Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Twilight Series

3

Campfire

The previous night had been rainy and gross. This time, the sky was clear and dark and full of stars. It was beautiful, with not as many clouds as usual. Staring up into the sky, I could see where the smoke was disappearing. Following the trail down, the smoke got thicker and fuller and my eyes finally rested upon the big fire.

One big fire, with everyone I cared about surrounding it. It was a tribe meeting, or the only 'parties' I ever attended. The Quileute tribe was there, and all of their plus ones. Billy Black was sat in his wheel chair, talking to Jake about something. I was sitting in a chair of my own, eating one of the last burgers. I was surprised to get one at all with all the werewolves around.

"Look at them." Leah scoffed. She was watching as Jared and Paul fought over the last burger. They were acting like animals, but they were hungry. And they were males, more specifically, werewolf males. "Disgusting."

I laughed. "Little harsh, Lee."

"Harsh is my middle name."

I shook my head, bringing my burger to my lips. "I don't doubt that."

The burger was taken from my hands, the last couple of bits all gone in one second. The burger disappeared into Quil's mouth. He smiled the best he could with a full mouth directly at me. "Thanks, Claire-Bear." He sat down in front of my chair, using my knees as supports for his heavy arms.

I swatted at his head, making him laugh at me. "That was my burger."

"What burger? I don't see a burger."

I smiled, my hands finding his hair, pulling the wild strands from his face, my hands sliding down to his shoulders and resting there. I felt the stare of Leah, and I looked over at her. "What?"

She looked away quickly. "Nothing." She sighed. "Looks like Billy's about to start."

I sat back in my chair, getting comfortable and ready for Billy to start. When he spoke, everyone listened. Everyone was quiet and attentive, even though we heard this story a hundred times before.

"The Quileute have been a small tribe since the beginning, but we have always had magic in our blood." His voice was deep and aged, much like himself. Billy had long, dark hair, the grey stands slowly taking over the black one. He had wrinkles all over his face, especially around his eyes. It made him look wiser and like the true chief he was. "We were great spirit warriors, shape-shifters that transformed to the powerful wolf. This enabled us to scare off our enemies and protect our tribe."

And then it was the story that we all knew too well. The story of the cold ones - the vampires, and how they were a danger to us and our kind, and how the sacrifice of the chief Taha Aki's third wife, so long ago, saved the entire tribe.

I watched Quil as he listened, his eyebrows raising and his shoulders moving and his eyes intense and listening, as if he had been hearing this story for the first time.

"Over time, our enemies have disappeared. But one remains; the cold ones. Our magic awakens when they're near, when we feel the threat in our blood."

I rubbed Quil's shoulders, feeling them tense up. I knew he had no dying hatred for vampires. Jake's pack was significantly more tolerable of them than Sam's pack was. I knew Quil didn't like them or enjoy their presence, but he didn't hate them. At least not all of them.

I knew about the treaty between the two creatures, as well as the fights between them, and the fights where they fought alongside one another not too long ago. I was unsure about any other place, but in Forks, shape-shifters and vampires seemed tolerable of each other to a certain point.

Forks was a hot bed for the supernatural. It was the host of the birth of the second known half-vampire half-human. Something about the Volturi, as well as a couple of great battles. All of that was before I could start to remember things. Now it was just a couple of troublesome vampires rolling into town and stirring up trouble every once in a while, which was always taken care of either by the Cullen's or one of the packs.

I knew Quil didn't hate vampires, but he was always opposed to me meeting one or spending time with one or talking about one or talking to one. Quil was a little overprotective, but I trusted his judgement. If Quil didn't particularly like vampires, neither did I.

The night ended with Quil, Embry and I walking into their place. Out of all the places in the pack, theirs was the most extreme contrast of messy and clean. Quil didn't like mess, and so he cleaned up after himself and tried to clean up after Embry, though I think he eventually gave up trying. In a couple spots of every room, there was a couple of piles of just stuff. Embry couldn't clean to save his life, so he left trails of himself behind, which was hard in such a small space. It's had a sizeable living room and kitchen and then two bedrooms and one bathroom and that was it. It was quant. It was perfect.

