Chapter 24 – What's that supposed to mean?

Lucy's POV

By the time Saturday finally rolls around, I'm extremely grateful for the weekend. The entire of my week has been full of school, training and patrols, so it's safe to say I'm tired... and in desperate need of a break.

"Where are you going?" Amy asks as I head for the front door, dressed in my usual checked shirt, jeans and converse.

"Off for a run," I reply, although it's not quite the truth.

"Oh, okay, how long you going to be?" she then asks.

"Not sure," I reply with a shrug. "A few hours maybe?"

"Have fun," Jess pipes up from the other side of the room, where she currently sits watching the TV.

When I got home from the meeting on Monday, I went straight to the sisters and told them about what had gone down. Jess got me to re-promise that I would keep my mouth shut, whilst Amy tried to convince her to go and find this Devlin guy to warn him. As expected, the entire conversation led to yet another argument. Ever since then, we've all stayed warily off the subject, and so I'm still not exactly sure what's going on with that entire situation.

"I'll see you both later," I call out to them just before I close the front door behind me and start walking, one certain destination in mind.

I haven't been to the lake cabin since I went with Justin on Sunday, and I've been dying to go back ever since. It's so quiet and peaceful... the perfect place to go after having such a hectic and demanding week.

It only takes me half an hour to reach the lake today, but when I get there I immediately stop dead in my tracks.

"...Justin?" I call out in confusion, watching him as he sits there on the rocks, seemingly lost in thought.

At the sound of my voice, however, he looks up at me, apparently just as surprised at seeing me here as I am him.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" he asks as I make my way over to sit next to him. 

"Just wanted to get away for a while, I guess," I reply with a shrug. "You?"

"Same," he admits with a half-smile.

"Is everything okay?" I ask, picking upon the fact that he seems a lot more down than usual.

"Yeah," he replies, but I don't believe him for a second. His eyes aren't carrying the bright spark that they usually do.

"Seriously," I push, nudging him lightly with my shoulder. "What's wrong?"

He's silent for a few seconds before replying.

"It's mainly just my dad," he admits with a small shrug, looking out at the lake.

"David?" I question, not expecting that kind of answer at all.

"Yeah," he confirms. "He's being... overly demanding, even more so than usual. It's really starting to piss me off."

"How do you mean?"

"Just with this whole rogue situation," he sighs. "I'm expected to keep on top of it, along with running our training sessions, patrols and keeping up the grades at school. I mean, I know I'm supposed to be in training for becoming the future Alpha and everything, but sometimes I wish I could just be a normal eighteen year old for once."

"I know exactly what you mean," I admit, removing my shoes and socks before dipping my feet into the water.

When I was younger, all I wanted was to be accepted, to be seen as normal and not just some weakling that couldn't look after herself. As I got older, though, I decided to not let it get to me so much. After all, I couldn't actually do anything about it, so I just learnt to accept it.

"Yeah, I guess you do," he murmurs.

We sit in silence for a while, neither of us seeming to know what else to say.

"Do you ever wish that you could just... start over?" Justin then asks after a few more minutes of silence.

"Start what over?" I ask, confused.

"Everything."

Glancing over at him, I notice the small crease forming between his eyebrows as he frowns slightly.

"I don't know," I sigh. "I guess but, well, life doesn't work like that, Justin. You only have one shot at it. You have to roll with the punches otherwise you'll just drown."

"I guess..." he replies, before becoming a little more light-hearted. "Hey, since when did you become so wise?"

I grin and shrug. "What're you talking about? I've always been full of wisdom."

"Sure..." he says, dragging out the word and rolling his eyes.

Another silence falls over us and I look out over the lake, watching as the water ripples under the force of the breeze.

"Come on," Justin says suddenly, climbing to his feet and holding out a hand to help me up as well.

"Where?" I ask, confused once again.

"Let's go check out the cabin," he explains. "I'm bored and we didn't go inside last time."

Shrugging, I take his hand and he swiftly pulls me to my feet. Taking a look inside the cabin sounds like a much more interesting idea that just sitting outside for another hour.

