They were adorable.
For lack of better words.
Chris was like the sun. Danny his planet. He kept orbiting him as they trotted along. Everytime he wandered then came back like a boomerang, they were nuzzling, nipping, and playing. She'd never seen a territory round taken so lightly.
She hung back, both observing them and her surroundings. Some smells were new, some familiar. It peaked her interest as she weaved in and out of trees and undergrowth. Even in the twilight, she could admire the ground awash with gold, crimson, and orange leaves. They had a satisfying crunch under her paws.
The territory wasn't as big as she supposed. Quaint really. After an hour or so they'd only covered half of it's border. That's when they stopped. The sun was just peaking over the tree tops when she stepped in the door.
She may have stayed too long under the hot water of the shower, but she didn't care. It'd felt like forever since she'd properly cleaned herself. The smells of the body wash, shampoo, and conditioner that Danny picked out were pleasant. Not obnoxious. When she opened the caps to each, she took the time to inhale their fragrance. It made her wonder what stronger things he'd exposed himself to.
She could imagine him grimacing in disgust. The thought made her giggle.
As she went down the stairs, she pulled her damp hair into a bun. She adjusted her bag on her shoulder. Both scents were freshly floating into her nose when she reached the bottom. She stopped at the kitchen door frame. Slowly she peered around the molding.
Chris and Danny were eating, softly chatting about something.
Seeing the food on the cutting board made her hungry, but she was going to wait until she got to Bob's dive-bar. He promised to feed her until the first hunt and she had food of her own.
Their conversation suddenly stopped. They each tipped noses into the air.
She realized they caught her scent. Her heart skipped in apprehension. Skirting backwards down the hall, she tried to retreat back up the stairs.
“Nifae?”
She was caught red handed. She turned to see Danny leaning out of the kitchen. A smile lit up his face.
“Want some breakfast?”
She shook her head.
“No, I'm not hungry.” She quietly lied.
He frowned in confusion.
“You sure?”
She nodded.
“Okay, well, let me just finish up eating, and I'll take you to the bus stop, alright?”
Another nod and he disappeared.
Lowering herself to sit on the stairs, she waited. It didn't take long.
“Ready?”
He grabbed his back pack that was sitting in the entry way, and opened the front door. As she stepped through the door, she was curious.
Why did he have a back pack?
Securely buckled in, they pulled out of the driveway.
“Sleep alright?”
She looked at him as he stared ahead at the road.
“Yeah.”
“Bed wasn't too lumpy?” He flashed a smile at her.
She offered one back as she shook her head.
“No, it was really comfortable.”
“I'm sure. I can't believe you slept outside all the way over here.”
She shrugged.
“Didn't want to use a hotels?”
Shook her head again. She saw him scrunch up his lips in thought.
“Hard to trust people, huh?” He asked quietly.
She took a moment to respond.
“Yeah, and I wanted to save the money Tanisha gave me. Just in case.”
Onto the main road.
“Shouldn't have to worry about that now. Bob's got you working at his place, right?”
“Mhm.”
“You'll like it. He's a good guy.”
Thinking about him made her smile again.
“Yeah, he is.”
“He took good care of Chris before he sent him to us the first time. He's been helping out wolves for a while. Long before the locals took our reservation's recognized autonomy seriously.”
A question popped into her head. It took a moment to voice it.
“When did…Michigan implement wolf rights?”
He took a breath of thought.
“It hasn't been that long. Maybe about fifty or sixty years ago. My grandma always told me about it growing up. Was a pretty epic day for her and my grandpa. She'd always talk about it if the subject came up.” He chuckled.
“They're…not around anymore?”
“No, they passed away when I was in my pre-teens.”
“Sorry.”
“Don't be.”
A bit of silence
She inhaled a deep breath.
“Alaska put theirs into place fifteen years ago.”
“Yeah, that's what Chris said. That's really recent. The shit he told me they did to your pack…”
“My father and grandfather were taken. The pack always sacrificed Omegas.”
“Shit, really?”
Another nod.
“My mom and I were next in line to go before it was all passed.”
She gave him a weak smile when he looked at her with a mortified wince.
“We didn't find out what happened to them until my mom applied for access to their records.” She quietly continued.
Another moment of silence.
“Experiments?” He almost whispered.
“Yeah.”
She heard him let out a long sigh.
“Dad said that's what happened to both my mom's parents. They went off the reservation and never came back. We don't have records, but it's not hard to guess what happened to them...” His voice trailed off.
The conversation lulled as she began to recognize streets and buildings.
“Okay, here's your stop.”
