Extra First Date Pt 2
“I promise, the movie I meant to buy tickets for was- was the nice, sweet, romantic comedy!”
“Sorry, Alpha. I wish I could make an exception, but uh… no favoritism, right?”
“No- no, of course not, I’d never ask… but this is…”
I watched, trying not to laugh, as Aegis ran an anxious, panicky hand through his thick hair. His broad shoulders were taught, and his expression was tense. Somehow, during the purchasing of the tickets, Aegis had not quite bought the tickets he’d meant to. Instead of the tickets for the highly rated “Winning Her Back”, a romantic comedy that- rather poignantly- involved a woman returning to her hometown only to fall in love with her high school sweetheart, he had purchased tickets for “Death of the Party 3”, an action-horror movie that existed in a stand-alone of all similarly paced action-horror movies.
The teen boy in the ticket booth looked incredibly anxious, his own werewolf eyes glowing faintly in the darkening night. He was wringing his hands and looking at Aegis as if he wanted to just throw caution to the wind and exchange his tickets, but this wasn’t a big budget movie theater. This was privately owned in an extremely small town.
“Aegis,” I said, reaching over to touch his shoulder. Both he and the boy snapped around to look at me. “I’m fine with watching ‘Death of the Party’.”
“That’s not exactly a first date kind of movie,” he said, exasperated. “Dammit. This is off to an amazing start…”
“I’m here with you,” I said, trying to keep my voice quiet, because it was embarrassing to say things like that in front of anyone, let alone some teenager. “That’s all that matters.”
Aegis raised amber eyes to mine, and we looked at each other for several beats, before he sighed, shoulders slumping in resignation.
“I’m sorry, Alpha,” the boy squeaked nervously.
“No,” I said, leaning in. “You’re doing great, kiddo. You did exactly the right thing. Good integrity.”
He perked up at that, eyes glittering, and accepted the printed tickets that Aegis produced from his wallet.
“She’s right,” Aegis said, managing to bring himself around. “You did very good, especially in the face of an Alpha. Well done.”
The boy looked like he might’ve passed out in relief, and we left him to his work.
“I’m sorry,” Aegis said, running another hand through his hair. “I thought I’d be way better at this.”
“Again, all that matters is that I’m with you,” I said, squeezing his arm. The side of my body closest to him felt like a magnet reaching for its other half. “I’ll go anywhere, watch anything.”
“Do you even like horror?”
I snorted so loudly, it made a nearby girl jump. “I have two teen boys,” I said flatly. “You think I have a choice?”
Finally, Aegis cracked a smile.
The one upside was that the theater was mostly empty. We picked a spot in the middle, and Aegis got up to grab some popcorn. My phone went off while he was gone, and I saw that I had a text from Ivy.
IVY: So? I’m dying here. All good?
I grinned.
SYLVIA: Everything is fine, but he bought the wrong tickets haha
IVY: Shut the front door, I thought I made that so stupidly easy
IVY: Sent him the link to the tickets and everything
SYLVIA: Maybe this is YOUR fault then
IVY: What? Why?
SYLVIA: Were you thinking of going to see Death of the Party 3, by any chance?
IVY: … (typing)
I burst into laughter as I saw a little animation jiggle across my cracked screen. Ivy typed long enough for a book, and then finally sent me a very anti-climactic:
IVY: shit
When Aegis slid into the row, I was nearly falling out of my seat laughing.
“What?” He asked, eyebrows raised. He dropped a pack of red licorice into my lap, the exact kinds I loved- and an enormous box of them, at that. “What’s so funny?”
I waved a hand and sent over my phone, and after a moment, he burst into quiet laughter himself.
“Ivy loves B-horror movies,” I said, when I could finally breathe. “I should’ve known!”
“I’ll bet she was going to see it with Paul. The misadventures of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, I swear.”
“Oooooh, has he said anything?” I leaned closer to him. “Ivy is all tight lipped on that, and I feel like I’m being iced out!”
“I don’t think they even know what’s going on. The two of them are…”
“Dense?”
He rolled his eyes. “Extremely.”
I smiled and shook my head. If it was meant to happen, I’d make sure it happened. I owed Ivy that much, at least.
At that moment, the movie started in earnest, the lights dimming down. I picked up the arm in-between us and leaned in close to Aegis, relishing the way he smelled, the heat that came off of him and mingled with my own.
“You know me too well,” I said quietly, holding up the licorice.
“I like to think one day, I’ll know everything,” he said softly. “But that’d be impossible. You’re too intricately made.”
My face burned, and my entire body flooded with a peace and joy I had not felt since…
Since losing my family, in all honesty.
It was at this point, unfortunately, that the movie kicked in with a real doozy. The camera sat behind a man’s head for several beats before a loud bang made me shriek and jump half out of my skin, followed by a very visceral explosion of movie magic brain splatter all over the screen. It slid down to form goopy blood letters, spelling out “Death of the Party 3”.
