Learning to Swim
AN: I am so deeply, humbly sorry about the (long) delay in updating. Unfortunately, my medications didn't work like they were supposed to, and- as my therapists, doctors, and psychoanalyists so eloquently put it- I have been very ill. As if I couldn't figure that out for myself. So, between the multiple appointments, treatments, crisis center visits, and moving across the country, my brain hasn't functioned well enough for writing.
As always, THANKS SO MUCH to everyone who's read this story, and a double THANK YOU to all who've taken the time to review or send me a private message!! It really, really has meant SO much to me, and is the number one reason I'm still attempting to write this. PLEASE keep it up. For me?
Okay, enough with the whining and excuses...
Contrary to everything I'd been hoping for, Saturday dawned clear, bright, and unseasonably warm. Damn it all.
Like every morning, Squidman Embry had my legs trapped in his and his arms wrapped tightly around me. To top it off, he'd rolled half on top of me, too. There was no way I could sneak out this morning, not that I really minded. I was surprisingly comfortable trapped under his weight with his face tucked into the curve of my neck and shoulder.
That, and I was in no hurry to start what was sure to be a really interesting day- and not in a good way, either.
Unfortunately, as the sun crept closer and closer to mid-morning, I knew we really had to get up before one of our moms caught us. As usual, it took a good five minutes of prodding to get any sort of response from Embry. And the reponse I got was less than productive.
"'Smatter? It's Saturday. We're sleeping in," he mumbled as he tightened his arms around me to the point where I could officially no longer move.
"Fine. You can sleep in, but I've got to get to First Beach," I replied casually. "I've got that new bikini, and I did promise Mike I'd be there."
He twitched. "Screw Mike."
"Well, gee, I hardly know the guy, but if you insist..."
Embry's long fingers poked unmercifully at my sides, and I squirmed and giggled helplessly in a vain attempt to get out of his grasp. He merely rolled on top of me to pin me down and kept tickling.
"Stop, stop! Can't breathe!" I finally gasped out, and he poked me a few more times for good measure before he stopped. Instead of rolling off of me, he propped himself up on his elbows and watched as I slowly caught my breath.
"Forget the beach. Let's just stay here," he murmured, and his dark, chocolate brown eyes looked deep and warm enough for me to melt into.
Holy hannah, I was melting into them! They were so... so... I don't even know what they were. Perfect? Maybe. They sure made my heart pound and my thoughts go all wonky. As in, suddenly I found myself thinking crazy things like, 'hell, yes, let's stay here! And make out like horny teenagers!"
I was going insane. That's all there was to it. Why else would my eyes be wandering down to his lips and imagining what they would feel like on... random areas of me. Or how he'd react if I just reached up and kissed the hell out of him.
Which is what I was just about to do.
Until Embry's mom knocking on his door stopped me, that is.
"Embry? Hon, you awake?" she called through the door, sending both of us into a panic.
"Yeah, Mom! I'm up- just hold on a sec!" Embry shouted as the doorknob started to turn. In a wild scramble of arms and legs, we both struggled to get off the bed, and I landed on my butt with a painful thump.
"Hide!" he hissed at me frantically, and I scanned the room wildly as the door started to open.
Shit! Nothing for it but to dive under the bed. Embry's foot gave my backside an almighty shove, and I slid through the dust bunnies to bang my head against the far wall. Scowling, I rubbed my growing lump and watched as his mom's fuzzy gorilla-slippered feet came into the room.
"Geez, Mom! You can't just come barging into my room like that. What if I was naked or something?" I heard Embry exclaim.
"Oh, please. Who do you think used to wipe your butt every time you had to poop?"
I stifled a giggle as his big feet shuffled embarrassedly. "God, Mom! I was two!"
She snorted. "It was longer than that, little boy. Anyway, aren't you supposed to be meeting Leah at First Beach?"
"Not for another hour."
"She's very pretty, you know," his mom said in that carefully casual voice mothers use when they're trying to be subtle about pointing out how much they'd like to see the two of you get together.
"Yeah, Mom, I know that, and-"
"I really like her, too. She's a nice girl. Just your type, isn't she?"
"Oh, god. Really don't want to talk about this right now, Mom!" Embry moaned, and I stuffed my whole fist in my mouth to muffle my laughter.
"I'm just saying that maybe it's time you made your move. You've been spending all your time together lately, and I know how much you li-"
"Mom! Stop! Just... I get it, okay?" he cut in frantically. "Thanks for the advice. Really. But I'm gonna get dressed now."
"Okay, okay. I'll stop butting into your love life."
I saw his feet herding her back towards the door as he heaved a huge sigh. "Thank you. Now can you please-"
"I'm just worried about you. It's what moms do, you know," she continued, and Embry moved a little faster towards the door.
"I've got it all under control, Mom. Really. Nothing to worry about!"
I saw her feet stall and turn around in the doorway. "Just flex those muscles and sweep her off her feet. Better yet, just swoop in and kiss her."
"Mom! Go away!" he nearly shouted in embarrassment, and I knew he could hear my muffled laughter even if she couldn't. His mom seemed to finally surrender, and he closed the door with a snap. Before either one of us could move, she opened it again just far enough to stick her head into the room.
