by G. Bailey
"No. I'm escaping a bad date, actually," I mutter as she laughs.
"Harris should ask you out, he wouldn't be a bad date," she winks, and I see Harris blush.
"I'm not dating anymore, but if I was, Harris would be a good choice," I say gently, letting them both down easily.
"You should change your mind. You’re really pretty." She sighs, finally turning around. Harris asks for the address, so I give it to him before opening my phone. I'm surprised not to see any messages from Alex. I send her a quick one:
Date was awful, shame the hot ones are always crazy. I got a lift home. I will see you tomorrow. Love you xx
I missed out on the start of the argument, as I was texting, but from Harris’s angry face he isn’t happy.
“There are loads of them around right now, Katy. I don’t want to find you sneaking out again!” he shouts, leaving me to wonder what he is talking about. Katy is looking tense in her seat at whatever it is.
“I know. But, I never get to leave the pack,” she says looking out the window with a long sigh. I’m sure that I see tears in her eyes as she picks her nails, looking worried.
“It won’t always be like this, but please, for me, don’t leave again without one of us.” He stares at her through the mirror, and I see her lower her gaze quickly.
“I promise,” Katy says with a frown, and Harris nods, looking back at the empty road. I watch as he turns to look at me, and a grin lights up his face when he sees what I’m wearing. Typical guy, but at least he has the common sense to look back at the road after a second, not voicing his opinion.
“What’s a pack?” I ask clearing my throat and hopefully my red cheeks from Harris’s stare. I remember reading about packs of wolves in class, but I don’t think they are talking about that. Maybe it’s some kind of gang or a name of a house, I don’t want to guess because I’m sure I’m going to come up with something worse than what it actually is. I glance at Harris who isn’t answering my question, so I repeat myself.
“Oh, it’s nothing important,” Harris says quickly, all the while he is glaring at Katy like a parent whose kid just told someone a big secret of theirs. I glance back at Katy, who looks very guilty, as she shrugs at me, and avoids looking at Harris at all. This night is proving to be all kinds of confusing, and I’m pretty sure forgetting it is the easier way. No one says anything else while we drive home, and a tense silence descends on the car.
"Are you going to be okay to walk in? I don't think I can get in the car park with the gate down,” Harris looks at me, as he stops on the road outside my building. The whole building is close to the university, so it has to be on lockdown after a certain time, and you can only walk in, past a locked gate. I’m lucky the gate’s broken, so you don’t need a key to get in. Well, unlucky in certain ways because it means anyone can get in.
"Yeah, I'll walk in. The gate is open,” I say to Harris, and he nods, watching me closely like he wants to say something, but I get out of the car before he can.
"Bye, Katy, and good luck with your parents," I say through the open window, and I laugh, hearing her grumble before I move away from the car. I wave them both off before opening the broken gate to the locked car park, the door is slightly open anyway from our neighbours. The car park is almost as big as the building in length, and you have to walk across the whole thing to get to my building. My building has three flats, on three levels, and we have the bottom one. The car park is empty, besides my car and one other. I walk slowly; only the dim lights of the street lamps near the building are lighting my path, showing me where I’m going. In the distance, I notice a big, dark shape lying next to my car, near the door to my building. I run over quickly, my footsteps being the only noise in the dark night. I’m hoping the person is okay and pull my phone out of my bag as I run, to call an ambulance, but as I get closer I see it’s a wolf.
Could my night get any weirder?
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