I always swore I would never become one of those desperate for reviews begging authors, but seriously. This story's had over a thousand hits this month. Could you please take one minute and let me know what you think? Pretty please with whipped cream on top? I would also like to thank my sister for inspiring the character of Sophie, who's become surprisingly popular (among reviewers, at least), and my friends who are reading this and helping me plan my stories out (you know who you are).

Last time:

Seth appeared at the passenger door and took my hand. I knew one thing; I was never going to suffer cold hands in the winter when I was with him. "Let's go," he suggested, and we walked hand in hand to the ticket booth.

After we'd purchased the tickets, we went to get refreshments, popcorn, and the like. Seth, of course, got two super-sized buckets of popcorn and a large soda. I declined the popcorn (I didn't have a bottomless pit for a stomach and we were going to go to dinner later) but got a small soda.

The theater was very crowded. I supposed that's what happens when you go to a recently out movie on a rainy Saturday night. It would have been ridiculous to assume anything else. I'd been expecting a scarcity of empty seats.

As we walked in, I noticed how chilly the air was in here. Why did they air condition movie theaters anyway? It's not like it was hot outside. I had a sudden urge to be a bit closer to Seth. He was so hot that I wouldn't even have to be touching him to warm up. That only explained part of the urge, though. The other part had more to do with teenage hormones.

We found two seats behind another couple. They looked like typical high school kids, out for movie night. Maybe we did too, but Seth was far from typical.

They seemed very comfortable around each other, but something seemed off about them to me. It was a few minutes before the movie started when I realized what it was. They didn't look at each other much, as I knew only too well Seth and I were wont to do. Unless you counted the boy ogling the girl's breasts, which I didn't.

The movie started after the numerous previews practically begging us to come back again. Seth wound his arm around my shoulder and I looked up at him and smiled. I leaned a bit into his side. I was right; it did warm me.

I turned back toward the movie but was distracted by the two teenagers in front of us who appeared to be trying to suck the lips off of each other. I immediately felt uncomfortable. I'd certainly gotten past my first kiss, but the act seemed so private to me, almost like it was a secret. I'd been embarrassed when my own sister saw me! I should probably get over that.

I glanced up at Seth again. He was looking at me, too. By now, I'd pretty much been expecting it. He smiled at me and I felt less awkward. He wasn't going to do anything that made me feel uncomfortable. It was almost like he could sense what my reactions were going to be. I didn't remember that one in the list of wolf superpowers, though.

I spent the rest of the movie snuggled into his warm arm. I tried to pay attention to the movie, but missed about half of it. I was too aware of him. I decided to just laugh when I heard the rest of the audience laugh. It worked, more or less.

When the lights finally turned on, I didn't want to leave. I wanted to sit there a few more hours next to Seth. I was filled with utter contentment. But for the barely audible voice in my head telling me I shouldn't be quite so happy with Seth, that he was too good to last, the moment was perfect.

"Ready to go?" asked Seth. If it had been anyone else speaking to me at that moment, then I might've jumped. Already, even after less than two weeks, his voice sounded so familiar to my ears.

He gave me his hand as I hauled myself out of my seat. We walked back to his car and sat there for a few minutes.

"So where are we going to dinner?" I asked.

"Small restaurant in town. They get a lot of tourists there. Good burgers." He grinned as he started the car. I grinned back. A burger house tourist trap sounded like fun.

We pulled into the miniscule parking lot the restaurant (Darla's) shared with a coffeehouse, a bank, a post office, and a dentist's office. I got out and he walked around and took my hand.

Before I could take more than a step, he had suddenly, almost out of nowhere pulled me back to him and started kissing me like he never had before. His normally hot skin felt like it was on fire. This wasn't just kissing anymore; this was a full-fledged make-out session. It just figured that my first one would be in front of a burger place. That didn't take away from it a bit, though.