We head over towards the small wooden cabin, walking up the steps and pushing open the door. Just like everything else about this place, the inside of the cabin looks exactly how I remember it. There's a small single bed over to the right side of the room, covered by a red and black patterned blanket and pillow. The matching rug on the floor looks old and worn, but still helps make the place look cosy. The small square window to the left of the room remains uncovered as there are not curtains hung up to hide it, and the small table and chairs sit just in front of it, looking out at the trees beyond. All in all, the place doesn't look too bad. Sure, it could use some new furniture and possibly a lick of paint here and there, but I like the fact that it's pretty much the same as it was before.

"This is insane," Justin murmurs, seemingly being hit with the same sense of déjà vu as me.

"I know, right?" I reply, walking over to the bed and taking a seat as I don't trust the chairs not to break under my weight.

"Hey, do you remember that night when I decided it would be a good idea to tell you that ghost story?" he asks, coming over to sit next to me.

"You mean the one where you scared me shitless and I refused to fall asleep?" I ask with a roll of my eyes. "How the hell could I forget?"

It must've been about the sixth time coming here and it was getting dark out, but our parents still wanted to stay for a bit longer. Of course, Justin and I weren't allowed to stay up with them as it was way past both our bedtimes and so mum brought us in here and told us she'd wake us up when it was time to leave. Justin then decided to tell me this weird ghost story about a girl who'd died and was now haunting these woods looking for revenge. Of course I, being the gullible little child I was back then, believed every single word.

I refused to sleep on the outside of the bed and got Justin to swap places with me so I could have the wall side, simply because I thought she would be hiding under the bed waiting to grab me in my sleep.

"Yeah, that was a good night, wasn't it?" he says with a grin, and I turn to give him an incredulous look.

"You're kidding, right?" I reply. "I don't think I got any sleep at all."

"Maybe not," he agrees. "But we had a pretty good time staying up talking."

That was true. We'd spent the rest of the night making shadow puppets with our torches and talking about random things until my mum came back to get us. I guess I could admit that the night wasn't completely awful...

"I guess," I mumble with a shrug. "Although I still think you're a complete asshole for scaring me like that."

"Oh, come on..." he says with a small laugh. "You knew I'd never have let anything hurt you."

Nothing except for you...

I sigh and lean back against the wall, shaking my head to myself slightly.

"How's training going?" I ask curiously, wanting to keep my mind away from that train of thought.

"Alright, I suppose," he replies, leaning back against the wall next to me. "Although some people are kind of starting to look like a lost cause."

"Oh, yeah? Like who?" I ask.

"Like... Melissa," he admits with a shake of his head, and I snort in reply. "Honestly, though," he continues. "I swear to God that girl can't throw a punch without worrying about breaking a nail."

"Ugh, so cliché," I mutter with a roll of my eyes. "So it looks like your future girlfriend won't be much use up against the rouges. And people call me pathetic..."

"Future girlfriend? Who, Melissa?!" he asks quickly, causing me to roll me eyes again.

"Oh, come on, it's so obvious. You guys are constantly flirting each other's asses off," I tease.

He sighs and shakes his head before muttering, "Why does everyone think that I like Melissa?"

I look over at him with a confused frown. "Um... maybe because you broke up with Rachel?" I suggest.

Rumours spread like wildfire in our school, and it wasn't long before practically everyone knew that he broke up with Rachel because he was interested in someone else. Then again... that's not exactly an uncommon thing for Justin to do, and everyone just assumed that it was Melissa.

"You really think I'd break up with a girl because I wanted to get with her best friend?" he asks in shock, looking over to study my expression.

I shrug. "Well... it's not exactly like you've been discreet about your player ways over the years," I reply, before making my voice slightly more light-hearted. "Who knew you actually had morals?"

"Ouch. That's cold," he replies with a shake of his head.

"Maybe so, but it doesn't make it any less true," I say. "Anyway, if it's not Melissa that you're after, then who the hell is it?"

Our eyes meet and I watch curiously as an unknown emotion quickly passes through his, but it's gone before I can decipher it.

"Isn't it obvious?" he replies, confusing me.

What's that supposed to mean?

"Um... no?" I reply, not meaning for it to come out as a question.

