I sigh, but do so anyway. I run my hand through my gelled back curls and wait patiently for Rick to catch up with me, even though all I want to do is go home and pass out on the couch. After I had joined Sebastian in the shower last night, we took an incredibly long time to get clean…after getting dirty again after the first time in the shower. We then moved to the bedroom, me still high of my run and him in a very touchy- feely mood. Suffice to say, I didn’t get any sleep.

“Hey, so how about that lec- - holy shit, dude, you look like crap!”

Ah, Rick. Tactful as always. He’s right of course, I do look awful. I know I’ve got bags under my eyes and I forgot to shave this morning.

“Thank you, Rick. Nice to see you too.”

He grins at me, and I take a moment to take in today’s outrageous ensemble as we start to walk. He’s wearing incredibly form fitting purple jeans, paired with a white shirt and an incredibly bright pink vest which I’m sure he got from the girls’ department. It does compliment the pink streaks in his hair though. I notice he’s changed the piercings in his left ear to match his clothes, just like the laces in his cheap white sneakers are now a fluorescent pink. I shudder to think of the time he must put into creating his outfits.

“Sorry, Blainster,” he responds, and I cringe a bit at the horrid nickname, “Had a rough night?”

Though I know he’s trying to act sympathetic, I know what he’s really asking. The twinkle in his eyes and the rapidly twitching eyebrows make his true words pretty obvious.

“Got to sleep later than usual,” I reply, making a left turn to head to the food court, Rick following automatically.

“Uhu, I bet you did,” my friend replies, wiggling his eyebrows in that ridiculous way still. I nudge him non too gently in his side, trying my best to hide the blush that’s spreading across my cheeks. I have known Rick for over three years now and I’m still not used to his blunt manner.

“Oh, shut it you,” I say, rolling my eyes. “Let’s just get some coffee before I drop down, dead.”

He smirks. “My Blaine, the drama queen. Let’s go get you your Medium Drip then.”

I say nothing, merely raising an eyebrow at his flamboyant attire. If anyone’s the drama queen in this friendship, it sure as hell isn’t me. He grins sheepishly. Message received. We reach the food court and I nearly breathe a sigh in relief. Sweet relief in coffee. I’m pathetic and I know it.

Standing in line, Rick starts talking about how his ex, Peter, (Who I was sure was still the boyfriend. Guess I was wrong, Rick goes through boyfriends like he does socks) was already spotted making out with some other guy, hussy that he is. I refrain from rolling my eyes, knowing that the minute Rick spots a new cute guy Peter will be out of his memory immediately. Not even a minute later, I’m proven right.

“Well, hello. Hottie alert.”

I snort, not even looking around to see the pour soul who’s caught Rick’s attention.

“Get any gayer, I dare you.”

“Oh honey, you might want to look then, cause I’m planning on getting all up on that.”

I place my order with the barrista, then turn around to look at the apparent ‘hottie’ because I’m curious now. I instantly dismiss the elderly couple of teachers and every single girl there. I also notice a few of Rick’s exes scattered around the room and I briefly wonder how many guys in this school he’s actually had. I don’t have to look any further for the mysterious ‘hottie’ though, since Rick quickly fixes his hair and struts towards a table in the back.

Oh my. That man is gorgeous. And distinctly less twink- like than Rick’s usual victims- ahem, boyfriends. His auburn brown hair is coiffed perfectly, not a hair out of place, and his clothes look like they’ve been plucked from a catwalk. He’s immersed in a book, but with my enhanced sight I can still make out the colour of his eyes: a strange, but attractive, blend of grey, blue and green. I silently applaud Rick for his taste in men this one time and take the coffee the barrista hands me.

I sit down at the nearest empty table, not taking my eyes of Rick and his mystery man. The man looks up as Rick approaches him, and I see him take in my friend’s clothing. He’s judging the clothes, I can tell. I don’t blame him, though. Rick’s outfits are usually pretty outlandish and…bright. And compared to what this man is wearing: kind of trashy.

Rick starts talking to him then, and the man lowers his book a bit. A good sign? No, the man isn’t really smiling. More of a smirk, in fact. He shakes his head to whatever my friend is saying and I see Rick’s shoulders drop a little. They exchange a few more words, then Rick turns to head back over to me, and the man picks up his book again. I stand as Rick approaches me again, offering him the free cookie that came with my coffee.

“Can’t win them all, Rick,” I say to him, trying to hide my amused smile.

“Oh, stuff it Blainy- bear,” he replies, stuffing the cookie in his mouth in a single go.

I laugh, clapping him on the shoulder as we walk out of the food court.

_______________________________________________________

When I come home to the apartment later that day, the
first thing I smell is a delicious curry scent coming from the kitchen. I follow my nose to the stove, where the curry is indeed cooking. Before I can sneakily taste some, a pair of arms wrap around my midsection. I had heard him coming, of course, but I pretend to be surprised.

“Sebastian! Don’t startle me like that.”

“You know you love it, hon,” he says and I can feel his grin against my neck. He’s right. I do.

“Hmm, this smells delicious. I thought it was my turn to cook, though?” I ask. I know why he cooked, though. I’m terrible in the kitchen. Absolutely horrible. I can do grilled cheese sandwiches, toast and pancakes, but that’s where my culinary prowess ends. I burn pretty much anything else.

