Chapter 14
"Pleeeeeaseeeee?" I whined, begging Seth to skip patrol and come hangout with me instead. He sighed and wiped a hand over his face.
"You know I can't skip patrol babe. If it were anything else, though, I'd skip it for you in a heartbeat."
I was being selfish by giving Seth a hard time about him having to go on patrol after school today but a movie that I've been dying to see came out on DVD today and I wanted to watch it with him so badly. He drove us home from school so we were currently parked in his driveway. I grabbed his hands from his lap and gave him my best puppy dog face but he snatched his hands back the second he saw my face.
"No! Stop! Bad Stevie!" he said, covering his face, "You know I can't say no to that face." I laughed and reached for my bag, giving up on trying to convince him to skip patrol.
"Fine! Fine, I'll just go hangout by myself until you're off of patrol." He dropped his hands so he could give me a kiss goodbye. I pulled away and leaned closer to his ear, "I'll just find something else to do to keep me… occupied… for the next few hours." I whispered seductively, nibbling at his earlobe and then turning to get out of his truck. I smirked to myself when I heard his car door slam shut and his feet coming running over to me. He picked me up in a backwards hug and spun me around before putting me down and resting his forehead against mine.
"That was mean." He said quietly.
"It got you out of your truck though, didn't it?" I raised an eyebrow and giggled when he sighed in defeat.
"Stevie…"
"I know I know. You can't skip patrol again." I laughed, "I'm only messing with you! I'm probably just gonna do homework and maybe go for a run. We can hangout after you finish patrol." He gave me a smile and a kiss on the cheek.
"You're the best, I love you."
"I love you too. Now go! I hear Collin calling for you." I told him just as I heard a howl from the woods. I checked my phone and saw Seth was only two minutes late. Collin was extremely impatient sometimes. I walked to my front door as I saw Seth run into the woods, pulling his shirt off in the process.
"Hello?" I called as I walked in. No one answered, meaning everyone was either at work or still at school. Or at Emily's, in DJ's case.
As I walked upstairs to my room, I dialed Kat's number.
"Hello?" she picked up on the third ring.
"Hey! You doing anything? I asked, knowing she probably wasn't since Collin was on patrol at the moment.
"Currently reading, why?"
"I was gonna ask if you wanted to go for a run with me." I dropped my bag on the floor and walked to my closet to find a pair of running pants and a long sleeve top.
"I would but I gotta finish reading this book. I have to have it read and understood, along with a report about it all by Friday."
"Oh jeez, that sounds awful." I held the phone between my ear and shoulder and changed into my running pants.
"Yea, so any free time I have this week is dedicated towards reading and understanding." I pulled on my sneakers with one hand while the other held my phone.
"Well have fun with that. I'm going for a run since I don't feel like doing homework right now." She laughed at me.
"Fair enough. Have fun!" We hung up and I tossed my phone onto my bed so I could pull a sweatshirt over my head. I pulled my hair into a messy bun and grabbed my headphones and phone before running back downstairs for a granola bar.
"Where are you off to?" DJ asked from the kitchen table. I didn't hear him come in.
"I'm going for a run, why?"
"Just be careful. Don't go near the woods or too far from town. Jared and Paul found a weird scent this morning and I don't want you getting hurt."
"Weird how?"
"Weird as in vampire." My face dropped. A vampire? In our woods? In all the months that I've known about the wolves, we have yet to have a random vampire in our woods. "Don't worry, Sam has an extra wolf on patrol with Seth and Col today but I just wanted to give you a heads up cause I know you like to sometimes cut through the woods in our yard." I nodded and took a bite of my bar.
"Thanks. I'll be careful."
I took off jogging towards the beach. I wasn't going to go too far in fear of having a run in with an unwelcomed stranger. I blasted my music and focused on my breathing, keeping my eyes open for any sudden movements or people. A Breaking Benjamin song played in my ears and I ran along to the beat.
