I do not own Twilight etc.
||= Finally My Turn =||
Sitting beside her in her living room was much more peaceful and certainly preferable over the movie theater. Not only was the volume much lower, but I was surrounded by everything Rebecca, if that even makes sense. Just me and her in the living room, watching some corny B grade horror flick as she sat close beside me on the big, soft living room sofa. The entire house smelled entirely of her, rather than buttery popcorn and body odor.
The movie we were watching wasn't scary in least to either of us. Of course, I highly doubted anything in the cinema could ever scare me. Somewhere in the first half hour of zombies running down screaming women, I worked up the nerve to subtly drape my arm over the back of the sofa, inching it down until the nape of her neck was cradled in the crook of my elbow. I shot nervous glances at her for the first few minutes, and was relieved to find she looked almost as nervous as I was.
My skin seemed to be hypersensitive, her now dry hair tickling my skin. Subduing a shiver, I drew in a deep breath, content throughout the rest of the movie. During the commercials before the next movie, I attempted to strike up conversation. As we talked, I nonchalantly curled my arm a little tighter around her, but just before the next movie started showing, she jumped up.
"I'm such a bad host; can I get you anything to eat or drink?" My stomach sank a little in disappointment at the loss of contact.
"No you're not. Water, please." I said. I would have followed her into the kitchen, but for the first time, I realized dozens of pictures hanging from a wall off to the far side of the room. Even though my eyes were sharp enough to see each and every one of them from where I sat, I still stood up and walked across the room to a particularly large frame holding multiple pictures. I examined each one in turn, grinning at how cute little Rebecca was. When she came back into the room, she moaned and set down my glass of water with a clink.
"Don't look at those." She grumbled, coming up behind me and placing one hand on the side of my waist to get my attention. Her touch was very light.
"Why not?" I said, dragging my eyes away from the photo I'd been studying. "You were adorable. Not that you aren't beautiful now, of course." I said earnestly, looking down at her with butterflies buzzing like hornets in my belly, unable to keep my grin from widening when she blushed, her eyes lingering on my chest just briefly. Her hand fell from my waist almost immediately, and she looked away quickly, then back to my eyes. A human wouldn't have caught any of it, but for the first time in years, I felt pride for my body.
"Oh whatever." She huffed disbelievingly. "You're the beautiful one." She gave an uncomfortable laugh. This time it was my turn to snort with disbelief, and I started to argue with her in a serious tone that would've put anyone on the debate team to absolute shame. She shrugged when I was finished, still red in the face, and I could tell she still didn't believe me.
"The movie's started." She noted offhandedly, looking back to the flashing screen. I nodded, but stepped into her personal space for a second time in the past few hours, cupping her cheeks in each of my hands and gently pulling her face to mine as I lowered my head. I could hear her heart hammering in her chest, something akin to a drum, and then my lips touched hers. It was the best feeling I'd ever had, and the best kiss, too. All nervousness seemed to leave me right then, as I allowed my left hand to slide back and into her soft hair.
Her mouth was soft against mine, and her breath tasted like the spearmint gum she was chewing. I pulled back briefly for a breath, and kissed her again, my eyelids half-closed and heavy as I watched her face. Her heart was still thundering, and her skin was moist with a bit sweat, her hands trembling. I pulled away, leaving just my right hand against her face, stroking her cheek back and forth with my thumb. Just from a simple kiss, between my legs was aching uncomfortably. Her smell was making me dizzy and even hungrier for contact. It took a different kind of strength to refrain from pulling her against me and taking things a little farther.
As I studied her, I kept my eyes trained on her face, scrutinizing her facial expression, coming to the quick conclusion that I was receiving a positive reaction. Crimson cheeks were virtually glowing, and she was smiling; shy and trembling all over as she stood with her back perfectly straight. She reached up briefly to touch my face, and it felt like the lower half might split down the middle, I was grinning so widely. The movie was already ten minutes past the beginning, but I felt like queen of the world as we sat together, my arm secure around her, no space between our bodies.
Somewhere through the middle, I was having difficulty ignoring that fact that our legs were touching, knees skin to skin. I don't know what it was about the simple observation, but it made my chest ache for some odd reason. It felt like I couldn't control the muscles in my face when she finally looked over at me to see what had caught my eye, and I was sure I was giving her some stupid sort of smile like the ones you see in cartoons. I pulled her a little closer, until her head came to rest against my chest, her breath warm and damp against my thin tank top, face no more than an inch or two away from my right breast.
The contact was exciting for me, and after a little while she finally began to relax into the position. When the second movie was over, she flipped off the TV after asking me if there was anything I wanted to watch. Her arm, very timidly, came around to drape itself across my stomach and I laced my fingers through hers, stroking the back of her hand gently, and for purely experimental purposes, flexed the muscles in my stomach, delighted as her face lit up. The words 'I love you' were sticking in my throat like a lump, scared that now wasn't the time to tell her. If I told her too soon, I would scare her, or she wouldn't believe me.
