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Chapter 13: Complications

Claire is sixteen-years-old

Quil's POV.

"Quil, outside, now!"

Through my blurring vision I could see Sam stood by the doorway with a stern expression on his face. Instinctively, my eyes flickered to Claire, who was now looking at Sam, and I rushed out the door in less than a second. I didn't want to hurt Claire by phasing in front of her, even if she was the reason I was phasing in the first place.

I ran for what seemed like miles, trying to physically let some steam off. Once I thought I was far enough away, I crouched down behind an oak tree, slid my hair into my hands and took long, deep breaths. Over the years I had learnt how to control my phasing so much that I could almost always stop myself when I got angry. In fact, until today, I hadn't had an episode of shaking violently for three years. After twenty minutes I was calm enough to stand and stop inhaling loudly, but I still didn't feel any better.

I had felt like shit for months now. Since the day of Claire's sixteenth birthday party, to be exact. After visiting her Claire to apologize for taking off without saying goodbye and finding out she had a date, things had been worse than ever. I had thought the date was a one off, like that Bruno guy who only lasted two weeks before Claire got bored of him, I thought Claire was just exploring and trying out something new. However, it turned out to be her new craze. One week it was Steven, the next it was Taylor, the week after that it was Robbie. She told me about her dates, for reasons still unknown to me, and with each new name I couldn't help but feel jealousy build up inside me.

I missed her. I missed hanging out with her and making her laugh. I missed her being by my side and phoning me every night to tell me about her day. She didn't do that anymore, I was lucky if I got two calls a week now, and even then they were scarce and a little bitter. Every weekend she was out on her dates so I couldn't even go to visit her, though on odd weekends she would invite me down for a closed off talk.

I didn't know what to do. Did I apologize again? Did I ask her to talk to me about it? Did I ask Nora to talk to her? Each idea was quickly squashed when I came up with the outcomes that they presented. So I just let her be, taking everything in stride...well, as much as I could.

Then Peter came along and Claire wasn't dating random guys anymore, she was going serious with a lanky kid from her class. She had mentioned something about liking him more, though it was brief, like all conversations we had these days. I had thought he would go in a couple of weeks like the others...but then a month passed and she was still with him...then two, then three and soon seven months had passed by and she was still dating Peter. I wasn't allowed to meet him or talk to him, the only information I had was what Claire told me. She described him as a great guy that she really liked, but I wanted to make sure. If Claire was going to go off with this guy, I needed to make sure she was going to be happy with him. So when Emily told me Claire was bringing Peter down for a meal, I jumped at the chance to ask the kid some questions. I had good intentions: make sure he was good enough for Claire.

That went out the window when I saw them.

They were holding hands and smiling lovingly at each other. He wasn't scared off by Sam, and then Claire introduced him to me and he glared like I had done something to offend him. I didn't like him, not one bit, especially when Claire pulled him aside slightly and kissed him. Something roared within me to yank her away and run with her. I refrained, mostly because I would get put down for kidnapping if I went through with it. She looked beautiful even in a pair of jeans and a simple top. She always looked beautiful nowadays.

Peter had sent me dark looks as Claire played and laughed with Tyrone on the sofa. I don't think she noticed, she was too engrossed with Tyrone to pay attention to us. He smirked triumphantly at me and wrapped his arm around her waist as if to say, "Ha. You lose". I wanted to smack him so hard he landed back in Makah. Claire looked over at me then, caught my eye and blushed.

I wanted to scream in joy. She still reacted to me.

Then they were holding hands again and sitting at the table sending each other awed looks. Emily had been the first to ask questions, so I didn't see what was wrong with me joining in. My questions weren't even that bad! They were simple, straight to the point and important. I also think he was lying on some of them, but whatever. After Peter had gone I expected Claire to be a little angry, taking into account her outraged look at the table, but I didn't expect her to be livid. She was screaming, I was shouting things I didn't mean. All the anger, bitterness and jealously that had been suppressed for months and months on end burst out in one sitting.

And then she shouting about me being jealous and I blew it. It was true. Hearing someone say it, however, especially Claire, released something inside me. I was jealous about the whole thing, her being in a relationship, me being on my own, Peter being able to spend time with her when I didn't. I wanted to bite back and defend myself, but I didn't know what to say. What did I say to something that was true, but you didn't want it to be? I couldn't lie to Claire, anyway, so there was no point of even opening my mouth.

Having nowhere else to go, I wondered back to my apartment and into my bedroom to think things over. First thing, I needed to apologize to Claire for interrogating her boyfriend (though I thought it was necessary), shouting at her, and then scaring her by almost phasing, not that she knew I had almost turned into a wolf in her Aunt and Uncle's living room.

I wanted Claire to be happy. I wanted her to live her life the way she wanted. If being with Peter was making her happy, why did it make me feel like complete shit? Whenever Claire had been happy when she was younger I would have been happy, too. We were two halves of a whole, so deeply connected by the imprint our emotions bounced off one another. By the way she went on about Peter and acted with him, he was making her happy, so why wasn't that emotion bouncing off to me?

I wondered if because our relationship had changed that I wasn't effected the same why as when she was a child. Had we lost a part of the imprint bond by not hanging out and being friends these past several months? Did the imprint bond magically change the moment I realized that Claire was grown-up and an attractive young woman? I had no answers.

I fell into an unsettled sleep hours later. I tossed and turned all night until I was awoken by a knocking on the front door. My back jerked like someone was pulling a string it was attached to and my body started to buzz. I knew it was Claire before I even opened the door.

