Author's Note: Sorry it's been so long! I'm still working and then with everything shut down, I don't have as much alone time as before and that's when I do most of my writing. Thank you for the favorites, follows, and reviews! Enjoy :)

Chapter 4 - Embry's POV

The electricity that buzzed between us had me amped up to a level I'd never felt before.

I was hyper-aware of the little space that separated us. I'd have to thank Claire for being so adamant about seeing a thriller/horror movie. While I also would have liked going somewhere and actually making conversation with Olivia, I was enjoying taking this chance to think about how well things were going. It was an added bonus that my enhanced vision allowed me to sneak peeks of her from the corner of my eye. Jeez, she was so beautiful.

From my subtle (I hope) observations, I could see Olivia's eyes widening and sometimes shutting in fright. Every now and then, probably thinking no one could notice, she let out a small squeaks in fear. Her heart beat was going wild and it was music to my ears. In addition to the smell of fake butter permeating the air, a light and floral scent hung delicately around us and it was all I could do to keep myself from burying my face in her hair. I closed my eyes and just let my senses get overrun with flashes of her.

The music on the screen slowly transitioned into an empty silence and I opened my eyes. I focused on her hand clenching the cup holder at the end of the armrest. Not wanting to freak her out by moving too fast, I slowly moved my hand to rest next to hers, not quite touching. I studied the top of her hand, making a mental note to ask her how she got the small scar on her third knuckle.

I was so lost in my own little world that I didn't notice practically everyone in the entire theater holding their breaths and stilling their movements.

BAM!

Olivia jumped and several audience members let out small screams as whatever "scary" creature jumped out on the screen. I could feel the side of her hand bump anxiously against mine on our shared armrest. Without thinking too much about it, I grabbed her smaller hand in mine. She shot me a grateful look before using her other hand to block her eyes from seeing the next scene.

I didn't personally think this movie was all that scary, but to be honest, I wasn't paying too much attention to it. All I could focus on was my imprint who was sitting right next to me in this dark theater.

After who knows how much longer, the movie finally ended. I couldn't give one detail of the plot, I'd been way too focused on how Olivia never let go of my hand, even after the scary parts finished.

As we stood, I spotted Quil and Claire already in the aisle about to head out of the doors. We patiently waited for our row to slowly shuffle out. I tried to catch Olivia's eye, but she averted her gaze to the side and seemed to be counting the heads of people in front of us. While that seemed kind of weird, I didn't think too much about it.

We finally made it out into the lobby where the others were waiting on us. Olivia quickly walked up to Claire and they both started to head for the exit.

Quil gave me a questioning look, but I just shrugged, not sure what was going on. Was Olivia avoiding me? Had I done something wrong?

Claire called back to us that we would all be going bowling and then linked her arm with Olivia's (in a friendly way or in a way to make sure she couldn't escape, I wasn't sure).

We walked the short distance to the bowling alley from the theater with the girls ahead of us the entire time.

Once we got there, I jogged to catch up with Olivia, but right as she saw me coming, she made an excuse about finding a bathroom and fled before I could ask her what was wrong.

I questioningly looked at Claire. "Do you know what's going on with her?"

She looked contemplative. "She hasn't said anything to me, but I'll go and see if I can get the scoop out of her." She made a beeline to the same bathroom Olivia had disappeared into.

Quil and I decided to take a seat in the little snack area not knowing how long girl talk would last. We were surprised when Olivia and Claire came out after only a few minutes in there together. Once they were close enough, Claire hurriedly said something about going to look at the game play options and dragged Quil to follow her.

Olivia sat across from me and kept her head down. I wasn't entirely sure what happened.

"Hey, are you okay?" She looked away, a blush coloring her face as per usual.

"Of course, everything is fine. I can't wait to bowl," she finished less than enthusiastically.

I felt like a stone had sunk in my stomach. Maybe she didn't want to hang out with us anymore but doesn't want to be rude? Maybe I'd overstepped earlier when I held her hand at the theater? She'd seemed okay with it at the time, but I never expressly asked for her permission either. It was right as the movie ended that she'd started acting kind of strange.

"Olivia, if you want, I can take you home. You don't have to hang out with us if you don't want to," I trailed off and waited for her to agree with me.

I was surprised when a hurt expression flashed across her face before she schooled her features into a slightly hardened look. "Oh. Well, I guess you guys are probably tired of hanging around me. I can find my way back to the diner and get my car, no worries." She started to stand and grab her bag from the back of her chair.

Wait, what? She thought that we wanted her to leave? I don't think I could have been more confused. Without thinking, I grabbed her wrist to stop her from leaving. She looked down at my hand and I quickly brought it back to my side, not wanting to freak her out anymore.

"We don't want you to leave, we want to spend time hanging out with you!" How could she think otherwise?

"But you just said -" I cut her off before she could continue with that train of thought. "We want to spend time with you. Why would we make more plans to hang out after the movie if we didn't?"

She thought about it for a few seconds and then gave me a sheepish smile. "I guess you have a point."

