Here it is! Chapter 11 and things are getting crazy around here. Thanks to everyone who is reading this and a huge hug for everyone who left a review, they are the ones who inspire me to write this, enjoy!
I don't own Twilight
11 Imprinting, stronger than love itself
Jacob's point of view
The wedding is going to be in five more days and Leah still doesn't want to speak to Neal. Well, she speaks to him, but only about trivial things.
"How can she do that to him?" Rachel asked out loud.
Some of us had volunteered to help to decorate the tent; we were in charge of putting the white tablecloths over the tables. I turned to look at Leah, who was talking with the baker; Neal was not far away from her trying to fix a lamp, and every ten seconds he turned to look at her.
"She thinks she is doing the right thing," I said trying to focus on my work.
"Right thing? Look at him! He is a disaster! She is killing him!" my sister exclaimed.
"Lower your voice Rachel!"
"She is just so stubborn! You are her alpha, do something!"
"I can't force her; we just have to give her some time, she is in a very uncomfortable situation."
"But she is his imprint!"
"Think about it this way Rachel, how would you feel if you were dating Paul and suddenly he imprinted Rebecca and then Rebecca's husband imprinted on you? Or if you were dating Paul and then he imprinted Kim, and suddenly Jared imprinted on you? Or…"
"Ok, ok, I got it! That's sick!"
"Exactly."
"It's kind of funny you know," Quil commented while he worked in the table next to mine.
"What are you talking about?" Embry asked him.
"Well, think about it, the people that were in love with someone before imprinting, well, they were always in love with someone close to their imprints," he explained.
"Wow, where did you steal that idea from?" Embry asked him and Quil throw a tablecloth to his face.
"You think is a patron?" I asked Quil impressed by his discovery.
"Maybe," he said lifting his shoulders. "It's always the same; Leah, Sam and Emily; Leah, Neal and Emily; Jake, Bella and Nessie."
"So, Sam wasn't really in love with Leah, she just reflected Emily's essence to him because they were like sisters and Sam hadn't met her yet," Rachel said thinking out loud.
"I don't know," I commented opening another box. "My feelings for Bella were real; I really liked some things about her that Nessie doesn't have."
"Well, we are never going to know the truth," Kim said. "But you can't deny there is a patron there."
Neal's point of view
Days passed very slowly for me. Leah was very busy with her maid of honor's duties, so she was always running from one place to another. I was furious with her decision, but as soon as I saw her after our fight, the only feeling that I had towards her, was love. I've tried to respect her decision, but is not easy. Every one of my cells claims for her and if I spend a lot of time away from her, a sensation of emptiness starts invading me.
Whenever we spoke, she treated me like if I was just another guy, just another friend in her life, and that hurt me; it hurts me a lot. I tried to speak with her about our relationship several times, but she always refused. So I started to spend my time around her and trying to understand which exactly were the things that made me feel crazy about her. Soon I discovered that I loved everything; well, she is a little bit tempered, but so I am.
Is funny to see how people acts towards her; they all are scare of her, like if she was some kind of monster or something. It's very useful, because everyone follows her orders and now we are going to finish working earlier than we thought.
Leah is just amazing. I started memorizing the little details; she twists the fingers of her feet when she is nervous; she puts her hands over her hips when she is angry and she can't say it out loud; she sighs deeply every time that she finishes doing something and when she feels the scent of lilies, she close her eyes.
To summary, Leah is worth fighting for. If you think that I am going to give up, then you don't know me at all. The only reason I am not acting right now, is because I want to respect the wedding; Emily and Sam deserve that… well, Emily deserves that. But after that, Leah should prepare herself, because we are going to have a very dense discussion and if she decides to walk away I am going to follow her to the end of the world if it's necessary.
"This is the last one," I heard a guy telling Leah while he left a box full of candles on the floor.
I was a few meters away helping to move some chairs into the tent, but I was still able to hear their conversation.
"Thanks Ryan," she said taking some notes on her list.
"Do you need help with anything else?" he asked nicely.
"No thank you, we are finally finishing now," she said starting to walk away.
"Hey, Leah, I… I heard that you don't have a date for the wedding day anymore," the guy said and I immediately turned around to look at them. "So I was wondering if you…"
"She is not available Ryan," I interrupted him putting myself between them as fast as I could.
"I wasn't speaking to you, was I?" He told me seriously.
"Get lost," I told him. If looks could kill, this guy would be several miles underground.
"Neal stop it," Leah said trying to push me aside.
"See? She doesn't want to speak with you," Ryan said smiling mischievously and moving to look at my imprint. "Would you like to go out with me Leah? I know this perfect place in…"
"Thanks Ryan, but I am not interested," Leah interrupted him quickly and I smiled inside. "I am too busy right now."
