23

I stood with her in a small, dark hallway and followed her all the way through an archway in the back. It was the kitchen and it looked really old fashioned. The wood was past its best and the corner seat at the table rounded off this picture.

"Let's go in a minute, okay?" Lou asked an older lady with brown, long curly hair who seemed to be cooking. "Honey, there's a change of plans." The woman lifted her head and beamed at me. "Oh, you must be Chiara."

She approached me excitedly in her green and white checkered apron and hugged me tightly. Although I felt a little taken by surprise, I accepted the hug, which immediately made me feel comfortable. "What's the change?"

Lou frowned at her, and the woman pulled away from me, looking a little contrite. "Jayden wanted-" "Are you serious mom?" Lou hissed and then angrily stomped out of the room.

I stopped, confused, and noticed the woman eyeing me curiously. "I'm Nicole, by the way," she winked at me and then hurriedly ran back to her steaming pot. "Sit down. She'll calm down in a moment, don't worry."

I sat down at the dining table smiling and feeling kind of uncomfortable although she seemed quite nice. "You know. Jayden wanted to take the cows out himself and my little one doesn't like that. The two of them never really got along anyway. Especially not since-"

She stopped herself and took a deep breath while I stared at her with interest. I thought she was going to finish her sentence, but instead Lou came back into the room and motioned for me to follow her. I said goodbye to Nicole and ran after the brown-haired.

Outside in the fresh air, we walked off the yard and headed back into town. "You know what really annoys me?! That this idiot only comes home once a week and even manages to thwart your plans." She kicked angry at some small rocks that were on the path, which gave me just a glimpse of how angry she really was.

"Has he always been like this?" I asked her cautiously and she suddenly looked at me with a smile. "No, on the contrary. He used to be so helpful and funny. Now he hardly laughs. It's always about the pack and his disciples. It's just annoying."

Her smile faded and I had to imagine for a moment a helpful, funny Jayden. He was anything but that and it was hard to believe that he should ever have been like that. "Well, it doesn't matter. Then we'll just go eat delicious waffles. Let him walk around in the mud," she giggled again and happily took my arm. She really was a moody personality, but I actually found that pretty good about her.

I enjoyed the quiet while running and watching the people around us. With each one I had to wonder if they were part of the pack or not before I remembered the celebration. "Do you know what kind of celebration this is?" I asked her and she just gave me a stupid grin. "Yes, the packs celebrate their immeasurable strength and unlimited stupidity," she laughed, making me laugh too.

"No, but seriously. It's about showing who's the coolest, who's the strongest and maybe finding a partner in other packs. There's also a lot of drinking and dancing." My stomach turned over briefly at the thought of how much I'd drunk since I got here. I hadn't even drunk that much alcohol in all the years before.

Lost in thought, I didn't even notice that we had already arrived at the market square and we were already looking for a place outside the waffle house. Luckily it wasn't busy and we were served quickly.

Two warm cocoas and two waffles with powdered sugar.

It just smelled heavenly. I blocked out everything around me and only concentrated on the food and on the pretty brown-haired woman sitting across from me. "He took Chace away from me too," she suddenly said softly as I took the first bite of the warm, soft waffle. I looked at her confused and swallowed the piece.

"What do you mean?" I then asked, watching as she began to poke her waffle with her fork while taking a deep breath. "We used to be best friends, but after he transformed a few times and became part of the pack, he changed."

Her tone was filled with pain. It almost sounded like she wanted to cry, but she had probably done that too many times. I got a really bad feeling and even I, who was always a sweet tooth, started sadly pricking the waffle.

It sure looked insanely depressing to outsiders. Two pretty girls at nightfall sat at a table sadly looking at the delicious waffles. I felt the need to break this awkward silence.

"Then just talk to him. Chace always struck me as very polite and compassionate," I suggested, but she just smiled crookedly at me. "No, I've tried. Besides, Jayden wouldn't allow it. Women for a night are welcome in the pack, or women to marry, but otherwise no female distractions."

At her words, I stabbed the waffle so hard with my fork that I thought I had broken the plate, but luckily everything was still intact. Anger at Jayden and his way of life tore me apart. But it wasn't the time to freak out or think about him. I'd much rather give the little one a nice evening and then banished Jayden and everything that had to do with him from my thoughts. "Come with me tonight. We can have a movie night."

She nodded at my suggestion and put the money on the table to pay to take me home.

