"Camping in this weather is going to suck."
Wolverine had driven me back to the campground with my shiny new motorcycle on the back of his truck. Which he was letting me unload all by myself while he leaned against the truck door watching.
"Yes, yes it is," I agreed as gracefully as I could, considering I was rolling a very heavy Harley down a very unstable ramp.
"Why'd you even bring the mutt, seems like more trouble than it's worth," he said thoughtfully, "Actually, now that i think about it, why do you of all people have a dog. Every other one goes crazy when you're near 'em."
He had a valid point. Dogs hate cats, and vise versa, but Molly was different. She loved me, while every other canine I'd encounter had tried to chase me up a tree.
When I met Molly she was a very small puppy that was born to a Rottweiler used for fighting. I had been their while looking for a target for my current mission when all the puppies went crazy barking at me, except for one that is. Molly had came up to me, tail wagging, and stood on her hind legs, begging to be picked up with her little tongue hanging out the side of her mouth.
I had scooped her up without a thought and took her home.
"What can I say, she seemed to like me and needed a home. I guess I'm just a softie at heart."
I had gotten the bike down and commenced setting up the tent. After shoving all my supplies inside, along with Molly's dog bed, water and food, I lead my over-grown puppy into the tent and instructed her to stay. I zipped her up inside so she'd get the message and turned to Wolverine.
"Thanks for the help. I'm gonna go grab some dinner, you wanna come?"
"No thanks, kitten. I'm going to go take a nap at the hotel," his tone made it clear he was rubbing my camping situation in my face so I ignored him and left on my motorcycle.
I drove the short walk up to the registration area where I met Embry and went in for directions to the local restaurants. To my surprise Embry was still setting behind the counter, flipping through a magazine.
He looked up when the door opened and smiled when he saw it was me.
"Hey there. I was hoping you'd be back by. Have you decided to come stay with me yet?"
He quirked his eyebrows at me, causing me to laugh.
"Nope, I'm afraid not. I was actually wondering where to closest, decent restaurant is from here."
"Depends what you're in the mood for. I'll tell you what, you pick a place and we'll go together. How does that sound?"
Why not? I wasn't interested in Embry, but he made me laugh and you could never have to many friends.
"Sure, so where's the nearest steak?"
"Port Angeles, but it's worth the drive."
"Great, but you'll need to drive unless you wanna ride bitch."
He just looked at me blankly.
"Huh?"
"You know, bitch seat, as in motorcycle?"
When he still kept the same look on his face I gave up.
"Never mind."
He grinned at me and informed me he'd drive, just as the phone on the desk rang.
"One sec."
He answered the phone with a chipper 'hello' and I proceeded to tune out the conversation as not to be rude.
"Kat?" He was holding his phone over the mouth piece and had a slightly disgruntled look on his face.
I gestured for him to continue, and he did.
"I forgot me and a couple of friends were suppose to get together tonight. You mind if they go with us?"
"More the merry. Tell you what, I need to go get cleaned up," I held up my backpack holding my shampoo and clean clothes, the cabin had showers for the campers, "so ya'll do what ya'll gotta do and I'll meet you somewhere."
He agreed and gave me directions to his house where we'd meet up with the other two and went back to his conversation.
I showered quickly and dressed, I hadn't eaten since lunch and the promise of steak had me eager to hit the road.
When I arrived at Embry's I was surprised to see another motorcycle parked out front. Maybe there was a La Push gang? I amused myself with the idea a few moments before knocking on the front door.
It definitely wasn't Embry that was answering the door. These footsteps were light and gentle. More than likely his mother.
The door opened to reveal I was correct. She looked very kind and smiled into my eyes.
"You must be Katherine. The boys are down in the beach, but they should be back soon."
She ushered me inside and invited me and Molly to stay in her home as well. She seemed to think a delicate thing like me wouldn't enjoy being outside in this weather, especially for a week.
I could here Embry and his friends making there way onto the porch as I corrected her assumption about the time I would be staying, explaining that I was leaving after the funeral tomorrow.
"But I thought you wrecked your truck? You aren't going to leave it are you?" Embry had heard the last of our conversation and seemed to be a bit disappointed.
"Um, yeah. No need sleeping outside in an unfamiliar place while it's being fixed, is there? I'll just come get it when it's ready."
"Why don't you just stay here and Jacob can fix it for you." He gestured behind him at the more attractive of his friends, who, at his comment, glared daggers at him.
"Jacob will, will he?" Oh, he was mad! It sounded like he was growling at his friend, and the cat in me just couldn't resist provoking him further.
Embry had opened his mouth to reply, but I beat him to the punch.
