As I pulled the door open, I saw my brother staring back at me, that stupid, goofy grin he always has, on his face. Man, I was going to enjoy beating that expression off him later. He pushed passed me with a "hey, Charlie!" and I saw my mother standing on the front step, just behind where Seth was standing moments before, giving me an expectant look. Of course she wanted an answer as to what happened. I mean, she got a call that he daughter was lurking around the house of the Chief of Police, who also happens to be one of her best friends and former boyfriend.
My eyes dropped back to the floor, not sure what I should say to her. I heard her sigh in annoyance as she took me by the arm and pulled me out of the house, muttering angrily about talking about this later. As I made my way out to our old jeep, not daring to steal one last glance at my imprint, I heard her quietly talking to Charlie. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what's gotten into her," she said as she was pushing my still grinning asshole of a brother out the door. "Don't be too hard on the kid," I heard him respond. "She didn't mean anything by it." At least someone around here gave me the benefit of the doubt.
I climbed into the back seat of the jeep, not wanting to be stuck sitting next to my mom or Seth on the drive home, and finally looked out of the mud splattered back windows, nodding slightly at Charlie as he waved to me. The doors of the jeep slammed shut and we pulled away, my mother giving me angry glances in the rear view mirror as we drove. Not that I was actually looking up to see them, but when that woman is mad, you can just feel the glare.
I looked up in shock as my mom took the turn to La Push and instantly pulled off the road, pointing out my brother's window and ordering "Out!" Seth gave her just as surprised a look as I had. "But…what?" I'm sure he was just bummed that he wasn't going to get to watch what was sure to be the crucifixion of the year, at least where the Clearwater offspring were concerned. "I mean it, out. Now. You've got patrol in 10 minutes anyway," she commanded as she turned to look at me. "You, in the front seat. We're going to talk." I gave her a horrified look and she added "now, Leah Grace," when she saw that I had no plans on moving. She usually reserved the use of our full names when she was really seeing red. I hesitantly climbed out of the jeep and moved the seat back into its normal position before climbing back in and shutting the door. I couldn't help but feel like I was sealing my own tomb.
"Alright, let's hear it," she said as she pulled the Jeep back out onto the road. It was at this point that a perfect excuse popped into my head. There was just one problem and that was that it would involve hurting her. The break up between my mom and Charlie had been really hard on him. I don't know if she'd ever really forgiven herself for hurting him, so I knew if I told her I wanted to check on him because of that, it would cut her deep. No, I couldn't do that. She cleared her throat to get my attention and I looked up, realizing I'd been lost in thought for over five minutes. "I'm really sorry, mom," I whispered out. "I don't know what to tell you." That wasn't entirely true of course. I know what I should tell her, I just didn't know how.
"Why don't we start with the truth and work our way from there," she suggested. I took a deep breath, telling myself that it was now or never. She'd find out eventually anyway. Probably the next time I managed to piss Seth off for something. I looked over at her, praying that she wouldn't hate me for what I was about to tell her. "I imprinted," I blurted out, instantly regretting it when she hit the brakes, coming to a stop in the middle of the road. I guess it's a good thing that there's not too much traffic out here. The weird thing was, she looked relieved. "Thank goodness," she breathed out as she started driving again. "Maybe now you can finally get back to being happy. That's great news, baby. Who is it?" My mother is not a slow woman. She's smarter than anyone I know. I think she was just in denial, not wanting the answer to be the one she already had on her mind.
I quickly looked back down at my hands, which were busy pulling at a thread hanging off of Charlie's shirt. I flinched as I heard her whisper "oh, God," and pull off the road again. A sense of dread flooded over me. I wasn't the nicest person in the world. Even I could admit that. So, I didn't have a lot of people in my life who actually loved and cared for me. My mom was basically it. The only one aside from my brother who had stood by me through all of this. Granted, my brother kind of did it because he had no choice, but still. I realized that I had destroyed the corner of Charlie's shirt by worrying at it and immediately burst into tears. The thought of him also being upset at me in this moment was too much to bear. I couldn't even remember the last time I had cried. In front of someone else, that is. I did plenty of it when I was by myself. Instantly I felt my mother's arms around me, cradling me against her chest like she had when I was little. "We'll figure this out somehow, sweetheart," she softly whispered as she rubbed my back.
Her strength was one of the things that I had always admired about her. I was thankful for it now, but at the same time, I felt terrible that she had a reason for needing to be strong again. Things had been good for her lately and now I was making things worse. Worse for her, worse for myself, my family. Hell, probably worse for my pack, too. I hadn't even considered what Bella would do when she found out. At least she, Edward and Nessie were off in Alaska, so I'd have a head start when she did. Once again I was making everyone around me miserable, and this time it wasn't even on purpose. This really is the last thing I ever wanted.