As Fate Would Have It is back! Please read and review! I love all the feedback I get. 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. :]

Embry and I were the last to arrive at the beach. The beach was breathtaking. It was windy, which a girl from the windy city like me was easily used to. It was bright outside too, which I was led to believe was pretty rare in Washington as well. It was the perfect day for volleyball.

There was already a small group on the beach as we approached them. Many of the guys greeted Embry with what kind of sounded like a dog barking or yipping. I kind of chuckled at that; it was funny but admirable that they greeted one another in this way.

"Em! Finally," one of the dark haired guys exclaimed, running over to us and putting a hand on Embry's back. "We've been waiting for you!"

Almost immediately I felt guilty. Had I made him late?

"Sorry guys," Embry said with no hint of guilt in his voice at all. That made me smile. "I had to pick up Persephone." He stepped to the side slightly to gesture to me. "This is Persephone guys. Gil and Betsy's granddaughter." At this, everyone seemed to immediately accept me into their group.

"Hey! Great to finally meet you," the boy who had come over to us said. "Paul Lahote." I recognized him from last night. He had been one of the very last to show. And he was giving Embry a rough time?

"Nice to meet you," I nodded a smile at him but he had already turned around to the others.

"Come meet the others!" And Paul took off toward where the others stood around near the edge of the water.

"Er...?" I looked at Embry.

Embry just laughed and led me over to the others where he formally introduced me. I had met all of them last night, which was good. It wasn't as weird and most of them remembered me. Emily, the really friendly girl who was with the really intimidating tall guy, hugged me and made me feel very welcome again. The only person I didn't see that was there last night was one of the guys who had come with Embry himself.

"Jacob's not here," the boy named Jared scoffed. "Chasing off after the leech lover again." I furrowed my brow at this. 'Leech-lover?' What did that mean?

"Typical," the boy named Quil retorted.

"Come on guys, don't be so hard on him... you know how he feels." That was Seth. I knew I liked him.

Some of the guys laughed, including Embry this time. I felt lost.

"Heh, well can't wait to see how she takes his not talking to her for months," Paul said sarcastically.

Finally Sam spoke up. "Alright, that's enough." Almost immediately the air around the guys changed and they seemed very serious. "We're here to play some ball," Sam smirked as he held the volleyball in his hand. A few playful jeers from the guys could be heard and Sam chuckled. "Alright, so we split up five against five." Everyone nodded. "Jared, you'll be second team captain." Jared cheered for himself cockily. "I'll start... Em," he nodded with a smile at Emily who joined his team.

After the two captains chose, we were split five and five. I was on a team with Rachel, Seth, Kim, and Jared. The other team consisted of Emily, Sam, Quil, Paul, and Embry.

The teams got into position on either side of the net. "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you," Embry called to me across the court. Did he just wink?

"Hey, Persephone, why don't you do the honors and serve first?" Emily looked at Sam who had the ball and with an obliging smile, Sam tossed me the ball. I lifted it up in my hand, threw it up and then spiked it over the net. The game was officially in motion.

The ball was in play for a few minutes before it came back to me, at which point I jumped up to hit it over the net toward Embry who missed the ball, resulting in a point for my team.

"What was that you said about going easy?" I raised a challenging eyebrow at the boy and Paul and Quil went into a fit of hysterics, laughing at Embry. If Embry was embarrassed, he didn't look it. Instead, he just smiled at me.

We all continued to play for about another hour or so, each team making a point or two every couple of minutes. Eventually, Sam called it quits.

"Bet you guys weren't expecting that, huh?" Leah taunted them. It was the first time I had seen her smile since I met her last night.

"Yeah, yeah. You guys got lucky!" Quil retorted with an eye roll.

"Sure we did, Ateara," the girl named Rachel laughed aloud.

Embry then found his way back over to me. "Hey, so, you wanna grab a bite to eat?" He asked me with that cute smile of his again.

It was incredibly impossible not to smile back at that boy. "Yeah. I'm actually starved." I guess a good couple hours of volleyball did that to you.

Embry and I left the beach and the others and got back in his truck. He didn't say where we were going and I didn't ask. Oddly enough, I trusted him. And he seemed comfortable with that, too.

After a few minutes, we were back in a small little part of town again and Embry pulled into a parking lot. He got out of his truck and just as I was about to do the same, he ran over to the passenger side of the truck and opened the door for me with the biggest smile.

"Thanks," I said to him, unable to hide my own smile.

Embry just widened his smile at me in response. "This is the best diner on the entire reservation," he explained as we walked inside the small restaurant.