"Alright!" Embry clapped his hands, leaning against the kitchen counter. "Are we doing this together or what?"

It was our girlfriend, it was his. It was our girlfriend's birthday, it was Embry's. It wasn't our responsibility or obligation, but it kind of was. Dani was in love with Embry's grandma's sugar cookie recipe. Quil made the batch, but Embry told her he did. And now, any time he needed those cookies, he gave Quil his saddest face and best beg. Not only was Embry messy, he was the worst and cooking or baking.

Quil gave Embry and unimpressed look. "Don't you want them this gift to be special? Don't you want it to come from you, Em?"

Embry shrugged, honestly not caring. It wasn't that he didn't care about giving Dani something special, because he did. It was just that his favourite thing to say was 'why do something yourself when someone else could do it for you'. Quil, being so generous and kind, usually caved, not because he was a pushover but because he cared about Embry and would only do it for him.

Quil sighed heavily, his tall form reaching into the cupboard. "Fine."

Embry smiled triumphantly, moving towards the hallway. "Alrighty, all go get all the..." His voice slowly faded out as he disappeared into his mess of a bedroom.

"He's gonna go get what?" I asked, grabbing the recipe out of the small mahogany box on the counter. I placed it down on the island, moving to get all the ingredients we needed for the delicious sugar cookies.

"Nothing," Quil answered, placing a metallic bowl down in front of us. "He's not coming back."

Without any of Embry's help, Quil and I made a ton of sugar cookies, which were all piled very neatly and evenly on a big plate. Now we had some icing in two Ziploc bags with the corners cut off, putting letters on the cookies that would sit on the top of all the other.

I was working of 'Happy' and Quil was working on 'Birthday'. One letter per cookie. A couple extra ones for hearts and smiley faces.

I was painting an 'A' on a perfectly round sugar cookie when I asked Quil a question that had been on my mind since the end of the fire we had a couple of hours ago. "What was it like when you first shifted?" I sat atop the counter, watching his curiously.

He was beside me, placing another one of his cookies down onto the plate. "It was confusing and difficult and...amazing." Quil looked across the room at nothing, seeming deep into his mind. "It was just Embry and I in the woods. It was just us taking a short cut to the reserve. And then..." Quil picked up another cookie, going back to painting another letter onto it. "Embry had shifted a couple days before I did. He knew what he was doing bringing me into those woods and he knew what to say when I shifted. The world shook around me and I couldn't see clearly at first. I thought I had lost my balance and my sight. I didn't know what I was. I was scared, but Embry knew what to do. He pretty much took me straight to Sam. Sam knew what to do."

"He always does."

Quil was a gorgeous person, and an even more gorgeous wolf. He wasn't as big as Quil or Jake, but he was still huge. His chocolate-brown fur had a little more texture that the others, due to Quil's curly hair. His eyes stayed the same. He was massive in size, yet quick and precise in his movements. He had muscle and teeth and a growl that was terrifying to hear. But he never barred his teeth to me or scared me. He was just as wonderful in his wolf form than he was his human form.

"And what about all the changes?" I asked, fully abandoning my cookie decorating. I glanced at the tattoo on his arm, just below his shoulder. I saw pictures of what Quil used to look like - small and skinny and cute. Now he was big, tall, muscular and hard in look and substance.

"It was more sudden than I thought it'd be," Quil said, laughing to himself. "Over the course of a couple weeks, I started looking down on everyone instead of up. I couldn't slam a door without in snapping in half. Sam said the threat of a vampire makes us become stronger, in order to protect our pack, our brothers." Quil put another cookie down on the plate. "I had to cut my hair, I had to get a tattoo, I couldn't stand being wrapped up in clothes anymore. But I was willing to do all of that for my pack. For Sam."

"And now?"

"Now I'll do anything for this pack. The Black Pack. They're my family and I'll go through whatever and do whatever I need to do to protect them."

That was the one thing I never could understand about shape-shifters; their undying loyalty to each other. They would die for each other in an instant. It baffled me, but it was strong and unquestionable.

