Disclaimer- I do not own twilight.

Thanks for the reviews last chapter. They were greatly appreciated.

~~~~~X~~~~~

Mickey P.O.V.

I couldn't help but smile as I watched Jacob leave the beach, glaring over his shoulder at me. I was winning. This isn't a game of course, but if it was...

I've been doing what I said I would, I've been staying away from Jacob. You thought I'd cave didn't you? I don't blame you, so did I.

The first few weeks were the hardest. No matter how hard I tried to avoid him, Jacob just kept popping up. He tried many methods to get me to give up, the most effective one being seduction, but I managed to hold out. That only made angry. his anger made it a bit easier though, it reminded me of why I committed myself to doing this in the first place.

I stuck with it, and though it took a while, Jacob finally got the message and backed off. He's since resigned himself to glaring at me from afar. I can hardly believe I've made it a whole month without even speaking to Jacob. I smiled to myself as I pulled on my simple brown sweater to ward off the slightly chilly November air.

My cell phone beeped, and I took it out of my pocket to read the text message i'd just received.

Morning sickness sucks ass! I hate being pregnant :(

-V

I smiled. Veronica decided to keep the baby, and i've been helping out when ever I can. She's about 2 months along now, and the pregnancy symptoms have really started affecting her.

I quickly typed a reply.

I'm sure it's not that bad. Look at the bright side, 2 months down, 7 to go!

-M

I put the phone back in my pocket, and continued to smile out at the water.

"What are you so happy about?," I heard Leah's voice ask as her and Seth walked up to where I was sitting on first beach. They were both in their usual attire; cut-off jean shorts and tank tops. I wonder what they're going to wear when December comes and it starts snowing?

"I was just congratulating myself on a job well done," I said, still smiling.

"Oh that," Leah rolled her eyes. "I'll admit, I didn't think you'd last a week, let alone a whole month."

"Well I knew you would," Seth said. "You think you can hold out till the end?"

I smiled a little. "I didn't at first, but now I think I can pull it off."

"I don't know," Leah said, smirking at me, "Jake's a pretty stubborn guy. I don't think he'll cave."

"God Leah! Why do you always have to be so negative?"

"I was just teasing him Seth, don't get your panties in a bunch."

I sighed. "Do you guys ever stop arguing?"

"Hey," Leah shrugged, "He starts it, I just finish it."

Leah's cell phone rung then, and she answered it with a scowl.

"What the fuck do you want Sam?" Leah groaned. "Fine. We'll be there in a minute."

She hung up her phone and glared at it for a second, before turning to me. "Seth and I have to go. The friendly neighborhood leeches wanna have some kind of meeting or something."

"Well what am I supposed to do," I asked, hating how dependent I sounded, "I thought we were going to hang out?"

Back home, I had gotten used to being by myself. When you have no friends and a dad that works the majority of the time, you learn how to entertain yourself. But ever since I moved to La Push, and I have people that actually want to be around me, I don't really know what to do with myself when they're not around.

"You can go hang with Embry," Seth said, "he's grounded again, so Jake's not making him go to the Cullen's with us."

"But if he's grounded, then how would I get his mom to let me in?"

Seth rolled his eyes, and I think I saw a hint of a scowl on his face. "Don't worry, Tiffany Call absolutely adores you. She's always going on about how Embry should spend more time with you. And she always just happens to say it when I'm there. Yeah, she'll let you in no problem."

"Oh," I said, feeling incredibly awkward, "Sorry."

The small trace of a scowl disappeared, and he was back to the warm, smiling Seth that had quickly become my best friend. "It's not your fault Mickey. I don't know why she hates me so much."

"Maybe it's because of that time you peed in her heels on thanksgiving that time," Leah pointed out.

"I was 7! and Quill dared me, what was I supposed to do?"

"How about saying no? If quill told you to jump off a bridge would you do that to?"

"Screw you Leah!"

"Bite me Seth!"

"Don't you guys have to get going now," I asked, eager to put an end to their bickering before it got too heated.

"Right! Come on Leah, the rest of the pack is probably already there."

Seth hurried off, practically dragging Leah away with him, and called over his shoulder, "Tell Embry I said hi!"

I sat on the beach for a while, before I eventually felt the need for someone elses company. I decided to take Seth's advice, and go see if Embry felt like hanging out.

I walked the short distance to the Call household, and rang the doorbell. The woman that answered not even a minute later was pretty much what I expected Embry's mother to look like.

Tiffany Call had the same black hair, brown eyes, and brown skin that was customary on the reservation, but I could also see her son in the woman's features.

"Well, Michael Alvarez," she greeted me, "to what do I owe this visit?"

"Hello Ms. Call," I said politely, "I was wondering if it would be alright if I saw Embry. I know he's grounded-"

"Oh of course! Come in, come in!"

She grabbed my arm and pulled me into her house before I could even finish my sentence.

"Emily has told me so much about you; straight A's, respectful, helpful around the house, you just seem like such a lovely young man."

"Thank you," I said, embarrassed by all the praise from a woman I've never even met before.

"Oh don't even mention it dear. Honestly, I've been hoping that some of your behavior would rub off on Embry, but he's just been getting worse and worse lately." She looked down, and a sad expression crossed her face.

I felt a sympathy for Embry then that I've never felt before. He's bound by the duty of protecting the people of his tribe, but he also has to live with his mothers disappointment because she doesn't know how much he sacrifices to keep her safe.

Ms. Call shook her head slightly, as if banishing thoughts of her wayward son. "Anyway, I've sent Embry to the store to pick up some things for dinner. He should be back any minute now. I'm sure he won't mind if you wait for him in his bedroom."

She guided me into Embry's room, gave me one last smile, then left and closed the door behind her.

After she had left, I took a look at my surroundings. Embry's room was small and tidy. By far the most interesting things there was all of the sketches and paintings he had hanging on the walls. Seth was right, he really is a fantastic artist.

I moved to get a closer look at a painting of first beach, when I tripped over my own feet, and fell flat on my face.

I sighed, and started to get up, when I saw something under Embry's bed out of the corner of my eye. A closer look at the object identified it as a sketch pad. More specifically, the same sketch pad that Embry always has with him, but refuses to let anyone see.

Curiosity was on me in an instant, and all I wanted to do was snatch open that pad and find out what was hidden In there.

No! I can't do that. Whatever is in there is private, and I can't betray Embry's trust by going through it.

I told my self this over and over again, but I still found myself reaching underneath the bed, and removing the pad from its hiding place. I sat crossed-legged on the side of Embry's bed, with his sketch pad on my lap. I mentally scolded myself for doing what I was about to do, took a deep breath, and flipped open the pad.

On the first page was a beautiful sketch. A beautiful sketch of Seth.

The likeness was uncanny. It was like someone took Seth's entire happy, care-free essence, and captured it on paper. I flipped through the pages and found even more pictures, all of Seth. Seth smiling, Seth shoving food into his mouth at the school lunch table, there was even a beautiful picture of Seth in his sandy brown wolf form.

The sketch pad was questionable, but the pictures themselves weren't particularly incriminating. But the further you got into the pad, the more and more the pictures pictures began changing. They went from being simple, and almost innocent, to borderline pornography.

There was one picture of Seth in the shower, steam the only thing covering his privates from view. Then there was another of Seth lying in bed, a bed that I could identify as being Embry's. His hair was disheveled, his lips were slightly swollen, and he was lying in a very suggestive pose with Embry's blanket covering his lower half.

The most shocking sketch though, was the last one in the book. It featured Seth, like all of the others, but there was nothing covering him up. He was fully exposed to anyone that laid eyes on the page. My first reaction was to slam the book closed, slide it underneath the bed, and try to forget that I ever even saw it.

But before I could, a surprised voice grabbed my attention.

"What are you doing?"

Embry had walked in on me viewing his most treasured secret, and I said the first thing that came to mind.

"Seth says hi."

