Chapter 18

Ollie's POV

Rain always made Boston smell wrong.

Too much concrete, too much gasoline, not enough earth.

Back home, storms smelled alive. Wet pine, damp soil, moss soaked through with cold mountain rain. Here, the city just smelled like flooded sidewalks and cigarettes outside bars.

I stand near the apartment window watching water streak down the glass while Luca tears through our kitchen looking for alcohol we definitely don’t have.

Friday again.

One whole week since the bar.

One whole week since Meghan.

Which is exactly seven days longer than I’ve ever spent thinking about a girl this much.

The week disappeared in a blur after that night.

And honestly?

I hate it.

Because now that I know she exists, every day without seeing Meghan feels wrong in a way I can’t fully explain.

Mate, my wolf reminds me constantly.

As if I could forget.

At first, I tell myself it’s fine.

Normal, even.

People have classes. Lives. Responsibilities.

We’re not going to magically spend every second together just because my entire existence apparently decided she’s the center of it now.

Still…

By Tuesday, I’m distracted.

By Wednesday, Shane starts noticing.

“You’re staring at your phone again,” he says from across the apartment while I pretend to pay attention to a statistics lecture recording.

“I’m literally checking the weather.”

“You opened the same app four times.”

I glance down.

He’s unfortunately correct.

“You’re down horrendous,” Luca says from the couch.

“I hate all of you.”

Adrian barely glances up from his laptop. “No, you’re just emotionally unstable.”

The problem is—

They aren’t wrong.

Because every instinct in me keeps searching for her even when she’s not there.

And she’s… gone quiet this week.

Not fully absent.

Just tucked away.

Kylah mentioned Meghan’s been buried in assignments and painting most nights, barely leaving her room except for food or coffee. Apparently Eliana threatened to physically drag her outside yesterday after she spent ten straight hours working on a paper and forgot dinner existed.

That sounds about right.

And somehow knowing all of that makes my chest ache.

Because I can picture it too easily.

Her curled up at her desk. Music playing softly. Paint on her hands. Hair tied up messily while she disappears into her own head for hours at a time.

My wolf loves that image entirely too much.

Mine.

“Relax.”

It does not relax.

At all.

And the truly pathetic part?

I don’t even have her number.

Not because I didn’t want it.

I just…

Every time I thought about asking, she looked at me with those big eyes like she already felt overwhelmed enough by whatever this thing between us is.

So I backed off.

Which means all week I’ve been surviving off secondhand Meghan updates from Shane and Kylah like some Victorian man separated from his lover by war.

It’s humiliating.

By Friday, even I can admit I’m restless.

The apartment feels too small. My skin feels too tight. Every little sound irritates me for no reason.

“You gonna pace holes through the floor all night or what?” Adrian asks finally.

I glance up from where I’m standing near the kitchen window.

“I’m not pacing.”

Luca looks over from the couch. “Brother, you’ve walked to that fridge fourteen times and haven’t eaten a single thing.”

Shane watches me carefully for a second too long before speaking.

“You miss her don't you?”

The apartment goes quieter immediately.

I shove my hands into my pockets. “I'm not answering that.”

“Mm,” Adrian hums knowingly.

“I’m serious.”

“No one said you weren’t,” Shane replies calmly.

Which somehow annoys me more.

Because underneath all of it, they know exactly what this is doing to me.

And honestly?

So do I.

I don’t just miss her.

I feel her absence.

Like something’s slightly off balance all week without her nearby.

It’s maddening.

"Mate", my wolf says again, quieter this time.

Lonely.

The word hits me harder than it should.

Before I can spiral any further, Shane’s phone buzzes beside him on the couch.

He glances down.

Then immediately looks at me with barely concealed amusement.

“What?” I ask suspiciously.

“Kylah says bar tonight.”

Every nerve ending in my body immediately wakes up.

I hate myself a little for how fast I respond.

“She’s going?”

Luca lets out the loudest laugh I’ve ever heard in my life.

“Oh my God,” he wheezes. “HE DIDN’T EVEN ASK WHAT BAR.”

Heat immediately crawls up my neck.

“I was just asking—”

“No,” Adrian interrupts calmly. “You were not.”

Shane’s grin gets worse as he looks back down at his phone.

“Kylah says Meghan’s pretending she doesn’t want to go.”

My chest tightens instantly.

Then Shane snorts quietly.

“What?” I snap.

“She says Meghan’s been hiding in her room all week painting ‘weirdly emotional forests.’”

I go still.

Forests.

Something about that settles deep and strange in my chest.

Instinctive.

Familiar.

Like my wolf recognizes something my brain doesn’t yet.

I exhale slowly.

Shane types something back before looking up at us again.

“Well,” he says, standing from the couch, “guess we’re going out tonight.”

Luca points aggressively at me. “And look at that, he’s smiling already.”

“I’m literally not.”

“You literally are,” Adrian says without even glancing up from his laptop.

I hate all of them.

But underneath the embarrassment, underneath the teasing and whatever the hell is happening to me

There’s relief.

Because it’s Friday now.

And I’m finally going to see her again.