It seems like I am always apologizing for not writing sooner! This one's not any different. And please review, I didn't get any for the last chapter, and I was personally really excited about it. I'm super sorry for not updating sooner, but here it is!
I woke up to murmuring voices. I didn't open my eyes, but I did shift a bit and heard the voices pause for a second.
"I can't believe you let her stay over." One said after the pause.
"It was very irresponsible." Another one added.
"Nothing happened, you know what went on yesterday, and she was still really worried about me. Staying here made her feel better." This one was Jared, even in my still-asleep state, I could recognize his voice.
"I suppose that's okay." The first voice replied. "But it won't happen again, I realize the circumstances are different, but you are both still teenagers."
"We were never here." The second voice, this one was male, said. Was it his parents? It must be. I sighed to myself before shutting my eyes tighter and tried to fall back asleep.
I heard them walking away, then a door opening and closing before I was shaken gently.
"Kim, I know you're awake." Jared said, leaning in close enough to let me feel his breath.
"How'd you know?" I asked, opening an eye.
"I heard your breathing change." He responded simply.
I nodded, swinging my legs off of the couch. "What time is it?" I asked, stifling a yawn.
"Almost 9:30." Jared told me.
All of sudden the memories of yesterday came rushing back. I gasped, "How is your chest?" I asked anxiously.
"It's almost all better." He insisted. And to prove his point he removed his shirt again, showing me his chest. He was right; it didn't look anything like yesterday. Now it was all a pale yellow, except for the center which was a slightly darker brown.
"That's amazing." I mumbled to myself, running my hand across it lightly. He didn't even wince when my hand made contact with it. I smiled approvingly.
"So your parents caught us?"
He looked guilty. "Yeah, they got home early and saw us. But I explained what happened and its fine. They aren't going to say anything to your parents or anything." My eyes widened. I hadn't even thought of that. He correctly read my expression. "Its fine, I said they aren't going to say anything." He tried to reassure me.
"Okay." I nodded, "I better pack up and get home." He frowned for a moment before agreeing.
"I probably won't be able to see you till school tomorrow; the pack is going to be with Jacob until he gets better." Now I was the one frowning. He smiled, at my expression.
"But I was thinking we could go out tomorrow night. We've been so busy with school and everything; we haven't actually been out together in a while."
My eyes brightened. He was right; we hadn't been out on a date in so long. "What were you thinking?" I asked.
"Maybe some dinner, then we could go to the beach, make another sand castle." He grinned as he said that.
"Don't make fun of the sandcastle." I said sternly. "It was very fun."
"I know, I had a lot of fun watching you build it." I felt my cheeks go red, but ignored it and hugged Jared tightly.
"I really have to go." I reminded him, but made no move to get up.
"Then go." Jared chuckled when he didn't move either.
When I finally decided to get up, Jared's arm tightened around me. "Jared!"I moaned playfully.
"Yes?"
"You should let me go." I suggested.
He pulled me closer for a second and then released me. Then I was on a hunt for my bag. I couldn't remember where I had put it down last night before we started watching the movie.
"Jared, do you know where I put my bag?" I asked, after searching for them.
"I think it's under the chair." He answered. I stopped for a minute, puzzled. How had it gotten under the chair?
"I'm not sure how it got there, but I think it's when my parents came in and it got pushed under there." He said, almost in answer to my thought. It was like he read my mind.
"Aha!" I exclaimed as I fished my bag out from under the chair. I left to get dressed and ready for the day. I left the bathroom feeling much better.
"You like nice." Jared said, as he looked up from the TV.
"Thank you. Bye!" I said hurriedly.
"You can't leave yet."
"And why not?" I asked, somewhat flirtatiously.
"You haven't kissed me goodbye." He said, frowning slightly.
"Well, that's just not right, is it?" I teased.
"No, it isn't." He agreed before kissing me.
"I really have to go now. Goodbye!" I said one last time before going out the door. I looked back and smiled to see Jared watching me out of the window. I waved and kept on walking.
I was greeted at home by my mom and Olivia.
