Rise of the Moon (Moonlit Series Book 1) (10 page)

And it was because he moved away that I felt that he was going to just take the baby and leave her. Jason was a simple person, really. He preferred being independent most of the time, and having a girlfriend in itself had been strange for him, though I think it was mostly due to Kaya’s constant teasing.

“I bet,” was all I said. Despite bringing up the conversation, I didn’t know where to lead it. I usually didn’t care much for the Pack’s individual personal lives. But they had all taken a shining to mine. I felt obligated to ask, really.

“I’ll go grab milk and eggs, if you want to go and pick out cereals and such,” Jason told me.

“Sure,” I responded, happy for the moment of peace.

I took the cart with me, pushing it down the aisle ahead of me. Flavours of cereal mattered little, like most of the food we bought. When you needed it in such high quantities, you sort of just went for the cheapest ones on the shelf –though Carlos told me that I didn’t have to do things that way since business was doing great. Old habits die hard, I guess. The Pack hadn’t always been this well off, and it had only really changed over the past four years. Slowly, at that.

“Blake?”

I ignored whoever it was as I grabbed a few boxes of the no-name brand corn flake cereal. By the faint scent in the air I could guess who it was.

“I just had a question about why you’re investigating the foxes.”

I glanced over to see the half-demon that Evelyn didn’t know she had as a friend. Maegan. She was dressed in the green uniform the other employees wore, so I figured it was okay to assume she worked here.

“Is that the question?” I asked, glancing down the aisle to see Jason coming back with the milk and eggs he’d promised minutes ago.

“What?”

“Was that the question? Why are we investigating the foxes?”

“Well, yeah, I guess,” she answered, rubbing her arm uncomfortably.

“I don’t feel like ‘why’ is important. Did you have any new information?”

“No –none of the girls know, either,” she glanced at Jason as he put the items in the cart. “Is that why you’re here? To investigate the foxes? Did they do something against the Pack?”

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to finish my shopping,” I told her.

“They didn’t do anything, no,” Jason shot me a glance. I just sighed. “We just found their behaviour suspicious.”

“I’ll keep an ear open to new information then, I guess,” she spoke quietly. “Well… see you guys at school tomorrow.”

We watched her walk away.

“You need to change your attitude,” Jason looked at me as he grabbed the cart.

“I have changed my attitude,” I muttered. How much more did I need to change for everybody?

“Evelyn’s not going to like it if you’re rude to her friends,” he said.

“They’re her friends, not mine.”

Chapter 12: Evelyn

The weekend couldn’t have come fast enough. Shayne kept messaging me about our plans, and after not seeing him for two weeks, I was getting nervous just thinking about our date. Maddie had been planning on ‘running into us’ Friday night, but this weekend she was babysitting her baby cousin as her aunt and uncle went on a small weekend getaway. They’d had this planned for forever, and Maddie had forgotten she’d agreed until they reminded her Wednesday night.

But it was only Thursday –which meant that my date was still a day away.

I sat on the grass on the football field at lunch with the girls, enjoying the warmth of the sun. The small bump I’d received on Tuesday was gone, and I felt fine, though they still asked from time to time if I was alright. Maddie and Blake did, anyway. They were talking about ditching class one day to go to the beach –one final trip before the weather started turning cold.

From where I sat, I saw Blake walking along the field with Jason. He waved at me, as if me buying him a cookie yesterday at lunch made us best friends. I just shook my head, trying to pay attention to the conversation.

“You were right about him,” Maegan said, following my gaze. “He really is rude.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, Tuesday night he came into my store, and I asked him if he needed a hand with anything and he totally came across as an ignorant jerk,” she told me

“I’ve heard that he made a girl cry just by glaring at her,” Kristy added.

“No –Clara was already crying when she bumped into Blake. She couldn’t see where she was going through her tears,” I defended. “Thomas broke up with her yesterday.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d been crying because of Blake,” Chantelle shrugged. “Really though? Thomas and Clara are over?”

“I don’t know. I’m kind of expecting them to get back together by next week,” I said honestly. “But I was there –it wasn’t Blake. To be honest, I was starting to feel like
I’d
misjudged him. He may be rough around the edges, but he’s nice when he wants to be.”

“Evelyn, trust me. This guy brings nothing but bad news. And have I ever been wrong about this kind of thing?” Maegan asked.

“Well, no…” I said slowly. She’d been right when it came to a lot of different people. She had a good sense of them, I guess, almost like she could read their minds. But I always thought my judgement of character was pretty good, too.

“Blake’s bad news,” she repeated. “Unless you’re into the entire bad boy persona.”

