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Warning: This story contains sexual content, it is intended for readers 18+
Olivia Uley's POV:
I feel my body physically relax when the old, rusted La Push, Washington sign comes into view. It feels like I've been in the car much longer than I have been. My shoulder and butt are sore and my legs feel awfully stiff. I'm not so used to car rides longer than ten minutes, so this was a change for me. Luckily I didn't get into an accident on my way down here, I'm not the most experienced driver. Still, my mom allowed it so I could have my car down here. This town is so little I wouldn't survive without a car.
It's been over a year since I've been in La Push. My last visit to see Sam and Emily was pretty brief too, I only stayed for a week. It was a mixture of my idea and Sam's idea for me to come live down here for my gap year. My mom wasn't too keen on it for many reasons, but I've always been very close to my big brother. I loved living in Oregon with my mom but it also gets boring being in the same place for so long. Normal people might take their gap year and use it to travel across the US or find themselves exploring a whole new country. That's for rich kids though and I am far from that.
My mom still thought I could do something better with my time, but I think enjoying the wilderness and seeing my brother and Emily will do me plenty good. Plus the wedding is coming up and I want to help out with that.
I take a turn onto Sam's road and I feel giddy with excitement when I pull up to his house. It looks similar to how it did years ago but I can tell it's been fixed up quite a bit. Before I can even park the car I see Sam rushing out of the house with Emily a few steps behind him, sharing his same utter excitement. I laugh, parking behind Sam's truck. I begin reaching for the door handle but Sam's there before me, ripping the door open and nearly forcefully pulling me out. I giggle with contentment, wrapping my arms around his frame as he squeezes me tightly to him. I feel Emily's slim arms wrap around my back, joining us for the group hug.
"We missed you!" She squeals, jumping up and down while holding onto me.
"I miss you guys more!" I squeeze out my words, struggling to breathe with all the hugging. I drop my arms to signal the hug is over but they still both hold on, making me giggle. "Okay, okay! I can't breathe." Finally they each take a step back.
Sam wraps his arm around Emily's shoulders, tugging her into his side as they both scan me. "You've grown so much in the past year." Sam comments, "Did you go through a second puberty or something? You look taller." His eyes narrow.
I shrug my shoulder loosely, although I think he's right. I feel a lot has changed in me this past year, like I've completed the last steps of puberty at eighteen. I've grown about two more inches, my body weight has fluctuated, and my skincare routine has really made a difference. I've also changed up my hair, though I do that seasonally when I get bored of the way I look.
"Well come on in, Emily made food. How was the drive down?" He motions me to lead the way into the house. The porch stairs creak and shudder as we climb up them. It looks like he's stained the wood to a darker color since the last time I've been here and Emily has some vibrant rugs sitting outside the front door. She's done a lot for his little house, back when it was just his it was an ugly mess.
I push the door open further as I walk inside and instantly the smell of cooked food has my mouth watering. "The drive was fine." I shrug, heading straight towards the kitchen. I round the corner to see all the food Emily's made laid out neatly on the kitchen island and table. "It smells amazing in here."
"I made a couple different things so have whatever you want and whatever you don't want someone else will eat." She chuckles, motioning to the table. "The boys will be over later surely looking for something." She says, looking up at Sam with a content look on her face. He presses a kiss to her temple before taking a seat at the table. I follow his lead, sitting across from him. "I hope you're hungry."
"Starving." I assure her, grabbing a bun an placing it on my plate. I begin looking through the various foods and picking some particular favorites. I've been dreaming of Emily's food since last year. I bragged to my mom for months about how good it was and how she's missing out, but she just smiled and nodded her head. Things between my mom and Sam have been awkward in the past two years, to say the least. I know it's hard for him to talk about so I don't mention it to him, but when it comes to her I do find myself pushing. She is the parent after all, even if he's grown up. "Emily how's the wedding planning going?" I ask, peeling my eyes away from all the plates in front of me long enough to glance at her.
She's picking up tiny portions and placing them on her plate, much unlike Sam and I who practically need two plates each. "It's stressful but it's coming along. I'm glad you'll be here to help, I need another eye on the things." She smiles appreciatively at me, though I just feel my heart sink a bit. Emily doesn't really have any girlfriends around here. I mean of course she doesn't, her and Sam were taboo at first. It hurt people and it hurt them too, though it's no ones fault.
I had a great relationship with Leah when her and Sam were dating and engaged. I was really supportive of them being together, she was much better than the girlfriends before her. She was headstrong and funny, a real down to earth person. I saw Sam and Leah getting married and leading a happy marriage.
Now I can see the small differences in this relationship compared to the last and see that this really is meant to be. The way Sam looks at Emily is so much different than the way he looked at Leah. His whole face and body seem to light up when she walks in a room and he drowns her in compliments and gratefulness every chance he can get. He's softer and gentler in how he communicates and he talks about her like she's right beside him when she's not even around.
