Quil hated getting up early. He utterly despised waking up before the sun. There was only one person who could get him out of bed at five in the morning willingly: Claire.
She was sitting at the end of the beach, right next to the waves where they could reach up and tickle her feet with delicate foam. She did not dress up for the ocean like she did when around her friends. She did not worry about her shape or any part of her physical appearance. She did not worry about trying to convince the male seniors at her school that she was date worthy. No, she sat at the edge of the ocean wearing a pair of oversized, blue boxer shorts and a black tank top, and treasured the feel of the cool pre-dawn air. It was when she was the most comfortable.
When she was at her most vulnerable.
There always seemed to be something more to cry about when she sat in the soft sands of First Beach. She would run her hands through her black tresses and sniffle quietly and the tears would continue to fall until the sun broke through the veil of night to reveal the dark secrets of a hiding child. He hated seeing her suffer over shallow insults from her peers, hated the fact that they could cut through her so easily. He always asked her if everything was alright, but continued to receive the answer, "Everything's just fine Quil."
He wished she would stop lying to him.
This morning, she was not crying. White teeth chewed on soft, pink lips as tumultous thoughts wrestled in her mind. He could almost hear the sound of gears shifting and grinding in her mind, she was so deeply entranced by her thoughts. Dark brown eyes peered across the horizon, trying to see into infinity, trying to find the answers to her incredible questions. She could find no relief in the darkness, so she would wait for the light of dawn once more. It was just another early morning with his imprint.
He heard her sigh, the most brief of sounds whispering across the light breeze. Her scent, a cinnamon and vanilla mixture, drifted through the air and he treasured her unique smell. He could breathe her in for the rest of his life and never tire of the way she smelled. She stood up, a change in pattern. She seemed restless, she was pacing the beach, back and forth. She snatched a smooth stone from the soggy sands and whirled around to hurl it into the ocean.
"How fair are you!" She screamed into the night. He was thankful for the distance from the cabins, he did not want anyone to worry. He rose from behind the rock and edged closer to the beach. She was grabbing furiously at the random bits of broken wood and stones that she immediately threw into the gentle waters.
"How can life be so unfair?" She sobbed in between words, "How can you make me fall so hard, so fast!" She fell to her knees, her hands clawing at the sands, trying to tear apart the perfect balance of nature, "How can you make me love him so much," She dropped completely now, laying in the gradually brightening darkness with painful tears making unplotted paths down her flushed cheeks, "and make him so impossibly perfect?"
Quil's heart throbbed, shuddering aches that made his body shake. He was not sure if he should be angry with himself for being so blind to her pain, or be angry with the boy who had caused the pain in the first place. He settled for being decidedly angry with both. He forced back a growl and slowly stepped out of the trees. She did not see him.
"He's so beautiful and perfect and wonderful and so good!" She was nearly incoherent, so violent was her grief. "Makes me smile, makes me laugh, makes me fall to pieces for the stupidest reasons!" Quil fought the urge to chuckle, he watched Claire's agony with acute clarity. "But I love him so much, God help me I love him."
"Why can't you have him?" He wanted to smack himself for speaking. He watched her head snap around to see him, those beautiful, brown eyes wide with surprise, fear, anger. He could see the questions fly through her head, the accusations from years built up. He spoke again. "If you love him and he's everything you want, why can't you have him?"
"He doesn't know." Her words were a mere whisper. He approached her now, taking long steps away from the forest and closer to the edge of the ocean.
"Tell him Claire, if you love him, let him know." Their eyes met and he came to a startling realization just as she threw herself into his ever-warm arms.
"I love you." He lost control of his knees as they buckled. He fell into the sand but made sure he got the brunt of the fall and she was unharmed. The fall was painless. His eyes filled with warmth.
"I love you too Claire," He paused to kiss her softly, "I will love you when the moon sets and the sun rises, I will love you when your father gives me the talk for stepping into your life so soon, I will love you when Embry gives me hell for waiting so long, and I will love you more every day just because you are wonderful you." His confession had been bottled up for sixteen years. He blushed at his announcement but only held her tighter when a smile lit her face up.
"Thank you," She whispered, brushing butterfly kisses across his lips, "Thank you for loving me."