Midnight
This day is turning out to be the most extreme day of my entire life. I've done a lot of things I've never done before.
This day has been so weird that even a man is touching me. He put his heavy arm around my neck and pulled me to him in a rough way, like he would any other man, I guess. And I didn't like that.
I know my clothes are awful, I know these pants fit me bigger than they should, that my blouse is asexual and doesn't shape my body, but I don't ever want to feel like I'm being treated like a man.
I want to be pretty like Angie and have Bastian put his hands on my body in that soft way he did with her. I want people to look at me and think I'm pretty. I want them to see me and realize that I am attractive, sensual and as far away from a man as possible.
"Are we hugging?" I asked Grayson when i couldn't stand how that felt anymore. he replied no and then did the coolest thing that has ever happened to me, he put his arm around my waist to pull me into his body in a more romantic way than before.
When he told me to do the same as him, my heart started to go crazy because I can't help but notice that this is the first time someone is touching me like this and the first time I am touching someone like this. It's unfamiliar to me.
The last time I touched someone was my grandmother, twenty-two days ago, when we were preparing breakfast at the same time in the kitchen and I had to take a glass from the shelf next to her. I put my hand on her arm and she moved so I could pass.
And the last time someone touched me was five months ago when I went for my regular checkup with my doctor. He put his hand on my shoulder when he was looking at my eyes with his ophthalmoscope and then on my back when he said goodbye to me.
I always knew touching a man would be cool, but I didn't expect it to be this cool. Now I'm going to want to be hugging one all day. All the time.
Grayson's skin is soft, and I can feel his abs firming up. I want to also lower my hand to roam inside his pants but I don't think it's wise to do that right now.
"Actually, I've been known to have an almost too perfect face,” Grayson replies when I tell him his face is disfigured. And I look up because I need to check that.
"Oh..." I whisper, as I get closer to his face to see the details I may have missed. I ignore his bad eye and start looking at the rest. I notice that he bears a strong resemblance to Bastian. His face has the same structure, his buzzed hair is the same color and his eyes are almost the same. The only difference is that Grayson is younger and cuter while Bastian is older and his features are rougher, "Can I kiss you?"
"What?!” he asks, leaning back and dropping his arm, "No f-...that’s not... we are-... I'm basically your uncle, you can't ask me that. It would be a sin."
A sin? I’m not even religious.
"We're not related in any way, our blood couldn't be more different. Besides, even if you were my uncle, it wouldn't be a sin because incest only counts as a real sin when you have s****l encounters with your immediate family, your parents or your siblings. And that's not the case, not even the hypothetical one.”
"Still, it wouldn't be right. You just met me and not in the most normal situation in the world. But… believe me, you do not want to kiss me. I’m a terrible kisser. You would regret it for the rest of your life.”
I want to argue that his excuses are silly and that I'm pretty sure a kiss isn't something to make such a big deal about. People kiss all the time. People kiss after five seconds of knowing each other and nothing bad happens.
But before I can work my case, the door opens and Lion sticks his head in, looking at us with narrowed eyes.
Grayson immediately stands and raises his hands in the air.
"We weren't doing anything," he defends himself, but Lion looks at him as if he doesn't believe him, "I swear on my kids and my wife."
"You're married?" I ask, starting to regret putting my hand on his abdomen, but he gives me a tired look and rolls his eyes, "Was that another one of your jokes?"
"He loves to say stupid things," Lionel answers for him, "But that doesn't matter, I'm ready to deal with you now, Midnight. Approach the living room for a family meeting."
Bastian and Angie are already standing there when we arrive, Lion stops in front of us and starts rubbing his hands together before speaking.
"Listen, Midnight... I understand you're an adult and I'm a complete stranger to you, but," he takes a breath and starts to look caged, "You came out of me."
"That's not true, I came out of my mother. You only fertilized an egg but you didn't carry me in your womb or give birth to me. That is impossible and ridiculous."
"That's not what I mean, genius. I mean that thanks to me, you exist. You are my daughter and even though you seem to be a pain in the ass, I want to know you. I don't know if I'll have any more pups and I need someone to take care of me when I get old because Angie would just throw me in a nursing home and never visit me."
"That's not true."
"It is and you know it," he says towards her and then turns to me again, "What I'm getting at is that I'd like you to stay here for a while. We have an extra room you could stay in and.... I don't know, I could give you a job at the gym. It's all up to you. You can stay with me or you can go back to live with your grandmother, or I don't know, do whatever you want. You're free to do whatever you want."
"What he wants is for you to stay and live here," Bastian sums up and I smile towards him because I missed seeing his beautiful face these fifteen minutes I was in Grayson's room, "We would like you to be part of our family."
"Bastian is the dad, I'm the mom, Lionel is the baby and Angie is the drunk aunt that no one can stand," Grayson says, elbowing me again, "You can be the pet."
"So you consider yourself your brother's wife, who you had a kid with? That one is actually funny," I laugh and he smiles as if pleased that I finally got one of his jokes. The others don't laugh, they just stare at us, "Well, I'd like to stay. I have nothing to do anywhere else anyway. I don't want to see my grandmother because I stole all her savings, I don't have any friends or anything special back there so I could stay here without any problem."
"Well, yeah... except there's one more detail we want to mention," Angie says, approaching me slowly, "Did your mom... I mean, your grandmother, mention to you what... what we are? What you are?"
I don't understand what she means. I look at her in confusion waiting for her to say something, but she doesn't. I look over to the others and they are still waiting for me to be the one to speak.
"No." They all look uncomfortable after that. Grayson grimaces and evades my eyes. "What are you talking about?"
"In this town… or clan, as we call it, we're all werewolves," Lion blurts out, confusing me even more. Is this another joke? "Your mom knew that when she met me. We met in London, we smoked weed, and I told her everything. Two weeks later she ran away from here apparently pregnant and now, here you are. And you're a werewolf too... a half-wolf, I guess, since your mom is human.”
It's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life, but I can't really deny it because the voice inside my head wakes up and assures me it's true.
My legs tremble and I have to scoot backwards to sit on the couch as my lungs begin to close in panic.