Thank you so much for all of your great reviews! They were very encouraging. A few people said that they don't usually read LeahxOC fics, but are giving mine a chance. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. Believe me; this one isn't like any of the others. Enjoy!

Leah's POV

Chapter 2

"Vinnie?"

At least, I think that was his name, but I could be wrong. If I was wrong, I'd seem pretty stupid.

I could only vaguely remember the name, but I did remember the face. He was someone from a long time ago. Well, almost three years ago. He was in the background of a lot of my happier memories during high school. He was even in a few from when I was younger and my parents would have huge dinners and invite nearly everyone to them.

To be honest, he was a lot better looking than Embry. It was hard to even think they were related. Half brothers or not, I couldn't see dumb seventeen year old Embry compare to his rather… well, handsome brother. His skin was an olive tone, shades lighter than mine, and his short dark brown hair was in a boyish trimed haircut. His eyes kind of caught me off guard. You would be, too, if you saw them. They weren't the dark brown most people around here had, but a light green. Who the hell has light green eyes that grew up on a rez, anyways?

But really, that's how I knew I recognized him. When it clicked in my mind, I was just thinking "Oh yeah, that's Embry's brother Vinnie with the really weird eyes."

He stood up from the couch quickly after I said his name – I guess I got it right, since he didn't correct me –and looked me over. For some reason, as the moment came and went, I got surprisingly self conscious. I was pretty, I wasn't modest enough to know that fact, but guys around here never looked at me like that.

He finally looked me in my eyes. "Um…" he hesitated. "Hi, Leah."

I smiled a little to myself. I remembered that voice. "I didn't know you came back to La Push," I lied. I knew for a fact that he was coming to town –It's not like Embry bothered covering up his stupid excitement –but Jacob had advised us to not give the impression that we knew about his visit. It'd be weird enough if he noticed how old Embry must've seemed now. Jacob just told us to convince Vinnie that he'd been gone a long time if he asked too many questions about our growth spurts. "How's college?"

He smiled. "Pretty boring, actually. I'm moving back here."

I was surprised. "Oh." I had thought he was just visiting. I noticed something weird on the couch, but I couldn't figure out where they came from. "What are those?" I pointed.

He looked to where I had indicated. "Oh!" He quickly picked up the plastic covered, ribbon tied piece. He held them up to me. "Here," he said simply.

I knew what they were. They were flowers, little purple flowers. I knew what they were, but I didn't get the sentiment. "What are these?"

He looked confused. "They're flowers," he chuckled.

I rolled my eyes. As if I had time for this as it is. "I know that, but why are you giving them to me?" I had received flowers a total of six times in my life: three for every anniversary I had with Sam, and three for every birthday I had while we were going out. I was his girlfriend, so there was a reason for him to do that. He was kind of obligated to.

What was this guy's reason?

"Uh… well… I was… I thought they…" he stuttered.

I laughed a little at his expense. "You know, typically, college is supposed to make someone smarter. What happened to you?"

His face went blank for a second, and before I even had the inclination to possibly say sorry about my not too nice remark, his face went into a grin. "I got them because I thought they'd be nice. A kind gesture. I can take them back if you want…" he trailed off, lowering the flowers from my gaze.

"No!" I said, before I could even stop. I wanted the flowers. They were actually very pretty. I never seen those kind before, and I kind of was looking forward to… I don't know, I guess just looking at them.

I took the flowers out of his hand and played with one of the green leaves, staring down at them. "I'll go put these in some water."

I walked into the kitchen and found some vases in a cabinet. After I found one that would appropriately fit it, I set them in and filled the glass with water, removing the plastic and purple ribbon from it.

I went back into the living room and leaned against the door way, peering at him curiously. "What kind of flowers are those?"

"Forget me nots," he said quietly. I could see a faint pink go to his cheeks, though I didn't get where it had come from.

"Oh. Well, they're pretty." I sat across from him in a chair, my legs dangling off the sides. He sat down as I picked up a bag of Doritos from the coffee table next to me and begun to eat, watching absentmindedly what was on TV. It was some stupid action flick on HBO Seth must've been watching before.

A moment passed, and I expected him to explain what he was doing here… in my house… getting me flowers as a kind gesture… but he didn't say anything. I looked up to see him staring at me, gaping a little.

I rose an eyebrow. "Do you want one?" I asked, holding up a chip to him.