He was good to Leah too, but it was surface level love. They worked well together and cared for one another, but it wasn't as deep as this. My heart breaks for Leah because of this, but I do hope she's doing better.
Emily's been a real trooper throughout this whole experience, even though it meant her family hating her for quite a while. Of course Leah wants nothing to do with her still, but luckily the other family members have come around to accept them. There's still some awkwardness, according to Sam, but Emily does her best to ignore it and move on. Otherwise, she hasn't made friends around La Push, she's not from around here.
Sam has the pack, but he's always been a bit of a loner himself. He didn't have many close friends in high school and they all sort of faded when he graduated. He had Leah and he was plenty content. Now it's sort of the same with Emily.
"I can't wait to help out, I've been crafting my pinterest board around all the things you've been telling me you want. I think you'll be impressed." I smile at her and she returns it. "This mac and cheese is insane." I groan at the taste.
Sam chuckles but nods his head, "It's the best I've ever had." He declares proudly. "So how's mom?"
I swallow my food and nod my head, "She's fine."
I feel an awkward tension spew into the room, but I try to carry on eating like normal. "Just fine?" He presses.
When Sam phased two years ago he called me. He was freaked out and distraught, he was all alone. The council was able to figure it out and assist him, but I was there on the other line panicking with him. I thought I was going to suddenly shift into a giant dog in mom's little apartment and ruin the place. He kept me updated for a while on what was going on and I was learning all about the pack while I was living in Portland.
Mom and I later visited him, her unknowing of the truth, for Christmas. That first night we arrived Sam shifted before my eyes to show me what it was like and I was in awe. It's supernatural and beautiful and completely insane. All that time he told me about it I believed him, but I don't think it really set in until I saw it with my own eyes. I was stunned and amazed all in one. We agreed my mom wouldn't be told as she would completely freak out and be horrified, but that's unfortunately not how things went on that trip.
Needless to say she knows, she witnessed something that horrified her, and she hasn't seen Sam as the same boy since. It hurts him, I know it does, but he doesn't say it. It hurts mom too but she's also so scared she won't even talk to him beyond holidays and even then her tone is shaky and fearful. It sucks.
"She's busy with work, she's going on dates but doesn't bring anyone home." I shrug my shoulders, stuffing my mouth with more food so he doesn't expect more. Really there's not much to report. Our dad left when I was five and since then she moved us out of La Push and into Portland where she's stayed. When Sam turned eighteen he came back to La Push, hoping to be more connected to his "roots". La Push was always a fond memory for all of us, but Sam was older when we left so he missed it more. Since the divorce my mom hasn't had an official boyfriend, but she's recently begun dating and she openly talks about that with me now. She's a good mom, always has been, but she struggles with change. Sam is a whole lot of change for her.
"Well good for her. Speaking of work, what do you plan to do this gap year?" He asks, wiping his mouth on a napkin.
Emily rises from her seat, collecting her and Sam's plate, taking them to the sink. The kitchen really has seen a lot of change. Sam is no cook, to say the least. He burns everything he makes unless it's on the grill. This kitchen used to be very under kept and it wasn't stocked. I can see he really put some time into it considering Emily loves cooking so much and probably spends all her time in it. They installed a new glass sliding door that leads to their large backyard, there's freshly painted white trim, and the walls are painted a calming cream color. Emily has some vibrant carpets in here as well and I can see an botanical apron and oven mittens hung up by the fridge. The kitchen table is the same as it always has been but it has a fresh coat of wood stain, making it look really homey. The chairs are freshly painted white with little chips in it, making it look aged in a nice way.
"Well I was hoping for some guidance, where do you suggest I look into?" I swallow my last bit of food before collecting my plate and taking it to the sink where Emily stands. "I'll do the dishes, I appreciate the food it was so good." I smile, placing my plate in the sink.
She practically shoves me away, swatting her hand in my direction with pursed lips. "You will not, you're our guest." She emphasizes with a huff.
I look to Sam for some support but he just rolls his eyes at me. "She's no guest Em, she's living here now." Her reminds her.
Her face brightens into a smile after a moment, "Right, why don't we show her to her new room?" She wiggles her eyebrows at me before latching onto my wrist, leading the way upstairs. Sam follows behind us, pointing out some upcoming home renovation projects that he has to work on.
We make it to the stop of the wooden stairs and Emily points to the last room all the way down the hallway. "Go check it out, let us know what you think." She prompts me, giving me a gentle shove in the right direction.
I do as told, making it to the door and pushing it open to reveal the space. When I was here last it was a modest guest room that mom and I stayed in. Now, it's really a bedroom for me.
