Chapter 10: Claire- A Fun and Easy Way to Go Down a Dress Size

"Claire," he spoke into my mouth, his hot breath calming me. "I love you." My heart expanded and fluttered. It was beautiful, unexpected, but beautiful.

Then I remembered why I was mad at him. I turned my body to face him full on, "And Leah?"

"Um, I love her too I guess… She's still sorta part of the pa—"

"So you love with her too?" I asked crossing my arms over my chest.

"What are you talking about?"

"What are you talking about?" I emphasized, looking at him disgusted.

"I'm not even sure anymore. I'm here telling you Claire that I love you, I'm in love with you and you're talking about Leah."

"And the imprint!" His face fell when I said this.

"You know about that?" He asked looking down.

"Yeah, why shouldn't I? I mean I should be in the know, when you're kissing me like this, but you're all betrothed to Leah."

"Wait what?"

"Supernaturally engaged to Leah!" I shrieked, my fist tightening, I pounded on his chest until I felt as if the bones in my pinky were about to break.

"Whoa, whoa! I seriously, have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, usually I have some clue but—"

"You imprinted on Leah," I realized the word imprinted was hard for me to say, as if I had to say something extremely dirty in front of a priest. Quil laughed, laughed so hard in fact, that the car began to shake and I stared at him waiting for an answer.

Now I'm not sure if everyone does this, but sometimes, especially at extremely bizarre or amazing moments in my life, I wonder what it would look like if it was made into a movie. I think if my life were made into a full length feature film, this moment, or I should say scene, would be a show stopper. Or maybe not… maybe there would have been so many clues throughout the film that the audience would be expecting what happened next. Maybe I am just so completely dense that only I was shocked at this moment—but the script would go something like this.

Setting: My mother's beat-up Buick, parked behind Quil's store.

Characters- Claire: Utterly average and bust deprived, lusty minor. Quil: Sexy bronzed werewolf.

Quil: No one has imprinted on Leah, what are you on about? You only imprint once, it's a once in a lifetime thing and I imprinted on you.

Claire: On who?

Quil: On you, Claire.

Claire: How?

Quil: I don't know, it's magic.

Claire: When?

Quil: Fifteen years ago.

Claire: Whoa, wait… all this time?!

Quil: I know…

Claire: That's kinda a little creepy Quil, I was like two.

Quil: It wasn't like that Claire but a little strange, I guess.

Claire: Hot though…

Quil: Hot?

Claire: Yeah, cuz you're mine.

Quil: Forever.

We kissed sweetly a few more times before he pushed me into my front door. I didn't sleep well that night, worrying about "the talk" with Emily. I hopped out of bed early, the sun barely lighting the horizon, not wanting to lie awake any longer. I took a shower, dressed carefully, unnecessarily blow-dried my hair straight, and even put on makeup (something I had not done in a long time). When I couldn't put it off anymore, I headed out my front door.

After having driven the day before I felt more confident about driving to Emily's house alone but Quil was waiting for me; looking all delicious in a white t-shirt and khaki shorts. We drove in silence and arrived at Emily's house just as the pack was heading out.

They all looked exhausted and Anna gave me a short hug before dragging Michael out the door. They were adorable together and I wondered momentarily if they had imprinted, and if they had, who had imprinted on whom. Could girls imprint on boys?

Emily had started breakfast super early, feeding the entire pack after a very wild patrol, where they split in two groups and chased a coven of four vamps half way to Port Angeles before they caught them. Quil grabbed a muffin, kissed my cheek and headed out, nodding to Emily as he went.

Emily didn't start the talk right away which made me increasingly more nervous. I sat nibbling on her famous chocolate peanut butter pancakes, before Kim, and Rachel arrived. Seth's adorable girlfriend, Natalia was watching the kids today, a major task because there was six among them all. When I realized it would be all four of us I started to panic.

Rachel Black-Wise, a sweet and calm girl spoke first, "Wow, what a connection, huh?" I could tell she was not digging the silence and wanted to get this started already.

