Chapter 16

The next couple of days went seriously downhill. Bella was everywhere Jake was, and it was starting to irritate me. The worst part was that people had welcomed her pretty simply into the pack. I don't know how to say it but I guess in a way I was jealous. Jealous that she'd gone out with a vampire but she was welcomed just as well as I was. Embry was the only one that understood. He was the one who listened to me when I talked to him about it all, and he cared. He made me feel better.

"Hey." Embry said, sitting down beside me. It was just another day hanging out, and this time, we were in Sam and Emily's back garden.

"Hey." I said, giving him a smile. That was the worst thing about the past few days. Embry was starting to look really torn up. He seemed upset whenever I saw him, and he'd stopped joking around with me the way he used to. "What's up?"

"Um, not much. Have you seen Quil yet?" he asked.

"No. Where is he?"

"Come with me." He said, grabbing my hand and carefully pulling me up. I followed him into the living room, where I saw Quil. With a toddler in his lap.

"Hey guys!" Quil said, looking up at us cheerfully. The toddler was giving him a toothy grin as she pulled at his hair. It looked like she was yanking pretty hard, but Quil didn't seem to mind.

"Um… who's this?" I asked, in surprise. I turned to look at Embry, but he was just smiling to himself, as though he'd just remembered something funny.

"This is Claire. She's Emily's niece." Quil said cheerfully. "Hey Claire! This is Cherry, she's my friend. Do you want to say hi?"

Claire stopped pulling at his hair, and turned to look at me. She gave me a quick glance and then turned back to Quil.

"But Teddy, she's not a cherry. She's a girl!" Claire lisped, giggling.

"She calls you Teddy?" I demanded, unable to stop a laugh from bubbling through my mouth.

"Mmhm." Embry said, from beside me. He was still smiling widely."She thinks Quil's cuddly, like a teddy bear."

"But- but Teddy?" I burst out, laughing hard. "Quil, since when do you like kids?"

Quil shrugged defensively.

"She's cute." He said, simply. "And she likes me. She refused to go to anyone else."

"Right." I said. "Because you're so lovable, Teddy."

"The guys have given me hell about it already." Quil said, looking annoyed. "I mean, is it my fault that I imprinted on a-"

He stopped abruptly, as the expression on my face changed. There it was again. That word. Imprinting. The one which nobody would tell me what it meant.

"I'm sorry." Quil said quickly. I forgot that…"

"It's okay." I said, feeling a little angry, for some reason. "I'm… just going to get some fresh air."

"Cherry, wait." Embry said, following me as I walked out of the house. I started making my way across the garden. "Cherry!"

"What?" I asked, not stopping. "What do you want?'

"I want to talk to you." He said, as we continued walking. I was going as fast as I could without breaking into a run, but he was easily keeping pace with me. "What do you want me to say? Embry, I'm sick of those awkward silences whenever someone says the word by accident and then looks at me like they've committed a crime!"

"Cherry, just stop." Embry pleaded, as I walked further. We were at the edge of the forest now that continued from the back of Sam and Emily's garden.

"Why? So you can give me another list of reasons why you can't tell me what the goddamn word means?" I demanded.

"Cherry, why can't you just believe that I'm waiting for the right time to tell you?"

"Because you promised you would tell me, and I'm sick of waiting!"

There was a silence, and Embry stopped walking. I did too, and stood with my back against a tree. He looked at me, his eyes full of pain.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"Don't be. I don't even care anymore." I snapped. "I'm sick of you doing this, Embry!"

"Doing what?" Embry demanded, looking furious. "Always being there for you? Doing my best to make sure you never get hurt, listening to you even when you're talking about some shit that I don't want to hear about, because it just hurts me?"

"What?" I asked.

He took a few steps closer to me, and I pressed my back against the tree harder, feeling a little scared.

"Do you know what it's like to have to listen to you? When you're going on about… I do so much, okay? You don't even know that pain that I'm going through."

"I would if you'd just tell me!" I cried. "I've noticed you looking torn up, okay Embry? And what am I supposed to do about it, if you won't even tell me what's wrong?"

"I can't. It would ruin everything."

"What do you mean? Embry I tell you everything. I've been completely honest with you about everything with Jake, and-"

"Don't say his name." Embry growled. I stepped further back into the tree in shock.

"What?"

"Don't say that bastard's name. It's his entire fault. This wasn't supposed to happen! You weren't supposed to continue liking him!"

"What? You're not making sense, Embry! Why would you think that I'd stop liking him?"

"Because I imprinted on you."

"Oh, wow, Embry! Everything's so clear now!" I yelled. "One tiny problem! You won't tell me what the damn hell that means!"

There was silence. I looked up at him and realized that he was standing way closer to me than he'd started off. I was stuck between him and the tree, his face barely a foot away from mine. And he started getting closer. His head dipped down, and I could almost feel his breath on my face, centimeters away from my lips….

And then it was gone. I stared in shock as he pulled away at an inhuman speed, and was now standing a few yards away, near another tree.

"What the hell was that?" I demanded, walking over to him.

"I don't know.' He whispered. "I lost control, I… I can't lose control."

"Lose control? Embry, you were about to kiss me! Why would you do that?"

"Because I imprinted on you."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I'm in love with you, okay?"

I stared at him.

"What?"

"It means you're my soul mate. It means that I fell in love with you the moment I saw you, and that you're everything to me. It means that I have to sit there and listen to you talk about Jacob, while it tears me up inside, because I care."

"Embry, I-"

"No. You asked me what it means, and I'm telling you." He snapped. "Imprinting means that I can never do anything to hurt you or upset you. It means that you come before anyone else, even before myself."

I stared at him. I was getting a horrible clenching feeling in my gut.

"Happy now?" he demanded. "I bet you're regretting the fact that you asked, aren't you? You don't want to be my soul mate. You want to be with Jacob. Well, here's the truth, Cherry. He's never going to care, okay? He's never going to notice, because you weren't meant for him. You were meant for me. And when you realize that, I'll be right here, waiting."

And he disappeared.

Oh my god.