Davy’s Apology

We find our team captain alone in the corner of the gym spiking balls against a wall. Jayla is a tall, muscular girl who keeps her thick black cornrows piled on the top of her head in two neatly wrapped buns. She is our official setter and rules the court with an iron fist. Her instincts are on point and she is fast even compared to werewolves like Ellie and me. She smiles at us when she sees us approach.

She tosses me the ball she was playing with and says, "Y'all here to practice?"

"Yeah, Cam wanted to practice his receives, but I'm glad you're here. I'm not sure I could put up much of a challenge for him," Ellie responds smiling.

"Cool, I was hoping to work on my serves anyways. You can set Ellie," we eagerly agree, trusting in our captain's plan. "I'll ask the guys if they mind us setting up a net on the left court." She jogs over to where the basketball team is practicing on the right court. Technically, they have the gym reserved after school during fall semester, while we take over in spring, but we are used to sharing with them.

Soon we have the net set up with Ellie and I on one side and Jayla on the other. I let the tension of the day fall away as I focus completely on redirecting the brutal spikes and serves Jayla sends me into high, sweeping arcs towards Ellie. It takes some time for me to build up a good rhythm, and I let the ball drop more often than I would like, but the familiar frustration of the game pushes away all other thoughts. The fight with David, Tiffany's too-accurate insults, the panic attack in the woods, Alastair's confession, and Ellie suspicions. I lose track of time, passing the ball between my teammates until my forearms turn red and swollen.

When David finds us hours later to take us home, I'm pleasantly sore and overwhelmingly tired. There is nothing I want more than to curl up in my bed at home and sleep until morning. But one look at David and I know he wants to talk.

His movements towards me are hesitant, clearly still thinking about my biting remarks to him during lunch. He doesn't even lean in to give me a kiss hello. I don't have the energy to deal with this right now, so I fall into familiar patterns. I take his hand in mine and pull him close to me, pushing a firm kiss into his mouth.

"It's ok, love. I'm not mad."

Relief floods David's eyes, but he still pulls me away from Ellie, apparently not giving up on having a real conversation. "I'm so fucking sorry, darling. Ellie told me to leave you alone for a little while, but you don't know how worried I've been about you since lunch."

"You don't have to be sorry. I didn't leave because of you." Not directly. "I just needed to be in a quiet place to calm down."

"It just that… we agreed that you wouldn't run off alone anymore, and I want to be there for you if you're having a hard time, but then I messed everything up and made you uncomfortable, and of course you don't want to be with me when you're mad at me—"

"David. Take a breath," I interrupt, placing a calming hand on his shoulder. "Seriously, you didn't do anything wrong. The situation was just… making me stressed. I shouldn't have run off… again. Sorry."

He takes a deep breath, but he still looks a bit incredulous. "Still… I broke your trust. I shouldn't have said those things about your friends."

My anger really didn't have anything to do with the fact that they are my friends. He shouldn't have said "those things" about anyone, but whatever. I'm too tired to argue. "It's ok. I overreacted. I know you are just worried about me."

Another wave of relief washes over David. "Yes! Exactly. I just don't want you to be forced into a compromising position by being alone with witches."

My mind flashes to my close encounter with Deron and co. on Monday. I shove those thoughts down. That had nothing to do with them being warlocks. No matter what the coven's sexual practices may be, I'm pretty sure they believe in consent.

"David…" I measure my words carefully, trying to push through my exhaustion. "Alastair and Addy just want to be our friends. That's it." I decide to steal some of Alastair's reasoning to appease David. "I think we should give them a chance. They are the high priestess' children and, as future the Alpha and—" I place my hand on his thick bicep. "—Luna, it is important we build strong relationships with our allies." I stroke his arm slowly and bite my lip slightly, allowing my instincts to appease and calm take over.

I feel the tension between us slip away as David pulls me close to him. "You're right. I think that's a good idea. Ok, if they still want to eat lunch with us, tell them they are more than welcome to. And I'll make sure Tiffany behaves or she can go sit with the humans."

"Thanks, David." I pull him in for a quick kiss, before turning away from him. "I think we've made Ellie wait long enough. Let's go home."