Author's Note: Really short chapter, slightly a filler...Anywho, thanks so much to all the wonderful reviews! You all make me smile so much! I'm really glad you enjoy this fic, because so far I'm really into it and I hope I don't disappoint! Except for the fact that this chapter is short, but it leads up to stuff, so deal :P ha ha

Also, I finally got a 'Homepage' set up on my author page. It's just the link to my LJ site that I just started for my fanfiction. If you're bored, feel free to check it out. The most recent entry has to do with this story anyway! It's how I was originally going to end Chapter 8, so if you're curious, go ahead and read it, it's only like a paragraph long, and make sure to leave a comment. It's not edited so it's not exactly what I would have put up in the last chapter, but you can see where I was maybe going to decide to take the story...also, another f-bomb lies ahead, Sorry if you're offended! I try to keep it to a minimum!!

Anyway! On with the story!

Disclaimer: Reece is mine :D

Seth pulled away slowly from my face, a small smile gracing his soft lips. Oh my God this boy has made me into a cheesy romantic. Anyway, besides being turned into a cheesy romantic, I also morphed into a total ditz. It's not my fault, my brain was foggy with…I don't even know how to describe it but it was an awesome feeling. And so, naturally, I stupidly mumbled "thanks" (honestly, who says 'thanks' after they've just been kissed by their future one-and-only?), and spun just in time to promptly run right into the wall of Jake's house. God I am such an idiot.

Seth actually laughed. I guess even though he mentally worshipped the ground I walked on, he was still entitled to cackle his little werewolf ass off at my clumsiness after being so flustered by the feel of his full lips on mine. Dick. Oh dear Lord…wrong choice of word to use at this point in time. I needed to reign in my mind and prohibit it from entering the gutter so often. I will now substitute the insult 'dick' with 'damn you'. Damn you, Seth Clearwater! And your dick!

There, much better.

"You're so beautiful when you blush," he murmured, turning pink himself, as I furiously attempted to cover my face. I don't think I had ever blushed so hard in my entire life. And that includes the time that I was completely out of it one day in second grade while we were all putting our snow pants on to go outside for recess, and for some reason that I can't explain, my brain thought I was at home getting ready for bed. Yeah, I know, what the fuck? Maybe I was tired, who knows, but that still doesn't make up for the fact that I pulled my pants, no, not the snow kind, down to my ankles before I realized what I was doing. I was mortified and I still had more dignity at that moment in my life than I did now, with Seth standing so tantalizingly close.

"Well," I gulped, nervous for the first time in, like, ever, "I better be going…"

Seth's face fell, obviously unhappy at the thought of me leaving. "Sorry…I just--"

I smirked and he stopped in the middle of an unnecessary apology. "That's not why I should go." I couldn't bring myself to say 'your kiss' yet, it was all so…unreal…so I used the very improper word 'that' for such a magnificent thing. "I just…I mean, what time is it?"

Seth chuckled, "I don't know. I lose track of it when I'm around you. It doesn't seem to matter anymore."

Wanna know the best thing about that statement? It was honest because Seth couldn't bear to tell me lies. Mwa ha ha ha!

"But," he began again, scratching the back of his neck in an adorable way, "I guess you're right, it's gotta be pretty late."

"I'll come visit you tomorrow when I wake up," popped out of my mouth before I could stop it; I really don't even know where it came from, but there it was.

Seth's grin grew amazingly wide, "Sweet, I guess I'll see ya then." And he leaned in for one more quick peck that left me light-headed.

I swear. Jake may be a werewolf, with ultra hearing senses or whatever, but he's like a rock once he's asleep. Seriously, you could to anything to/around the boy, and he'd just lay there snoring.

I proved this by inadvertently knocking over a lamp when Seth shoved me gently through the window. My balance betrayed me, so, in trying to regain my footing, I reached out and snagged on the cord. It fell off the night table and rolled beneath Jake's bed. "Oh, shit," I sighed, knowing I'd have to excavate it.

Have you ever tried to find something beneath a pile of dirty clothes and dusty Playboys and some moldy mystery food? Yeah, it's not fun unless they're your miscellaneous articles you're digging through. Not that I had any Playboys, but I did have a fair few Cosmopolitans. A girl's gotta know what a girl's gotta know. I held my breath, not sure how a werewolf could stand the stench of their own filth. I thought they possessed good noses but I must have been majorly mistaken because Jesus Christ it smelt like a frickin' horse had shat beneath Jake's bed.

But as I was up to my shoulders in Jake's crap, scruntched under his bed, Jake rolled sleepily over, causing his hand to drape over the side of his slumber space. And guess where it landed.

On my butt.

And it stayed there, and I froze, because I didn't really know what to do. What does one do in such a situation? Has anyone even been in such a situation? But the worst part of the entire ordeal was that I kind of didn't mind all that much. And that made me feel way guilty considering I had just been kissed, twice, by one of the most amazing guys I'd ever met in the entirety of my nearly eighteen years on this earth. I mean, what kind of girl kisses a guy that is chosen for her by fate, and then kind of enjoys it when said guy's role model accidentally rests his hand on her buttocks? The answer: me, an idiotic, stupid girl who's mind couldn't make itself up.

