Work Text:
Tuesday Morning
Enid woke up to the feeling of sunlight hitting her face. She rubbed her eyes lightly, squinting into the bright morning rays. She lied down on her back, covering her eyes with her arm as she slowly prepared herself for finally getting up. After a couple minutes she finally sits up and she reaches for her phone and checks the time: 9:00 AM, Tuesday. She groaned in frustration at herself. She must have turned her alarm off while still asleep. Her Intro to Psychology lecture had started an hour ago and she had slept through it.
Now, missing one lecture is not the end of the world by any means. College students miss class regularly depending on the course. The problem here is that this was Enid’s first lecture for this course, and only her second full day as a college student. To add insult to injury, she had managed to sleep through two more lectures yesterday as well, Art History and Spanish. She had been so anxious about finally being a full-fledged college student that she had kept herself awake far too late the night before and managed to sleep into the early afternoon after both lectures had already ended. She knew it was only going to be introductions and syllabus stuff for the first day usually, but still, she did not think it was a good look. She sighed lightly, she wished she had listened to her older brothers, they had warned her that signing up for early classes was not a good idea. Getting up early for high school was different than getting up early for college courses, they had tried to explain to her, but she had dismissed their concerns. She really thought her time at Nevermore would have prepared her better for an early morning schedule, but guess not.
‘Two days into college and I am already three lectures behind. Good job, Enid, really putting your best foot forward there’
Enid sighed lightly before finally pushing herself out of bed. She might as well get ready for the day and go for some breakfast. She got up and dressed and went to the dining hall. Her campus was not too large thankfully so it was an easy walk from her dorm building. She was grateful it was a nice cool day, not too cold or too hot. There was a light breeze that would blow through her hair and it honestly felt sublime at the moment. After entering the dining hall and going over the selection at the buffet, she got herself a Greek style omelet and then filled her plate with bacon and then some cranberry juice. As she entered the main dining area to look for a seat she heard someone call her name.
“Hey Enid, over here!” Enid turned toward the voice and she saw a boy she knew by the name of Colin waving to her. He was a boy she had gotten to know during the previous week’s freshman ice breaker activities. He had blonde curly hair that was long and tied into a ponytail, he was clean shaven, a little skinny but not scrawny, and he had bright green eyes. She noticed he was sitting with 3 other students she had also met during orientation week. First was Anna, a brunette with long straight hair and brown eyes, and, as far as Enid was concerned, she had a supermodel-like body. Then there was Marcus, he was a dark skinned boy who had his hair in dread locks, had a goatee and had blue eyes that were about as bright as Enid’s own, and he had a slightly more muscle on his body in comparison to Colin and the others. Finally, was Elle, a small pale person with short blonde hair like Enid, in fact many people joked that they looked like twins, but they had grey eyes in comparison to Enid’s blue and did not tint the ends of their hair in colors like she did, Enid also was considerably more muscular, on account of her werewolf nature. She gave Colin and the group a smile and then walked over to their table.
She didn’t know the group incredibly well yet, but out of everyone she met in their orientation week, they were the ones she gelled with the best. Anna and her engaged in very animated discussions about the latest gossip around campus, and Enid also thought she was really funny to talk to, like a certain vampire best friend of hers. Anna was just always excited to learn about other people, which is why she decided to study psychology as her major to become a therapist so she could try to help people. Marcus was a computer science major and after only a few conversations Enid could tell he was incredibly intelligent, and he was also incredibly modest and patient with people. Elle was incredibly shy and introverted, a stark contrast to Enid, but all Enid had to do was be kind to them and they opened up about their interest in being a painter, something Enid thought sounded so cool. Then there was Colin, he was a history major who Enid found matched her golden retriever energy perfectly, as they both got very easily excited and were very talkative, in fact it was not uncommon for the two of them to control the majority of the conversation when the group was together, but nobody minded. Yeah, she was still getting to know them all, but Enid really liked the friends she had so far.
They spoke while they ate, each of them talking about how their first classes had gone. Enid did not mention missing her first three lectures due to oversleeping, she was far too embarrassed to admit it. Truthfully she had always had trouble waking up in the morning, but at Nevermore she had something far more reliable than an alarm clock to get her up on time. She had her roommate, Wednesday Addams. She smiled to herself. She remembered meeting the young goth for the first time. It had not gone well. Wednesday did not want to get along with Enid, despite how hard Enid tried to befriend her. It had almost led to her changing rooms at one point, but as fate would have it she eventually would break down the emotional barriers that Wednesday built around herself.
Then came the night she risked her life to save Wednesday. Honestly, in retrospect, it was kind of scary how willingly she threw herself into danger to save the raven. It didn’t even require a second thought. Thank god she had finally been able to wolf out, or it could have been the end of both of them. After that night however, the girls had an unbreakable bond. Enid continued to look after Wednesday, and now Wednesday looked after Enid. Enid loved all of her friends from Nevermore, but Wednesday had obviously taken a special place in her heart.
Her eyebrows furrowed slightly and the smile on her face vanished. She really missed Wednesday. They were supposed to actually go to the same college together, but Wednesday had decided she wanted to do a gap year and do some traveling with her Uncle Fester. She had invited Enid, but Enid didn’t want to impose on the family, and felt like she should be in school. Enid had a single dorm room and while it could be convenient, she definitely felt…lonely,
Colin’s voice breaks Enid out of her thoughts, “Hey, so I know a guy whose roommates are throwing a party this Friday night, you guys want to go?” Colin asks the group, giving Enid in particular a longer glance than the others.
Elle looks down before quietly saying, “I think I will stay in on Friday, sorry Colin.” Colin just gave them a kind, understanding smile.
“Well, I am down dude. Have to go to our first real college party eventually, right?” Marcus chimes in.
Anna nods in agreement, “I’ll be there for sure, so how about you Enid?”
Enid thinks about it for a second, before smiling and saying, “Yeah let’s do it!” She had nothing going on that night so why not?
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Wednesday Evening
Enid was in a decent mood tonight. She had managed to wake up on time for her lectures, finally, and tonight was a full moon which means Enid could let some stress off. Enid was running through a forest hunting deer in her wolf form. Enid’s college had no areas safe to wolf out nearby, but luckily Colin had a car and was willing to drive her 40 minutes to the nearest forest area, away from the city. She offered to pay for the gas, of course. Enid was grateful that despite her college friend’s being normies they all accepted her being a werewolf, and they thought it was cool actually.
Being able to run out here freely helped relax Enid after the stressful week she had. It may seem strange to say a week where she only had her intro lectures could be stressful, but she was still adjusting to so many new things. A new school, a new city, new friends…it all can really add up. Out here though, running on all fours through the forest on a cool, calm night, she didn’t have to think about her life or others’ expectations of her, at least not right now. Years ago, before she could finally wolf out, thinking about nights like this, full moons, would have given her just as much anxiety as anything. Now it relaxed her though, it helped her feel free. There was still something missing, though, she realized.
‘Wednesday’
It had become a thing back at Nevermore after her first wolf out that Wednesday would come out with her to observe her in her full wolf glory. The seer adored watching Enid run through the trees. Enid loved the shine in Wednesday’s eyes whenever she brought her back a fresh kill, the bloodier the more excited the goth was. It was a special time for just the two of them, and it made Enid love full moon nights all the more. Wednesday was the only one Enid liked being around her when she wolfed out.
Tonight, of course, it was just her. Colin had said, after dropping her off, that he would return around 3 am to pick her up so he could take her back when she is ready, and so the werewolf could have the time to herself, though it had taken Enid convincing him a little that she was more than capable of watching out for herself in the woods alone, especially when in her wolf form. Enid thought he was really sweet for all the concern he gave her, kind of like Ajax but Colin was a bit more emotionally intelligent than Ajax was. She was grateful to have met such kind boys in her life.
After she got her fill of running through the forest, Enid realized it was a little after Colin had said he would be back so she transformed back into her human form. She found her clothes that she had hidden nearby and then left to meet up with Colin. When she got to Colin’s vehicle she found the boy sleeping in the front seat. She chuckled a bit to herself before lightly tapping the window. The boy startled awake slightly before he saw Enid and gave her a smile before unlocking the vehicle.
“Hey, sorry if I scared you there,” she said apologetically.
“No, I am good don’t worry about it!” Colin said with a smile before starting the car and getting ready to drive back to campus, “Did you have fun? Or is that a weird question to ask here, sorry.” He laughs a little awkwardly.
Enid giggles at him, “Yeah I had a good time. It felt freeing. I spent a lot of it remembering my friends back at Nevermore and how much I miss them,” she smiled to herself.
“Especially that roommate of yours right? I know she’s like your best friend, which is crazy considering how different you say she is from you,” Colin responds.
Enid leaned against the window and sighed, “Yeah she and I were like water and oil for a while, we did not get along, but overtime things would shift. Now I can’t imagine her not being in my life. I am so excited for you guys to meet her when she finally starts school again next year.”
Colin smiled as he listened the joyful werewolf, “Where is she right now? I know you said she was traveling around the world.”
