Hey guys! We are nearing the end, unfortunately. One or two more chapters (I'm thinking about splitting the finale into two parts, it's getting pretty monstrous (thoughts on this?) ) and an epilogue still coming your way. Please read and review! Oh, and let me know your guesses for the honeymoon destination :)
Seth
I wake up with a pounding headache, a wicked stomachache, and no memory of at least half of last night. I guess I can cross 'Get blackout drunk' off my bucket list. I'm going to kill Paul; I should have let Sam or Jacob take the lead.
Paul is like Leah when it comes to alcohol – high tolerance, low patience. He thinks everyone should be on his level, and he'll do anything to get you there. Including making you slam shot after shot after shot after shot… My memory starts to get hazy around number five.
Judging by the empty bottles strewn around the kitchen, the seven of us – me, Paul, Jared, Jake, Embry, Quil, and Sam – had finished at least five bottles of hard liquor. And Sam hardly ever drinks.
There are a few people up; Sam's already busy making breakfast (Emily's rubbing off on him, finally), but I consider slipping out anyway. I want nothing more than to go home and go back to sleep, maybe with Katie. I wonder if she's faring any better than I am. Knowing Leah, probably not.
But there's too many witnesses, and I don't remember where I put my keys. Looking around, I realize they might actually be under Quil, who's still sleeping on the couch.
All throughout breakfast, Jared and Paul keep throwing me funny looks and then whispering so low that even I can't hear it from my seat across the room. After one round of hushed conversation that causes them both to double over in laughter, I have to ask, "What's so funny?"
This only makes them laugh harder.
Jared is the first to catch his breath long enough to respond. "What's the last thing you remember from last night?"
"Shot number five, I think? Jake challenged Quil to an arm-wrestling match."
And the laughter is back, and my question remains unanswered. Never again.
When I finally make my way home around noon, Katie is sitting on the couch, wrapped in a blanket. The TV's on, but the volume is low. The lights are turned off, too. She must have a headache. Seeing her, having her smile up at me, makes my unease fade.
"Hey there," I say softly, setting my keys on the coffee table gently so the sound doesn't reverberate.
"Hey," she returns, patting the space next to her. "Tell me about your night."
I kiss her forehead before I accept the invitation, enjoying the way she leans into my embrace. "You first," I say, pulling her feet across my lap.
She smiles. "It was a lot of fun. Girl talk, mostly," she says, blushing. "A killer headache, but other than that I'm okay," she says as she tangles our fingers together. "What about you?"
"If I'm being honest, I don't remember much of it," I say guiltily.
She chuckles. "I figured," she says, her expression dancing somewhere between amusement and embarrassment.
The amusement, I understand. The embarrassment... not so much. Why is she embarrassed that I got black-out drunk? "What?" I ask.
She blushes, looking down at our hands. "You don't remember calling me?"
My mouth falls open. "I called you?" I ask. She nods, unable to meet my eyes. "What did I… say?"
She giggles, and I see her struggle with how to answer. Surely, whatever I said couldn't have been that bad, could it? I haven't had a single bad though towards Katie. Except…
"It's more of what you were doing," she says.
"Oh," I say, ears going red hot as she confirms my worst fear. No wonder Jared and Paul couldn't stop snickering at me this morning over breakfast. "I'm sorry," I mumble.
She chuckles. "It's okay. When I saw it was you calling, I went to the bathroom. The music was loud enough that I don't think anybody heard."
"You didn't hang up?" I ask, my voice going up an octave.
The color on her cheeks deepens. "No."
"Did you…?" I trail off, and now I'm the one to drop my gaze.
"Yes," she says quietly, understanding my question anyway. "I did."
My head swirls with a mix of emotions. There's an instant surge of attraction toward her, as always, but we both feel like garbage, and I hear Leah snoring from her bedroom. Then there's the embarrassment, because even if no one heard us here, I'm confident the wolves heard my end of things.
And I'm mad, because I don't remember a single second of it.
Katie reads my expression, leaning against me and snuggling into my chest. "Go to sleep, Seth. No big deal."
At Katie's coaxing, sleep entices me again, and with Katie safe in my arms, it's hard to feel anything other than adoration as I pull her farther onto my chest for a nap.
Until she whispers, "I just realized we could have been doing that the whole time I was in Olympia."
I miss Katie.
I thought when she moved here, I'd get to see her more. And I do, when our schedules align one or two nights a week. This week is a special circumstance, I guess, and I understand why I've only seen her in passing.
She's worked two double shifts at the diner this week to make up for her missed shifts when we'll be on our honeymoon. Same for me – I've picked up more patrols and worked a few extra hours at the lumber yard to make up for my upcoming time off.
The other, more embarrassing reason is that Katie and I can hardly stand to be in the same room without mentally undressing each other. It's driving Leah crazy. But not as crazy as it's driving Katie and me, if our late-night phone call on Saturday was any indication.