"You really feel that way?"

Quil looked me in the eyes, those soft brown circles looking all over my face. "Yes." He walked towards me, taking a place between my legs, wrapping his arms around me suddenly. "I feel..." He hugged me tightly, pulling me off the counter, drifting from that sentence.

I laughed quietly to myself. "Quil, are you okay?" I hugged him back, grabbing onto my wrist to secure my arms around him. My cheek was warm against his chest. When he didn't answer, I asked, "Quil?"

He leaned away, his hands finding my shoulders. "I'm just as loyal to you as I am my pack, Claire, because I..." He licked his lips, looking suddenly and adorably nervous. "Because I -"

"Are you two done yet?"

Both Quil and I looked over at Embry. Quil stepped away from me, gesturing to the plate. "We're almost done."

The plate of cookies looked full, but it was missing a couple of letters - my letters. Right now, it said, 'Ha Birthday'. I picked up a cookie quickly. "I'm almost done with happy." I nodded to the couple of cookies left. "Why don't you pick up a bag and help, huh?"

Embry pretended to consider. "Well...I..."

Quil took a step forward, causing Embry to take a timid step back. Embry held up his hands and them quickly picked up a bag of icing and a cookie. "Jeez, alright, I'm doing it."

"How kind of you," Quil said teasingly, slapping his back a couple times, a satisfied smile on his face. "It's not like it's your fiancee or anything. In fact -" Quil looked at me, happy as a clam. "Why don't you finish it off, Em?"

"What?"

I could already see it; the perfectness of the plate, with the exception of the two p's and the y, which would look like something traced them with their left hand. Dani would love it either way, but Embry would not love doing it.

I put everything down, walking around Embry. "Good for you, Em - taking initiative." I walked out of the kitchen, hearing Embry grumbling behind us. Quil and I continued down the hallway. "Next time, he's doing all of it."

Quil opened his door, immediately falling onto the bed. "Definitely."

Quil's room was big enough to fit a queen bed, a dresser and one bedside table. There was enough space to walk around the bed, as long as you stuck close. It was mostly blue, but what wasn't blue was wooden, except the floor, which was an awful fuzzy, dated carpet.

I walked over to the dresser, picking out a pair of pyjamas of mine that stayed here.

"Inviting yourself to stay the night?"

"You don't want to drive me home, I'm not walking, and Embry won't do it after making him finish off the cookies." I spoke the truth. I turned towards Quil, seeing him raise his hands to his eyes to cover them, which he always did. I laughed, starting to undress, leaving myself in my underwear. I glanced at him as I unfolded the pyjamas pants.

He was sat up on the bed, big hands over his eyes, his long legs crossed at the ankles. He was shirtless, displaying his ever-smooth skin to me. The curves of his muscles were shadowy in the light of his bedside lamp, along with faint moonlight.

Suddenly, Quil uncovered his eyes. He was expecting me to be dressed, but I had taken that time to stare instead. I had been staring a lot lately, but I couldn't help it. My eyes wandered and then my mind wandered.

Every part of Quil seemed to tense up. His hands stopped suddenly below his face. His brows furrowed and he shut his mouth tightly as his gaze lowered from my collarbone to my knees. He took a short breath and then looked me in the eyes.

Quil had watched me grow up. He had seen me in many different state in many different ways. I used to look up to him as a brother, and then he turned into my best friend. He still was my best friend, but...you don't stare at your best friend all the time. And you don't look your half-naked best friend the way Quil looked at me. At least I hadn't seen any other pair of best friends act how we did.

"Sorry," I said, quickly sliding the pants over my legs. Turning around to pick one of Quil's shirts, taking a breath of my own, feeling the sudden heat in my cheeks. I slid the shirt over my body, turning and climbing into the bed, not looking him in the eyes. "Uh, what movie tonight?"

Quil had a tiny little TV on top of his dresser, along with two photos in two frames that I had bought him. One was him and his mom and dad and the other was one of me and him at my graduation. He was too proud of me. All I did was graduate, but for Quil, it was the accomplishment of a life time.

