Chapter 26: Chapter 23

On the way back to the dorms, I made sure to avoid the cameras (how did I know?) and easily leaped over the fence. I climbed up the wall of the dorm -because the sky had darkened already- and sneaked into my room. To my surprise, I also saw Summer scaling down the wall, along with a few other shadows, all of them using some hidden pulley system. 

I don't think they saw me, so I waited until they were all out of sight and entered our room. I laid down on my bed, shifted back to a quick furred one, and curled up. But I could still feel that intense longing for her. For Em. Why do I feel that? Why? I know that I have almost reached prime mating time for humans, but just...why another female? I don't get it. But why do I feel such resistance? It's not like someone had told me that before, right? 

I curled up, and tried to drift to sleep. But I just kept on picturing her face. Actually, now that I think about it, what goes after kissing? I wondered.

The next morning I woke up and went to class. Like usual, Summer hadn't returned to our dorm room yet.

For some reason, class seemed suddenly uninteresting compared to Em. She was sitting next to me in all our classes for some reason -not that I wasn't glad. During class, I couldn't help but sneak glances at her, or inhale deeper to smell her scent better. Hmm. I'm pretty sure that in a movie I watched, smelling someone is considered impolite and creepy. Whatever. 

I liked her smell. It smelled like something sour, but sweet. 

I stuck to her like usual with just slightly more intensity than before.

I followed her to the bathroom, to her locker, to her dorm when she had to quickly fetch something, and to our classes. I also made sure to get as much of my scent on her as possible, so to make sure anyone with senses as good as mine -which wasn't as rare as I had thought- would know that she was mine. Minemineminemine. And no one can take her away. And we'll be together forever so that I won't have to be alone anymore.

During the day, Em kept glancing back towards me uneasily, and I made sure to smile, as was polite. But she kept making weirder and weirder expressions. 

I'll need to properly research human courtship. 

After classes, I ran back to the dorms and used my new phone.

'How to court a female' I searched. Many results popped up, but from what I can tell, I was supposed to gift her sweets, do stuff for her, make sure to be close to her, and to drive away any other potential mates. Next was to bring her to a sunset, sunrise, or go stargazing, and tell her, "I love you", and then kiss her. After this stage, the information that turned up clashed with each other. Where one said to go slow and hold her hand with occasional kisses, another said to bed her and make sure to show her 'you passion'.

So I decided that first, I would court her. Next, I would figure it out. It hadn't even occurred to me that she would reject.

The next day at school I brought sweet things -candy that I had noticed she liked- for her, and handed one whenever she looked bored or just whenever. Next, I carried her schoolbag for her, ignoring the gazes from the other people. They were meaningless, anyway.

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I made sure to stick just as close to her as the day before, and glared at any person that approached her. 

Once school was over, I took her hand -as instructed by the website- and led her to the top of the dorms. She was visibly puzzled, but complied nonetheless. The top of the building was grey, barren concrete and covered in wrappers and trash. I immediately regretted my decision. I sat down on the ground, and pushed away the surrounding trash and dust as well as I can, then gestured for her to sit. I looked up at the sky. The sun was setting, but it wasn't even close to a sunset. 

But I was too impatient. No, no. Patience. Patience is key. Remember all those lessons. I told myself. But another part of me whispered, But this isn't hunting for prey. She's a mate. The quicker you can get her, the better.

"So...why're we here?" Em asked from beside me, a black strand of her hair hanging slightly in front of her sparkling green eyes. She reached up a hand and pushed that strand of silky dark hair behind her ear. All of a sudden, I could hear my heart pounding quickly, and heat rising up my cheeks. My breathing sped up as I gazed into her dark green eyes that had so much depth to them, lowered my head at a moderate pace, and kissed her. 

I have no prior experience, but I followed the tutorial of how to kiss someone. I closed my eyes, and felt her soft and slightly dry lips. I tilted my head slightly, and continued to keep my lips glued to hers. I then opened my mouth and licked her lips, and waited for her to open hers.

-==-

Fuck. What the fuck. What am I doing? What is Storm doing? Is this why she's been acting so territorial and weird lately? Fuck fuck fuck. What do I do? Should I kiss her back? Honestly, her technique is terrible, but what should I do? If Storm had been some random person, she would've slapped them silly by now. But it was Storm. She would probably just piss her off and who knows what Storm can do? They haven't even known each other long enough! But it's pretty nice to kiss a hot girl though. 

Then she felt Storm lick her lips. Then paused, lifted her lips from her lips, and kissed her neck, each kiss spaced with a quick lick that sent shivers up her spine. That sent her back into her panic mode. What do I do?! I don't feel romantically attracted to her! Sexually -and she was certainly aroused- yes, but not romantically! Em opened her eyes, and saw Storm's flushed face and silly smile. Belatedly, Em realized that Storm had stopped kissing her. 

Fuck. I think she's into me. Like, really into me. Other than some slight smiles, and those creepy grins, Storm rarely emoted. And she certainly has never smiled that dopily and stupidly before. And cutely.

"So I think that you like me, right?" Em's destructive mouth opened up. "But I don't think I'm actually, like, romantically into you. Like, you have a nice body, and I wouldn't mind dating you, I guess, but I don't really like you that way yet?"

Storm's smile and flushed face had vanished, replaced by something dark and thunderous. Storm went up into all fours, and took a step (?) forwards, her mouth in a grimace.

Em fearfully scooted away from Storm, her instincts screaming at her to run run run. Something must've showed on her expression, and Storm stood up, sprinted towards the edge of the roof, and jumped. Em hurriedly ran to the edge, and was almost clipped my the dark, feathered wing that flew up. The raven that was probably Storm flew away and quickly became a dot in the sky.

She's fine, but...Em thought back to that flash of hurt in Storm's eyes, and the maybe tears that had gathered in the corners of her eyes.