"How was Emily?" My mom asked as she flipped through the pages of a book.
"She was good." I lied. There was no way I could actually describe how Emily was.
"That's nice. Do you have homework?" I frowned, remembering the assignment I had to do with Charlotte.
"Yeah, actually a project with Charlotte." I admitted.
"Is this an actual project, or do you just want to see Charlotte?" She asked knowingly.
"Believe it or not, it's an actual project. Unfortunately." I added under my breath. Ever since Embry imprinted on Anna, we had kind of left Charlotte out. Not intentionally, but when you and one of your best friends both discover they have soul mates in an ancient race, or whatever they are, it kind of throws your other friendships of balance. We had had a big fight the other day about how Anna and I were always together; the sleepover at Emily's sparked it.
"What was that? Did you two have a fight?" My mom asked worriedly. She loved Anna and Charlotte to death, and she hated it when we fought.
"No, I just really don't want to work on it." I promised, smiling.
"Okay." She looked skeptical but didn't say anything more.
I went up to my room and decided to call her.
It rang for a few seconds before she picked up.
"Hello?" She asked.
"Hey, Char. It's Kim. I was just wondering if you wanted to come over to work on the project." I asked hesitantly.
There was a pause and I knew she was debating whether or not it was worth it to say no.
"I suppose, I'll be over in half an hour." She hung up without another word. Oh yeah, she was definitely mad. I set up all the things we needed for the project and waited for her to come.
I heard her greet my mom and Olivia before mom sent her upstairs.
"Hey." She said, standing in my doorway.
"Hi." I said, looking at her. I really missed her.
"Char, I just want to say, we didn't mean to leave you out. It's different with Jared and Embry. You know that. We just need to adjust some." I smiled tentatively at her. To my relief she smiled back and gave me a giant hug.
"I've missed you so much, Kimmy!" She exclaimed, her voice muffled from her head against my shirt.
"I've missed you too." I admitted truthfully.
"It's just; I don't know how to act. You and Anna haven't ever had boyfriends! It's so different, and I don't know what to do." She declared.
"I know, it's crazy. How do Anna and I have a boyfriend and not you, the flirting master?" I asked her, laughing.
"I keep on asking myself that." She told me seriously, and then smiled at me.
"Okay, I told my mom we actually needed to work, and we do. How about we finish the project and then go shopping? Just me and you?" I asked.
"That sounds amazing, let's finish the project." Charlotte said enthusiastically.
We worked quickly and left quickly after asking my mom. Of course she agreed, I think she sensed it was a make-up shopping trip.
As soon as we got there Charlotte scoped out all the sales and off we went. I wasn't really looking for anything, but when Charlotte thrust a dress into my hands I decided to try it on. It was really cute. It was a light blue flower pattern that was actually pretty short and showed a lot of my leg, and it had those cut-outs on the sleeves, so it showed most of my shoulder.
"You look amazing in that." Charlotte declared when I stepped out to show her. "You have to buy it."
"You think so?" I asked shyly.
"I know so." She nodded. "I think you should wear it on your date tomorrow."
"Jared's going to love you for making me buy it." I told her.
"No, there's no room for him to love anyone besides you." Charlotte said matter-of-factly.
I blushed but didn't deny it. While he hadn't actually used the exact words, I was pretty sure he did love me. I was perfectly content to stay where we were at the moment though. Despite the whole soul mates thing, I was still only a teenager in high school.
"How are Anna and Embry doing?" Charlotte asked casually. I paused and looked at her, realizing she was nervous. She had also been mad at Anna when we fought.
"They're good. They really like each other." I said honestly.
"I don't know how you and Anna did it, but you managed to find two of the few amazing and hot guys here. I need to find one too." She mused.
"You will." I reassured her.
We finished up shopping pretty quickly, with Charlotte buying a pair of shoes and a skirt, and I bought the dress.
"That was fun, I'm glad we're talking again." I said as got back to my house.
"Me too, it sucks not having anyone to talk to." She grinned. "Now I have to go apologize to Anna. Wish me luck." She called as she left.