“I think they either just landed in Greece, or will land there tomorrow. She is actually going to be visiting some of my family while there!” Enid said excitedly.
Colin’s eyes widened slightly, “You have family in Greece?”
“Yeah, my mom is half Greek. She has several aunts, uncles and cousins over there in Crete. I’ve only been there twice since the trip is so expensive, but it is beautiful. Anyway, Wednesday and her Uncle Fester will be staying with my Great Aunt Efthehia in Chania. She lives in a small village area but it’s cute.” Enid explains.
“That’s pretty awesome, I am jealous I would love to go to Greece sometime,” Colin muses with a smile, “Are you going to try to talk to her while she is there?”
Enid’s smile grows in excitement, “Yes, actually! She is supposed to be there for three weeks. Next Saturday we are going to do a video call and catch up.” Colin only smiled in response.
Suddenly, Enid let out a yawn and started to feel very tired. She was grateful Thursday was her free day, she won’t have to worry about waking up in time for class. The rest of the car ride was quiet, only Colin’s indie pop music playing quietly over the car stereo. When they finally pulled onto campus, Colin stopped near Enid’s dorm to let her off. She wished him a good night and then entered to her dorm hall. She climbed the stairs to the third floor where her room was. She was exhausted and just wanted to go to bed. When she got to her room she goes to pull her key out of her pocket…only to find it not there. She goes through both her jean and all her jacket pockets looking for the key and finds nothing.
Enid groans to herself as she smacks her palm to her forehead in annoyance, “Oh goddess, not again.”
This was, unfortunately, not the first time since moving in that she had forgotten to bring her key with her when leaving her room. How could she have been so absentminded again! Hanging her head down and slumping her shoulders in shame, she walks slowly to her Residential Advisor Marian’s room. She knocked lightly and heard a grumble from inside. A slightly older female student with short black hair with green highlights opened the door and looked outside. Enid gave her a sheepish smile, knowing her RA was frustrated with how many times she had been woken up to let the young blonde into her room. Marian rolled her eyes and gave her a small smile, before leading the way to Enid’s room.
After unlocking it, the RA turned to Enid and said, “You doing ok there, Sinclair? You keeping it together?”
Enid looked surprised slightly at the question, “O-of course I’m fine, Marian. Why do you ask?”
“This is the fourth time I have had to let you into your room, and it has only been two weeks. I thought you went to a boarding school, you should be used to having your key on you,” sighing a little in minor annoyance.
Enid blushed lightly in embarrassment. After a second all she could muster out in a whisper while looking at the floor was, “I’m fine, I’m sorry I just forgot.”
Marian gave her a sympathetic look, “It’s ok, I am not trying to get an apology out of you. Sorry Enid, just a little crabby. You going to be ok, now?”
Enid gives her a small smile and nods. Marian smiles back, gives Enid’s shoulder a supportive pat, and then walks back to her own room. Enid walks into her room and closes the door behind her and gives a heavy sigh. She felt humiliated. Marian was right, going to a boarding school should mean she should be able to remember her damn key when she goes out. The problem was, she always forgot her key at Nevermore, too. The only reason she did not get locked out all the time was, once again, because of Wednesday. The goth would sometimes bring Enid her key when she realized the blonde had forgotten it, or she would be the one to let Enid in. She would always roll her eyes whenever Enid did it, but Enid knew she was never really annoyed. Wednesday was just happy to be there for Enid, and Enid was happy to have Wednesday there for her.
Enid landed face down on her bed. She was slowly realizing how much of a disaster she was without Wednesday. She found it utterly pathetic. She should be more put together than this. She should be more independent. Enid whined slightly into her pillow and let sleep finally take her.
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Friday Evening
Enid followed her friends into the apartment complex that was a short walk from campus. She observed the room around her. It was pretty typical from what she imagined college parties looking like; young people chatting in groups, red solo cups in hand, and even a beer pong game going in the corner. There was the very clear smell of weed in the air and the room was engulfed by the sound of music coming from speakers in each corner of the room. Overall, nothing too crazy from.
Enid and Anna were sitting off to the side while Marcus had gone to get them drinks. They were just causally observing and chatting occasionally. Colin was talking to a group of people who Enid assumed were the people he knew that were throwing the party. Eventually Marcus returned with three cups, handing one to Anna and one to Enid. Enid took a sip of the beverage, a rum and coke, nothing fancy but not bad. Marcus stood close to Anna and the two started talking. Enid just watched with a small amused smirk on her face. She knew her friends were into each other, she hoped they would realize soon.
While they chatted, Enid just sat there drinking her drink slowly. She started to wonder why she even came here. Even at Nevermore she wasn’t really all that into parties, even if her extraverted personality would tell you otherwise. She loved stuff like school dances where you got to dress up and everything, but regular parties just did not interest her as much. She went when she was invited, and she would talk to people and be friendly, but her idea of social interaction were the girls’ nights she used to have with Yoko, Divina, and Bianca. They were so much more relaxed and you never had to worry about someone getting too drunk and embarrassing themselves or throwing up, as that always seemed to happen at parties. The nights when Enid was able to convince Wednesday to join them were easily her favorites too. Seeing the Addams girl in such a casual atmosphere was nice, even if she spent a lot of the time complaining about the activities the group chose to do.
Enid is pulled from her reminiscing by Colin taking a seat next to her, “Hey Enid, you enjoying the party?” he asks casually.
“It’s ok. Not really my type of event, I guess,” She said giving a shrug and a half smile.
“Ah, I’m sorry if you want to leave we can. I can walk you back to your dorm, safer that way” Colin kindly offered.
Enid smiled at the sweet boy, “I can stay for a bit Colin, don’t worry. I am not having a bad time anyway. Getting some drinks in my system after a long week is nice. Besides I’m a wereworlf, dude.” She unsheathes her claws and smirks, “This kitty has claws and knows how to use them.”
Colin laughs, “Yeah, you know, fair enough. I’ll still walk you back later if its ok, I would just feel a bit better.”
Enid smiles, “Well, then alright. I appreciate it Colin, thank you.”
Colin smiles back and then runs a hand through his hair nervously, “Well...in that case…would you like to dance with me? You don’t have to if you’re not up for it, but it’s something to do.” He swallows a lump in his throat as he feels the beat of a nervous sweat go down his face.
Enid gives him a curious look and thinks about his suggestion. She had no reason to say no, “Sure, let’s go!”
Colin gives a wide grin and they go to the center of the living room, which has been made into a sort of dance floor for all the drunk college students. Enid and Colin start to dance towards the edge of the crowd of bodies on the floor. They don’t come close enough to each other to touch, but they both dance and Enid especially loses herself to the music, feeling slightly light headed from the drink. She always was a light weight.
“Hell yeah, go Enid, go Enid,” Marcus hypes her up from the side while Anna just laughs and applauds the performance. Enid shoots them both a teasing grin with her fangs and all the friends just laugh good heartedly.
After a couple hours, a couple more drinks, and a few conversations with both her friends and people she casually knows from her classes, Enid decides she wants to go back to her dorm. Colin upholds his offer from earlier and decides to walk her back. Marcus and Anna stay behind, Marcus saying that he will make sure Anna gets home safe, so it’s just Enid and Colin making the way back in the middle of the night. Thankfully it was a beautiful night, the temperature is comfortable and there isn’t a cloud in the sky.
After just walking in silence for a block, Colin speaks up, “So…you got any plans for this weekend, E?”
“Nothing too crazy, tomorrow my friends from Nevermore and I are doing a video call to catch up and everything, see how we are all holding up,” Enid answers.
“Hey, that sounds awesome, I am sure you are excited to hear from your friends,” Colin continues cheerily.
Enid smiles broadly, “Yeah, you have no idea. We text often, especially me and my friend, Yoko, and her girlfriend, Divina, but it is going to be nice to hear their voices and see their faces, even if on the screen.”
Colin smiles, his brows furrowing slightly with concern, since he is sure the wolf misses her friends dearly. Finally, he asks, “Do you mind if I ask when the last time you saw them was?”
Enid’s eyes brighten as memories flood back, “It was about a month before we all left for college. We had one big party for our group as a celebration of our graduation and everything. We even got Wednesday to participate, though that was partially because we surprised her with it at her house.” Enid giggled.
Colin raised an eyebrow in amusement, “You threw her a surprise graduation?”
“Yeah, if we didn’t there was no way Wednesday would have gone, you know? So I talked to Thing, who spoke to Wednesday’s parents and we worked out all the details. When we all showed up at the mansion Wednesday just relented and accepted her fate.,” Enid gave a toothy smile.
“Thing..?” Colin asked in confusion.
“Yeah, Thing! He is this disembodied hand with scars all over him that crawls everywhere. He communicates through a mix of one handed sign language and Morse code. He is the best, we would paint each other’s nails and talk gossip all the time!” Enid said happily.
Colin looked at her in disbelief, “A disembodied hand? How…how does that work?”
