Sorry about such a long wait for the update. This takes place the next morning, after Summer kicks Colton out. I hope everyone is enjoying reading this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it!
"Sum," Seth whispered softly against my hair and cheek. I groaned and rolled closer to him on the bed. "Summer," he persisted, adding his warm hand to my cheek. He pushed my hair away. I groaned louder, hoping to get across the message that no, I was not going to open my eyes. "I have to run patrol, babe," Seth warned me. I clutched whatever warm body part-I assumed it was his shoulder-tighter. His answering laugh shook the bed. "Okay, I'm leaving now. Jake is still in the living room, and Paul will be here in just a few minutes."
Seth's hot lips pressed against my forehead before I reached for him. He returned, pecked my lips, chuckled, and stood from the bed.
I could tell immediately when Paul had arrived into my home, by way of the unlocked back door. There was instant, quiet chaos in the form of clanking, what sounded like stubbed toes, muttered curses, and finally a very loud thump that jolted me from sleep.
"What the-Paul!" Jacob shouted. There was a dull smack as flesh met flesh.
"Be quiet, Jacob, Summer is still sleeping!" Paul reprimanded him in a loud whisper. It sounded to me like neither of them knew how to be quiet.
Ten minutes later, the strange clanking resumed, along with a dull crash. My heavy eyes fought against opening, but I finally resigned myself to see what was wrong before killing Paul. I was sure that Jacob would assist me in inflicting damage on the boy. I made my way into the kitchen to see a mess: flour, eggs, bacon, pots, pans, dishes, and bowls littered the floor and counter. Paul's face and most of his torso was covered in white powder that I soon realized was pancake mix. The shocked look on his face upon discovering my stunned face was comical.
"Um, well, good morning Summer," he told me with an impish smile. Beneath the pancake mix, his cheeks were flushed. "I was…making breakfast you see, and…the bowl…flipped over."
Although my kitchen was a mess, Paul was a mess, Jacob was guffawing loudly in the corner of the kitchen closest to the living room, and I was severely sleep-deprived, the hilarity of the situation pursued until I was in hysterics. I laughed a huge belly-laugh until my face was red, I was crying, and my stomach was aching from the movement. Paul and Jacob had gone from amused to worried.
"Summer, breathe," Jacob told me urgently as I fought to catch my breath. I continued to giggle between rasping breaths. When I was sitting on the kitchen floor, legs sprawled and leaning against the doorjamb, my laughter finally relented.
"Well," Paul said, his eyes wide and eyebrows up. He clearly thought I had lost my mind…completely. I couldn't blame him. I stood up from the floor, washed my hands, and held out my hand for the spoon and bowl in Paul's arms. He reluctantly handed them over and I started breakfast for the three of us.
"Is anyone else stopping by?" I asked them lightly from the stove. After they had cleaned up the mess they had made, they took up seats at the kitchen table and were currently flipping through my Seventeen magazine and brochures from colleges. Jacob grunted what sounded like a negative answer to my question.
"Where is Fordham University?" Paul asked as he held up the pamphlet for me to see. I barely glanced in his direction, suddenly shy. This was not a conversation I wanted to be having with my boyfriend's friends. Scratch that-my friends. Paul was great, and Jacob was pretty cool, too.
"Summer?" Jacob prodded as he set down Seventeen and exchanged a glance with Paul that I caught out of the corner of my eye.
I placed two plates of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and toast in front of the boys before grabbing my plate from the counter to sit with them. It seemed as though my kitchen table was the table of confessions.
"Fordham is in New York City," I told them as I sipped my coffee.
For a long moment, neither of them said anything. For an even longer moment, they watched me eat in silence. Jacob was the one who had the guts to continue the conversation. He took the delicate approach.
"New York…that's pretty far," he hedged uneasily.
"Does Seth know that you're looking at colleges across the country?" Paul demanded less gently. Jacob, appalled, slapped Paul on the back of the head. "Ouch!" Paul protested. I turned my eyes up to the inquisitive boys before me, pushed my plate away, and snatched the brochure from Paul's hand. I ripped it violently into pieces as I stormed across the kitchen to the trash can and threw it away. The sink became my solace as I braced by arms on either side of it; Paul and Jacob had fallen silent again.
"Seth doesn't know a lot of things," I whispered hoarsely to the wall.
A warm hand was on my back, between my shoulder blades before I knew it. Beneath my shirt, my skin itched and twitched; alive with the secrets I had buried. It took everything in me not to blurt out something right then to the two wolves behind me.
