Jolene was now driving to a near burger restaurant with Lancelot. He was holding one of her hands. She looked at him from the corner of her eye as he closed his eyes and brushed her hand against his own face slowly. She smiled thinking about how adorable he is.
“I want to know how you could change so much in a week,” said Jolene.
Lancelot opened his eyes and sighed. He knew that the question would pop up sometime. Deep down he was afraid that she would not believe him when he admitted the truth, but he had already decided to be honest with her.
“I did not change in a week. How I fell in love with you is a long story that begins from the first time our eyes met,” he said.
“Oh really?” Jolene turned her face to him momentarily.
Lancelot chuckled as he nodded his head, but his look was not comical. He was being serious. “Yes. Really. Want to hear the story?”
Jolene was apprehensive of what he could say about that. For her, it did not make sense for him to say that he liked her since the beginning after all the times she had seen him with other girls, but she was willing to listen what he had to say.
“Of course I do,” she said.
“Tomorrow at the waterfall, same time.” He kissed her cheek.
“Are you leaving me hanging so I agree to meet you again?”
“Would that work?”
“Yes, but I would meet with you even without the cliffhanger.”
Jolene did not consider herself a patient person but she did not feel the need to rush things with him. We have the rest of our lives, she thought and her lips curved into a wide smile.
Lancelot kissed the back of her hand. He loved the feeling of holding her hand and kissing her to the point he did it now as an instinct. It just came naturally to him.
“Every day?” asked Lancelot.
She pulled up into the parking lot. “That would make me the happiest girl in the world. Now let’s go eat before I get hangry.”
***
They were eating burgers and fries. Besides the waiters and cooks, the place was empty, which Jolene found weird, but Lancelot knew the reason. As soon as they had left the waterfall, he had mindlinked everyone to leave so Jolene would not feel uncomfortable. He did not need to give them a reason, they obeyed him.
This time they were sitting side by side instead of in front of each other. Jolene could not be happier. Just when she had concluded that eating could not be any more enjoyable, she found the joy of eating with the person she cared about the most. The fact that she was completely sure of what they both felt toward each other made it feel different from the breakfast they had shared. A good kind of different.
“What is your favorite food?” she asked.
Lancelot’s eyebrows shot up. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before talking.
“Finally…” he said laughing.
“Finally, what?” Jolene cocked her head to the side.
“Finally you ask something about me.”
“I ask things about you.”
“Tell me something about me that you have asked me personally, then.”
“You like to play videogames.”
“That does not count. You saw me playing.”
Jolene’s lips curled into a small smile. “Getting to know you will be my main goal from this precise instant, then.” “Good. As I said before, I will also do my best to learn everything about you. My favorite food is pizza by the way.”
“Such a cliche answer. How often do you eat rice? Have you tried rice with chicken?”
“I actually cannot remember the last time I ate rice,” he said.
“Dude. You do not know what you are missing. Rice with chicken is like the best thing ever! It is fried rice with onions, celery and other vegetables, and chicken of course.”
Lancelot chuckled. “So, dude…”
“Sorry.” Jolene looked away feeling slightly embarrassed.
“Don’t be. You finally are looking at me as your equal. Also, rice with chicken sounds delicious. Do you know of any good place where they sell it?”
“No. You have to meet someone who cooks it. It feels like something is missing whenever people cook it for sale. It is the kind of food that needs love to taste good.”
“Oh, that is a shame.” Lancelot looked downcast and ate one of his fries.
Seeing his disappointed face, Jolene spoke before she could register what she was about to say. “I could cook it for you!”
The corners of Lancelot’s lips jumped upward and his eyes sparkled. “Would you do that for me?”
Jolene noticed that his voice was higher than usual. He looked thrilled at the idea. Now, what am I going to do? she thought.
Jolene gave him a half smile. “Of course I would if it is for you.”
“Thank you, Jolene.” Lancelot kissed her cheek.
She let his cheerfulness envelop her and soon she was smiling widely. She thought that this is when I finally learn how to cook.
“What is your favorite food?” asked Lancelot.
“Fried plantain. But I like green plantain better.”
“What about yellow plantain?”
“It is not bad but it is too sweet for my taste.” Jolene remembered something and put her hand on Lancelot’s arm tugging at it lightly. “You know, once I went to buy plantain to the grocery store and they only had ripped plantain. I asked them for green plantain and you would not guess what they said.”
“What did they say?” he asked placing an elbow on the table and resting his cheek on his palm while slightly tilting his head.
Lancelot was holding back a smirk. He had never seen her talking like that. She was always either proper with a hint of sarcasm or plain mad at him. Now, he would dare to say that she looked younger.
“They said that they did not differentiate between green and yellow plantain. Ridiculous.” She scoffed.
Lancelot chuckled covering his mouth with one hand. “People are crazy.”
Jolene noticed the smug expression on his face and frowned. He grinned and shrugged as a response.
“You have no idea of what the difference is, right?”
Lancelot laughed once again and clapped his hands together. “Not a clue.”
