Chapter Seven
The Ghost Said She Likes Hugs
Miles
It’s been a few days now and I’m still not any closer to getting to know Bellamy than I was the first day that I met her.
Granted, I know she is reading my text messages even if she doesn’t respond to them.
Progress, right? I keep sending them in hopes that one of them is going to encourage her to finally respond.
Milo is growing more impatient the longer that it takes us to win her over.
It’s practically a daily battle at this point between him and I on how we should proceed.
He, using his wolf logic and baser instincts, wants us to just claim her and damn the consequences.
Me? I want to make her swoon and persuade her to choose us…
then claim her. You know the right way? Something else Milo and I don’t agree on.
I grew up watching the epic kind of love between my parents.
My father has always wooed my mother. Bringing home flowers periodically for her.
Grabbing little trinkets he thinks she would love.
My mother always made sure they had time to themselves even amongst raising me.
She always made his favorite cookies, remembered his important dates, and gave him the space to be himself.
They’ve always been overly affectionate towards each other.
Stolen kisses, whole body hugs, and even cuddling on the couch together were only a few of the things they did together, at least when I was around.
They never bickered for long, waiting to talk things out until both sides understood how the other felt.
Growing up with two loving parents who showered me in that same love, has always encouraged me to love as fiercely. I dreamed of the day that I would find my own mate and love her as deeply.
Honestly, even with how things are going with Bellamy, I know that we can love each other that same way. I can see us cuddling on the couch together, laughing at the movie we are watching, and showing our own children how to love.
In the meantime I’ll just keep showing up with coffee, snacks, and my winning personality.
“If we just claim her then you can do all the swooning you want. All the charm and stuff that you just love will come in handy there.”
“We are not going to claim her without her consent. What is wrong with you?”
“Wrong with me? You are the one sending texts like a lovesick puppy.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.”
Me: Good morning! Hope your potions don’t explode and your coffee is extra strong today. If not, I volunteer to grab you a new one!
“Literally…exactly…what I mean.”
“I’m being charming.”
I wait a few seconds, watching the “delivered” prompt and hoping to see the “seen” underneath it.
It’s pathetic, I know but part of me is elated when I see that she is at least reading them.
Even if she isn’t responding. And just like every other time, within seconds of me sending it, she opens it and reads it.
“She smiled at that one. I can sense it.”
“No, you are hallucinating it.”
“Am not.”
“Are too and you know it.”
I scowl at him even though he’s part of me and only inside me.
He knows that wolves can sense the feelings of their mates, although it can be faint if only one side is acknowledging it.
Which is why I might be imagining her smile, but I’m going with it for now.
Plus, I need to believe that there is hope that she will come around to the idea of me… eventually.
Rolling over on the couch, I hold my phone up, swiping through tabs until I land on a fresh tab with the search bar waiting for me to type something into it. I will probably regret this, but I don’t know what else to do. Clicking the bar, I type out “How to win over a woman.”
“Are you seriously searching how to win her over?” Milo groans.
I roll my eyes because of course he thinks it’s a dumb idea. He generally disagrees with all my ideas, especially when it comes to winning over Bellamy.
It only takes seconds for the search engine to generate thousands upon thousands of articles. How does someone decide which one to select and use here? I scroll for a few seconds reading through all the varying titles until one of them stands out
10 Ways To Win Her Over Without Ending up Burned or Arrested.
I click the link and Milo groans even louder, grumbling about how embarrassing it is to be attached to someone like me and why couldn’t he have been given a normal human.
I skim over the opening paragraphs. Something about how none of this will guarantee that I will win over the girl, but it’s better to try and fail than to not try at all. You know the typical garbage that all the self-help books go on about.
“This is it Milo. This is how we are going to win over our mate!”
“Goddess save me now.”
“Says here that step one is to make her laugh. Alright, that can’t be that hard, I’m hilarious. Step two, respect her personal space. Well that is obvious. It’s why I haven’t shown up at her shop yet. Stop groaning Milo, these are perfect.”
“If I had hair to pull, I would be pulling it right now.”
Shaking my head, I continue on.
