Quil's POV:
I'm absolutely fuming. "Quil, sit down." Embry comments from the kitchen. I shoot him a look, continuing to pace up and down the living room area. My heart is pounding in my chest and my hands are trembling a little, so I've balled them up into fists. I haven't seen or heard from Chloe in hours and I'm freaking the fuck out. She fled the beach at some point, somehow without me noticing. A lot of people sporadically left so I have no idea if she went with someone or went somewhere alone. Even Bella wasn't sure where she ran off to. I searched around the woods surrounding the beach but I didn't hear or smell her. I finally took off for home in a hurry, thinking she walked there or something, but she hasn't been here. Her natural scent smells a little faded when normally it's all I can smell. I tried texting and calling, but I haven't gotten a response yet. I went from curious to concerned to freaking out. It's been hours now and the logical side of my brain is slowly not working anymore. "Chloe is fine." Embry continues.
"How do you know?" I snap, stopping in my tracks to look at him.
His demeanor is calm while I'm all over the place. It's not a comforting calm though. It's like a 'why the hell aren't you freaking out too' sort of urgency for me. Embry's not one to jump to conclusions, but he also has no idea what it's like to have an imprint. It's like feeling scared all the time that this amazing thing can be ripped away from you any second and there's only so much you can do. Chloe's not going to let me lock her in the house for the rest of her life. She's gonna do things, I just need her to at least text me back that she's fine. I'm turning into a naggy girlfriend and she doesn't even like me back. "Quil we live in La Push, nothing bad happens here." He says it like I'm stupid for worrying.
I scoff at him, crossing my arms over my chest. "Oh yeah? How about the clan of vampires living in Forks?" I throw my hands up in frustration. I used to not understand why Jake was freaking out about the Cullen's until Rosalie teared my ass up. God I hate that snarky bitch. Her red eyes give me the creeps too.
"What would the Cullen's want with Chloe? They love Bella, I doubt they'd put her friend at risk. She probably left with one of the girls and is out having some fun." He points his fork at me before continuing to eat his food. I'm about to take that fork and stab him with it if he doesn't shut the hell up. She's friends with Bella now and even she doesn't know where she is. "Did you do something to upset her?"
I groan at his stupid accusation. "No dickhead, I didn't."
He just raises his hands in defense. "Just asking. You tend to piss her off.."
Tires screech outside and I pause, walking towards the front door. I peek out of the curtains to see Kim's car with Chloe getting out of it. She has a smile on her face, waving goodbye at Kim. So they're friends again? That's weird.
"Told you she's fine." I hear Embry mumble, retreating to his bedroom with a bowl of food in hand. I sigh, turning to sit on the couch. Chloe can do what she wants, but she can't just disappear without telling someone. She had me freaking out for nothing. I'm still seething as the front door pushes open, her perfume wafting over me. I always noticed her perfume scent when she was leaving to go out, but I never smelt it so strongly. When I smell it I instantly feel relaxed, or maybe that's just because I know she's so near.
She kicks off her shoes, tugging off a coat that isn't hers. "Who's coat is that?" I question, suddenly awfully curious.
Her eyes fall on me, but she's sure as shit on happy with me. Her eyes seem to glare and her chin tilts up a little higher as if I'm lowly to her. "None of your business." She says smartly, walking towards the kitchen. I rise from the couch, following close behind her. She grabs a water out of the fridge, gulping down a few sips of it. Even as I'm right in front of her, towering over her shorter form, she pretends like she doesn't know or at least doesn't care that I'm right here. Clearly she's upset with me.
"What do you mean it's none of my business?" I glare back at her, crossing my arms. She simply shrugs, pushing past me to go to her bedroom. Her shoulder brushes against mine harshly. I follow behind her, preventing her from shutting the door in my face. "Where were you?"
"Why do you care?" She asks calmly, sitting at her desk. She begins to peel off her rings, neatly putting them on a bowl. I realize Chloe is very organized, much more than I am. She's set her room up so nicely, it really radiates her personality. There's a lot of warm colors, a cleanness, it's relaxing. My rooms a little darker and dimer, to me it's cozy. It makes me want to sleep for twelve hours and have zero responsibilities. I notice all the things in here that I've never looked much into before. There's a lot of books displayed around the room and various nic nacs.
I furrow my eyebrows, standing in the doorway. "Because you're my imprint." She rolls her eyes at that. "Because Bella didn't even know where you were." I continue, running a hand through my hair.
