Raven watched as Shelly drug her toes through the sand, tracing patterns as she went. Raven had woken up to the front door slamming around 3am this morning. She had quickly gotten up off the sofa where she had fallen asleep watching random videos on YouTube and bolted out the door to see what was going on. She expected to find either Russ or Joslyn running down the flight of stairs leading to the yard of the apartment but instead it was Shelly. Raven wasted no time catching up with the distraught werewolf.
"Shelly, Wait up. What in the world is going on?" Raven said as she stepped off the final step.
Shelly quickly spun around, hands flying into the air. "I can't take it anymore! I'm leaving!" tears began to build up in her eyes as she let her arms fall in defeat. "How could they do this?"
Raven stepped closer to Shelly and placed her hands on each shoulder, "How could who do what? Blame it on sleep, but I'm completely lost right now."
Anger colored Shelly's face as she jerked out of Raven's grasp. She grabbed one of Raven's wrists as she stormed back toward the steps dragging Raven with her. She stormed up the steps and flung the apartment door open. She drug Raven with her as she stomped back to her bedroom, flinging the door open angrily. She released Raven's wrist and stood in the middle of the door with her arms crossed staring at the wall that joined hers and Joslyn's bedroom.
Raven shook her head and rubbed her wrist as she stepped into the room behind Shelly. "Man, you better be careful slamming the doors like that you're going to break-." Raven's eyes widened as she took in the shape of the room. As she was about to ask how so many pictures and nick-knacks had fallen, a loud bang hit the joining wall followed by a loud moan and some muffled growls. As if on cue another picture that had barely been hanging on, fell off the wall. "Holy shit! Well, I guess Jos accepted the apology." Raven said staring at the wall in Aw.
"You knew about this!" Shelly's mouth dropped open. Then just as quickly she slammed her mouth back shut and pushed her way back out the bedroom door.
Raven glanced at the wall once more as another bang sounded and more moans emanated. She laughed and shook her head as she followed Shelly once again. "Why are you so mad about this? Surely, you're not going to stand there and tell me this truly came as a surprise to you. Even if you didn't catch onto it when you two were little, surely the past 2 months… Nah, 2 years have been enough proof of your brother's feelings for Jos." Raven slipped her shoes on as she followed Shelly toward the front door.
Shelly hung her head in shame of her own anger. "I know he thought himself to be in love with her since we were children, but I never thought she would stoop as low as to actually sleep with him!" Shelly turned back to Raven who was shutting and locking the front door. "I mean Jos, she's our…"
Raven cut her off as she pulled the key from the now locked door. "She's your friend. Nothing more." Raven moved closer to the young wolf before she continued, knowing her next words would come as a blow to the girl in front of her. "Jos and I both are your friends. We aren't your family. There is no relation between us, and furthermore, I alone was your legal guardian. That too ended when you turned 18. You're both adults now." Raven pointed back to the apartment. "That is two grown ass adults consenting to sex." She dropped her shoulders in surrender, already tired of fighting. "You're probably jumping way ahead anyway. Just because they are having sex doesn't mean they will start dating or anything."
Tears rolled in waves down Shelly's face as she screeched, "Yeah?! Well, that's what I'm the most afraid of! What if they don't start dating? What if it's a one-time thing or just something casual for a while?" Shelly jerked her finger up toward the door, "We live together!" She dropped her hand and turned toward the stairs. Without meeting Raven's eyes Shelly asked, "What if one of them gets hurt? You know Jos better than me…. You know she's not capable of a relationship."
Raven grabbed Shelly's wrist before she stepped onto the top step. "Yeah, I do know her, and I know I've never seen her care for anyone as much as she does the two of you. She's not going to do anything to hurt you or your brother. Is this something that's going to last forever? Who knows, but I do know this she will do what she thinks is best for the both of you. She would do anything for you guys, even if it was something she knew would hurt herself."
Tears flowed freely down Shelly's face as she turned fully around to Raven and wrapped her arms around Raven's slim waist. "I know she would and that worries me even more."
Raven patted her head as she said, "Come on let's go to the beach. We can watch the sun come up. We can stop by IHOP on the way and get those pancakes you really like."
***
"Shell, I have to be at work in about an hour. You want to come and hang out there for a while?" Raven called out from where she was sitting on the soft dry sand.
Shelly turned toward her, a lost expression on her face. "What did you say?" She started walking back toward where Raven was sitting.
When Shelly had gotten closer, Raven repeated herself, "Do you want to go hang out at the bar for a while? It's a Sunday so we won't be terribly busy."
