Josey, don't you worry—it's just a phase you're going through, someday you'll know just what to do. Josey, it's alright. Slap the hand that just keeps pouring, it doesn't matter just do something.
"Jake! Let's go!" I yelled out my rolled down window, giving myself a quick glance in my rearview as I waited for him to come out. I couldn't wait to get to this party, and more importantly, be a reckless, stupid teenager who didn't give a flying fuck. I giggled to myself at the thought of cussing in mind; I never had been much of a cusser but, what the hell? I jumped, startled, as Jake gracefully slid into the passenger seat, and he seemed slightly dazzled as I turned and flashed him my best megawatt smile.
"Whoa, Bells, you look…whoa."
"Way to form a coherent thought Jake, but a compliment is a compliment so, thank you." Laughing, I sped off as the tanned, muscular boy next to me fiddled with the radio, finally stopping at a random rock station. He nodded his head with the beat as he stared out the window and I took this moment to subtly check him out—if you could call it that. His thin, form fitting tee shirt didn't leave much to the imagination and for a split second, I had to remind myself that he was 2 years younger than me. The jeans he wore—a light, slightly faded pair—had a couple permanent oil stains, no doubt from him rubbing his hands on them after working on his latest mechanical project. I smiled as I imagined him under the hood of a car, one of the only places where his passion shone through.
"Make a right up ahead." The truck turned and I pushed the pedal almost to the floor, wanting to speed up the driving time. Jake smirked, obviously amused at my lack of patience, and turned down the radio a notch. "Geez, Bella. What's the rush?"
"I just want to get there already-- I'm ready for a good time." My truck seemed to groan as I pushed it go even faster, and soon I realized I didn't even know whose house we were going to. "Where is this party anyway?"
"Sappho. It's at my friend Jordan's house; his parents decided to go on a second honeymoon and well, while the parents are away, the teenagers will play." He gave me an impish smile that obviously said he didn't feel guilty about this at all.
"Wait, he lives in Sappho? You know people off the reservation?" Jake snorted and I looked over at him with a slightly crinkled brow.
"Oh come on, Bella. It's not like we're entirely secluded—we get newcomers from time to time. Honestly, if you have lived on the rez all your life like Embry, Quil, and me, you'd understand what it's like seeing the same people every single day."
A new rock song came on the radio and my hand flew out to turn up the music. The beat made me want to get up and dance, and the sound of the bass guitar reverberated in my chest. I rolled down the windows and let the cool wind blow through my hair, and Jake laughed as he sang along to the unknown song. He tried yelling something over the music and I yelled back at him that I couldn't hear him, but then I realized he couldn't hear what I just said either. I laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation and begrudgingly turned down the music.
"What did you say?" I was giddy from the high of listening to the song that seemed to wake up my soul and throw all my senses into overdrive.
"Jordan's house is right up there." My gaze followed to where he was pointing and it was quite obvious there was a party happening, even from our distance. It was at a rancho type house, with one of those super long, secluded driveways. I drove carefully down the dirt road, a few cars trailing behind me, and made my way up to a large field-- which seemed to be the designated parking area for the night. Music could be heard, even from outside, and tons of people filtered in and out of the beautiful, 2 story building.
Jacob and I jumped out of the car and I straightened out my clothes, before he took my hand and led me inside the house. Cobble stone steps and gravel led the way to a wide open front door, which was almost completely blocked by people. The ground shook from the music and I was grateful for the fact that the nearest house had to be at least a mile away—plus this was too far in for most of the cops to patrol. I stepped through the doorway and was immediately hit with the smell of alcohol, the heat of all the crowded bodies, and faint sounds of a rousing game of beer pong being played in the kitchen.
"There's Jordan! I'll go introduce you guys!" Jacob had to scream to be heard over the music, and I nodded as I looked around at all the new faces, all the new experiences just dying to be done.
"Jordan! Hey! This is Bella! Bella, Jordan!" We shook hands and I had to admit, he was pretty cute. While he looked nothing like the La Push boys, his fair skin and short blonde hair gave him a different kind of appeal. His green eyes shone as he looked at his party, before bringing his eyes back to me and Jake.
"Hey Jake! Nice to meet you Bella! What do you think of the party so far?"
"It's great!" Jake yelled back to him as he looked around and nodded appreciatively. I smiled at Jordan and he winked back, making me blush.
"Yo Jordan! You gotta come check this out! Chuck has caught 23 pretzels in his mouth, IN A ROW! Dude!" A short guy, with light brown spiky hair, ran up to us and started towing Jordan towards the kitchen. Jordan laughed and through the doorway leading to what I guessed was the kitchen, I could see a small crowd forming.
"Well, I've gotta go check this out! You two have fun!" And with a last smile, Jordan was gone, off to see someone get the record for the most amount of pretzels caught in his mouth.
