As you all know, I only own Erin. I do not own twilight. Check out my Jared and Kim companion story, The Click of Imprinting. Erin and other Times of Change characters will make appearances eventually.

Inside, my uncle, Sue, and Harry greeted me. Jacob was nowhere in sight and Embry was nibbling on some bacon from this morning. Seth was still by my side and I felt oddly aware of just how close his shoulder was to mine. Knowing this was probably abnormal behavior like with the smelling thing, I tried to ignore it.

I let an honest smile form on my lips and stepped forward, "Uncle Billy!" I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, giving him a quick squeeze. "I missed you."

And I had... I just wasn't convinced he was the same as before even now.

Billy held onto me tight for a second before letting me go, "I missed you to, Kid." He gave me a smirk, the same one his son had inherited.

Speak of the devil, he shall appear. Jake came downstairs, my bag in his hand. "Are we ready, dad?" He asked Billy, eyebrows raised.

My uncle nodded gesturing towards the door, turning back to me, "Ready to be home?"

I raised my eyebrows and opened my mouth to answer but hesitated. I could feel Seth's presence somewhere behind me and glanced at him. His eyes were on me, a light smile of encouragement gracing his features. Looking back at Billy, I faked a smile, "Of course!"

It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the complete truth. I'd miss having Seth around all the time, and Sue, and Harry. Even Leah. I shrugged it off, being with Billy and Jacob would be normal, easy. Right?

Wrong! Living with Jacob was like living with a stereotypical teenaged girl. One slip of speech and he was ready to cuss you out. I felt like I was walking on eggshells my whole first week home. Seth coming over daily helped, and school was an escape, since Jake still hadn't returned, but it was stressful to feel the need to constantly appease my cousin. Not to mention the fact that Sam Uley and the cult were over almost everyday and Bella Swan was back to calling the house and driving up at random times, looking for Jacob.

Saturday, I stepped out of my room, fully dressed, to see Sam and Jared Cameron in the living room. I glared at Sam and nodded at Jared, going to the kitchen across the hall. I felt their eyes on me the whole time I made cereal and finally, I cracked. "What?"

They looked at each other and Sam cleared his throat. "Sit down, Erin, please."

I stared at them and thought about saying something spiteful, but instead just sat. "What?" I repeated.

"We've come to a decision about you." Jared stated, leaning forward. Sam nodded and then continued.

"You are officially a 'need-to-know' member of the, uh, group. You currently know everything you need to anyways, so things won't be very different." He finished.

I looked between the two of them then snorted. "Sorry, Sam," I said, taking a bite of food. "But I have no interest in joining your little cult, 'need-to-know' basis or not. If you remember correctly, I don't like you. At all." Jared's eyes widened and he looked at his friend, worriedly.

Sam just nodded and turned to Jared, "Let's go, Jacob and Embry will want to switch rolls soon."

They left without another word.

That night, my cell phone went of, playing my favorite song as the ringtone. "Hello?" I answered, flopping down onto my bed.

"Okay," Quil's voice started on the other side of the line, "I really shouldn't corrupt your freshman innocence, but I think we all need to blow off some steam. I got invited to this party on the beach; I think we should go. Oh, and Seth."

My first thought? Um, no. My second? Well... "Quil-" He cut me off.

"Please! This is the first party I've been invited to and normally I would go with Jake and Em but obviously that's not happening. Come on, Baby Erin."

I sighed and smiled, "Never call me Baby Erin again and I'll get Seth there; never ask this of me again and I'll go."

"Yes! Thank you, Erin! Wow, that sounds weird…" Quil trailed off.

I rolled my eyes, "It's my name, dummy, and it is literally a part of your completely unimaginative nickname. Whatever, I'll call Seth. Pick me up in a half an hour, 'kay?"

After calling and inviting Seth, I got dressed. I hated it, but I was actually excited. I mean, freshmen that go to parties are the cool ones, not Seth and I; and getting away from Jacob? Couldn't pass up an opportunity like that!

I got on a tighter than normal white tank top and a blue flannel shirt, tying it under my breasts instead of doing the buttons. I also threw on a pair of jean shorts that I'd gotten from Leah on my last birthday. They were her kind of short shorts that just barely cover your ass and I'd been too embarrassed to wear them anywhere but why not? Red cowboy boots from Uncle Billy topped it all off.

I stepped out of my room and closed my door, walking quietly to the door. "Uncle Billy, I'm going to hang out with Seth and Quil, might be back late. Is that okay?" I asked, hand on the doorknob. Uncle Billy was pretty invested in the baseball game that was on, so I guessed he would say yes.

