My Best Friend's Werewolf

8 Secret

I go downstairs when I hear a woman yell dinner is ready. I'm starving even though Hanna brought me lunch. Throughout me trying to eat she kept talking about how great her brother is. Let's just say I choked a few times and decided to keep myself locked up.

I enter the dining room and find Hanna sitting across from Travis and next to a woman who has to be her mother who smiles at me. "You must be Addison. It's so nice to meet you. I apologize for my husband's and my absence earlier."

I take the only available seat which is next to Travis. Hanna smiles at me, and Travis shifts in his seat. Their father sits at the end of the table.

I drop a napkin in my lap and wring my hands in it. "It's all right. . ."

"Mrs. Briar."

I honestly don't know Hanna well enough to have known her last name. She was always more of one of those acquaintance friends.

"Hun," Mr. Briar says to his wife, "would you say the blessing?"

She nods, and I bow my head, closing my eyes. When no one begins speaking, I open my eyes to see them holding hands.

I blush. "I'm sorry."

"It's quite all right." Mrs. Briar releases Hanna's hand, but feeling bad, I take Travis' and his dad's hand. I bite my lip, saying my own separate prayer in my head that Hanna isn't enjoying me holding her brother's hand.

"Lord, thank you for bringing us here safely, and for this meal. We ask that you let it bless and nourish our bodies, and I thank you for allowing us to have Addison as a guest. Amen."

"Amen," I murmur and release their hands. Hanna's looking at me with a smug face.

After dinner Hanna asks me if I want to go outside with her. I nod, wary of what she's going to say. She leads me to the top floor where a swing hangs from the roof almost like a bed.We both lean back against the pillows. Crickets chirp, and bugs swarm around the light above us.

"Do they know about Eliza?" I ask, looking out into the trees.

"Just my parents."

"So Travis doesn't know Eliza was kidnapped?"

"I thought you'd like for at least one person not to know."

I pull my knees to my chest. "It's hard. I feel like people should know, and I want people to know, but people treat me differently, and when they know it only reminds me she's missing. Maybe we'll tell him in a couple days? I don't need a constant reminder."

"Yeah, I totally understand. I'm really glad you agreed to come. I've been hoping we could become better friends."

Hanna's nice. She really is. I just don't have the best experience with people. "Me too." I don't know if that was a lie. I hope it wasn't.

She smiles and takes my hand. "So I convinced my brother to take us down to the beach tomorrow. That means he gets to see you in a bathing suit."

I remove my hand from hers and cover my eyes, falling to the side of the swing's mattress. "Hanna, do you have any idea how weird that is? He's your bother."

For about ten minutes we go on about why it is and is not weird for her to want to set me up with her brother. I finally stop it by asking her if she could show me to a phone so I can call my parents.

The phone is located next to the stairs, and as I hold it to my ear I brace myself for an interrogation.

"Addison," Mom answers immediately.

"Hey, Mom. I just wanted to say I got in safely."

"Thanks for letting us know. How is it?"

"It's fun. Hanna's family is really nice." No need to tell her that a boy under twenty drove me here on a four hour car trip, which includes maneuvering through the winding mountain roads. We both originally believed he would only be driving me fifteen minutes. She doesn't want me being driven by teenagers. Especially those she's never met. "What are you doing?" I ask, eager to avoid that topic.

"Dad and I were just watching tv."

"Any news on Eliza?"

"Addy, if anything comes up on Elizabeth I will call you. You aren't shutting Hanna out, right? Please, tell me the only reason you called wasn't to get out of socializing."

"Mom--"

"Addison Rose Curry, you can't keep doing this."

I bite my lip. "I don't have the best track record with friends."

"So what, you're never going to have a boyfriend? Get married? You know your great-grandmother already keeps saying you should join that Christian dating site."

"I know. She's told me."

Mom sighs. "Just be nice. You used to be the sweetest girl."

"Mom."

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I love you, Addison."

"I love you too. Tell Dad I love him and goodnight for me."

"Night, sweetie."

"Night."

I hear the stairs squeaking, and I look up to find Travis walking down them slowly, trying to be discreet.

I set down the phone. "Where you going?"

He looks at me confused. "Addy, hey, I'm just going out."

"Where to?"

"Out." He quietly hurries the rest of the way down the stairs and eases open the front door. "Can you keep a secret?" Before I can react, he shuts the door, and he's gone.

Like I said—moonshine.