Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight books. I'm only borrowing the characters and will return them mostly unharmed. Except for Quil. He'll be severely shaken up by the time I'm done with him.

Quil, lying on his back with his arms folded behind his head, looked up at the light blue sky. The fluffy clouds lazily drifted by and he idly tried to find shapes in the white puffs above him. He was distracted from his activity by movement out of the corner of his eyes. He turned his head to see Claire running across the grass, a broad smile on her face as she caught sight of him. His breath caught in his chest: she looked amazing.

He slowly got to his feet as she stopped by his side, looking expectantly at him with joyful eyes. His eyes scanned her from head to toe: her yellow sundress chastely hinted at her recently-acquired cleavage and revealed the soft skin of her neck and shoulders. Her wavy hair was flowing down her back, the loose curls looking like burnished bronze. He couldn't move as he saw her hand timidly reach up and touch his cheeks, and his heart almost stopped as her fingertips brushed his lips. She slid her hand to the back of his neck, gently tugging his head closer to hers. His eyes widened as he watched her face draw closer, closer―

"Good morning, sunshine!" Embry's booming voice filled up the cramped bedroom. Quil groaned and burrowed into the mattress, hoping that the bubbly werewolf would magically disappear.

"Up! Get up! Claire will be here in 10 minutes." Quil suddenly launched himself out of bed and flew into the bathroom to brush his teeth, grumbling about Embry's impeccable timing. A few more seconds of dreaming could have given Quil an extra bounce to his step that day. Embry, guessing exactly what kind of dream he had interrupted, chuckled lightly: only Claire could get Quil out of bed this early in the morning. He went to answer the knock on the door as Quil shuffled around the bathroom.

"Hey, kid." Embry tried to stifle his laughter: Quil was in for it today. Imprint or not, Embry definitely was not blind: Claire looked good. Her yellow sundress complemented her tan skin and brown curls. She seemed to have taken the time to apply some eyeliner and lip gloss too. Something was definitely different with her.

"Hi, Embry! Where's Quil? We have to get going if we want to make it to the beach while the sun is out."

"Quil just woke up," Embry said simply. Claire laughed and made her way to the kitchen to pack some food for the day. A few minutes later, a ruffled Quil appeared running a hand through his already messy hair. Claire took a moment to appreciate his black T-shirt and his blue and white swimming shorts. She felt an involuntary shiver crawl down her spine: the shirt clung to his broad back and arms, showing off the muscle and strength of his torso. She mentally sighed: he was gorgeous.

Meanwhile, Quil was attempting to find his jaw somewhere on the floor. Claire seemed to have materialized from his not-so-innocent dream last night: the yellow sundress, the hair, even the cute little pink toenails. He clenched his fists in an effort not the grab her and… Well, he'd better not continue with that thought.

"You ready, Claire? We should head out soon," Quil tugged on his sleeve uncomfortably. Claire rolled her eyes.

"I've been ready for hours. Let's go."

THIRTY MINUTES LATER

Claire maneuvered over the hot sand carefully as Quil strolled ahead of her with their stuff in his arms. He set everything down by the water and turned to face her as she bent over to spread out their blanket. Swallowing heavily, he held his breath as Claire kicked off her slippers and went to pull off her sundress.

The world stopped spinning. Quil's eyes widened to the size of saucers and he had to stifle a pained groan. Oh God, how could she do this to him? But more importantly, where. did. she. get. that?

"Quil? Are you alright? What's wrong?" Claire looked at her friend with concern. His eyes were glazed, his face flushed, and his breathing uneven. Was he sick?

"F-fine. Fine. I'm fine." Quil could not resist ogling Claire and her new choice of swimwear. She had previously worn only one-pieces in the water. For the first time, Quil was faced with a challenge that he was not sure he could overcome: a black bikini. As far as bikinis went, he could not help but observe that it was a tasteful one: it didn't reveal too much skin and covered everything that needed to be covered. It somehow accentuated her shapely cleavage without putting everything on display. The top had a little gold loop holding together the two sides in front. Overall, it was a fairly standard bikini.

But on Claire, he thought to himself, the bikini took on a new sort of beauty. As his thoughts took a slightly inappropriate turn, Quil realized that he had to distract himself as quickly as possible. He sprinted to the water with a rushed "I'mgoingswimmingseeyouinabit" thrown in Claire's direction.

Plopping down onto the brightly-colored blanket, Claire sulked and pouted. Did he even notice her new bikini? He barely looked at her before he spazzed out and dunked himself into the ocean. Typical Quil: so oblivious to what was right in front of his face. How could she get through to that man?

She had recently detected the slow changes taking place between her and Quil. She knew she was starting to have "more-than-friendly" feelings for her friend and couldn't help but wonder what he thought of her. Sometimes, she would turn around to find him looking at her in such a heated way that she would immediately flush. Other times, he would look on obliviously as she tried to catch his eye. What did that mean? Why was he so hard to understand?

Claire continued to grumble about her careful plans gone awry: it wasn't supposed to happen this way. Quil was supposed to see her in the bikini, go crazy over it, and… and what? Kiss her? Yes, she would definitely like that. But what were the chances of that ever happening? Quil didn't think of her that way. To him, she was just a sixteen year old girl that he had known for many years. She bitterly resented the age difference: maybe if she was older, Quil would look at her in that way. Maybe if she was smarter, prettier, funnier, more playful. Maybe then he'd look at her with interest. Maybe.

Feeling depressed and hopeless, Claire flopped onto her back and closed her eyes, trying to keep her frustrated tears at bay by flinging an arm over her eyes. As she lightly dozed in the afternoon sun, she was unaware of the light brown eyes thoughtfully gazing at her, the smile forming at her quiet snoozing, and the heart beating erratically at the thought of kissing her.

AN: Well, there you have it! The question(s) for this chapter was "Are you alright? What's wrong?". Thanks to everyone reading!