Okay, i was hoping that this chapter would get out sooner than this, but, obviously, that didn't happen. I'm actually having more free time now that softball's over, so maybe, hopefully, the next chapter will be out in the next week. Anyways, i hope you like this chapter and forget to review, they are so helpful to me.

Chapter 4

"S- sure," I stuttered. I said this so quietly that I thought that he didn't hear me, but he sat down next to me on the other side where Kim was sitting.

"I'm going to see if Jared – ah – needs anything," Kim said. If she was trying to not make it obvious what she was doing, she failed at it. I glowered at her while she stood up to walk away. My hair covered my face so that Embry couldn't see, but Kim had a clear view of it. She just smiled and turned away, walking towards Jared. I bit my lip; my head was still turned so that Embry couldn't see it. But I was so shocked that I couldn't turn around to face him. I mean, what the hell am I supposed to say? I just learned his name a few minutes ago and now here he is, sitting next to expecting for us to make small talk like we were friends or something. I stink at small talk, usually I just bring up school (but I can't use that since I haven't gone to school here yet) or just stutter until they finally decide to talk. And it doesn't make it any easier that he's half naked and totally hot. But he would think that I was being rude if I didn't turn to face him (which I don't know why his opinion of me was so important), so, against my better judgment, I turned to face that gorgeous face.

Holy crap! The only thing that stopped me from saying that aloud was the embarrassment that could come shortly after. But his face! He wasn't looking at me awkwardly like any other person would do in this situation; instead, he was staring at me as if me…admired me.

My expression must have changed because he broke his gaze, looked down at his feet, and muttered, "Sorry."

His voice was so soft and…perfect. Even though I only heard him say one word, I thought that it was the most beautiful sound that I've ever heard.

"It's fine," I muttered back. After that, there was an awkward silence. I looked at the fire, trying not to look too nervous or eager. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Embry staring at me again, hesitating with something. Probably deciding what to say like me. I smiled a little bit. It sort of helped with my nerves knowing that he was just as nervous as I was. But I couldn't help wondering why he would need to be nervous. As far as he knows, I'm just Seth's plain, ordinary cousin who left her home because she was too chicken to stay there. He probably had a girlfriend, when he has a face like that, and probably much more better looking than me. I bet all the girls on the reservation are better looking than me, with long, dark hair, tanned, flawless skin, and skinny but with the right amount of muscles, too. Yeah, that was it. Seth just sent him over here because my mom told him to help me make friends.

He finally broke the silence. "So, uh, how do you like here in La Push?" he asked, his voice cracking while he said it. Apparently, he was slightly embarrassed by that because his tanned face turned a shade redder.

I smiled, but didn't laugh. I wouldn't have done something stupider than that if I talked first.

"It's not the perfect place, but I like it," I said, "It's better than Lexington."

"Lexington must have been really bad if you prefer La Push over it," he said.

"You have no idea," I said as I turned back to look at the fire. Of course, Embry didn't look away. I was kind of getting used to it by now. This time, he had a look of pain and sadness on his face as if he felt sorry for me, which only confused me more. If he only came over here to please Seth, why'd he keep staring at me like he actually liked me? It just didn't add up in my head.

"Why are - ?" I started to say right as he started to say, "Katie, I -" We both went a deep red.

"You go first," he said politely.

"I was just wondering why you're sitting with me?" I said. A pain shot through my body. Saying it in my head, nothing came up, but when I said it aloud, de javu struck me hard. Greg Binds. Lunch. Worms. No, no, this can't be happening again. For crying at loud, he doesn't even know me! He can't have known what happened to me just days ago!

He smiled at me, but in my head, we weren't outside next to a bonfire, we were sitting at an old lunch table in a large, outdated cafeteria and Embry had black hair and blue eyes.

"I just wanted to meet you," he said as he looked at me, "And hopefully, get to know you better."

No, no, no! I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to leave; I was not just going to let this happen again. "I – I'm sorry," I said as I was standing up, "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I have to go."

He didn't protest, but he wasn't going to let me leave without saying something first. "Will I see you again?" he asked as he, too, stood up. He towered over me, just like Greg Binds.

