Chapter 3
1231 Words
The end of the day rolled on by so I began packing things away so that I could meet Yann outside his school in time.
I felt a lump in my pocket as I stood and pulled it out.
The Lycan tooth?
I must have popped it in there by accident?
I dropped it into a secure pocket in my satchel and shivered from the contact.
I really need to wash my hands...
Just as I turned to grab my bag, I heard a knock at the door.
"Andy, how's it going?"
Saleem.
"Hey Saleem? Um how are you?" I plastered on a warm smile and tried to be as welcoming as possible. I just wanted to get going, to be honest but I did my best to hide it.
"I'm good, thank you. How was your day today?", and he awkwardly walked in and sat on the arm of the chair by the door.
He crossed his arms and I could see his muscles bulging under his light brown skin.
Hmmph. Impressive, I thought dryly to myself.
"It went by quickly and we have new recruits so they are keeping us on our toes", and as I walked around my desk to stand by the door, he stood up and took a step closer.
I could feel warmth radiating from him and he smelt like coarse soap. I still hadn’t decided if I found him attractive yet but there was only one way to find out.
I stood there awkwardly for a moment under his gaze and hoping he wasn't undressing me with his eyes.
Saleem was tall, dark and handsome with raven black hair and almost green eyes.
For a military man, it was unusual that he kept his beard but I can see why he did. It accentuated his immaculate jaw line and framed his sultry eyes. His large lashes fluttered as he took me in and I could definitely see the appeal and why so many women threw themselves at him. But the thing with Saleem was that he held a permanent scowl on his face which he unsurprisingly used to his advantage.
He took another step closer, reaching for my arm, but before he could say anything else, Calliope was standing next to me, staring him down.
And she didn't look impressed.
"Hey Saleem. We done for the day, babe?", and she dragged her eyes away from his and into mine. He looked annoyed and, of course, did a poor job of covering it up.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah we are done for the day. I was just about to go grab Yann and head home. Wanna come with?"
Calli reached between Saleem and I to lock up the office, effectively pushing us out and apart.
"Ahh I'll have to pass. Faun is meeting me at mine in 20 mins to take a look at some of my faulty appliances. So I'll see you tomorrow."
She turned to face me and she had a mischievous grin on her face. Before I could move, she grabbed my face, just above my chin and squeezed my cheeks so that my mouth was puckered. Then she leaned in and gave me a sloppy, full kiss on the lips.
Saleem took a step back, shocked.
"I'll see ya in the morning!" she called as she wiped her lips, turned and sauntered out.
I looked back at Saleem, red faced, who still looked flabbergasted and I tried to hide my laughter. It didn't bother me as she usually kissed Faun and I on the mouth when she wanted to.
To be honest, he shouldn't be THAT shocked - everyone knows how eccentric Calli can be as she did swing both ways.
I coughed and chuckled nervously, "well I gotta get going, Yann will be out in 5 minutes."
He regained his composure and smiled coldly, "my place is not far from the school, I'll walk you."
Wow. I don't think I've ever seen him smile before...even if it didn’t reach his eyes...
We began our walk in silence and made some small talk.
We made it to the school just as the children were clamouring out the door. I saw Yann and waved him over.
"Well, thank you for letting me walk you. It was nice. If you're free this weekend, can I take you for a beer?", he squeezed out.
Yann was almost to us so I said hurriedly, "yeah let's do that. Saturday night will work as Yann will be at Gus and Marianne's. But only a couple. Six 'o'clock sound good?"
He nodded and then awkwardly reached over and gave me a side hug. He turned and left quickly just as Yann stood beside me. I honestly could not remember the last time someone gave me a ‘side-hug.’
This is going to be fun, I thought sarcastically to myself.
"Is that your pairing?", Yann looked at me questioningly.
"What? How do you know about that?!"
I was shocked only because I hadn't told him yet.
"Aunt Calli and Aunt Faun."
"Ugh, I'm gonna kill them" and I threw my hands up in the air.
Yann just laughed and grabbed my hand.
We walked home and chatted about our day all through dinner and bath time. I showed him the Lycan tooth and he rolled it around his fingers. It had been meticulously cleaned by the Archivio and myself first of course beforehand.
"Mom?"
"Yeah, stinky face?"
He scrunched his nose at his nickname but I could see a smile on his lips.
"Do you ever think the world would be rid of the Vargul?"
I sat on his bed and thought about it. I always liked being honest with him even when it was hard.
"I don't know honey...there are so many of them and we don't have a cure for Vargul venom yet. But I think we do a good job of keeping them out. We haven't been breached since its founding over 50 years ago", I replied while tucking him in.
"Why don't we find a cure for the Vargul? They are still part human, aren't they? What if they are just sick and want to come back home?"
I was silent. I hadn't thought of it that way.
My Yann was so sweet and kind-hearted that only he would think of that.
"Sweet boy, you are one of a kind. Why don't we add that to our prayers tonight?"
He nodded his head and put his glasses on his side table. We said our prayers and just as we finished, there was a lonely howl that pierced the night.
We both turned to look out his window, imagining what was going on behind our perimeter wall. They mainly attacked under the cover of darkness and I was hoping tonight was not one of those nights.
After a minute of silence and no breach sirens to awaken the night, I sighed and kissed his forehead.
"Goodnight honey, sweet dreams" and I stood to leave.
"Mom? Can you maybe leave my door open a bit? Please?"
He sometimes got anxious from the howling at night and felt better with the door open.
"No worries, kiddo", and I left it ajar. He smiled and rolled over and I went and plopped into my own bed, thinking through the events of the day.
- Writer