The car began to slow.
“Didn't really mean to get on such a heavy subject. Promise I'll find something better to talk about when we pick you up tonight.” There was a pep in his voice.
She looked over at him when she took the door handle. A real smile filled her lips this time. He reflected it back.
“Thanks for the ride.”
“No problem! It's on the way to campus anyways, so no biggie,” He replied as she stepped out, “You know the bus schedule?”
Campus. College. That answered her curiosity from earlier.
She turned to face him after she stepped out. Pulling a paper out of her bag, she showed him the bus route Bob had given her.
“Sweet! Call us if you get lost or anything.”
“Okay.”
“Have a great day! See ya later!”
“You too, bye.”
With the door shut, she watched him drive off. She hugged the morning chill off of her. The bus stop bench had just started to become uncomfortable by the time the bus showed up.
Tapping her loaded public transportation card to the scanner, she made her way to the back. She tried to get comfortable. It was going to be a long ride.
Hour and a half later and she was in town. On to the curb and just a couple blocks down.
It smelled like greasy food and good beer. That was something that would always bring happiness to her mind. It was sure would remind her of meeting Bob every time she was going to walk through the door.
Though it had just opened, there were already some patrons scattered about. The mid morning sun was catching the light off coffee mugs and silver wear.
As the walked around the corner to Bob's office, she almost ran into a young woman.
The waitress from yesterday was looking right at her.
She reminded her of a Geisha doll she'd seen in one of the stores she'd wandered into on her cross country travels. Her face was impeccably made up in what she could only assume was flawless make up. It brought out the dark coffee irises of her almond eyes and the deep maroon lipstick. Her long black hair glistened, even under the florescent lighting. Crisp soft curls fell from her head on either side to rest just past her shoulders.
Even with the mild scowl on her face, she was breathtakingly beautiful.
“Uh…good morning.” She stuttered.
She rolled her eyes. It made her nervously swallow.
“Morning.” She said flatly.
Her eastern European accent had thrown her the first time she heard it. It threw her off again.
“Is Bob…?”
“Yeah, he's in the back.”
She roughly pushed passed her. Her heavy sigh that seemed to hold annoyance made her watch her over her shoulder until she disapeared into the kitchen.
She was left confused.
Why had her friendly demeanor changed since yesterday? Did she really upset her that much by almost accidentally running into her?
With a frown to herself, she made her way to Bob. A light tap on his door frame made his head pop up.
“Mornin' Nifae!”
She gave him a geniune smile, “Morning.”
“Ready to work?”
“Mhm.”
He stood. His hands started shuffling through papers on his desk. It seemed he was searching for something. At last he let out a grunt of satisfaction as he grabbed what he was looking for.
As he walked over, he picked up a black apron that had been resting on the back of a chair next to his desk. He held out both to her.
“I made you a name tag with the name you wanted yesterday.”
Timidly she took both. In a moment of both excitement and sadness she looked at the name tag.
Alice
It was crispy printed on a plastic white rectangle with a pin on the back.
She'd seen the name on a novel she'd glanced at in the book store of a tiny town. ‘Alice in Wonderland’ it'd read. Somehow it stuck with her. Maybe because she felt like she was in wonderland too.
She was like Chris now. A normal name so she'd fit in to this new normal life she was living. It felt so odd. Like she was in someone else's skin.
A hand gently resting on her shoulder made her flinch. Bob's soft smile seemed to know what she was thinking.
“It was tough for Chris too, but you'll get used to it. It'll keep the customers from treating you differently. We may have made progress here in the States with equal rights for wolves, but there's still a bit of prejudice still lingering about.” He said quietly.
With a slow nod she put the smile she didn't realize she lost back on her face.
“You'll be following Juniper around for today. She'll show you the ropes. You're just a be busser and dishwasher for now. Won't need to interact with customers too much.”
Her heart pounded with more excitement and nervousness.
“Okay.”
A pat on her shoulder.
“Alright, Kiddo. Breakfast is in the break room. Go out there and enjoy yourself when you're done. You're gonna do fine. If you have any questions Juniper can't answer, I'm always back here in my cave.” He chuckled.
Giving him a bigger grin, she turned. Her angry stomach was tamed by the fresh meat Bob had set aside for her. Leaving the break room, she attached her name tag to her shirt and tied her apron around her waist. She walked back down the hall.
Apprehensively she stood by the kitchen's swinging door. Curiosity made her peer in through the circular window.
An older man, whose ebony skin was glistening with sweat, was working over a big griddle. His apron had probably been white at one point. Now it just bragged of his chef skills.