"Yeah, so you're officially a wolf-girl now," Kim said raising her eyebrows.

"How does one officially become a wolf-girl?" I asked hoping to push the conversation off-course.

"Look Claire, you know what I'm going to say, so I'm just gunna say it. I know what it feels like— the thrill of the imprint, but you are absolutely too young and not ready for a sexual relationship yet," Emily said quickly, as if she had rehearsed the speech earlier.

"Shit! Is that the kinda sex-talk we were having? I thought we were gunna give pointers on not being squished by a mammoth man," Kim said looking at Emily confused. I couldn't hold in my laughter as Emily's eyes widened.

Rachel nodded in agreement and added, "Or die of heat stroke!" She looked at Kim and together they sighed, "hydration," before bursting into school-girl like giggles.

"She's seventeen!" Emily protested.

"Yeah... well, so was I," Kim said lighting a cigarette as she walked out onto the back porch. Rachel and I followed, and Emily sat frozen in place.

"Yeah, well Kim you were a different story all together. Are you going to get her smoking now too," Emily asked as she joined us on the porch.

"No! They're bad for you, kiddo," Kim said seriously.

"Okay, come on, Kim… Claire, Emily might be right," Rachel started, and when Emily shot her a venomous glare amended, "Emily is right!"

"I didn't say I was going to have sex with him today," I said turning red.

"You're blushing, Claire. How cute—Well, if you're not ready to talk about sex, you're not ready to have it," Kim said taking another drag of her cigarette.

"I can talk about it," I whined my voice was too high. They looked at me skeptically and I continued, "no really, I wanna know about being squished, and heat stroke and hydration. Really, I do!" Emily laughed finally and her eye sparkled warmly.

"You're really going to do this?" Emily asked hugging me.

"Yeah, when the time is right," I answered, wishing he was here so I could make it the right time. I hated how long it had been since I'd seen him, but he was probably sleeping after a long patrol.

"Well then, I guess we're going to have to give you all of the dirty details!" Emily said winking at Kim.

"Aww, it's seems like just yesterday we were doing this with Nessie," Rachel said smiling sweetly.

"Yeah, she was a little freaked out," Emily nodded.

"Yeah, but Nessie is a freaky mutant girl, she can't be crushed like you, Claire," Kim added.

"Hey! That's my future sister-in-law," Rachel protested.

"Sorry, Rachel," Kim paused, and as she flicked her cigarette over the side of the porch she whispered, "she is a freak though," just to me.

Rachel rolled her eyes but didn't protest, she just headed back in the house and we followed

We sat quietly around the table as Emily made a fresh pot of coffee, my hands sweating from anticipation.

"Well, first is the size issue, as Kim pointed out— you don't want to be squished," Emily started.

"And it's not just his weight we're talking about here when we say size," Kim added. I instantly regretted agreeing to this discussion.

"Oh no she's not," Rachel agreed. I looked down at my glass, hoping they didn't realize I was starting to sweat slightly at my hairline.

"Well, that's an issue too," Emily warned, "But I was thinking more along the lines that they can get extremely… exuberant. They don't really realize they're hurting you."

"They feel really terrible afterwards though, when they see the bruises on your hips or arms," Rachel interjected.

"Or ass," Kim added laughing. I was curious about how exactly you got bruises on your backside, but felt I would look juvenile if I asked.

"Mmm, imprinting guilt for hurting you can kill the mood," Emily said sagely.

"Yeah, you can't do very much about the size of the instrument, but when things are getting intense, you can try some creative positions," Rachel said meekly.

"Yeah, us wolf-girls gotta get used to life on the top," Kim cut-in winking.

My mouth went dry then; I would have laughed if I didn't know she was being completely serious. I never thought that much about sex, but when I did I was sure I would have the safe, no experience necessary spot on the bottom

"Well lying on your side is also pleasant," Rachel said as if she were discussion sports tactics. Kim eyed her, obviously intrigued.

