Page 27 of Emerald Moon
“Jo mentioned that about me?”
Wil glanced over at Jo.“They talk about you a lot lately.”
Jo’s eyes widened at the traitorous comment.“No more than I talk about any of my other friends!”
“Yeah, okay,” Wil replied, clearly unconvinced.She turned her attention back to Cass.“I find that when you’re a werewolf, you have a lot more time for everything.”
“And all of y’all are doing way more than me,” Krista added with a laugh.“I use all my extra werewolf life to read.”
The group kept chatting and Jo fell quiet, thinking back to the past few days and wondering if they really had been talking about Cass more than they thought they had.Their cheeks grew warm as they realized Wil was right.When they weren’t texting with Cass, they were bringing her up in conversation with other people.
Was it another friend crush?It had to be, but when Jo checked for all the typical symptoms, nothing was there.They’d been texting a lot and sharing songs, but there weren’t any telltale signs of an impending friend crush.Jo wasn’t busy making an awkward fool of themselves, and they’d been texting her a normal amount.Was it a normal amount?Suddenly worried, Jo hoped it had been a normal amount of texting.Jo looked back at their messages and counted how many they’d sent versus how many Cass sent.It was about the same.See?Totally normal.
Cass wasn’t acting any different, either, so it was nothing else besides having a really great new friend.Jo settled back against the seat and smiled.
After they arrived and started down the trail, Jo was glad that this group of four could work in any configuration.They could talk to Krista for hours, could find comfortable company with Wil, and could chat about their days or birds with Cass, watching her light up the more she spoke.Wil and Cass had a lot to talk about, too, mostly catching up on pack life and getting to know each other better.Even Wil and Krista could chat for a while, but Jo figured that was due to Krista’s ability to talk to nearly anybody.She had a gift.
“Oh, got a bluejay over there.Fairly common, but still special,” Cass explained.
Jo followed her pointed finger, squinting, without seeing anything.Cass handed over a pair of binoculars without them having to ask.
Stepping forward on the trail with slow, careful steps to try and keep up some while they searched the trees, Jo peered through the binoculars, feeling dizzy from swinging them around too quickly.They didn’t notice until they were already tipping over that they had lost their balance.
Cass caught Jo before they fell over, her face inches from theirs.Jo could feel her breath on their cheek.“Are you alright?”
“Fine, just embarrassed.”Jo laughed.“Trying to do too many things at once.Also, spinning around while looking through binoculars is not a good idea.”
They started to gain their footing on their own, but Cass lifted them up like they were as light as a bag of flour.Dangling with their feet in the air, Jo couldn’t help but laugh.“I am, like, so small compared to you.”
”It’s like lifting a baby.”
”I’m not that light!I’ve got meat on my bones.”
She set them down on the ground slowly, making sure they weren’t in danger of toppling over again.
“See!Good as ever.No danger of tipping anymore.”Jo made a show of digging their shoes into the ground.
Cass laughed.“You’re cute.”
”What?”
”You’re cute,” she repeated, looking them in the eye.
Jo felt warm under the intensity of her stare.“No I’m not,” was all they could manage to say in response.
Cass shrugged, making a noncommittal sort of noise before taking the first step to rejoin the other two.
“You’re cute, too!”Jo blurted.
She turned around.
”In a ‘you’re a giant, but in a nice, friendly way’ sort of cute,” they added, words jumbling together.
She smiled.“Let’s catch up with the others again, yeah?”
“Sure thing.”Jo took two smaller steps to match Cass’ one and tried to forget what had just tumbled out of their mouth.This was bordering on friend crush and all the related awkwardness, but, in reality, all of this was more Jo trying to match Cass’ sincerity, which felt strange in its own right.
As they fell in step next to her, which was easier to do because Cass deliberately slowed her pace for them, the weirdness fell away and was replaced by a familiar calm, the one Jo felt while texting Cass all week.It wasn’t a friend crush because nothing awkward stuck around.Jo wasn’t being clingy and weird and Cass was just one big, friendly giant that Jo was happy to be around.
