Dedication: StarlightRyder :)

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Chapter 12 - "Mind Reading and Dirty Thoughts."

"Thoughts? Brain? Mind?"

Tatum nodded frantically at that, a huge grin splitting her face as she waved her hands to show that he was near.

"Alright, is it Mind Games?"

Tatum shook her head no, gesturing for him to go on.

"A Beautiful Mind?"

Tatum shook her head again, doing a set of quick actions of what she hoped was received as memories being lost.

"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind!" Angier crowed victoriously and Tatum jumped up, pumping her fist in the air in victory. Angier jumped to a stand and came forward, and the two of them high-fived and bumped the side of their hips together, throwing their arms up in the air as they twirled around in perfect sync, doing their infamous victory dance.

"I swear, they're cheating. She must've mind-linked him." Micajah grumbled, fake-scowling as he glared at the two of them. They were currently in the middle of a heated game of charades in the lawn area outside the cafeteria, and it had been Team Mordecai's fault to give them such an easy movie.

There were no rules that Tatum had to tell her that it was too easy when Seneca had come forward to show her the piece of paper she'd scribbled the name on.

Ezra and Francesca were the ones playing Switzerland—the dude's lack of interest to participate in just about anything because of the absence of his Mate was getting really concerning, to the point that Tatum might have to actually voice it.

She wondered fleetingly how that conversation would go.

Back to the point, Ezra and Francesca had been the ones to make the chits for the game, but since lunch hour will be ending in about five minutes and since their scores had been tied, Seneca had proposed a sudden-death round where the opponent gives the other team a movie and the task was to time each other, the winner being the one who finds it out as quick as possible.

"You know we didn't." Tatum shrugged, smirking at the pissed-off Mordecai's as she stepped back to the bench with a victorious sashay. Angier strutted back smugly with an over-confident smile as well, because they'd finished their round in less than 20 seconds.

Beat that, Seneca and Micajah.

Tatum couldn't stop smirking as she pulled the piece of paper and handed it to Seneca, making her eyes bulge out comically.

It was a pretty simple title actually.

Tatum giggled to herself at the mental pun.

"And your time starts . . . now." Ezra set the timer on his phone and looked up, smirking at Tatum in a knowing way. It was a rule that the players had to tell the judges the name of the movie they'd chosen, and he also knew that guessing this one was just pure luck.

Seneca started pointing a finger to her heart and then forming the shape of a heart with her hands and Micajah guessed the first word pretty easily. As expected.

"Love!"

And then Seneca held up eight fingers, throwing Micajah off completely.

"Um, Love eight! Eight love?"

Seneca was frustrated now, and she shook her head in a wildly, gesturing for him to ignore that and try to guess with the first clue.

"Okay, um, P.S. I love you? Crazy Stupid Love? Punch Drunk Love?"

Seneca was getting pissed off, but she continued to gesture for him to go on.

"A Lot Like Love? Uh, what else with love? Oh, yeah! Eat Pray Love? Love Story? Lov—"

"Time's up!" Ezra hollered, standing up to interrupt them, "And we have a winner!" He came in-between them, pulling Tatum's and Angier's arms up with both hands like they did at the end of a wrestling match, inclining his head to the crowd of three. "Team Karas!"

"Yes!" Tatum and Angier chorused, standing up with huge grins as they bumped fists and shook their elbows, continuing their victory dance, gloating shamelessly.

"What the hell was it?" Tatum heard Micajah ask in exasperation, and Seneca growled in response, "Freaking 'Love Actually'! It has eight couples in it. That's why I was trying to say eight."

"Oh, man! I was just about to say it!" Micajah groused, sighing in irritation as he stood up, glowering at the dancing duo who were still doing their stupid moves, "I'm telling you, these two definitely cheated."

"Nuh-uh, I don't have to cheat to guess what's on Angier's mind," Tatum crossed her arms with a sneer, raising a challenging brow, "I can tell you exactly what's on his mind, right this second."

"Oh, yeah?" Micajah pushed up his glasses, raising an eyebrow as well, "Prove it."

"With pleasure." Tatum turned around to glance at Angier, who had this slightly flushed look on his face. She considered for a second it might be due to their dancing, but a quick glance at Francesca's face confirmed her other suspicions, "He was thinking something dirty about Francesca."

"No dice, that's a given! Guys are always thinking dirty stuff!" Seneca threw her hands up in the air, aggravation written all over her face. "Hey!" Micajah and Ezra protested together, and Tatum ignored them, raising her eyebrows at Angier.

He turned red in response. "She's right."

"See?" Tatum shrugged, ignoring the pang in her heart at the thought. "Told you guys."

"Alright, fine! You win." Seneca rolled her eyes—ah, a sore loser, this Alpha—slinging an arm around Micajah's waist and pulling him close for a kiss.

Which turned into a make-out session.

Ugh. She turned away from them to grab her phone from the bench but was bombarded by the scene of Angier and Francesca making out there.