Jolene sighed and flicked his forehead. “I will cook them for you as well.”
Lancelot beamed and hugged her. “Yay! More food. I am so lucky.”
“I feel used.” Jolene sighed.
Lancelot pulled back and stared at her eyes with a serious expression. “Never say that again.”
“Why not?” Jolene teased.
“Because I love you,” Lancelot whispered in her ear, his breath fanning over her ear and neck, making her shiver. She turned to him and stared into his eyes. As many times before, they seemed to be having a silent conversation. Each time they locked eyes it was as if time stopped for both of them. Lancelot felt a warm feeling in his chest while Jolene could feel the bond’s full strength filling her with bliss for finally being in her mate’s arms.
“We should go. Tomorrow is Monday,” said Jolene.
“Sadly.” Lancelot exhaled dramatically.
***
Jolene drove Lancelot home. They held hands and listened to the music. They discovered that although their music tastes could be opposite, both enjoyed listening to jazz.
As soon as Jolene got home, she went to her bed and called her human mother.
‘Hola, mamá. ¿Cómo anda todo?’ (Hello, mom. How is everything going?), said Jolene as soon as her mother picked up.
‘Anita. Hasta que nos llamas(Finally you call). We were worried about you!’
‘Sorry, mom. He estado ocupada con mi nuevo trabajo y eso (I have been busy with my new job and all that). So, I was calling to ask you if you could send me the recipe for the arroz con pollo.’
‘Did someone asked you for it?’ asked her mother.
‘No. Es que tenía ganas de cocinarlo así como el que tú haces’ (I felt like cooking it, like the one you make).
Her mother called her father. ‘Gabriel! La niña está diciendo que va a cocinar’ (The girl is saying that she is going to cook).
‘Ahora si se nos casa! Finally!’ (Now she is getting married for real), Jolene heard her father said.
Jolene rolled her eyes but a smile spread on her face at the idea of spending the rest of her life with Lancelot.
She groaned. ‘Mom. I did not even tell you I was cooking for someone else.’
‘¿Y no es para un muchacho?’ (Isn’t it for a boy?)
‘Sí, pero ese no es el punto.’ (Yes. But that is not the point)
‘Gabriel! Es oficial!’ (It is official!)
‘Mom…’
‘Usté le ha huido a la cocina toda la vida (You have run away from cooking your whole life). A girl suddenly develops a desire for cooking when she quiere enamorar al pretendiente’ (wants to woo her suitor).
‘Are you sending the recipe or not?’ Jolene laughed. She did not know about other girls’ opinions, but that was probably true in her case.
‘Are you sending a picture with our yerno?’ (son in law)
Jolene sighed and shook her head knowing that there was no way her mother was backing off. ‘Yes. Mom.’
‘Te la mando por mensaje ahora.’ (I’ll send you a text with the recipe later.)
They talked for over an hour. Jolene was glad to hear that both of her parents were in great health and that the family business was going well. They owned a restaurant. Oh, the irony.
When the call finished Jolene stared at the ceiling, thinking about how different her life would have been had she not being a werewolf. Even though she had not lived with her human parents for years, she felt really close to them as they were the first to introduce her to her Hispanic heritage.
Whenever they went out together people did not bother to question their relationship. She was their only daughter and she got along so well with them. Many times before she had regretted being a werewolf. Once she attempted to return to her human family, but her werewolf side was still unstable. She had almost shifted in front of them. Although she knew they would always accept her, she preferred not putting another strain on them.
She had lived most of her life with the Silver Fang Pack, but she always felt like an outsider in the Alpha family. Before she became the chief warrior of the pack at seventeen and then the Beta at eighteen, the pack treated her with pity and saw her as a charity child and not the Alpha’s daughter.
Although her brother and his parents treated her as family, other people always gave her funny looks when she introduced herself as her brother’s sister and her parents’ daughter. It tormented her when she was a teenager. She hated her appearance. Maybe if my skin was darker or my hair more curly, people would not be so harsh, she used to think.
Everything changed once she grew up and learned not to care about other people’s thoughts. She became closer to her family, both human and werewolf; they all supported her when she was going through her darkest times. She learned to treasure all the people who were true to her.
***
Jolene read the text message with the recipe once again. “I guess, I am doing this,” she said. She had blocked out her wolf ages ago because of her constant sarcastic remarks after she offered to cook. Only my wolf can be this annoying, she thought. She planned to buy the ingredients the following day. Hopefully, by Friday she would be able to cook something edible for Lancelot, but that only if she had not burned down the kitchen by then.
A text message arrived.
Lancelot 10:03 PM: Good night my queen. I already miss you 🙁
Jolene: I miss you too. Sweet dreams my little Alpha.
Jolene rested her phone on her nightstand and got ready to sleep. As she was drifting into slumber another message arrived.
Xander: I want to see you, beautiful. Rest well.
“Oh right. I had forgotten,” Jolene said.
She opened his contact information, changed his name to Don’t Answer AB, and chuckled. AB stood for annoying bastard.