~~~~~X~~~~~

"So..., how long have you liked Seth?"

Embry looked up at me nervously. "You won't tell him?"

"Of course not. I would never betray your trust like that."

"Just like you would never betray my trust by going through something I told you was private?," he snapped.

"OK," I said calmly, "I deserved that. I never should have looked through it, and I'm sorry that I did."

He sighed, then laid back on his bed. I laid down on my side so that I could look at him.

"I don't like Seth... I love him."

My mouth fell open slightly, but I forced myself to keep quiet.

"When I was 9, this girl from the reservation asked me if I wanted to be her boyfriend. I didn't, but I figured that it was what I was supposed to be doing, and Jake and Quil thought it was a good idea, so I went with it. After a while she started dropping a lot of not so subtle hints that she wanted to see what kissing was like, so-"

"So you asked Seth if you could practice on him."

Embry raised an eyebrow in question.

"Seth told me," I clarified, "The night of the bon fire."

Embry nodded. "Anyway, when I asked him, it was legitimately so I wouldn't look like an idiot when I kissed the girl, but as soon as my lips touched his... look, I know it's corny, but it was like nothing else I'd ever done before. It was the best kiss of my life, and it lasted for all of two seconds."

"But how do you know you love him?," I asked.

"I don't know," he answered simply, "I just do. See, I think... I think I imprinted on him."

I couldn't hide my confusion. "But wouldn't you know? Wouldn't the whole pack know? I thought that when a wolf imprints the whole pack could feel it."

"They can, but I think it's different because Seth and me are both wolves. I don't know," he sighed, "It's probably just wishful thinking on my part. But the way I feel about Seth is the same way the other guys describe what imprinting was like."

"But it doesn't matter though," he concluded with yet another sigh, "Seth doesn't like me."

"Well," I said, "Have you asked him? Maybe he does like you."

"Yeah, but maybe he doesn't. I can't risk asking him, only for him to say no. it would ruin our entire friendship."

"So you're afraid of rejection," I said in understanding. "You can't go through life wondering what could have been."

"You're one to talk," he snapped.

"I know," I smiled, "that's kid of hypocritical isn't it? But just because I'm not the best at taking my own advice, doesn't make the advice any less true."

"I know, but I can't risk it. Seth is to good a friend to lose. But... I'm just so lonely."

"I know what you mean."

