AN: Hell you guys, I am so SO sorry this chapter took so long to get out. I had written and re-written the beginning to this chapter so many times, but they kept feeling wrong. Thankfully last night I was finally inspired to get something that I actually like, and so here it is! Thank you for being so patient with me. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: Mills, Hannah, Tarver, and plot are mine. That's it.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Hey"
That Hey just about turned Hannah's outlook on the day from 'decent' to 'abysmal'.
Opting to ignore the hopeful voice of Embry Call, Hannah instead moved out of his way to restock the napkin holders. Her boss had been giving her hell about forgetting them earlier, leaving the customers with nothing to wipe their greasy paws with.
"Um, yeah...right...anyway..." He began, but Hannah cut him off,
"This is the fourth time you've tried, unsuccessfully, to stop by here and gauge me in conversation this week alone. What makes you think that bothering me while I try to finish my chores is going to gain you any progress?" She stated blandly, shoving a wad of napkins into one side of the dispensers, before tackling the other.
"Well, I've got to try, right?" He asked sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"If you're going to loiter, buy something at least. My boss isn't happy with you coming in here all the time to just stand around and gawk." She said, pausing in her napkin holder duties to withdraw a menu from one of the long-sleeved pockets on her apron, before tossing it into his chest. She then resumed moving on towards the next table.
"So I take it this is an invitation to stay?" Embry asked hopefully, but quickly squashed any notions of good will on Hannah's part at the sight of the look she shot him,
"More like a little memo my boss wanted me to pass on. I would never willingly try to engage you in conversation otherwise." She said in her snottiest voice as she looked down her nose at him, a feat which was quite impressive as he stood a good twelve inches above her.
"Er, right." He said lamely, brow furrowed as he took a seat at the bar, making an attempt to look through the whole menu.
While Embry was preoccupied with menu, Hannah hurried on back to the kitchens, leaning against the doorway when it had completely shut behind her.
"He's back." Hannah hissed as she moved to the storage closet to unearth more napkins.
"That's kind of what happens when a guy is trying to pursue a girl they're into. It's the chase." Tarver said simply, flipping a burger on the grill. He wasn't at all empathetic. After all, this was the fourth time he had heard this.
"Yeah, well, if the diner unexpectedly explodes, you'll know why." She said, rolling her eyes as she peeked out the window on the door, watching Embry twiddle his thumbs while looking around the diner.
"Always so melodramatic. I'm not the least bit surprised you're from Miami." Tarver muttered.
Hannah grinned, "Baby, you haven't seen nothing yet."
With a wink she sauntered back into the dining area, coming to a stop in front of Embry, "So?" She asked, not even looking at him as she set down her napkins and pulled out her pad and pen, bored and frustrated with the fact that she had to wait on him. Why hadn't she told him point blank to leave?
"Yeah, I think I'll just have about ten pancakes and about a dozen eggs. Oh and a few sides of bacon should do it." He said, handing her back his menu.
Hannah just scoffed, "Whatever, you're paying for it," she muttered, going back to the kitchens to place the order.
"Big juicing freak." She grumbled after relaying his order, before going back to her napkin duties.
"I heard that." Embry stated casually, grinning from his spot to her left
"What are you going to do? Report me to the commission?" She bit back.
Embry just looked at her, amused, "Nah, I'm not that heartless."
"I beg to differ." Hannah growled, shooting Embry a scathing look.
Embry shrugged, "I never lied about what I was. Everybody around here knows how I am."
"She is innocent. Naive even. You should have heard her go on about how she was so excited about her big date with Embry Call the day you asked her. Then you go and treat her like shit. You don't even deserve a girl like her." Hannah shot scathingly.
"I'm not saying what I did was right, Hannah. I regret it, but what's done is done. What would you have me do, grovel? I would, if you would like me to."
Hannah was about to retort, when Tarver yelled, "Order up!"
Rolling her eyes, she moved to the back to pick up Embry's massive order, before dumping it all unceremoniously on the counter before him, "I want to you to go fuck yourself, you bastard. If you even think that you ever even had a chance with me, you were seriously delusional." She hissed.
"I'm just hoping with time, you'll finally be able to stand the sight of me." He said, melancholy.
"Don't hold your breath." Hannah growled before walking off to do more chores. She had come back to the front not ten minutes later to find Embry gone, his plate empty and some cash next to the silverware. She didn't care.
'Goodbye and good riddance,' she had thought, clearing away his mess.
________________________
It was around ten p.m. when Hannah had finally left the diner for the night. Earlier she had decided to walk to work, figuring she could do with the few extra burnt off calories.
Walking the moonlit road back home, she let out a loud sigh, pulling her hair lose from it's tight ponytail.
Suddenly a line from the Crucible came roaring back to her, 'Dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight!' making her giggle slightly. It was not uncommon for her to think up random tidbits while she had spare time on her hands.
"She's dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight! Whoa! Dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight!" Hannah yelled, chuckling, even though it wasn't remotely humorous. She had been too serious since she had stepped into Washington. Losing all inhibitions felt nice, even if it was just for a few moments walking home.
She was about a few blocks away from her house when it happened. She had passed that damnable pothole every single day on her way to work and back, yet somehow she managed to forget and unexpectedly step into it. Losing her balance, Hannah promptly fell over in a large heap.