They've painted the walls a fresh coat of a soothing green color and took out the carpet, replacing it with light wooden floors. There's a queen sized bed with a black bedroom and an awfully soft looking cream comforter. They've mounted a TV on the wall across from the bed and surrounded it with several framed paintings with a lot of vibrant colors, mixing in some old family photos. They also have a dresser and a desk, each matching in wood color. I turn to them with a pouted look. "Guys it's so nice, you didn't have to do all this work for me. I love it, thank you." I gush, pulling them into another group hug. Luckily this time Sam doesn't squeeze too hard and allows me to pull away on the first attempt.
"We wanted it to feel homey, we hope you stay a while." Sam sheepishly shrugs his shoulders, looking a bit shy about it. He's suggested me coming back to La Push since he moved here when he was eighteen. He always hoped I would come after graduation, but it wasn't in my original plans. I thought I'd go to college right away in a city, but as the time approached closer I had my doubts about that. I thought something like this would be better for me, plus I miss my big brother.
Emily smiles and nods along with Sam, rubbing his shoulder. "I hope you like the color and the paintings, I wasn't so sure. I thought you could always change it up though."
I shake my head, "I don't want to change a thing, it's perfect."
"Sam why don't you help her unload the car then and we'll leave you to get settled." Emily suggests, patting on his back to get him to work.
It's a little bit past 11 PM and I'm still wide awake despite having a pretty busy day. I thought my drive down here alone was going to tucker me out, but apparently I have more energy than I expected to have. I spent many hours putting away my clothes and organizing my drawers to the point where I desperately needed to get out of that room. The house is silent and Emily went to bed about an hour ago, but I'm feeling a snack.
I quietly move downstairs, though the creaky stairs dare to give me away, and shuffle through the kitchen looking for something sweet. I settle on a cupcake that lays displayed on the kitchen island, plucking it from the clear display case. How cute. I unwrap it from the holder and toss that away before walking over to the glass doors, sliding it open and walking out onto the back porch. It's comfortably cool tonight and my body feels relaxed as the wind brushes through my hair. I take a seat on the porch, allowing for my legs to dangle off the edge. With one hand supporting me upright and the other bringing the cupcake to my lips I enjoy the view of the forest.
It doesn't frighten me, but it brings me so much curiosity. Sam tells me of the cold ones being real. A clan of vampires that go by the Cullen's have moved into Forks, triggering the descendants of the tribe to phase. It's incredible to me, as I grew up hearing of the tales, but of course not thinking into them. I was only five when I was moved from La Push, I didn't spend much time reflecting on my heritage before I was pulled from it.
I actually didn't think of my heritage much at all growing up until Sam told he phased. Before then I didn't think much of being Native American, it felt like such a small part of me. Since knowing about Sam I've down my research and now I can claim myself to be a self-taught expert in the Quileute tribe and my history. I sigh contently, glancing up at the stars. I'm shocked to see how clear they are, no light pollution I suppose.
They twinkle and shine down so brightly, it's amazing. I lived in an apartment complex in Portland, so I never had a porch to sit on and enjoy the night sky. I would glance up every now and again, but I'd never take the time to enjoy it, study it.
The bushes rustle across the yard near the trees and my eyes drop, focusing on it. A moment later Sam emerges in just his jean cut off shorts. A smile tugs onto my lips as I sit up, "Hey you." I call to him.
He jogs over to me and then takes a seat beside me on the porch with a sigh. "Enjoy La Push's night sky?" He questions, looking up at it himself.
I nod, looking up. "Yeah, it's beautiful." He just hums.
"Leah phased last week." He mutters the words lowly. His voice is steady and calm, but there's still some tension in it.
I glance over at him, "Girls can phase too?" Sam and I have the same heritage, we share a mother and a father. If he phased and we know women can phase too, what's stopping me from phasing? I've considered it before but haven't let myself go nuts with thinking it's a possibility.
"Apparently they can, she's the first documented one in our records now. That has our numbers up now to nine, we're expecting Leah's little brother Seth to phase next." He explains thoughtfully. "Maybe you'll phase after him, or maybe you'll never phase. I don't know." He says honestly.
I'm not so sure what to say, "So you see Leah a lot then?"
He nods his head, his eyebrows tugging together in thought. "I do, but she's imprinted on someone in the pack. That makes things a bit less awkward." He shrugs.
"So she imprinted on someone that was already phased and didn't imprint on her?" I question with a frown on confusion washing over my face. It's all so confusing and complex.
He nods thoughtfully before turning to look at me. "Yeah he had been in the pack for two months now and she imprinted on him when she first phased and saw him. The imprint affects them both, but he didn't imprint on her the first time she saw him."
"That's pretty incredible." I let out a breath.
"So what if I phase-"
"You better not imprint on any of these guys if you phase." He cuts me off real quick with a chuckle, shoving my arm. "Get your head out of the gutter, you go straight to imprinting and you don't even focus on the phasing part, huh?" He shakes his head, teasingly.
I roll my eyes, smiling up at him. "A girl can have both, can't she?"