Chapter 2

(Embry POV)

To say I was nervous was a huge understatement. I was freaking out! I was about to have this beautiful, amazing girl over, and I couldn't figure out what shirt to wear. A freaking shirt! I'm Embry, sure sort of a geek, but still, I don't freak out over what shirt to wear. I am aware that if I'm this nervous now, how am I going to act when she finally gets here?

Speaking of that, I now realize I have 20 minutes to get ready before she comes here. I already made sure that Quil or Jake wouldn't be stopping by to hang out, because if they did, that would probably be disastrous. I know I should feel bad that I am keeping secrets from my best friends, but I don't. I am getting to spend time with Bella. The Bella. Who I formerly thought was Jake's Bella, but I am not so sure about that right now. I just hope that Jake will get over his crush soon, because even Quil could tell yesterday that she is not into him like that. And Quil is as clueless as it gets.

Glancing back over to my clock, I see that it is 11:55, and that means Bella will be here soon. Oh god I hope I look okay. I head downstairs and immediately locate where the popcorn and the Pride and Prejudice movie is, so I don't spend awkward amounts of time looking for them.

While mentally preparing myself for the most important 6 hours of my life, I jump when the sound of a doorbell rings, bringing me out of my stupor. I run a hand through my hair one more time before I practically skip over to the door, wrenching it open to an equally nervous looking Bella.

While I thought she was beautiful yesterday, today she is just drop dead gorgeous. She is wearing a purple top that just shows a hint of her cleavage, and a sliver of skin right above the waistline of her jeans. Her jeans were dark wash and clung to her shapely, although still skinny, legs. She had on the same pair of old black converses that she had on yesterday, but I couldn't help but smile because it seems like exactly her style.

She looked up at my face, and I almost gasped seeing the difference from yesterday to today. Yesterday her skin looked paler, well paler than it should be, and she had dark bags under her eyes. Even worse yesterday were her eyes, still a lovely chocolate brown, but they looked dead and practically lifeless. Today though, well today I preened at the difference. There were almost no traces of the bags under her eyes, and her skin looked like snow. Even better was the light pink tint that covered her cheeks, obviously due to her beautiful blush. Her eyes are what made me the happiest though. The lovely doe shaped eyes that you could drown in were glowing and had a certain life to them that was absent yesterday.

While shamelessly looking her over, I couldn't help but notice when she did the same, and when she made eye contact with me, her blush grew darker.

"Hi," The simple word almost blew me over with happiness, and I couldn't help the grin on my face to grow even larger.

"Hi beautiful," If I thought her blush was dark before, it wasn't. Her whole face grew to the prettiest shade of pink I've ever seen, and it reached down all the way to her neck.

"Th-thanks Embry." She stuttered, and then timidly looked down and then back up at me. I couldn't help from reaching out and pulling her into a hug, and she accepted it gladly, burying her face into my chest.

"You're really warm and cozy you know. I think I like your hugs even better than Jake's." She complimented me, but her words were slightly muffled from her mouth being pressed into my shirt.

"Thanks, gorgeous, I could just hug you all day." I said, my cheeky grin growing wider, and my hold on her tightening.

Eventually we separated, and I pulled her into my house and shut the door.

"So, I decided that we could watch Pride and Prejudice, eat lunch, and then head out to the beach?"

"Sure, let's hope it doesn't rain though, wouldn't want it to ruin our date," she blushed even darker at the word date, but her smile grew, and for that I was so happy.

"Okay, well, let me get the movie and pop the popcorn and then we can start it."

A couple of minutes later I walk back into the living room with a bowl of popcorn and a blanket for Bella. She is sitting on the couch looking around the room, taking inventory of how it looks like. A small smile appears on my face at her nervous manner in which she is sitting; rigid with her back up straight and her leg bouncing up and down. I'm so lucky she's here with me.

She looks up at me, so I walk over and set down the popcorn. I hand her the blanket and turn to get the remote to start the movie. When I turn back around Bella is sitting closer to me with her holding up one end of the blanket. This is when I start to get nervous. Does she want me to sit with her? Does she want me to go under the blanket with her? Or is this her way of saying to move over?

I take a chance and grab the end of the blanket that she is holding up and bring it over my leg, it just reaching the thigh of my leg farthest away from her. I then stretch my arm around her shoulders and press her gently and lightly into me. If she had any hesitation of sitting with me like this, I didn't feel it, so I snuggled in closer to her.

(BPOV)

Snuggled into Embry's side, I couldn't help but feel content to be with him. He is caring, geeky, cute, hot, confident yet shy, and cheerful. To say I was nervous about this date would be an understatement, but now I couldn't see what I was so freaked out about. He somehow brings out a side of me that makes me feel confident and sure of myself.

Halfway through the movie, that I really couldn't focus on, I turn to Embry. I pull my knees up and settle them lightly onto his thigh, and bring my face up to his.

"I like being here with you" I confess, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why this didn't make me feel nervous at all.

"I do too. You make me really happy, and I really like you." He all but whisper to me, his sweet breath fanning over my face.

"I like you too. I know it's a little weird because we just met, but spending time with you has made me happier than I have been in a while." I lean in closer to his handsome face, and brace my arm by putting a hand on his upper thigh.

"I know it's soon, and we still have to really get to know each other, but I would really like it if you could be my girlfriend." The last part he breathed out and I nodded, his proximity to his soft lips rendering me speechless. I lean up and tentatively brush my lips against his, a ghost of a kiss forming. He waits a second and then leans forward, pressing his lips to mine more forcefully than before, but still gentle.

