The Forgotten Fairytales (13 page)

“Dude, you eat like an animal.” Desiree’s pointed nose squished.

“I am an animal.” Wolf winked at me. “You know you like it, little princess.”

“Yes, watching you inhale food is what I live for,” I said. “Why are you here anyway? Doesn’t getting rejected get old?”

“Ouch,” Desiree snickered.

Wolf wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
Classy.
“It takes two people to kiss, babe. Unless you forgot, your mouth was definitely glued to mine, no pressure needed.”

“You kissed him?” Kate gasped.

My fists tightened. “Yes, but we were drunk.”

“You. You were drunk,” Wolf corrected me.

I let out one short laugh. “Drunken kisses don’t mean anything.”

“Are you kidding?” Wolf asked. “You don’t think when you’re drunk. You act.”

I leaned on the table, annoyed at the turn of events. This day was meant to be about Kate coming out her shell, not rehashing making out with Wolf. “Meaning?”

“You do what you want regardless of the consequences.” Our attention turned to Kate. For a second she seemed scared, like she couldn’t believe she was talking to begin with, then something happened. Her pointed shoulders rolled back and she opened up. “Most of the time your actions are ones you’re too afraid to act on otherwise.”

“Are you implying I
want
to kiss him?”

How ridiculous. I mean, sure, the dude kissed really well, and yeah, he was too hot for his own good, but that didn’t mean I wanted to jump his bones. Well, at least right now. Right now I found him irritating.

Kate nodded. “Research shows the decisions you make while under the influence aren’t that random. Sometimes they are your hidden desires finding a way to the surface.”

Wolf’s usual lazy grin widened and he leaned into me. “Admit it, babe, you wake up in hot sweats after dreaming of one night with me. One night of pure passion and crazy animal sex.” He sat back and shrugged. “Try and resist me though, little princess. I wouldn’t want to break you.”

“Like hell you would,” I said. “And for the record, you’re the last person I’d ever dream about sleeping with.”

His firm hand rested on the small of my back. “The first step in recovery is acceptance. After that, you can attend weekly—sometimes daily, for those who are far past obsession—meetings of W.W.A.”

“Do I even want to know?”

“Wolf Worshipers Anonymous,” he said. Desiree stifled a laugh. God, he was so flipping arrogant. How he could say things like that with a straight face amazed me. “They may be over capacity, but I can pull some strings and get you in.”

“How unique. Did you come up with that on your own or did Daddy help you?”

His jaw tightened, the muscle jumping with each swallow. The hand that was once firm on my back, fell and clenched at his side. Crimson streaked his irises, erasing the flickering gold fun that once filled them.

“No. He did not.”

Whoa. Something totally flipped in him, washing away the playful banter between us.

Desiree cleared her throat. “Anyway. I came to the conclusion; Finn has it bad for you. The night of the party he secretly pined for you and ever since, those sad, sad puppy dog eyes follow you wherever you go. Add that to the hot, steamy across the room gazes and lingering touches and you have the perfect trifecta.”

“This conversation needs to do a one-eighty like now,” I said.

“And she doesn’t deny it,” Desiree said.

The way I felt about Finn was the same way I felt about pandas. Cute and fun to look at, maybe even play with, but not something you could ever have. Plus, he believed himself to be a prince from a storybook. There’s no way I could be with anyone who couldn’t tell the difference between fiction and reality. Even more ridiculous was Desiree thinking anything could ever happen between us. He was a part of Danielle’s group and I wasn’t. I never would be.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Finn doesn’t think about—”

I froze, because at that very moment, Finn entered the cafeteria with James. They always seemed to be together when he wasn’t with Danielle. Last night barreled into my mind. We’d sat beside the fire in the common room. It was after one in the morning and Danielle and James were arguing again. Well, she was arguing, he was standing there emotionless. Again. Every time I went to the bathroom I had to ignore the nagging in my head to look in the little blue bottle.

The crackling embers had warmed the room while Finn and I sat on adjacent sofas. First we listened to music, one song came on that he said reminded him of his mother. I didn’t know the name, but I loved the bass line.

“Do you get to see her a lot?” I asked.

“Only on visitation days, if she even comes.”

“Why wouldn’t she?”

His attention settled on the tiny flames, the embers brightening then darkening again as they struggled to survive. “I’m her biggest disappointment.” The frown tugging at the corner of his lips made a lump build at the bottom of my throat. He took a swig from the flask.

Using the arm of the couch he sat up and kicked the blanket off his legs. “To her, not dedicating myself to Pearl is the greatest mistake I could ever make. She wants to bring the kingdoms together. Pearl is the key to that. It isn’t about love, it’s a business deal.”

“I didn’t see that in our curriculum.”

He chuckled softly, still turning the reality over in his head. What I saw before me wasn’t a failure. What I saw was someone lost, struggling to find a purpose of his own. Weren’t we all like mindless wanderers searching for something bigger, something better than what people thought we’d find?

What was the purpose of life if the story was written for us and all we had to do was follow the footsteps paved? We’d all be robots. Who wanted a life without excitement? Some of the best times in my life were the unplanned. Kind of like getting lost on your way somewhere. At first you think it’s the worst. You yell and bicker but then somewhere along the way something magical happens, and the journey becomes better than the destination.

“I think your mom is wrong.” I stretched out across the sofa till I made it to the other side, where the arm of his couch touched mine. “You’re doing fine. We’re all fine. Mistakes are speed bumps to finding your way.”

