SPOV
My hands shook a little when I picked up the photos again. I couldn't understand what it meant, seeing Nessie in such an intense moment with… well, not with Jacob. Just when I was expecting them to start being all gooey-eyed with each other, she seems to be all over Nahuel and Jacob… I had no idea what Jacob was up to lately. He was all kinds of distant for the last few days and his ability to hide his thoughts from the pack was frustrating.
Whenever we were out running the perimeter, it was almost like being alone, despite Jake being next to me. There was no sound coming from his mind, no thought, no feelings… it unsettled me a little bit. And made me jealous, too. I kind of wished to have that ability, but nobody else could do it, as had been perfectly proven by Sam and Leah. The only control I seemed to possess was when I deliberately recalled certain memories to show the others.
Then it dawned on me. I knew one person who could possibly shed some light on the situation, the one person who probably knew Jake better than any one of us. And also the only one who was just as good at disguising her thoughts from Quil, Embry and me. Leah was a little bit strange the last few days, too, I had to conclude. Since Nessie's party, the same party that the photo in my hand was from, Jacob and Leah were acting very weird.
I knocked on her door and knew better than to just barge inside. The last time I tried, I was only about six years old and I still had the mark that her pom-pom left on my forehead. I quietly giggled at the memory of Leah being a cheerleader, especially considering the moods she had been in for ages since the whole Emily and Sam thing. Cheering just wasn't in her vocabulary from that fateful day on.
"Leah?" I called out when she didn't react to the knocking.
"What do you want?" Oh, she sounded strange.
"I need to talk to you," I started carefully, "can I come in?"
There was a pause and I was getting worried about her. She didn't sound like this since…
"Can you come back?"
"OK," I was glad that she replied at all, "is everything OK, sis?"
"Yeah, you just woke me up."
"I'll be in my room, then."
I walked back to my room, trying to figure out what was wrong with Leah. She almost sounded like she'd been crying and I couldn't see a reason why she would. At least she didn't seem to be like that since she joined Jake's pack, since she got away from Sam's thoughts. She'd looked… happy even, like she came to terms with losing Sam to Emily and with being a werewolf, too. Then and idea crossed my mind and my eyes flew open as I realized the implications it could have.
Could Leah have fallen for Jake?
If she had and she'd told him one of the times when we weren't around, it would explain everything. The silences from both of them, the awkwardness when they both were phased, all that would suddenly make sense if there had been such a conversation between them. There was still the matter of imprinting and I was pretty sure that Jacob wouldn't see Leah in that way. Not when he had Nessie…or didn't have Nessie as the picture in my hands seemed to shout at me. Things were certainly complicated.
There was a knock on my door and Leah came in, her face flushed and her hair a mess. I realized I probably really just woke her up; she'd had a good few long nights lately. I wondered for a moment if she'd really be the best person to talk about all this and I stared at the photo again.
"Seth?" she shook me out of my reverie.
"Hey Leah."
"What's up?" she sounded a bit worried.
"I just," my voice got stuck in my throat and I didn't know how to explain things, so I decided to just show her, "look, I'll show you some photos and you tell me what you think, OK?"
She took the photos from me and started flipping through them, her eyes turning up at some of them. She still wasn't much of a friend to the Cullens, but she tried to be less of an enemy than she naturally should be. While the rest of the guys took it in their stride, Leah stuck with the whole vampire-werewolf antagonism. My mind drifted off and I wondered how to get her to change her mind, despite the fact that I tried and failed before. She gasped and I snapped out of my musings, knowing which picture she was looking at.
"W…what?" the shock in her face was way too clear.
"I don't know, Leah. I did see them being close; she basically ignored Jake all the time. But this picture… it's like they're going to kiss, isn't it?"
Leah's face went white and I was even more worried about her.
"But that's…" she mumbled under her breath.
"Not possible, I know."
Now she looked seriously like she was going to faint. I almost stood up to comfort her before thinking it over and deciding not to risk my life. Leah didn't cope well with people's pity. It made me think how she would feel, knowing there might've been even the slightest chance on imprinting to not mean a 'happily ever after'. And what implications that would have on her view on the Sam situation.
"Leah?" she seemed lost in thought, "You're not going to tell Jake, are you?"
"What?"
"About Nessie. Maybe it's different for her, but… it would break his heart."
Leah gave me a look that I couldn't describe any other way than curious and I waited for her to reassure me she wouldn't reverse back to her old self. I didn't want her to go telling Jacob about this, just like she would've before. She used to do these kinds of things just to make people feel just as hurt as she was.
