7. Greg
Watching the omega and her tiny rabbit, I’m struck again with that odd feeling in my chest that there’s more to this situation than what I’m getting.
Something about her just feels right, and I want to pull her back into my lap and pet her the way she’s stroking the little fluffball.
Not that I’ll tell her that, we’re not supposed to get romantically involved with the omegas.
We’re sure as hell not supposed to instigate anything, and if they try to, we’re supposed to gently dissuade the issue.
Not an outright rejection, because the rules say omegas don’t handle rejection well.
The powers that be seem to think that an omega will break if you don’t handle them with kid gloves.
Honestly, I’m kinda curious what they’d think of the little firebrand sitting in front of me.
She strikes me as pretty indestructible.
Though with how I found her this morning, I know that’s not really true.
She seems like a tough little thing, and I wonder again about these new alphas she was in contact with last night, if they have anything to do with the disturbance in her dorm.
Now that she’s awake and relatively settled, I should probably try to find out more about what happened.
Logically, it’s so I can report it back to Doctor Terra after I leave.
Illogically, I wonder about what sort of alphas she’s interested in, not that I can really compare.
I can’t purr and my idiotic attempt with the guitar earlier didn’t seem to do much to help either. But I don’t know what else to try.
“Hey, Sarah…um…are you friends with Teddy, the big omega that lived across the hall?” Her eyes snap up to mine, and for a second, she looks like she might cry.
What the hell did I do wrong?
Do they hate each other?
Did I already screw this up?
Fuck my life.
“Oh, yeah, no…We were…are…friends. But I haven’t talked to him since…
” Her voice is a quiet mumble as she pulls her tiny ball of fluff up and speaks against his soft fur.
“I really screwed up, Greg. I mean, I get it now. It sucks, but I get it. But he hasn’t called me, ’cause I was a bitch, and I need to apologize…
but I don’t know how. I’m not good at apologies, you know? ”
Giving in to my baser urges, I pull her into my lap and hum against her hair, feeling like shit again that I can’t purr for this sweet girl.
“I don’t know, Sarah. I don’t know what you did wrong, but if we’re talking about the same guy, I’m pretty sure he’d forgive you for just about anything.
He said you were his best friend, and he was worried about you being stuck here alone once he left. ”
A loud, braying sob followed by an unladylike snort comes from the omega in my arms. Her voice is shaky when she speaks again.
“Yeah, that sounds like him. Worried about everybody else, and can’t mind his own damned business.
” Her tone is sad despite the harsh words.
“I miss him, Greg. I didn’t realize how much I was going to.
He was my bestie for nearly ten years. We talked every day, even went to the gym together.
It’s been months and I haven’t…” Another wet sniff comes out.
“I’m worried he won’t accept my apology.
I fucked up, but what if I say I’m sorry and he doesn’t care?
What if I screwed up too bad this time? He let me get away with so much shit and was still my friend.
I don’t think I can handle it if he hates me. ”
Her bunny wriggles free and hops towards its pen.
He thumps his back leg a couple of times before he gives her the stink eye, wandering over to a food dish to nibble on something dry and grassy looking…
maybe grass. I don’t know shit about rabbits, but the little guy seems to be digging it and effectively ignoring us now.
Sarah turns in my arms, her forehead resting against my chest. She doesn’t say much else, just presses closer against me, taking big huffs of scent off my T-shirt.
I feel like I should apologize for not doing laundry recently in case it’s funktastic.
I try to at least give everything a once-a-week fluff and fold, and I grabbed this out of a pile of what I hoped was clean early this morning when I was called to her room—but now I’m worried about body odor after walking all over campus.
It only gets worse as her whole body shudders, but then she’s leaning heavily against me.
“You smell like camping trips my family used to go on. The big forests up in Oregon…it was always kind of rainy. We went at least twice a year. Over spring break, and then before school started up again in the fall. It was good to just get away from the city for a while. My mom hated it, but three of my dads were all about being outdoors. Pop could go either way.” Her laugh is a bit choked sounding.
