BEFORE THE CLEARWATER'S

CHAPTER 22

SAVANNAH P.O.V

I was sitting on the Cullen's couch with Alice thrusting things at me. It felt weirdly like I had been here before, doing this exact same thing.

"Alice." I whined. "I already know what flowers I want." I knew that no matter what we were going to have sunflowers. I decided to change my colors from purple to red. Alice had complained because she said the purple was nice but red went better with sunflowers.

"Savannah, stop whining. You sound like a child. These are for the center pieces." She said.

"Sunflowers. With red roses." I answered throwing everything on the coffee table. "I'm not changing my mind. I get that my moms wedding was very traditional but mine isn't. So get sunflowers." We had designed my bouquet with mostly sunflowers, some white roses and one single red rose in the middle.

"Alice, it's her wedding." Esme was always the voice of reason. As much as I loved Alice and had an amazing relationship with each of the Cullen's, Alice was the hardest to get along with. She was also amazing friends with my mom but Alice was crazy when it came to things like this. She wouldn't stop until I was married and everything was over. I knew what I was getting myself into but I expected her to give me some rest. We were still over a year away from the wedding.

"We still have to pick the menu." We were still trying to decide on a main course. It was getting hard trying to decide between chicken or steak. We both wanted steak but it costs a lot of money. Chicken was the cheaper way to go. With the pack being able to shovel down food, chicken would be the easier.

"I think we've decided on chicken. Wedding soup. The salad bar. The fruit bar. And then the dessert bar." Alice was looking over her notes. We were going to have it all catered. I had no idea how the Cullen's were going to store all of this food, but Alice said not to worry.

"What about for kids?" She asked. Most of the packs kids were older. Quil and Claire didn't have kids yet. The youngest kid in the pack right now was Finn. Everyone else was older than at least 6. I knew that my siblings would all eat the chicken.

"Finn will probably just eat fruit and veggies." I answered. Seth came through the door holding my lunch and a milkshake. "Hi." I smiled standing up to hug and kiss him. "Thank you for lunch."

"You're welcome." He smiled sitting down. As much as he hated this process, I knew he also secretly loved being apart of this. He loved being asked his opinion on flowers or center pieces but he loved picking out food.

"Seth, have you agreed to do chicken?" Alice asked as she moved swiftly around the room. There were boards and pictures hung up all over the place. I could only imagine how much Esme hated it. The guest list was finalized and Alice had sent out Save The Date to everyone. Our invitations wouldn't be going out until next January but they still hadn't come in the mail yet.

"Yeah we agreed on chicken." He leaned back against the couch while rubbing my back with one hand and the other was resting behind his head.

"We need to hurry this up because I have graduation practice in two hours." I commented as I ate. I had a ton going on recently and this wedding stuff was the least of my worries. I wanted to just graduate first and then we could worry about all of this other stuff later. I wasn't sure why we were still going over these small details. Everything at this point was exactly how I wanted. Most of these things wouldn't even need to be decided for a few more months. But Alice insisted.

Eventually she let me go and I headed over to the school for graduation practice. Chelsea was sitting next to me thankfully so we were able to chat.

"There's a party after this. You should come." She said.

"I would love to. Where is it?" I asked.

"It's down by the beach." She answered. It was pretty close to my parents house so I would have to be careful but it was close enough to my place that Seth could be there quickly if something happened.

"I'm in." I smiled. Graduation practice was nearly two hours long. As it ended, groups of kids made their way to the beach. I drove my car over with Chelsea and a few other kids. I made sure my phone was charged before heading down to the beach. Some guys who were home from college were already there with a fire going, food on a bunch of different tables and kegs all over the place.

"Well if it ain't Savannah Black." One guy smirked at me. I couldn't remember what his name was but I knew he had graduated when I was a freshman. We had a few classes together. Went out on a few dates and it was probably really bad that I couldn't remember his name. "How's your brother?" He asked.

"He's okay." I shrugged. I'm sure if he heard anything about this party, he would show up.

"Want a beer?" He asked grabbing a cup.

"Sure." I smiled holding it as he filled it.

"Where does someone get a huge ring like that?" The ring wasn't flashy, one simple diamond but on my small hand it looked huge. It was everything I had ever wanted in an engagement ring.

"A girl's fiance." I shrugged taking a sip of my beer. He grabbed my hand nearly spilling the drink.

"You're engaged?" People always had the same reaction when I told them. But that was the thing about these small towns. Most of us always found our way back here because this was our home. This is where our tribe was. This is where our lives start and where they end. Most of us married the person we were with in high school. Of course my love story was a little different but for most people it wasn't. You married your high school sweetheart right out of high school. Started families. It was how most of the towns around La Push were. Hell, most of my family did it like that. Grandpa Billy. Grandpa Charlie, Sue and Harry Clearwater. All married young and had kids young. Apple didn't fall far from the tree.

