Yay! Another update! :)

This chapter is full of Embry and Ali! I really put a lot of thought into this chapter, so I hope everyone enjoys it. I know I haven't been getting a lot of responses on this story, but that's fine. I am still going to keep updating no matter what. I am too into the story to stop.

There is one thing that needs to be clarified that one reviewer (Tamani) brought to my attention. In this story Embry is 17, so this story takes place during Breaking Dawn. It takes place at the beginning of September, so it's a little while after the wedding in the book. Thank you Tamani for asking this! And thank you for reviewing!

Also, thank you to everyone else who has been brave enough to review this story. I know the writing might not be that great, but just seeing a few people enjoying the story is good enough for me. :)

Ok, enough with the ranting, read on!

"The most confused we ever get is when we try to convince our heads of something our hearts know is a lie." -Karen Moning

Chapter 3

Burnt Toast

Dominica was practically skipping through the hallway because she was so damn happy. After I had told her that Embry asked me to hang out with him after school she started smiling like the Cheshire cat and cooing in my ear about how adorable it was. I kept wondering if she and Amaya were distantly related with the way they both overreacted to anything that had to do with boys, particularly boys who I talked to. Particularly Embry Call.

We turned down the art hallway, passing tons of artwork hung up on the walls on either side. I noticed him standing at the end of the hallway, hands in his pockets and neck tilted back as he studied the art infested walls. My lips tugged upward without my brain's permission and I had to force my legs to move at a normal pace because it felt like I was being pulled towards him, which was odd.

"You guys really would make the cutest couple," Dominica whispered in my ear as we approached him.

I swear I saw him smirk, but it was hard to say it with one hundred percent certainty from over here.

"Like I said we're just friends."

She grunted, "You're in denial, Ali. I saw the two of you yesterday and it looked like a bunch of flirting-,"

"We were not flirting!" I said it louder than I should've, which made Embry turn on his heels towards us. My eyes widened when I saw the complacent look on his face, knowing from that one look that he had unfortunately heard what I said.

The two of us just gazed at each other for an awkward moment, while Dominica was just giggling beside me. I didn't say anything to him as I made my way into the darkroom, yanking at Dominica's wrist and pulling her along with me. When we were sitting in our stools I slammed my face onto the table and wrapped my arms around my head. I wanted to stay hidden in my suffocating square of embarrassment for as long as possible. I was completely mortified, and didn't know if I could stand to see Embry sitting across from me after that.

Dominica patted me on the shoulder reassuringly, "It's alright. It happens to the best of us."

"Is she okay?" I heard a somewhat familiar voice ask.

"She's fine, just needs to take a moment," I could tell she was smiling just from the sweet way she spoke, "She just doesn't want to admit that she likes Embry."

"Dominica!" my head whipped up in a rush, and I shot daggers in her direction. Thankfully, Embry wasn't in the room quite yet. Still, I didn't think Quil needed to know this information.

"Ah, I see. She's in denial."

"There's nothing to deny," I pursed my lips and glared at Quil, "We are friends, and we will always be friends."

The two of them laughed together as if there was something they both knew that I didn't. Obviously they had talked to each other more than I thought they had yesterday. Obviously the two of them had been watching me talk to Embry, and obviously they were both trying to set us up. It was stupid and never going to happen.

The conversation couldn't carry on any longer since Embry had walked in, still looking smug. He exchanged a glance with Quil before sitting beside him, his eyes landing on me immediately. I turned my glare onto him instead of Quil, which caused him to do the same to me. Eventually, the glaring turned into a staring contest and after a minute or two without blinking, my eyes pleaded for some relief and I gave up, letting him win.

He half smiled at me and winked, and the whole time I had to stop myself from grinning back at him.

As our lecture began I tried to sort through the mess in my head, questioning everything that I was feeling and everything that was happening. Why did I have to keep telling myself that we would just be friends and nothing more when it should've been a simple thing to comprehend? Why did my body always seem to want to gravitate towards him whenever he was around? And why did my heart always beat a bit faster when I saw him? I couldn't figure it all out. I was a mystery to myself.