She shrugs, looking at me through her vanity mirror. "I texted Bella."
"You couldn't reply to any of my calls or texts then?" I ask, getting snarky.
She pauses, pulling out her phone from her back pocket. "My phone was on silent, I didn't see these." She shrugs again, dropping her phone on her desk. She really knows how to piss me off. I watch her pull her long brown hair into a loose bun at the back of her head, before tugging off her flannel. "Do you mind?" She motions to the door. She looks irritated by my presence.
"You seem pissed at me." I say, sounding a little more calm this time. Chloe does not respond well to anger, it just makes her more triggered with me. I have to approach this calmly, even if she makes me angry or frustrated. Chloe can communicate well with everyone but me. With me it gets complicated and I'll blame that on our confusing history of liking each other and never understanding the other person. I always thought I fully got her, but I think I never did. I think she's a mystery to me still and I am to her. She sees me in a light that I kind of hate. She thinks there's not much to me, not saying I have many layers, but still. She thinks I'm a shitty person.
"Why would I be." She retorts.
I frown, that's what I want to know. I can tell she's closed herself off to me. "I don't know." I answer honestly. "I don't think I did anything wrong today." I rub my hands together, walking further in her room so I can quietly close the door. Privacy is not something I'm so easy to give up, but with the wolf hearing it's near impossible. I love Embry like a brother, but suddenly I wish I didn't live with him. He knows everything and I hate that. This situation is something I want to experience alone. He doesn't talk about it, but he still knows.
She laughs dryly. "Okay."
I sigh heavily, wanting to get to the point. "Chloe can you just tell me-"
"How was Whitney?" She cuts me off, her eyes not bothering to raise as she pulls out clothes from her dresser.
I frown, confused. "She's fine, why?" Her silence is my answer. She's upset that I was talking to Whitney, but why? She's my imprint, that means I can only have eyes for her. I can't possibly like someone else. "You're jealous I talked to Whitney?" I ask.
Her eyes shoot up to mine and I can tell I have made a mistake. "I'm not fucking jealous." She snaps, storming up to me. "I just knew all this time you weren't going to be a good guy to me, and you've confirmed it tonight. So now consider this imprint shit over." She slices the air with her hand, turning away from me.
My mouth drops open at her stubbornness. "That's not how it works. You're supposed to tell me when I upset you so I can fix it." I try to keep the defensive tone away. I want to be civil here. I can't push her away further. She already feels so out of reach.
"You never fix it though, do you Quil? You're a manwhore. You flirted with Whitney all night long and you expect me to be okay with that?" Ouch. She thinks that of me? Even if I wasn't imprinted to her, I still wouldn't have eyes for anyone else. I only want her. Whitney would never compare to her, no one can. Chloe doesn't get why she gets the attention she does. She's absolutely beautiful and incredibly sexy. She's funny and fun to flirt with, she's normally easy to talk to.
"I only have eyes for you." I shake my head.
She shakes her head back. "Then why'd you ignore me all night?" She asks. "Why didn't you bother to talk to me? You clearly don't want this imprint to happen either!" Her voice raises a little bit. She seems pissed off, but I can tell I hurt her. Remorse fills me, I need to fix this. She's so wrong it kills me a little bit.
My face softens as I close more space in between us, sitting on her bed. She continues moving all around the room, slamming drawers shut and yanking things open. She's fuming. "Chloe I'm sorry, but that's not true at all. I only want you. I only care about you. Whitney was just talking to me-"
"She was flirting with you." She corrects me. I try to think back on our conversation, but I don't think she was flirting. We were just catching up. I told her about how I'm a thing with Chloe now and she was laughing, saying she can't believe Chloe would want me. I told her about how she was stubborn about it at first, but she's warmed up to me. She seems to like Chloe, respects her even. Yes, back in the day I thought Whitney was a pretty girl, a little unattainable, but she's nothing compared to Chloe. I can't even try ot think of her in anyway but an innocent, friendly sense.
"Not at all." I shake my head. "I was telling her about you, how much I like you." She doesn't say anything as she continues to fuss with her stuff. "Who's jacket was that?" I try again. Was she so mad at me that she flirted with someone else to get back at me? The thought of it stings me deeply.
"Ryans."
