Chapter 5

FIVE

Samantha

I dress early and head outside, careful not to wake Dahlia, who is not a morning person. I'm hoping to get a little time to myself before the other students wake up, but I shouldn't have been surprised to see Aydan sitting outside on the porch of the cabin next to mine. He looks freshly showered, no doubt having taken one after his typical morning workout. It makes me smile to realize that he hasn't changed all that much since the last time we hung out.

When his gaze meets mine though, all the familiar butterflies come back. He'd been so weird the night before. Is that how things are gonna go between us from now on?

But to my relief, he smiles, and the smile reaches his eyes. He runs his hand through his dirty-blond hair and heads towards me. It's like he's been keeping an eye out, waiting for me, instead of whatever the heck I'm sure he really is doing out here.

"Morning," he says, coming to a stop in front of me. Then, after only a second's hesitation, "Sorry about last night."

I shrug, although I'm more than a little surprised he brought it up. "For what? You were fine."

He shakes his head. "No, I was tired and grumpy. Granger let me have it later on."

" You tired and grumpy? I don't believe it! Weird and grumpy was that summer your voice started changing and you only spoke in a grumble for like three months."

He laughs, and I hate how much I love the sound of his laugh. "So what do you think today will be like? Think it'll be mostly a meet and greet? Or are we gonna dive right into things?"

I sigh a little dramatically. "Surprisingly, with all those nondisclosure agreements we signed, we're not allowed to talk about anything that we experience up here, which has made it pretty hard to find out what this program will actually be like."

He nods, his expression saying he's encountered the same thing. "Did you actually talk to anyone who has done this before?"

I think of the professor I'd reached out to. It'd taken a lot of digging to see her connection to the Phoenix Institute and track her down. Fortunately, she actually worked at my university, so from there it hadn't been too hard to seek the professor out.

She'd told me the nondisclosure agreements that we sign are ironclad and that there wasn't much she could say. But she did tell me that if I was looking for an adventure, if I wanted to take a risk and learn more about the world than I ever imagined before, that this would be a great opportunity for me.

The professor also said that it was okay if I wasn't that kind of person. That if I was someone who just wanted a nine-to-five type of job and intended to do only research work after I got my degree, then this definitely wasn't for me.

She said it was mostly hands on, depending on my area of interest. It was also sometimes a little dangerous, and I'd learn a whole hell of a lot. So, of course, I'd signed up and then spent the last few months freaking out when I got accepted.

Not that I'd tell Aydan all of that. He already knew how freaked out I've been. The last thing I need is for Aydan to start calling me a chicken.

"My source made it clear that this would be an adventure," I told him, then smile.

"Yeah, we already knew that though, right?" he says, returning my smile.

Our eyes lock. It's hard to breathe. I imagine tension singing between us, but know deep down it's only in my head. So, I force myself not to get lost in his baby blue eyes, and look away. Finally able to breathe again.

"My sources told me nothing," he confesses, "but I'm excited to see what happens."

A minute later, Granger comes out of their cabin. He catches sight of us and then he lets out a huge whoop , like we're at his favorite sport's game. "You guys still being awkward or did we make nice?"

I roll my eyes. "We made nice. Now, do you want breakfast?"

He pats his belly, sticking it out as far as he can. "You know I would never turn away a good meal."

The urge to roll my eyes again comes and goes. My mom always said my eyes would get stuck that way if I did it too much, but I'm rolling my eyes for a reason. Granger doesn't exactly have a six-pack, but he's hardly shaped like a bowling ball. Yet, he continues to act like he's some kind of walrus. He needs to get that idea out of his head.

"I'm sure you forget meals with your nose buried in books all the time," I tell him, slipping my arm into his.

He stands up straighter, grinning. "Way too often, actually."

We all head down to the meal hall near the front of campus. There are a couple of students hanging around out front, but mostly it's quiet and empty. Students in our field are often nature lovers, people who tend to rise with the sun and go to sleep when it sets. However, the three of us have the woods, nature, and the rising of the sun ingrained in our very beings. I have no doubt that we'll be the earliest risers for the summer.

Heading inside, we find a cafeteria setting and lots of food just being put under warmers by the staff at the institute. We select eggs, bacon, biscuits, and gravy, piling our plates up high.

Granger often jokes about loving to eat. I think he does it because he feels insecure about his size, but the truth is that Aydan and I eat just as much as he does. We just have different body types.

We get a spot by the window in the corner and dig into our food in silence, other than the sounds of our feasting. It's nice, like old times. We're just three wild animals barely coming up for air as we eat our body weights in breakfast foods.

"Remember your mom's biscuits and gravy?" Aydan asks, followed by a moan.

My stomach rumbles at just the thought of them. My mom's an incredible cook. One of the best. She makes nearly everything from scratch. I heard she cooks even more since dad passed, but she just gives it away everywhere she can.

There were several times in my life where she tried to teach me how to cook, but we both realized pretty quickly that I was not a natural cook. I wasn't lucky enough to have her skills.

My mom likes to say that she's as good at cooking as I am at climbing a tree. But sometimes I think that she got the better of the two skills.