Shelly thought about it for a few seconds before nodding yes. "Yeah, why not?! I'm not in any hurry to go home and see what awaits there."
Raven moved to get up, "Ok well I have to drop back by the apartment to grab my work clothes." Raven looked Shelly straight in the eyes as she added, "You should consider talking to your brother while we are there."
Shelly looked down at the sand, "No, I'll just wait in the car. I don't think I could take seeing either of them this morning."
***
Raven closed the door to the apartment and typed out a quick text to Joslyn. She would have given anything to see Jos this morning as well, but Shelly had refused to come in. She looked down at the pouting werewolf in the passenger side of her car if only Shelly would have come in and seen how happy Russ was this morning. Raven shook her head and grabbed her overnight bag off the ground, before hurrying back toward the car.
Raven opened the back door to the car and tossed her bag into the seat. She glanced up at Shelly, "You really should go in and see Russ. He seems really happy this morning."
Shelly continued to flip through radio stations, "Nah, that's ok. I have nothing to say to him."
Raven shut the back door and got into the front seat. "Suit yourself, but you know you'll have to face them sooner or later, right?" Raven glanced over as she put the car into drive, "If I had to guess, I'd say sooner versus later too, considering we live together." She pulled the car out of the parking lot without saying anything else.
Shelly finally stopped flipping through stations as they pulled out onto the main road. "I know you're right; I just don't know what to say to them." Shelly scrunched up her nose in contemplation. "I mean do I congratulate them, tell them how happy I am that they finally faced their feeling head-on. Or do I tell them how worried I am that they will realize they really don't like each other like that and want to go completely different ways." Shelly glanced up at Raven, tears building in her eyes. "As you said, we are 18, there's no reason for you guys to stay with us now. We are legal adults." Shelly turned toward the window as tears began to freely flow from her eyes, "I just can't imagine all of us not being together anymore."
Raven glance toward the crying werewolf, "I'd love to tell you everything is going to work out like it does in the movies or in a manga, but the truth is, no one knows how it's going to work out." Raven shrugged her shoulders as she rolled through the intersection. "They could be talking about what a mistake it was right now as we are sitting here, they could be happy as can be right now, OR we could get into a car wreck and die before we even make it to my job. There are no guarantees in life. You have to make the best of the here and now." Raven pulled into the employee parking area and shut the car off before looking over at Shelly. "Think about this for a while, what if it were you? What if you had fallen in love with Jos? Wouldn't you want Russ to support you?"
Shelly gave Raven an angry look, "I wouldn't be stupid enough to fall in love with a family member." She slammed open the car door, quickly slammed it back shut and took off toward the bar.
Raven looked up at the sky as she gave out a loud sigh, "Well, this should be fun." Raven tucked her bag under her arm and headed for the bathrooms.
Shelly had found a spot at the bar and was chatting it up with the current bartender, who was opening a beer to hand to her. Raven quickly stepped behind the bar, grabbed the beer and slid Shelly an unopened coke. Raven looked back at the bartender, "She's underage and in a pissy mood. You really don't want to be giving her alcohol." Shelly shot Raven a 'go to hell' look then walked out to the back patio area with the coke.
"You don't think you're being too hard on her?" Liam, the young bartender, said giving Raven one of his breathtaking dimpled smiles. "I mean come on, who isn't drinking the summer of their 18th birthday?!"
Raven rolled her eyes at him, "Go ahead serve a minor, it will be your ass, not mine." She followed his stare as he watched Shelly's departing backside. "Don't even think about it, her brother would eat you… If I didn't first."
Liam looked back toward Raven a dimpled smile still lighting up his face as he threw his hands up as if being arrested, "Alright, Alright. I'm just looking, anyways." His eyes landed on the front door as a group of girls, not much older than Shelly walked in.
Raven placed her hand on his shoulder, "You, my friend, are a habitual flirt." She turned away to check the stock of beer in the mini fridge below the bar.
"How may I help you, ladies?" Liam laid on the charms heavily as the young girls giggled and whispered back and forth between themselves.
Raven turned back around, "The fridge in here looks good, I'm going out to check the patio bar. I'll probably work out there this evening after it opens." She didn't bother waiting for his reply as he went over the drink specials with the giggling girls. When Raven made it out to the patio bar, she quickly looked around for Shelly. After a few minutes, she found her sitting out on the beach with a group of people playing volleyball. There was a familiar looking guy beside her and what looked to be a beer in her hands.
