I'm seriously starting to enjoy writing this story... I love it! Hope you like this chapter! Please review, and thanks so much for all the great ones I've gotten so far... They're AWESOME!

Here you go, Chapter Eight :)

Chapter 8

"Seth, will you just shut up for a minute? I'm trying to think." I put my head into my hands.

Seth didn't shut up. "I'm just saying, Col, that it might be a good idea for you to -"

"Seth!" It was Jacob who spoke this time. "Seriously, shut up!"

Seth held up his hands and took a step back. "Sorry, sorry…"

I groaned loudly, and Seth opened his mouth again. There was a loud smack as Jacob hit Seth on the upper arm.

"Yeowch!" Seth said, aiming a kick at Jake's shin. A childish scuffle immediately broke out between the two. A second later, I stood up and walked out of the garage.

"Now look what you did," I heard Jacob mutter darkly.

"Don't follow me," I called back. "I don't want to talk about it."

I didn't have my car. It was about half six, and I'd walked from Forks to La Push, to the garage. Well, ran really, but I walked part of the way. No point in wasting fuel when you had legs that worked the way mine did. It had been a waste of time, anyway - Seth and Jacob had been no help at all. The only thing they'd done was unconscously rubbed in the fact that they're objects actually wanted them.

There was no way I was going home. I so did not need my mother pestering me constantly. She knew something was up, but I just didn't want to talk about it.

I felt like I was dying. Actually, I probably would have felt better if I was dying. My body was fine - in fact it was better that that, it was perfect - but my mind and soul felt like they were shrivelling up slowly and painfully. It was only one day since I had met Bonnie, and yes she had changed my life, but so far (and I remind you that this is only about thirty hours) the changes hadn't been at all good.

I was already attached to this girl in an extremely rare way, and there was nothing she or I could do about it. Yes, I was already in love with her - I needed her - but to be quite honest, she didn't need me. Yes, I was perfect for her in every aspect, but I wasn't necessary for her to survive. And most important, she didn't want me…

I dwelled on this fact, feeling the fissure in my heart spreading.

I saw a car coming up the road in front of me, heading for La Push, and I moved closer to the rocky edge of the cliff, out of its path. To my surprise, the car slowed and came to a stop beside me. I squinted through the rain, trying to identify the driver. I recognised the silver Land Rover, though because of the fog in my brain, I couldn't place who owned it.

The driver's window rolled down slowly, and a head leaned out. Through the rain, that was now coming down in sleety sheets, I could see two big blue eyes and a mass of curly mahogany hair.

"Aoife?" I mumbled.

She obviously didn't hear me. "Collin, get in the car!" She yelled over the sound of rain and waves crashing against the rocks below us.

I opened my mouth to argue, but decided against it. I opened the door of the silver car and clambered in.

Aoife started to drive, and neither of us spoke. Seth and Aoife's baby, Evanna, stared up at me large unblinking eyes. They were the exact same colour as Aoife's, a deep and clear, and startlingly blue. I looked at her for a moment. It was the first time I had really seen her. She was tiny, with a shock of black curls covering her little head. Her skin was a soft golden butterscotch, like someone had added a helping of cream to Seth's russet. And I suppose, that's exactly what it was. The baby yawned, and a single dimple appeared in her left cheek. I tried to smile at her, but I just couldn't do it.

Aoife was silent the entire way back towards La Push, and I was beginning to wonder why she had even bothered asking me into her car. She drove through the village, heading out past First Beach and towards the North Forest. Aoife took a turn away from the coastal road, and began driving up a small narrow laneway, before she eventually pulled up outside a large two storey stone cottage. I blinked sleepily at the house, before remembering why it looked familiar. Of course, this was Seth and Aoife's. They had bought the land off old Mrs Uley, and the ruins of an old cottage came with it. I remembered them having the cottage extended and renovated, but I hadn't actually seen it, even though they'd been living there for almost a year.

I was very familiar with the North Forest, and the land on which the house was situated. In the early days of my being a werewolf, I would run constantly with Brady, and we had spent a lot of time up around this part of the forest, where people hardly ever came, due to the lack of trails.

"I forgot you live here now," I mumbled, feeling like an idiot immediately after.

Aoife didn't hear me; she had gotten out of the car and had run to open the pillar-box red front door of the house. She came running back, and wrenched open the car door, her jacket hood pulled up over her head.

"Quick, Collin, go in before you get wet!" She yelled over the torrential rain.

I obeyed her, and then stood in the porch, feeling like a tool as she struggled to get her baby and her shopping out of the car. I ran to help her, and she flashed me a grateful smile.

By the time we managed to get everything into the stone-flagged hallway, both of us were drenched, and Evanna was screaming her head off. Who would have thought such a tiny little thing could make so much noise?

Aoife directed me to the small downstairs bathroom, where I was able to dry off. I didn't realize, but I must have taken ages, because by the time I entered the warm kitchen, Aoife was sitting, completely dry and changed, a steaming cup of coffee in front of her.

"Where's the baby gone?" I asked.

