Chapter 11

Order Up, Black!

The drive back to Forks was quiet as Willow navigated the rush hour traffic but when she had them safely on the motorway, Leah turned to her. 'So, you mentioned Mates? Earlier. What the fuck is that?'

'Oh, uh,' Willow checked her blind spot before she slipped into the outside lane and just put the truck in park. 'like soulmates, I guess. Why? You guys don't have that?'

'I mean, sort of. We have Imprints.'

'What? Like baby ducklings?'

Leah puffed a laugh, like the noise was reluctantly amusing to her. 'No, not really. Like, when you find that person, your Imprint, everything else doesn't matter. Supposedly anyway.'

Willow glanced at her out the corner of her eye and wet her lips. '…Emily's Sam's, isn't she?'

Leah's silence was the answer Willow didn't need confirming. The wolf ran a hand through her bob. 'He said he didn't have a choice, that the Wolf just knew that they were right for each other.'

'Okay,' Willow sighed, and lifted her hand off the gear stick, 'lemme, lemme pull over and then just go for it. Okay, because, bitch, I highly doubt those boys are down for a gossip.'

Leah laughed, it was a bit dark but amused. 'Well, it's not like they don't know what's happening. The Pack can talk to each other in our minds when we shift.'

Willow had luckily pulled into a car park off the road then and turned the truck off. 'So, lemme get this straight – and you're not going to get in trouble with telling me this, right? Because you can just give me your boy drama and leave it at that, if you will?'

Leah gnawed on her lip. 'Who else am I going to talk to about it? I can't talk to Emily about it and Mum isn't a Wolf, she doesn't have the same struggles and you're in the know, and I doubt you can talk to Georgie about it all?' Willow shook her head, heart panging in her chest at the fact that her other best friend was still in the dark about everything. 'Then fuck it.'

'Okay,' she flicked Jasper a text to let him know where they were before she slid it in the door and then gave her full attention. 'Okay, so basics are – a Wolf will look at someone and be like 'yeah, they're my entire solar system' and fuck every other relationship they have after that? And you and Sam were engaged and then what happened?'

The heave that came out of Leah was Herculean. 'So,'

For the next thirty minutes, Willow and Leah sat in a car park on the way back to Forks, letting the Wolf air out all her problems and fuck was there a lot. 'So, it doesn't like, have an age-thing or nothing?'

'No,' Leah dragged out as she shook her head and Willow took a sip of water. 'I mean, Quil's Imprinted on my cousin, Claire. She's two.'

Shock hit Willow like an avalanche, causing the water to spray out her nose and over the wheel. 'What?' she gasped before she then proceeded to try and vomit up a lung apparently.

'Fuck, Crawford,' Leah laughed, as she tried to smack her back, 'don't die on me. Your man'll have my head.'

'Sorry,' Willow croaked, trying to take a sip of her water again. 'You just said she was two. And that it ends up as a romantic thing. Quil's what, fifteen?'

'We can stop aging when we shift. And obviously it won't get to that point for a good few years, fuck. You also have no leg to stand on – you're fucking a corpse.'

'Yeah, fair. But does she get a choice with this? I mean, obviously Emily did, does Claire not? What with her so young?'

Leah nodded. 'Of course, she will. It doesn't necessarily end up romantic and fuck knows that Quil's barely wet behind the ears, let alone knows what his sexuality is. But there is no one that will be a better protector or best friend that Quil for her.'

Willow nodded to it. She still found it weird but then again, Leah found the fact that she was good with screwing a vampire so maybe it was a culture thing? 'Right. So, the borderline obsession that Jacob has with Bella?'

'That,' Leah cringed, 'that us older ones have been keeping an eye on. Paul thinks he Imprinted already on a girl, not Bella, but she's new to the Res. Neoma?' That name rang a bell, 'she works at the diner in Forks? Hell goth like?'

'Oh, fuck, yeah. Scott worked with her before he quit. When did that happen?'

'Dad's funeral.'

'Ah.' Bit awkward that.

'And yet, it's like he's trying to ignore it, her, every time they're in school together and stuff. Seth says she's pretty cool. You'd know we'd take care of it if he went too far. Legit, just ring me and we'll sort it.'

'What? Like a codeword or something.'

'Sure.' Leah shrugged and ran a hand through her hair again. 'He's been driving Paul and I insane. It's like all he thinks about is Bella, or how irritating Cullen is and if Bella had just given them a chance or if the Cullens had never come back then things would have been different. Sam's been saying to leave him be, that he'll settle eventually but there's just a level of fixation that's off-putting, and it's like everyone's had blinkers on.'

