Chapter 4 – Two weeks.

Beck's POV

I wake up choking, grasping at my throat as I struggle to breathe, and it takes me a while to realise that it was just a dream.

It was just a dream, I think to myself to try and calm down. It doesn't work, though, as my hands are still shaking and my eyes quickly fill with unshed tears.

It was just a dream.

Yeah, it was just a dream, so pull yourself together, dumbass, I then tell myself, trying to force the tears back as I ball my hands into fists by my side.

It was just a dream, but it was definitely worse than the one I had the night before.

God, that sucked.

Okay. Okay, I'm okay.

I pull myself into a sitting position on the grass, a slight shudder running through me as I take a deep breath in.

Yeah, that really sucked.

Pulling my knees up to my chest, I rest my forehead against them and continue to breathe in and out to try and slow my heart rate.

I had a dream about what life was like with my father after my mother died. It was the first time I told him that I didn't want to go back to rogue camp; it was the first and the last time I ever told him that. It was the first time I've ever honestly felt like I was really about to die; it definitely wasn't the last time I've felt like that, though. Kailen really was a monster.

And you're just like him, the small voice of doubt pipes up, making me feel ten times more like a piece of shit than I already do.

Sighing, I lift my head from my knees.

It's true, though. I am a monster, I was brought up to be one and I'm not sure how to be anything else. All those stories my mother used to tell me as a child are complete bullshit. My curse isn't going to be lifted once I find my Belle; there is no Beauty out there for me. I'm a beast, through and through.

Life really does suck ass sometimes.

After a few more minutes, I decide that I should probably start getting ready to move. It must be late morning by now, meaning the charity shops should be open for me to get some new jeans.

Grabbing my bag, I quickly eat a few biscuits for breakfast before getting changed into some clean clothes. Well, my last clean T-shirt and a new pair of boxers, at least. My worn out jeans, obviously, are going have to stay for a little bit longer.

After stuffing my dirty clothes back into my backpack, I sit down and pull on my trusty combat boots.

Lucy thinks that I should own more than just one pair of shoes (which I find a little bit hypocritical what with her and her converse) but I don't really see the point. It'd just be another thing for me to have to carry with me whenever I'm on the road, especially as there's a high chance that they wouldn't both fit in my bag.

Once I've got my shoes on, I sling my backpack onto my back and start walking.

It doesn't take me long to get to the charity shops and, when I do, I swiftly push the door open to one of them and step in. There are bits and bobs everywhere, dotted along shelves and tables that line the walls and group together in the middle of the room.

The girl behind the counter looks up from her magazine as I enter, her brown hair up in a high ponytail. I can't be certain, because I wasn't paying much attention yesterday, but I'm fairly sure that it's the same girl from the corner shop. I can practically feel her eyes following as I head to the back corner of the shop, where the clothes racks are, and I sigh as I come to the realisation that I'm going to have to use my money again.

There's no way I'd be able to take anything in this place with her watching me, even I'm not that good.

After a short search, I manage to find two pairs of male jeans in my size that seem to be in fairly decent condition. The blue ones seem to have faded slightly but the black ones look pretty much brand new, and they're both fairly cheap to purchase. The black ones are slightly more expensive than the blue ones, though.

Walking over to the counter, I take note of the way the girl straightens up slightly when she realises I'm approaching her.

"Just these, thanks," I tell her as I place the jeans on the counter, looking out the window as I think about what I should do next.

I'm going to need to find somewhere to wash my clothes if I want to wear clean ones tomorrow. I'll spend a little while looking for a pond or something, maybe I missed it yesterday, and if it's a no go then I'll have to find a laundrette.

"So, how are you liking Redwater?" the girls asks, and I turn back to watch her running the jeans through the till painfully slowly.

"Uh, it's okay, I guess," I reply, not really sure what to say. It would be a hell of a lot better if I could find a source of water.

"I saw you talking to Pete yesterday," she tells me then, folding up the first pair of jeans and finally moving on to the second.

"Pete?" I ask.

"The guy who runs the corner shop," she clarifies.

Oh, I guess it definitely is the same girl then.

"Oh, yeah," I say with a slight nod.

"My name's Mia," she announces as she starts to fold the second pair of jeans, and I quickly reach into my rucksack to grab my money.