***
Shelly had walked out to get a better look at the attractive men playing volleyball. She set on a bench set up near the sand court and sipped on another coke Raven had given her. Lost in thought, she hadn't noticed when someone sat down beside her. "So, are you a fan of the game or of topless men?" The closeness of a deep male voice made her jump. She quickly slid farther down the bench to put space between her and the man.
"Sorry, I didn't hear you walk over." She glanced up at him from behind vailed eyes timidly.
He grinned down at her and scooted closer, "Ah no, it's just that you look familiar." He let his eyes roam her from head to toe hungrily. "I believe you were at the beach party my brother and I threw last night. My name is Dante DeMarco."
Shelly's ears perked up, he had been the one to introduce her to the band members. Though she didn't remember much, she did remember the drummer had been a girl. {I guess I must have blocked everything else out because I really can't remember anything between meeting him and going home...} She smiled up at him. "Yes! It was great. I still love that band, they will always be my favorite, even if the drummer is a chick. But thank you for the introduction." She blushed lightly before she repeated his name, "Dante DeMarco? It's so pretty, but it doesn't sound like you're from the US." She looked up at him, hoping he would tell her more about where he was from.
"Ah yeah. Here." He leaned over a cooler she hadn't notice and pulled out two beers. He popped the top off both of them, then handed one to her. "My brother and I moved here from Italy several years ago."
Shelly's eyes lit up, "Oh really? We moved here from an island off the coast of Italy!" Shelly took a large drink of the beer as she watched his face with interest.
Dante gave her a sly smile, "Ah, then I bet you have a beautiful name as well."
Shelly laughed with a hint of embarrassment, "Oh, I'm sorry you told me your name, but I never introduced myself. My name is Rashelle Cathenna Boosilis." She held her hand out for a handshake but was shocked when he took it and placed a kiss on it instead.
"Nice to meet you, princess." He smiled up at her, still hovering over her hand.
The shock had Shelly's tongue completely tied, "But… What…."
His grin widened, "Cathenna? Does the name not mean princess?"
A heated blush crept up her neck as she shook off her shock and answered, "Oh yes, I guess I forgot." She watched as he took a large drink from his beer, finishing half at once. Once he was satisfied, he pushed himself up from the bench, still holding Shelly's hand. "Would you like to go for a walk with me, Princess?" He asked, a seductive smirk playing across his face.
"Y…. y… yeah, sure." Shelly answered nervously. She took several quick drinks from her beer before she stood up, already feeling a bit tipsy from just the one beer. When she went to set the bottle down on the bench, he picked it back up and handed it back to her.
"You really shouldn't leave your drink unattended. There are so many bad men out there that would love to take advantage of such a sweet, young lady like yourself." he gave her another sly smile before finishing off his own drink. As he expected she finished hers quickly as well. "Good girl." He said as he took the now empty bottle from her and throw them in the direction of the trash can by the court. He bent down and grabbed two more bottles from the cooler before leading her toward the waterline, away from the crowds gathered around the outside of the bar. He popped open the new beers and handed one to Shelly. "So, Princess, what brought you here?" Dante continued holding her hand with one hand and drinking from his beer with the other.
A sad expression overtook Shelly's face as she looked down at the ground. "The island we lived on was attacked and our parents were killed, so we were sent to live here… With Raven and Joslyn... The other girls with me last night. They were both close friends of the family and people my brother and I were already very… familiar with." A tear ran down her cheek as she continued. "Joslyn would frequently come to visit us when we were little. She would play for hours with us. When my parents died, we were sent to live with Jos and Raven until my brother was old enough to…." Shelly caught herself and the words that nearly slipped from her lips as more tears streamed down her face.
Dante finished his beer and threw the bottle into the ocean as far as he could. Shelly's eye's jerked up at him in surprise, "Oh no, you shouldn't do that!"
He laughed at her, "And why is that, Princess?"
Shelly stuttered, knowing it would sound stupid to someone like this. "Because it is home to many, and it is disrespectful to throw your trash into other people's homes."
Dante pulled them both to a stop. "Oh, is that so? Well then maybe I should retrieve it." He let go of her hand and pulled the thin muscle shirt he was wearing over his head. He dove into the waves and emerged some distance out. He caught up with the floating bottle with little difficulty and flung it back to shore. "Why don't you finish up the one you're drinking and join me." The late evening sun cause the water droplets on his chest and hair to glisten, enticing Shelly to bend to his request.