Don't own anything except OC's.
Chapter 28: University
Claire's POV.
I awoke on the morning with a massive smile on my face. Quil and I had come up to his bedroom after round two had finished, abandoning our suitcases at the door. My head was on Quil's naked chest and it was the first thing I saw, and it was beautiful. I kissed it softly and watched as Quil murmured and opened his eyes.
"Morning," I chirped.
"Good morning," he said sleepily. I sprung myself up with his abdomen and he kissed my forehead. I smirked as his stomach growled.
"Hungry?"
"I think my stomach's eating itself."
Snorting, I jumped from the bed to steal one of his t-shirts. Because of his size, it fell just above my knees. He took my hand as we walked down the hallway to the kitchen only to run into Brady and Aiden. I halted in front of them and curled into Quil's side.
"Hey guys," Aiden greeted, smirking. "Have fun in France?"
"Yeah, thanks, it was awesome," Quil answered, glaring at him warningly.
I looked over at Aiden and he winked at me, I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing. "I can imagine," Aiden said dryly. "Did you have fun last night?"
I broke into embarrassed giggles and Brady shook his head, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Well, I certainly did," I replied confidently, though I think my bright red face gave me away. "What have you been up to since we went away, Aidy?"
"Not much," he shrugged. Quil relaxed next to me when he realized I wasn't offended or overly embarrassed. "It seems you two had enough fun for all of us, though."
"Dude," Brady groaned. "Stop being gross. This is Claire, we watched her grow up. What happened to the toddler that used to beg to put lipstick on me?"
"She hit puberty, get over it," Aiden answered him flatly. "And Claire-bear's cool with it, aren't you?"
I rolled my eyes at the childhood nickname and smiled at him. "As long as you don't tell my Uncle, yeah, I suppose."
Aiden threw Brady a victorious look and downed the rest of his coffee.
"Where's Collin?" Quil asked.
Brady and Aiden shared an amused look. "He and Gabby had been…close since they came back from Seattle," Brady sniggered.
"As in, can't keep their hands off each other, dry humping in the truck close," Aiden smirked, throwing his cup into the sink. "It'd be disgusting if we weren't so used to it with the rest of them," he dropped a kiss onto my cheek. "Well, see you later lovebirds, I have work to do at the shop."
"And I'm going to see Evelyn," Brady said. "You two should come over as well. Emily knows you were home last night and she'll come looking for you," he went to run out the door but stopped. "Shower first, though. You both reek of sex."
Frowning, I leaned down and sniffed myself.
"It's a wolf thing," Quil grinned. "We can just tell."
"That's weird."
"I know."
We ate breakfast and showered, together, quickly. Brady was right, Aunt Emily would come over within the hour if we didn't go over. I chose some jeans and a top from some of the clothes I had left in Quil's wardrobe and turned to see Quil waiting for me. Walking down, I couldn't help but miss the burn of the sun from the French sky, but changed my mind when it began to rain. The rain made it feel like home.
"Hey Aunt Emily," I called to my Aunt sat on the sofa with Tyrone and Nathan. She snapped her head to look at me and her scarred face turned up into a smile.
"Claire, Quil," she ran over and hugged us tightly. "Oh, look at your tan! Did you have a good time? How is everyone over there? What was France like?"
I walked with her to the sofa and we chatted for hours about France, and then I repeated myself to Uncle Sam. We ate dinner together and then Quil and I had to leave. I had promised my mom I would be home by six and it was already four. Disheartened, I strolled back to Quil's apartment.
"I don't want to go home," I said as he climbed into the truck after picking up my suitcase.
"I don't want you to, either," he admitted. "But your parents will kill me."
"Kidnap me."
He laughed. "No thanks, I don't want to be jailed."
"Okay, so take me away and then when the police come I'll say I was a willing participant."
He grinned and kissed my hand before starting the engine. I sighed as we pulled away. I didn't want to leave him yet, especially after last night. We drove down smoothly, alternating between talking and comfortable silence. When we pulled up outside my house, I popped out my seatbelt and lurched to kiss him. As I deepened the kiss, he groaned and pushed me away.
"We need to stop before I take you up on that kidnapping thing," he joked.
He got my suitcase out the back and put it outside my front door. With one last kiss, he rushed back into his truck and sped off. After spending two full weeks with him constantly around, I felt empty without him. Scowling, I took the handle of my case and rolled it into the house.
"Mom, dad, I'm home!"
"Hey honey," mom ran out the study and hugged me. "How was France?"
"Amazing. The sites and buildings were gorgeous."
"Did you have fun?"
My lips twitched. "The time of my life."
We chatted for a few more minutes when my dad came downstairs and I talked to them both for a while. Complaining of jetlag, I went to my bedroom and unpacked my things, missing Quil like crazy. I couldn't phone him either because he had told me on the way to Makah that he was catching up on patrolling shifts tonight. When I had checked e-mails and social sites, I got out my phone and called Gabby.
