A/N: Hey, hey everyone! Listen, it's three in the morning here and I'm dead tired but I decided to finish up this chapter so I could post it before I slept. Sorry it's not my best and it's not very long. I hadn't written it in my usual time but I'd been busy. Please forgive me guys!
5:50.
I tapped my fingers anxiously on the table, glancing at the clock. It seemed to drag on and on, slower the more excited I got. The tap dripped loudly from the sink on my left, slowing the time even more. I counted each drip. When I got up to ten, I looked up at the clock. 5:51.
Are you serious? I buried my head in my arms and rested them on the table. I was patiently waiting for my dad to come home. Well, as patient as I could. I hadn't seen him in six years so yeah I was a little bit excited. I wonder if he looked the same, or different. Would he cry, like I probably would or would he try to be a man? I wonder if his hair is still long, and if he still wears it in that ponytail.
I wonder if… If he'd found someone. The very thought made me cringe and start inspecting the room. It didn't look like a woman lived here. The garbage was overflowing, the dishes weren't done and the place was pretty unorganized. Satisfied with my answer, I looked up just to watch the clock slowly flick to 5:53.
Angrily, I chucked a metal spoon at the door just as it swung open to reveal Uncle Sam. It flew narrowly to the side of him and he ducked.
"Sorry." I ducked my head in shame.
He laughed and took a seat at the table with me. "Someone's a little impatient." I flashed him a look and he raised his eyebrows. "Okay, a lot impatient."
"That is the understatement of the millennium." I mumbled. "I'm so bored! I want to see Dad, I want to see Quil! I want to go to bed and-" I rambled on and on. I perked my ears up as I heard a faint buzzing noise. I realised, after Sam lifted a phone out of his pocket, that someone was calling him.
And then, ever so rudely, he held up a finger to me and walked out of the room. "You know, that's kind of rude." I mumble, and I swear to God, I heard him snicker at me from outside. I watched the clock tick to 5:57 and I groaned out loud. I crossed my legs at the ankles and tapped my feet on the floor as Sam came back in and handed me his phone. Cautiously, I held the phone up to my ear. "Hi?"
"Hey baby!" It was Dad. "Listen, I'm not coming home. Instead, I'm going to meet you at Emily and Sam's okay? Be a good girl and listen to him, he's going to drive you over. Don't cause any trouble Claire-Bear."
I scoffed, avoiding Sam's gaze. "Me, trouble? I'm like a little angel without wings. And yes, I will listen to Sam. See you soon!" I shoved the phone back into my uncle's hand and smiled. "Now Sam, please take me back to your house before I go insane!"
He nodded and grabbed the car keys off the counter before he turned back to me, leaned in as if to speak but then stopped. His nose wrinkled up and his eyes narrowed in thought. "First, go shower. All of my friends will be there and you want to look nice, especially for Quil, right?" My thoughts drifted back to what Jacob had said to me earlier.
But if you are, do everyone a favour? Take a shower. I didn't know what that meant. I thought he was just teasing me. But if Jacob and Sam thought I smelt bad, who is to say Quil didn't either? So I nodded and ran upstairs, throwing myself in the shower. I think I had managed to wash my hair and literally scrub every part of my body that I could think of in record time. I got out of the shower before the clock had time to switch over to 6:05. Of course, I had to switch my outfit too because I didn't want to take any chances of smelling bad.
And I wanted to make a good impression. So I went a little… Overboard. Purple skinnies with black suspenders over a tucked in white tee with every colour you could think of splattered on it. I threw on black ankle boots with fringes on the side, blue and black jelly bracelets, a pink beaded necklace and red hoops in my ears. Then I put on pink gloss, mascara, threw my wet hair in a ponytail and grabbed my leather jacket. "Alright, Unc, I'm all ready to go." And even though there was no sun, I grabbed my bright yellow glasses from the counter and threw them on to complete the look.
"Do you always dress this colourful?" Sam asked, seemingly searching for the right word to use. I giggled a bit.
"What can I say? It's good to be noticed." To prove my point, I twirled around in a pirouette, grabbed my iPod and dashed out the door with Sam on my heels. Luckily, no one locked their doors in La Push so I didn't even have to worry about finding a house key. I sat in the passenger's seat of Sam's old black truck with my iPod blasting. The ride to his house was super short, seeing as if La Push was the size of a McDonalds back in California. "Is there going to be food? I'm starving."
