Trials and Errors
Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight universe or any of the characters within it. They belong to Stephenie Meyer. I do however own Tilly, Beth, Mark and Tate and any other original characters that may or may not prop up throughout the story. This is a non-profitable fanfiction written for the enjoyment of the author and its readers.
A/N: Hey gang, my first ever chaptered Twilight fic! To be honest I'm not a fan of Bella and Edward but I found the wolf pack to be pretty damn awesome. This idea has floated about in my head for a while so I decided to finally write it down. I'm planning for it to eventually be 'Rated M' but for now I'm keeping it 'T' until then. Hope you guys like it and please feel free to post feedback and any constructive criticisms you may have! I also have some more Twilight and Harry Potter one-shots/chaptered fics that you may be interested in so please feel free to check out my profile.
Until next time!
MavisClone x
Chapter One: Feeling hot hot hot
My mother had always had a thing for older guys; they were usually scandalously older than her. I mean, I understood her obsession with Sean Connery; the guy was like a hundred years old but still a stone cold fox. Otherwise her dalliances with older men tended to get her into trouble, and later into heartbreak. The greatest example of this would be me. I was the surprise love child of a teenager and a guy seven years her senior who promptly skipped town when he learned that my mom had a bun in her oven. Thank fully I had never been in contact with the creep, nor did I ever want to.
Being brought up by my single mother and, in part, my great gran was actually pretty great – I never missed out on anything other kids had and I was so close to my mom that we really didn't have any boundaries to what I could talk to her about.
But throughout my amazing childhood, she still had a weakness for noticeable age differences (and smarmy bastards). A great many of them turned out to be married, the rest ran for the hills when they discovered she had a kid. When I became a teenager a few of them would pretend to mistake us for sisters. I would immediately tell her break up with them while they were still present.
Five years ago after a particularly bad break up (her boyfriend had appeared to not only be married, but in fact had two wives and a litter of children across the country) we packed up our belongings into the back of a moving van, drove to the other side of the state and began our new life in Forks. I have to admit that it was probably the best decision that my mom had ever made for either of us. Mom had a great job in Port Angeles so we were finally no longer tight for money. We were happier than we had ever been. We had more friends and I was doing even better at school because I wasn't worried about my mom being able to afford stuff anymore. Her love for older men lingered and it finally came up trumps – she had found a guy that actually deserved her.
We were in mom's car heading towards La Push. I had passed on driving there as, despite how long I had lived in Forks, I had never ventured to the nearby reservation. However, had I known how nervous my mom would have been as we got closer to our destination I would have insisted on driving regardless.
"Mom, you're in the wrong gear."
"What, darling?" She said, keeping her eyes on the road. "I can't hear you over the car!"
"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU NEED TO CHANGE GEAR!"
"Oh shit." My mom cussed.
I looked at her worriedly. "Are you feeling all right?"
She patted my knee and smiled. "I'm fine, love. Just a bit nervous."
"Don't be silly. I love Mark, he's really great." I said. Mark and my mom had dated for just over a year but this was the first time mom was taking me to visit his place. "And I'm sure I'll get on with his son too."
At this my mom brightened. "Oh, he's really lovely, Tilly. You'll love him – he's about your age."
I narrowed my eyes at my mother. "I thought you said he was three years older?"
"Yeah. About the same, like I said."
"Let's be honest, you're not the greatest judge when it comes to age." I joked.
She raised a hand from the steering wheel and smacked my leg playfully. "Cheeky swine." She said with amusement.
After a while we parked in front of a bungalow and I admired the wild plants and greenery that surrounded it. I saw Mark press his bespectacled, smiling face against one of the windows and wave before he walked round to open the porch door for us.
"Well, hello ladies!" His voice boomed, before he pulled my mother into a hug. He kissed her on the lips and then the nose which made her giggle. "I'm really glad you came, Tilly." He said as he hugged me.
"Well, I hope you know I'm missing the Dog the Bounty Hunter marathon for this, Marky boy, so you better make it worth my while." I joked.
He smiled. "I bought every kind of cake under the sun for dessert."
"I knew there was a reason that I liked you!"
Mark ushered us into the cosy living room and fetched drinks as we made ourselves comfortable.
