Crazy for the Alpha (Sequel to Tutoring the Alpha)

Chapter Fifteen: The Day I Tried to Live

  **Cameron Monaghan as Joey!^^**

          "Hey, you clocking out?" Callie asked me over her shoulder as she stripped off her pale blue scrub shirt in the locker room. We'd just finished our three-hour shift, and we'd both stayed late to help our boss discharge a patient with a glioblastoma who'd just learned she was going to die from the tumor. It was nearly seven, which meant I only had less than two hours to get home, shower, and change to go to the club with the young, popular clique of wolves. Joey, Ace, Ashton, Ella, and Teyana were extremely exclusive and I'd hardly ever seen them hang out with anyone but each other. Needless to say, I'd been as shocked as anyone when Ashton had invited me to go out with them tonight.

"Uh, yeah. This was a long day." I was surprised that Callie was being civil to me, nice even. The last time we'd spoken, she'd been half a second away from punching me in the face, and ever since then she'd done nothing but glare and laugh at me.

"Tell me about it. And it's my fucking birthday, but of course, I'm too broke to do anything fun to celebrate." As she spoke, Callie was transforming herself from a ragged medical volunteer to a glowing, dangerously hot woman. She'd changed into tight black jeans and a black halter crop top that hugged her curves and pushed her boobs right up to her throat. Her already daunting height of five-foot-ten was made even more intimidating by her three-inch black heels, and now she was at the sink applying heavy black eye makeup. For the first time, I noticed that we had very similar styles, as I looked over my own outfit of ripped black jeans and a dark gray graphic t-shirt.

"It's your birthday?"

"Yeah. The big twenty-six," she sang sarcastically, and I laughed, swinging my purse over my shoulder as I prepared to leave. I felt kind of bad, leaving her on her birthday, but she seemed to be dressing up to go out, so she must've had plans.

"Well...happy birthday. I'll see you around."

"Yeah, thanks. See ya Chambers."

            It was uncharacteristically cool out as I stepped out of the clinic and let the glass doors bang shut behind me, heading for my BMW where I'd parked it in the lot. There wasn't anyone around, and I shivered in my thin t-shirt as my thoughts wandered to Mickey. His game was tonight against the Warriors at 10 pm, and I'd promised him I'd be watching, but now I'd gone and made other plans. Plans that I was sorely tempted to bail on as I got into the car and turned on the heat. Pulling out of the parking lot and onto the main road, I put on some Three Days Grace and contemplated what the night was going to be like. Without Mickey, I wasn't planning on dancing at the club, and I wasn't much of a drinker, especially with virtual strangers. Teyana and Ella didn't seem too eager to become best friends, and Ashton...well I couldn't exactly spend the entire night talking to him, could I? Surely he'd be grinding up on some girl or getting drunk. So why even invite me? Did he assume I'd say no? I'm sure they'd been mortified when I'd agreed to go.

I continued to battle between going and not going as I got home, showered, and stood naked in my closet trying to figure out what to wear. I'd texted Mickey earlier to let him know where I was going, but he hadn't responded. If I just put on my pajamas now and curled up in bed to watch my boyfriend's basketball game, I'd be fine. No one would even ask about me and I wouldn't have to deal with any of the stress or anxiety of going out. But if I put on a hot outfit and went out, I might feel better about myself and my lack of friends. And I'd have something positive to tell my therapist tomorrow.

That decided it. I'd be damned if I was going to show up to Dr. Turner's office tomorrow without having at least tried to heed her advice. So I put back on the same ripped black jeans I'd had on earlier, and dug around in my drawers until I found a deep purple long-sleeved crop top that laced up the front and squeezed my boobs together like a corset. Slipping on some black heeled booties, I teetered into the bathroom and put on as much makeup as I deemed necessary given that I wasn't even going to see Mickey tonight. Giving my hair a once-over with the brush, I ducked into the closet, grabbed my dark grey chain-link purse, and stuffed my essentials into it as I hurried down the stairs. They were all waiting for me, which sent flames flying to my cheeks, and Jenna was there with JJ on her hip to say goodbye.