Chapter 17: My meaning

Embry's POV.

The sun was still high in the sky as I got started on my day. I had clean clothes on my back so that was one less worry on my list. Of course I still had my broken heart, my girlfriends broken heart, her lost virginity and my broken ego. My list of problems was still large and growing but I had to stay focused. They were all bounded. Once I fixed things with Amber, everything else would fall into place.

The real dilemmas were really what was I supposed to get her. I had my heart set on getting her a ruby bracelet. I recalled her complaining about not having much bracelets and she'd also know that I loved and listened to her. I knew for a fact that ruby was her birth stone. The second dilemma was whether she would accept my apology. I was going to beg her to take me back.

Destiny must have wanted us to be together because I ended up right in front of a jewellery store. I didn't hesitate to enter it. I underestimated the price of a ruby bracelet. If it would put a smile on Amber's face than the sky was my limit…On second thought, I wanted to start college in the fall so 150$ was my limit.

The light in the Kay's jewellery store made me squint. Glass counters were on all four corner of the store with shinny, expensive rings inside. I went to the nearest counter and looked through the glass. I mostly saw diamond rings. I frowned. I had a feeling Amber would get the wrong impression if I got her a diamond ring. I wanted to get her back but I didn't want to marry her.

I walked to the far end of the store towards the platinum blond with her back turned to me behind the counter. I hoped she could help me find something in my price range.

"Excuse me, Miss?" I said.

The beautiful blond turned around with a bright smile on her face. She was a natural sells person I could tell. "Hello, Sir, how may I help you?"

"Hi, um, I was hoping to find a nice ruby bracelet."

"Ruby! How nice! Come here." She stayed on her side of the counter but walked towards the left side of the store. Behind these glasses were many different ruby jewellery. There were so many shimmering colours I was sure that this would be like a candy store to Amber. I wished I could bring her the whole store. If I were a millionaire I would buy her everything and she would take me back. I was sure of that.

"Okay, we have some gorgeous ruby bracelets over here." She said. She was right. The bracelets were all beautiful. I was hardly able to choose which one Amber would like the most. I hoped that this pretty blond here—her name was Janette—could help me. "Is there a special occasion? Birthday? Anniversary?"

I laughed nervously. I didn't want to freak her out by saying bad performance in the sac, "Apology, I guess, kind of screwed it up with my…" I trailed off, not feeling comfortable confiding to this sales lady. She looked way too interested in my personal life.

She laughed to loosen my tension, "They have greeting cards for that. A gold bracelet; that's taking a step forward, definitely."

Gold. That sounded a bit expensive. I felt myself blush, "Um, I was actually hoping something that wasn't too expensive…" I said, "Unless you think that'll ruin my chances of getting her back." I added quickly. I didn't want the blond girl to think I was cheap or anything.

"Of course not, hun. It's the thought that counts." She smiled reassuringly and looked down at the ruby bracelets and rings through the glass. "I'm going to be honest with you, hun, ruby rings are cheaper than bracelets..."

"No rings." I cut her off, "I don't want her getting the wrong impression…"

Her eyes widened, "Okay…then a bracelet." She went back to observing the bracelets.

A particular one caught my eyes. It was mostly because of the heart shape pendant bejewelled with rubies, "What that one?" I asked pointing at it.

She squinted her eyes to see what I was referring to then smiled, "Oh, that's a nice one. It's sterling silver and those are lab-created rubies. The heart is also made out of silver and is adorned with the lab-created rubies. You can also see that the toggle clasp is decorated with the same ruby." She described the chain bracelet and my heart thudded at the thought of Amber's face if I gave her this…

"I want it." I said without thinking.

"The price is 159.99," She informed, "May I suggest the matching earrings?"

"The bracelets fine, thank you." I assured her with a smile.

She smiled back at me and started patting her pants in search for something. She frowned, "Oh, hold on a minute." She turned her back on me, "Laurence!" she called. She waited a few seconds before yelling, "Laurence!"

"What?!" screamed another woman's voice. Her voice was coming from the open door Janette had been in front of when I first came in.

"I don't have the key for the rubies. Do you have it?"

"I don't know." The girl named Laurence replied.

Janette waited, expecting Laurence to say something else but she didn't. Janette sighed, "Could you check?" she yelled, sounding annoyed.

"I'm eating." She complained.

I snickered. This Laurence character was funny. I actually hoped she'd come out so I could tell her she gave me a good laugh. She had a nice voice.

"Laurence, for the love of God, I have a customer and he wants to buy a bracelet."

Laurence sighed loudly but Janette couldn't hear that. She made allot of noise to show her annoyance and there was the sound of remerging, "I have it." Laurence announced and stepped out the back room. She was looking down at the keys as she walked towards Janette and handed them to her.

Her head turned to face me and my entire body froze. I was frozen where I was, just staring at this beautiful woman. I might have been frozen but I was warm inside. Heat and warmth filled my heart and radiated to the rest of my body. I stared at her smooth caramel coloured skin, the soft contours of her face and parted lips from the same shock I was also going through.

The reason I was here came to me. Not only why I was in sunny California but why was I born? Why did I even exist? Why did I choose this particular store to come in? Amber was a blip in the back of my mind. All the pain I had felt for hurting her wasn't healed but completely vanished. My heart didn't feel whole, but bigger, better, stronger. I didn't deny why these reasons came to me. I couldn't deny that Laurence was standing in front of me. I couldn't deny that my reason was standing just a few feet from me.

My world had completely changed. I had this whole galaxy to live for. Several gravitational polls. My brave mother and my pack, my dreams to go to college and Amber; I was pulled away from all those polls and was dragged into a more legit poll. It was a million times stronger than all my other meanings. It was the sales girl standing in front of me.

Laurence.

Her maroon eyes were staring right back at me. They seemed to shimmer with so much emotion. I'd never seen anything like them. Maroon eyes—brownish-red. She was astounding.

In my chest, my heart had stopped beating, just to be replaced by a much faster and stronger rhythm. I wasn't scared when my heart stopped beating. I knew I wasn't going to die after finding my meaning.