AN: Hey everybody I'm back with another chapter for this story. First of all Thanks a lot to Sendok98 for reviewing my story. And thanks to the others who read it. I hope you enjoy reading this chapter. Sorry for any mistake I made in it. You are welcome to point out any fault in the story. It's my humble request that you write a review to it because it's really important for me to know what do you think of the story and should I continue or not? Thanks.
Chapter 9: The Birthday Party
On the day of the long awaited birthday party, I asked Brady to pick me up at seven. I wouldn't have bothered him but I had no idea where the party house was where the celebration was taking place. It was a surprise for me when instead of Brady, Seth came to pick me up. I thought he was too busy with everything, that's why I didn't ask him for the favor. But I was glad nonetheless that he came.
Like everyone else, I too was wearing the dress Alice sent for me. Not bragging or anything but it looked perfect on me as if it was meant for only me. I wondered how Alice picked it up for me without seeing me in person for once. The dress alone made me look so pretty that I didn't have to do much with my hair. I just had my hair tied up in a French bun. A few twisted curls fell over on the sides of my face. Even though I looked pretty but I bet others at the party would look absolutely breathtaking. It made me feel nervous.
I looked at Seth and smiled. When our eyes met though, my nervousness suddenly increased more. For some reason, Seth was staring at me as if he was seeing me for the first time. I had to snap my fingers in front of his face to bring him out of his trance.
"Hey, are you ready to leave?" Seth asked stammering a little. He seemed nervous but I couldn't find any reason for him to be nervous. Perhaps I was misunderstanding it. Shrugging off that thought, I nodded to Seth. I walked past him, and got over to Jacob's rabbit which Seth must have borrowed. He followed me quietly but I felt his eyes on me which made me a little uncomfortable. There was just something different about his gaze tonight but I couldn't point it out. Deciding to ponder about it later, I discarded that thought too and stepped inside the vehicle. I took the passenger seat. Seth got in too and started driving. Neither of us was saying anything to the other which was definitely not normal for us. I thought I had a lot of things to talk about with Seth but at the moment I couldn't think of anything. Silence never existed before when Seth and I were together. But this time no one spoke for a while and it was really unnerving. Finally Seth cleared his throat and I almost sighed out in relief.
"You are looking very beautiful today." Did Seth just compliment me? He must be someone else in Seth's disguise. I checked his forehead worriedly which clearly confused him.
"Are you feeling alright Seth? Since when did I start to look beautiful to you?" Jerking away my hand from his forehead, Seth rolled his eyes at me after throwing me an angry glare. He was positively embarrassed which made me laugh hard.
"Shut up and sorry for complimenting you…. You're weird you know that. Most girls like to hear these things." I was relieved inwardly as Seth continued to argue with me and stopped giving me those weird looks. I liked him that way. Him just being like a friend to me because just a minute ago, I think I saw something else in his eyes for me. Something I don't think I wanted to see again. Sure, I could be completely wrong and it was just my stupid imagination but whatever. I didn't even want to think about it. After our friendly little argument ended, I asked Seth the question I wanted to ask since he came to pick me up.
"Where is Brady? He was the one supposed to pick me up." Seth seemed to get angry for a second but it disappeared quickly.
"He couldn't come and I wanted to pick you up myself. Why? Are you disappointed that it's me and not him?" Seriously what got into Seth tonight? Why would I be disappointed? Maybe staying with the vampires for these past few days has affected him like this. However, I knew very well that it wasn't a logical explanation.
I didn't want to respond to such a stupid question so I stayed quiet. The tension between us grew with every passing minute, as I kept looking away from him with an angry frown on my face. Seth also kept his eyes straight on the road for a few moments, waiting for my apology which he was never gonna get in the first place. After a while I heard him sighing in defeat and a moment later he apologized to me.
"I'm sorry Laila. I don't know what got into me. Look we haven't seen each other for quite some time, let's not ruin our moods." I decided to let it go this time. Seth was right after all. We were heading for a huge party. It wouldn't look good if we seemed upset there. Not to mention over a stupid argument.
"How many people are coming at the party?" I asked normally as if we didn't just had an argument. Seth eagerly answered all my questions. The tension between us disappeared completely and everything became normal which I was very thankful for. As we headed towards the party house, Seth told me everything that had happened while he was there. How he had a great time with the Cullens while arranging the party. I learned that only a handful of humans would be attending this party but many vampire coven would come to wish Nessie happy birthday. It did make me a little nervous but I knew that I had nothing to worry about my safety. The whole wolf pack would be there too, along with their imprints.