"Just call me if you change your mind," he said cockily while he started to walk way. "See you another day gorgeous."
I was already walking towards him to hurt something more than his ego, when I felt a strong pulled in my arm which made me stepped backwards.
"What was that?" Leah asked me angrily releasing my arm.
"What?"
"You know what I am talking about, we are only friends, you can't just…"
"Well, as a good friend Leah, I am obliged to inform you that you were just flirting around with Neah Bay's playboy," I told her angrily.
"I wasn't flirting!"
"And what about your date for the wedding day? I thought we had agreed to go together."
"That was before this whole mess started," she said beginning to accommodate crystal glasses over the tables.
"So? Can't we just go as friends?"
"You tell me, are you able to act just as a friend?"
"Not if that means looking at you with other guys," I admitted and she sighed.
"Don't worry about it, after the wedding I'll return to La Push and everything will be the same," Leah said.
"No, it won't. I'll spend every second of the day thinking about you and begging to see you again. Can't you see it? I need you Leah and I know that you feel the same way towards me."
"No, I don't."
"Look at me!" I said taking the glasses out of her hands and throwing them at the floor. "Look at me and tell me that you don't feel nothing for me!"
"I don't want to destroy your life!" she said looking at my eyes.
"What life? You are my reason for living Leah! You are the one who moves my world around. You are beautiful, intelligent, feisty, wild; there aren't even enough words to describe how amazing you are."
"Neal I…"
"Leah Clearwater, you have the power to make me feel special or to destroy me with just one look, now I am begging you, please, please accept my feelings for you and accept that you love me back, I need to hear it from you."
I waited expectantly for her answer and I noticed that we were very close to each other. Leah's lower lip was trembling, like if she was having trouble to say something. Suddenly she leaned closer to me and she kissed me softly on my lips. She moved back quickly and she turned around to leave. You know what I did? I let her go.
Leah's point of view
"Leah are you there?" Emily asked knocking the door of my room.
I was lying on the bed trying to focus on anything that wasn't Neal. Three more days for the wedding and then I'll finally get out of here.
"Yes," I answered and she opened the door entering with Kim and Rachel. "What's happening?"
"It's time for a little talk, just between imprints," Rachel answered locking the door with a key.
"I am sorry girls, but I am not in the mood right now," I said looking at the floor.
"We are not leaving until you explain us what is wrong with you," Kim said trying to sound confident.
I looked at them with a confuse expression. We have never been friends, I always pushed them apart and I don't even speak with them a lot.
"No offense, but I don't want to talk with you about it," I told them and they all smiled.
"We know," Rachel said. "But we are the only ones who understand how you feel."
"You can tell the others all you want, but you can't fool us Leah," Emily said sitting beside me while the girls sat on the floor. "We know you love him."
"I do," I admitted after a while.
"Then why do you avoid him all the time?" Kim asked.
"Is it because he is my ex-boyfriend?" Emily asked.
"Of course not, that happened many years ago," I answered honestly. "I know, falling for him is the most unexpected and crazy thing ever, but I am not mad at him for dating you when you were teens."
"Then what's the problem?" Rachel asked.
"I just… I don't want to take away his will, I mean, I want him to love me for me, not because some imprint stuff and destiny obliged him," I told them a little bit ashamed.
"I used to feel the same way, you know?" Emily said and I turned to look at her surprised.
"What?"
"Think about it, Sam was dating you because he liked you, it was his choice to love you, and then I appeared and he started declaring his love for me. I was mad; I thought he was just saying those things just because I was his imprint. I was very jealous of you, but then I realized something."
"Imprinting doesn't force you to love anyone Leah," Rachel said. "It's just one more kind of love."
"Kind?"
"You can find love between brothers, friends, a mother and her son, couples; there are infinite types of love," Kim explained. "Imprint is just another way of loving someone."
"It might be a little bit exaggerated and your imprinter is never going to show you nothing but truly admiration, but that's because they can see more than normal guys," Emily said. "He knows what he likes about you and he is going to try to make you happy, because he really cares about you."
"We are really lucky Leah," Rachel told me. "Normal guys let that the rest of the world affects them in every decision they made, but shape shifters know what they want and they are going to fight to get it no matter how difficult it gets."
"Is like having your personal knight in shinning armor," Kim said smiling; she is probably imagining Jared in an armor.
"Yeah, just replace the armor with fur," Rachel said and we all laughed.
"Thanks girls," I said. "I really needed to hear that."
"You don't look very convinced Leah," Emily noticed. "Something else is bothering you."
