Chapter 11 - Seth/Aoife

Part One - Seth

I leaned against my truck in the Cullens' driveway, waiting for Aoife and Aoibheann to come out of the house. Aoibheann came out first, bounding down the steps, the front door banging loudly in her enthusiasm. Aoife came out then a moment later, looking beautiful as usual, her guitar case slung over her shoulder.

She walked down the steps towards me and I stood up straight, the seconds as she approached seeming inevitably long.

"Hey, we match!" She grinned, pulling on my shirt and then her dress. Both were shades of blue. I smiled at her observation, and gave her a long kiss.

"Hem, hem." Aoibheann cleared her throat after a moment. Aoife pulled away from me, stuck her tongue out at her and threw her guitar into the back of my red Chevrolet truck.

"Nice car." Aoibheann snorted, throwing her sax case in, too. The girls wouldn't have seen my truck before. Any of the time we had spent together had usually been in Forks or pretty close by, so it hadn't been necessary for me to bring it. If we'd gone on day trips further afield, we'd borrowed Edward's Volvo. Edward still had beef with the truck, despite the fact that his wife hadn't driven it for many years.

I smiled sarcastically at her. I loved my truck. "Thanks. It used to be Bella's, but it went bust on her just before her and Edward got married, so I bought it for dirt cheap, and Jake fixed up the engine."

"I like it," Aoife grinned, running her hand against the rusting edge of the battered red truck.

"You would." Aoibheann said with a slight roll of her eyes.

Aoife ignored her. She opened the passenger door and slid in across the beige seat. Aoibheann hopped in next to her, and I got into the driver's seat. The engine started with a roar. Aoife turned on the radio, and fiddled with the dials until she found a decent station.

I rolled my eyes as Taylor Swift blared out of the radio, but Aoibheann squealed and Aoife laughed, and they began to sing along.

"Remember when we did this in the school talent show a few years ago?" Aoibheann said to Aoife, grinning at the memory.

"Yeah!" Aoife replied, smiling too. "We probably butchered it."

"I doubt that," I said, meaning it. "Either way, it's guaranteed that you did a better job than Taylor herself."

Aoife groaned. "Stop that. I love her."

Aoibheann smiled, and squeezed Aoife's elbow. Aoife grinned back at her and squirmed slightly, ticklish as always.

When we arrived at La Push, it was properly dark. I parked outside the store, and we walked the short distance to Fifth Beach. I explained to the girls that it was a secret beach, and that hardly anyone knew about it.

I led them to the spot where I had met Aoife just over two weeks previously, and we then entered the forest briefly before walking out onto the golden beach.

"Oh!" Aoife exclaimed as she looked around. "I was here before!"

My surprise was probably evident. "You were?"

"Yeah, earlier today." She hesitated. "This is where I met Embry."

I laughed. "Of course, you would have to discover La Push's biggest secret before I get a chance to show it to you!"

"Who's Embry?" Aoibheann asked as we began the trudge up the beach to where the campfire glowed in the distance. I looked down at Aoife, surprised that she hadn't told Aoibheann about what had happened earlier.

"He's a friend of Seth's," Aoife said easily, and Aoibheann accepted the answer without another question. We walked along the beach, getting closer and closer to the soft glow of the fire. When we arrived, we were greeted by a large group of people, all sitting on the sand around a large fire.

"Hey, guys." I grinned down at them all. "This is Aoife -" I smiled down at Aoife, and squeezed her hand gently - "and her friend, Aoibheann."

They all smiled up at us. I began to introduce everyone.

"This is Quil, Paul, Jared, Kim, Jacob, obviously, Collin, Brady, Sam, Emily, Leah and Embry."

"Hi," Aoife said when I was done, smiling beautifully at everyone, her dimple showing. I noticed her eyes glancing over Embry, but she said nothing.

"There're actually a few more of us, but I guess the other kids weren't let out by their moms," I said to her with a hint of a snort, surveying the small grouping.

Emily turned her head towards us and smiled broadly at us both. Sam had told me about Emily's joy and enthusiasm when she had heard of my imprinting. She was one of the most generous and kind-hearted people that I knew. She wanted everyone to share a little piece of her happiness, no matter how small. I watched as she waved cheerfully at Aoife from her spot next to Sam. If Aoife was shocked by the horrific scarring on Emily's face, she was very good at not letting it show. She grinned broadly at everyone, her blue eyes sparkling in the light from the fire. I sank down in the sand next to Kim, and Aoife sat next to me, in between me and Embry. She flung her guitar onto the sand behind her, and sat cross legged, evidently relaxed. It was as if she had always been one of us.

