Alone Together

The room was crowded, too crowded for my taste.

As I bumped and slid my way through the mass of dancing bodies, I kept my eye out for a special girl in a dark blue dress.

I miraculously found my way out of the ocean of people, letting the fresh twilight air replenish my senses. Walking over to a table that was stocked with all assortments of food and drinks, I grabbed some bite-size ordureves and kept my mouth occupied as I continued my search.

"Jacob!" I turned around to see my father rolling over to me, with Sue Clearwater following right beside him. I noticed her hand that stayed on his shoulder as they made their way over to me. I quickly glanced away from her hand and to Billy's face, but kept glancing back and forth between them unwillingly.

I suddenly felt very uncomfortable in my tuxedo.

"Hey, Dad."

"Why are you staying on the sidelines boy?" He asked me with a lively voice. I scrunched my nose from the smell of alochol on his breath.

"Why don't you go out there and find someone to dance with-"

I cut that sentence short, knowing it would only lead to an akward conversation, "Actually, Dad, I'm gonna go Congratulate Emily and Sam."

And with that, I walked away from them, not waiting to hear his response.

It wasn't very often that Billy would drink, but when he did he tended to be very obnoxious, and I didn't feel like dealing with him in that state at the moment.

Sense I couldn't think of anything else to do (besides look for her) I decided I would actually keep to my word and go pay my respects to Sam and Emily.

I approached a line that had begun to gather around the newlyweds. As I sttod in line, I sipped my drink nonchauntly, while still scanning the crowd for that one particular face. I shook myself mentally and stopped my searching, silently scolding myself for constanly thinking about her, about being with her. Instead, I turned my attention to the reason why I was in this line.

The person in front of me turned away and walked out onto the dance floor, leaving me facing Sam and Emily.

Emily looked positively beautiful, I guess all brides did on their big day, but her face is what completed her beauty. Her eyes were glowing so bright, her expression of the upmost elation. Even the ruined side of her face could not be noticed beside the emotion showing on her face. Sam looked much of the same way, his eyes beaming at everything and everyone he looked on. A wide grin was permenatly placed onto his face, his white teeth almost broadcasting how happy he was.

When I saw him, I could not help to feel a surge of dislike.

I wondered how he could be this happy, yet still claim to have feelings for Leah. I wondered if Emily knew that Sam confessed this nearly two weeks ago, during thier engagement. Did Sam not see how much that hurt Leah to have to hear, and then attend the wedding after that confession? Or did he not care, and just wanted to pull Leah around so he could feel loved outside his love with Emily?

"Jacob!" Sam smiled.

I smiled back, wiping away all my ill thoughts. Sam was still my friend, no matter how I thought of his actions. And today was his wedding day.

"Congrats, Sam." we grabbed each other's arms and hugged.

"Thanks, Jake."

I pulled away from the hug and nodded at him with a grin. Turing my head to Emily, my grin widened, "There's the beautiful bride."

"Oh, Jacob, quit teasing!" She giggled and pulled me into a hug, "Thank you, Jake."

We broke apart, both still smiling warmly, "Well, I'm gonna get back to the party, and leave you two to enjoy yourselves."

I winked at her, and cast a playful glance twards Sam.

"Hey, Jake, can we talk after? I want to discuss arrangements for when we leave." Sam said to me, the smile still in his eyes, but faded from his lips.

I sighed inwardly. That was Sam, it was the happiest night of his life, but he still thought about buisness.

"Sure, sure, Sam. I'll call you later." I waved him off as I started to mesh back into the crowd, walking away from them.

I turned and walked to the other side of the tent, careful to avoid any dancing bodies. As I made my way to the sidelines again, I found someone who had stolen my spot near the food table. They were standing alone, watching everyone else dance with a tight simper on thier face.

There she was.

Her beauty seemed to just radiate off of her in waves, and had me rooted to the spot with my jaw dropped. Her dark, long silky hair shone under the lights in the canopy, and loose curls fell gently around her face. The dark blue dress clung flatteringly to her body, and the color complemented her tanned skin perfectly.

She looked good.

"Leah," I called her name as I approached her. She turned to the sound of my voice.

"Jacob." she said with a slight smile.

I grinned at her, "Enjoying yourself?"

A dry laugh escaped her lips, "Hardly."

"Aw, c'mon. The foods good, thats a plus."

She laughed slightly, "Oh, yes the food makes everything better."

"Why are'nt you dancnig? I heard Embry was trying to get you to save a dance for him." I teased her.

