Over the Moon: Cinderella

Olivia wanted to go outside; she´d felt imprisoned by the werewolf that had intruded in her house and life but she decided to stay inside in case the man was around and then it occurred to her that the next day once she go to work the man might be around still like some kind of stalker. She could´ve asked him where he lived but she hadn´t wanted him to think that they could be friends or anything similar by initiating a conversation but she could ask Alejandro about it and she would as soon as she saw her friend. How hadn’t she thought of that before, Oli scolded herself, obviously the man had to live in Woodhills

Olivia was disappointed when she found out, the next day that Alejandro´s shift started when hers ended which meant she wouldn’t be able to ask him much if anything. To her good luck, however, Alejandro came a few minutes early and she was able to sneak out, it was a slow morning.

“How did the dog sitting go?” Alejandro had an amused grin on his face despite the annoyance in his voice. Oli rolled her eyes

“I´m like his maid now” Oli made a face

“Was he rude to you?” Ale knitted his eyebrows upward

“No, he barely talked, not like I gave him the chance –she admitted; Ale just nodded in acknowledgement –hey… by any chance do you know where he lives? –she grimaced- I want to try to avoid him” she explained quickly as Ale raised his eyebrows and changed his grin to smirk

“Don´t worry –he assured her- he´s living in the city, he goes to school there, he only comes like his bro to spend the moon with their one and only” he poked her tongue out and then scoffed in time with her

“At least there´s that –she sighed with some relief- so he lives in the city –she said to herself –thank you, Ale” she smiled up at him

“No prob” Ale glanced at his watch “gotta cook for people now”

“Yeah, have a god day”

“See you around” he smiled, she waved goodbye. He’d given her good news. It was a little ironic though in a funny way that he lived in the city, she´d lived there for years and only when she came to Woodhills he decided he… what?  That he liked her? No, that didn’t cover it. He had decided to be some kind of stalker/astray annoying dog but she wouldn’t lose her time thinking about him and she kept word. She didn’t think of Daniel even once during the course of the following month as she became a little bit of a closer friend with Alejandro and Mai, anther waitress in the restaurant.

Olivia had just come back from work on a Monday afternoon and was eating a piece of cantaloupe in the kitchen and planning to laze around the whole rest of the afternoon when she heard a knock on the door, reluctantly and with the piece of juicy cantaloupe on her hand she went to get it.

“You again” she released air through a corner of her mouth as she saw the lean man at her door, he swallowed visibly

“Good afternoon, Olivia – she made a face when he used her name in such a formal way- will you, ah, help me again these…”

“Agh –she interrupted him frowning- I´m not doing this for you –she moved to a side –just so that no other person has to go through what I went through” she slammed the door shut

“About that…” he started. She lifted a hand in a stop motion and then she glanced at her watch

“It´s three in the afternoon, you didn’t need to be this early here” she narrowed her eyes and he looked wounded

“I can come back later” he said with his amber eyes closed

“Whatever, you´re here already” she rolled her eyes

“I´ll place this on the kitchen” he made it sound like a question. He lifted a grocery bag

“Sure” she followed him; she wanted to know where he was so that he wouldn’t… couldn’t surprise her

“I brought some tools… -he was carrying a red slightly rusty metallic tool box on his other hand- I thought I could fix the leaking of the sink and bathroom…”

“You can do that?” this surprised Oli that had been vaguely observing his long hair tied in some kind of loose bun at the base of his head thinking that she didn’t have hair long enough for one

“Yeah; I can start now and fix the cabinets too… continue during the next three days that I´ll be here”

“Three days?” she exclaimed as her scent was more tainted with irritation

“Yes –he said in almost a whisper- the night´s before during and after the full moon with their respective days, that is when I need your help the most”

“You were here only two nights last time” Oli narrowed her eyes

“Yeah, well –he pulled free his hair and started to tie it back in the same loose bun- I had spent a day locked before I escaped”

“Geez –Oli sighed- three nights, three days plus the morning in which you´ll leave?”

“Yes” he touched his neck closing his eyes for a second

“I hate this” both Oli and Dani thought

“Are you sure you can repair that?” Olivia asked after a minute in silence

“Yeah –he showed his lopsided smile- what do you want done first? This one –he pointed at the sink- or the bathroom?”

“Err….This one?” she made a little motion to the sink as her eyebrows went upwards

“Alright” Daniel put his back pack and tool box on the floor and opened the cabinet under the sink as Oli exited the room feeling awkward but not wanting to make much of it. She´d planned to laze around and she´d do just that.

