Crushing Gravity
Chapter 10
The leaves overhead rustle as a breeze smelling of ocean brushes by, ruffling my hair and causing the fur of Wolfe's back to stand awkwardly.
I smooth it down with my hand, and lean against her giant frame as we continue to walk.
Leah couldn't hang out with me today, like all Fridays, Mondays and Tuesdays, because she had something to do that she won't tell me about. So I had ventured into the woods that haven't been scary since the second time I went into them, and Wolfe had materialized by my side after an hour of walking.
Her fur seems even more silver in the daylight, but I can actually see that it's just a dark grey that grows lighter as it leads to her belly and legs.
My leg snags on a root, and I tip forward, but Wolfe just juts her large head out and catches me. I giggle.
She's such a smart wolf; I can see the intelligence in her eyes. They almost seem human and are so, so familiar.
A snapping branch draws my attention away from my wolf, yes I think of her as mine, and towards the trees to my right.
A large head appears, rusty red and even bigger than Wolfe, and he makes me uneasy, but I'm not afraid.
Wolfe steps in from of me, growling lowly, and for a while they just look at each other with matching intelligent eyes.
The red wolf takes a step closer, just a few yards away now, and I clutch the grey fur in my fingers tighter. I don't know that wolf, and I don't want him any closer; I don't want him taking my Wolfe.
Are they mates, or just pack? They don't seem completely aggressive towards each other, other than the slight growling from Wolfe.
But as my fist tightens in her shoulder fluff, her ears flatten and she snaps at the wolf with teeth the size of hunting knives.
The red wolf's ears flatten and his teeth pull back before he turns around and runs off the way he came.
I watch him run until Wolfe head butts me in the chest to gain my attention. I laugh and rub her ears even as she licks me with her overly large tongue.
My bangs stick up with the saliva and I wipe them back down with just a bit of disgust.
We keep walking, me trusting Wolfe completely when she noses me into a direction every now and then.
...
The bonfire is slightly different this time. For one, it's on the cliffs instead of the beach, and the fire is already started when we arrive. There are some new people, which surprises me because they are older men.
"Those are the elders," Leah whispers in my ear, having to dip her head pretty far to reach it.
She's touching me again, a hand on my shoulder, fingers brushing my arm, sometimes holding my hand. She's gotten a lot braver since I fell asleep in her arms, and I've gotten a lot more comfortable with her touch since being held so long.
She grabs my hand again, tugging me in a direction of some people I saw at the last bonfire, but never met.
"Come on, let me introduce you to my cousin," she says, smiling brightly and stopping two feet away from the couple. "This is Emily," she points to the girl with the wicked scars, and then the buff man delicately holding her waist, "and Sam."
Sam. As in her ex boyfriend that broke her heart.
Anger flares in me, hot and irrational and unrestrained.
My hand rips itself out of Leah's, and balled in a fist, it smacks the huge guy right in the face. It hurts, jarring all the way up to my elbow like when I hit Paul, but it's very satisfying to see the shock and recoil my hit had.
Emily gasps, immediately cupping his face, and everyone has wide eyes, watching us now and waiting to see what he will do. My anger was gone again, cooled as quickly as it flared, as Leah yanks me behind her rougher than she's ever handled me.
I didn't like that touch, and I shake her off, which I hadn't done since Wednesday.
My own eyes are on Sam, waiting to see what he does.
He rubs his large hand over his jaw, eyebrows raised. "That was a pretty good punch," he compliments, seeming surprised. Everyone give a collective sigh and Leah relaxes her tense stance. Emily calms down and looks at me as if she can't fathom why I had done it. "Why did you punch me?" He asks when I didn't say anything.
"I dunno," I shrug. "Friends do that, right?" I ask Leah. "Punch ex boyfriends that broke their friend's heart?"
"Ah," she rubs the back of her neck. "I guess. But you could have warned me that you were going to hit him, I would have stopped you."
"I didn't know I was going to hit him," I defend myself. "And what do you mean you would have stopped me; I'll hit him if I wanna hit him." I take a step around her, toward the large man as if to hit him again, and she grabs me again to stop me. To restrain me.
I shove her, snarling. "Don't touch me!"
I'm angry again. I don't like being told what to do. I don't like being grabbed. Sure I let her touch me some, hold me, but she can't grab me.
Calm down, Sammy, Lyla warns.
