Girl Meets Wolf

Chapter 10

Ashlyn

I sat my tray down at the table, and pulled out a chair. I looked around the round table and noticed that I had stupidly chosen the seat between Axel and Kyle, leaving Izzie and Becca to sit on the opposite side. Great.

"You seem to be in a better mood." Kyle joked with me nudging me in the side. Axel seemed to be in another one of his moods and I didn't know if it was because of me or Kyle. Whelp, so be it.

"Yeah," I said with a chuckle, " I got my fave girls with me now." I pointed to them with my plastic knife about to decorate my waffle with butter and syrup.

Becca and Izzie smiled in agreement and started to dig into their own food.

I looked over at Axel and saw him mechanically eating his eggs. His eyes stormy with his thoughts. I wished he would open up to me. He was so different last night. I looked down at my place and tried to focus on eating. To be honest, I haven't really made it easy for him to open up to me either. I tended to be a tiny bit defensive around him.

I was almost halfway done with my with waffle, when I realized that Axel hadn't said a word since I sat down. In fact no one had said a word. Everyone's just been chewing their food. This is so freaking awkward I thought, internally facepalming myself. I just wish I could bring back the guy from last night. Last night he was caring and cuddly, but now he was all cold and stoic. I couldn't place him. It's like one minute he looks at me and my heart stops and his eyes are filled with kindness and the next he is cold, like now.

This awkwardness has to go. As I worked up the courage to say something, Axel turned to me with the most sincere look I've ever seen. His eyes held me in their grip and I sat up straight at attention. His gray eyes looked more blue with the light hitting them. There were also little specks of green in there too. Gosh, he's gorgeous.

"I'm glad your friends are okay."

I stared at him. Did he say something just now? Is he talking to me? I looked around the table and saw that everyone was now fully concentrating on Axel and me. Our stare down winning the attention of our tablemates.

"Um yeah," I responded hoping I answered back correctly. I was totally taken aback that he had said anything at all. I thought he would have loved the awkward silence.

"I'm still a little freaked about what happened last night, though." I decided to continue with the conversation, he started it so why should I end it? However, as the words came out of my mouth, I realized how true they were. We were all seconds away from dying last night, and now here we were, eating campus breakfast like nothing happened.

"I don't think I'll ever get over what happened." Izzie said quietly from across the table looking down at her food. Although Izzie seemed fine interrogating me earlier, it was clear the events from last night had affected her more deeply than I had originally thought. The more I watched her the more I began to see the differences within her. Becca too seemed different. She was a little bit less sure of herself.

I never asked Izzie and Becca how they got away from the wolves, and now looking at Izzie's reaction, I don't think I ever will. The events seemed to have darkened her spirit in a way I can't explain. Her energy was all wrong. Hopefully she will be better in time. With all these wolf attacks we were bound to encounter one ourselves, it was only a matter of time. I just wish it didn't affect us like it did.

"So what exactly happened last night?" Kyle chimed in from the left of me. I looked around the table and no looked like they were going to talk. Probably still nursing their emotional wounds from the night before. Kyle really knew how to read a room. My eyes rolled back on their own accord. Couldn't he have chosen something a little light to start with?