“Oh, boy,” I muttered, and Aegis choked on his laughter.
----
By the end of the film, I had seen more gore than I had ever wanted to see in my life, though I was surprised to find that I’d more or less liked the movie.
“You know, I can see why it got a third sequel,” Aegis said, dumping our pile of trash into the bin.
“Could’ve done with a little less exploded brains all over the screen, but there were some surprisingly serious topics.”
“Yeah- like what would happen if a werewolf was bitten by a zombie?”
“Pandemonium. Wouldn’t it just be like a regular rogue?”
“Do werewolf zombie victims turn into werewolves first, or zombies? Does the werewolf virus get canceled out? Or maybe the zombie virus is stronger?” Aegis shook his head, frowning as he scratched the stubble on his chin. “These are important questions.”
I laughed. “What, planning for a zombie invasion?”
“Are you not?” He pretended to be horrified. “And ye, a mom of children? Such poor planning. We have to think of the children, my love.”
My response died in my mouth, and I smiled stupidly at him. He saw and coughed, turning his head to hide his own smile.
“What’s next, Aegis?” I said softly.
“Well…” He cleared his throat, removing his phone from his pocket. “Assuming nothing’s burned down around town, we… have dinner.”
I perked up. A downside to becoming a werewolf, especially in the early days, was my appetite. I was so hungry in those early days, I thought I’d start chewing on the walls.
“Where are we headed?” I said, taking his hand. “A restaurant around here?”
“Ah… no.” He coughed. “We… are heading to my place.”
I blinked, and then my face burned. I’d been by the house that both Aegis and Jade called home several times since the rogue incident, but never alone, and never for more than a few moments. Jade did all of her livestreams there, for one thing, and for another, if I wasn’t working, then I had the kids, and Lucy at least was still young enough to want to be taped to me. Not a problem, of course, but not… exactly… romantic.
But this.
This was definitely romantic.
“You’re cooking?” My voice cracked and pitched up on the last word. I cleared my throat. “What, uh… what are we making?”
“Admittedly, my mom prepped most of it,” Aegis said, grinning apologetically. “She wanted to make sure that things went off without a hitch. All we have to do is put things in the oven, and we should uh… we should be good to go.”
He opened his car door for me, and my whole body suddenly felt tingly.
It was ridiculous how much he made me feel like I’d never felt with anyone before. I’d had a child with a man before him, but all of a sudden, it was like doing things for real. Like this was what mattered. It felt stupid to think I’d ever thought I’d loved someone before now; Aegis, my fated mate, my other half, the man I’d been crafted for…
He wasn’t just perfect because he was all of that, of course. He was Aegis. He was the man who drank a beer with Rudy on the back porch, legs stretched out as the kids played with a soccer ball. He was the man who fielded reports from a mostly-peaceful Lawrence. He was the Alpha that solved everyone’s problems, who helped Lucy with her homework in our kitchen, who coached Collin through his own confusing hormones.
“What’s on your mind?”
I looked over to see him glancing my way. We’d started driving without my noticing.
“You,” I said softly, and I lifted my hand to trace my fingers down the side of his face. “I was stupid to leave Werewolf Hollow.”
He chuckled, low and deep, and his voice reverberated through my fingers. “Everything happens for a reason, my love.”
“I made you wait.”
“But you have Lucy now,” he said, turning to look at me when we reached a red light. “There are good things that came of it all. You have Rudy, for starters, and that’s good for both of you.”
“And for your mom,” I teased. “She and Rudy have been awful close recently.”
“They’re not fated mates… but I don’t think that’s what they want.” He was distracted. “It’s not exactly unusual for the surviving mates to find someone they can sort of... survive alongside.”
“They could be good for each other.”
“I think it could be good for my mother, certainly,” Aegis said slowly. “Rudy doesn’t seem like the sort to go fast.”
“If anything, I think he’s holding back.”
“They both are.” He squeezed my hand, holding it on his leg; he drove with one hand on the wheel. There were no cars on the road now, and we were driving a comfortable speed up into the woods, toward the fancy cabin that Jade had had built with all her fancy streamer money.
“I can’t believe we have a whole evening together, alone,” I said softly.
“It probably would’ve been better if we’d seen the right movie."
I glanced at him, trying not to smile. “What, trying to get me in the mood?”
At a stop sign, he turned and held my eyes. “What if I am?”
My whole face burned, and my body reacted more strongly. “You’re much better at this than you give yourself credit for.”
He grinned. “All I have ever wanted is you, Sylvia. All I’ll ever want is you. If forever starts now, then I aim to make the most of it… and to make you feel it.”
I pretended to fan myself, swearing slightly. “You’re just showing off now!”
He laughed, and I realized that somehow, we were already pulling into that driveway. The windows were dark; Jade, of course, was not home.
No one was.
“Well,” he said, coming around to my door. “Here we are.”
I looked up and smiled at him, trying to pretend that my insides were not made out of knots. “Yes. Here we are.”