June
June 1- Claire
Prompt: 158. Clock
I stared at the clock, trying to suppress the urge to tap my pencil on my desk. I hated finals week. Somehow, they always managed to schedule the easiest final for the last part of the school day. I'd finish in no time, and then have to sit and wait until the bell would finally ring, freeing me from the monotony.
I leaned back in my chair, closing my eyes. Only twenty more minutes, then I was free. I'd taken the truck this morning, too, so I didn't even have to worry about waiting for Quil today. Just twenty more minutes, then the short time it would take me to make it to my locker and out to the parking lot, and…
After a bit, I cracked open one eye to glance back at the clock again. I barely suppressed a groan. It had only been two minutes.
June 2- Claire
Prompt: 306. Morning Breath
"Claire."
"Mmph," I mumbled, pulling the pillow over my head. "Go away."
I heard him sigh. "Claire, you have to get up, or you'll be late." He poked at my side mercilessly. I squirmed, but still refused to budge.
"I don't want to go."
"Yes, you do," he insisted, pulling at the pillow. It pulled away easily. Stupid werewolf strength. "If you don't show up, you'll fail your exams."
"I can live with that."
Quil chuckled. "Yeah, well, I don't think your parents will be able to. Come on, get up." When I still wouldn't move, he sighed again. "You asked for it." A moment later I felt a gush of hot air blow into my face.
I jumped up, batting at him. "Quil! Gross! Your breath stinks!"
He just grinned, helping me out of bed. "Yeah, but it got you up, didn't it?"
I glared at him. "That wasn't fair."
June 3- Quil
Prompt: 344. Tiger
I watched her dubiously. "Is this really necessary?"
"I managed to survive finals, and you said I could pick what we watched," Claire reminded me, putting the movie in and returning to the couch. "And it isn't The Princess Bride or Romeo and Juliet, so you really can't complain."
I sighed. "Fine, fine. Whatever makes you happy." I settled back into the couch, ready to receive the torture.
The next thing I remembered hearing was "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"
I blinked. "We can't be at this part already."
Claire rolled her eyes at me. "You fell asleep."
June 4- Claire
Prompt: 098. Hear
"Hey!" Jacob appeared from behind the Rabbit as the music stopped. "I was listening to that!"
I crossed my arms over my chest. "Yes, I know. All of La Push knows you were listening to that." I handed him the piece of paper I'd come by to give him.
"What's this?"
"A petition. The citizens of La Push kindly request that you never play another Beatles song loud enough to be heard within ten feet of the garage so long as you live."
Jake raised any eyebrow at me, but he grinned. "Has it been that bad?"
"You have no idea." I shuddered. "I won't be able to get some of those songs out of my head for months."
June 5- Quil
Prompt: 103. Hate
I growled. "Claire," I warned.
"Come on, just try it out for a bit," Claire begged. "You can't hate it forever. Come on, it's almost been three months already."
I drummed my fingers on the armrest for a full five seconds before standing up. "Okay, I tried it."
"No, no, no," Claire insisted, stepping in front of me with her hands on her hips. "You are going to sit there until you two make nice, understand?"
I reluctantly sat back down in the chair. "You do know it's not a person, right?"
"I was about to ask you the same question."
June 6- Quil
Prompt: 214. Sidewalk
"Look what I found."
I peered over Claire's shoulder. "Sidewalk chalk?" I asked, amused. The garage was getting yet another make-over, at Claire's insistence. It seemed like all of our junk—and all of the pack's junk in general, because I could have sworn that Raggedy Anne I found belonged to Katie Clearwater—naturally migrated there.
Claire opened the tub, peering inside. "I don't think I've seen this since I was five or six, at least."
"Hmm," I murmured, eyeing the tub in her hands. I wondered what my chances of hiding it again before she covered the entire street in chalk doodles were.
Not very good, it seemed. Claire turned and started out of the garage. "The rest can wait awhile, don't you think?"
"Claire, you're too old for that stuff," I called after her half-heartedly.
"You're never too old for chalk!" She called back to me.
A/N: True that.
June 7- Quil
Prompt: 188. Wrong
"Claire," I sighed. "You're supposed to be in bed."
"So are you," she murmured. Her arms were around my waist and she was looking up at me innocently. "We could go together."
I let out a choked laugh. "I just got in," I told her, avoiding her last sentence. Getting waylaid by Claire in the middle of the night did things to me that I didn't need to be thinking about right then. "And you are graduating in the morning." I gently, reluctantly, removed her arms from around me and steered her toward her room.