As I looked at him sitting across from me I wondered what he thought of me. Maybe he didn't even consider me anything more than the new girl. Maybe we weren't even friends and he was just trying to be nice. Why would he bother giving me his number then? Why did he give me compliments any chance he got?

Dominica and Quil seem to believe that we were already becoming a couple. Why was that? Did Embry say something to Quil? Did Quil relay that back to Dominica? What am I missing?

There were too many questions to sort through in a fifty minute long lecture. I decided to stow them away by the end of class and bring them up at a later time. Right now, we were strictly friends and that was that. I'm sure once I tell them all about my cancer days they will understand why a relationship between the two of us is not possible.

Dominica and Quil walked out together and I watched them go, trying not to get all nervous. Of course they wouldn't walk with us, it was probably a part of this matchmaking game they were playing. Embry walked over to me and grabbed my backpack off of the floor for me. I took it from his outstretched hand with a smile on my face and followed him out the door, trying hard not to think about Dominica and Quil, and the plans they were conjuring up.

The two of us collected our things from each of our lockers, and we decided to walk to his house to hang out as we made our way out of school. I called mom and explained to her where I was going and who I was with. She sounded worried, like always, but allowed me to go as long as I got home by six.

"Your mom is protective huh?" Embry asked me after I had hung up the phone.

I glanced at him for a moment before looking back out at the trees that we passed as we walked, "Yeah, she always has been."

"What's the rest of your family like?"

My hands formed into fists in the pockets of my jacket. I hesitated to respond, because I knew that I would have to tell him I was adopted if I answered. It wasn't a terrible thing to tell other people, I just didn't want to tell anyone I didn't trust. If I wanted to be Embry's friend I would have to trust him though.

"Well, I have a four year old brother named Kevin who is obsessed with Spiderman. My mom writes books while my dad has his own business in Port Angeles. It's a really cool shop with a bunch of Quileute artifacts and things. I love the dream catchers the most. One of the women that work in the shop makes them and they're beautiful. Her whole family has made them."

"Are your parents Quileute?" he asked, his eyes focused on me.

There's no turning back now, "Yeah, they both are."

I looked up to try to read his expression, noticing the quizzical look in his eyes, "I think there might be some mutations in your genetic code. You're as pale as a ghost."

I smiled and shook my head at him, "My genetic code does have a few mutations, but that's not why I don't look like I'm Quileute," I paused and looked back at the trees before continuing, "I was adopted, so unfortunately I am not Quileute at all."

He didn't say anything right away, the only sounds that could be heard were our feet hitting the pavement with each step we took. I bit the inside of my cheek in anticipation. It felt like my skin would explode from how fast the blood was pumping through my veins.

"That's too bad. Now you'll never be as sexy as me."

"What?" I did not expect that, "Are you seriously suggesting that being Quileute makes you sexy?" I felt extremely relieved that he was being his usual self.

He nodded, "It's unfortunate that you were not graced with the amazing Quileute genes like me," he raised his arms and flexed his bicep muscles. I tried not to swoon, "you don't think I got these muscles all on my own did you?"

I rolled my eyes and scoffed, "You are so full of yourself."

I was glad that he didn't make a big deal about me being adopted. It made me feel hopeful that he would be able to handle the cancer bomb after I dropped it on him. If he stuck around for that long, that is.

He stopped flexing his muscles and wrapped his arm around my shoulders instead, which caused my breath to hitch, "I am not. It's the God honest truth."

"Whatever," I looked down at our feet as we walked together, internally freaking out about the fact that our hips were bumping every other step.

"So, do you know anything about where you came from at all?"

He pulled me a bit closer to him, causing my side to be flush up against his. I tried to keep my composure the best that I could under the circumstances, "Well, I know that I'm part Irish and part German and that my biological parents' names are Patrick and Elise, but that's about it."

His thumb grazed over my cheek, "Your Irish roots explain your transparent appearance."

I swatted his hand away, "Jackass."

"That was a compliment. I happen to like the fact that you're pale," he smiled broadly at me, "You're unique."

