California Girl

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Chapter Song Goo Goo Dolls

16. Iris

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And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am...

Carmen POV

"So... I had a great time on our..."

"Date."

"Uh, sure, whatever." I cleared my throat. I hated that. It was so... committed! I mean, I love Embry, I really do!

But... I haven't dated since I was with Chad, the first and last guy to cheat on me, and I'd avoided dating to avoid that! Me and Vince didn't date. We were just... together. When we went out, it was just that- going out. We didn't do the movie-dinner-date thing, and we could sleep with who we wanted, when we wanted... I just got to preferring him over anyone else.

Speaking of getting some...

"You wanna come inside? I'm home alone tonight."

It had been a long time since I'd done it and I was missing it. I tried to think back to when the magnificent moment had occurred last...

MONTHS.

I'm gonna round it to around thirty years, because that's what it fricken feels like.

And the last time was with-

EW!

I just threw up a little in my mouth.

The last person I... acted... with, was Logan Wilms. He's a werewolf. And a douche.

"Carmen? You okay? You kinda look like you're gonna throw up." Embry was in front of my in a second, holding his hand to my head.

"You seriously expect to feel a fever?" I rolled my eyes. "You're, like, a thousand degrees hotter than the sun."

"You're not too bad yourself." He smirked. I felt blush begin to rise at my stupidity, but I scoffed and turned before he could see.

"Not too bad? As if!"

I felt his arms wrap around my waist and pull me to him.

"You're hot." He kissed my cheek, my back pressed to his chest. "And beautiful." He kissed my cheek again. "You're perfect."

I turned so that I was facing him, and wrapped my arms around his neck, going onto my tip toes to kiss him as passionately as I could. I pulled away, but before I could even move my head back, his mouth was on mine again.

"EW! SICK!"

I scowled at that voice and heard Embry growl slightly. Hot.

"Go away, Quil!" Embry yelled, not turning around.

"I come out here, onto my own porch, expecting to run into the forest and begin a pleasant patrol with my good friend, Jake. Instead, I get to view pornography on my neighbor's porch!"

"You wanna yell about patrol any louder?!" Embry yelled back.

"I can yell as loud as I want! I think I have post-traumatic-stress-disorder! I should sue!"

"Quil!" I yelled, my teeth gritted together. "Now is not the time!"

"Get a room!"

"QUIL!"

"I'm going, I'm going!"

"Well, that didn't ruin the moment or anything." I muttered, making Embry laugh.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He kissed me lightly, lingering for just a second, before he hugged me closely, then walked back down the porch steps.

The next morning, Embry took me to Emily and Sam's house, which I was a little nervous about. I hadn't spent much time with them, but I realized that I was supposed to be BFF's with them all if I was 'dating' Embry, just like Kim and Nessie were.

Ugh.

Talk about difficult. I can't make friends with them when I don't have the fricken added pressure of werewolvery around, let alone with the werewolvery.

Is that even a word?

What am I saying?

Of course it's not- werewolves aren't supposed to exist.

I keep forgetting that.

"Hi Carmen!" Emily hugged me as I entered the kitchen with Embry. "Hi Embry!"

"Hello." I murmured.

"Hey, Em." Embry said, moving passed me to take some of the food that she had prepared.

"It's so nice to see you, Carmen!" Emily hugged me again.

"Who's around?" Embry asked, his mouth full.

"Jared just left for patrol with Logan and Leah was covering for Jake, so she and Quil should be here soon."

Ugh.

I was fricken jealous of the beautiful bitch, and she was a werewolf. Frick! I love Embry too much.

"Oh? Cool."

Why did Embry think that Leah covering Jake's patrol and then coming to Sam and Emily's was 'cool'? Was it because he missed her? Because he was in love with her and not me?

Damn it!

I do not get jealous like this.

I do not doubt myself.

Carmen Bird does not doubt her hotness!

Ever!

"Emily!" I heard Quil before I saw him emerge through the door. "There better be muffins left!"

"Is that a threat, Quil?" Emily chuckled.

"Not from me, Leah, maybe."

