Chapter 4 – The Party.
We pulled up to the Pine River Ranch in La Push, Embry had no trouble finding it, but it was right in the middle of a forest, only a small wooden sign pointing to go down a little dirt path, since it had been raining the path was basically mud and leaves. Rosalie was going to go insane, we'd gotten her car covered in mud, before we left it was shiny and new, now it looked like it had been around for as long as Edward and it was now brown. I looked at the building, it was small, but cute. The bricks were lined with ivy, which was a deep green, which high-lighted the rich, dark brown wood, which was on the double doors, the doors looked like they had been hand carved, they had small lines all over, but still appeared to be smooth. The ivy twisted up the building, stopping at the roof, which was covered in burgundy tiles, a thin layer of moss covered some of the tiles, the building was surrounded by trees, it smelt like wood, but there was something wrong with the smell, oh, Sam's pack were here, they didn't smell right to me anymore.
Embry parked Rosalie's car, got out and brushed himself off, he walked over to my side of the car, opened my door, and I stepped out the car. My foot pressed into the mud with a loud squish, I checked for mud on my shoes, I was clean. I took a deep breath and took Embry's arm for support, both moral and physical, he lead me to the double doors, I would have stood there and admired the detail in them, but I had to go inside. I kept taking deep breaths, trying to force myself to look happy, it wasn't working, I started to panic, I kept gasping for air but it wasn't going to my lungs. Embry guided me to the side of the building where we'd parked Rosalie's car, I kept gasping, no air was going to my lungs, I was panicking. Embry grasped me by the shoulders and shook me, I looked at him, right into his eyes and took breaths at the same time as him.
"Calm down, Leah. Keep breathing!" Embry ordered me, he looked so worried, almost like he could burst out crying right there and then. I kept looking at him, focusing on his breathing, my breathing, our breathing. I'd finally calmed down, Embry looked at his watch, he smiled.
"We're an hour late, Leah. Good job freaking out!" He grinned at me, trust him to make a joke out of this, he was turning into a wolf-boy version of Emmett. A cold breeze hit my face, along with a few droplets of water, okay, I had to get inside, if my face got wet my make-up would run off, and that means I would be killed by Alice. I look Embry's arm again, that physical and moral support was good.
"Shall we?" I smiled, okay, smiling is good, you can do this Leah, you can do this. We got to the double doors again, I focused on Embry's face this time. As I was staring at this face he pushed the right door open and a soft quiet song flowed out of the door and hit us in the face. A strong light glowed off us, I decided it would be best if I faced everyone, instead of looking up at Embry, I was starting to get a pain in my neck. I looked at everyone, their faces weren't clear because the light was shining in my face, but I saw that everyone was looking at us, I smiled at the blank faces, not knowing who was who. Embry guided me over to a table at which Billy, Rebecca, Paul, Jared and Kim were sat at. Billy grinned at me and Embry, we got weak smiles from everyone else, Embry pulled the chair out for me, I sat down and he pushed it back in for me, he then sat next to me. I studied the room, the brick continued to the inside, but it wasn't covered in anything, just bare brick, the ceiling was white but it had wooden beams travelling across it, draping from the wooden beams were fairy lights, they twinkled in the dark room. One glowing light focused on the dance-floor where couples spun round gracefully. The tables were covered in pure white table cloths, with a light pink flower in a long vase in the middle, the tables were scattered with pink petals, I was guessing they were the same petals as the flower in the middle of the table.
I looked round the room once again and I saw people's faces, because I didn't have the glowing light in my face, I recognised everyone, all of Sam's family, all of Emily's, everyone looked so happy. All of their eyes were focused on a couple spinning around the dance floor, I skimmed past the couple, I kind of guess who it would be. I focused my eyes on the guests on my table, Paul and Jared were staring at me, well the pattern on my dress actually, hold on! They were checking out my- ughhh! Perverts! I went to snap at them, but Embry held my shoulders back and whispered in my ear, "Remember, showing them what they're missing."
He then took my hand and lead me to the small, but virtually empty dance floor, I'm yours was playing quietly, I twisted my arms around his neck and he hesitantly put his hands in the curve of my back I laughed and he went red.
"You look like your enjoying yourself, Leah." Embry laughed, he looked in his element, it was almost as if he fed off happy people, it was surprising that we were such good friends, I was a nasty person he was happy all the time, but we fitted together perfectly, like two pieces of a jig-saw puzzle.
