AN: Alright, back to Claire's POV. I know, we're all going to miss Quil, but I'll bring him back soon. I'm keeping the five page rule for the moment, then I'll move to six pages when the content gets more 'important'. Its my OCD, please forgive me. It will be a lot of Claire and Quil from now on, other than a shopipng trip in the next chapter. This way comes the good stuff! Hope you all enjoy!
Chapter Fifteen
Bonding
I was surprised how well I was sleeping in my new bed, in my new house. I would be anxious for weeks after we got a new car, but I'm fine after only two days of being here. Its almost scary, nearly as scary as the fact that my mother hasn't called. Maybe it's because I turned my phone off after texting Natalie a long message, telling her only emails from now on. I can expect a rather angry email whenever I can get around to checking it.
There was no one downstairs when I woke, so I took a shower, since Willa was still snoring away. It was nice not to be rushed, or to have any plans for the day. Or at least that I know of. I took my time washing my hair and body, and I even shaved. I haven't had time to do that for a few days. When I was done with the shower I washed my face and used Willa's Mint Julep mask to help with my oily skin.
I only had two dresses, a pair of jeans, two tee shirts, two blouses, a pair of rain boots, a nice set of three pair's undies and a new bra. So, in total, I have two pairs of jeans, five shirts, two dresses, one set of rain boots, one pair of flip flops, four pairs of underwear an two bras. God, I'm going to be doing laundry daily.
Once the mask was dry I washed my face and moisturized myself then changed into my new pair of jeans and the plain dark blue tee shirt I just bought. I shuffled downstairs with an armful of my clothes and down to the garage, where the washer and dryer were located and threw them into the washer.
When the load was in I went back into the house and to the kitchen, where there was a note for me on the refrigerator.
Had to go to work early, your sister has probably disappeared, if you need anything your aunt and Quil are free.
Looks like I have the house all to myself. Sweet.
I rummaged around the kitchen for a bowl and box of cereal and found my favorite cereal, corn flakes. I poured an obscene amount of cereal into the bowl and a bit of milk then settled into the couch in the living room. I had barely taken my second bite when the house phone started to ring. I groaned and set my bowl on the side table, hauled myself up and walked to the kitchen phone and answered it.
"Hello?" I asked curiously.
"Good morning Claire, its Emily, did I wake you?" She asked apologetically.
"No, I'm just getting breakfast now." I answered, walking back toward the couch to flop back down.
"Did you sleep well?" She asked sweetly.
"Yeah I slept great." I sighed happily. That lumpy old bed is better than Benadryl and warm milk.
"I'm glad," She said almost relieved. We didn't have much of a chance to talk at the bonfire, I think I only said goodbye to her. "Do you need anything?" She asked casually.
"No, I'm fine, I think I'm just going to lay around the house for a while." I said lazily.
Emily laughed softly. "I don't blame you," She sighed. I heard the screams of young boys in the background and I guessed they were my cousins. I don't think I'll be bothering her, she's got enough on her hands. "If you need anything I'm sure your dad left my number somewhere, have a good day." She offered.
"You too," I said hopefully.
"Bye," She said sweetly.
"Bye," I murmured. I hung up the phone soon after.
I grabbed my bowl and went back to eating as I studied the pictures on the walls around me. There were many of Willa and Dana. I hadn't seen an updated picture of her, but there was one that was dated a few weeks earlier. Dana was beautiful. She was tall like our father with long black hair and skin like our fathers and green eyes. She was athletic and she looked so happy. I really want to see her, I hope she doesn't hate me like Willa does. I understand her anger, I really do, but that doesn't mean I like it.
The rest of the pictures were of Willa and Dana through stages of their life. The one picture I was instantly drawn to was the one picture I didn't want to look at. Above the fireplace was the last family portrait we had. Mom and Dad were sitting in front of a tree, with seven-year old Dana standing between them, my five-year old self was sitting on Dad's lap while little three-year old Willa was sitting on Mom's lap. We all looked so happy, everyone was smiling and there wasn't an ounce of anger, sadness or bitterness. I wish we could go back to that, but I doubt that would ever happen.
I finished my cereal and washed my bowl and spoon and went back up to my room to go back and search through my closet of memories. In the closet I found a lot more of my old stuff, including a box of DVD's. Written on one of the DVD's was Claire trip to the zoo and it was dated a week before my mom took me away. I grabbed that DVD and a handful of others and brought them down stairs to the living room. I put the DVD in and pressed play.
The first thing I saw was an extreme close up of Seth.
"The stupid thing won't zoom out." Seth spat.
"Maybe if you didn't play with it all the time!" I heard Quil yell in the background.
