Hello, my darling readers. ^_^ Thank you so much for reading, and thank you to the few people who reviewed-they made my day. This is the chapter where all the drama starts. Enjoy and review!

The Flower Called Azalea

3. I've Always Wanted a Dog

Azalea POV

The next day, I woke up around noon, not really knowing why I slept so late. It's not like I stayed up late last night. I fell asleep around midnight or so. So when I woke up that late, I was thoroughly shocked. I jumped up from my bed, ran across the hall to the bathroom, and started to get ready. Suddenly I remembered something.

I had to tell him.

By tomorrow.

If I didn't, then Embry would.

Well, maybe he did feel the same way. Embry wouldn't push me to tell him if he didn't. And he had been telling me about some girl who he'd been in love with for the past ten years…. I tried not to get my hopes up, but I think I failed miserably.

I slowly continued to get ready and dreaded when I finally was. It was about one o'clock in the afternoon, and I was supposed to hang out with Jake today. As I was walking out the front door, Embry's voice caught my attention.

"You going to Jake's?" he asked.

I replied without turning around. "Yup."

The smirk in his voice was audible. "You going to tell him?"

I braced myself. "Yup." And with that one worded answer, I walked out the door and away from my nosey, annoying brother.

On my way over to Jake's place, I had my earbuds in and I was listening to my iPod, hands tucked into the pocket of my hoodie. When I arrived, I didn't even notice the monster of a truck sitting in the driveway. I just went straight into the garage with one sole purpose on my mind.

I was not expecting what I saw.

Jake was working on a motorcycle. There was another one but by the girl there. A girl that wasn't me. I didn't even know he talked to any other girls besides me. We were together practically all the time.

She had long, somewhat curly, brown hair, extremely pale skin, and brown eyes. She looked dead-or… undead, I guess-and like she rarely ever smiled. Jake, however, was grinning and chatting away as he worked on the broken bike. She said something I didn't catch, and he laughed.

Somehow, I broke out of my trance and was able to speak. "Am I interrupting something?"

Jake and this new girl both looked up at me. The girl looked shocked, and Jake just grinned and stood up. He wiped his greasy hands on his already dirty jeans and walked over to me after brushing his long hair over his shoulders.

"Azalea. Hey," he smiled briefly at me and then turned to his friend. "This is Bella Swan. Bella, this is Azalea Call. Embry's sister."

"Hi," She waved meekly. "Wait, Embry has a sister?"

"Yup," I said and then turned to Jake. "Motorcycles? I thought you hated them."

He stuttered. "Well, uh… these aren't really motorcycles. They're dirt bikes."

"They're motor bikes."

He nodded.

"Whatever," I sighed. "So, Bella. You the chief's daughter?"

She nodded.

"Awesome," I muttered under my breath. There go my Independence Day plans of illegal fireworks. "Remind me not to get on your bad side."

She forced a slight smile and Jake laughed before returning to work on the bike. There was an awkward silence for a few minutes before she broke it.

"So, uh, are you and Jake, like, dating or something?"

"Oh, no," I laughed, though in my head I wanted to scream 'Yes! I love him, goddammit!' but I didn't. "No, he's my b-" I was about to say 'best friend', but I was cut off by Jake himself.

"Friend. We're friends."

I looked at him in astonishment. Who was this girl to him that he couldn't even call me his best friend in front of her? I knew I was probably blowing this out of proportion, but I really didn't care. It hurt.

I looked at him wordlessly until he returned my gaze.

"What?" he asked.

"Friend?" I answered with a question of my own.

"Yeah…? We're friends," he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

I shook my head, stood up, and started to walk out of the garage, fully intending on going home, but Jake stopped me right at the door.

"Hey. What's wrong?" he searched my eyes.

"Your friend? What, you can't even call me your best friend in front of her? Are you afraid of what she would think about you having a girl as a best friend?" I tried to keep my tone hushed, but I don't think it really worked too well….

"No, it's just-she's going through a hard time right now and-look. Z…" he sighed. "I just don't think that she's ready to hear that yet, y'know? She needs someone who can give her attention without someone else cutting in." Once he realized what he said, he was about to speak to take it back.

His words stung more than him referring to me as just his friend. He wanted to cut me out of his life to make room for this new girl. "So you do care what she thinks," I whispered.

"No! Well, yes, but not the way you're thinking," he tried, but he couldn't fix this.

"Do you like her?" I asked hoarsely.

"What?" He seemed confused.

"Do you like her?" I repeated.

"…How do you mean?" he spoke slowly.

"Dammit, Jacob! You know what I mean!" My heart was cracking, threatening to break.

"… Yeah. I do." There it went. All the pieces of my heart fell to the bottom of my stomach.

I shook my head and tried to hold in the tears. "Well then have fun," I said to him and walked out of the garage.

Jake POV

I watched as Azalea slowly walked out of the garage hunched over. She looked so small and vulnerable. I'd never seen her like that before. I turned back to Bella for a moment and saw confusion written all over her face.

"I'll be right back," I told her and ran after my best friend. I didn't understand why she was getting so pissed off that I called her my friend instead of my best friend. Best friends are still friends.

I finally caught up to her almost halfway between our houses and pulled her to a stop. "Z, wait."

She wouldn't look at me. "What do you want?" she growled. Whoa. I was taken aback. I'd seen her get angry before, but I'd never been on the receiving end of it. After seeing what happened to Ryan Tompkins last year, I never wanted to be.

"What's your problem? I told you about Bella before," I defended.

She stiffened before turning around and boring her hard gaze into my eyes. I almost flinched, but I couldn't let her see that she was seriously intimidating. "She's the girl that you've been in love with for the past ten years?" she asked. Too calmly.

I hesitated. "Yeah. Why?"

She glared at me before yanking her arm free. "Oh, no reason. I get it. You choose her over me. Whatever. Have fun with the 'love of your life'," she said and turned on her heel to go home.

This time I didn't go after her.

I just returned to the garage to work on the bikes some more and to hang out with Bella.

Azalea POV

I didn't know why I was so angry. But it just flared up all of a sudden today. No warning whatsoever. Was it really possible to be that jealous? Huh. I guess so. When I got home, I didn't hear Embry, and there was a note on the counter from my mom.

Azalea,

I went to the store, your brother's not feeling well. I should be back soon, but take care of him while I'm gone.

Love, Mom

That explained it. I walked up the stairs to Embry's room and sure enough, there he was. Laying in bed, sweating like a pig. He watched me as I moved around in his room, and I was guessing that he couldn't sleep.

"You're back early," he noted hoarsely. "How'd it go?"

I shook my head and sat on the edge of his bed. "It didn't. Bella Swan was there. She's the girl that he's supposedly been in love with for the past ten years."

He looked shocked and then the shock turned to anger, and then to sympathy. "Oh, Z. I'm so sorry."

I nodded, a tear slipping out of the corner of my eye. "Me too."

We sat in silence for a moment. I was able to dry my eyes and stand up before I turned to talk to him. "Do you need anything?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Nah, I'll be fine. You go get some sleep. You look like you could use it."

Yeah. Sleep. That's what I needed.

My mom came back some time after eight o'clock, and went to bed since nobody was hungry. With Embry's room being right next to mine, I could hear everything.

In the middle of the night, I was jolted awake by a sickening ripping sound coming from my brother's room. I leaped out of bed and ran into his bedroom. Laying in the middle of the floor was a giant wolf.

Holy fuck.

The Quileute legends were true. And my brother was now a part of them.

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Until next time, lovies.