Bella:

The next few days consisted of me furiously studying books about wolves. I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to stop until I found an answer that made sense. Like I was searching for the last piece of the puzzle. I needed to find answers, I needed to see what kind of creature was lurking in the woods that morning.

It was almost eating me alive. I knew sleep wasn't a blissful taste I was going to feel anymore, and I was wearing myself thin. I was book three deep into my research when my phone started buzzing, and I saw Madison's name flash on the screen.

"Hey Bells!!" Madison all but announced into the phone.

"Hey, Maddie, what's up?" I rushed out, flipping the pages of my Wolf Encyclopedia book.

"Nothing really, I was just going to go grocery shopping and wanted to see if you wanted to come with me?" She asked me, sounding distracted by the TV.

"Yeah I need to grab some stuff anyways, I'll be over at your house in five minutes?" I closed my book and began to get ready.

"See you then Bells!!" Madison told me then eagerly hung up.

I threw my hair up in a ponytail and slipped on my heavy jacket. Winter was creeping on us more and more every day in Michigan, and the air was at an unforgiving temperature at this point. I checked my phone one last time to see if I had any new texts from someone in particular, but the screen remained the same.

Unlike other days, Logan was pretty slow at responding to me today. An annoying voice in the back of my head kept nagging at me that it was because he was losing interest in me. Yet, I knew he probably was just really busy doing business things. He was such a different person than I could've imagined, and we definitely got a lot closer these past few days than I've let a boy in before.

The thought of him had my blood running, sending a warm pulse through my veins. It was like he ignited a flame in me like never before. Almost like an itch, I couldn't scratch, a book I couldn't put down, a taste I couldn't forget. It was almost dangerous to get this close to him.

I took a deep breath, shoving my phone back into my pocket. I wonder if I scared him away with all the wolf talk the other night, yet it's the only other thing that preoccupies my mind.

I began to make my way to Madison's apartment, softly knocking on the door. Madison swung the door open, rushing out of the apartment.

"Let's go and hopefully we can still make it for McDonald's breakfast." She gave a warm laugh and started the walk to her car.

It was a blessing for me that Madison owned a car because otherwise I would've been stuck taking the bus a lot of the time. There were so many memories associated with driving that I couldn't bring myself to do it anymore.

The cold air hit us almost instantaneously once we reached outside. It clawed at my cheeks, sending a cold shiver down my body. We made our way to Madison's small gray Honda civic, and we were both en route to Mcdonald's.

"I'm really craving an egg McMuffin, you know? They just are unmatched by any other breakfast sandwiches." Madison told me while playing with knobs on the radio. She settled on a new Billie Eilish song.

"They are really good, I just feel like I'm going to pass away from stomach pain after every time I eat them." I laughed giving her a small smile.

"Worth it." She shrugged and began to hum to the radio. I laughed at her comment and watched as we passed the small town we lived in.

"So, how are things going with Logan?" Madison asked in a sing-song voice. She was determined to get answers out of me one way or the other.

She knew I hung out with him the other night and I kept the details brief. I just didn't want to jinx anything since Logan and I barely knew each other.

"Oh, you know..." I trailed off, trying to shrug off the conversation.

"Uh uh, you have to tell me! Come on, don't hold out on me now." Madison groaned, and turned the radio down to focus the attention on me. "Did you guys kiss?"

My whole face broke out in a warm blush at the question, feeling like I was caught in the act. "No! We just hung out, and talked." I sighed, trying to calm my nerves down. "And anyway, I doubt he sees me like that. I think he must have a girlfriend."

I watched as Madison rolled her eyes and gave me a look. "Well, did you ask him?"

I couldn't help but scrunch my nose at the question, "Ask him what?"

"If Logan had a girlfriend?" Madison questioned as she pulled into the parking lot of Mcdonald's.

I fiddled with my thumbs for a second as I thought back to Logan. He never indicated that he had a girlfriend, much less even talked about his personal life at all. A lot of the conversations we had were based on books and random facts about our day. It was just hard for me to imagine a man like Logan single and not having a model attached to his hip.