"W-What if I don't know how?" I stuttered embarrassingly.

"It's not exactly rocket science," Kim said grinning.

"You'll um… get the hang of it," Emily said pouring herself another cup of coffee.

"And well, that's the beauty of imprinting, anything you do will be exactly what he wants, because he just wants you to be happy. So if you're enjoying yourself, so will he," Rachel added.

"I'm serious about the size thing, it hurts. You'd better be ready for that," Kim said, suddenly serious.

"How do I get ready for that," I asked appalled. I hadn't thought about the pain, but then I hadn't honestly thought about that part of him. It must, well, be (gulp) proportionate with the rest of him. Oh man! I never thought much past the idea of kissing him, which was probably why I was so enthusiastic for more. Now I was terrified, I could feel my face turning white… or at least whiter, pretty difficult to go white with a tan like mine.

"Breathing exercises," Emily whispered.

"You have to be completely relaxed. Completely," Rachel warned.

"Oh god, and the heat! That's a shocker!" Kim groaned.

"If it's all so painful and uncomfortable then why—never mind," I was going to ask, 'why bother', but before the words even passed my lips I realized I would probably still do it, right here, right now. Well maybe not right here...

"Yeah, I think you know the answer to that," Rachel said slyly.

"Stop scaring her you guys," Emily butt-in.

"It's not all pain and discomfort. It's pretty damn great when you get used to it," Kim said greedily.

"And the heat?" My voice croaked as I said this, remembering how hot he felt when he held me.

"That's easier to deal with. Air conditioning," Emily said looking away from me.

"And the heats sort of nice when you get adjusted," Rachel said sweetly.

"Yeah, but it's hard to be sexy when you're sweating like a pig… a fun and easy way to go down a dress size if you're in a pinch though," Kim chuckled.

"You gotta be careful though. It can… last a while, so you have to stay hydrated," Rachel advised.

"Again, a mood killer if you pass out in the middle," Emily pointed out.

"If they realize it!" Rachel cried. The rest of us looked at her with a mix of shock, disgust and humor. "Paul's… well, he's very energetic," she explained. I laughed for the first time, trying thoroughly to keep the images out of my head. It was way too much to suppress and I giggled more fervently. I couldn't hide my childish discomfort anymore. I thanked them excused myself, heading over to Quil's on foot.

His apartment wasn't far and I made my way through the store where Solace was chatting on his cell phone with one of his many girlfriends looking very cool. He winked seductively as I passed, and I giggled: he just sorta had that effect on ladies.

Solace's best friend Phil sat watching TV, as Jordan, academic and extremely handsome, sat on a crate of 7-up reading a very large book.

I dashed up the stairs and opened the door which led up to their tiny living room. Embry's room was to the right and his door was open, revealing him sprawled on the bed in red silk boxers. Seth stumbled out of his room then, dressed for the day, but looking fatigued.

"Oh— Hey, C-bear!" He smiled enthusiastically and the bags under his eyes seemed to wave.

"Hey, Seth. Where you going? Weren't you out patrolling all night?" I asked moving to his side. I always worried about Seth, he worked harder than a lot of the pack.

"Yeah, but Natalia is watching the smaller kids today—her birthday present to Rachel. I wanna help her out," he said yawning.

Seth was one of the kindest, warmest people I knew, in fact, he was my true first crush. Yup, eleven year old me was "in love" with Seth. The feelings didn't continue but I still cared for him very much. His girlfriend Natalia a young and beautiful latina who worked on the rez, was truly a lucky lady.

"I wish you would get some sleep first," I said patting his back.

"Can't, duty calls and my princess awaits," Seth said smiling and heading out the door holding his arm as if he were carrying a sword. "I'm really happy for you two, by the way," he said before sprinting out the door.

"Thanks," I called sure he would hear me as he went.

Quil was lying spread eagle on his huge bed which took up the majority of his room, and I yawned remembering my sleepless night. His position didn't allow me much room but I crawled in on his right side and snuggled against him drifting into blissful oblivion.