She sighed with a small laugh, "I'm not falling for that, Black."

We kept up the conversation, watching people while they danced, and making fun of their faces together. We laughed and smiled, in an otherwise sad event for Leah. I knew she would have a hard time with the wedding, and I wanted to make it better as much as I could, maybe I went alittle overboard with the jokes. But it seemed to be working out pretty well. It was just so easy to talk to her, almost effortless, like a second nature to me. I still wasn't sure howshe felt about me, but I hoped that we shared a mutual friendship.

"Want to dance?" I gestured to the dance floor casually.

I caught her off-gaurd, "Huh?"

"You know, that thing where you move your body and feet to match the music?" I tried to recover. Truth was, I found myself feeling kinda nervous to ask her to dance with me. I didn't know what to possibly suspect under this condition.

She arched an eye-brow at me, "With you?"

I nodded, "Yeah."

She made a face at me, "Dancing? Really?"

I laughed, and grabbed her hand, taking it in mine, "C'mon."

"Jacob..." she sighed exasperatly as I practically dragged her out unto the dance floor. Once I found a clear spot, I turned around to meet Leah's grimancing face.

I yanked gently on her arm and pulled her into me, twirling her around first before she stopped at my chest. The top of her head just reached my nose, I felt her warm breath on my neck. I almost shivered involentarily.

Her arms slid around my neck, and mine around her waist.

She growled, "Don't try anything funny, Black."

"Ha, like I would."

She arched a playful eyebrow at me, "What are you trying to say?"

"You're probably right, I would." I flashed a lopsided grin at her, wiggling my eye-brows.

"Quit it." She lightly hit my shoulder.

I only smiled wider.

We danced together, our steps slow and smooth. We moved in unison, our hips syncing with the music and flowing as one. For three songs we danced, and I swear I saw her secretly grin against my chest, where she thought I couldn't see. It might have been a trick of the light.

"See? This isn't so bad." I teased.

She looked up and frowned at me, her expression generally uncomfortable.

I chuckled at her obvious dislike to dancing.

"What?" she snapped.

"Do really don't like this do you?"

"Well, I have no problem with dancing...I'm just-not in the mood I guess."

"Alright then," I said, a happy note to my voice, "I have a better idea."

I took her hand in mine and swiftly found an escape way through the mess of people. I dragged her out of the crowd, and beyond the side wings of the dance floor.

"Where are we going?" she asked me roughly when we were a few feet from the outside reception area. The brilliant lights were slightly faded now, and had become a gentle glow from the distance.

"Here." I answered her question, gesturing to the tall, shadowy wall off trees that stretched before us. We were on the edge of the woods.

She smiled mischievously at me, her honey-brown eyes burning with a desire to escape, to run, to be wild.

I had experienced those feelings before, I knew exactly how she felt. I also knew that she needed this, in a way. And I would be the one to enable her.

Biting her lip with uncertainty, Leah turned her head to look over her shoulder at the wedding reception's small cluster of lights.

"They won't even know you were gone." I said huskily to her. She turned her face back to me.

"I promise."

The mischevouis smile spread across her face again, and I knew I had won her over.

"Alright, lets go."

We turned our backs to each other at the same instant, both starting to rid ourselves of clothes we soon would not need.

"I better not catch you looking, Black." her voice warned me almost playfully.

I laughed quietly to myself, "Same to you."

Slipping off the last bit of clothing, I bolted into the forest.

"Oh, no you don't!" I heard Leah call from somewhere behind me.

I let the forest consume my senses, then found with little surprise that I had four legs instead of two. A small silver wolf appeared at my side, its lips drawn up into a happy smile.

I could feel her happiness in my thoughts, her relief to be away from the wedding, and her joy to be free in the forest once again. Her joy became my joy, and all our feelings and emotions seemed to sync together.

There was a strange, but oddly comforting silence in the woods that night. The quiet calm seemed to infiltrate our minds too, for our thoughts matched the peace and tranquility of the nature around us.

We were thinking as one mind, and I realized that I really liked the feeling of Leah being a part of me, of sharing her thoughts. But what I liked most about it was the mind-link that was constantly there. I could feel her presence near me always, even if she wasn't close. I liked that feeling.

'I bet you can't bet me to the ocean.' she thought, and I could sense her playfulness and her desire to run.

'It's on.' I thought back.

Before the other could even think the word, "go" we had taken off at the exact same moment, propelling ourselves forward into the woods with precise accuracy.

That night, we were, in all sense of the word, alone together.