As soon as the last bell rang, Dylan turned to him. “Hey, want to go to the pit? It’s a little warmer tonight.”
Aiden’s stomach tightened. How long could he keep turning Dylan down before his friend figured out what was wrong? At least today he had a suggestion for something else. “It’s still too cold, but how about dinner? If your parents are okay with it. I’m sure mine won’t mind. I… want to talk to you about something.”
Dylan’s brows drew together and worry flashed across his face. Or did Aiden imagine that? “What?”
“Just… something.” Embarrassment made him warm, and he hoped he wasn’t blushing. Maybe this was a bad idea. But who else could he talk to?
Dylan looked at him for a moment. “Sure. Let’s go ask my mom.”
Dylan’s mom was happy to have him over, so Aiden called his parents. They were fine with him going to Dylan’s if he didn’t stay out too late. Late had a whole new meaning here. School didn’t let out until after his old bedtime, and dinner was in the middle of the night. Aiden had adjusted over the past few months, but not entirely.
Aiden told Dylan’s mom she didn’t have to do anything fancy for dinner, but she insisted she enjoyed cooking for company. Considering what Dylan had told him about how afraid everyone was of dragonkin, she probably didn’t get much chance. Dylan’s dad came in from his workshop to help, and Aiden followed Dylan up to his room.
“So what is it?” Dylan asked as soon as the door was closed behind him.
Aiden sat on the edge of the bed, then almost immediately got up to pace. “You know some stuff about werewolves, right?”
Dylan shrugged. “Some, yeah.”
“Are they really physical? Like with each other. Do they touch their packmates a lot?”
Dylan arched an eyebrow. “You mean how Hanna keeps touching you all the time?”
“So you noticed?” Aiden crossed his arms and kept going from the wall to the window. There was a lot more room to pace in Dylan’s room than in Aiden’s own.
“Yeah. She likes you. I think she’s waiting for you to catch a clue.” Dylan smirked.
“Really? Cause sometimes the way she looks at you… I think maybe she likes you. But then she sits next to me and brushes up against my shoulder. But then I wonder if maybe I’m just a friend to her, and she doesn’t sit next to you because you’re all intimidating and stuff—”
Dylan held up a hand. “Hey, relax. She likes you.”
Aiden took a deep breath, trying to calm his jittery stomach. “Okay. But my other problem is I’m not sure if I like her back. Sometimes I think I do, but then I don’t know, and it’s weird because she’s a werewolf, but then I’m a changeling, so it’s really not that weird.”
This time Dylan held up both hands. “Dude, I am not the person to give you girl advice.”
“I don’t know who else to talk to. Not my parents, that’s for sure.” It would be weird enough in normal circumstances. All the worse when the girl he might want to go out with was a werewolf.
“You could talk to my parents. I bet they’d like to help.”
Aiden shook his head. “No parents.”
“What about that girl that helped you in Minor?”
“You mean Maggie?” Aiden almost said no, but he stopped to think about it. That might not be a terrible idea. “I guess so.”
“Or Toby and his sister?”
“Nooooo. If I said a word to them, half the school would know in like, ten minutes.” They weren’t malicious gossips, but God, they loved to talk.
“And then Conner would come kick your ass.”
That made Aiden go cold. He hadn’t considered that. If he decided to go out with Hanna, unless they were very sneaky, Conner would find out and come after him. But then another thought occurred to Aiden and he smiled. “No. You wouldn’t let him.”
Dylan laughed. “True.” He pulled out his computer chair and sat backward on it. “But you could kick his ass yourself. You’re strong enough.”
Aiden dropped his gaze to the floor.
“I know you wouldn’t like to. That’s not your thing. But there’s nothing wrong with defending yourself. Or defending Hanna.”
Maybe a month ago he could have accepted the idea, but that was before what happened in the woods. It wasn’t just Dylan he was afraid of. Aiden worried he could panic and hurt someone the way Dylan had hurt him. He’d been afraid of his powers even before he knew what they were. Everyone kept telling him he was as strong as Dylan, so he was capable of doing the same amount of damage. What if while trying to protect Hanna he accidentally hurt her instead?
The silence stretched. Dylan stood. “Hey, wanna play some Call of Duty?”
He couldn’t stomach that kind of violence right now. “What about that racing game we played last time?”
Dylan shrugged. “Okay.” He went to pull the game from his large, well-stocked shelf.
After a few laps and some friendly trash talk, Dylan asked, “If you were still mad at me, you’d say something, right?”
Aiden swallowed past the lump in his throat. “Yeah.” Mad, no. Afraid, yes.