Wow, That Sucks

13. Distance: an amount of space between two things or people.

When Mom and Dad got home, I told them that my weekend was uneventful and that it was nice being alone for once. Relief and something else unexpected--disappointment?--filled me when they took my word for it.

* * *

Annie and Bertholdt stayed for a few nights before going home. In the time they were here, Eren asked questions and soaked up information like a sponge. Before they left, they gave him their numbers and told him to contact them if he had any questions, concerns, needed help, or just wanted to talk. They also said they'd talk to the rest of their pack to see if he could be accepted if he should choose to do so.

Then without telling him, Annie gave me their info too and told them to call them if it seemed like he could possibly risk losing control. When I looked panicked, she told me not to worry--it was extremely unlikely. However, the nights before and after the first moon, I should keep a close eye on him. After his shift, he would be weak and would need to be taken care of. I could see why they told me and not him. His pride would get in the way--though, I had no room to talk.

Eren seemed to be handling his new lifestyle much better than me. I liked to think it was because he had a heads up and hadn't had to accept the existence of the supernatural like I had. The wounds on his arm and chest had already healed to shiny, white scars. Foundation easily covered the one on his arm, but I found him wearing shirts with longer sleeves despite the heat.

The last of summer passed by lazily. Marco and I didn't see each other again since our talk, but I still thought about him often. I'd wake up sometimes and swear I could feel the heat of his lips against mine, but I was alone. All our friends seemed to know about our little friend breakup thing, and they all had the good graces not to ask me about it.

Three days before the full moon, Eren started to get irritable. I did my best to remind him that he was being a little bitch without actually saying so to his face--especially when there were people around. Luckily, he took the hint and didn't stay mad at me. Well, he didn't stay mad for very long at least.

Other than that, nothing new happened. Until the Saturday before school started.

Okay, so I may have mentioned that Sasha came from a loaded family, and when I say loaded, I mean huge house, nice cars, vacations, and all the food a teenage girl and her friends could want.

They weren't always rich, though. It wasn't until Sasha was in middle school that things started to fall into place. Her dad was a hunter that owned his own taxidermy business, and when she was in elementary school, it went belly up. People around here just didn't want their animals stuffed and put in their living rooms to stare at them for eternity, not that I blame them.

After that happened, he took up singing and songwriting. In high school, he'd been super good, being accepted to All-State and even receiving scholarships for his voice. He found an old guitar at a Goodwill and started touring in a beat-up van. Two years later, he got picked up by some record company and started to make some actual money for his singing. Six months later, an estranged relative died and left their abundant heritance to none other than Sasha's dad. He was far from stupid. Immediately, he invested in stocks, and got rich from it and his singing throughout the years.

Even though he was wealthy and owned nice things, he was still relatively the same. You'd literally never know he was a multimillionaire just by being around him. He had a bushy but well-kept beard, and purposefully shaggy hair the same color as Sasha's. About seventeen or so years ago, he got attacked by a bear and has a super cool scar across one of his cheeks. The dude was tall as fuck--about six two--and had some decent muscles. Flannel shirts were his favorite along with Levis and work boots. Honestly, he looked like a lumberjack, but he was far from intimidating. He was always kind to everybody no matter who they were, and his easygoing personality made him fun to be around.