It was cold out, borderline freezing, but my running kept my heart pumping fast and kept my body on the warmer side. I reached First Beach just in time because I was ready for a rest. I pulled my headphones out of my ears as I walked towards the water. There were very few people on the beach due to the weather. A figure standing at the edge of the water caught my attention. The long blonde hair made me think it was Juliana so I walked towards her. As I got closer I saw I was right, she was standing there in a jacket just staring at the horizon.
"Juliana?" I asked, walking towards her. She jumped at the sound of my voice and quickly turned around.
"Oh hey! You scared me." She laughed.
"Sorry, I forget how loud the ocean can be sometimes."
"What are you doing here?" she asked as I sat in the sand next to her. She sat down next to me.
"Seth's on- at work, so I went for a run." I said, correcting myself before I said Seth was on patrol. She nodded her head but didn't comment. "What are you doing here?"
"I've never lived so close to the beach. It's always been a far drive from me so I never got to see the ocean much. I'm just here admiring it is all." I couldn't imagine not living at the beach, it's like my home, it's part of who I am. Growing up next to a beach meant majority of my summer days were spent in the sand or the water and my winter days were spent only on the sand. It's crazy that not everyone has that lifestyle.
"Do you like living near it now?" she turned and smiled at me.
"I love it! I've always wanted to be near the water, something about it is just so…"
"Calming." We said at the same time, laughing quietly.
"It's a lot more fun during the warmer weather, people are always hanging out here. Especially Brady and our friends. I'm sure you'll meet them soon, if you want." She gave me another big smile.
"Yea! I'd love to meet them! If they're anything like Brady and the people I met at lunch, I'm sure I'm gonna love them!"
"Maybe we can all do something tonight if you're around? It's Tuesday so the club over in Neah Bay has a karaoke night that Brady loves to go to. I'm sure we could convince our other friends to come too!" I got more excited as I talking to her about Club 21. With all of the wolf stuff and school work, I forgot about karaoke night.
"As long as I don't have to sing I'm down to go!"
"Yea, you're good." I laughed, "Brady and I are the only two that actually go sing. Everyone else just laughs and cheers us on."
"Brady sings?"
"Yea, he's really good. I'm sure you'll hear him tonight, he never passes up an opportunity to impress a girl." I said, playfully bumping her shoulder. She giggled but didn't comment.
"I should probably head home. It's almost dinner time." She looked at her phone and began to stand up, brushing off the sand from her pants.
"Here, give me your number and I'll text you later with the details for tonight! Seth or I can drive you." We swapped phones and added each other's numbers.
"Thanks for all of this by the way." I looked at her confused. "For welcoming me in so quickly and not making me feel like an outsider. I was nervous I'd be friendless for a while but you and Brady were so quick to pull me in. I appreciate it."
"Of course! We're always looking for more friends." We walked towards the parking lot where I'm assuming her car was parked. "Plus, Kat and I could always use more girlfriends, we're surrounded by too many guys." We said our goodbyes and I began to jog towards town once I knew she was safely in her car; I didn't want her to possibly go wander in the woods alone.
I ended up jogging to Emily's house since I knew it wasn't far and I knew most of the pack would be there anyway.
"Mmm, something smells good." I stated as I walked through the front door. Jared walked out of the kitchen and tossed a muffin to me while taking a bite of his own.
"Homemade muffins, Emily's best snack ever." He said. I took a bite and followed Jared into the living room. Paul and Quil were sitting on the couch watching TV.
"Hey, you guys doing anything tonight?" I asked, sitting on the arm of one of the chairs in the room.
"Just patrol, why?" Quil answered me.
"Do you guys wanna go to Club 21 for Karaoke Night? It's super fun and I figured we could all go to just hangout and stuff."
"They don't serve alcohol there though." Paul pointed out.
"You don't need alcohol to have a good time Paul…"
"True, but it certainly helps." I stared at him, not sure what to say next because I knew he was right. "I'm messing around. I'm game to go, as long as we're back by 2 to switch with Quil, Jake, and Sam for patrol." I smiled.
