I'm so mad at iTunes right now!
I pressing that pause-button again and again, and it keeps playing!
I've even turned off the sound, but it won't react!
My friend says I'm not allowed to touch anything techical.
I made an alarm go off in a store the other day because I touched an mp3-player that was on display.
That cracked us up, and we ran out of the store laughing.
Random...
'Kay, I own this new cover on my iPod. But it looked much better before I out it on, it just looks big and bulky now, but I have to use it, because my iPod has so many scrapes and stuff because I'm not being careful enough with it.
But I don't own Twilight, and that's sad, because Twilight isn't bulky.
It is pretty big, though...
"Please tell me you're joking," I begged, staring at Melissa. She bit her lip harder, shaking her head slightly. "Well… how?" I asked stupidly.
"How do you normally get pregnant?" she snapped, her voice hysterical.
"Right. Crap." I moved my hand to my hair, fidgeting nervously. "And… you're sure?"
"I don't know!" she moaned. "I've been feeling like crap lately. I feel nauseous and my stomach hurts all the time. And… yesterday and today I felt sick in the morning. I… threw up," she admitted. She slumped over to her bed, sitting down and hiding her face in her hands.
"Oh," I said, in a lack of something better to say.
"I can't tell dad. He wouldn't understand. And Paul would kill me. Or him."
"Who's the… um… father?"
She sighed shakily. "I don't know. It was this party, and there was drinking and I don't remember anything."
"Okay," I said, because I had no idea what else to say.
"I woke up in a bed and… well, it hurt and I wasn't really dressed," she said in a quiet voice as she took her hands away from her face. The tears were sliding silently down her cheeks, making her almost unrecognizable from the Melissa I'd met only a few days ago.
"How far are you?" I asked carefully.
"Six weeks," she whispered.
"Oh. Wow. Crap," I mumbled, shifting the weight on my legs uncomfortably. "Are you sure you can't tell –"
"Yes, I'm sure," she said, annoyed.
"Okay. So… what do you want me to do?"
Melissa swallowed, blinking away the tears,
"I need you to buy me a pregnancy test."
I didn't even hesitate.
"Okay, sure, I'll do it," I promised. "First thing in the morning. Promise."
"Thank you," she whispered.
And that's what I did. First thing Friday I hurried outside in the rainy weather, this time remembering my rain jacket. I had asked if I could take uncle Horton's car, saying that I was going to meet up with some friends and that we needed a car.
Melissa had thrown up this morning too, and it had actually killed me to see her like that. Sure, I hadn't liked her very much, but at least I knew why she had been so grumpy lately.
Halfway to Forks the car broke down. I groaned loudly, banging my head into the steering wheel. It hurt, so I groaned again. I got out of the car, not knowing what to do next. I didn't know anything about cars.
While I stood there, helpless, guess who came driving by?
Yup, you guessed right.
Embry.
Again.
Was he stalking me or something? It sure felt like it.
He came out of his car, grinning at me.
"Car-trouble?" he asked.
I grimaced. "Just a little."
"What's wrong with it?"
"Like I would know," I mumbled resentfully, glaring at the car. "You can check it out if you'd like."
He smiled sheepishly. "I'm probably not much better than you. But a friend of mine is," he said. Ah, great. I was leaving my uncle's car's fate in a friend of Embry's hands. What's off in that sentence?
"Uh, okay."
"I'll give him a call right now, maybe he can help," Embry said.
"Okay, cool," I answered, smiling politely. He lit up at my smile, grinning even wider at me. If it hadn't been so weird, I would probably have laughed in amusement.
I figured this might take a little while longer than I had promised Melissa. While Embry dialed a number on his cell phone, I dug up my own to text her. I noticed that I had one message from Gabe.
My heart fluttered.
He texted me!
My fingers were shaking when I pressed "open".
'What's up?'