I smiled gently back at her. "I know I do. I've been having fun and I think I can say the same for Claire and Quil even if they didn't sit by us in the movie."

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I could see Claire standing by the front counter waving her arms like a madwoman. Once she saw that she'd caught our attention, she started pointing furiously at the poor kid working the register and then began to alternate between flipping us a thumbs up and thumbs down. Multiple heads turned to stare at the wonder that was Claire Young. Quil was used to this after all of his years of knowing her so he just stood by her with no shame.

I started to roll my eyes, but noticed that Olivia was trying to hide a smile behind her hand. Wanting to see her smile more, I started imitating Claire's ridiculous thumbs up and down movements along with some goofy faces. Olivia burst out laughing so hard she was doubled over with her hands on her thighs.

I jerked to a stop and couldn't help but stare; she was radiant. Her laughter shook her whole body and it was so genuine sounding. She threw her head back and I was mesmerized watching her hair flip back. My eyes traced the line of her jaw down her throat. I wished I could commit this sight to memory.

A loud cough ripped me from my thoughts. I whipped my head around and saw Quil making kissy faces at me while Claire held her hands to her face. I thanked whatever higher being there was that she stood far from where we were; I could practically hear the high pitched squealing.

Eventually, we were finally set up with a bowling lane and had picked out our bowling balls. After a few rounds, I had learned that Olivia was actually pretty competitive. It eventually turned into a guys against girls competition and it was all Quil and I could do to try and stay ahead of them!

I couldn't help that I kept getting distracted. The first time I walked up for my turn, I caught a whiff of that light, floral scent again right as I was releasing the ball and ended up throwing it into the next lane's gutter. My ears burned in embarrassment as I heard Quil's stupid braying behind me. When I walked back to the seats and sat down, Olivia took pity on me and put a comforting hand on my arm. My heart skipped a beat and suddenly I didn't care all that much about the ball.

Claire and Olivia ended up winning the first game, but Quil and I scraped out the next win. I couldn't remember the last time I had so much fun. I noticed Olivia starting to yawn and saw how late it was getting. We still had to make the drive back home too.

"Hey guys, anyone ready to wrap up the fun and start making our way back to La Push?"

Claire piped up, "I could keep having fun! Sleep is for the weak!"

Olivia smiled a guilty smile. "Sorry Claire, I must be one of the weak then. I'm so tired and I need to get up early for work again tomorrow."

Claire looked like she wanted to argue but I cut her off before she could start. "It's fine Olivia, we can leave. Claire will be fine with one less round of bowling." I gave Claire a pointed look. She threw up her arms and huffed away to go sit by Quil.

We gathered our belongings and changed out our shoes. After returning everything, we stepped out into the chilly night air.

Claire immediately took a running jump onto Quil's back; he caught her with no hesitation and proceeded to give her a piggy back ride. Olivia watched them run off ahead of us and we could hear Claire laughing and encouraging Quil to go faster. Olivia looked up towards me as we stayed back.

"Hey Embry?"

"Hm?"

"What's up with Quil and Claire? I mean, they're really fun and all, but they seem like they hang out a lot and that seems kind of weird with their age difference. Claire already told me that they're not related so I just don't know why a guy who I'm assuming is your age wants to hang out with a high schooler." She peered up at me before looking ahead at them again.

I thought about it for a few seconds. How to explain this to her? I decided to stay truthful but keep it as vague as I could.

"Well…Quil and Claire have known each other for a while. Claire basically grew up with Quil as her honorary big brother and then their relationship kind of evolved from siblings to best friends in the last couple of years."

"How old is Claire exactly?"

"She's 16, but she'll be 17 in a few months I think."

Olivia's mouth dropped open. "She doesn't look like she's as old as that! I thought she was like 15 or something!"

I couldn't help but laugh at that. "Claire gets that a lot. Between her youthful appearance and then the way she acts, people think she's a freshman in school but she's actually in her junior year." She still looked like she couldn't believe it.

"Wow, I wish I had genes like that! I feel like I'm already getting wrinkles and I know I have bags under my eyes."

The words escaped me before I could reign them in. "I think you're beautiful." She started blushing again and looked out in the other direction away from me.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

We walked in silence for a little bit, the occasional whooping noise coming from ahead of us. Eventually we made it back to the diner where Olivia worked. Once Claire saw my car, she leapt off of Quil's back and started to race him to the car. He easily caught up to her but "stumbled" right at the end which ensured her win.

We stopped walking right at the point where we'd have to split up since Olivia's car was parked on a side street by the diner and I was parked on the main street. Olivia looked shyly up at me.

"This was really fun, but my car is that way." She pointed in the general direction while trying to hide a yawn.

I spoke up, "You look really tired. Are you sure you're going to be all right driving back by yourself? It's still a long drive." I didn't like the idea of her driving by herself this late with her car that looked to be on its last legs.

She shrugged. "I have to get back somehow so I'll have to be okay with driving back. It'll be fine I'm sure."

