A/N Sorry this has taken so long to get up, I am just super busy right now, and everything happened this week. So a humongous thank you to my beta Auphora66, thank you!! Read her stories, they are amazing!! Thanks everyone who reviewed.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable from twilight like Collin, the wolves, so on, Stephanie Meyers owns it all. I just own Airyn and her thoughts.

REFLECTIONS IN THE SILENCE by witchbeth

CHAPTER 2

I could feel the warm rays of the sun, beckoning for me to get up. I knew that I shouldn't get used to seeing the sun when I got up, after all, it was cloudy most of the time in Washington. Sure enough, after a second, the sun disappeared behind the clouds. Stretching my arms wide, I opened my mouth and let out a yawn. I sat up in my soft twin bed and swung my legs around, inwardly cringing as my feet hit the cold wooden floor of my new room. I sleepily made my way downstairs for some breakfast.

Turning left at the bottom of the stairs I walked into the bright yellow kitchen. My mom stood at the stove wearing her favorite apron, white with sunflowers growing up from the bottom and blue trim. "Good morning honey would you like some chocolate chip pancakes?"

"Definitely, thanks Mom". My favorite breakfast foods of all time are chocolate chip pancakes and smores pop tarts. The pop tarts were a guilty pleasure of mine. Although they were not the healthiest foods for you, they tasted great and gave me energy in the morning. I walked over to the light oak table and sat down in a chair.

"So what are you doing today?" my mom asked, turning over a pancake.

"Ummm, just exploring." I shrugged. I didn't have the energy at the moment to get up and go over to the fridge to see what there was to drink.

"Alright, but be back by dinner and make sure you take some money for lunch."

"I'll be fine mom, don't worry about me."

She flipped two medium sized pancakes onto a plate and set it in front of me. She then handed me a fork and the container can of whipped cream.

I mumbled a thanks, relieved that I wouldn't have to get up from my chair. I shook the can, took off the cap, and squirted a fair amount of whipped cream onto my chocolate chip pancakes. I started eating, savoring the food. My family has never understood how I can eat pancakes with nothing but whip cream on them, but I thought it was delicious.

"So, where's Jackie and Dad?"

"He went to take Jackie to the mall up in Port Angeles to get her some new school clothes," she replied putting the last of the batter in the pan. "He decided that he wanted to spare you from the whole experience," she teased. Mom and Dad knew very well that Jackie would ask for my opinion on every single article of clothing that she was considering to buy; it would have taken hours. It's not that I don't like shopping; its just shopping with Jackie was a tiresome task, and that I was content with the clothes I already own.

"Thanks for that."

Mom smiled and flipped over a pancake.

I finished breakfast and ran up the stairs to my room to get ready. Sifting through my white dresser, I decided to wear my favorite light blue jeans with a big hole in the knee, my light yellow tank top, and my short sleeved white hoodie. After tying my blue converse up I grabbed my i-pod, placing the headphones in my ears and walked out of my room; shutting the door behind me and walked down the stairs with my hand grazing the wood railing, helping me to keep my balance. After all, as a klutz, I couldn't be too careful. I exited the house, closing the door behind me.

Outside the weather was comfortable. It was a nice 65 degrees with a slight breeze. Without the sun, it was a little chilly, but not so much that I needed a heavier jacket. I decided to go down to the beach and check it out. Following the directions my dad had written on a piece of paper for me this morning, I made my way through several twists and turns down various streets. Finally I found the old beaten up wooden sign that said "Path to First Beach" with an arrow pointing down to a narrow opening in the forest.

The path was small, just wide enough for two people to walk side by side, and littered with various stones and sticks. Green vegetation surrounded me on both sides; it reminded me of a park I used to visit when I was back in Maryland. I soon got lost in my memories and thoughts, just enjoying the peace and quiet.

All of a sudden I hear a loud "Watch out!" I spun around in time to see 2 huge brown blurs running right at me. "Oof!" Ouch was all I could think as I hit the hard ground. The blur just whizzed right past me, and kept along the path to the beach.

"EMBRY!! YOU GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!!" I look up to see a huge man walking toward me. He had dark tan skin and jet black shaggy hair. He was very muscular and about six foot seven. When he saw me on the ground he stopped surprised. "Oh are you okay?" He hurried over to me. "I'm sorry, my friend can be rude sometimes," he explained. Then he held out his hand, "Let me help you up."

"Thanks" I took his hand and almost screamed in surprise when his hand came into contact with mine; he was burning up.

"Are you okay-?"

I realized he was waiting for my name. I sheepishly shrugged. "Uhh, Airyn and I'm fine," I mumbled.