"You could just say you don't want to," she grumbled, but she did start for her room. I didn't feel too bad, though. Pre-graduation jitters didn't make for a good reason to lose your virginity. She'd have figured that one out in the morning.
"Believe me," I told her, "I want to." I always wanted to. Aside from the very real temptation of living under the same roof as her all the time, it wasn't the easiest thing in the world to be a thirty-one year old virgin. Even Jacob—
I grimaced inwardly. Jacob wasn't the person I wanted to be thinking about right then—though he was probably my safest option, considering what Claire thought she wanted—especially not when he was doing nothing but confusing everyone lately, and then going AWOL tonight…
I shook my head. "Not now, and not before you're ready," I said firmly.
A/N: "Even Jacob." Those two words have to be the most I've ever wanted to think about Jake's sex life. Outside of my own fantasies, of course.
June 8- Claire
Prompt: 313. Panic
"I can't find my gown!"
"Claire, it's in the hall closet where you put it a week ago."
"I can't possibly graduate."
"Of course you can."
"What if I trip?"
Quil rolled his eyes. "You're not going to trip."
"How do you know?" I demanded. "I could accidentally step on my graduation gown, fall flat on my face in front of everyone—"
"Claire, you'll be fine."
"But what if—"
Quil looked at the clock over the stove. "If we don't leave now, you won't make it in time to graduate at all."
"Fine. Let's go." I started for the door, feeling a bit like I was walking toward my doom.
June 9- Claire
Prompt: 240. Picture
"See?" Quil asked. "After all that worrying, they still let you graduate."
I rolled my eyes. He'd been saying things like this all night. Somewhere after midnight my graduation party had had to move inside to Sam and Emily's, so now we were all crowded throughout the various corners of their house. Do you know how hot it could get with that many werewolves in such a small space? Even if Seth and Embry had already left, taking their respective families with them, that still left eight other giant walking space heaters.
Well, seven giant walking space heaters, actually. One was conspicuously absent.
"Just barely," I said to Quil. "I—What's wrong?" I turned to follow Quil's gaze. I grinned. Speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear. "Jake!"
Jacob was making his way toward me. "There's the grad!" He grinned down at me, but when he looked over my shoulder at Quil, his expression was perplexed. I glanced back at Quil in time to catch his concerned frown before his face smoothed over into an expressionless mask. Quil quickly excused himself.
"What was that about it?" I turned to look back at Jake questioningly.
He shrugged. "I have no idea. But hey, I got something for you." He pulled out a bulky package. He smiled sheepishly. "It's not really as big as it looks," he explained, handing it to me. "I'm just not very good at wrapping presents."
"Thanks a lot." I was about to open it when Quil appeared at my elbow again.
"We have to go," he said. I stared at him like he'd grown a second head. "It's late," he reminded me, looking uncomfortable.
"Sure." I was still confused, but I figured I'd ask Quil about it later. "See you later, Jake."
We quickly said goodbye to everyone before heading home. It wasn't till I was back in my bedroom that I remembered to open Jacob's gift.
It took me a minute to realize what it was, but when I figured it out, I laughed. Jake had dug up and framed the old picture from Jared and Kim's wedding, the one where I was standing on the tops of his feet while he danced us around.
A/N: I must say, I do love Jacob's gifts. :-P Wait'll you see what he gives her for Christmas. Though by then it'll make a tad more sense.
June 10- Claire
Prompt: 296. Sigh
"What is going on with everyone lately?"
Quil blinked at me. "What to you mean?"
I shook my head, closing the front door behind me. "I was just at Sam and Emily's," I told him. "I swear everyone over there's about to jump out of their skin."
Quil chuckled. "You probably just managed to catch them at the wrong time. It probably doesn't have anything to do with you."
I blinked at him. "I wasn't thinking it was." He didn't say anything. I let out a long sigh. "It's not just them, either. I wish that if everyone was going to suddenly decide to go crazy, they could at least make sure I got the memo."
June 11- Quil
Prompt: 047. Pineapple
I stiffened when I saw him approach.
"Relax, Quil," Jacob said, bounding up the porch steps. "I come with a peace offering." He held out the thing that he'd been holding behind his back.
"Your peace offering is a pineapple?" I asked incredulously, though I had to laugh despite myself. Whatever was going on with Jake, it couldn't take away from a lifelong friendship. Not for very long, anyway.
Jacob shrugged. "Billy's cleaning out the fridge. This was the best I could save."