"Tate should be here soon. He wanted to finish off a few errands before you came over." Mark said as he passed me a glass. We sat and talked as we waited for Mark's son to come home.
"So," Mark asked. "Have you got any plans for what you're going to do now you've finished high school? Your mom said you didn't apply for college."
I laughed awkwardly. Usually when people asked this question and I answered them they were judgemental, as if not going to college automatically made you a lay about.
"No, college just isn't for me. Maybe later in life, but for now I'm not really interested." I peered at Mark to watch his reaction. "I've actually always wanted to work in events, so I managed to get a year's paid internship in Port Angeles when summer's over. It's only a small company but I figure it's a step in the direction I want to go."
"I think that's great." Mark said with honesty. "People get so hung up about going to college to get a good job and half the time it's not the right path for that person. It's great that you have a clear view of what you want to do and you're finding a way to get there. I hope you do well, I really do."
I smiled as I felt warmth bubble in my chest from what he said. Oh yeah, I really approved of mom's boyfriend.
We all jumped as the front door crashed open and a giant guy appeared. "I'm here, I'm here! Let's get this party started!"
He was a six foot-something, tanned block of muscle swathed in jeans and a gloriously fitted black top. His face looked a younger, slightly more attractive version of his dad's; cheeky smile included, and his black hair was wind-swept in a devil-may-care sort of fashion. I had to command myself to pick up my jaw from the ground.
"Tate!" My mom said as she jumped up to hug him.
"Beth!" He boomed with equal enthusiasm. "You're an absolute vision! My eyes are overwhelmed with your divine beauty!"
"All right, smart mouth, I get enough cheek from her!" Mom said, and pointed towards me.
Tate smiled.
"Glad to hear the abuse continues at home too!" He stretched out his arm for me to shake his hand. "Nice to meet you finally, Tilly. I'm Tate, Mark's son." I took his hand and shook it. His palm was so hot it was on the verge of burning my own.
"It's very nice to meet you too." I said, as I felt my cheeks become unreasonably red. I was impressed that I had managed to string together a coherent sentence considering that the only thing that ran through my mind was, 'Hot hot hot hot hot hot'. And I didn't mean his temperature.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see that my mom smirked at me. She had purposefully left out the part where Tate was not only 'lovely' but also punch-in-the-gut, totally smoking hot.
"You really are the spit of your mom." Tate said, as he looked back and forth between us.
It was true; I was the mirror image of my mom in her teenage years; strawberry blonde, lightly freckled and unfairly short. I'd seen pictures of her when she was a teenager and I was always struck with how gorgeous she was when she smiled. I hoped that I looked at least half that good when I was happy.
"I have a bigger rack." I blurted out.
Mark and Tate were taken aback and then both laughed in the same loud, genuinely amused way.
"You wish, little girl!" My mother retorted and looked down at her own chest. "Mine have gotten bigger since I was your age!"
"That's post-pregnancy breastage," I argued. "You won't be able to compete with mine when I start popping out beautiful mini-me's."
"Just remember where you got your DNA and good looks from, young lady!"
"Brad Pitt?" I fired off with ease. It was a long-running joke between us.
"Shall we begin the meal then?" Mark asked quickly to put a stop to our playful argument. He had been witness to enough of them to know that we would carry on forever unless someone bothered to stop us.
The meal had been amazing and we sat with empty plates and full stomachs – well, I doubted Tate's was. He had eaten three helpings of lasagna and a slice of each of the five cakes Mark had bought and Tate still seemed to be hungry. I had stared in a mix of disgust and awe when he attacked his food. I had also been distracted by the sheer size of his muscles and wondered how he could be that much of a pig and still be that cut.
"How in the hell are you that buff?" I said when he reached for another mammoth slice of cake.
"Errrr," he said with his mouth full. "Gym?"
"There is no way that you are that cut without taking something extra," I said evenly. "You realise steroids shrink your junk?"
Tate choked on the rest of his cake.
It had been two months since the meal at Mark's place and it had flown by. Tate and I had seen more of each other when he and his dad came to visit us or vice versa. I had even taken to hanging out with Tate on my own – we would usually drive into Port Angeles to see a movie or have a day glued to his Xbox. At the time he was guiding me through the Assassin's Creed series.