"Really, you have no idea?" he asks again, and I shake my head before chuckling as Amy's theory pops into my head. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," I reply. "It's just Amy seems to have a ridiculous theory about it is all."

"Oh, yeah?" he asks, his lips curving up into a slight smirk. "And what exactly is this theory?"

"Well..." I say, biting on my lip for a few seconds whilst I decide on whether or not to tell him, "she kind of thinks that it might be, um, me." As soon as the words leave my mouth I immediately regret saying them, wishing for nothing more than to just be able to take them back, and so I quickly add on the end. "Which is completely stupid. I mean, there's no way that..." I trail off as I meet his eyes again.

This time, the emotion's slightly easier to read, and what I see scares me shitless.

"...is there...?" I ask, my confusion growing more and more by the second.

He's silent for a few more seconds before he clears his throat. "Well..." he trails off, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Oh. Shit.

Okay. Things just got awkward...

"Please tell me you're joking," I say slowly, sitting up straighter to get a better look at him and watching as he winces slightly.

Obviously that had not been the reaction he was hoping for.

"You have got to be kidding me," I mutter, looking away from him and closing my eyes.

I'm honestly not quite sure what I'm feeling right now, but it's somewhere along the lines of shocked, confused and angry.

I do not want to be in this situation right now. This is just... what even is this?!

"I've got to go," I announce suddenly, quickly standing up and making my way towards the door.

"Lucy, wait!" he replies, scrambling up after me and catching hold of my arm to prevent me from escaping.

What even – What the hell is going on right now?!

I yank my arm from his grasp and turn to him, running my hands through my hair before tugging at it in pure frustration.

"You can't just..." I start, not even sure how to say what I want to say right now, so I just settle for, "you rejected me!"

"I know," he says quickly, "and it was a mistake."

"You abandoned me! You abandoned me when I needed you the most!"

"I know," he repeats. "I know and I'm sorry!"

"I – I just – you can't just..."

"Luce, let me explain," he pleads.

"No," I shake my head, my eyes filling with tears that I furiously blink away. "No, you can't do this, this isn't fair and this isn't how it works! You made it clear that you didn't want me, that I meant nothing to you, you can't just go back on that now! You can't just – you can't just change your mind whenever you feel like it!"

"Lucy, please, I'm sorry, okay? I just – I was scared. I was scared and confused and under so much pressure to be the perfect future Alpha that I thought pushing you away would be the best thing for me. I know it's no excuse but, well, I didn't know what else to do!"

"You're such an asshole!" I snap. How the hell can he say that he was scared when I was the one who was suddenly completely alone without any family?!

"I know," he agrees, stumbling over his words slightly. "I know I am and I know I made a mistake but, please, just give me one more chance. This thing with the rogues, it's made me realise that I need you. You were always the one to knock some sense into me when I was being an idiot, the one to help me through things when it got too tough. I can't... I can't do this alone."

"Bullshit," I mutter, telling myself not to listen to him.

He's such a liar! I'm nothing but a novelty to him, a novelty that will wear off within a week, and I refuse to let him hurt me again.

"It's not," he disagrees immediately. "I promise you it's not. I still care about you, Luce-"

"Stop," I interrupt him, not wanting to hear anymore.

This isn't fair. I've only just gotten over him; I've only just started getting my life back on track. I can't let him ruin that all now.

"I promised you I'd never let anything hurt you-"

"Don't you dare!" I interrupt him again. "You broke that promise the second you abandoned me for your popularity!"

"Tell me what to do," he replies, his voice barely above a whisper as he stands in front of me looking just as pathetic as I did on the day he disowned me. "God, Luce, tell me what I can do to make things right again."

I close my eyes and shake my head, not even caring about the single tear that escapes down my cheek.

"You can't" I whisper in reply.

Then, he does one of the most unexpected things in the world...

He kisses me.

The rich scent of apple and cinnamon overpowers my senses as he gently presses his lips to mine, my eyes still closed. I want to pull away, and I know that I should but... at the same time, I just can't.

Before I can even understand my own jumbled thoughts, I find myself kissing him back.

The kiss starts off slow and careful, and I can't help but find myself craving more of it the longer our lips remain connected, the longer his scent completely engulfs me.

