AN: So, it hasn't been too long since I updated... Compared to my other stories. (Save Her and Smile For Me are next I swear.) But I updated all the same. I figured I should in conjunction with To Be Without because you got some information there that seemed weird without the explanation here if anyone paid attention at least. Anyway, this story needs to be caught up to To Be Without, time-line wise, and I'll be working on that as well, so expect more from this.
Chapter Nine
Hiding
It was a bad idea. Not like any of my ideas are good or anything, but this was particularly stupid. I had already asked Seth about it, he was contacting Jeff and I was crouched in my car hugging my knees while he was on the phone. By the look he had on his face when he got off the phone, I knew what the answer was without even asking Seth.
"I'm going." I said stubbornly.
"I promised Jeff I would play by his rules." He said painfully.
"But you're supposed to listen to me!" I cried, pulling at my hair.
He hadn't moved from his spot. I knew he wouldn't be able to trust himself if he did. "And if I want to see you again before your eighteenth birthday I need to listen to him!" He yelled back.
"I'm going." I said firmly, through the tears streaking my face.
"Jeff said don't bother her with this, let's just go home." He plead with me.
"I don't want my father, I want my mother! But I can't have her so I want the next best thing!" I yelled at him as I grabbed the door of my car and slammed it shut, locking it quickly.
Seth rushed to the car and tried to open the door, he could have yanked it off, but he knew I would hate him forever if he tried to stop me. "Willa!" He yelled pleadingly.
If he came along he would just drive me back to La Push when I wasn't looking and twist everything to Dana, so I had to leave him on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. I wasn't worried, he's gone a farther distance as a wolf. But the look in his eyes as I drove away stung me deeply. I wondered if he would forgive me for it later and I started driving east, to Cambridge, Massachusetts to the one person in the world that would understand it all. If she didn't kill me first.
I pushed through as much as I could and ended up getting to the other coast within two days, still running of anger and pulled right up to Dana's apartment complex. She had been warned because she was already downstairs looking rather angry.
Dana was tall, athletically built with long black hair, skin like caramel and green eyes like Claire. She was damn smart too. I steeled myself for whatever was coming and got out of my car as soon as I parked next to her old Honda Civic. She rushed up to me and was at my door as soon as my foot hit the ground.
"There is a lot of crazy things you've done that I have been indifferent about, but this isn't something you can do Willa!" She yelled at me in a tone I hadn't heard from her in a while. "You can't cross the country, alone at sixteen with your phone purposefully turned off!" She said poking my chest.
I threw my arms around her and was glad to see her, even yelling. She was going to be a damn good mom one day.
"Willa," She said tiringly as she hugged me back.
"She's terrible." I cried against her shoulder, not caring that I hadn't slept in days or that I probably smelled like a homeless person, or that I was in public.
"I didn't really expect her to be sunshine and roses." She muttered.
"I just expected something… different." I said with a sigh as I gathered my composure.
She pulled me away and looked at me seriously. "Why leave Seth?" She asked confused.
"He was going to drive me back because that's what Jeff said." I answered lamely. It was a little more complicated than that, but it didn't matter, I would regret that decision forever.
"He's our father, what he says goes!" She yelled.
"I needed to talk to you." I said pathetically.
"There are phones for a reason." She said shaking her head.
"He's coming here isn't he?" I murmured, slightly ashamed of what I was putting all of them through.
"He'll be here tomorrow." She said with a pointed look.
"So soon?" I said surprised.
"Seth runs faster than you drive." She snapped.
"Is he coming?" I asked smally. Feeling like I was a bigger bitch than ever my mother.
"No," She told me bluntly.
I winced. I had been hoping, but I knew deep down he probably wouldn't.
"How could you do that to him?" She said shaking her head. I had told her about what I learned about being Seth's imprint and she understood the repercussions of what I had done as well as the rest of the pack.
"He wasn't listening to me." I tried to argue.
"And you weren't listening to him." She countered my weak argument. "You can't have it both ways Willa, that's not how the world works." She told me honestly, like no one else could.
Even though she was my big sister and I loved her with all my heart, what she said made me want to hit something, because it was fucking true.
"Come on, upstairs, you smell terrible." She ordered, dragging me up to her apartment.
After a shower, a meal and new clothes while mine were being washed, Dana guided me to her small living room and made me sit on the couch with a cup of tea and a knowing look. I looked around her apartment and wondered if her boyfriend was hiding somewhere or if Dana sent him off while I was here. I hadn't met him yet and I doubted she wanted her family drama to scare him off to early.
"How's Claire?" She asked conversationally as she sipped at her tea.
"Perfect." I grumbled.
"Willa," She said chidingly.
"She's fine," I said with a forced smile.
"You need to accept her at some point." Dana said tiringly.
"I accept her, I don't like her." I muttered.
"Your opinion." She said with a shrug.
"What about you?" I asked accusingly.
"I talk to her sometimes, she is smart, just like us and but she doesn't like computers like I do. She likes history." She answered vaguely.
"I'm sure." I snorted.
"Have you been this bad since I left?" She asked me almost angrily.
I didn't say a word.
"I know you resent me for leaving, but you can't lash out at everyone else for it, be mad at me like a normal person." She told me seriously.