It was very quaint inside. It was small, but it wasn't very busy. It seemed to be a family business as there weren't many employees around other than the cashier. The older woman at the cash register greeted us and told us to help ourselves. I followed Embry over to a small table and then he held my chair out for me. "Thanks again," I smiled but this time I tried to hide it by biting my lip.

"Don't mention it," Embry shrugged, but still smiled.

"It's just, where I come from there are many guys my age who are... chivalrous like you are. It's refreshing." I nodded at him, showing my approval.

"Wow," Embry's eyebrows rose. "Not many decent guys where you're from then, huh?"

"You have no idea."

The lady from the counter came over to us after a minute and took our orders and brought us waters and as we waited for our food... we just talked. Mainly about La Push. I had a lot of questions about the weather, the people. and even more about Embry's friends.

"Where was your other friend today?" I finally asked him, curiosity getting the best of me. I couldn't get the word 'leech lover' out of my mind.

For the first time I saw the smile briefly fade from Embry's face. "Jacob's... going through some stuff." Vague.

"Oh," I paused. It didn't seem like he really wanted to talk about it. "I'm sorry to hear that." It wasn't my business to pry.

Embry shrugged. "It's alright. We think he'll get over it. One way or another." He seemed to smirk at that then. Maybe some kind of inside joke?

The woman then brought our food. I ordered a grilled cheese and fries and Embry ordered two hamburgers. The boy could really eat.

We began to dig into our food when Embry spoke up again. "So, no decent guys back home then? So... you don't... have a boyfriend?" I should have expected that question to come eventually.

I let out a little chuckle and shook my head. "Nope. No boyfriend." Did I imagine the smile that piece of information put on his face? "I've actually never had... a boyfriend," I confessed slowly and a little sheepishly.

This seemed to elate Embry even further, for he did set down his burger and look at me with slightly wider eyes but he looked thrilled for some reason. "Really?"

"Yeah... my dad's a little strict about me dating." I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could. It was a little embarrassing to admit now, I was realizing.

Embry put on a kind smile. "I've never had a girlfriend. So you don't have to be embarrassed." I blinked at him a moment before slowly smiling at him again. Embry was a really nice guy.

After we finished our meals, we spent more time talking. This time, we talked about me. I let Embry ask as many questions as he wanted because I didn't feel embarrassed or weird answering them. He asked me about my favorite place I'd been, what my parents were like, and what it was like living closer to a big city. It was weird, because I felt like if it were anyone else asking me those questions I may have found them a little annoying but since it was Embry... I didn't mind at all.

It was starting to get dark out again when Embry was reminded of what he told my grandparents. "Oh, let's get you home. I can't break a promise to Gil and Betsy." He smiled at me. Oh, goodness, his smile.

"Oh, right," I went to grab my wallet but Embry completely beat me to it.

"Hey, this was on me," he said grinning at me. "Otherwise, how would I be able to call it a date?"

It took a moment for what he said to register in my head.

"Unless... this wasn't a -?"

I cut him off. "It was a date." I could feel my cheeks get warm. "It was definitely a date." There was no holding back that smile this time. On either of us.

Embry drove me home then and the entire drive I couldn't stop smiling. Which was a good thing because it seemed he couldn't either. When we pulled up into my grandparents' driveway, Embry got out of the car to open my door again.

"Uh... did you want to come inside?" I asked him almost immediately. I found myself not really wanting to leave his side.

That was when there was another wolf howl. Those seemed to happen a lot around here. But hey, it was Washington.

Embry made a regretful looking face. "I... I wish I could. But, I have to get home. To my mom," he said rather rushed. It sounded weird the way he was saying it. "But... I'd like to see you again. If that's okay, Pers?"

How could I possibly say no? "Yes. Definitely. Uh... you know where to find me?" I started to slowly back up to my grandparents' house but Embry stopped me with his hand grabbing a hold of mine. He pulled me close to him in probably the warmest hug I had ever received.

I almost commented on how hot he felt, but it felt so nice I kind of forgot.

"I'll see you later, Persephone." Embry smiled at me and then climbed back into his truck to drive off.

I walked into my grandparents' house to the smell of a delicious roast cooking. My grandmother rushed to the door with an excited look on her face. "Just in ti - oh. Where's Embry?"

It seemed my grandmother had been expecting him to come inside. "He had to go home to his mom. It seemed pretty sudden," I shrugged.

My grandmother gave my grandpa a quick glance, to which my grandpa responded with some sort of telling look before looking back at the tv. "Oh, well, another time. Go wash up, dear! Supper's almost done and we can't wait to hear about your day!" And she rushed back to the roast.

I headed to the bathroom to go and wash off my face and hands. As I did so, I paused to look in the mirror. I was still smiling. And that could mean only one thing.

I was falling head over heels for Embry Call.