"Not that I'm encouraging it, but you will use protection, right?"
"MOM!!"
"Right, right. I'm going!"
The door snapped shut again, and Embry sank to his butt and leaned his back against it. Giggling, I crawled out from under the bed to find him blushing crimson from toes to hairline.
"Sorry about that," he muttered without actually looking at me.
I picked a few dust bunnies out of my hair. "What for? I think your mom's hilarious! And she seems to like me, which is always a big plus."
"Yeah, well, glad you thought that was funny..." he grumbled, still blushing, and I laughed.
"Tank, for all the times she wiped your naked, poopy butt, she's earned the right to embarrass you whenever she feels like it."
He chucked a wadded-up, dirty sock at me, and it missed me by scant millimeters as I yanked out the screen window and dropped easily to the ground.
"See you in a bit!" I called quietly to him over my shoulder as I took off into the trees, giggling the whole way.
Malea Call was an interesting woman. And Embry loved her to bits and pieces, which made it really confusing to me why he seemed to avoid letting she and I get to know each other. I suppose it had something to do with his ridiculous decision not to tell her about the whole shape-shifting business. He was just damn lucky she'd given up trying to ground him whenever he was out late now.
But holy hell, that'd been a close call this morning! If she'd found me in his room, I could only begin to imagine what kind of rage-fest we'd be living through right now. Although... with how she was talking this morning, maybe she wouldn't have minded all that much...
I giggled again just thinking about how mortified Embry had been when she told him to give me a big ol' sloppy kiss. That got me thinking about just how close I had come to planting one of those on him, and I stopped dead in my tracks.
Those thoughts were so many levels of bad, I couldn't even begin to sort them out! He was a Wolf. An unimprinted Wolf! What the hell was I thinking?? Hadn't I already sworn to myself that I would never, ever cross that invisible line from friendship into... something else?
Besides which, I couldn't actually be attracted to him, right? I was too damaged from Sam. I still loved Sam. Didn't I?
Ah, hell. Everything was just so damn confusing!!
Somehow, I'd gotten home and was already dressed in the designer bikini without even realizing what I was doing, so obsessed with my own thoughts. Oh, well. At least I hadn't had to sit and stew over wearing those rather flimsy scraps of material.
My cellphone rang, and I answered it without even glancing at the caller.
"Hi, Leah! I got your number from the store- hope you don't mind!" Mike's overly cheery voice exclaimed in my ear.
"Oh. Hey, Mike," I replied, but he cut me off eagerly.
"So I just got to La Push and thought I'd call and see if you wanted a ride."
I grinned at the instant mental picture of Embry squeezing himself into the backseat of Mike's car. "Thanks, but I'm gonna walk. I'll just meet you there in a bit, okay?"
"Oh. Okay. Well, don't take too long. Who knows how long this weather will hold," he replied, and I could hear the disappointment in his voice. I rolled my eyes and thanked the gods he couldn't see me.
"I'll leave in a few minutes. Promise," I told him, and hung up as Seth poked his head around my door.
"You almost ready, Leah?" he asked me. "Embry's waiting for you. And tell me that's not what you're wearing."
"If I don't wear this, Rose and Alice will skin me alive," I told him seriously as I grabbed my white cover up and rushed out the door.
"I won't tell them if you don't!" he called after me, but I ignored him. Those two vamp girls had an uncanny knack for finding out things they wanted to know, and I did not want to be on the receiving end of their wrath. Besides, despite the fact that there wasn't much fabric to speak of, designer clothes really did something for a person.
Unfortunately for me, I ran smack into Embry as I hurtled down the stairs- which felt exactly how I imaged running full force into a brick wall would feel. He had on a pair of black swimtrunks slung low on his hips, and I had to swallow a few times before I drag my eyes away from the rippling, bronze skin inches away from my eyes. How many times by now had I seen his naked, chiseled chest? It was becoming seriously pathetic that I couldn't stop myself from drooling over it every time.
"Ready?" I asked as I quickly scooped up my beach bag and grinned at him.
He grimaced. "Seriously, why do you want to go hang out with some kids from Forks that you don't even know?"
"Because. Meeting new people might be fun. And anyway, there probably won't be too many people there," I told him as I took his hand to drag him along behind me.
"Yeah, maybe we'll outnumber them," Seth piped up suddenly, making us both jump in shock. He and Jacob stood behind us, both of them in swimtrunks and bare feet with a towel slung over their shoulders.
"What the hell? Where do you think you're going?" I demanded, dropping Embry's hand to put my fists on my hips and give Seth my most dangerous, patented 'older sister death glare'. It was a pity it was wasted on him, since he was too busy grinning at us to notice.
"The beach just sounded like a good idea today," he replied cheerfully, completely oblivious to my annoyance. Embry gave him a high-five and followed him out the front door. I threw my hands up in defeat and stomped after them with Jacob chuckling away beside me.
"So how come you're going?" I growled at Jake. "Don't tell me you pissed off Edward or something and you're grounded from seeing Nessie."
"Psh. No way. They love me now, remember?"