Olivia really didn’t want to have to take Daniel´s food for him upstairs she decided to start dinner earlier than usual, at around six in the evening. When she went in the kitchen he´d finished fixing the sink and was screwing the cabinet doors, the one that kept falling and had fixed the one that wouldn’t close no matter what Olivia had tried –mostly hitting it hard- and for the look of it he´d cleaned the sink too leaving it shining instead of the dull gray color it had before. Olivia was impressed. When Daniel saw Olivia he moved away and crouched to put his tools back on his box.

“Wow, you´re efficient –she laughed a little nervous laugh- thanks, really” she washed her hands as she thanked him

“It´s the least I can do for letting me stay” he shrugged with a shoulder still looking at his tools feeling a little stupid that her words had given him some fluttering feeling in his chest. Gratitude was a sweet smell, not overly so but pretty good, he decided he liked it.

“I´m going to wash” he announced standing up once he was done, Oli graced him with a small polite smile and he went to the bathroom. When he came back he didn’t know what to do, where to stand or if to stay in the room at all but since he wasn’t willing to go away he looked around the kitchen shifting on his feet. He could´ve started the repairs on the bathroom but he could feel the call of the moon getting stronger, it´d be a disaster to lose his thumbs while working with pipes.

“I´ll work on the bathroom tomorrow” Daniel broke the uncomfortable silence

“Ok”

“Should I…er…” he tried to break the silence again

“You can have diner down here” Oli said at the same time he spoke

“Cool –he smiled his crooked smile- Can I help you with…?”

“I got it” she didn’t let him finish and the smell of impatience filled his nostrils. Ok, no talking he thought and silently went to take a seat at the small tattered table in the kitchen. He sat in her line of vision, he knew she didn’t trust him and wanted to know exactly where he was at all times, at least that´s what he´d think like if he didn’t trust someone in his house. He found that being in her line of vision meant that she was also in his line of vision which meant he could steal glances at what she did and he did just that. He watched her cook, flipping the contents of the pan and pouring them on a large plate. He saw her chopping tomatoes and onions, she was good, fast working in two things at a time; she added salt on the tomatoes and the beans she was frying. At the very end she tossed some tortillas on a pan. Tacos, Dani though, she´s making me tacos, it made him excited but he had to remind himself that no, she was just cooking and it wasn’t for him.

“Left over burritos” she put a plate on the table in front of him along with a coke

“It smells good” he looked from the food up to her. The tiniest of smiles appeared on her face. Suddenly he gripped the edge of the table hard as a spasm went through him making him grimace

“Are you ok?” Olivia sounded scared.

“Yeah –he took calming breaths- it´s…the change… I think it´s happening earlier tonight” he let go of the table noticing his knuckles were white

“Now? –she lifted her eyebrows upward and her scent was tainted with fear- I, I´ll take these upstairs for you” she lifted his plate and drink. No! He shouted in his mind but focusing on the task he stood up and walked towards the attic. As soon as she locked the door he could hear her rushing downstairs leaving a trail of her fear behind her. It hurt almost as much as the spasms that made him curl and moan and fell to his knees. He kicked off his shoes and pants in time but his t-shirt and the rest got tore by his transformation. At least it stopped the whining, sort of, because in his wolf form he was more prone to try and beg Olivia who didn’t know what it was and didn’t want to know, didn’t care to know; a little howl  escaped him as he thought of this.

That night he tried very hard not to sniff loudly and not to scratch the floor boards. He failed two or three times and two or three times Olivia shouted for him to stop but it wasn’t as hateful as it had been the last time. Daniel could hear her grumbling non-words and then turning on and up a radio with music he didn’t know in a language that he didn’t understand. He could understand that it was a sad song though; the woman´s voice was high yet clear with a background of a sad piano. Half way through the song it stopped, it was a CD, it was scratched. Dani could smell anger and frustration coming from Olivia followed by another song that like the one before started with a piano but it was faster joined later by other instruments and sung by a male whose voice sounded pretty nasal. The scent of frustration from Oli changed to one of calmness as she mumbled the words that Daniel couldn’t understand. She wasn’t a good singer, her voice faltered when it went up but it was nice to hear her content. Olivia sung the next song complete and even played it again; by the third song she was asleep, he knew because there was silence and only the smell of orange blossoms and vanilla ice-cream remained. He rested his head on his front paws as he kept listening to the quiet songs and the howling of his pack as background.

