The End of a Perfect Day
Anderson High Wolves
Lane
Tired, foot-sore, and a little drunk off all the sugar she’d consumed, Lane linked arms with Jenny when she and Matty ran into the other couple as they were walking the midway. Jenny looked like she felt and Lane felt a kinship to the other woman as they were nestled between the men.
Natalie and Mason met up with them not long after and Natalie’s goofy smile told Lane everything she needed to know about what she and Mason had been up to since they separated. Well, the smile and the beard burn beside her mouth.
“You ladies want to hit any more rides before we leave?” Matty was looking at her as he said it, a sly smile on his face.
They hadn’t gone on a single ride. Not one. They’d sat at the small table by the churro stand and watched everybody rushing from place to place.
It had been oddly hypnotic. Calming, in its own way. The idea that all these people had lives and were making their own memories while in the same place she and Matty were had amused her.
No, not amused.
It had been thrilling.
Nobody cared who she was. Who they were. Well, Matty got more than a few long looks from some of the women walking by, but that was to be expected.
Her man was a looker.
Nobody had looked at her and seen Lane Tennyson, the girl most likely to set something on fire. They didn’t sneer at her red hair that made her stand out everywhere else. They didn’t give her a look that said she wasn’t good enough for a man like Matty.
An older woman at one of the tables had given her a gentle smile before she’d been joined by an older gentleman wearing suspenders. Then the smile had turned to him and Matty and Lane had been forgotten.
Lane had been content to sit there the entire time. Matty hadn’t pressed her to ride any of the rides or impatiently asked when they could get up and start walking around.
They just were.
And it was enough.
Jenny
Jenny knew Matty’s question wasn’t directed at her, exactly. It was for the group.
So why did her face go up in flames as soon as he asked it?
Oh, right. Because she and Evan had gone through the haunted house so many times the attendant had stopped taking their tickets and just waved them in when they trotted up the steps. He’d smirked at them too. Probably because they kept having to be told to move along when they lingered too long in the shadowed corners of the ride.
Jenny’s lips were sore. In the best way, of course. She’d been kissed silly in every darkened nook and cranny of the old house and she kind of loved the stupid ride now.
Their picture was probably being printed out in some back room right this moment with a caption saying they were banned for life from coming on ever again and it was completely worth it.
Because Evan hadn’t just kissed her until her brain stopped forming complete sentences. He’d also deconstructed each of the rooms they’d gone through, telling her how the effects were put together.
His explanation had taken much of the terror out of the ride and soon Jenny could see the wires and hidden doors without him pointing them out.
She’d even maneuvered her hunk of a boyfriend against one of those hidden doors and mauled him with her mouth while the person on the other side had been trying to get out to scare them. As weird as it might sound, that had been the funniest thing they’d done the entire time.
Now she was tired. Lips sore, feet aching, her stomach more than a little empty since they’d only grabbed a hot dog early in the evening.
Despite all that, she wouldn’t change a thing.
She’d had the best night of her life. She only wished Taylor had been able to join them. He’d wanted to, but one of his classmates was having a birthday party at the pizza place down the street and the lure of pizza and cake had overruled the carnival.
Plus, Evan had promised he’d bring him another time.
She really did have the sweetest boyfriend in the known universe.
“What do you say, Jen? Want to go on another ride?”
Evan’s husky voice in her ear made her blush heat up again. No. She was good. She had her boyfriend and her friends.
She was tired and ridiculously happy with how the evening had gone.
Giving her wolf a slow smile, Jenny shook her head. “I think I’m ready to head home if everybody else is.”
Natalie
Somewhere after the first slow ascent of the Ferris wheel and seeing the city laid out like a glowing picture, Natalie had found her inner peace. They’d ridden the Ferris wheel a few more times. She’d eaten a sticky glob of cotton candy that necessitated a trip to the bathroom for a thorough washing up. She and Mason had made out like horny high school kids in a shadowy corner behind a building.
It had been, in a word, perfect.
Utterly perfect.
Now they were getting ready to head home. Part of Natalie didn’t want to let the glow of her perfect evening end, and part of her knew it was going to happen no matter how hard she held onto it.
That was life.
Tomorrow or the day after would bring another of those perfect moments.
Heck, it didn’t even have to be perfect. She’d be happy with good. Joyful. Passionate.
As long as she was with Mason it was enough.
As though they’d been called, Mason’s brothers and sisters appeared in groups. Mia sidled up to her, her sticky fingers sliding into Natalie’s, an angelic smile on her face.
Little faker.
As cute as she was, Mia was a hellion and Natalie knew her well enough not to trust that smile for a minute.
Still, the hellion’s smile added another checkmark in the perfect day.
They were all together. They were happy.
As a group, they were perfect.
The End
Want to see see how these three couples ended up together? Grab Anderson High Wolves: The Complete Novella Collection to meet all the wolves of Anderson High.
Missed any of the other shorts? Check out the Series Shorts page and get caught up.
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