"Hey, keep your eyes open for Quil and Embry! They're both here and they told me earlier they wanted to see you!" I nodded and my eyes scanned through the large crowd of people-- I was surprised there were even this many people in the tiny cities scattered throughout our small region. Luckily, I didn't see anyone from Forks here. The last thing I needed was to have Mike or Jessica breathing down my neck, ready to inform everyone of every last detail of what was going to happen, at this party. Jake and I ended up heading over to the kitchen, where a group of guys were still cheering Chuck on, and we each grabbed a generic red plastic cup and looked at the array of drinks on the granite countertop. Suddenly, I was faced with a small dilemma that I hadn't even given any thought to.
"Jake, do you have your license?" It was easier to hear in the kitchen, which was farther away from the large speakers set up throughout the house. He glanced at me, questioningly, as he filled up his cup with Sierra Mist.
"Yeah, why?" I let out a sigh of relief as a lazy smile lit up my face.
"You wouldn't mind being designated driver tonight, right?" Rolling his eyes, he handed me the bottle of vodka.
"Sure, sure. Have your fun—for tonight anyway." I giggled as I poured I filled a quarter of my cup with vodka, and the rest with lemonade. As I nursed my drink, we strolled outside where a couple people stood around—some smoking, some just talking. We stared out at the night and I felt genuinely happy for the first time in a long time.
Suddenly, someone startled me—causing me to let out a short scream-- by covering my eyes. My heart raced for a second but I could hear Jake laughing, so I knew there was no reason for the irrational fear. Whoever it was took their hands off of my face and I turned around to find a smiling Quil and Embry. My, my what are they feeding these boys? Each of them had gained at least 10 pounds in muscle and were at least a foot taller than they used to be. Quil, while he was already slightly buff, looked almost over muscular but his newfound growth spurt evened him out a little bit. He used to be the shortest one out of the group but now he was at least 6'5". Embry on the other hand used to be skinny but he too became toned and muscular, although he wasn't as tall as Quil—maybe 6'2". I'm sure my eyes popped out a little, but their reaction to me wasn't much different from mine to them.
"Well, well, little Bella Swan has grown up." Quil smirked at me and I playfully glared at him as I nudged him in the shoulder.
"Little? I think you're forgetting that I'm two years older than you." At that, he rolled his eyes and I looked over at Embry who had a playful, yet shy, smile on his face. "Hey Embry."
"Hey Bella. When did you two get here?" His hair, which used to be chin length, was now cut quite short but still had a slight shagginess to it. Not only that, his face had lost its childish roundness and was now more defined, more like a man. His deep brown eyes bore into mine and his gleaming teeth made me lose my breath for second. Everyone looked at me expectantly and it was then that I remembered he had asked me a question.
"Oh! Um, maybe 20 minutes ago?" It came out sounding like a question but everyone just nodded and looked around at the mass of people.
"Good party." Quil commented as I rocked on the balls of my feet. Why was I suddenly nervous? I felt undeniably self conscious and even though I wanted to take my gaze off the night sky, it didn't seem physically possible. Some irrational part of my brain just did not want to get the courage to look the Quileute boys in the eyes. I absently took another big gulp of my lemonade/vodka drink and much too soon found my once full cup entirely too empty. Frowning, I thought of how quickly my drink went—I didn't even feel the buzz yet.
"Well, it seems I've run empty. Anyone want to join me to go get another drink?" I tore my eyes away from the stars and looked straight into molten brown eyes that shook me to my core. Thrown off, I quickly looked at Jacob and then Quil, but neither of them were the ones that spoke.
"I'll go with you—looks like I need a drink of my own." Embry's friendly smile made my heart race, but I forced myself to act cool as he lead the way back into the house. We wove our way through the house but at a particularly crowded spot, he managed to make it through a group of people, while I did not. He kept walking, not noticing I had fallen behind, and even as I tried to shove people out of the way there was no way I would catch up with him if he kept going at the same pace.
"Embry!" I shouted, although I knew it was in vain since there was no possible way he could hear me over the roar of the music. Miraculously though, he did and his head snapped around in my direction. I frantically waved at him and he quickly made his way back to me—looking much more graceful in this setting than I ever thought possible. He looked at ease, in his button up navy shirt—which he rolled up to his elbows—and when he finally reached me, his warm fingers laced through mine and he pulled me until I was positioned in front of him. Once I was in front of him, he placed his left hand on my hip—all the while our right hands still connected over my right shoulder—and maneuvered me through the swarm of party goers.
"So, what's your poison of choice?" He asked me, once we finally made it to the drinks. He himself picked up a liter of Coke and a bottle of Jack, mixing them expertly before looking at me, eyes gleaming.
"Anything, really," I replied as I shrugged my shoulders with a wide smile, "But right now, I want one of those." He grinned as he saw I was pointing to his drink, and once again made a Jack and Coke. Handing it to me, he leaned down closer to me and I shivered as I felt his breath on my neck.
"I haven't told you yet but, you look really nice Bella." I blushed as I mumbled a thank you, glancing down at my feet. Why couldn't I grow a spine, accept the damn compliment, and do something totally anti-Bella? After having a mental war with myself, I decided you only live once and did something the old me never would have attempted in a million years.
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