Enid just shrugged, “I don’t know, Wednesday just said it was one of the great Addams family mysteries. Her family is full of weirdos, but they are really lovely. They love and support each other like crazy and it is kind of beautiful, even if they can be terrifying.”
Colin chuckled lightly to himself, “This Wednesday sounds more and more interesting the more you talk about her, is she going to be in the call tomorrow. I remember you said you and her had a call planned for next Saturday, does that mean she isn’t joining.”
“Oh, yeah, she won’t be in the group call tomorrow, unfortunately. She doesn’t like using her phone too much in general, but she definitely doesn’t like the idea of being in a call with the whole group unless there was a good reason, like a murder mystery or something extreme like that,” Enid shakes her head thinking of the silly goth.
“I know you said she is anti-social but like, she does like you guys, right?” Colin asks, voice showing slight disbelief at the lengths the group had to go to in order to get one of their friends to spend time with them.
Enid just giggles again at him, “She likes us. It’s just that the only ones she admits to liking are our friend Eugene and myself, though. She doesn’t want to give everyone else the pleasure of knowing she actually considers them friends. That’s just how Willa is, though. She cares she just doesn’t like showing it.” Colin just nods and looks forward, the conversation stopping there. Eventually they get to Enid’s dorm hall, “Well, good night, Colin. Thanks for walking me home, even though I can take care of myself like I said,” She smiled kindly at him.
Colin smiled at her and then looked at her dorm awkwardly, “Hey, Enid…”
She holds in a breath and gives him an uncertain look, “Yeah?”
Colin looks at her and then roughly shakes his head, before shooting her a comforting smile, “It’s nothing. Have a good night. I will text you later ok?”
Enid just smiles and nods and waves at him as the boy makes his way to his own dorm. When he is further away she lets out the breath she was holding slowly. Enid rand a hand through her hair, thinking to herself. She had a feeling what he wanted to say and she wasn’t sure what she felt about it. She sighed lightly, deciding to just go to bed for now.
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Saturday Afternoon
Enid hurried back to her dorm after she finished eating lunch. She was nearly vibrating with excitement the entire day. She was just so excited to talk to her friends again. Even though she spoke to most of them almost every day through text, she just missed them so much. When Enid finally got to her room she threw her backpack on her bed and then pulled her phone out. She sent a message to the group chat.
Nevermore Pack
E: You bitches ready yet!!!?
Y: girl I am all set, calm your ass
X: I am ready
A: Me too!
B: You guys start without me I am gonna be a few more minutes.
Enid smiled and started the group call. After ringing for a second the familiar vision of her long haired, brunette Asian friend, Yoko, filled the screen, beside her was, Divina, a shorter haired brunette siren with green eyes. The screen then divided itself into three more sections, one had a skinny boy with a beanie, Ajax, one a boy with curly brown hair tied into a pony tail, Xavier, and another with curly brown hair and large round glasses, Eugene.
Enid squealed, “OH EM GEE! Hi guys!!!!”
Yoko an Divina yelled back, “Hey girl!!”
Xavier winced a little at the volume of the girls but smiled still at the interaction, while Ajax just laughed at it all good naturedly. Eventually Bianca joined the call, Kent was with her since they ended up going to the same school. What followed was a lot of conversation about how everyone was adjusting to college. Bianca was studying to be a surgeon, so she was preparing for her workload to really grow. Yoko was studying to be a hair stylist, while Divina wanted to be an English teacher. Ajax and Kent were both business majors, they plan to open a dispensary together. Xavier was fully committed to studying and practicing his art and running an art studio someday. Eugene was a biology major, focusing on insects, of course bees in particular.
Enid was so happy to hear her friends’ voices again and to hear they were all doing well so far with university life. Enid loved listening to her friends talk about their passions and goals, though it made her jealous too. She wished she knew what she wanted like they all seemed to, she wished she was motivated like they were. She also couldn’t help but feel like there was still one person missing.
As if reading her thoughts, Yoko asked Enid, “So have you heard from our favorite serial killer recently, puppy?”
Enid sighed, “No, you know Wednesday, she hates using her phone most of the time. We did make plans to talk and catch up next Saturday though!”
She saw Xavier smirk on her screen, “Of course she only made plans to talk to you.”
Enid gave him a small glare, “Now what does that mean?”
“Oh come on Enid, you know Wednesday cares about you more than anyone,” Ajax says with an amused sigh.
“She likes Eugene too!” Enid countered.
“Yeah, but she didn’t make any plans to call me or anything. That is definitely just a you thing, Enid.” Eugene said with a smile.
Enid blushed lightly. She knew Wednesday treated her different from everyone else of course. She just didn’t want to admit to her friends because it was embarrassing. She always secretly loved the special treatment from Wednesday though.
“Honestly, you guys were crushing so hard, one of you should have asked the other out by the time we graduated,” Bianca said unamused.
Enid’s eyes went wide, “What are you talking about, we are just friends!?”
Several groans were heard from her phone, but before anyone could respond there was a knock at her door. Enid got up to answer and she was surprised to see Anna there.
“Hey Enid, sorry this a bad time?” She asked with an apologetic smile before she noticed the phone in her hand and a realization hit her, “Oh shit, this was when you were talking with your friends from high school right? I am so sorry I completely forgot.”
Enid smiled at the girl reassuringly, “Don’t worry about it, would you like to meet them?” Anna smiled and nodded furiously, “Ok, guys this is Anna one of my first friends I made here,” She gestured to the girl next to her who waved at the people on screen. Enid went and introduced everyone to her friend and even told her what type of outcast each of them were, which Anna found really interesting to learn about.
When Enid had finished Anna’s smile disappeared as a look of confusion appeared on her face, “Wait, where is this Wednesday girl you’re always talking about? Considering how clearly important she is to you I was sure she would be here too.”
Enid rolled her eyes at the various giggles she heard coming from her phone before answering, “She doesn’t really like doing group calls like this. She and I are talking next week.”
Anna nodded her head in understanding, “Fair, that’s too bad though. I really wanted to meet her after hearing you talk about her all the time.”
“Oh really? All the time, huh?” Yoko snickered much to Enid’s chagrin.
“Did you need something when you came to knock on my door Anna?” Enid asked trying to not sound as annoyed as she kind of was right now.
“Oh yeah, I ran out of purple nail polish and I wanted to ask if I could borrow yours so I don’t have to go buy it right now,” the girl gave Enid big puppy dog eyes.
Enid rolled her eyes with a smile, “Sure, it’s in my desk drawer. I can’t believe you just used puppy dog eyes on a werewolf.” Anna giggled, grabbed the bottle of nail polish, and gave Enid and her friends a wave good bye before leaving the room.
“So…just friends, huh, puppy?” Bianca smirked.
“Just shut up,” Enid glared.
“Enid, if you told her how you feel, you could find yourself pleasantly surprised,” Ajax tried to reassure her.
“Can we please just drop it and move on,” Enid grumbled. The rest of the group relented and they started talking about anything and everything else they could think of. After spending a couple hours talking, the friends started hanging up the call.
“When you talk to Addams tell her we all said hi,” remarked Yoko before hanging up.
After everyone left Enid was left lying on her bed in her room. She decided to pretend all the stuff about Wednesday didn’t happen and tried to go to bed, even though that felt impossible.
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3 Days later, Tuesday morning
Enid was startled awake in class to the sound of the other students putting their materials away and standing up to leave. She had somehow fallen asleep in class, much to her own annoyance. She started to put her notebook and stuff away into her backpack as she realized that her classmates were going up to the teacher to turn in papers. The horrifying realization hit her, they had had homework due for the class today and she had completely forgotten to do it. How could she have been so absent minded?
Enid meekly went up to her professor after everyone else had left the class, “Hello, sir. I’m so sorry, I haven’t don’t the assignment yet. Is it possible for me to turn it in late and at least get partial credit? I just…have been getting used to college life and I guess I forgot…” she smiled apologetically at the older man.
The professor looked the blonde over and just scoffed, “Yes, Ms. Sinclair, I will allow you to turn in the assignment next lecture for partial credit. I do wonder what you’re doing if not your course assignments, however. Not sleeping it seems, since you choose to do that with your class time.” He gave her a look of disappointment.
Enid winced at the man’s punitive tone, “I am so sorry, sir. I am trying to get myself together, I swear.” She tried to reassure him.
“Are you? I know you missed the first lecture of the year as well. Not exactly a great first step. You should work to put a little more effort into your schooling, Ms. Sinclair,” the professor put his laptop bag over his shoulder, “Now if you’ll excuse me. I will see you in class Friday.”
Enid just nodded at him as he left, her eyes staring at the ground to avoid his disapproving gaze. When he left the room, Enid stood in the classroom by herself in silence. She could feel tears of embarrassment form in the corners of her eyes, but she tried her best to blink them away. She was so frustrated with herself. Her professor was right, she needed to put more effort in. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she keep up with everything?
