California Girl

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Chapter Song The Runaways

10. Secrets

*Has another seizure because I got 24 reviews and look now I am unconscious and can't believe my life wowowowowowow*

I'm worried that this isn't as good as some of you hoped it would be, but I'll let you guys decide that :D

Secrets, we're got dreams

Mysteries and crazy schemes

Secrets, we've got dreams

Secrets can't be seen...

Embry POV

She was crying. My imprint was crying.

And there was nothing I could about it except let her bury her face in my fur.

She pulled away and started apologizing. Apologizing for being upset! And I couldn't tell her that she shouldn't!

...Or that I was totally in love with her...

Embry, go be human with her, you're driving me nuts.

Quil really is a great friend-

Stop being a kiss-ass and go! Uh... tell her that I said it was okay... yeah, blame me, she worships me, so she won't be mad-

Quil really is an ass-

Fine, I'll just tell Sam you're skipping patrol.

Like I said, Quil's awesome.

I turned to the woods, telling her I had to go. She kissed me goodbye and left. I walked into the forest and phased, before realizing that my clothes were gone.

Logan.

He always stole any sort of clothes that we left around the woods- he liked to phase while dressed, God knows why. The kid was a freaky jerk and I sure as hell didn't like him.

And yes, my dislike may be linked to the fact that he and my imprint did that together.

Okay, I need to calm down, or I'm gonna phase.

I walked further into the forest, finding a pair of shorts and a t-shirt that probably belonged to Quil. I pulled them on and walked back out. Feeling brave after stealing stuff, I walked straight onto Carmen's back porch, opening the backdoor and letting myself in- Dorothy Bird would probably just think I was Quil and wouldn't mind.

"Carmen?" I said, walking further inside, shutting the door behind me. Carmen was sitting on the couch, her eyes wide, he jaw hanging open. She blinked a few times then looked at me, confused.

"Emb... Embry?" She stuttered. "W-What are you doing here?"

"I just came to see you... where's your grandmother?"

"W-With Jenny... U-Um..." She cleared her throat. "You okay?"

"Yeah... Are you?" I sat down next to her, and she nodded, but I wasn't convinced. "Carmen, speak."

"I-I... Wolf..."

What? What did I do?!

"Tell me, Carmen." I took her trembling hands in mine and tried to calm her down.

"No, no... it's fine. It's fine, I'm okay." She took several deep breaths and pulled her hands away, before turning to face me. "What's new with you?"

"Uh... Nothing-"

"You got totally angry last night."

"...Um... Yeah..."

"Why?"

Because the kid had sex with my imprint, then looked at you like you were a piece of meat in that pretty green dress that made me want to have you on Billy Black's dinner table even if everyone was watching.

"Logan's a jerk." I murmured. She laughed, but then her smile fell and she looked to the ground.

"Your mom thinks I'm a total slut."

"Honestly, she didn't really care. She was more focused on yelling at me." I said, sheepishly. "She said that I had to go and find Logan and apologize."

"So what did you do?"

"Found Logan at Quil's house... then I beat him up." I couldn't stop myself from smiling at the memory. It was great when he nearly cried... not so great when we'd both phased and he kept thinking of them two together.

"Embry, Embry..." She was suddenly holding my arm, looking at me with worried eyes. I realized that I was shaking with anger, and probably scaring the hell out of her. I took a deep breath and looked at her face, which made me calm down almost instantly. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I smiled, trying to reassure her, but it didn't really work and she still looked worried. It made me happy in a sick sort of way- the fact that she was concerned about me.

"I'm glad you're okay." She said, quietly, smiling a little bit. Her smile was so beautiful, it was getting harder and harder to not kiss her every time I saw her.

Now that I'd kissed her, it was all I wanted to do. And it seemed like she wanted to kiss me too, even if she told me that she didn't care. I now knew why she wouldn't date me. Her only two experiences in relationships were with total jerks.

I stopped myself from getting worked up over that, thinking about the way that Carmen had confided in me about them.

Only... she hadn't confided in me, she'd confided in my wolf- her wolf.

"Carmen... will you go on a date with me?" It was a long shot, I knew that. She looked down, and I think she was thinking for a moment, but then, she lifted her head up and frowned.

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to."

"Why not?" I already know why you won't. You think that I'll hurt you like that kid did.

"Because I don't find you attractive."

That's a lie. I even heard her tell her new best friend at lunch. She thinks I'm 'smoking hot and everything'.

"I don't believe that."

"You're cocky for a virgin." She smirked and reminded me, oddly, of Paul. I looked down, feeling pretty embarrassed, since, apparently, she had a thing against virgins.

"Well, didn't you tell Edith that I was hot, yesterday?" I don't why I said it, especially because it probably sounded like Edith had told me-

"How did you know about that? Did she tell you?"

Do I get Edith in trouble, or risk being yelled at by Sam later?

I'm too nice.

"I could hear you talking... you were pretty loud."

"Oh... well, I don't care. So what? I think you're hot."

"I think you're hot too." You're also beautiful and magnificent and perfect and-

My thoughts were cut off by her kissing me. I must've gone into shock or something, because she actually lifted my hands up and put them on her waist, then put her hands in my hair and pulled my closer to her.

