"Genevieve won't care that much," said Shannon. "And Evangeline will just have to get over it."
He leaned forward and kissed her stomach, right on her scars. Now that they were together, it was his responsibility to make sure Athena was safe. Her stepmother would not take to this lightly, meaning Athena was in potential jeopardy. "Do you want me to come with you?" he asked her. He would walk straight into the wolf's den with her, if that meant he could protect her.
Lucas would vouch for him, maybe, probably not, but he had no idea what to expect from Athena's father and stepmother. How could he prove himself to them? How could he prove that he was safe and harmless?
Athena giggled feeling his lips touch her stomach. She pulled the shirt down to cover her stomach in an attempt to make him stop. She was very sensitive to her stomach in the fact that it made her laugh any time someone touched it. "Ah no no. I should go by myself first. Having you there might complicate things.." She didn't want to overwhelm her parents all at once. It was better for her to tell them on her own, give them time to cool off before jumping the poor boy.
"I know what you're thinking." She said seeing the look on his face. He was concerned for her safety and she could tell. "I'll be okay. My family can be quite... Different when it comes to these things. They're very old fashion in terms of relationships." She looked away from him thinking about when she last brought a boy home and the amount of things he had to go through just win almost win over her parents. He was a werewolf so it was easier than most, but he still had to go through the same process of approval.
"Who knew having a werewolf girlfriend would be so difficult? I never even met Kasey's parents." He grabbed her hands and pulled her up. "Come on. We're doing something."
Shannon lead her out of his room, down the stairs and into the spacious home theatre Evangeline and Shannon had begged Genevieve for. They both loved films, but the old ones, with no sound and made of individual photographs painted by hand. There was something beautiful about those films, something Shannon could never explain. Though he had seen all of them a thousand times, he and Evangeline watched them almost every day.
He handed Athena six actual rolls of film. "Please be careful with them," he begged her as he turned on the projector. "Pick one."
Athena careful looked over the rolls, even sniffing them because they smelled so ancient. It intrigued her as to how they worked. Growing up she never watched movies or understood them. It wasn't something she fancied doing since she preferred to be running around outside being rambunctious as most wolf pups are.
"This one." She said handing him the roll in the middle. She was careful with the other ones in her hand just as she was instructed. The film was delicate from what she heard about them so she took extra care in making sure she didn't destroy them.
"I'm sorry my parents are so complicated. You can back out now, find yourself a nice prettier human girl. Fall in love with her so you don't have to go through this." She pouted as she sat down in one of the seats, putting the film in her lap. He had done this to her earlier about her going to school so she felt it was only right to 'return the favor' now that the opportunity has presented itself.
"Humans are dull," said Shannon as he inserted the roll of film into the projector. He took the rolls off of Athena's lap, put them back in their box and kissed her. "Besides, it's not like I could possibly upgrade."
He set the movie on and sat beside Athena. The film was the one that features in the modern movie Hugo, with a rocket firing into the eye of the moon. Shannon watched, completely enthralled, as the strange people came out of the rocket ship. He loved this film. He loved all films. They reminded him of his human years, when people were just starting to make movies.
Athena smiled welcoming his affection. She had wanted to sit in his lap to watch the movie but it had already started and she was too lazy to move.
The pictures captured her attention as she stared intently at the screen. Even though there was no dialogue or actual sound for that matter Athena still kept up with what was going on. She had never watched movies like this, only a few of the newer ones that were released in her old town. This was something new that she found a sense of comfort in.
"They don't make noise?" She asked softly as her eyes trailed the screen attentively. She was so enthralled by this movie that she didn't want to miss a moment of it.
"They didn't have the technology in those days," Shannon murmured back. "I don't think they needed to, to be honest."
Evangeline was home early, he could smell it, but he didn't care. He kept his eyes fixed on the screen until she came in. Shannon paused the film. Evangeline stared.
"You're watching our old movies with her?" Evangeline's voice was expressionless.
Shannon immediately felt guilty. The old films were something he did with Evangeline.