She thought back to her days at Nevermore again. Wednesday would check in with her to make sure she got her assignments done, because Enid would get distracted and forget things often. She was always patient with her though when it came to this. Wednesday knew Enid wasn’t doing it on purpose because she didn’t care or anything. Enid just needed someone to remind her sometimes. Enid scoffed lightly at herself. She has to be better than that.
She sighed and finally made her way out the empty classroom. She walked toward the school’s art studio building to meet her friend, Elle. They had asked Enid to pose for them for a painting they were making. The werewolf had been flattered and immediately agreed. Enid thought Elle was a fantastic painter and she couldn’t wait to see how they would paint her. Enid smiled lightly to herself, thinking of her friend and their passion for painting. Reminded her of a certain tortured artist, but Elle was more immediately likable than Xavier by a lot. Enid entered the art studio and found Elle preparing a canvas in the center of the room. In front of the canvas was a small table with some roses on it and a chair. No one else was there besides the painter.
“Hey Elle,” Enid greeted.
Elle looked at Enid and gave her a small, shy smile, “Hey, Enid. Thank you for coming and agreeing to be my muse for this piece for my class. I hope it won’t take too much of your time.”
Enid smiled at them and gave their arm a reassuring squeeze, “I promise it’s no problem. I’m just excited to see how you paint me.” Elle smiled and gestured Enid toward the chair by the small table with the roses. Enid walked over to it and turned to them and asked, “Do you want me to sit in a particular way or anything?”
Elle shook their head, “No, just make yourself comfortable. As long as I can see your face I will be able to make it work.”
Enid nodded and sat down, leaning her right elbow onto the table, her hand holding the side of her face. Her other hand was in her lap, while her legs were slightly diagonal in the same direction her head was leaning in. She looked to Elle who nodded their head and smiled excitedly. Enid loved the spark in their eyes when they were about to paint. Elle was a quiet person who did not like to talk about themselves much, but when you got them to talk about painting, whether the history of it or even the more complex ideas like color theory, they could talk about any for hours.
Enid started to think about her own interests. Did she have anything she was passionate about like Elle? Or like Marcus with computers? Or Anna with psychology? She had things she was passionate about and could talk about for hours, of course. K-Pop, gossip, nail polish, a certain murderous goth…she could give presentations on the subjects if she was asked, but she didn’t have anything at least somewhat practical. What was she trying to accomplish at school anyway? She had no idea and she had no idea how to find out. Eventually she broke the silence in the studio.
“Hey Elle, how did you know you wanted to be a painter?”
Elle paused their brush strokes and looked at Enid curiously, “Why are you asking, love?”
Enid shrugged lightly, trying not to mess with the pose she was in, “I don’t know, I was just curious I guess.”
Elle looked at her for a second thinking it over, before they decided to answer, “My grandfather was the one that inspired me to be a painter. He and I were always really close, all the way until his death. He was the first person I came out to and accepted me entirely for who I was. He would take me into a room of his house that he treated as his personal art studio whenever I came to visit him. He only did it as a hobby but he would show me how to paint and I was always obsessed with all the colors and the emotions they got out of me. I’ve always been passionate about painting I think because of that.”
Enid hummed softly, “That’s beautiful Elle. I wish I had a passion like that.”
Elle smiled at Enid in understanding, “Not everyone has it figured out right away like that. Some people are just lucky, and I just happened to be one of them. You’ll figure yourself out, Enid.”
Enid didn’t respond but just smiled and nodded at the other blonde before returning to her pose. Despite what Elle had said, Enid wished they could have been lucky like them. The werewolf couldn’t help but think about how nice it is to know what to do with your life. She wished she was that lucky, she had no idea what she was even doing at school half the time, barely managing to have the motivation to get up for classes as it is.
After letting Elle paint her for a little over an hour, Enid left her friend to make the trek back to her room. On the way there her phone starts going off. She pulls it out and sees its her mom calling. She sighs lightly, but answers and puts the phone to her ear, “Hey, Mom.”
“Hey, honey, is this a bad time?” Esther asked nicely.
“No, I was actually just heading back to my room after helping a friend with a project they were doing. How are you?” Enid responded.
“Good, dear, just wanted to see how you are doing. Your father and I miss you, you know.” Her mother said, sincerity in her voice.
Enid smiled lightly, “I miss you guys too. I’ve been good I promise. Just trying to adjust to the new environment and new friends. I’ve been managing though. How are things with you guys and the pack?”
“Good, good. Your younger cousin, Sophia, recently wolfed out. Her parents were overjoyed.” She chuckled.
Enid chuckled too, “That’s good to hear, good for her.”
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone before Esther spoke up, trying to be as nonchalant as possible, “So sweetheart…anybody out there at college?”
Enid groaned, “Mom, please!”
“I’m sorry honey, I’m sorry! I just want to know if you are keeping an eye out for potential mates, that’s all! I worry about you finding someone with your…” Her mother’s voice abruptly stops as she realizes what she is about to say.
Enid growls lightly over the phone, “My what, mother? You mean my ugly scars?!” Of course Enid knew that’s what she was referring too. The night she had first wolfed out and fought the Hyde to save Wednesday she earned scars on her face to remember it by. She used to hate the scars with a passion, thinking they made her a freak, but Wednesday always used to tell her how her scars were beautiful. Also, she got these scars defending her best friend, so if she had to she would do it again no hesitation. Still it always pissed her off when her mother brought them up, she thought they would keep Enid from finding a mate.
“No honey, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it. I just want you to be happy that’s all. I thought it was going well with your roommate but nothing…”
“Mom! I will find my mate when I am good and ready!” Enid snapped over the phone interrupting her mother’s sentence.
“…You’re right, Enid. I am so sorry. I wasn’t trying to push you or make you uncomfortable or anything sweetheart, I promise. Not ever again.” The woman almost whispered through the line.
Enid sighed lightly. Ever since everything that happened at Nevermore, her mother had genuinely been putting the effort in to fix their relationship. Even going so far as to go to therapy. Enid definitely appreciated her trying, but while things have definitely gotten better, well, it’s difficult to just forget years of being treated like a disappointment and an embarrassment. Enid wanted to give her mother the chance to fix things between them, though, “I know, mom. It’s fine, just please drop it.”
She heard the woman on the other end of the line give a small breath, “Of course, dear. I am sorry for stressing you out. Just know your father, the pack, and myself are all so proud of you. You are doing great, baby. I love you.”
Enid sighed lightly, “I love you all, too. I will reach out soon ok. Bye.” After that she ended the call. She decided to sit on a bench outside her dorm for a minute, just to get some air. She let her head fall back and her eyes close, just feeling the soft wind flow through her hair and the late day sunlight warm her skin. After a few minutes she hears footsteps approach her. She looks up and sees Colin standing in front of her, “Oh hey Colin, what’s up?”
“Hey Enid, I hope I am not bothering you, I just saw you relaxing out here on my way back from one of my classes.” Colin said with a smile while he rubbed one hand behind his head. The other held onto the strap of his backpack on his shoulder.
“No, you’re good Colin, here sit down with me,” She smiled while patting the open area on the bench.
Colin smiles and takes a seat, “How is everything going?”
“It’s fine. I was helping Elle by posing for their new portrait earlier. On my way here my mom called and annoyed me about finding a mate. Now I’m just tired,” She gave an exhausted laugh, “How are you?”
Colin raised an eyebrow in confusion, “I’m fine too, classes have been pretty standard so far. Your mom wants you to find a…mate?”
Enid chuckles at the boy, “It’s a werewolf thing. It’s like marriage in humans but more intense, more permanent. She just wants me to find my mate so she doesn’t have to worry about me being alone. I want to find my mate at my own time though. I get so frustrated with her when she bring it up though, because we didn’t use to have a great relationship. She’s tried to be better but I am not going to just forgive her for years of neglect like that, you know?” She sighs.
Colin nods in understand, “Wow, that definitely seems like a lot of pressure. I am sorry you have to deal with all that. I never would have thought you have to deal with so much. You are always so cheery; I assume you’re always doing great.”
Enid scoffs lightly, “I have had to deal with a lot of stress over the years, dude. Not limited to almost getting killed on a few occasions, that’s why I have these scars on my face. High school was weird like that.” She looks over at Colin and sees his eyes widen in concern, she giggles lightly at him, “Don’t worry about it, I promise the other guy got it worse. Look, I will catch you later, ok? I think I am going to get some rest while I can.” Enid waves a farewell to Colin and gets up to enter her dorm hall, until Colin stands up and grabs her sleeve lightly to stop her. Enid looks at him puzzled before he takes a deep breath and finally speaks.
“Enid, um, I know Thursday is your off day, do you have any plans then?” He asks with a shaky breath. Enid silently shook her head, eyebrows furrowing at the boy. Colin swallowed a lump in his throat, “Um would you like to go out with me, like, on a date? Just a casual one to see how it goes, nothing that’s too high pressure, I promise.” He looks into Enid’s eyes expectantly.
Enid’s eyes widen slightly. She thinks to herself for a moment. ‘I mean…Colin is really nice and he is kind of cute. I don’t see a reason why I shouldn’t, right?’ After thinking on it for a second she gives him a shy smile, “Sure, as long as it’s something simple, let’s do it.”
