Just to warn you all again: I'm completely ignoring Breaking Dawn in this story. I'm really sorry, I know that's probably not the way some of you want it to go but I hate the division of the pack and don't really want to write about it. This takes place after Eclipse, the pack are as one and Jacob running away after receiving Edward's note is the last we know of it.
Because I feel like I don't say it enough: thank you again for the reviews. If you could send cupcakes over the internet each of you would be receiving one right now.
"Present mirth hath present laughter;
What's to come is still unsure…"
- William Shakespeare
He grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the small house, and I concentrated on keeping my face calm so my hesitation wouldn't show. For probably the hundredth time that week, I mentally slapped myself for being so idiotically emotional. It didn't help that I knew the cause of my bubbling emotions either, because knowing the cause was doing nothing to help calm me down. Especially when the cause happened to be towing me behind him into a dark hallway.
Ask any girl who happens to be in the beginning stages of a crush or relationship and she'll tell you: whenever the object of your lust-filled fantasies happens to be around, everything you feel is immediately brought to the surface. You can't hide a single thought that crosses your mind when you're around them because they're displayed right across your face for the whole world to see. I had blushed enough around boys pre-Kyle to know this, but it felt different with Embry. Heightened, somehow. And I found that I couldn't control my nerves now anymore than I could have controlled my sobbing confession to him about Aidan or my jumping on the back of his motorcycle without considering the consequences.
I wasn't sure what I was walking into, but by the sheer amount of voices I was guessing that the house belonged to one of his friends as opposed to his mom. Reaching this conclusion had built my nerves into an unconquerable mass. What these people thought of me mattered. Embry himself had told me how they were as good as his family, and if they didn't like me…
Well, suffice it to say that the outcome probably wouldn't be good for me.
I could just make out Embry's face in the dark as he turned towards me.
"You ready for this?"
I nodded in response, not really trusting myself to speak.
"Remember not to stare at Emily, okay?"
He whispered this and then moved into the first room on the right hand side. Wondering who the hell Emily was and why I would feel the need to stare at her, I followed him quickly. I blinked my eyes a few times to get used to the bright light in the large room, most of which was a kitchen area and the rest a small living room. These things didn't register immediately though, not with the mass of ridiculously tall, insanely muscled Quileute males taking up the space. I say 'males' because boys was much too young a word for them, and yet, impossibly, men was much too old a word for them too. Their bodies indicated that they were in their mid-twenties at least, but their faces retained a youthful quality which was more often than not lost in the cynicism people out of their teens perpetually seemed to have.
I remembered my shock when I had first seen them walking along the beach, and while I'd almost gotten used to Embry's huge frame now, the sight of so many of them in such a small, enclosed space was making me feel claustrophobic.
The babble coming from at least eight different voices all speaking at once ceased slowly as one by one everyone realised that we were standing in the doorway.
"Hey everybody… this is Addie."
Every single pair of eyes in the room turned to me. I considered doing some really fast pirouettes on the spot to see if my feet would burrow into the ground and I'd end up on the other side of the world, but I figured that ruining the carpet wouldn't get me any brownie points.
"Addie, this is Sam, Quil, Seth, Collin, Jared, Paul and Brady," Embry indicated the man-boys I'd pondered over when we came in. They all smiled and waved in greeting, except the one named Paul, who merely grunted and then turned back to the television in the corner.
"And this is Kim, Leah, Emily, and the little one over there is Claire."
He indicated three women and a small toddler, all of whom my eyes must have missed when I first came into the room. Leah was sitting around the TV with the majority of the guys while Claire was sitting on the carpet a little way away (with… Seth? Quil?… I was already getting names mixed up) grinning toothily while she played with some dolls, a plastic tiara perched jauntily on her head. Emily had been standing in the kitchen with Kim when Embry introduced her, but she moved forwards immediately, brushing off her hands on her apron before grasping one of mine in both of hers and smiling widely. Embry had prepared me well; my shocked eyes took in her ruined beauty but didn't linger on it, instead focusing on the warmth obvious in her eyes.
"It's nice to finally meet you Addie, especially after Embry's talked about you so much. Are you hungry? Dinner should be ready soon."
"Thanks, it's nice to meet you too. Can I help with anything?" I tried to plead with my eyes to get her to agree, I would feel much less awkward if I had something to do.
"You cook?"
She looked intrigued, like she was actually interested in my answer and not bored by the necessary small talk inevitable during a first meeting.
"Not unless burnt toast is your thing. But I've just about mastered the art of setting out plates and cutlery if you need someone to do that?" I smiled to show I was kidding and not trying to be a bitch. Some people didn't take to my sarcasm immediately and spent the first hours of our acquaintance thinking I was horribly cheeky.
