Page 36 of Charmed, I'm Sure
“I didn’t think you could actually sit still and quiet for this long. I’m impressed.”
My eyes snap open as I sit up and find her standing in front of me with one hand on her hip and a smirk on her face. Nyx is sitting by her feet with all the judgement a fox could muster, with the same judgement coming from Sir-Hops-A-Lot, who is peeking around Nyx’s head from its perch on his back.
“Whoa, is that a Bellamy compliment?”
“Forget it,” she says as she throws her hands in the air. “Forget I said anything. I can already tell this is going to be a thing.” She walks away, collecting her black bag and throwing it over her shoulder.
I scramble out of my chair, chasing after her as she moves towards the door. Her eyes widen when she sees me running through the doorway as she holds the door open.
After locking the door, she turns, ready to say something snarky as always.
“Well, have a …”
“Can I walk you…Sorry, you first.”
“No, you can go first.” She smiles timidly.
My mind blanks, first because of the small smile but also from the fact that she didn’t just shut down what I was going to say. I’m standing there, mouth ajar, probably with a dumb look on my face. But I can’t process this.
“You alright?” she laughs.
Did I die? Am I still sitting in that chair where she left me? She said she wouldn’t revive me if I died. Was she being serious?
“Uh.” She tilts her head to the side with her eyes squinted. “You good? I know I say that I want you to be quiet, but I didn’t think it would ever actually work.”
She laughed. I’ve been waiting for this moment, and here it is. Now I’m standing here like an idiot, frozen in place. Shaking my head, I pull myself together. We have got to close this one.
Milo groans.“The level of idiocracy from you is astonishing.”
“Yeah, I’m good. I was going to ask if I could walk you home.”
She blinks a few times as if that wasn’t what she was expecting me to ask. “Uh, sure. But don’t get any ideas, Dog Boy, I won’t be holding your hand or giving you any head pats for doing it.”
“Noted.” I smirk as I hold my arm out wide for her to lead the way.
She humphs and starts walking. I can’t help the rising feelings at her letting me do this with minimal fighting. Ireally think this is all a dream and really I’m still inside the shop, sitting in the chair. If that’s true, then I’m going to enjoy this while I have it.
The air outside is crisp and cool enough to make me pull my hoodie sleeves down over my hands. Sir Hops-A-Lot croaks and I scoop him up and put him into my hoodie pocket for warmth. He croaks another time in what I assume is a “thank you.” We walk together in comfortable silence along the cobblestone path in the opposite direction of my cabin. I know Elora said something about each species having its own sections. Kind of like it is in Jasper.
My home pack lives in a small town in Colorado that is similar to here in the sense of it’s full of shifters of all different species and we all have our own places around the town. We all exist in harmony, just like here. So in that aspect, it hasn’t been a huge change for me. But, we definitely don’t have the magic that this town has or the odd things that happen here. Like ghosts riding on Vespas or matchmaking 1950’s housewives.
Every so often, Bellamy glances over. It’s like she also can’t believe that we are walking together back to her house either. Which, fair. Because I didn’t think this would happen either.
As we are strolling along, the soft giggles of children float through the air as they run down the street chasing a bright red ball as it rolls ahead of them. It reminds me of all the pups back home. Sometimes, I miss Jasper in the quiet of my cabin and all the family I have back home.
“You know,” I say softly, not wanting to break this calm between us. “This town is weird.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“Actually, I meant it in a good way. It’s just so different from where I’m from.”
Her eyebrows scrunch together. “Oh yeah? And where is that?”
“A small town in Colorado called Jasper. It’s kind of like this except it’s full of all kinds of shifters. We have wolves, which run the town and protect it. There are also bears,mountain lions, goats, and all kinds of other species. We just don’t have magic, ghosts, and, you know, a magical barrier protecting our town.”
“That’s pretty interesting. You’re the first shifter I’ve met from outside our town. Obviously we have our own wolf shifters, since you clearly came here for that pack. But yeah, outside of them, I’ve never met another one. I didn’t even know other species had shifters as well.”
“So does that mean that you’ve never been outside of Pumpkinridge?” I know I’m pushing it with all my questions, but she’s actually answering and not biting my head off. So, I’m going to roll with it.