After dinner, where Mike basically inhaled half the lasagna by himself, leaving my family staring like they'd just witnessed a sanctioned eating competition, my mom asked who wanted ice cream. Normally it was way too cold for that, but with the wood stove going full blast, the house was warm enough to pretend it was summer.
Predictably, Seth and Mike both perked up like overexcited toddlers, practically bouncing in their seats as they yelled "Me!" at the same time. Mom just laughed and went to get the ice cream.
The next two hours drifted by in a cozy haze of small talk and whatever show Dad insisted on watching. At one point I caught the way Seth and Mike were leaning forward in perfect sync, laughing and groaning at the exact same scenes, and I actually wondered, not for the first time, if they were the real siblings and I was the stray someone forgot to return.
By the time the episode ended, it was getting late. Mike stood, thanking my mom for the incredible dinner and my dad for having him over.
Dad, shockingly, told him he could come by any time, and Seth immediately invited him to come over to play games next time. I had no idea when that boy adopted Mike as his personal older brother, but apparently it happened sometime this evening.
I grabbed a jacket and walked Mike outside to his car. He kept glancing at me like he had something on his mind, and my family absolutely would eavesdrop if given even a microscopic chance.
Once we were outside and the door closed behind us, I walked him to his car and crossed my arms. "Alright. Spill it."
Mike blinked at me, surprised. "How'd you know I had something to tell you?"
"It's written all over your face," I said. "And on the way you kept fidgeting like you were hiding a body."
He huffed a nervous laugh. "Okay. Uh… do you remember the Quileute legends?"
I raised an eyebrow. "I grew up here. Of course I remember them. Why?"
"You're not gonna believe this," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Something crazy happened today."
Then he launched into it, how he'd been on his usual run through the woods, how a red-eyed man had suddenly appeared, how the guy called him a meal before moving so fast Mike barely registered it.
How he hit the man back on instinct and sent him flying into a tree.
How the vampire then caught him…
And how, apparently, the Quileute legends about being descended from wolves were a lot more real than we thought, because the next moment Mike's body had exploded out of his clothes and he'd turned into a giant wolf and ripped the vampire to pieces.
I just stared at him, my breath catching in my chest.
I opened my mouth, closed it, then finally managed, "Were you hurt?"
Mike just stared at me. Blank. Like I'd asked him to recite the periodic table.
"Hurt? Uh… no. No, actually. I wasn't." He blinked hard, almost dazed. "Wait… you believe me?"
The way he said it; soft, disbelieving, and hopeful all at once, it squeezed something in my chest I wasn't prepared to deal with.
"Yeah, Mike. I believe you." I shrugged like it was obvious. "I trust you. And you suck at lying."
His eyebrows shot up. "Wow. Thanks?"
"I mean it," I said, nudging his arm. "Every time you make up some dumb story, you trip over your own plot holes. This wasn't like that. You had details. Too many details for it to be one of your usual… Mike specials."
He let out a breath, half laugh, half relief, his shoulders sagging like he'd been bracing for me to call him crazy.
"Leah," he said quietly, "I've been losing my mind all day thinking no one would believe me."
"Well," I said, stepping a little closer, "looks like you're stuck with someone who does."
I crossed my arms and gave him a look. "You know you're gonna have to show me sometime."
Mike blinked at me, confused. "Show you what?"
I stared at him. He stared back.
Then, slowly, very slowly, the wrong realization seemed to hit him as he went red all the way to the tips of his ears like I'd asked him to strip.
"Your wolf form, you dork." I clarified before he blurted out something stupid.
His whole face lit up at once. "Oh! Yeah, yeah, of course! I could do that. Maybe you can ride me as well, that would be cool."
I choked on absolutely nothing.
Ride him…
Great. Fantastic. My brain just short-circuited. He definitely didn't mean it that way, Mike was too innocent and too unapologetically Mike to realize what he'd said, but still, I had to clench my hands to stop myself from smacking the fluster out of him.
Then I saw it, the nerves creeping back into his expression, like there was still something weighing down on him.
"What else?" I asked. "Because you've got that 'I swallowed a live squirrel' face again."