Willow sighed and pressed her forehead to the steering wheel. 'Scott mentioned that he never said no to her when things started to go south before. That he'd try anything to have her down on the Reservation. I never understand teenage boys.'

'Scott is a boy.'

'Who I grew up literally living beside. I think at one point we shared baths together, Clearwater. We skipped that whole 'I like my best friend' wait no, we completely ignored that supposed milestone because I've seen him sniff glue and then spill orange juice down his front because of a girl. Lucy and Georgie were always closer.'

'Wait…' Leah murmured, 'wasn't Scott dating the tiny one? The Tiny Cullen?'

'Alice? Yeah.'

'…is he a vampire?'

'No.' Willow looked her right in the eye, 'He's in Europe for the next few months.'

Leah stared at her, face filtering through a series of expressions. 'You can't tell me because of the Vampire Cops, can you?'

'Not if I want to keep everyone I love alive, Leah.' Willow murmured, and let her eyes flit to the trees before she turned the car on and pulled out of the car park, headed for home.

'How long have you been keeping everyone's secrets for?'

'Since they felt like they trusted me enough to tell me.' Willow gave a tight smile. 'And I won't break that. I won't. Not when the aftermath means that their lives are forfeit. If Gi found out and hated me, fine. She can hate me, but she can do it breathing and I will still love her. I couldn't tell my dad that what was down in Seattle would kill him and I will carry that guilt for eternity. So, when this ultimately spills to the Pack,' the truck pulled to a light and she looked to Leah, 'do not accuse me of being unfair in not telling her the truth of everything. It's not just her happiness I'm balancing here.'

The truck fell silent as the rain began to patter down and just before Willow gave in and went to flick on the radio, Leah broke it. 'So, this vent wasn't just for me and my boy troubles, was it?'

'Not a chance.'

'Love that.' Leah sang.

Willow snorted. 'Fuck, now I want donuts.'

Leah sat up and went for her glove box. 'You got a SatNav in here?'

'Uh, yeah.'

'So, let's get food because we damn well deserve it. Also, you sat like a champ, by the way. When the guys were getting their shoulder pieces, Embry nearly went grey.'

'Lemme see, lemme see, lemme see!' Emmett bounced on his feet as Willow climbed out of the car that evening, probably smelling of ink, blood, and plasma, backpack half on her shoulder, carrying a Slurpee and a box of twelve doughnuts because she could.

Willow craned her neck up at him as she shifted the bag handle. 'Can I get into the house, first? Also, what's with the lights up the drive?'

'Oh, those are for the graduation party. Yeah, it's still going on.' Emmett took the bag with a nod. 'When did you stop off for snacks?'

'Leah and I had a D and M and then decided that doughnuts were the way to go and then I grabbed a Slurpee because I could. Lemme guess, Alice, you pulled the whole 'it's your first graduation' card.'

Willow toed off her shoes on the porch and stepped into the house, where the smell of lasagne soup had her heading in the direction of the kitchen and Alice shrugged. 'It worked and we didn't get to do it with you.'

'My after-grad shit was fine. Could've done without the Harringtons around but eh, can't have everything. Uh,' Willow looked to Carlisle, 'Leah'll talk to Sam about setting up a time. To talk about the Treaty and the joining of the fight.'

He kissed her forehead and Willow tried not to wish for Richard in that motion. 'Thank you, darling girl. Did it go okay?'

Willow nodded and shrugged off the denim. In the end, she hadn't gotten Richard's words on her forearm like she originally had asked of the artist, instead they had both decided that the inside of her left bicep looked best. And then, because they had been talking and Willow had spotted the flower pieces that Kory had done, they had gotten onto the subject of flowers and then long story short, Willow came out with the little cluster of daffodils with snowdrops around a black crescent moon outline just above the inside of her left elbow with Richard's 'Love you, Dad' making a full circle.

'They're pretty.' Rosalie smiled and Willow was really happy with them.

This was something she would have to remember Richard forever because eventually, his watch would fall victim to Time, and she would have let it go. This, she would have on her as a reminder. 'The Sanidern comes off in twenty-four hours, then I wash with warm water, pat dry, then put a layer of ointment and then repeat for like, a week or something. I got instructions; we all know I am capable of doing that. Just don't let me scratch them.'

'You go into a tattoo parlour with Scott, come out with your helix pierced,' Rosalie drawled as she sauntered in from a hunt with Jasper, 'then you go in with Leah Clearwater and come with two tattoos. What would Imelda think of you?'

