Outsider Series: Outsider Part 14

I agreed completely with that.

We quieted when the teacher came in but quickly resumed our conversation when it became obvious that he was oblivious.

Charlotte looked at Hannah and then back at me. "Hannah has more of a reason to act the way she does. When she was little her sister drowned and she's never gotten over it," whispered Charlotte.

I suddenly felt bad for the unpleasant girl. Something like that does change a person. Caeden and Bryce were extremely close and I couldn't imagine the pain they would experience if they lost one another.

The rest of the day went by quicker than I had come to expect. But I still had to survive woodshop. Luckily I had Caeden for a partner. However, that meant he did most of the work. All I was good for was sanding and painting. We were finishing up making bird houses. Next we would be making stools.

I put my bag down on the desk and joined Caeden at our station. He had already cut all the pieces and I had sanded them so today we would be decorating and a.s.sembling them if we had time.

Caeden had already gotten the paint, brushes, and water. I sat down beside him and began to paint. I wasn't very good so I planned on painting it a solid green with flowers. Caeden painted some ocean waves on his and I was amazed at how good he was. The waves swirled realistically on the wooden surface.

"You're good," I commented, pointing to his birdhouse.

He laughed. "No, I'm not. But when compared to yours I'm da Vinci."

I smacked his arm. "It's not that bad," I said.

"You're right. It's worse," he chuckled.

"Caeden," I scolded.

"It's cute," he said. "Is that better?"

"Much," I said and smiled. We put our wooden pieces on the drying rack and gathered up our stuff so we'd be ready to leave.

I would be at the bakery before Caeden since he was always a.s.signed the after school check. Mr. Collins came over and complemented Caeden on his workmanship. He smiled at me and said that I could try harder. I was mortified but then Mr. Collins started laughing so I knew he was joking. He was probably happy that I was too scared to touch any of the power tools anymore. I once screamed and ran from the room when Caeden tried to get me to use the power saw. The metal monster had screamed and sputtered woodchips at me and that was all it took to clear me from the room. The whole cla.s.s found it very entertaining but I hadn't. Mr. Collins thought it was funny too until he found out that I had broken the saw. I thought that was just justice being served. They should've known not to give me a tool. The only tool I seemed to be able to handle was a screwdriver and that was iffy.

The bell rang and Caeden and I walked hand in hand to the parking lot. He kissed me quickly and then I got in my car. As I left the school parking lot I could feel eyes on me and it wasn't the warm, comforting, feel of Caeden's eyes. These eyes felt menacing and evil. When I turned to look I made eye contact with Travis. I shuddered and drove on.

nine.

I arrived at the cupcake shop and found Gram icing cupcakes. "I thought I'd help you out," she said.

"Oh, Gram I could have done this."

"I just thought it would be easier if I had all the cupcakes made for the afternoon," she said and with a flourish finished icing the last red velvet cupcake.

"Well, thanks Gram," I said and kissed her wrinkled cheek.

She smiled, patted my hand, and removed her ap.r.o.n. "I'll see you later. I'm making lasagna for dinner."

"Sound delicious," I said.

She smiled and left. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail, put my hat on and my Lucinda's shirt. I had gotten in the habit of keeping my work clothes here, Gram didn't mind, and it was easier than carrying them in my backpack or car.

I grabbed up the slats of cupcakes and carried them to the front and began loading them into the refrigerated case. The bell chimed signaling a customer.

"Welcome to Lucinda's. How can I help you?" I asked sliding the case closed. I straightened and looked up into the face of the customer. "Travis," I breathed.

He smirked, his hands in his pockets. "There's something different about you."

I stumbled back a step. Anyone could recognize the predatory glint in his eye. "What can I get you?" I asked trying to form some semblance to normal.

"I want you," he said.

"What can I get you?" I asked in a strained voice. I could feel sweat beading on my skin and my fight or flight senses were kicking in.

"What is it that Caeden sees in you? You seem pretty normal to me. But appearances can be deceiving. I would know. Just look at me. Look at me!" he screamed when I didn't.

I looked at him. At his pale skin, white-blond hair, and angelic expression. He would have been good looking if it weren't for the scowl on his face and his black eyes. I could tell that his eyes were like his soul. Black, lifeless, and evil.

"Good," he said. I tried to stay strong, to not let him see the fear in my eyes but from the smirk that spread across his face I knew he saw. He came closer to me. I stepped back and was now against the wall. He stretched his arm across the distance, it wasn't far, and stroked my face. I gulped. "Fear," he said and inhaled the air around me. "You should be afraid," he breathed. He straightened and said, "I'll have a devil's kiss cupcake."