Part Two - Aoife

I smiled at everyone, feeling a teensy bit self-conscious as many different pairs of eyes stared up at me. I wasn't used to feeling that way. It took a lot to shake me. I glanced to a girl sitting next to the guy Seth had introduced as Sam, trying to place everyone. Sam was the original pack leader, right? Which meant that his object was Emily... She turned to fully face me, and it took a lot of will power not to alter the relaxed expression that had settled on my features. Her face was destroyed. Three long, angry, pink lines, going straight down the left side of her face. The must have carried the whole way down her arm, too, because they only ended on her hand, which was rested on Sam's knee. The lines could have been drawn by an artist with a ruler, or perhaps a surgeon, they were so straight. Her smile, despite her horrific scars, was one of the largest and warmest, and I smiled back, before sitting down on the cool sand, next to Seth. I was distracted by Emily and didn't realise who I was parked next beside, assuming it was Aoibheann, until a familiar voice spoke up.

"Hello, again." Embry grinned.

"Hi." I said shortly, my response immediate despite my surprise. I had not quite forgiven him for the psycho attack on the beach earlier that day.

"Are you mad at me?" He asked, still grinning.

"No. Because I know all the answers now. Want to ask me again?" My voice was sharp, and I was suddenly aware that a couple of the others were watching us with interest.

He laughed loudly. "No, that's okay. I believe you."

"Good," I grinned sarcastically at him, and he shook his head. I looked around for Aoibheann, hoping that I could somehow signal to her that this was the weirdo I'd been telling her about. She was far too busy to be looking at me. She had plonked herself next to Collin, and was chatting him up, flicking her short hair and fluttering her eyelashes. I rolled my eyes at her.

"I'm sorry, you know," Embry said with a heavy sigh. "I know I upset you. I didn't mean to, honestly. I was calling the Cullens' house all day trying to apologise."

"You were?" I was surprised.

"Yeah. Kept getting Edward. He told me you weren't around."

My heart warmed at that. Edward's unique gift had obviously opened his eyes to the scenario with Embry earlier in the day, and he had known that I wouldn't have wanted to talk. I felt overwhelmingly grateful for my vampire cousin-in-law.

"Really though," Embry persisted. "I am sorry. I hope you know that."

I sighed. "It's alright, Embry. Let's start again, alright?"

He nodded cheerfully, and handed me a beer. I raised an eyebrow at him, knowing fully well that everyone around this campfire, except for Sam, Emily, Leah, and maybe Jared and Paul, were underage.

"You don't have to drink it if you don't want to," He said, noticing my hesitation.

"No, I want it," I said. "I'm just surprised, that's all. Underage drinking is definitely a thing that exists in Ireland, but I didn't know it was a global phenomenon."

Embry laughed. "We just like the taste. For us wolves, alcohol has like, no effect."

"It does, however, have an effect on human teenage girls," Emily said chidingly from across the fire.

"C'mon, Em," Seth said. "It's just one beer. Besides, the girls are seventeen. You know the drinking age in Ireland is eighteen? No big deal."

I was mentally rolling my eyes at the whole situation. My boyfriend was a werewolf and everyone was concerned about me having a beer? Aoibheann smirked at me. We'd been drinking beer since we were about fifteen. It wasn't a big issue at home. Eventually everyone settled down and the conversation returned to normal.

Despite the fire it was chilly, and as a breeze enveloped me, I shivered. Seth didn't miss it, and reached out to pull me into him. His arm was long enough that it wrapped around me completely. I snuggled into his side, enjoying the heat and comfort.

Kim, the tall girl with Jared, who was sitting next to Seth, opened a bag she had brought, and began handing wire clothes hangers around to everyone. I looked at mine in confusion, wondering what I supposed to do with it.

Seth laughed at my confused expression. He gently took it off me, and bent it out of shape, so that instead of being a triangle it was a long, thin metal pole. He handed it back to me. I was still confused. I looked around, and saw that the others had all done the exact same thing. Embry was in the process of doing it for Aoibheann - she had moved away from Collin, and was now looking at Embry, her hazel eyes large as she absorbed everything he said.

I understood what the hanger was for a moment later, when Kim handed around a Tupperware container filled with raw sausages. Seth helped me spike two onto my hanger and then gave me a glove to wear so I wouldn't burn my hand. If anyone else had been doing it for me, I would have felt I was being babied, and being babied was not something I liked. With Seth though, it was fine. I liked being cared for. That surprised me.

He didn't bother with a glove for himself, and either did the other guys - their skin was already hot enough that the heat of the fire didn't affect them.

The sausages cooked quickly, and by the time I was taking the bite out of my first, Seth had wolfed his three down, and was cooking more.

"Hungry much?" I teased him. The girl next to Sam, Emily, laughed and turned to look at me.

