His Second Chance Mate

Chapter 5

19th May, 2021

I wrinkled my nose. Something was tickling my nose and I did not appreciate it.

I was sooo not ready to wake up. I groaned, and attempted to bury my face under my pillow and hold on to the remnants of my sleep, but it was too late. It was gone and I was awake.

I scowled and attempted to glare at the Murderer of Sleep without opening my eyes, which even my sleepy brain knew was useless. Compromising, I opened my eyes half-way, which I suppose made my glare half efficient.

Even with my eyes only half open, I was faced with a vision that immediately made me screw my eyes shut. I groaned out loud and unsuccessfully attempted to hibernate again.

“17 missed calls.” She hissed into my face.

“It’s way too early for this.” I whined, refusing to open my eyes. Even if sleep had abandoned me, I was patient. I just had to be lazy long enough. My sleep would come back to me. I would not let it abandon me!

A sarcastic voice cut through my efforts.

“It’s almost noon, you lazy ass.”

With unerring accuracy, I whipped my hand in the direction of the annoying voice, smiling into my pillow at the accuracy of the shot and the satisfying yelp that accompanied it. I lazily scooted to the side and was rewarded with the weight of my best friend dramatically falling over.

“Fine,” she announced, “I suppose you win this round. I can’t believe you’re forcing me to sleep at this time.” 

I snorted as she hurriedly climbed under my covers and placed her cold feet on my calves. I didn’t bother saying anything and just kicked her sharply. She moved them away, murmuring b***h loud enough for me to hear. I smirked.

Unfortunately, now I was definitely too awake to go back to sleep, but I still stubbornly refused to open my eyes.

“Is it really almost 12?” I mumbled. Normally, my mom would never let me sleep in past 8, 9 if I was lucky, but 12? Never had I slept in that long. Like ever.

“Duh,” my best friend replied eloquently, but I’d already realized what a stupid question I’d asked the second it left my mouth. For Katie to have woken up, and gotten dressed and actually made it all the way to my house, 12 was actually pretty early.

“When your mom said you were still in your room, I thought you were dying or something.” I laughed, cuddling into Katie's side.

“Well, I supposed it’s ‘cause of yesterday. It was-” I searched for an appropriate word before settling on, “intense.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? What happened yesterday? You said you were going to ask your mom and I figured I’d be getting a call in 5 minutes, with you bawling again. I even packed supplies but you never called and you didn’t even pick up my calls. I was low-key worried, you know.”

“Sorry.” I squeezed Katie’s waist in a hug. Honestly, I kind of surprised not to see Katie at my door yesterday.

“You should be. I was totally ready to go and I decided to sit down on my bed and wait for five minutes, just in case you called and the next thing I know it was already morning.” I snorted. Suddenly, I wasn’t very surprised. Katie clearly was part cat in the way she could fall asleep anywhere, in a matter of seconds.

“I was wondering why you were here so early. You already clocked in your twelve hours of sleep, didn't you.”

Katie ignored my taunt, focused on her mission.

“Yeah, well. I told you I was worried, didn’t I? So? Dish, bish. What happened?” She comically lowered her voice, as if my mom would be eavesdropping right outside the door. “Are we commencing Operation: RATTT?”

“What the hell is a rattt? There’s only one T is rat. Please tell me you know that.”

“Don’t get smart with me. It stands for Running Away To The Temple. I figured you’d need help, when you got truly desperate. I know, how badly you want to find your soul mate there.”

“I’ve told you a million times. I’m not interested in finding my soul mate. And you don’t find soul mates. You make them.”

I broke off, remembering what I’d learnt about my parents. Okay, so maybe some people did, but something else was waiting for me there. Something more than just a soul mate?

I didn’t know yet, but I was already a day closer to finding out.

“Whatever.” Katie broke through my thoughts. “So, do I need to activate Operation: RATTT or not? I’ve got it fully planned out." She said with confidence. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. My silence must have conveyed my doubt in her planning because she began to backpedal.

"Okay, maybe mostly planned out." Another pause. "Kind of planned out?” She finished questioningly. I laughed. The day I depended on Katie to plan something out, would probably only be for my funeral- and only if I hadn’t already, which was unlikely, since I was way too organised for my own good.