The idea of pissing off her mother like her father had was one of the main incentives that Willow liked tattoos so much. That and it was a form of self-expression in her eyes, and being an artist, it appealed to her. Some styles, like the darker black and grey ideas, didn't scream out to her but she appreciated the work put into them all the same.

'Good thing she disowned me, didn't she?' Willow grinned at the blonde, finger-gunning, and they realised then, that yes, Willow was still grieving her father, that they all felt the loss of Richard keenly, she was healing.

Willow jerked when her phone went with Georgie's ringtone. She hadn't phoned her in a few weeks. Life had gotten pretty hectic with everything; unfortunately, Willow's relationships had fallen to the wayside.

'Hello?'

'You in?'

'Door's open.'

It wasn't like a locked door was gonna stop a vampire, was it?

Georgie hung up and Willow looked up from where she was doing a few different concept ideas – different angles, perspectives, arrangements – at the table and Georgie flung herself over the back of the sofa. 'I have never met a man as hot as Paul Lahote, and yet as frustrating. Christ on a bicycle, that man is a furnace.'

Willow got up and put the kettle on. She had a feeling this was a long overdue conversation, 'Coffee date went well then?'

'We were talking for like, hours, and we even went and ended up on the Beach, right? And yet, an hour in, all I wanted to do was climb into that man's lap and I think he knew.'

'Oh?'

'He had this fucking smirk on his fucking hot face.' Georgie growled and stalked over to sit across from her at the island. 'I was either wanting to make out the man or throw the fucking napkin holder at him.'

Willow cracked a laugh. 'I would pay good money to see the second option, if I'm honest. But apart from his attractiveness, how did it go?' There was a tremor in Georgie's face that had Willow set her mug down and pull her into a hug before she cracked. 'Oh, Gigi.'

Georgie curled into her, head on her shoulder as she cried. It had been a long road for Georgie – her taste and experience in relationships having never been very successful since she started to date. Willow got them over to the sofa and brought her best friend into a cuddle. 'He was so nice.'

'Oh, babe,' Willow rested her chin on her head.

'And didn't presume anything and I just felt like I was betrayed Riley every damn time I found myself liking things about Paul. And he didn't try anything that I didn't want him to do, God, Willow, he was so sweet.'

Willow felt her heart break for her. Georgie, out of the four of them, had been the most prolific when it came to dating within Forks – and that wasn't a bad thing to them, she had been learning about who she was, what her sexuality was, who she liked, who she didn't – but in a small town like Forks, most boys saw a girl who dated a lot as easy. It came the idea that Georgie would give it to them on the first date if they showed a lick of interest in her, and it hurt her. Georgie had such a big heart, she loved so much, so strong, that it could sometimes spill over.

Yes, there were times where privacy was just a concept to her, or her words would come out before she could think them through, but her heart had always been in the right place.

'You know what I said before?'

'Yeah.'

'Take your time, Geeg,' Willow murmured and leant to snag the tissues off the coffee table and offered them to her, 'tell him where your head is at right now and let him know that it might take a while for you to move on completely from Riley. And if he is serious about you and the relationship, he'll take what you say to heart and go at your pace.'

Because if he didn't, she'd hang him by his nose hairs.

Georgie blew into the tissue as she righted herself. 'He texted me yesterday, said you were dropping food off at Emily's and maybe threatened him.'

'I have no idea what you're talking about.' Willow looked for the TV remote, 'Now what do you want to watch? I got nothing to do today, just gotta be up at the Cullens for like, seven, to help with graduation party shit. Actually. Wanna help with the playlist?'

'Edward can't do it, isn't he like a music nut?' Georgie asked as she turned the TV off and led the way up to Willow's bedroom.

'Well, yeah, but like his taste is a little archaic and I don't want to have the oh-six graduates be witness to that. I don't like most of them, but I don't wish that on anyone.'

'Have you got one set up?'

'Bella's Grad Party Bangers.' Willow pointed to the screen of her computer and chucked Georgie a hoodie. 'I also have no idea what I'm gonna wear.'

'Alice invited me, but I don't think I'm gonna go,' Georgie made a face. 'Not that I've not got anything for them, just not really in the party mood.'

Willow turned to her, where she was already scrolling through the substantial music library that Willow had amassed over the years. Her iPod was the main source of entertainment when it came to camping for the four of them, and with the Cullens, it got even weirder. 'You know where to find me.'

'I know.' Georgie smiled as she tugged the thing on. And it was actually hers – the Disney one that Georgie had a matching one of, Lucy, Bella, and Scott too. 'I don't think The King of the Golden Hall is a party vibe, Wills.'

'I was joking about that,' Willow squawked, 'I didn't actually think Emmett would go for it, fuck.'