"Right. Until she gets older and the two of you get caught making out," I snorted.
Jake looked completely horrified. "What? How can you even think like that? She's just a little kid!"
"Yeah, for now," I agreed. "But she's not going to stay a kid for very long, and then.... Ugh, do you know how creepy it is to think about that?"
"Hey! I didn't choose to imprint, you know!" he insisted sourly, obviously more upset over me saying it was creepy than the fact that he'd imprinted on Nessie.
I frowned. "Yeah, actually, you did choose it."
"What?" he asked, completely confused.
"Well, you wanted to imprint, right?" I replied, and he blinked at me. "C'mon, Jake. I was in your head. You were almost desperate to imprint, just so you could forget about Bella. And you got your wish."
"I... guess. I never saw it like that," he answered slowly, idly scratching his cheek. I could see the gears working it over in his brain as he stared off into the distance. I just rolled my eyes and snorted in annoyance.
The ocean sparkled under the rare sunshine when we reached the beach, and for once the sand actually looked warm and dry- at least in spots, anyway. Mike began to wave wildly once he caught sight of me, and I gave him a half-hearted one back.
"Damn. Is he always that cheerful?" Embry demanded under his breath. "He's like Seth on happy drugs."
"Jasper Crack?" I whispered back, and he grinned at me.
"I still can't believe I missed that," Jake muttered, and I gave him a quick smack in the arm.
"Leah! My working buddy! Ready to hit the waves?" Mike exclaimed as soon as we got close enough. He looked like he was seriously considering putting an arm around my shoulders, or even- god forbid- hugging me, and I stopped a healthy distance away from him.
"Sure, why not?" I replied, then gave a casual wave at the hulking boys behind me. "I hope you don't mind I brought some friends."
Miked kept a friendly grin on his face as he looked the three of them over, but there was no denying the nervous edge in his eyes. Not that I could blame him, really. Seth looked friendly enough, but Jake and Embry looked anything but.
"Sure! The more the merrier, right?" Mike exclaimed and quickly turned his eyes back to me.
"So, everyone, this is Leah," he announced, turning to the curious group of friends behind him. "Leah, we've got Tyler, Lauren, Jess, and Eric. Angela and Ben couldn't make it."
"Seth, Jake, and Embry," I replied, pointing to each of them in turn. Maybe coming here was a bad idea. I really didn't like the way the girls were eying up Embry's bronzed abs.
Oh, shit! What if he imprinted on one of them??
Surreptitiously, I scanned his face for any of the telltale signs of imprintation- the starry, dumbstruck eyes, the slack jaw with the tongue hanging out, staring like a creepy freak at some poor, unsuspecting girl- but no. He looked the same as always, although considerably grumpier than normal. I heaved an enormous sigh of pure relief.
"So, where's your wetsuit, Leah?" Mike asked me casually as I dropped my bag to the sand.
"Uh, what?"
"Your wetsuit. For surfing," he clarified. "It's only the beginning of May. That water's, like, frigid."
"Oh! Right," I replied, suddenly catching on. Normal humans couldn't go swimming for long in those temperatures without risking hypothermia... damn it all! There went my fun in the waves.
"Well, actually, I was just planning to stay dry. Catch some rays or something."
Mike's face fell. "Oh. Well, okay then. But next time we're getting you up on a board!"
"Sure, sure. Absolutely," I agreed quickly, placating him, and he grinned at me before grabbing his board to follow his friends into the water.
Scowling, I pulled out my towel and laid it down on the sand. Embry flopped onto his butt next to it, and I caught the laughing gleam in his eyes.
"Hold up! You realized I'd need a wetsuit if I wanted to go surfing!" I accused him in an angry whisper. He put his hands up in gesture of innocence.
"I did not!" he exclaimed, and I glared at him. "Okay, maybe I did. But it's not my fault if you didn't think about it!"
"Jerk. You did it on purpose so I'd be stuck on the beach."
"The things you accuse me of!" he said with mock indignation. I huffed and yanked my white cover-up over my head to toss it on the sand next to my bag.
Embry breathed out something under his breath so quietly I couldn't quite make it out, but it sounded a lot like "holy shit!". I scowled at him, but he was suddenly intensely interested in the sand by his feet. And why the hell was he turning so red??
Boys. They made zero sense.
Annoyed, I flopped myself down on my towel and stretched out lazily in the sun. Mmm... who cared about not getting in the water when the sunlight felt like heaven, anyway? And the way Embry kept glancing at me out of the corner of his eye, like he didn't want me to catch him looking, was pure comic gold. Whenever he snuck a peek, I'd get a fuzzy jolt of butterflies fluttering through me, and I couldn't decide if I liked the feeling or not. On the one hand, it was exhilarating, because I felt like a silly, idealistic teenager falling in love for the first time, but on the other hand, just knowing that's what it felt like scared the bejeezus out of me.
"So... that's the new bikini, huh?" Embry finally asked, still refusing to look directly at me.
"Mm. Not sure I would've chosen this pattern, but you know Alice..."
"No, I like it. Metallic leopard print is really..." he trailed off, obviously trying to figure out something nuetral to say. "It's really noticeable," he finished lamely, and I laughed.