"They're always hungry!" She said smiling at me. I smiled back broadly, feeling awkward and not really knowing how to reply, instead just mumbling something about how they reminded me of my brothers a little.

Seth noticed I was quiet and squeezed my hand. I looked up at him, wondering what had happened to her. His eyes flashed, and I took it that he would explain later. I noticed that his eyes flickered to Sam, and then I suddenly wasn't sure that I wanted to know.

Almost the whole time on the beach, I was in constant laughter. The way the guys behaved - vulgar language, crude jokes, and constantly insulting each other - was hilarious. I threw in a few dirty jokes myself - mostly ones I had picked up from my brothers.

All of the guys stared at me in shock for a minute, before throwing their heads back and roaring with laughter. Seth looked amazed.

I felt a bit embarrassed by his shock, but brushed it off after a minute. I was having too much fun. I burst out laughing as Embry told yet another disgusting joke. Even Aoibheann, who had looked mortified by me, had to laugh now. I noticed Embry had moved, and had his arm around her. She had probably complained she was cold or something.

"Tell another one, Aoife, go on!" Paul, a deep voiced guy who intimidated me slightly spoke. Jake had mentioned to me before that Paul had imprinted on his sister, Rachel, but I noticed that tonight she wasn't here.

I shook my head, grinning. "Nah."

"Aoife, go on!" It was Aoibheann now. "Tell the one about the old man and the… cup."

The others started pleading with me, so I obliged to tell one more. I don't think it was the jokes they found funny – they were pretty bog-standard - I think they were just shocked that I was telling them.

"Okay," I conceded. "One more. Right, there was an old man who wanted to make his young wife pregnant, and he wasn't sure if he could, so he went to the doctor to get a sperm count done, okay?" I looked around. They were all watching me. Already there were smiles playing around the corners of some mouths.

I continued. "The doctor gave him a specimen cup to take home and fill, and instructed him to bring it back the next day. When the man came back the next day, the cup was empty and the lid was still on. The doctor said, "What's the problem?" The old man replied, "Well, I tried with my right hand… nothing. So I tried with my left hand… nothing. My wife tried with her hand, nothing, and with her left, nothing. Then my wife's friend tried. Right hand, left hand, mouth… everything. And still, nothing." The doctor was shocked and replied, "You let her friend try?" The man nodded and replied, "Yeah, and we still couldn't get the lid off the specimen cup"!"

There was an awkward silence for a moment, and then the place erupted with laughter.

"Aoife!" Aoibheann laughed, tears in her eyes. "How come you never told me that before? I meant the one about the guy and the egg cup!"

"Hell, Seth, and she looks so innocent!" Sam said, roaring with laughter as Seth looked down at me, his shoulders shaking, though he still looked surprised.

The laughing and joking gradually slowed and everyone drifted into separate conversations. I chatted quietly with Jacob and Seth for a few minutes, before getting up to stretch, and sitting with Leah and Emily.

Leah patted my arm as I sat down next to her, grinning cheerfully at me. Emily's smile mirrored Leah's. I felt totally at ease with them, and after a few minutes of laughter and easy chatter, I didn't even notice Emily's scars -they seemed to disappear completely when I realized what a beautiful person she was.

Part Three - Seth

Aoife was laughing again. The guys were staring at her in slight amazement - they were used to girls being disgusted by their jokes, and they looked even more shocked when Aoife had managed to come up with a few of her own, some even more vulgar than theirs. I was amazed too - she looked far too sweet to have any such things in her pretty head. They howled in laughter and rolled around the sand while she told them, a comically innocent look on her face. Aoibheann was shaking her head, embarrassed by her friend's behaviour. I didn't know why she was embarrassed - the others loved her. They laughed at everything that came out of her mouth.

I watched her with intrigue. Intrigue that I felt the first time I saw her, intrigue that just didn't seem to be going anywhere, no matter how much time I spent in her company.

She looked gorgeous, a dimpled grin on her face, her big blue eyes sparkling in the glow of the fire, her long dark hair loose and curling around her face. Her skin was pale as usual, though her rosy cheeks were slightly more flushed than normal from the heat of the fire. It all added to the effect. She laughed again. I had missed the joke, but I laughed anyway. How could I not laugh? She made me want to laugh always, so I took every opportunity to do so. I wanted to laugh with her forever.

Please review! The campfire scene isn't yet over… the rest of it will probably be up tomorrow, if I get the editing done. I'll do my best to have it up soon. The next chapter is quite important…

There was some confusion where the pronunciations of the names of Aoife's siblings are concerned… I edited the end of that chapter, and the pronunciations are there. I hope that makes things easier! I could have used generic names, I guess, but I thought that having the Irish names would provide some ethnics.

Thanks guys!

LB x