"Having pale skin doesn't make me unique."

"Well, fine then," he stopped looking at me for just a second before our eyes connected again, "it makes you easier to point out in a crowd at least."

I stopped dead in my tracks, my mouth hanging open. He let go of me and waited for my reaction, pressing his lips together to try not to smile. I stuck my middle finger up at him and waved it in his face, shoving him as hard as I could before I began to storm off.

It took him exactly two strides to catch up to me, and I cursed him for having such long legs, "Come on, I was kidding!"

I wasn't angry. I embraced my paleness and would take anything he threw at me. That didn't mean I didn't stick a few middle fingers up in the process.

Before I knew it, he was in front of me. I tried to side-step him to the right and to the left, but each time he managed to predict my movement. I did it again and again, trying to trick him, and eventually he just placed both of his hands on my arms and prevented me from moving at all.

"I'm kidding," he said, a bit more seriously now.

"You know, I could insult you too," my eyes narrowed.

"Okay, give it your best shot."

I pondered for a moment, looking at him up and down and trying to come up with something. To be honest he was flawless to me, so anything I would say would have to be a lie, a really insulting lie, "You smell really bad, like rotting flesh bad-,"

"Good one."

"- and you have crooked teeth that are disgusting-,"

"Right on."

"-and…and you have greasy hair and a misshaped head. Honestly, you're just gross all around. I don't even know why I'm standing here with you."

He didn't seem affected by any of that. All he did was stare at me silently, hands still touching my arms. He could probably tell I was lying. I was a horrible liar.

"Oh, and your tan skin makes you look like burnt toast."

He furrowed his brows and looked at me like I was crazy. Then all of a sudden he burst out laughing, nearly falling over from how intensely his body was shaking. I managed to smile, waiting for him to stop his outburst.

"Burnt…toast?" he clutched his stomach and buckled over.

"Barely burnt, I guess. Like borderline burnt toast."

This only caused him to laugh more. It took him about seven minutes to recover, and when he did he pulled me into a very tight, very warm hug. I almost couldn't breathe from how tightly his arms were wrapped around me.

"Thank you for that," he said quietly, "That was one of the best insults I've ever received."

I snorted and pushed him away from me, trying not to let onto how much I actually enjoyed the hug, "Anytime. If you need to be insulted again, you know who to call."

"I'll put you on speed dial."

He pulled me against his side again and we continued our journey to his house. When we arrived, I had to take a moment to admire the beautifully simple cottage home that was surrounded by an endless amount of trees. It was small and looked a bit run down, but that was how most of the houses looked in La Push. That was one of the reasons why I loved the reservation so much.

Embry led me up the small porch and through the front door, throwing his bag down on the floor next to it and slipping off his shoes. I did the same and put my camera down on the small side table next to the sofa before following him into the kitchen. The house was quiet, signaling that we were the only two in the house.

"Where are your parents?" I asked as I leaned up against the counter.

He froze with his hand on the fridge door, "My mom's still at work. She won't be home until later. And my dad…well I have no idea where he is," he went back to opening the fridge, "Do you want something to drink? I have soda, iced tea, juice-,"

"Iced tea is good," I stared at his back as he leaned over, the muscles in his shoulders bulging through his shirt as he did it, "You don't know your dad?"

He closed the fridge and moved right next to me, grabbing two glasses out of the cabinet beside my head, "Nope. So you could say we're both alike in that way."

I nodded, watching him closely as he poured the juice. I wondered if I should stop myself now before asking him more. He looked up at me and smiled as he handed me the glass, "Go ahead and ask."

I didn't know I was that easy to read, "Do you want to know who he is?"

He shrugged and leaned up against the counter, our arms touching, "Not really. At this point, I don't care. I'm fine with how the way things are," he took a sip from his glass and I did the same, "How about you? Do you want to know your biological parents?"

This wasn't hard for me to answer. I had thought about this so many times in the past and have realized that the only thing my real parents have given me is bad genes and a bit of bone marrow when I was sick. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't have been more thankful that my mother was willing to donate bone marrow to me. I knew it must've been hard for her, giving up a part of you to a child you had gotten rid of so many years ago. They had never given me the opportunity to thank them though, never once asking to see me or showing concern. So I knew that they would never care for me the way my adoptive parents did, and I was completely fine with that.