Goddess, can't she catch a break?

Francesca was straddling her Mate possessively—her knee a couple of inches away from Tatum's phone—and Tatum had a sneaking suspicion that this sudden show of propriety had something to do with the fact that Angier had completely ignored her for the past hour in favor of the game. A game where Tatum and Angier had let everyone know how deep their connection ran.

Also, she'd caught a few glimpses of seconds when Francesca's perpetually neutral mask had slipped and revealed a bit of scowling and dirty looks thrown Tatum's way.

Still, Tatum couldn't blame the girl because being someone's Mate supposedly brought along with it a quality of possessiveness that was a bit over-the-top. Tatum wouldn't know, obviously, but she reckoned that that must be the case.

She ignored the feeling of ultimate loneliness that wrapped around her at that moment, stepping forward quickly to grab her phone. When she twisted around, she caught sight of Ezra shooting her a sympathetic look.

And that just upset her even more.

Tatum tried to shake it off and act normal.

"Any news on when Nyah might be back?" She questioned, suddenly reminded of her earlier worries.

"Ah, no. All I know is that she's apparently gone up to Alaska, now." Ezra shrugged as if it didn't bother him, but Tatum could tell how much her absence was weighing on him. It hadn't been this bad the previous week. Now, it was almost like there was a visible dullness that he couldn't hide, that seemed to dim his usual spark.

"Oh . . ." She forced down a snappy remark on the tip of her tongue about how she felt because her own Mate was never coming back, and smiled, "It's alright, man. She'll be back soon. Try not to fret over it," And at that moment, she couldn't help but feel jealous of even him, because despite her not being with him at that instant, at least he had a Mate.

And considering the fact that the concept of second-chance Mates was nothing but a rural myth, she wouldn't experience any of that.

At times like these, she felt a resentment so bad that she just wished she could've been born human.

Things would be much, much simpler.

Briiiiing.

Thankfully, the bell chose that moment to ring. She turned around and pocketed her mobile phone quickly, rushing away without a second glance at her friends, "'Bye, guys!" She called, raising a hand in a wave without turning back, not caring whether they noticed the sudden thickness coating her voice.

She couldn't find it in herself to care about anything at all.

~

The first day of practice went by uneventfully; everyone having fun with the first fight scene and hitting each other and annoying Mrs. G beyond belief. At the end of two hours, she was almost ready to call it quits.

Obviously, like every other teacher in the world, she reigned in her temper and made them all cooperate. Tatum felt like giving her an award for her efforts, and only one day has gone by.

She pitied the gentle souls that chose the profession of teaching.

But also had a new sense of respect, too.

"How stands your deposition to go out?" Angier popped up out of nowhere, startling Tatum a little bit. "Haha," The way he'd taken his Mate—Lady Capulet's line and twisted it around was definitely amusing, so she decided to play along, "It's an honor that I dream not of,"

"Why, fair Tatum? I would say thou hadst had lots of fun this noon! Come on, young lady! We need to go out!" Angier exclaimed, and Tatum rolled her eyes, breaking out of character because he was making up his own lines, now.

"Alright tell me where and who're all coming, and I'll decide." Tatum packed her script and slung her bag on, finally giving her friend her full attention.

"Well, Fran's brother is in town and she's busy, and Micajah and Seneca are gonna have a 'quiet night in'," He rolled his eyes as he made air-quotes, for the last words and Tatum chuckled, "And of course, Ezra's not interested to go for dinner because he has to drive all the way back. He's only in if we promise some booze later."

"Which we can't, remember? No—"

"No drinking if there's a test tomorrow, I know." Angier rolled his eyes again, shooting her an annoyed look, "I told him it's not possible and he bailed."

"So . . . just the two of us? We could just go to my house. I'm sure Petra would have cooked something good." Tatum shrugged, making him groan in response, "It's not about eating, Tate! Let's just go out and have fun! Like old times!"

"You know, old times weren't that far back. Just a few weeks ago."

"I know. Sure feels like a year ago, though. Just, come on."

"Alright, I'm in." Tatum ignored the way her stomach swarmed with dragonflies, "I'll choose the place, though."

"Cool. Let's go."

~

Finally, they ended up going to a small Italian place that's more of a hole in the wall than anything, much to Tatum's delight.

Angier on the other hand, though, wasn't that fond of Italian.

He didn't exactly hate Italian, he could put away a plate of spaghetti bolognese with gusto, but he just didn't feel like it made him full. There was always room for more after Italian.

Yeah, you could say that he's weird that way. He had no problem with that.

"Mmm." Tatum moaned slightly as she inhaled the scents redolent in the air with her eyes closed, making a happy face that was just pure peace. That made Angier glad that he'd dragged her out for some Ang-Tate time because these days he felt like they barely saw each other.

Although, he was the one who should be blamed for that.

"Mmmmmm." Tatum inhaled deeply once again, and Angier had to stop himself from smirking at the weirded-out looks the people from the other tables were starting to give them.

