"But where are you going to go? You never mentioned being accepted to a college in California." It was Lauren who spoke. He short white blonde hair peeking out from beneath her winter hat. Honestly, Lauren might have been the only friend she had in Forks that she would keep contact with. Or at least try. Lauren just seemed to be the only one who ever understood Jessica. They had their differences, that was for sure. But in the end, Lauren was the only one who ever seemed to understand how Jessica felt when she had a problem for the past several years. She had Angela, sure, but when Mike Newton suddenly had a crush on Bella rather than herself, Angela seemed perfectly content to let all the boys fawn over the new girl, despite the fact that Angela's crush was head over heels for Bella also. Lauren wasn't like that though, Lauren disliked the fact that Tyler liked Bella about as much as Jessica disliked Bella for it as well.

But while everyone else always tried to make Jessica feel bad or even ashamed for being jealous, Lauren would actually talk to her. They would share feelings without making the other feel bad. And so even if Lauren could seem hostile on the outside, Jessica had found a real friend in her where her other friends fell short. And now here Lauren was again, being the only one worried about where she would go as the time neared for Jessica to go through with her plans to go to California. "Well, I didn't really want to say anything. I just feel like everyone thought I was going to go to Harvard or something…But I did get accepted into a small university in California. Los Angeles. I got accepted other places, but I've always wanted to go to California, you know that. They have student housing, and meal plans. I'll be taken care of Lauren. And who knows, maybe I'll meet a super hot actor like Ian Somerhalder who'll fall madly in love with me and buy me an Island." Jessica teased, flipping her hair a little bit for dramatic flair.

Lauren began laughing just as Jessica did. "You do that Jess, but I think you may want to re-think your plans. Ian Somerhalder is married to Nikki Reed." Lauren replied, still giggling a little. Jessica shook her head and looked at the sand beneath their feet as they stood on the beach of La Push reservation. "Okay, so maybe not him. But you get the idea." Jessica said waving her hand dismissively before looking back up at Lauren and smiling.

"Lauren, I really will miss you." Jessica said as they stopped their walk in front of the small parking area where they'd left their cars. Lauren reached out and wrapped her arms around Jessica in a hug. Jessica didn't hesitate in hugging back. "I'll miss you too. Just call me before you really leave. Okay?" Lauren said as they broke apart their hug to look at Jessica who nodded quickly. "I wouldn't even consider leaving without calling you, Lori. But come on, I've got two weeks before I go. "

"Right, well, we've got to go out again before you leave. Maybe Port Angeles? Get you something nice for California…hey, aren't you coming?" Lauren asked suddenly. She had begun making her way back to her car only to realize that Jessica wasn't following.

"No, I think I'm going to hang out here a while longer. My parents went out for dinner, so I might as well." Jessica replied as she glanced down the beach then back at Lauren. "Don't stay out too late. It sucks driving home in the dark. Especially with all those bear sightings around, you have to be careful." Lauren reminded. Jessica wasn't that worried though. La Push and Forks both had low crime rates, and even so, she didn't plan to stay that long. She just wanted to take a small walk down the beach, maybe go and check out a things around La Push that she'd never really gotten a chance to see but had been meaning too. It wasn't that late anyways, just three. So that was about three hours before the sun would begin to set. With that Jessica waved good-bye to Lauren as she got in her car and began to drive away. This left Jessica alone. Something that she wasn't very often it seemed.

Jessica always seemed to have a friend with her, or even a group. A group she hardly cared about anyone in, but people none the less. However, even someone so social as Jessica needed alone time every now and then. Even for sentimental value. As she was doing now. This had been the only beach she'd ever gone to since she was a kid. First with her parents, then with her friend, and occasionally alone just to think. It was usually chilly, but that just seemed to be something everyone would suck up for a day at the beach. Jessica hugged her hoodie around herself and began down the walk of the beach.

It was about ten minutes later that Jessica finally decided she was bored of walking the beach by herself. So she made her way back to her car, decided to take a drive around the tribal lands. La Push, while a fairly poor area, was still beautiful in it's own right. Rather than actual roads, a lot of it seemed to be dirt roads that lead through the lush green woods. Honestly, Jessica didn't really know where she was going. She just knew she was driving. Though after a few turns she found a small shop. She was sure she'd seen it before, she just couldn't place when. Jessica didn't take much time to dwell on that though, as the shop looked older than she was, so it had to have been there long since before would have ever realized it was there as a kid. There were only a few parking spaces, only one of which was taken by some old beat up truck. Jessica pulled in a few spaces away from the truck and climbed out. She had never thought she had the best car in the world, but compared to that truck, she might as well have just pulled up in a brand new convertible. Jessica adjusted her sweatshirt, slipped her cell phone in her pocket, and made her way inside. The door made a jingling sound as she opened it and stepped onto the old hardwood flooring. She glanced around. On the outside she had thought it was just a convenient store of sorts, and in a way it was. Mixed in with a bunch of old tribal looking things, and a fairly small selection of clothes.

Jessica looked at the other occupants of the store. One was a face that she'd seen before. Not often, certainly not often enough to call him her friend. Jacob Black. He was Bella's friend. Ordinarily, Jessica might never have recognized him. But someone as large as himself was easily remembered. He was leaning on his arms onto the check out counter, his head turned around to look at Jessica as she stood awkwardly in the door way. Was she supposed to say hello? She didn't think they were that well acquainted.

