Friend
1571 Words
Four weeks later
I walk into my dorm with newly bought suitcases filled with newly bought clothes and supplies. As soon as I walked in I saw a tall guy standing next to the bed on the right, his suitcase and other belongings on top of the bed.
He had long black hair in a man bun and was wearing our university's green hoodie and some ripped jeans with patches underneath. He turned around and smiled at me while sticking out his hand to shake mine.
"Hi, My name is Robert Garcia, but everyone calls me Robbie, you're my dormmate Daniel right?"
I didn't take his hand or reply to his question, just stared at him. He looked confused but there was nothing to be confused about for me, I could smell it in his scent, "You're a wolf aren't you?"
He looked a little taken aback by my question but then put back on his friendly smile. "Yeah, kinda... I'm a halfling, my Mom's a human and my Dad's a wolf." He answered me.
I took out my hand and he shook it. "Nice to meet you, I'm Daniel Jenson," I hesitantly greeted him. His human scent put me more at ease, but just because he's a halfling doesn't mean he can be trusted. "I'm a freshman. You look a little older, are you a sophomore?"
"Nah, I'm a freshman like you." He started laughing. "I just can't believe there is another wolf here. I never expected to run into one here. Are you part of the local pack? After all those wolves usually don't go to University, especially one's outside of their pack."
I froze in place. "Local pack? There's a pack here?" I started to feel my heart sink.
"Yeah... don't tell me you didn't know. The Lightment Pack. I had to receive permission from them before becoming a resident in their territory."
"I didn't know that. What should I do." I began talking to myself but before I could even think of a solution, this Robert had something to say about it
"Come on, if we shift we can probably get to the woods in less than two hours." He said grabbing my hand and trying to lead me out, but I pulled back.
"I'm not going..." He looked at me with a shocked expression after I said that. "What? I don't think you understand, if you don't get permission now they'll hunt you down for being a rogue." He tried to walk me towards the door again but I didn't budge.
"No you don't understand, I'm not going." I growled.
He looked at me as if I was crazy. "What's your problem?" He growled back. "I'm just trying to help you. As a rule for me staying here, I have to report any other rouge I see, if I don't I can be kicked out of the city or even hinted down with you."
There was no way out of this. If I did go, I could never forgive myself, and I'd also be in danger of my father finding me. If I don't go this guy will turn me in, and I'll be ambushed by the pack here.
The only way to get out of this impossible situation with no one getting hurt was to do this. I lifted up my shirt then exposing the scar in the middle of my chest. It never healed properly.
I had gone on a mission with my brother at the age of 13. I had messed up, really bad, so my brother took a knife from his belt and stabbed me. It wasn't deep enough to pierce my heart but since he abandoned me afterwards and I wasn't found until a week later, it never heal properly. It also didn't help that I didn't have a wolf yet.
"This is what happens when I trusted wolves. There's more where that came from, mentally and physically. If I go, It will be like sending me right back to the wolves who did this to me." He looks at the scar, then looks up at me. "You're running from someone?" I nodded. "Yeah..." I answer truthfully.
He sighs then sits down onto the bed. He contemplated for a while before answering."Fine, I won't tell anyone about you. So your secret...is safe with me." I nodded before leaving the dorms to go look for my classes, unsure if my roommate was going to keep his word.
I entered my calculus class while most kids were still getting settled. I sat near the top, away from others, just the way I like it. All of a sudden some tall white guy with brown hair sits next to me.
He looks over at me, and I sigh, realizing he is about to speak to me. "Hey do you have a copy of the syllabus? I was hoping I could take pictures of it!"
I sighed again, pulling it out of my book bag. He took a few pictures of it from two different angles. "Thanks, I'm Marcus!" He said holding out his hand that I soon shook. "I'm Daniel." I quickly said, trying to put our conversation to and end.
Just then another guy came up to us, slapping hands with Marcus. "What's up man! I can't believe we got the same class!" He said sitting next to him. "I know right, that's crazy!
Look I met this cool guy, his names Daniel." He said pointing at me. "What the... we just met, does he think we're all of a sudden friends or something?" I thought.
"Hey what's up Daniel, my name's Chris." I held out my hand and all of a sudden he slapped it, griped it, then pulled away and snapped. I was a little surprised but I guessed since they were going to keep talking I might as well too. "How long have you guys been friends?" It was a general conversation starter, I wasn't actually interested.
"Oh, we met a few months ago when visiting the campus. I didn't know we'd be in the same class though." Marcus laughed.
"Huh?" I would've thought they knew each other for longer the way they were acting. "Hey since we all are in the same class let's get drinks later tonight!" Chris suggested.
"Oh, I don't know, it's the first day I don't really..." I tried rejecting since we literally JUST met.
"Oh nah man c'mon, we gotta celebrate our first year of University!"
"Uh..."
I don't know how I agreed to go but I did. We ended up in a bar, Chris said he'd pay for us but I insisted to pay for my own.
A waiter came up to us asking for our order, when all of a sudden someone bumped from behind I looked up I saw it was Robert, he was wearing the same uniform as the waiter who took our order. "Oh."
I looked at me, surprised. "Oh...Hi Daniel. " I nodded, "Hi." I had the most awkward tone in my voice. "Wait, you two know each other?" Marcus point at both of us. "Uh yeah, we're roommates in our dorm." I answered.
"What's up dude, I'm Chris, this is Marcus, we're in the same class as Danny here." Chris just decided to call me by a nickname that I never told him I had. "Cool, I'm Robbie.
"Hey, when's your shift over? You should join us!" Marcus all of a sudden announced. What the— how are these guys so extroverted?
"Uh sure, I'm off right now actually, let me just get out of this real quick." He said, pointing his thumb behind him.
He left and after a few minutes came from the back with a grey T-shirt on.
He sat beside me, across from Chris and Marcus. "That's so cool. You two are roommates, the two of us are friends," He pointed at me and Robert, then between him and Marcus."We can all be friends!" ...Ugh, extroverts. Me and Robert shared a look at one another.
After we all finished, me and Robert ended up walking back together. Chris and Marcus decided to stay a little longer.
It was awkwardly silent. We didn't speak, just walked. "Um Daniel, I'm sorry." He all of a sudden spoke.
"For what? You didn't really do anything wrong." He was looking out for himself. He could get in trouble for harboring a rogue. It's nothing to be surprised about, that's just how wolves are.
"No, I should have respected your decision not to go. But instead I ended up forcing you to tell me something really personal. I'm sorry." I stared at him in disbelief, he looked so genuine when he said it. "Thanks Robert. And for the record, I wasn't uncomfortable telling you." I scratched the back of my nape. He laughed. "That sounds so weird."
"What? What does?"
"You're calling me 'Robert'. Not even my boss calls me that." He chuckled. "Then should I call you Robbie?"
"Yeah. I told you, all my friends call me that." We reached the dorm and I paused. "Then you can call me Danny. Since we're... friends." He looked back and smiled. "Yeah, okay Danny." He held up his fist. I stared at it for a second before pounding it and he laughed at me.
Friend. I never really had a friend before. I'm glad I can have one now.
- Writer