"Believe me." He chuckled. "There is always food with Emily around."
Hm… "Good to know." I mumbled, climbing out of the chipped truck. With trembling legs, I let Sam lead me up the stairs with his hand on my lower back. And inside, was chaos. There were people running around everywhere. Kids bickering over toys, babies crying, a bunch of tall people wrestling, woman in the corner gossiping. I didn't know if I'd ever find my dad. But as I ducked into the kitchen, there he was standing across the threshold with that same ponytail. Only this time… "Dad," I chuckled. "A moustache, really?"
I noticed how the whole house got deadly silent as my dad's head whipped around and locked eyes with mine. "Claire?"
"Daddy!" I cried, tossing myself through the crowd of people in my way and hurling myself into his arms. He lifted me from the ground and spun me around as my hands tightened around his neck. I was laughing, my head thrown back with sweet freedom. "I'm going to make you shave that caterpillar off. And don't you ever cut your hair? It's longer than mine is!"
He set me on my feet and eyed me up and down. "Oh baby, you always had the weirdest taste in clothes. Look at you!" He pulled me into his arms and twirled me around again. "Everyone is dying to see you again !"
I ducked my head. "Everyone?" I looked around and realised everyone was staring at me with wide eyes. Cue blush now. "Oh. Well I'm sort of embarrassed now." Reverting back to my shy self, I grabbed my dad's arm and half hid behind him. He chuckled and shook his head, pulling me with him towards the living room. I suddenly felt very overdressed and bright because mostly everyone here was in jeans and a t shirt, or no shirt at all. "Okay Claire-Bear, let's see. This is Jared, his wife Kim and their son Tanner." The woman was very pretty, with high cheekbones, soft black hair and a pregnant stomach. Jared was tall, like everyone else. But the way he looked at Kim floored me and I had to look away. His whole face was lit up like a Christmas tree.
It reminded me so much of the way Sam looked at Emily. I have no doubt that if someone was to barge in here and start firing bullets, they'd jump right in front of them. And then, the front door slammed opened and I automatically ducked and screamed. A few inhuman growls were echoed around the room, some people jumping up. My dad glanced at me anxiously. "What is it Claire? Are you hurt?"
Then I was embarrassed, because two large men came walking into the room, hands completely empty. They didn't have loaded guns or rifles. As relieved as I was, I was also humiliated. "Sorry. I'm just a little paranoid." I pointed to one of the newer men. "You guys scared me!"
"Squirt?" One of them murmured. "No f- effing way, Claire!" I was crushed into a huge bear hug and spun around, quickly passed on to the other man. He kissed me on the forehead.
I squinted at their faces. "Embry?" I asked, cocking my head. "Hey, I remember you!"
He shook his head. "Unbelievable. I cannot believe Sam managed to keep this from us! I have to go right now, I'll be back." He turned and ran back out. I stared after him in shock until the second man reached out a hand.
"Seth Clearwater. I'm your… Aunt Emily's second cousin." Then he laughed and I joined him because we both had no idea what that made us. "It's nice to see you again Claire. You've been away for too long. We all missed you." I also met Paul, his wife Rachel, who was also Jacob's sister and their 6 month old daughter Harlow, five year old daughter Kylie and three year old daughter Bryn. They jokingly told me the next one was hopefully going to be a boy. I smiled politely and moved on. He introduced me to his best friends, Collin and Brady and his mom, Sue, her husband Charlie who was also Nessie's grandfather and his sister Leah.
I stopped there, because I took a huge hit to my ego when I looked at her. Ouch, two bruises in one day. She was exotic and gorgeous. I liked her a lot, although from what I heard about her from Jacob, she wasn't very nice.
Then, I met my four cousins. Dude, I didn't even know I had one cousin. There were the ten year old twins Dakota and Kayla, six year old Joshua and three year old Carson who I quickly found out was always attached to Emily's hip. I was a little bit overwhelmed with all the people around, my head was practically spinning.
Seth smiled at me. "You can meet my wife later, she's working tonight. But you arrived on a good day because we're having a pack barbeque."