“Where’d you hear that?”

“My dad,” I said. “He swears he made it up, but I’m pretty sure he read it someplace and claimed it for himself. He does that all the time.”

“Steal people’s words?”

I nudged his arm. “No. He tells ridiculous stories and I believe them because he’s my dad so for some reason I think he’d never lie to me.”

“What kind of stories?”

“Um, well, I used to get mad when he’d go hunting, so I made him promise he’d never kill a doe. I’m pretty sure he did. Oh, and in the middle of Florida there are these skinny trees and he convinced me they were paper tree farms. Totally weren’t. I Googled it, but I believed him.”

Finn laughed and closed his eyes only to open them slowly. “Thanks.” His hand lingered on top of mine. Words came slowly as I swallowed my dry throat.

“Anytime.”

Nothing super amazing happened; we talked and shared more stories for another hour before I snuck back to my room. Still, in those few hours together I felt normal. He wasn’t drunk and weird.

Now, as Finn stopped and smiled my way, I wondered if Desiree was right. He said something to James then walked toward us. I turned to Huey, Dewey, and Louie and glared. “Say a word to him and I’ll kill you. Especially you.” I said to Wolf.

“Don’t tease me.” He grinned. “You know I like it rough.”

I elbowed him in the ribs, though his laughter confirmed he felt no pain at all.

“Hey,” Finn said to me, acknowledging the odd faces at the table. “You still want to go to the library and study after class?”

I bit on my bottom lip. “Sounds great.”

Wolf put his arm around my lower waist, the material of my crochet top bunched between his long fingers. Finn’s attention dropped to the hand, which was way close to my butt. I shimmied to the side hoping it would fall, but it didn’t. Of course it didn’t. Wolf loved to annoy me.
I should join W.W.A and tell all those stupid girls he wasn’t worth their time.
Not that I believed there was such thing, but still, how many girls fell for him? I never saw him stalking anyone but me. Come to think of it, I never saw him talking or flirting with other girls.

“I’ll meet you after class, second floor?” Finn shifted from one side to the other like he was ready to run off.

“See you then.”

Once Finn turned away, I used all the strength I could muster and jabbed my elbow back into Wolf’s ribs. This time he flinched.
Point for Norah.

“What the hell, Wolf!” I cried. “Why would you—”

“It was a test,” Desiree said. “And you passed or failed, depending how you look at it. Finn is totes jealous of Wolf.” She turned to Kate. “Did you see the heat in his eyes? Green-eyed monster for sure. Don’t you agree, Kate?”

Kate paused, slight fear darkened her features, but she swallowed hard and nodded.

“I hate you all,” I said. “You most of all.” I glared at Wolf.

“Love and hate, baby,” Wolf said. “Love and hate.”

They were supposed to be my friends, yet they talked about Finn and me as if we were freakin’ fairy tale celebrities they had to report to the tabloids. Wait, I wondered if they had tabloids for fairy tale characters. Oh the stories they’d tell if they did.

Peter Pan Sneaks in Kids’ Rooms at Night. Lock Your Doors!

Sleeping Beauty Endorses Serta Mattresses

The bell rang and everyone dispersed from the cafeteria. I told Kate I’d meet her in class and hurried after Wolf with a score to settle. The boy looked like he walked slower than molasses, but catching up to him was harder than I thought. Must have been those long legs.

“Wolf, wait.” He turned around, one hand hitched in his worn jeans. When I finally reached his side, he eyed me with curiosity and grinned. A grin I wanted to smack off. “Why are you harassing me? If you haven’t noticed, I’m trying to help people.”

“And?”

“And you’re irritating me. All I want is to break down the barrier that says people like Kate, Desiree, and I can’t be friends. To show them people have more things in common than they know, and if they only gave others a chance, they’d see that.”

His eyes were calm, level, no colors brighter than others. “What if I want that too?”

“Do you?” I asked. “Or is this another game?”

“I do.”

“Why?”

“Because.” Dark waves fell along the side of his face and he stared at me as if he were pleading for me to see more of him. For me to see the truth. “Maybe I want to be the kind of guy a girl like you believes in.”

I sucked in a deep breath and stared at him for too long, feeling the weight of his words. The sincerity. There was no trace of a smile. No trace of amusement or laughter. Only a firm jaw and eyes like melting honey.

F
or the first time in my life, I was failing. Dad would’ve freaked if he knew. But it’s not like I failed Calculus or Ancient Roman History. I failed dance. Dance! Who would’ve thought? Well, I guess it wasn’t out of left field. Dad never let me take classes and while I could move on the dance floor to Katy Perry and Jay Z, waltzing was a different story.

Professor Peach’s grin shined brighter than the chandelier hanging in the ballroom as she delivered the news. “If you aren’t prepared for the dance at the ball, you’ll fail. If you fail, you retake the class next year. And I can promise you, Miss Hart, your dance partner will be more abysmal than the unfortunate young prince you have now.”

I bit back the nasty retort sitting on the edge of my lips. “What do you suggest?”

Pink lipstick stained her crooked front teeth. “Practice. I’ll grant you permission to use the rehearsal studio after classes.”

“Fine.” My molars ground together.

And practice is exactly what I did.

The record played over and over again, the music more a blur than an actual melody. For the first time in my life, I hated the sound of basses and voices colliding with drums. The rhythm betrayed me. My body betrayed me. And my feet? Well, I wasn’t even going to touch on how much they sucked.