“Bad boy? You’re kidding, right? He might keep to himself, but he has done nothing to give him that kind of reputation,” I snorted.

“Besides, it’s not like she was considering him to be her boyfriend,” Maddie stood up for me. It’d been weird for her to stay silent for so long. “Besides, Evelyn has Shayne. And from what I’ve heard, they’re nothing alike.”

“Shayne, huh?” Kristy reached across Chantelle to push my knee. “You never tell us anything these days.”

“I just didn’t want to jinx it,” I shot a look at Maddie.

“Shayne who?” Chantelle asked. “Campbell? Grover?”

“Ew, no,” Maddie wrinkled her nose. “Van Owen –the guy that moved to the old house between Evelyn’s place and mine.”

“He has a little brother that goes to school here,” I told them. “Though, I don’t know what his little brother looks like, to be quite honest. Grade Eleven. James.”

“James Van Owen,” Kristy nodded. “I heard he’s quite the sweetheart.”

“Shayne’s a gentleman, so I’m not surprised,” I smiled half-heartedly. It felt weird to be talking about him to them. Two separate worlds colliding, almost.

“I’ve been begging her to let me meet him, but for some reason, she just won’t introduce me to him,” Maddie pouted.

“I can understand that,” Chantelle leaned in and mock whispered, earning laughter from all the girls, Maddie included.

“Hey,” she said defensively. “I just want to support my best friend in her relationship endeavour. She deserves the best and I want to make sure that she gets it.”

“You’re sweet, but I think I can handle myself. You’ll meet him one day. Let me just actually achieve the status of ‘girlfriend’ first though, alright?”

She sighed, “Fine. I’m agreeing because I love you.”

“Thank you,” I laughed.

“So when’s your first date?” Kristy asked.

“Tomorrow,” Maddie answered for me.

“Are you excited? Nervous?”

“I am, but… it’s date number two,” I told them.

“Wait –when was date number one?”

*              *              *

“Don’t listen to what they said about Blake,” Maddie told me over the phone. I had her on speaker as I got ready for my date with Shayne.

“The girls?” I asked, pulling my hair back. Did I want my hair up or down? Maybe half and half?

“Yeah. I mean, Blake might not be talkative, but I think it’s kind of sweet that he only really talks to you.”

“Well, truth be told, Maddie, I’d rather not talk about Blake when I’m getting ready for a date with Shayne,” I dropped my hair, making the decision to have it down.

“No, I get it,” she yawned, and even though I couldn’t see it, I couldn’t help the yawn that forced its way past my lips.

“Are you leaving for your aunt’s soon?” I tugged my tank top down, adjusting my cardigan. Light blue on black –casual, but classy. Or so I liked to tell myself. Maybe I should change. Maybe I could wear my black cardigan over an oatmeal tank instead.

“Yeah, I’m just packing my bag now. Mom’s going to drive me out there as soon as I’m done. They’re heading down to Niagara Falls for the weekend. It’s their fifth anniversary next week, so they’ve made big plans.”

“I can’t believe you almost forgot,” I laughed, exiting the bathroom and turning off the light. In my own room, I looked over other outfit choices I had laid out on the bed. “Maddie –”

“Don’t even think about changing again –and they’ve had this thing five months in the making. Of course I forgot,” she said. “Coincidentally, though, I’d kept the weekend free of plans, so I knew subconsciously.”

“I just… I don’t know. And you and I always make plans last minute –we don’t make plans in advance.”

“All the better,” she giggled. “Anyway, Evelyn, I’m telling you –you look fine.”

“You aren’t even looking at me,” I scoffed.

“I don’t have to look at you to know you look gorgeous,” she told me.

“You’re so full of shit,” I replied.

“You’re so full of self-doubt,” she countered.

“That I am,” I muttered. “Fine. I won’t change. Only because Shayne should be here any minute.”

“Good. He should consider himself lucky,” she said. “Anyway –I just need to grab my toothbrush before I’m on my way. I’ll call you tomorrow, alright?”

“Sounds good. Bye Maddie,” I said.

“Love you,” she said before hanging up.

I had barely put my phone inside my purse, ready to go downstairs to wait for Shayne to arrive when the doorbell rang. I sighed. I had asked Shayne to wait in the car. Curse him for being a gentleman.

I gave myself a final once-over in the mirror, turning to make sure the back looked as nice as the front before hurrying downstairs.

“I can see where Evelyn gets her good looks,” I heard Shayne say as I turned down the stairs and into our front hallway. Talk about old-fashioned. That line should have been dead, really. If only it didn’t work like a charm –my mother laughed girlishly, although no one has ever told me I looked like her.

