Olivia's POV:
I was pleasantly surprised when I woke up feeling so refreshed this morning. After my talk with Sam last night I felt newly inspired and excited about being here. My future might have more in store for me than I initially thought. Sam seems to think I'll phase now that Leah did, so he said I should be monitoring my mood and body over the next several weeks to see if I notice a change. I don't really know how I feel about this knew news, but I think I'm okay with it. I think I'd like being a wolf and being a protector. Most of all I think I'd like to feel connected to my ancestors the most. I want to feel like I have roots here and that I have strong and brave Native American ancestors looking out for me.
Sam had a shift today starting at 10 AM so I haven't seen him as I ate a late breakfast alone and finished up cleaning up my room. It's feeling a lot more put together now that my stuff is all put away. It's a decent sized room, it's actually larger than my bedroom back in Portland. There's also a lot of natural light that seeps in because there's three large windows.
There's a gentle knock on my door and I glance up to see Emily peeking her head in. "Hey, you busy?"
I shake my head, rising to my feet. "No, I was just putting my shoes away. What's up?"
She steps inside my room and walks over to the window, glancing out it before turning to me. "I've been keeping something from Sam and I wanted your advice on it before I told him." She tugs her lip in between her teeth, looking nervous. Knowing Emily this is probably not very juicy, she's a really good person.
"Yeah sure, should I get dressed?" I motion to my clothes. I'm still in my oversized t-shirt and cotton shorts from last night, not bothering to change. Maybe now that I'm living in La Push where a bunch of guys my age apparently show up all the time for food, I should probably be getting dressed regularly.
"Yeah, we'll take a drive over." She smiles before heading out, shutting my door behind her.
I put myself together, hardly, but still. I put on a pair of leggings and an oversized crewneck because it's surprisingly cool for early June. I put my hair in a low bun and tug some pieces out in the front and then I'm pretty much good to go. I collect my purse and walk downstairs to find Emily, who's putting on her shoes by the front door. She looks excited as she grabs the keys and motions for me to follow her. "How'd you sleep last night?" She questions, leading the way to her little car. Sam's truck looks massive compared to this little thing.
I slide into the passenger seat, quickly adjusting it so my knees are no longer touching. "Uh, I slept really good actually." I nod my head.
"Good, I'm glad. Is the mattress comfy?" She asks, pulling out of the driveway. She turns so we'll be heading into town. La Push is pretty small and the main part of town is really just a singular road with all the basic necessity shops strung together. Forks has a bit more to offer, although still not too much. It's nice though because all the shops are mom and pop shops, all locally run. Everything is of good quality and the shops are always so cute to shop in.
"It's really comfy." I assure her.
We ride the rest of the way in silence and we end up in Forks, as I sort of expected. We stop in the center of town and she parks in front of an abandoned donut shop. I don't get out until she does and I follow close behind her as she beelines towards the closed, run down building. Surrounding the donut shop is a bookstore and on the other side a bank. She stops just a few feet in front of the shops doors and smiles nervously at me. "What do you think?" She spreads out her arms, motioning to the building.
"Uh, it's nice?" I question, raising an eyebrows. "It's not open though." I point out dumbly.
She rolls her eyes with a bit of a laugh, "Yeah I know. Come on." She walks up to the door and to my surprise she has the key. Watching her unlock it, I follow her inside the building. It's pretty much empty in the inside. There's a counter with an old register still attached to it and I can see a kitchen area in the back. All the table and chairs have been removed and there's a fine layer of dust on the floor. Some construction supplies hang around the room including some paint cans and some hammers. "So, now what do you think?" She prompts me, turning to inspect my face.
Feeling lost I hum, looking around. "I think it's a closed donut shop?"
"What do you think of it as 'Uley Bakers'?" She tugs her lip in between her teeth, looking half shy and half guilty. "I've played around with the idea of opening up my own shop and making food for years. I was driving in town two months ago to go to the bookstore and I saw this beauty not being used. I thought I could hang a new sign outside and paint it with vibrant colors to attract people and out here I can have little tables and chairs. I can display some cookies and baked good out front here and I can hang up a menu along this wall." She walks me through her plan, it seems like she has it all figured out. "It would be a bit of a rebellious decision and I have no idea how good it would go. I mean I could totally suck and not sell a thing. It would cost a lot of money starting out too and it would probably dip into the wedding fund, which I have no idea how Sam will feel about. I mean I don't know what he'll think of any of it." She starts rambling, going off on a tangent.
I can't help but smile at how passionate she is about this. "Em, I think it's a great idea. I mean your cooking is seriously the best I've ever had and I don't say that to be nice. I mean it. You can make a lot of money selling just your cookies alone." I assure her. "As for Sam, I think he'll love this idea. The wedding can be done on a tight budget, I'm here to help for a reason." It's La Push, Washington. We can absolutely have a beautiful wedding on a budget. I know my brother won't care, I mean he'd be happy eloping. If Emily wants to slim her wedding down to pay for this, then we can make it happen.
Her face brightens and her shoulders seem to relax. "You really mean it?"
I look around and I'm starting to see the potential of this place. The flooring looks updates and modern, maybe the walls can use a fresh coat of the paint. The counter needs an extensive cleaning but otherwise it can still work. "I mean it, I'll help you fix this place up and get it looking nice. Anything you need I got you." I smile at her.
She walks over and wraps her arms around me. "You're the best almost-sister-in-law I've ever had." She sighs contently. I snort, patting her back.
Emily drives us back shortly after the little tour because she was so paranoid Sam would have questions about where we went. I think she's all in her head about this. I can't imagine Sam not being supportive of Emily's dreams. He's a good guy and he worships her, it's pathetic actually. Still I let her rush me back home.