"Beck," I reply, handing her the money as she passes me the jeans. I shove them into my rucksack as I wait for my change.

"Well, I hope to see you around, Beck," she says as she gives me the money.

"Yeah, sure," I reply, shoving my change into my back pocket as I turn to leave the shop.

When I step outside, I look up at the church clock to see that it's just gone half ten in the morning, which is pretty early for me. Still, it gives me longer to search the area until I have to start looking for the laundrette.

I make my way to the town square, deciding to start from the road I finished off at last night to make sure I don't miss any ground. As I walk, my mind wanders back to the girl in the charity shop. Mia.

She seemed nice enough and she was definitely nice to look at, so why did I feel absolutely nothing when we were talking? There was no spark at all, not even a little one. In fact, I could hardly wait to get away from her.

Because you never give any girls a chance anymore, my mind tells me. If she's not Lucy then she's not worth your time.

Yeah but shouldn't I be trying to change that? I mean, I am trying to get over her, after all. The sooner I can move on the sooner I can go back to just being her best friend. That's if I decide to go back at all, which I never promised her or myself that I would. The idea of never being able to see her again hurts, though, my heart clenching uncomfortably at the thought.

Maybe this whole thing has been a mistake, it's clearly not working. I've been thinking about her just as much as I did back at the cave, maybe even more, which is going to stop me from moving on whether she's here or not. Hell, I can't even buy a bag of apples without thinking about her for crying out loud. Maybe I should go back; if I leave now then I could easily make it back to that lake by nightfall. I have food and new jeans; I've gathered all the supplies that I came to this town for in the first place. I'd never planned on staying here for long anyway, only a few days, and it's not like I've made any commitments here yet. I haven't even had the chance to find any small jobs going in the area so I've really got no reason to stay-

Thud.

I'm knocked of balance slightly as someone hops (yes, literally hops) into me from the step in the corner shop doorway.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" a familiar voice apologises as I take a small step back in surprise. "Oh, hey, it's you."

"Hey, Blondie," I reply, smirking slightly at the way her cheeks turn a light shade of pink. "Might want to watch where you're hopping, there." Her blush deepens.

"Uh... yeah," she says, glancing back at the shop doorway. "I should probably work on that."

I chuckle slightly and hitch my bag higher onto my shoulder, becoming aware of the people that are openly watching our exchange. As soon as I look around at them, though, they all look away and carry on with whatever the hell they're supposed to be doing.

What is it with this town and being so nosey?

There's a guy standing in the far corner of the square, maybe only a couple of years younger than me, and I immediately get bad vibes from him. His brown hair is shaved at the sides like some macho wannabe and the glare he's sending our way has my back stiffening slightly.

What the hell is his problem?

"The name's Alexa, by the way," she says, causing my attention to snap back to the girl in front of me.

Man, I really need to stop being so easily distracted.

"Most people just call me Alex, though," she explains with a shrug, tightening her hand slightly on the blue bag of shopping she's carrying.

Alex... I prefer Blondie.

"This is usually where the other person would say 'hey, I'm...'"

Oh, right.

"Beck," I tell her.

"Well, Beck, where you headed?" she asks, glancing around the square briefly. Maybe she's noticed the stares, too.

That is a very good question.

Where am I headed? Back to the cave, further down South, to find somewhere to wash my clothes for the next few days? Yeah, I'll stick with the last one; the bigger decisions can be made later.

"Laundrette?" I ask, needing directions as I decide to just give up on my search and accept the inevitable.

"Sure. Come on, I'll show you," she offers with another shrug. "It's on my way, anyway."

"Okay, thanks," I reply, falling into step with her as she starts walking.

We walk in silence for a few minutes before she decides to break it, and I get the distinct feeling that she's quite a chatterbox.

"So," she starts, swinging the bag back and forth slightly between us as she talks. "Where did you stay last night? Most people usually just stay at Frankie's hotel." She points her thumb behind us in the direction that I'm assuming the hotel is in, but I don't bother looking behind.

How did she know I didn't stay there?

"People talk, you know? Everyone usually knows everyone's business," she explains, reading my confused expression. "In this town you just get used to it."