“No, you don’t. My mom actually agreed.” I strove for a nonchalant tone, though I don’t think I was entirely successful. My excitement refused to stay hidden. Still, I should’ve anticipated Katie’s reaction.

She screeched so loud, the golden retriever two doors down started barking. My eyes snapped open so fast, I might have sprained my eyelids.

“Keep it down!” I hissed.

“What?” She repeated in a more human tone, lying down again. I closed my eyes again, not saying anything. Katie was more than capable of carrying a conversation single-handedly.

“I don’t think I heard you right. Because, for some reason, I think I heard you say that your mom agreed to let you camp in the middle of a possibly dangerous, definitely wild animal infested woods, surrounded by hundreds of strangers, to see a possibly magically cursed or haunted temple?” 

I wanted to laugh. How was it that we both described the woods and temple in the exact same way? We both made it sound like it was located in the middle of nowhere instead of the popular camping ground it had become. All the wild animals had probably been driven away ages ago, with all the humans that visited every month.

I realized Katie had stopped talking, probably waiting for confirmation. Not that I could blame her. For years, I'd been adamant that my mom wouldn't let me go. This year, I'd turned super grouchy whenever I'd overheard people planning for the trip- which for the second half of the year, was everywhere. I'd even snapped at Katie several times, out of jealousy that she was allowed to go and I wasn't. Even I still couldn't really believe that I'd gotten permission to go. 

“I see you can still hear well. I wish I could say the same.” Katie’s screech was still resounding in my ears.

“The same mom who wouldn’t let you spend a single night at my house?” Katie's disbelief was palpable.

“I know right? I was just as shocked.” I grinned at the memory of yesterday. Undoubtedly one of the most surreal afternoons of my life, but also one of the best.

“Madeleine May Turner.” I hummed in response. I think I could see where Katie was going with this. Still, I was caught in surprise when Katie caught me in a steel grip. I opened my eyes in confusion, only to immediately shut them again. There was way too much light in the room for my sleepy eyes.

“Tell me truthfully. I promise I won’t report you. I swear. But, did you, or did you not-” she paused here dramatically. “bewitch your mother?” she finished in a hush.

I rolled my eyes, without opening them, which honestly, felt very different from rolling my eyes when they were open.

“Oh no. How did you find out.” I said in a monotone, bracing for the slap that was sure to come. Surely enough, Katie hit my arm.

“I’ll take that as a no. You better not be lying to me. Did you get a nicer clone then? I think your dad might notice.”

I grinned. Opening my eyes, I looked into Katie’s pretty blue irises.

“I swear, I did not bewitch, curse or replace my mother or do anything else that only you seem to think I’m capable of.”

“Well, I suppose I must believe you then.” She sniffed imperiously. Now that the possibility of me performing black magic or some other evil deed on my mom was out of the way, Katie moved on to more normal topics. 

“Then, what exactly did you do to make her agree?”

I recounted the main parts of the story- of how I’d lied about the beach house and how I started crying when she said no and how she’d completely flipped the table on me by saying I could go to the temple. Katie reacted at all the right places, which honestly, was one of her best traits.

“So, that’s it. I passed out right after dinner. I was going to call you, but I zonked.”

I looked over at Katie, who still seemed to be processing everything I’d told her. I hadn’t told her about my mom’s nightmares. That was between my mom and me, but I’d basically told her everything else. Was that how I’d looked last night, trying to process everything I’d heard? Probably.

I sighed. Really not a good look. For anyone.

“Your parents met there? That is like soooo romantic! And so unbelievable!”

“I know exactly how you feel. I couldn’t believe it either.” We both giggled, trying to imagine a young version of my parents just bumping into each other and like immediately falling in love. It was kind of nauseatingly cute. 

“It makes sense though.” Katie said thoughtfully, after a while. “Your parents are kind of perfect together. They must have been soul mates to have met there.”

I nodded. That was something I couldn’t really disagree with.

We both lay there silently. I gave up on trying to go back to sleep and sat up instead. Now that I was awake, my bladder was making its presence known.

