Jared's POV

"When are you going to tell her?" The excited look on Emily's face makes my nerves worst. I don't have the slightest idea how I'm going to tell Kim without sounding like a lunatic. Where do I even start? Her being my soulmate? Or the existence of werewolves?

"Yeah, when are you going to tell her?" Paul smirks, kicking his feet up on Emily's table. Her scarred face storms over as her usual sweet personality completely vanishes.

"Feet off the table." Sam soberly warns before Emily reminds Paul how the table use to be her grandmother's then just shoves them off altogether. Paul instantly straightens up, muttering a quick sorry to Emily. Her face smoothes over as she buffs out the spot with one of her good dish towels.

"Didn't you just ask this Kim girl out, Jared?" Sam asks, lowering down into a chair with two plates full of food stacked so high they look like miniature mountains.

"Kind of..." The tips of my nails sharpen up to monstrous pointy ends that dig into the back of my neck a little too deep that they break the skin. "I asked her out a couple of times, and Kim finally gave me a yes, but that's it so far. We haven't really talked since, or made plans or anything."

"You should call her."

"You should call her." Sam and Emily state unanimously, Sam's tone bored while Emily sounds like she's holding back a laugh.

"Call her?" I ask.

"You know, the thing they use to do after going up to her father to ask for his blessing." Sam rolls his brown eyes.

"Right before you could watch TV in color." Paul jokes.

"It might be old fashioned, but it works." Emily insists with a peck on Sam's cheek. "Sam use to call me every morning to win me over."

"Don't tell the boys that." Sam grumbles with his shoulders hunching up as he gets shy.

"Every morning, huh?" I chuckle.

"Shut up." He growls.

"What if her one of her parents picks up?" Scabs fight to take shape at the back of my neck, but struggle against the instant werewolf healing. I focus to keep my hands down at my sides instead of reaching up to further sink my claws in.

"Then you say hello." Emily encourages, handing me the phone.

"Don't tell him what to do, I wanna see him struggle." Paul swats his hand at Emily.

"What am I suppose to say if Kim picks up?" I ask, flipping off Paul with my spare hand.

"Then you say hi to her." Sam instructs in a bored voice.

"I said don't help him." Paul insists with a snicker. "My, how the mighty have fallen."

"Be nice to your brother." Emily scolds.

"I am." Paul nods, trying to bite back a cynical grin. "I haven't even said half the jokes about their couple name I thought of."

"Shut up, Paul." I shoot him a warning look. I fight to keep my fingers loose around the phone or I'll crush it between my hands like it's an empty soda can from my nerves alone. I really can't afford to buy Sam and Emily another landline. I can't tell whether those are beads of sweat on my back or fur spiking through and irritating my skin.

"I forgot her number." I shoot out of the kitchen chair, hearing the wood creak or sigh in relief like it was threatening to snap under me. Am I shifting? Or am I going to puke? I can't tell.

"Deep breaths, Jared." Sam reminds me. "Emily will read you the number."

"Dial it for me?" I hold out the phone to Emily, trying to ignore both how my hands were shaking and Paul's crude laughter.

"It's ringing." Emily announces, giving the phone back to me. The moment I hear the dial tone I slam my thumb down and hangup.

"What are you? A thirteen year old girl?" Paul loses it, nearly falling off his chair.

"Okay," Sam gets to his feet with a grunt, filling up the entire room with his broodiness. Paul straightens up in his chair, I forget to breathe for a second, even Emily takes a cautious step back. "Out." Sam's gigantic hand swallows the back of Paul's head, dragging him out into the yard like a mother pulling her son by the ear.

"Why didn't you listen to Emily?" Sam scolds Paul who promises not to make fun of me in front of Sam or Emily.

"I never had a little brother, but with Paul it feels like I have five." Emily watches on with a small shake of her head.

"I'm the favorite, right?" I ask coyly, but it doesn't sound like my usual confident sweet talk at all, instead my voice is threatening to crack.

"Sam doesn't believe in favorites." Emily grins to herself. That does sound like Sam.

"Call your imprint." Sam booms from the yard. "Paul wants to go back inside for the muffins."

"Crap." I circle around the kitchen table, feeling my nerves eat me up alive.

"Don't you want to talk to her?" Emily asks, noticing this might be a long day so she gets comfortable in a chair at the table.

"I constantly miss Kim." I'm dying to hear her voice all the time. I start lapping the table counterclockwise instead now. "All I want is to see her, hear her about her day, make her laugh all the damn time. But I don't know where to start with her."

"A quick phone call is a good place to start." Emily dials the number before I have a chance to stall her.

"Wait!"

"It's ringing." Emily hands me the phone, the dial tone deep and ominous like a death sentence.

"Hang up!" I'm careful when pushing at Emily's hand, cautious not to break a pinky or knuckle among my panic.

"I'll just call back." Emily warns.

"Hello?" While I freeze up, Emily only grins to herself. "Hello?"

"Say hi." Emily excitedly nods along, she looks like she's watching something trashy on TV. Sucking down a big gulp of air, I put my back to Emily and walk off further.

"Hey." I answer. I fight the urge to clap myself on the back, impressed I didn't say anything stupid on the first word like how I worried earlier.

"Who's this?" Kim's voice sends every hair on my body up on end. Am I sweating or is it thickening? Am I shifting in the middle of Sam's and Emily's house? "Do you have the wrong number?"

"No, no." She's exactly who I want to talk to. "It's Jared." A heavy thud sounds off on the other end, paired with what sounds like a struggle. I'm guessing she dropped the phone.

"Jared?" Kim's voice is high with disbelief.

"Yup," I nod along as if she can see me. "It's me." I ignore the snicker Paul makes from outside, trying to put all my focus into my human hearing instead. I know I do sound lame. I know neither Kim or I ever imagine a phone call between us to sound so awkward, no, I expected my confident and charming self to wow her, and leave her blushing by the time I hang up.

"Hi—Hey Jared," She still sounds amazed but shocked that I even knew her number. "You're calling me?"

"Yeah, I am." It feels like we're doing circles around each other. "You promised me a date." I brave, not exactly sure what I'm worried about.

"Hmm, wrong." I can hear the grin in Kim's voice. Oh thank god, she's getting less nervous. Her at ease makes me breathe a bit easier, proving how without doubt she's my imprint. "I promised you a phone call this weekend."

"And about that date?" I ask coyly, feeling a little more myself.

"I wanna say yes," Kim admits, her voice going small. Then yes! I've never wanted a yes so badly in my life. "But I'm still thinking about it."

What's there to think about?

"Okay, how since today is Friday, I can count today's phone call as a weekday and call you again tomorrow?"

"As long as it's before seven." She reminds me, her voice still small but light.

"It's a date." I joke, hanging up before I completely shift. I throw the phone with a groan, "That retro phone call didn't work, Sam!"

A/N:

In my last update I posted about a possible Quil X OC story, asking if anyone would be interested. I stopped working on this story to focus on that one, so if anyone would like to read it, let me know and I'll publish it!