"You're late." That is the first thing that 17 tells me as soon as I arrived in the basement, where they decided to permanently keep him. This time, he isn't chained up. He is free to roam around the entire room, thanks to Doctor Rai. However, he isn't allowed to go out and no one is allowed inside except for me, Tarver and Rai. Others must be accompanied by one of us in order to get inside. It is one step to treating him better.

The second step is giving him better food, which is why I was indeed late. "I was late because I bought food. For you." I can't afford a fancy take out meal like Danny Rand, but I got him In-N-Out, which is the closest to my school. Also, it's cheap. I am a college student. I showed him the cheeseburger.

He looked at it strangely.

"It's good. Try it. It won't bite. You should, though." His eyes met mine and raised a brow. "The burger." I added, feeling my face turn red. "Say ahhh." This time, he actually obeyed and took a big bite. I waited for a few seconds, watching his blank expression. "Well?" I waited eagerly.

He licked his lips. "It's not horrible."

My big smile fell and I looked at him with disbelief. "Really? Really?!" He just shrugs and takes another bite. I left him to eat the burger and animal fries while I wonder around the basement. It reminds me of the creepy basements that are on movies and TV shows. Except this time, instead of finding a ghost or anything scary, they'll find only a grumpy werewolf.

"Andromeda." I hear my name being called by the husky voice. "Where are you?"

I trudged back to him grimly. "Call me Drew."

"Andromeda. Your name is Andromeda."

Sighing, I sat down on his bed next to him. "Yes, but no. Whatever. Just call me Drew." He tilted his head and opened his mouth to speak more, but I beat him to eat. "What about you? I've asked you this before and you didn't answer me but you should, now that I've given you some Scooby Snacks." I bit my lip and smirked at my stupid joke, which he obviously didn't like. "What's your name? I know it's not 17. Surely you have a name before you were taken here. What is it? If you don't give it to me, I'm going to keep calling you Jacob Black from Twilight."

I waited a while and thought I wasn't going to get an answer. When I was about to stand up and walk away, he caught my arm. "Lysander. My name is Lysander."

Lysander.

I've always wanted to name my child Lysander. Or at least one of my pets. Starting in high school, I've made a mental list of names that I love and would maybe name my children. One of them is Lysander. Others are Castiel and Hermione.

"Lysander." I repeated slowly. "That's a beautiful name." I checked the In-N-Out bag and saw that he hasn't finished his fries yet. "What's the matter? You don't like them?" He shook his head. "Damn you. What do you like, boy?" If he isn't going to finish it, I'll happily take it.

"Oh! Drew! You're here, good." Doctor Rai walked in the room and stopped when he sees the In-N-Out bag. "Did you save some for me?"

"Nope. Lysander ate everything because he loves In-N-Out so much." I pointed at the boy next to me, who shook his head and glared at me.

Doctor Rai smiled. "Lysander?" I nodded. "That's a great name. I wish I had a cool name like you two. My mom just looked at a children's book and liked the sound of Ron." He shares as he prepares some stuff at the desk.

"Ron is a cool name." I commented. "Like Ron Weasley. Or Ron Swanson or Ron Burgundy."

The doctor just laughs and shakes his head. "What a nerd. You remind me of my boyfriend's niece. Same height, loves all the nerdy things there is. Especially Harry Potter, Doctor Who and all those stuff."

"I must meet them!" They can join me and Eva when we throw nerd parties every summer.

"I'll tell them for sure." Doctor Rai agrees. "Now, come take a look at this, Drew." He showed me the results of the tests that we ran with Lysander yesterday. I see two data. One from 2018, which is last year, and one in 2019, which is this year. In 2018, he was much more healthier, from what I could see. Now, he has lost a lot of weight. His heart rate and blood pressure weren't very high last year as well. "As you can see, there has been a dramatic change in his body."

Lysander remained seated on his bed watching us intensely. I tried not to look at him and focus on the data. "I think it's because he isn't receiving proper treatment. He isn't well fed, he isn't treated equally, he isn't doing a lot of moving, exercise and everything. He probably hasn't even seen sunlight for who knows how long."

Doctor Rai nodded in agreement. "That is true, sadly. We found him last year and he has been kept inside ever since." My heart breaks for him. My eyes darted back towards Lysander. He looks away, clenching his jaw angrily. "Why don't you take him out?"

"What?"

"He needs it. Just like you said, he hasn't been out and his body needs it. Doctor Tarver is very strict on 17 -- Lysander. But the old man isn't here, so I think we can let this one go. No one will know. It'll be only for a few hours though."

