AN: Ta-dah! I have finally updated! I know you all have been waiting for this and after the next chapter they will be back home and away from all the crazy family drama. I can't torture them forever. :P Please enjoy and forgive me for taking so long. I'll try to have a new update in two weeks. Oh, and I'm almost to one-thousand reviews!!! THAT'S CRAZY! Thanks guys!!!

Chapter Thirty-Six

Horrible Party

I had been woken up a few times at ridiculous hours to go shopping by my mom and even once by Nessie and Alice but when your incredibly rude cousins come barging in while your resting peacefully with your boyfriend, who is fully clothed, and instantly start yelling about statutory rape, it takes all the fun out of whatever shopping to be had.

"I'm eighteen for the love of God!" I yelled as Quil was backed into a corner. I jumped out of bed and grabbed my cousins and pulled them away from him, before Quil got the satisfaction of killing them before me.

"Do you know how old he is?!" Marianne demanded.

"Do you know how old I am?!" I shrieked back.

"It's immoral." She chided sternly.

"And you're incorrigible." I hissed.

"What?" She asked dumbly.

"UGH!" I yelled, storming out of the room, dragging Quil behind me. I stomped down stairs where Pop was waiting at the end.

"Now what?" He asked sighing heavily.

"They think Quil was forcing sex on me while he is fully clothed and I was under three blankets!" I yelled over my shoulder where Marianne and Tommy were coming down.

"Will you two stop being so dramatic, I will kick you out. Again." Pop warned seriously and shuffled into the kitchen.

"We're only looking out for Claire." Marianne tried to sound like a soldier doing her duty, but she failed miserably.

"I look out for myself Lady." I snapped.

"Watch your tone." Marianne tried to say threateningly.

"Watch your own!" I yelled. They all stared at me like I just held a gun to the President's head. "I'm showering. And just so you know, Quil isn't coming, he already said no!" I yelled and then stomped toward the stairs, not caring to look at their reaction.

I've never had such an angry shower in my life. I didn't even think it was possible but my frustrations got the better of me and I lost a patch of hair thanks to my cousin's annoying the daylights out of me. After thirty minutes under scalding hot water I went back to my room and found Quil sitting on the end of my bed next to a plate of food that I presumed was for me because if it was Quil's he would have already eaten it.

"You missed the look they had on their face, it was amazing." He said grinning stupidly.

I plopped into his lap and snuggled into his welcoming arms. "They didn't do anything while I was in the bathroom did they?" I asked pouting.

"They sulked like three year olds." He laughed.

"Why are they taking me shopping anyway? I already have something to wear to a party." I was getting more and more annoyed with these people by the second and now they want to ruin one of my favorite hobbies?

"Yeah, but you were with Nessie when you bought it thus making it unacceptable." He told me rubbing my neck.

"They don't like you and they don't like one of my only friends, I think I'm going to have a rocky relationship with them." I mumbled, sinking deeper into his lap.

He held me tightly, fooling me into thinking I would disappear into his arms but really I would be found and forced to go shopping. Geeze, I never thought I'd see the day. I huffed and held his arms closer around me. "What ever happened to Natalie?" He asked confused.

What in the hell brought that up in his little head? "Oh, uh, she eloped with Joe and she's been off on a honeymoon with him for the past few days and will probably be gone for a lot longer." I answered guiltily. I had been meaning to tell everyone that…

"Wow," He muttered, shocked.

"Its not so surprising once you meet her." I said with a shrug. By the look on his face he seemed to believe me.

We were just getting comfortable when the most irritating voice I've ever heard in my life yelled up the stairs. "CLAIRE!"

I clutched Quil's arms and looked up at him. "How fast are the cops here?" I ground out.

"Pretty fast." He answered sympathetically.

"Dammit!" I cursed, prying myself out of his arms.

He didn't let me get very far, making me stand between his legs as he held my wrists to keep me in place. "Just relax and don't bring up anything from La Push and maybe you'll have a decent time." He said hopefully.

"So what am I supposed to talk about? The weather?" I asked blankly.

"Sure," He answered, smiling meekly.

I groaned and covered my face with my hands. "This is a disaster." I mumbled through my hands.

