My dearest cousin awoke me the next morning.
By sitting on my chest.
I awoke - quite violently, I might add - with a loud gasp and a yell of 'I'm having a heart attack!'. This was followed by the weight on my chest being suddenly removed and loud peals of laughter to echo around the room.
"You fucking twat, I could have died! Shithead!" I swore at him, quickly pushing myself out of bed and smacking him hard on the chest.
He laughed louder, and it seemed like my slap had hurt myself more than it had him.
"I wasn't aware a lady like you used such language!" He snickered, imitating a posh accent.
Shit, what did I just say to him?
I clamped my hand down on my mouth and sat back on the bed. Oh, holy hell. What if Joy heard? What if Quil Senior heard! I was in deep shit and I knew it. They would think I was some... some thug! I've barely been here a week, for gods sake, I can't fuck it up now!
"Please don't tell your mum," I whispered, close to tears. It didn't help that my hand still stung from where I hit him, the marble bastard.
"Or your grandad." I added for good measure.
"Don't worry, kiddo. I won't. I just wanted to see what you were really like, that's all." He sat down next to me, wrapping one arm around my shoulders and winking at me. I scowled back, shrugging his arm off.
"You couldn't have thought of a better way than sitting on me?"
"Well, I tried shaking you, and you didn't get up. I yelled, too. So I just thought if I sat on you then you would get up, and you did!" He grinned as if it was some admirable accomplishment. Glaring up at him, I shuffled down the bed; determined to put as much space between us as possible.
"And what's with you calling me kiddo? I'm barely what, two months younger?" I inquired. My birthday had just passed a month ago, at the ending of February. I had celebrated by buying my first lottery ticket.
Yes, the British are that weird.
"You're a shortass though, I'm allowed to call you that. My little baby cousin~" He cooed, gently pulling me into a headlock and rubbing his knuckles on my head. I growled and tried to push his arm off of me, not appreciating the 'short ass' comment. He just laughed and released my head from his iron-strong grip.
"Oh, by the way, mom is nearly finished with breakfast. She's made you lunch too, I think she wants you out of the house for as long as possible." Quil joked, patting me on the back and pushing himself off of the bed.
I frowned. Did Joy not like me? Was she regretting taking me in because I was an antisocial, egotistical asshole? It seemed reasonable to me that she disliked having me around; after all, I only saw her for dinner and after that I was straight back upstairs.
"Oh, no, not in that way! Mom loves you, she really does. You're like the daughter she never had, trust me." He explained in response to my worried expression. Oddly, I detected no bitterness behind his words. He must really love his mum.
"So uh, yeah just get dressed and come down. You should probably pack a backpack or something, mom thinks you're the type to go trail walking." Shaking his head and snickering, Quil walked out of my bedroom and down the stairs.
"Nice PJ's by the way!" He called over his shoulder.
I was suddenly hyper aware that he had seen me in little kitten booty shorts and a tank top that read 'make tea, not war'. My face flushed a deep red in embarrassment, and I hurried around my room to make myself presentable before heading downstairs.
My auntie, bless her soul, had prepared what she had described as a "hikers breakfast". It consisted of bacon, eggs, toast, a couple of sausages and two glasses of orange juice. I had discovered this meal neatly set out on a breakfast table in the kitchen that I wasn't previously aware existed. Never one to refuse food, I ate it in record time and ended up with two extra pieces of bacon left over. Not that they were left over for long, of course. As soon as Quil spotted them, he muttered a fast 'Can I?' before I nodded and pushed my plate towards him.
He snatched them off of the plate, shoving them in his mouth and swallowing. He was now up to a grand total of five fried eggs, five sausages, six pieces of toast, nine glasses of orange juice and twelve pieces of bacon. I had been counting.
It baffled me as to how someone could eat that much! I mean, I was no stranger to over eating - I was a little on the heavy side myself - but someone eating that much was unheard of! This time, Quil caught me staring instead of Joy.