Move! Do something!

Carmen POV

Why wasn't he kissing back? Did I hear him right? He thinks I'm hot? Or did he say he doesn't think I'm hot? Of course he didn't! I couldn't believe that I was actually putting his hands on my waist, pulling him closer. It was ridiculous!

"Kiss me." I murmured against his lips. He didn't and stayed motionless. I spoke louder. "Kiss me!"

That got his attention. He moved a hand up to my hair, tugging on it gently. His lips moved against mine rapidly and his other hand moved to pull me onto his lap. Somewhere in the kissing, his hand had moved up the back of my shirt to run up and down my back. I ran my hands along the hem of his shirt, trying to decide if he'd let me without stopping me like usual.

Screw it.

I let my fingertips run along his abs and nearly passed out. They were rock hard and I really wanted to see them, but if I stopped kissing him to remove his shirt, that gave him time to decide to reject me.

Again.

I leaned further into him, feeling the need to get every inch of my body touching his.

"Minnie?" Before I could react to Quil's loud-ass voice, Embry had removed me from his lap and placed me, not so gently, onto the other side of the couch. Quil walked into the room, Paul and Jared following him in. He grinned a knowing smile. "What's been going on here?"

"What the hell do you want, Quil?" I asked, frustrated. What can I say? I'm a sixteen year old girl and my hormones are raging, give me a break!

"Woah, calm down!" He laughed, putting his hands up. "Mom's in Port Angeles with your grandma and we're hungry, so we figured, 'hey, how sweet is Minnie? She's bound to feed us!', right guys?" Jared and Paul nodded, muttering how 'nice' I was.

"Fine." I stood up and walked to the kitchen. They must've thought I couldn't hear them or something, because they all started laughing.

"Call, geez, you barely know the girl!"

"She doesn't even know you're her imprint yet and you're letting her take your innocence on her grandma's couch?"

"Hey, at least he's finally gonna let her take his innocence, I don't think I can handle his whining on patrol anymore!"

"Shut up, she might hear you-!"

"She won't, shut up!"

I finished making sandwiches and walked back through to the living room, deciding to play dumb and not say anything. I set the large plate down on the coffee table and sat in Grammy's armchair. They all sat stuffed onto the couch, making me worry that the arms of the chair would give way and fall off. They watched me intently, their eyes flickering between the plate and me.

"Eat." I said, which caused them to all dive at the plate like wild animals. They were finished within seconds, and I was surprised that the plate was left. "Well, that was disgusting."

"Sorry." Jared said, his mouth full. He swallowed, then leaned back and patted his stomach. "That was good."

"Your girl can cook. That's awesome." Paul stretched.

"I am not his girl." I scoffed.

"That's not what it looked like." Quil laughed.

"Get out. All of you. Get out of my house, right now."

I lay in bed that night, thinking.

I wasn't thinking about the four boys who refused to leave my house until I threatened to stop feeding them, or even the intense and awesome make out session that I had had with Embry.

No, I was thinking about my wolf.

More importantly, my wolf being human.

Because...

If my wolf was human, then it would be okay that I had a crush on him, right?

I wondered what his real name was, and how it would sound when I said it...

...And I thought about his butt, because he had a nice one and I definitely wanted to see the face of that ass.

I stood up and walked to my window, staring out, hoping that he'd be out there. Unfortunately, he wasn't, so I climbed into bed and fell asleep to the thought of Mr Wolf and his human self...

I sat on the steps of my back porch, my wolf sitting in front of me. He stood up and walked back to the trees. He stepped into the treeline, and became human. He turned to look at me and I braced myself for discovering who it was.

He turned slowly, too slowly.

I was worried that I'd wake up before I could find out who was the face of my wolf, the man who knew all of my secrets.

He turned and I saw his face.

Embry.

I sat right up, covered in sweat, my heart racing. I looked at the time, four AM. It was getting worse. I rubbed my eyes and pulled my blanket over my head, trying to get back to sleep, but all I could see when I closed my eyes was Embry's face.

Embry wasn't Mr Wolf...

He couldn't be...

The next day at school, I avoided Embry like the plague, deciding that I wasn't going to be having any more make out sessions with him.

Boo.

Edith and I sat in the library at lunch, her drinking a carton of milk, me with left over pasta from dinner last night.

"You knew I had Latina and Quileute heritage..."

"Yeah...?"

"How do you do that? Tell something about someone? I'd like to tell who someone is based on something..."

"You mean identifying someone. I'm good at that too. Like, I could've guessed that Logan Wilms is related to Quil Ateara. They have the exact same eyebrows and brow bone."

Hey, they did!

"What do we have to go on?"

"Um... Well... You see..." I sighed. "Ass."

"Do I want to know why you've seen the butt of someone who's face you haven't seen?"

"Probably not..."

"Was it a nice butt?"

I smirked and nodded. She grinned, then took a sip of milk.

"You'll have to compare it. So... Take pictures..."

"You're a dog, Edie Jansen."