"S-sure." He stood up and walked over to me, taking the Dorito out of my hand. His hand froze as it brushed next to my own.

"What's wrong?" I asked. I looked up to his face and saw a concerned look on it.

He took my hand into his. "You're on fire. Are you sick?" He pulled a hand onto my forehead.

I swatted it away quickly. Sometimes, I forgot how weird it must seem for me to be so hot to normal people. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine," I insisted, getting a little annoyed. Why was he worrying so much?

He nodded and sat back down, pretending to watch TV. He looked over at me a total of four times before I finally said, "Is there something wrong?" sounding pretty ticked off.

"No, I'm sorry," he replied quickly, though his eyes never left mine.

"Why are you here?"

"I told you. I moved back to La Push."

"No, I mean here. In my house."

He shrugged. "I was just being friendly. I wanted to see if you remembered me at all."

I laughed, finally understanding the flowers. "Forget me nots! I get it." Leave it to me to get a joke too late.

He smiled shyly.

"Yeah, I remember you, Vinnie. You're Embry's brother. The last time I saw you was at your graduation party. Me and…" I trailed off, memories flooding back to me that I didn't really want to be reminded of. "I went there," I corrected.

He smiled brightly, his perfect teeth shining in the dim light of the living room. "You look different, Leah." He seemed to say it with some satisfaction.

I wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not. "Thanks, I guess…" I said trailing off, eating another chip.

"I mean, a good different," he corrected, looking worried he had offended me probably. "I mean, not that you didn't always look good, but I haven't seen you in so long."

Was this guy for real right now? "Not that you didn't always look good?" Who says that? It was pretty… I don't know, dorky would be the right word.

But endearing seemed like a better one.

"Thank you," I said, nicer now that I thought his dorkiness was kind of cute, an appealing part to his personality.

There was a pause, and then, he rose to his feet. "I guess I'll be on my way, then," he said.

It seemed polite to get on my own feet and walk him to the door…

…But I never said I was courteous towards others.

I remained in my seat and looked up to him. "It was good seeing you, Vince." And it really was. Finally, things had settled down. The stupid bloodsuckers' war over the half breed was over before it started. It had happened about three days ago, and I felt like I could finally take a breather of a stench other than that damn bleach. Seeing Vinnie sort of reminded me that there was a real world out there, a world that existed with no bloodsuckers and werewolves –oh, sorry; shape shifters… what kind of crap was that anyways? –where only humans existed.

He smiled looking down at me. "It was good seeing you, too, Leah." He started walking to the door and my eyes followed.

He paused as his hand went to the doorknob. He turned back to me and hesitated.

"Yes?" I asked, a little agitated.

"I… I was just wondering if you'd mind going with me to get some coffee sometime."

I was puzzled. "Coffee?" He was asking me to coffee?

"Yeah. There's this little café not too far from here—"

"I don't drink coffee," I said matter of factly.

"Oh." His face looked as if I had struck him with something. "Alright. Well, I'll see you around then." He opened the door and started to walk out.

Nice, Leah, I thought to myself. Embry's brother just asked you out somewhere and you screwed him over. Real nice.

I sighed, a little exasperated. "Wait!" I called out. I got off the chair and walked over to the door. He was still there. Actually, he was closer than what I thought, and I in turned ran into his hard chest.

"Sorry," I said quietly, backing away from him quickly, a tad bit embarrassed. "Uh, if you want to hang out, you can head over to Quil's house for his birthday tomorrow. I mean, you'll be there with Embry probably anyways, right?"

He smiled. "Yeah, I'll be there." He walked off the porch, away from me.

"See you later, then."

"Bye," he called out as he walked onto the sidewalk, his smile never leaving his face. Did I mention that Embry's brother looks pretty decent when he smiles? Because he does. It was kind of infectious, and I couldn't help but smile back.

He was walking away –nearly to the sidewalk now—but I called out his name before he made it there.

He turned around quickly, his weird eyes causing me to nearly forget what I was saying. Maybe he knew hypnosis or something. Anything seemed to be possible around here. "Yes?"

"Um… Thanks for the flowers."

He smiled ear to ear. "You're welcome, Leah."

My brother did WHAT? Embry screamed at me as we did our patrol later that night.

I growled. Get out of my head!

Sorry. I'm just really surprised. He got you flowers?

