Leah POV
I watched Bella while she quickly scribbled down the answers to her homework, making small circles on her arm with my finger. Whenever I pressed my nose to the top of her head her hand would pause, heart picking up its pace, and she would lean into my neck a bit more. I did this again and she paused, her heart accelerating without fail.
"Hard question?" I mumbled against her hair.
"N-no, just uhh taking a break" She struggled, her hand moving again but not actually marking the paper.
I chuckled lightly and moved so my chin was on her head again. A few seconds later she continued her work, filling it out with ease. I admired how quickly she was able to fill in the questions, and that was with her stopping with me distracting her. I was seriously impressed by how smart she was.
"Goddddddd!" Seth wailed as he let his head fall forward onto the coffee table, making a loud thump.
"You be gentle with that coffee table, your father got it for me" Sue scolded from the kitchen.
"What's up, Seth?" Bella asked kindly.
"I just wanna be running patrol right now" Seth mumbled into the table, his arms coming up onto the coffee table shoving papers off of it.
Bella and I laughed at him, together and she leaned down picking up one of the papers, looking at it curiously. It was filled with Seth's sloppy writing about the Quileute tribe.
"Wait, your history essay is about the tribe?" Bella asked, excitedly.
"Yeah, it's laaaame" Seth snorted, shoving more papers off the table, face still against the wooden table.
"What? That sounds super cool. I wish my homework was this interesting" Bella mussed as she started reading Seth's notes.
Seth's head lifted from the coffee table and turned to look at Bella, his eye squinting suspiciously.
"That's the kind of stuff we learn at school on the res, we learn the other stuff too about the American settlers and all" Seth saying settlers like a curse word.
Bella picked up on this and an eyebrow raised as she looked up to meet his gaze.
"We learn about American history from the losing perspective," I explained awkwardly, not wanting Seth to offend her.
Bella quickly glanced at me and then back at Seth, a shy smile on her face.
"Do you think you could tell me more?" She asked sheepishly.
"Uh, yeah sure" Seth looked at her surprised, gathering up some of his papers.
Bella set her homework aside and shifted in my lap, so she was facing forward. I smiled to myself and shifted her off my lap. She looked up at me, hurt.
"I'm going to go see if Mom needs help in the kitchen" I explained "I've heard enough of the tribal history for a lifetime"
Bella smiled kindly at me before turning back to Seth.
"So how old is the Quileute tribe?" Bella asked, leaning forward onto her knees.
I left the living room as Seth started his explanation. When I entered the kitchen my mother was smiling at me, incredibly happy.
"What?" I laughed awkwardly.
"I haven't seen you this happy in years, it's nice to have my Leah back" She grinned even wider.
"Whatever, Mom" I tried to hide my smile as I moved to help chop vegetables.
"I'm incredibly grateful she's in our lives now" She kept gushing.
"Okay, okay Mom" I mumbled a little embarrassed by the attention.
"I mean she's even gotten Seth into his homework," She said incredibly quiet, knowing only I would hear it.
I took a second to listen to the conversation in the living room.
"What? That's awesome. You should put that in your essay for sure." Bella was excitedly egging Seth on.
"Yeah, that's actually good" Seth responded and I heard pen scratching paper.
I turned back to look at my mother and she was beaming.
"You always had such a beautiful smile" She grinned, stirring the pot on the stove.
I hadn't realised I was smiling until she pointed it out and it faded instinctively. I turned back to chopping the vegetables and heard her sigh lightly.
"So you two are having a sleepover tonight?" She inquired and I heard the slight hesitation.
"Yeah" I mumbled a little embarrassed by the whole situation.
"Well then I want to resolidify some old rules" She stopped stirring her pot and I looked up to meet her gaze, pausing my chopping.
"I don't want any funny business in my house. I don't want you two sleeping in the-" She was using her lecturing voice.
"Mom" I interrupted her, feeling a little annoyed knowing where she was going with this.
"No, no let me finish. This is different from when you were kids, you two are-" She continued ignoring my plea.
"God mom, we aren't even dating" I said a little too loudly.
"Oh, well then. I still don't want any funny business" She stiffened, returning to her pot.
I helped her finish up dinner, and then set the table for four. I took a second, pausing, a little taken aback. The last time the table had been set for four my father was still alive. I gripped the back of a chair and hung my head, the grief taking me by surprise. I didn't hear her approach but felt her arms wrap around my waist, her body pressing against my back. I was pulled out of my grief a bit and turned in her arms, returning the embrace.
"Hey, how's the homework going?" I inquired, still holding Bella close to me.
"Good. Are you okay?" She tilted her head back and looked up at me, her eyes filled with concern.