"Does this have anything to do with that guy?" Paul asked me softly. I stiffened beneath Paul's comforting touch-or at least the touch that was meant to be comforting. He pulled his hand back tentatively.
"Leah let something slip when we were patrolling together. I…she didn't mean to say anything."
"No, I realize that," I mumbled as I fought back tears. It seemed as though I wasn't in control of anything anymore; everything was falling apart and crashing down around me. My brother was hooked on weed and sitting in jail, my boyfriend didn't have a clue about my ex or my psychotic mother, my boyfriend's sister that was my good friend had accidently spilled the beans to other friends while in wolf form, and I had the big newborn vampire attack that was coming up to worry about.
"Summer, Seth loves you. Did you know that?" Paul asked me quietly. He was shifting from foot to foot nervously; his eyes flickered between me, the door, Jacob, and the cabinet just behind my head. A tear welled in my eye and slipped down my cheek. I nodded. "Aw, man, don't cry!" he protested. Before I could protest that no I wasn't crying, there was something like a twig or a branch in my eye, I was wrapped in Paul's arms and he was trying desperately to comfort me, though…I hated to admit, he was terrible at it.
"-and you know, you and Seth won't fight, because he wouldn't be able to fight with you. Not physically, of course, Seth would never hit you! But if he did, you could tell me or Jake, or even Leah, and we'd get him for you good. But Seth wouldn't fight with you with words either because you mean too much to him. I don't think he would care about that creep boyfriend that cheated on you. It was a long time ago anyway, right? And you like Seth, I know you like Seth…" Paul's babbling continued until Jacob managed to peel him off of me.
"Look, Summer, what Paul has been trying to say is that Seth won't be mad at you for not telling him, but he'll be hurt when Leah slips and the rest of us know before him. You should talk to him as soon as you're ready," Jacob explained to me as he held the part of my arms just under my shoulders. I nodded mutely. "I've gotta run and make a circuit. I'll be back in a little while. Why don't you and Paul watch a movie or something?"
Jacob escaped the tension-filled kitchen through the back door and Paul and I headed into the living room.
We had quite the time deciding on a movie. Paul outright refused The Prince and Me on ABC Family, so we went through my DVD collection instead. Paul fought me on every romantic movie I brought up, claiming that yes, he had seen The Notebook and Titanic, and no, he was not watching them, thank you very much. He deemed me too emotional already to sit through Dear John or P.S. I Love You, so we moved on to action movies. Despite Paul's best efforts, I refused to watch Transformers.
We settled on Black Swan after thirty minutes of negotiations.
Midway through the movie, Jacob walked in through the back door, though to me, it sounded as though he stormed in. I jumped a foot off the sofa and stood nervously for a second before he came around the corner and looked at me like I was crazy. Paul howled in laughter.
"You're scared of this little ballet movie?" he guffawed. "Honestly?"
I swatted his head lightly; my hand ached from the effort of taming him. Paul's laughter died down into chuckles, and he smiled and patted the spot next to him on the sofa.
"Here, Sum, I'll protect you from the scary dancers," he offered with a tiny smirk. Despite his sarcasm, I sank onto the sofa beside him, surprising him as I curled up against his side. He coughed once uncomfortably before relaxing as I grabbed hold of his bicep and cradled his arm in my lap as if it were a stuffed animal or fluffy blanket. Jacob threw himself down on my other side and I sat between the two wolves, eventually drawing my knees up to my chest as the movie progressed. Jacob and Paul laughed at the gore while I winced, they laughed harder at my expressions. They apparently took delight in my fear…great.
After Black Swan we watched one other scary movie that I knew would demand Seth's presence at night for weeks. House of Wax was the bane of my existence, and I hated that I even owned a copy of it. Midway through the movie, my nails were digging into Paul and Jacob's forearms. Three-fourths through the movie, I was half-hiding behind Paul's shoulder with my legs curled behind Jacob's warm back. At the very end, I had managed to worm my way into Paul's arms, in his lap, with Jacob's hands clutching mine. As the credits rolled, Jacob and Paul laughed hysterically at the position I was in; my blank eyes hadn't moved from the screen.
When Jacob left for patrol, we went shopping in the supermarket, just Paul, me, frozen foods, and produce. By the time my car was loaded up with my purchases, Paul was groaning about "running on empty," it was nearly four o'clock, and I had five missed calls from the Forks Police Department on my charging iPhone.