Colin stares at her for a second before his face breaks out into a wide grin. He lets go of Enid’s sleeve and backs up a bit awkwardly, “Oh, um, great! How about I meet you here again on Thursday, let’s say 6pm? We can grab a bite to eat and then walk through the nearby park?”
Enid nods and gives him a smile. The boy smiles brightly, wishes Enid good night before backing up and walking back to his own dorm. When he was a far enough distance away Enid’s smile disappeared from her face. She definitely was not as excited for this date as Colin was and she felt kind of guilty about it. She hoped that by Thursday she would be able to enjoy the idea more.
For now, Enid was feeling exhausted and finally entered her dorm so she could go to bed.
Thursday Evening
Enid waited patiently outside a local pizza place to the school. She had told Colin she didn’t want to do anything fancy for this, and thankfully he was happy to oblige so they chose this place to get food. She wore white skinny jeans with a pink tank top and a white zip-up hoodie that was currently open. It was 5 minutes to when they agreed to meet when Colin showed up, his hair in its signature pony tail, wearing a blue button up short sleeve shirt and a nice pair of jeans.
The date went very well. When they saw each other Colin had complimented her on her outfit. They entered the restaurant and had pleasant conversations while they ate their food. Then they went to an arcade down the street and played games. Colin gave all the tickets he earned to Enid so she could use both their earnings to get a prize, a small pink cat squishmallow. After that they went for a walk through a nearby park as a detour before they were to go back to campus.
Colin was walking next to Enid, awkwardly looking around before finally looking at her and asking, “So…did you have a good time tonight?”
Enid looked at him and smiled, “Yeah, it was a nice time.”
Colin broke out into a big grin, “Good, I am glad. I-I had a great time too!” They continued their walk in silence. Enid and Colin looked around at everything else around them, too nervous to look at each other. Eventually, they were on campus and Enid’s dorm was within sight. Enid turned to Colin to say good night but before she could he spoke first, “Hey, E-Enid, look, um, like I said I had a really, really great time tonight. I think you are an awesome person, really kind and smart, lots of people like you, and of course, you’re also really pretty. I was wondering if you would want to try, like, dating. Like, the two of us, because I really like you.” Colin winced lightly, probably wishing his confession had been a little more eloquent or poetic
Enid looked at him like a deer caught in head lights. She had not fully expected a question like that tonight. How did she feel about Colin? It all had gone really well tonight and Enid knew Colin was a really sweet boy. Kind, attractive, smart…he really had everything going for him. Then why did Enid feel nothing for him? When their hands would touch she would feel no excitement, when she looked him in the eyes she wasn’t exactly drawn to them, and talking to him was no more satisfying than talking to any of her other friends. She bit her lip and looked at him with furrowed eye brows, “Colin, I’m flattered, really. I am sorry, though, I don’t think I like you like that…”
Colin’s body and facial expression noticeably deflated after that. He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath before opening them and looking at Enid with a sad expression, “Oh, I’m sorry I just thought…did I do something to make you not like me?”
He hadn’t done anything, the werewolf had no idea why she didn’t like the boy as more than a friend. Enid was incredibly uncomfortable and before she knew what she was doing she responded with, “You don’t play an instrument.”
Colin looked at her with a look of pure befuddlement, “Wait, what?”
Enid was also incredibly confused with what she said, but decided to just keep going with it since it was already out there, “I, uh, know you don’t play an instrument, and I prefer musicians…sorry. I hope we can stay friends.” She looked away not wanting to see the look in his eyes right now.
She heard him shuffle a little before he said quietly, slight hurt and confusion lacing his voice, “Oh, um, ok. Yeah, we can stay friends. I’ll see you, Enid.”
Enid continued to not look at him, just nodding lightly before turning to go back to her dorm. What the hell was that? An instrument? Why did she say that? She never had cared about musicians in particular before. She racked her brain trying to think of a reason for what she said. She slowed down her walking as she remembered a melody. She remembered her dorm room at Nevermore, and waking up to that melody. She remembered slowly going to their large window and opening it to go out to the balcony, to be presented with the vision of none other than her roommate playing her cello in the moonlight. Then Enid shook herself from her trance and found herself standing in her college dorm.
“Of course…” she whispered to herself. She realized it should have been obvious honestly. She lets out a sigh and falls face first onto her bed. Sleep does not come easily that night again.
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Saturday Morning
When Enid woke up Saturday morning she had been rather exhausted. The continuous nights of not being able to sleep well have really been getting to her. She got up and threw on an old black hoodie that may or may not have used to belong to a certain goth girl. She at least should get some breakfast. Before she left she looked around her room. In such a short time her room had become a disaster. Clothes were thrown about, papers and textbooks were left everywhere from her desk to the floor, and her trash can was overflowing. She had not taken time to clean up properly at all, she had no motivation to really take care of herself recently. She grunted slightly to herself and finally left her dorm.
When she got to the dining hall she looked over the selection, struggling to decide what she wanted. Eventually she just settled on getting a bowl of cereal, not feeling like anything too filling right now. She was sitting in the dining room by herself when she hears the seat next to her move. She looks up to see her friend Anna in the seat giving her a curious look.
“Hey Enid, you doing ok?” the brunette asked cautiously.
“I’m alright, Anna. How are you doing?”
“I’m fine. You know I tried texting you, right? Why didn’t you respond?” Anna leaned in a little as she questioned the blonde.
“Oh, sorry. I wasn’t really paying attention to my phone today. This was my first time leaving bed if I am being honest.” Enid gave her friend a tired looking smile.
Anna’s look grew more concerned, “Enid, I am starting to feel worried. I heard about what happened between you and Colin last night, and how you gave some fake excuse like you wouldn’t date him because he didn’t play an instrument? That’s a crazy excuse.” She titled her head slightly emphasizing her confusion, “Did something happen on the date? We all thought you and Colin would make a cute couple.”
Enid rolled her eyes, a bit frustrated at the questioning now, “Look I gave my reasoning for not wanting to date him and that should be more than enough for everyone. Am I required to date him for some reason?” Enid snarled lightly.
Anna’s eyes widened slightly at the sudden irritableness, “No of course not! I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to say….”
“Just drop it, Anna. I didn’t ask you and it’s none of your business.” With that Enid gets up to leave the dining hall. She deliberately ignores Anna calling to her. On her way she passes Marcus who sees Anna try to follow Enid. He raises a hand to stop the brunette indicating to let him try and talk to her. Anna hesitates but nods her head at him. He runs after Enid.
“Enid, wait up!” Marcus calls out.
Enid groans in frustration, “What do you want Marcus?”
“Look, I don’t know exactly what you and Anna were talking about but I have a feeling. I just want you to remember she didn’t mean to if she pushed too hard into stuff that isn’t about her place. You know she just cares about her friends and she can be really persistent.” Marcus tries to calmly explain.
Enid sighs, “I know, Marcus, I know. I just wish she was better about boundaries. I understand they can be difficult sometimes, but it’s annoying when people constantly ignore them.” Enid learned that from her constant interactions with Wednesday. Enid used to be very pushy and touchy with people, and she still can be but she understands better now when she’s going too far.
“I know, Enid. I understand and I thinks she knows that too, she just gets caught up in things. We just want you to know, if you need to talk, even though I know we haven’t all known each other super long, but we will hear you out. Only if you’re comfortable though.” Marcus gives the blonde a soft smile.
Enid returns the smile and nods back, “Thanks, Marcus. Tell Anna, I’m sorry. I just…need some time alone.” Marcus just nods again and reaches out to give Enid’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze before turning back and heading back to the dining hall.
Enid sighs lightly and walks to her dorm. She knew her friends meant well, and she was glad to have friends who were concerned for her like that, but she really didn’t want to talk about it with them. She has been a college student for two weeks, three if you count orientation, and everything feels like it has already gone completely out of control and she is not sure what to do about it. Enid sighed and looked at the time on her phone. She had one hour until her call with Wednesday. She gave a small smile; this was the one thing she was looking forward to all week. She couldn’t wait to hear from her friend again.
Enid’s ringtone wakes her up. She blinks a few times, not sure when she fell asleep. She looks at her phone and sees Wednesday’s name and a picture of them from their graduation party at the Addams’s manor. ‘Oh shit’ Enid thinks and she hurriedly answers the call, “Wednesday?!”
The young Addams girl appears on screen, her face is in a scowl and her hair in its signature pigtails. She is sitting by a tree somewhere outside, probably seeking shade from the harsh sunlight, “Finally, Enid. This was my third attempt at reaching you. If you had not answered I was ready to fly over there and kill whoever it was keeping you from answering.” Wednesday deadpans.
Enid giggles, “Sorry, Willa. I fell asleep and I guess I didn’t hear my phone ring the first two times.”