Sooner than I expected, we arrived at a mansion looking party house which was very beautiful. I could tell it was already full of people. The party obviously started long before we arrived. Everyone was busy talking to each other and dancing. As for the wolf pack eating would be appropriate to say. They were really enjoying themselves. Seth dragged me inside the house and took me straight to meet his favorite couple Edward and Bella. They acted as if they already knew me very well. Bella came over to me and gave me a friendly chilling hug and Edward greeted me with a charming smile.
"Thanks for coming. We really wanted to meet you" said Bella. She looked more beautiful than I remembered seeing her in Nessie's memories.
"Me too. I'm really honored that you invited me here." I said really meaning it. My confession made the vampire couple smile at me.
"Seth never stops talking about you" said Edward while glancing at Seth for a second. He looked outstanding. His inhuman beauty could make any normal human girl like me feel dizzy. No wonder why Bella was head over heals for him when she was a human.
"It's the same with me. Seth never stops talking about you guys. It's the first time we are meeting but still I know almost everything about you. It's really amazing." While we were talking the rest of the Cullen family came over and introduced themselves to me. They welcomed me at their party with open arms.
Alice also gave me a hug like Bella but her hug turned me blue for the tightness of it. After chatting a little more, the Cullens got busy welcoming the other guests that arrived at the party and Seth left me alone too because Jacob needed him for something. I looked around and found Emily, Kim, Rachael and Chloe standing near the dancing floor and watching some couples dancing. I started to walk over to them; deciding to stick with them for the rest of the party. But someone blocked my way before I could reach them. It was a vampire, a handsome male who looked older than me but by only two or three years top. His eyes were honey colored so he must be a vegetarian one and considered harmless for humans. He extended his hand towards me.
"Hi, I am Michael." I took his hand which was cold as ice. Just as I expected.
"Laila." I said my name while shaking hands with him. Michael smiled at me that took my breath away for a moment. And I was positive that I blushed brightly when he openly checked me out.
"Would you like to have a dance with me Laila?" Before I could say anything, he dragged me in the middle of the dance floor. I was sure to land in a hospital by the end of the dance. He was making me move so fast that I lost my balance many times already. Michael chuckled when I stepped on his foot. He must be thinking I was an awful dancer.
"You really don't know anything about dancing, do you?" And I was right in my assumption. Moreover he was mocking me for being so lame. But suddenly a fire started to burn inside me and I felt challenged. Not to mention angry as well. I wasn't going to let this vampire humiliate me any further.
"Wait a moment." I whispered to him and went over to the DJ who was playing the music. I asked him to change the current song to the one I wanted him to play for us. He started to play the requested song and I went back to Michael with an attitude this time. I held his hand confidently and we started to move along with the music. I danced smoothly with him this time. He made the moves harder and faster but I danced along with him, taking up on every challenge he threw at me. In our little dancing battle the thing I didn't realize was that we got ourselves numbers of viewers who were standing around us.
The song I had chosen ended on time but Michael didn't let go of me. The next song that started to play was kind of wild and the music was a bit lust filled. I hadn't heard this song before in my life. I wanted to stop but Michael didn't let me. Instead he made me move along with him. He was touching my body seductively while dancing with me but I couldn't find any will to complain to him. I became his puppet for that moment. Nothing was in my control, not even my own body nor my mind. When the song was about to end he leaned in to kiss me and I never moved away from him.
We could only kiss for a few moments and then suddenly I was pulled away from Michael forcefully. When I turned around to find who did it, I found a fuming with anger Seth and an equally angry wolf pack. Even the Cullens had a disappointed look on their faces. I realized then exactly what I was doing and couldn't stand their gazes anymore. I practically ran out of the house while the others were murmuring things behind me.
I stopped where Jacob's rabbit was parked. I leaned against it while panting heavily, feeling out of air. I couldn't believe myself for what I did. I wasted my first kiss with someone I didn't even know. I was feeling horrible for doing that. But apparently that wasn't enough for that day. While I was living my own guilt, Seth came over there to make the situation worse for me. He turned me around to face him with such force that I almost fell over losing my balance. He was looking dangerous and shaking violently. He could phase any moment now. I tried to get away from him but he grabbed onto my arms and stopped me from getting any further away from him. His grips were so strong that they were bruising my arms badly.