"I had a long night." He grinned, finishing his tenth glass of orange juice and wiping his mouth. Letting out a loud sigh, he leant back on his chair; resting his knees on the edge of the table, putting one hand on his stomach and the other behind his head.
"That was great! Thanks, mom." He beamed at her. She smiled back, and I hurriedly emitted my own thanks.
"Oh, it's no problem dear! You have an exiting day ahead of you, I have to prepare you accordingly." Joy winked, and continued to stir something on the stove.
"I'll be out at lunch, so I've made you some soup to put in your bag. Eating that bran all the time is no good for you." She shook her head, and poured the liquid she had previously been stirring on the stove into a large flask. Tightening the lid, she set it on the table in front of me, collecting both mine and Quils' plates in the process.
I had to admit, eating bran none stop was getting pretty bland...
"Quil, sweetie, will you have time to show Charlie around today...?" Joy asked, beginning to wash up our plates. He jolted upright, flashing me a sorry smile before starting towards the back door.
"I'm sorry, mom, but I can't. Work is really... busy, these days. You understand, right?" He asked, turning to me with desperate eyes.
"Um, yeah. Yeah, sure, I understand. I mean, La Push isn't that big anyways, I'm sure I can manage on my own." I reasoned. Joy didn't seem very convinced.
I could see Quil itching to get out of the back door, but his mothers cold gaze had him rooted to the spot.
"I'm not sure you should go alone..." She mused, her resolve swaying.
"If I get lost, I can always just ask someone? You said yourself that this community was very friendly, didn't you?" My doubtful answer seemed to convince her, as she shifted her gaze from her son to me.
"I suppose you're right..."
"Plus, since Quil will be at his job, I'll feel even safer. He does security and protection stuff right?"
Joy nodded, and waved a hand at Quil to leave before turning back to her washing. He mouthed a 'thank you' at me before dashing out the back door and into the tree line. I shook my head at him, before pushing myself away from the table and stuffing the flask into a small rucksack I had brought downstairs.
I hauled it onto my back, letting it hang with only one strap on my shoulder. It only had a few things in it, like an umbrella, a book, and my IPod, so I wasn't too worried about it falling. I zipped my jacket up (I would probably take it off as soon as I got outside. Joy insisted I wear it) and approached my aunt.
"Is it left to the main residential area of La Push?" I asked, not too eager to leave.
"Yes, just follow the road down a little ways and you'll soon see more houses. Sue lives down there, you know, the woman who brought the fish pie over the other day? Maybe you could drop by and say hello!"
I grimaced at the thought of social contact.
"After that, if you keep going down a while there are marked trails through the woods. You can get out to the beach that way, too. But sweetie, if you do go into the woods, don't go very far off of the paths, okay?" She seemed concerned at the mention of the forest, her voice lowering and adopting a more serious tone.
"There are wild animals in those woods. Bears, mountain lions, wolves, you name it. It's extremely rare they come near the paths, though, so you'll be fine. Especially with Quil and his friends patro- err, protecting the Rez." She slipped up for a second there, I thought. I wonder what she's hiding.
"Go on now, off you go! You're wasting daylight," Joy was back to her usual happy self, and was ushering me out the back door as she had done to her son not five minutes ago.
"I won't be back until seven, and Quil Sr isn't coming back until around nine. Quil might be in when you get back, but that boy is about as reliable as a chocolate fire guard." She chuckled, and shook her head.
"You have your keys?"
"Right here," I replied, dangling my keychain from my index finder. One for my bike, one for the garage and one for the front door. Soon, a car key would be added to my collection. Joy had signed me up for drivers ed in Port Angeles, so I could continue my course and get my (albeit restricted) licence in a few months.
Joy glanced at the keys, before dismissing me with a brief 'Don't stay out too long after it gets dark', shutting the door behind me.
Don't worry, I wasn't planning on staying out too long at all.
I jumped down the steps, slowly making my way to the front of the house and following the residential road onto the main one. I turned left, as instructed, and made my way down the side of the road on a dirt footpath carved into the edge of the forest.