"Yeah why?" I smiled down at her.
"Just checking…" She mumbled, looking off into the distance.
"Dinner!" Sue called unnecessarily loud.
I heard Seth scramble in the living room and come running into the small dining room, taking his usual seat.
"Smells great, Mum" He emphasized this when his stomach rumbled.
Bella and I broke from our hug and I took my usual spot, she took my father's old spot. My mother set the pot on a hot mat on the table and Seth quickly reached for the ladle, his bowl in hand.
"Seth, I raised you with better manners than that" Sue scolded. "You serve our guest first"
"That's what I was doing!" Seth insisted too quickly, filling his bowl and placing it beside Bella's. He grabbed her old bowl and started filling it for himself, beaming his 100 watt smile at Bella then our mother. He quickly filled his new bowl and started shoveling spoonfuls into his mouth at inhuman speeds. We ate dinner with some small talk and when we finished Bella started clearing the table with my mother.
"Bella, sweetie, you don't have to do that, you're our guest." Sue smiled at her but I could tell she appreciated the help.
"It's fine really, I don't mind at all" Bella responded, quickly gathering up the bowls, putting them in the sink.
"No, no. I know you take care of your father at home. You girls go have fun, consider it a night off" Sue was gently ushering her out of the kitchen, and I followed behind them.
Bella and I were back in the living room, awkwardly standing with no purpose.
"You guys wanna go to the beach?" Seth asked enthusiastically as he shoved his papers back into his backpack.
"Huny, are you done your essay already?" Sue called from the kitchen, skeptically.
Seth's shoulders slumped and he stopped shoving papers into his bag, pouting towards the kitchen.
"I'm almost done, and it's not due until thursday" He began reasoning, knowing he would lose this argument.
"That's great, I'd love to hear what you have so far. Come read it to me while I tidy up." Sue said sweetly but we both knew this was the end of the conversation.
Seth shot me a defeated, longing, look and I recognized it from years of him wanting to tag along with me. We were always close but some things our mother didn't like him joining in on, especially when I went to R rated movies with friends. I turned to Bella and raised a questioning eyebrow at her then looked at the door. She seemed to understand me with no problem and moved to the coat rack, grabbing my old hoodie without hesitation. I decided I'd be somewhat normal and wear shoes, even though most of the reservation was used to the odd fashion sense the pack had.
Once outside I turned to Bella, one side of my mouth pulling up into a smirk.
"So now that Seth isn't coming along what super fun things do you want to do?" I said, mockingly loud so she would understand I was just playing around.
"I was thinking we could go to the beach and get all of Seth's favorite ice cream flavours and eat it all." She grinned at me, playing along.
I heard a groan from inside the house and Bella giggled. I snickered a bit and started walking, Bella followed close beside me.
"So what do you want to do?" I questioned looking down at her as we walked in no particular direction.
Bella smiled a bit shy, looking down at her feet.
"I was thinking maybe we could visit Jake if he's home…" She trailed off.
I knew how close the two were but I couldn't help the small twinge of jealousy that stirred in me. But even with the jealousy I knew I'd do anything for her that would make her happy.
"Sounds good. He's not patrolling right now and if he's sleeping I'm sure he won't mind getting up for you." I shoved my hands in my pockets.
We continued walking in a comfortable silence through the light misting rain, towards Jacob's house. After a few minutes Bella broke the silence with a not so subtle throat clear.
"So uhm...when you were in the kitchen with your mom" She shoved her hands into the hoodie pocket, kicking at a rock as we walked. "What were you talking about?" She watched as she kicked the rock, and the hood covered her face from view.
"Just how much my mum appreciated you helping Seth with his homework" I answered nonchalantly, not sure what brought this on.
"Anything else?..." She pushed.
"Uhm, I guess she was happy to see you at the house again" I kept watching her, wondering what she was getting at.
"Yeah it's been awhile…" She trailed off.
The silence returned and we walked, taking turns kicking the rock down the street.
"Tell me more about imprints." Bella said suddenly, almost like a demand.
I stopped and looked at her, curious about her odd questioning. She stopped too and finally looked up at me, I could see faint hints of a blush fading.
"Sure, what do you want to know?" I continued our walk.
"Everything?" She walked beside me, but so close now that our arms brushed every once in awhile.
"God, where to start?" I mussed "Well we don't really know why imprints happen but some have theories."
"Like what?" She asked, enthusiastically.
"Some theories are that it's supposed to carry on the wolf gene. Others think it's more romantic like literal soul mates." I shrugged. "I guess they're wrong about the first one"
"Why do you think that?" She questioned and it almost sounded like I had hurt her feelings.