Today's Thursday, and my last patrol before the wedding. Katie's family is flying in to Seattle tomorrow; they're supposed to show up to Mom's around four, which leaves enough time for a quick rehearsal and family dinner. Katie will be leaving with my mom and Charlie to spend the night in their spare room; my mom had suggested it, which translates to a calmly worded command.
And then Katie and I won't get another moment alone together until we're good and married and, well, alone.
So yeah, I miss Katie.
How can you miss somebody you live with? Jake asks. I'd been so caught up in my thoughts I didn't notice him phase in.
I imagine there are lots of ways to miss someone you live with. But I settle for saying, I've been sleeping on the couch for a week now.
I feel him search my thoughts for a reason. Before he can get too far, I give him a snippet of Leah banging on my bedroom door, telling us to knock it off. I then shift my thoughts to the pizza I'd had for lunch.
Ah, he says knowingly. Just a few more days, bud. You're a stronger man than I think I could be.
And just like that, I get a sliver of a glimpse into what Jake's been thinking of – who Jake's been thinking of. And he knows it, feels me recognize it. He tries to snatch it back, but it's too late.
Jacob's in love with Nessie.
About time you admitted it, I laugh.
What does that mean? I only realized it a few weeks ago, he says. He sounds defensive. I feel his hackles raise at that comment.
I'm just sayin', I laugh. It's been a long time coming.
Ha, he barks with no actual humor behind it. It still hasn't "gone" anywhere, Jake says, thinking about a conversation he had with Edward a few weeks ago.
Wait, I say, interrupting his train of thought. What did he make you promise?
That she has to be the one to make the move. I'm at her mercy, he says, thinking of Nessie.
That's not any different than normal, is it? I say with a chuckle.
Jake growls. I think you should take a lap up the coast. See what's going on up by the border.
Aw, Jake, really? I was joking. I try to suppress my distaste for that suggestion. Like my mother, a suggestion from Jake is just an order in a nicer tone.
He chuckles at my comparison, and I feel some actual amusement behind it this time. Do you want me to make it an order?
Even as he speaks the words, I know he doesn't mean them. Just like he knows I don't mean it when I say, You're gonna have to.
I'm already running north.
Jake lets me off early as an early wedding present, having only completed the one lap to the border. I know Katie won't be off yet, but that's okay, because I still need to pack for the both of us.
I want Leah's help, because whether they realize it or not, Leah and Katie are quickly becoming best friends. And while I know a lot about Katie, I don't know what kind of things girls need for honeymoons.
"You think I do?" Leah says when I ask for her help. "It's because I've gone on so many honeymoons, right?" she jokes, but she's already heading toward my room.
"Does this mean you're going to tell me where you're taking her?" she asks, pulling Katie's top drawer open before turning to me.
With a sigh, I pull out the reservations where they'd been stashed underneath my socks.
Her eyes scan the pages. "Creative," she muses. "Okay, let's do it then."
"Don't forget her camera stuff," I say.
And then I think about the things I need to remember to get from the store, and my ears go red.
Leah is observant; she picks up on it right away, pausing from stowing Katie's clothes in her suitcase. "What?"
"Just need to get a few things," I mumble under my breath.
"Ah," she says as if she knows what I'm talking about. "I don't think you do."
I feel my face twist in confusion, but she just rolls her eyes and tells me to talk to Katie. Actually, her exact words are closer to God, you're getting married in two days and you haven't had this talk yet? Buck up.
When Katie returns from her shift at the diner, I can tell she's exhausted, ready for sleep. I nearly back out of initiating this conversation altogether.
She collapses on the couch next to me, throwing her feet in my lap, and I slip off her shoes and start massaging them.
"That feels so good," she sighs, resting her head on the armrest and allowing her eyes to slip closed as she launches into the details of her day.
At this point, Leah's a pro at the whole buzzkill thing, even when unwarranted. Although I know she wasn't paying attention before, she chooses now to conveniently chug the rest of her water from her spot in her room and emerge to get more from the kitchen.
I roll my eyes. She eyeballs Katie, tilting her head and giving me a pointed look.
I wave her away just as Katie finishes her story. "How was your day?" she asks, eyes opening slowly to find mine.
"It was good," I say, hearing Leah's door latch shut again. "Jake let me off early, so I packed for us. For our trip."
She sits up, grinning. "Oh, really? So we're all set?"
"Well…" I trail off, ears going red again as I look down at her feet in my lap. Now or never, right?
Leah's right. We'll be married in less than forty-eight hours and I can't talk about sex with her? Part of me knows it's because we've spent so long avoiding the topic.
One of the many things Dad had instilled in me, when he'd given me the Birds and the Bees talk and a few more times before he'd died, was that if you can't talk about sex, you shouldn't have sex. And to be blunt, I really want to have sex.
"I don't have any condoms," I finally say, finding her eyes.
"That's okay," she says softly. "I'm on the pill."