"Somewhere, you just made Dolce and Gabbana cry for calling their designer swimsuit 'noticable'," I teased, poking one of his legs with my bare toes.
"Ah, hell. Here comes the airhead squad," he muttered darkly, and I turned my head to see Lauren and Jessica approaching us. I didn't have time to order him to be nice before they were spreading their towels on the sand, Jessica on one side of me, and Lauren on the other side of Embry. I hid a grin when he blatantly shifted closer to me.
"Leah, I love your swimsuit! Where'd you get it?" Jessica gushed, and I couldn't tell if it was a ploy to distract me as Lauren inched her way closer to Embry's side.
"Thanks. It's, um... it's..." I wasn't sure if I should rub the designer label in her face or not, but the way Lauren was making eyes at my Tank was really starting to piss me off. "It's a Dolce and Gabbana," I finished, and smiled a trifle smugly at the stunned look on her face.
Okay, so maybe I was still a little bit of a bitch.
"Dolce and... Aren't those, like, super expensive?" Jessica finally managed to ask, and I shrugged indifferently.
"Well, yeah, but designer clothes really do something for a girl's figure. Don't you think, Tank?"
By now, he was crowding into me on my towel while Lauren leaned forward as she smiled and tried to start a conversation with him. He glanced at me, totally flustered, before jumping to his feet.
"I'm gonna go cool off. Yeah. Uh, see ya," he muttered uncomfortably before darting off toward the water.
"Geez, what's his hurry?" Lauren griped, but she lost no time moving her towel right up next time mine. I began to feel like a bug under a microscope from the way they were scrutinizing me.
"So... Leah," Jessica drawled casually. "Are you two, like, a thing?"
I blinked at her blankly. "I'm sorry?"
"You and Embry. Are you guys together or what?" Lauren asked bluntly
"Um..." Holy crap! Now what? The technical answer for that was 'no', but I seriously didn't want to tell them that. I mean, that would be like giving them the green light to be all over him. My Tank!
Except that he wasn't really my Tank. And I didn't want him to be- not like that, anyway. Right?
Man, I really had to get my sanity evaluated.
"'Cause, you know, I overheard Mike telling Eric and Tyler that you said you were single, but just now, you kind of looked... together," Jessica continued when I didn't answer them. I swallowed hard.
"No- we're just friends," I finally managed to say, and Lauren's grin brightened about ten watts. "We're really, really close friends," I emphasized, and smiled while glaring daggers at her turned head.
"Oh, my lord," Jessica breathed suddenly, and both of us turned to look where she was staring.
"You have got to be kidding me," I groaned at the same time that Lauren gave a tiny, excited squeal.
I should have known better than to go to First Beach on one of only ten probable nice days of the year. Really, I should have. Maybe I was just secretly masochistic or something.
Of course the half the La Push Pack would pick today to head to the beach en masse. And there I sat, in all my ridiculous, designer, metallic leopard print, barely-there bikini glory. I knew Fate had only been taking a vacation lately. It was apparently now back and ready to hand me my sorry ass on a silver platter.
"My god, gimme a piece of that chunk of male perfection!" Lauren exclaimed under her breath, and I had to bite my lips hard to keep from laughing out loud. She had no idea that every boy in the Pack had heard her as clearly as if she'd just shouted it.
"No kidding. Why the hell are you still single, Leah?" Jessica agreed, giggling. I wanted to dig a hole and bury myself so deep in the sand that I'd come out in China.
Salvation! Quil, with Claire riding on his shoulders, spotted me when he heard Jessica say my name and waved with a big grin plastered on his face. I scrambled to my feet and headed over to him while Jake, Embry, and Seth came charging out of the water.
"Heya, Leah!" Quil exclaimed cheerfully as he gently swung little Claire down to the sand.
"Hey," I replied as I crouched down to grin at the little girl clutching the bottom of his swimtrunks possessively. "Hey, Claire. Haven't seen you in a while. You're getting big!"
She smiled proudly at me and held up three stubby fingers. "I'm fwee!"
"Yo, lil' princess!" shouted Seth, and Claire squealed with giggles as he swung her up and tickled her stomach. He tossed her to Embry, and the two of them started a weird game of tickle-catch with her. Quil watched, grinning broadly every time Claire laughed.
"So, why the hell are most of Sam's Pack here, Quil?" Jake asked in a low undertone. "It's not like they need a nice day to be at the beach or anything."
Quil shrugged and looked sheepishly amused. "Well... I might'a mentioned something about Leah spending the day at the beach with some of the Forks kids, and... here we are. Guess you've got yourself a few fanboys, Leah," he chuckled, waggling his eyebrows at me. I gave him my most vicious harpy-Leah death glare.
"Hilarious, Quil. You're a real comedian."
"I wasn't joking," he replied seriously. "Nice bikini, by the way. But you shoulda stuck with a one-piece granny suit if you didn't want a bunch of guys drooling over you."
I flamed scarlet from hairline to collarbone. "Quit being an ass, Quil."
"Hey! Watch the language," he muttered, jerking his head toward an oblivious Claire. "And I was just trying to warn you 'bout the guys."