“I know, hon,” he replies and I wonder how he’s going to get out of telling me my cooking sucks. “I just thought I’d surprise you.”

“I like surprises,” I say, turning around in his arms so I can kiss him quickly, before swiftly stealing a bite of the curry from the stove. He playfully swats my hand away as I go for another taste. I’m starving, even though I stopped at a hot dog vendor for two hot dogs on my way home. Hey, I’m a wolf. My metabolism is through the roof.

“I know you do,” he grins, turning to the stove. “Speaking of, someone left a message for you on the machine. I would’ve picked up the phone, but I was in the shower and only caught the tail- end of the message. Who’s Wes? You never mentioned a Wes.”

I pause, my heart stopping for a moment, then promptly restarting again, going a hundred beats per minute. Wes? No, couldn’t be. Sebastian must have misheard. I haven’t heard from Wes in over four years, ever since I left. As a matter of fact, I haven’t been in contact with anyone from back home, in Ohio. Not since I left small town Ohio for New York.

“An old friend,” I reply belatedly, staring at the phone in trepidation. “From back home.”

I walk over to the answering machine, pressing the ‘play’ button. All too soon, a very familiar yet still half way forgotten voice sounds through the room.

“Hello, this is Wes Montgomery speaking. I’m looking for Blaine Anderson. I hope I finally have the right number. The sheer amount of B. Anderson’s in the New York City phone book is ludicrous. If this is the Blaine Anderson from Westerville, I have a message for you: There’s been a chain of… unfortunate events and the entire Family is being rounded up and brought to Ohio. That’s all I can say right now. Please call me back if you’re the Blaine I went to school with. I’m sure you still have my number somewhere. This was Wes Montgomery. Bye.”

I let a sigh escape me. Yep, that’s Wes. Only Wesley Montgomery would start and end his messages with his name. A series of unfortunate events, huh? With the family being rounded up? In other words: Shit has hit the fan and the Pack is called together to solve the problem. Well, they can do it without me. No way I’m going back. I have a life now. A nice boyfriend, a place to live, good friends, and I’m only a few months away from graduation. Before I can convince myself even more, Sebastian interrupts my thoughts.

“Sounds serious. Are you going?”

“No.”

“Why not? It’s your family.”

I know Sebastian doesn’t understand why I never visit my family, or even talk about them. He’s been raised in a loving home, with parents that accept him and care for him, and siblings that want nothing more than to follow him everywhere and have fun together. I’ve met his family a few times now, and they’re genuinely nice people. They’ve even accepted me as part of their family. Me, I haven’t seen my family in over four years. My family was the opposite of Sebastian’s. My parents aren’t very openly loving, and pair that with werewolf nature and slight homophobic tendencies, and you’d have an explosive household. I’m sure my parents loved me as a child, but my home was never particularly loving, and I left when I had just turned seventeen. I never looked back. Until now, that is.

I hear Sebastian sigh behind me. “At least give this Wes guy a call. See what’s up.”

I give in, even though I know I shouldn’t. If I listen to Wes, I’ll be swayed to go have a look, and then I’ll never leave again. The Pack will suck me back into their fold and I’ll leave everything behind if I now leave willingly. So I won’t. I’ll call Wes, but I won’t leave for Ohio. I pick up the phone and dial Wes’ number from memory. I can see Sebastian smiling from the corners of my eyes. Every second Wes doesn’t pick up I’m tempted to hang up. Finally, his voice sound on the other side of the line.

“Hello? Wes Montgomery speaking.”

I sigh. This is it, then. “Hi Wes. It’s Blaine.”

“Blaine? Oh my God, I can’t believe it. How are you?”

I try to hide my grin at hearing my old friend through the phone, but Sebastian catches it anyways before he goes back to the kitchen. I answer:

“I’m fine, Wes. You left me a message about some events?”

“Right to the chase, huh? Of course. There’s been some problems lately and we’re moving every Pack wolf back to Ohio.”

“What kind of problems?” I ask, not really learning anything I didn’t get from the message.

“I can’t really go into that over the phone, Blaine. You know better than that. We need you to come back home.”

“I am home, Wes. I’m good where I’m at right now.” If he isn’t going to tell me what’s going on, I’m sure as hell not going to go back to Ohio. For all I know, it’ll turn out to be something stupid like some wolfs tripping over their tails or something, and Wes will have blown it all out of proportion, like I remember he used to do. The line crackles, and I just know Wes just sighed.

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

The doorbell rings, and I go to answer it, talking to Wes at the same time.

“You should know better than to think I’d willingly come back on no information at all.”

“Oh, I do know better,” he says, and I just know he has a plan of some sort that I’m not going to like. I open the door and at the same time Wes continues:
“Which is why I made sure you’ll get here. See you soon, Blaine.”

With that he hangs up. I snort, then open the door fully. To my surprise, on the other side of the door stands the man Rick went gaga over not six hours ago. I can only stare in surprise. From in the kitchen, Sebastian calls: “Who’s at the door, hon?”

“Good question,” I mutter, before finally speaking to the handsome man in my doorway. “Can I help you?”

The man smirks, and suddenly I know what Wes is up to.

“You sure can,” the man says, and damn it all if his voice isn’t as perfect as I thought it would be. “My name’s Kurt. I’ve been ordered to escort you back to Westerville.”

Screw you, Wes. Not fair.