And that was when her mother came home. To say the least, she spoiled my mood completely when I heard her pulling into the drive way, some corny eighties love song playing on the car stereo. My face fell, and I took my last chance to kiss her as her mother slammed the car door outside, and clicked her way up to the front door in her high heels. A brief press of my lips to hers, and then a key was jammed noisily into the deadbolt, jiggling back and forth with irritating scraping noises. Rebecca sat bolt up right, her eyes wide as she cast a desperate look at the clock.
"Eight? She's off an hour early!" She moaned. Smiling tightly, hugging her in a split second and then whispering a goodbye in her ear, I made my exit through the sliding glass door in the kitchen, just as the front swung wide open, squealing loudly on its hinges. She stared after me, and I waved as I strode away, wanting more than anything to go back inside. I saw her mom enter the living room, and with a sudden pang of worry I realized I'd left my shoes in her entry way.
Watching from the darkness at the back of the yard, I listened in as her mother asked about Rebecca's day. Then, watching Rebecca's face, she suddenly remembered my shoes, too. Making a hurried excuse about late homework, she dashed out of sight, and a few seconds later I could faintly hear the drumming of feet on the staircase. A second later the light in her bed room flicked on, and I let myself relax, knowing I hadn't gotten her into trouble. I watched her briefly, smiling as she fell into her normal routine, flipping through TV channels like the pages of a book.
Then, turning around, I jogged to the adjacent fence and hopped over it and into the wet grass of the front lawn. Glancing back longingly, I decided it was best I get a move on and get to patrol before Jacob could chew me out. When I was enclosed in the safety of the forest, I let the familiar tremors seize me, and all but pranced around as I reviewed my successful advances on Rebecca. I wondered if she would ever love me back. I would definitely be willing to wait, no matter how long. With a love like mine, I didn't know who wouldn't wait a million years or more.
The night seemed to slip right through my fingers, because the next time I glanced at the sky, black had changed to a soft orange and pink color. Feeling just slightly drowsy, I could just imagine Rebecca tucked under her blankets, sprawled out beneath them, maybe, hopefully, dreaming about me. I was sorely tempted to stop by and see her, but refrained when I remembered her mother would be up and about at this time. Reluctantly I turned around and made my way home. I crawled gratefully beneath my blankets, asleep almost as soon as my head touched down to the pillow.
When I woke, I was so hungry I could've eaten a whole cow. When I stumbled into the kitchen, dishes were already in the sink and the house was empty of all signs of life. Glancing at the clock, it was a little past one in the afternoon. After raiding both the fridge and pantry, I managed to make a meal out of a few eggs and a single slice of toast. I was miserable the entire hour and eighteen minutes it took for Rebecca to get out of school, flipping through the TV, switching the radio on and off and even trying to read a book, looking to the stove's clock, desperately willing the time to change.
I called her almost immediately after the clock turned two forty, when I was sure she would be home. I jammed the numbers so hard I was surprised I hadn't broken the family phone. On the third ring she answered. I immediately struck up a longwinded conversation, and I could almost hear the smile in her voice as we talked. Finally, the call came to an end when she said she had homework too, and we reluctantly said our goodbyes to one another.
Without her, I was bored out of my mind and went on patrol early. Once it was dark, I made a quick stop by her house to check on her, and then continued trotting through the forest when I caught scent of the Cullen's. I steered clear, not wanting to get mixed up with a bunch of bloodsuckers on the hunt, starting to backtrack until I came across a small stream. The cool water felt nice on my feet, and I dipped the lower half of my muzzle in thirstily. Then another wolf's thoughts joined mine.
Hey, Leah. It was Embry. As soon as our minds were linked, I could feel the stress and tension that fogged his mind. You could never hide anything from a fellow wolf; most of this anxiety was directed toward me and my imprinting on Rebecca. I could feel his insecurity, and envy that he hadn't imprinted before me. He felt that he deserved it more than I did. Licking my lips as I lifted my head, I greeted him in return. I immediately recognized his location through his eyes, which wasn't far from where I was. He was running to meet me.
His thoughts seeped into my head, and mine into his, updating each other on events since the last time we'd seen each other. I'd lost track of how long it'd been since I'd been on patrol with another wolf. I could feel his irritation as my thoughts and memories of Rebecca engrained themselves into his tired mind. I knew how it felt to have an imprinted wolf's thoughts of their special one constantly filtering into your head nonstop, when you felt utterly alone and had no one. Embry and I used to complain to each other about it daily.
Even if I tried, there was no way I could possibly keep Rebecca out of my thoughts for more than thirty minutes, even when distracted. It was a part of imprinting, as we both knew very well. As he padded into view, he looked tired even in wolf form. Almost reflexively I recalled our trip to the movie theater, where I'd first seen Rebecca. His lips curled a little at this thought, bristling just slightly.
You know, before you imprinted, I was really hoping we could've been together.
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Reviews are greatly appreciated. Also, remember that this story is rated M, so there will be sex in later chapters.