I woke up at twelve PM the next Saturday, telling me that Grammy was a saint.

Thank god for grandmothers.

The rest of the week had pretty much been me and Edith trying to determine how I could see as many asses as possible and such.

And avoiding Embry.

And no Mr Wolf.

And creepy-ass dreams of Embry and Mr Wolf.

I really missed Mr Wolf.

I woke up because I could feel my cell phone buzzing directly under my belly button and it tickled too much to ignore.

"Hello?" I said, not bothering to move from my place in bed.

"Where the hell are you?" I jumped slightly at his harsh Brooklyn accent, and sat right up.

"V-Vince?"

"Yo, Carm! You're actually alive?" He laughed slightly. "You're in Washington? What the hell? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I-I told you the day I found out, remember? Mom and Dad made me move because... well... y-you know."

"Oh... yeah... sure I remember... anyway, Juliette said you'd call, you never did."

I got distracted by making out with Embry.

"Oh yeah... well... I felt sick, you know..."

"Whatever, Carm. I miss you, though, you know?" He sighed. "When are you coming home?"

"Whenever my parents let me-"

"You can stay with me, if you want. You know, if the 'rents say no."

"I know, Vince." I smiled. He was such a thuggy, Italian-mob-type when he felt like it, but otherwise, he was sweet.

"And I could come and see you!"

And Embry... And Mr Wolf...

Yeah, that'll go down well.

Especially when he meets the group of guys that I hang out with occasionally and who keep coming into my house uninvited.

Can't wait.

"Yo, Carm?" He yelled down the phone.

"Oh, sorry, dazed off."

"You're nuts, dollface."

"Dollface? That's a new one. You sound more like Tony Soprano everyday." I grinned. I heard him laugh.

"Forget about it!" He laughed. Wow, a real New Yorker just said 'fugeddaboudit' to me.

"Well, I'll call you soon..."

"Love ya'."

"Yeah, you too..." I murmured. He hung up, and I found myself grinning at the phone, then holding it my heart.

Only...

I couldn't feel the love I used to for Vince.

My heart held a deeper love for someone else.

Oh my god.

Oh, crap.

I was in love with my wolf.

Embry POV

I heard it all.

Everything.

Vince Moretti is number one on my hate-list, just above Logan and the jerk that broke Carmen's heart the first time.

I went to her house, hoping that she was in one of her nice moods where she likes me and likes to kiss me... A lot. I found her in her room, talking to him on the phone.

I suddenly regretted even going to her window, even raising my hand to tap on the glass, but it was too late. She'd heard something and she was walking to her window, about to open the drapes.

Crap, crap, crap, crap...

Guess I wasn't gonna be wearing this shirt again.

She grinned when she opened the drapes, and through the window, she yelled "Mr Wolf!" She waved her hands, then grabbed a notebook and started writing on it.

Let me get a shower, meet you outside in fifteen... xxx

Then a series of hearts. I nodded my wolf head and ran back into the trees.

Bro, are you seriously spending time with her as a wolf?

Go away, Jared.

Can't. On patrol.

I'll give you a thousand dollars to go away.

What about me? Don't I get a thousand dollars?

Yes, Leah, I'll give you a thousand dollars too.

Eh, I don't need a thousand dollars...

Leah, please!

"Hey!" I turned my had to see Carmen running outside in a red sundress and high heels, red lipstick and lots of mascara, eye liner and eyeshadow. Her hair was up in a fancy twist too.

Woah, does she think you're taking her to the Ritz or something?

Shut up, Leah!

Fine, fine, whatever! But you cover with Sam for us!

Thanks Jared, promise I'll take the blame.

Have fun!

But not too much fun!

Finally, I was alone. She had a plate of food, like usual.

"Hi!" She sat down in front of me, smoothing her dress down as she sat. She set the plate of food down and grinned, sitting up extremely straight.

What was going on with her? She usually came running out in a ripped sweater with a faded logo of the University of San Diego and sweat pants. She didn't make this much of an effort for school or anything... why was she-?

"Are you a human?" She said it quickly and nervously.

How does she know that?

"I-I saw you... Yesterday... You were standing in the trees..."

She saw me naked?!

"...Cute butt." She giggled and adjusted the straps of her dress.

That's why she's dressed up... She wants to impress me!

A huge smile broke out on my face, and she seemed to notice.

"You don't have to tell me who you are... I mean, you know, if you're not allowed, that's okay."

She's perfect.

"I mean, I haven't told any one that my best friend is a wolf... Especially not that you're a human because to be honest I was sure I was just crazy..."

I shook my head, which made her laugh.

"Y-You're a human! That's so weird!" She laughed again, probably in disbelief. "I'm so happy you're a human..." Her face got almost serious, and her hand rested on my cheek.

She slowly lowered her face to mine, and I really wished I could be in my human form when she placed her lips onto my nose so that I could-

Wait a second...

Oh my god.

Oh, crap.

Carmen was in love with my wolf.

Thanks for reading! I hope you liked this chapter! I'd love feedback, even anons are great! I love you all for reading this.

It's crazy. I have half the reviews of my other story with three times less chapters! I love you allllllll! :D