Chapter One, Nadie
Quil sat on the four-seated couch beside me, the both of us taking up all the cushions. He lifted his leg in a very flexible fashion to scratch his head. Some times I hate how dog-like we can be. It's almost disturbing. So, instead, I turned to the television, picking up the remote and flipping through the channels; and I finally settled on some college basketball game.
Quil's elbow jabbed me in the ribs knocking the air out of me. "Hey, man, I was watching that!" He swiped the remote from my hands and flipped back to the talk show from before.
"Opra," I scoffed. "Quil, I know you'd do anything to help little Claire out, but she's a toddler for Christ's sake! Opra is for middle-aged women, not cartoon loving two-year-olds!"
"But Opra has good advice, Em! Like that breast milk is better than formula. Bet you didn't know that. Besides, Kim told me I should watch this." He defended pathetically.
I rolled my eyes, responding, "Gross, dude. Just… ugh. No, I didn't know that and I don't think I wanted to!" I stole the channel changer back, tuned in to the game and threw the remote out the open window. "Just watch the basketball game and try to retain some of your manhood."
I flicked the back of his head with my finger and walked out of the house to get some fresh air. But the sweet smell of already fallen rain was penetrated by loud music. My ears twitched towards the source of the sound: the old Victorian house above the beach.
The history of the place begins with some French painter that wanted to build a retreat, and for some odd reason chose La Push for the location. He came after the building was built and furnished, then soon discovered he had little taste for rain. The house beside the huge willow tree was too expensive for any buyers in the area or on the market. After years of damage, though the value of the place plummeted and no one wanted to buy that crap shack. The white-washed exterior was only slightly rubbed off, but the shingles on the roof were too old and falling off to be safe. Inside, as I was once dared to break in- not very hard I will tell you- had many leaks and water stains on the ceilings. Yet the wood floors stayed polished and unharmed under a thick coat of dust.
My favorite part about the neglected building was the tower on its one side. I always wanted to look out onto the ocean from up there but the stairs were broken in some areas and I wasn't taking any chances.
Well, it's better than Opra: I thought and trekked up the hill to knock on the door. I only waited on the nicked porch for maybe a minute before crashing was heard and a feminine voice yelled, "Just a minute!" Without waiting I barged in through the door to find an angel under a pile of cleaning supplies. I quickly shoved the Lysol, bleach and mops away and pulled her up by the elbow.
"Are you okay?" The anxious tone to my voice was as visible as the sun between breaks in the clouds.
The girl laughed and simply tugged the bandana she had fixed in her hair back into place. "Yeah, I'm fine. I would've thought you'd be laughing. That was kind of funny. I've never been attacked by brooms before." She stepped back from me, sniffed, and smoothed out her paint splotched white shirt. "I'm Nadie, short for Nadine. But don't ever call me Nadine!" And the blonde haired wonder glanced up at me for the first time. The sound of her breath hitching sent my heart sputtering.
"Hey…" I swallowed and clearing my suddenly constricted throat. "I'm your new neighbor, just down and around on the street. Um…er… my name's Embry." I had to break the trance. I gave a cursory glance to the large foyer we were standing in and whistled low. "This is a… 'nice' place you have here."
She laughed again in that high-pitched voice of hers, so smooth and melodic, broken by a few breaths. "Yeah, well. It is mine… that's all I can say for it."
I was confused. "You don't like it? Then why did you buy it?"
She blushed. "You see, my dad works down in Seattle. He's real fond of the city. But I always admired our trips to see my grandma down in suburbia. We would take a long road trip through Forks and pass this here reservation. And the view! Gorgeous! So, anyways… am I babbling?"
How could I tell her I was completely enchanted by the way her lips formed words? I wasn't paying attention to her story, but yet I was taking in every detail, anything to do about her. "No, it's fine, go on."
"Okay, as I was saying…" Nadie took a moment to recapture her thoughts. "After my eighteenth birthday a week or so ago I decided to get out of that apartment I lived in with my Dad and stepmother. I went down to La Push and bought the worst house I could possibly find. I thought I was being rebellious…"
"But you ended up being stupid?" I tried to finish.
"Funny, Embry. Real funny! No, actually. This may be one of the smartest decisions of my life. Sure, I now live in a dilapidated old mansion, but now I'm at least five hours away from the folks and got that view of the ocean I wanted." She gasped for air from her long story. "And you?"
"I've lived here all my life. It'll always be my home." I smiled fondly at the memories of my childhood and the faces of my fellow pack members. "I think you'll like it here."