"How is your mom doing?" Granger asks.

My food turns to ash on my tongue, and I swallow it like a rock. "She's still staying busy. Traveling a bit."

"That's good, I guess," he says, flashing me a sympathetic smile.

My father passed right before I left for college. I'd almost not gone as a result, but my mom had convinced me that she was fine. The life insurance was enough to pay off the house and pay her bills, so she could spend her days baking, cleaning, and knitting. All things she loved.

She just usually did those things with my dad next to her. My awesome dad who was the glue that held our family together.

But those are dark thoughts I don't want to get lost in. "How about your family?"

Granger wrinkles his nose, which I understand without him having to say a word. His parents are very different people from Granger. They're both mechanics who own and run a shop in our town. All three of his older brothers work at the mechanic shop because they're copies of their parents. They're very hands-on people who don't mind getting dirty. It's actually one of their favorite pastimes, along with fighting.

The problem is that Granger was the one that always ended up hurt in these fights. They didn't seem to understand that they had one kid out of four who just wasn't into fighting and getting dirty. Granger was book smart. He liked to think and analyze everything. He liked to explore too, but he preferred his time staring into microscopes just as much.

"The family is fine. I visited recently and wow. I got a wedgie. More wedgies than I can count, actually. And my hair was messed up. And I got a black eye. Even though I'm a full-grown man." Granger pokes angrily at his eggs.

I shake my head. "They haven't changed much."

His frown deepens. "Well, now they have about a dozen little kids. And so far, all of them have taken after my brothers."

I wince, unable to help myself, imagining twelve little kids with exactly the same personalities as his brothers, dad, and his mom. Now, for the first time, I'm glad that I couldn't afford to go back home and visit.

"What about your parents?" I ask Aydan.

He freezes.

Damn it. Damn it. Think, Samantha, think!

One thing about Aydan is that he doesn't really enjoy talking about his parents, which had momentarily slipped my mind. I know his dad is kind of a rough guy, and his mom is a quiet woman. But the way Aydan reacts to any questions about them still surprises me.

"They're fine," he says.

They're fine is Aydan's way of saying he doesn't want to talk about it. I'll probably ask more later, maybe after a few drinks. Something about the night always lets Aydan talk a little more freely than the daytime.

"Okay," I say, plan in place.

We finish eating and clean up our stuff, heading for the door of the cafeteria. Excitement bubbles between us again, so strong it's almost palpable.

"Do you think it's too early to ask about our schedules?" Granger asks, flashing a grin.

"It couldn't hurt," I say, although I'm sure most of that will be covered in orientation.

Orientation is just a couple of hours away, and I definitely have butterflies in my stomach. We're here to get hands-on experience, science credits that will help carry us to graduation, and make impressions that might lead to jobs. I just really hope I'll actually end up getting to work in the wildlife sanctuary, for my classes now and hopefully in the future.

They'd said no one was guaranteed a specific assignment for our classes, but that they'd do their best to put us in our specialty-interest fields. I hope that's true.

Outside, we walk toward the main office. Granger leads the way, and when we reach the main office we see Ms. Gerald sitting at the reception desk. She looks exhausted, like she's been up all night.

I'm starting to doubt the wisdom of our plan.

Granger turns on his most charming smile. "Good morning."

Her dark gaze catches his, and she lifts a brow. "Can I help you?"

Granger's charming smile goes up a couple notches. "We were just hoping we might be able to find out our schedules."

She studies us like we're stupid. "You'll get your schedules at orientation. There, you'll meet the professors you'll be working with, and you'll find out anything else you need to know."

Granger's smile falls. "Of course, of course."

It's pretty hard to watch, so I step up and give a smile myself. "Sorry. We're just nervous and excited. We didn't mean to bother you, Ms. Gerald."

The look of irritation fades a little from her face. "I understand that feeling. I was young once. But you'll get everything you need at the orientation."

We thank her again, although she's already focused on her computer once more, and then head outside.

Once the door is closed, Granger turns to Aydan. "Why didn't you try something?"

Aydan looks at him, surprised. "Try what?"

"Flirt with her. Here's the King of Flirting, right there beside us, a man who could charm the pants off of any woman, and he just stands there!"

I try to ignore the hard rock in my stomach. Of course he can. Aydan can be charming when he wants to be, and he probably uses that winning smile of his to get into the pants of more girls than I could count. It shouldn't bother me. I already knew all of that.

Aydan doesn't look at me as he says, "Buddy, if your skills didn't work on her, nothing I could say would've done a thing."

Granger stands up a little bit taller. "Maybe you're right."

Aydan looks at me and grins, and I grin back. We hate when Granger puts himself down or acts like just because Aydan is traditionally more attractive that it means he's some kind of worm. Aydan's attractive, there's no doubt about that. But Granger has a way of impressing people that Aydan can't compete with, and he needs to just accept that.

"Well, now what?" Aydan asks.

"Explore the campus?" Granger offers.

"We have a few hours still to kill, so, might as well," I say with a shrug.

The Wolf Pack heads off together, excited, but nervous.

Orientation can't come too soon.