Amanda looked down at her phone to check the time and to see if she had received any text messages.
It was almost time for the café to close, and Calvin should have been arriving to take her out. Her stomach was acting queasy, and it wasn’t because she was nervous and excited about the date. There was a message on her phone from Calvin.
Calvin: Hey cutie, I’m running a bit late. But don’t worry I’ll be there just after closing. I’ll see you soon.
Amanda sighed and put her phone back in her pocket. Amanda picked up a rag and started to wipe down the tables.
When there were no customers in the café, Ruby walked over to her.
“Alright, what’s wrong, sugar?” Ruby asked her with concern in her voice.
“It’s nothing. The guy I’m supposed to be going out with tonight is running late.”
Ruby smiled. “Oh, you have a date tonight.”
Amanda shrugged. “Yeah, it’s this guy in y history class.”
“Is it the same guy that came into the café the other day with you?”
Amanda laughed, “No! That’s Deak. he’s wanted by almost all the girls that go to college here. No, definitely not.”
“What about that guy that came in last week that you so short with?”
Amanda’s chest swelled at just the thought of Hudson. But quickly deflated.
“Oh, that’s Hudson. He and I have a history. We’re just friends, sort of.”
Ruby nodded her head, Oh, I know that look all too well, sugar. You have feelings for that boy, don’t you.”
Amanda stared at Ruby like a deer in headlights. Her heart started to race, and her stomach fluttered.
“Hmm, what are we talking about?”
Ruby shook her head as she walked closer to Amanda. She gently placed her hands on both shoulders as she turned Amanda to look at her.
“Sugar, listen. I know it’s hard to have feelings for someone who has hurt you in the past. But sometimes people change, and you have to give them a chance to show you that they’ve changed. This feeling that you have inside you is just going to gnaw you up until you face it and deal with it.”
Amanda looked at Ruby. she wasn’t really sure if the advice that Ruby was giving was for her or for Ruby.
Amanda gave Ruby a small smile.
“I get what you’re saying, Ruby, and there is a part of me that wants to. She wants to throw caution to the wind and admit how she feels. But there’s another part of me, one you’ve never seen. A small, frail, timid girl that’s afraid that he will break me as he did in high school. I try hard to tell her that things are different, that he’s changed. She still sees the Hudson I knew in high school, and she’s the one that is guarding my heart,” Amanda explained as a tear dropped down her cheek.
Ruby pulled Amanda in and hugged her.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.
“How could you know? I don’t tell a lot of people about my life.”
There was a calm that rushed over Amanda as if she were hugging her own mother. Amanda squeezed Ruby a little tighter before she let go and stepped back.
“I’m going to go and take the trash out. Thank you, Ruby.”
Ruby just nodded as she watched Amanda head into the back room.
Amanda took a deep breath and tried to pull herself back together. She realized now why her stomach was acting the way it was. Her heart wasn’t into going out on this date with Calvin. She needed to come to terms with the fact that her feelings for Hudson were far more than just being friends. And as much as it scared her, having these feelings for him, it scared her even more not having him in her life.
Amanda grabbed the big bag of trash and walked out the back door of the cafe where the large trash bins were for the shops. She heard a light rustling of something but didn’t think much about it since she was in deep thought about how she was going to let Calvin down.
A small growl came from a dark corner of the alley.
Amanda felt a cold chill run through her body. Not the usual shiver that she felt whenever someone was close to her, but an actual chill that froze her in her spot.
“Shh, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you whatever you are. I’m just throwing some trash away, and I’ll be out of here. You can just keep doing what you were doing.”
Another growl came from the corner, only this one was louder.
Amanda tried to take a step back but couldn’t.
Her heart was racing, and her breathing became erratic as she continued to share into the dark corner. It was then she saw a pair of yellow eyes that stared back at her. The eyes started to rise in the dark. Amanda’s eyes grew larger and were paralyzed with fear. The creature started to move toward her. Its height was larger than anything she had ever seen before.
Amanda tried to look around at anything that would help her make noise to scare it away but found nothing. She wanted to scream but was afraid it would kill her quicker.
The creature stepped closer but kept away from being seen in the light.
She heard a howl from the other side of the alley toward the street that made her look away from the creature.
It was a very large wolf, growling into the alley. She figured that he was growling at her. She realized these must be the creatures that were attacking the students on campus, and she was next.
The wolf let out another growl but turned his face toward the dark corner.
The tall creature growled back at the large wolf.
Amanda finally got the nerve to take a step back. Slowly, she moved away from both of them.
The wolf continued to move toward her but wasn’t looking at her. It kept its focus on the creature that was still hiding in the dark. The wolf put itself between Amanda and the creature in the corner. Amanda took that moment to get out of there. When she turned, she didn’t see an object that was close to her head and ran right into it, causing her to fall to the ground. She was conscious but wasn’t able to open her eyes to see what was happening.
Amanda tried to pick up her head when she heard snarling and yelping. Then a loud howl was heard and something trying to run away.
She heard her name being called faintly.
“Amanda?”
She tried to open her eyes, but everything was hazy.
She blinked her eyes to clear the fog and see what was in front of her. She sensed that someone was close to her as a figure leaned over her but couldn’t see who it was. She took a deep breath and was able to recognize a certain cologne that was familiar to her.
Amanda smiled.
“Hudson,” she whispered before she passed out.