“Not that she had to; they would have been fine with her staying home with Pop and just bringing us kids, but she insisted on taking care of everybody and wanted to be there in case of an emergency. So, the whole of Pack Zhaing would pile into two vans and drive north for hours. We’d leave first thing in the morning, stopping at the same rest stops every time.
Mom would pack a couple of coolers with different kinds of empanadas and cans of soda just for the drive.
” Her breath is hot against my chest even through my shirt, and I don’t think she even realizes it when she turns her cheek and starts scent-marking me.
I should probably stop this now, but I don’t want to.
She’s had such a rough day; I want to let her get distracted and cuddle against me until she can’t even think of a reason to cry anymore.
Unfortunately, having her in my lap is going to become painfully embarrassing once she realizes what sort of effect her being there is causing.
But I can’t exactly shift her away from the bulge without making it obvious. Shit.
Her mumbling and nuzzling against me are distracting enough that I’ve missed at least part of what she’s saying.
When I slide my hands up her shoulders and pull her slightly away, the eyes that meet mine are dazed and glassy, and I bite the inside of my cheek to keep myself from giving into the impulse to lean down and kiss her.
I don’t know what it is with this woman, but something about her just makes me want to wrap her in my arms and hang on.
I need a fucking distraction from my dick, but I don’t want to cause her to start crying again.
Oh. “How about you call Teddy now? I’ll be right here with you.
You can apologize if you feel like it, and tell him I said hi.
” She gives me a sharp look that I don’t have time to interpret before her head drops down again, and she crawls off my lap, shuffling across the room to grab her phone.
It’s hard to stop the groan from escaping as Sarah comes back and curls up against me again, her body tucking tightly into the space created by my crossed legs.
Her voice is a soft mumble as she shakes herself and glares at the phone in her hands.
“Thank you. For everything. For coming to help me this morning and listening to me ramble now. Just for staying with me. I know it isn’t really your job to let me cry on you. ”
She’s stalling, swiping her fingers back and forth across the screen, but not unlocking it.
Finally, her eyes turn up to mine, and the vulnerability there staggers me.
“You’ll stay here, right? While I talk to him.
I don’t want…If he hates me now, I don’t want to be by myself.
” She’s chewing on her bottom lip, and I give in and wrap my arms around her, pull her back to my chest, and kiss the top of her head.
“If you want me here, I’m here. Whatever you need, Spitfire.
Don’t even worry about it.” Her back settles against me, and she lets out a deep sigh, holding the phone out so I can see it as she unlocks the screen with her thumb and scrolls through her contacts.
Finally, she presses dial on an entry marked Xtra Thicc and hits the speaker button as it starts to ring.
Her body tenses against me with each passing moment, and even though it only takes three rings, she’s practically vibrating when a feminine voice answers the phone. She starts speaking before Sarah can even open her mouth.
“Hey! This is Sarah, right? Sorry, Teddy’s in the bathroom trying to scrub off some reindeer makeup, so I just answered the phone for him. Hold on, lemme go grab him. Just a second.” There are several loud thumps followed by a squawk and a crash.
Then a groan and a much deeper voice over the background. “Shit, Pixie, are you ok? What the hell happened? Wait, you know what, never mind. We need to talk to Sam about moving the bedroom downstairs before you manage to kill yourself. What’s up?”
Another feminine squeak and a pained, “Phone, it’s Sarah.”
Then more clattering before the second voice comes back.
“Shorty! Holy shit, how are you? I’ve been meaning to call.
I wanted to ask what you want for Christmas while I still have time to ship something.
Life has been kind of nuts. Sorry I haven’t called sooner.
Why haven’t you called? Wait, why are you calling?
Is everything ok? What happened?” The voice sounds almost panicked.
“Chill, Thicc, I’m fine. I just…shit. Let me just rip the band-aid right off so you’ll stop freaking the fuck out.
I need to say I’m sorry for what I said when you were here.
You know, your bracers. I shouldn’t have told Sam…
I just…Fucking Steve, man. That little asshole…
” She trails off, her body tense in my arms.