Enigmatical

By wired2damoon

Chapter 12: Special Surprises And Spanish-Speaking Parrots

A/N: Hello! Well I thought it was about time I introduce some Embry/Erin into my story, wouldn't you agree? So, here you go, hope you all like it. Thankies again to all my lovely reviewers, I don't deserve you! -wired2damoon- x

-General POV-

A soft sigh erupted throughout the small guest bedroom, disrupting the tranquil silence. The turning of a page sounded like chainsaws in a forest, scratching at the sensitive ears of one Erin O' Connell. Her bright green eyes flickered rapidly across the words as she bobbed her head to the soft music omitting from her ipod, the ear plugs lying on her pillow. This happened to be the first time she was entirely alone (bar Lana downstairs making dinner and was refusing any help) without Nessie or Claire and she was feeling a little bored.

Erin practically had to force Nessie out the door, knowing well she had to meet Jake. It seemed the mysterious, bronze-haired girl had taken a shine to the Irish girl (and she to her) and was refusing point blank to leave her. But eventually Erin wore her down and she had left an hour before, promising she'd be back later on in the night, after Claire came back from her karate lesson.

Throughout the last two weeks, the three girls had been getting to know each other a little better. It seemed that they each had a lot in common, but simultaneously had many things that made them unique. For example, they all liked the same music - yet had mock arguments of which bands were the best. They all had a love for horror movies - yet the all debated which were real "classics". But these were just small, simple things.

Even as she thought about it now, Erin knew that there was something different about Claire and Nessie. There was something about them, about their friendship, that seemed so…true, deep, like they were both in on some massive, amazing secret. But the weirdest thing of all, is that even though Erin had no idea what exactly caused her to think this way, she was sure that every moment that passed between herself and her new friends, she was slowly beginning to "get in on the secret" too.

One concept that always made her feel this way was "boy talk". No matter when the topic came up, where or how, Erin always felt that when they talked about boys together, there was always some mysterious air about it…and maybe she was just being crazy but every time the Quileute gang that hung out at Emily and Sam's cropped up in conversation there would be a strong feeling that the other two girls were keeping something from her.

She didn't like to dwell on it, obviously it was none of her business, she hardly knew them after all. But there was something about their frequent glances at one another when they asked her to elaborate on her "love-life" that left her wondering what exactly the girls knew that she didn't. As the familiar thought of dating sprang into her mind, the Irish girl couldn't help but think about Claire's predicament.

A smile crept on Erin's face as she thought about Claire and her date. The American girl really did fascinate her with her obliviousness. Hell, she had only been here two weeks and she could already tell that her best friend Quil was completely and utterly head over heels in love with her… Granted she had a knack for knowing such things, that was a given, but still, she couldn't help but roll her eyes as she thought about it. She really did like Claire, she knew almost instantaneously that they would undoubtedly get along like a house on fire and the constant niggling piece of dread that she'd actually have to leave here eventually, made her frown.

But it wasn't just the friendships with Claire and Nessie that the young girl was going to miss once she left. The face that had been occupying her mind for exactly fourteen days now, appeared behind her eyelids as she closed her eyes and lay on her back on her bed.

Embry Call.

She didn't know what it was about him, but he was just so majorly captivating. She had talked to him a number of times now, whether in Sam and Emily's or in passing when he was with Jake or Quil. It seemed, each time she saw him, was like a breath of fresh air - and it killed her to think that.

Erin - even as a young girl, never had a lot of trust in the opposite sex. Her father was a drunk who beat her mother to a pulp on a daily basis, and soon started on her. He eventually drank himself into an early grave but with him went her mother soon after due to lung cancer. The girl had had a tough life, but being brought up by her grandparents from the time she was ten years old had made it bearable. However, it was when she started dating that things started to get bad again.

In her seventeen years she had only ever had two boyfriends. One, made up rumours about her and spread them all over her school all because she refused to have sex with him, whilst the other was wonderful to her, encouraged her, gained her trust, built her confidence, and then cheated on her with the biggest slut in the town. So, yes, to say that she and the opposite sex really didn't get on at all well, was indeed an understatement.

But even with bearing this in mind, something about Embry Call gave Erin the slightest bit of hope. That not all young guys are dickheads and grow up to be even bigger dickheads who beat their wives. But, its not like it mattered, she knew in her heart and soul that a guy like Embry would never be interested in a girl like her. He was, to put it lightly, drop dead gorgeous, and had such a great sense of humour and was so caring and loveable and…

Erin snapped herself out of her daze with a roll of her eyes. She really didn't know what was getting into her lately, she hardly knew this guy and already she was having the girlest crush him that would have horrified her only two weeks ago. But then again, two weeks ago she didn't know Embry…

"Oh for God's sake!" she muttered, putting her hands behind her head and gazing up at the ceiling.