"Thanks. But I doubt I'll need the tip," I snapped before flouncing back to my towel. It was scary how quickly I morphed back into a waspy bitch with the right kind of provocation.
"So, are you going to introduce us to your friends?" Lauren asked the moment I flopped myself back down on my towel.
I scowled heavily. "They're not my friends."
"Really? Some of them are totally staring at you, though," Jessica replied with a nervous, excited giggle. "Is that tall, muscled thing, like, genetic or something?"
"Um, yeah. You could say that," I managed to answer once I'd swallowed my hysterical laughter. I risked a quick glance at the La Push Pack, and instantly regretted it when the kid from the bonfire waved at me eagerly. And, oh dear god, Brady was with them. Staring at my legs like a braindead, drooling idiot. Again. Quil caught my eye as I hastily looked away, pretending not to notice, and he quirked his eyebrows at me as if to say he told me so. The stupid jerk.
Mike suddenly plopped himself down uncomfortably close to me on my towel, completely scaring the bejeezus out of me since I'd been too busy glaring at Quil to notice him. Tyler and Eric were with him, and Lauren squealed loudly when Tyler purposefully dripped cold water on us. Thank god she was making enough noise for the both of us, because I didn't even react.
"So, more friends of yours, Leah?" Mike asked with forced cheerfulness, nodding towards the La Push Pack.
"Don't look at me. I didn't invite them," I muttered. Quil merely smirked at me when I flashed him an evil look.
Tyler somehow managed to wedge himself between Lauren and I, and I suddenly found myself feeling incredibly claustrophobic. He grinned roguishly at me and bumped my shoulder with his playfully, completely ignoring the dirty look Mike was giving him from my other side.
"So, too chicken to get out there and surf, huh Leah?" Tyler asked as he waggled his eyebrows at me.
"Leave her alone, man. She just didn't feel like getting in the water," Mike snapped before I had a chance to do more than open my mouth.
"What the hell, dude! I was just starting a conversation!"
They kept bickering, and I just sat there, stuck in-between them while Lauren and Jessica drilled holes in my skull with their eyes. And Eric Yorkie just stood there, staring at me with his mouth slightly open until I had an intense urge to grab the nearest towel and hide under it. And to make it even better, I knew that every Wolf-boy on the beach could see (and hear) what was going on.
Why, exactly, had I thought this little get together would be fun?
I froze solid when Mike suddenly slung his arm across my shoulders and announced that I was his favorite working buddy ever. Instinctively, I looked past Eric at Embry, though I wasn't quite sure why. Quil took one glance at the narrowed glare he had fastened on Mike and snatched Claire out of his hands immediately.
Ah, bloody hell! If I didn't do something fast, the poor, clueless, blond puppy was going to get pummeled into a miserable, messy pulp. Unless Seth and Jacob somehow stopped Embry, which was looking more unlikely by the second.
"I'm just gonna go cool off for a bit," I mumbled as I hastily wiggled my way out from under Mike's arm.
"I'll come with you," he replied instantly as he and Tyler both started to scramble to their feet. Jessica and Lauren were practically vibrating with resentment by this point, and I had to fight a wild, momentary urge to just bust out of my skin and get the hell out of there. But shifting into a giant Wolf right in front of a group of normal humans wasn't a very good idea, especially given the fact that everybody on the beach would get a momentary glimpse of the very little skin I wasn't already showing.
Ugh. No thanks.
"Really, don't bother. I'm just gonna walk down the water," I managed to get out through the gritted teeth of my fake smile. The two boys obviously didn't get the hint, since they kept standing there grinning at me.
My brain was frantically trying to come up with some other excuse to get them both to sit back down when a heavily muscled, hot arm suddenly snaked across my neck into a loose, mock choke-hold. Oooh, shit.
"Hey, B. You gonna get your feet wet today or what?" Embry asked me nonchalantly, but both Tyler and Mike's grins faltered. I elbowed him surreptitiously in the ribs, and the barely audible grunt he gave was marginally satisfying.
"Yeah, I'm gonna go test out the water now, actually," I replied cooly, and hoped he'd take the hint and play nice. Apparently, he didn't, because the look Mike shot him was a mix of forced friendliness and nervous defiance.
"Yeah. We were just heading there," he told Embry forcefully. With the way he said it, I wouldn't have been at all surprised if he'd grabbed my arm and tried to pull me to his side. Thank god he didn't, because he probably would've ended up with a seriously close encounter between my fist and his nose.
At any rate, I'd definitely had enough of that testosterone-fueled party. I slipped out from under Embry's arm and headed swiftly toward the crashing waves, totally uncaring who was actually following me. Embry, naturally, was the first to catch up with me, but Mike and Tyler weren't far behind. I glanced behind me to see the other girls looking completely disgruntled. At least Eric Yorkie had stayed behind with them, and- what the hell! Was he staring at my butt?
I very nearly started to stomp back there and pummel the creeper so hard it'd make his anscestors bleed, but Tyler asking curiously how the La Push guys could stand being in the icy water with just their swimtrunks on distracted me.