My arms slowly snake around his neck and, gradually, the kiss becomes more urgent. He becomes more urgent. He quickly backs me into the wall, and I can't help the slight gasp that escapes my lips the moment my back makes contact with it. My gasp elicits a small moan from him, which then causes me to kiss him with even more force as my hands move from around his neck to twist themselves into his hair.

Suddenly, his lips leave mine in order to trail down my neck and I shudder at the heat of them against my cool skin.

Then my rational thought seems to kick in, forcing itself through the foggy scent-induced haze that is clouding my brain and, therefore, my judgement.

Holy crap! What the fuck am I doing?!

"No," I mutter, forcing the strength into my voice as I push him away, unable to meet his eyes. "I can't do this."

Then, without another word, I turn and run.

Oh, God, what did I just do...?

I run for what feels like forever, not paying too much attention to where I'm going as I focus on trying to stop my hands from shaking so badly. It doesn't seem to be working.

Did that seriously just happen? Did Justin kiss me? Did I... did I really kiss him back?!

Oh shit.

***

It takes me hours to reach Beck's place and, when I do, I don't hesitate to change back to my human form and head towards the cave.

There's no way I was going straight home. Not after...

"Beck?" I yell out, my voice almost as shaky as my hands as I pant for breath. "Beck!"

"Shorty? What's wrong?" he asks, emerging from the cave within seconds.

"I – I've done something stupid," is all I manage to say before I break down crying.

Goddammit I'm so confused! Today has just been one pile of fuck.

Beck watches me in shock for a few seconds before seemingly snapping into action, he immediately pulls me into a much needed hug without asking any further questions.

"It's okay," he murmurs as my tears quickly turn to sniffles before stopping completely.

"Can I, um, can I stay here for a while?" I mumble into his T-shirt.

"Of course you can," he replies, lifting my chin up with his finger so that I'm looking him straight in the eyes. "You're always welcome here, Lucy, you know that."

"Thanks," I sigh, pulling away and looking at the floor as my cheeks suddenly heat in embarrassment at my sudden outburst.

Where the hell did that even come from? I hate crying in front of people.

"Come on," he says, taking my hand in his and leading me into the cave.

We end up sitting on the sofa with his arm around me as I lean against his side, my head resting against his shoulder.

"So," he says carefully. "Are you going to tell me what's happened?"

I'm silent for a few more seconds before replying. "I kissed Justin."

Feeling him suddenly tense up next to me, I remove my head from his shoulder and look up at him, trying to read his eyes as he looks back at me.

Something quickly passes through his eyes and I find myself wishing that Beck wasn't always so good at hiding his emotions, because I get the distinct feeling that he's disappointed in me.

"Why? I thought you hated the guy," he replies, his voice calm.

"I - I don't know," I admit. "I mean, well, it was kind of more like he kissed me. And I do hate him, it's just... I don't know." I sigh and shake my head. "It's probably just the stupid predestined bond thingy that we have."

"You guys still have that?" he asks with a frown.

"Well, I mean, yeah," I reply with a shrug. "It's not as if it was just going to disappear overnight. I guess it could've been fading slightly, but, after today..."

"What are you going to do now?"

I shrug again.

"I guess I'm just going to wait here for a few hours before heading back home. It's not like I have any other option."

"You could just stay here," he suggests, causing me to roll my eyes at him.

"Seriously not the time, Beck," I mutter.

"I'm being serious," he defends, and I turn to look straight into his eyes.

"I know," I sigh. "And that's what makes it worse. You have no idea how many times I've been tempted to take you up on that offer."

"Well then why don't you just do it?" he wonders, another frown creasing his forehead.

"Um, possibly because my entire life is back there?" I remind him.

"You could always start a new one," he replies.

"Beck..." I murmur, and I can tell by his face that he knows to just drop it.

"Okay, okay," he mutters. "So what do you want to talk about?"

"I don't," I admit, closing my eyes and leaning my head back against his shoulder.

"You're such a pain in the ass, you know that Shorty?" he sighs, resting his cheek against the top of my head.

"Oh please, you love me for it," I reply with a smirk.

"Hmm..." he replies. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything," I reply with a yawn. "You know that."