You don't know him. Even if you get to know him, its not like you're sticking around. And even in the short time you have its not like anything could ever happen…oh crap, I think way too much…Erin thought to herself snapping her eyes shut again.

But before she could continue her silent monologue, she heard her name being called from downstairs.

"Erin, Erin can you come down here for a minute?" called Lana from the bottom of the stairs.

Quickly, Erin jumped up and skipped her way out of the room and down the stairs, stopping on the last one as she saw who was accompanying Lana.

"Hey Erin," came his beautiful, melodic tone, his eyes shinning brightly as he stared down at her.

Her face immediately reddened as her throat dried up.

"Hey Embry."

"You kids have fun now," Lana Young smiled as she waved at Erin and Embry from the front porch. Erin waved back at Lana whilst unbeknownst to her Embry glared warningly at the women, not one bit impressed by her tone. Lana just smirked at him, a familiar twinkle in her eye.

The two climbed into Embry's car and Erin let out an appreciative whistle. "Whoa, nice car," her eyes raked over the interior, a small smile gracing her lips.

Embry, elated to see her smile, murmured, "thank you, not many girls comment on it."

Erin felt blood rush to her cheeks and she glanced out the window as he started up the car. It really was a nice turn to the evening, Embry turning up at Lana's looking for Jake and Nessie and deciding that it was far too nice a night for Erin to spend it indoors. So, out of the kindness of his heart, he offered to show her La Push's "wild" night-life by taking her for a walk on the beach.

"So, Erin, tell me about yourself," Embry smiled as they turned out of the driveway. Erin swallowed roughly, keeping her eyes adverted from him, it was only hitting her now how alone she was with him - the first time ever, and she really didn't want to make a fool out of herself.

"Ha, I feel like I've told you everything already, I'm not that complex," she laughed, trying to hide the bitterness she felt with the sheer irony that her words could not be farther from the truth.

Embry sensed it too, but let it slide, he didn't know her long enough yet for asking those types of in depth questions and raising certain issues so he kept his mouth firmly shut.

"You've hardly told me anything about you though," she smirked and Embry was immediately suckered by her.

"Alright well, I've heard these 'getting to know each other' conversations are supposed to go both ways, so I really should tell you about myself a bit then," he smiled, beaming wider as she fiercely nodded her head in agreement.

"Well…let's see…I'm from here, La Push - been here all my life, I'm an only child, my amazing mom raised me on her own, I'm an Aquarius, I love classic rock music and timeless movies like Back To The Future. I don't have a favourite food really, especially if its Emily's cooking because its all awesome. I absolutely despise golf and everything related to it, I have a pet iguana named Alfie and a parrot called Chino who speaks Spanish better than I do, oh and I'm a mechanic and own a business with Quil and Jake."

Erin gaped at him as she processed all the information. In one short minute, he had basically described her perfect man. He's respectful and appreciative towards his mother, he loves rock music and timeless movies, he's not a picky eater, he hates golf, he's an animal lover, he speaks another language and he has a good job with his own business. A mechanic no less!

"Wow, your own business? That's impressive, a mechanic sounds so cool, it must be nice to work for yourself," she said, the smile evident in her tone as she noticed that they were almost at the beach now.

Embry slowed the car and put it in park, grinning to himself as he heard that she was impressed, "yeah, its awesome, the best thing is that I get to work with the two guys though, it makes work bearable you know? Anyway enough of my yammering, you ready to see the beach?"

Erin, although disappointed that Embry was done talking, found herself beaming with excitement.

"Just lead the way, Mr Call."

- Nessie's POV -

I tip-toed quietly into the apartment, wincing a little as the door shut with a slightly loud snap. Shaking my head, I continued down the corridor and towards the living room/kitchen area. I rolled my eyes when I noticed the state of the place, clothes lay just about everywhere. On the backs of chairs at the counter, thrown across the "monster couch", on the lamp-shade, on top of the TV…God these guys are pigs.

Sighing, I looked around myself tiredly, before calling, "Quil, Quil are you in here?"

I heard a soft thump coming from one of the bedrooms and was startled to hear a loud, Hispanic-sounding voice omit throughout the room.

"¡Ay, es demasiado ruidoso! Silencio por favor."

I whirled around rapidly, and was surprised to see a colourful parrot in a cage, sitting in the corner of the room, angling his head towards me.

Ah yes, I'd heard about the famous Mr Chino the Spanish-Speaking-Wonder-Parrot (as Embry dubbed him).

Grinning I walked towards him, "hola Chino, ¿Cómo estás?"

I giggled heartily as I saw him jump up and down on his perch, "muy bien, muy bien, bella dama, gracias."