Wednesday raises an eyebrow, “Well never keep me waiting like that again or I’ll skin you and make a rug…damn puppy.” Wednesday grumbled but Enid knew the threat wasn’t serious. Wednesday would never hurt her, in fact she would kill anyone who would dare lay a finger on the werewolf. Enid smiled because she knew she would do the same for the seer.
“Yeah, yeah. How are things in Κρήτη? Is my θεία Effie treating you and your uncle well?”
“Yes, she has been a most gracious host. She insisted we use the home as though it was ours and it has been most comfortable here. Smaller than the manor, but the simplicity is nice. She showed us how to milk a goat yesterday, but the blasted thing moved knocking the milking can, causing all of us to be drenched. It took all my will power to not roast the beast on a spit right there.” Wednesday growled lightly at the memory, but then she shot an unamused glare at Enid who was giggling like a madman at the story, but then sighed lightly as her eyes softened, “I am glad you find it so amusing.”
Enid wiped away at tears that had started to fall down her face, “Sorry, sorry, I just can’t help it. Imagining you drenched in goat’s milk is so funny!” Enid calms herself down after a minute before continuing, “Ok, ok. Other than that one mishap, have things been well? Have you gotten to see the rest of the island?”
Wednesday nods, “Some of it. My Uncle and I have gone to visit locations around the area, particularly some beaches. The water is so clear, it is impressive. The days are oppressively bright and hot but I have survived and have managed to avoid getting a blasted sun burn. Many nights are spent having meals with your family. It is insane to me that we have joined for four family gatherings and each time it was a complete new side to your family. Is this whole village related? Also every time my uncle and I come home from our travels the house is filled with more strangers waiting to meet us because they heard about you and your aunt is not even home! Do these people not lock their doors?” Wednesday asks incredulously.
Enid giggles at the amount of rambling Wednesday just did, it’s very unusual from the goth, unless she is talking about murder or torture, but very entertaining when it happens, “That’s just how they are Wednesday. It’s a small village so they all know each other. The ‘family’ you’ve met sometimes might not have even actually been related, we tend to call a lot of family friends aunt and uncles. Also no, they don’t really lock their doors, at least not where we are from. One because the only people who are around are members of the pack, they all know each other, and two because, well, remember they’re werewolves, Wednesday. They aren’t too worried about people breaking in or anything. Oh you should check out the καφενείο, it should be a short walk from the house. It’s a fun place to just hang out and get food.”
Wednesday seems to consider Enid’s suggestion before nodding and finding it satisfactory, “Very well. Now how are you, Enid? How are classes?”
Enid smiled lightly. The Wednesday she first met would never have even considered asking Enid how she was doing. The old Wednesday wouldn’t have entertained the idea of doing a voice chat. Enid likes to think that it was her influence that made Wednesday into the more agreeable person she was now. Her smile wavers slightly when she actually answers the question, however, “Everything is going great! Classes are fine, I am managing and I have a bunch of new friends! So things are great on my end! Not a lot to share if I am being honest.” Yeah, she may have lied just a little bit, but she was not going to make Wednesday feel bad while she was having a fun trip.
Wednesday, however, seemed to notice something off immediately. Her brows furrowed, “Are you sure?”
“Yup totally! I promise! Oh, but hey I got to talk to Yoko and the others last week and they wanted me to say hi!...” And with that Enid changed the subject entirely, going into a long conversation talking about how their friends from Nevermore were doing. Talking to Wednesday felt wonderful, even if she felt a little guilty hiding things from her friend, but the last thing Enid wanted was to make Wednesday worry about her at all. She didn’t think it was worth it anyway, it was just Enid being pathetic. She needed to figure shit out on her own. That’s what it meant to grow up, right?
Wednesday did not seem convinced but she allowed the conversation change regardless. The two talked for an hour, and honestly it was the best time Enid had had in a while. She hums to herself with a smile, “I’ve missed you, Wednesday.”
The goth’s eyes widen slightly, then it slowly morphs into an incredibly soft expression, the kind only Enid sees from Wednesday when she looks at the blonde, and then a small smirk appears on the goth’s lips, “I noticed, I do believe that is my old hoodie you are wearing.” Enid blushes lightly at the comment and it makes Wednesday’s eyes sparkle slightly, “I will say that I have been finding myself…longing for your presence at times as well.”
Enid blushes harder at Wednesday’s choice of words but she smiles brighter too, “Ok, I will leave you to enjoy your time. We will talk soon, though, ok?”
Wednesday looks at her with an expression she can’t decipher, and then nods, “Yes, we will talk. Very soon. Till then, Enid.”
“Have a terrible time, Willa.” Enid smiles and hangs up the call. She lets a contented breath, feeling happier than she has in weeks. The feeling doesn’t last though as the fact that she is in her room, alone, brings her back to reality. She grumbled in deep irritation. Why was she struggling so much at just existing? Why can’t she focus on classes? Why can’t she take care of herself? Why did she have to be coward with Colin? What is wrong with her?
Enid started to cry slightly in frustration, once again the only thought going through her head being how much she missed Wednesday. Eventually sleep took over.
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Tuesday Afternoon
Colin was sitting at a table outside on the campus green with his friends. Anna and Marcus were working on an assignment for a class they shared, and Elle was reading a mystery novel she had picked up at the library. It was a nice day, the sun was shining and bright and normally this would be Colin’s favorite type of day, a day where he can relax with his friends. The only problem was, one friend wasn’t there.
“Have any of you guys seen Enid recently?” Colin finally asked.
“I haven’t seen her since I talked to her on Saturday,” Anna sad sadly, she sent a look to Marcus who just nodded indicating it was the same for him, “I sent her a text as an apology, but I never got a response at the time.”
“I texted her yesterday, she said she was feeling sick so she just was staying in bed. I am worried about her,” Elle closed their book with a concerned expression on their face.
“I haven’t reached out yet myself, I still feel a little awkward,” Colin admits guiltily.
“I just wish we could help in some way. Clearly something is bothering her. I heard she is missing her lectures, she only leaves her room to get food sometimes, and I still find the excuse she gave to Colin was really weird coming from her,” Anna said.
Colin sighed, “We don’t need to talk about that, that’s not what’s important here. I just am concerned about...whoa,” Colin’s eyes widen slightly as he loses his voice. The rest of the table turns towards where he is looking and they all equally are surprised at what they see. Standing at the edge of the green was a girl about their age, but short, maybe about 5’1 if she took off the black platform shoes she was wearing. This girl was covered head to toe in pure black too. She had black skinny jeans, a black blouse, and a leather jacket. Her hair was in two pigtails, and she had black lipstick and eye liner. Her face showed no obvious emotion, but it was obvious to everyone at the table she was searching very intently for someone or something. Eventually the strange girls gaze falls on the friends table and her eyes widen. She immediately starts marching towards the group’s table, almost mechanical in her movements. The group exchanges worried glances as the girl approaches.
“Enid, there you are, I have been looking…” the small girl stops and her eyes narrow slightly at Elle when she gets closer to the group, “wait…you are not Enid,” She says cautiously.
Elle swallows nervously, realizing that the goth thought they were Enid because they look so incredibly similar, especially from a distance, “No…”
The girl watches them closely and nods, “Apologies, I was mistaken. I will stop bothering you now. Have a terrible day,” with that emotionless response the girl turns and starts marching in the opposite direction.
Before she can go far, however, Colin stands up and calls out to her, “Wait! Are you Wednesday Addams?” the rest of the table’s eyes widen as they seem to come to the same realization that Colin did, finally.
Wednesday and raises an eyebrow in curiosity, “How do you know my name?”
Colin just stares at her, words lost. This was Wednesday Addams? This was Enid’s roommate at Nevermore? She had always described how they were polar opposites, that they couldn’t have been more different if you tried. Colin had always thought the blonde had been exaggerating, but now that he sees the goth in front of him, he thinks she may have actually downplayed their differences. This girl had the most intimidating aura about her that he had ever seen. She looked like she could kill people with a strong enough look. He could not imagine a world where two people like Enid and Wednesday could even co-exist, let alone be best friends.
Apparently, Colin had taken too long to answer the earlier question, because Wednesday’s face morphed from one of curiosity to one of frustration and distrust as she shot the boy a glare. In a second the Addams girl approaches the table and slams something into it, “Tell me how you know my name or you will be skinned alive, slowly.”
Colin glanced down at the table and immediately he jumped back in shock landing on his backside, because Wednesday was holding a large serrated knife into the table, “What are you doing with a knife?!”
Wednesday rolled her eyes, “I always carry a minimum of 4 knives on my person at all times, obviously,” she says as though that should be common sense and that the boy was ridiculous for even asking, “Now answer my question, or you will regret it.”
“We are friends of Enids!” Colin shouts, holding his hands up defensively.
Wednesday straightens her posture and raises an eye brow as she looks around the table, “Is that so?”
Marcus speaks up, snapping out of his stupor caused by the shock of what he witnessed, “Yeah, we became friends during orientation. We know about you because she talks about you all the time. Though, won’t lie, she really understated how terrifying you can be.”
