"Hey, Leah, guess what came this morning?" Lizzie accosts me as soon as I walk through the door.
"A brick?" I hazard a guess. "A warrant for your arrest? An obscenely large phone bill?"
Lizzie laughs sarcastically. "Funny Leah." Childishly I pull a face at her back as she prances through into the living room. "Although you are half right about the phone bill. You do spend a lot of time on the phone. Must be all the time you spend talking to Toby"
"Or my mom. Anyway you're always on there, gabbing away to Jessie." I roll my eyes and throw myself onto the sofa. "Enlighten me then Lizzie, oh comedy genius."
"I never said I was funny, just that you weren't. " She smirks. She squeals as I throw a cushion at her then flounces out of the room.
I wait. I know Lizzie. She'll be back to tell in me in 3...2...1...
She bounces back in. "A wedding invite! For, er, a...Sam Uley and his bride, Emily Young. Awesome, huh?"
I sit up sharply and grab the invite. This cannot be happening. Sure enough Sam and Emily have invited Joel, Sharon and Lizzie to their wedding. Why, oh why, oh why does all the shit happen to me? They probably think I'm dating Joel, like the rest of the world. Even Toby gets jealous and he knows that nothing's going on between us. I've told him enough times anyway.
"What?!" I gasp.
"Your friends invited us to their wedding! This is so cool! I've never even been to La Push before!" She's bubbling with excitement and babbling on about what she's going to wear.
"I have to go." I say getting up and pulling my baseball boots on. "I need to talk to Joel."
I run all the way there. Why have Sharon and Lizzie been invited? I didn't even know that Emily knew about them! It must have been Mom. I bet she told them. I'm going to kill her, actually kill her dead.
McDonalds is, mercifully, empty and I can pull Joe to one side and shove the invite right into his face.
He reads it and screws up his face in confusion. "Well, we won't go." He says as though the answer is obvious. Yeah, like I hadn't already thought of that.
"No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no you have to come with me!" I grip his arm. "There is no way on God's earth that I can get through this hideousness without moral support!"
"So you just don't want Mom or Lizzie there?" he guesses. Correctly. I nod manically.
"Ok, we'll figure something out."
"Can we listen to McFly?"
I grit my teeth and remind myself that if I commit murder now, I won't be able to the wedding. Dammit, that's just given me another incentive.
Sharon had proved easy enough to persuade to not come to La Push, but Lizzie could not be prevented from tagging along.
"Who's' MacFly?" I ask. "Never heard of them."
Lizzie gasps theatrically. "They're a brilliant British rock band!"
"Like The Clash?"
"They suck." said Joel firmly."They're rubbish, and we are not listening to them. Plus they're not rock, they're pop."
Lizzie pouts. "They do not suck. This crap we're listening to now is what sucks. I hate them!"
"The Red Hot Chilli Peppers are one of the best..."
"They're has beens." Interrupts Lizzie. "Red Hot Chilli Has Beens."
"They're better that freaking McCrap"
"Oh, McCrap, very original Joel..."
I roll my eyes as the pair bicker. They're so busy arguing that they don't even notice when I put my CD on. It takes ten minutes for Joel to realise and by that time we're only a few miles from La Push.
Mom and Charlie are waiting for us by the gates. Seth is "out with friends" i.e. on patrol. He's staying at Billy's while we're here anyway, so that Joel can have his room, while Lizzie and I share my old room. I bet she drives me round the bend.
Lizzie pesters me for a tour of La Push and I reluctantly agree, even though the rez is so boring it's not even funny.
I take her down to the beach first because it's just about the only bit of La Push that I like, save for the woods. When we get there I see Jake at the water's edge, playing with Renesmee. I don't particularly want to go near Nessie-she kind of creeps me out a bit to be honest- but Lizzie wants to go so we meander down.
When we get there Lizzie gasps and Jacob does a double take and grins.
"Have I missed something?" I ask. "Do you guys know each other?"
"We've met before." Smiles Jacob. "It's Lizzie, right?" She nods.
"When?" I ask curiously. I though Lizzie had never been here before?
Jacob is guarded. "Oh, the day I took my little field trip in Cullen's car, remember?"
Do I-do I remember? Of course I freaking remember! I almost got myself killed by going into Vamp HQ!
"The Aston Martin Vanquish." Smiles Lizzie. "You've cheered up a bit since then though. Did you find what you were looking for?"
I'm completely nonplussed, but Jacob beams and his gaze flickers to Nessie for a brief second. "Oh yes." He replies.
Lizzie grins. "I'm glad. You frightened the life out of me when you drove off. I thought you were about to drive off a cliff."
Making a mental note to ask Jake what the hell that was about I drag Lizzie away. I'm pretty sure that he was talking about the day that bitch Bella Swan made him practically suicidal and he took one of the Cullen's' car out for the day. I thought we'd never see him again and so I decided to tell that leech lover what I really thought of her and to let her know what she was actually doing to Jake. I nearly got ripped to shreds by Edward Cullen. Jacob would've been pissed too I bet but he imprinted before I saw him. Which, I have to admit, what kind of a relief because he would've been mad.
It's getting dark and Lizzie's bored of the beach.
"Hey, Leah? Do you love Toby?"
"What?" I squeak. "No!"
"Oh."
"Why the hell did you ask me that?"
"I just wondered."
There's a pause and then she asks me nervously "Do you love Joel?"
"What?!" I yelp. "Love Joel? Are you mad?" She just looks at me and I frown. "Don't you look at me like that Elizabeth Mae Temperton."
"Hey, don't go full naming me!" she snickers. "You so do love him."
"Lizzie, I love Joel like a best friend."
"Not a brother?"
"My brother is the most irritating little punk ever." I say firmly. "If I loved Joel like I loved Seth...well lets just say I wouldn't like Joel very much."
Lizzie gives me a searching look. "I think he likes you though Leah."
I snort. "Oh, yeah, OK dear. Honestly, what is up with you?
She looks smug. "Best friends, ex friends to the end, better off as lovers, as not the other way around."
"Aren't they Fallout Boy lyrics? You must like bang the doldrums." I say.
"My favourite song on the album" she replies.
We're back at the house now and I stop and take Lizzie by the shoulders. I look her straight in the eyes and say "If you start to tell people that I am secretly in love with Joel I will hunt you down and kick your ass."
She nods, but I'm not done yet.
"Your insides will become your outsides and your extrails will become you intrails...pain! Lots of pain!"
"Ok I get it!" Lizzie laughs and breaks my grip and prances into the house.
I shake my head in disbelief. What the hell is wrong with everyone? Why is it that just because I'm single and my best friend is a hot guy everyone assumes that I'm either sleeping with him or secretly in love with him?
Anyway, you're not single I remind myself. You've got Toby! How could you forget about him?
I'm tired and I need sleep. Tomorrow is Sam and Emily's wedding. Tomorrow is going to be one of the worst days of my life and I'll need to smile and look pretty.
On the other hand maybe all I need is a drink.