I smiled as the parrot called me a beautiful lady, it was hard to believe his owner is Embry Call. Before I could answer the bird, I heard heavy footsteps traipsing down the hall and turned slowly.

There, looking dishevelled and exhausted, stood Quil Ateara, stretching widely and looking at me with mild interest. "Hey, what's up Nessie?

Rolling my eyes and smirking I replied, "not much Quil, you just get outta bed or something?" I watched intently as he dragged his hand across his eyes, groaned and plonked down on the couch, putting both his hands over his face and tilting his head back towards the ceiling.

I frowned, moved the clothes off the armchair and sat down opposite him. "What's wrong Quil?" I asked, confusion and curiosity getting the better of me.

He groaned again, louder this time and mumbled something, even I with enhanced vampire hearing, found hard to understand.

"Uh…sorry?" I asked, leaning forward a bit.

"I said, I haven't slept properly in two weeks," he murmured, his voice strained as he began to yawn.

"Why not?"

Before he could answer however, his cell phone started ringing loudly.

"Oh for fuck -" he snapped, digging his hand into his pocket, holding his phone at arms length and gritted his teeth at me.

"THIS is why I haven't slept in two weeks," he growled, glaring at his cell that continued to ring and ring and ring.

I stared at it, then it him, "well, why don't you just answer it?"

He glared at me with a hard look in his eyes, "I have answered it. Many times! But she just won't leave me alone! She just talks and talks and talks and I swear to God if I hear any more whining about her dog Fifi's non-fluffy tail I will actually kill myself!"

I hid a smile behind my hand as I pretended to cough, "Courtney's been calling you a lot huh?"

Quil's non-verbal response was another glare and slamming his cell phone down on the coffee table so hard that it cracked into two pieces, the splintered wood crunching loudly.

I whistled lowly, "I'll take that as a yes."

My response got another groan from Quil as finally the ringing stopped, only to start again five seconds later. Even I was beginning to get irritated, so I jumped forward, clutched the phone and switched it off.

"There, problem solved," I smiled, waving his phone triumphantly.

"Yeah you'd think so, wouldn't y-" Suddenly, another phone started ringing somewhere in the apartment.

"Oh crap, she's ringing work now!" Quil spat, clenching his fists tightly.

I frowned. I told Rachel to be enthusiastic and clingy, but this was taking it to a whole new level.

"Hey, Quil, listen, why don't you just answer it, organise your date and then tell her you've an early day and have to go?" I suggested reasonably.

This apparently, was not what Quil wanted to hear. He snorted loudly, "believe me Ness, that's the last thing I wanna do. I don't want to date her, I don't want to talk to her and I seriously don't wanna do any dog-grooming with her! That's why I haven't been returning her calls, I thought I could do the whole plan Lana talked about, but I can't, I just can't…if Claire wants me to date, well then I'm just gonna have to say no…"

It was now my time to snort, "yeah Quil, good luck with that. When have you ever said no to Claire exactly?"

He sat forward determinedly, looking as if he was about to say something but his mouth soon snapped shut, he was stumped. He knew I was right. "Yeah well, I'll say no this time. I can't date Courtney, Nessie, I just can't. I'm devoted to Claire, always have, always will be, I mean I can't even fake liking Courtney, and besides as annoying as she is, I don't want to date her, get her hopes up and then dump her when Claire decides that I might be boyfriend material. It's not right, I wouldn't do that to someone."

I smiled, the Quileute guys really were a decent bunch, she decided to put him out of his misery. "Quil, I've something to tell you about Courtney, something that I didn't want you to know before…"

Quil's head tilted to the side with interest, "how do you know something about her, I thought you never met her?"

I rolled my eyes, "that's what I mean, listen, Courtney isn't who you think she is…"

Quil's eyes widened as I began to tell him everything.

- Claire's POV-

I breathed a sigh of relief as the large gust of wind blew against my reddened cheeks. I wrapped my arms around myself as I waited walked towards the grocery store to wait for my mom to pick me up. I had just spent the last hour and a half in my rigorous karate class and was aching to get home, relax and watch a movie with Ness and Erin.

I was in a trance like state as I sat on the bench outside Stanley's Deli, just barely watching as the people walked by. The loud beeping of my cell-phone snapped me out of my reverie with a start.

Laughing at myself, I reached into my pocket and pulled the small, black, cell out.

I smiled as I glanced at the screen.

1 Message Received

Cody

Hey Claire, how r u? Haven't heard from u in a while. Cody x

I frowned as I read the message. I knew I'd be avoiding Cody, but I didn't think he'd realise that I was being deliberately distant. I sighed, knowing I couldn't ignore his message, and besides I didn't want to, I quite liked Cody, he was a nice guy -even if he wasn't Quil, but at the same time, I didn't want to be the type to lead a guy on, and I just didn't know what to do about me and Cody. I mean, do I keep dating him and what, hope that Quil imprints and puts me out of my misery? Or, do I not date him and hopelessly wait until I get old enough where Quil might look up and notice me as girlfriend material?