I smiled excitedly and skip towards Lysander's bed. "Sooooo? Do you want to go out with me, Lysander?" I grinned. "We'll get more In-N-Out since you absolutely love them so much. Oh! And M&M's. Also, we need to get you some clothes because you're walking around shirtless and no one wants to see that at all."

He snorted at that.

"But seriously, you do need a shirt if you're going to go out." I turned to Rai. "Where can I get a shirt?"

"Every shirt we've given him has been ripped." The doctor laughed. "But I'll go get one for him. I'll be back."

I turned back to Lysander and crossed my arms, attempting to look serious. "Alright. If I let you out, promise you'll behave."

The werewolf simply rolled his eyes and looked away stubbornly. "Whatever."

Very stubborn. "No? Okay then. Have fun saying here doing absolutely nothing but get stabbed by needles. I'll be taking a walk in the park with Rami."

When I begin to turn away from him, he groaned. "Fine."

"Good! Great! Let's go!"

***

I wasn't kidding when I said I'll be taking Rami. Rai gave Lysander some fresh clothes so he could look at least decent and not an actual lab pet. I took my lovely jeep and drove the three of us to the park first. Lysander walks in the middle, clinging to my side while Rami stays on his other side, giving him all sorts of information such as, "That there is a slide. That is a skateboard. That is a phone."

Just now, we had bought hot dogs from a street vendor and Rami explained to him what they are. "This is a hot dog, by the way. Well, it's not really a hot dog. It's just called a hot dog. So don't worry, they didn't hurt anyone of your friends. But like, it's just a... a.... What are hot dogs made out of?" He ended the sentence looking so confused.

"Honey, he was kept in for a year. Not a damn era."

Rami scoffs. "I have been outside literally every day and I don't even know what hot dogs are made out of."

Lysander just gives him a funny look but remained quiet. He only mumbled a few words so far. But I can tell he is enjoying his day out. He is getting fresh air, sunlight, the noise of crying children and screaming parents, and inhaling the polluted atmosphere that our government refuses to acknowledge.

In the middle of Rami's hot dog speech, Lysander completely stopped in his tracks. Rami and I both stopped, wondering what was wrong. Lysander took a sniff of the air and spun around. He walked behind me and continued going back while sniffling. Then all of a sudden, the boy sprinted away.

Rami and I ran after him, but we were nowhere near as fast. Eventually, he stopped running and growled in frustration. When Rami and I reached him, both out of breath, Lysander grabbed my shoulders and examined me. He smelled me a couple of times and then carefully checked my neck specifically.

Rami watched with amusement. "I don't know what's happening but it's funny."

"Shut up." I grunted, pushing Lysander away. "What's wrong, Lysander?"

He shakes his head. "Nothing."

I narrowed my eyes at him, but he refuses to look at me. He has obviously spotted or felt something that alerted him. Though I suppose, it is none of my business. It must have been something big though, considering the way he bolted away from us. Maybe he saw a cat or whatever.

Rami cleared his throat and clapped his hands. "Okay. Well. Time for shopping!"

***

"I hate it." Lysander grumbled for the umpteenth time. We have been in the store for almost an hour now because we are trying to buy him new clothes. The lab does not exactly give him new ones. All he has is one grey sweats and multiple plain white tees that he always rips. We are giving him a makeover. The only issue with this is the werewolf does not like anything we give him. He also doesn't want to pick out clothes by himself.

Rami has given him a dozen shirts already and he has liked none of them. Then again, Rami's choices aren't exactly the best of them all. He keeps giving Lysander really tight shirts that makes his muscles pop out even more. Hmm. Maybe Rami is doing this on purpose. For a show. "Here. Try this one then come out and show us." Rami repeated, tossing Lysander another shirt. This time, it's a plaid buttoned up shirt.

We waited for a minute until Lysander emerged out of the fitting room with his usual frown. "I hate it."

"What? Why?" Rami pouted. "I love it. You look really good in it. Right Drew?"

I pursed my lips and pretended to get a text on my phone. Until of course, it gets snatched out of my fingers. Rami points at Lysander. "Tell him how hot he looks."

I rolled my eyes. "I would, but he just looks like a nerd's top model." I took my phone back. Then, I glanced at the rack beside me and pulled out a couple of items. One plain black shirt and a leather jacket. "Here you go." I shoved the clothes on Lysander's chest and pushed him back inside the fitting room. The leather jacket is on sale and it just looks like something Lysander would wear, so I gave it to him. You never pass on a leather jacket that is on sale.

After a few minutes, Lysander returned. He still had the frown on his face. His black shirt is not too tight, but just the perfect size. Also, the leather jacket looks great. "Perfect!" I jumped. "Don't tell me you hate it."