He didn't mind that they thought shit; All he cared about was the fact that his friend was having fun.

"Keep that up, and everyone in the damn room will know you're having an orgasm." Angier teased and just as he'd known it would, the dirty joke made Tatum's eyes pop open in surprise. She then narrowed those sky-blue orbs in mock-anger, pursing her lips, "More than 50% of the food's allure is in its smell. So let me have my smell-gasm in peace without butting your dirty mind in."

"Well, I certainly don't have a problem with people thinking that you're coming in the middle of a crowded hotel. In fact, I'm happy 'cause they'll just be amazed that I made you do it without even touching you." Angier wagged his eyebrows salaciously as he sneered naughtily, and Tatum burst out laughing at that.

And it was not just that polite, 'I-don't-find-your-joke-funny-but-I'll-laugh-anyway' kind, it was the 'throw-your-head-back-and-clutch-your-tummy-in-pain' kind of one.

Angier realized at that moment just how pretty she was. All those years of sorrow and closing herself off had not just camouflaged her vibrant personality and her pure heart, but also her outer beauty.

Tatum really needed to stop doing that and start flaunting it.

Angier didn't have much to worry about in that department because Tatum has improved more in the past few weeks than she had in years. At the rate she was going, he was sure she'd soon emerge as the wonderful butterfly she is.

Angier's heart did a pleasant flutter at the thought.

"Having a wonderful time on your date?" A voice questioned, dragging Angier out of his thoughts. He pulled his eyes reluctantly off Tatum's smiling face, finally turning to meet the eyes of the waiter.

It was Louis Carson.

Ugh, what were the odds?

"We're not on a date." Angier and Tatum denied at the exact same moment and they glanced at each other awkwardly.

"Francesca is Angier's Mate," Tatum added and Louis' eyebrows flew up in surprise. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize. I thought you two were just casually going out."

Meaning, he thought that they were just fûcking.

The guy was soon starting to go on Angier's shit list.

Angier shook his head, resisting the urge to tell him off, "No. We're here 'cause Tatum loves Italian. Since when do you work here?"

"I joined at the beginning of summer just to pass my time. I'm gonna quit soon when the semester really kicks off."

"Oh, that's nice. I probably should've found myself a job in the summer, too. Would've saved lots of boring days." Tatum grinned up at him, and Angier decided that he was not a fan of the way she was looking at him.

In fact, it rubbed him wrong in more than one ways.

He just wasn't sure why exactly.

"Maybe we could find a job together during the Christmas holidays," Louis winked, and Tatum's cheeks started flaming a dark pink immediately, "Maybe."

And to think Angier was the one who'd suggested they set her up with Louis as he'd already spoken to the guy plenty of times from their time together in other plays.

He should really be more happy for his friend.

If it all turned out well, they could double date and have lots of fun just like his Mate had suggested.

"Would you like to place your order now?"

Angier nodded distractedly as he rattled off his favorite and before he could even close his mouth, Louis turned his attention back to Tatum with a flirty grin.

He sure was laying it on thick.

"Angier? Are you alright?" Tatum's tap on his forearm pulled him out of his daydream where Louis and she were exchanging vows, with Angier as her best man.

"Uh, yeah. I was just thinking about something. Sorry, where were we? Ah yes, orgasms and food-gasms. I'm open to having any one, or both. Or better yet, both at the same time."

"Ew! You're disgusting, Ang! And FYI, I don't think that's even humanly possible."

"Uh-huh, good thing I'm not human, then." Angier winked, and Tatum shook her head in pretend-dismay, moving on to other topics.

While it was one of the best evenings they'd had in a while, the thought that something was not right kept bothering Angier the entire time.

Maybe it was because of the slight emotional distance with his Mate he couldn't seem to get over.

Maybe it was because he was just starting to get used to seeing his best friend move on and start spending time with people other than him.

Maybe it was because he's just a crazy bastard.

Whatever the hell it was, Angier sure hoped he could get over it soon, because he really didn't want to think what would happen if he couldn't.

Because no matter what, he was sure the consequences wouldn't be pretty.

~ * ~

Questions:

1. I want your thoughts on the concept of "Second chance" Mates. Should it be true? Should there be a second Mate for Tatum or human love?

2. Tatum and Angier can really read each other's minds. Except for important stuff, of course. ;) Who's the best friend who reads your mind?

(For me, it's not just one person. I'm more of a group person.)

And yes, I've already planned up some twists ahead but I just would like to know what you guys think. I sometimes change the plans I have for the book based on readers' thoughts. I did for a huge part of She is my Alpha. I don't know if anyone noticed that the change happened though. I was afraid that it might seem sudden but I guess no one realised I did. Lol.

Btw, ALL YE EZRA FANS! Check out the trailer above of 'He is her Beta'.

NEXT UPDATE: JULY 3

Thank you all for being cool readers and putting up with me :)

Hope you enjoy this one!

Please do,

VOTE, COMMENT, FAN!