A few days later and I've not seen neither my mate nor Raph since the awkward date.
I'm at uni, trying to get by until I can leave and go for a run.
'Hey!' a peppy voice snaps me out of my daydreaming.
I stop dead in my tracks, just in time to not run into the short girl I faintly remember seeing before.
'You forgot my name again, right?' she says then, a grin on her small face. I nod hesitantly, not really knowing how to deal with the situation and even that, seems like it's happened before.
'My name is Meredith, Mary for short, and if you forget again I'll write it on your wrist with waterproof sharpie.' she threatened playfully.
I only nod and walk past her. Somehow, I don't really feel like talking to anyone here.
Where we lived before, I've always been getting along with everyone and had a small group of good friends. Here, it's like I don't have any aspiration to be anything with anyone apart from my mate. She is the one exception.
'So I take it you got into a love triangle with the love birds?' she asks curiously and only then do I realise that she's followed me.
I grunt as a response because, again, I really don't feel like talking to her.
However, I do remember her now.
'If I were you, I'd keep an eye out for someone else in all honesty. Like, there's so many good looking girls around, take your pick.' she says, as if it would solve all my problems. In that moment, I hate her for that.
'What? Like you?'
It escapes me before I even register it. Immediately I apologise. This isn't like me and it shouldn't be.
However, Mary only smiles.
'It's no biggie. And for the record, I wasn't talking about me. I've actually got a boyfriend, believe it or not.'
She winks at me and continues to follow me along the hall towards my next lecture.
Apparently, she's got the same one.
For the first time since coming here, the lecture is actually fun.
Mary told me to sit with her to make up for being so rude before. So I did.
We exchange annoyed glances, little drawings about the teacher all lecture and she keeps pointing at girls that apparently suit me much better than my mate. I don't correct her, even though I barely look at anyone she points out long enough to notice anything.
'What about that?' she then says, pointing at yet another person. I only briefly look up, but do a double take immediately when I realise who she's pointing at.
'Raphael?! Are you mad?' I whisper shout at her. She giggles and suggestively wiggles her eyebrows.
Of course.
So I just roll my eyes and try to go back to taking notes.
'No honestly, he's so hot.' she says, fanning herself as if it suddenly got unbelievably hot. I ignore her then. Because even if what she says is true, I wouldn't even notice. I have my mate now.
Once the lecture finishes, she insists on giving me her phone number and then proceeds to threaten me until I give in.
We stand there laughing and chatting and I find myself enjoying my time with this small, red haired monster that calls herself my friend.
She's really the first human friend I've ever made, as we didn't have many humans at my previous university and the ones that were there didn't really want to talk to me.
All my friends are werewolves. Except for Mary.
'You know I'm a werewolf, right?' I then blurt out.
I didn't realise that she was talking and she stops mid sentence, a thoughtful look on her face.
But as always, that just vanishes immediately and she smiles.
'Nope, but I assumed.'
She links her arm with mine and walks towards the exit.
'I also assume this Sheila girl is your mate.' I nod affirmatively.
'And considering Raphael already was her mate, this is where the problem lies, correct?'
I'm impressed now.
I knew humans weren't blind to werewolf matters, but I didn't expect her to know - and notice - this much.
'You know your stuff.' I compliment, smiling down at her.
Talking is actually quite fun. I forgot how much I actually like interaction. I should probably call my other friends soon too.
She shrugs.
'I just read a lot and it really is interesting, don't you think?'
It's my turn to shrug now. For me, this is life. And who thinks their life is interesting, right?
'Uhh mate stealing leach incoming.' she suddenly whispers into my ear. I laugh. I know exactly who she's talking about even if I hadn't smelled him two minutes ago already.
But when I look up, I involuntarily take a step back. I wasn't expecting that.
Raphael is stalking towards me with hate in his eyes. If looks could kill, I'd be more than six feet under by now.
'What's up?' I say, trying to calm him down, but that doesn't seem to work.
Instead, the closer he comes, the more his anger gravitates towards me.
'Stand back.' I warn Mary and lightly push her towards the side of the corridor, simultaneously moving to stand in the middle.
I was expecting a fist flying my way, but what I get is a Raphael that doesn't slow down and just flat out barrels into me, making us both fall to the floor. Then, he hits me.
I can't understand what got into him. I know what it feels like but I assumed we're at a stage where we glare at each other, but at least don't have to hit each other anymore.
The first hit gets me right in the face, but the others I can either dodge or intercept with my arms. But man, that guy is strong.
I manage to throw him off with my feet and get a good hit in myself.
It's rough and it's almost primal but in all honesty, it almost feels good to just let it all out for once.
I'm aware of all the people around us. Students and lecturers alike. They're smart enough to keep their distance but it's clear they still want to watch and see what happens.
Raphael grabs my head while I don't pay attention and bashes it into the wall. I see stars for a second and he immediately goes for my stomach.
I double over, glancing up at him to see him standing right next to me, heaving. My fist connects with his stomach as I hit him with all I've got while he decides to just stand there.
I'm still a bit groggy so I use this break to take a few shaky steps back, heaving as much as he is.
We don't talk, but we seemed to have come to the mutual conclusion to just finish this now so we have it off our backs.
Soon, I have my hand squeezing his neck as my body holds him against the wall. One of his hands is holding on to my forearm, while the other helplessly grabs at my front, trying and failing to grasp anything.
He groans as I tighten my hold and he buries his short finger nails in my skin.
I hiss, but don't let go.
'Stop it!'
The voice belongs to none other than my mate of course. Immediately I let go. Raphael sinks down to the floor, coughing and clutching his neck.
I fully expect my mate to run over to him and scold me, but she just sighs, then turns away and leaves.
I stand there, perplexed, until I hear a painful wheeze behind me.
Instinctively, I kneel down and force Raphael to lean his head back on the wall so I can inspect his neck.
It looks like I squeezed harden than intended. His neck looks pretty horrible. Immediately I feel bad. I'm not that kind of person. I don't hurt people without a reason. And yet, just with a little provocation, I almost killed someone today.
'I'm sorry.' I say helplessly as I let my fingers drift along the angry red marks. He doesn't reply, only breaths in and out and sits there with his eyes closed.
It's a curious sight. Especially considering that the way his head is still tilted back implies submission. I didn't peg him for one to show submission that easily.
I dig in the bag I have with me, as I always carry around some sort of first aid, and then applied a cool salve on his skin. I try to be as gentle as possible, but he still hisses. And is if that ripped him from whatever was going on in his mind, he pushes me away.
'Leave it!' he says and then just walks off.
I stare after him, completely confused about this man and myself.
Neither of us seems to understand what is going on and we don't really know how to deal with it either.