I sighed. I suppose there is no point in hiding it anymore; this thoughts are killing me and if I don't tell someone…
"It's the Volturi," I confessed. "After their visit… I just can't stop thinking about them."
"Oh, Leah," Emily said hugging me tight. You know I don't like hugs, but I really needed it, so I let her. "The guys explained us what happened, nobody is going to take you away, we are not going to let that happen!"
"Leah you are our family, you know that everyone is going to fight on your side before letting that those leeches kidnap you," Kim said.
"That's my problem," I told them. "If Neal hadn't imprinted me this would be our problem, but know all the Makah clan is going to get involve, I don't want to be responsible for the lives of two whole reservations!"
"The Volturi only made you an invitation Leah," Rachel pointed out.
"And you think they are going to sit for one million years to wait for me? The Cullens have told me about them, they just see me as a collectible object and they'll do anything to capture me, I don't want to involve Neal in this."
"But he is already involve," Emily said. "Leah you can't protect him by keeping distance with him, that is only going to kill you both."
"I don't want that he gets hurt because of me!"
"You can't think of you two separately," Rachel said. "You are a package now and whatever happens to him, affects you, and no matter what happens to you, it affects him."
"Imprinting is not a caprice of destiny," Kim said. "Neal imprinted you for a reason."
"Yeah, look at Rachel," Emily said.
"Me?"
"You are a very calm and responsible girl, Paul on the other side… let's face it, he is a disaster," Kim said.
"Hey!"
"That's why you imprinted him; you have made wonders with that boy!" Kim said and I have to admit its true; he is not as annoying as he used to be.
"Why do you think Quil imprinted Clair?" Emily asked me as if it was obvious. "From the moment the bond formed between them, Quil stopped chasing every girl he saw."
"Yeah, Clair makes sure that the reservation population doesn't start growing up," Rachel said and we all started laughing again.
"There is a reason why Neal imprinted you and not other girl Leah," Emily said with a big smile. "Who knows? Maybe he is the only one who will be able to free you from the Volturi."
"Or maybe they'll never come for you," Rachel said lifting her shoulders. "You can't keep escaping from everything just because you think that there are things that might happen."
"Yeah, just let him love you and live your life Leah!" Kim said hugging me tight; ok, that was unnecessary.
"Group hug!" Rachel suggested hugging me too.
"No, no, not group…ugh."
"We should do this more often," Kim suggested and I raised my eyebrows.
"So? What are you going to do?" Rachel asked and I rolled my eyes.
"I am going to talk to him," I said trying to hide my smile without succeeding.
"And?" they all asked at the same time.
"And I am going to tell him how I truly feel about him," I said and they all started shouting loudly while I covered my ears.
"Rachel open the door!" Kim said excited.
"What are you waiting for?" Emily asked me while they all walked towards the door.
"You want me to go now?" I asked confused.
"Yes!" they all said pushing me out of the room; literally.
The adrenalin started to invade my body and soon I found myself running downstairs. I ran full speed through the corridor and then I stopped abruptly. I slowly walked backwards and I stopped again in front of the living room. The two packs where there and they all were looking a little bit too distracted.
"Please tell me you didn't hear the entire conversation," I asked them and they all started looking nervous at each other, oh my god!
"Not the entire conversation," Seth lied.
"Yeah, but just so you know, I am not a disaster!" Paul said.
"Paul!" everyone shouted.
"What?" he asked confused. I think my face is scarlet now.
"Need a ride?" Jake offered me.
"No thanks, I think I'll just run there, see you later."
I got out of the house as fast as I could and phased. I cursed their extremely good senses in the process; I can't believe they heard everything! I tried to focus on my way to Neal's house, what exactly was I going to tell him? I was so excited, that it only took me a few minutes too reach his house. I phased back, I put my dress on and before I knew it I was already knocking his door.
"Leah," Lina said surprised to see me there. "I was just about to call you."
"Hey, I am looking for Neal, is he at home?"
She stood there looking at me as if I was crazy. I hadn't thought about this, she probably hates me for all the things I've done to her brother, but I can't talk with her now, I have to find Neal.
"Come in," she finally said and I followed her to the living room. "Leah is here."
"Hello," I greeted everyone when I saw Neal's pack was here too. "I am sorry to interrupt."
"She is looking for Neal," Lina explained and Caleb; Neal's beta; turned to looked at me.
"We don't know where he is," he told me seriously.
"What is going on?" I asked sensing that something really serious was happening here.
"He left Leah," Caleb told me. "He is gone."
Yes, he is gone, just when she discovered she loved him too, like it? Please tell me what you think, I need ideas for next chapter and I am really tired, so REVIEW, it won't take you more than a minute!
Ishii Sen Ling