"Are you alright now, Pup?"
"Yeah, damn it, the mate bond is stronger since I decided to be friends with Emmett again."
"You decided to be friends with Emmett, that's great!" Bella says.
"We'll see if it's great or not, when we get back but for now how about some Italian for dinner." Alexis asks as if nothing is wrong.
Ambrus and Bella look at each other, they shrug and follow Alexis to an Italian restaurant down the street.
The next few days are filled with them doing a lot of sightseeing around Jacksonville. The of course check out the beach and try their hand at surfing, then they go to the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, then check out Amelia Island, They go to the downtown river walk and look at Friendship Fountain and of course Ambrus has fake I.D.'s for the girls so they go clubbing. All in all they had a very nice weekend, but come Monday morning they were ready to go back to Washington. The girls said goodbye to Renee, then she and Bella had a nice mother daughter moment while Ambrus and Alexis waited.
Ambrus then says his goodbye's and thanks both Renee and Phil for their hospitality and from there they board the plane back to Seattle. They arrive in Seattle at 6 in the morning and hang around with Bella until it was time for her to take the smaller plane to Port Angeles. Charlie wasn't going to be able to come up to Seattle this time so this was the alternative. Once she boarded her flight Ambrus and Alexis got took a cab back to campus. They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Alexis to her dorm and Ambrus to his apartment.
When she got into her dorm Samantha was still asleep, she very carefully closed the door and went to her bed.
"So you forgave Emmett, huh?" Samantha says.
"I didn't forgive him I decided I'd give him a chance to be friends."
"Yeah, you forgave him."
"What makes you say that," Alexis asks her best friend.
"Rosalie told me what happened, Emmett is on cloud nine after talking to you."
"He is?"
"Yep."
"Hmm." Was all Alexis said
She changed got in bed and slept until her afternoon classes.
She and Samantha get up and get ready for their afternoon classes, they go downstairs to meet Ambrus and Rosalie for lunch before heading off to class, this time though, someone else is with them.
Alexis spots Emmett before he sees her and stops right in her tracks, she's not sure she can talk to him just yet, but Samantha grabs her arm.
"Just let him join us, you don't have to talk to him. You can do this, Lexie, you can treat him as a friend."
Alexis swallows hard, "I can do this."
She takes a deep breath, takes Samantha by the hand and walks over towards the others. She immediately goes and stands beside Ambrus, more like hides behind him.
"Hi everyone, let's go to lunch, Lexie and I have lab this afternoon and Ambrus has clinicals, so we need to hurry." Samantha tells them.
They all agree and walk towards the Café. Rosalie holding hands with Samantha while Ambrus is in between Emmett and Alexis. Everyone went to sit down and Alexis made sure that Ambrus was always between her and Emmett. She may be willing to give him a chance, but that didn't mean she was comfortable being close to him yet.
Emmett on the other hand was just happy to be in the same room with his mate, it calms him in a way that nothing else does. He knows that he's got his work cut out for him and that more than likely Lexie won't speak with him yet, but Emmett doesn't care. At this point, he'll do whatever it takes to earn her trust back and if that means starting from the bottom and just being friends, he's willing to do that.
The waiter comes over and takes everyone's order, of course Alexis and Ambrus order the most food due to their metabolism. Emmett smiles at the sight of Alexis eating, he misses the little thing like this. Once they had lunch, Emmett pays for everyone, much to the Lycan's protest, and they head out, each in their own direction.
Rosalie walks away with Emmett, while the other three head off to the health and science building. Rosalie walks in silence for a while just staring at Emmett, he has this wide grin on his face and a lightness in his step.
"Alright, why are you so happy?" Rosalie finally asks.
"Because I got to be with my mate and it's the most calm I've felt in a long time." Emmett tells her.
"You didn't even talk to her."
"Doesn't matter, just being near her is enough right now. I know that eventually she'll talk to me, it's only a matter of time. I just have be patient."
But patience was not one of Emmett's virtues, it was something he had to desperately work on. There were time where he just wanted to take Alexis in his arms and kiss her senseless. But he would catch himself and have to leave the room. Little did he know that when Emmett would leave, Alexis' eyes would follow him. She too longed to be with him, but she still didn't trust him.
"This can't go on, Ambrus." Alexis tells her Lycan friend one night as they walk back from the library.
"What can't go on, Pup."
"How things are with Emmett, I hide behind you from him like a scared rabbit. Afraid to even ackowledge his presence. How is that giving him a chance?"
"I agree, Pup, it isn't. You have to try to at least talk with him, start with idle conversation. If you have to talk about the weather, anything to break the ice."
"You're right, you're absolutely right. I can do this, I can talk to this man about something completely irrelevent."
So the next day while they were having lunch as usual, Ambrus forces Alexis to sit next to Emmett. She sat there nervously twiddling her thumbs while Emmett talked with Rosalie about how things were going in his Pre-Law classes, but inside Emmett was just as nervous. When Alexis sat down next to him, his dead heart nearly burst, he felt this warm sensation run through his chest at being so close to his mate and yet not close enough. Emmett couldn't help himself, he turned and gave Alexis his best dimpled smile, which caused Alexis' breath to hitch. Emmett's smile grew at her reaction.
Alexis closes her eyes, then clears her throat, "So, Emmett, how have you been?"
Emmett couldn't believe she had just spoken to him, he sat there dumbfounded for a moment, until his voice returned.
"Oh, I'm okay, Lexie, thank you. And you how have you been?"
"Good, good, studying hard trying to pass all my classes, you know how it is."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. I heard that you're still tripling up on classes, is that true?" Emmett asks.
"Yeah, I want to see if I can cut this down to two years instead of four. And you know with being what I am I don't need that much sleep so I can go a lot longer."
Alexis explains.
"Are you sure that's a good idea, you won't burn out?" Emmett asks.
"No it's fine, things are going fine. And you how are your classes?"
"Great, I really love my law classes, this is definitely something new for me to study so I'm going to take my time and study it thoroughly."
"Oh well that's good." Alexis says then stares at her hands.
There was a strained silence between them as the other continued to talk amongst themselves and ignore them. Alexis sighs, she looks around and make eye contact with Ambrus who encourages her to continue.
"Nice weather we're having."
"Yeah it's been great, nice and cloudy, Alice called and said that it's going to be like this for the rest of the month so Rose and I have nothing to worry about."
"Well that's good." Alexis tells him then goes back to her meal.
Once they finish, they all get up to go their separate ways again, Alexis taps Emmett on the shoulder, and smiles at him when he turns around.
"It was nice talking to you, Emmett," Alexis says.
"Yeah, you too, maybe we can talk again some other time." Emmett says eagerly.
"Yeah maybe." Alexis says as she walks off.
Emmett watches her go then turns to Rose, "Yes, we have first contact."