now, where are you? I'm ready to leave." 

    A silent chuckle and approximately nineteen seconds later she texted me back:

"WHAT THE f**k PIGEON?! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!?!" 

    Throwing my head back, I laughed silently, mildly enjoying giving her Hell. My phone was blowing up between her and Collin, who had apparently seen my stunt from the backyard. 

    I sent out a mass response, simply saying:

"This party was boring. I spiced it up. You're welcome." 

    Snickering to myself, I jumped off the trunk and wandered away from the bonfire surrounded with other students, choosing instead to walk around the massive backyard. It wasn't long before the light of the bonfire faded out through the thick trees and I was using the moonlight to guide me. The bright, creamy white moon called me back to the white wolf I saw earlier, and soon my thoughts were consumed by him.

He was beautiful. 

Crazy, probably, but beautiful.

I wonder what his fur feels like.

Why do I care?? 

He's just a wolf. I'll never see him again.

Or will I? 

Could I find him?

Maybe... 

    I shook my head, disrupting the dangerous thoughts. All they would do is get me in trouble. Looking back at the moon, I smiled and chuckled.

It's a good thing I like trouble then.