Leah sped up the Cullen driveway, laughing at some inane comment of Kat's. Seth had only been persuaded to leave them alone by the reminder that Leah could protect Kat if something went wrong, and Leah would call out if she needed help. They had stopped off at Leah's place to pick up some new clothes for her, and her car.
Hey Lipstick, get your sister to answer the door. Kat yelled out mentally. Leah glanced over at her.
"Holy shite Kat, you okay?" She demanded at the glazed over look in her friend's eyes. Kat tuned back into the physical world and nodded.
"Yeah I'm cool. Just telling Lipstick something."
Leah smirked slightly. "Cute nickname."
Kat grinned proudly. "Doesn't it look like he's wearing lipstick? Does to me. Between him and Licker they are gonna give me so much material."
Leah laughed freely, feeling happier than she had in years.
They knocked on the door and a perfectly good looking blonde answered.
"What?" She demanded. Kat smirked.
"Lipstick wanted to palm you off onto me. I want to go car racing and apparently you're the talent in this family." she replied smoothly.
Rosalie was stunned. Leah laughed.
"You have such a way about you. I feel sorry for Lipstick and Licker now." She easily adopted the nicknames. Rosalie laughed slightly.
"You mean Edward and Bella? I like it. I'll help you out. Do you have a car?" She asked. Kat could practically hear the jaws dropping in the house. Leah could.
"I did, but I had to leave it behind when I fled my hometown. Might get it sent over, might buy a new one. You wanna be a member of my racing team? I'm the driver, you're my mechanic, Leah is..." she looked stumped.
"A spare." Leah offered effortlessly. Rosalie glared at her for a moment.
"A wolf, seriously?" She wrinkled her nose. "I don't think so."
"You have similarly sad stories." A smooth voice from behind her cut in.
"Shut up Lipstick." She retorted, turning back to Leah. "What happened to you?"
"My boyfriend, love of my life, left me for my cousin and I can't have kids because I inherited a hereditary male gene that turns me into a wolf and destroys my clothes. I can't ever get close to a guy because I will outlive him or kill him or fall in love with someone else and I can't move away from here because I can't work to afford it." She waited a moment. "What's your story?"
Rosalie smiled sadly. "I was brought up to be a trophy daughter, then wife. Got raped to death by my fiancé, and turned into a vampire so I can't have kids either. I do have Emmett though." She smiled more happily this time.
"Thanks babe!" A voice called out, this time more teasing. Leah nodded solemnly.
"So we all good now?" Kat asked. "Or do you want to hear my somewhat less depressing life history?"
Rosalie turned to her. "Sure."
"I got brought up by the mafia of my hometown. My brother used to be a hit-man and then disappeared after breaking my best friend and almost killing her. My boyfriend hated my family and career. I am an alchemist and I make poisons. Two months ago my best friend and my boyfriend got killed by said brother, who also died, not to mention my best friend's mother, dog, Paul and Jacob. All because the Volturi want to turn me and Narele into vamps. No offense, but an imprint would rather die. I'd rather die anyway really." She shrugged. All was silent.
"You don't have any clothes?" The voice that responded to Rosalie before called out, before a loud cracking noise and an "ow!"
"I can help with that!" A small, perky, dark-haired vampire appeared in front of them. "I love getting people clothes." She grabbed Leah's hand and dragged her away.
Rosalie turned to Kat. "You wanna go car shopping?"
Leah caught up with Kat and Rosalie, guided by Alice. She managed to get out wearing dresses, insisting she was Kat's bodyguard, but now she had a suitcase for of leather and lycra body suits.
"Hey Leah. Hey Perk. Me and Heels are thinking about this one." Kat waved at them, indicating a battered Jaguar. It was pretty cool for an old car, Leah thought, low down, big windows, and a good shape.
"You gonna completely redo the engine then? Just use the shell?" She asked. Rosalie nodded thoughtfully.
"I thought so. I'll teach you a bit if you want." She offered.
"Thanks." Leah nodded.
"Can I make the outfits? Like a team costume?" Alice started bouncing on the spot. Kat nodded.
"Where are we going to keep it? We'll probably have a few cars." She mused. Rosalie glanced at Alice.
"I'd suggest our garage, but Teeth wouldn't like it." She said. Leah grinned wolfishly.
"Teeth?" She asked. Rosalie shrugged non-committedly.
"I thought Leah was more of a Bite." Kat said, winking at her. Leah laughed.
"Why don't we build a garage?" Alice suggested.
"Good idea Perk. That can be mine and Bite's job. You are on costume detail and Rosalie is getting parts. I'll come around when we're done." They shook on it and the vamps drove home. Kat bought the second hand car for a stupidly low price before driving it home with Leah pushing from behind.
"We'll never finish on time." She groaned. "And we can't ask the boys for help."
The Garage was, at the moment, a beautifully made floor, nailed down polished floor boards with special ruts for the cars to do on. It was designed to fit three cars at maximum, and two motorbikes. There was a kitchenette and a toilet build into the back, at least the floor was designed that way. Leah was currently using her werewolf strength to hoist up the last wall with a pulley designed and made by Kat. Kat was sawing her wood for the walls, and they still were waiting on the delivery of the sheet metal for the roof, and the concrete mixer for the driveway.
"You seem to be doing well." Rosalie commented. Kat reminded herself to be careful as she put down her saw and turned around.
"You've done your jobs then?" She asked lightly. Rosalie laughed.
"The parts will be here soon. For two days work you've done well. You need help with setting up the walls?" She offered. Leah nodded. Rosalie and Leah seemed to have developed a strange friendship, an understanding of the pain they've been through. Kat got it as well, but Rosalie and Leah loved teasing each other, since they were the bitches of their own families.
With Rosalie's help, they had finished putting the wall up by the lunch break. Kat was nailing her boards in place while Rosalie charmed the supplier of the cement mixer and the sheet metal dealer and Leah began her massive lunch. By the time Kat started lunch; she'd created some privacy for the kitchen and toilet. Alice was going to install the plumbing and electricity, since Esme had been teaching her how to. Rosalie continued with the walls while the wolf and human ate.
"Kat." Emily was waiting for her as she came home. She had been admittedly ignoring Embry, but he had grabbed her after his friends were destroying her dead friend's house. Emily sighed.
"Please Kat, he's a wreck. Just listen to this. It took me three hours to find all his alcohol, but this was recorded when he first got drunk."
She pressed play and left it in Kat's hands, leaving her alone with the sound of Embry's heart broken ramblings.
I hate to break the mood I so wonderfully set there, but I seem to notice that people who hold back more chapter for reviews actually get them. I got a grand total of 21 reviews for Meetings, and I put a lot of work into that, so I'm thinking, should I not put effort in and not be disappointed, or write for myself? If I write for myself it will go in the direction I want, and I may kill off everyone again, or not bring Narele and Paul back or do something equally cruel. Trust me, I wouldn't mind writing that, but I feel like you guys would.
If you think about the time difference between how long it takes you to read and write a small review, compared to how long it takes me to write the chapters, I might stop making them as long. I don't know how to get a response from you guys.
Now I've chewed you out, I feel better and worse, so I can get back to writing.
Sorry about that, I'm just feeling unloved.