Chapter One: Winter Festival
"So, are you excited?" Taylor asked her best friend Brandy as they drove away from the small La Push airport. It was Brandy's first time meeting Taylor's family. It was also Taylor's first time seeing them in a few years.
"Of course! I've heard so much about them that I feel like I already know them!" Brandy said with an excited smile on her face.
"Awesome, I'm pretty sure they feel the same way." Taylor said as she turned onto a road with small houses on each side. She pulled into the driveway of a house that was a little bit larger than the others.
"Well, we're here! Everyone else is already at the festival so we're gonna drop our stuff off in out room and meet them there." Taylor said as they got out of her car and headed up to the front door. It was unlocked so they just walked in. They didn't bother taking off their coats since they were about to leave anyway.
"Okay, so the kitchen is in there and our rooms are—" Taylor began to say but was cut off as both her and Brandy were tackled to the ground by a mass of fur.
"Why the heck is there a wolf in here?" Brandy yelled as she tried to get up but the "wolf" growled at her.
"Seth! No! Bad… dog!" Taylor scolded as the animal turned towards her and started to lick her face. She laughed and pushed him off of her while standing up to help Brandy.
"That's a dog? It's huge!" Brandy yelled as she got off the ground and backed away from said dog. Taylor smiled at her and began to explain.
"Yeah, he's my aunt's dog. He just comes and goes as he pleases so he won't always be around. Now, you head on up stairs to our room and take our stuff. I'm going to take Seth outside."
"Aww, his name is Seth?" Brandy asked as she began to scratch behind his ear; so much for her being scared of him. Taylor smiled at her best friend's actions and at Seth who was now wagging his tail and smiling to himself.
"Yes, it is. Now let's get going so we can head to the festival! I'll meet you outside at the car." Taylor said as she ushered Brandy up the stairs. After she was out of sight, Taylor turned to Seth and glared.
"I can't believe you did that!" she whisper-yelled as she headed outside with him behind her. Seth gave her the best puppy eyes that he could muster up.
"Oh no you don't! Don't think that just because you are so adorable right now that that means I'm just going to let you off the hook for this!" Taylor scolded as she watched him give her an apologetic look. She sighed and smiled at him. He perked up and walked over to where she was sitting on the back porch steps. She smiled at him and ruffled his fur.
"Okay, you're off the hook. But I still have to let the guys know. Seth, you have to remember that Brandy doesn't know about you guys yet. Now get going, they're probably at the festival wondering where you are." Taylor said with a smile. When she saw the guilty look in his eyes, she knew that something was up.
"They sent you, didn't they?" she asked slowly and the small wolf nodded his head.
"More specifically, my cousin sent you! Didn't he?" she asked as she slowly became angrier. Once again he nodded his head. She could tell he was about to change into his human form so she quickly stopped him.
"No! Brandy might see you and I don't want her freaking out on her first day here!" she said as she got his attention. He nodded his head at her and she could tell that there was more to the story.
"It wasn't just my cousin, was it? Who else? Oh, right… Well, just tell me when we get to the festival! Don't change back until you get far enough into the woods so that Brandy doesn't accidentally see you, okay?" he nodded at this and ran off. Taylor sighed to herself as she noticed he didn't have a shirt tied to his leg but only his shorts. She headed inside just in time for Brandy to walk down the stairs and meet her at the front door.
"You ready? Where's Seth?" Brandy asked as she looked around the room. Taylor was putting something into her bag from one of the nearby drawers and turned around to face her as she closed her bag.
"Oh, he ran off. He'll be back later. Let's get going. I'm sure everyone is wondering where we are." Taylor said as she opened the door and headed out to the car with Brandy behind her.
"It's so pretty!" Brandy said as she looked around her. Taylor smiled at her and looked around too. It was just as she had remembered it.
All of the lights were so beautiful and everyone was in such a joyous mood. Light and fluffy snow covered the ground and other various things but not in a messy way. There were people singing and other people telling Christmas stories to a group of little kids. As she was looking around she noticed the people who she had been looking for. She narrowed her eyes for a split second before putting a smile on, getting Brandy's attention, and walking towards them. They looked the same as before but only bigger and this time they at least had some form of clothing on their upper body even if it was a sleeveless shirt. She also noticed that Seth had not joined them yet. As they got closer one of the guys turned and noticed them making their way over. He smiled broadly and ran up to the shorter of the two girls.
"Taylor! For a while I didn't think you were gonna make it!" he said as he enveloped her into a huge hug, lifting her off of the ground.
"Jake! It's so good to see you again! I know you sent Seth to the house to make sure I got there." She said the last part in a whisper so that Brandy wouldn't hear them. He looked at her and gave a hesitant laugh.
"I only wanted to make sure that my cousin got home safe and sound." He said in a normal voice.
"Fine, I guess you're off the hook too. Oh, Jake this is Brandy! Brandy, this is Jake and over there is Quil, Paul, Embry, and Jared." Taylor said as she pointed to each of the boys. Brandy smiled and couldn't help but notice how hot Jake was. You could see his muscles clearly defined through his thin shirt and his arms looked so strong. She could just imagine him with his arms wrapped around her as they stared into each other's eyes. Brandy quickly came out of her little fantasy world and felt herself blushing at her thoughts.
