Second Chances

Chapter 5: New friends

Kenna

"Hey. Umm Jack, right?" I said as I approached him. He looked up, slightly confused. Up close, I could see the pain in his. But he was still handsome. He had short curly hair and hard eyes. Both his hair and beard were a dark brown color. He was tall and muscular. Any woman would fawn over him.
       "Yes? What can I help you with?" He looked irritated.
       "I don't mean to bother you but I wanted to introduce myself. I'm Kenna." I held out my hand. He slowly reached out and shook my hand.
       "Yeah I know. You help serve breakfast with Chef and Lisa." He said.
       "I know this is weird but I was just wanting to talk. I feel like you're the only person who understands what's going on with me right now." I told him. His eyebrows crinkled in confusion.
      "Understand what?" He asked.
      "Well, you see, the thing is..." I fumbled then. No longer confident with myself.
       "Go on. Spit it out." Okay so the irritation was back. 
       "Alpha Damon rejected me." I said slowly. His face softened at that.
       "Ah I see." He sat down and patted the ground next to him. I sat down next to him while we looked at the lake.
      "I don't understand why this happened to us." He whispered. "It hurts so bad."
      "I know." I whispered back. "I just figured that you would need someone to talk to, just like me."
       He nodded but stayed silent. It was a comfortable silence though. Even Cleo seemed a little better.
       "Well I'm always up for having new friends. I mean I don't really have any friends at all." He said and laughed. I looked at him. Pretty soon we were both laughing hard. I felt like this was something we both needed.
       We just started talking from there. About life. It was strange that we were able to be comfortable. But after the rejection, I welcomed this feeling. Before I knew it, we'd been sitting out there for two hours. My phone chimed and Marie was asking when I was coming to her house.
       "I hate asking this but are you going to the birthday bash tonight?" I avoided saying her name.
       "Yeah. Alpha told everyone this morning that it was mandatory for every pack member." He said as he rolled his eyes. "Douche." He said quietly. I laughed again.
       "Well come find me. Afterwards, my friends and I are doing a bonfire by the lake. For my birthday." I added.
       "It's your birthday today?" He asked.
       "Yeah. Great birthday, right?" I said with a laugh.
      "It'll get better. We just have to show them that they have no power over us like that." He bumped his shoulder against mine. He grabbed my phone and plugged his number in. "I gotta get going. I have some stuff to do before tonight. Oh and happy birthday."
      He got up and held his hand out. After he helped me up, he smiled and took off.
       I walked back to Marie's house feeling better.
      Her mother fussed over me for a few minutes. Then Marie pulled me away for some girl time. Zane was in an alpha meeting. Probably unhappy about it. I told her about talking with Jack. About how I felt better talking with someone who understood.
       "So what are you gonna do about that fancy vacation?" She asked. I forgot about that. I saved up money for years so that, when I met my mate, we could go on a vacation to Silver Falls. We could spend time just getting to know each other. I inherited the vacation house from my parents.
"I think I'm still gonna go. I mean why not. At least I can get away and think about things." I told her. My phone chimed and I saw it was from Jack. He thanked me for today and told me he'd find me tonight.
We started getting ready and chatted happily. After awhile, Zane came to get us so we could walk to the pack house. There were people everywhere outside. True to his word, Jack found me shortly after that. Marie gave me a knowing look but I waved her off.
Even though this was for Edda, we all had fun. I spotted Damon a few times and noticed he looked furious. But I ignored him. I didn't need that tonight. It was my birthday and I was going to enjoy it.
When the party was coming to an end we made our way to the lake. Everything was already set up. Soon enough, we were all dancing and drinking. Just having a good time. We stayed out there till well after midnight. Until alpha jackass came storming down there.
"What is going on here?" He demanded. The music stopped immediately. Zane stepped up and put Marie behind him.
      "We're celebrating Kenna's birthday. Didn't think it was a problem." Zane said. It usually never was a problem.
       "Well party's over. Everyone clear out." He replied, glaring at me. He stomped off and everyone looked around awkwardly.
       "You heard him. Let's go. We can clean it all up tomorrow." I said. I turned to walk to Marie's house and noticed Jack was beside me.
       "I'm sorry about that. I think he just wanted to be a dick." He said.
       "It's fine really. I was getting tired anyways." I replied. "I definitely need my vacation after today."
       As soon as I said that, I stopped dead in my tracks. A stupid idea popping into my head.
      "Hey I have a really crazy question." I said turning towards him. He nodded for me to continue. "Wanna go on vacation with me?"
       "Huh?" Was all he said. Now I look like a lunatic.