Rejection (A Mate Story)

Chapter 7 - Feelings

It wasn't as bad as she thought it would be, adjusting to her new life. While she had expected to cry her eyes out the first night, she didn't even have the chance to. Cameron didn't bring her back to her hotel room til the next morning. Apparently she had passed out in his friend's basement and he had decided to let her sleep it off on the couch. The couch was nasty, and she wished he had just brought her back to the hotel, but she also found it sweet when she woke up and saw Cameron saw leaning against the foot of the couch, guarding her like a treasure. After taking in the moment she demanded to go home.

Home... It took her a while to think of the hotel as home. Home was where she spent her childhood, where memories lined the walls and covered every surface. Home was where her pictures were, where her mom and dad probably worried sick about her. They'll get over it soon enough, she told herself. Sometimes she wondered if she was just trying to make herself feel better, but then she thought bitterly about all those times she's needed them but they were too busy with work or socializing. When she went to her first day of high school and got bullied by a senior, coming home with a black eye, her parents didn't do anything. When she started getting an interest in boys and had some more...mature thoughts, she had to ask her mom to give her 'the talk'. It wasn't that they didn't love her, she knew they did, but...they just weren't there. She envied Josh for his mother; she always tended to him when he needed her and left him alone when he didn't.

Josh. She hated thinking of him. He probably didn't care that she had left. Penny wondered how many women he had slept with already. Probably as many as he wants, she rolled her eyes at the thought every time. Josh had already taken up enough of her life, her time, and her thoughts.

Soon, though, he wasn't the one taking of the front of her mind. He was easily moved to the back, told to stay put and be quiet. Instead, standing in the front tall and proud, was Cameron with his slightly crooked teeth and charming boy-like attitude. He was the first one she thought of when she woke up, the last one she thought of when she went to sleep, and pretty much the only person she spoke to. Maybe she should make some more friends, so she doesn't become annoying, but Cameron didn't seem to mind. He called her first every time, and he never seemed to want to hang up. On those days when they couldn't meet each other somewhere and hang out, they would spend hours talking on the phone. Penny wondered if they were falling in love. Sometimes she felt bad that he was 'falling' for Brandy, not Penny. He didn't know who she was, her name, or where she came from. She wondered if she would ever tell him she was a wolf.

Then again, she would remind herself, this was her new life. It didn't matter who met her as Brandy; she was Brandy, now. And Brandy liked going out with Cameron and hanging out in his friend's basement. She liked Virginia, she liked being away from Josh, and she apparently liked whiskey and smoking, occasionaly. She worried that she was throwing away her life for a while. After all, all those people who were telling her never to do drugs and not to drink alcohol had to have a reason, right? Well, they didn't. She was eighteen; she could do what she wanted. She had her whole life ahead of her! Doing these things now wouldn't prevent her from getting a job one day or having children. She would only have good memories and good friends. Cameron told her to enjoy her life, and so she would.

It's not like there's anyone to stop me, anyway. Today she was with him in his friend's basement, like every other evening, and sipping on a bottle of beer. It was just the two of them in the smoke filled room, cuddling together on the floor. Penny wondered how she could be so intimate with someone she had just met a few days ago. After all, she was still Josh's mate. Shouldn't she be feeling guilty or torn without him? No, and I don't care, she grinned as Cameron kissed her chin, leading down to her neck, then her shoulders. She felt his fingers pulling at her tank top straps, as well as her bra straps. His kisses went lower to the top of her breast. Suddenly she was pulled out of her mellow state as she sat up and looked at him warily.

"What, baby?" he asked innocently, like he hadn't just tried to pull off her top and go to second base.

"Cameron, I don't know..." she began, but trailed off as he smiled reassuringly and came closer to her.

"Brandy...you know I love you. I'd do anything for you...won't you do this for me?" he pleaded. Without waiting for an answer he went back to kissing her on the mouth.

"What?" Ro asked, watching how Josh shivered. His eyes looked distant as something took over him.

"I don't know...I just feel...weird. Like something is pissing me off, but I don't know what it is." He shook his head and looked out the window. They would be at the airport soon, where they had terrorized the man to learn Penny's flight plans, only to find out she was perfectly fine and probably living it up somewhere else. Josh wouldn't be surprised if she was stalking someone else now, hounding him about not calling her back within two seconds 'like he promised'! She was ridiculous; she deserved her ridiculously dramatic life.

Ro smiled to himself, "Wow, I didn't think she had it in her. I guess our Penny isn't as innocent as we thought."

Josh frowned, "What the hell are you talking about? You do realize you make no sense, right?"

He shrugged, "Mates can feel things that other people can't. Now, while I don't feel some other guy givin' it to Penny, you can, and it pisses you off. What I can't figure out is how it happened. Do you feel just a little annoyed, like you dropped your ice cream, or do you feel like someone is having sex with your mate?" he chuckled; finding this amusing. Well, he did, until Josh punched his arm.

"Just drive me to the damn airport."

"Yes mass'ah," Ro replied in a country accent, making Josh roll his eyes. Sometimes he really hated his best friend.

No matter how silent the car was, the calling in his stomach grew louder. Something in him was yelling at him without words to move his ass and take control. Was Ro right? Was he jealous? Penny wouldn't do anything like that; she wasn't that kind of girl. Then again, she wasn't the kind of girl to run away out of the blue and not tell anyone where she was going. There was probably a lot of things Penny was doing no one thought she'd ever do. Most likely, however, she was probably crying in a corner. Josh suspected the irritating feeling inside was guilt.

Still, he couldn't help squirming in his seat. What if it was true; that he could feel everything she felt or did? Would he always react to every little thing she did? And why would it start effecting him now? Maybe it had something to do with Penny turning eighteen. Now that they both knew they were mates it had to have some kind of effect on him.

As Ro's car rolled up to the airport, in the dropping-zone, Josh turned to get his bag out of the backseat. When he turned back around to get out he saw Ro was smirking to himself, looking out the windshield.

"What?" Josh snapped, not really in the mood for any of this.

Ro shrugged, "Oh nothing...except you're offically mated!" he threw his head back and laughed at his friend while Josh just sat there staring at him. "Have fun being whipped, my friend."

Josh shook his head and got out of the car with a simple, "See you later, Ro."

Author's note: so I realized why it's so hard for me to keep up with updating this story; this was supposed to be a 'spoof' book. I see all the 'Rejection' stories all the time and get soooo annoyed. I like werewolves, but that was before everyone made those 'I got rejected by my mate so I'm going to cry my eyeballs out and sit in the corner until he/she takes me back'. This was supposed to be a book laughing at them, being a butthead. And then people started actually liking it... Don't worry, it'll still be funny and I'm trying to make it different than all the others. So, anyway, enjoy the book!