Chapter 11

"Yeah, like I said, Scooter, if I didn't hate you so much, I think I'd like you," Leah said. This time I could tell that she was actually joking with me. She had a nice smile.

"Yeah, and if I could get over your smell…"

We both laughed at that. Alice and Jasper were staring at us, not quite sure how to take our camaraderie. It was very clear that Seth didn't know how to take us either.

I think we both liked the idea that we shocked people and didn't do what was expected. Well, I liked the idea, anyway. The problem with Leah is that she could turn on me in a second and she knew I knew it.

The ride to Port Angeles was pretty quiet after that. Jasper kept looking at me from the rear view mirror, but Alice didn't say anything. Once she opened her eyes really wide like she was seeing something, but I think she was getting frustrated because the werewolves were clouding her visions. Seth fell asleep almost immediately when the car started moving and Leah was trying to recover from her being nice to me. She stared out the window and kept asking Jasper to roll the windows down.

Jasper drove like a maniac, but it felt natural to me. Alice and Jasper were busy discussing where they should take me; it was important that we remain discrete and not bring attention to ourselves. Seth and Leah were to remain in human form unless (until) they were needed to drag me off the dying corpse—or something like that. The argued the pros and cons of whether it would be better if I weren't hungry. Frankly, I thought they were being overly cautious. Shit, it wasn't like they'd let me get away with anything. I don't know why they bothered with this anyway.

I suggested we go into a park and I strike up a conversation with someone; preferably a female. Two reasons, really; first, a female, hello? You never know when I might get lucky and women are really easy. Leah and Alice both gave me dirty looks.

"That's disgusting. Like you'd ever get lucky," Leah laughed as she rolled her eyes. "I hate to tell you this, bloodsucker, but you aren't that charming."

"Bet me," I said.

"All right, you're on. Wait, what's the bet?"

"We'll think of something," I said, turning my attention to a nice looking woman jogging by. She was looking at us and I flashed her my nicest smile. She kind of blushed and smiled at me. I nodded a kind of "How you doin'?" look and she slowed slightly, and as she did, I got a whiff of something that almost made me run her down. Somewhere on her jogging trail, she had fallen and scraped her knee and it was oozing blood. I grabbed hold of the first thing I could, and that was Leah's arm. She started to slap my hand away when she saw or smelled it, too. She grabbed hold of me and tried to knock me to the ground. I wanted to run after the jogger, but a part of me resisted. I was surprised that it was something I thought I could handle because frankly, the idea of having Leah rip off another limb I was fond of did not appeal to me at all. I knew that I had to get out of there in a hurry and I started to turn to let Alice and Jasper know I was leaving.

I saw that Jasper's face had a real pained look and his hands were bunched into fists. I don't think Alice noticed Jasper because she looked like she was fighting the urge to go after the woman. Frankly I was stunned. We could all hear the chick's heartbeat and the smell was overwhelming. I knew Alice was fighting and could possibly resist, but Jasper wasn't handling it very well at all. His breath came out in pants and he crouched down to spring. We all reacted at the same time, I rammed into Jasper hard and so did Alice. Seth started shaking when he realized what was going on and transformed into a wolf and helped Alice and me get him to the ground.

"Get him out of here," Leah was screaming at Alice.

"He doesn't want to attack," Alice pleaded.

"I'm all right," Jasper said. "I'm fine. Let me up. My apologies. You seem to be handling this better than I."

"Yeah, who'd have thought that?" I stood back while he got on his feet.

Jasper looked ashamed of himself. I guess he was having a rougher time than we'd expected.

"I think it's time we left," Alice said. I know she was disappointed in Jasper, but there was no way she would yell at him while we were still around.

"You go; I'll stay here with Fred," Leah said calmly.

I think both of them were anxious to get the hell away. They hesitated for one split second and then they tore off in the opposite direction with Seth running after them. Leah and I watch stunned for a minute, but when they were out of sight, she literally fell down laughing.

"What the fuck?" I asked, laughing so hard the birds started flying away from us.

"And they were all worried about you," she said. She reached out her hand and I helped to her feet. I pulled her a little too hard and she bumped into my chest. I tried to steady her and my instincts took over and I pulled her closer and kissed her.

She pushed me away hard started wiping her mouth. "Why'd you do that?" she screamed at me.

I didn't know what to say; that I didn't know why I kissed her? It was just instinct? Or that I felt something for her? Something impossible.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly. "My mistake."

I stepped away from her. She'd wrapped her arms around herself and was rocking back and forth. I thought she was going to cry, but of course she didn't.

"Touch me again, bloodsucker and I'll remove all your moving parts," she growled.

"I got it," I said, holding up my hands in surrender.

"Stay away from me!" she yelled. "Don't ever touch me again."

"All right. I'm sorry. I got carried away. It won't happen again."

We looked at each other for the longest time. I had to get away from the park, Leah, the Cullens, everyone. This was how my life was going to be for now on; alone. I hated myself for thinking for a split second that I could have a normal relationship—well, as normal a relationship as possible between a vampire and a werewolf.

I knew at that moment what I needed to do. I understood that I could handle the smell of human blood and that I'd work out the details of the superhero or the vegetarian, but I had to do it alone.

"Go on back to Forks," I said. "I'm going to head north. I won't bother you again. Tell Carlisle that I appreciate what he did for me, more than he'll ever understand."

There was something in her face that I couldn't read. Was it regret? "Will you ever come back?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Maybe, but not for a long time. I've got some stuff I need to sort out. I'm sorry we couldn't be friends, Leah…" I let my voice drop off.

She nodded.

"See you later," I said and she nodded again.

I thought she was going to say something, like beg me to stay, but of course she didn't. She turned around and started running and I watched as she transformed into her more comfortable form.

I turned around and headed north.