Flames and Starlight

46🌘

Ruben

I smiled as Laura and I walked into her cabin. The other night, she called me and said she made things right with her sister and she talked everything out with Derek. It seemed like they were starting to fix things. I was happy for her. I could tell the rift between her and her siblings really affected her and I could already see the happiness in her eyes now that she had a better relationship with them.

She invited me over for dinner and I was excited but also nervous about meeting her whole family for the first time. The first time I met her siblings, it wasn't the best first impression and I hoped, for Laura's sake, we could all get along.

I could hear her grandmother making dinner as Alison and Derek were setting the table. They looked up as we walked in and smiled.

"Hey," Derek said. He walked over to me and said, "Nice to see you, man."

"Nice to see you too."

Alison smiled at me and stood beside her brother. "I'm glad we actually get to have an actual introduction this time."

"Me too."

"I heard you've been really good to our sister," she said. "We really appreciate that. She's had a hard time with everything going on in her life and you've really helped her cope with everything."

I glanced over at Laura in surprise. She blushed and looked down at her feet. I hadn't realized how much I'd helped her since we became friends. It caused a warm, bubbly feeling to surge inside of me. I inwardly rolled my eyes at myself. Why the hell had I become so mushy lately?

"It's no problem," I said, my voice suddenly becoming gruff.

Alison's hand moved over her stomach. Laura told me over the phone Alison was pregnant and expecting a little girl. She said she was excited to have a niece and was looking forward to helping Alison with the pregnancy. I was happy about that too. In general, I was happy she was talking to her siblings in general.

Dinner went by really great. I enjoyed talking to Derek and Alison and getting to know them.

The next day, I drove Laura to school and Kim drove Derek and Alison. They were waiting near the front. Laura beamed when she saw them and we helped them find their classes. They had the same lunch period as us and we sat together. Laura introduced them to Katherine and they seemed to get along, though Katherine was still her usual, quiet, timid self.

I didn't have any classes with them since Alison was a senior and Derek was a junior, but we did have the same shapeshifter class at the end of the day. Alison couldn't shapeshift due to her pregnancy so she was sent to another class to do other work but Derek was able to stay, and he was able to shift into a mountain lion, impressing everyone in the class.

We drove back to the Clan after school and headed for Laura's cabin, the four of us talking and laughing.

Suddenly, Alison stopped and stared at Ben's cabin. She reached out to grab Laura's arm, jerking her to a stop.

Laura frowned and jerked her hand out of her sister's grasp. "What?" she snapped.

"Is that Peter?"

"What?" Laura and I said in unison.

We snapped our gazes over to Ben's house and sure enough, Ben and Peter were walking out of his cabin, an African American shapeshifter following close behind him.

"Holy shit," I heard Derek say from behind us. "What the hell is he doing here?"

I only shrugged, in too much shock to speak. The last time I saw the guy was when Laura ran out of our class after Coach outed her for being that shapeshifter in the video and he ran after her. I had no idea what happened to him after that and didn't really care, as harsh as it sounds. I just assumed he moved or something. I hadn't given him much thought.