Victory was mine! Sure it took me working 48 hours straight with only a couple hours of sleep and a steady diet of coffee and gold fish crackers but I did it!
In just two days I had managed to pack all of my shoes, purses, a good chunk of my clothes, books, jewelry, toiletries, makeup, and anything else I thought I might need.
I was admiring my work when my phone rang,
"Hello?"
"Hey Victoria, it's Jane, I was calling to ask when you wanted me to drive the truck over to pick you up?"
Blake apparently owned an oversized pickup truck so Jane had offered to drive it over to pick me and my belongings up.
"Well I'm actually all packed so anytime you're available would be fine with me."
"Perfect! Well I was out shopping this morning and since I'm still in the city I'll swing by. Can you send me the address?"
"Sure, I'll text it along with the gate code. See you soon!"
It wasn't till I was off the phone that I realized Jane and I probably wouldn't be able to lift half of the boxes due to the amount of stuff I had packed inside of them.
"DAN!"
.....
"DAAAAAN!"
......
"DAAA-"
"Yell my name again, I dare you."
Dan's room was down the hall from mine and while our hallways were large, I knew he would hear me calling his name.
"I'm sorry, I would have gotten up to go get you but I feel like a zombie. In fact, I might be. After that last cup of coffee my chest kinda hurts, maybe this is how it ends for me."
Dan started chuckling but quickly took notice of all the empty coffee mugs and stopped. "Vic, how much coffee did you drink?"
"Um, you know, just a couple of cups." I mumbled, refusing to look him in the eye.
"Vic...."
"Yes?" Okay try to look innocent. Ow, chest pain.
He was giving me the type of look one would give to a pet they just caught doing something bad.
Don't crack, you've got this, just stay cool- "Alright alright! I lost count after my eighth mug okay?! Stop looking at me like that!"
His eyes went wide and his mouth fell open, "Holy shit Victoria, that can not be healthy!"
I rubbed my chest, "I'd have to agree with you, not the smartest thing I've ever done but I was on a mission."
Dan rubbed his temples, "I can't believe you've stayed alive this long..."
"Whoa, now that's unnecessary. So much judgement from the guy who once drank six one hour energies in a row. If anyone should be dead it's you."
"Honestly I think the only reason I was okay was because I barfed after that." He looked out my window remembering.
"Eh. Let's not go there. Actually going back to why I called you in here to begin with, could you help me and Jane load all my boxes?"
He looked disdainfully at the dozens of boxes labeled, "shoes!" and "clothes!"
"Sure I'll help but do you really need to pack ALL your stuff?"
"It's not ALL my stuff. Besides, I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it."
He rolled his eyes, "Oh, okay sure. Because you'll definitely need two pairs of black heels."
"I could! One has an almond shaped toe and the other is pointy- you know what? That's not the point."
"Uh huh. Sure. " he mumbled as he walked back to his room.
An hour and a half later, the truck was loaded up and Jane and I were off to the cabin. It sucked saying goodbye to Dan, even though I was close by and could easily see him whenever I wanted, it just sucked.
I was trying my hardest not to think about him so my eyes wouldn't water up again.
"So are you excited to move in and join the wolf gang?" Jane asked excitedly.
I smiled, "I am, although at the moment I'm more nervous then anything else."
"Oh, don't be," she scoffed, "seriously, it'll be fine! We are all thrilled to have you and of course Blake's been barking orders the last two days because he wanted the house to be perfect. Haha!"
I laughed with her, "That's really awfully sweet of him. I'm just glad you all had an extra bedroom for me!"
"Extra bedroom? Oh I mean of course! It's a really great room too!"
I couldn't help but notice the surprise that passed over Jane's face when I mentioned the bedroom. Suspicious.
I decided to mention it again to see if she would behave the same way. "I can't wait to see it but honestly I would have been happy with any room you could spare. I'm sorry if I brought too much stuff with me."
"Don't worry about that at all, Blake spent all of yesterday afternoon cleaning out his closet so you would have plenty of room!"
Wait what? "Blake cleaned out his closet for me? Why would he do that?"
Jane's face quickly turned to one of panic, "haha oh I mean you'll have plenty of room in your own closet I was just meaning that if you didn't he wanted to make sure you had a place for all of your belongings so he made room in his just in case because he just wants it to look really nice and oh look! A gas station and the truck needs gas so I'm just going to pull over."
Before I could even really responded Jane was unbuckled and out the door. What the heck?
We were at the station about 15 minutes and while the truck was filling up Jane had run into the station for an unusually long bathroom break.
That gave me 15 minutes to sit alone in the truck and to try and figure out what in heck's name was going on.
By the time Jane hopped back into the truck, I wasn't any closer to figuring out what the problem was. Honestly, I wasn't too concerned about it because I figured if it wasnt a big deal, I trusted Jane enough to tell me the truth if it really was something serious.
