Change of Plans (11 page)

Chapter Twenty-one

Tempers

Allie

Caleb was taking in the
glory, slapping hands and smiling as he walked by people. I stood behind him,
not wanting to be noticed but it didn’t work. When we walked by the players and
their girlfriends, there were lots of wandering eyes and
heys
were passed around. I guess it was now a known fact that Caleb and I were
dating now.

When we passed Matt he
barely looked at me, but when I caught his eyes for a second, he gave me a
small smile and went back to his conversation. I plopped down on the leather
couch and snuggled into Caleb’s side. He put his arm around me and I gladly
welcomed the warmth. He said this was normal, but I felt like I was about to
die from hypothermia. Even the fire nearby didn’t help.

“Since you're my pair and
all, can’t you take away some of this coldness?” I whispered to Caleb who was
looking at a menu.

He looked at me
apologetically. “No, I’m sorry. We can only take away emotions, like anger or
even pain, but I can’t change your body temperature. I can hold you close
though,” he said as he pulled me closer to him. I smiled, coldness temporarily
forgotten, and leaned my head on his shoulder.

He asked what I wanted to
order and all I could tell him was something big and meaty. He laughed and
ordered us four burgers and got me a hot chocolate with extra marshmallows,
just how I liked it. We talked with all of his friends and their girlfriends,
who I ended up really liking. I never would have thought of myself as a social
butterfly, but it was easy talking to them.

They all wanted to know
about Caleb and me though, which was a little awkward. When did he ask me out?
Four weeks ago. How long have we been dating? A week, which got some laughs
from the guys because he had to wait three weeks to actually get a date with
me. What was our first date? A movie. Is he romantic? Yes, very.

One of the girls, a pretty
redhead whose name I forgot, asked, “Are you the reason Caleb’s been gone from
school all week?”

I flushed, but Caleb didn’t
waste the chance to brag. “Yeah, Al got sick so I stayed back to take care of
her.” He grinned and my elbow jabbed him in the ribs. There was a chorus of ‘
awww
’ from the girls while the guys rolled their eyes.

It was kind of funny
watching every girl drool over our relationship, although I couldn’t blame
them. Caleb made it sound perfect, which it was. Or it was a possibility they
were drooling over Caleb, which once again, I couldn’t blame them. He was
wearing jeans and a green shirt that made his eyes sparkle and his black,
leather jacket. His hair still looked darker than normal from his shower. So,
in other words, he looked hot.

I didn’t see the fascination
with our relationship or if this was always what it was like with new couples,
but the girls continued to ask some questions until the guys jumped in. Their
questions weren’t as serious as the girls and some of them were plain out
hilarious. There were comments thrown out about how Caleb was whipped, which
earned more laughs from the crowd and a glare from Sierra.

Mike Lewis cut through the
laughs, “So, who wears the pants in the relationship?”

“Me,” Caleb and I said at
the same time. Everyone else laughed, especially the Wolves who knew we were
both alphas, while Caleb and I silently glared at each other, jokingly.

Caleb spoke quietly, “May I
remind you of this morning and afternoon.”

I narrowed my eyes, “May I
remind you of the movie theater.”

Caleb turned back forward
and took a sip of his drink, “Yeah, she wears the pants.”

Everyone laughed more and
Mike muttered under his breath, “Yeah, as long as he’s getting in her pants.”
Under normal circumstances, we would never have heard it, but it was clear to
us and all the other Wolves what he said. Sierra smirked, but Caleb froze by my
side and set down his drink. I grabbed his hand, trying to calm him down, but
there wasn’t much I could do when I was angry as well. He shook me off and
slowly stood, excusing himself.

Everyone was watched as he
walked out, curious to why. I quickly stood up and followed him outside, even
though it was freezing out there. When I walked through the door, I looked from
side to side for him. I found him on a bench by a lit tree with his head
between his hands. I walked to him and sat by his side, placing my hand on his
back.

“Caleb, it was a stupid
comment. It’s not true, and even if it was you’re doing a sucky job of it,” I
said trying to lighten his mood. My hand continued to rub in circles on his
back, rumpling his green shirt.

He looked up from between
his hands. His dark hair that was in need of a haircut covered his eyes, but I
could tell he looked defeated. “I just don’t understand why everyone assumes
the worst when it comes to you.
First Brody, then all today
at school and now Mike.
I know I have a history, but you’re different.”

“Caleb, if they saw how hard
you were trying to not give in to me before the game, they would think that you
believed in the platonic ideal.”

He smirked at that, “Well,
you are very convincing when you want to be.”

“Good. Come
on,
let’s go back in. Anyway, I haven’t gotten my food yet,
and if you don’t want a cranky girlfriend, I suggest getting her food.”

That brought a smile on his
face, “Girlfriend, huh? I think I like that.”

I smiled back at him, “Yeah,
I think I like it, too.” I stood up, but Caleb pulled me back down for a long
kiss, his bad mood vanished. When he pulled away, I was a little breathless and
dazed. He stood and led me back into the restaurant.

When we went back in, Mike
was still there, but no one bought up the topic of our relationship again. When
we sat down on our leather couch our food was already there. Good, I wasn’t
kidding about the cranky girlfriend thing. I dug in and finished my first
burger in record time. Although Caleb was already half way through his second,
I still felt proud of myself.

I was about to take a bite
of my second burger when the world’s most annoying voice rang out above the
chatter and laughter. “God, Allie. How many burgers are you going to eat?”

Ugh, I was so fed up with
her. Not only was she after my boyfriend,
but
I saw
her hanging all over Brody earlier. I set my burger down and looked up at her.
Everyone was staring at us, waiting to see what the newbie would do about queen
bee and her annoying groupies standing behind her.
I wasn’t
fazed by her
at all. She knew I was in transition and was only trying to
get in my head. “As much as I need till I’m full. How many times are you going
to try to go after my boyfriend?”