"No, not really. I wouldn't trade my parents for the world. They've shown me that you don't have to be related to someone to show them unconditional love. I couldn't ask for anything better."

We drank our drinks in silence, and his blazing hot skin nearly gave my arm mild burns. I thought about moving over a little bit, and yet I didn't move an inch. The contact felt good, safe in a way. I didn't understand it.

"Why is your skin so hot?" I looked up at him and noticed him tense up a bit.

"Because I'm hot. Hot people have hot skin."

Of course, I should've expected him to say something along those lines, "Stop doing that."

He leaned in closer to me, his gaze flickering down to my lips for only a second before returning to my eyes, "Doing what?"

"Acting all conceited and vain. I can tell it's an act."

"Oh really?" he smirked at me.

I nodded, "I think I would like you a lot better if you stopped referring to yourself as hot and sexy all the time. Underneath all of that is a guy who's just scared."

"Scared?"

I placed my glass down on the counter behind me and crossed my arms over my chest. He moved so that he was now in front of me, his hands on either side of me, preventing me from escaping if I wanted to. His face leaned in even closer to mine and I kept my eyes connected with his, not allowing him to intimidate me.

"You're scared of allowing people to see who you really are, so you put up a front. I get it, believe me I do it all the time. If it's any consolation I like you better without the mask."

The corners of his mouth twitched upward and the corners of his eyes crinkled when he smiled fully, "What if I told you, you're wrong? That I truly am just a conceited jerk."

I shrugged, resisting the urge to get rid of the space between us, "I wouldn't believe it."

His hand grazed over my hip and moved around to the small of my back. With just a gentle push our bodies were touching, and everything I was trying not to allow to happen was happening, "Why not?"

Goosebumps rose on my skin from the feeling of my chest touching his chest. I didn't know what I was thinking; honestly I'm not sure I could actually think at all right now. My mind was completely blank, and none of my neurons fired any signals to my limbs to move away from him.

"Because conceited jerks don't draw pictures of flowers just to give to someone like me. Conceited jerks don't even give someone like me a second thought."

"Someone like you?"

His hot breath fanned over my face, and as I was about to open my mouth to speak, to reveal myself and take off my own mask, I finally was able to look at the big picture and realize what was wrong with it. I shook my head and placed both of my hands on his chest, using all of my force to push him away. I couldn't tell him, not yet. I couldn't be standing here, not like this. We could not become anything more than friends. We could not stand like this in his house without anyone around.

"Never mind," my eyes cast down to the floor and he took a step back. I needed to prevent him from asking again. I needed to get his mind on something else, "So about those pictures."

He analyzed me for a little while without responding, his eyes looking at me curiously. When he let out a deep breath and placed our glasses in the sink I knew he was letting it go. He held out his hand for me and I was reluctant to take it, which caused him to let out a light chuckle and grab my hand anyways.

He led me back into the living room, and the two of us grabbed our cameras from their spot on the table next to the couch before we headed through a small hallway. I focused on our joined hands that were perfectly melded together as he brought me into his room. As much as I hate to admit it I felt much more hollow the second he let go.

"Welcome to my man cave," he stretched his arms out wide.

I looked around the whole room my eyes bouncing from one thing to the next. His walls were painted a dark blue color and three out of the four held posters for movies and television shows that I had never heard of. The last of the four was almost completely covered in a collage of creatures and characters that I had never seen before. A huge collection of video games rested on a shelf next to his bed and the floor was littered with clothes and pencils and wads of paper. I noticed a small desk off to the left and walked over to it, smiling when I saw art supplies sprawled out over the surface. A sketch book caught my eye and I snatched it up in my hands immediately.

"Please don't look at that," he looked at me warily.

