Her One and Only

White Wine

“I haven’t been to a human city in years. You think they’ve changed at all?”

“I’d bet so, humans like changing things.” I answer.

Wolves and humans are very similar, but wolves are extreme creatures of habit. We do not like change, hence our love for tradition.

“It’ll be cool to see it now that I’m an adult. I didn’t really appreciate it as a kid. What store are we going to, again?”

“A small winery. It’s not far into the city, so if we need to run we can. By the way, you need to stay in the truck. I'm twenty-one so I'll handle this for us.”

“Oh, sh*t. I forgot about humans and their laws. Wolves have it better.” she jokes.

I have to agree with her there, as much as it is not commonplace for untransformed wolves to drink it isn't illegal. Once we graduate high school our parents just trust us to make our own decisions. It usually goes well.

We arrive at the winery and and I pick out a bottle for each of us. Nothing fancy, just whatever was cheap and recommended by the sales guy. I got a little nervous paying for the wine, but the man behind the bar was super nice and just assumed I was of age. I guess I could have brought Miles in after all. I walk out the door, show Miles the haul, and then start the 40 minute journey to her house.

We sit in a comfortable silence, enjoying the ride, until my phone interrupts us.

“New message from Alex Wright:

Silent treatment, huh? I’m waiting for an apology.”

“Wow, what a dick.” Miles breaks the silence.

Don’t I know it…

“I’m sorry, that was rude..”

“No, you’re right.” I admit.

She yanks my phone from my hands.

“No men tonight. Lets get wine drunk.” she flashes a smile.

Another twenty minutes pass and we arrive at Miles’ home.

“Ready to party?” she jokes.

“Dude I’m ready to forget about everything.”

She laughs and we head inside.

“You wanna watch anything?”

“No, let's just talk.” .

_________________________

We’re laying on the floor, our empty bottles laying beside us.

“What if the universe gets it wrong sometimes? What if we get paired with the wrong mate?” I drunkenly whisper.

“I kinda hope it does.”

I do too.

“Why?” I blurt out.

She pauses. “I mean I’m sure there are plenty of wolf couples who aren’t happy together.” she says, stumbling over her own words.

“Yeah, I get it. I feel like one of them.”

I take a deep breath. “It’s f*****g ridiculous. I’ve been twenty one for three days and I’m already so f*****g unhappy, man. I didn’t ask for any of this. I wanted to stay away from men. I want nothing to do with Alex. I don’t get it. I’m so--” I’m cut off by a loud growl in my chest. I look over at Miles to see if she heard it but she seems blissfully unaware.

“So.. what?” she questions.

“I uh- I don’t remember.” I say, relaxing back into the floor.

“So when’s your birthday?” I ask, attempting to change the subject.

“Next month on the twenty second.”

“Exactly thirty days away, congratulations. You’re almost an adult.” I nudge her shoulder jokingly.

“Yeah I wish I could just get it over with. I really want to know if the mating system is lesbo friendly.” she laughs.

“Do you know any other lesbians?”

“Not really. I don’t hang out with women much. My job is a bit of a sausage fest, if you didn’t realize.”

“So what if your mate is a man?”

“That's gonna be one unhappy dude.”

We both erupt with laughter.

We lay on the floor in a comfortable silence for a few moments.

“So you’re a Sagittarius?” I ask.

“I am. Do you have those memorized?”

“Roughly. My mom and I are Libras, and my other mom is a Capricorn so I knew you had to be in there.”

“Ah yes. Your father drew a good hand, two wonderful women to keep him grounded.” she giggles.

“Gods I can’t even handle one partner, who knows how they handle each-other.” I add.

“What’s your favorite color?” She asks.

“Burnt orange. It has such a calm yet vibrant feel to it. I tried to dye my little streak burnt orange, but it just came out sunflower yellow.” I say, hair in hand.

She takes the strip of hair in her own hands. “I like this yellow. Mine is army green. Everyone says it’s ugly but I don’t get why.”

“Green is a good color.”

“So is orange.”

“Coffee or tea?”

“Definitely coffee.”

“I agree, but only iced.”

“Are you sure you’re not gay?” she laughs.

“C’mon, iced coffee is good no matter who you love!” I protest.

We go back and forth asking questions for hours. By around 10PM we start to sober up and decide to order food, with more drinks.

“We could order from that human restaurant! They have the best nachos.” I say.

“And tacos! Oooh and then we could get margaritas too!” she adds.

About an hour passes and the food arrives, making me grateful we decided to stay at her house just outside of the pack territory. We inhale the nachos, eat a few tacos, and start sipping on our drinks, making the choice to play truth or dare.

“Okay, truth.” I say.

“Why were you so anti relationships?”

I think for a moment.

“Well.. I don’t know really. Miya, Miya is my best friend, was always so obsessed with them, and I had to watch my other siblings fail at keeping boyfriends and girlfriends.. I guess it just didn’t seem worthy of my time. I never had a boy crazy phase or anything. I just stuck to myself, read my books, and did what I did.”

“I never really had one either. Growing up I always knew I liked girls but I didn’t know in what way. I never had any interest in boys, but I got along much better with them, which made for some very awkward conversations in high school.” we both laugh.

“I lost so many male friends in high school, man.” she says.

A brief silence fills the room.

“Wow, can you believe it’s already 12AM? We’ve been hanging out for like...eleven hours.” I say.

“It feels like it’s been ten minutes.”

We soak in her words for a few moments, like two fresh sponges dropped into a full sink. We both felt the same way, spending time together. I turn my head towards her and study her side profile. Her nose was so small and round, like a little grape rested on it’s tip. Her eyes shone bluish-geen, watery from a long day of drinking and laughing. Her face just slightly blushed from the tequila. A soft smile curving the corners of her soft lips. Those soft lips… Her chin is defined, with a jawline to match. She has very soft, yet chiseled features, like a weathered statue from ancient Greece. I could stare at her from this angle for hours.

My thoughts are interrupted by her gaze.

“What’s on your mind, Tsuki?”

“Tequila.” way to go quick thinking!

“Me too.”

And we go back to staring at the ceiling like it was holding some baffling secret.

She sighs. “We should probably go to bed. I’ll take the couch again.” she gets up.

“No, you have a whole queen sized bed. Grab your little extra blanket and we’ll just sleep next to each other.” I laugh. “It’s only weird if you make it weird.”

She looks at me, seemingly trying to find a counterpoint, and then gives in.

✨🌙☀️✨