H

Chapter one: I need you

Leah's POV

I'm walking by myself down the beach, watching the sunset. There's no on else outside but me because it's too cold out here for a normal person. The guys are all at Sam and Emily's for a barbecue. I was invited, of course, but would rather stab myself repeatedly than attend their stupid barbecue. I'd just ruin it for everyone anyway, the guys hate me. I can see it in their eyes, hear it in their thoughts. They want me gone. Why would I want to attend a barbecue hosted by the one man that broke my heart and my so called best friend that stole him from me, anyway? I'd rather dig a hole and bury myself alive.

I look around at the deserted beach and go back to my routine of thinking about how screwed up my life is. I take a seat on the warm sand and let the cool breeze rush past me. I close my eyes and let my head fall back. Memories of him flood my head, all the promises he made, the happiness we shared, the love that use to be. I snap my eyes open and find that I'm on all fours, coughing and panting. I'm suffocating, these memories are slowly killing me. The worst part is I'm okay with it because these memories of him are all I have left.

I stand up, trying to shake the images out of my head, and head towards the water. I roll my pants up to my knees and walk into the water, watching the waves crash against each other. I look towards the horizon watching the sun disappear. The wind whips at my hair furiously, and the ocean mist gently sprays my skin. I close my eyes, clear of all thoughts, finally at peace, A smile spreads across my face.

"LEAH!"

Damn. I turn around and find Jacob and Embry walking towards me. Jesus, what do these clowns want now?

I scowl realizing my moment of peace is eternally gone. I sigh in frustration, seeing them snicker and whisper things. I roll my eyes and turn back towards the ocean. I stand there waiting for whatever the two idiots have to say to me. Ready to just take it in and walk away, I'm too tired to get into an argument today.

I hear their footsteps nearing, so I turn around to face them.

"What do you want?" I ask sighing, too tired to sound like a bitch.

They both look taken aback by my tone. Embry backs up and pushes Jacob up to speak.

"Trust me Clearwater, we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Sam..." he starts, eyeing her expression with a thoughtful look.

Yes, I'm aware that you two are not here willingly, but thank you anyway for informing me. Assholes.

"...he wants you at the barbecue, and it's not a request, it's an order."

What the hell? He's fucking ordering me to go to his damn barbecue?! What. A. Tool.

"Look, I'm tired, I was just about to go home to get some rest," I say dangerously calm, narrowing my eyes at them.

Embry's eyes widen and he takes a few more voluntary steps back. Jacob on the other hand smirks, his eyes brightening with amusement.

"Well that's too bad. He said if you refuse, me and Embry have to carry you to his house. So it's either walk there with what dignity you have left, or let me or Embry carry you there," he said, his eyes mocking.

I stand there glaring at the both of them. I twitch my leg purposely to see if they really would follow through with Sam's orders. Wrong move. Jacob already had me cradled in his arms. He looks down at my furious face and laughs. Laughs!

"Alright kid, I'll go, just put me down," I say through clenched teeth.

I can't believe after 5 minutes of talking to Jacob and Embry, I've managed to get too pissed off to even feel tired anymore. Actually, scratch that last, I can believe it. Idiots.

"You can't call me a kid Clearwater, look who's in who's arms," he smirks.

He lets me down but not before dusting off my shoulders in a mocking gesture. That jack-off.

I start to speed walk in the direction of Sam's house trying to get away from them, but they had caught up easily. I eventually start to run, still in attempt to lose them. They couldn't catch me if their lives depended on it. Jacob only got to me fast enough on the beach because I was tired.

I reach Sam's house in a heartbeat, and once I get to the door I hesitate. I stood there in front of the door frozen. Normally we all just barge in, not worrying about petty things such as doorbells, but right now I'm by myself and I don't want to face Sam or Emily on my own right now. No way.

"You push the doorbell Clearwater, just so you know," Jacob says as he pushes the unnecessary bell, loving the suspense it was giving as we waited for someone to answer.

Fucking prick.

"I know what to do, jackass."

He glanced at me with that infuriating smirk of his but said nothing.

We heard footsteps approaching the door. I hoped to God it was anyone but Sam or Emily. The door opens and there's a wide-eyed Sam. He looks over at Jacob and Embry, giving him almost what looks to be an impressed look of appraisal. Douche bag.

"Leah! I'm so glad you cou-"

"Whatever. I'm only here 'cause it was an order," I say effectively cutting him off and walking right past him into the living room.

And here comes the tension. I feel claustrophobic, there's way too many people in this tiny room, and to top it off, they all hate me. I sit in one of the chairs in the corner of the room, occupying myself with a loose thread on my shirt. I can feel the eyes of people on me like daggers, but I ignore it like the non-caring person I am. I'm too damn proud to show emotion in front of any of them. Then the worst happened. Sam took a seat next to me.

"Leah..." he begins.

Fantastic. I was dreading this part. A Sam and Leah talk. Awesome.

Jacob's POV

"Paul, pass me a coke," I yell, raising my hand ready to catch it.

"Catch!" he shouts, throwing the coke over Emily's head from across the room.

"Thanks man," I say, catching it with my left hand.

He nods, cowering away from Emily's withering glare.

"You two will not play catch with food or drinks in this house. Understood?" she scolded all mom-like, hands on hips and all.

