Okay, so, this is the sequel to my story 'Pretending.' I'm not sure if you have to read that story to follow this one, but I reccomend it so the story will make more sense in future chapters. To those of you that read 'Pretending' this story begins one week prior to the Epilouge of that story. I hope you all like this first chapter, and as I always say, let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with Twilight.
Chapter One
"Come on, Seth, don't be such a spoiled sport," Avery said with a laugh as she hiked up the familiar path that she had climbed countless times over the last two years with Seth hot on her heels.
"I'm not being a spoiled sport, Ave, but Paul will kill me if I let you do this today because of the weather," Seth said and Avery came to a stop, almost causing Seth to collide with her but he caught his footing, before she turned around to look up at him. She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest as she smiled up at him.
"Do you plan on telling him we came up here today? Because I don't think anybody else is," she said and Seth sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck and then lowered his hand to his side. "Besides, it's not like I haven't done this a hundred times before, and it's to celebrate the end of another long torturous year of high school," she said with a good natured laugh as she looked up at him. "Plus, Michael, Brady, Kayla, Gavin, Collin, and Jon are already up there waiting, and I don't want to be called chicken if I don't show up. 'Pale Face' is bad enough."
"Are they still calling you that?" Seth asked, his hands going in to fists at his sides, and Avery smiled as she uncrossed her arms and brought her hands up to rest on his chest when she noticed the very faint trembling of his body. Seth wasn't one to get angry easily, if ever, but when it came to her he could be just as bad as her dad.
"It's okay, Seth, they only do it in teasing now," she said softly and Seth's body instantly relaxed at her touch and words. His fists unclenched as he looked down at her, his brown eyes holding her greenish-blue. "They don't mean it the way they used to."
Given that Avery was the adopted daughter of a tribal member, and other 'special' circumstances, Avery had been given permission by the tribal elders to attend school in La Push rather than forcing her attend school off of the reservation. Elementary school, for the most part, had been hell for the young girl whose peaches and cream complexion stood out amongst the copper and russet tones of her classmates. However, Michael Uley had been her only friend, aside from Seth, back then and he had stood up for her, shaking his five year old fists like he could really do some damage to the kids teasing Avery for being different. Avery considered Michael one of her closest friends and the pair's friendship hadn't wavered much, if any, over their young lives.
"Really?" Seth asked and she nodded as she lowered her hands and took a step back from him, a light blush rushing across her pale cheeks thanks to the gentle tone his voice had taken on as he asked the one word question.
"Really," she assured him with a smile. "Now, come on, let's get going before everyone jumps without us."
"All right, all right," he said with a defeated sigh before he watched her turn around and trudge up the path. Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out as he shook his head, Seth followed after Avery. Reaching the top of one of the lower cliffs, the pair was greeted by their small group of friends. Brady nodded his head at Seth from where he sat on one of the larger rocks with his arm around his imprint, Kayla. Seth responded with a tight lipped smile and a nod of his own before his eyes moved to the back of Avery's dark head of hair.
"It's about time you two got here," Michael said, drawing Seth's eyes to Michael over the top of Avery's head. Michael was smiling as he looked at them. Michael had taken heavily after his father, but he had inherited Emily's eyes and lighter copper complexion. Since joining the pack last summer, he was tall and muscular like the others members and like his father, he had a natural leader quality to him. He'd make a good alpha someday, that much was obvious to everyone.
"Blame Seth for us being late," Avery said as she gestured over her right shoulder at the man, and Seth rolled his eyes before he looked at the back of her head once again. "He was trying to convince me that this is a bad idea."
"It is a bad idea," Seth said and Avery turned around to look at him, her hands on her hips. "The surf is too rough today and you're going to get pulled under. You're not physically strong enough to keep yourself above water."