"I hate it."

Rami laughed. "Damn."

"Well too bad." I crossed my arms. "I think you look good in it."

Lysander rolled his eyes. "Fine. But only because I'm tired of trying anymore clothes."

Smirking victoriously, I pushed him back in the room. "Good. Now take them off. We need to pay for them."

Afterwards, we got him a couple of bottoms. One sweatpants and one jeans, both in black. Also a pair of sneakers at a cheap shoe store and underthings. Doctor Rai was kind enough to give us money for Lysander's new stuff, so we didn't have to worry too much about the prices. Still, college students and scientists are not receiving enough financial support from the government, so we still have to shop cheap.

We also went to Game Stop because Rami could not resist himself with the video games. He said he was only going to look, but he ended up buying two new games, one Iron Man mug and two other merchandise of Zelda. Our day ends with a fancy-ish dinner at a local bar. It's a bit vintage but I love it so much. They have jukeboxes that play oldies music and sometimes, they have performers that sing on a small stage at the center. When there is no performers, there are random people on karaoke. My favorites are the drunk ones.

Tonight is one of those times. A drunk twenty something lady is singing Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper while her friends cheer her on. It's even better because instead of singing "fun" she replaces it with "funds". I love it. I love her. She is also very cute, but whatever. "Thank you! Thank you!" She bowed after the spectacular performance.

I put my attention back to my group and found Lyasnder watching me while Rami devours his chicken alfredo. "Do I have something on my face or am I just too pretty that you can't tear your eyes from me?" I asked jokingly, battering my eyelashes at him. In return, he smirked and reached a hand over towards me.

I felt his thumb glide over the corner of my lips. "You had bread crumbs on your face."

Rami choked, making the mistake of laughing at me while chewing his food. He then chugged down his orange juice while I glared at him, then at Lysander. "Whatever." I scoffed before turning my back away from them. I finished my spaghetti fast, then ate the garlic breads that tasted like heaven. All I have left is my lemonade and my small dessert, which is a flan. Lysander ordered a massive burger and finished it very quickly. Now we're just waiting for Rami to finish.

"Do we have any more volunteers?" Asked the host of the place. One man around his thirties raised his hand. "Alright. What's your name, sir?"

"Dean." He took the microphone and waved at everyone. "I'd like to dedicate this song to a certain someone in this room." He winked at our table. It wasn't exactly directed at me, nor Lysander or Rami. Just out side in general. He pressed a button on the karaoke machine and music started to play. As soon as it did, my eyes widened, as did Rami. Lysander, however, showed no emotion.

Hungry like the Wolf by Duran Duran. What a coincidence. A hell of a coincidence. When he sang, it looked like he was singing at his group of friends who are the same age as him, and he didn't really face us anymore until the end. He finished with a sadistic smile and I don't know whether to be scared or worried.

"Wow." Rami breathed out. "That was weird. It's like he knows." He playfully punched Lysander's arm, who gave no response in return. Lysander shook his head and toyed with the fries he refuse to eat.

"Next up, we have a group!" This time, a bunch of young teenagers cheered as five boys came on the circular stage. They introduced themselves and claimed that they will be the next biggest boy band. Apparently, they call themselves. And guess what song they decided to song? All Star by Smash Mouth.

This entire generation is a meme. Why does this happen. Why.

Lysander watched them in amusement. "Is this what kids are like now?"

"Unfortunately."

"Sad."

"Oh yeah? How were the kids like at your time?" I raised a brow. "Please, do tell us a story, gramps. Back in my day..." I faked an old man voice.

Rami snickered while Lysander didn't get the joke. "When I was their age, we had actual performers and instruments. That music player, the jukebox, was a new thing and we -- "

"How old are you exactly?" I interrupted. "Because they don't know how old you are. If you were already a teen when jukeboxes are still a new thing, you must be so damn old."

"Really old." That was all he said and spoke no more.

Rami and I stared at each other before shrugging.

While we finish everything up, another performer came up on stage and this time, they were pretty great. They were amazing, actually. They are a pretty young band, same age as me, and they called Joywave. They sang a song called Destruction and they had got everyone on their feet. Well, almost everyone. Lysander and the senior citizens remained on their seat. Rami and I were up and jumping along with the crowd.

When the song ended, I sat back down. I caught Lysander watching me once again. "What?"

He just gave me another smirk. "You're adorable."

I was not expecting that at all. "Shut up." I blushed, turning away from him as I chug down the rest of my drink. "Anyway, it's getting late. Let's go. Rai is going to get mad at us. We stayed out too long."

I pretty much ran out of the bar like a penguin with its ass on fire.