June 12- Claire
Prompt: 337. Loud
BANG!
I rushed out of my room. "What was that?"
Quil was standing next to the chair in the living room, looking slightly sheepish. "Nothing."
I eyed him skeptically. "Quil, what were you trying to do to the chair?"
"Nothing! Honest!" He offered me his most innocent look. I returned it with my own dubious one. He sighed. "I was just trying to move it a little so it faced the TV better, I swear."
I looked at the scene in front of me doubtfully. It looked enough like that was what he had been doing… "So what was the loud noise from, then?"
"Er… I might have set it down a little too hard."
I rolled my eyes and started for my bedroom again. "Just try not to break anything, okay?"
June 13- Claire
Prompt: 034. Naked
"Embry!" I cried, covering my eyes. "What are you doing?"
I couldn't see his expression, but I was pretty sure Embry was blushing as red as I was. "I, umm, well, see, I kind of phased with my clothes on, and Jen's mom's over at my house right now—"
"You walked into my house naked?"
"I came in through the back door," he said defensively, as though that made everything better. "Quil said I could borrow some of his clothes."
I pointed in the general direction of Quil's bedroom, keeping my eyes tightly shut. "Well, go get them. Fast."
"Er… right," he mumbled, embarrassed.
I didn't open my eyes again until I heard Quil chuckle behind me. "He's gone, you know."
I opened my eyes tentatively, relieved to find an Embry-less kitchen once again. I shuddered. "I'm never going to be able to get that image out of my mind. Ever."
June 14- Claire
Prompt: 115. Leather
Quil groaned. "Claire, it's the third time we've passed this store. You can't want to go inside it again."
"Just keep going, I'll catch up with you in a minute," I assured him. "No reason you have to suffer."
Quil just shook his head, looking bemused.
"Stubborn werewolf," I muttered, too low for anyone but him to hear. He chuckled despite himself.
I quickly dashed into the store and inhaled deeply, letting the scent of the leather wash over me. I sighed, and then turned to join Quil again.
Quil just shook his head at me. "I just don't get it."
A/N: -cough- I do that all the time.
Side note: either this or the 21st should probably be Father's Day. Unfortunately, there aren't any prompts for Father's Day or Mother's Day, which is why they're conspicuously absent. Which reminds me, I need to buy my mother a present… anyway. It works in my favor, though, since Claire doesn't see her parents that often, anyway. :-P
June 15- Claire
Prompt: 280. Rollercoaster
I made a face. "No way."
Quil sighed. "Claire, it's a fair. You can't just go on the Ferris wheel and then go home."
I pouted at him. "But I thought you liked the Ferris wheel. Especially when we stopped at the top." I batted my eyelashes at him.
Quil burst out laughing and pulled me closer to his side, kissing the top of my head. "I do like the Ferris wheel," he assured me. "I just think you need to branch out a little more." He prodded me toward the line in front of us. "Come on, just one ride on the roller coaster?"
I shook my head. "Nothing doing."
A/N: To make up for not having a Mother's Day prompt, I all but channeled my mother for Claire's responses. :-P
June 16- Quil
Prompt: 169. Cheating
"Quil, you cannot move like that," Claire informed me. She reached over and moved my checker piece back where it had been before.
I raised an eyebrow at her. "Just because you can suddenly beat me at this game you think you're the expert, huh?"
Claire rolled here eyes. "Just play by the rules."
June 17- Claire
Prompt: 298. Strawberries
I was dead. That was the only explanation, really. I had died and gone to heaven. I didn't even care. If this was what heaven was like, who would want to live, anyway?
I leaned back in the grass, groaning. I had red juice all over my face, I was sure. I still didn't care. They were so good. I closed my eyes in ecstasy.
I heard Quil chuckle from somewhere above me. "I take it they were good?"
"You have no idea."
I cracked open an eye to see Quil turning over the little box that had held the strawberries. "You're right, I don't."
A/N: June 17th is my birthday. :-P I expect lots of gifts, of course, by the way. Hehe, but yeah, if you couldn't tell, I'm awfully fond of strawberries. This, unfortunately, is the last of fruit prompts. :-( I still need to do 048. Chocolate, though, so it's all good.
June 18- Claire
Prompt: 033. Moonlight
"Memory, all alone in the moonlight…"
I froze in the doorway. "What are they watching?" I asked, mildly horrified as I watched Quil go to join his brothers in the living room.
Emily just shook her head and led me toward the kitchen where the saner people—i.e. the women at the moment—were currently hiding. "Cats," she informed me, looking somewhere between amused and mildly disgusted.