"Which is exactly why I'm just watching," Kayla chimed in and Avery smiled as she glanced at her friend. Kayla and Avery had been friends before Brady imprinted on the seventeen year old girl two years earlier. In fact, it was thanks to Avery that Brady actually met Kayla and she had yet to cash in on that favor Brady said he owed her. Kayla was not as adventurous as Avery was, and it didn't surprise her that Kayla was opting out of jumping that day.
"Jump with me then," Avery said as she returned her eyes to Seth, a smirk on her face and Seth sighed before he pursed his lips. "If you jump with me, I'll be safe won't I?" she asked.
"Fine," he said heavily and Avery smiled.
"Great," Michael said, drawing their eyes to him. "You two want to go first then?" Avery looked back at Seth and raised an eyebrow, making him roll his eyes once again.
"Sure," he said dryly before he pulled his dark gray t-shirt from his body. Avery chuckled before she stepped out of her sandals and pulled off her own t-shirt and shorts to reveal her simple dark blue one-piece bathing suit. She knew that despite the unusually warm air temperature that day, she'd be freezing since the water was never warm, but she wouldn't be in it long and with Seth at her side in the water she would have her own personal heater until they swam to shore. Seth put his t-shirt and shoes with Camilla's clothes before the pair made their way to the edge of the cliff. "I still think this is a bad idea," he said as Seth stood beside her.
"Relax Seth," Avery said with a smile, her long curly hair blowing back behind her thanks to the decent wind coming in off the water. Seth sighed yet again as he looked at her. "Quit acting like the old man you really are," she teased before she laughed lightly and Seth scoffed a laugh as he shook his head. "Ready?" she asked as she held out her hand to him. Seth looked down at her hand before he encased her much smaller hand into his, lacing their fingers together as he did so.
"Ready," he said and she smiled at him before she looked down at the water below.
"Okay," she said softly and he could hear the slight tremor in her voice as she said the simple word. "Three . . . two . . . one," she said and the duo jumped from the cliff. Avery let out a scream as they fell before they hit the water hard.
Seth easily kept hold of her hand before he battled the water and swam the both of them up to the surface, pulling Avery close to his chest. He wrapped his left arm around her as he used his right to treat the water along with his legs. He laughed as he shook his slightly longer hair out of his eyes, however, when he saw her head lulled back his laughter died in his throat. Her eyes were closed and as he realized that her body was limp in his arms, his entire world seemed to crumble around him.
"Ave?" he asked as a wave hit them, but he kept her above water. "Avery?" he yelled before he shook her slightly, the panic clear in his voice as she remained limp and didn't respond. In his panic, he didn't listen for her heart beat or breathing, he just shook his head and started to swim to shore as tears filled his eyes. Suddenly, before he could swim more than a foot from where they had come up, Avery was laughing as she righted her head and brought her hands to her face, pushing her wet hair off her face as she looked at Seth.
"Gotcha," she said with a laugh as she moved her hands to rest on his trembling shoulders. He glared at her while his hold around her tightened, pressing her smaller body even tighter to his as he remained there treading water.
"Don't you ever do that to me again," he said and the smile slipped from Avery's face as she looked at him.
"Seth, I was just-," she started, but didn't finish because he started swimming to shore in earnest, a scowl still settled on his face as he swam. On the rare occasion that Avery had actually seen Seth angry, it had never been directed at her before and at that moment it was; so, she decided that it was best to keep quiet for now as he swam them to shore. Once they reached the shore, he helped her to her feet before he roughly took hold of her waist and pulled her close to him.
"I thought the worse when you were limp like that, Avery," Seth said as he looked down at her. "Why would you even think that that was funny?" he asked and Avery pushed away from him, regretting it the second she was away from his warmth as the cool wind hit her skin causing goose bumps to erupt across her flesh. In her opinion, he was being silly and overreacting to her little joke.
"I was just teasing, Seth, and you've had a stick up your ass since I told you about going cliff diving," she said as she wiped some water from her face. "I was trying to get you to lighten up."