Huh, somehow that doesn't surprise me, at all.

"So where did you stay?" she asks again, and one side of my mouth curves up into a small smile before dropping back down.

She's doing it again, prying whilst also trying to use this nonchalant charm to get her answers.

"Outside," I admit, glancing over to see her reaction.

"You slept... outside," she says, more of a statement than a question but I answer anyway.

"Yep."

"But what if it rained?" she asks with a slight frown, her feet stopping as she turns to face me and causing me to stop too.

"Then I'd have gotten wet," I reply with a shrug.

It's happened before. It's not exactly great but it's not the worst thing to ever happen.

"You're really... odd, you know?" she tells me, and I can't help but laugh slightly.

I'm odd? You're the one that hopped into me, woman.

Then again, I suppose sleeping outside might seem more plausible to werewolves than it does to humans. I mean, humans go camping, sure, but a werewolf is technically in their natural habitat whether they're inside or outside. We get to choose, I guess.

"I think I know of a place you could stay," she says, completely taking me off guard. Why would she want to help me? "I mean, that's if you actually wanted to be a normal person, or whatever." She shrugs, her eyes clearly amused as she pokes fun at my supposed weirdness.

Man, if only she knew.

"I can't pay rent," I tell her with a shrug, expecting that to be the end of the conversation.

"That shouldn't be a problem," she says. "Come on, I'll take you there." Then she starts walking back in the direction we've just come from.

"But-" I start, watching her as she walks away.

"There's a washing machine there," she calls out to me and, not really sure what else to do, I jog to catch up with her.

If nothing else, I might be able to get my clothes washed for free.

***

"We're at the pub," I say, glancing over at her as she fishes something out of her pocket, keys from the sound of it.

"Yeah, well done," she replies, walking around to the side of the building with her keys now in hand, and I roll my eyes at her sarcasm. "My boss is visiting family abroad for a month and left me in charge."

Around the side of the pub is another door, clearly the back entrance to the building, and Alexa quickly unlocks it with the set of keys and steps inside. I step in after her and close the door behind me.

A set of stairs stands in front of us, taking up the right-hand side of the hallway we're in, and another doorway sits in the left wall, just a little bit further down.

"That leads to behind the bar," she explains, nodding to the door. "The storage room is just on the other side of these stairs, but we're going up here."

With that, she sets off upstairs, and I just shrug and follow her.

The stairs are wooden and bare, with no carpet to cover them, and the walls are an off-white colour with lights lining them.

When we reach the top we stop in front of a basic brown door, and Alexa searches through her set of keys once again before unlocking it and stepping through. We're in another hallway, a smaller one this time, and the walls are lined with cardboard boxes of all shapes and sizes.

"Jenny, my boss, used to live here with her husband," she explains. "They decided to upsize a few years ago and moved into a house just down the road, we've been using this place as extra storage ever since. It's not a lot, but it sure as hell beats sleeping outside."

The floor of the hallway is covered by an old brown carpet, the walls the same off white colour as outside the apartment, and there are only three brown doors leading off to different rooms: one on the left, one on the right, and one straight ahead.

"Why are you helping me?" I have to ask, knowing that there has to be something she wants in return. People don't just offer a stranger a place to sleep for nothing.

"Because I'm a nice person," she replies with a small shrug, scooting around the boxes as she makes her way to the door on the left.

Once again, I follow.

"There's got to be more to it; there has to be some kind of catch," I tell her.

"Not exactly," she replies.

So, yeah, that means there is a catch.

"There's a joint kitchen and living room in here," she says, opening the door to show the two rooms connected by a small archway. They're not big rooms, but they're definitely more than what I'm used to. Most of the furniture is still in place: the sofa, the coffee table, and the TV stand (although the TV itself is missing). In the kitchen, the fridge and oven still look to be in good condition. There's even a washing machine, just as Alexa promised.

Once we finish with the tour of those two rooms, we make our way into the room across the hallway, which happens to be a bedroom. It's about the same size as the living room, so not very big, but big enough to fit a double bed in the far right corner and a wardrobe and chest of drawers against the left wall.

The final room is, of course, a bathroom. As with the other rooms it's fairly simple, containing a toilet, sink and shower. It's running water, though, which is just what I needed.