I try to cough to cover my surprise. "You are?" When she nods, I ask her why before I can stop to think if it's even my business.
She blushes. "It's good for other stuff besides preventing pregnancy," she says.
"Really?" I ask. God, I should have paid more attention in school on sex education day. "Like what?"
Her eyebrows furrow. "You really want to talk about this?"
I nod fervently. "I told you I want to know everything about you."
Katie giggles, and I think I even pick up Leah's hushed laughter from her room. "Okay, then."
And then Katie teaches me all about the wonders of birth control.
I'm not sure why I have to clean Mom's house if Katie's family isn't staying here, but Mom insisted because the girls are getting ready here tomorrow. My only solace is that Katie and Leah are helping.
We've just finished, the three of us reclining on the couch in the living room while Mom and Charlie putter around in the kitchen, when I hear a car pull up outside.
I stand to my feet, Leah following suit.
"Is that them?" Katie asks, scrambling to her feet. She doesn't give me time to answer before she's bolting through the kitchen and heading outside.
"I guess they're here," Charlie gruffs – his preferred form of communication.
Mom smacks him lightly on the shoulder as I pass through the kitchen. "Best behavior, Charlie," she chides.
I follow Katie outside. By the time I make it to the door, Katie's already wrapped in her mom's arms.
"They're huggers," Leah grumbles from behind me. "Great."
"Seth," Greg calls as he walks around the front of the SUV.
Bailey spills out of the backseat and gives me a wave. Shelby and another woman, probably her girlfriend Jenna, appear from the other side.
"Hey Greg," I say, bounding across the yard to give him a handshake. "Hope you found this place okay."
"Wasn't so bad," he says as he grasps my hand. "Most of the rentals come with GPS." I think this is the most relaxed I've ever seen him. But then again, I've never seen him on a golf course.
Katie slips an arm around her mom's waist, pulling her toward the porch. The rest of us follow suit; it's just barely drizzling, something I'm not sure Katie's family has the sense to appreciate. It's even supposed to be dry tomorrow.
"Hey, kiddo," I say to Bailey, ruffling her hair.
She goes to punch my arm, but I dodge her just in time. I don't think Katie would appreciate me sending her sister to see Dr. Cullen when we're supposed to be rehearsing.
Mom steps forward. "You must be Laura. I'm Sue."
"It's so nice to finally meet you in person," Laura gushes, dropping Katie's arm in favor of pulling Mom in for a hug. I see Leah stiffen in fear of being next.
"You must be Seth's father," Greg says to Charlie, extending a hand.
"Dad," Katie hisses under her breath. "I told you."
Charlie surprises me when he chuckles, returning the handshake. "No, I didn't have the pleasure. I'm Charlie, Sue's husband."
Katie winds her hand through mine, and I realize I haven't actually held her hand in days. It's a nice feeling, and I make a conscious effort to do it more often.
I watch as Leah sizes up Shelby; seeing what competition she has for bitchy older sister. In my book, it's no competition – Leah wins every time.
The girl stuck close to Shelby's side is confirmed to be her girlfriend Jenna, and I hear Charlie bite back a cough that sounds a little something like progressive. The rest of the introductions are uneventful.
I ride home with Leah and Katie to change before we meet up for the rehearsal.
When Katie emerges, she takes my breath away. She's not even wearing white; she's in a light pink dress that hits her knees.
If this is just for the rehearsal, how am I going to be when I see her tomorrow?
She blushes under my stare, and she lifts her fingers to my chin, gently correcting my slack jawed expression before she stands on her tip toes to kiss me.
Katie's dad runs the rehearsal; I'm sure the rest of Katie's family is entranced by Edward, perched behind the piano. Because it's a simple ceremony, there's not much to rehearse. Katie urges her dad to just go through the lines once – she's nervous she's going to screw something up, but Greg promises her he won't let her get it wrong.
After dinner, Katie's family members say their goodbyes before heading back to their hotel in Forks.
"I'll be in the car, Seth," Leah says softly, and Katie and I are alone. Well, as alone as we can be with Sue and Charlie hovering thirty yards away by the the police cruiser and Leah taking her sweet time getting in her car.
I see Katie's bottom lip start to tremble, and I pull her into my chest as her tears start to fall. "Katie, baby, you don't need to cry."
"It feels like Olympia all over again," she mumbles into my chest.
I know exactly what she means – when I'd decided to sleep on the couch this week, when I realized a few days ago that we'd have to spend one more night apart.
"It's not for forever," I say, trying to convince the both of us. "It's not even for five days this time," I continue, hoping she'll crack a smile. "Just one night. One more night apart, and then together forever," I say into her hair.
"Just you and me," she says as she nods into my chest. "And Leah, for a bit," she adds with a chuckle, pulling back.
I lower my lips to hers, slow and soft. When I pull back, I rest my forehead on hers. "I'll see you tomorrow. Three o'clock," I say.
"Promise?" she asks, placing another small peck on my lips.
"Promise."