I sat back on his bed and opened to the first page, ignoring his request. I skimmed my fingers over the drawing of the monstrous beast, staring at it in awe. He was amazing. I didn't have to know what it was to know that. Every hair was drawn individually and every dribble of spit coming out of the creature's growling mouth was taken into consideration. If I hadn't known it was one of his drawings I would've thought it was a picture of an actual living being.

When I flipped to the next page the feeling turned from sinister to serene. It was a drawing of a wolf with striking yellow eyes. The wolf was surrounded by a galaxy of colorful stars, the wolf's silver fur popping out of the page from the contrast of the bright colors.

Embry sat down beside me on the bed and plucked the book out of my hand, "That's enough of that."

He threw the sketch book back onto the desk and avoided my eyes. This was the real Embry, the one who was a bit shy and self-conscious. This was the Embry that I was becoming more and more fond of every time he made an appearance, which only seemed to happen when I brought up his drawings or when I was the one complimenting him.

"Why are you so ashamed of the fact that you have a raw talent?" I asked.

He glanced my way before staring down at his camera again, messing with the buttons on it, "I'm not. I just don't like to go around flaunting that crap."

I rolled my eyes at him, "You and I both know that that is not crap."

"Okay fine, whatever. It's really not a big deal."

I couldn't help but smile at him, a breathy laugh escaping from my mouth. The sound caused him to pay attention to me instead of his camera, his face contorted in confusion.

"What?"

I shook my head, the smile still there, "Nothing, I just don't understand how you can accept it when people compliment your looks and then deny it when people compliment your talents."

"I could say something similar to you, except you always deny any compliments I give you. And you also blush every single time."

It was completely true and there was no way I could argue with him. He took my silence for what it was, defeat, and grinned his cocky grin again.

"You're even blushing right now," his finger grazed over my cheek.

I bowed my head and placed both of my palms on either of my cheeks to hide any evidence, "No I'm not."

He grabbed my wrists and yanked my hands off of my face. I wasn't even fast enough to stop him nor was I strong enough, "You're also a bad liar."

I groaned and jabbed him in the side, "Okay, we really need to look at these pictures now."

He smiled broadly, "Yes, it's time to make you blush even more."

I turned on my camera that was hanging around my neck and put the lens right up to his eye, taking a picture and blinding him with the flash. He let out an irritated growl and covered his eyes when I tried it again. Then he proceeded to blind me with his own camera, the whole thing turning into an all out war. We continued to ruin each other's eyesight, and it turned a bit violent when the flashing was no longer satisfying and I resorted to slapping him any chance I got. It barely did any good since he was so much stronger than me and was able to fend me off with just his forearm.

Eventually, he got annoyed with the slapping and just tackled me down onto the mattress, his hands pinning my arms down above my head.

"Embry!" I squirmed underneath him, trying not to let myself think any inappropriate thoughts while we were in this position, "Let go!"

A devilish smile crept up on his face, "Not until you admit defeat."

I grunted, my body going limp, "Fine, I surrender."

After I said it he didn't let go. Our eyes connected and in his I saw flames that hadn't been present before, a fire that was ignited the moment it all happened. His gaze held me under lock and key, and there was nothing that could possibly make me look away. Not unless he looked away first.

"Embry," I whispered.

"Yeah?" he didn't even blink when he spoke. No part of him moved at all, and he was so still that I wondered if he had stopped breathing altogether.

My heart was practically screaming at me, telling me to let it all happen, to let him do what he wanted right here and now. But my brain was pounding against my skull, resisting my heart's requests, telling it to keep quiet and stay out of it. This could not happen.

"Let go of me," I said.

He furrowed his brows, looking a bit dazed, "What?"

"I said let go of me," I wiggled my arms a bit to let him know what I was referring to.

"Oh, right," he finally did as he was told and rolled onto the bed beside me so that we were lying next to each other, "Looks like I won that."

I was still trying to clear my head, still trying to process what had just happened, what I had just seen in his eyes. The two of us just stared up at the ceiling without speaking, and I was curious to know if he had felt the same thing I felt before and if he was thinking about it just like I was. I allowed my mind to toss that around for only a second longer before I forced myself to forget it completely and act like nothing had happened. If I ignored it then maybe he could too.

