Chapter 3 Butterflies
Cathryn's POV
"Hello?" I'd checked the caller id, so I knew it was Leslie, but due to my mother drilling it into my brain when I answered the phone as a kid caused me to answer the phone with a crisp and polite "Hello?" Every. Single. Time.
"Cat, its me. Keilly wants you to rent PS I Love You, and I want John Tucker Must Die." We were having a sleepover that night at my place to cry about the school year beginning.
"Okay," I said absentmindedly. Lizzie was supposed to be driving me home from art and helping me pick out the movies I wanted. However, that was not what she was doing. Instead, she was giving me a much undeserved lecture about how if I took more than ten minutes she was leaving me.
"Hey, Cat. Don't get any kind of horror movie, ok? I'm serious, they scare me and Keilly to death."
"Uh, Les?" That's kind of the point."
"Cathryn!"
"Fine, fine. I'll be good." I promised. One missed call wasn't that scary….
I got out of the car. "Bye, now." I said sweetly to both Leslie and Lizzie, closing the door and hanging up the phone.
Once inside, I went straight to the horror section. Keilly and Leslie were almost old enough to drive, they needed to grow up. Then I got PS I Love You, quite possibly the most puke inducing movie I had ever seen, then….
I saw him.
It was his girlfriend that came in first. She was even taller than me and had blonde highlights in her jet black hair. Her paid-for breasts were hanging skankily out of her lace tank top. Definitely the marrying kind. Not. She was laughing hysterically and practically dragging him in with her. That was all I'd really registered before my eyes became glued to the biggest man I had ever seen.
Really. Like, ever. The guy had to duck to get in. Seth was six nine, and this guy towered over him. I came up to about his lower chest. And the muscles. His arm was as thick as my waist. He was shirtless, too, showing off a beautiful set of washboard abs.
But I hadn't spent the summer with guys like Brady and learned nothing. No, the part that scared me was his face. He was glaring at the floor, like it had done him some sort of personal offence by existing. His features looked very at home in this position, like they wore the expression a lot. His eyes, though huge and potentially heart-stopping, were deep and empty. Like dark tunnels. His girlfriend said something, and the look he gave her was one of complete and utter disgust. Total opposite of the way Seth Looked at Keilly.
I made my way quickly over to the checkout counter, trying not to draw attention to myself.
So naturally, the first thing I did was trip over him.
Chapter 4 Right side Up On the Way Down- Ryan Cabrera
Embry's POV
"Oof," I felt somebody fall into me. I caught whoever it was by instinct, looking down in irritation.
Bright green eyes stared up at me in shock.
I felt an overpowering heat in the center of my chest. It grew quickly, leaking into my bloodstream and overpowering everything in its path. Much like phasing.
But not at all like phasing.
When I'd phased for the first time, I'd felt alone and angry and terrified and invaded and hopelessly confused. Now I'd never been so sure of anything in my life.
Because I saw.
I saw the center of the universe, the reason I'd been born, the reason earth existed. I understood now. My whole world shifted, gravity shifted, onto the little girl in my arms.
She was freakin gorgeous. Way better looking than any of the bimbos I'd been with over the years. Smooth creamy skin, nose dusted with golden freckles, bright green eyes framed by thick dark lashes. Long auburn hair falling smoothly over her shoulders and down her back. Tall-for a human- and very slender, like a model. And she was all mine.
Well, not yet, but she would be eventually.
"Oh! Crap!" She gasped, pulling away from me and righting herself quickly. I was very conscious of my arms letting her go. Her being away from me, even a little bit, felt unnatural. Like in the beginning, when it was still hard for me to change shape. It didn't hurt, exactly, but….
"I'm so sorry," She said hurriedly, backing away. "I didn't see- I didn't mean-"
"Oh, no, its fine." I said dazedly. She was scared of me. This was not a big shocker, what with my being roughly the size of sasquach, but it still sucked.
"Kay," She smiled nervously, causing my heart to skip a beat, before turning to leave.
Chapter 5 Guardian Angel
Cathryn's POV
I checked out the movies and got out of the store as fast as I could. How embarrassing. How do you just fall over somebody like that? He must have thought I was an idiot. Or blind. Or both. Not only that, but the man was the most terrifying mutant I'd ever seen.
I crossed the street, and was almost to the car when I remembered.
John Tucker Must Die.
Dang it. Now I was going to go back to the stupid place and check that one out too. If there was any doubt in his mind that I was a total genius at this point, there wouldn't be after that. For some reason, this bothered me. Both him realizing my stupidity and never seeing him again.
I was halfway across the street when I heard it.
The squealing of tires against the asphalt. I turned my head just in time to a car speeding towards me. The driver was talking on the phone and had evidently not seen me until only seconds before. Maybe he was trying to turn. It didn't matter. It was too late. I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the impact.
It came, but not from the direction I expected. Long arms wrapped around my waist and knocked me out of the way, so that I was back on the other side of the street and next to my sister's car. I was dimly aware of Lizzie getting out and going nuts and offering to pay whoever it was that saved me. However, I wasn't really paying attention. My eyes were on the car that had almost hit me. The stupid driver hadn't even stopped to make sure that I was okay. Just turned the corner and driven out of sight.
What. An. Asshole.
"Hey! Are you all right?" An anxious voice broke through my pissed off haze. I looked up into warm brown eyes. Sweet, like a puppy's. Nothing like the soulless ones I'd been looking into only seconds before on the exact same face.
"Yeah," I said uncertainly.
"Jesus, is it really that hard for you to cross the street without causing some sort of incident? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" He asked me angrily.
Okay, so, obviously his personality hadn't changed as much as his eyes.
"Excuse me?" I put a hand on my hip. "If you're so bent out of shape about rescuing me, why'd you do it? I would have been fine without your help." Not entirely true, but whatever.
He snorted skeptically.
Lizzie, seeming to realize that nobody was paying any attention to her jabbering, spoke up in a slightly calmer tone. "What's your name?" She asked.
What, I ask you, did that have to do with the present conversation?
"Embry, " He said, still scowling at me. Like it was my fault I'd almost become road kill.
"Embry," Lizzie echoed. "Awesome name. That was amazing, what you just did. Thanks so much."
Yeah, really awesome. Awesomely stupid. I could not believe what was happening. Only MY SITSTER would think to flirt when her sister had just had a near death experience.
Although me and near death experiences weren't exactly strangers. She was probably used to it by now.
"Yeah," Embry responded shortly, "Just be careful, er…."
"Oh, I'm Lizzie, and this is my sister Cathryn." Lizzie said quickly.