And I did. Embry doesn't mean he's lonely because there's no one else around him, obviously that's not the case. He feels lonely because he isn't with someone romantically. And mostly everyone one else in the pack having someone can't help much. I wonder if Leah feels like that?

"How could you know," he asked, "You have someone that want's to be with you, you're the one that doesn't want him."

I do want Jacob. I didn't always, and I can't say exactly when but somewhere along the line I fell in love with him. But he doesn't treat me how I should be treated, and I'd rather be lonely than with him while he's acting like he is."

"Jake's an idiot," Embry said suddenly. "He's one of my best friends an all, but he doesn't deserve you. You're a great person, and you should be with someone who realizes that."

"You're a great person too Embry," I said, lowering my head to hide the blush that was growing on my cheeks. "Anyone would be glad to have you as their boyfriend."

"Really?"

I looked into his eyes. "Really."

~~~~~X~~~~~

"Are you OK?," Embry asked as he broke the kiss, before moving to my neck.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, slightly breathless.

"You sure? Want me to stop?"

I hesitated, Before answering, "No. don't stop."

He kept kissing up the side of my neck, as his hands slowly made their way underneath my t-shirt. My jacket was tossed aside and forgotten a while ago.

When Embry leaned over to kiss me, I had no idea what to do. But after a few moments, my body loosened up, and I started to kiss him back. That eventually led to me lying on my back with Embry hovering above me.

The position was very similar to how Jacob and me were in my room the second time we kissed. The only difference, besides the environment of course, was that the person above me wasn't Jacob

All though my body responded positively when Embry lightly pinched my nipple, my mind, and more importantly my heart, just wasn't into it. I was about to tell him to stop, but his mother did it for me.

"Embry, would your friend like to stay for- oh!"

"Mom!" Embry was off of me in an instant. "Why didn't you knock?"

"Sorry," she said, but the grin on her face didn't make it seem like she was. "Michael, I called your house, and Emily said you could stay for dinner if you like."

"That would be great mam, thank you." maybe I'm not supposed to kiss everyone, since nearly every time I do one of their parents walk in on us.

"Great! Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes. You boys... continue."

She grinned at me again, the shut the door.

We sat in awkward silence, before Embry finally spoke.

"That woman is unbelievable. She doesn't even bat an eyelash at finding me making out with another boy, so long as the boy will be a 'good influence' on me."

"She means well though," I said.

"Yeah, I know," he sighed, "You don't have to stay for dinner you know."

"I know, but I want to. Unless... you don't want me to."

"No!," he assured, "I want you to."

I smiled. "OK."

~~~~~X~~~~~

Dinner at the Call house was... interesting.

Ms. Call kept asking a lot of questions, to which Embry told her, in so many words, to mind her own business. One question she asked though made me think, because I myself had no answer for it.

"So, are you boys together?"

Ms. Call directed the question to me, hoping that I would be more forthcoming with answers than her son.

"Well...-"

"Because word around the reservation is that you and Jacob Black were together, but things ended when he got that girl pregnant. Can I assume that's true now?"

"Mom!," Embry interrupted, seeing the look on my face. "Stop being so nosy! None of this is any of you're business, so butt out! It's getting late Mickey, I'll walk you home."

I nodded. "Thank you for dinner Ms. Call, it was lovely."

"Oh, thank you dear," she said, as Embry pretty much dragged me to the door. "Now, you be sure to come again soon."

"I will."

"Don't count on it," I heard Embry mumble. "I'll be back in a minute." He slammed the door before she could respond.

We were silent the whole walk to my house. Embry was the one to break it again once we had made it to my front door.

"Sorry about my mom."

"It's alright. I like her, she's nice."

Embry snorted. "You should see her when Seth's around. There's nothing 'nice' about her then."

Seth's name brought back all of the awkwardness of the situation.

"Embry, what did we do?"

"We made out," Embry shrugged, but I could tell he knew what I was thinking.

"Yeah, but why? You love Seth-"

"And you love Jake," he said. That was the second time my love for Jacob has come up, and I still had no desire to deny it. I love the lunatic, and there's nothing that can be done to help it.

"But that's my point," I continued, "I love Jacob, and you love Seth. What we did was wrong."

"Say's who? The last time I checked, we were both single."

He stepped closer to me, and wrapped his arms loosely around my waist.

"Look Mickey," he sighed, "We're both lonely right?"

I nodded.

"So while I find the nerve to tell Seth how I feel, and you wait for Jake to stop being a douche, if we get together, then what's so bad about that?

"I don't know," I said, still unsure, "It'll feel like I'm using you to pass the time until I'm back with Jacob."

Embry chuckled. "You will be, but I'll be doing the same thing with you. If we're both using each other, then how can it be wrong?"

"I guess we could give it a try," I sighed.

"And if it doesn't work out, we can go right back to the way things were."

Embry leaned down to kiss me then, and all though it was nice, I couldn't help but wonder if he was pretending I was Seth, just like I was pretending he was Jacob.

~~~~~X~~~~~

I planned for this chapter to be out Friday, but time just got away from me again. Hopefully the next one won't take too long to finish.

Thanks for reading, and please review!