He sighed and stood, taking my hands away from my face and kissing my forehead. "Yeah, pretty much." He said apologetically then leaned down to kiss me fully. I wanted to grab his shirt and pull him closer to me, but he was still holding onto my hands. I think he knew if I did that I wouldn't be leaving any time soon. He pulled away and gave me a half a smile that wasn't as convincing as I would have liked. "Good luck," He said before leaving me to get dressed.

I took my sweet time getting ready just to aggravate them. I spent thirty minutes changing my nail polish after I was dressed because I was ready after forty-five minutes of dragging my feet and I wanted to make them wait even longer. After three different colors and half a bottle of nail polish remover I went down stairs and was swiftly rushed to the bright yellow eyesore Marianne called her vehicle.

"Alright, so, you're going to need a dress and some shoes." Natasha listed off as we got in the car.

"I have shoes." I tried to say without hissing as I put my seatbelt on.

"Oh, but you'll need them to match the dress Sweetheart." Marianne tried to say sweetly, but it only rubbed me the wrong way.

"Do not call me Sweetheart." I said quickly.

"Why, is that what Quil calls you?" Natasha asked snidely.

"No, that's what my lying mother calls me." I snapped angrily. We had barely left the drive way and I was already eighteen levels of angry…

"You can't be mad at us forever Claire, soon enough that infatuation you have with Quil will fade and you'll see we were right." Marianne said in her pompous fashion.

You know when people talk about being so angry they see red? Well, I never believed that could happen until Marianne open her fat mouth. I had the overwhelming urge to rip out her vocal cords and wear them as a necklace, but settled on opening the door of the moving car and taking off my seat belt.

The car skidded to a stop while Marianne and Natasha started screaming. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING CLAIRE?!"

I stepped out of the car, walked around to the driver's side and yanked open the door. "If you want me to get back in the car, you will not bring up Quil, my father, my sister or my mother and I'll pretend I actually want to be within five feet of you. But if you say one word I don't like, I'm calling Quil and he's taking me home."

Marianne wasn't looking at me at all, she was eying all the neighbors that had come out to see what was going on. Apparently, she didn't like negative attention drawn to her. "Are you crazy? Get back in the car!"

I stepped back from the car and crossed my arms over my chest. "Not until you agree to my terms." I said firmly.

Whispers started to grow louder down the street and soon everyone was staring right at her car. She looked like she was going to explode. "Fine!" She hissed.

I smiled broadly. "Thank you," I sang then skipped back to the other side and got back in the car.

Marianne sped off as soon as my door was shut and I couldn't stop smiling. "Wonderful weather we're having." I said cheerily.

Shopping didn't take very long at all. There was a little plaza with a few dress boutiques and a shoe store. In the first store I found the dress I wanted. The most expensive one in there I'm sure because Marianne cringed when she saw the price tag. She was more than likely regretting her decision to take me shopping then but she didn't say a word. In fact, neither of them had said anything all of the thirty-minute drive. I'm sure they wanted to, but my threat loomed over their head and nothing came out of their mouths. I was practically in heaven.

I could tell then didn't like the honey colored sheath dress I chose. It only came to my knees and the neckline didn't show anything under my collar bone. They tried to show me flashy little numbers that looked like they belonged in Vegas instead of Washington, but when I reached for my phone, they stopped.

A few accessories and cream cardigan later we walked over to the shoe store. Marianne and Natasha were positively scowling the whole time because I looked more like a Senator's wife than a teenager. I didn't know why they wanted me to show off my legs and other assets since they hate Quil so much and it left a foreboding feeling in my stomach. Until we got to the shoe store. Then I only felt the need to try on the first pair of sling-backs I saw.

It only took me twenty-seven minutes to find the dress, accessories and shoes, which were gold flats much to their disappointment. Marianne tried to drag the trip out but Natasha was acting like a spoiled child that wanted to go home, so we left. No words were exchanged on the way back to Pop's and I smiled the whole way.

At the house Marianne wanted to come in to see what the whole outfit looked but Natasha snapped that she already knew I'd look like a prude and demanded to be taken home. I skipped into Pop's house and found Quil playing chess with Pop in the living room. I dropped my bags and plopped into Quil's lap. "How was shopping?" Quil asked confused. No doubt he was wondering why I was smiling and why they hadn't followed me in the house. I could see the murder scenes playing out behind his gorgeous eyes.

"It was great! They didn't say a word." I answered happily.