“You can't just stand here. Go get the empty plates off the tables.” Juniper huffed.
She whipped around at the sound of her voice. Her scowl had gotten deeper.
With a sheepish grin she moved passed her.
Butterflies fluttered into her stomach as she stepped into the dining room.
By late afternoon, the jitters of anxiety finally left her hands. She'd gotten a routine down. The bartender finally came in, and he was just as friendly as Juniper was snappy. He was all jokes and smiles. His freckled young face was always alight. It reminded her of Danny's. There was always encouraging advice he'd offer up when she passed by.
Several waiters, waitresses, and more bussers soon followed. They all had bright smiles and warm welcomes. Business began to pick up speed and she found herself happily busy.
A second chef came in around the same time the bartender did. He was a petite Hispanic man. She swore he had springs in his shoes because he was always bouncing around. He and the other chef were always bellowing in laughter about something. It was hard not to laugh as she listened in to their conversations.
She was elbows deep in a basin of soapy water near the end of her shift when Juniper walked into the kitchen. The door nearly slammed.
“Seriously Alice? You can't just take the dishes and and not wipe off the tables.” She hissed.
She froze under her piercing glare.
“Juniper, lay off,” The head chef's voice was trying to placate, “it's her first day.”
“So what? She needs to work as hard as the rest of us, Darrell.”
Juniper walked over and dumped the dishes in her hands into the basin. It sloped water down the front of her. Her jeans and socks were left sopping.
With a “humph” she marched out.
She heard a sigh behind her.
“Dunno what got into her today. She's usually sweet as pie.” Darrell sighed.
Picking up the next dish, she started washing as he stepped up next to her.
“Sorry about that Darlin', don't take it so personal.”
She gave him a smile, “It's okay.”
He gave her a crooked grin.
“Prolly stressed out from a bad OR case or somethin'. She ain't gettin' enough sleep cause of her night shift residency.” The other chef commented.
“I bet your right, Enrique. Or it's that time of the month.” Darrell snickered as he disappeared from view.
She felt her cheeks flash. Females definitely did get moody when they were in heat. She knew she did. It must be the same for humans too.
Darrell reappeared with a towel. She took it with a tiny “thank you” and proceeded to try to dry off what she could.
Bob was frowning at her when she stepped into his office.
“Woah, you alright there, kiddo?”
“Yeah, I accidently spilled the dish water on myself.” She quietly replied.
“Well, could be worse things you could do on your first day.” He chuckled, his face softening.
She lightly giggled.
“You ready for dinner?”
Eagerly she nodded. Her stomach had been gnawing at her for an hour.
“I'll meet you in the break room.” His laugh came out when he saw her response.
The food was demolished off her plate minutes after he set it in front of her. He'd given her extra this time. She was grateful.
With a cheerful goodbye from everyone except Juniper, she stepped out the door. Instantly the cold air made her damp jeans turn to ice. Her teeth were chattering.
Sending a text to Chris to let him know she'd be at her original stop in an hour and a half, she tried to keep herself warm by hugging her legs while huddled up at the bus stop.
A chiming ring tone nearly made her jump. She scrambled to pull her phone out of her pocket. A number on the screen was one she didn't recognize. As it rang again, she debated if she should answer it. Holding her breath, she put it to her ear.
“He…Hello?”
“Hey sugar pie!”
Immediately her heart rejoiced. A stupid happy grin lit up her face.
“Hi Tanisha.”
“How's my sweetums?”
“Good.”
“You get settled in alright? Bob gotcha all taken care of?”
“Mhm.”
“A li'l birdie told me you'd been sleepin' outside. Sugar pie, I gave you enough on that card to keep ya out the cold.”
“I know.”
“No more of that, ya hear?”
Her voice was kindly chiding.
“Yes, Tanisha.”
“Now since you got all that left over, go getcha self some new clothes wear. And a nice winter jacket. It's gonna be snowin' out there soon, and it's gonna be colder than ice cream in a blizzard.”
She snorted a laugh.
“Okay, just wanted to check up on you. Call me if you need anything, or just wonna talk. You know I like some juicy gossip, especially if you find yourself a nice wolf gentlemen.”
Another muted giggle.
“Okay.”
“Tell my sweet tea and his li'l biscuit I said ‘hi’, and to at least give this lonely ol' soul a call every once in a while.”
“I will.”
“Have a good evenin', sugar pie. You take care of yourself.”
“Thank you, you too.”
“Bye!”
With a blip the call ended.
As she saved the number, she couldn't have asked for a better way to wrap up her day.