"I don't know, maybe," I said, wanting to just run to the car and drive off.

"Then met me back here tomorrow at 1:00. If you don't want to come, just tell Seth and I'll know," he said.

"Okay, I'll think about it," I said. And with that, I turned away, without saying goodbye or even waiting for Seth to come, walking as fast as I could without it looking like I was trying to get away, to my aunt's car. I quickly got to the keys out of my pocket and started the engine. I put it in reverse and drove off. But when I was pulling out, Embry was still there, standing in the exact same spot, staring at me.

By the time I was on the highway, I had tears streaming down my face. I pulled over to the shoulder and waited for them to stop so that I could actually see. It took a couple of minutes for them to stop all the way. I looked in the mirror to try and clean my face up just in case someone drove by and saw me. Oh God, I look like crap. My eyes were all puffy and red and my face was all wet from the tears. When I thought I looked decent enough, I put the car back into drive and pulled away from the shoulder.

It took me less than a minute to realize that I had no idea where I was going. Leaving Seth back at the clearing was probably a stupid thing to do when I didn't know any roads in La Push. I recognized some of the scenery from the drive to the bonfire, but got lost at a 4-way stop light. And just then, as if on cue, it started to sprinkle, which isn't uncommon in La Push, but added more spookiness to my situation right now.

I drove through the rain for 5 minutes with my wipers going their full speed when I decided to go to someone's house and ask if I could use their phone for a minute. But, of course, there's nothing but wilderness out here and took me another 5 minutes to find a house. It was small and it needed new siding, but it also looked warm and inviting. I parked the car in their driveway and walked slowly towards the front door, deciding what was the best thing to say without it sounding like I was a stalker. I knocked on the door and waited for someone. While I waited, I looked around at their front porch. It was cute; it had porch swing hanging from the roof and had brightly colored flowers in pots around it. But the sides needed to be done badly. It looked like something clawed at it, peeling away the yellow paint. Maybe they had a dog.

I heard footsteps coming from the inside of the house and went back at the front door. A woman in her forties answered the door. She, like everyone else, had dark hair and tan skin. But there was something familiar about her; it was as if I'd seen her before.

"Yes?" she said. Her voice was sweet, but was filled with stress.

"Um, hi, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but do you mind if I use your phone for a minute; I have to call my family for directions," I said as nicely as I could while making my face look as innocent as possible.

"Um," she said as she looked behind her and then back to me, "Sure, come on in."

She opened the door wider so that I could enter her house. "Thanks," I said when I went inside. It looked like I was in the living room; it had a small brown sofa with a coffee table to match it and a small T.V. on a tiny T.V. stand. There were hundreds of pieces of paper covering the table and the floor around it.

"No problem. The phone is just through those doors, beside the cupboard," she explained, pointing to the door right across from us. I walked towards it while saying thanks again and trying to avoid the clutter on the ground. I managed to make it to the door without tripping when I looked to my right and saw a dark figure walking towards me in the hallway. Fear suddenly rushed through me, but then was replaced with shock when I recognized who it was. I gasped and took a step back. Embry Call was walking towards me.

Embry's POV

She's in my house. The girl I love is standing in my living room with my mom. I watched her car pull up into our driveway from my bedroom window and heard her fists knock softly on the door. Oh God, why didn't I think about cleaning the room up? And the mess just gets worse in the kitchen.

I heard the door opening and my mom talking. Then I heard her voice, even though I couldn't understand what she was saying, I loved it from the first word she said to me. I wished that she would just talk forever; I don't even care what she says just as long as she talks. I heard the door close and Kate say something to my mom. My mom said something back, but I caught the words "phone" and "cupboard".

I opened my door and went into the hallway. I could see her walking towards the kitchen door, looking down trying not to step on the mess. She got to the door and looked up at me. At first, her expression didn't show any recognition at all. But as I walked towards her, her face slowly changed to shocked, scared, and I think a little bit happy, too.

"Embry," my mom said, knowing how to break to mood, "go back to your room."