I almost cried. She always knew how to set me straight, and it was crazy because she was just like Jeff. They were two peas in a pod and its probably why I don't listen to him, because he's always a reminder that she is going to have her own life, away from me and I was going to have to figure everything out by myself.
"Are you mad at me?" She asked quietly.
"A little," I answered.
"Why?" She asked with genuine curiosity.
"I wanted us both to leave, together." I mumbled sadly.
"You don't leave with someone when you want to start something new for yourself, it's something you have to do alone and I hated leaving you but I didn't have any other attachments there and I needed to do it for me." She explained truthfully.
"Why are you so smart?" I asked tiringly.
"You are smart too, when you actually try to use your brain before you act." She said shaking her head at me.
We were quiet for a while then. Dana gave me the remote to her TV wordlessly and when to the dining room table that was more her desk than a place to eat and started working. I knew it was her kind of punishment, instead of going to see a movie or talking about what we've been up to, she's making me sit on the couch and be quiet.
I watched her for a while, ignoring whatever came on while she did. She was always pretty, no matter what, even when she was working on something. Growing up, I wanted to look just like her, she was the most beautiful person around to me and she still was. The knowledge that I did disappoint her was horrible, but had already fucked up, there was nothing left for me to do other than gripe about it. I sulked on the couch for a few more hours until her cell phone rang.
"Hey Dad," She answered easily and I slunk into the couch.
I couldn't hear him through the phone, I took that as a good sign.
"Yeah, she's still here." She answered.
I waited on bated breath, hoping he wasn't giving instructions for my death.
"Okay, see you soon Dad," She said sounding happier to see him.
She hung up the phone and looked over to me. "He'll be here in two hours." She announced with a smug grin.
"He probably has a ticket." I commented sourly.
"He'll probably have worse when he kills you." She pointed out with a smile.
I shut up and started sulking.
I thought the time would drag on because of my impending doom, but with the TV on, I just started watching the mindless TV show and before I knew it there was a knock at the door and Dana was skipping to open the door.
"Dad!" She squealed.
"Cupcake," I heard our father say at the door. I grimaced and tried to disappear as I heard his footsteps near closer. I glanced up at him when I heard him stop. "There's my little Sweet-Tart." He said dryly. He was in jeans and a white tee shirt that looked worse for wear, not much better than I had when I drove out.
I rolled my eyes at his nickname for me, knowing he was just starting his crusade to make me suffer.
He walked up to me and loomed over me. "Have a nice trip?" He asked with a very dangerous grin on his face.
"Not particularly." I grumbled.
"Well that's unfortunate because it's the last one you're taking for a while." He said without any kind of remorse, not that I expected it from him.
I huffed.
"I'll get your clothes." Dana said quickly as she ducked into her laundry room, next to her kitchen and I heard the door shut. Traitor.
"Nice stunt you pulled." Jeff told me with a very unamused look on his face.
"I try." I retorted.
"Try harder." He almost growled.
"Let me get my keys." I said going to stand up.
"No need, they can stay." He said with a knowing grin.
"What?" I hissed.
"You drove thousands of miles, without any form of an adult, under the age of eighteen, after leaving the only person I trusted you to go anywhere with. That's a big damn deal Willa, your car stays here until Dana comes out to visit in two months and I don't know if I'll be ready to let you have it back." He told me, ticking off each of the points I did manage to accomplish.
My first instinct was to kick and scream and cry about how it wasn't fair, but all I could think about was that look in Seth's eyes and I knew it was. I dropped my head and didn't say anything.
I felt my dad sit down next to me and stroke the back of my head. "You hurt him bad Willa," He whispered to me.
I felt two tears escape my eyes.
"He's a tough guy and all, but that was just unnecessary." I could feel him shaking his head at my actions.
"It's what I do." I snapped sarcastically.
"No, it's what your first reaction is, your second would have been something different." He told me knowingly.
"You're not a mind reader." I tried to tell him.
He took my chin and made me look at him. "Oh, hello, apparently we haven't met, I'm your father, I've been raising you since the day you were born." He said sarcastically.
I glared at him lamely.
"That's what I thought." He said still grinning.
"Here are the clothes." Dana said as she exited the laundry room, taking much longer than she needed.
She threw the clothes at me and I caught them with enough ease. "Traitor." I snapped out loud this time.
Dana paid me know mind and walked to Dad and hugged him tightly. "I'll see you both soon, okay?" She said looking between us.
"Whatever." I muttered.
"She'll be fine, you know how teenagers get." Jeff told her smartly.
I scoffed and him and before I knew it I was being pushed out of my sisters apartment, down to my father's Jeep where I stared at my Mustang sadly and wished for once I wasn't so damn stupid all the time.
Jeff drove off as soon as the seatbelts clicked. He didn't like leaving Dana, but this was my shit today and it was apparently his turn to shovel it.
"Why didn't he come?" I asked somberly.
"I don't know, all I got was him running into the house in the middle of the night, covered in mud telling me you ran off to your sister, though I had already guess that and was packing. We haven't heard from him since." He answered.
I turned my head so he wouldn't see my reaction.
"I've already doled out my punishment, though, there will be more when we get home and I'll get to that later, but you're going to fix what you did to Seth first." He told me firmly.
The rest of the drive was silent. I was listening for the sound of wolves the entire drive, but I never heard them and it only made me feel more like shit.
AN: Review!