Either way, I didn't want to hurt Cody. I know I told Quil I'd keep dating him, but the guilt was getting to me, so much so, that I'd hardly contacted him after our first date, where we exchanged phone numbers.

As I sat there on the bench, I decided that I had to do the right thing. I would meet up with Cody and tell him that I just wanted to be friends. Hopefully, he wouldn't hate me and I would gain a friendship in the long run. My fingers started pushing the buttons.

Hi Cody, I'm fine tanx, sorry I didn't get bak 2 u. Want 2 meet up on Friday? Claire x

And now, all I had to do was wait. I just hoped beyond hope that I really was doing the right thing for once…

-Erin's POV-

I let out another hearty laugh as I walked along the shore. It was a beautiful night out, the moonlight was glimmering over the waves, casting shadows along the beach where I was walking and talking with Embry Call.

He was so funny, telling me stories of his childhood, jokes and various mishaps with his friends. I found I was immensely enjoying myself just listening to him, he's very entertaining and fun to be around.

I hadn't realised, as we chatted easily that a full hour and a half had passed until the moonlight caught my watch and drew my attention.

"Oh wow, its 10 o' clock, I really should be getting back, Claire will be home soon," I mumbled, feeling a little disappointed that I had to leave.

Embry nodded, "yeah, sure, I'll drop you back…"

I don't know if it were just wishful thinking but I could of sworn that he sounded just as disappointed as I felt.

We began walking back to the car, and came across a particularly rocky part in the sand. As usual, I wasn't watching where I was going, (this time I was too busy staring at Embry's muscular arms) and slipped on the rocks, my legs going from under me.

I must of looked absolutely ridiculous, as I stumbled to the ground, limbs going everywhere.

"ERIN!" I heard Embry exclaim loudly as I connected with the rocks. "Ow!" I hissed, as I scraped my knee, instantly drawing blood.

Before I could even look at it however, Embry was at my side, clutching my arm and gently helping me to my feet. I couldn't bare to look at him, the embarrassment was over-whelming, my cheeks flushing dramatically. I was just thanking God that it was dark.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice deeply laced with concern as he brought me over to the sand hill and sat me down softly.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just scraped my knee that's all," I mumbled, feeling stupider by the second. Before I knew it, Embry was kneeling down in the sand on front of me and inspecting my knee with deep concentration.

He began fumbling in his pockets and quickly withdrew tissues.

"May I?" he asked, indicating that he wished to clean my cut. "Uh…yeah, sure," I mumbled, gesturing him to go ahead. He was insanely polite and gentlemanly, which confused me deeply. From what I heard from various sources, Embry Call was quite the deviant, in a hot sort of a way. This, puzzled me.

But all thoughts soon went out the window as soon as his fingers graced my skin. It was if an electrical current shock up all the way up my body and I jumped a little.

"Oh crap, sorry, did I hurt you?" he asked, his beautiful, chestnut eyes shinning with worry.

"No, no, I-I'm fine," I stuttered, a little shocked by my own reaction to him touching me. This really was strange indeed.

He smiled at me then and I'm sure my heart fluttered in my chest. Oh dear God, this man was gorgeous. Stunningly so. I could feel myself already becoming deeply attracted to him, against my better judgement.

Sighing, I just watched as he softly dabbed my knee with the tissue, the last few drops of blood getting soaked up. As he finished, his finger graced my knee again and I had the same fluttering of the heart and bit my lip.

He slowly raised his head then, to look me straight in the eyes. I found myself unable to look away from his captivating stare. I had no idea what was happening to me, it felt as if there was no oxygen left in the entire universe and I was suffocating, getting light-headed and dazing and yet was still clinging to his gaze. My throat went completely dry and I was clenching my hands together so tight I was beginning to cut off the circulation in my fingers, and yet, none of that mattered.

Suddenly he blinked and began to raise from the sand, effectively breaking the intensity of the moment.

"Are you okay now?" he asked lowly, reaching down to help me up. Once I straightened up, my feet firmly on the ground, my arm linked through his, I replied nervous, "uh yeah, I'm fine, let's go."

He never let go of my arm, until we were safely back to the car, there, he opened my door and helped me in and soon we were on our way back to Claire's.

There was one thing for sure. I was deeply beginning to like Embry Call. But there is just one problem. I've absolutely no idea whether that's a good thing or a very disastrous thing.

I guess, only time will tell…

A/N: And there you have it. Some Embry/Erin love! Hope you liked it! If so, let me know! -wired2damoon- x