"But, Mom," I said, not looking away from Katie, "this is Katie, Seth and Leah's cousin."

"I don't care," she said in a stern voice, "you're still grounded, so go back to your room."

"But she's lost," I said, just guessing, "Can I at least drive her back to Seth's house to make sure she gets there alright?"

She considered it for a moment. I've snuck out so many times that I was afraid she wouldn't let me go. But then, with her being the generous person that she is, she said, "Fine, but you have only 20 minutes to get back here."

"No problem," I said while my happiness rushed through me. I looked down at Kate with a huge smile on my face. Her face didn't exactly match mine. Actually, it was no where near mine. She looked at my questioningly; she must have caught something I said that I or my mom didn't quite get. I went through my head and remembered what I'd just said. Katie…lost…drive…20 minutes…nope, I couldn't think of anything that was wrong.

"Are you ready?" I asked her, pushing aside her confused face. Once I asked her, though, she quickly lost the confused look and replaced it with her normal, beautiful one.

"Oh, yeah, I'm ready," she said. I pushed open the door for her and let her walk ahead (one, it's nice to let the girls go first and two, I didn't want to let her out of my sight) and I followed shortly behind her. As I passed my mom, she said, "Remember, Embry, 20 minutes."

"I know," I said as I walked out the door and toward Kate's car. I feel sorry for my mom for not telling her everything. Sam said that not telling her would be best even if the other guys say other wise, but just seeing her getting all worried and freaked out because I snuck out again and again makes me wish that I could tell her so that I could relieve her from all the stress. Of course, if I told her, she'd probably be even more freaked out, which is probably why Sam didn't want me to tell her, for her own sake.

Katie walked towards the driver's side of the car. I grabbed her gently by the arm to stop her.

"Where do you think you're going?" I asked her when she turned around to face me, her face deep red.

"To the car," she said slowly and curiously.

"Yeah, okay," I told her, "but you're not driving."

"What?" she said and looked at me if I was joking. "And why not? It's my car and I'm going to drive it."

"First off, it's not your car," I said, smiling, "and second off, I know where I'm going, so it'd be easier for me to get there." I snatched the keys that she was holding in her hand and opened the driver's seat door. Kate didn't protest, but she didn't go quietly to the passenger side either. I caught her say "crazy" and "idiot". I don't know why, but I liked her saying that; I mean, I'd prefer her call me something a little nicer, but at least she thought of me as something in her life. When she was finally in the front seat and buckled up, I started up the engine and drove back onto the highway. We both were silent, having no idea what to talk about. But I wanted to hear her voice again.

"You didn't make too big of a mistake. You just took a left when you should've token a right," I said, watching the road.

"Oh" was all she said. I was hoping that since I talk first, she'd feel more comfortable and start talking. But apparently, that didn't happen, since we both sat in silence for another 5 minutes. But then, she finally spoke.

"Embry, can I ask you something?" she said, but I didn't like the tone at which she said it. She was curious. And being curious around us isn't a good thing when you don't know what we are. But I couldn't help resisting hearing what she wanted to know.

"Besides that, sure," I said, taking my eyes off the road for a moment to look at her.

She hesitated asking the question, but managed to coax it out.

"How'd you know I was lost?" she asked. I smiled; it had nothing to do with werewolves.

"I guessed," I admitted, "It wasn't very hard of a guess, though. Not very many people come here, you see."

"But there could be a million other reasons why I went there," she said, wanting to know the full story.

"Well, I knew you weren't there to see me because if you told that to my mom, she wouldn't have let you in. And also, because you looked so shocked to see me at my own house. Correct me if I'm wrong, but most people expect someone to be at their home if their going to see them."

She paused and looked at me for a moment, amazed, before she said, "So do you always have that good of a judgment on people?"

"Not really," I confessed, "Not for people that I just met. If it was one of the guys, then, yeah, I would know. But if it's just strangers, I'm usually perplexed trying to figure out what they're thinking of. Except for you; when you walked into my house, I knew immediately why you were there, with no doubts in my head."

She laughed suddenly; her laugh was almost as perfect as her voice.