"Good luck!" I smiled and headed inside. I had all of my homework done, so I decided to call Emily.
"How is everyone?" I asked; code for how was Jacob. This was just in case my parents overheard me.
"He's doing better, it could be a little but longer, but he'll be fine." Emily said.
"That's good. I just wanted to check up on everyone."
"If you're talking about Jared, he was here for lunch earlier and he's fine. Very excited about your date tomorrow." She said teasingly.
"He mentioned that?" I squeaked.
"Yeah, the other guys made fun of him for a while before he made it clear not too. I think you know how he did that." She laughed.
"When are the guys going to figure out violence isn't the answer?" I asked, exasperated.
"I don't know, but it always seems to work well for them, so probably never."
"Okay, well, I should go. I'll stop over and see you soon." I promised.
"Sounds good, bye Kim!"
It was only around three right now, so I decided to take a walk.
"I'll be back soon, Mom, and yes I have my phone." I said, in response to the question she was about to ask.
"Alright, see you soon."
I wasn't really sure where I was going, so I just let myself walk. I walked down to the beach Jared and I made the sandcastle at. After sitting and watching the waves for a bit, I got up and decided to take a longer way home. It ran through the forest, but like I said, it was only around 3:30 now, with plenty of light. I had almost gotten through the woods and could see the lighter side a little bit in front of me when I heard rustling a little ahead of me and to the side. I slowed down, barely even breathing as I crept closer.
I hid behind a tree and cautiously stuck my head out from behind it when I saw Jared and Embry. My sigh of relief must have alerted them to my presence because they immediately turned to look at me. My expression guilty, I came out from behind the tree with my hands up in front of me in a mock surrender.
"You guys scared me. I thought I was going to get attacked!" I admonished while smiling.
"I'm sorry; we didn't think anyone else was around." Jared said as he came up to hug me.
"It's fine. But what are you doing, I thought you were going to be with Jacob?"
"He kicked us out, apparently we were being really loud and annoying." Embry said, shrugging as if he didn't know what he did wrong.
"Hurt people need quiet, but I bet you're glad he kicked you out, huh?" I asked, smiling at Jared's sheepish expression.
"What? It was really boring." He tried to defend himself. "Once we knew he was going to be alright, it wasn't much fun."
"I get that. I talked to Emily. She said you're pretty excited about tomorrow." I smiled.
"He is! He won't shut up about how you two are finally going to get some alone time, which I don't understand because you two spent the night together last night. How much alone time do you need?" Embry asked, rolling his eyes.
"I'll remember that next time you say something about Anna." Jared said, frowning slightly at Embry.
Apparently Embry didn't like that because he apologized and left quickly.
"Sorry about him." Jared said once Embry was gone.
"It's fine. I don't understand how Anna deals with him."
"He's a lot nicer around her, let me tell ya." Jared told me, smiling.
"Are you a lot nicer around me?" I asked smirking slightly.
"I'm always nice." He boasted, before saying, "Of course. I don't think you would like it if I talked to you the way I talk to the guys, or vice versa."
I wrinkled my nose and agreed.
"I was actually just going to come find you." Jared changed the subject.
"Really, well I found you."
"I know, and I'm glad. So, what'd you do all day?" He inquired.
"I did my project with Charlotte and then we went shopping. And I took a walk, that's how I found you."
"I thought you and Charlotte were fighting?" He said, confused.
"We were, but we both apologized. She was just going to find Anna and tell her sorry when she left." I explained.
"That's good. I know it must be hard for you and Anna." He sympathized.
"Yeah, it is. But we'll make it through it. We always do." I said, more confidently than I felt.
He smiled at me and we started walking out of the forest. We ended up walking over to Emily's house.
"It smells good." I said, taking in a deep breath as we walked in.
"I know, she was just starting to make cookies and brownies when I left." He looked at my guiltily.
"So that's why we came here?"
"Kind of." He admitted. I was going to say something, but it did smell good.