"Oh, would you? That would be so great! I'd pay you of course!" I put on my best innocent face and made my eyes as big as possible.
Jacob looked surprised by my reaction, and to my disappointment he agreed.
"Um, sure, I guess I could."
He looked so embarrassed I felt a bit guilty about putting him on the spot, but it was his own fault for acting like an ass. Not to mention I had been hoping to provoke him.
Maybe I'd try again later, but for the moment I just grinned at him and thanked him in my most charming voice.
Oh, Embry did not like that.
"Let's go, I'm hungry," he grumbled and the silent friend stepped up to me with a smile and extended his hand.
"Since Embry is too rude to introduce us, I guess I'll take care of it myself. I'm Quill, and as I'm sure you've already figured out, this is Jacob," he jerked his thumb in Jacob's direction, and Jacob gave me a small smile.
"It's very nice to meet you Quill, and you as well Jacob, but I agree with Embry; let's go get some food, shall we?"
And with that we all piled into Embry's sedan. I'm sure Embry intended for me to ride shot gun with him, but Quill seemed to enjoy annoying him so Jacob and I ended up in the back together.
Not to far down the road Quill began fiddling with the radio, flipping through the stations. He obviously had no taste in music because he passed over a very good song.
"Hey," I said, nudging his seat, "go back."
He glanced back at me with a raised eyebrow.
"To what?"
"Never mind, I'll do it."
I leaned up between the seats, crowding Jacob in the process, and changed the station back to my song. When I leaned back Jacob was staring at me.
"You actually want to listen to this crap?"
Oh. Hell. No.
"Youngin', don't be mad at me because you have no taste. This is a great song."
"Youngin'?" he faked my accent and laughed, "I'm betting you're younger than me."
"Am not."
"Are to."
"I am not!"
"You are."
Embry griped the steering wheel tighter and called back to us, "Would you two grow up?"
I winked at Jacob and he grinned back.
"Am not."
"Are to."
"Am not."
"Are to."
"Not."
"Are."
"Not."
"Are."
"Not."
"Are."
"Oh my god, shut up!" Embry had finally snapped, which was of course our goal all along.
I tried very hard not to laugh, I really did, but one little snort escaped. That little noise caused a chain reaction and was quickly followed by Jacob's booming laugh, which got Quill going. In the end even Embry was laughing.
The rest of the ride continued in the same joking manner, with me and Jacob initiating most of the conversation. Soon it was just the two of us going on in our own little world, though occasionally one of the other two would break through to our conversation.
He told me how he loved to work on cars and how he loved a local girl named Bella. He told me how her heart had been broken by a jerk (though I think his opinion might be a bit biased considering) and how he had been working to bring her out of the depression she had sunk into when he left.
He told me how he'd always loved her, even before he began spending time with her this year. I smiled and nodded in all the right places, wondering idly how he'd fallen in love with someone before he'd gotten to know them, but knowing better to voice this out loud.
For some god awful reason people tended to be a bit touchy on that subject. I'd never even had a real crush on someone before, so I couldn't really say if I would be or not.
I told him about my mentally unstable puppy and my home back in the Georgia. I told him Molly was so special to me because she was the only dog to ever be friendly toward me, and how I loved the outdoors and hated the rain.
I told him how I loved to drive but was all thumbs when it came to working on cars. I told him how I loved to fish and how big the cat fish were back home, even though I threw everything back I caught, as I was allergic to fish.
(Which, as a side note, even if you can heal super fast like me and no real damage is done, it always is a pain to turn into a giant cauliflower that can't breath. Not to mention unattractive.)
By the time we arrived at the restaurant Embry was in full pout mode and Jacob and I had become fast friends. He offered to let me stay with him and his father, as his sister's room was empty. He would even let Molly stay in the garage. I accepted, but under the terms that I would stay with Molly in the garage.
He seemed very excited about introducing me to Bella, saying that she could use some more friends. He told me that he had re-built the motorcycle in Embry's drive way and also one for her, pointing out that we could go riding together.
The image of the La Push biker gang popped in my head again and I let out a little chuckle.
Dinner was fun, now that we could all be face to face it was easier to include everyone in the conversation. Once everyone was finished, we headed home in contented silence, all too full to bother with anything but breathing in and out.
The ride was over quickly, and I was suddenly preparing for my first night with Jacob Black.
A/N: This chapter was a little longer, but I must admit, while writing it took on a life of it's on and went in a totally new and unplanned direction. Mania was never meant to stay with Jacob or Billy, or even become close to Jacob untill much deeper into the story. She and Bella were suppose to develop a friendship, then Jacob was suppose to become part of the story. I guess what I'm trying to say is I have no idea where this is going, so I suppose we will find out together.