That got everyone laughing,
while her jaw dropped to the floor. It was well known she had a thing for
Caleb,
just no one called her out on it. Even Caleb laughed,
nearly spitting out his drink. She didn’t say anything back, just stood and
stared at me blankly. “What’s the matter, Sierra? Not use to not getting what
you want?”
 

She huffed and puffed and
stomped away, quickly followed by Chloe and Samantha. As soon as the door shut,
someone called out, “About time someone got rid of her!”

Everyone laughed and someone
I didn’t know sitting in the couch across from us looked at Caleb and said,
“You’re girlfriend is officially my favorite person.” Caleb let out a small
growl beside me, his temper was still a little off, and I elbowed him as a
warning. His growl was cut short before anyone heard it and he brushed it off
with a smile and leaned over to kiss my cheek.

“Yeah, mine too.” Ugh, he
was such a guy sometimes, marking his territory like an animal. Well, I guess a
werewolf counted as an animal.

Caleb and I didn’t stay much
longer. Brody said he would meet us at the house later, so the only person left
to say goodnight to was Matt. He was in a conversation with a big group when I
walked over toward him. He was always the outgoing one, making everyone laugh
and completely at ease in large crowds, unlike me. I tapped on his shoulder and
he turned to face me, stepping away from the group he was with. I hoped he
wouldn’t be mad at me, but all bad things do come in threes, and I’ve already
had to deal with Mike and Sierra.

“Hey, you leaving already?”
he asked.

“Yeah, I’m exhausted. Look,
about this morning-”

“No need to explain, I know
it sounds crazy but I believe you. There’s no way Caleb, Craig and Luke can be
that good at football without some outside help.”

I laughed, “True.”

“Can we do something
tomorrow?” I
nodded,
I needed time with my best
friend. “Awesome. I’ll text you later, go sleep. You look exhausted.”

I laughed; only Matt would
be worried about the bags under my eyes when I would shift into a wolf in a
week. Matt pulled me into a hug and I whispered thanks into his ear. He was one
of the few people would always be there for me. He let me go and Caleb came to
my side, asking if I was ready to go. I nodded and he led me out to the car,
saying night to a couple more people on the way out.

When we were in the car, he
bummed the heat to full blast and turned on my seat heater without me even
asking. I smiled and cozied into my seat. I closed my eyes and drifted in and
out of sleep on the way home. When Caleb pulled into my driveway, he took one
look at me and hopped out of the car. I moved to open my door but he was
already there, pulling me into his arms and carrying me into the house.
Normally I would probably complain, but I was so tired. I snuggled into his
arms and let him carry me into my room.

He flicked off my main
lights and turned on the Christmas lights around my bed frame, giving the room
a soft, warm glow. I smiled and he set me down on the silver comforter. I was
barely awake enough the pull him down next to me and burrow myself in the crook
of his arm.

———————————

When I woke up, there was a
faint light peaking through my curtains. There was just enough light to
illuminate Caleb’s face. He was still sleeping and he looked so peaceful
without all the stress from his dad and the pack showing on his face. I knew
that he didn’t want to take the rank from his dad forcefully, but it was
getting close to a point where he needed to. The pack needed him to. Now that I
was one of them and my sense were heightening, I could tell who was a werewolf.
They always smelled like a wet dog and bowed their head when I walked by. They
were all so powerful, but they looked so defeated. I had a feeling that it had
something to do with Mr. Winters.

Caleb stirred next to me,
shifting until he was lying on his stomach with me right next to him. He threw
his arm around my waist and pulled until I was right next to his side. He was
still wearing his jeans and green shirt, but he got rid of his jacket. I was
also still in my jeans and sweater, but my scarf was thrown across the floor.
Caleb starting mumbling in his sleep and it was absolutely adorable. I heard my
name in there a couple of times and wondered what he was dreaming about. When
he growled and bared his teeth, I couldn’t help but cracking up. Caleb’s eyes
popped open and he turned over on his back, almost falling off the bed. His
head tilted to the side to glare at me.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be
laughing,” I tried to say in between laughs, but I don’t think it was very
convincing. He didn’t say anything back and had a cute frown on his face. I
leaned over toward him and put my chin on his chest. He glanced down at me and
shook his head.

“You are too much, Al.”

I smiled, “I know, but you
love me anyways.”

“I certainly do.” It took me
a second to realize what he had just said, but once it clicked, I knew I felt
the same way. I have never been in love, but I knew that this feeling was it.
Everything about him made me smile and everything he did just seemed to be
perfect, even when it got on my last nerve.

I smiled up and him and
leaned in for a quick kiss that ended up lasting a little longer than expected.
Every innocent touch seemed to turn into so much more lately. “So, Mr.
Winters,” I said teasingly. “What do you want to do today?”

“Well, Miss Underwood, we
have all day to do whatever we please. The pack meeting isn’t until tomorrow,
and I have no plans for today.”

“Oh wait… I actually have
plans.”

Caleb frowned, “With who?”

“Matt.” His frown deepened
and I could feel more than hear a growl growing in his chest. I swatted
him. “Don’t you dare growl at me
Caleb.
He’s my best
friend and it’s not my fault I haven’t had any time with him.”

His growl stopped, but his
frown stayed, “My bad if I don’t want you hanging out with a guy who made a
pass at you. I would rather you hang out with someone like Mike.”

I got off the bed, heading
toward my bathroom to brush my teeth. Jealous Caleb was annoying me. As I was
putting toothpaste on my toothbrush, I saw him stand up from the bed and come
my way. He stood behind me and started brushing his teeth. I glared at him
through the mirror, not backing down.