"Well I mean look at us. We can't exactly reproduce" I scoffed and then quickly added "You know hypothetically if we were to date"
"I read this article once and it said that scientists had figured out a way to use a woman's DNA to impregnate another woman. The only thing is that the baby will always be a girl." She stated quite matter of factly.
"That's pretty cool" I looked down at her again but she was watching the rock bounce along the road.
"Tell me more about imprints" She pushed. "Tell me about this imprint" She whispered the second part, uncertainty clear.
"Well...nobody really knows what to think of our imprint. No one really knows what to think of a female shapeshifter" I stated, a little agitated by the reminder.
She stopped and reached out to touch my arm lightly. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you" She frowned up at me, her doe eyes remorseful.
"It's not your fault, it's just upsetting to be the outsider" I smiled down at her, reassuringly.
"It's just I want to know what we are…" She mumbled, looking past me as a dark blush spread across her face and down her neck.
"Oh" Is all I could think of.
I could hear her heart racing and a few loud swallows.
"We're whatever you want us to be, the choice has always been yours" I explained after taking a moment to compose myself.
I couldn't get my hopes up. This could be something totally different than what I wanted it to be. Maybe I was coming on too strong and she was trying to be nice about it.
"Well I uhm" She stammered and began walking again, her kicking rock forgotten.
"My choice? Why just my choice?" She continued, obviously uncomfortable.
I followed beside her, a small smirk on my face.
"A wolf will be anything for his-er her imprint. Whatever the imprint needs the wolf will provide for her" I almost quoted word for word from Sam's explanation to me. "And the wolf is incredibly happy as long as her imprint is."
Bella nodded stiffly and we continued our stroll in silence but this time it felt tense. Had I freaked her out? Was I being too over the top?
"I can't be away from you" She whispered. "I always want to be close and when I'm close it's not enough, I need more" She continued quietly.
I couldn't help the large smirk that spread across my face. I had a feeling I knew where this was going but I kind of wanted to hear it.
"I just need you in my life all the time" her voice was strained and quiet. "And I...it felt so wrong to be touched by someone else"
My smirk started to turn into a grin and I slowed our walking down to a crawl, she followed my lead.
"And I just couldn't stand him anymore...I broke up with Edward because it didn't feel right" She admitted, stopping and looking up at me with her big doe eyes.
She was nervous or scared but that last sentence was all I needed. I slowly wrapped my arms around her waist, and she interlaced her fingers against the back of my neck. I leaned in slowly and pressed my lips to hers. Her lips were so soft, I couldn't believe this was reality. But her soft lips started to press against mine, harder, her hands pulling my neck towards her desperately. I obliged and pulled her closer so our bodies were firmly pressed together. Her lips parted and my tongue greedily explored her mouth, dancing against hers. A small moan escaped from low in her chest and she gripped the hair at the nape of my neck, demanding more. I couldn't help the quiet growl that escaped my throat and I pulled her up so she was no longer standing on the ground. Instinctively, her legs wrapped around my waist and my hands went to her ass holding her to me. I wanted her right here, right now, but I knew I couldn't. I broke away from the kiss, reluctantly, and when I opened my eyes I was met by Bella's hurt expression. Her face only inches from mine was flushed with colour, her breathing heavy and her heart was racing. I smirked at her, still clinging onto me, her hands loosening a bit in my hair.
"Maybe this isn't the best place to makeout" I suggested.
She looked around, seeming lost for a second or two. We were a few doors down from Jacob's house and I knew she would have been embarrassed if anyone had seen that.
"Yeah I guess you're right" She sighed but made no move to disentangle herself from me.
I kissed her cheek lightly and slowly set her down on her feet, she released my neck.
"So does that…" She stammered unable to finish her thought.
"I'm yours Bella, I have been since I laid eyes on you" I smirked and grabbed her hand, interlacing my fingers with hers.
"Oh" the word seemed to have caught in her throat "you're my girlfriend?" She looked up at me with a shy smile.
"I mean, that" I gestured at us, raising an eyebrow "probably wasn't appropriate for childhood friends" I smiled playfully at her.
She beamed at me and it was my hearts turn to jump. She continued our walk, keeping so close to my side I let go of her hand and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. She giggled lightly and pressed into my side, wrapping her arm around my waist. Our steps surprisingly matched up, incredibly easy, despite the fact that my stride should be much longer than hers. It felt so good to finally have her, my heart was soaring and I could feel my wolf stirring. I had to fight off the urge to let out the excited howl she was brewing. Bella continued our walk to Jacob's and when we reached the front door I couldn't wipe the cocky smirk off my face. She was mine now, all jealousy was gone