(EVIE)
"I hate running." Evie muttered as she sat on her bed to tie her running shoes.
She had said the same thing every morning for the past ten years, just before she clipped on her fanny pack and went out for her daily two-mile run.
" I can't believe people do this for fun." She said as soon as she stepped out of her apartment into the balmy darkness of the hallway.
" At 5 freaking am." She added, plugging in her ear phones.
In less than three minutes, she was singing in tune to the rock and roll music blaring in her ears and running at top speed. She smiled and nodded at the runners as she ran past them.
To the casual observer, she was oblivious to her surroundings and fully focused on her run.
He couldn't be farther from the truth. While her human form focused on the run, her wolf was fully alert, accessing everything and everyone, acknowledging the familiar and cataloging the strange for further study later in the day, while simultaneously notating all exits out of town.
She was a mile and a half into her run when she heard footfalls behind her. She turned her head to smile at the auburn-haired woman behind her and slowed her pace until the other woman caught up with her.
"Hey Gina." She calls.
" You're early this morning." The woman told her once they were side by side.
" Nope." Evie replied, taking off her headphones and tucking them into her pack. " You're late, Mrs Kelz," She added.
" Please don't call me that." Gina groaned.
" It makes me want to look around to see if Liam's mom is standing behind me."
Evie chuckles softly.
" Get used to it, you have a whole Lifetime of being Mrs Kelz ahead of you."
" Yeah." Gina agrees.
" It gives me the jitters to just think about it."
" Come on, it can't be that bad," Evie says.
Gina looks at her like she's lost her mind.
" Bad, there's nothing bad about it, I look forward to it. I just gotta get used to stop looking behind for my mother-in-law whenever someone calls me Mrs Kelz and everything's perfect." She says.
" Good for you," Evie tells her.
" Don't you worry." Gina assured her.
" One day, you'll meet a man who loves you like my Liam loves me and you'll be just like me." She adds.
Evie can't hold in her loud guffaw. " Not in this lifetime girl." She says. " Maybe the next one."
" I was just like you until I met Liam," Gina says.
Evie resisted the urge to turn to the other woman and set her straight. " You weren't like me." She wanted to yell.
" No one's like me and no one loves me either."
She wants to yell it loud enough to be heard by Gina and everyone else in Los Angeles.
She smiles instead.
" Race you to the cafe." She says before the other woman can get in another word, referring to their usual breakfast haunt, almost a quarter mile away.
By the time they get to the cafe, both of them are panting and breathing raggedly. Lottie, their usual waitress, is standing guard by their usual table, a pot of steaming coffee in her hands.
" Morning ladies." She greets, a radiant smile on her face.
" Top of the morning to you Lottie." Evie says, taking the coffee pot from her hands and pouring the delicious smelling coffee into the waiting mugs on the table, while Gina digs into her fanny pack for the organic sweetener and creamer she's always carting around.
" But one of us is a married woman now." She adds, handing back the coffee pot.
" Oh," Lottie said with a smirk.
" Morning lady and woman." She corrects with a smile.
" Honestly, Lottie, I don't know how you put up with her." Gina says to Lottie.
" Same way she puts up with you dearie." Evie says sweetly, smacking Gina's hand as she tries to sneak some of her organic crap ass sweetener into her coffee.
" You keep your crap to yourself." She tells her.
Lottie smiles at their antics.
" I raised seven kids, Gina." She says.
" One more isn't too hard," She added, before turning to leave.
" I'll get your usual." She calls over her shoulder.
" I'm not a child." Evie calls after her, finally taking her seat and loading four spoonfuls of sugar into her coffee before raising it to her lips.
Gina winces as she takes a sip and sighs in contentment.
" You should try it." Evie says, holding out her mug. It's really good.
" No thank you." Gina says with a grimace, taking a sip of her crap filled coffee.
" I would like to leave beyond my fiftieth birthday. Thank you very much." She adds.
" Why?" Evie asks.
" What's the point of living past fifty?"
" Watching my children and grandchildren grow up." Gina replies promptly.
"Since I'm never going to have either, I'll say I can have as much sugar as I want." Evie declares.
" Don't be so sure honey." Lottie says, returning with their food tray. " Diabetics can be a bitch."
With that, she places a veggie omelet in front of Gina, a double stack of blueberry pancakes with maple syrup in front of Evie, serves both of them tall glasses of orange juice and leaves them to enjoy their meal.
" You really shouldn't eat pancakes every day." Gina says as soon as Evie digs into her first pancake.
"And you really shouldn't eat leaves and eggs every day," she counters.
" Veggie omelet," Gina says through gritted teeth. " And it's healthy." She adds.
" So are my pancakes," Evie counters.
" They'll clog your arteries," Gina tells her.
" Good thing I have you then," Evie said.
" You can always unclog me, and if you can't, I donate my cadaver to science." She adds.
" Can you please stop talking about cadavers over breakfast?" Gina asked.
" You started it." Evie reminded her.
" No I didn't." Gina snarls.
The older couple at the table next to them shake their heads and chuckles softly. Evie and Gina's bickering is a regular breakfast staple at the cafe.