by Parker Skye
Trying to regain a modicum of his previous composure, Adam shook his head back and forth almost like a dog shaking water from its fur. Exhaling a deep sigh, Adam scooted to the window, shoving his backpack on the floor between his feet. Refusing to make any further eye contact, Adam pulled out his phone, plugged in his earbuds, and cranked his music. Some thrash metal song could easily be heard despite the attempt to keep his music preferences private. Arms crossed tensely over his chest again, Adam went back to looking out the window at nothing.
“Okay, I guess. Thanks for the warm welcome,” mumbled the blonde giant, sitting down and willing himself to take up as little space as possible. Every few seconds, his eyes would be drawn to the strange guy sitting next to him. The foot closest to Adam started vibrating up and down while he chewed his lower lip. The blonde’s huge hands had a death grip on the backpack resting in his lap.
The blonde made eye contact with a girl across the aisle that was obviously laughing at every second of his and his irritable seat mate's irritable exchange. She smiled his way, her cute button nose crinkling at up at the end as she pushed her brown curls behind her ear.
“Don’t mind him,” she said, smiling. “He’s a nut. Every school’s got at least one, right? I’m Julie, Julie Perkins. And this,” she said pointing to the other girl in the seat,” is my bestie Margo Frost. “
The aforementioned Margo was sporting a surprisingly short cut for a girl, dyed a deep purple. The color seemed to match her almost freakishly violet eyes, though. Margo peaked around Julie’s shoulder and smiled, “Hola, tall man. First day?”
“Oh, yeah, first day and my ride wouldn’t start this morning. Go figure. I’m Ben, Ben Sterling. I’m a senior. What about you?” Ben replied.
“Same,” both girls chimed in unison. Margo added, “Bummer having to change schools this close to graduation. Hope you weren’t in line for valedictorian or something. No way is your class rank going to transfer this late in the year.”
Ben laughed, “Uh, no, no risk of that here. I do all right, but I’ll be lucky if I get into state school when I’m done here. No commencement speech duties for me.”
Julie winked and leaned over in the aisle and fake whispered, “Good, ‘cause you don’t want to tick off Adam any more than normal by stealing his thunder.”
When Ben looked at her in confusion, Julie shrugged her shoulder toward his seatmate, “the nutter,” she clarified. Ben looked over at his shoulder toward the guy who had so grudgingly shared his bench. His brows furrowed in confusion and he turned back to the girls.
“Uh, no, definitely don’t want to tick him off any more than I already have. I thought he was going to punch me just for asking to sit down.”
Both girls laughed while Adam pretended not to hear. He hit the volume on his phone a few bars higher, unconcerned about the possible damage to his hearing. Three more months.
Chapter 2
Ben Sterling
Well wasn’t this just perfect? Five minutes into meeting his target and Ben was pretty sure he had already botched his mission. Ben couldn’t stop his heart from trying to beat out of his chest when he’d first caught sight of who shared the last seat open on the bus. He hadn’t planned to approach Adam this soon. To top it off, he’d somehow managed to piss the guy off just with his presence. Ben felt he would be lucky if the guy would ever willingly talk to him again. Ben didn’t know what had happened, but his brain had just short circuited and his asshole voice came out in self-defense once Adam had started giving him such heavy attitude. Ben had never felt so off balance before.
And speaking of off balance, geez, could Adam get any hotter? Those electric green eyes framed in thick reddish eyebrows seemed to cut right through him. The pissed off look that seemed to be Adam’s default expression didn’t make him any less attractive, unfortunately. His square jaw with just the hint of stubble, made Ben imagine how the bristles would feel rubbing along his neck. What the fuck? Where did that thought come from?
Ben tried to keep some distance between them on the bench; otherwise he wasn’t sure he could keep himself from attacking that surly mouth. Ben was a little freaked out if truth be known at how much he was affected by Adam’s presence. He didn’t even identify as bisexual before this, all his previous relationships being with female shifters. While same sex relationships weren’t exactly frowned on in the shifter world, they weren’t common. An interspecies gay relationship, however, Ben was pretty positive that was going to go down in the record books.
Ben tried to think of some way to salvage the situation, but honestly he was just trying to keep his cool until the bus ride was over. Thankfully, two cute girls seemed to be staring at him. He took the opportunity to distract himself, but soon found himself trapped in a conversation about their obviously low opinion of his seatmate. He had to fight with himself to keep from defending the guy and drawing even more attention to himself.
‘Huh, humans are weird,’ Ben thought to himself. Ben saw nothing but perfection when he looked at Adam Harris. He had to fight himself just to avoid staring at the guy like a creeper.
Finally the bus arrived at school and Ben escaped to regroup. He was beginning to doubt this mission would be as easy as he had first assumed. Adam seemed like he was going to be a tough nut to crack and Ben worried he hadn’t done himself any favors this morning with his terrible first impression. Adam must have thought Ben was a total asshole. He mentally cursed his ineptitude as he thought back over their exchange this morning.
