The next day Emily and I met with our first client and officially became 'B.E. Catered' with the B standing for Bella and the E standing for Emily. We thought it was a cute name for our new business.
Seth and I hung out every day as Emily and I cooked for our business and on the weekends, I ended up sleeping over, though not at Emily's and not with Leah as I'd told Charlie.
The weekends were reserved for me and Seth time. We hadn't gone any further than kissing (sometimes it got pretty heavy), but he'd made it clear that I was the one setting the pace.
I knew that anything more between us would most certainly wait until he was officially sixteen.
Even though I'd slept with him (only sleeping) every weekend for nearly a whole month, it continued to be the best sleep I'd ever had, and I found myself almost unable to sleep alone while I was at Charlies.
In the moments I was wrapped in Seth's arms, I felt amazing. When we kissed, fireworks went off, every time. When he touched my skin, it felt like it was on fire, and I often found myself dreaming of going further.
The pack had chased after Victoria three more times in the last month and she'd escaped every time, apparently cackling like a maniac as she jumped through the trees, acting like the whole thing was a joke. I was beginning to suspect my fear about her having a gift was accurate, and I wasn't yet sure what to do about it. Obviously all of our plans thus far had failed.
When it was finally Seth's sixteenth birthday, and I was more than anxious to leave school early. I'd spent the night at home, because it wasn't the weekend and I was dying to see my imprint.
Seeing as it was a Friday, I would get to spend the whole weekend with him. Emily and I had baked him his favorite cake the day before, while he was on patrol, so he had no idea.
I'd even gotten together with Sue, who now considered me as a pseudo-daughter, and made arrangements for a special leather and elastic ankle band to be made with our names engraved on it. I'd made sure it was able to stretch so that it could phase with him, and double as a tie for carrying his shorts.
I'd asked Sam to make sure Seth was on patrol while I left school early to go down to the res so that I could get his present from Sue, as well as make sure everything was ready for his birthday at Emily's.
I left school an hour early, having checked myself out because I was 18. I made my way to the Clearwater's house first.
I walked right inside, having been instructed by Sue that I was family now, so there was no need to knock. The thought itself made me smile. I was so happy that she was so welcoming and accepting of me.
"Sue?" I asked as I closed the door, walking inside.
"In here, Bella." She said from the kitchen. I walked in and she had a box laying on the table, which I assumed was his present.
"Is that it?" I asked anxiously, wanting to see it. She nodded. I opened the box and inspected the beautiful band. It had Bella + Seth written in cursive on the leather part and stretchy elastic that was perfect for what I needed it for. "It's perfect, Sue, thank you! Do you think he'll like it?"
"I think he'll love it, Bella. Then again, he'd love anything from you. I'm telling you, he's head over heels for you, honey." Sue told me, touching my cheek in a motherly way.
I knew I loved Seth, I had for a while now, but I hadn't told him yet. I was planning on telling him tonight, and I only hoped that he already felt the same way. Sue was convinced that he did, but he hadn't told me yet, either, so I didn't know for sure.
"He wanted you to spend the night so badly last night. He ended up sneaking out around midnight to go check on you, but don't tell him I know that." Sue told me. I hadn't known that. It had been increasingly harder for me to sleep at Charlie's since Seth and I had become closer. I was always cold when I was away from him, and I could often feel his anxiety about me being so far away, especially while Victoria was still roaming.
"I'll be here all weekend. I hope you don't mind." I told Sue, biting my lip.
"I don't mind at all, Bella. I know what you are to my son, and despite his age, there's no use in fighting the imprint. I know things are changing between the two of you, which happens in every relationship, especially in one where you are as close as the both of you. I only ask that when you do take that next step, please make sure there's some type of protection. I'm too young to be a grandmother, and Seth is too young to be a father, at least right now."
I blushed deeply, not believing I was having this conversation with my future mother-in-law.
"I -uh- I'm on birth control. The three-month shot, so, um, we should be, uh, covered." I told her, highly embarrassed.
"Good. I'm going to be going up to Seattle this weekend. I'm leaving shortly, so you three will be on your own." Sue told me, causing me to turn an even darker shade. "You should probably be getting over to Emily's, Seth is due to be off patrol at 4."