"I am, is there something wrong with that, Embry?" I winked.
"Not at all, Leah." Then he winked, every time he did that my knee's went weak and I could have giggled like there was no tomorrow.
"We're obviously very welcome here," I said sarcastically as I scanned the room. "No one has even talked to us since we walked in, they just stared at us."
"No, Leah, they stared at you, I mean you're ho-" I put my finger over his lips.
"Shush!" He stopped talking. "Have you ever wanted to dance in the rain?"
"I can't say I have."The song was finished and it looked like more people were getting up to dance, so I lead him back to our table.
"Well aren't you two cute!" Kim squealed, she'd obviously slipped up on the not talking to a member of the other pack, Jared shot her a look and she sat back in her chair, defeated.
"Thanks, Kim. You and Jared look move in love tha-"
"We are, Leah." Jared hissed at me. At that moment Sam and Emily drifted over to our table, holding hands, my heart dropped, tears pricked at my eyes, wanting to be shed. No. I'm not doing this, get a grip Leah. So I gripped onto Embry's hand, he pulled me round and made it so I was sat on his knee, what was he doing?
"Just don't look." He mumbled into my ear, this hot breath tickled my neck and sent shivers down my spine, not the uncomfortable shiver, the amazing, phenomenal-
"You look lovely, Leah." Emily smiled at me from across the table, I just forced my face muscles to work and attempted a smile back. I looked back to Embry, he was having a conversation with Sam about if there'd been and vampires in La Push, we weren't really supposed to be talking about it, but I guess that plan had gone out the window.
I was still sat on Embry's knee while they were having this conversation, every so often Sam's eyes could flash to me, then back to Embry and he would shake his head, who did he think he was? Judging my relationships, yeah I like Embry, what's the problem, just because it has nothing to do with some imprinting crap.
I, me Leah Clearwater, like, like like, Embry Call, Embry Call!
I was not expecting that to come out tonight! I looked up at him to study his face, his big brown eyes looked right back at me, he'd grown his hair out, so it wasn't the cropped short that Sam's pack had, it looked better, so soft, if I reached my hand up and – STOP! This was going too far, these emotions needed to be pushed into the box in my mind and locked up, like they had been for a while. I didn't think about it, because I know it will hurt me eventually, just like Sam did.
I hadn't noticed that my hand had crept up to his face and the tips of my fingers were following the line of his jaw, his skin was so smooth. He looked down at me and grinned; he kissed my forehead and then continued his chat with Sam. I could feel eyes burning into me, I looked round the table to find everyone looking at me and Embry, everyone looked stunned, I know we kind of looked like a couple, but what's the big shock? Someone other than Sam could like me, what's the big deal with that? I looked at Sam properly, he looked happy, the stabbing pain was still in my gut, it was always there, but the pain dulled somewhat when I was around people that loved me, maybe that was the trick, find love and I won't be suck a broken bitch.
Embry started to shake, his face went into a pained expression, like someone had told him something he didn't want to think about. He was still looking at Sam, I hadn't been listening to their conversation so I didn't know what was going on, but Sam didn't look rattled at all. Embry grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the hall. He slammed the wooden doors shut; they rattled the ivy, which was swaying in the breeze, I could hear things running along the floor, in the other direction, I guess we must have disturbed some animals.
Embry's whole body was shaking, his suit was ripping at the edges, from the force of his shaking, he walked towards the forest, taking large heavy steps, his breathing hitched up a notch and his shaking became quicker, he was about to phase, and leave me stood on my own.
"Embry! Don't, please. Have you ever seen a wolf with make-up on? I'll be forced to phase if you are, I don't wanna ruin the look!" I motioned towards my body, even though I knew he couldn't see me, he still had his back to me, but he stopped walking and his shaking slowed down, his breathing became slower and softer. He turned on the heal of his foot and faced me, his face was blank, but his cheeks were stained with tears, he just looked at me, while they rolled down his face and dropped off the end of his chin. I ran over to him, tripping on the end of my dress and stumbling right into him, he didn't move he just wrapped his arms around my waste and rested his head on the top of my curls.
I put my hand on his heart and felt it beating under my palm, it was quick, probably from the nearly phasing and running off incident. I wish I could read his mind right now, I want to know what Sam said that ticked him off so much, I mean it must have been bad to get him this upset. I pulled away from the hug and looked at him, he was avoiding making eye-contact with me.