I snake the arm that's not on his thigh around his neck and up into his hair. He wraps his free arm around my waist, bring me closer to his well-defined chest than before. His lips against mine become firmer, and I feel him trace my bottom lip with his tongue. I open my mouth slightly and he pushes his tongue in, tracing the bottom of my teeth with his. I shyly bring my tongue to his own mouth and get the first taste of his flavor. He tastes like chocolate and marshmallows; so sweet.

Eventually, our breath ran out and I reluctantly separated our mouths, and I lean his forehead against mine.

"So, is that a yes?"

(EmbPOV)

"Duh," She pants it out, and after another second of catching my breath I crash my lips to hers again, getting lost in the flavor that is Bella. She tastes like vanilla and strawberries.

I can't believe that I'm already kissing her. Is this a dream? I'm so happy I'm almost delirious and I become even more frenzied in our kisses than before. I push her down on the couch so I am hovering over her and I reach both my hands into her soft, long, mahogany hair. The kiss deepens and heats up. She whimpers quietly into my mouth, and I can't help the reaction my body has to that.

As much as I like this girl, I am not quite ready for that yet. I slow our kisses, and she seems to have the same idea, because she brings her hands that were resting on back up and cups my cheeks.

"Wow," she breathes out and I smile against her lips.

"Wow indeed. You're a great kisser you know." I tell her and I feel myself blush but thank god I have dark skin or else she would see that.

"So are you." She pecks my lips once before she squirms and I ease myself off of her and pray that she doesn't notice the half-hardon I am sporting right now.

I grab her hand and bring her up off the couch and we head into the kitchen, where I proceed to make us sandwiches and some snacks that we could bring out onto the beach. I grab a blanket and a bag to put all of the food in, and we head out holding hands and walking along the path that brings us to Second Beach.

When we reach a spot far down on the beach that secluded enough so people won't see us, I spread out the blanket and set out the food. We sit down and I bring her down to sit on my lap. We start with the sandwiches and when we're finished, we start out on the cut strawberries and watermelon.

"What's your favorite fruit?" I ask, wanting to know more about her.

"Strawberries," I pick up one and let her take a bite hearing her answer, "You?"

"Kiwi. Favorite color?"

"Brown, but if you ask me to pick a color of the rainbow it would be purple. What's yours?" I chuckle a little hearing that her favorite color is brown, but it makes me like her even more to know she isn't one of those girly-girls.

"Green. Song?"

"Weird for me, but anything Taylor Swift. You?"

"I like Coldplay and Snow Patrol, bands like that." It went on like that for a couple more minutes and I additionally find out that she loves French Fries, hates cooked peppers, wants to be a book editor, sucks at math, and hates having her choices taken from her.

"Yeah, that's one of things I've been realizing that Edward did to me. I never realized how controlling and possessive he was. It makes me hate him even more now. I'm really glad he left me, that doesn't mean I wanted to be left in the woods, but still."

Hearing her talk about Edward so freely, makes me feel oddly proud of her because she didn't seem to cave in on herself like Jake said she did before. He said that she was in a zombie-like state for months and that she is just getting out of it. I wonder if it's because of me? I'd like to think that.

"Why do you suddenly feel like you can talk about him? Jake said that you couldn't before when he tried to call you."

She blushed a little and looked down before looking back up and straight into my eyes. "You did. I don't know after yesterday when we talked in the garage for a couple of hours, it just made me feel so much better and that feeling of a hole in my chest stopped hurting." I did a little happy dance on the inside after hearing that.

"Thanks, babe," She smiles at the endearment. After a little while of just sitting there content in our silence, I begin to think of defining what our relationship is, and what that means.

"So I really like hanging out with you, and I know it's really fast, but I just feel like we should define our relationship so we don't get mixed up in the future."

"Oh! I mean If you want to see other people… I mean I know I'm not the best to be around and all so you-"

"Shush. I want to be around you and I was just saying that I wanted this to be exclusive between us. Because I know other guys… meaning Jake really like you."

"Oh, of course, I want this to be exclusive. And what are you talking about Jake is just like my brother."

"I know that he is to you, that much I could tell, but he has been talking to Quil and I for months about how much he likes you and now that you're hanging out with him I feel like he's going to be thinking that it could lead to more."

"Oh. Well, I don't think I could ever be his girlfriend, to me it's just a fraternal love with him. I want to keep hanging out with him, I mean he is practically my best friend."

"Oh, I don't care about you hanging out with him, I just wanted to let you know how he feels."

"Well, I am letting you feel that the feeling between us is not mutual. I'll have to tell him if I think he thinks it's leading somewhere then. Are we going to tell him about us then?"

"I know he's going to think of this as a betrayal to him, but I honestly didn't mean it to be. I just like hanging out with you, and I know in the near future I could see myself falling in love with you."

She blushes and says something that makes me deliriously happy, "Me too Embry, me too." We sit there with our foreheads leaning against each other, our eyes locked together. I give her the sweetest of kisses, and she returns it with the same feeling. We sit there for a little while more in peace before she brings it up again.

"On the subject of Jake, I don't think we should tell anyone. My dad is going to think it's too fast, but I don't think it is. I know how I feel about you, Embry. Jake is going to be upset, and I don't want to make him feel like that. I am not ashamed of you or anything like that though if that's what you think."

"I agree. I'm not ashamed of you either, and I don't think the reactions with Jake will be good in any case. I don't even think Quil would take it well because he is totally rooting for you two to get together, even though he sees that you don't like him like that. I don't know why though. You're my girl anyways." I say that with false severe-ness. She laughs and says that I'm her man, and I couldn't help but grin at that. This girl is going to drive me crazy.

A.N. This is also not going to be a very jake friendly story either, you'll see though. Lmk if you want to see any friendships form between specific pack mates and Bella. See you next week!