Okay, it wasn't the most interesting text I'd ever gotten. But still, just the fact that I had gotten it told me that he had actually thought about me and used some of his time by sending me a message. I'd say that's a good thing.
I wondered what I should answer? Should I mention Embry, just to make him a little jealous? No, that would look stupid. I didn't want to say anything about my car trouble either, because then he might volunteer to give me a ride, and I couldn't tell anyone about Melissa.
Eventually I decided not to answer. This would make him wonder if I even cared about him one bit, and Lena always said that guys liked girls who were hard to get. I could play hard to get.
Instead I texted Melissa, saying the car broke down so it would take some extra time.
"You have a very developed relationship with your phone," Embry noted as I pressed it back into the pocket of my jeans. A smile crept over my lips.
"My mum says I'm obsessed. And my best friend wanted me to go to therapy, but that's just hypocritical, 'cause she's actually worse than me," I told him randomly.
"I have a hard time believing that," he said teasingly.
I rolled my eyes. "I guess we're even, then, Mr. Seventeen."
"Seriously, I'm not older than seventeen," he said, sounding honest.
"Right."
"It's true," he insisted.
"Sure it is."
"Do you think I would lie to you?"
"Not at all."
He stopped talking, and stood there, staring again, with a weird smile on his face. Again with that creepy behavior. Someone should help him fix his social antenna, because it was clearly not working right.
I cleared my throat.
"Did you talk to your friend?"
"Huh?" he asked, dazed. I pointed to the car. "Oh, right. Yeah, he said he was coming. Where were you going, anyway?"
"Forks," I replied, smiling a way I hoped looked innocent enough.
"What are you doing there?" he asked, trying to sound casual. Ah, he thought I was meeting a boy. Right.
"I just needed to buy something."
"Do you want me to give you a ride?"
"Uh, no, that's okay," I answered, smiling reassuringly.
"Are you sure?"
"Definitely."
"How are you going to get there then?"
"I'll just wait till… uh…" That was all it took to tongue-tie me. "When is your friend coming?"
"He's not coming, some people that are towing your car is. And you won't get it back very soon, so if you don't want to ride with me, how are you going to get anywhere? Walk?" he asked, smiling like the thought amused him.
"You clearly underrate walking," I answered. "And you said that your friend was coming!"
"Did I?" he asked, like he couldn't remember correctly. I rolled my eyes. The memory capacity of a bulldog. Or a teenage boy, whichever you prefer.
"When can I have the car back?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know much, do you?"
"I do too!" he said, faking offended. Or at least I hoped he did.
"Do not," I smiled.
"Do too."
"Don't."
"Do."
"Don't."
"Do!"
"Okay, okay, I admit that you know the square root of pi," I challenged.
He blanked.
"Wait, wait…" he said, concentrating.
"Do you know I got an A in math?" I said casually. He looked at me, narrowing his eyes. "But it wasn't deserved, of course. I'm just very good at sucking up to teachers." He tried to ignore me while he focused on my challenge. "I'm more like a B, or maybe even C, but don't tell him that."
"Shh!" he hissed, though he smiled a little.
"I was, after all, the only one to pay attention in his class. He's a really bad teacher, he has an education in philosophy, and he has no idea how to control a class. So no one respects him or anything, and everything he does in class is thinking and pouting. Seriously –"
"If you don't shut up, I might just come over there and gag you," Embry warned, and I laughed. "And, by the way, the square root of pi is 1,77245 –"
"You did not just figure that out!" I cut him off.
"Sure I did," he insisted.
"I can pretend that I believe you, but I really don't."
He laughed huskily. "Okay, I might just have memorized it before. But that doesn't make it less impressive," he said, grinning. I laughed with him.
Suddenly I realized what I was doing. I was encouraging him! I made it seem like I liked his company, when I was supposed to like Gabe! Okay… maybe I did like his company. It was strangely easy to be with him, like I forgot every other care I had in this world.