'Neither is Dancing Through Life.'

'Fuck you, it's called broadening their music taste.'

'It's called being a theatre brat.'

Willow nearly wanted to throw a pillow at the girl, 'Then add your picks in and quit your squawking.'

'ABBA, obviously.'

'Obviously.'

'Sweet Caroline?'

'Already on there.'

And so, for the next few hours, Willow spent time with her best friend. Well, one of them. And there were moments, when she caught Georgie grinning down at her phone – maybe a text from Paul – where she couldn't wait for her friend to be finally in the know.

'The fuck happened to you?' Willow blinked, as she looked up from where she was eating absently through a thing of popcorn, passively watching a movie on Hallmark out of boredom. Bella was cradling her hand to her chest and Edward looked murderous.

Jasper came down from the second floor, eyes bright with excitement. What the fuck had happened? And what had Willow not heard because she wasn't dead?

There was something about the look on Bella's face that had Willow getting up. 'Bella, what happened?'

'I punched a werewolf in the face.'

'I beg your pardon?' Willow's words came out too light, too polite as rage threatened to consume her. Jasper slid an arm around her waist and dusted his fingers down the pouch of her stomach.

'And Jasper won the bet.'

'That doesn't matter,' Willow waved the thing about Jasper to the side though she would ask him about that later because honestly, the gambling thing him and Emmett had was almost too much sometimes. 'Who did you punch?'

'Jacob.'

Willow nodded and watched as the two of them passed, up to Carlisle's office. Once Bella was out of earshot, Willow set her popcorn to the side, pulled her phone from her back pocket and flicked Leah a text, headed for the little stream out the back.

He'll be all about this right now, probably really proud of himself. But one of you better knock his teeth out or I'm taking a baseball bat his fucking knees.

Barely a minute went and then her phone was going with Leah's number. 'The fuck happened?'

'Congrats.' Willow chirped, too bright as she walked outside because nature helped. 'You and Paul now have to deal with the little flea problem we were talking about.'

'No problem. Would you like proof?'

'I'd be delighted.'

'Twenty-four hours.'

'Wonderful. Knock a few teeth out whilst you're at it for me. Thanks.'

Willow hung up after Leah did and Jasper was leaning against one of the trees that scattered around the stream, watching her as she paced along the bank, amusement on that gorgeous face of him. 'Flea problem?'

'Leah and Paul have noticed Jacob's…fixation on Bella increasing over the past few months. Apparently, it started not long after he Phased – I think that's the term they used – for the first time, and she said that if anything happened when they weren't there, to call and they'd sort it.'

He pulled her close by the belt loop and pressed her against the trunk when Willow went to walk past him, anger causing her cheeks to flush. 'You realise that sounded a bit like a hit, right?'

Willow didn't care. 'The little shit has it coming. And if I see his face, I'm going to make him into a maraca.'

Actually, she could still do that. 'Okay,' Jasper murmured, humour laced with heat as he pinned her to the trunk with his hips when Willow went to wiggle away, the idea in her head, 'as attractive as seein' you wail on the boy would be, darlin', let the ones that can heal fast deal the damage. Delegate.'

Yes, well, the anger at that little, entitled fuckhead of a child had her wanting to do a little more than delegate. She wanted him to realise that just because Bella liked to spend time with him, it didn't mean that she, at all, shared the same level of affections that he did.

Cold lips caught her attention, along with a hand that curled around the back of her neck, the chest that anchored itself to her own, through the flowy, embroidered tank top she had on. As per usual, June brought summer, and therefore, a vampire partner was a massive help. Jasper squeezed her waist, let the kiss become wet for what felt like minutes but pulled back before things could really get going.

They weren't all that far out from the house, and Willow wasn't all that for outdoor sex where they could be heard.

'You back with me now, gorgeous?'

'That was mean.' She pouted.

Jasper laughed, low, and tugged at the heat in her stomach, 'Later, I promise.'

He let her down after giving her one last kiss and Willow resisted the urge to push him into the stream. All that would give her was trouble when 'Later' happened.

On second thoughts though – Jasper in a wet shirt wasn't a bad image. Especially that t-shirt – the moss green was just so nice with his hair.

Damn it, fuck the stupid pretty cowboy, Willow grumbled mentally to herself, now she was horny.

A little shorter than our usual but last chapter was a behemoth. This was just a precursor to the relationship that Willow will have with Leah and I really wanted to include her reaction to Jacob kissing Bella. Because the Boy irritates me.

And the idea of her 'delegating' makes me smile.

Enjoy, and let me know what you all think. The reviews do more to one's motivation than you think.

K x