He sighed.“But food.Food is downstairs, right?”
“I can get you a tray.”
He sighed again, but this time, he used it as a sort of boost to get himself turned on his back and blink his eyes open.“No.I can do civilized eating.”
I shuffled closer.“Let your wild side out every now and then.”
He gave me a sharp little look with eyes narrowed and lips pursed.“You only say that because you literally turn furry.”The narrowed eyes eased open.“Does that hurt at all?”
“Oh.Hmm.I guess not really?”I straightened the lapel of the pj top he was wearing.I really liked him in my clothes.“It’s a little like when your throat is scratchy after shouting your lungs out at a concert or running without taking a break, but then when you start the shift, I guess that feels like sneezing, right when you can no longer stop the sneeze.Does that make sense?”
He blinked at me while he thought about that.“It does, actually.You’re saying it’s not painful, but not comfortable either.I wonder… It sounds like when snakes shed their old skin.”
I wrinkled my nose.“It doesn’t sound anything like that at all.I mean, it doesn’t feel anything like that at all, I don’t think.How’d you take that away from what I just said?”
He shrugged.“I don’t know.It’s early, and I haven’t had tea.”
He was half right.It was probably around ten.
“You want to see whether the others can make your tea right?”
Marcus looked at my hand.I was still fussing with his lapel, but had moved down to the first button without even noticing.
“I’m dressing in my own clothes though.”
“Aww.”I gave him my saddest sad face.I had a T-shirt I liked wearing when I headed into town with Linc and Ell, and it would look really good on him.Bit long, of course, but that was part of the appeal.
“My clothes.That’s final.”He sat up.“I’ll take the first turn in the bathroom.”
I whimpered and moved around on the bed until the sheet slid off my chest.
“You’re so mean, Little Red.Has no one ever told you about how awesome sharing is?After last night, haven’t you realized how awesome sharing is?”
He’d climbed out of the bed at the foot end, and now he was just standing there, looking at me.“It was—I mean… I’ve never done that.Don’t laugh, okay, but…” He lowered his voice.“I had fun yesterday.All of yesterday was nice, okay?I had fun in town too, even if I still wasn’t feeling all that great.”
I sat up.It would’ve been better if it had been Linc hearing that.Or Ell.Not that I couldn’t acknowledge another person’s emotions—growing up with a non-wolf brother came with lots of emotions—but saying the right thing wasn’t always my specialty.
I tried openness.“Thanks for telling me.I liked that you trusted me at the diner.”
He made a face.“Ugh.That was not fun.Nice buns though.”
“You have nice buns too, Little Red.”
He rolled his eyes.“Okay.Thanks for that.I’ll let you know when the bathroom’s free.”
He wandered off, and while I might’ve been imagining it, I was getting certain vibes off of him as if he was not just ready to give us a chance, but maybe wanted us to win him over.I’d be down for that.Honestly though, if all he wanted was to be held and snuggled, I’d be more than down for that too.
I went downstairs to get Marcus’s bag for him.Ell and Linc were on the couch, Ell stretched out and reading on his phone, Linc with Ell’s legs on his lap and a laptop on top of Ell’s shins, probably doing work stuff.
Linc looked up from his screen.“You’re not dressed for breakfast.”
I shot him a grin.“We dress up for breakfast now?Should’ve made it clear that wasn’t the kind of company you’d find yourself in before you moved here.”
He grinned right back.“I was just talking about pants.”
I sighed.“Yeah, yeah.Marcus wants his clothes though.Silly, if you ask me, but it’s what he wants.”
Ell put his phone on his chest.“You’re just saying that because your clothes come closest to fitting him.”