But still, my laugh was cut short by this realization, and I leaned against my car, looking at the road, pretending to be waiting for whatever was coming to take Horton's car away and force me to either walk, call Cara or Gabe or have a ride with Embry.
Horrified I found myself wanting to choose Embry. That wasn't supposed to be!
The rest of the time we were waiting for the car-towing-people, I tried not to talk too much. It got very awkward, and I think I hurt Embry a little. However, every time I looked at him, he smiled so wide that it was hard to tell what his real reaction was.
Cara couldn't get me. She was visiting her aunt somewhere, and I didn't want to ask Gabe, because I didn't want to shatter my pride in such a young age. That left walking or Embry. I shouldn't want to pick Embry, so the fact that I actually couldn't have anyone drive me, because I had promised Melissa and everything, luckily saved me from that dilemma.
Of course, he had another opinion on that.
"So, have you decided how to get to Forks now?" he asked me casually when we were alone.
"Yeah, I'll walk."
He snorted. "It's far," he pointed out.
"So? I like walking. It'll be okay," I assured him. He shook his head.
"Get in the car," he ordered, pointing to his car. I smiled, rolling my eyes.
"No, seriously, I'll walk. It's no big deal."
"Don't be ridiculous," he said. "Do I really have to make you?"
"No, you don't have to make me," I said with a laugh. "Just go home, or wherever you were going. I'll be fine."
"You're stubborn," he noted.
"It's one of my better treats," I smiled sweetly.
"Mine too," he grinned, coming closer. Before I even had time to protest, he was behind me, putting his ridiculously large hands on my shoulders and pushing me forwards. He had me stuffed into my seat before I reached to say anything, and even buckled my seat belt for me.
"And not pushy at all," I commented, panicking as I tried to find a way to get out of this. What was I supposed to do, it wasn't as if I could just run for it either. That's would be both hopeless and look really stupid. I would just have to shake him off later.
He grinned at me as he sat into the driver's seat, and I rolled my eyes and smiled back. I couldn't help it. My lips had a life of their own.
"So, what are you doing there, anyway?" Embry asked as he started driving.
"I need to buy something," I answered distantly. I really hoped he would let it go with that, but, of course, he didn't.
"Something what?" he asked.
"Just something," I answered dismissively.
"There's a lot of something's. Which something are you buying?"
God, why did he have to be so… pushy?
"I won't tell you, get over it," I said, sharper than I'd intended. He silenced at once, and I felt guilty. Why did I have to be so darn nice? "Sorry," I mumbled, looking out the window.
"It's okay," he assured me immediately.
Of course it's okay, everything's okay with you!
Except me walking, obviously.
"I can't tell what I'm buying," I said apologetically.
"Why?"
"I promised not to."
"To who?"
"I… can't tell," I answered.
He suddenly pulled out of the road.
"If you won't tell, I won't drive you," he said in a childish stubborn voice. I was almost sure he was joking, so I played along.
"Fine, I'll walk," I said easily, reaching for the door handle.
"No," he said quickly, almost hysterically, capturing my wrist in his hand easily. "But why can't you tell me? You can trust me, you know," he told me sincerely. I looked into his eyes, his dark honest eyes, and they trapped me completely. Before I even thought about it, I blurted out;
"Pregnancy test."
The connection was broken at once. Embry reacted by tightening his grip on my wrist, which made me able to look away from his eyes.
"What?" he exclaimed furiously. I winced at the pain in my arm, and he let go at once. Frightened at his outburst I looked up into his eyes again. He was shaking in anger, pressing his eyes shut as if he was concentrating hard.
"Not for me," I said hurriedly. He opened his eyes, squinting at me, waiting for an explanation. I sighed, figuring that there was no way to get around this. "It's for Melissa."
"Melissa?" he asked, frowning. He stopped shaking, but he still looked on-edge. "What has she done now?" He didn't seriously want me to explain to him how it had happened.