I grabbed my camera again and held it up above my face, turning it on and beginning to look at the pictures I had taken. He didn't do the same, his eyes still staring up at the ceiling thoughtfully.

I began to panic when he looked over at me, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end from how intensely he was staring. I disregarded it and kept flipping through the pictures until I landed on a good one of him.

"I like this one," I moved the camera so he could see, "You're actually smiling unlike the others where you look like you're high on something."

That got him to look away, "What?" he grabbed the camera from my hands and stared at the picture before him, "Oh God this is gross."

I grinned at the look of disgust on his face, "I'm surprised you're not commenting on how hot you look in it."

"Why? Do you think I look hot?" he asked.

I hesitated, "No."

He chuckled, "See you're a really bad liar."

I turned my face away from him so he couldn't see my rosy cheeks, "Whatever, I'm still using it for the assignment whether you like it or not."

"Okay," he sat up and grabbed his own camera from the other side of the bed where he left it, "Then that just means I can use whatever pictures I want of you."

"You can only use one," I sat up, "I'll only allow you to use one. And for the rest you can just use mine."

He looked a bit disappointed, "I don't know if you know this but that's considered cheating."

"I'm aware of that," I said, "I didn't take you for someone who followed the rules though."

He went back to flipping through his pictures, "In this case, I wouldn't be opposed to it," he murmured.

I chose to ignore what he said and scooted over towards him so I could see the infamous pictures of me that he had been raving about the night before. Unfortunately, they were much worse than I thought. In half of them I looked like I had gotten run over by a truck while in the other half I had a creepy smile on my face that made me look like I had just done something horrific. When I told Embry this he disagreed and flipped through the pictures a few more times before settling on the first shot he had of me, where I hadn't even known what he was doing.

Once he had picked his three other pictures from my camera and all of the decisions had been made I asked him about all of the posters and drawings on his walls since I was completely clueless. He explained that they were mostly characters from video games he played and comic books that he liked to read, his face lighting up as he talked about all of it.

The tables had turned after that, and he was asking me about what I was interested in. There wasn't much I could say since the cancer had sucked me dry of having anything remotely interesting to tell him about myself. I just told him I enjoyed reading books, which was true but boring. When I told him about how much I liked math he looked disgusted, which was something I had expected.

We talked for a little while longer and I tried my best to keep the spotlight on him instead of me since I didn't want to let anything slip. I asked him about his friends Jacob and Quil from school and he told me they were practically his brothers, and they had all grown up together. He dove into multiple stories about their childhood, most of them embarrassing ones that made me laugh more than I probably should have.

When he asked me about my own friends I had to take a couple of minutes to gather my thoughts and come up with a good answer for him, "Well, you already know Dominica," he nodded, his eyes never straying away from me, "I didn't have too many friends before her," I pursed my lips, trying to find the right words to explain it, "I have one best friend, Amaya who's obsessed with manga and anime. We met over a year ago. She's a feisty, four foot eleven, spitfire who isn't afraid of anything. We're so different that it's laughable sometimes, but I think that's why we're such good friends. We balance each other out."

I didn't know if I should delve into anything about Caleb. He was technically more than a friend, and he also was no longer alive. I couldn't talk about my dead boyfriend to Embry.

"You can't tell me you don't have any other friends."

I titled my head to the side, scratching the back of my neck, "I don't," I mumbled.

He raised his eyebrow, "What? Do you have a boyfriend or something? Is that it?"

My eyes widened in shock. Where the hell did that come from? I wasn't that readable was I? I couldn't be.

"N-No…I-I don't," I wanted to punch myself in the face because of my shaky voice. Yeah, that didn't sound convincing at all.

"I don't care if you do," he smiled a smile that didn't seem genuine at all. I started wondering if he was the one who was lying.

"I don't," I shook my head rapidly from side to side, "I promise I don't."

He let out a long sigh, and I did my best to not think of the sound as anything more than his body getting rid of the carbon dioxide inside of it. I tried not to think of it as being a sound that signified relief.

"So what? An ex boyfriend?"