About ten minutes down the road, I arrived at another residential street. These houses were only two floors high - much unlike the street I lived on - and appeared to have been withered greatly by the wind, rain and snow. Despite their sunken appearance, they seemed rather homely; the chipped paint and falling shingles doing nothing to displace the feeling of warmth emanating from the mere image of these homes. However, Sue lived in one of those houses. I didn't care to find out which one.
I continued my walk, darting into the darkness of the forest anytime I heard a car coming. After it passed, the chirping of birds and the rustling of the leaves would return, reminding me how close to nature I actually was. I scowled when I realised that I would probably have to walk through the forest. I had lived in a city all of my life, and now even living in front of a forest made me feel antsy.
When I was younger, I used to love going out into the forest and playing with my friends for hours on end. That all changed when three of my so called 'friends' pushed me into a large pile of leaves that just so happened to be covered in spiders. After that, I never spoke to them again and rarely went outside. Sometimes just looking at a picture of a forest brought back a rush of bad memories.
However, I can't deny that the forest at this time of day looked rather pretty. What little sun shone through the clouds managed to bounce off of the dew on the firs and pines, making the branches twinkle like Christmas lights. I smiled slightly, grabbing a small branch at the bottom of a pine a shaking it violently. Tiny droplets of water cascaded from the top of the tree, dampening the ground below. I shook my head, wiped my hands on the back of my hoodie, and continued down the path.
It took me around half an hour to walk from the house to the closest trail, and then another half an hour to follow the trail down to the beach. In that time, I had taken my hoodie off, rolled my sleeves up, almost stepped on some sort of small rodent (I think it was a mouse but I can't be sure), gotten lost halfway down the trail and had a panic attack because I was sure I had felt a spider on my hand. After that ordeal, I finally managed to stumble onto First Beach.
It wasn't what I would call a beach, per se. Beaches have sand, inviting water, and, above all, sunny skies. First beach had none of the three.
For starters, the beach only turned to sand around five feet from the shoreline. The rest was a mixture of pebbles and dirt, yet to be worn away by the sea. The water itself was so dark it looked black, with dull grey foam only serving to outline the crashing of the waves on the shore. The sky had remained grey for the entirety of my walk, and I was just glad it hadn't rained.
A sigh escaped my lips.
I had expected the beach to be at least a little nicer.
I stepped out of the forest and onto the pebbles, making a beeline for a large log that seemed to have been placed in the middle of the beach. It faced the shoreline, and was pushed into the wall so there was a small back to lean on if you leant back far enough. I deemed this seat acceptable as I plopped down onto it, making it creak slightly from my weight. Pulling out my iPod, headphones, and new copy of The Hobbit, I began reading; content that I was alone on the beach.
I had gotten four chapters in when I heard loud, booming laughter coming from the far end of the beach. Curious as to who would be out this early, I looked up.
Four men were walking down the beach. All appeared to be Quileute, all were shirtless, and all had tattoos on their right shoulders. Upon closer scrutiny, I discovered one was Quil. He was the second tallest out of all of them, and was currently pulling the smallest one into a headlock. If I didn't know any better, I would say they were brothers; their similar looks and brotherly actions towards one another would have convinced any stranger.
They were around thirty meters away now, and had still not noticed me. I prayed that they would walk past without commenting on me, and in an effort to appear more invisible I buried my face back into my book, turning the volume of my headphones up. Maybe I should be the cover girl for the "leave me alone" magazine?
My eyes darted up for a split second, scanning the beach for the four friends. It seemed Quil had spotted me, and he had begun walking over with the smallest one in tow. He was still trapped in the headlock my cousin had put him in, poor thing, but at least he didn't seem to be in any pain. When my eyes met with Quil's he lit up, grinning and increasing his pace towards me.
You've acknowledged him now, you twat! I hope you're ready for an awkward conversation with his friend here, because you know he'd going to get involved in some way.