For a moment I didn't move.

"Tick tock," he said.

My feet moved forward and I grabbed a devil's kiss cupcake which was chocolate cake, with dark chocolate icing and a cherry. I put it in a box, told him the price and handed it to him. He smirked and threw a ten dollar bill at me. "Keep it," he said and started for the door. Before he opened it though he looked back over his shoulder at me, "I'll be back," he said and left. I had a feeling he would be back for something other than a cupcake. Something like me.

I heard the back door open and jumped.

"Hey," said Caeden, "did I see Travis' car?" It took a moment for me to get my voice back. By this time Caeden was standing in front of me. "Well?" he prompted.

"Yeah," I said and turned away so he wouldn't see the lie in my eyes, "he just wanted a cupcake."

His hand rubbed my arm. "Are you sure? You seem... shaken."

"I'm fine," I said even though I was far from it. I mentally scolded myself. I had to act normal. Caeden didn't need to worry about Travis hara.s.sing me. I plastered on the most genuine smile I could muster and said, "He just makes me mad."

Caeden seemed to buy it. "Oh," he said, "don't let him bother you."

"You're one to talk," I said with a smile and b.u.mped him with my hip.

He looked sheepish. "I know," he said. "Sorry."

The bell over the door chimed again and a big group of people came in, effectively cutting of our conversation. I breathed a sigh of relief.

We stayed busy and for the first time I was thankful. Normally I didn't like it when the store was busy because it gave me less time to talk to Caeden. Finally closing time came. I locked the door behind the last customer and set to work cleaning. Caeden helped. He seemed to sense that I didn't want to talk. I was grateful. We finished in record time since we didn't goof off.

I let my hair down from the pony tail and turned to Caeden, "Do you want to come over for dinner? Gram's making lasagna."

"Wish I could," he said, "but I promised my mom that I'd have dinner at home tonight."

"Oh, okay," I said. "Tell your mom that I'm sorry for keeping you from her."

Caeden pulled me against his chest. "It's not that. She's just worried about me because of what happened with the Grimm's she thinks I'm only safe if I'm in her line of sight. She tried to put a leash on me last night when it was time for my duty."

"No, she didn't." I said.

"Oh, she tried all right," he said. "I guess she thought she'd walk around with me all through my shift. But I'm a big boy and can take care of myself."

"Oh, so showing up close to death on my front porch is taking care of yourself?" I asked.

"You've got me there," he said and kissed me. "Oh, my mom wanted to know if you and Gram would come over for Thanksgiving dinner? The whole pack usually comes."

"I know that I'd love to but I'll ask Gram in case she has something planned," I said as I locked up the building and walked to my car.

Caeden grinned, kissed me, and said, "Great." With a spring in his step he got in his car. He let me pull away first before leaving himself.

Gram was excited about having Thanksgiving dinner with the pack so I promised to tell Caeden. I looked at Archie and realized that Caeden and I had forgotten to go to PetSmart after work. Honestly though, by the time we cleaned up after closing there wasn't much evening left. Especially when you had homework to do. I knew we both had tomorrow off. Gram had another woman that worked only twice a week, Tuesday evenings and Friday evenings. Her name was Cate and she was older, in her fifties, but enjoyed her time at the shop.

I called Caeden and told him about Thanksgiving and asked him if he would want to go with me to the pet store.

"I'm so sorry, Sophie," he said, "I completely forgot."

"It's okay," I said. "I'm a ditz and forgot too. How can I expect you to remember something if I can't remember it myself?" I joked.

He chuckled into the receiver. "That's true. At least now I'll get to bring Murphy along."

"Will he fit through the door?" I joked.

"Of course. He's a dog not a horse," he said.

"I couldn't tell the difference," I said.

"You better get used to it," he said. "We're mates and we're going to be spending the rest of our lives together and that includes Murphy and Archie. Oh, and Murphy sleeps on my bed by the way."

"I guess I'll have to sleep on the floor," I said jokingly.

"Murphy will make room, promise," he laughed.

"That's nice to know," I said.

We said our goodbyes and hung up. Archie took over my pillow again. I kissed the cute little dog on his nose and fell asleep.