"By pretending you were unconscious or even dead?" he asked, his eyebrows raised and an incredulous look on his face. "Neither one of those scenarios would ever get me to lighten up, Avery."
"Oh quit being so dramatic, Seth," she said.
"I'm not being dramatic!" he roared so loudly that his voice actually echoed off the rock behind them and made her jump in surprise. She looked at him with wide eyes as he took deep and laboring breaths to calm his shaking form. "Go back up to the cliff with the others. I need a minute to myself," he said before he turned away from her and started down the beach, heading for the trees. Avery opened her mouth to call out to him, to stop him, but thought better of it and sighed as she closed her mouth and ran her hand over the top of her head. So much for a fun filled afternoon.
Avery knew that everyone up on the cliffs, except Kayla, had heard her and Seth's little spat down on the beach since they had been loud enough, and when she had gone up to get her and Seth's things the looks the guys gave her only confirmed it. She ignored them, as well as Michael when he had asked if she was okay. She had simply nodded as she got dressed, grabbed Seth's tennis shoes and t-shirt from the ground, and joined Kayla on the boulder she was sitting on since Brady was getting ready to jump from the cliff.
She wasn't sure how long she had been sitting there with Kayla, talking about nothing in particular and watching the guys take turns jumping when out of the corner of her eye she saw Seth heading up the path walking along side Michael who was coming back up the path after having jumped. Avery took a deep breath as Seth started to walk towards where she sat beside Kayla on the boulder since the boys continued to jump. When he was close enough, she stood and handed him his shirt. He took it from her without looking at her, and started to pull on his t-shirt. His jeans, which he had left on when he jumped with Avery, were still damp, but his body heat was quickly drying them.
"I'm sorry," Avery said and Seth paused as he started to pull on his t-shirt. "I didn't think that you'd get so upset." Seth sighed and shook his head before he pulled on his shirt all the way and tugged on the hem of his t-shirt. The others, Kayla included, were doing their best to pretend they weren't listening to the pair, but they both knew their friends' attention was completely on them.
"Avery, you're not stupid," he said quietly, his dark eyes holding hers. "You know all about imprinting, how it works, and how I feel about you. How did you think I would react to the thought of . . .," he trailed off and shook his head before he ran his hands through his hair roughly and then returned his eyes to hers. "I worry when you stub your toe when I'm around or get a freaking paper cut. How could you not think that I wouldn't lose my mind if something worse happened to you?"
"Obviously, I wasn't thinking," she said softly as she looked down at her hands and picked at her nails.
"Obviously," he said, a small smile tugging on the corners of his lips as he looked at her, "and I'm sorry too." Avery lifted her head and looked at him as he took a few steps towards her, stepping over his shoes as he did so. "I shouldn't have yelled at you like I did, but you scared me, Ave," he said.
"I'm sorry," she said again and he sighed softly before he stepped over his shoes, closing the small distance between them before he hugged her tight to his chest. Avery closed her eyes as she wrapped her arms around him and sank into his radiating heat.
"Promise you won't do anything like that again," he said into the top of her hair.
"I promise," she said in a whisper and he smiled before he pulled back from her and their arms fell away from each other. Seth turned away from her and picked up his tennis shoes with a soft sigh before he tugged them on, not even bothering to untie and then retie the laces.
Avery sighed quietly as she sat back down next to Kayla who gave her a small smile and gently nudged her arm with her elbow. Avery smiled at Kayla in return as Seth settled on the boulder beside her, his heat radiating against her body since he had sat down so close. She looked at him only to find him looking at her, his dark eyes unreadable like they had been so often lately. Even though he forgave her, she still felt terrible for not thinking about how he would react to something like that; and she had no idea how to make it up to him.
"I'll do your laundry for a month," Avery suddenly said, causing Seth to furrow his brow as he smiled.
"What?" he asked and Avery rolled her eyes before she used both hands to playfully shove his arm. However, like always, he didn't budge.
