Chapter 17

I don't know what just happened. My brain started freezing over as I walked home. I somehow expected Embry to come back, and tell me that it was all a lie or a joke. But I don't know if I wanted him to. I didn't know what to do. All those times that I'd sat there and vented to Embry about Jake…. I'd been doing the same thing to him that Jake had been doing to me. I'd been hurting him. My best friend. My… my soul mate. I'd just entered my house when my cell phone rang. I saw Quil on the caller ID and answered.

"Hello?" I said.

"Cherry! Damn, are you okay?" he asked, sounding worried.

"Yeah, I… I think I'm fine." I said softly.

"Are you sure? Did something happen? Cause Embry came back here, and he's beating himself up, literally. He wouldn't tell me anything, but he asked me to check up on you. For some reason, he thinks you won't talk to him."

"Yeah, I… I'm not sure I could handle talking to him again."

"What happened? Did he tell you? About the whole imprinting thing?"

"Yeah."

"Oh my god. Cherry, you have to-"

"I don't want to talk about it." I said, with a sigh. "Honestly, Quil. I just need some space, okay?"

"Okay, I… what should I tell Embry? He's feeling horrible Cherry, you haven't seen the way he's so furious at himself."

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes.

"Tell him I said thank you. For always being there." I said softly.

"Okay, but are you still coming to dinner at Emily and Sam's tomorrow, because it's Claire's birthday, and-

"I'll talk to you later, Quil." I said, hanging up.

- - -x -x –x x-x-x

Kim came over to my house, surprisingly, the next day. Apparently, the news about what had happened between me and Embry had spread to the whole pack. I was a little surprised at first, but Kim was really nice. I guess I wasn't used to having a girlfriend to talk to.

"You're coming to the dinner tonight. That's final." Kim said. "I'm not letting you out of it."

"Why?" I whined.

"Because it's Claire's birthday. She would want you to be there."

"She thinks I'm a fruit."

"No, she doesn't."

"But… Kim, come on." I argued. "Things are just going to be totally awkward. What will I even say to Embry?"

"What do you think you should say?" Kim asked.

"I don't know."

"Do you still like Jake?"

"I… I don't know. It's just that I never even considered Embry as more than a friend. But he's always been there for me, and… well, he cares about me more than anyone else does. I knew that even before he told me he imprinted on me."

"But you still don't love him."

"I guess… I mean… I don't know. I feel like I've screwed things up between us."

"You haven't." Kim assured me. "You can never screw things up beyond repair, not with Embry. You're his imprint. He loves you."

"Yeah… not cause he wants to, but because he has to." I said sadly.

"That's stupid. You shouldn't assume stuff like that. He might have had feelings for you even before he imprinted on you."

"You didn't hear him, Kim." I said. "You didn't see how pissed off he was."

"Of course he was pissed off! He's a werewolf. Temper problems are an added package. He can't help losing his temper, Cherry."

"But, I… I just think things might get worse."

"Trust me. They won't."

I don't know what was going through my mind when I agreed. I don't know what was going through my mind when I let Kim put me in a dress because she insisted that it was formal occasion, and all the guys were going to be dressed up too. I mean, it's a three year olds birthday, for god's sake! Why will she care whether or not I'm in a dress?

I was regretting every single moment until we reached Emily and Sam's front door.

"So you ready?" Kim asked.

"I guess so." I replied, with a sigh.

We walked in, into a small living room which was clearly not big enough for its large number of inhabitants. It was crowded and noisy, and I couldn't see Embry anywhere.

And that's when it struck me.

What if he wasn't here? What if he was so pissed off that he heard I was coming and decided that he didn't want to see me? What if he'd unimprinted me? Was that even possible?

"He's there." Kim said, from beside me. She was looking at the corner of the room, where a couple of members of the pack were sitting. Sure enough, Embry was right there, in between Jake and Paul. They were all talking and laughing loudly, while he just gazed at the floor looking upset. The guys were all wearing formal shirts, as Kim had promised. Embry was in a light blue short-sleeved shirt, with a tie. I'd never seen him in a tie. He looked amazing.

"So, I'm going to go talk to Jared." Kim said. "Do you want to come?"

"I… no." I said, with a sigh. "You go ahead."

"Okay." Kim said, and she left, going in the direction of the guys. I turned around, when I felt someone tug the skirt of my dress. I looked down and saw Claire.

"Hi Cherry!" she said cheerfully, smiling at me. I couldn't help but smile back, and kneeled down to her level.

"Hi Claire! Happy Birthday!" I said, with a smile. "I love your dress, you look really pretty!"

She looked down at her pink princess frock and then smiled at me, looking pleased.

"Thank you!" she said. "Guess what Teddy got me for my birthday?"

"What did he get you?"

"A huge doll!" she said, stretching her arms out as far as they would go, to emphasize the 'huge'ness of the doll.

"Really? That's great." I said. Before I could say anything else, though, Quil came running up, looking freaked out.

"Claire! Oh my god, there you are! Don't ever disappear like that again, you scared me!" he said, sweeping Claire up into his arms. I smiled at the adorable scene. "Cherry?" Quil asked, looking at me in surprise. "I didn't expect you to come here."