Yes, Embry, I sighed, He was being nice, that's all.

Don't mess with him, Leah, he warned. He's not just some guy you can torment. He's my brother. Don't hurt him.

What the hell are you talking about? Jeez! I talk to the guy for a few minutes and suddenly I'm torturing him? I barely know him!

So, you guys aren't… I mean, he did ask you out, didn't he?

I knew what he was getting at, and it didn't exactly occur to me that Vinnie had asked me out that day. I didn't really see it like that. A date, at least. I thought he just wanted to hang out with me, maybe get to know me again. We're not dating! I just… We're not going out or anything.

Hmm…

What?

I wonder if that's why… He trailed off.

Why what?! I was getting frustrated with his unfinished sentences.

Nothing! He said all too quickly, trying to seem innocent.

Two can play that game. I searched his immediate thoughts and found a memory he had from earlier that day. All I could see was what he saw through his eyes, him playing some stupid racing game on the TV, his fingers pushing buttons rapidly.

"Where do guys get decent clothes around here?" I heard Vinnie ask Embry from behind him.

He didn't bother looking up from his video game. "Didn't you live here once?" he asked, annoyed.

"Yeah, but I really didn't care then."

Embry paused the game and looked up to Vinnie, who seemed worried. "What's got you all caring about it now?" Realization seemed to dawn Embry. "Oh God, don't tell me you're not trying to impress-"

The thought immediately vanished. Embry had phased back.

Damn it! I howled, about to go after him. Human form or not, I was pissed. I wanted to hear what he had to say, though I wasn't exactly sure why I cared so much.

Embry only laughed as he pulled on his pants. "No way in hell am I letting you see the rest of that, Leah."

I growled, but went back on my patrol. Why did I care so much anyways? What did it matter if the guy wanted to look presentable for someone? That was none of my business.

It was all true, but that didn't mean I wasn't curious. Very curious.

"Seriously, Leah, what's taking you so long?" Seth mumbled outside of my bedroom door. "It's just Quil's birthday party."

"I'm coming!" I screamed. "Calm the hell down!"

I was currently fiddling with my clothes for about the tenth time. I didn't usually care –actually, I don't know if I ever cared, except for special occasions; I never went out of my way to look amazing for Sam when we were dating, either, though I did try to look nice for him back then –about the sort of outfit I had on before this. Why was it that tattered jeans and an old tee shirt just didn't seem to cut it this time? It did for every other stupid gathering. What was so different now?

I pretended like I didn't know, because as much as I tried not to, as much as I tried to ignore it, it was still there.

Vincent Call was a guy who had given me flowers, the first ones I'd gotten from anyone in my life since Sam. Vincent Call was an attractive college guy who had just moved back to his hometown. Vincent Call was going to look nice for someone tonight, and I didn't know who. Vinnie was a nice guy.

I didn't have the patience for nice guys. That was the truest statement I'd had thought all day. Sam was a nice guy, and look what happened there. Sam was nice looking, too, though I had to admit, he had nothing on Vinnie, and that was saying something, because before, Sam was the only guy I could even think of as attractive. I was blinded by him.

My eyes were open now, clear as the sky, and they liked what they saw.

Maybe I was just being too emotional about the whole thing. That made sense. All I wanted was a little bit of attention, a boost if you will, in the confidence department. I was beautiful, I knew that, but no guys had acknowledged that. I wouldn't doubt it had something to do with my tendency to not be the nicest one in the room. Vinnie was a guy I could make a fresh start with. Besides, a girls' allowed to look attractive towards the opposite sex once in a while, especially if he isn't a stupid werewolf like the rest of the guys she hung with. He was normal.

And anyways, Embry would quite possibly kill me if I had thought about this guy in any way besides a person I could actually be civilized to.

Vincent Call and Leah Clearwater were going no where soon, and I wouldn't have it any other way. And my getting dressed nice for the first time in a long time had absolutely nothing to do with him.

I laughed to myself a little. I never could master the art of self denial.

No, Leah did NOT imprint on Vinnie. C'mon, guys, you didn't think it would be that simple: She imprints, they fall in love, the end? I told you this wasn't going to be like the other ones…

Did Leah's POV seem different from Vinnie's? I hope they have different voices; I tried my best.

Review! I won't continue unless I know people are reading this.

Cocoa