I smiled at the photo, feeling the awkwardness of the naked moment disappear. I looked over at him. "Scary? Comedy? Romantic? What're we feeling?"

Quil picked up the remote, switching from movie to movie. "After that tribe meeting, I'm kind of feeling a thriller."

"Like you need anymore thrill in your life."

"True." Quil nodded, glancing at me. "I have plenty of that."

I waited for him to go back to scrolling through movies, but he didn't. He was still looking at me. I turned my head very slowly, giving him a chance to turn away, which he didn't. My eyes met his and I smiled. "Yes?"

His shoulder touched mine and he leaned in ever so slowly. He stopped, his nose inches away from mine. His breath was on my face and one side of his warm body twitched against mine. "You pick." He leaned away in one quick motion, tossing me the remote.

I caught it, letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Quil had been that close to me plenty of times. Why did that time make the hair on my arms stand up? Why was I nervous?

I pointed the remote, trying to ignore the tingle in my toes. "Thriller it is."

We spent the rest of the night watching an boring thriller, to which Quil barely stayed awake for ten minutes of. He was tired. He worked hard. He needed sleep. I, on the other hand, spent the majority of the staring at Quil, as well as thinking the moment he saw me in my underwear over and over again.

Why did I wish that he would've had a different reaction? Why did I wish he would've seemed more satisfied or more intrigued? I pictured plenty of different ways the scenario could've gone, but the one that played over and over in my mind was one where he couldn't resist. Both of us ended up in the bed, both of us in our underwear. Of course that was silly. Quil didn't wear underwear. He did everything in those jean cut-offs.

Regardless, it took a hell of a long time for my mind to tire. But eventually, I fell asleep.

I had left Quil's early in the morning, and I took Embry's old bike to ride into town. I felt bad waking the boys. I left the house as quietly as I could, careful not to wake Quil. I made it to work five minutes early. Parking my bike in the back, I unlocked the back door and then the front.

I pulled the cart full of books down one certain hallway, starting to pile them all back onto the shelves.

Abbey told me everyday at closing that she would meet me here in the morning, but she never showed until a couple hours before closing time. She trusted me to open and close, which was why she never showed in the morning and why she probably felt obligated to show at the end. If I knew Abbey, and I did, she would start leaving me on my own, which is what I liked best.

I liked the peace and quiet and being surrounded my books - I could read all of them if I wanted to. I probably would end up doing just that by the end of the summer. This job was a paying one, but it was also mostly boring.

I got a couple of the regulars in, some people I had seen a couple of times before, and more that I didn't. Around noon, two very familiar, very similar faces walked in. Both of their steps were loud, stride longs. Though Anna was so much shorter, she always was a couple steps ahead of Kato.

"You haven't called." Besides the accusing sentence, Anna had a big smile on her face, as did Kato.

"About the party," Kato added.

"And if you're coming." Anna leaned down on the counter, her elbow carelessly resting on a couple of books. "The party is tonight, Claire-y."

"Don't let us down, Claire-uh."

I laughed, shaking my head. "I can't tonight. It's my friend's fiancee's birthday. Danielle. We're all going over to Quil and Embry's to celebrate."

"Ok?" Anna said, looking at me expectantly. She wanted me to say something else. Her eyebrows were high and she was starting to lean forward. "So? What about after this birthday bash?"

Kato shrugged. "The night will still be young, won't it? You'll have plenty of time to rub your toes in the sand." One side of his lips went up, a glint of honest-to-god mischievousness I had never seen other in anyone else besides these two. "So what will it be, little Claire?"

I held my breath, shrugging my shoulders, which of course wasn't good enough for the two of them.

Anna pursed her lips, staring me down. "That's not an answer. Now you have to come. We will pick you up at 10." With that, she turned and walked away, glancing at her brother before the two of them exited the shop.

I sighed, my head falling down onto the desk. Those were plans I really didn't feel like following through with. How was I going to explain that to Quil. How was I going to explain that to Dani? I put the thought out of my mind, returning to my book.