"Awesome!"
"I'll text the wolf group chat and let everyone know the game plan!" Jared said, pulling out his phone.
"What group chat? How come I'm not in a group chat with you guys?"
"The key word was wolf group chat. Not a wolf? Not in the group chat." Quil and Jared high fived and I rolled my eyes, deciding I should go home and get ready for later.
By 8pm, we were all ready to go. I had on a pair of acid wash skinny jeans with black bootie heels and a sheer black tank top over one of my favorite bralettes. Brady was picking up Juliana with Collin and Kat while Seth and I drove with Embry, Jared, and Kim. DJ tagged along with Paul and Rachel after trying, and failing, to convince Leah to come with us.
"OOOOHHHHH WE'RE HALF WAY THERE! WOOOAAAH! LIVIN' ON A PRAYER!" Kim and I screamed Bon Jovi at the top of our lungs while Jared drove with the windows down.
"You guys are making me regret coming to this thing." Embry mumbled, leaning his head out the window. Embry, Seth, and I are crammed in the back of Jared's tiny car while him and Kim are up front.
"Oh stop, it's gonna be so much fun!" I said, playfully elbowing his side. "I love kicking Brady's ass at this thing."
"Yea yea." He mumbled, ignoring us for the remainder of the drive.
Seth laced his fingers between mine as we walked through the doors of the club. The rest of the group had gotten there before we did because we left late- Kim couldn't find the boots she wanted to wear. We met up with everyone and said our hellos before walking into the back room where the music was blasting.
"You ready to finally lose tonight?" Brady whispered, leaning down so I could hear him over the music.
"Are you ready to lose in front of your girl tonight?" I whispered back, nodding my head towards Juliana who was with Kat, a few steps ahead of us. Brady gave me a nervous look.
"Please don't embarrass me in front of her. I need to show her I'm awesome. I need to win." He grabbed my wrist, slowing me down. I just laughed.
"Brady," I said, cupping his face with my free hand, "I never let anyone win." I smiled sweetly and walked away, Seth laughing as he followed me.
"Are you really gonna make him lose in front of Juliana tonight?" Seth asked as we sat at a table in the back of the room.
"Yea, probably." I laughed. "I have a reputation to maintain here!" I said, defending my choices. Seth just smiled and gave me a quick kiss.
"Just be nice-"
"ATTENTION LADIES AND GENTS! IT'S OFFICIALLY THAT TIME OF THE NIGHT." The DJ cut off Seth and got everyone's attention. I couldn't help but smile, I haven't sung at karaoke night in months and I suddenly really missed it. "IT'S KARAOKE TIME!"
Brady ruffled my hair from behind and I couldn't help but turn and smile at him. Juliana was standing next to him and I noticed his arm was around her shoulders. I smiled even more knowing things seemed to be working out for him already.
"THE RULES ARE SIMPLE: YOU WILL COME UP HERE WITH YOUR OPPONENT AND SING A DUET AND THE CROWD WILL VOTE FOR THE BETTER SINGER BY CHEERING. ONCE THE WINNER IS DECLARED BY THELOUDER CHEERS, THE AUDIENCE WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO CHALLENGE THE WINNER AND COME UP AND SING AGAINST THE WINNER, POSSIBLY KNOCKING THEM OUT OF THE WINNER SPOT AND REPLACING THEM WITH YOURSELF! OUR FIRST ROUND OF OPPONENTS IS…" the DJ went on and announced the first pair to go up and sing. I had seen that there were only a few names written on the sheet for singing so it wasn't too long before Brady and I were called up to sing.
"OU WE HAVE A CLUB FAVORITE UP NEXT! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, GIVE IT UP FOR THE ONE, THE ONLY- STEVIE WALSH AND BRADY FULLER!" The crowd cheered and I blushed. Seth gave me a kiss for good luck before Brady grabbed my hand, pulling me towards the stage.