Don't get me wrong, I liked Seth, I really did, and I wanted to like him as much as I possibly could and all that, but there was that piece of my brain that still clung to this impossible and desperate hope that Jake and I still stood a chance, which as I mentioned before, was impossible, because he was meant for Nessie and I was meant for Seth. Or so fate said.

But what did I say? Why did I have to be forced into this commitment? I wasn't even Native American, a was a Polish person for goodness sake! Not that I had ever been to Poland, but that wasn't the point. The point was, that I didn't share the same folklore…not that I knew any Polish folklore there was, so maybe there actually were some similar stories about wolf thingers, but that wasn't the point either. The point was that I shouldn't be forced to like Seth, just because of some ancient tale. And yet I felt an affinity toward him. (Well duh Reece, there was a freaking fire on your face when he kissed you). But, oh, the dreaded but, I also felt something for Jake.

God, I just wish my brain would understand that I was meant to be with Seth and deal with it. I mean, what was so special about Jake anyway? I mean sure, he was tall, and had these brooding eyes, and super toned abs, and he was protecting me from fatal vampire attacks…but Seth had those attributes, too. So why, oh why, was my mind stuck on Jake?

Note to self: Reece, you are still frozen under Jake's bed, grab the lamp and get out you twit!

It didn't help my hang up on Jacob the next morning when I woke up to see him scrounging through his drawers for a pair of shorts. Now, you ask why this didn't help my undecided brain; well, he happened to be only wrapped in a towel and dripping. "What--?" I groggily got out before he jumped in surprise and twirled around to face me wrapped snuggly in my sleeping bag behind him.

"Oh," he said rather nonchalantly, "I didn't realize you were awake."

Well. I am. So would you kindly remove your sickeningly hot, wet body from my eye sight before my head explodes from indecision?

Instead of my silent request being obeyed, Jake went back to searching for a pair of pants to slip into. I think he may have been doing it on purpose. So I decided to remove myself from the confines of my sleeping bag and noisily stretch behind him. Two could play at this game, and I figured he'd feel more tortured since he had already imprinted and was a freak for continuing to find me attractive.

Jake tried his darndest not to take a peek at me, but I guess the short shorts and tank top won him over because he inched around to bite the bullet. I was still stretching on my tippy toes when he bolted out of the room without any clothes to put on. I could hear the bathroom door slam and then Billy yelling, "Hey! I was using that!"

I strode out of Jake's room, fairly proud of myself for one-upping Jake, and met Billy in the hallway. "Oh Reece, morning. How'd you sleep?" There was a curious gleam to the old man's eye, as if he knew something interesting.

"Oh, you know. Good," I replied vaguely.

Billy nodded, "Mmhmm." I was about to continue on to the kitchen, but he stopped me with, "You know, Jake may be dead to the world when he sleeps, but I'm a bit more wary." I turned to stare at the wily guy, trying to catch on to exactly what he meant. "Now," he continued, "if you don't mind pushing me next door so I can ask to use their facilities since Jacob is doing who knows what in our restroom, I'd be quite happy to keep your nighttime encounter between us, as a secret." Oh, so that was what he was talking about. He smiled kindly in that sort of old person way. Damn him for being such a light sleeper. But Billy didn't seem like he was using my midnight run in with Seth as blackmail, instead, I think he was just letting me know that he knew…and he really needed to take a piss and didn't feel like wheeling himself next door so early in the morning without help.

So I wheeled him next door where he could take a dump peacefully and by the time we got back, Jake was still locked up in the bathroom like a total recluse from the world. Except I figured if you planned on being a hermit, you would plot out a much better place to stay isolated from people. I, for one, would not wish to spend the rest of my life with a toilet, but hey, that was Jake's choice. If he liked porcelain thrones, then so be it.

Billy went about his usual routine in the morning, then sat in front of the TV, waiting for Charlie Swan to come and pick him up. Apparently there was an immensely exciting football game on the tube that they just had to see.

So I made my way back to Jake's room, thinking I'd change and just chill there until Jake decided not to be a loner. This plan didn't pan out however, because as I strolled past aforementioned bathroom, a strong hand swept out and lugged me into the tiny area that smelled of shampoo. The door was fastened back in place and I found myself pushed up against the door because the space was so cramped. Jake was standing there, still in his stupid towel, staring at me with wide, worried eyes, panting. I raised an unsympathetic eyebrow at him and he breathed out:

"I need help."

Well, I thought, no surprise there.

Author's Note: That snow pants story actually did happen. I have no idea what my second grade mind was thinking...oh, wait, it probably wasn't thinking...anyway, leave a review! We'll see what Jake needs help with next chapter! :) And then Reece will visit Seth and whatnot, and then it's back to school for Jake and Reece! Joy. Ha ha