"Warm blood. Genetics, man," Embry explained casually with an uncaring shrug of his shoulders. I shot him a quick, dirty look while all the other Wolf boys on the beach laughed under their breath. I glanced around to Seth and Jake, and frowned at their unconvincingly innocent faces when Jake quickly whipped something behind his back.
I didn't have any time to figure out what they were up to, because Tyler suddenly threw me over his shoulder and charged into the water with me. He dropped me in waist-deep water, laughing his head off, as I just opened and shut my mouth like a fish, too pissed off to say anything.
"Gotcha, Leah!" he crowed, and I quivered from head to toe, wishing I could shift and bite his arms off. The bastard had not only picked me up, he'd stuck his hand on my ass doing it, too!
"Yeah. Yeah, you got me," I agreed through gritted teeth and a fake, plastered on smile. My hand shot out and grabbed the front of his wetsuit, face-planting him in the water before he'd realized what I was doing.
"What the hell, Tyler. That was totally uncool," Mike snapped at him, plowing through the water to my side as he came spluttering to the surface again.
"It was just a joke. Leah knew it was a joke, right, Leah?" Tyler implored me. Mike ignored him and slung his arm over my shoulders.
"Jeez, you're really shivering. Let's get back on the sand."
Added to the fact that I really didn't want his hand dangling that close to my chest, trying to walk through waves with someone who's barely your height as they keep an arm around you isn't exactly fun. Attempting to shrug him off politely didn't work, though. The boy was stuck onto me like a leech. Where the hell was my Tank?
Ah. Standing on the beach getting flirted up by Jessica and Lauren, looking like he was doing his very best not to notice my predicament. That complete jerk!
I stomped my way over to my towel, still unable to shake off Mike's arm, and did my damndest to ignore the way Lauren coyly put her hand on Embry's arm and smiled seductively at him. It was a relief when Mike had to release me when I flopped down onto my towel, but it didn't help to lighten my mood all that much. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jake holding something up, but he hid it before I could get a good look at what he was doing. He sure looked nervous, though...
A shadow fell over me, and I looked up fully expecting to see Tyler or maybe Eric. But noooo, my luck just had to be a whole lot crappier than that. There stood the La Push Pack, and every one of them was staring down at me eagerly and ignoring Mike completely. The kid from the bonfire grinned nervously.
"Hey, Leah! We met at the meeting the other night, remember?"
"Yeah. Hi, um... Joshua," I said slowly, praying that I'd gotten his name right.
His cheerfully hopeful face fell a little bit. "Uh, I'm Matt, actually."
Oops. "Matt. Right. Sorry."
"S'okay," he replied quickly, the grin back to full force on his cute, boyish face. "So, me and the guys were just gonna start a game of touch football, and we thought that maybe you'd wanna play?"
You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me.
Play touch football in a bikini? Good lord, what did they think this was, the Playboy Fantasy Sports Channel?? What the hell did they expect me to say? Oh, sure boys. Why not? I'd love to have you all 'accidentally' grope me!
Ha! Only if I got to break each and every one of their fingers when they did.
"Wow. Sounds tempting," I finally replied, and I was proud at how little sarcasm I let seep through my voice. "But you know what? I'm actually gonna head home. Maybe some other time."
Not likely!! Their faces all fell in unison, and I had a hard time not rolling my eyes at their stupidity for actually thinking I might even consider it.
"But, hey- I bet Mike here would love to join you guys!" I threw in before anyone could say another word. Secretly, the look of nervous terror fleeting across Mike's face made the entire fiasco of a day worth it. Not that I could really blame him; any one of the La Push kids could break him in half.
"No, no, that's okay. Hey- you're not really leaving already, are you, Leah?" he said, frantically scrambling to his feet as I stood up and shook out my towel.
"Yeah. I told you I probably wouldn't stick around all that long."
He ran a hand through his blond hair, making it stick up in funny directions. "Oh. Right."
The La Push Pack started to drift off down the beach again, but more than one of the boys was doing their best to ogle me without my noticing. And, dammit, Brady was still staring at my legs. He'd better hope he imprinted on a supermodel with that leg fetish of his.
Matt lingered a little bit longer, still grinning hopefully at me. "So, I guess I'll see you around La Push, then. Maybe we can hang out sometime. As a group," he hastily added at my raised eyebrow, his face turning tomato-red under his bronze skin.
"Yeah, maybe," I agreed noncommittally, and heaved a sigh of relief when he turned and darted off after his Packmates.
"I'll drive you home," Mike said, more of a statement than an offer, and I quickly shook my head.
"No, thanks. Really, I'd rather just walk."
He grinned, persistent. "Okay, then I'll walk you home."
I told myself firmly to count to ten before I burst out of my skin and bit his head off, but I only got to 3 before Embry's deep voice interrupted me.
"Don't bother, man. We're both headed the same way, so..."
His voice was friendly enough, but from the look on Mike's face, I guessed that his body language was completely the opposite. Mike swallowed heavily, raised his hands and backed up a step. "Three's a crowd, right? I guess I'll... see you at work, then, Leah."
"Yeah. See ya," I muttered, but I managed to flash him a fake grin before turning to glare at Embry.
