Atall bonfire cast an orange glow on the beach in the distance as I sat on the deck, sipping a glass of cheap chardonnay. After that brief, uncomfortable exchange with Darryl last night, Roscoe hadn’t been as talkative. In fact, I’d seen little of him and Adam today.
Darryl had to cut my swimming lesson short since the lifeguards needed him back on the beach, and he spent the rest of the evening entertaining friends around the fire with his guitar. I thought about joining, but I’d feel like the odd man out. Most of them were surfers or much older friends of his, and after getting lost in the lingo for several minutes with no one to talk to, I broke away to sit by myself. There had never been a moment in my life where social events with strangers weren’t awkward and uncomfortable.
After a few more minutes, the music died and the crowd on the beach whittled to only Darryl and Adam. They seemed serious, but I was too far away to hear any of the conversation. The half-turn jumped to his feet and made a few angry gestures, but Darryl remained straight-faced. This seemed to upset Adam further, and he kicked sand at the huge werewolf before running toward town.
Darryl stared at the ocean, seemingly unfazed as he strummed a gentle tune while his tail swayed. The guy was hard to pin down. He was laid-back, funny, and talented, but at the same time, stern and honest with an almost sage-like quality. His own personality contradicted itself in such a way that it seemed to work in his favor with everyone else.
I stepped barefoot on the sand, which was still warm from the residual heat it absorbed from the afternoon sun. Though the confrontation wasn’t any of my business, I wanted to make sure everything was okay. And since it was Adam, I had to admit a little gossip about him would be quite the pick-me-up. After approaching the crackling fire, I sat next to the huge werewolf playing the guitar with his eyes closed.
These weren’t the folk songs he played earlier. This was classical and overly technical. Despite how large his fingers were, they effortlessly slid along the neck of the instrument with prodigy-like precision and emotion. Even as the music shifted from complex to gentle, his tranquil expression stayed the same until he was done.
“That was incredible,” I whispered, staring up at Darryl as he breathed deeply through his nose and opened his eyes. He didn’t look over at me, though a slightly toothy smile parted his lips.
“Thanks.” He placed the guitar to the side. “My dad taught me.”
“You’re not classically trained?”
“I never said that.” He let out a gentle laugh. “Sorry about our lesson earlier.”
“That’s fine. I needed to get all this housing stuff taken care of anyway.”
“Have you heard anything?”
I shook my head. “I’ve been calling, and I keep getting the run-around. No one has a straight answer for me, and I’m starting to wonder if there really are any houses—or if any of this shit is real.”
“You don’t have to stress yourself out. My place might be small, but I don’t mind you guys staying.”
“That’s not the kind of vibe I’ve been getting from you lately.”
Darryl’s smile faded. “Sorry.”
“I know you don’t like talking about it, but I have to know. What happened between you and Roscoe?”
The werewolf sighed and laid back on the sand, his hands cupped under his head. “I’ve known the guy since I was a half-turn.” He shook his head. “Damn, that was like four decades ago. Time sure has a way of getting away from you the older you get.”
“How old are you?”
“I’ll be sixty in a month.”
“Damn. I guess that’s something neat to look forward to,” I said. “I’ll get to keep my boyish good looks for a while.”
“I really hate that someone like you made a kuu with him,” Darryl said abruptly. “It bothers me.”
“Why do you care? Were you and Roscoe, like…together?”
“Oh, fuck no,” he said with a laugh. “I’d probably end up killing him, for real. It’s just… you remind me a little of myself. I was a late bloomer, too. Socially awkward as a kid. Spent a lot of time alone. It took going half-turn and meeting Roscoe to really break me out of my shell. I don’t want him to betray you the way he betrayed me.”
“When did you go half-turn?”
“Twenty-two. Everyone thought it was kinda weird me going through that being that old, but apparently, I was a special case. You might be, too.”
“This really ruined my life. I’ve got a degree I can’t even use now, and I’m in so much debt. Now I don’t even know where I’m going to end up living in the long-term. It’s not the first time in my life that I’ve been so scared, but I’ve never felt this hopeless.”
“It’s only hopeless if you’re alone,” he said, smiling at me before rubbing my head. “And you’re not gonna be alone.”
“You still haven’t really answered my question. How did Roscoe betray you?”
“Well, I guess you need to know more than anyone what kind of asshole you’re shacked up with.” He let out a growled sigh before looking back over at me. “Roscoe and I were inseparable. We were best friends, and he taught me a lot about what to expect when I finally turned into this handsome beast. He also introduced me to a lot of drugs and shady people. It was fun at first, but I realized that we were way different people, and I started to see Roscoe for who he really was. I just never noticed until I stopped getting high.”