"Hey, Emily." Jared yelled as he walked into the kitchen. I heard a distant reply and Jared took that to mean dig in. He started eating and I joined him. Emily really did know how to cook.
"Is it good?" Emily asked when she appeared in the doorway.
Jared nodded enthusiastically, his mouth a bit full at the moment. She smiled and came to sit with us.
"They really are good, Emily. Thanks." I told her, as I ate a brownie.
"You're welcome. I take it Jacob kicked you out?" She directed her question to Jared, who managed to swallow and answer her.
"Yep, it seems he didn't like all of us hanging around his house. Not that we really fit in his house well." He added as an afterthought.
"Sam's still over there, as well as the doctor and Bella." Emily informed us.
Jared's face tightened when she mentioned Bella's name.
"What's wrong?" I asked him.
"Bella. She leads him on and then runs back to her vampire. She kissed him before the fight and he wouldn't stop thinking about it until Sam made him." Jared told us. I frowned at that. I didn't know her well enough to judge her, but from what I was hearing, she wasn't the best person. The person I did know was Jacob, and I saw how much he liked her. It was really sad to watch him.
"That's awful." I said, voicing my thoughts.
"I know. I don't understand why he likes her, though. It's not as if he imprinted on her or anything."
"It's a mystery." Emily said slowly, as if she didn't know either.
Suddenly I looked at the time. "Crap, I need to get home. I just told my mom I was going for a walk. She's going to be worried." I exclaimed, standing up. Jared stood up as well, but looked longingly at the food still on the table.
"Don't worry Jared, I'll make some more next time you come over." Emily promised, as she laughed.
"Come on." I said and tugged at his hand.
"Bye, Emily!" I called as we left.
Instantly Jared's arm wound around my shoulder, pulling me closer into his side as we walked.
"Can I stay over tonight?" He asked.
"I don't think that's such a good idea, with your parent's finding us this morning." I frowned, not wanting to say no.
"You're probably right." Jared sighed.
"Of course I am. I'm always right." I said with a straight face and glanced up at him. He smiled secretively to himself for a second before he bent down a little and put his arm behind my legs, then sweeping them up as he added an arm behind my neck, so he was carrying me bridal style.
"Jared!"I squealed in surprise. "Put me down!"
"I don't feel like it." He drawled, staring down at me.
"Jared." This time his name came out in a tone of annoyance.
"Yes?" He asked with a charming smile.
"Please put me down?" I stuck out my lower lip and pouted slightly. It always worked on my dad, maybe it would work on Jared too.
He sighed dramatically before kissing me softly and then set me on my feet. "Is that better?" He asked with an eyebrow cocked.
"Yes, very much so." I replied haughtily, trying to contain my laughter, before turning and walking away, only to have him grab my wrist and spin me back around.
I burst out laughing and hugged him quickly.
"You are so strange." He commentated before letting me go and grabbing my hand.
"But that's why you like me." I quipped back.
"That's very true." He replied, smiling down at me.
Soon we were back at my house. "I better get home." Jared said, looking at his watch.
"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow at school. Can't wait for our date tomorrow." I told him, with a small smile.
"Me either, it's going to be great."
"Where did you say we were going for dinner?" I asked.
"I didn't say, it's a surprise."
"I hate surprises!" I reminded him.
"You'll like this one, I promise." He looked sincere.
"Alright, see you tomorrow." We kissed and I walked inside.
"Hey, Mom, sorry I was gone so long. I ran into Jared." I started to explain as I walked inside.
"It's fine honey." She responded, from her seat on the couch. I joined her and Olivia to watch TV for a while, and then I volunteered to make dinner. My dad just got back from his fishing trip for dinner and we all ate together. I decided to go upstairs and get to sleep early. I didn't want to be tired for my date tomorrow. I quickly fell asleep.
There it is! Finally, I know. I'm sorry it took me so long to write more, but I honestly had no idea what to write. Writers block sucks! I tried to make this chapter longer to make up for the wait. Please review, I've gotten almost no reviews for the past couple chapters, and I really want to know what's wrong with the story. I can only get better if you guys help me! So, please review!
Allie