"Well, Kim convinced me." I explained.

"Yeah? You look nice. Never seen you in a dress." Quil said.

"Thanks. Though I guess no one can beat the birthday girl." I said, gesturing towards Claire.

He smiled down at her fondly.

"Yeah. She's my imprint." He said.

I nearly choked.

"What? But she's 3!"

"Yeah, you're not the only one who was surprised." Quil said matter-of-factly. "The guys have been giving me hell about it, but it's cool. I'll just have to wait till she's older."

"Teddy! Teddy! I want some cake!" Claire squealed, squirming in his arms. He set her down carefully, still smiling at her.

"Okay. You go ahead. I'm going to talk to Cherry for a bit, all right?"

Claire nodded absent-mindedly as she headed for the food.

"So… how are you doing?" Quil asked. It might have seemed like a casual question, but I knew what it meant.

"I don't know." I said. "I feel really confused. I just… I somehow think it was a bad idea for me to come here tonight. I don't think I'm ready to say anything to him yet."

"But… I mean, you do feel the same way about him, right?" Quil asked.

I sighed, glancing in the direction of Embry and the other guys. Embry was looking at me, but he turned away as soon as my eyes met his.

"I guess. I don't know." I replied.

There was a few seconds of silence.

"Hey Quil. Does… this imprinting thing. Does it have to work both ways?"

"I don't know, Cherry. It has for everybody. Kim liked Jared even before he turned into a wolf, and Emily fell in love with Sam right away too. Even Rachel and Paul are together already."

"And the… wolf doesn't have a choice right? He just has to fall in love with the girl? Even if he never thought of her that way before?"

Quil narrowed his eyes at me.

"I know where this is going." He said. "You think Embry doesn't want to be in love with you. Look, Cherry, he's probably going to kill me, but he had feelings for you even before he turned."

"What?"

"Look, I shouldn't be telling you all of this. You should be discussing it with Embry. Why don't you just go up to him?"

"Because I'm a coward who doesn't have the guts." I admitted.

"He's hurting a lot, Cherry. You guys should talk."

"You know what? Not tonight, Quil. Let me… at least let me figure out what I'm going to say before I go up to him."

"Okay. Whatever. I'm going to go get some cake. You want to come?"

"Sure." I said. Quil started to make his way through the crowd, and I followed him, until I felt a hot hand grab my wrist. The first thought that came to my mind was Embry, and I whirled around.

And here's the worst part. When I saw Jake's face behind me instead of Embry's, I felt a tinge of disappointment. Just a tiny little tinge. But it was there, and I knew what it meant. I wanted to talk to Embry. And I wanted to see him badly.

"Hey Jake." I said.

"Cherry. Can we talk?" Jake asked.

I nodded silently, and we moved to a slightly emptier corner of the room.

"What's up?" I asked him.

"Listen, I… heard about everything. I mean, well, I didn't exactly hear about it, nobody told me, but Quil's just really bad at hiding his thoughts and… you get me, right?"

"Yeah, I get you.' I said.

"Well, I just… I'm not sure what to say. I feel like this is all my fault." He said.

"It's not, Jake. If this is anybody's fault, it's mine." I said. "I was the one who was stupid enough to not see what was right in front of my eyes."

"Yeah, well, if it helps, I didn't notice what was in front of my eyes either." He admitted.

"You know what, Jake? Just forget about it. Honestly. You're my best friend, and you always will be. Let's leave it at that." I said.

Jake looked relieved.

"Wow." He said. "Cool that sounds great. So, um, what's going on with you and Embry? You guys spoke to each other yet?"

"No." I said.

"You should."

"Yeah, you're not the first one to tell me that."

"Just goes to show that it's the right thing to do." He said. "Anyway, I'll catch you later. I'm starving, and I'm going to get something to eat."

"Sure." I said.

I spent the rest of the evening with Quil and Claire. I didn't feel like sitting with the guys, not when Embry was with them, and Kim was constantly busy with Jared. At least with Claire and Quil, I didn't feel like a third wheel.

"-and so I told her she wasn't getting any more from me, and she got mad and said that she wasn't going to be my friend anymore." Claire said, sounding upset.

"Well, Claire, maybe you shouldn't have been so rude." Quil said softly. "Why don't you go apologize to her, and you guys can be friends again?"

Okay. So maybe listening to who stole the cookies from whose lunchbox at kindergarten wasn't the best way to spend my evening. But it was better than nothing.

"Um, Cherry?" a voice said from behind me. My heart skipped a beat as I recognized it.

"E-embry! Um, hi." I blurted out nervously.

"Can we talk?" he asked softly. His eyes were looking straight into mine, and my heartbeat was rapidly increasing. "Maybe outside?"

I nodded before I knew what I was doing.

"Yeah, I'll… I'll be there in a second." I said. Embry nodded, and walked out of the front door, while I turned to find Quil staring at me. "Oh my god. What am I going to do?"

"You're going to talk to him." Quil said, giving me a small push. "Now go."

I stood up, and headed out of the door.
Oh crap.