Intertwined

Chapter Eleven

"We are woven and spun like thread on a needle," Erica started, her voice stern and poetic while sitting in her usual spot at our table. The thick pale book in her hands looked wrong in this setting, with students running back and forth and shouting around the lunchroom. It appeared and sounded like it'd better fit a poet's office, or a Victorian library, "...captured like wildflowers in the spring, and yet, the connectivity of our love, of our passion, seeps to breathe deep within our souls."

I'd been wary at first, to rejoin the group at school. I told Lyall it would be okay, that I didn't need to sit with them again. I could continue to take my spot in the library, but he was adamant on my return. The rest were adamant as well. Erica nearly killed me with a bone crushing hug. Mike and Jason greeted me with a high-five. Even Marleene, though I couldn't be sure, let her lip pull back slightly at the corner when I sat next to Lyall.

"Thank you, so much, for that, Erica," Lyall said, not sounding thankful in the slightest.

"I thought it was really pretty," I said, not breaking our eye contact while elbowing Lyall in his rib.

"I'm so glad that Lyall has finally found someone who appreciates literature such as this," Erica snarked with a glare in Lyall's direction.

"Whenever you read those books, you slip into some kind of old-fashioned English, you know that?" Jason egged.

"You sound like a Shakespearean," Mike added through the chunk of mac and cheese.

We waited for Marleene to add something, give a remark, or retort to what was read, but she sat in a daze, her eyes fogging over while she stared at Erica. Even I started to blush.

Lyall cleared his throat.

Marleene blinked twice, blushed, then said, "Corny."

"So, is anyone going to explain the talk you two had, or are we just going to ignore it like it never happened," Mike asked, I didn't need to see his eyes dart between Lyall and me to know who he meant.

"That doesn't seem like table talk now does it?" Lyall said.

"Erica literally just devoted a love poem to you," Jason added.

"C'mon guys, we know Lyall doesn't like to kiss and tell," Marleene said, sounding uninterested, but smiled mischievously.

The book in Erica's hands clapped as the two sides met, "You didn't!"

"Guys..." Lyall said, but the words got lost in the shouting over the table.

"OhmygodOhmygodOhmygod!"

"Lyall, you dirty dog."

"Dirty werewolf, you mean."

"Yes! Lyall you dirty werewolf."

"Marleene, why would you open your mouth?"

"I can't believe it, aw, that explains the look on Em's face!"

I tried to feel my expression from the outside, but all I could feel was heat in my cheeks, and fire in my ears. I couldn't even hear if I wanted to, the rapid thump-thump beat over every noise. A warm sensation moved up and down my back and my heart rate came down to a more normal pattern in minor increments. I couldn't tell if it was the decreased sound or Lyall's hand that brought me back to reality.

"Sorry," Marleene said, reaching over Lyall to pet my protruding knuckles..

"It's fine," I whispered from the side of Lyall I hid in.

Overall, I was thankful that I could do this. That I could hide in Lyall, have his friends make fun of me, of us. For once, I had friends, so the joking was something I had to get used to but felt nice to know their remarks were made because we were friends, not for hostility. The second reason for gratitude came from the prolonged absence of Mattias. I'd been scared to return to school yesterday, with my hand tangled in Lyall's. I didn't fear the outward looks or the whispers that picked up where they left off, but I spent hours worrying about how Mattias would react to this new, public expression of our relationship. I'd come in only to find his absence. I didn't think I was lucky enough to evade his glare for much longer, but even now, the table he sat at with his friends–his pack–turned cold without his presence. I even wondered at the thought of what his friends would think of this. Lyall's old friends, the relinquished members of his pack.