Fucking Ryan. Of course he wants Chloe, she's perfect. He can't have her though, no one can. I won't let anyone get near her. Even if she's not ready to accept me and this imprint, she still can't have anyone else. We're working on this. We're taking it slow. But it's just me and her. "So you like Ryan?" I ask confidentially, but my throat seems to close around the words. Does she hate me so much that she'll say yes?
She turns, making a face at me. "Of course not, he's gay." She says in a hushed tone. "He was being nice because I was cold." Her eyes drop to the things in her hand, looking a little shy.
"You were cold?" I frown. I'm a walking space heater and I didn't think to check in and see if she needed to be warmed up? I really am a shitty imprint. I have no idea what her needs are clearly. I will do better from now on. "I'm sorry, I should have checked in to see if you were cold. I would have warmed you up."
"Why would I? You didn't even speak to me."
Shit, she's right. "I honestly didn't think you'd want me to. We were with a bunch of people and I wasn't sure if you wanted people to know we were together." That doesn't excuse it though, I should have sat with her. I wanted to. I wanted to be right next to her like Jared and Kim, but I held back. Now I know that was a big mistake. "Next time I'll do better, I promise. I'm sorry."
In an ideal word she's smile at me and come over, letting me pull her into a hug. Then we'd lay in bed all night cuddling and talking. I'd get to smell her scent and kiss her face until I make her laugh. Just the thought of it makes my heart ache, knowing I'm so far from having that with her even still.
"Well now everyone thinks your single." She mumbles. "And Brady like me, so now he thinks I'm single too."
Brady likes her? I'll fucking kill him for thinking he had a chance with my Chloe. Jealousy bubbles up inside me, just waiting to explode when I see him. "I'll fucking kill Brady if he even tries."
She pauses what she's doing, looking over at me. Her eyes are a little big and her mouth parts slightly. "What?" I don't say anything though. Her trance seems to break and she shakes her head. "Quil.." She says, sounding annoyed. "You put me in a shitty position."
I nod my head, frowning up at her. "I know I did and I'm sorry. I should have talked to you earlier today and asked how you wanted to go about today." I say solemnly. I need to start thinking things through. Chloe expects me to treat her poorly and I want to prove her wrong, make her happy.
She sighs, walking over to the bed, sitting beside me. She's still at a distance so we're not touching, but she's close enough that I feel a little better. "It's not all on you, I didn't think about it until you were talking to Whitney." She says the name in utter disgust. "You just..you have a history with girl Quil. I don't want to get entangled in drama." She rubs a hand over her forehead, looking stressed out.
My history really does bother her and instantly I wish I could go back and fix everything. "I know. I was desperate for some attention and so I talked to a lot of girls and went on some dates. I mean at least I didn't sleep with any, but still it looks bad and I get that. I just wanted to show off to the guys sometimes and prove I could get some attention."
Her forehead wrinkles as she looks in my eyes, searching something. "What do you mean you didn't sleep with any?"
I'm frowning at her now. "What?"
"You've slept with plenty of girls though." She says, pointing a finger at me.
Now I'm confused. "No.." I trail off, searching for what she's trying to say. "Well I'm not a virgin, but I only had sex twice with the same girl." I clarify with a little shrug of my shoulders. Jasmine Perez, the only girl I ever slept with. I was seventeen and it wasn't very good. I finished in less than ten minutes each time and she wasn't very into it, though it was her idea. Afterwards each time she just kicked me out like she was grossed out she even kissed me. Then she moved away after senior year, thank god.
My news seems to come at a shock to Chloe. "Wow, I didn't know that." She admits quietly. We both sit in silence for a few passing moments. "I made up with Kim." She says, looking a little lighter. "We talked and worked things through, I feel a lot better about that now."
I smile at her. "That's great, I know you missed her." She just nods. "How was work today?"
She goes on to tell me about Mrs. Lisa and the little kids that came in for reading time. She seems to light up a little as she talks and I decide I'll ask her that more. I want to see her happy more. "Oh! And Kim and I are planning a little camping trip for the two of us soon."
"Really? It's gonna get cold quick so you have to do it soon, or I could always just come with." I tease, nudging her with my elbow.
She smiles a little, rolling her eyes at me. "You wish." She says, but I can tell she's in a better mood already.
"You're right." I rise to my feet, stretching out my arms. "Well I'll let you sleep, goodnight." I say, headed towards the bedroom door.
"Quil." She calls out. I turn on my heels. "You didn't tell me about your day." She points out.
I shrug a little, not having much to say about it. "It's better now." I decide on, watching her smile a little.