I learned that he worked in his friend's hardware store and that he wanted to pursue a career in art, but before he could do that he was focused on helping out the La Push council to maintain the reservation. He didn't go into detail about what that actually meant.
Despite the involuntary drool that sometimes escaped from my mouth, I did eventually stop ogling Tate so much (though he was very nice to look at) and thought more of him now as a best friend, possibly the brother I never had.
We had just finished another meal at our house and were watching Inception. Mark and my mom cuddled together on the loveseat whereas Tate and I were at either side of the big couch with our legs stretched out. Tate's weirdly hot legs kept mine toasty warm. The film ended and Mark switched the television off abruptly.
"Kids, we've got something to tell you." He said. "And we hope that you will happy about it."
Tate and I looked at each other questioningly and both sat up slowly to face Mark and my mom.
"As you know, Beth and I having been dating for a long time and we've decided together that we want to it to be more."
I waited for Mark or my mom to say something else. My heart banged so fast against my chest that I was sure it was audible to everyone in the room.
"We're going to get married!" My mom said and gave the biggest smile I had ever seen on her face.
"Congratulations!" I squealed as I leaped upwards to embrace both my mother and Mark. Tate joined in and enveloped all of us in his absurdly long arms.
"It's about damn time!" He said after letting go of us all and clapped his dad on the back. "Beth, you're not going to turn into a wicked step-mother and make me clean your clothes and wash the dishes are you?" Tate asked.
"Only if you're cheeky." She said. Mom made her way to me and put her hands on either side of my face. "Are you sure you're okay with this?"
"Mom, I'm over the moon for you. I love Mark to bits and I love you together." I nudged my head in Tate's direction. "I can even tolerate him."
Tate wrapped his arm around my neck.
"Watch that mouth of yours, little sister!" He said as he pinched my cheek.
I wrestled out of his lock and punched him in the arm. "Whatever, big brother."
"So they've settled on February then?" Tate's voice echoed through my cell.
"Yup," I said, rested my feet on my desk and leaned back in my chair. "They've got to sort out the dates but they were thinking around the 10th; they want to be on their honeymoon for Valentine's day."
I heard a sputter down the phone.
"Oh gross, Tils. Now I've got a mental image of my dad getting it on with your mom." Tate said disgusted.
"Tate! TMI, babe. Now it's in my head too!" I complained. "Like I need anything distracting me from organising this bloody engagement party."
"It's going to be brilliant and you know it. That reminds me – I've got a couple more people to invite. They're my friends but they work for the council like me and dad. Would that be okay?"
I tapped my pen on my knee, slightly annoyed. "And you ask me this two days before the party?"
"Yes?" He whimpered.
I sighed, defeated. "Sure. Just make sure you hit me up with an estimate of how many extra people are coming. And make sure you have something prepared for the toasts!"
Tate groaned. "Do we really have to give speeches at this thing? It's only going to be at your house."
"Tate Ashley," I bellowed down the phone, "This is my mother's first and only marriage, which means it is her first and only engagement party. You are going to make a speech at this event and if you complain about it one more time I'm going to make you do it in a pretty pink bonnet and a tutu."
He begrudgingly agreed.
"Is there anything you need me to do?" He offered.
"Just help me decorate the house on the day." I said.
"Only so long as you have me doing manly stuff. I don't fancy placing lacy doilies or-" He paused as a long howl echoed down the phone. "Tilly, I've got to go. I'll text you later."
"Sure, my lunch break's nearly over. Talk to you soon, big bro."
"See you later, little sis." He said before the line went dead.
I swung my feet off my desk and turned my seat around to see Jessica Stanley, my supervisor staring at me. Jessica was the crème de la crème of the company – if I had any chance of having a successful internship, and possibly a job afterwards, I needed to impress her.
"I heard you threatening your step-brother." She said with her eyes still attached to me. Her perfectly manicured nails gripped the stack of thick planners in her arms tighter. "I knew there was a reason why we had you as an intern." She smiled and winked at me before she walked into her office.
I bathed in my smugness from the compliment until I realised that Tate had cut off our conversation at the sound of a wolf howl. Why the hell was he anywhere near a wolf?