There only appeared to be one other person besides herself and Jacob, and that was the man behind the check out counter. Or at least she thought he was a man. But then, the Quileute boys did have a reputation for being huge these days. He was pretty attractive, that was easy to see. But was staring at her. Like he'd never seen a girl before. Jessica furrowed her brow and stared back at him for a moment as if to silently let him know that what he was doing was creepy. He seemed unphased. Jessica then had two options. Duck behind the nearest shelf and pretend to be looking at something while she secretly hid, or risk looking stupid and turning right around and hurrying out of the store. Well Jessica was one girl who did not enjoy looking stupid. So she looked directly forward and marched herself right behind the nearest shelf. There was seemingly random stuff on the shelf for sale. A few dream catches, arrow heads, a couple snow globes, and carved wooden mugs to name a few. Jessica peeked through the shelf to see if the clerk was still watching her. He wasn't. Now he was looking at Jacob. She could hear them murmuring quietly about something, but she couldn't hear what. She leaned in closer as if this might help, trying to at least see if she could read their lips. It proved useless of course, as Jessica had never had that gift. Eric on the other hand could read lips from across the school hallway when he wanted too. Jessica squeezed her lips together. It didn't matter what they were saying. Maybe the guy just thought she was cute or something but didn't get a lot of dates. She'd heard some guys get super nervous like that. Though Jessica didn't really have experience in that department. That had always been Lauren and Bella's areas. Jessica pushed herself away from the shelf in slight frustration . Unfortunately for her, she hadn't realized just show unstable the shelf before her was, as immediately a snow globe fell off and shattered on the ground causing all of liquid, sparkles, and glass to go flying at her feet. Jessica jumped back, and looked up at the counter like a deer caught in head lights. "Erm….there's a spill!" She called as if both the boys weren't already looking directly at her, completely aware that a snow globe had broken. She caught the clerk boy's eyes. They were a warm but dark brown color. Mysterious even. Finally the clerk turned around and grabbed a broom and dust pan from behind the counter and made his way over. He began sweeping up the mess. "Sorry." Jessica said, backing up a little to give him space to clean up.

"It was ugly anyway." The clerk informed her with a shrug. Now it seemed he was refusing to look at her. "I can pay for it." Jessica said now, unsure of how else to handle the situation. If she had been at a larger grocery store, it wouldn't be a problem, no one would have had an issue. However smaller ones? Well she knew full well they couldn't afford to have everything broken and replace it like nothing.

"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of everything." The clerk replied, this time looking up at her eyes again before quickly returning to cleaning up his mess. "What's your name?" He asked as if trying to act casual, though Jessica could see plainly that he was nervous for some reason. Surely people had dropped things in here before?

"Jessica. Stanley. Jessica Stanley." Jessica admitted as she put her arms behind her back and leaned against the nearest wall, unsure if she should just leave the man to clean up her mess in piece. "What's your name? Do you own this store?" She asked both at once. One thing about Jessica, she loved to talk.

"Embry Call. And my mother does…now at least. Uhm…it used to belong to some guy, but he left it to my mom when he died. Didn't have anyone else I guess." Embry said with a shrug. He himself didn't recall the man very well. It wasn't that Embry didn't like him, but he had died when Embry was only about four, and so his mother had run the place since. "We live right above it." Embry admitted almost sheepishly. He knew the place was small, and by the looks of Jessica and her car, well, it was clear she'd never worried a day whether or not the bills would get paid.

"Oh…is it interesting? I've never lived over a shop." Jessica replied quickly. Well that was a stupid question. Only she didn't realize it until after she'd said it. He probably didn't think anything of it, especially if he'd lived there for a few years at least. "What about your father? Does he work here too?" She then asked, perhaps prying far more into the life of Embry than she should.

"I never met my father. It's interesting I guess. But works best. Keeps us close to the merchandise, which I think just makes mom worry less since we can make sure no one breaks in." Embry said. He wanted Jessica to know everything she wanted to know about him. If it would make her happy, he would be set on doing anything for her. Because he'd felt it. His imprint. He'd felt everything around him stop the second she stepped into the shop, and all he wanted to do was know her, and look at her. It was like opening his eyes for the first time, only to see the most beautiful creature standing right before him. She looked creeped out, that was for sure, but even with her odd expression she remained beautiful to him. At the same time though, speaking of his father was always an uncomfortable topic for him, and most everyone around him. So far the pack had narrowed it down to three men who could possibly be his father, only one of them was long gone, and the other two would never admit to having been unfaithful to their wives, as they had both already been married and had prior children. Some of those children being his own best friends, Quil and Jacob. The third had a kid too, and that was Sam.

No one ever really talked about it, but Embry had always hoped his father was Sam's as well. Or at least, since he found out he was a wolf and his father had to have been one of the three. However Sam's father had left Sam as a child, and no one had seen him since. It would just be easier for everyone if that were the case. And while Embry didn't know for sure, he figured everyone else secretly hoped that too. Even if they didn't want to admit it. Embry tried not to pry too much though. As much as he wanted to know who his father and in turn his half brother was, he knew that could potentially lead to a lot of headaches and upsets if it didn't turn out to be Sam's father.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry." Jessica apologized after having realized what a rude questioned she'd asked was. "I should, go now, my parents are just out, or well, not really out, they're um…I'll…just… they're…you see…" Jessica fumbled over her words as she slowly backed up towards the exit. Oh great, he was looking at her again. With those eyes, those dark handsome eyes. "Bye!" She called just before turning and rushing out of the shop. Okay so that was the most awkward store visit she'd ever had. And that included the time she got her period at a strip mall in port angeles and forgot to pack tampons. She looked through the glass of the shop once more before she got in her car. She could see Embry's lips moving, as if he were talking to Jacob, but she was completely unable to hear them. Though she was able to see plainly, was that Embry's eyes were still on her. In fact, Jessica didn't think that they'd left her. He probably thought she was crazy now. Or even worse, rude. She supposed it didn't matter too much though. She was leaving in two weeks. It's not like she'd ever see him again.

So just like that, Jessica got in her car, and drove off.