"God, at least show her 120 Days of Sodom," Evangeline said, rolling her eyes before leaving the room.
"120 Days of Sodom?" Athena tilted her head a bit confused. The girl knew nothing about movies and thought that she picked out one that was more than interesting. "Did I not pick a movie that was to your liking?" She looked down at the floor as she curled her legs up into the seat. None of this movie talk made any sense to her and it made her more confused not knowing the difference.
"Is she going to have people over? Should I leave..?" She didn't want to get in the way of Evangeline and her social life. In reality, she was only wearing a t-shirt and she didn't think that Shannon would appreciate others seeing that. "I can go home if I need to." She offered to make things a little easier for him. She didn't want him to feel burdened by keeping her there if he didn't want to.
"I specifically did not put 120 Days of Sodom in the selection because it's ridiculously fucked up and Evangeline is trying to scare you," said Shannon. He sighed, turning off the projector. "She has people over now."
Shannon lead Athena back to his bedroom, peering over the railing to see three of Evangeline's glamorous friends -- Kelsey, Annabella and Lainey -- standing in the kitchen, on their cell phones, drowned in Prada. "We can just stay in my room, unless you specifically want to leave."
Shannon and Athena had just returned to his bedroom when Evangeline stepped in. "You're not going anywhere," she said, not menacingly. "Lainey wants to meet the lovely girl who stole her crush, apparently. I also want to know how on Earth you've managed to dye your hair so many times and still have it that texture." She sighed and rolled her eyes. "I am trying to be civil -- " she spat the word at Shannon " -- because apparently my stupid brother won't listen to me. You might want to get dressed," she added to Athena.
Athena sighed seeing that she wasn't going to escape this. "As you wish." She pushed both Evangeline and Shannon out of the room so she could take the shirt off, despite how much she didn't want to. She took a moment to take in the scent once more before pulling she shirt off over her head. She looked around the room trying to remember where she tossed her dress and her shoes then saw them on a chair in the corner.
She wasn't sure where he would want her to put the shirt so she replaced it where her clothes were after she put them on. It was lucky for her that they weren't stained from the earlier festivities. Her hair was still a bit uncouth but she opened the room door and walked out as she combed through it with her fingers. "Oh and it's a werewolf thing. My hair is very easy to take care of because of that." Athena said walking past the both of them with her fingers still in her hair.
"Of course," said Evangeline bitterly. She lead Shannon and Athena downstairs to the living room, where her high-maintenance friends were sitting with organic orange juice and chopped pistachios. Shannon and Athena sat on the loveseat; Evangeline sat in the armchair between them, the common ground.
"Hey, Shannon," said Lainey, smiling warmly before eyeing Athena.
"Hi," replied Shannon shortly. He had no time for his sister's bullshit, but he wanted her to get along with Athena, so he went along with it. He took Athena's hand in his to get his point across.
"So, Athena," said Evangeline, clapping her hands together. "Tell us, where did you come from? Before you came to Witham, I mean."
Athena was nervous having all these girls here interrogating her but she wasn't going to show it. If there was something they wanted to know, she had nothing to hide. "Thorrington." She answered simply as she looked over the girls. Athena never met any of them before but she quickly caught on to which one had this 'crush'. She also found it quite strange that his sister allowed one of her friends to have a crush on her brother. Lucas never allowed that, mostly because he was far too overprotective to let a man get within arm's length of her.
"The town wasn't anything special since it was so small and hidden away. It's right off the coastline actually." She flashed a smile to be polite as she interlocked her fingers with Shannon's. He didn't seem to be pleased with all of this but she was all for it. Not like she could have just run out of the house to avoid it so she kept her composure and took on the task of being a polite guest.
Evangeline's eyes ran over Athena's outfit. "Zahra dress, right?" she said. "How lovely. Annie, you have a Louis Vuitton handbag that would go perfectly with Athena's outfit. What's the name of it again? Maybe Athena can pick it up in the city next time Shannon takes her?"