"We're lucky to have you then, you seem to be one of the only ones here who's able to do that," she shot a look at the group totally absorbed in the television and grinned back at me. I immediately relaxed and followed her over to the kitchen. Embry squeezed my hand before taking up position amongst the couch potatoes.
"Auntie Em, Auntie Em!"
Claire pulled on Emily's trouser leg as she passed. Emily stopped and looked down.
"What's up, honey?"
"Who that?"
"That's Addie. She's Uncle Embry's friend."
The little girl nodded, and then turned to the guy beside her and whispered something.
"Claire wants to know if you'd like to borrow one of her Barbies," he kept his face remarkably straight as he said this, looking down at her fondly.
I knelt down so I was at eye level with her. She was gorgeous; all silky baby soft skin and curling hair, with the widest dark eyes I'd ever seen. She held out the doll in the blue sparkly dress, her face solemn. I took it from her and said thanks, but she'd already turned back to the rest of her dolls. I took the Barbie with me into the kitchen, moving its legs into a sitting position and propping it up on the kitchen counter. I smiled at Kim, another dark-skinned Quileute. I was starting to feel conspicuous with my blue eyes and almost translucent complexion.
"Hi Addie, it's nice to meet you," her voice was quiet.
"You too."
She was fixing up a bowl of salad while Emily fussed over what appeared to be a cauldron sized pot of pasta and a mountain of garlic bread in the oven.
"Wow, will all of that get eaten? I mean, I know there's a lot of people here but that's a lot of food."
Emily and Kim grinned at each other.
"We have ten pizzas on their way too."
My jaw must have literally dropped because they each had a fit of laughter.
"We always get through it somehow," Kim said, while Emily pointed me in the direction of the plates and cutlery.
"So how do you guys all know each other?"
I know I said I hated small talk, but hey, it has to be done right?
"Well, Sam's my fiancé. He's in charge of taking care of the reservation, and the rest of the guys and Leah help him out so that's how they all know each other. Claire's my niece and Kim is Jared's girlfriend. Sam and I have everyone over almost every Saturday night because it's so hard to get them all together during the week."
Emily talked while Kim smiled on, but didn't contribute.
"Taking care of the reservation? What does that involve?"
"Just making sure everything's safe, basically."
I was still confused as to what exactly that would entail but Emily didn't elaborate further.
I did a quick head count of the room and piled the correct number of plates, knives and forks on the small kitchen table.
"Um, Emily?"
"Mmmm?" she looked up from where she was bending down to check the garlic bread.
"I don't think everyone's going to fit around the table…"
"Don't worry, they all eat like pigs so they don't mind doing it on the floor or the couch."
I laughed at that, gazing around as I searched for something else to do.
"Go sit down honey, we're just about ready to eat anyway," Emily caught my gaze as it roved around the kitchen.
I threw myself down on the floor beside Embry, having remembered to bring the Barbie with me so as to not insult Claire. He snaked his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him while I gazed at the television screen.
"The US Open," he murmured, before I could ask.
"I thought that was a golf thing?" I asked, as I watched the two men run about the tennis court.
"So did we all. But according to this jackass here who stole the remote and turned off the football game we were watching, it's a tennis thing too," grumbled Paul, indicating Embry.
"Aw come on, it's only on for two weeks once a year! I'm hardly interrupting your TV schedules regularly like some people," Embry retaliated, shooting a look over at the guy sitting with Claire. I still couldn't remember his name, although I was pretty sure it was either Seth or Quil. I made a mental note to ask Embry later. Quil/Seth held up his hands, and patted Claire's head.
"Hey, if Claire wants The Teletubbies, Claire gets The Teletubbies. You try arguing with a two year old over characters named Dipsy and Po and see how far you get."
The banter continued in this vein (I even managed a few shots at Embry about his tennis obsession) until the doorbell rang and Sam went to fetch the pizzas as Emily sat the pasta and garlic bread on the table. The pizzas were set out on the floor and everyone helped themselves. Kim tugged on my arm and warned me to take as much as I would eat first time around because there wouldn't be much left if I wanted seconds. I complied, and watching the males of the group eating it was soon obvious what she meant. They inhaled food, mountains and mountains of it. I almost felt ill watching it all, and looked up to find Kim grinning at me in agreement. Jared had kicked Paul off the couch to make room for her beside him, and the aura of comfort and love radiating from the two of them was so obvious it was almost visible.
"How long have Jared and Kim been together?" I asked Embry quietly, so no one else would hear.