I offered him a meek smile in response, pulling my headphones out and marking my page. He stopped in front of me, grinning down like a mad man as his friend now began to squirm in his grip.
"Quil, man, let me go! Your armpit stinks!" The kid grumbled, digging his fingers into my cousins side.
"That's the smell of manliness, Sethy-kins. A smell you're not used to, I'm sure." He mocked back, tightening his grip for a second before letting go altogether. 'Sethy-kins' was now bent over, rubbing his neck.
"Hi cuz!" Quil finally greeted me, giving me a small wave.
"Hello..." I murdered, glancing over to his friend to check if he was okay. I watched him straighten himself out, stretch, and then turn his gaze downwards towards me.
I watched in confusion as his eyes widened and glazed over; his pupils dilating so much that the caramel colour of his irises were completely lost to inky-blackness. His jaw became slack, his arms drooping to his sides. It was if my life had suddenly placed all its focus onto this one man; all aspects of my life becoming blurred and fuzzy as I saw him in hyper-detail. Everything suddenly seemed to be moving slowly, as if reality was attempting to re-fix itself to a defining moment. His pupils contracted, returning to normal size and bringing his beautiful caramel irises back into view.
Wait, what? Beautiful?
The first guy you've met that isn't your family and you're already fantasising about his 'beautiful' eyes? Get a grip, for christ's sake.
Both time and reality seemed to suddenly snap back into place, as I quickly tore my eyes away from the stranger to actually face Quil.
"S-sorry," I stuttered, my face heating up.
"What was that?"
He looked from me, to Sethy-kins, back to me, and then to Sethy-kins again. His eyebrows rose, his mouth fell open and I heard him emit a small sound of 'oh'. I looked back to his friend; I could see a dark blush forming under his russet skin, making me wonder what had caused it.
"I, uh, just wanted to introduce you to my friend Seth here!" Quil beamed, pushing the younger boy forwards.
"Charlie, meet Seth; Seth, meet Charlie!" Seth stumbled from the push, and I quickly threw my arms out to both steady him and prevent him from landing on top of me. Jesus, he was heavy.
"Sorry! Sorry..." He offered me a sheepish smile, straightening himself out and inching away from Quil. I we stared at each other for a second, before I blushed and turned away.
"Oh? What's that Jared? I'll be there in a minute!" Quil called back over his shoulder at his remaining two friends, and they in turn looked towards him a if to say 'no one said anything'.
"I'll let you two, uh, become acquainted." He snickered, slapping an embarrassed Seth on the back and wiggling his eyebrows at me. I scowled back, making him laugh and push Seth so that he landed on the log next to me.
"Coming Jared!" Quil called, scampering off to gossip with his friends and leaving me and Seth alone together.
"Hi..." I offered weakly, folding my hands into my lap and focusing on my shoelaces. He shifted from his previous position, so he was more or less straddling the log with his hands gripping the space in front of him.
"Hey!" He replied, and I glanced up long enough to catch his dazzling and infectious smile. I smiled at him in return, looking up and out towards the ocean. If I looked at his face I just knew I would stare at his eyes again, and that would be way too embarrassing.
"So, Charlie, huh?"
"Yeah is uh, it's a nickname. My full name is Charlotte but you can call me whatever, really." I mumbled, my cheeks flushing. I saw his smile widen out of the corner of my eye, and he laughed.
"Pleased to meet you, whatever." He grinned, obviously impressed by his own joke.
"Bah, you know what I mean!" I waved my arms towards him, grinning.
"Okay, okay," He put his hands up in mock-defence.
"Please don't hurt me, o wise and powerful Charlie! I beggeth your forgiveness!"
I couldn't understand how he could so easily joke with me even though we had known each other for about two minutes. It seemed so effortless and easy, the way he talked, and I was envious at his apparent confidence around new people.
"I don't really think I could hurt you if I tried," I laughed in response, turning my body towards him but still not making eye contact.
"You and your friends over there are built like tanks."
"It's a genetic thing." He grinned in response, shifting closer to me and making my hair stand on edge.