"A bunch of dogs," I said slowly, "are watching Cats?"
Leah piped up from her spot at the table. "Trust me, it's a guy thing." She paused, looking at Rick, her husband who looked rather out of place amongst the hulking werewolves in the living room—not the least because he looked horrified at what he was being subjected to—and smiled. "Well, maybe a guy werewolf thing."
I shook my head. "They're never allowed to complain about what I watch ever again."
A/N: That was quite possibly the most disturbing thing I've ever written in my life. And I've written graphic horror stories, mind you.
June 19- Claire
Prompt: 150. Demons
"Not that way," Jacob insisted suddenly, grabbing my arm.
I turned to stare at him, unused to Jacob initiating physical contact. "What's wrong with over there?" I asked, motioning toward the driftwood Jake seemed intent on keeping me away from. "There's probably stuff we can use for the bonfire that way."
Jake shook his head resolutely, steering me in the opposite direction. I reluctantly complied. I was just happy the others were letting me wander off alone with Jacob at all, even if it was just to collect wood for the bonfire we were having on First Beach that night. It seemed like weeks since I'd had a private conversation with him, since the rest of the pack were acting so jumpy around him.
Not that Jake was much in the mood for talking. "Not that way" was the first thing he'd said to me in ten minutes, and he fell silent again as soon as he was sure I wasn't going to go wandering back toward the driftwood bench I'd seen in the distance.
I peered up at him, noting the familiar expression on his face. I glanced back the way we came again, though I couldn't see the bench anymore, with new found curiosity. "Your demons pop up in the strangest places, Jacob Black," I murmured.
To my surprise, Jake laughed. "You have no idea."
June 20- Claire
Prompt: 091. Karma
I heard the howling and cursing even before I got into the house. "What happened?" I called, coming into the living room.
Quil was hopping around on one foot, clearly biting his tongue to keep from swearing in front of me. I didn't bother to tell him I'd already heard him. I just stood patiently, waiting.
Finally, once the pain had eased, I guess, Quil motioned at the chair. I swear he and that thing had more issues than Embry and his mother-in-law—and now that's saying something. "I dropped it on my foot," Quil finally muttered.
I rolled my eyes. "Karma."
Quil scowled at me.
"Or at any rate, your animosity towards it is coming back to bite you in the butt—er, foot, rather." I watched him, amused. "Why do I have the feeling that thing's going to be gone the minute I leave for college?" Quil seemed to consider that. I rolled my eyes. "Don't even think about it."
June 21- Quil
Prompt: 140. Tree
I stared up at her. "Claire," I said slowly, trying very hard not to let my irrational panic show. "Get down from there."
Claire frowned at me from her perch, comfortably wedged against the trunk of the tree on one of its highest branches. "Quil, I'm not even that high up," she whined.
It was true. The tree wasn't actually that large. Still, the thought of what might happen if she fell… "Just humor me," I finally managed to choke out.
She sighed and started to climb down. I don't think I breathed again until her feet were safely planted on the ground. "I knew I should've tried it when you weren't home," she muttered.
I couldn't help it. A low growl escaped me.
Claire just rolled her eyes. "I'm kidding, Quil." She flashed me my favorite smile. "You worry about me too much."
June 22- Claire
Prompt: 235. Mountains
I laughed when I saw where we were headed. "You don't want me to climb trees, but you'll let me climb a mountain?" I teased.
Quil quirked a grin at me. "A mountain's much safer," he declared.
I cocked an eyebrow at that. "A mountain's a hell of a lot bigger than a tree," I reminded him.
"Yes, but this, at least, I can climb with you."
June 23- Quil
Prompt: 284. Down
"Quil! Put me down!" Claire yelled, beating at my back.
I ignored her, only really paying attention to where I was headed.
"Quil Ateara, put me down this instant!"
Just to goad her a little bit, I started whistling.
"QUIL!"
"Fine, fine," I relented. I opened the passenger door of my truck and set her inside. "Jeez. I've never met anyone so hell-bent on not going to the dentist."
June 24- Claire
Prompt: 099. Feel
Jacob glanced up at me. "I see you managed to survive."
"Shut up," I muttered, taking a seat on a stool next to his work bench. "I can't be the only one who hates going to the dentist."
Jake shrugged. "Probably not." He wiped his greasy hands on a rag and leaned against the Rabbit, watching me. "So, what calls for this midnight rendezvous?"
I looked around the garage, raising my eyebrows. "Rendezvous?"