"Um, I'm not sure," said Annabella.
Evangeline rolled her eyes. "Some fashion expert you are." she turned back to Athena. "Thorrington. Lovely. Have you ever traveled overseas?" she asked quite innocently. Shannon narrowed his eyes. He guessed his sister had some dark ulterior motive, but he couldn't figure it out.
Athena squeezed Shannon's hand a bit tighter as she questioned her about her apparel. She was confused as to why she questioned her friend about some bag that her friend ended up not knowing anyway. She gave a fleeting glance towards Shannon before looking at all of the girls.
"Only once, with my aunt when I was a child. I don't remember it anymore except that we were there for a long time before coming back." Athena internally questioned Evangeline's sudden interest in her past, especially in the where she has been department. It didn't make much sense but still, she answered to the best of her ability.
Shannon had had enough. "Right, well, we have to go," he announced, standing up and pulling Athena along with him. "This has been fun. Nice to see you girls. Evangeline, you need to get a life and stop worrying about everyone else's."
Sitting back in the Aston Martin, Shannon sighed. "I'm sorry about that, I have no idea what she was on about," he told Athena. "Where do you want to go?"
Athena strapped herself into the seat as she looked at Shannon. "She's going to hate me more than she already does now. You know that right?" She looked down before leaning up against the window. Evangeline was not someone she wanted to be on the bad side of. No matter how much Shannon believed he could prevent her from getting to Athena it was inevitable.
"Surprise me." As much as Athena would have liked to say where she wanted to go, sadly, the pink haired girl had no clue. She had only been to a few locations outside of school and she was not as familiar with the area as she would have liked. "So.. You and Lainey, huh?" A slightly smirk formed as she continued to look down.
"She's the one who had feelings for you?" She asked curiously.
"She had feelings for me, yes," said Shannon as he began to drive. He drove to the middle of town, not really knowing where he was going. "But I never liked her. We never had anything together."
He ended up at the beach again, parking the car and staring out into the ocean. "Do you want to swim or go to the little island?" he asked her, whipping out the keys. "Either way, we didn't come prepared."
"You mean to tell me that the illustrious Shannon Winters, Mr. Popular himself, didn't do anything with that girl? Anything at all?" Athena let out an exaggerated gasp before giggling. "You wouldn't lie to little ol' me right~?" She batted her eyelashes endearingly before noticing that they had come to the beach.
Athena smiled as she saw the crashing waves against the pretty stones. "When have we been prepared?" First things first was losing the shoes. She quickly pulled off her short brown boots and socks, leaving them behind in the car. She climbed out of the car and took in a breath, absorbing the ocean breeze into her. Boy did she love beaches.
"Let's take a walk for a bit~" She happily strolled down to the shoreline so her feet would be in the water. It was cold, not numbingly cold, but cold nonetheless. She pulled the hair tie that she kept tied to her bra out so she could tie up her hair in a messy bun. It was nothing fancy but it kept her hair out of her face. "Shannon come on!" She had a wide grin that went from ear to ear as she waved her arms in the air trying to get his attention from the car.
Why was the beach deserted all the time? Shannon got out of the car and ran to Athena, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her neck. "Don't start bossing me around, I'll throw you into the ocean."
They walked, hand in hand, down the rocky beach. Shannon, like always, appreciated the aroma of the brine and the water, the salt. Nature had so many wonderful smells, but none of them compared to Athena. Or her blood.
Athena smiled almost deviously. "Yeah tough guy? We'll see about that." She laughed as she pushed him deeper into the water until it was up to her shins.
She was shorter than him so the water didn't go as far up his legs as it did hers. "Why are you so tall that's cheating." Her body started to naturally warm itself to keep her from getting cold as it usually did, resulting in her cheeks becoming a rosy pigment. "Maybe you could crouch down so the waves could hit you, yeah?" She had a bright smile, making her rosy cheeks a deeper shade, across her face as she held both of his hands tightly so he couldn't run away.