He's remains quiet for so long that I begin to think that he didn't hear me, and so I'm about to answer again when he finally speaks up.

"Do you like him?"

"Who?"

"Justin."

"Oh." I frown with my eyes still closed, not really understanding where this is going. "I don't know," I admit, deciding to stick with the truth. I don't like lying to Beck. "I mean, he's still a dick for what he did to me, but I think he's trying to change things."

Thinking back to the way he was earlier, I know that there's no 'think' about it. Yeah, he's definitely trying to change things...

"You deserve better," he sighs, and I chuckle in amusement.

"Like who exactly?"

He sighs again and, just as I'm drifting off to sleep, I hear him mutter a quiet, "who indeed."

***

I'm not quite sure how long I spend asleep at Beck's, but I know that when I eventually wake up it's getting pretty late.

"Hey," I murmur, nudging him with my shoulder gently to wake him up. "Hey, Beck."

"What?" he groans, rubbing his eyes as he sits up straighter on the sofa.

"I should get going, it'll be getting dark soon," I inform him.

"No, stay," he replies. "We could go into town later and drop by 'The Swing-in'".

"I can't," I sigh regrettably. "I have to get back or the others will worry. There are still rogues about, you know?"

"All the more reason to stay," he attempts, looking over at me with a smirk. "I'll keep you safe."

"You're a moron, you know that?" I reply with a grin as I stand up, stretching my arms over my head before letting them drop back to my sides.

"Yeah, you may have mentioned that once or twice before," he says. I roll my eyes.

"Seriously, though, I do have to go. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm not even meant to be out in the woods on my own," I admit. "I guess I wasn't exactly thinking straight when I came here earlier."

"Right," he agrees, his good mood seemingly turning slightly sour. "The douchebag."

"Yeah," I sigh. "I guess I'll see you around?"

"You want me to walk you out?" he offers, but I just shake my head.

"Nah, you go back to sleep," I tell him. "I'm a big girl, I'm sure I can get myself back safely."

"You sure?" he asks, sounding uncertain.

"Positive," I reply. "Thanks for letting me crash here," I then add.

"Anytime."

"I'll try and visit again soon," I promise, giving him a quick hug before exiting the cave.

Okay, so now I just have to get home safely, avoid Justin and come up with a valid reason as to why I'm most likely going to miss training today. Great.

I slowly make my way away from the cave before changing, and I then race home as fast as I can, not wanting Jess or Lucy to worry too much, although I'm sure they're wondering where the hell I am by now.

When I'm close enough to our borders, I hurriedly change back and get dressed before checking my phone.

It's completely dead. Great. No wonder I wasn't receiving any calls or texts, it must've ran out of battery when I was still at the lake cabin or something.

The thought of the lake cabin causes a small blush to crawl up onto my cheeks.

Should I tell Jess and Amy about the kiss? I don't want them to make a huge deal out of it or anything, but then again...

A sudden noise from behind me causes me to stop my speculating immediately and, before I even have the chance to turn around, I hear a sudden loud cracking noise and feel a blinding white hot pain on the back of my skull before everything turns black.

There's absolutely nothing I can do as I feel myself falling into unconsciousness...

(Hey guys! Sooo... here's chapter 24... FINALLY!!! I know it took over two months for me to write this one and I'm really sorry :(  I was really stuck on how to write it but I tried to make it extra long to make up for it :)

Anywhoo,  apologies now out if the way, what did you guys think of it? I'm not particularly sure that I like it so I really want to know your thoughts on this one.
First kiss scene, good or bad? I haven't written one in a while so it might seem a little clunky, I don't know :/
Cliffhanger, what do you think of it?
Also,  who are you routing for, Beck or Justin? ;)

Sorry if there are any major mistakes within the chapter, I only briefly proofread this one because it's really late and I'm tired.
Next chapter will be in Lucy's POV again, and it'll be a chapter that causes the plot to move on further so I'm really looking forward to writing it :D

Erm... yeah. I'm not really sure what else to say except I hope you liked this chapter and don't forget to vote/comment if you did, I'll love you for it forever :) thank you for being patient with me over the past few months, I'll try and get the next chapter up as soon as possible. Byee!)