Once we hit the road again we spent the rest of the short trip listening and singing along to songs playing on the radio.
As we pulled onto the dirt path that led down to the cabin, I tried to calm myself. I was a bundle of nervous energy and joy.
I guess my traveling companion could tell I was getting jittery and she asked, "so are you excited to see Blake again?"
"I'm not going to lie, I'm REALLY excited but super nervous too. What am I supposed to do when I see him? Hug him? Shake his hand?" I asked genuinely curious as I was completely unfamiliar with werewolf mate protocol.
Jane laughed, "Okay please don't shake his hand, you might break the poor guys heart. Just...I don't know, do whatever you want! He's your mate, hug him, kiss him, whatever feels comfortable to you."
I nodded in response and figured I'd just let him take the lead.
We were pulling up the driveway and I could see Blake and Helen standing on the porch.
In a fit of nerves I tried to distract myself by turning to Jane, "Hey, where is Jake?"
Jane shrugged, "You know, I don't know. He was supposed to be here to help us unload, maybe he's doing something inside?"
Jane put the car in park and unbuckled. Okay, this is it. It's time. I took a deep breath, took my seat belt off and jumped out of the car.
I couldn't help but grin when I saw Blake jogging up to us. I mean gosh...he really was handsome....
I didn't know what to do so I just kinda waited there awkwardly until he made it to us.
"Hey! I'm glad you guys got the truck loaded, I'm so sorry I couldn't be there to help you pack."
He came over and pulled me into a tight hug, he leaned his face against my head and whispered, "I really missed you."
I put my arms around him and suddenly everything felt right again. "I missed you too."
We pulled apart and I quickly gave a hug to Helen who had walked down to join us.
"I'm really sorry I have so many boxes to unload." I blushed.
Blake grinned down at me, "Don't worry about it, we'll have it unloaded in no time."
"Hey speaking of which, where is my goofball? He was supposed to help us." Jane asked turning to Blake.
Before he could say anything, Helen spoke up quickly, "Jane I just want you to know I had no part in their nonsense. I would have let him out but Blake hid the key."
We both turned quizzically towards Blake, "Key?"
He gave us a sheepish grin and ran his fingers through his slightly shaggy hair, "It's not that big of a deal really. Jake was bothering me and I was busy and he was just being annoying so I may have locked him in your bedroom..."
"What?"
"But he's perfectly okay! I left snacks for him and he has the TV in there. He hasn't even asked to come out yet."
I looked at Jane from the corner of my eye to see if she looked mad, I couldn't really tell. I held my breath waiting for her to respond.
"Huh, you know what? That's actually not such a bad idea, I can't believe I never thought about trying that."
okay, not what I expected.
Blake and I laughed, "Well I put the key on the fireplace if you want to go let him out and bring him down to help us."
Jane chuckled, "Sounds good, be right back. You know he better not have gotten crumbs all over our bed again...." And with that she was walking back to the house.
"Well," said Helen, "I'm going to go in and make some sandwiches for you all. I'm sure you're ready for lunch and I know you'll work up an appetite unloading."
"Thank you! I'm really looking forward to it." I meant it too, hopefully some real food would help my body burn all of the extra caffeine still flowing through my veins. I was still dealing with some random chest pains.
With Helen and Jane gone, I suddenly went back to feeling nervous. In a way they were kind of like my buffers and without them I was just painfully awkward.
"Are you excited to see your room?" He asked looking down at me.
"Oh, yes! I really am. Although Jane mentioned something about you, uh, cleaning out some of your closet for me?" I figured I might as well ask and see if he could give me any information as to why Jane had acted so odd about that.
His face turned red. "Yeah, well the thing is...I originally was planning on you...uh...you know...moving into my room with me."
Wait what? I must have looked surprised because he quickly added, "I mean I know that sounds crazy, I'm not sure why I was thinking that but then Jane called and told me that you were expecting your OWN room so I rushed to clean out one of the guest rooms for you. I know you'll love it. Plus, it's right down the hall from mine!"
Wow, he was trying so hard to do whatever he could to make me feel at home. A feeling of, I don't know, admiration perhaps, came over me and I couldn't help but put my arms around him. "Thank you." I whispered into his chest.
He kissed the top of my head, sending electric sparks all the way down to my toes. "Of course."
We stood there in each others arms when all of a sudden someone we could hear Jake yelling, "Stop lollygagging you love birds! It's time to unload some boxes."
"Now you see why I locked him up right?"
I laughed ignoring his comment, "Thanks for helping Jake!"
He gave me a cheesy grin, "Of course, happy to help. Whoa, why do so many boxes say 'shoes?' Jane! Come look! She has more shoes than you do! Why do you females even need so many? Seems like a waste to me....."
I turned to Blake and whispered, "Okay, NOW I see why you locked him up."