"Jacob Black. Excuse me while I pummel my friend. It was nice meeting you, by the way."

"Okay, bye." But he was running fast down the path before I finished.

I mulled over the strange encounter as I continued on my way down the narrow path to the beach, stumbling every so often. When I finally made it to the beach, Embry and his friend were no where to be found. Oh well, I sighed to myself and set out in search for a place to sit. I spotted a large gray rock big enough for two people to sit on with a fairly flat surface 10 meters away. I walked over and lay down on my back, feeling the cool expanse of the rock against my back and legs. I looked up at the gray/blue sky and the sun trying to fight through the clouds. The gentle breeze felt great on my skin, carrying the salty scent of the ocean. My legs stretched lazily across the bottom of the rock, and my arms came to rest at my sides, my hands searching for my i-pod in my pocket. I put my music on low so I could hear the gentle beat of the waves against the sand through my earphones.

After several minutes a loud crash startled me out of my sleep like state; my eyes flew open. I paused my i-pod, and shot straight up looking around to find the source of the noise that had startled me. Down the beach a group of young men, laughing and joking, punching each other on the shoulders playfully, were walking towards me. I noticed that they look very much alike to the guys that ran me over this morning. Since they hadn't noticed me yet, I took some time to study them. They are all tall, dark, and handsome -cliché but true. They were all muscular to the point that it was somewhat intimidating; all have the dark skin and black hair I had learned to associate with the native tribe members around here. And of course, all are gorgeous. They looked very similar, but there were slight differences in height -although all of them were over six feet tall- and facial structure. Otherwise, they were all alike. Despite the somewhat cool temperature, all were shirtless in beat up jean cutoffs. Their midnight black hair was cropped short. As my eyes traveled down I noticed they were all well built, toned with many muscles. Their bear feet stepped over the stones on the beach, but it didn't look like it phased them at all.

I noticed one stood out from all the rest. I couldn't place why but he seemed more attractive to me than the others. He stood 6'2'' tall and his hair is the tiniest bit longer than the rest, he keeps running his hands through it as if he weren't used to it being that long. I had a strange urge to run my fingers through his hair. I couldn't stop staring at him, he just captured my attention and I couldn't look away.

He must have felt my eyes on him because he looked up at me. I blushed and quickly looked down, embarrassed at being caught staring at a stranger.

Suddenly all I could hear was the sea hitting the stones, the noise and joking had died down in a matter of seconds. I looked back up at the abrupt change in volume. The attractive guy was still staring at me and I couldn't tear my eyes away. I was drowning in his eyes. I had never felt so loved, so treasured, so protected. I shook my head trying to clear it from the strong rush of irrational emotions. I looked towards the rest of the group as they shoved his back, making him stumble in my direction a little bit. It took me a few seconds to realize that not only were they pushing him towards me but that look in his eyes was for meant for me. Surely enough, when I looked around there was no one but me. I tried to work out what to do but came up blank. I never got this kind of attention, it was always Jackie.

I kept my eyes on my lap, letting my hair flow down in front of my face. As I felt him come closer, I looked back up at him through the curtain of hair.

"Hi, I'm Collin" he said, holding out his hand. I tucked my hair behind my ear and gazed into his eyes; the pure look of adoration there made me choke up. His eyes became pained as he waited for me to answer.

"Airyn" I answered without one more moment of hesitation. For the first time in a while, I was no longer felt shy. I was comfortable in front of Collin.

"So are you visiting or from Forks?" he asked as if his life depended on it. His whole body tensed as if I was about to give him the death penalty.

"Actually I just moved here yesterday."

Relief flooded his face and his posture relaxed. Hope came into his eyes, "Would you like me to show you around?"

"Okay, that would be great, thanks." I gave him a small smile.

His whole face lit up and he smiled widely back. "Let's go."

I slid off the bench to stand next to him and found I was a little under three heads shorter than him. He waved to his friends to continue on without him and we started to walk to the path in a comfortable silence. Out off nowhere, I slipped on a rock and went flying towards the ground. I felt two strong hot arms grab me around my waist in a firm grip just in time to stop me from hitting the ground. Collin pulled me upright and turned me around so that I was facing him. "Are you okay?" he asked in a worried tone.

"Fine" All I could do was stand there frozen in his warm embrace. His arms felt so good, so right around me. As this strange thought passed through my mind I gave myself a mental slap. What is with these weird thoughts? I think I have officially developed a huge crush on Collin and I hadn't even known him for five minutes. At this thought I stepped backward out of his arms, and noticed his smile drop the smallest bit as his arms returned to his sides. I offered him a breathless thanks and we were on our way again.