"It is." Leah walked in behind him, all perfect in a 'I've-just-been-rolling-around-in-a-forest-as-a-gi ant-wolf' sort of way.

Bitch.

"Hey!" Quil slapped Embry's shoulder, then tapped mine, before going to sit at the table. "Wow, was last night awkward, huh?"

"Shut up." I scoffed, sitting next to him. Embry sat on the other side of me.

"What happened?" Leah asked, sitting next to Quil, which made me feel very happy.

"I caught the two lovebirds doing it on the Bird front porch."

"We weren't doing it!" Embry said, so loudly, sounding so offended, that I felt my body lean away from him automatically- something I never did.

"No, we were just making out against the door frame."

It came out before I could stop it. It was like when I told everyone at dinner that I slept with Logan (ew, I just puked in my mouth again). It was a relaxed tone, as if I hadn't just said something perverse.

"I'm eating." Leah groaned, her mouth full. I felt a sense of smugness run through me, until Embry did an awkward chuckle.

"So, Carmen, you coming to the bonfire tonight?" Quil asked, before he assassinated another muffin.

"Uh, I haven't been invited." I tried to hide how hurt I was that Embry hadn't bothered to even invite me. The last one may not have been all that good, but still, he should want me there, right?

"I didn't think you'd wanna go. I didn't think you liked those sorts of things." Embry grabbed my hand, clearly trying to show how sorry he was.

But seriously.

I loved big parties. I mean, come on, back home I was ridiculously popular. And I figured I could really get into one of these bonfires if I wasn't pissed off at Embry.

"Well, do you wanna come?" Embry looked at me, stopping eating for a minute. I nodded, trying to act nonchalant.

"Oh! It'll be so much fun!" Emily grinned. "And they're doing the legends too!"

A bunch of old guys rambling about boring old stories that Grammy used to yell at Mom and Dad to teach me?

Fun.

I was wrong.

So. Wrong.

The legends were amazing.

They were more than amazing!

One that really stuck out to me was the Third Wife. I mean, who sacrifices herself like that? It was just... wow. I remembered how Embry held me a little closer then. And when I'd looked around, most of the guys did. And I remembered the way that my eyes naturally went to Nessie when they talked about vampires. I mean, her family were these monsters, right?

But then, Billy spoke of this 'treaty' between the Pack and a group of good vampires, and Scarlett had nudged Nessie with her leg.

Did that mean that they were good?

They didn't seem good when Edward Cullen had his teeth in Scarlett's arm, but she didn't seem angry at Nessie or anything. It was all just really weird.

"Did you like the stories?" Embry asked, lifting up my head so I could look up at him from my place on his lap.

"Yeah." I mumbled, not knowing how to put into words how amazing they were.

"They're all true, as you probably guessed." Embry seemed a little nervous. It made me nervous.

"Yeah...?"

"Well, there was that one about the Third-"

"Come on, Quil! We're all going!" I heard Logan's voice, and turned my head to face them.

"But I was planning on running up to see Claire!"

"Fine, be a baby lover and ditch your friends!" Logan whined.

"You're not my friend!"

"What's going on?" I asked Embry. He just shrugged, so I moved to stand up. He was standing next to me in a second.

"Even Seth is letting Scarlett go!" Logan poked Quil's arm.

"Let him go see Claire, kid." Jacob rolled his eyes, Nessie giggling in his arms.

"What's going on?" Embry asked, wrapping an arm around me and walking me over to where the bulk of the Pack were gathered.

"We're all heading to Jake's for after bonfire fun!" Nessie grinned. I automatically heard it differently than intended and burst into laughter. "Shut up, Carmen!"

"Can't." I said, calming my laughter.

"Do you wanna come or not?" Nessie said, furrowing her brow. I felt myself start to smile, but pushed it down as much as I could.

"Sure."

"Are you sure?" Embry asked, sounding a little unsure, himself.

"Definitely."

"Let's play spin the bottle!" Logan half-squealed.

"No." Jacob said, rolling his eyes.

"Why not?!"

"Because of the 'I' thing and that no guy's gonna want to do that." Jacob replied. I looked around the room. Everyone had tensed a little. Was it this 'I' thing?