Shayne looked up at me as I descended the final steps smiling immediately. If I hadn’t been nervous before, suddenly there were butterflies in my stomach. Or there should have been. Where were my butterflies?

“All ready to leave?” he asked me. I glanced at what he was wearing comparatively to me. He was dressed semi-formally while I felt I was more semi-casual. While I hadn’t expected him to dress in a t-shirt and jeans when we agreed on casual-wear, he still surprised me with a while long-sleeve shirt and a light, casual grey vest.

“All but my shoes,” I said, grabbing my flats and slipping into them. I let my curtain of hair cover my face as I died a little inside with how lame that was. “There. All set.”

“Lovely,” he smiled. “Shall we, then?”

“We shall,” I said. “Bye, Mom.”

“Have fun,” she called after us. “Don’t bring her home too late, Shayne.”

“Bye, Mom,” I said again, cutting Shayne off and pushing him towards the door. I patted Shadow on the head as we stepped into the warm September evening. I looked up at Shayne as we reached the gate, out of ear-shot of my mother, “Sorry. She just… My mom loves to talk and set rules and boundaries. I told you to wait in the car.”

“I grew up surrounded by proper etiquette –Of course that means meeting your parents before taking you out on a date –I would have done it the first time but your mother was out shopping,” he opened the passenger door for me when we reached his car.

“Getting groceries,” I nodded as he closed the door. As he walked around, I did up my seatbelt, resting my purse in my lap. He got in on the other side. I cleared my throat; “So, what do you have planned for this evening?”

“A walk through the park. Maybe a movie if you’re up to it. There’s a small theatre in town, isn’t there?” he asked, starting the car and backing up onto the road. He put it in drive and off we went.

“There is,” I nodded. Even though I lived just outside of town, Maddie and I usually got a ride into the city for more of a selection of movies. Our theatre only had two screens, after all. I tried to remember what two were playing, but drew a blank. I loved watching movies, so it wouldn’t surprise me if I’d seen either before.

“We could get some ice cream,” he suggested.

“I work at the ice cream parlour,” I reminded him.

“I was kind of hoping you could get it on the house,” he winked at me. “But if you’re sick of ice cream…”

“I definitely could get it on the house,” I grinned. “But you’re right. I have to stare at the ice cream at
least
three nights a week. Needless to say, I seldom touch the tub of ice cream in the freezer at home.”

“Smoothie, then?”

“Actually, that sounds fantastic,” I admitted.

“Perfect. So where does one go for a smoothie here?” he asked.

“There’s a few places, I guess,” I shrugged. Kristy was working at one such place, actually.

“Then I’ll let you lead the way as soon as we get to town,” he told me.

“Well, if you insist,” I grinned.

He just chuckled. The radio, which had been at a low volume, could be heard now that we weren’t talking, but just barely. I tried to figure out the song from the few chords and lyrics I caught to no avail. So I turned my attention to Shayne, who watched the road intently for someone so young. He had his right hand firm on the wheel while the other arm rested against the door, his fingers gently touching the wheel, almost as if it was prepared to jump in in case of an emergency.

He glanced at me, catching me staring.

“What is it?” he asked.

“You’re a pretty safe driver, aren’t you?” I commented.

“I never really thought about it,” he gave a small shrug. “But I’ve been in an accident before.”

I didn’t know what to do with this information, because it was kind of shocking. Shayne seemed so… together.

“It just made me realize how unimportant trivial things such as ‘being on time’ actually were. I’d rather me and my passengers arrive in one piece and be late than to not arrive at all,” he said.

“You should tell that to my dad. He has a heavy foot when it comes to the pedals,” I tried to lighten the mood a little –and he did laugh.

“What about you, do you drive?” he asked.

“Well, I have my license. I’m saving up for my own car,” I said. The vast fields slowly became houses that grew closer and closer together as we entered town.

“I can respect that,” he nodded. “This current generation that’s growing up is very needy and incompetent. Sometimes I feel like teenagers don’t understand the value of money like I had to growing up.”

“My parents declared bankruptcy at one point when I was little. And, I mean, we’re doing fine now, but I’m just trying to do everything I can to make sure that I never end up in that position. I remember talks of them debating selling the house. We even went and visited my grandmother when I was seven. I’d never met her before, and she just glared at me the entire visit. Afterwards, my father strived for a better job. He was always charismatic, so he kind of charmed his way up the food chain. Now he’s a negotiator for a company that’s been expanding abroad. I hardly get to see him lately because he’s away.”

“How long has this been going on for?”

“About half a year,” I said slowly. “But he used to travel for work before that, too. Not for as long, though.”

“Bummer,” he replied.

“You can say that again.” I pointed to the next intersection, “You can take a right up here.”