We kept up a casual flow of conversation the rest of the way, but I noticed his arms always tense and open as if I were going to fall at any moment. Whenever I stumbled the slightest bit his hands were on my arms steadying me. It was such a sweet gesture, I had never had a guy pay this much attention to me before. For the rest of the afternoon Collin showed me around the town, telling me all the 'juicy' gossip of the town. Around 1:30 I heard his stomach grumble and realized both of us hadn't eaten lunch yet. I giggled at the loud noise it made and he looked sheepish.

"Why don't you show me somewhere we can eat lunch?" I suggested.

"I know this great place down the street, why don't we eat there?" he asked tentatively as if he expected me to say no to whatever he suggested.

"Sure."

He smiled seemingly pleased with himself.

It was the Quileute River's Edge Restaurant. It was a nice sized brick building with a green roof and a small red awning over the entrance. Picnic tables were placed outside to sit on so you could eat and look out at the sea. After we were seated I looked at the menu which mostly consisted of seafood. I ordered the small portion of smoked salmon, and Collin ordered about five different types of fish. We made small talk until our food came out to us. I looked at Collin's plates and my jaw dropped, how could he eat so much? But surely enough fifteen minutes later there was no food left on his plate or mine. For dessert I just ordered a small vanilla milkshake, but Collin ordered the restaurant's famous "mile-high-pie"

I looked at him curiously after he ordered.

"What?" he questioned, looking afraid as if he had done something wrong.

"I was just wondering where you put it all." I told him.

"Put what where?" He asked confused.

"All the food" I explained.

He laughed, "You think I eat a lot, you should see my friend Jacob eat."

"Jacob as in Jacob Black?" I asked, remembering the boy who was going to pummel his friend Embry.

"Yeah… I think, wait how do you know him?" he asked as his features turned to a look of confusion.

"He and a friend were racing to the beach and his friend must not have seen me, so he ran me over and I fell. Jacob just helped me up and apologized for his friend." By the time I was done, he was shaking from head to foot. Collin kept murmuring under his breath, I am going to kill them over and over. The shaking became increasingly violent.

Afraid he was having a seizure, I placed my hand on his arm "Are you okay Collin?" I said as I looked into his eyes. The look of anger in his eyes softened as he looked at me and the shaking slowly subsided. "What was that?" I asked in a shaky breath.

"Uhhhh whenever I get really really angry I tend to shake like that, it is a genetic quirk, nothing special."

"Okay." I bought his excuse, I had the feeling he wasn't telling me the complete truth, but nothing else seemed logical enough.

Obviously changing the topic, he started asking all these random questions about me, I hate talking about myself a lot so I made him a deal; we answer the same questions, 10 each. He hesitatingly agreed. So, "What's your full name?" I asked as my first question.

"Collin Brandon Wahya."

"Airyn Paige Johnson."

"Favorite color?"

"Blue." I answered.

"Me too" he smiled. The game continued on this light topic of conversation, with me occasionally stealing a bite from his pie and him playfully waving his fork at my hand, until Collin reached his last question. "Do you have a boyfriend?" I could feel the atmosphere get thick with tension, he looked deadly serious, and I answered with a quiet no. He looked as if a huge weight was taken off his shoulders.

We spent the rest of the afternoon joking around and getting to know each other.

I needed to be home before dinner, so we soon headed back towards my house. He had insisted that he walk me home so I wouldn't get lost and for my 'protection' as we walked through the woods -a short cut- as he called it. I didn't really think many dangerous things were hiking in the La Push woods, but I let him walk me home anyway.

We reached the foot of the driveway and I turned to him my stomach full of butterflies "Thanks for showing me around Collin, I had fun today."

"Good", he laughed. "Will I see you tomorrow?"

"Umm," I said, stalling to think. I was pretty sure that I had no plans tomorrow. "Sure. What time?"

"I will pick you up at around 10, how does that sound?"

"Perfect." Just as I turned to leave he pulled me into an unexpected brief hug and my heart rate soared, pounding so loudly I was sure he could hear it. I could feel his muscles as he was hugging me, and his warm arms held me close to his body. I looked into his eyes and almost melted at the affection I saw there.

He bent over towards me and whispered in my ear, "Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite," his breath tickling my ear. Then he was gone.

I walked up to my front door in a daze, closed the door behind me and slid to the floor.

"What is up with you?" My sister asked as she passed me on her way into the living room.

"Nothing" I said as I stood up and made my way to my bedroom. I collapsed onto my bed and began thinking over my day, what a great way to explore the town. I don't know why I was so attracted to him specifically, but I did know that I was looking forward to seeing Collin again.

AN: Wahya means wolf in Cherokee. I hope you liked the chapter, please please please review. It helps me update faster.