Wednesday smirked lightly, but it vanished after a second, “Well that is clearly something I will have to talk to her about. I cannot have her downplaying my intimidating presence.”
“If you don’t mind us asking, why are you hear? Enid said you were traveling the world,” Anna asked.
“I was. My Uncle Fester and I were in Greece with Enid’s family. It was while there that Enid and I had a conversation through FaceTime. I could tell right away something was bothering her, I can tell when Enid is genuinely smiling and when she is putting up a façade. I decided to leave as soon as possible, but the damned airport made getting here a hassle. The earliest I could find for my initial arrival was yesterday, and then they had to get delayed on top of that. Absolutely aggravating.” Wednesday growled lightly. She looked to the group intently, “I ask you, do you know where I can find Enid. Tell me quickly or I promise I will put you through the most unimaginable of torture.”
Elle softly answers, “She might be in her room, have you tried calling her?”
Wednesday grumbles slightly, “I forgot to charge my useless cellular device. I do not use it often so I forget how pathetic the charge it retains is.”
Elle chuckles lighty, “Here let me try to call her then,” they pull out their phone as Wednesday watches them impatiently.
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Enid is in her room, curled up in her blankets. She hasn’t left her room much other than to go out for food or to use the bathroom. She missed her classes on both today and yesterday. She has just no motivation to go anywhere or do anything. She can’t bring herself to focus on anything. Everything is moving too fast, and she has no idea what she is doing.
All she can think about is how much she wishes Wednesday was here, but she hates that feeling. She shouldn’t need Wednesday to take care of her. She should be able to watch out for herself. That’s the whole point of being independent. Wednesday would be so disappointed and annoyed with her if she saw her like this. Enid groaned lightly, and then she is pulled from her self-loathing by her phone going off.
She recognizes the ringtone as the one she put for her friend, Elle. Enid picks up the phone, slides her finger to accept the call, and puts the phone to her ear, “Hey Elle, what’s up?”
“Hey Enid, we haven’t seen you in a while, you doing ok?”
Enid sighs, “I am alright, Elle, I promise. I just need some rest. Did you just call to check up on me?”
There is a pause as Elle lets out a nervous breath, “Um, no, actually I called to tell you that, uh…Wednesday’s here?”
Enid blinks twice, her eyes widen, and then she blinks a couple more times, “What?” She says in quiet disbelief.
“Your old roommate and best friend? Wednesday Addams? She’s here, right now, with us. She’s looking for you.”
Enid sits up in her bed, eyes wide in confusion, “What?!” She screams.
Suddenly there is a commotion on the other line, as it seems someone takes Elle’s phone form them, “Enid are you there?” Comes a voice Enid is all too familiar with.
“Wednesday?” Enid just barely breathes out, before collecting herself and speaking more clearly, “What-what are you-you are supposed to be-why are you here?!”
“I can answer those questions when I see you, now tell me where I can find you, or I will torture your friends until they tell me where your dorm is and then I will break in and wait for you there if I have to,” the goth states without an ounce of emotion.
Enid can’t help but laugh, both in disbelief at the situation and at Wednesday’s usual attitude, “Please, don’t hurt my friends. I like them.”
She hears a sigh from over the phone and smiles before she hears Wednesday’s voice again, “Fine, I will not hurt them, but please Enid, tell me where I can find you.”
Enid gives her own small sigh, “Ok. I am in my dorm. Have my friends take you to the building, I will meet you outside so I can let you in.”
“Good, I shall see you shortly,” with that Wednesday hangs up the call. Enid gets up and pulls on some pink sweatpants and Wednesday’s black hoodie and then heads to the front door of her dorm.
She stands outside and waits for a sign of her friends. While waiting, her mind was racing. Why was Wednesday here? Why did she drop her trip? What is she is going to think when she sees Enid like this after such a short time apart? Enid was so nervous about what was going to happen when she finally sees her macabre friend again.
That’s when she sees her. Wednesday was walking towards her dorm, Elle and Colin on her left, Marcus and Anna to her right. Colin was talking about something and Wednesday just shot him an uninterested glare before her eyes shifted and she glanced at Enid. When their eyes met all of Enid’s previous worries disappeared, replaced entirely by the absolute glee she was feeling at seeing her friend again.
Enid sprinted towards the group, colliding into Wednesday as she wrapped the shorter girl in a hug. The others watching stepped back in fear, but were relieved when the goth just sighed and returned the embrace slowly, “Watch yourself Enid. I have far more interesting ideas for a spectacular death than to be taken out by a colorful mutt.”
Enid giggled lightly, “Sorry, I just missed you so much.”
Wednesday tightened her embrace on the young wolf, “I missed you too.”
Enid breathed out contentedly before pulling away from Wednesday. She looked into the goth’s eyes and she had an expression of soft concern. Enid then looked up at her other friends and saw they had small smiles on their faces as they watched the two. Enid blushed lightly, “Hey guys, thanks for bringing Wednesday here. If it’s ok I am going to just take her up to my room so we can catch up and stuff ok?”
“Of course, you guys take your time, you can find us later ok?” Marcus’s eyes shine with a care for his friend.
Enid smiles at him and turns towards Colin, who smiles at her, and then he has a look on his face like he just had a realization about something, and he turns to Wednesday, “Hey Wednesday really random question, but do you play an instrument?”
Wednesday looks briefly baffled by the question, but answers honestly, “Yes, I primarily play the cello. I have also dabbled in piano on occasion. Why do you ask?”
Colin chuckles to himself a bit before giving Enid a knowing a glance, the blonde blushing even brighter now, “Oh nothing, that just helps make some things make sense.” He looks at Enid, amusement shining in his eyes, and gives her a nod trying to show there are no hard feelings. Enid smiles back at him.
Then Anna walks up to her, a distressed look upon her face, “Enid, I’m sorry about before. I shouldn’t have been so pushy into stuff that wasn’t my business. It wasn’t fair of me, even if I was just concerned. Can you forgive me?”
Enid felt tears start to form in the corners of her eyes as she walked over and hugged Anna, “Of course, Anna. I know you just care. Look I will find you guys later ok? We can all talk then.” The others nod and turn to leave the two former roommates alone. Enid turns around to Wednesday, who was just silently watching the interactions before her.
“As always, you attract…good natured people to you,” the seer tells her.
Enid nods, “Thanks, they are good people aren’t they?” She holds out her hand to Wednesday, who observes it for a minute before taking it and lacing their fingers together, and Enid leads her inside.
When the two girls enter Enid’s room, Wednesday stands at the doorway, observing the state the room is in. Enid looks away from the raven’s eyes shamefully, “Yeah, uh, if I had known you were coming I would have picked up a little,” she tried to joke.
Wednesday gave Enid an indecipherable look before gesturing her to the bed, “Can we sit down?”
Enid looks to her bed and then at her friend and slowly nods. She carefully sits on the edge of the bed, and Wednesday takes the spot next to her. They sit in silence for a minute, before Enid breaks it, “Why are you here, Wednesday?”
Wednesday raises an eyebrow, “Here I thought you would be far more appreciative of me coming to visit you,” she says, her voices giving off the slightest sign of mock offense.
Enid smiles lightly, “You know that’s not what I mean,” the smile drops, “Why did you leave Greece? Why did you leave your Uncle Fester? Weren’t you having a good time?”
Wednesday’s eyes had a burning intensity to them that Enid could not figure out, “I was an absolutely miserable time, but something came to my attention that was of immediate importance,” Wednesday said softly, her hand reaching out and laying on top of Enid’s.
Enid’s frown grew as tears started to form, “I told you I was fine though. I told you everything was going well.”
“You should know I am able to see right through you when you lie, Enid. I know when something is bothering you. Why are you trying to hide it from me?” Wednesday’s voice is so impossibly soft and comforting, again in a way that only Enid ever gets to hear.
“Because I need to get my shit together on my own!” Enid snaps, Wednesday’s eyes widen in surprise, “I can’t expect you to watch out for me all the time. I have been here less than a month and I already feel like I am messing everything up. I sleep in, I forget my room key, I forget homework, I have no idea what I even want to study, I have no goals like everyone else seems to, and I just feel…alone.” Enid sighs and hangs her head in embarrassment. Tears form in her eyes. She’s just been feeling so stressed.
“Enid, the school year just started, why are you putting so much pressure on yourself already? And what do you mean you’re alone, what about your friends?” Wednesday asks quietly.
“I’ve been feeling alone because, well, I miss you, Wednesday. I’ve missed you and all I’ve been thinking about is how you always helped me get up for classes, how you helped me focus on assignments, how you helped…take care of me essentially. I just felt pathetic, and I wanted to be more independent. I wanted to know what I want to do with my life like all our friends do. I just didn’t want to have to just rely on you all the time and be a burden, but every time I think about what I should do I get stressed or unfocused and I just feel like I’m floundering. I just feel useless and stupid.” Enid says all this while hot tears stream down her face. She feels beyond embarrassed that she feels this overwhelmed by school already. Wednesday must think she is so weak.