"Claire! Are you back?" she answered the phone on the third ring.
"Yeah, I got back last night," I replied.
"Did you have a good time?"
"The best…I heard you and Collin had a bit of fun of your own while we were gone."
I could imagine her vivid blush.
"Oh…yeah…well…Seattle is amazing," she stuttered.
I giggled as I painted my nails a deep purple. "Aiden said there's dry humping involved and everything," I continued.
"I'm going to kill him! He caught us last week when he was on patrol, the little shit!"
I talked to her until late night, catching up on everything I had missed in the past two weeks. When I was finished I decided to go to sleep, I could call Quil in the morning when I woke up.
For the rest of the summer Quil and I spent as much time as we could together. We didn't go more than three days without touching or kissing each other, and every chance I could, I jumped him. We were young and in love and the world just seemed more open. That was until I looked at my calendar and saw I had five days before Gabby and I moved to Seattle. Quil and I had spread out days where I bought everything I needed for school until our attic was full of my University junk. We had spread the time out so far apart, however, that we didn't realize how long we had left before I moved to a different city.
Three days before I moved I spent the day with my parents, going through my bedroom and picking out what I wanted to take to Seattle and leave in Makah. I held back my tears until they had left to make dinner, I didn't want to upset them. The night before, after a passionate night with Quil, I spent the night crying into his chest while he stroked my hair and whispered sweet words into my ear. I was close to not going, I would miss my parents, my Aunt Emily and Uncle Sam, my cousins, the pack, the imprints—hell, I would even miss my sister.
We borrowed a truck from Paul's dad's construction company for the move, making it easy to fit my things as well as Gabby's into the back. After a lot of pleading and watery eyes, my parents had agreed to let Quil drop me off at school. They knew we were together now, we hadn't talked about it, but I knew they knew. We were on a mutual agreement, I wouldn't talk about it and they wouldn't complain about it. It seemed stupid, but it was how it worked for us. My parents weren't accepting of the age gap and the fact that, in their eyes, he used to be mine and Nora's babysitter. If only I could tell them about the imprint, about Quil and I's connection, but it was impossible so I had to accept their irritation and so did Quil.
Gabby and I sat in the two front seats, Quil drove and Collin hovered behind us with our boxes. We drove in silence for a majority of the ride, all lost in our own thoughts, though I was sure our thoughts were on the same wavelength. When we got to the University Quil parked up and we got out the car to check in and get the keys for the room I had been assigned to. We headed to my room that was on the second floor and in the middle of the hallway. My room was co-ed and my door, on a piece of paper next to the number, had "Claire Young/Quinn Jepson" in bold letters.
Seconds after I looked, the door swung open to reveal a cute girl with bouncy brown hair and brown eyes. She smiled at me and held out her hand. "Hey, I'm Quinn," she said.
"I'm Claire," I replied, shaking her hand.
"Oh thank God! I was thinking the worst. I thought you'd be a rock chick or something," she laughed, turning to walk into the room. It was a small room with a bunk bed, a bed side cabinet and desk either side. She had chosen the left side of the room, her stuff were spread across the floor, so I dumped my bag onto the right side. I talked to my roommate for a while and then headed out to get the boxes to see Gabby walking out of a room four doors down.
She saw me and beamed. "Oh I'm so glad we're close to each other," she breathed. "How's your roommate?"
"Cool, I think. Seems normal, yours?"
"Same, she seems nice," Gabby shrugged.
We made trips from the truck to my room until it was empty and then unpacked. Quinn left to meet her friend for lunch and I leaned against the windowsill, watching some students laugh and joke below me. I turned to Quil and felt tears well in my eyes.
"I should get going," he said slowly. "I have work tonight."
"Okay," I replied, sniffing.
He strode forward and scooped me into his arms for a mindboggling kiss. I held onto him tightly for a minute afterwards and then stepped back, wiping my eyes.
"If you need anything, call me," he said, kissing my nose, cheeks and chin. "I can be down here in twenty minutes if I need to be."
"Okay."
"I love you, Claire, with all my heart," he professed.
"I love you, too, Quil," I sobbed.
He groaned and kissed my tears away. He leaned his forehead against mine and held me until my tears stopped. He leaned down and kissed me tenderly, cradling my face. I nodded twice and he let go, walking to the door. He stopped to wave and I smiled a little, and then he was gone.
I furiously wiped my tears and climbed up onto my bed. It would get better, eventually. The first time was always the hardest. I wanted University, badly, and I needed it for my future…for my future with Quil.
I loved him, he loved me, we would get through this together, like we always had.
Thoughts?
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Believe it or not, there's only six-ish chapters to go until the end!
-Laylax