"Nice to meet you guys. I have to ask though; how are you not freezing? It's snowing and you are in shorts and a t-shirt!" she said as she pointed to what they were wearing. Taylor laughed quietly to herself.
"Oh, that's right. I forgot you don't know. It's just a wo—" Paul began but was quickly cut off by Taylor and Jake who elbowed him in the side.
"It's just a La Push thing." Taylor said with a smile and then glared at Paul. Suddenly a panting Seth came up in only a pair of cut off shorts.
"Ah, I knew this would happen. At least some of you are wearing some kind of shirts. Here, I packed these in my bag before we left." Taylor said as she handed the guys some dress shirts in different styles.
"Thanks Tay, I don't know what we would do without you." Quil said teasingly as he put his shirt on and wrapped an arm around Taylor's shoulder. Brandy saw this and began to wonder if he was the boy that Taylor had talked about liking and almost going out with from back when she lived here.
"I'm surprised you boys have managed these past few years without me here." Taylor replied teasingly.
"Yeah, yeah. Very funny, Tay." Seth said as he playfully shoved her into Quil who still had his arm around her.
"Oh, right. Bran this is Seth." Taylor said as she motioned towards the boy who was somewhat smaller than the rest.
"Nice to meet you. I know this is probably going to sound funny but you remind me of Taylor's aunt's dog. You both have the same eyes and your hair is the same color. Oh and you both have the same name!" Brandy said as she laughed. Seth looked nervously at Taylor and Jake who glared at him, telling him to just simply play along.
"Oh yeah, that is funny!" Seth said as he laughed hesitantly.
"So, what do you guys wanna do first?" Quil asked as he slipped his arm from around Taylor's shoulders to around her waist. Brandy saw this and noticed her friend faintly begin to blush. He was definitely that boy she had liked.
"Let's go get something to eat! I'm starving!" Embry said as he rubbed his stomach.
"Okay, that sounds like a good idea!" Paul said as he headed over to one of the food stands.
"Um, is there another stand we can go to?" Brandy asked hesitantly as she looked at Taylor.
"I was just about to ask the same thing." Jake said from next to Brandy as he smiled at her.
"Well, how about you two go find something that you want to eat while we get our food here and then we can all meet up somewhere. How does that sound?" Taylor asked.
"Okay, is that alright with you Brandy?" Jake asked. Brandy nodded with a smile as he grabbed her hand and they headed off. He was still holding her hand when they found a stand with food that both of them liked. Brandy looked down at their interlaced fingers and blushed lightly. Jake noticed this and pulled his hand away from hers. He couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was. She had wavy blonde hair with specks of snow in it and it made her look even more beautiful. Her beauty made him forget that they were still holding hands. He liked the feeling.
"Sorry about that." he said as he turned his face away to hide his blush. She smiled at him and her blush still remained on her face.
"It's fine. I never said I didn't like it." She said as he looked down at her and she blushed even more. He smiled broadly at her and intertwined their fingers once more, his blush beginning to fade and hers only growing.
"Well, in that case." He said as he winked at her. She smiled and they moved forward to tell the lady at the stand what they wanted to eat.
As the others were ordering their food, Taylor and Quil were sitting on one side of one of the tables, waiting for the rest of their friends.
"I'm really glad you came back. How long will you be here?" Quil asked her as he held her hand. She smiled at him and interlaced their fingers with their hands resting on her leg.
"I don't know exactly how long yet but I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be here for a while. I might even be moving back." She said and watched as his smile got even wider. She leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek. She saw him blush and smiled at this.
"I'm glad to be back too. I really missed you Quil." Taylor said as she smiled warmly at him.
"Do you think that maybe we can pick up where we left off when you moved?" he asked her.
"I was hoping you would ask that. Of course we can. I wouldn't want it any other way!" she said happily. Quil smiled back at her and leaned down to give her a kiss on the lips. Taylor smiled into the kiss and leaned in further, wrapping her free hand into his unruly hair that she loved so much.
"Ahem, excuse us for interrupting but do you mind if we join you two?"
They quickly pulled apart blushing and Taylor looked up to see who had interrupted them. She glared when she noticed it was her cousin. Brandy was standing next to him with a faint blush painting her cheeks. Taylor looked between them and noticed that they were holding hands. She winked at her cousin and he began to blush along with Brandy.
"Go right ahead. The others should be here soon. The other guys wanted more food than we did so they visited some other stands for food too." Taylor said as Brandy and Jake sat down across from them.
"Really? They must not have gotten that much from the stand they chose because we got a ton of food at ours. Oh wait, I'm guessing it's another La Push thing." Brandy said. Quil and Jake laughed quietly at remembering she didn't know the secret. Taylor elbowed Quil and stepped on Jake's foot while smiling at Brandy and nodding her head in answer.
Brandy smiled and knew she would love it in La Push, it had everything a girl could ask for; white snow, friends, and hot guys. Brandy smiled at that thought. They didn't build guys like Jacob in Georgia.