"Excited, are we?" I laughed as Brady practically ran to the steps.
"I feel like I haven't sung just for fun in so long. I'm SO ready for this!" He let me walk up the steps first and followed behind.
"HELLO HELLO HELLO OLD FAVORITES. ARE WE READY TO BATTLE?" The DJ smiled at us and I could hear the guys in the back cheering and going wild for us. I couldn't help but smile. For the first time ever, all of my closest friends will finally see me doing what I love most- singing.
Brady gave me an evil smile, "Hell yea we are!" The crowd cheered and the DJ asked what song we'd be battling to.
"We are going to be singing…." Brady looked at me for confirmation and I just nodded. It was going to be a bit of a tougher song for the both of us, but hey, what's life without a little challenge. "Love is Madness by 30 Seconds to Mars." The crowd cheered some more and I looked to the back and saw some of the wolves looked a bit wary at our song choice. I could tell they didn't think either of our voices could handle the song. Clearly, they've never heard Brady sing before or else they'd know this is much better song for his voice than mine. Only Seth, Collin, and Kat looked completely and utterly confident in our ability to sing it.
Brady and I took our mics and the lights went down to make the moment even more intense. Brady gave my hand a squeeze as we turned to face each other. I took a deep breath and the music started.
[Brady & Stevie]
You are insane, my desire
A violent daydream, love, love
You are crazy, a perfect liar
Said you'd save me, love, love
[Together]
I knew the moment I looked into your eyes
I'd have to swallow all your lies
[Brady & Stevie]
I never said that I would be your lover
I never said that I would be your friend
I never said that I would take no other, be your lover
Never said
[Brady & Stevie]
You are insane, my desire
A dangerous game, love, love
You are crazy, perfect liar
Simply save me, love, love
[Together]
I knew the moment I looked into your eyes
I'd have to swallow all your lies
[Brady & Stevie]
I never said that I would be your lover
I never said that I would be your friend
I never said that I would take no other, be your lover
Never said
Oh, woah, no, oh, no, woah
Love is madness
[Brady & Stevie]
I knew the moment
I knew the moment
I knew the moment
Love is madness
I knew the moment I looked into your eyes
I knew the moment I looked into your eyes
I knew the moment I looked into your eyes
Love is madness
Oh, whoa
[Brady & Stevie]
I never said that I would be your lover
I never said that I would be your friend
I never said that I would take no other, be your lover
Never said
Oh, woah, no, oh, no, woah
[Together]
Love is madness
Love is madness
The song ended and I stood there staring at Brady, both of us panting but smiling. He came over and gave me a big hug. We crushed it!
"For someone so nervous about this song, you were amazing." He said to me.
"So were you! It was a perfect choice. I bet you really impressed Juliana." He looked into the crowd and I followed his gaze. Juliana was clapping and smiling so wide, she seemed so proud of him. I locked eyes with Seth and couldn't help but smile even bigger. He was clapping and cheering louder than anyone.
"WOW! WAS THAT NOT AMAZING OR WHAT?!" The DJ asked the crowd, who went nuts with cheers for us. "THIS IS CERTAINLY GONNA BE A TOUGH ONE." I stood next to Brady and faced the crowd, ready to hear them vote for the winner.
"You're going down Walsh." He said, giving me an evil grin.
"In your dreams Fuller."
"IF YOU THINK BRADY IS THE WINNER, SHOW SOME LOVE!" The crowd went wild for Brady with claps and cheers. Brady jumped up and down and cheered for himself.
"IF YOU THINK STEVIE IS THE WINNER, SHOW SOME LOVE!" The crowd went wild some more. I just laughed and clapped.
"HMM, THIS WAS A TOUGH ONE," Brady grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze, "BUT ACCORDING TO MY SOUND METER," I squeezed my eyes shut in anticipation, "THE WINNER IS…"