Luckily school was just a regular uneventful Tuesday. For whatever reason I kept expecting Travis to jump around a corner and say, "Gotcha," but he didn't. In fact he wasn't there at all. I felt that this didn't bode well for any of us. He was planning something. I didn't know what but I knew he had to be up to something. He had been far too smug yesterday.

I pulled into the driveway and grabbed my backpack, thankful that I hadn't been a.s.signed any new homework. Archie jumped excitedly at my legs when I entered the cozy yellow house.

"Gram!" I called out. Her car was in the driveway so I a.s.sumed she was somewhere around here.

"Yes, Sophie?" she said coming out of her bedroom. Her reading gla.s.ses were perched on the end of her nose and she held a large leather bound book in her hands.

"I just wanted to let you know that Caeden was picking me up. I need to get some things for Archie."

"Oh, I'll get you some money," she said, turning and heading back into her room for her purse.

"No, Gram. Don't worry about it," I said. "Remember? Dad gave me a credit card. I think this would apply under emergency. I mean the dog does have to eat something."

Gram laughed, "Yeah, something other than my slippers would be preferable." She looked down at the floor and I followed her gaze. Archie had indeed chewed a hole through both of her slippers. "At least he's cute," she said as Archie looked at us both with big round puppy dog eyes.

"Yeah, he does have that going for him," I said.

"Talking about me?" asked a male voice from behind me. I turned to look at Caeden. Seeing my face he said, "Knock, knock."

I shook my head. Gram laughed. "I'll see you later."

I gave her a kiss on her wizened cheek, scooped up Archie, and followed Caeden outside. Instead of his Jeep he was in Bryce's.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Murphy's a big dog, and leather and dogs do not mix. The car came with a warning label."

I laughed. "I'm sure it did. Did this one not come with a warning label?"

"No," he said. "It's fabric."

I climbed into the older Jeep and held Archie on my lap. Caeden climbed in and Murphy leaned forward between the two seats to give Caeden a lick on the cheek.

"I missed you too, buddy," he said to the dog.

I laughed and then was surprised when Murphy's large tongue flicked out and licked the side of my face. "Eww, dog drool," I said.

Caeden chuckled, petted the dog, and said, "Good boy." It looked like the dog smiled.

As we drove Murphy and Archie decided to inspect one another. After a few cursory sniffs they must have been satisfied. Murphy lay down in the back of the Jeep and Archie snuggled into my lap. A light little snore filled the car.

We drove into town and Caeden parked in front of the PetSmart. I didn't have a leash for Archie yet so I held on tight to him. Caeden put the back hatch of the Jeep down and Murphy jumped out. The dog sat there and patiently waited for Caeden to put his leash on. Murphy's leash matched his collar, chunky brown leather.

"Come on Murphy," said Caeden. The dog strode purposefully towards the store. Obviously this wasn't his first time. People in the parking lot openly gawked at the large dog. My heart went out to Murphy, it had to suck having people stare at you, but instead he seemed to like it. He held his furry dog chin high and eyed the staring people, his large tongue lolling out the side. At one point I would have sworn he winked. He grinned his huge, wolfy dog, grin at a man who had stopped in the middle of the road. Caeden laughed at his dog. I was quickly discovering that familiars were more like people than dogs.

The sliding doors opened as we entered the store. There weren't many people there and there was only one person on the registers. Birds chirped loudly and I could hear hamsters twirling in their little metal wheels. Caeden grabbed a cart, which I put Archie in, and headed towards the back of the store.

I immediately grabbed a big bag of dog food. I picked out a dark purple leather collar and leash. I figured since if it was a darker color it was a little less feminine.

"Purple? He's a boy," said Caeden. Apparently Caeden didn't.

"So? Boys can wear purple. Plus, it's a dark purple."

Caeden shook his head and looked at Archie. "Sorry, man. I tried."

I narrowed my eyes at Caeden and proceeded to pick out some dog toys. I held up a toy shaped like a newspaper that crinkled. "Do you like this boy?" I asked the little black and white dog. He sniffed the toy and took into his mouth. "I guess that's a yes."

I tested him a couple more times. He refused to take several of them so I could only a.s.sume he didn't like them. He really was like a little person. Caeden got Murphy a couple of new toys too. Murphy found a pack of tennis b.a.l.l.s which he took into his large mouth and pulled from the shelf. He walked around the store holding his prize proudly.

After I picked out a dog bed for Archie we were ready to go. We paid and headed back to the Jeep. Dark had already descended and the full moon winked at us like an old friend. I looked at Caeden. "You're not going to go wolf on me are you?"