"You know what I mean."
I sighed. "I've been sent to wheedle out information."
Jake coughed out a laugh. "Does no one ask questions themselves anymore?" He shook his head.
"I don't see why they have to send me anyway," I complained. "It's not like they couldn't easily get it from you. Unless you've found a non-Beatles related way to block your thoughts," I added.
Jacob made a non-committal sound.
I waited. "So?"
"So what?"
I rolled my eyes. "Okay, you don't have to tell me whatever's going on—I know how much you hate doing that." It was Jake's turn to roll his eyes. "But could you please tell Quil or Embry or someone? So they can get off my case?"
Jacob laughed. "I'll see what I can do, Claire."
"Thanks." I hopped off the stool. "They're starting to drive me crazy. I'd better get back now, anyway. I wouldn't put it past Quil to come looking for me if I'm out too long, even if he does know where I am."
A/N: Don't ask me what relevance the prompt has to the actual drabble. I don't know. Well, I have a vague idea that takes too long to explain.
June 25- Quil
Prompt: 365. High
"Have you ever been high?"
I nearly choked on the coffee I was drinking. "What kind of question is that?"
Claire shrugged, considering her own mug intently. "I don't know. I was just wondering what sort of effect that would have on a werewolf." She shrugged.
I snorted. "Probably the same effect it has on anyone else, I'd think."
"Yeah, but you guys can phase when you lose control of your emotions," Claire pointed out, looking up at me. "Think about it. We'd have high werewolves phasing all over the place."
I shook my head. I don't know how she thought up these things sometimes. "I think we'd be feeling too mellow to lose control of anything."
She shrugged again. "I guess. Still. I was wondering."
June 26- Claire
Prompt: 258. Pieces
"Where's the last piece?" I asked, lifting up the box top and searching under and around it. "We only need one more piece and then the puzzle's done."
Quil and I searched the living room, and then the closet where we kept the games. Then the living room again. We ended up searching the entire house twice for one, small, measly puzzle piece.
We came back to the puzzle finally and stared down at it. "We can at least tell what it is," Quil offered.
I shook my head. "That's not the point!" I moaned. "We spent all that time working on the stupid thing, only to have it ruined by one piece!"
A/N: The fear of this happening is the real reason behind my desire to never work on a puzzle.
June 27- Quil
Prompt: 087. Rain
Claire appeared in my doorway, scowling. "It's raining again," she announced.
I glanced out the window. "It's only supposed to rain for a little while," I told her. "It's supposed to let up in an hour or two."
Claire still scowled. "I wanted to go running."
I kept looking out the window in an effort to hide my smile. "You can still go out. You'll just have to put on more clothes this time."
I saw Claire roll her eyes in the reflection.
June 28- Claire
Prompt: 316. Dog
I wrinkled my nose. "Gross."
Quil shook out his wet hair and looked down at me. "What's gross?"
I pinched my nose to add to the dramatic effect. "You smell like wet dog."
Quil rolled his eyes, making to hit me with the towel he'd been using to dry his hair with. "Get used to it."
June 29- Claire
Prompt: 136. Luxury
I leaned back in bed, sighing deeply. It felt heavenly, being able to lie in bed on a Monday morning, without having to worry about going anywhere.
It's the part I love about summer. You can lay around as much as you want for three whole months. It's one of those luxuries that I could never get tired of.
Well, that is until I remember abruptly that I promised Seth I'd baby-sit. Somehow, having a four year old pounce on you at seven in the morning ruins the effect.
June 30- Quil
Prompt: 262. Time
It's kind of funny, thinking about time. For fifteen years, it's felt like time has been on my side. I could enjoy things as slowly as I wanted to—we had all the time in the world.
Arguably, we still had all the time in the world. I certainly wasn't going anywhere any time soon, at least.
But it wasn't. Not really. The end of August was coming faster and faster. Claire wasn't even gone yet and it was obvious that things were already changing.
The worst part of it is, I didn't know if I should let things change. How could you really know if things were going to change for the better until after the fact, anyway?
A/N: -watches morosely as my reviewers die of shock- Yeah, I know. I wrote June in one day. Kind of explains why it's so much shorter than the others. XD Only a little over fourteen pages. At any rate, we're officially past the half-way point. I don't know about you, but I'm excited. :-P We're finally getting close to the part I've been anxious for.
I was going to write a longer author's note, but I've written 37 drabbles in the past twenty four hours. I'm tired, and I still need to edit this before I post, and that always takes me ages.