Second Chance Mates Festival

Chapter 10: Lunch with Lacy

Emery’s POV

I sat in the hall for 20 minutes after the last person left the hall, I was hoping that Rodney would make an appearance and we could maybe grab lunch together.

After realising that he wasn't coming back, I left the hall. I was still thinking about why Rodney hadn’t drawn anything. He had been sitting at the easel for a good 20 minutes but there wasn’t even a speck of paint on the canvas. I was also curious as to what made him leave during our date but I wasn’t going to dwell on it.

I hoped that the Beta Female didn’t bring up what I told her when she spoke to Rodney next. She had left after our chat looking like what I had said to her had struck a chord with her. It was a look close to pity but I couldn't really be sure if it was pity or not. It had been a while since someone had looked at me in pity so I couldn't really remember what it looked like. 

My past wasn't something that hurt me now, I was more than happy to have been left to my own devices and cultivate my interests, like reading, painting, and plants after my rejection. Luna Mary felt guilty for supposedly not raising Stephen right but even if a parent puts their all into raising their child they can never predict the choices they make and the consequences thereof, so even though she blamed herself for what happened I knew the blame couldn't be found with her. It was all Stephen's fault.

I just hoped that Rodney wouldn't look at me differently if he ever found out. For some reason I didn’t want Rodney to pity me, I preferred our relationship the way it was, easy-going without too much emotion. That would make it easier for me to break things off at the end of the week.

As I made my way to the dining hall I noticed that there was a lot of construction going on around the pack lands. I could see a lot of different construction equipment in the distance which was interesting to me.

The Brave Heart Pack had been secluded for the longest time. Up until 13 years ago, they were one of the last packs that still practised the way of the moon, which in part entailed being in wolf form for the majority of the time. They no longer practised that though, otherwise, it would have been difficult for an omega like me to move around the pack lands so easily. 

Their modernization has been one of the most interesting things to read about and to see it now in real life was amazing. I guess Alpha Sin had a lot to do with it since the change started around the time he took over from his father. 13 years ago.

After being rejected I receded into myself and started reading a lot. Basically, anything I could get my hands on, I would read. It was the best way to forget about my mate and was the escape I needed from real life. It also didn’t hurt to know a lot about a lot of things, especially when you were in foreign lands.

I saw the entrance to the dining hall come into view. Food was also one of my many interests so I could tell from the smell that they were serving pizza for lunch. Most of the people in the hall were already seated so the line to get served wasn’t long and soon enough I had the small individual pizza on my tray.

I looked around for a seat and spotted Lacy sitting at a table in the corner. Lacy was wearing a baby blue mini dress with combat boots. Her blonde hair was put up into 2 space buns. She looked really chic.

Her table wasn’t too full of people so I moved to sit with her.

As I sat down opposite her I noticed that oddly Lacy had two pizzas in front of her. They were different flavours and she was eating them both.

“Hi, Lacy,” I said to her to get her attention. “I didn’t know we were allowed to take 2.”

Lacy looked up at me. Her blue eyes held a slight surprise that quickly died down when her eyes landed on mine. I guess she must have been too deep in her thought to feel my presence when I arrived. 

“My date gave me his so that I would agree to go on another one with him tomorrow.” Lacy laughed quietly. “Emery, how was your date?”

“It was good, other than the fact that my date left after 30 minutes,” I said to her as I took the first bite of my pizza. I had chosen to get the steak pizza and it tasted really good. “At least I got to talk to the Beta Female.”

“He stood you up?”

“Yeah, I guess. But I’m not too worried.”

“Why wouldn’t you be worried? The scammer wasted your time.” She looked at me in shock. At this point, the half-eaten pizzas had been forgotten on her plates.

"Don't call him a scammer," I said defensively. She gave me weird look. “I’m gonna see him tomorrow.” I started eating faster. I could already tell the direction in which Lacy was trying to steer the conversation and I wanted to eat as quickly as I could so I could leave quickly. 

“Aren’t you listening to me? He wasted your time, why would you meet up with him again?”

I debated whether or not I should tell Lacy the truth. Although I had known Lacy for less than 3 days, I knew that she wouldn’t judge me too harshly if I told her the truth because she didn't seem like the type to judge people, but on the other hand, listening to myself explain my crazy situation to someone else didn’t sound like a good idea, especially since at this point I wanted to see it through until the end.

“Rodney and I made a deal.” I finally said. This was a safe choice of words. Just enough information without revealing too much. Hopefully, she didn't probe deeper.

“Who’s Rodney?” Lacy asked and I knew she wouldn't give up without getting answers for what she wanted to know. 

“The person who stood me up,” I said.

“The tall brown-haired brown-eyed man’s name is Rodney?” She replied. She looked really confused. The way she worded that sounded strange to me. What was Lacy getting at?

“You acted like you didn’t see him yesterday,” I said to her. She hadn’t waved back when I was standing next to Rodney, so I thought she hadn’t seen me but she knew his eye colour, so I guess she saw enough of him to know that detail and she'd seen me but choose to ignore me.

“I-ah” She stuttered. I knew that I would get all of the information I didn’t want if I pressured Lacy a little bit more but did I really need to know though?

I turned to face her before saying, “What are you and Rodney hiding?” I said. She looked around nervously. She started to answer but I cut her off by putting my hand up. “You know what, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know.” I stood up slightly from my seat reached across the table to place my hands on her shoulders. I looked at her in the eyes hoping that this would make her understand me better. “Rodney and I made a deal to waste each-others time, I’m okay with it and he's okay with it so please don’t pry deeper.”

She looked back into my eyes. I guess she was searching to see if I was sure about what I wanted. I was. For now. I was okay with the arrangement Rodney and I had made.

I must have passed her test because soon enough she looked away.

“Fine, but if he or anyone hurts you, I’m gonna have them make friends with my fists.”

“What a cheesy thing to say,” I chuckled softly. "But your fists are smaller than mine, you wouldn't be able to knock him out."

Lacy let out a small smile. "I could try though," Lacy said. 

We closed off that conversation with a shared smile that marked the end of her questioning. 

Lacy and I finished lunch before heading back to the cabin to get ready for the night's activity which was my least favourite thing: partying.