Dog Days

I stare out the car window, refusing to make eye contact with him. I never should’ve said anything because things are just awkward between us and I don’t know how to navigate this new dynamic we have. Everything we had before the moment when I’d finally admitted to Lucas what I am, is all gone now. I close my eyes to hold back tears from the pain of losing everything we could’ve been.

Suddenly the passenger side window starts rolling down even though I wasn’t the one doing it. I glance over at Lucas and he hesitates for a moment before rolling it down the rest of the way.

“What are you doing?” I give me a quizzical look and tilt my head to one side.

“I just rolled down the window for you.” He says, sneaking glances at me while he tries to keep his eyes on the road.

“I can see that. Why did you roll it down? It’s like 40 degrees outside.” I shiver slightly.

“I thought maybe you’d like the cool air or that you’d like, you know, stick your head out the window or something.” He blushes slightly and doesn’t turn to look at me.

I laugh. “Why would I stick my head out the window of a moving car?”

“Aren’t you basically just like an oversized dog? I know regular dogs love doing that so I thought you might too.”

I just sit there with my jaw hanging open and just stare at him. In what world would a werewolf (claws, fangs, and all) even compare to a house pet? I’m literally speechless, just the idea of Lucas thinking I’m basically just a dog is completely beyond my comprehension.

Lucas glances over at me again and looks like he’s about to say something, but then closes his mouth and leaves us sitting here in awkward silence.

“So should I roll the window up?” Lucas says hesitantly.

“Yes.” I say, rather snappy. “I’m not a dog, Lucas.”

“Okay, I’m sorry.” He rolls up the window and smiles at me. “So if you don’t like the window thing, do you like any other normal dog stuff?”

“Like what?”

“Like chasing your tail or barking at cats?

“Lucas,” I sigh. “I don’t have a tail, and I definitely don’t bark.”

“I wish you had brown eyes instead of blue, then you’d really look like a puppy.” He laughs.

“You know, you’re not nearly as funny as you think you are.”

“I know, but you’re the one that’s dating me anyways. And now that I know you’re a werewolf, I have so many more chances to make dumb jokes and to annoy you.” He reaches a hand over and rests it on my leg.

“You’re such an idiot sometimes,” I say as I take his hand and hold it while he drives.

“I know, but I’m your idiot.” He lifts our hands up to his face and kisses the back of my hand.

“I love you.” I smile at him and wonder how I even got lucky enough to have him in the first place, let alone for him to stick around once he found out about the darkest part of myself.

“I love you too, Charlie.”

“So, you’re okay with the whole werewolf thing? I mean, it doesn’t freak you out or anything?”

“Yeah, I’m okay with it. I mean, even if I wasn’t, you can’t just stop being a werewolf. This is just part of who you are and that’s okay. I love this part of you just like I love the rest of you.” He squeezes me hand reassuringly.

“Thank you. I really appreciate how understanding and comfortable you are with this.”

“Of course.” He smiles at me. “It’ll be really interesting when we have kids someday though. Will they be regular humans like me or are we going to end up having puppies? Will it just be one kid at a time or will we have a whole litter?”

“Lucas, I’m not a dog. I’m not going to have a litter of puppies, I’ll still have a baby like a normal person. And that baby won’t be covered in hair or have claws or pointed ears. Besides, we’re 17, why are you even thinking about kids already?”

“I’m not really. It’s just something I want in the future, and I’m really hoping it’ll be with you.”

I laugh lightly and shake my head. He’s really weird sometimes, and honestly a bit of an idiot, but, God, I love him so much. He smiles at me and starts laughing too.

“Here, I have the perfect song for you.” He lets go of my hand to dig in the center console for a CD. After a few minutes, he finally finds the one he’s looking for and pops it into the CD player, turning the volume up as he does. Suddenly the car is filled with an 80s rock song. As soon as the opening riff starts, I immediately know the song and am not amused by it.

“Are you serious right now?” I give Lucas the most unamused look ever.

“What? This is a great song!” He drums his fingers on the steering wheel and as we pull up to a red light, he lets go so he can air guitar along with the music.

“Why are you like this?” I shake my head and face palm.

“Oh come on, you love it and you love me.” When the light changes, Lucas grabs the wheel again and we drive off with Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like the Wolf blasting from the radio speakers.

Reviews

[KeeD]

This is cute, it's a wholesome coming of age chapter. I like the dynamic between Charlie and Lucas, it's playful and very adolescent. He pokes and she bites but they love each other and it's a very slice of life kinda story. I'll be honest it didn't stand out too much in terms of story but the writing was good and with a few juicy twists and added chapters, I can see this being kind of like vampire diaries of sorts. I think I missed the revealing story where she told him, how he initially reacted but it seems he's more than cool with it.
kudos, keep writing!