I called the police station back, and Charlie told me that Colton was ready to be released into my custody. I drove over with Paul. When we arrived, Bella's father, who I had only met in passing before and over the phone, greeted us and shook my hand.
"Summer," he acknowledged me. He looked at Paul. "You must be one of Jacob's friends…right?"
"Yes, sir, I'm Paul," Paul told him, shaking his hand respectfully. Charlie glanced at his hand in slight surprise, probably from Paul's heat, but turned back to me.
"I hope you don't mind, we waited for him to uh, 'sober up'…is that what the kids call it these days? Anyway, he's clean, and we put him through a two hour special feature on drug abuse. We haven't had use for the DVD yet, and I think he took it okay."
"Thanks so much, Chief Swan," I told him gratefully as we followed him inside and to the holding center.
"I told you, Summer, it's Charlie for you. Your brother, however…" he trailed off and threw a mischievous smile at me from over his shoulder. "Let's just say I scared him pretty good. I don't think you'll have any more problems with him."
I smiled at Bella's dad and he unlocked a door and gestured for Colton to come out. An officer handed Colton his bookbag, and Colton looked at me with wide eyes. He didn't seem to be expecting me.
"Well hello to you, too, little brother," I said pleasantly. I noticed, from the corner of my eye that Paul bit back a grin at my tone.
"Hi, Sum," Colton said softly. His eyes were downcast, his defiant spirit broken for the time being. I hated his defiant spirit-it reminded me too much of myself at his age and all the trouble he could get into. I didn't want him anywhere near the things Tyler and I had done. Colton was so much better than that-so much better than me.
I thanked Charlie again, led Colton outside, and drove with Paul in the front and him in the back. When we got to the house, Paul grabbed most of the groceries, Colton grabbed a few bags, and I only had one to carry. I unpacked and stocked the fridge and pantry with food and started dinner. Paul sat in the living room while Colton sat at the kitchen table and watched me move around the kitchen. I felt my brother's eyes on me as I prepared a huge pot of spaghetti and meatballs. When I covered the sauce to let it simmer and cook, Colton finally spoke.
"Summer? Will you please sit with me a minute?" Colton asked timidly.
I hadn't wanted my brother to give me attitude, but his change in demeanor was dramatic. Gone was the sarcasm, the biting coldness, the harshness from his voice. With its absence, I realized just how long it had been since he had spoken without it-almost since before we had moved to Forks. Whatever attitude or problems or insecurities he had been dealing with, he had been going through them for quite some time. I didn't like that he had been ugly, but I hadn't paid enough attention to him. A huge part of his drug use was probably my fault, and I couldn't feel any guiltier.
I sat across the table from Colton and waited for him to speak. His tone was sad and apologetic.
"I realize that I shouldn't have smoked. I get that-I remember mom and dad being pissed with you for doing it. I'm sorry that I did, because I remember how upset you were with yourself. I remember everything you did, Summer, and I know you don't want me to do any of that stuff. But Toby had it, and I wanted to feel better, and I should have gone about that in a different way, but I didn't and I'm sorry. Chief Swan showed me this really terrible video, and I…I don't want to end up like that, Sum. Can I come home? Officially, I mean."
Colton's jade green eyes were wide and earnest; I couldn't detect a lick of sarcasm or deceit anywhere in his confession and apology. I grudgingly accepted.
"Yes, but we have new rules," I decided. Colton nodded feverishly in understanding.
"Whatever you say, Sum. You were right: you're not mom, but you're all I have left, and I need to respect you. I've never told you how grateful I am to have a safe house to live in and food to eat. I'm sorry."
I smiled a very tiny, small smile at my brother.
"That's okay," I decided. The smile slipped off of my face. "Rule number one: no drugs or alcohol for anyone under the age of seventeen. You hit seventeen, we'll talk."
Colton made a face but nodded in agreement.
"Rule number two: no hanging out with Toby. At all. Ever. Find new friends," I stated firmly. Colton nodded. "Rule number three: you try yelling and fighting with me like that again, or you do drugs of any kind, or you…just don't follow the rules, you're out. You will be kicked out first and asked questions later, got it, mister?"
"Got it, Sum," he agreed with a smile. I smiled back and rolled my eyes.
"Go watch TV with Paul or something. I need to stir the pot before it sticks to the bottom."
And just like that, Colton had moved back in to our safehouse on 1500 West Maple Street.
Hopefully in the next couple of chapters, the newborns will attack and more of Summer's secrets will come out. Does anyone have any ideas on what she's hiding from Seth and the other wolves? I'd like to hear theories :)