"Nearly a year I think. Why?"
"Is that all?" my voice must have reflected my shock, because he looked perplexed.
"What do you mean?"
"They just look like they've been together longer."
"How can they look like they've been together longer?" his tone was amused now.
"I dunno… just the way they are with each other; totally comfortable and secure and in love. You don't normally see that in a couple until they've been together a lot longer than a year. It's … amazing to see."
He grinned, but Quil (he'd also informed me that Quil had been the one sitting by Claire earlier; Seth was the happy-go-lucky one sitting beside Leah) held out the pizza box with the last slice of margarita in it for me to have. We had been sharing it since everyone else had balked at the obviously ridiculous idea of having a pizza plain and refused to eat it. I took the box from him and noted with a shock the warmth coming from his hands. His body temperature was at least as warm, if not warmer, than Embry's.
"Jeez, for such a cold place you guys all manage to keep yourselves insanely warm," I commented.
No one replied, but I saw Sam shoot Embry an annoyed look, and wondered if I'd said something out of turn. I didn't push it further though, and conversation continued as normal.
Leah stood up as soon as the meal was over and made for the door, but Emily, who had been kicking the guys in the shins in order to make them pick up their plates and help her tidy up, touched her arm before she reached it. She quietly asked her if she didn't want to stay for a little while but Leah's arm twitched away quickly, and she mumbled a no before exiting. She didn't once make eye contact with Emily.
My brow furrowed as I processed what I'd just watched. Everything had seemed so relaxed and easy when I had come in here; kinda like my own family but without the underlying tension between me and my mom, and the secrets I now knew that Aidan was hiding. But the way Leah had left made me think she didn't really want to be here at all, that she had just stayed the minimum amount of time required of her and then departed. I guess no group of people could be really perfect; it was just that everyone had their issues or arguments hiding just underneath the surface so a newcomer wouldn't notice at first.
Somewhere in the middle of my pondering Sam had motioned to Embry and the two of them had went outside to talk. I helped Emily collect all the empty plates before asking where I could find the bathroom. I went back out into the hallway and was about to move up when I heard the sound of Embry's voice coming from outside. I didn't catch what he said and was about to continue on my way when Sam's angry voice filled my ears.
"You're going to have to tell her at some point, Embry. You can't bring her around here and not expect suspicions to start piling up."
Embry's voice was more controlled, and I couldn't quite make out his reply. I heard the creaking of the front steps as they moved up them though, and hurried into the bathroom, blushing furiously at the notion of almost being caught eavesdropping.
I splashed a little water on my face once inside; my thoughts dancing erratically through my brain.
The 'her' they were referring to had to be me, right? I was the only newcomer here tonight, it had to be me. But that would mean Embry was keeping something from me…
I don't want Embry to be keeping something from me…
But I'm keeping something from him…
I still haven't told him about Kyle, I can't get mad that he hasn't told me everything about himself…
But suspicions? What suspicions? I didn't have any suspicions about anything…
Except Leah not really wanting to be here…
But why would that have anything to do with me?
Urgh…
The "urgh" I muttered aloud, attempting to block out the monologue running through my brain as I exited the bathroom and went back into the main room of the house. I gathered that someone had talked Emily out of cleaning up right away because although everything had been removed from the floor, she was sitting comfortably with everyone else while the dirty plates languished unwashed in the sink. I sat down beside Embry and leaned into his chest, while he raved on nonsensically about the tennis ball being in when it got called out. My stomach was still whirling uneasily, but I managed a smile as he pulled his arms around me again.
We sat like this for at least an hour, until Emily broke the easy conversation by attempting to unlock herself from Sam to start washing the dishes. They were in the middle of a mock fight when the front door slammed, and I saw Emily look up hopefully. I wondered if she was still hoping Leah had reconsidered.
The person who entered the room wasn't Leah though, and I sucked in my breath quickly in an attempt to stop myself from gasping aloud. His Quileute skin was identical to everyone else's in the room, only his was covered with a thick layer of dirt and grime. He was shirtless and barefoot, and the shorts he had on appeared to be a couple of seconds away from falling apart completely.
"Hi," he croaked, his voice rusty and cracking over the short word, as though he hadn't spoken much at all recently.
The silence that followed was absolute, and I snuck a glance at Embry. He was staring at the stranger with an odd mixture of elation and worry, and looking around the room I noticed his expression mirrored in the eyes of everyone else. My gaze moving back to the newcomer, and I started when I realised he was staring directly at me.
"So," he began, his eyes turning hard as they roved over Embry's arm around my waist and finally settled on his face, "celebrating the loss of yet another one's free will, are we?"