"Sleeping," Aoife replied cheerfully.

"Oh…" I said, somewhat lamely.

"Tea or coffee?" Aoife asked, getting up and putting on the kettle. I noted that it was an old fashioned one, that sat on a gas hob on the cooker, as opposed to an electric one. That was so Aoife.

"Um… Coffee, please," I said, pulling out a heavy kitchen chair and sitting at the rustic pine table.

The kitchen was again silent. Aoife and Seth's old Springer Spaniel, Nev, came ambling over and rested his heavy head on my knee. I rubbed him gently.

"Thanks," I mumbled as Aoife set a steaming mug of coffee in front of me, along with a jug of milk, a sugar pot and an open packet of Oreos. I helped myself to one, and chewed it slowly, not really tasting anything.

Aoife took a mouthful of coffee, and watched me as I did the same, pity in her sapphire eyes.

"Why won't she talk to me? Does she hate me?" I blurted the questions out so quickly that I barely had time to acknowledge the fact that I had actually spoken.

Aoife looked startled, and then pensive. "No, Collin, she doesn't hate you. Far from it, in fact."

"Then why won't she speak to me? Aren't imprints supposed to fall for each other straight away? One true love, and all that crap?"

"Col, don't judge imprint behaviour by me. I fell for Seth straight away because I was longing for that sense of security, the love he would bring. I was only sixteen, yes, but I knew what I wanted, and that was Seth. I was always the girl who would eventually want, need, a man to love her. But that's not saying that I wasn't stubborn. There were times when I resented Seth, no matter how much I loved him."

"Resented him?" I was confused. "How so?"

Aoife sighed, and looked into the depths of her coffee mug. "I was always a free spirit. I always wanted to travel and to live my life the way I wanted."

"But -"

"I know it sounds like I'm contradicting myself. I wanted everything that Seth offered but - and I hate how conceited and self-centred this sounds - but he came too early. I wanted time to - to live first, I suppose."

"I don't understand," I mumbled. "Aren't you living now?"

"Nah, I guess you wouldn't understand. And yeah, of course I'm living now, and I love my life, but... I'll put it like this. I wanted to travel the world, to spend years abroad living in different countries and different societies. I still did it, and Seth came with me, but it was as though our time was limited - I didn't get to spend as long travelling as I would have liked. I mean, if it was entirely up to me, I'd probably still be out in Africa somewhere." She hesitated before continuing. "But that's not to say that I would ever swap Seth or Evanna for anything else. I love them both so, so much."

"But Bonnie - I mean, why? Why can't she just…" I trailed off, and to my embarrassment, my eyes had started to water.

Aoife was silent for a moment, and I looked up to see her biting her bottom lip. "I've only met her once, but from what I can gather, Bonnie is an extraordinarily independent girl. She doesn't seem willing to give up what she has, or to share her life with anyone else. And it's incredibly selfish of her, but she's hurting too, I know she is. But that just shows how stubborn she is!"

I let out a sound that was a cross between derisive snort and a dry sob.

Aoife leaned across the table and rested her left hand on my right one.

"It'll be okay, Collin. She'll come round eventually. I mean, look at Sam and Emily? She tried to deny her feelings for him after what happened with him and Leah, but she just couldn't stay away. And Bonnie will be the exact same."

I nodded, not trusting myself to talk. I looked at Aoife's fingers resting on mine, and imagined for the briefest of moments that she was Bonnie, that she had finally come around. But the engagement and wedding rings that sparkled on Aoife's ring finger denied that dream.

A loud cry interrupted the soft silence and I jumped. The sound was coming from a baby monitor that rested on the kitchen counter.

"Evanna…" Aoife groaned. "Why can't she just stay asleep for more than a half an hour? I'm sorry, Collin - " She got up and left the room, forgetting to turn off the monitor.

I sat and listened as she entered the room, and smiled sadly to myself as I heard her speaking softly to her baby. The crying had stopped as soon as she entered the room.

I wondered if Bonnie would ever really come around. I hoped, if she did, that it would be really soon, because this was really killing me. Especially being in Seth and Aoife's house, because everywhere around me were signs of their love and happiness. Framed photographs covered the walls, photos of Aoife and Seth's wedding day, photos of Aoife and her friends, photos of Evanna, pictures of Seth and Aoife as children. Seeing all these things, these physical objects of their love, and indeed, hearing the very words from Aoife's mouth, let me know something. Bonnie really did need me.

I had heard everything I needed to hear, and the rain was starting to ease off. I was going to speak to Bonnie Hennessy, whether she liked it or not.

Ta-da! Hope you enjoyed it :)

Someone asked me in a review why I like writing from different points of view so much. The honest truth is that by writing through the eyes of different characters, I can get to know them better. It sounds lame, but I feel like I know characters like Aoife and Seth inside out, because through Cloudless Sky, I got the opportunity to devolop them. I guess I'm still in the development stages of Bonnie and Collin, but I'm really beginning to like them :) Hope you like them too! Let me know in a review!

Love always,

Lily! :D