one last time.

“Laurel!” Louis called out to catch her attention as he caught up with her, “Hi. I haven’t seen you in a while. Nice costume,” He paused, “How are you?”

@laurclparks​

“Thanks,” she said with a smile, “I feel like every blonde, has to be some iconic blonde in their life. Uh, I don’t think I really know what you’re supposed to be, sorry?” Laurel made a slight face. “I’m uh, I’m okay. It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster the last few weeks.”

Miles was looking over his notes and photocopies, highlighting some things and then going back and underlining it as if it had new meaning. The way his thinking worked seemed to change every time he read it. He looked up when Laurel spoke, her voice bringing him out of his own thoughts, “Yeah,” He said, nodding and putting the writing utensils down, “I wish this new lead was getting us somewhere but it feels like only a few steps forward and it’s not enough.”

“A lot of this stuff is a bunch of one step forward, three steps back, it’s kind of frustrating,” Laurel replied. “It feels like there’s just one puzzle piece missing, but it’s the most important one.”

“Checking on you, of course,” Orlaith said, “I hadn’t seen you all day so I just wanted to check you were alright. So, are you alright?”

Laurel nodded in response, moving her hair from her face. “Yeah, I’m good, or well, I will be.”

“I promise I’ll only be a second,” Mini called out from outside their dorm. “He should be coming down the hall any second now.” When they heard their neighbors footsteps, Mini smiled deviously. “He’s afraid of snakes. Watch this.” Mini shifted into a snake and slithered over in front of his door as he made his way down the hall.

Laurel let out a fit of giggles when Mini scared their neighbor. “Okay, fair enough, that was good,” she commented. “Why are you scaring your neighbor?”

“Seriously?” Laurel questioned the other. “You know we’re supposed to be studying right? I don’t know about you, but I have a test soon that I really would like to pass.”

Laurel had been sleeping for most of the day, just really feeling a lot that day. It was around five pm when she woke up from a noise at the door. She got out of bed and opened it to find Orlaith. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

Laurel had been getting frustrated with all the information in front of them. It felt like there was just a piece they were missing. She gave a slight sigh and closed it up. “I think we should take a break,” she said. “I feel like my brain might explode if I keep staring at the same things.”

“This is so good,” Laurel said as she ate the pieces of watermelon. “We should do this more often, why don’t we do this more?”

Laurel was panicking to say the least. The whole locked down freaked her out and she wanted to get out of there. She stood in the corner. She just needed to focus on her breathing, refrain from shifting. Laurel jumped slightly when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to find Orlaith. “I’m sorry, you startled me,” she said.

Laurel felt like she was on auto-pilot. She was definitely panicking. She needed to find a distraction, something to help her stay grounded and not shift. She saw Miles not too far from her, a worried look on his face. Emilia wasn’t near him and she got nervous. “Miles,” she called out to him. “Are you alright?”

Laurel was zoned out, all the voices around her felt so far away. She wasn’t sure if she was even focused more on not shifting, or focused more on her panic. She heard a voice behind her and she cleared her throat to try and speak. It felt like there was cotton in her mouth, “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

The most recent full moon, though nearly a week ago, had not been a good time for Louis. He’d ended up taking more than one day off to recover from it and mentally he was still feeling the effects. His wolf had gotten out of where he normally chained himself up and he didn’t know what carnage had ensued. He was trying very hard not to think about it but it had been one of his worst blackouts in a while. He was distracted by his own thoughts when he saw a familiar face walking past and the expression on it, “Laurel, hey,” He said, moving to walk in stride with her, “How are you doing?”

@laurclparks​

Laurel had been having trouble with her shifts since the attack and her birthday. She tried her best not to be, but she was still working on it, along with Orlaith helped her. Laurel was on her way to go some studying done, to get a head start on her final year at university when Louis approached. She gave a small smile at Louis. “Hey, I’m okay,” she responded. “And you? Was the full moon okay?”

“I miss her too,” Orlaith said, “Every day and I know the hurt I feel about losing someone in my pack and a friend will never compare to the hurt you feel of losing your mother, you have to know you’re not alone in your hurt,” She lifted a velvet box out from her desk out of her desk drawer. It had a ribbon stuck on top. She slid it across the desk, “Your mom gave this to me,” She explained, “A gift on my first birthday with you in the pack. It’s kind of become a good luck charm. I like to think she would have wanted me to give it to you,” She paused and smiled, “If you don’t mind hand-me-downs that is,” She joked after a moment and nodded toward the necklace box for her to open.

Laurel was speechless when when Orlaith handed her the necklace. A few tears falling down her face. Laurel shook her head, smiling. “No, no, it’s perfect, thank you,” Laurel said. “Can you, uh, can you help me put it on?”

“Laurel, no offence, but what the fuck are you talking about?” Miles asked, “I had a leade and I told you I had a lead and yeah, I was a little held up for a bit but I’m still in this boat, trying more than ever to find the people who killed by best friend and now tried to kill my girlfriend and you seem to have jumped ship and I’m getting really tired of people turning their backs on me so just… why?” He paused, “No, not never mind. Didn’t really want to what?”

“I’m a mess,” Laurel said. “Miles, my brain doesn’t work the way yours does. Sometimes when I get triggered by stuff like this, I don’t get angry or motivated. I spiral, I struggle, and I’ve been spiralling a little. It’s been a year since my Mom died, it was my first birthday without her, and to add to that, Emilia and Erik were attacked.” Laurel went silent for a moment. “I’m bipolar Miles. Sometimes I just shut down. I avoid people. Turn my phone off so no one can reach me. I don’t mean to, but I don’t know how to get out of bed sometimes, let alone get the energy to try and figure something out or even talk to people. I struggle with shifting too. I’m trying I am. When I found out it was a Kaleb bloodline werewolf that attacked Emilia, I guess I convinced myself that you wouldn’t want to see me, especially when I was, am, struggling. I didn’t want to make it harder on Emilia, or you.” 

“Aye, you think I don’t know that?” Laurel’s mother had been in Orlaith’s pack too and even if she hadn’t been, she would never forget a date that was so important to her pack member. She had tried to take on as much as a maternal role as the younger woman would allow her to or at the very least acting as a female role model to her, “You are never a burden, Laurel. I took a few personal days, sure, but my door is always open to you. Don’t forget that and never apologise to me for having a moment,” She paused and gestured for her to sit across from her, “Now, sit down so I can give you your birthday present.”

Laurel slipped more into the room, taking a seat, bringing her knees closer to her chest. She still felt quite vulnerable and exposed. “I know, well I think I know that. It’s just hard for me to believe that sometimes.”