Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight not me
Authors Note: Thanks for the reviews!! Yeah I know I feel bad for Quil too and al I keep thinking is that I keep putting him through this...but that's just my freaky imagination and I just type what it tells me too so :O Anyways I shall give you more Quil and I hope you enjoy it
Chapter Thirteen
Q.P.O.V
I didn't sleep that night, it wasn't even worth trying, every time I closed my eyes all I could see was Claire, her raven black hair reflecting the sun, her pale smooth skin, and her eyes… those shocking electric blue eyes that hadn't changed at all over the years. Over the years I had tried to imagine what I thought Claire would look like as she grew up, she was always beautiful in my minds eye, then again she would never be anything but beautiful to me. But seeing her and seeing her beauty had taken my breath away, I had never even come close to how she truly looked. I was glad that my werewolf senses overlapped into my human form, I couldn't have imagined seeing such detail from a distance otherwise. Thinking of this made me curious as to how the rest of Claire's body looked; at once I pounded my fist uselessly against the arm of my couch. Claire was only sixteen…just sixteen, old enough to look like a woman but she wasn't quite there yet. I groaned at the thought, fourteen years without any female companionship; any woman who tried to be my friend reminded me of Claire and made me feel immediately guilty, I soon gave up on trying to lead a normal life. Without Claire I was nothing.
When it was bright enough for it to be called morning-time, I quickly left my apartment and left for the garage. When I got there no one else was there and decided to do a clean up. Letting myself in with my own key I quickly made my way over to the cleaning supplies, which consisted of a sink, mop, bucket, a few rags and towels. Filling the bucket with water I mopped down the floors and while they dried I wiped the windows which were stained somewhat from exhaust fumes and dust. When there were no more windows to clean I made my way over to the office, which was more of a canteen; everyone that worked there congregated there usually on their unofficial lunch hours and gossiped in what reminded me as a similar fashion to old women.
In the middle of sorting out the piles of forms and receipts on the table I heard the familiar purr of an engine in the yard. Sure enough Jacob strolled in a few minutes later, looking in wonder around the now immaculately clean garage. Without even looking to see who had cleaned Jacob shouted out "Thanks Quill!" I laughed despite myself; I was the only one of the men there that had any concept of how to clean anything thoroughly. Of course they treated cars like they were somehow Godly and cleaned them immaculately, but when faced with the prospect of a mop and bucket it was met with utter confusion; I was always surprised when they knew which end of the mop the handle was.
"So Quill….how did things go with Sam?" Jacob asked somewhat hesitantly whilst leaning against the door frame of the office and eating an apple. I looked up at him and shook my head whilst frowning, luckily Jake just smiled sadly at me, not pursuing the matter further. That's what I liked about Jake, he knew exactly what to say to people when they needed someone to talk to and knew equally when it was best not to speak. I smiled back at him to show my appreciation to him, but Jacob had turned away from me and was gazing out the door towards the ocean, which was only a few hundred yards away.
"Jules is coming by today….if you want I could tell her not to…", Jacob said apprehensively whilst staring apparently transfixed at his fingernails. I grimaced to myself at the thought; of course I loved Julia as much as the others, but now wasn't the right time for me to have to see her and Jacob together; but I wasn't going to deny Jacob the pleasure of seeing her, he rarely got the chance. Julia was the girl that Jacob had imprinted on almost two years after Bella had left, she had been ten at the time, and was a local girl. Jacob had been shocked but we were all delighted and soon enough Bella was just a distant memory to him, painful but bearable in comparison to the pain he would feel if something were to happen to Julia. Julia was now in university in Harvard studying law; Jacob was helping her parents pay for this and Julia would come back whenever she could. Unlike Emily and Sam who could restrain themselves around others Julia and Jacob were not quite so subtle; the long absence made them slightly desperate to be near one another when they got to spend time together. I didn't think I could bare it, but thought that I could find something that would require me to leave for a while when the time came. "Jacob don't be silly of course she should come by your not the only one that would like to see Jules it's been ages!" I exclaimed with as much enthusiasm I could muster, which wasn't much. Jacob not entirely convinced thanked me but smiled gratefully at me.