Olivia was a heavy sleeper. Dani was sure this time, otherwise his whining, groaning and snapping bones would´ve surely make her start oozing bitter, sour smells as he changed back from his wolf from but instead of that she remained with her own scent as he struggled out of his animal form at dawn. It was so exhausting to change back, it drained all his energy so once the spasms ended he just laid there on the wooden dusty floor and closed his eyes, curling a little as the cold morning gave him goose bumps

“Geez! This again!” Olivia exclaimed and Daniel´s nostrils filled with the overly spicy and caustic scent of anger that made him wrinkle his nose. Yeah, he remembered this time, he was naked lying on the floor, her back to her; he sat up quickly locating his pants and pulling them on as he stood

“Sorry” he cleared his throat as he turned around and saw she was facing the other way with the hint of a blush on her cheeks. She looked cute with glowing cheeks; he had to fight the smile that threatened to form on his face, a battle that he lost as he walked ahead going to the first floor of the house.

Oli made breakfast as he cleaned himself. She´d used the ingredients he´d brought, serving him a generous amount of food on the same plate as the night before and the same one as the first time he´d been there… one plate, his plate, like a dog.

“I´ll work on the bathroom today” Daniel ignored the pang that went through him when she took her plate and walked away

“Ok, thank you” she paused for a second but left anyway.

Daniel ate in silence doing his best to enjoy his breakfast. Silence was something he really didn’t enjoy. Although he was an only child, he wasn’t used to being alone, his cousins were like siblings, they´d lived together all their life and there were his friends, members of the pack that were some kind of extended family, there was always someone to share a meal back at home. He could enjoy the meal, though, Oli had cooked nicely and her scent lingered in everything she´d touched. He could also enjoy the fact that he wasn’t locked up in the attic. He ate fast though, washed his dish and got to work, taking his time, even cleaning the dirty neglected bathroom. It was obvious that no one had used it in years which kept him occupied during most of the day.

That evening, Olivia made an early dinner. They had ribs, rice and vegetables, he´d brought the meat. It nagged her that he probably had brought all his favorite food and she was cooking it for him. She had the idea in the back of her mind to make him made his own food but then she was cooking for herself anyway and it was not like she didn’t like experimenting here and there with the food and have someone eating her little experiments and he´d fixed the leaking sink and bathroom that she hadn’t checked but that had heard him fix so it wasn’t really that bad to just add some more food in the pans she told herself.

After dinner, Olivia came back to the kitchen where once again Daniel had eaten alone to take him upstairs and lock him up. He heard her pause at the sounds of his groans when the first spasms started but she quickly walked away after that pause. Once in his animal shape, he didn’t hear her close, she wasn’t under the attic in her room; paying attention he heard her downstairs. He felt anxious and desperate, she was farther this time, and her scent was faint. He reminded himself that she was inside the house, they were close, and they were under the same roof. But then, what if something happened, what if someone came, what if Ale came, he thought as the hair on the back of his neck stood on end and barely caught a bark, he wasn’t so lucky in resisting the urge to scratch the door and make little pleas that sounded to human ears like little barks and whines. If Olivia heard this, she ignored him, she didn’t shout for him to stop although she turned on the volume of the TV and after a little while she started laughing at the comedy she was watching and then very late at night he could tell she´d fallen asleep.

The next day Daniel offered to paint the bathroom with the white can of paint he´d seen in the cabinet under the sink. Oli had used it to paint one of the walls of her room. She was reluctant to let him but in the end she did. In the afternoon, Daniel once again offered his help, this time to turn the soil in the garden, she didn’t hesitate this time, she´d barely started doing it last month when she´d stop the next day as her arms felt heavy and sore. She made lemonade for him and commented that she wanted to plant flowers all around the big patio, maybe plant some trees but she needed to fix the old fence even though she wasn’t sure why it was there if the a large part of the woods beyond it belonged to the same property. That night she didn’t ask him to shut up but the smell of aggression was still thick in her scent.

On the last morning Daniel spent at Olivia´s she woke him up by knocking on the door and waiting for a few minutes before entering. She´d made breakfast already. After fifteen minutes he was out of the place without a good by and with a heavy heart.

“This is the nicest room in the entire house” Oli mumbled that afternoon as she went to check up the bathroom. She noticed that her imposed guest had not only fixed the leaking pipes and painted the walls but had fixed and cleaned the stuck window and cleaned the tub, sink and tiles. “After this he seems more of a Cinderella than the wicked wolf” she huffed but laughed “wolferella? –she mused- or cinder-wolf? Olivia, you´re crazy” she scolded herself, turned off the light and went out of the room shaking her head. 

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aahhh I´ve had this bit for a little while, I said I was going to read over and do at least some kind of editing but no, I just can´t do it. I did the spellcheck on Word but I´m sure that´s not enough so...again, uneditted.

Also, I want to kinda keep using fairy tale references as much as I can for this story, so that´s why I used that tittle but I´m not sure. I wondered if it was ok to maybe make it into Cinderella Wolf or something like that, maybe Wicked Wolf? -with the question mark. Idk though...

I think the picture is perfect for this one, dont you think?