I sighed, opening boxes of new books and organizing them into their genres. I can’t stop thinking about everything that happened the night Damien burst into my house as a- well a whole-ass wolf. I still had some questions, like why the hell did he come to my place? There was still a lot to process and I’m sure there’s, even more, I don’t know of yet. Not just the werewolf thing but what happened in high school too. 

“Ever since I was young my father always warned me about getting too close to humans. At the time it was dangerous for a werewolf to get close to a human, you see other supernatural species would look for weak points in others and use them against them to gain power. With me being the next alpha it could have posed a big risk to the people around me. It’s less intense now and everyone has stayed relatively peaceful these past 14 years. This is why I came back and decided to, well, try and fix everything I regret doing in high school and apologize to the people I’ve hurt, including you. Back then I had no intention of growing as close as I did with you and Evelyn but whenever I was with you guys I forgot all the dangerous stuff and just had fun. So, when you told me you were gay and said I was a good friend and everything it made me realize- uh that I had gotten too close. My first plan was to just distance myself and ignore you but... it didn’t work. So, I- well, I tried to make you hate me. I was supposed to just leave it at that but I grew so lonely and these negative feelings began to eat at me. I became so furious with the world that I started to take it out on other people without caring about if I hurt them or not, including you. This is no excuse for all the things I did or said in high school. I really do wish I could take everything back though.”

Damien’s explanation kept playing in my head over and over again. If he was afraid of getting close to people then why would he befriend Zack and Griffin for four whole years? Ugh. This whole situation makes no sense so what’s the point of even trying to figure it out? I already have a headache. I’ll just ask him about it later. 

“That’s the fourth time I’m hearing you sigh in the last minute. What’s up Kayden?” Aspen asked, leaning on the stack of books I was organizing. 

“Nothing. Just tired. I had a long couple of days.” I sighed, for the fifth time.

“Yeah? What happened?”

I chuckled, “the ‘Big Bad Wolf’ broke into my apartment.”

“Another wolf dream?” 

“Something like that.” I smiled.

“I’m just glad Damien’s not here today. This is the most productive you’ve been since he came back.” Just as they finished their sentence a ding sounded and in walked Damien, wearing a wide smile and holding up two coffees.

“Heard you like black coffee, Aspen.” Damien handed Aspen one of the cups.

“I take back what I said.” Aspen elbowed me playfully, took a sip of coffee, and disappeared into the back room, leaving me and Damien at the front desk. “And for you, a caramel latte. I assume Aspen was talking about banning me again?” He handed me the other cup and gently ruffled my hair.

I gave him a tired smile, “Of course they were. But thank you for the coffee. I needed it. You’re a little late today hm?” I took a sip of my coffee.

“Yeah. Had to pay a visit to my Father.”

“Everything okay?”

Damien sighed, resting his arms on the counter in front of the desk and slouching over. “We’re having a few…issues. Hopefully, it’ll be taken care of soon. It’s tiring.”

“With the business? Or other things.” I asked. Other things refer to werewolf things.

“Other things. But it’ll be okay. My Father’s dealing with it. It’s not the first time this has happened.” Damien stood up straight, stretching his shoulders. “Was thinking that tonight I could cook for you. Although I don’t know if it’ll be any good. I only know how to cook steak and some vegetables, is that fine?”

“Yeah, that sounds good. Should we go shopping after my lunch with Evelyn then?” It’s only been a few days since I found out Damien was a werewolf. But other than that nothing has changed between us. It’s become a normal thing to hang out every day after my shift. We used to go back and forth with awkwardly inviting each other places until we both made an unspoken agreement to just assume we’d hang out every day.

“Yeah, that’s smart. All I have is meat at my place.” Damien rubbed the back of his neck.

“Jeez, you… I need a list of the things you can’t eat before we go.” I chuckled.

“Think it’ll be a shorter list if I give you the things I can eat.”

“Oh, you poor soul.” I lowered my voice so just Damien could hear, “you’re mostly human so why is your diet so limited.”

“I don’t know. I mean things like chocolate aren’t as bad for me compared to an actual wolf. It’ll just give me a stomach ache and I’d rather avoid that.” 

Damien started writing a list of things we needed to buy for tonight. Meanwhile, I was finishing up organizing the books. 

~~~

“God Kayden! What happened to just being friends? NOW YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON DAMIEN SAWYER?!”

I winced at how loud Evelyn was talking. “I feel like we’ve had a conversation similar to this before.”

She let out a dazed laugh in disbelief. “I feel like I’ve just teleported into an alternate universe. Never would have imagined you would fancy Damien Sawyer of all people.”

“I know, I know. I sound crazy to myself too. I didn’t even realize how much my feelings had grown until it was too late. But I mean have you seen him? I was already attracted to him and now that I’ve gotten to know him it’s all just ugh- overwhelming.” I let my head drop into my hands.

Evelyn sighed. “Isn’t he straight?”

“Uhm- well, about that. He’s actually bisexual.”

“W h a t?”

“Since high school apparently.”

“Explanation. Now.”

I gave Evelyn a brief explanation, leaving out all the werewolf details which made it sound very confusing and only made Evelyn more suspicious of Damien’s intentions.

“Kayden, I’ve been your friend since first grade. I can tell when you’re making excuses and hiding something.” She gave me that mom look.

“Listen, I never said I was going to do anything about these feelings. I’ll just wait until they disappear. Damien’s a good friend and I don’t want to ruin that. What if he doesn’t feel the same and ends up pushing me away?”

“Yeah. Right. When have you ever been able to suppress your feelings for a guy? Remember Liam?” Evelyn laughed.

“Oh God,” I groaned, “don’t remind me.”

Evelyn sighed. “How about we do a double date? That way I’ll be able to meet him and see for myself how much he’s changed because all I’m getting from you is a confusing explanation with obvious missing details.”

“Fine.” I breathed.

“You’re going to treat us though. Compensation for hiding things from me so obviously.”

I shoved her shoulder and rolled my eyes. I dreaded this date. It could either go really well or turn into a total disaster. There's no in-between when it comes to Evelyn.