“Step three, listen more than you speak. Well, this one might be hard. I still haven’t had my conspiracy theory about the squirrels answered. Why was it running around with a small canvas tote and why did it glare at me? I need answers.”
“If she was going to answer back, don’t you think it would have been several texts ago?”
“Milo, you clearly don’t know anything about women.
She’s reading them and probably mentally responding.
Step four, give her something meaningful.
Um, Milo do you have any suggestions here?
Like do they mean show up with her favorite coffee or a new cauldron?
Wait, is that a thing? Do they sell cauldrons? ”
“Don’t even search for that next. You have no idea what you are looking for. Keep it to coffee and food. I don’t know Miles. When it comes to wolves we are not concerned with all this stuff. But Bellamy doesn’t seem like the girl you would buy flowers for, that’s for sure.”
“Okay, so let’s do coffee and those ghost cupcakes we saw. Surely she has to like cupcakes…right?”
Milo doesn’t bother responding to me this time. I can feel his irritation growing the longer I read. Maybe I should call my dad.
“Alright, step five might be a hard one. Physical touch. Not going to lie here, even though I have the urge to wrap her in a hug…I’m worried I might turn into a frog if I do.”
“She’s definitely going to do something to you if you touch her. Not sure what, but something.”
Sighing, I scroll down a little more. Ah! This one I can do!
“Step six, be yourself. That’s easy, I never try to be anyone else anyways. I’m delightful.”
“A delightful pain in my…”
“Next it says take your time. Well, that’s hard. What if I do all ten things tomorrow or today…”
“Incoming toad hex.”
“Anyways…this last one might actually be the hardest one. Not that I can’t do it, but it’s a matter of if she will even let me. Be her safe space. I can definitely pose as a pillow. A very affectionate pillow that gives warm hugs and retrieves her coffee for her when she needs a fresh one.”
“I don’t want to be a toad. I like being a wolf. Please for the love of all things magical, stop.”
I scramble to my feet, knocking my navy blue, fuzzy blanket to the floor. Dashing into the kitchen, I drag open drawer after drawer like a man possessed.
“What are you doing?”
“Searching for paper and a pen.”
If Milo had a physical form outside of our wolf form, I swear he would be hanging his head in shame right now. Either that or silently judging me from the corner. Possibly both.
“Do I even want to know why?”
“If you must know, without judgement or sassy remarks, I’m starting Operation: Woo the Witch. I’ve got to make a list of like…stuff to buy,” I mumble the last words as if we don’t share a mind and he can’t literally hear it anyways.
“If only there was a speed dial to the Goddess…”
The very last drawer pops open and I find a small scrap of paper and a pencil.
Almost like it was meant to be. Odd, but I’ll take any help that fate wants to pass along.
Slapping the paper down on the countertop, I scribble the words, Operation: Woo the Witch, in bold font.
Tracing over it several times so it really stands out.
1. Ghost cupcakes (get extra frosting)
2. Maple latte (Maybe a little less sugar than mine?)
3. Coffee Mug that says “Came for the Hex, Left with his Ex”
4. Book of poetry? Wait, no I think I need a box of treats for Nyx. Must search what kinds of treats do foxes like?
5. Something sparkly? Or maybe something with bats? Or is that vampires? Is it only spider webs and spiders?
I’m deep in the zone, the wooing zone. I’m halfway through the list of ideas.
I’m probably really far off the mark with some of these.
I wonder if Elora would be willing to help me out.
Surely she would tell me if any of these would lead to me being turned into a toad, right?
I’m definitely thinking the sparkly one is an instant toad transformation for sure.
The temperature in the room drops at least ten degrees as the hairs on my arms stand up like I stuck my finger in an electric socket.
Before I can even consider what is happening, let alone turn around, there’s this weird pop! and a sudden whoosh of the gross smell of lavender and moth balls as something materializes directly behind me.
“WHAT IN THE—”
I yelp like a school girl in a haunted house, very unmanly I might add, before I launch myself over the kitchen island.
My pen flies through the air. Milo snarls inside me, pushing to the surface, ready to attack whatever it is.
And standing there—well, floating really—is a ghost straight out of a 1950’s housewife’s guide, complete with a house dress and victory rollers.
She’s even smoking? Is that even possible?