"Embry Call, tell me what's going on, right now." I looked at him right in the eyes, he finally looked at me and smiled timidly. "Now." I snarled at him, I wasn't having any of that 'protecting me' nonsense, I wanted to know, now.
"It's just Sam." He stopped and looked at me.
"Well, I kind of guessed that, what'd he do?"
"For a while now, he's been bugging me about coming back to La Push, to be with my real family. I said no, but then he got Paul and Jared on my back about it, they just won't leave me alone, Leah, I don't know what to do anymore."
I turned round and went towards the wooden doors, I wasn't having that, how dare he, poor Embry! Before I'd reached the doors Embry had wrapped his arms around my waste and was pulling me towards the car.
"Embry! Put me down!" I screamed. He pulled me over his shoulder into a fire-man's lift.
"No. We're leaving Leah."
He pushed me into the car and put my belt on for me, he slammed the door and ran round to his side, he climbed in the car and drove down the little dirt path and went back the way we'd come. I'm not a child, I don't need to be protected by some teenage boys who turn into wolves in their spare time. I was just as strong, well not quite as strong, but I could kick all their asses at running, they needed to stop doing the whole big brother thing. I really liked Embry, I knew what he was trying to do, but I was sick of being protected, I wasn't that fragile.
We pulled up to the Cullen's house, I looked over to Embry, his tears had dried, he didn't look like he'd been crying at all. He parked Rosalie's car in its usual spot, I undid my belt, got out the car slammed the door behind me and stormed into the house, everyone was sat waiting for us, I stormed to the bathroom and slammed the door. I looked at myself in the mirror, my make-up had survived the night, my hair was still perfectly curled and my dress still looked the way it did when I left the house.
There was a small knock on the door, it smelt like one of the Cullen's, I pulled the door open and stood in front of me was Rosalie, great she was going to kill me for what happened to her car. She walked into the bathroom and locked the door after her, I went to sit on the edge of the gigantic bath they had. She walked over to me and wrapped her icy arms around my shoulders, that was the only cold I could feel, vampire skin, but it was different with the Cullen's, I didn't hate them like I was supposed to.
"Embry just told us." She whispered.
"Thanks for the hug." I squeezed her back and she let go and grinned at me, she was usually a bitch to everyone, but she seemed nice enough to me.
"Want me to drive you to Sam's?" She said as she was looking in the mirror, playing with her hair.
"You'd do that for me? What about the border?"
"Were aloud the across the border for special reasons, if he thinks you're coming back, it's a special reason, right?" She grinned at me and pulled me out of the bathroom. She dragged me into Alice's room.
Alice was stood with a pair of jeans and a top in her hand.
"Throw those on, we'll make you look hot." She winked at me, I threw the clothes on quickly running back into Alice's room, I sat on the chair.
"Any idea what you're going to say?" Alice asked while she was touching up my make-up.
"Nope, I'm sure it'll come to me when I see him." They both thought I was going to tell him I didn't want to be in his pack, but truth be told I wasn't going to tell him just that, I wanted to tell him I didn't need him anymore, that I could live without him.
We'd lied to everyone about where we were going, Rosalie had made Emmett clean her car while she came up to see me, it looked brand-new again. She sped through the streets while I tried to figure out what I was going to say, I still loved him, there was no denying that, you can love someone but that doesn't mean you like them, right? Rose pulled up outside Sam's house, I got out.
"I'll be back when you need me."
"How will you know when I'm done?"
"I'll be listening."
She drove off into the dark, her lights were switched off, because she didn't need them to see. I stood outside the two-bed roomed house, which was too familiar to me, I knew every part of it, where everything was, I was pretty much sure that nothing had been changed. I studied the worn bricks that made the house, the wooden door frame that looked like it was about to snap, the garden, now that had changed, it now held healthy looking grass and all kinds of flowers. It looked like it belonged somewhere else, that garden didn't belong to Sam and Emily's house. I could smell them inside, I knew they knew I was here, they would have heard Rose's car, it wasn't the quietest thing in the world.
I walked over to the door and knocked, I took a deep breath as the door was pulled open and I was greeted by three, big, grinning men.
Soo...that was interesting! REVIEW PLEASE! Thanks for reading!! Chapter 5 will be up...soon!