Soon everyone had arrived and was working, I could let my mind wander back to thoughts of Claire even though she was never far from my mind at any time. But at least when we were all supposed to be absorbed in our work, it meant that no one really took the time to notice that my mind wasn't exactly on the job. I was finding it incredibly difficult to focus on what I was supposed to be doing, every time I made a mistake and the new trainee mechanic Stanley noticed and pointed it out, I would pretend that it was a challenge and praise him for his observations and curse myself silently for my own stupidity.
At about one o clock there was a squeal heard from the yard, Jacob who had been outside at the time gathering together some tyres for a Celica that had been brought in, that was in need of a complete over-hall; which was exactly what the owner had wanted; Jacob could now be heard laughing. I didn't need to look up from what I was doing to see that Julia had arrived and that Jacob and her were kissing like there was no tomorrow. I heard one of the guys wolf-whistle at them and continued to work still failing to look up at the spectacle of Jacob and Julia. Another squeal from somewhere between my waist and my left shoulder indicated Julia's presence beside me; I looked down and braced myself for the hug that followed, I lifted Julia off the ground and spun her around; just like I had when she was still a child. I could see Jacob gazing on from the side, his eyes and expression entirely peaceful and filed with pure undulated love.
I blanched at his expression and quickly thought of a reason for my impending departure; as I had thought earlier this morning I would not be able to watch Jacob and Julia fawning over each other without suffering myself. "How's about I go out and pick up some coffee and something to eat?" I offered hoping that no one would realise my true reasons for wanting to leave the garage. Everyone seemed to think that this was a good idea and Julia quickly had made a list in her tidy handwriting of things that I needed to get. As I was leaving I thought that I saw a fleeting look of understanding on Jacob's face but he turned away quickly, to amuse Julia rather than look at me further.
Since Jacob was ignoring it then I decided that I would too, and quickly made my way to my truck. The store was about ten minutes walk from the garage but some of the guys had wanted ice-cream; and since were-wolves ran a temperature of about 108 degrees, it wasn't very easy to hold ice-cream without it melting. On the way there my thoughts were as ever on Claire and I didn't really pay particular attention to anything else as I pulled up across the street from the store. I could hear some shouting from inside the 7-11, but that's not what made me look up; it was the tug at the end of my stomach that forced me to turn my head in the direction of the store yard. I knew that she was there before I even looked up and felt the irrational urge to run across the street and grab her, clutching the steering wheel for a moment seemed to help me concentrate.
I could see her now and she was watching me too, no she was staring at me; her expression was that of curiosity and obvious confusion, she didn't seem to know what to do with herself. I felt a sudden surge of pity for her, it was damn near impossible for me to bare this, but Claire had the same problem and didn't even know what was happening. That's when I realised that I could see Claire, all of Claire; the last time that I had seen her she had been sitting in a car which tore by. Claire was even more beautiful than I had remembered, she was tall, slender her hair reaching down almost to her waist; she was in a word perfect. Just then one of Sam's twins saw me from across the street and beckoned to me to come to them. Biting my lip with nerves I walked slowly across the street, Claire seemed to tense at my approach so I didn't stand near her.
Claire didn't look at me when I was there even though I was willing her to look at me, just to see her eyes that were still the intense blue that I remembered so well. When I was introduced to her officially though she looked up at me hesitantly; my immediate reaction was to offer her my hand to shake. Claire looked uncertain for a moment and her breathing which had been strained until then ceased entirely, before she reached out and took my hand.
The effect was immediate, it was an overwhelming sensation; I wanted to take her right now and run … she was mine and no one else's mine and mine alone… Claire looked up at me in surprise now for the first time; her breathing sedated to a natural rhythm; Claire grown up at last almost a woman, but not quite there yet…I felt a slight shudder run through me, before I forced myself to let go of her hand.