Ben went through the motions of pretending to be a transferring high school senior. Thankfully he was already 18 per his falsified records and didn’t need a parent present to finish his enrollment. Finally finished with the expected stack of paperwork, he grabbed his schedule and a map of the school and headed off for his first class. He had been reassured by his Alpha that human school and shifter school were pretty similar. He hoped he could fake it well enough, but honestly, he wasn’t worried about making A’s. He just needed to fly under the radar long enough to complete his mission.
Ben caught sight of Adam in between classes several times that morning, but didn’t make another attempt to make contact. He’d been sent with a packet of information on the guy, but obviously it was incomplete. One interaction with Adam hours ago and Ben still felt off. Ben decided to gather more information before he made another run at gaining Adam’s trust. He was worried he would only get one more chance before his shot at befriending Adam would be over.
Ben hadn’t been given specific instructions to bring the guy back unharmed, but he figured his Alpha would have let him know if he really just wanted Adam dead. Besides, violence wasn’t really Ben’s style. Back home he was known for being a smooth talker, able to coax even the most determined interloper into taking off without much fuss. Ben didn’t want to risk hurting Adam, especially since he seemed harmless enough other than his prickly temper.
Adam wasn’t necessarily short, but Ben had at least 5 inches on him. Adam was also more lean and lanky than muscular. Ben doubted he saw much time in the gym. He might have been a runner or swimmer, but a fighter he was not. Which also meant Ben was going to have approach this situation with more delicacy than he had so far to avoid scaring him off completely.
‘Delicate, huh? I can do delicate,” Ben said to himself. Inside his wolf laughed.
Chapter 3
Adam
Four periods into his day, Adam found himself in his usual spot in Chemistry Lab -- table in the back, sans partner, just how he liked it. He focused on prepping components for the day’s experiment. It seemed today the class was scheduled to make aspirin… or explosions, one of the two. Either way, it sounded pretty cool.
Adam found most of school pretty boring, but Chemistry had potential. He seemed to have some aptitude for it, as well, being one of the few students lacking a fire danger rating yet. In the first week of class, Theo Green, one of the football meatheads had created noxious purple fumes that filled the classroom. This p
roceeded to set off the fire alarm, causing a school wide impromptu fire drill. They were all trapped outside in the rain until the building had been cleared by the fire department. In Adam’s opinion, it had been one of the best days ever. He was still trying to figure out what combination of chemicals had created that reaction. Even Theo was clueless, but that wasn’t exactly surprising.
Five minutes after class had officially begun, someone walked in and headed for the teacher’s desk. Adam’s chemistry instructor, Mr. Hanson, paused his explanation of the aspirin experiment and waited for the interloper to approach. Adam looked up from his prep work once Mr. Hanson had stopped speaking and was surprised to see the blond giant from the bus, Ben he thought his name was.
Adam watched the happenings at the front of the room as Mr. Hanson and Ben spoke to each other quietly. Once Mr. Hanson had read the slip of paper Ben handed over, he began looking obviously around the room. Adam quickly dropped his head and went back to reading his ingredients list. Adam prayed if he didn’t make eye contact, his teacher would conveniently forget Adam was the only person lacking a partner in this lab. It was a faint chance, but Adam could dream.
“Okay, then,” Mr. Hanson said, handing Ben back his schedule. “You can share that workstation with Adam,” he said pointing toward the back of the room.
Raising his voice to be heard, Mr. Hanson said smiling, “Adam, lucky you, you finally have a partner and won’t have to work alone anymore.”
Adam’s head flew up, eyes wide. He heard several other students faintly laughing at his obvious shock. He had to juggle the beaker of ethanol he was currently pouring with both hands to keep from dropping it. Ben’s smirk was wide as he practically sauntered to Adam’s lab table.
“Well, hello again. Fancy meeting you here,” Ben said, still smiling. “My name’s Ben, Ben Sterling. I take it you’re Adam. I guess this means we’re working together.” Ben placed his backpack on the floor and took the empty stool next to Adam’s, holding his hand out offering to shake. Adam cross his arms over his chest in rebuff and Ben let his hand drop to rest on his thigh instead.
“I know who you are,” Adam replied, the coldness so heavy in his tone, Adam was surprised his breath didn’t fog the air when he spoke. “I heard you this morning talking to the Julie and Margo.”
“Sure, no problem. Why should it matter anyway? I’m just a nutter, remember?” Adam replied, tone heavy with disdain. Adam broke eye contact and went back to prepping ingredients.
Ben floundered for a few minutes, finally reaching over the carefully laid out supplies and grabbing the instructions on Adam’s side of the table.
“Oh, making aspirin! That’s great! I’ve done that already in my last school.” Ben said.
Adam scowled in Ben’s direction. “Really? That’s just awesome,” he said sarcastically, obviously thinking it was anything but. Ben thankfully took the hint and shut up. Grabbing the instructions, Adam got back to work. The pair was silent, save for the clinking of beakers and the crackle of Bunsen burners. Mr. Hanson walked past their table toward the end of class, obviously pleased with their success.
“Looking good again, Adam. You did let Ben help, right?” Mr. Hanson asked.