"Then why am I fat and a weakass?" I offered in response, prodding my stomach.
"Well, you are also about the palest person I've ever seen, so that might be a hint, too. And I don't think you're fat."
"Aha, I guess you're right. I guess I just didn't inherit the 'strong man' genes." My lame attempt at a joke didn't seem to go down well, as he only smiled in response. After a brief moment of all too awkward silence, I tried to revive the conversation.
"So, Seth huh?" I had introduced myself, it was only proper that he do the same.
"Yeah! Seth Clearwater, at your service." He attempted to bow on the bench, dipping his head and moving his hand out in a grand and sweeping gesture.
"Oh, Clearwater? As in, Sue Clearwater?" I asked. This really was a small community.
"Yeah, that's my mom! You know her?"
"Yeah she uh, came by the house the other day to drop off a pie for Quil Senior. She seemed nice!" It was probably wise not to bad mouth his mother in front of him.
"Yeah, she really is. I forget that you're Quil's cousin, you live like ten minutes away from me!" He laughed, rubbing the back of his head.
"Maybe we could hang out sometime?" He sounded hopeful. I nodded, and smiled back at him.
"Yeah, sure! It'd be nice to talk to someone other than the Ateara for a while," I grinned, looking over to the group where my cousin stood.
They were looking at me with a mix of curiosity and smugness, and I suddenly became very self conscious. I looked back towards my shoes, slowly shuffling down the log and away from Seth.
"Not that I don't like Joy and Quil it's just that, yeah... Haven't really had any other human contact since I've been here, other than your mum of course." I explained.
"I totally understand! Maybe I could come around tomorrow and we could watch a movie or something? Or maybe I could show you around the Rez!" I could hear his excitement growing with every word, and he began to bounce like an excited puppy.
"That would be great, actually. It took me ages to get here from my house, so to have a local 'tour guide' would be pretty helpful. Quil was uh, supposed to take me out today but he had work..." My rambling was cut short as one of the men from Quil's group approached us.
"Seth, dude, we gotta get going. Breaks over." He said, eying me up and down before focusing back on Seth. My new friend sighed, and climbed back over the log; standing with his back towards the ocean.
"It was nice meeting you, Charlie," He smiled, and I dared to glance at his eyes again.
Flecks of gold and yellow stained his dark caramel irises, swirling almost hypnotically as if to draw me into their charm. He had very long eyelashes for a boy, so thick and dark that it made the whites of his eyes seem whiter. It wasn't fair; guys weren't supposed to have eyes this pretty!
I know he caught me staring, as I watched the corner of his eyes crinkle upwards as he laughed.
"I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Is lunchtime ok?" He asked, still smiling down at me.
"Yeah, it's okay. I'll be ready." I replied, looking away from his cute face and over towards my cousin. He and his friend were making gagging faces in my direction.
I rolled my eyes at them, and murdered my goodbyes to Seth.
He retreated slowly, glancing back over his shoulder to wave at me a he had rejoined his friends. They crowded him, laughing and patting him on the back as he smiled with them.
I was hit with a wave of understanding; it had all been a joke. They had sent him over to me so I would talk to him and make a fool of myself, and now they were laughing at it. They knew I had been staring at him. They knew I thought he was cute.
And now they're laughing because someone as fat and ugly as you couldn't possibly be with someone like him, right?
I scowled down into my lap, watching as the group of boys disappeared into the woods. I was finally alone again, and now I just wanted to go home. Shoving my book and iPod back into my bag, I stood up, dusted myself off, and began to walk further down the beach. There was no way I was returning the way I had came; Quil and Seth had just walked down that path. Surely it wouldn't be that hard to find another, right?
I found one at the opposite end of the beach, surrounded by decaying tree stumps and dying trees. It didn't look all that safe, but I would walk through hell and back before I would follow guys who liked to mess with girls for cheap laughs.
Now I was determined to return home.
With a stony face, I took my first tentative step onto the path in front of me.
And thus began the long and eventful trek home.