Work Text:
Lindy's POV
Walking the halls of Tuttle at the end of the school day, I'm exhausted. It's May 6th, over five months since I've seen Adrian, since I left the cabin up in the woods.
Five months of struggling, and trying to help my dad, begging for my scholarship to Tuttle back, and being let in only on a probationary basis.
Lugging my incredibly heavy backpack down the hall, I pass a group of students excitedly standing with their suitcases, the glowing screen behind them reading:
BON VOYAGE: MACHU PICCHU TODAY!
The big senior year trip to Machu Picchu, the one I'd thought about maybe trying to go on next year. If I make it to next year...
I walk up to my locker and open it, emptying out my overstuffed backpack, filled with all the homework and projects I missed while out of school. The good news is Will had sent along my assignments and exams from my time at the brownstone, so at least my first semester of junior year was accounted for. The second semester though, was all up to me. As I flipped through my folder looking at different worksheets I had to get done, I heard a yell.
"Woah, what is that?" A guy called out, and I heard someone else, a girl this time, "Ew! Is...is that a person?" Other whispers started, and I turned around to see a crowd had started forming, circling something...or...someone...
"Lindy!" I heard my name being called. "Lindy! Where is Lindy Owens?"
Oh...
My...
God...
It couldn't be...
I walked towards the crowd, trying to shove my way past people all clamoured together, gasping, whispering, taking out their phones and snapping pictures...
And there he was.
Adrian.
He had put on a black hoodie, putting the hood up and pulling the strings to try and hide himself, but it was no use. He had his clawed hands up in front of his face trying to shield himself. I pushed forward, going to him.
"Adrian?," I asked, and he looked at me. There were tears in his eyes. I remembered what he told me that day in the greenhouse, surrounded by all of the leaves he had raked, just for me.
"I can't take the chance. What if someone took pictures, posted them online...made fun of me? What if everyone came to stare at the freak?"
A flash of light came from my right side, a camera flash of someone's phone. Then another, and another, more giggles, more whispers. Adrian looked like he could shatter into a million pieces, clutching onto himself, covered in shame, in fear. I needed to help him.
"What are you doing here?," I asked, half hopeful, half confused. I was glad to see him, of course, but not under these circumstances.
"I had to see you...before it was too late...," he said, slightly muffled, as he was still trying to hide himself from view. Another camera flash.
"Too late? Too late for what?" I tried to get him to focus on me, not on the three dozen or so teenagers gathered around us, and I went to put my hands on his shoulders. "Adrian? Where have you been? You said you'd be back in April, I looked for the brownstone, I couldn't find it. Why didn't you call me?"
He opened himself up a little now, letting me see his hairy face, despite the gasps that came from around us of those who hadn't gotten a clear look before.
"I'm sorry, Lindy, I wanted to see you...but...I was being dumb...I am dumb...," he glanced around, at the disgusted faces of those around us, "I just was scared...scared that you didn't...," another flash of a camera.
"Didn't what?," I said, shaking his shoulders to get him to focus on me. He looked down, shamefully.
"Didn't...love me...," I choked on my breath, "and I didn't think you could...because of how ugly I am...," he finished, sadly, as people around us gasped. I squeezed his shoulders, and he looked back up at me, meeting my eyes.
"And...I should've known better...that...that's not who you are," he said, and a tear escaped from his eye, landing in the fur on his left cheek, and I felt myself start to cry to.
"Adrian...," I started, but he kept going.
"Somehow, when I'm around you...I don't feel ugly at all," he said, and in that moment it was like everyone and everything disappeared. I brought my hands from his shoulders to his face, his hairy face.
"That's because you're not," I said, bringing my hands further up, and removing his hood, his fur on the top of his head, his "hair" spilling out. I felt his face then, caressed his jaw, his wolf-like nose, his lipless mouth. "Adrian."
I leaned in. "I love you," I whispered, just loud enough for him to hear.
And I kissed him.
And we kissed for what felt like ever. And though I heard everyone around us, groans of displeasure, of disgust, one person even actually screaming, it didn't matter.
And then the loud speaker went off.
"Attention all students: the Machu Picchu bus is leaving now!"
This caused most of the group around us to dissipate, and as I pulled from the kiss, someone bumped into me, causing me to get lost in the shuffle, even as I turned to try to reach Adrian.
But after the crowd dispersed, he was gone.
"Adrian!" I glanced around, the hallway was emptying. Did he run outside? I headed towards the door, and burst out into the spring afternoon. "Adrian!" I turned to my right, seeing nothing but pedestrians walking the busy street, no one crowded around a beast. I turned to my left, and there was someone there and for a split second, I thought it was Adrian. But it wasn't.
"Kyle?" I said, taken aback a little. Kyle Kingsbury? What was he doing here? I felt my face twist, and I realized that it was maybe a little curt of me, but I didn't really care, I couldn't really care right now. I started to walk away.
"Uh, sorry, I'm looking for someone. I don't mean to be rude," I said, as I started pacing down the street. The weird thing was, Kyle started walking right along side me.
"I get it," he said.
"Thanks," I glanced at him, "and maybe sometime you can tell me what happened to you." I hurried along, up the street. Did Adrian run to the subway? After that big crowd he probably just wants to go home, right? Or is he in an alleyway somewhere, hiding? "Adrian!" I called out. Kyle was walking beside me, picking up pace. What was he doing? I glanced at him confused.
"I met someone," he said.
Um...okay?
"That's great," I said.
"She reminds me of you. And she showed me that love can change you...do you think love can change you?"
What the hell was he talking about? And where was Adrian? I knew he was strong, but I guess he's fast too. He must've ran all the way down the block. I picked up my pace, passing shops and fruit stands.
"Adrian!," I called out. I turned back to Kyle. "Of course," I said. Kyle went on.
"Then you'll believe the story that I'm about to tell you," he said, moving closer to me, "it's about a guy, good looking on the outside, ugly on the inside, and there's a curse. But love...love changes him...," he trailed off.
I spotted the subway, and headed towards it. "Everyone knows that story," I muttered, picking up the pace.
"What if it wasn't a story?" Kyle asked. "What if it were true?"
"What?" I asked, before being pulled to a stop. Kyle had grabbed my arm, gently at least, but he had pulled me towards him. What the hell was his problem?
”Lindy,” he said. He took my hand in his. I had heard the rumours about him being in rehab, but I hadn’t wanted to believe them. Was he high right now? I looked at him, trying to see if his eyes were red or if he seemed like he was on something. He didn’t seem high, and his eyes were the same bright blue they’d always been. Same blue as Adrian’s.
”Look, Kyle I-,” I started to pull away, to turn back towards the subway station.
”Jane Eyre.”
I stopped.
”It’s your favorite book. You love it because it shows how if two people are meant to be together, they will be, even if something separates them. That there’s a magic to it.”
I gaped at him. How…how…did he…
“Do you believe that? That magic stuff?,” he asked, a quiet pleading in his eyes. “Can you?”
He couldn’t be…he…he couldn’t…
Adrian…his mom leaving…Kyle’s mom left…Adrian telling me he hadn’t always looked the way he did. His eyes, those bright blue eyes…
“Yes,” I spoke, a smile spreading across my face. He smiled too, and brought himself closer to me, and took my hands in his, and it was then that I noticed he was wearing the same black hoodie Adrian had been. “I-It’s you…,” I said. He cupped my face in his hands and leaned down tentatively, so as not to scare me.
I closed the distance between us, our lips meeting.