"I have to go, Seth," she shot out of the door.
"Leah!"
Surprisingly, my first instinct wasn't to follow her. I looked at the photos that she left lying on the floor where they fell and I picked them up. My eyes flew across them and I stared at the one with Nessie and Nahuel, trying to see what triggered Leah's curious reaction. Then I grabbed all the photos and looked at each and every one of them, this time deliberately searching for something that would give me an answer.
What was wrong with Leah? She couldn't possibly want to go and hurt Jake by telling him about this? They were good friends now; it was like they had an understanding between them. She knew how he was about Bella; there was no way she'd want to see him that way again. Was there?
While I tried to collect my thoughts, the photos were coming back into focus as I picked them up one by one. I felt mildly sick at the thought of what this all might mean for Jacob, for Nessie, for the pack and also, for Leah. Then I picked up the last picture off the floor and my eyes shot to it without me consciously doing so. Jacob's face had a surprised look on it and I knew it was just before he took off into the woods. It made me realize that I haven't seen him after we left the party and phased.
Where had he been? Did my mind play tricks of me when I recalled him saying he'll go checking on Leah? No, I knew for a fact he went to phase, but he wasn't there when we did. And Leah was being strange.
I was getting confused by all these bits of information and I needed explanations, fast. The photos fell down on my bed and though I considered taking them with me, I left them there. There was enough time for that later. Leah wasn't in her room, so I went to talk to Jake. On my way to theirs I noticed that more time passed since my conversation with Leah than I thought.
Jacob's door was open but I didn't hear anything so I guessed he was asleep. Just to be sure and to maybe get a chance to talk to him, I walked over to the door. It was wide open and I barged in, my head still fuzzy from all the thinking. Then I stopped in my tracks and just stared at the bed.
What…how…why…? Leah? Jacob? Bed? Huh?
"Jake? Leah?"
They both looked up at me, startled and blushing. I couldn't do anything else but stumble back out the door, leaning against the wall and trying to breathe.
Leah came out of Jake's room a minute later and stood in front of me, waiting for me to say something, her eyes full of apologies that she didn't say.
"What's going on here, Leah?" I started angrily.
"I…" she choked on her own words.
"I asked you not to tell him!"
"I didn't!"
"Then what…"
"Seth… we…"
Suddenly it dawned on me. This wasn't the first time for them to be… I didn't even want to think about it. Not about my sister and my best friend.
"Does Jake know about…"
"No," Leah answered, knowing I was talking about Nessie., "I wasn't planning on telling him. She'll do it herself."
"So what is this? It's a bit too late for rebound, isn't it?"
"Rebound?" she caught the sarcasm in my voice, "No, it's not like that."
"How is it then, Leah? Are you having fun? Did you consider someone else's feelings in all this?" I was shouting at her now.
"I'm sorry, does this affect poor little Seth?" she spat at me.
"Yes it does. You're playing with my best friend it does affect me!"
"You think this is a game for me?"
"What else would it be, Leah?"
"Well maybe I love him!"
My mouth fell open as she yelled the last line at me and I realized seconds later that she caught herself by surprise, too. She stood there, suddenly pale as the white paint on the wall behind her and shook slightly. Seeing her like that, I wanted to be her big brother suddenly, to be able to hug her. She'd probably rip me to pieces if I tried, though. Then a voice came from the door that startled us both.
"Leah…"
Oh shit.
Jacob was standing in the door, staring at her in mild shock, but his eyes betrayed something different. Just then I felt extremely out of place and I knew they needed space to talk. My feet carried me out to the living room and straight out the house. A few minutes later, I was sitting on the beach, trying to make sense of everything and failing miserably.
JPOV
"Well maybe I love him!"
I was just about to walk out of my room to stop them from yelling at each other when she said that. My knees shook and I gasped, trying to re-start my breathing again.
"Leah…" I whispered as I managed to catch my breath and walk out.
She turned to me, whiter than even the Cullens and just stared at me, her shock and confusion obvious in her face. I just about noticed Seth walking out of the corridor and heard the front door open, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from her.
"Leah…"
"I…"
She closed her eyes and even though I couldn't see them, I knew they were filling up with tears. My legs took me closer to her and I wrapped my arms around her. Surprisingly, she didn't protest and just shook against my chest as she cried. I buried my face into her hair and took a deep breath before pulling away and lifting her chin so she'd look at me.
"Do you?" I gulped, so much hanging on her reply, "Do you love me, Leah?"