"So, what do you think? There's running water and electricity, although the shower sticks sometimes. You've just got to hit it, though, show it whose boss." she says as we exit the bathroom, heading back into the hallway full of boxes. The hallway seems to be the only room that's used as extra storage, so it doesn't really get in the way too much.

"What's the catch?" I ask, crossing my arms and leaning my shoulder against the wall.

"Okay," she sighs, rolling her eyes. "So maybe we're a little short-staffed right now."

Ah, here we go.

"You want me to work at the pub," I state, slightly confused as to why she'd choose me to do that.

"No rent for no wages seems like a reasonable deal, right?" she asks, somewhat sheepishly.

Yeah, it sure as hell does, but it would also mean I'd have a reason to stay. Do I want to stay? Don't I want to go back to the cave?

"Why me?" I ask, honestly curious. "Why ask a complete stranger that you only met yesterday? How do you know I'm trustworthy?"

"Why," she says, her voice almost challenging as she raises an eyebrow at me, leaning against the wall too, "are you not trustworthy, Beck?"

Depends on who you ask; I'm only loyal to those that deserve it.

"Why me?" I ask again, avoiding answering her question and causing her to sigh slightly. "There must be others in this town that you could ask."

"Not anybody that Jenny trusts enough with the job," she says. "At least with you, it'd be a mutually beneficial agreement so you're less likely to mess it up. It's a win, win for everyone. Besides, I don't need to know you to know that you're ten times more trustworthy than someone like Tony Romsey."

"I have no idea who that is," I tell her.

"Yeah, well, consider yourself lucky, then," she replies.

I sigh, not sure what to do. This morning I was thinking of leaving this place and now... now I'm not sure. I could stay here, help out at the pub in the evenings and maybe look for the odd job to do during the day to bring some money in. I could build a new life for myself... a real life, something I'm not so sure I've ever had before.

If I stay here, though, what about Lucy? I know I need to move on, I'm not an idiot, but a part of me really doesn't want to.

"Give it two weeks," Alexa says, bringing me out of my thoughts as I focus back on her. "If you decide by the end that it's not for you then fine, we'll call the deal off and you can continue on with your life. You can start tomorrow night downstairs so you have enough time today to get settled up here. We open at five and close at midnight, I'll give you a run through of the place tomorrow."

I debate it for a few more seconds before nodding. What's two weeks going to hurt?

"Okay," I agree. "Two weeks."

"Two weeks," she repeats.

We shake on it and she hands me the key to the apartment.

"There's powder and stuff in the cupboard above the washing machine," she then tells me, nodding in the direction of the kitchen. "We sometimes have to use it if some moron spills drink down us. I'm not sure how much there is of it left, though."

"Are you sure your boss is going to be okay with this?" I can't help but double check.

"Don't worry about Jenny," she tells me, waving off my concern with a hand as she straightens up from the wall. "I'll talk to her and let her know what's going on. She's a sweetheart, really. There won't be a problem."

"Okay," I say, not one-hundred percent convinced but deciding to let it drop.

"Well, I'd better get this back home," she says, lifting up the blue shopping bag that she's carrying. "I'll see you tomorrow, Beck."

"Yeah," I reply, watching her as she makes her way down the hallway and leaves the apartment.

Two weeks isn't so bad, right? If I hate it then when the time's up I can just take off. This'll be easy. After all, how much can really happen in such a short space of time?

(Hey guys!!! Here's an early update!!! I'm going to have to be quick with this A/N because I'm leaving the house in fifteen minutes and I'm nowhere near ready to go but I really wanted to get this chapter finished.

So, what do you guys think? I'm not so sure how I feel about this chapter, it didn't sound right as I wrote it so I had to keep changing it. Sorry for any mistakes, I haven't had time to proofread! The next chapter should be up on Thursday and it's going to be in a different POV :) what do you think of the characters so far? Do we like or not like?

If you thought this chapter wasn't terrible and think it's worth a Vote/Comment/Add/Follow then thanks, I really appreciate it!!! Okay, so, yeah, I really have to go now. Sorry this A/N is so choppy, I'll try and make the next one less rushed :') Right, thanks again for reading, you're all awesome!!! Until next time, byee!!!)