Becoming the Luna

"Mom?" Hayden frowns, following after his mom to make sure she actually got in her car and didn't go around scaring people with her costume. "You didn't bring any change of clothes?" He asks with something close to frustrated disbelief.

Renee pauses her attempts to push her bloated body through the driver's door of her car. "I was supposed to?" She frowns at him.

Hayden just facepalms, sweater paw hitting his forehead. "Of course, what do you even have under that?"

"Underwear." Renee replies with a sly grin which has Hayden waving his hands in a rebuttal.

"No, please no, mom, don't drive around in your underwear." He says quickly.

Renee just pouts, finally huffing and puffing in her car after some major adjustments to the chair's position. "Aw, you're no fun."

"I'll call, Julia." Hayden lightly threatens when his mom starts the car.

"Ugh! Fine, I'll go." She accepts unhappily, starting the car.

"Better, say hi to Jaxie for me." Hayden waved her away, going back in the bookstore when her car drives out of sight.

Hayden takes a deep breath, going back to finishing up the cleaning of the back room.

The bookstore wasn't exactly swarming with customers but that was exactly what Hayden needed, it gave him purpose and also gave him lots of free time surrounded by a lot of his favorite things - books!

The bookstore is more of a mini library where you could actually buy the books because there were chairs and tables, set just in front where people could sit and read.

It was mostly Mae coming in to read her dusty books on witchcraft but sometimes people did come in to read, especially on Fridays and Saturdays when the weekend came and people could get away from their jobs.

It really helped that there was a cafe, just a stone throw from the book store, Hayden got his morning latte from the cute shop, it was owned by a Werewolf, Brea who was a member of the Dark Moon Pack - technically Dale's Pack - and stayed at the Pack House.

Hayden missed his friends, a lot, he missed his boyfriend even more.

He smiles softly as the pale grey ring on his hand catches the sunlight, he was relieved he had thought to make Virgil's ring a couple sizes too big because he had to get his resized.

He scoffs reflexively under his breath, it was just like the idiot to think he wouldn't grow.

The past four years hadn't been as bad as he had thought, maybe because they all called every day, most times more than once plus all of the pictures and whatnot, they made it really hard to miss them.

It was late spring and the rains were drying up which made Hayden's skin thrum with anticipation because when summer came, it would bring the people he loved back to him.

"There." He mutters to himself when the back room is arranged once again. "Don't even think about it." He quickly warns Apple who has a sly look in her eyes.

The cat just lazily licks her paw again, her tail swaying lazily behind her - her entire actions spelled smug.

Hayden didn't hesitate before picking her up, making sure to close the door behind him securely and dropping her on the counter.

It's a couple minutes past one which means Mae should be showing up anytime soon, Hayden didn't mind, the half-witch was nice company and she always brought him a latte.

The entire bookstore was properly arranged but he couldn't help but walk around, carefully adjusting the comfortable chairs and adjusting tables.

Next, he makes his way to the aisles, straightening dislodged books and adjusting the signs.

It wasn't new news that he didn't need the bookstore, financially at least, in Hayden's opinion, the bookstore kept his sanity intact and gave him a purpose.

Or maybe he just wanted to surround himself with a lot of books without having anyone complain.

The bell above the door dings and Hayden doesn't even bother coming out of the bookshelves, taking his time.

"Hi, Mae." He greets cheerily from his hidden spot.

"Oh, Hayden?" Mae replies in surprise, looking around slightly for her shorter, adorable friend. "I thought Apple finally gave in to her urges and ate you."

"Very funny, Mae." He mutters dryly, coming out to meet her.

As expected, she's lounging on one of the four sofas, two are placed opposite each other on both ends, the normal chairs, and circular tables in the middle.

Mae picks the one near the windows, ignoring the outside world as she drops her pile of books and coffee on the rectangular-shaped, mahogany table.

While Hayden took to cutting his hair short after they left which made it less curly, Mae grew hers out, the black, thick, curly mass draping over her shoulders.

She's in a short-sleeved turtle neck with a denim jumper, the pant legs loose and stopping just before her socks.

"I brought coffee." She grins up at him, holding it out.

Hayden takes it gratefully, settling down across her with a book in his hand. "Thank you."

"I spoke to, Shana." Mae starts to say absently, arranging out her big books and taking out a glittery notebook as well, it was at odds with the creepiness of the rest of her reading materials, Renee had gotten the notebook for her.

"Really? How is she doing?" Hayden asks in interest even though he had just spoken to her the day before.

"She says she's fine, a little busy from reading for her final papers but she's just fine."

He hums in reply, it would explain why she hadn't called him yet, he rarely called because he didn't want to bother them or call at the wrong time like when they were in classes or something and it was just fine because they called often enough to make up for it.

He took long languid sips of his beverage, staring outside the window as people walked past or cars drove by, getting the familiar feeling that his phone was about to ring.

In a couple minutes, said item starts to tinkle and vibrate and he drags himself from the couch to go get it from the counter, Apple meowing unhappily at the unwanted sound that was ruining her umpteenth nap of the day.

"I'll take a guess, it's Dale." Mae says, raising her ridiculous pen shaped like a bird up in the air, her attention still on the books in front of her.

He just shakes his head before picking the call, Mae liked to guess who it was calling him and disturbingly had an uncanny way of guessing right.

"Hello?" He says into the phone.

"Hey, doll…"