We probably looked worse than the two teenagers in the movie theater, never mind that we weren't surrounded by total darkness. The overcast sky and the fact that it was past seven helped, though. I may not have initiated the whole thing, but I can't lie and say that I didn't participate as much.

We were interrupted by the loud honk of a horn. "Hey! You kids! Get out of the way! I need that parking space!" I flushed. It seemed that I had just gotten over the kissing in public dilemma.

I looked up to see Seth smiling like a maniac. All of a sudden, I erupted into giggles. It was just funny. We hurried over to the edge of the lot, closer to where the entrance to Darla's was. We stopped again. Seth took my arms in his hands. They more than covered the circumference of my upper arms.

"Haley, listen. I know I've known you for only a very short time but… I love you."

My mouth dropped. No way. No freaking way. Maybe I should've seen this coming, what with the imprinting and the true love speech and everything, but there was a part of me that kept denying everything. I didn't believe it. I knew I loved him but… Wait, I loved him? Where did that come from? What Leah had said came flooding back to me.

Sickening to watch… He's already changed because of you… You guys don't have anything in common… He's trying to change himself.

I was sickened. I felt like I was going to throw up or cry, or both. I couldn't deny the truth of any of these statements. I'd been pushing it away and letting Seth's presence push it away for me, but now it was right there and could not be ignored. I needed to… stop before I hurt us both. There was no way this could work out.

"Haley, Haley? What's wrong? Are you all right?" A voice sounded from what seemed like very far away. I brought myself back to the present and found that tears were running down my cheeks.

"I didn't mean to freak you out. Did I say something too soon? I don't want to rush you into anything…"

I interrupted him. "No, it's nothing you did, it's what I did." I couldn't look up, couldn't meet his dark, intense eyes.

"You couldn't have done anything." His voice sounded so sure, but what did he know? His judgment was warped.

"You and I, we just can't work. I feel so bad for making you lose your will where I'm concerned. We don't have anything in common. And I'm just not good enough for you! You deserve someone as wonderful as you are…"

"But you're more…"

"No! I'm not! I'm just the random girl you imprinted on who's taken away all your choices! You think I'm so amazing but I'm not!"

"But…"

"No. No one else had any free choice. You all have to do what your damn imprint wants! I'm giving you your choice back. I can't live with taking that away from you, no matter how much I lo-…" I cut myself off abruptly. No need to make this harder. "Listen, we probably wouldn't have worked out anyway. We're just too opposite. I'm just speeding up the process. Win-win situation." I ducked my head back down. I'd never before noticed how interesting my shoes were.

Seth lifted my chin up with two fingers, forcing me to look him it the eyes. Once I did, I couldn't have looked away if I tried. He was doing that looking thing again, right when I was trying to enforce some tough love. This would make it harder, but I could hold out. I was stubborn as a mule. It would be better for him without me, never mind that without him I'd never find someone and end up being a crazy old lady with a few cats. That had been my backup plan before I met Seth, anyway.

"I'll go if you really want me to," he said, looking a bit skeptical. He'd heard me almost say 'love'. Of course he had, he wasn't stupid, far from it. "I'll drive you straight home and not say a word, but please, come with me. I think I can… convince you, show you my side of things. Give me a chance, please. I don't know what I'd do without you."

I was conflicted. I tried to tell myself to just go home and let him get on with his vampire-butt-kicking life. I tried to tell myself that it was all for the best. I failed. I tried to reason that I should hear his part, that it would be rude not to. I didn't fool the bigger half of me that just wanted to be near him for a little longer, and that was a half step away from caving.

"Okay," I whispered, barely audible. I was toast. I was burnt toast. So much for being stubborn as a mule. My resolve was failing faster by the minute.

Seth's arm was around my waist as we walked in the door, his hand slightly stroking my back. Even when I had tried to leave him, he still cared so much about me.