He blinked at me innocently. "Ready to go?"
"You are such an ass," I hissed at him as I marched through the sand.
"Me? What the hell did I do?"
"Oh, nothing. Just stood there flirting and left me to deal with all the pervs by my lonesome, that's all!"
"That's rich," he snorted. "'Cause you weren't doing any flirting yourself."
"I was not!" I spat at him, vibrating with anger. "Why don't you go back and see if Lauren wants to play a private game of touch football with you?"
His face spasmed with disgust, and then he crossed his arms over his drool-worthy chest and smirked at me. "Hold up. You're not jealous, are you?"
My eyes widened to the size of dinner plates even as hot blood rushed into my cheeks. I glared ferociously at him, and it took all my willpower not to smack him to another dimension with my beach bag.
"Jealous? What the hell- why would I be jealous, you- you- arrogant puppy!" I spluttered out. "And why the hell is Jake taking pictures of us?!"
"Huh?" Embry grunted, completely confused by my last indignant shriek.
"There. Right there! He was snapping pictures of us with his cell!" I hissed, pointing to a very guilty looking Jacob trying to hide behind a tree and failing miserably.
"Don't even think about running," I warned him as I stalked towards him, Embry a step behind me. "It'll just make me more pissed off if I have to catch you."
To Jake's credit, he took my threat seriously and came out from behind the tree. He was still trying to hide his cellphone behind his back and looked like a cornered rabbit.
"Hey, guys. What's the big deal? I was just testing out my new camera phone, and-"
"Cut the bull and hand over that phone, Jake," I growled, too angry to even check if Embry was backing me up or not.
"No way! It's brand new, and I-"
"Hand it over before I have to rip it out of your bloody, dismembered hand and shove it down your throat!"
I must've looked downright terrifying, because he handed it over without another word. Quickly, I scrolled through the photo album, growing more mortified with every shot. Good lord, they were all pictures of me, in the most embarrassing situations. Mike with his arm draped over me, Tyler's hand on my bum, the La Push guys staring at me...
"What the hell is this, Jacob Black?" I screeched. "You'd better have a damn good excuse for this, or so help me-"
"Rosalie! It's all Rosalie's fault!" Jake broke in quickly, and I narrowed my eyes at him. "Honest. She and Emmett and Alice made me swear to send them pics of... of the beach stuff and send it to them all day. I didn't have a choice!"
"Oh, really? I don't see them here with their fangs at your throat!"
"They threatened to not let me see Nessie, Leah," he whined. Only the memory of my poor, broken fingers kept me from socking him right in the nose then and there. Instead, I swiftly dialed Rosalie's number.
"Hey, Mutt, did they leave already?" Rosalie's perfect voice rang through the phone.
"Having fun, are we?" I asked her in a deceptively pleasant voice.
"Oh.... Leah. How's the beach?"
"Games up, vamp girl. Care to explain just why you had Jake sending you pics of me all day?" I demanded bluntly.
"Ah, you know about that, huh?" she managed to get out between giggles on the other end.
"What's up? She found out?" I heard Emmett ask from somewhere in the background. "Aw, man! Things were just getting good!"
"So, looked like the bikini was a hit," Rose told me slyly when she stopped laughing for a moment. I heard Emmett grab the phone away from her.
"I liked the one where Tyler had his hand on your-"
"Shut up, Emmett! Right now!" I screeched. "You delete those pictures this second, do you hear me?"
Emmett's guffaws nearly deafened me through the phone. "Too late, lil' sis. Alice has already downloaded 'em and sent them off to one of those digital photo album thingies. Didn't anyone ever warn you about the Cullen Practical Jokes?"
"This is not funny! Not funny!" I hissed in mortification. lt didn't do any good, though, since Emmett continued to howl with laughter and Rosalie kept giggling madly. Even Edward was snickering away in the background.
"Just you wait, you freaky bloodsuckers! Next time I see you I'll-"
"Oh, you're not going to do a damn thing," Rose snorted, grabbing the phone back from Emmett.
"Wanna bet?"
"Absolutely. I'll just make sure our Mojo Master gets you high again."
"Mojo Master? Jasper?? Did ya hear that? Jasper the Mojo Master!" Emmett burst out, sounding absolutely drunk with glee.
"Rosalie..." Jasper growled threateningly from somewhere in the background, almost drowned out by Emmett's guffaws.
"Hey, don't blame me, Mojo. Leah's the one who came up with it," Rosalie informed him blithely.
I tried hard to stifle my laughter, but it was impossible. "Rosalie, you traitor! You are a total bitch, you know that?"
"Yep. So are you, babe. That's why we get along so well," she replied.
"Naturally," I agreed sarcastically, grinning even as I rolled my eyes. "By the way- you're going to owe Jacob a new phone."
"What? Why?"
"'Cause I'm going to smash this one on his thick skull," I told her cheerfully, and then did exactly that before anyone could react.
"Ow! Leah, what the hell? I told you I didn't have a choice about it!" Jacob yowled, backing away from me and rubbing the lump on his head.
"Don't you 'what the hell' me, buddy!" I snapped. "You were still the one taking the pictures! Back me up on this, Tank."