"Seth, stop it, you are hurting me." A cry escaped my mouth but Seth didn't let go of me neither he loosened his grips on my arms. Instead he growled at me loudly in burning rage. Tears flooded my eyes as the pain increased more. I didn't know why he was punishing me like I've done something very terrible. What I did was wrong of me, certainly but there was no reason for him to behave like this. I struggled to get out of his hold but it didn't work and finally I ran out of my patience.
"For god's sake Seth let go of me." I yelled at him and as a result he thrust me into the rabbit and pinned me against it. I was trapped between the rabbit and him with no way of getting away from him. Suddenly I started to get scared as well.
"Why did you kiss him?" He asked me with a growl. I never thought Seth could get so angry. I was feeling guilty myself for kissing someone stranger but why it would bother him so much? He got nothing to do with it. He had no right to treat me like this and it got on my nerves.
"That's none of your business, Seth." I snapped at him angrily. Not a very smart thing to do, making a werewolf angry when he was already so mad. I heard a growl from him again.
"You don't even regret doing it. I thought you were different than others but I was wrong. You are just the same as those sluts at school." I couldn't believe my own ears as I heard him saying that. Never in my life had I thought that Seth would say something like this to me and for what, just because I kissed someone stranger. I pushed him away hard and this time he left my arms and stepped away from me. I started to walk away from him, hating him for saying that to me. But I had to say something back to him for insulting me like that. So, I turned around and walked up to him again and looked straight into his eyes.
"You know what, you are right, I don't regret kissing him and I would do it again if I want to. And from now on stay the hell away from me." I never got the chance to walk away from him because the next thing I knew, Seth had pulled me closer to him and crushed his lips on mine. At first I didn't understand what the hell was happening but when I realized that Seth was kissing me more like punishing me for talking back to him, I tried to lean back from him quickly. I pushed him away with all my strength. But it didn't make any difference with Seth as he kept holding onto my waist with a strong grip.
Thankfully Sam and Jacob came there in time and pushed him away from me. Jacob noticed the bruises on my arms right away and he growled at Seth angrily. Then both of them phased into wolves right there and started fighting in the middle of the parking lot. The whole pack came out by then along with the Cullens. One more guilt added with the previous one which was for ruining their party like this. Edward got between Seth and Jacob and tried to stop them. Meanwhile Sam ordered Brady and Collin to take me back home.
I got into their truck quietly and Collin drove us out of the parking lot fast. We stayed silent for quite some time. My head was totally jammed and I couldn't think of anything. I never thought that the evening would turn out like this. I had thought that I'd have so much fun but instead the entire party got ruined because of me. Brady was moving uncomfortably in his seat, clearly wanting to say something. I didn't encourage him like I usually do and kept quiet. But after sometime he couldn't help it anymore and opened up his mouth to speak.
"I knew something like this would happen soon but didn't realize it would happen today." I frowned at him with both anger and confusion.
"What are you talking about?" I had to ask him for the sake of my sanity.
"Seth is in love with you Laila but he wouldn't admit that to anyone, not even to himself. But when he saw you kissing someone else today, he couldn't deny it anymore and it got him angry. The thing he shouldn't have done was taking out his anger on you." Explained Brady wisely. Collin glanced at my reflection in the rear-view mirror of the truck. Checking if I was okay or have I already fainted hearing that.
"How could that happen? He didn't imprint on me." I clearly remembered. The last time I checked Seth was still waiting for his imprint.
"That's exactly why Seth was denying his love for you but things are no longer in his hands. And to some level he thinks it's your fault that he is in love with you. That's why he was mad at you. Everyone knows the consequences for a werewolf to fall in love with someone else other than his imprint. It always turns out to be a disaster." Said Collin trying to make sense of the things that happened at the party.
"I can't believe it. How is it my fault that Seth fell in love with me? I wasn't even trying to make anything like that happen between us." Seth was the one who messed up things for the both of us. How could he blame me for that? Well, I was not going to take that blame so easily on me. He is the one who fell in love, not me. I thought of him just as a close friend that's it. I never thought otherwise knowing very well that he was meant to be with someone else. Brady and Collin both gave me pitiful looks. And I thought to myself that I must do something before the complication could get any worse.