I had met everyone, except the one person I wanted to. So I tiptoed up and whispered in Seth's ear. "Does Quil ever come to these things? When can I meet him?"
"He doesn't usually come." A flood of unwelcome disappointment flooded through me. Without thinking, my hand flew to my necklace and I grasped it. Obviously, Seth recognized it because he winked at me and I flushed bright red. "But I have a strong feeling Embry went to go get him. He wouldn't want to miss you." I smiled, so he did remember me. And he wanted to see me? At least I'm not the only one whose crazy obsessed with someone I barely know.
So I sat down on the couch awkwardly, wishing Aunt Emily and Uncle Sam didn't have so many people to entertain or children to take care of or that Nessie and Jake were here so I knew someone who would actually talk to me. Dad sat with me but you can only talk to your parent so much before you get bored or irritated. Then, I heard his voice. "Dude, I don't want to be here. What's so important that you dragged me all the way over?"
I gasped lowly and stood up as he walked into the room, a smug Embry standing by his side. I couldn't even believe it. His hair was the same, his eyes, his skin. The way he stood, walked, blinked, everything about him was just as I remembered. I didn't think anyone who was real could be so perfect and yet, here he was. His eyes caught mine and I stopped breathing. "Claire?" He murmured, astonished. I was stiff, frozen in place. I couldn't believe that the person who I thought was a figment of my imagination all my life was standing in front of me.
"You are real, aren't you?" I murmured. I reached out hesitantly and lifted my hand to touch his burning hot cheek. His eyes closed in contentment and I smiled. "Quil. Hi."
He opened his eyes and gave me a toothy grin. "Hey." I couldn't stand it, I felt like a magnet and before I knew it, I had jumped into his arms and buried my face into his neck. My legs wrapped around his waist and he spun me around much like my dad had, only I held on tighter, not as willing to let go.
"This is so unreal." I murmured once he did set me on my feet. I twirled around the pendant in my fingers and smiled. As soon as I did that, he let out the biggest exhale I'd ever heard and grabbed the tiny carved wolf in between his fingers. His hand began to shake, almost tremble.
Unfortunately, I felt scared for my life and almost stepped back. In a movement so fast that if I had even blinked, I wouldn't have seen it, he tore the thick black chain from my neck. It fell to the ground as he turned and ran out the door, shaking like a leaf. You could hear an ant sneeze in the silence around me. Tears filled my eyes as I crumpled to the ground, grabbing the cherished carved wolf in my fingers delicately. My stomach tightened with nauseous convulsions as I clutched the wolf to my heart as it crumbled silently inside my chest.
The man of my dreams, literally, the seemingly imaginary person who I had fallen in love with over the many years had been right before my fingertips. I tried desperately to put the chain back together but it was shredded. Just like our bond, snapped and broken. I didn't know why I had thought this moment would be something perfect, out of a fairy tale. You know, when the two lovers meet and automatically fall deeply in love when they lock eyes.
Then, I realised with a bitter laugh that I was nothing to him. Even if I remember him from all those years, even if he remembered me, it was pure desperation. I was a girl he hadn't seen in years and he was someone I believed to be imaginary for almost my whole, short life. He shouldn't even matter to me. But he did, I didn't know why but the look he gave me was enough to bring me to my knees in emotional pain. I barely knew him and yet, it was almost as if he was a part of my soul. Him running away shouldn't matter this much, a broken necklace shouldn't be that big of a deal. But it was. I didn't really want to sit here under everyone's eyes while I tried to figure it out either, the only thing I wanted to do now was go home.
I got my wish. My dad excused himself from the barbeque and gently lifted me off the ground, leading me out the door to his car as everyone watched as if they knew why a girl, who barely knew someone, was acting like her whole world was ripped out of her hands. I tied a knot around the loose ends of the string, hoping it would hold it together when I slipped it back around my neck.
I hoped that small knot was enough to hold together my broken heart while it crumbled.
A/N: Sorry that was sort of depressing. And I know their bond is really strong right now, but I decided to make imprinting sort of desperate. Because that's how I think Stephenie Meyer portrayed it in her series. So please no flames on that!
By the way, I'm looking for a BETA! So if you know one, or if you are one and you're interested, let me know! I need someone who can be there when I'm done my chapters and stuff so if that's you, great! P.S, sorry if there's mistakes.