The middle-aged hostess looked a bit shocked when she saw my tearstained face and looked at Seth in alarm, as if he had done something to make me cry or was abusive. I smiled weakly and just barely shook my head, unconsciously leaning into Seth, as though he were shielding me from the humiliation of being seen with eyes and nose as red as cherries.

She led us to a cozy booth and shot a sympathetic look at me before telling us that our server would be out shortly. Seth looked my directly in the eyes. "May I start?" he asked.

I nodded.

"I guess I didn't explain imprinting enough. The thing is, you matter so much to me, that I wouldn't take back any 'choice' if it were offered to me. Second, imprinting always works out. Wolves and imprints generally end up spending happy lives together, get married, have a few kids, grow old together… Not to freak you out or anything," he added hastily. I shrugged and said nothing.

"Okay, and third, you can say we're opposite all you want but there's an underlying similarity between us. There always is. It's like we were made for each other. Anything you can come up with to try to convince we that we're too different is going to be superficial compared to it.

"Just please don't go. You're brilliant and amazing and breathtaking and, well, I could go on for ages. Just please don't give up on me just because you think we aren't a good match. I really do love you. I'm one of the only guys who can talk about love at first sight and mean it." Wow did he know how to be eloquent! He seriously made that up on the spot? I had to focus.

"But I don't want to change anything about you. I don't want you to be different because of me," I brought up my last point, the one he had failed to address. The one that Leah had stressed, and the one that had kept me up late at night.

"Haley, change just happens. No one can help it. I swear that anything that's changed about me since I met you has been for the better and has made me happy. And who told you I changed. You didn't know me."

I sat in silence and looked at the tabletop. Then, at the best possible time, the waitress came up to our table. She plopped the menus down on the table and said, "Hello, I'm Sarah and I'll be your server tonight. Anything to drink?" I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe he'd forget his question. I didn't want to out Leah.

"I'll have a root beer," said Seth. I stared down at the beverages section of the menu.

"Can I get a diet coke?" I asked.

"Sure," she said, before bustling off like she would rather be anywhere but here.

He jumped right back in without hesitation. "Who said that? Was it someone in one of the packs?"

I stared right back into his eyes, trying to tell him telepathically that he really didn't want to know. It didn't work.

"Embry, Paul, Jared, Jake, Leah…" He started listing out names and stopped at Leah's name. Maybe I had inadvertently flinched, or maybe he had taken up mind reading, but he seemed to know immediately.

"Leah didn't mean anything by it, I'm sure. She's always been kind of protective. She followed me into Jake's pack and everything. I think she might be kind of jealous, too. You've been imprinted on and she thinks she's never going to imprint because she's the only girl wolf ever. Don't listen to her when she talks like that. She's gotten a lot better since she stopped sharing Sam's mind but she's still kind of… well, bitter's the only way to say it, really. Just don't tell her I said that."

I studied Seth's face. He looked incredibly sincere, and I had a hunch that he wouldn't lie to me, anyway. "Oh," was all I could make come out of my mouth. I felt like a fool, but at least my intentions had been good.

"Oh?" Seth questioned. "Did that help at all?"

I really didn't know how to handle this moment, so I resorted to an old favorite of mine: sarcasm. "It would've helped more if I'd found out a few days ago. Honestly, you guys need to type up all these details and give it to the next person who's imprinted on. It may help prevent stuff like this."

"I don't know if any more of them are going to imprint. It's supposed to be rare, according to the legends, anyway."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Over half of the pack has imprinted. That doesn't sound rare to me."

"Maybe they're wrong then. I guess we'll have to wait and find out."

The waitress came by with our sodas and an aggravated sigh. Apparently she didn't like her job all that much.

"So you've decided against leaving for our own good?" he asked. He looked so hopeful. If my mind wasn't already made up, the look on his face would've done it.

"Yes. Seth, I love you. I'm sorry I didn't say it sooner." This time it was me who leaned over toward him to kiss him.

Well, Leah I said to myself. Seth and me, I guess we're not as opposite as we thought.