I nodded and thanked her again before heading out the door with the present in my hands, still mortified at the conversation I'd just had.
Walking into Emily's, I saw that she already had Seth's cake out and was putting the final touches on it.
"Hey! Ready for the big night?" She asked as I walked in. I was surprised that no one else was there.
I'd told Emily of my plans for the night already. She was my closest friend, with Kim coming in second. We imprints stuck together.
"I'm ready, but I just had the most mortifying conversation with Sue. It was 'the talk'." I told her, still embarrassed by it.
"I had a feeling that was coming, at least she's okay with it, though, right?" Emily asked and I nodded.
"Yeah, she's even going into Seattle for the weekend. She asked me to make sure we were protected because she's too young to be a grandmother. I told her I was on the shot, but talk about embarrassing." I said, smacking my hand to my forehead.
"I can only imagine. The pack should be getting here soon, Sam said they chased her again today, but she keeps jumping into the ocean. They're all out there making sure she doesn't double back." She told me.
I was getting worried. Her visits were becoming more and more frequent. The guys always managed to chase her off, but I was worried that one of them was going to get hurt when she decided to stop playing games with them.
It wasn't long before all of them started filing in, Seth coming in last. Before even noticing the cake, he made a B-line straight to me, wrapping his arms around me, and kissing me in front of everyone. Everyone started clapping and cat-calling. So far, we'd kept the PDA to a minimum and hadn't kissed in front of the pack yet.
"Happy birthday, Seth." I told him as he pulled away, resting his forehead against me. I swore he'd grown even more since we'd been together. He was starting to look even older now, too. Definitely not like he'd just turned 16.
"Thank you, starshine." He whispered to me with a sweet smile.
His nickname for me had come about while we were laying outside in a clearing in the forest, watching the stars one night. I'd told him that watching the stars was one of my favorite things, and since then he'd called me starshine, saying that normal pet names like honey and sugar were too plain for someone like me.
He pulled away after a minute and finally saw the cake sitting there. "You guys made cake? Heck yes!"
I knew he'd be excited about that. Being mine and Emily's taste tester, he'd told us several times that his favorite was always our yellow cake with whipped chocolate icing.
Everyone ate the cake until it was completely gone, and I decided it was time to give him his present.
"So, I know you told me not to, but I got something for you anyways." I told him, smiling as I pulled the box out from behind my back.
He gave me a look before taking the box, opening it. His expression was unreadable for a minute while he looked at what I'd given him, setting the box down on the table.
"It's an ankle band, but it'll stretch with you when you phase, and you can tie your shorts to your leg with it, too." I told him. He ran his fingers over the engraving and then reached for me, pulling him into his arms tightly.
"It's perfect, thank you." He told me, kissing my forehead before leaning down to tie it around his ankle.
"Can we see if it works?" I asked him. He always loved when I asked him to phase for me. Neither of the other imprints were as comfortable with their wolves as I was with mine, but Seth told me that his wolf thought it was the best thing ever and I felt like it made us closer.
"Let's go." He told me excitedly, pulling me by my hand out the door.
He didn't even bother going behind the tree to phase anymore. With as many times as the pack had phased in front of me, I'd seen it all already.
He took off his shorts and threw them to me with a wink, making sure I was far enough away before phasing into my favorite sandy colored wolf.
I walked over to him and rubbed his muzzle before looking if the anklet had worked. I was so happy to see that it had, and it wasn't too tight.
He turned and rubbed his muzzle in between my shoulder and neck, then licked my face, excited. I scratched behind his ear as I smiled and laughed.
He motioned for me to follow him into the woods and I followed. We walked a decent way into the woods, to my confusion, and he phased back, immediately pushing me up against a tree gently, careful of my back, before leaning in to kiss me passionately.
A/N- Its about to get juicy, y'all. I will be keeping this story rated 'T', so not too juicy, but it might even be pushing the limits, just a tad. Seth is finally 16, and he is still a teenage boy, so no matter how sweet and caring he is, he has a girlfriend who he knows he'll be with forever, and eventually one thing leads to another... so be prepared!