Was I not supposed to find out what that was?

Because now I totally had too.

"What's the 'I' thing?" I asked the room. No one responded, but they seemed to freeze up even more.

No one spoke for several seconds, then Embry cleared his throat.

"Uh... So... Uh... Spin the bottle?" Logan looked around. Everyone hesitated for just a second before we were all in a circle on the floor and Logan was downing a full bottle of beer.

"Dude, slow down." I scoffed, twirling my hair.

"Werewolf temperature. It'll burn off the alcohol before he could get another one." Embry said. I nodded and watched as Logan pulled the bottle from his mouth and shook his head.

"Seven, eight, nine, ten." Logan counted before looking up and put the bottle in the middle.

"Drunk?" Scarlett asked. He shook his head and scoffed.

"Me first, I guess." Logan spun the bottle.

It passed me once, twice, three times, to land on Rachel. I heard Paul make a growl noise, which made me jump slightly.

"Oh, calm down. It's fun." Rachel patted Paul's leg, before she and Logan kissed for just a second, before Rachel was spinning it.

It landed on Embry, and I found myself feeling the strongest urge to punch Rachel in the jaw.

Well, hey.

At least it wasn't Leah.

Embry spun the bottle. I was thinking that it'd just be cliche and land on me, but it went of the other cliche, and landed on her.

I had to lock my fingers together to keep from attacking her when he kissed her.

I fricken hate Leah Clearwater!

I'd kissed two people- Seth and Jared.

Kim and Scarlett seemed pretty pissed, but that only made me feel better about my reactions to Rachel and Leah kissing him.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Embry said as he walked me to my front door.

"Of course." I grinned, leaning in and kissing him with as much passion I could muster at midnight in front of my grandmother's home.

"I might even see you tonight."

"Huh?"

"I'm on patrol. Should I come by?"

"Sure." I grinned as wide as I could. I didn't want to tell Embry that I was a little nervous of seeing him like that considering the last time I'd seen him like that I'd run away because I'd realized that Mr Wolf was Embry.

"Love you."

"Love you too."

We kissed again, before I went inside and straight to my room, sitting on my bed, waiting for Embry.

I woke up the next morning in my clothes, but lying under my covers, with the drapes closed. I knew that I'd left my drapes open to see Embry, and I was sure I'd been sitting up in bed... weird.

In my head, I kept remembering my dream.

"Call, geez, you barely know the girl!"

"She doesn't even know you're her imprint yet and you're letting her take your innocence on her grandma's couch?"

"Hey, at least he's finally gonna let her take his innocence, I don't think I can handle his whining on patrol anymore!"

"Shut up, she might hear you-!"

"She won't, shut up!"

It was a memory of when Jared, Paul and Quil came into my house, interrupting me and Embry making out.

One word stuck out to me.

Imprint.

It began with an 'I' right?

Maybe that was the 'I' thing...

I showered and changed, before walking to the living room to see Grammy.

I was sitting at home, watching Cupcake Wars with Grammy, discussing whether or not I'd win, when the doorbell rang.

This was an odd occurrence anywhere in La Push, I had learned, but definitely strange at the Bird House. The Pack just walked right in, even Jacob, and he hated me.

"Would you get that, Carmy?" Grammy asked, in her sweet old lady voice that made anyone with a heart obey whatever command had been given.

I stood up and walked to the door, not bothering to check at the window or anything.

I mean, come on. It's La Push. Am I really gonna get attacked in the middle of the day at my front door? No. Especially not when I have a wolf living next door and another two in the woods all the time.

If it was a vampire, it could be a different story, but then again, it's the middle of the day, and surely, they would be burning because of the sun. So, yeah. I was totally safe.

"Carm!" The strong Brooklyn accent that my body had all but forgotten hit me like a train, then his body did too, pulling my into a tight hug.

"Vince?"

"Miss me?"

Frick.

PLOT TWIST OOOO! Haha. I hope this isn't too long of a wait, but I'll try to update sooner anyway :) thanks for reading, reviewing, favoriting, following, etc. THANKS! :D Hope you liked it!