I bit my lip, still a bit reluctant to say anything, "How many ex girlfriends do you have?"

This conversation was beginning to get painfully awkward.

"I asked you first, although the fact that you answered my question with another question already tells me that's a yes."

This was really stupid. I couldn't talk to him about this even if we were just friends. There was no part of me that wanted to tell him about Caleb yet, and there was also no part of me that wanted to hear his answer to my own question. I grabbed my camera off of the mattress and stood up, feeling a bit dizzy as I did it.

"I have to get home," I didn't look back as I headed out of his room and into the hallway. I grabbed my backpack and put the camera inside of it before zipping it up and slinging it over my shoulder.

"You don't have to go."

I glanced up at Embry's face, seeing disappointment in his eyes, "No, I do."

When I went to open the door he grabbed my arm and stopped me, "Let me drive you."

I was ready to protest, but then I realized it was probably a good idea considering the fact that I had no idea how to get to my house from here. Plus, I could hear the intense patter of raindrops on the window. There was no way I could walk home in a downpour. I nodded in agreement, "Okay."

We got into his rusty pickup truck and headed down the road. I told him my address and didn't say anything else to him. I was too caught up in my own head to say anything.

The whole ride was full of nothing but the sound of rain and his windshield wipers. The air seemed a bit tense, and I kept my gaze focused on my hands in front of me so that I wouldn't have to see his face. He was probably bewildered by the way I had reacted, about my wanting to leave right after he had posed a simple question. It shouldn't be difficult to talk about these things, but for me it was. It wasn't like Caleb was just my ex. He was my ex who had died, of cancer no less. There was no way I could talk about him as if he were still alive. I think I would fall apart all over again if I tried.

When he pulled up into the driveway of my house I gathered my things and unbuckled my seatbelt. I said a quick thanks to him over my shoulder and went to open the door, but Embry's arm suddenly created a barrier around me and I couldn't do it.

"You're okay, right?" he asked, his voice sounding a bit wary, "I mean I didn't do anything wrong did I?"

I raised my head and met his eyes, "I'm fine," I tried my best to make it sound like an honest answer. The sad look on his face told me that I hadn't done a very good job, and I felt compelled to explain myself, "There are a lot of things in my life that are complicated. Things I can't say to someone I just met yesterday."

He nodded, "I can understand that."

I grinned and reached over the console, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and squeezing them, "You're just gonna have to put up with me for a little while before that can happen."

He chortled as he enveloped me in his warms arms, "I was already planning on it."

When I pulled away from him I found myself regretting it. The strings were tugging on me, trying to get me to hug him again. I resisted the feeling and forced myself to stay in place.

"I had a lot of fun today," I admitted to him after I stepped out of the truck, "even though you did insult me before."

He smirked at me, "I'm glad you can find it in you to look past that."

I sighed dramatically, "It's difficult, but I can manage. See you tomorrow, Embry."

"See you," he responded quietly.

I turned on my heels and began to walk towards the house, looking back at the truck as he pulled out of the driveway. I stopped in front of the door with my fingers curled around the door knob, my mind reeling from the events that had just taken place.

It was difficult to say this with complete certainty, but I was sure that his departure was what was causing this ache to grow within me. Not having him here with me made me regret ever getting out of the truck. I didn't want to believe it was true, but there was no other explanation for it. It had appeared the moment he was out of sight.

It was a terrible thing to realize when I was trying to keep a level head.

If I wanted to keep things the way they are now I would have to banish these feelings, and prevent them from taking the reins. I needed to think without letting my rapid heart get in the way. I needed to constantly remind myself of the very reason why I couldn't let the ache control me, and why I couldn't let the strings pull me. It was the only way I would allow myself to be around Embry.

Ok the ending was written in a very tired haze so I might be editing it later on if I think it's dumb. I am exhausted right now and probably should've waited to read the end over but I am too anxious to put it up that I just left it the way it was.

Woo already going onto chapter 4! Hopefully I will have that up soon enough for those who are interested.

If you enjoyed this chapter along with the previous ones then please review and let me know! Your reviews are my motivation! :)