"Yeah." I answered. "To Seth Clearwater." The packs names were well known. Of course the secret of keeping the pack secret never got out, they were still apart of the council and were expected to be there for every meeting.

"Ah, Mr. Clearwater." He answered dropping my hand. "He will kick my ass." He answered making me chuckle and shake my head.

"He doesn't know I'm here." Not that I was keeping it from him, I just never told him. Another guy came over and stood next to me holding out his cup. I looked up to see Ryder. "Hey." I said to him.

"Does dad know you're here?" He asked.

"Does dad know you're here?" I asked back. I was older than him even if it was only a little over a year.

"Does your boyfriend know you're here?" I rolled my eyes as if either of them controlled what I did. I was allowed to go out and party. "I'll be sure to call him when you're laying face first in the sand." I rolled my eyes again.

"I'll be sure to let Sam know where you are." I commented walking away to the group of girls Chelsea was talking to.

"Hey." I smiled greeting them.

"Hey." Chelsea greeted me. "We were all just wondering if we're going to be invited to your wedding." I wasn't planning on inviting anyone from school. We wanted a small intimate wedding. It was strictly going to be family, the pack, and the Cullen's. For the most part there weren't going to be that many people there.

"Oh um." I hesitated. That was always an awkward question when people asked. "We're keeping it really small. Because we don't really have the money to feed that many people." I answered. That excuse almost always worked. We were a young couple, living on our own. With the Cullen's paying for everything I'm sure they wouldn't care if we invited more people but I didn't really want that many people there.

"Oh. Yeah. Of course." She smiled but turned back to another girl.

"Wait is that all you care about? Being invited to my wedding?" I asked grabbing her arm.

"You dropped us for months. You didn't even call."

"I was assaulted and my grandmother died. You never called! I was going through a ton of shit and you never reached out." I defended myself. "But yeah, you should be invited to my wedding." I turned and walked away before I caused her any bodily harm. I quickly chugged my beer before going back for another.

"What happened?" Ryder asked when he looked at my face.

"Nothing." I answered crossing my arms. Eventually I calmed myself down and got a few more drinks into my system when a car pulled into the parking lot right next to the beach where I was standing with Ryder and a few others. I turned, still holding my cup just in time to see my father and fiance step out of the car. My eyes widened and I quickly held the cup behind my back.

"What are you two doing?" Dad asked coming over to us. Ryder chugged his beer while I poured mine out behind my back.

"I've been calling you for an hour." Seth commented.

"I was here." I shrugged. I didn't realize that I was suppose to tell both of them where I was going to be every minute of every single day.

"Doing what?" He asked.

"Being a teenager." I answered. Of course if I asked Seth he would supply me with as much alcohol as I wanted.

"Get in the car. Both of you." Dad grabbed Ryder by the arm while Seth stood in front of me.

"I'm not a child. You can't tell me what to do." I crossed my arms across my chest.

"Get in the fucking car, Savannah." He gritted his teeth at me before shoving Ryder into the back seat.

"Charlie called. Said the cops were about to bust this place so just get in the car." Seth said. When I didn't move, he picked me up and nearly threw me into the backseat, knocking me into Ryder before dad drove off.

"You guys are no fun." I huffed. "Let us live. Let us run from the cops." We were fast enough to run away and not get caught but also most of the people in this town knew who we were and where we lived. Our dad was well known, which made us well known.

"They would come knocking on the door. You know that."

"I don't even live there."

"Stop acting like a child." Dad answered as he pulled up to the house. "For once in your life just listen to what I say!" He had a temper lately. I mean maybe it never went away, his protectiveness of me, but since moving out I thought he was calming down. I guess nothing had changed since I lived there. It always made me wonder if it was more of Seth's doing than my own. Mom said he never acted like that when I was a baby. Just when I became of age to be dating.

When we all went inside, Mom had made food.

"Hungry?" She asked setting a plate in front of each of us. As if she had to ask any of us if we were hungry. Finn crawled over to the table and whined for dad to pick him up.

"Hi, Buddy." Dad smiled kissing his cheeks. I ate and watched them. I couldn't wait to watch Seth raise and love our own kids someday.

"Dad came and busted us." Ryder scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"That's because Charlie called and said it was about to get busted by the cops." Mom answered running her hand through his hair trying to tame the craziness of it. It was nearly to the middle of his back and I could clearly see some leaves in it.

"So let us get busted. They always bring me home." He answered shoving food in his mouth.

"I'm well aware of that." Mom answered sitting down beside us to eat. It felt nice sitting around the table and eating together. Even if it was only for a hot minute before Seth took me home. "How are wedding plans coming along?" Mom asked.

"Good. We're done." I answered. "We decided on the chicken." I confirmed. It was a hard decision, but we got there. "Now, I'm done talking about the wedding for now." I wanted to get married. I couldn't wait to get married but until then, I wanna be a regular teenager who wasn't in the weirdest relationship in the world.