"No comments from the peanut gallery!" Seth yelled back.
Seth seemed to have fixed the camera because he focused in on the scene he wanted to film. My tiny little self was in Quil's arms, looking into the cage with the monkey's. "Qwil, look, there's monkey's!" I squealed excitedly.
"They're just like you Claire-Bear, they climb around on everything." Quil said as he tickled me for a moment. I was not amused.
"I'm no monkey, I'm Claire!" I was highly insulted with the mix up.
"I dunno, you and those monkeys are a lot alike." Quil pointed out nonchalantly.
I giggled. "You're silly Qwil." I laughed and wrapped my arms around his neck and held onto him tightly.
He hugged me back. "So I'm told."
The rest of the DVD was me telling Quil all about the animal's in the zoo. My parents and sisters were there too, but I didn't want anyone but Quil. I was in his arms or on his shoulders the whole trip to the zoo. I was a happy, bouncy and ridiculously impatient child. I can see why Quil didn't think I was the same girl, the little girl on the DVD looked like me but that's were the similarities ended. At the end of the DVD Seth was joking around with Quil as Quil, who was just as tall and muscled as he is now, carried me as slept. I don't know why I was tired, I was in his arms the whole time, but he carried me all the same back to my parents van and that's when the family movie cut off.
It made me feel worse about the fact that I can't remember any of it. Not the zoo, not my Dad, and not Quil. I turned the TV off, slipped into my rain boots and left the house. As much as I wanted to stay home and look at all the things from the past I can't remember, its too soon to be able to look at all of this without being upset. About my mom, about everything.
I walked down the street, toward the main road I remember going down when Jacob, Quil and Nessie brought me back. I only passed three houses which were spaced ridiculously far apart when I found the first intersection. Instead of walking toward Emily's house I turned to the opposite direction and walked down the street. There were a few more houses on this street, but no cars. I expected kids everywhere since it was the summer, but it was eerily quiet.
There was another intersection two houses down and I was wondering which way I should turn down the next road when I heard my name being called.
"Claire!" I spun around and looked to see where the voice came from to find a garage door open and Quil walking toward me.
Gosh, he really didn't look any different from the DVD, he was even starting to loose that old pained look he had when I first met him. "Oh, hi Quil." I mumbled guiltily.
"What are you doing out here?" He asked when he walked up to me.
I shrugged. "House was empty, I wanted to get out, so I just started walking. Is this your place?" I asked trying to change the subject. It was a nice house, the garage had the truck I had ridden in last night and a old motorcycle.
He glanced over his shoulder back at his home. "Uh, yeah, you could have called you know." He said, ignoring my subject change.
I sighed defeatedly. "I know, I just didn't want to bother anyone." I said simply. "Is that a motorcycle?" I asked pointing to the vehicle behind him, walking around him and into the garage. I really wanted the conversation about how I ended up a few blocks away from the house to drop.
I heard him grumble something to himself before he walked up to me in the garage. He leaned on the seat of the bike and looked down at the vehicle with a smile. "Yeah, I'm fixing it up, I almost got it running." He said proudly.
I think its an older Harley, I don't really know much about motorcycles so I wouldn't bet on my knowledge. "Cool," I said with a smile.
"Wanna learn how to ride one?" He asked with waggling brows.
I started shaking my head dramatically. "Oh no, I don't operate anything with a motor, its law." I said seriously. I wouldn't mind riding with someone on a motorcycle, I just can't drive one.
"I'll take your word on that." He laughed. He looked up at the sky and frowned. "Its gonna rain soon, want me to take you back?" He asked somewhat disappointed.
I couldn't go home. Not if I didn't want to start crying again. "No, would it be okay if I hung out with you?" I asked trying not to sound desperate.
He perked up a little at my question. "Sure," He answered smiling.
I leaned against the work bench riddled with tools and screws, and watched Quil as he started picking things up off the only chair in the garage. "I found a bunch of home movies at the house. Every looked really happy back then." I said looking down at me shoes. I can't sneak answers out of a person when I'm looking them in the eye.
He tried not to look sad, but I could see it in his eyes. "We were." He said softly.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked up. "I'm sorry, for what my mom did, if it hurt you." I said sincerely.
He closed the space between us and held my arms firmly. "It's not your fault, she was the adult, she made the decisions. You have nothing to be sorry for." He said firmly. I blinked away my upset tears and nodded. He released my arms slowly and went back to clearing the chair.
There was quiet for a moment while my mind wondered about my mother and her crazy ideas. "I've been wondering what she was so afraid of. My dad told me it was something she couldn't accept, and he told me he didn't at first be he knew I would be fine." I rambled hastily. He was amused. "I think there was a boy." I said confused.