Pop eyed me suspiciously. "How did you manage that?" He asked confounded.

"I stepped out of the car when it was moving and embarrassed them in public." I answered smugly.

Quil's eyes were the size of hub caps. "I'd be impressed if you didn't walk out of a moving car!" He almost yelled.

I rolled my eyes at his dramatic attitude. "It wasn't even going ten-miles-an-hour." I said, smacking his shoulder.

"No more exiting moving vehicles to make a statement." Quil said shaking his finger. Pop nodded in agreement.

"Fine." I huffed. They take all my fun…

Pop changed the subject from my theatrics. "So, what did you get?" He asked curiously.

"As much as I could out of them." I said evilly. Pop started smiling along with me. "Its very Jackie-O if I do say so myself." I told them proudly.

"You remember her?" Pop asked amazed.

"I took an American history class, and a fashion history class a few summers ago." I answered annoyed.

"Uh huh." He said eying me.

"When is this stupid thing anyway?" I asked moving off Quil's lap and tucking myself into the little space between him and the arm of the couch.

"It starts at five, but they don't want you to show up until six." Pop answered rolling his eyes.

"Just for that, I'm showing up at four and living twenty minutes later." I said seriously, leaning my head onto Quil's shoulder. They both laughed, enough to make me smile.

We all chilled in the living room for a good hour before they prodded me to get ready. I took Quil with me to my temporary room and started making out with him just so I could ensure we would be late. Quil didn't catch onto my plan until Pop banged on the door and told us it was ten minutes to five.

Quil attempted to be disappointed with me, but he couldn't stop grinning. He left before I could start kissing him again. I took my time getting dressed, like I had in the morning, but I didn't want to do my hair. I just brushed it again and left it down. I didn't want to put too much effort into my looks just in hopes that it would irritate my cousins.

I put everything on and stared at myself in the mirror to kill as much time as possible. I knew I could look better if I put just a little bit of makeup on and did something nicer with my hair but

"You look beautiful." Quil murmured before he kissed me. It made me blush knowing I was beautiful to him even when I wasn't even trying. He pulled away and took my hands. "Ready?" He asked nodding toward the door.

"No, I still don't have a plan to dispose of the bodies." I said frowning.

"Ah, well, don't worry, we'll figures something out." He promised, brushing my hair out of my face.

"You're the best." I said dreamily.

"I know." He said smugly before pulling me out of the room.

Pop drove us to Marianne's house within five minutes and I was instantly bombarded with people that claimed to all be related to me.

None of them showed any dislike toward Quil, hell, a few even tried to grab his ass! I guess its nice to know there are only three crazy people in my family, not counting my mother. Tommy and Natasha were off in a corner with their spouses and children. Someone informed me that Marianne's husband had left her a few years earlier. I'm really not all that surprised.

I had actually begun to have a good time, chatting with all these people who liked Quil and just wanted to think about the good times when Marianne butted in.

"Claire, there's someone I'd like you to meet." She said with a cunning smile. I would rather have seen the fake smile she had on before when she saw me without a hairstyle or makeup.

It had been a civil night and I wasn't in the mood to ruin it, so I went along with it. "I'll be back, keep him out of trouble." I told one of my mothers aunts with a grin up to Quil who just shook his head. I walked away with Marianne and sighed. "Good gravy, how many branches does this family tree have?" I asked as we shuffled through the crowded house.

"Actually, he's not related to us." She answered simply.

Now, I guess you could call me naïve or something, because I thought this guy would be like what Emmett was to me when I was little, only on the Makah Rez. You know, sort of like a godfather-big-brother kind of person. But Marianne took me out to her back porch and face to face with a tall guy that couldn't have been a year older than me.

He reminded me a lot of surfer guys in California with his scraggly hair, bloodshot eyes and visible lack of IQ. "Whoa, she is hot." He said after he spent forty seconds undressing me with his eyes.

"Excuse me?" I asked flatly.

"Claire, this is Julian." Marianne told me, smiling even wider. "He's a family friend, I thought you two might hit it off." She added trying to nudge me toward him.

I quickly turned and walked back into the house, ignoring the grating voice that followed me and went straight to Quil and grabbed his arm.

"Sorry, but we have to go. Marianne doesn't listen very well." I told the group of my female relatives that had gathered around him and promptly pulled him out with me.

AN: Review!