wolf boys

chapter three

JOSÉ:

"Now what, is it to cover up the scent of wet dog?" 

This is too much of a coincidence. 

I remember watching him walk into the classroom, bag swung loosely over one shoulder like some sort of cliche character from a school life novel, the smell of Axe invading my senses. 

Axe and something else. 

Axe and him. 

I know some people say their mates smell like fresh rain and vanilla or something, 

but mine smells like parsley. And wet dog. Just a pinch of wet dog. 

Wait, what?! He's my m-

His eyes narrow upon looking at me and he smiles back. My heart flutters in my chest. A broken line in my heart twitches, desperately wanting to connect with where it was cut, across the other side of the cage in my chest. Both ends of the line twitch.

I move them farther away from each other and mentally clog everything that's almost giving me away. He's pretty bad at it though. Well, I applaud him for trying. 

"What's your name, new boy?" 

I watch him, immobile in my restricting contraption of a desk, surrounding me on all sides with a chair, bars, and desk. My breath catches in my throat. 

He walks over and dumps his bag down on the seat next to me, eyes still glimmering golden. 

"José." I lean forward and put an elbow down, trying to calm the butterflies in my stomach. "What's it to you?"

"A lot of," he leans over the bar, chair inching closer to mine, "very important things."

I take a deep breath in of his scent, closing my eyes. 

"Oh," I sigh. "Don't you seem special. No wonder why you're so-" my eyes flutter open again. "attractive." 

"When did I ever say I wasn't?" His eyes are laughing with mischief. 

"When did I ever say you weren't?" My gaze follows down the lean slopes of his golden-skinned neck. 

His eyes cloud. 

"Jesse, right?" I lean even closer, almost toppling in my chair. 

"Say it again," he mutters. 

"I'll say it a thousand times if I need to-"

The door to the classroom slams open and a tall, slightly receding man enters the classroom, followed by rows and rows of students. I jump back as if I was touched by a hot iron. 

The spell breaks. He leans away as well, and I settle into my seat, wanting to disappear. Heat blooms everywhere, scalding. I feel his gaze upon me, just as hot as before. He's unaffected. 

"So!" The man grins, clapping his hands. "I'm Mr. Forbes. Nice to meetchyall." 

I try to bury the butterflies away, fill everything, that gap inside of me with cotton. Cotton, cotton, cotton. It stuffs me up and overflows, but, it's done its job. 

My blush fades away. 

Thank god, it's done its job. 

***

The bell rings and I grab all my things, sweeping them into my arms, hurriedly. It's struggling to try to flip open the desk as well. By the time I manage to stand up, almost everyone is out of the classroom. Jesse muffles a laugh as he stands and comes out into the aisle.