Chapter 4

'Hi.' It came out like a sigh.

Usually, I get flustered around guys I am attracted to, but his gaze made me oddly calm. It felt natural to smile gently up at this stranger, and I had a sudden desire to lean against his shoulder – luckily I resisted.

Someone cleared their throat behind us. 'Hey, no ignoring your brothers' the man I had never met before huffed (the giant).

Claire glared at him. 'Jake!'

'What? The food is taking so long to come, I've got to distract myself before I starve.'

'So those three slices of chocolate cake you had before we came didn't fill you up at all?' Claire's tone was mildly disgusted.

'Not a bit' he smiled smugly.

Embry laughed. It was a low, relaxed chuckle, and it sounded beautiful. I shook my head to get rid of my 'wow you are so hot' daze.

Despite Jakes worries, our food soon arrived, and the conversation wondered. How we managed to get onto topics like building sheds and the benefits of palm trees, I'll never know. I was so relaxed. The food was good but nothing special, the atmosphere was light and joking; I could have stayed there all night. And I was so warm.

As the evening progressed, the space heater that was Embry gradually approached me, so that by the time we were eating desert, our legs brushed underneath the table. At first, I tightened my muscle out of reflex, withdrawing slightly – I'm not really a touchy feely person. But as the evening lulled me into a state of calmness, I relaxed my leg and just enjoyed the comforting strength of his leg, against mine.

The meal finished too quickly, and we all reluctantly paid the bill and went to the car park. 'So, where to now?' asked Quil.

Louise wondered over to our group. 'Well, if you're not ready to go home, there's always the cinema.'

'Is anything on?'

'Not much. There only seems to be horrors on at the moment.'

I shuddered. Scary films don't do anything for me. However, Louise caught peoples' attention, and a group wanted to go including Claire and Quil (I was beginning to think they did everything together).

A warm hand rested on my shoulder. 'You don't want to go, do you?' Embry asked gently. He must have read the look on my face – I don't seem to be able to stop my feelings showing. Still, we weren't facing each other, so I flattered myself with the notion he was watching me.

I shook my head. 'Not really. I just don't like paying to be scared and grossed out.' If I made a joke out of it, maybe he wouldn't think I was a wimp.

'That's alright. Want me to drive you home?' It was a pretty generous offer, considering the fact it was obvious he'd driven the others from the reservation over. I was pretty thrilled he'd asked though.

'Are you sure? What about the others?'

Claire had been listening in. 'Hey Louise, mind if you give me, Quil and Jake a lift back?'

'Sure, no problem. There won't be a lot of room though, since I'm taking Callie home.'

Embry looked at me eagerly. His eyes were urging me say something. 'It's ok Louise, Embry's offered to give me a lift back now.'

There was a pause. 'You don't want to see the movie?' She looked at confused – which was strange considering she hadn't been keen to watch it either.

'Not really. I've had a good evening though.' I smiled at her.

'Well, if you really don't want to see it,' she was trying to figure out how I felt, 'I could take you home now?' Her eyes were flickering from me to Embry, to the group to her right.

Embry butted in. 'It's ok, I don't want to see it either. It's really no problem for me to take her home.' he said to Louise, his voice seeming to caress the word 'her', but that could have been wishful thinking. Then he looked pointedly at the group to her right and smiled slightly.

Louise blushed. 'If you're sure?' Embry nodded. 'Ok, thanks. See you Callie.'

'Bye. I hope you enjoy the film.'

And then we were alone.

'So, erm, yeah, my car's this way.' Self-consciously, Embry pointed to the left, and we started to amble in that direction.

We walked in silence for a while, but Embry seemed to want to break the silence, starting to say something then stopping.

'What's your favourite colour?' He blurted out suddenly.

Surprised, I stopped and looked up at him. 'Erm...'

'Oh damn, sorry, it doesn't matter' he looked upset about something, and oddly agitated. His hands were trembling, and he fidgeted nervously.

It was upsetting to see him look so lost. 'Normally blue, but sometimes green.' I offered softly, searching his face for his usual gentle confidence.

'Oh. Ok.' He looked relieved, before cringing slightly.

Acting on impulse, I stepped forward and rested my hand on his arm. 'Hey, it's ok. My favourite colour is not a secret.' I tried to smile at him, encouraging him to relax.

He breathed in sharply, before slowly letting it out, leaning over me slightly. 'Sorry about that.' We smiled cautiously at each other.

I squeezed his arm gently before letting go. My hand felt abruptly cold and empty. 'So, where's your car again?' We started walking, closer to each other than we had been before. Smiling, I looked straight ahead. 'What's your favourite colour?'

Embry laughed softly. 'Red. I see so much green living on the Rez, it's a nice contrast.' That made me grin.

'You're fed up of greenness? It's not like you see it every day or anything.'

He nudged me gently with his shoulder (well his arm really, seeing as he was so tall). 'Very funny. You try growing up in the wettest part of the States and still loving green.'

'Well, you could always move.'

'I can't.' The mood was suddenly serious.

'Sure, you'd get bored of the dry and be homesick.' I wanted to understand his mood swing, but didn't want to pry. Everything felt easy and natural between us, but in reality we barely knew each other.

'It's not that. I just, this is where I belong. The green isn't that bad, and there are some advantages of living here.'

'Like what?' I asked curiously. I didn't doubt there where good points of living here, I just wanted to know which ones he meant.

'Well, the hills, the cliffs, beaches and the sea. And meeting the few wayward foreigners would end up here.' He smiled cheekily at me, which was sweet.

'It's not such a bad place to end up.'

The drive back to Margaret's was peaceful, as we got to know one another a little better. I found out that he'd grown up with Quil and Jake (his best friends), La Push was the only place he'd ever really known, and that he liked tea not coffee. I told him a bit about my home in England, and that the only hot drinks I liked were hot chocolate and squash – he pulled a face at the latter. I was sad to see the Margaret's white walls and her beat up Skoda.

'Thanks for the lift. It's been a nice evening.'

'It's was really no problem. I'm glad we had this time together.' My heart started to beat a little faster.

'Me too.'

'I'll see you around sometime.' He said confidently.

'Ok.' We smiled at each other, both unwilling for me to get out of the car. But in the end I tore myself away, and waved as he drove off. As the silver car disappeared around the corner, I felt oddly lonely, and hurried in to tell Margaret about my evening.

Sorry if you've been waiting for this chapter – been very busy with revision!