Quil choked on a laugh. "A boy?" He asked with mock intrigue.
I ignored his joke. "Yeah, that would explain it, she always freaked when she saw me with a guy. Even if they were married, or had a girlfriend." I said seriously.
"So what, you secretly got married when you were five?" He asked smugly.
"Well you're my secret keeper, you tell me." I said tiringly.
He smiled widely. "Nice try," He said laughing a little.
"If at first you don't succeed, cover up your failure." I sighed.
"I thought it went, try, try again." He said grinning.
I shrugged. "Eh, that gets tiring after a while." I frowned as I hopped up onto the work table.
Quil snorted a laugh and shook his head and went back to cleaning the recliner buried under a pile of junk. I leaned against the wall and looked to my side to find a pile of pieces of cars and motorcycles and mixed with it all was a pair of hot pink underwear with black skull print.
I looked back to Quil with a wrinkled nose. "You have a roommate?" I asked knowingly.
He looked back at me with knitted brows. "What makes you think that?" He asked confused.
I gingerly looped my finger through the side of the underwear and held them up for Quil to see. He growled and shuddered at the same time. Something tells me he didn't put them there, or want them there.
"Embry and Lena live with me." He groaned.
I dropped the underwear back where I found them. "Lena?" I asked confused, I had heard that before.
"Jolene, everyone calls her Lena." He amended.
"Oh, good to know." I muttered, feeling a little stupid. How did I not remember that, it was just last night?! I looked away from Quil and to the wall with three pictures. One was a family portrait with a much younger Quil and I'm guessing his parents. The other was with me jumping on Quil's back as he lay on a couch. I tried not to laugh at that picture. The last picture was of Quil, Jacob, Jared, Paul, Embry, Sam and Seth, who was being tackled by all the other men. "When was this taken?" I asked curiously.
Quil walked closer to me and glanced at the picture. "Uh, about two years ago." He answered, running his fingers through his short hair. "Seth had finally graduated college, after about ten years of trying." He added with a snort.
"How old are you all?" I asked amazed.
He chortled. "Well, I look younger than I am, but I feel older than I am. You can figure it out from there." He said snickering.
I rolled my eyes. "You're worse than Jacob." I mumbled sourly.
He winced and grabbed his chest. "That hurts." He mumbled with feign pain.
I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost eleven in the afternoon on a Wednesday. Everyone else on the Reservations seems to be busy, what does he do on a daily basis? "Don't you have a job?" I asked confused.
He shrugged. "Not really, I help out around the Rez, but mostly I just live off my grandfather's inheritance." He answered.
"Lazy," I muttered.
"Pretty much," He agreed chucking a little. "Jacob opened a garage in Forks, he's offered me a job a few times, I work down there on busy days, and when I'm bored."
"Gee, you've got the perfect set up don't you?" I asked amused.
"Yeah, it's awesome." He sighed languorously.
I laughed at him for a moment before sobering up and asking about something that has been bugging me for two days. "Can I ask something about Seth?" I asked timidly.
He nodded. "Sure, but I'm not guaranteed to answer." He said playfully.
"Does he have a girlfriend?" I asked curiously.
"Why, are you interested?" His tone was joking, but his eyes were panicking.
I hope I didn't press another one of the infamous Quil buttons. "No, just curious." I said casually with a shrug.
He chuckled a little to himself as he leaned his head closer to me. "He has a secret girlfriend." He whispered.
"Really?" I asked excitedly.
"Yeah, he likes her so much he refuses to let any of us meet her." He said with a smirk.
"Wow, he must love her." I said dryly.
"Probably." He said shrugging. He frowned at an exposed wire in the front of the motorcycle and started working on taking off the front panel. He pried the panel off and set it to the side with a huff.
"Can I help?" I asked excitedly.
A bright smile took over his face. "Sure," He answered happily.
Quil spent an hour first explaining to me what he was trying to do with the wiring of the motorcycle before he settled on telling me which tools he needed while he worked. Turns out he had to re-replace all the wiring for the motorcycle. He had it all on hand and watched with great interest as he worked on his bike. I don't know how long I watched Quil just work, showing me how to fix little things. He never said much, or even tried to start a conversation. And it was nice, hell, it was fun, so much fun it almost scared me. I shouldn't be this comfortable with someone I only met two days ago. Sure, I knew him when I was younger, but I was raised to be wary of people, not comfortable with people I don't remember knowing.
Quil looked up at me when I didn't give him the wrench he asked for with a gorgeously sneaky grin and I realized something scary.
I had a crush on Quil.
AN: And Claire finally realizes what we all knew! Review!