She smiled and then blew at one of the stay hairs that fell on her nose right between those two oceanic blue eyes. The irises swirled with grey foam like on a stormy night at sea and dark blue waters that drew you in. When she smiled next her cheeks burned crimson and blushed up to her ears. I noticed they were pierced with little pearl studs, and from behind little wisps of short curly yellow hair stood out, untamed. She rubbed her nose nervously with one little pale finger. I must have been staring, and slowly aimed my gaze at the dusty floor. I examined my foot print that punched through the fluff bashfully.
"Embry?" Nadie said. I might've given myself whiplash if I wasn't such a tough werewolf at the speed in which I picked my head up. She didn't seem to find our silence awkward at all. "Since you're already here would you mind helping me out with the house? I could use the extra hand."
I grinned so wide I felt the pain as if my face were splitting. "I would love to help. In fact, I have some buddies that'll want to help too, if you'll give me a minute I can go get them." One part of me wanted to keep this beauty all to myself, but the other part wanted to help her in any way possible- and that meant calling in the guys. Adding on to that I would get to show off my… I smirked. Euphoric, I think the most magnificent word in existence. Imprint.
She raised an eyebrow. "Is this your plan to escape, or do you really mean that?"
"Of course I mean that," I promised. "I'll be back soon." I stepped backwards to go then pulled up short. In one bold and swift move I kissed her on one pale cheek. "Promise."
As soon as the house was hidden behind the massive weeping willow tree I bolted to the Uley's house where I was sure to find most of the gang. Sam sat grumpily on the floor of the kitchen while Emily waddled around to clean the table and the counters. However, her large protruding stomach kept getting in the way.
Sam glared at me as I walked in and fluffed Emily's long black hair. "What's up you two?" Sam harrumphed and turned his head with his arms crossed over his bare chest. Childish, was the only word to describe his behavior.
"Sam thinks I'm fat!" Emily accused harshly. I laughed under my breath. Poor Mr. Uley and his overly hormonal pregnant wife.
"I do not!" Her husband defended. "I merely suggested you let me clean up. I don't want you to put any strain on your back." I think I heard Emily mutter something like 'lies' during Sam's explaination.
I shook my head. "You're not fat Emily. Sam, how could you!" Sam widened his eyes at me and then narrowed them into slits, followed by a lethal growl. "But why is he sitting on the floor?"
"She said if I won't allow her to wipe the table then I'm not allowed to sit at it. And as you can see there are no other chairs in this room." Sam hissed.
Too low for Mrs. Uley to hear I whispered. "Give her some time to cool off, Sam. You know how her emotions are going hay wire around now. And I need some help. We have a new neighbor. A very special neighbor," I hinted. "She bought the old Victorian up on the hill and I volunteered the pack to help her fix it up today."
Sam nodded. "Alright," and he hoisted himself up off the tiled floor. "You can clean the table, love. And I'm sorry that you think I called you fat."
Emily shrugged. "Good enough," and let him give her a small kiss on the lips, to which I quickly looked away. "Now run off and play with the guys. I told you I can handle things around here."
"I'll have my phone on me; promise you'll call if anything happens." The sometime-to-be proud father placed a hand on his wife's large belly. "And I want to know every time the little guy kicks too. Got that?" Emily giggled, nodded, and we were finally on our way.
Leah, Seth and Brady followed us from the backyard that they were wrestling in- well Leah watched uninterested while Seth showed off and held Brady down for a good ten seconds. Paul was out on patrol with Jared while we gathered Quil from where he was sitting and faithfully watching the basketball game we'd turned on.
Upon my return, Nadie's eyes widened at the extremely tall and muscular people I had brought back with me.
"Nadie, this is my pa- er… my friends. We're like family. This is Sam, Leah, Seth, Brady, and Quil- my roommate. Unfortunately, Collin is sick" summer school that bum! "and Paul and Jared are out working. But I have a feeling you'll meet them sooner than later." Her mouth stayed gaping open. "Guys," a brief cough from Leah. "And girl, meet Nadie."
I have extreme writer's block on all my other stories and it's making me sick! I have massive headaches. I haven't been able to post anything- if there was anything- in a while because I didn't have access to a computer where I could save on Microsoft word. I was dissatisfied with Jacob's imprint story, or more so Mary, his imprint. I just didn't like that character. So I'm starting a project on Embry (whom I imagine to be funny and witty) with an imprint named Nadine- modeled after my hilarious and audacious friend Nadine; 'Hence the name'. Please give me helpful suggestions so this story doesn't end up on hiatus too! Reviews would be lovely.