"Ow..." Hannah mumbled, turning over on her butt and pulling her foot out of the large gaping hole. "How in the hell did I miss that?" She had wondered aloud, as she checked out her left palm and elbow, both of which had taken most of the impact from the blow. Frowning at the bloody scrapes, Hannah moved to get up, when a throbbing in her ankle stopped her form doing so momentarily.
"This is just my luck." She sighed, probing it gently with her fingers. It was just a little swollen, not even sprained. It still hurt to put too much pressure on it for the moment, however.
"Now what? Do I try to crawl home?" She wondered, staggering upwards again, putting all of her weight on her uninjured leg.
Hannah began sort of a hopping shuffle, but she hadn't gone ten feet when she fell back to the road, groaning.
She was never the kind of girl to exercise, her excuse always being her barely there asthma. All of that hopping and shuffling was not only getting her nowhere fast, but it was exhausting.
"Hannah!" A voice called out to her, the sound of hurried footsteps reaching her ears.
Hannah was mortified.
"God, what the hell are you even doing out here?" She groaned, looking up at Embry as he crouched next to her,
"Taking a walk. Are you hurt? What happened? Where does it hurt? Are you okay?" Embry babbled, checking her over, his eyes taking in her scraped up arm.
"I just twisted my ankle a little, chill out." Hannah griped, rolling her eyes.
"Come on, I'll help you get back to your house." He said, moving to pul her up, but Hannah scooted away,
"Hey there, what do you think you're doing?" She said, arching her eyebrow at him.
"I'm helping you get home." He said impatiently. Hannah just shook her head,
"Thanks, but no thanks. I'll manage without your help."
"You're sitting on the ground of a deserted road at ten forty-eight at night with a bloodied arm and a bad ankle. You need my help." Embry said flatly.
"I don't need any help from you, Mr. Call. If you really wish to know, I was making my way down the road perfectly fine when I saw a nickel. Obviously I had to investigate."
"You saw a nickel." He said slowly, giving her an odd look, "Are you really so horrible at lying that that's the best excuse you've got?"
"Who's lying? There really was a nickel! I'm just scouring the road to make sure there aren't any more." Hannah argued.
"Find anything?" Embry asked absentmindedly, as he crouched over her ankle once more, checking it out for himself.
"Wouldn't you like to know." Hannah muttered, pulling her leg out of his sight, before wobbling up to a standing position, "Now if you would excuse me, I would like to stop wasting my time and get home already."
Hannah had barely spun around and walked three paces, when Embry had scooped her up in his arms, making her yell out in surprise.
"What the fuck o you think you're doing?" She yelled, smacking him as hard as she could.
He didn't even flinch, "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm taking you home." He snorted, striding down the road.
"Put me down, damn it! You're such a fucking jackass!" Hannah yelled, squirming in his arms, though they barely moved. Embry stopped,
"Fine." HE said calmly, setting her down on the ground once more, before moving to walk on without her.
"Fine?" Hannah echoed dumbly, not believing he had complied so quickly when he had been so adamant to take her home only moments before hand.
Embry turned around and gave her an amused look, "Yes, fine Hannah. You said you could handle yourself, so I'm letting you. Just be warned, though. There are lots of wild animals in the woods. Especially wolves, and they can smell blood from a good distance away. Though I'm sure they'll leave you alone, seeing as how you can handle yourself."
"Wolves?" Hannah repeated faintly. That thought had never occurred to her before.
"Yes, people have called in lots of sightings around her for the past few years. They're quite common in these parts apparently, but as you're so sure that you can handle yourself, if they do come to investigate, which they most likely will do, well, you'll do fine from what I can gather." Embry said benevolently, hands clasped behind his back.
"Right, right." Hannah muttered offhandedly, her eyes darting towards the woods surrounding the road on either side. Wild animals frightened her.
"Hannah?" Embry asked kindly as he moved towards her once more.
"Yeah?" She asked, not paying him the slightest bit of attention, too focussed on her thoughts of the wolves to even be the slightest bit bothered by his presence.
"Would you like me to help you walk home?"
"Well, if you're offering..." Hannah said as offhandedly as she could, though it sounded garbled and rushed.
"Here." He said, helping her up, though this time, instead of picking her up in his arms, he held her up underneath her arm, one of his arms supporting her around her middle, while she leaned on him.
They walked in silence. Hannah was too busy worrying about the wolves to care about much else. So it seemed like an eternity later that they had reached her front steps.
She gratefully pulled away from Embry to pull out her keys and unlock the door. Turning around to face Embry, she nodded, giving him a tight lipped smile,
"Thank you." She said, trying to give him a smile, but it came out as a grimace.
"It wasn't that big of a deal." He assured, smiling. Hannah nodded uncertainly, before moving back towards her house.
However, she paused at the threshold, "If you tell anybody about this, I swear you'll be sorry." She hissed. Embry chuckled,
"We'll see about that, princess."
"And don't call me princess!" She yelled, entering her home and slamming the door in Embry's chuckling face.
___________________________
AN: There you go! Next chapter things start getting a little more interesting, I promise you. Thank you to all of my lovely reviewers. I would really love constructive criticism if you could give me any.