Shifters

Chapter Two

Dozens of signs raced by my window as we drove down the highway to Eve's house. My head rested against the window of the passenger seat as we rode in peaceful silence.

Soon, the restaurants and gas stations turned into houses and lawns. Eve's house was the third one on the right, near the entrance to her neighborhood.

The car pulled into her driveway and rumbled to a stop. I stepped out and gazed at the pale yellow two-story house with dark blue shutters and a mahogany front door. The setting sun reflected in the windows, and I was grateful for the lowered temperature, since it was later in the day.

Eve grabbed her bag and walked up the path to her front door, flinging it open. As I stepped in, the first thing that greeted me was Eve's giant German Shepard, Carlos.

"Hey, buddy!" I cooed, scratching his floppy brown ears. His tail flopped against the floor as he licked my face, thoroughly covering it in slobber. I couldn't stop giggling as his paws dug into my jeans.

I turned and followed Eve up the stairs to the left of the door, waving at Carlos. In the upstairs hallway, we passed her parents' room and continued towards her bedroom at the end of the hallway.

When Eve flung open her door the first thing that hit me was the scent of cinnamon. It was Eve's signature smell - I don't know how, but she always smelled like it, even when she wasn't wearing perfume.

Eve flopped face-down on her bed, the breeze from the open window ruffling her hair. I walked over and fell on top of her, so that my back was on her back.

"Mmmph!" She groaned, but didn't get up.

I let out a long sigh. "So what now?" I asked.

"Now, we sit back and contemplate our lives and the choices we've made," she mumbled through the bedsheets.

I whacked her on the arm. "Why? I already know my decisions have been perfect," I said with a smirk. Eve's raised her arm up without looking and smacked my shoulder.

"Liar," she said. "I was kidding. What do you want to do?"

Suddenly her head shot up and she craned her neck to look at me. At that moment, our eyes met and we had a silent mutual agreement.

"Movie!" We both shouted at the same time. I scrambled off of her and she jumped off the bed, making a beeline for the door. Downstairs, we got to work without having to say anything to each other. Eve immediately went to the tv to search Netflix, and I went to the kitchen to make our favorite type of popcorn - white cheddar.

Grabbing the bowl, I marched back into the living room and sat down next to Eve on the couch, wordlessly placing the bowl of popcorn on the table in front of where we were sitting. She scrolled through the movies before finding our all-time favorite: The Nightmare Before Christmas. She clicked on it without asking if I wanted to watch it, because she didn't have to.

Soon, the quiet house was filled with the singing voice of Danny Elfman playing the songs for Jack Skellington. Throughout the movie, the sun had gone down completely and now the only thing that created light was the tv screen. Eve and I had gone from sitting on the couch to leaning on each other with a blanket draped over us, gorging ourselves on popcorn.

The movie was almost over, but we were at my favorite part - the part where Sally was singing about how she isn't "the one" for Jack, but then Jack shows up right behind her like a boss and admits he has feelings for her, where he then proceeds to lean in and kiss the shit out of Sally.

As the screen faded to the ending credits, I blinked my sore eyes and nudged Eve, who was dozing off beside me.

"Mmpphhht," she mumbled.