As the houses of La Push flew by outside the window I thought about Alice's words in the car a few days ago. "I guess I was being stupid about it, Nessie," Alice said. "Jasmine, really it isn't anything bad. I guess I just wanted it to be a surprise. No point in keeping it from you now, though." Alice shrugged. "So yeah, in about a month or so, you'll be in that dress on the beach with Seth."
Alice had been wrong. A month? Pft. Four days was more like it. I guess Alice couldn't see werewolves as well as she thought she could. We drove in silence and after a few moments, I could smell the ocean. Even though I'd never smelt or seen one, I knew what it was. I knew the smell, the sounds, and the look. I could just tell when we were close. The salty smell burned in my nose and I rolled down the window to get a better effect. I practically stuck my head out the window trying to memorize the smell of the sand and water. I was resting my hand on the edge of my seat when Seth parked the car close to a cliff. We sat in silence for a moment and Seth put his flaming hand on mine. Was it possible that his touch felt hotter than usual?
Seth reached over and opened my door before opening his. We stepped out into the unusually warm morning.
"Beautiful," I declared staring out into the sun beyond the waves. I could tell it was only warm for now. I might as well make the most of it.
Seth shrugged. "I've seen prettier things." I wasn't exactly sure what he was talking about until he nudged me. Then I understood. I felt my cheeks getting red hot as the blood rushed to my face. Seth stroked my left cheek with the back of his index finger for a moment. It made my face feel even hotter.
"Look," he said pointing out to the water with the same finger he'd just touched my cheek with. "The waves aren't so strong now. Let's go see how cold the water is." He took my hand gently and guided me down from the cliff and onto the sand below. I took off my shoes before the sand started so I could feel the softness of it between my toes. It felt nice.
We kept walking until we reached the water. The tide was coming in gently and it wrapped around my ankles. To my surprise, it was mildly warm. I stepped in farther to the point where the water reached up just enough to not soak the hem of my dress. Seth folded up his already cut off jeans and followed me in.
We stood for a while just looking out into the ocean. There were some gray clouds but they were far away and wouldn't come for a while. To my amusement, Seth slipped on a stone and splashed back in the water causing me to be splattered with the salty ocean water. We laughed as we continued by splashing each other more and more as the time flew by. When we finally got over our childish ways, we continued to the still empty shore to look at washed up shells. There was one we saw at the same time. We both reached down to pick it up. My hands closed around the soft pink seashell and his hand closed around mine. I drew it up to my face to get a closer look at it. The swirly shell was pretty and had a small hole in the edge, as if it was made to be used for a necklace. I put the shell in his hands and he held it to his heart, as if he treasured it greatly. Through all this time, I somehow managed to avoid his eyes.
I turned away from him for a second and looked out into the sun. Was it possible that we'd spent the entire day out here? Time flew by so fast these days. I suddenly felt something being slid around my neck. I looked down to find the shell we'd just found with a thin, gold chain strung through the hole in the top. I reached up to touch the shell.
"Thank you," I said to Seth.
"No problem," he answered. Again, he pointed out to the sun. "It's sunset," he said. "Let's go back up to the cliff and get a better view." I nodded eagerly and followed him back up to where we'd parked the car. For minutes that seemed like hours, we stood at the very edge of the cliff and watched the sun set. The sun was half visible, half not when Seth turned me to face him. I kept my gaze lowered as his eyes stared down at me. I couldn't see them, but I could feel the caring sensation coming in waves from them. It made me blush again.
"Jasmine," Seth started cautiously, "there's something I absolutely have to tell you." My heart raced faster than I thought possible. It was loud; Alice might've been able to hear its pounding from Volterra. "Do you know what imprinting is?" he asked me. I nodded, forgetting how to speak. "Good. I want to tell you that I don't care about imprinting anymore. I don't care about the whole story that this person is the one I'm meant to be with. It's all a lie and I have proof to back up my story. I can't be meant to be with anyone else but you, Jasmine. It could sound insane, but it's true." I wanted to yell at the top of my lungs that I felt the same way but I couldn't find the muscles to open my lips. "Jasmine," Seth hesitated, "I—I think I'm in love with you."
This shocked me. Alice was right, he did feel the same way. For the first time since I'd met him, I looked straight up into Seth Clearwater's eyes.