As soon as we stood in my kitchen, we both opened our eyes in disbelief. "What happened here?" Lou asked, looking at me confused.

I couldn't answer her and just stared at the counters, all of which were covered in leftover food and dirty dishes. It looked as if a whole family of raccoons had broken in and been up to mischief here.

"I'm over here!" my grandmother shouted from the living room, tearing me out of my rigid state. We walked over together and immediately I had to grin in amusement. Lisbeth was sitting on the couch with a glass of whiskey looking really beat up. Her hair was full of flour, the apron around her waist was nothing but dirt and the dark circles under her eyes only gave an idea of ​​how much she had worked for this celebration.

"I've taken on a little too much," she joked, smiling kindly at Lou. "Hello, Lou. How are you? How are your parents?"

"Thanks, everyone is fine," Lou replied, sitting next to her while I ran back to the kitchen to get two glasses and a bottle of water. "I'll clean this up in the morning," I informed my grandma as I came back into the living room, also sitting down and returning her nod in a friendly manner. "That's it for me too. I'm going to shower and go to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow at noon."

She drained her glass in one gulp and then got up to leave the living room. "Want it?" I asked Lou, handing her the bottle of water, but she shook her head no and reached for the whiskey bottle to fill her glass to the brim.

When she grinned sweetly at me afterwards and was about to pour me something, I held my hand protectively over my glass. "No, not for me. I should slow down a little." "Then there's more for me," she laughed and made herself comfortable on the couch with her glass.

I turned on the old TV and got up to walk to the VCR. I pressed the power button and opened one of the dresser drawers. "Well, we seem to have everything from romance to horror here." I smiled at her and she raised her eyebrows in amusement.

"I want a real tearjerker! One of those movies where you end up crying with happiness." I glanced at her to see if she was serious, but then turned back to the movies and discovered 》Dirty Dancing《.

I didn't really like that chewy film, but Lou didn't know it and maybe she did like it. I put the tape in the recorder, ran upstairs to get us some pillows and blankets, and then settled in next to her.

We hardly talked during the film. I thought about Ludwig and Jayden again while she downed glass after glass. I didn't mind, probably everyone here drank all the time and was used to it.

Towards the end of the film she felt a few lone tears on her face and scared me to death when she suddenly jumped up and grabbed my arm. "We won't put up with any more of these idiots. I finally want a boyfriend and I'm going to tell my brother now!"

I stood right in front of her and saw how the alcohol was working. You could see it and hear it in her voice that it was probably a glass or two too many. "Are you crazy? What do you think will happen if we show up at their house in the middle of the night, if we even find them?!" I tried to stop her, but she just looked at me in disappointment and turned her back on me.

"Then I'll just go alone!" She swayed and I had no choice but to follow her outside. It wasn't until the door slammed shut behind me that I realized I'd forgotten my key. Rolling my eyes, I stopped and thought about ringing the bell again, but Lou stubbornly kept walking and I then hurried after her, afraid she would fall over or something.

"We really should go back," I said to her motheringly, but she just waved me off and then held on to a lantern. "No, Chiara. We are young and should dance with our love."

I watched her dance around the lantern, laughing out loud. What had I done? Jayden would rip my head off, I thought, and rushed over to hook her on mine. "Okay, we're going to them. But you stop dancing on lanterns and stay hooked to me."

"Okay Luna!" she giggled. I didn't know what she meant by that, but I had enough other things on my mind at the time instead of worrying about it.

We walked in silence to the Wialtrama, where Eddie eyed us disparagingly. "Ohhhhh Eddie, you fuzzy! Is my brother there?" Lou asked him, provocatively tapping his nose with a finger. I held my breath and was already saying my last prayers, but he suddenly laughed and pinched the brown haired cheek. "He's on his own with the others. You'd better go home," he replied, smiling, and then looked over at me, which made my eyes widen, afraid he would blame me.

"Home, haha," Lou laughed and turned towards the forest, arm in arm with me. "Let's go!" she yelled loudly, and I felt like I was in the middle of a women's rights demonstration as she stomped and raised her arm in the air. Only posters were missing.

I helped her across the road and in the pitch black woods made sure she didn't get caught or tripped, and internally I was upset that he couldn't just own a house on any road, but before I could curse him further in my head, we were already standing in the small square in front of his hut, from which loud music was blaring.