Logan captivated everyone's attention once he walked into a room. There was something about his dark presence, height, and stature that made it difficult to look away. He was gorgeous, and when he walked into a room it seemed like everyone else was aware.

I shook my head in response to Madison, "No I haven't asked him, but it's never come up in our conversations."

Madison rolled down her window in the drive-thru and started spitting out her and my order for our Mcdonald's breakfast. Madison and I knew each other well enough to know our coffee orders, food orders, and our usual staples at the grocery stores, it was like she was part of my hip. Once she was finished ordering, Madison glanced over at me and gave me a small smile.

"I don't think any girlfriend would just let their boyfriend hang out with another girl randomly, so he has to be single!! Just ask, or text him." Madison laughed, and I pulled out my wallet to hand her some change for my food.

I shook my head no, "I can't do that. It's way too forward, he'll think I'm hitting on him or something."

"Isn't that what you want though?" Madison joked, and I couldn't help but smack her arm.

Madison pulled up to the pickup window and grabbed our food. Once we had everything we needed, Madison pulled into an empty parking spot so we could feast, it was like a tradition every time we went shopping.

"I just don't want to scare him away... Especially with the fact that I've never even had my first kiss." I mumbled as I took a bit of the warm, greasy hash brown.

"Girl, with how he looked at you at the party..." Madison raised her eyebrows and gave me a look. "It looked like he wanted to eat you right up!"

My pulse jumped at her comment because I knew the look she was talking about all too well. It was a dark taunting look in his eyes that night like he was a predator. It was a look that sent chills down my spine, a look that created a fire of curiosity.

Madison continued, "Just subtly text him and be like 'oh does your girlfriend like mac and cheese?' or something like that."

"But what if he actually has one?" I couldn't help but feel a little sad at the thought of him being close to another girl like that. I was getting too comfortable with the idea that we could be things, and I'm not sure it was a good idea.

"Then, you'll show him what he's missing! Here, give me your phone." Madison held out her hand to grab my phone.

"I can't double text him, he never even responded to my last text yet." I quickly refused to pass my phone over that fast to her.

Madison rolled her eyes and let out a groan, "Oh who cares? It's 2022, we don't have time to wait for responses."

I hesitantly reached into my pocket and grabbed my almost ancient iPhone. It was due for an upgrade at least eight years ago. I handed her the beat-up phone and watched as she began to press a few buttons on the screen.

Madison gave me a satisfied look and handed me back the phone once she was finished, "All set."

I glanced back down to the phone screen and felt my breath catch in my throat when I saw what she sent.

Logan and my previous texts consisted of discussing our tastes in music. I quickly glanced back up at the texts we were exchanging.

Logan: Do you like country music?

Bella: Does old-school Taylor Swift count?

Logan: I don't think so.

Bella: Then no, I don't :P

Bella: Does your girlfriend like Taylor Swift?

My eyes widened and I turned my head to look over at Madison. "He's going to think I'm crazy!" I whined, taking another bite of my hashbrown.

"Oh come on, it's pretty subtle!! I doubt he'll even notice." Madison shrugged, taking a sip of her black iced coffee. "Anyways, you have to tell me everything between you two so far anyways. It's not fair, I need a catch-up session." Madison stuck out her bottom lip and pouted.

"Fine..." I sighed and turned to face her to give her the full details. "I really like him, I think. I don't know, it's probably too soon to get attached, right?" I tilted my head in question.

"The heart wants what the heart wants." Madison gave me a wink, "Have you guys held hands? Has he kissed you on the cheek? Have you shown him your tit yet?"

My eyes nearly popped out of my head at her question, "My tit?! I haven't kissed him yet, and you think I'd show him my tit??"

Madison let out a hearty laugh, "Hey, I just thought I'd ask!"

As if on cue, my phone pinged with a new message from Logan.

Logan: I don't have a girlfriend, love.

With that text, I felt all my worries melt away.

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