Katie had dozed off already. Her ability to fall asleep immediately and stay asleep through natural disasters was really the only thing I was jealous of.

My bladder cried out again, and I awkwardly half-ran, half-waddled to the bathroom, letting out a sigh as I sat down on the cool porcelain. I swiftly finished my business, brushing my teeth and washing my face before padding back into my room.

I stretched fully, amazed at how good I felt. That was hands down the best sleep I’d had in ages. And someone had ruined it. I glared at the figure that was attempting to take over my bed. With an evil smile, I grabbed the bottom of the blanket and yanked, carefully bundling up the material in my arms, so as to not let the edges touch the ground.

Katie jerked awake, glaring at me. I gave her a sweet smile, dumping the blanket back on the bed, sufficiently far enough that she’d have to sit up if she wanted to take it back.

“It’s past noon, you lazy ass.” I smirked as Katie scowled at me. Revenge really was sweet.

“Whatever. I can sleep in tomorrow and the day after, if I want to.” She smirked at me. “Unlike someone I know.”

I glared. I’d probably never get to sleep in like that ever again. And it was all Katie's fault. My glare only intensified when I saw what she was wearing.

“Where’d you even find those?” I eyed the clothes she was wearing. I recognized them easily, seeing as they were mine!

“Ohhh, these old things,” she waved her hand in the air. “Just here and there. They’re pretty comfy. I think I’ll keep them.”

I scowled dangerously. I never wore that pair of pajamas anyway, but it was the principle of the thing, if you know what I mean. I crossed my arms, still refusing to let up my glaring towards Katie, who looked supremely unaffected. This is why best friends were terrible. They knew too much about you.

“Don’t get your panties in a twist, Mad-Mad. You would have kicked me if I got into bed with the clothes I walked over in. With all the million germs and all. I don't even know when I washed them last.”

She was right, I shuddered inwardly at the thought of those clothes polluting my beautiful and clean bed, but I refused to give her any satisfaction by admitting that out loud. Instead, I grabbed my huge blanket and began to fold it. Katie caught the other end and began to help. I lay the folded blanket the foot of my bed and quickly tidied up the rest of the room as Katie straightened the pillows and entered the bathroom.

I quickly ran a brush through my hair getting rid of the tangles and tying it up in an approximation of bun. I finished at the same time as Katie exited the bathroom and both of us grinned at our synchronized timing.

I followed Katie out of my room and down the stairs. We found both my parents, sitting on opposite ends of a sofa cuddled under a giant blanket. My mom was reading something- probably some Harlequin romance on her k****e and my dad was watching some old rerun of Seinfeld.

They both looked up as we entered, my mom giving me a smile, before diving back into her book.

“Finally awake, huh?”

Grinning, I leant in and planted a sound kiss on my dad’s cheek.

“Good Morning to you too, Father.” I said formally, before diving under the blanket, cuddling into my dad’s side.

Katie, who’d already settled next to my mom was attempting to read what my mom was reading, but wasn’t having much success. Luckily, my dad interrupted before she caught on to my mom's reading habits.

“Katie, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about this sound we heard a half an hour ago, now would you?" 

I grinned. Clearly, everyone had heard Katie’s screech of wonder, if it could be called that. I covertly got my hands on the remote and began flipping channels.

Katie affected a look of total innocence. “Of course not. In my expert opinion, however, your house has a high chance of being haunted. Check your attic. You might find a nonpaying lodger.” How she could spout such nonsense with a completely innocent expression was beyond me.

My dad nodded thoughtfully, answering in the exact same tone.

“Ah, yes. That makes complete sense. I’ll get an exorcist to come in and check my non-existent attic. I don’t know what I would do without you, Katie.”

“I always wonder the same, Mr. T.” She answered solemnly, before breaking out in giggles.

My dad smiled indulgently before snatching the remote right out of my hands.

Dammit.

Still, there was nothing really interesting on TV, so I didn’t bother complaining, settling in to watch old reruns of shows, cuddled up with my parents and best friend.

The day passed in a blur and I couldn't have told you what we spent all day doing, but it was basically a perfect day.