"She wanted me to buy for her. And I couldn't tell anyone."
Embry frowned deeper, thinking. Then he shook his head disapprovingly. "Should almost have expected it. That girl knows how to mess up alright," he said, sounding like a grandfather and not a teenager for a second. He looked at me. "What is she going to do if it's…"
"I don't know. I didn't ask her, she was upset enough already," I told him, falling limp backwards in my seat.
"Huh," Embry said quietly, copying my actions. After a few silent minutes, he started driving again. I went into the drug store alone, trying to hide under my hoodie as I asked for a pregnancy test, and paid without meeting anyone's eyes. Hey, I had some pride!
We drove home in silence too, but just as I was about to step out of the car, I remembered something.
"You can't tell anyone this," I told Embry seriously. "Especially not Paul."
Embry looked a little sad at first, but then he nodded slowly.
"I'll try," he said.
"You have to promise," I said sternly. He looked at me uneasily.
"I… don't like promises. It makes everything so –"
"Embry!" I whined. He silenced at once, studying me warily. "You have to promise! I wasn't even supposed to tell you!"
"But you did," he pointed out.
"Because you cheated," I accused. "With your super-cute puppy-eyes, it wasn't fair!"
He looked bemused by something I said for a second, then got serious again.
"Fine. I promise I won't tell anyone."
"Thanks. I trust you, so don't screw this up," I warned. His eyes got all sad again. He tried to hide it, but didn't really succeed. I smiled thankfully at him, and was about to close the door. "Oh!" I leaned in again. "And… thanks for today. I mean, for calling those people and waiting with me and giving me a ride and everything," I babbled. I frowned at my own word vomit. "Okay. Bye."
As he drove off, I suddenly remembered what I'd said. Oh dear God. Had I just said that he had super-cute puppy-eyes?
Yikes.
I shouldn't really be allowed to even talk.
Okay, thank you for all the song-thingies on the reviews! I really liked some of the songs, especially "There for you" by Flyleaf. I've been listening to it all day, while I drank ice tea and read a book ("Gone", has anyone read that?) in the sun.
I had a lazy day.
MyNameIsJustine:
You have an account, don't you? Use it! I easily forget to answer anonymous reviewers here. Yup, I've read two of those, the one with Kim and Jared and the one about Jacob. And I just realized that I haven't reviewed the last one. I even remember that I thought that I had to do it later, because I was on my way out, and then I completely forgot. So I'll go and do that in a minute, because it was really good!!
A Person: Hey, I know a person, is that you?
Lame joke, I know. Okay, it said that you reviewed first chapter, but since this is my only way to answer, seeing that you don't have an account *glares*... THANKS for the review, and I don't think I've ever tasted cheese puffs. But I trust you, there is probably a very big difference. There is also a difference between Fanta and Solo, but Cola and Pepsi both taste like crap.
I bought a CD today.
I just had to get that out, because I'm proud. I haven't bought a CD for... a long time.
I've just been doing illegal things like downloading from the internet, so I felt very nice today when I bought a CD.
My friend just laughed at me.
And my mum said it was a waste of money.
So I need someone to tell me that I was good! Please?
Okay, I keep rambling about uninteresting things here, so here's a little about the story:
Maia and Embry's relationship is supposed to be a little awkward, since they're both sort of holding back. Since she's obviously determined to like someone else, and since she sort of thinks he's a drug dealer... But she can't say that there's no chemistry there, either.
And he don't want to pressure her either, right?
Or, that's what I'm thinking.
You can hate it if you want, I respect other people's opinions.
Okay, not all people's opinions, I read this thing about a woman having a sexual relationship with a tree. Yes, a tree. It was disturbing.
That was random too...
Okay, a question, so you have something to talk about if there's nothing interesting in the story:
What's your favorite book(s)?
Because I'm in this crisis where I've run out of books, and I don't think it's healthy for me to read Twilight again.