"To make up for the mini heart attack I gave you, I'll do your laundry for a month," she reasoned as she nodded her head and settled her hands in her lap. Seth chuckled as he looked at her, dark eyes scanning her face.
"I've got a better idea," he said as he held her gaze and she raised an eyebrow, making him smile.
"What?" she asked and with a nervous glance at the guys Seth took a deep breath. All of them, minus Brady since he was still coming back from diving, were looking at him with grins on their faces. Thanks to patrol the night before, they all knew he planned to ask Avery 'the big question' that afternoon and her little plan to go cliff diving had altered his plans.
"Go out with me," he said, his eyes going back to hers, and she blinked at him.
"Seth, we go out all the time," she said. "How is that any different than what we do on a . . .," she trailed off and Seth saw surprise register in those beautiful eyes of hers as she blinked feverishly for a second before she sat back slightly. "You mean like a date, don't you?" she asked and he nodded as he continued to hold her gaze until she looked away from him and climbed down from the boulder. She didn't even look at him before she started quickly walking away and towards the path just as Brady was coming back up.
"Hey, what's wrong Ave? You look like you're going to be sick," Brady said as she passed by him. However, Avery didn't say anything, she just kept walking and Seth felt his heart break just a little as he watched her go.
"Brady!" Kayla chided quietly and he looked at his girlfriend with a frown.
"What?" he asked as he held his hands out to the side, and Seth sighed heavily before he too stood from the boulder and took off after Avery. He was her ride home after all. "What did I miss?" Brady asked and Kayla just rolled her eyes.
Avery was almost to the bottom of the path when Seth jogged around her and was suddenly standing in front of her. She halted her steps, her curly wet hair flopping around her shoulders as she did so, however, she didn't look up at his face. She kept her eyes square on his chest as she felt her heart start to race.
"Avery," Seth said softly and gathering her courage, Avery lifted her head turned her eyes to his. He looked . . . heartbroken, and Avery felt absolutely terrible; but Seth was her best friend. She didn't know if she was ready to change that by taking the next step that had been looming in front of her for the last three years; ever since she realized just how handsome Seth was and just how perfect he really was for her.
He was so patient with her and he put up with her crazy ideas and listened to her as she prattled for seemingly hours on end about stuff that happened at school or about nothing in particular. With Seth there was no pressure to be someone or something she wasn't. She could just be herself without a care. He expected nothing out of her and if they started dating, certain things would be expected and that was worried her about taking that giant step from friendship to relationship with him. She was scared that things would change so much that they would lose that deep friendship they shared, and she didn't want to lose that.
"Seth, I don't think I'm ready," she admitted and he sighed quietly as he reached out and wrapped his hands around her bare upper arms, the feel of his skin against hers sending those familiar tingles throughout her entire body and causing a blush to rise to her cheeks.
"There's no pressure with me, Ave, you know that," he said and she nodded. "It's only a date. I'm not asking you to marry me." The silent 'yet' hung in the air between them and Avery sighed quietly.
"I know," she said.
"Then say you'll go out with me, on a real date," he said. His dark eyes were filled with so much hope as she looked up at him that she couldn't let him down again. There was no doubt her first abrupt rejection had hurt. She didn't want to do it to him a second time in less than ten minutes.
"Okay," she said softly and his smile was blinding as his grip tightened slightly on her arms.
"Okay?" he asked, sounding like a kid who was just told it was okay for him to eat cookies and ice cream for dinner, which made Avery laugh lightly.
"Yeah," she said. "Okay." Seth laughed then before Avery found herself lifted from the ground. She let out a surprise scream as she threw her arms around his shoulders as he spun her around in a circle twice before he settled her back on her feet. Avery was a little dizzy, but she was laughing as she looked up at him, her hands resting on his chest.
Seth looked like she had just given him the world on a silver platter, but Avery couldn't help but wonder what she had just set into motion.