“Enid, can you look at me,” comes the goth’s reply. Enid shakes her head and closes her eyes tightly. She doesn’t want to see the disapproval in Wednesday’s face. “Please, Enid.” Then the wolf feels a cold hand delicately grasp her chin and gently push her head up, “Open your eyes, Enid Sinclair.” Enid lets out a sigh, but obeys the command. When she opens her eyes, she doesn’t see disapproval, or frustration, or even boredom. What she sees when she looks into Wednesday’s eyes is something she’s not sure she’s seen before, at least not so clearly, but it is unmistakable to her right now. What she sees is love.
Enid glances down at Wednesday’s lips for a brief moment and then back at her eyes. Wednesday smiles lightly and before Enid knows what’s going on, Wednesday leans in and is kissing her. Enid’s eyes widen slightly before they close and she is returning the kiss with fervor. Enid isn’t sure how to describe the feeling of kissing Wednesday. Is it like a bolt of lightning electrifying throughout her body? Is it like a splash of cold water waking her up for the first time in ages? Is it a fire raging just under her skin, ignited by Wednesday’s touch? It’s all of those and so much more. For the first time in weeks, time feels like it isn’t going by at the speed of light and her thoughts aren’t cascading from one terrible scenario or horrible worry to another. All she feels is Wednesday, all she feels is this moment, and all she feels is how happy she is to finally be here.
Eventually the two girls broke up apart in order to catch their breath. Wednesday rested her forehead against Enid’s and started to whisper to her, “Did that calm you down a bit, cara mia?”
Enid grinned and let out a breathy chuckle, “Yeah, yeah it did.”
Wednesday smirked lightly, “Good, now you listen to me because I need to tell you how stupid you’re being.” The goth’s smirk grew at the offended look the blonde shot her, “Don’t give me that, you know it’s true. You just started school, no one expects you to know what you want to do for the rest of your life yet. You are still young; you have so much time to figure that out. It doesn’t matter how long it takes either. Just like when you finally wolfed out, sometimes things just take longer for people than for others. That’s fine, that doesn’t make you lesser, Enid. You just can’t give up on yourself. Do you understand?”
Enid nods lightly, tears forming in her eyes again as she listens to Wednesday. The goth uses her thumb to lightly wipe away some tears before continuing, “You also should know by now that you don’t have to face this all alone. Really? You think you’re a burden to me, because I helped you in Nevermore? Enid, mi sol, do you not understand that you help me just as much? You bring up that I wake you up so you’re on time for classes, but you ignore the fact that my main motivation for going to classes in the first place was because you pushed me to go. You know I would have skipped a lot more if I had been left to my own devices,” the goth smiled as the werewolf giggled, “Also how often have you kept me in check when it comes to my violent tendencies. I avoided plenty of run ins with Sheriff Galpin because you either prevented me from going too far or helped cover for me.”
Enid smiles brightly at Wednesday as the goth leans in and place another, this time shorter, tender kiss on the wolf’s lips, “Most importantly, my colorful wolf, is the fact that I would not even be alive today if it were not for you. You saved my life, Enid Sinclair, so don’t you ever call yourself a burden to me. My trust in you like I have never trusted another living being before. You are the most precious person in my life. The greatest pleasure I have ever known. You say your mind has been consumed by thoughts of me while we have been apart; well please just know that my thoughts are consumed by you tenfold. You are not weak, Enid Sinclair. You are strong, brave, and beautiful and I will always be here to support you as long as you want me to be, because that is what I want to do.”
Enid wraps her arms tightly around Wednesday, gripping her leather jacket tightly as she sobs into the shorter girl’s shoulder. Wednesday returns to the embrace and rubs circles into the blonde’s back. Eventually she pulls back and looks at Wednesday, who continues to give her a look full of adoration and smiles, “I love you, Wednesday. I have for a while now. I think I was too scared to say it before.”
“I love you, too, Enid. I hate to admit but I was also fearful to say anything, but seeing you like this, talking down about yourself, I just wanted you to know how much you mean to me, and remember, you are still young, you have all the time in the world to figure out the future, Enid.” Wednesday looks down at her hand that is holding Enid’s, she lifts the hand so she can press light kisses to Enid’s knuckle, “I just hope to be a part of that future with you.”
Enid’s face splits into a giant grin, “Of course you will be, Willa, thank you. I needed someone to give me a reality check, I was putting way too much pressure on myself for no reason. Luckily I have you,” she looks away nervously, “So does this mean that we are, well, girlfriends? Am I finally allowed to call you mine?” She asks hopefully.
Wednesday rolls her eyes, “Yes Enid, we are girlfriends. I am yours and you are mine, and I will not be giving you up any time soon.”
Enid smiles, “Goddess, I love you so much!” She squeals and leans in and captures Wednesday’s lips again. When they break apart she starts peppering kisses all over Wednesday’s face.
Wednesday smiles amusedly while being assaulted with kisses, “Good, I love you too, cara mia. Now that we’ve settled that, I think it is time to actually get some things in order, namely the abysmal state of this room.” Wednesday gestures around the room as she shakes her head lightly.
Enid gives a sheepish smile, “Yeah, I guess I should pick this up, huh? Are you sure you want to help? It was my mess. I know we just said you would help and support me but I still feel guilty in this specific case.”
“Nonsense, its fine. Things will proceed faster with the three of us working on it together anyway,” Wednesday states firmly.
Enid’s scrunches her eyebrows together, “Three of us?”
Wednesday smirks and opens one of the zippers of her leather jacket. Out of the pocket a scarred hand comes crawling out and stops on Wednesday’s shoulder and taps out a greeting to Enid.
“OH MY GOD, THING!” Enid screams. The appendage hops off Wednesday’s shoulder and is caught by the wolf and then crawls onto Enid’s shoulder, poking her cheek affectionately, “Thing, I have missed you so much. We need to do a nails session tonight.” Things taps out his approval at the idea.
Wednesday shakes her head slightly at the two, “First things first is cleaning this room, then you can have your nails session or whatever.” Both Enid and Thing salute Wednesday and then all three work together to pick up Enid’s room.
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A Few Months Later
Morning sunlight shines on Enid’s face, waking her up. She groans lightly and squints towards the light that managed to sneak between the blinds on the window. She relaxes again when she feels an arm pull her closer to the body next to her. She turns to her side and smiles up at Wednesday who is now awake and looking back at her, her hair loose and wavey.
“Good morning, baby,” Enid whispers leaning in to give Wednesday a kiss.
“Good morning, cara mia. Did you sleep well?”
Enid sits up and stretches, “Yeah I think so.” Enid gets out of bed, currently only in her underwear. She throws on a t-shirt and walks to the window. She opens the blinds, letting more light in and looks outside. What she sees below her are large river beds surrounded on each side by beautifully ornate buildings. Gondolas gracefully glide across the crystal clear water. Enid smiled brightly. She could not believe she was in Venice, Italy with her girlfriend, it was like a dream.
After Wednesday had visited Enid at school, Enid had decided to finish the semester she had started. Luckily it was early enough she was able to get herself back on track pretty easily, now that she didn’t have as much distracting her. When the semester ended however she decided to join Wednesday for the second half of her gap year and do some traveling with her. Uncle Fester had found himself admitted to some insane asylum in Turkey sometime before Enid finished her first semester, apparently it was on his bucket list to visit and he wanted to stay a couple months, so it was just Enid, Wednesday and Thing traveling together. First they visited her family again in Greece so Enid could see them too, then they spent a month in France. Now they just arrived in Venice last night.
Enid still calls her friends from college to check in on them. Marcus and Anna finally got together and have a steady relationship going. Elle is concentrating on their paintings and will be entering an art competition the school is hosting. Colin met a guy in one his second semester history courses, and they’ve been hitting it off from he’s been telling Enid. She can’t wait to see them next year and catch up.
As far as there Nevermore friends went, they were about as annoying as you would expect. When Enid told the group chat that her and Wednesday were finally together all she got was a chorus of ‘FINALLY’ and ‘about damn time’ from the group. She was happy they supported them and everything, because she loved them dearly, but they could be rude. Enid’s mother was also happy to hear about her and Wednesday, glad to know they figured out how they felt about each other. She was less ecstatic when Enid told her she was going to do a gap semester and travel with Wednesday, but she accepted her daughter’s decision, wanting to show her she supported her. Enid was grateful to her for that.
She hears movement from behind her and then feels cool arms wrap around her waist as small kisses are placed on the back of her neck. Enid giggles at the sensation, before looking outside again, “Isn’t it so beautiful?”
“Yes, you are,” Wednesday says with a smirk. Enid giggles and lightly smacks the raven’s arm, “So, mi sol, it is our first day here, what would you like to do?”
Enid smiles and turns towards Wednesday, her arms wrapping around the neck of the ravenette as Enid’s hands play with her hair. She leans in until their lips are barely touching and whispers, “I don’t know yet, but we’re young, we have time to figure it out,” she smirks before finally leaning in and kissing Wednesday lovingly and passionately.