"So, are you saying that I'm the type of person who gets lost all the time?" she asked, still laughing and smiling.

I smiled, too (I heard a sharp intake of breath when I did) and reached out to grab her hand (with the other on the steering wheel) and squeezed her hand gently. I tore my eyes from the road again, not being able to resist what her reaction was. She was still smiling, but her face was crimson red. I wanted to tell her how I really felt so bad right then. I wanted her to know how important she was to me. So I tried to come up with the best alternative that I could think of without freaking her out or breaking the rules.

"You know, Katie, you're different from the other girls around here," I said. Her face fell. Ah, shit, wrong words to say. Different didn't even come close to half of what I think about her.

"Yeah, different," she said as she looked out the front window.

"No, no. You're different in a good way. You're – you're – unique," I said when I found the right word.

"But always different," she muttered. She looked so sad. I wish I could rewind time so I could go back to a few minutes ago when we were laughing. Before I said the stupid, idiotic words.

"And I'm glad you are," I said. Her face went a deep red and she looked at me with her sad, blue eyes.

"Thanks," she said, "for everything."

"It's no problem," I said, "Anyways, you don't know how bad I wanted to do it."

She gave me a quick, small smile before turning away to look out the window. The rest of the drive, which was only about 5 minutes, was like this. I would occasionally look at every few seconds just to see her, but didn't say anything, in case I say something wrong…again. I pulled into Seth's driveway and put the car in park.

"Hold on, how are you getting back home?" she asked. I could see the problem; if I took the car, no one would be able to leave the house (well, except for Seth and Leah; they can just run). But if I left the car, I'd have to walk all 10 miles home, which isn't a big deal for me, but it probably wouldn't be a good thing for my human charade to walk 10 miles back home at night.

"Um, I'll just walk," I said, deciding that that option would be best seeing how Kate would know sooner or later that I wasn't all human.

"Are you crazy?" she said, worried, "It's like a 20 minute walk back!"

"I'll be fine," I said, getting out of the car. She opened her door and got out, too.

"But what about your mom?" she asked, "She only gave you 20 minutes and you all ready used up about 10 of them. Are you telling me that you'll walk 10 miles in 10 minutes?"

I laughed. "Don't worry about me. My mom is never too strict on the time limit. And, if for some reason, she is, than, I'll just say that we had some car trouble. She doesn't dig too deep if I give her a good enough excuse."

She frowned. "Fine, but I still don't like it."

"I'll be fine," I said again, "I'll see you around. Hopefully tomorrow, if you've decided to go."

"Still undecided," she said, my hopes drowning, "but I will see you around eventually." She turned around and headed towards the house. But I didn't want her to leave. Not without saying goodbye, and one that she'll actually remember by tomorrow. I wasn't going to kiss her; too shy her that right now, but I wanted to do something.

"Wait," I said, grabbing her arm and pulling her into a huge hug. It might not be like a kiss, but at least I get to hold her. She felt so soft and so breakable. I didn't want to squeeze too tight, afraid of hurting her, but I wanted her close to me.

Though every bone in my body didn't want to let go, I pulled away after about a minute or two. I didn't want her to die of a heat stroke just after I met her. I looked down and saw the best thing I could ever see. She looked happy, without even a trace of sadness.

"Yes," she whispered, "Yeah, I'll go tomorrow."

My smile and my hopes grew about 2 times bigger right then. "Great. That's just – I mean, it's so – you know, it's -"

"How about I met you at your house at 1:00?" she asked, smiling from my stuttering.

"Yeah, that's perfect," I said, feeling the blood rush to my cheeks.

"Okay," she said, walking away, "I'll see you then."

"Bye," I said, watching her every step until she was safely inside the house. I didn't want to leave her. By herself. Without protection. I mean what, there're hundreds of robberies that happen every week, and then you got the crazy lunatics coming in your house with a gun for no reason at all and start shooting. Then there's all the trouble that comes along with being the imprint of a werewolf (even though she doesn't know it yet). There's no way I was going to leave her. I'm staying here, with her, forever.