Hurt flashes in Leah's eyes, and her hands tremble slightly, so I try to do as the voice in my head instructed to do, and take a deep breath.
Friends, I remind myself. Friends have fights. This isn't even that, it's a spat, a disagreement.
"Sorry," I amend slowly, testing the word. I don't apologize; I say what I mean and I don't take it back. I take this back. I didn't mean to yell at her, but I don't want her to do what she did again. "Just don't...grab me."
"Okay," she nods eagerly. "Sorry."
"So, you're not going to hit me again, right?" The man asks and I turn back to him and his fiancé.
"Guess not," I shrug. "Sam."
"Sam," he holds out his hand, smiling.
I grin too, at the irony of our names, but don't take his hand. Again, it's not necessarily to be rude, but handshakes are awkward to me. I just don't do them.
He lets it drop back to Emily's waist, unoffended. After all, I did just punch him.
Leah's touch to the back of my hand in uncertain, hesitant, so I open my palm in an invitation for her to hold it. She does immediately.
"Come on," she tugs gently in a different direction. "Let's get some food before they open it up to the guys."
I look up in the direction we are walking and see many tables set up with mountains of food. The old men are getting plates along with Kim, a girl I don't know, and Quil and Jacob getting plates for the little girls they were shadowing everywhere.
Leah let's my hand go to pile a plate high with food, and it surprises me when she hands it to me. I know that she's dying to eat.
"I'm not allowed to eat yet," she explains, pulling a water bottle out of an ice chest for me and going back to sit in front of the fire. She then disappears to hover close to the table, staring longingly at a particularly large patty.
I shake my head in amusement and turn back to my meal, but pause when I meet deep green eyes. It's the ten-year-old little girl I had noticed at the last bonfire, but she seems to have grown quite a bit since then.
She's staring at me curiously, head tilted. She doesn't look anything like the others I had seen on the reservation, and she looks even more out of place than I do.
Where's my skin is somewhat pale and hair is black, hers is chalky white and her hair is a strange bronzy color.
"Hello," I say politely.
She smiles but doesn't say anything in return.
"I'm Sam." She points somewhere behind my shoulder, and I turn to look at the hulking man handing his fiancé a plate of food. "Yes, like him. What's your name?"
She immediately reaches out towards my face, and I don't know what to do because I don't want her to touch me, but I can't just bat her hand away like I normally do.
"Nessy," Jacob says, suddenly at her side. She pauses in her approach and looks up at him. He bends down as she reaches up to him, and she touches his cheek. He shakes his head. "No, she doesn't know."
The exchange is odd, and the absolute adoration in Jacob's expression he looks at 'Nessy' with, makes me uncomfortable.
"Sam," he acknowledges me, "this is Nessy. Say hello, Nessy."
I had thought that the girl didn't, or couldn't, talk, but she opens her mouth and the most elegant voice comes out. "Hello." Just a single word, a simple one, but it's like the ring of wind chimes in its beauty.
Jacob grins like a proud father, or overprotective brother.
Leah plops down next to me, concentrating on her towering food that is balancing precariously on a too-small plate.
"Jacob, you better hurry up or everything good will be gone." The russet boy's head shoots up and his mouth opens in shock.
"Oh, man, no- guys, common, wait!" He darts towards the long tables, shoving the pack of guys as best he can to get to the center of it.
Leah had gotten the patty she had wanted, along with what looks like the rest of the plate it was teetering on... And then the rest of the food on the table.
It's actually fascinating to watch it disappear into her mouth as fast as it does, and I wonder where she puts it all.
She doesn't notice my staring until she's on her last burger, and she pauses.
"What?" she asks, a blush darkening her skin even further. It's cute how after wolfing down all of that, she thinks putting down her last burger would make a difference, like it's the last one that would be too much for a person.
I giggle and reach out to wipe off a smear of mustard that smudges her cheek. She blushes again, causing her overly warm cheek to grow even hotter. It's like she's constantly running a temperature, but she doesn't ever seem sick. Some people just must run higher than others.
It's well after dark and everyone has just finished eating when one of the older guys clears his throat.
It had been pretty loud with people chatting, but a hush immediately falls over everyone.
A/N: I'm really excited for the next chapter, guys, so you know that it's going to be good... At least I hope you think it will be good...
Anyway, please review; leave your thoughts; praise me; criticize me- actually no, please don't be harsh. I have very sensitive feelings.
~Silver~