"Quil, oh thank God," she sighed as soon as she seen me. She flung herself into my arms, her grip tight around my neck. "I thought something was going to happen to you," she choked.

Forgetting everything I had been getting headaches about, I wrapped my arms around her frame and slammed the door shut with my foot. My imprint needed comforting and I would be dead before letting her hurt. "I'm fine, Claire," I whispered soothingly.

"I'm so sorry, Quil," she cried, letting go to look me in the eyes. Tears leaked down her cheeks and I wiped them away with my thumbs. "I didn't mean anything I said. I was just hormonal and in a bit of a bitch mood."

I chuckled softly. "It wasn't your fault, Claire. I shouldn't have interrogated your—your boyfriend," I replied, wiping away her tears again. "I didn't mean to upset you, I promise, I just wanted to know if he was good enough for you."

"I know," she giggled thickly. "I expected it. I just—I've got some stuff on my mind and it's making me act a little crazy."

"What's on your mind?"

Her cheeks heated up slightly and she took a small step back. "School work and stuff. I have far too much and I'm loosing sleep over it."

"Oh."

She had stepped away from me but her hand was still in mine. I gently stroked my thumb across the back of her silky hand. She looked at our intertwined hands for a moment, sighed, and then looked me in the eye. "Quil, can we go back to being best friends?"

"We already are, Claire."

"I know," she stated. "But things have been really weird between us lately and I don't like it. I—I miss you, Quil. You've always been my best friend and I kinda need you around for my sanity," she chuckled. "We don't even have to go back to calling each other every night. I just want to hang out sometimes and laugh like we used to."

I grinned widely at her, my heart bursting with happiness. "No problem, Claire," I beamed, bringing her in for another hug. I couldn't help but realize she fit perfectly in my arms. "And you can call me every night, if you want to. I love hearing about your day."

"Really? I thought it must have been pretty boring for you."

"You're never boring, Claire."

She blushed and smiled shyly at me as we broke apart. "Well, thanks," she muttered.

She peeked up at me through her thick eyelashes and I smiled softly at her. Something passed between us, a strong wave of emotions, electricity and passion. Just as she took a step forward, my cell phone rang.

Son of a bitch!

"Hello?" I spat.

"Whoa, man, what did I do?" Jake asked in an offended tone.

My anger departed instantly at his voice. Jake rang me three times a week to have a talk and see how life down in La Push was doing. I missed having him down the road and having beers with him while watching a game. His life was going good, though, he and Nessie had a daughter called Elizabeth who had just turned one. "Sorry, Jake," I said. "I'm hungry."

Jake laughed. "So eat, don't bite my head off."

I sent Claire and apologetic look, she blushed and shrugged, walking over to the sofa to turn on the telly.

Jacob Black had shit timing.

"How's things going in France?" I asked, leaning against the counter in the kitchen. I heard Claire laugh at something on the telly and smiled to myself.

"Pretty normal except my kid is growing twice as fast as she should," he snorted. "Oh, and Harry has learnt how to climb up trees, so that's fun for Seth and Aura. How's life down there?"

"Normal. Embry's still kicking it with his kids and Elle, and everyone else is pretty much the same except we have a couple of new wolf-kids in the pack."

"You and Claire doing okay?"

"A lot better, thanks."

I had talked to Jake about my troubles with Claire after a night when I drank a 24-pack beer to myself. Still, I was glad I told him. Jake was the only person I knew that had gone though the same thing as I did, though his imprint grew triple the times of mine so it was still totally different. We had watched our imprints grow up, however, and learnt the art of the imprint bond and how it changed as the years went by. Jake had offered some advice that had helped. He had said give her space and time to figure things out. He knew this from the time Nessie ran away after finding out about Jake's past, that had been an awful few months. Jake had walked around like a zombie for a couple of them and then it got so bad he couldn't even get out of bed. Nessie had come back just in time, in my opinion. If he had been left any longer he probably would have died.

We talked for a while longer and then I chatted to Seth for fifteen minutes. After saying goodbye I went back into the living room and sat down next to Claire on the sofa, wrapping my arm around the back. She looked up and smiled brightly at me.

"How's Jake and the others?"

"They're great," I responded with a smile. God, it felt good to hang out with her again, to see her smile and hear her laugh. "Have you spoken to them lately?"

"Yeah, Nessie and Aurora phoned me four days ago," she grabbed hold of my hand and fiddled with my fingers. Her smooth skin against my rough felt amazing. "And I talked to Harry for a bit. He's gorgeous, by the way. Aurora sent me a picture and he's the double of Seth."

"Mmm."

"And Ness sent me a picture of Lizzie. She's gorgeous, too. She takes after Jake more than Nessie looks wise. Jake says she looks a lot like his grandma." She twirled my hand and made a star pattern on the back with her forefinger, then laced our fingers together.

"We should go out and see them some time," I commented.

Her face lit up. "Really? I'd love that!"

"Yeah, we could go next summer after you finish high school."

"That would be amazing, Quil," she smiled. I made a mental note to make sure Alice booked some flights for us. I had no idea how to do it myself.

We talked until late afternoon when Sam called up and said she needed to go back so he could drive down to Makah before it got dark. We hugged tightly and she promised to call me when she got home. Waving as she turned the corner to head down the stairs, I couldn't help but wonder if she was going to see Peter. She was probably going to meet up with him and apologize, too. They were probably going to have a lot more physical making up than we did.

Once she had gone, I shut the door and leaned against it. I had everything I wanted. I had Claire back, we were talking again, we were best friends. So why did I still feel like shit?

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-Laylax