Chapter 6 - Confusion

Along the way home, Jacen said, "You know, I am actually quite interested in you." I asked him, "What exactly do you mean by that? I know that there are a lot of different types of interests and your statement could be easily misconstrued. I don't want another misunderstanding like what happened earlier." I waited for his response with eager ears, time seemed to stretch out to make seconds feel as though they would take centuries to pass. The heat of the air pouring in the window of the car created beads of sweat that dripped from our faces that I watched fall as if they were floating in the middle of the air as we continued down the road. His answer only took a few moments to appear, even so, it felt like I had been waiting for millennia for it to arrive. I watched his mouth open and close so rhythmically that it could practically be a dance that flowed with the melodious tones of his voice. Time drug on drastically slow making every nerve in my body vibrate with intense anxiety. The sound of his voice lavished my ears as he spoke conveying enough passion that it made me shiver with an exuberant enthusiasm that increased with each word that he spoke. Those words made my heart skip as he said, " I want to get to know you more and I can't wait to see where this journey takes us. All I have ever seen around here were girls that dressed like strippers and acted like they are better than everyone. You are quiet, shy, modest, and so much more than I could hope to ever find again." My heart began to sing until the point that I realized that I would have to tell him who I really am and what it is that I had done when we had our first encounter. The idea of having to tell him who I am and facing the look of horror he had the night I tried to eat him tore at the very fiber of my being. I pushed my fear to the back of my mind so that I could smile at him again and try to convey how much I wanted this relationship. "I'd like that." I said trying to keep tears from forming as my throat constricted, aching from the intensity of the emotions flooding my body. "So, when can I steal you away for our first date?" He asked. "Well, you would have to meet my dad first, but I'm free next Friday night." I said nervously. "Well, it's a good thing we are already on the way to where I can do just that." He said with a smile. When we arrived at my house my mother was working in the garden and my father was out back fixing up the shed that I had destroyed a couple of months ago. As I got out of the car my mother instinctively went to question Jacen, completely bypassing me. After about ten minutes or so passed my father came around the side of the house asking my mom where she had put the other box of screws. Needless to say that the box of screws was the last thing on his mind when my mother said, "Honey, this is Jacen. He is one of the football players at the college and is studying Criminal justice." My father gazed blankly at Jacen as he began to speak, " I guess you are here to ask about my daughter." Mom said, "No, he just gave her a ride home." Jacen straightened as he spoke to my father, "Actually, Sir, I only intended to give her a ride home. Though, after talking to her, and getting to know her a bit better, I've come to the conclusion that I would like to take your daughter out for a date. She asked that I meet you first, and, I guess, now is rather the perfect time to talk to you seeing as I am already here. Sir, I really do like your daughter, she is kind, modest, and everything I could ever hope to find in a woman." My father interjected and said, " And more." Jacen agreed, "And so much more." He didn't know what my dad really meant by that, but I did. My father explained, "If you were ever to hurt my Bethany, I know ways to kill you very slowly and very painfully no matter who you are, or what you do, there won't be a place left for you to hide from me. You understand?" Jacen was happy to hear that he would be allowed to date me and shook my father's hand saying, "Understood."My father grabbed his hand with such force that Jacen's face began to turn bright red and contort as my father spoke saying, " This is my warning to you, boy. If anything happens to my little girl, then this will be nothing in comparison to the pain you will experience." Jacen breathed as calmly as he could maintaining eye contact with my father as he said, "Yes Sir. I understand perfectly." When they were done and dad went back around to the shed I went over to Jacen to see the damage. I knew that my father had used his inhuman strength to crush Jacen's hand, but to my surprise there didn't appear to be anything wrong with it. I asked him how his hand hadn't been crushed. he simply said that he had strong bones. I let it go but stood there in confusion knowing that my father is a second-generation werewolf capable of crushing steel door handles on accident, let alone bones in someone's hand. My mother came over to apologize for how my father had behaved, saying, "I'm sorry for all that, but he means the best, It's just that Bethany is our only daughter, and he is a bit overprotective of her." He waved it off, saying, "I completely understand, I have a little sister and probably would have done the same thing if she ever decided to bring some pore soul home."