"Don't. Seriously." Jacob implored him, but he just shook his head.
"Sorry, man. Gotta go with B on this one. Besides, you're pretty damn lucky to be getting off with just a broken phone and you know it."
"What the hell's the use of being the Alpha if no one ever does what I tell them to?" Jake grumbled with a scowl as I smirked at him.
"Oh, suck it up, princess. You're the one who said you never wanted to be an Alpha."
"She's gotcha there, bro," Embry threw in sagely, and Jake and I both glared at him for a moment. He merely grinned at us both, and I gritted my teeth and stomped off.
Embry stayed right behind me, and it took everything I had to ignore him for the next hundred yards or so. I mean, I couldn't really beat the bloody snot out of Jacob, being as he was our oh-so-great Alpha and all, so I really, really wanted to tear into somebody.
And oh, did Embry deserve it! Flirting with those stupid, boring girls like that- what was he thinking? I was way hotter than either of them. And dammit, I looked like sex walking in the ridiculous designer bikini. Every other guy on the beach turned into a drooling monkey after one glance at me. What the hell was wrong with him?
Boiling mad, I whipped around to face him, shaking visibly with annoyance and rage and that ever-present urge to shift. But Embry seemed like he'd been waiting for me to turn around, and he started talking before I could even open my mouth.
"Before you say something stupid about me going back to hang out with Jessica or Lauren, let me just say that no, I definitely would not be happier being with them than you. No matter how pissed off you are. Got it?"
Well, that kinda took steam right out of my engine. Dammit, I really wanted to get into a huge scream-fight, too, and then he has to get all sweet on me. Scowling, I turned and started walking again.
"You sure looked like you wanted to get busy with one of them," I grumbled halfheartedly in an attempt to keep sounding annoyed.
"Not hardly. Those two girls' best bet of ever getting a decent guy is if one of the Pack imprints on her," he snorted as he kept pace by my side. "And man, do I pity the guy if that happens."
I blinked hard and bit my lip, watching my feet so he couldn't easily see my face. "Don't you... don't you ever wish you would just imprint on someone?" I finally asked in a low voice.
"Hell, no!" he exploded, and I stared round-eyed at him in surprise. The darkest scowl I'd ever seen twisted his face, but he wasn't looking at me. He kicked at rock in the road and sent it flying with so much force that it imbedded deeply into the side of an enormous, old tree.
"Meet some random girl, and the boom, turn into a brain-dead idiot that can't even think rationally anymore? Not able to see one flaw, never able to get angry at her or argue? Have a different opinion? No, thanks. I wanna make up my own mind about who I love and why."
Pain stabbed at me, twisting and clawing in my chest. "You don't exactly get to choose who you fall in love with, you know. It's not always that easy," I managed to say, but my voice was harsh and strained. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Embry's big hands clenching and unclenching in a useless sort of way by his sides.
"No kidding," he muttered under his breath, more to himself than me. "But still, I wanna choose what I do about it. And I never want to stop..."
He trailed off abruptly, and I peered curiously at him. "Stop what?" I demanded.
"Nothing. Just thinking out loud."
Right. Like I was going to let it go at that. Yanking on his arm, I forced him to stop walking and face me.
"Seriously, Tank. What were you gonna say?"
He scanned the trees behind me, obviously thinking hard, before he gave a defeated shrug. "I don't want to stop..." he paused, his brown eyes looking straight into mine for a brief second before looking away again. "I don't wanna stop... feeling the way I feel now, I guess."
"About what?" I demanded immediately. My hand clutched tighter on his arm, because suddenly, his answer seemed critical. Like whatever it was could send the world- my world- spinning down a completely new path.
He closed his eyes, looking like he was fighting a headache, or maybe trying really, really hard to decide something. I waited impatiently, fighting the intense urge to dig my nails into his bicep and give him a good, hard shake.
"The way I feel... about..." His brown eyes opened and looked down at my confused and expectant ones.
"About?" I prompted, getting irritated that he was taking so long to spit out this irrationally important answer. He took a deep breath and blew it out noisily through his mouth as his eyes slid away from mine and he rubbed a hand over his short-cropped hair.
"About everything. People. Life. That's all."
"Oh," I replied, disappointed even though I couldn't fathom why. The hand that had been gripping his arm dropped listlessly to my side, and for a moment, we both stared off in opposite directions silently.
"Uh, I gotta go," Embry said finally, and he rubbed his hand over his hair again. "Mom wanted me to do some chores 'n stuff today, so..."
I shook myself mentally and managed to nod. "Yeah. Okay. I'm supposed to help with some more packing and stuff, too."
"But... I can still come over later, right?"
"You need to ask?" I demanded, rolling my eyes and giving him a smile. "I'll leave the window out for you."
He grinned back before streaking off through the trees, and I stood there in the road like an idiot, staring after him.
I just couldn't shake that odd feeling of disappointment.
AN: I know... your brain doesn't want to read any more. Sorry for the super long chapter. Just wanted to let you know that now that I have successfully moved across country and health seems to be stabilizing, I should be updating much more often. Keeping my fingers crossed!!