"What? Yeah, sure." He muttered and I grinned, leaving the house. Quil was parked outside, turned around, talking to Seth in the backseat.

I opened the passenger seat and slid in. "Drive, before Jacob shows up or something."

Quil turned to me and stopped, looking me up and down, before nervously putting the car into reverse. "You look very nice, Erin." He said, sounding weirdly formal.

I rolled my eyes, "It's a party, right?"

Quil nodded. I turned around, grinning at Seth, who was also looking me over. His eyes lingered somewhere for a second, and if I didn't know better I would say it was definitely my chest, before he blushed and looked out of the window. "Hey, 'Rin." His voice cracked and Quil burst out laughing.

"Sup, Dork." A weird, warm, and exhilarating feeling flooded into my stomach and I bit my lip, turning around as Seth shifted in his seat behind Quil.

The party was already in full swing when we got there. Seth opened my car door and helped me out. "Thanks." I grinned at him and he shrugged, looking seemingly anywhere but at me.

"Aww, how sweet!" A high-pitched voice yelled from a couple feet away.

I looked over and shut the car door. "Leah?"

Seth's older sister had gone to a lot of parties back when her boyfriend was Sam Uley. Then Sam dumped her; I didn't know she still went out. There she was, though, walking towards us, looking us over. "Really, Seth? That's what you wear to your first party?" Seth glared at her, not saying anything. I thought his t-shirt, overshirt and jeans looked fine, but whatever. "Erin, on the other hand, not gonna lie, in that outfit, you actually look hot." I blushed and looked down. "Now, I gotta go, enjoy the fun."

Quil came up behind us, "You know, she wasn't lying, Erin. If I hadn't seen you eat dirt when you were four, I might even say you were hot too." I smacked him and Seth laughed.

We walked over to the group of half drunk high schoolers. Rihanna boomed across the whole beach and a keg could be seen a bit away from us. Quil took a look around and turned to me and Seth, "Hot girls, gotta go." And off he went.

Seth laughed and turned to me, shaking his head. He cleared his throat and held his hand out, bowing dramatically, "May I have this dance?"

I rolled my eyes and placed my hand in his, the warm feeling burning in my fingertips as they touched Seth's skin. I shook my head and let Seth lead me onto the dance floor. The music changed, The Ready Set bursting out of the speakers. I giggled as Seth took my hands and awkwardly pulled one arm, then the other.

We danced like that for a while before out of nowhere Seth took one of his hands back, pulling me forward in a quick jerk.

I fell softly against his chest for a second before he carefully pushed me back, spinning me around. I laughed as he pulled me back in, my back resting against his chest, his free hand grabbing mine for a second before he spun me again, then pulled me in, leaving us nearly chest to chest. We laughed, our eyes meeting. The warmth radiated across my whole body now, making me blush and look away, pulling back. "So, where did you learn to dance?" I asked, looking at him again.

Seth shrugged, "Mom made us take lessons for Emily's wedding a few weeks ago." Emily was Seth's second cousin. She was marrying Sam Uley after he dumped Leah for her. "Kind of jumping the gun, in my opinion, since they haven't even set a date."

I nodded. The music changed again and 'Smile' by Avril Lavigne blared. I gasped, grabbing Seth's hand, "I love this song!" This time it was me to pull him to the dance floor.

Seth shrugged and put his arms around my waist, like in a hug but didn't squeeze. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, rocking back and forth with him, smiling giddily... because I liked the song, not because of anything else at all.

Our gazes met and a fire lit in the pit of my stomach. My smile slipped from my face, my blue eyes locked onto Seth's warm, brown ones. The music changed again, to something loud and noisy but I could barely hear anything over my own heartbeat in my ears.

The corner's of Seth's lip twitched up slightly and then he was leaning down, closer to my face. Completely incapable of thinking clearly, I cocked my head to the side as I tilted my head up towards him, my breath quickening. Soon he was so close, I could taste his breath on the tip of my tongue, feel his warmth against my face. My eyes fluttered shut and I waited, feeling him so close to my skin. Our noses brushed, our lips had to be less than a centimeter apart-

Then the music cut off. My eyes flew up wide and I jerked away from Seth, feeling dizzy and dazed like a spell had been lifted. I looked around, trying to figure out who had turned the music off and focus on anything but just how close I had been to kissing feaking Seth Harry Clearwater seconds ago.

"EVERYONE OUT OF HERE!" A gruff voice yelled. I knew that voice. Seth and I looked at each other, too panicked to even feel awkward in the moment.

"Sam!" We said together in horror.

So, what do you think? Erin and Seth almost kissing? What will happen when Seth changes? And Quil? How we they get away without any of the pack seeing them? I don't know yet...