Mike stared at me like I'd just read his entire soul.
"…woah, not even Edward can read me that well," he muttered.
"Edward who?"
"Cullen," Mike said, glancing around as if my porch suddenly had surveillance. "He, uh… can read minds. But please don't tell anyone. I shouldn't even be saying this, s'not my secret to tell. But I just… I trust you, Leah. I don't want to keep things from you."
Something in my chest did a full Olympic-level flip. I had to force myself to breathe again, slow and steady.
"Okay," I said softly. "So what else did you wanna tell me?"
Now he looked really nervous. He rubbed the back of his neck, gaze darting away, then back to me. "So, uh, after a wolf transforms, there's… something we can do. Something called imprinting."
My stomach dropped.
"It's like baby ducks," he rushed out. "Like, like you see someone and your whole body is like 'protect them or die trying,' but it's not romantic, I swear. I imprinted on my friend Bella, but it's not like," He flailed helplessly. "It's not like that. It's just… if she needs me, I kinda have to be there, or it feels weird. But I'm not, I mean, it isn't…"
His sincerity hit me like a punch. For a moment, my heart clenched so hard it hurt. But there was honesty in his eyes; raw, unfiltered, pure Mike honesty, and I felt myself breathe again.
I tilted my head, studying him, then asked with a teasing edge and a very real seriousness under it: "If Bella and I were drowning at the same time… who would you save first?"
He looked firmly down at me with those beautiful blue eyes of his. And didn't hesitate. He didn't even blink.
"You," he said. "Every single time. No doubt."
My heart nearly rocketed out of my chest at those words. I had to glance at the ground for a second just to get my face under control, but the smile still broke through, wide and unstoppable.
"But wouldn't it hurt you if Bella died?" I managed to ask.
Mike's answer was soft but solid. "It would hurt me a hundred times worse if I let anything happen to you."
And that was it. I didn't even think.
I surged forward, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and jumping up, my legs hooking around his waist as he caught me instinctively, always catching me.
I kissed him hard. Desperate and joyful.
All teeth and breathlessness and relief and something deep and warm blooming in my chest.
He kissed me back like he'd been waiting for this for years.
By the time we finally broke apart, both of us were gasping, foreheads pressed together, the whole world spinning beautifully out of control.
…
That night, after Mike finally drove off, I barely made it to my room before the stupid grin on my face exploded into something feral. I threw myself onto my bed face-first, then immediately flipped over and started rolling around like an idiot, hugging my pillow so tight it probably feared for its life.
My chest wouldn't stop fluttering.
The butterflies in my stomach weren't even butterflies anymore, they'd evolved into full-grown, tax-paying birds throwing a rave.
I kept replaying everything. His words, his eyes.
The way he held me like it was the most natural thing in the entire universe. The way he kissed me back like he needed it just as much as I did.
I tried, really tried, to remember the last time I'd felt anything even close to this.
Not even my first kiss with Sam. Actually… Sam who?
My mind blinked.
Then a moment later, entirely uninvited, it supplied: The cunt that traded you in for your cousin.
"Oh. Right. That Sam," I mumbled into my pillow. "Yeah. Fuck him."
And with that realization hitting like a truck, it suddenly felt like something heavy and rotten that I'd been carrying for months just… evaporated. Gone. Pfft. Like dust in the wind.
I was over him. Fully, and completely over.
There wasn't even bitterness left, just the vague annoyance you feel remembering an ex who turned into a mosquito buzzing somewhere near your ear.
But Mike… god.
I squeezed my pillow harder, grinning like a lunatic.
I couldn't stop thinking about him. His stupid jokes, his warm hands. Or that look he gave me, like choosing me wasn't even a question.
My heart fluttered again, uncontrollable and wild.
And for the first time in what felt like forever, I fell asleep smiling.
…
(I don't know if this chapter came out fine or not, like any regular male human, I don't understand the female mind at all. Thankfully, as a certified tomboy, Leah can sometimes be even manlier than Mike, so it's not that difficult to write her, I just hope it came out well. Ah, btw, I'm going to put pictures of Mike and Leah here in this paragraph's comments, so check them out if you're interested.)