Ben perkily replied, ”Oh, yes, Mr. Hanson. Adam was a great help. I’m really happy I get to work with him for the rest of the year.” Adam glared at the back of Ben’s head, sickened by his new lab partner’s obvious attempt at sucking up.
“Good, good. I’m glad to hear it. I’ve been worried all year that Adam’s had to work too hard all by himself back here. I’m glad the class is finally evened out,” replied Mr. Hanson, patting Adam on the shoulder as he continued along to check the other students’ progress.
Adam stared daggers at Ben once Mr. Hanson was out of earshot again. “What did you tell him that for? He already knows I did all the work.” If lasers could have shot out of his eyes, Adam was certain Ben would be lying dead on the floor.
Chapter 4
Ben
Ben decided he’d had enough, since it didn’t seem like friendliness was the way through this guy’s shell either. Sure, he’d made an ass out of himself right out the gate this morning, but he probably wouldn’t have if the guy had started out welcoming instead of giving Ben the prickly porcupine routine.
Besides, Ben knew he needed to get back on even ground with this guy or he was never going to get his head screwed back on straight to complete his mission. Being around Adam was like walking down a boat deck while it pitched and yawed on a furious sea. Not only was it disorienting, but Ben wasn’t used to having such severe dislike aimed his direction. People generally liked Ben. Even when he was acting as a border guard and had to lay down the law, people didn’t seem to find fault with him, even if they didn’t always get their way. Adam’s obvious displeasure with his general presence had finally pushed Ben past his normal repertoire of social niceties.
Ben angrily glared back, replying, “What’s the matter, Adam? Afraid Mr. Hanson will think you’re really able to function normally in society? Don’t worry. I don’t think he was fooled.”
Adam appeared stunned. Obviously no one at school usually argued back at him. Ben did a terrible job hiding his surprise when Adam unexpectedly laughed out loud, causing the rest of the class to turn around and stare. Obviously Adam was not a laugher.
“Well, alright then. Glad we understand each other,” Adam said, still smiling widely, exposing a dimple in his right cheek that Ben hadn’t noticed before. Damn it, his heart skipped a beat again. Struck stupid, Ben decided right then and there he would do whatever it took to see that smile again.
*********
Ben followed Adam to the cafeteria after Chemistry to an almost vacant table in the back. He sat across from Adam not saying anything, but not ignoring him either. Every few minutes, Ben would catch himself looking up to check on Adam, as if to make sure he was still there. Adam, meanwhile, continued to do his best to ignore Ben’s presence. Adam demolished his lunch in no time and pulled out a book to read. At least Adam had stopped glaring at him, Ben supposed.
Ben noticed Adam was reading The Catcher in the Rye. He wasn’t surprised in the least. This guy practically dripped angst and his reading choice seemed to fit perfectly. Not to be outdone, Ben reached into his backpack and pulled out his preferred reading material, a manual on motorcycle repair. He had just gotten good at doing his own tune-ups and was hoping to start getting more proficient at actual repair if and when it was ever needed.
Ben watched Adam’s right eyebrow quirk up in surprise after he caught sight of his unusual reading material. Ben smirked and continued reading, placing the old receipt he’d made into a bookmark down onto the table beside his soda. Ben pretended not to notice Adam’s gaze flicking over him every few minutes. In reality, he could have been reading the manual upside down for all the information he was retaining. He loved sparking this guy’s interest.
Finally, when it was obvious Adam couldn’t quell his curiosity anymore, he casually asked, “So, Ben, what’s up with the motorcycle repair manual? Seems like strange reading for a high school student.”
Ben looked back at Adam, his own eyebrow quirked up in a mimicking response. “I’ll have you know that I’m a third generation Harley rider just like my dad and granddad before me. You are only a true Harley owner if you can do at least your own maintenance.”
“You seriously own a Harley?” asked Adam, disbelief coloring every word.
“Yep,” Ben responded, still pretending to read his manual.
“Prove it,” Adam challenged.
“Fine,” responded Ben, pulling out his phone, offering to hand it over. “Enter your phone number and address. I’ll pick you up at eight tonight for our ride.”
Adam froze momentarily and Ben berated himself internally for pushing too fast. ‘Delicately, stupid. Delicately,’ he snarled at himself. He could feel his wolf laughing at him again. He took a deep breath and feigned indecision.
“Oh, wait. Neve
r mind. I can’t get together until at least Monday,” Ben quickly retracted. He opened his phone’s calendar, pretending to scroll through several scheduled engagements.
“I’ve got plans already tonight and I’ve got a lot to do this weekend to get settled. You know, unpacking and all that.” Ben closed his phone down and dropped his gaze back to his book, as if the matter was closed. He did his best to project an aura of calm disinterest as he watched Adam out of the corner of his eye.
At first Adam showed no reaction to Ben retracting the offer to get together. He just shrugged nonchalantly and dropped his head back to reading his book. Ben watched as Adam’s usual frown line between his brows deepened. Moments later, Adam was chewing nervously on his right thumbnail. A closer look at Adam’s hands showed this was not an unusual habit as all of Adam’s nails were chewed down to the quick. When Adam’s foot started tapping, subtly shaking the table, Ben finally couldn’t stay silent anymore.