"What's your love life like lately?" She glances over at me. We're currently watching tacky reality TV, which apparently Emily loves. I'm willing to get used to it, truth be told I find it pretty addicting myself.
I snort, shrugging my shoulders. "Nonexistent." To say the least. I haven't had a boyfriend since I was a sophomore in high school and it was a pretty crappy relationship. I didn't have my eye on any of the guys I went to school with after him and I ended up just keeping to myself. Sure, some were cute, but none had a personality to go with it. I can spot a bad boy from a mile away and I want nothing to do with them. I'm also not the type of girl to get much attention from guys, they always go for thinner and blonder.
"Maybe you'll have some more luck here. You haven't met the pack yet?" She raises her brows, popping a piece of popcorn in her mouth. Even her popcorn tastes amazing.
I shake my head, "No, Sam didn't introduce me when I was around last year." I haven't seen pictures either, Sam seems to think he's 'too good' for social media.
"They're cute guys. I think you may find someone you like." It has crossed my mind before. Older brothers having hot friends is every girls dream, right? Sam's five years older than me, so growing up I never got to experience that. Now though he's the oldest member of the pack. Most of the guys are around my age apparently, which surely peeks my interest. Still, I don't want to get tied into something messy.
Not only are they my brothers friends, but they also have a strict "no dating" rule due to what happened with my brother and Leah. The boys aren't allowed to date, they have to wait until they imprint..or apparently until they get imprinted on. I guess that must suck since they're so young still, but being assigned a soulmate sounds like the easiest thing ever. Like you have to put no work into it, it just appears to you. Plus with the no dating rule it doesn't get sloppy anymore like it did for Sam.
Maybe it'll be fun to just look and not touch. "How cute?" I prompt with a raised eyebrow, digging my hand into the bowl that sits between us. Sam has an absolutely massive TV down here in the living room, it takes up a good portion of the wall it stands near. He also has these old beaten up couches from his bachelor days that Emily desperately tried to dress up with some pillows, but mostly failed. You can tell how old the couches are and how many bad days they have seen. Apparently it's very uncomfortable to sleep on too, which Emily giggled about because Sam often falls asleep down here watching TV and then cries about his back for days, like an old man.
Emily snorts, nodding her head. "Cute. You haven't seen any pictures?" I shake my head and her hand immediately flies to her pocket, digging out her phone. I move the popcorn bowl that was separating us and scoot closer so I can get a good look at the instagram feed she's pulling up.
I had a great relationship with Leah, but Emily has felt like family since the moment I met her. Not just in the sense that she's kind, approachable, and motherly, I just feel rooted to her like I do all my family members. Maybe that's the effects of Sam's imprinting, she's meant to be in our family. She's also really fun to hang around with. She's like a real big sister to me. Since her and Sam started dating I've texted and called her weekly if not more frequently to rant about my life. She has some pretty good advice to give. Maybe she sees me as a sister already too since she doesn't have a lot of girls to lean on.
"This is Jacob Black. Now he's supposed to be alpha, it's his heritage to be alpha, but Sam phased first so he's got the title. He's Billy Black's son, he's apart of the council." She explains while allowing my to flick through his photo's. He's for sure a hottie. He has really strong and pronounces facial features and a nice head of black hair.
I hand the phone back to her and allow her to show me the rest of the pack. I learn of Collin and Brady, who are each pretty young compared to the others, but are cute. Too young for me personally, but still. She shows me Jared and his imprint Kim, who are a really cute couple.
"This one is Quil Ateara. He's kinda the douche of the group but he's pretty cute." She turns her phone to show me a curly haired boy. She's right, he's cute, but that not my type. I don't go for the douchebag fuckboy type. It's just not for me, I'm above it. His body is nice and his curly hair is appealing, but that's as far as I'll go in giving him compliments. I don't want that sort of guy in my lineup.
I just shrug my shoulders and she goes to bring up another boy. "This is the last one, Embry Call. He's a real sweetie, like the sensitive type." She lets me see. Embry looks as sweet as she describes him. You can tell he's a nicer boy, he has swishy hair and big brown eyes. His smile is charming and his body is pretty appealing too.
"He's cute." I nod my head with a bit of a smile growing on my lips. "He's nice?"
She nods with wide eyes. "The sweetest guy I know. He's really smart too he graduated near the top of his class. He has a difficult home life but he's a good boy. He works hard." My heart gushes at the small description. Ding ding ding, I want that one.
Just then the door swings open and I jolt in my seat, turning to see my brother stomping through the backdoor, headed straight towards us. "No boy talk." He says gruffly, looking half exhausted half disgusted.
Emily snorts, rising from the couch to go give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "I was telling her about Embry, he's a good one. How was your shift?" She coos, rubbing his arm.
He seems to instantly relax in her presence, wrapping an arm around her, holding onto her lower back. "It was fine, I'm just glad to be back." He bends down to peck her lips shortly. As cringey as it is to see my brother kiss someone, it's also sweet. I hope someday I have something relatively close to what they have. The way Sam looks at her is so endearing.
"You guys are sickening." I laugh from the couch.
Sam scoffs, walking over to me. "We're the cutest couple around and I mean it kid, no pack boys. They're a bunch of idiots, even Embry has his moments." He points a stiff finger at me, trying to give me a stern fatherly look.
I swat at his hand until he drops it to his side. "I'm no hoochie Sam, chill out."
His face goes from blank to distraught in the matter of seconds and Emily's holding on her stomach, belly laughing at my phrasing. I chuckle to myself, walking towards the stairs so I can lay in bed and play on my phone. "Don't say hoochie again!" I hear him call out from downstairs when I've already made it to the top of the stairs. I simply roll my eyes and shuffle towards my bedroom.