"Why don't you ride back with us?" I suggested. She was already shaking her head. "I can bring you back here in the morning, I know you have work."

She was giving me this look that I couldn't decipher. "I can't have you do all of that, that's so much driving! Not to mention I have to start my shift at 7AM so I would need to leave my house by 6 to get here on time."

I smiled what I hoped was a reassuring smile. "It's really not a problem, I promise. I just want to make sure that you get home safely and I know you were up really early today. You've been yawning so much, I'd hate for something to happen to you."

She bit her lip and thought about it. I joked, "We've already established that I'm not a serial killer and the others will be with us in the car too."

She asked, "Are you really sure about this? I don't want to be any trouble."

"Of course I'm sure. Come on, let's go before those jokers mess my car up somehow."

We all got settled in the car with Olivia up front. After a few minutes of driving, Olivia nodded off with her head rolling sideways onto her shoulder, cushioned by her sweatshirt's hood. Looking in the rearview mirror, I saw that Claire was also asleep with her head on Quil's shoulder. He met my eyes and pointed to Olivia before throwing a thumbs up.

I just chuckled and relaxed into the drive.

The miles blended together until we were finally in La Push. Our house was more towards the edge of the reservation and I stopped to let Quil and Claire out. As they shut the car door and started up the porch steps, Olivia woke up and looked around groggily.

"Where are we?"

I began backing away from my house. "We're in La Push, I just dropped Quil and Claire off. La Push is closer to Port Angeles so your place is the next stop. Can you give me directions to where you live?"

There was no answer and I looked over at Olivia. She was staring out the window at the house. "Olivia?"

She tore her eyes from the house. "Oh sorry! Just start driving towards Forks and I'll give you directions once you get close."

I drove slowly wanting to savor our time together, but in the end I pulled up quietly in front of her house. I could see that the house was a little run-down. There were pieces of siding broken off and cracks in the wood.

We both sat quietly in the car, glancing at each other from the corners of our eyes.

She finally shifted to face me and gave a small, shy smile. "Thanks for everything today, Embry. I had a really good time." Olivia tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

I selfishly searched my mind for any way that I could continue spending time with her, but I knew that she ultimately had to go inside. I also remembered that I would be seeing her tomorrow.

For a guy who didn't used to be so sappy, I was feeling pretty down at the prospect of not seeing her for the night.

I answered, "I'm really glad you did. I had a great time too, Olivia. I wish it wasn't over yet." Was that too much to reveal? Hopefully not, I just wanted to be honest.

"Me too." She bit her lip and looked out the window. "I did want to apologize though. For earlier." Her cheeks flooded with color and she ducked her head down so that her hair would fall around her face.

"You don't need to apologize, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm sorry that I held your hand for as long as I did. That was inappropriate of me." I focused on the steering wheel in front of me waiting to hear her agree with me. To my surprise, she did the opposite.

"No Embry, you did nothing wrong! To be honest…" She trailed off, her head still down. "I liked that you held my hand, but I was just so embarrassed. I was acting like a scared child for the entire movie and then basically pressured you into holding my hand. I should have just been able to handle it like a grown adult." She finished quietly.

That's what she was worried about? I lifted my head up and grinned at her. "Olivia, you have nothing to be embarrassed about! Those movies are meant to scare people, you don't have to hide that from anyone. I didn't mind holding your hand either. I would have loved to keep holding it even after the movie." I didn't know it was possible, but she somehow blushed even harder. I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

Without realizing that I was doing it, I leaned in closer to her. Her eyes were so big and were nervously looking at me. When I was only a few inches away from her face, I glanced down at her lips then back up to her eyes. I heard her breath hitch.

"Would it be okay if I kissed you?" I asked.

She didn't say anything, but nodded after a few agonizing seconds.

I leaned in the rest of the way and gently pressed my lips against hers. Neither of us moved for a few seconds; I didn't want to freak her out by moving too quickly. Then surprisingly, Olivia put one of her hands on the side of my face and opened her mouth slightly. I took this as a sign to deepen the kiss.

Holy fuck. I was kissing her! I was actually kissing her and I felt like I could jump off a cliff, soar through the skies, and touch the sun.

We continued like this for a minute until Olivia pulled back with her hands on my chest. I could hear her heartbeat fluttering so quickly and I knew that mine was mimicking hers.

Her blush still hadn't faded, but she was smiling at me. "I should probably get inside." She seemed like she was weighing something in her head. "Thanks for everything tonight Embry. I'll see you tomorrow morning at 6?"

I gave her the biggest smile and answered, "Can't wait."

She opened the car door and, before stepping out, she turned back to give me a quick kiss. As the car door shut and she walked up to her front door, she turned around to wave at me quickly then went inside.

I sped home and stripped out of my clothes before running out into the forest behind my house. I phased into my wolf form and went for the most exhilarating run I'd had since first phasing.

If anyone was still awake, all they would hear was the joyous howl that ripped through the air.