"Yes ma'am," we say in unison.

Jared and Quil walk by snorting at us as Sam walked in to wrap his arms around Emily's waist. I look away feeling awkward and like I'm intruding their privacy or something.

"Is everyone here?" Sam asks.

"Everyone but Leah," Paul says, sounding bored.

That's not a surprise. We all knew Leah would skip the barbecue, it wasn't expected that she came.

Emily's face fell, "I wish she would come around once in a while."

"Where is she anyway?" Sam asks, a look of worry etched on his face. I resist the urge to roll my eyes at him. The man needed to get a grip.

"Who Leah? I saw her at the beach on my way here," Embry says taking a seat next to me to join our conversation.

"And you didn't ask if she wanted to come?" Sam asked, annoyance evident in his tone.

"No, we already know she doesn't want to," Embry shrugged.

"But it would make her feel good to have an open invitation," Emily said.

Actually, I'm pretty sure she just doesn't care, I thought.

"I don't think anyone would've been able to convince her to come Em," Embry said.

Emily sighs, defeated, "I know, I just miss her..."

"Not true," Seth pipes up, "if you annoy her enough, she'll probably give in. I do it all the time," Seth says, stealing Embry's burger.

"Get your own man, I just made that," Embry whines.

"Nah," Seth says, before running out of the house with Embry on his tail.

"You think if one of you annoy her enough she'd come?" Sam asks amused by the idea.

If this guy is seriously considering this idea, he won't ever hear the end of it from Leah.

"One of us? Your joking right?" Paul asked, scowling.

"No, actually I'm not. Which one of you will do it?" Sam was smirking now. Smirking.

Why couldn't this couple leave Leah alone? It's because of this kind of bullshit that she feels the need to torture us when we shift.

"What the hell, Sam! This is stupid, she doesn't even wanna fucking be here!" Paul argued, tremors already going down his back. No self-control at all.

I rolled my eyes at him.

"Jake?"

Aw, shit. Not me. Leah and I both wanna tear each other's throats out!

"Seriously, Sam?" I ask, hopeful that he'll let the topic drop. But noooo, anything the imprintee wants, the imprintee gets.

"Will you do it? I'll take you off patrol for 2 days."

Damn it, that sounds like a good deal. I've been needing to catch up on some sleep. But this is a suicide mission.

"I don't know Sam..." I say, slowly.

"2 nights off, and you can take Embry with you."

Well, hell! If I don't have to face the wrath of Leah alone, then it's a deal!

"Alright, but ONLY if Embry comes." I say, emphasizing my requirement of this voluntary job. It's a job. A very hard task. This is Leah Clearwater. Nothing is every easy with that one.

"Thanks Jake," Emily says, beaming.

"Your welcome, Em."

I get up and walk to the door. I was reaching for the door knob when I realized something.

"Why Embry, Sam?" I ask curiously.

Sam laughed, "because he saw her at the beach and said nothing to her."

"Right." I suppose that makes sense.

I opened the door and let myself out, looking up at the now pinkish sky.

"Embry!" I hollered.

"Yo!" he yelled back.

"C'mon, we needa go find Clearwater. Sam's orders."

"Aw dude, are you serious?! She doesn't give two shits about the barbecue!"

"I know man, calm down. He just wants us to annoy her and see if she'll change her mind. If she doesn't change her mind after 20 minutes we'll just head back," I reasoned, but had a hard time seeing the logic in this plan myself.

"Whatever," he says, clearly not believing this was going to end well.

"You think she's still at the beach?"

"Yeah, when I saw her she was just sitting there..." he says with a slight frown, "Leah's weird."

"Extremely."

We walked the whole way there thinking of what to say to her. Everything we came up with was lame, and we both knew damn well she'd punch us both in the face if we said anything regarding Sam. Unless of course, it was pack business.

Once we reached the beach I froze. The beach was deserted except for one girl, but that couldn't be Leah. The girl I saw standing in the water was smiling at the horizon with her eyes shut. Her hair was flowing in the wind which was weird, because it's been so long since any of us have seen her with her hair down. It was usually in a ponytail or a messy bun. From back here she looked like an actual girl, like how she use to look before the Sam and Emily drama.

"What's she doing?" Embry asked, looking at her with curiosity.

I shrugged. I really head no idea.

"LEAH!" I yelled.

She turned around and scowled when she saw us. I grinned at that. There's the Leah we know. Embry and I walked towards her as she turned her back on us to face the ocean once more. When we got close enough she turned around. She didn't look pissed, just annoyed. Understandable.

"What do you want?" she sighed.

Whoa!

She's not yelling at us. This is new. What is up with her today?

Embry took a step back and pushed me forward. Ha, he probably thinks she's gonna hit us or something.

Which of course she very well could if she wanted.

"Trust me Clearwater, we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Sam..." I started, already regretting my words immediately.

Fuck my life. I wasn't suppose to mention him. I didn't come all the way here to get kicked in the balls. I waited for the hit, but it never came.

Well since I already opened my big mouth, I might as well finish. Right?

"...he wants you at the barbecue, and it's not a request, it's an order." I stated.

Good, that should work. She can't turn down an order. And it wasn't like I was mocking her about Sam. But that doesn't change the fact that I pissed her off. I saw fury fly across her face. Again, I waited for the hit, but it never came.

"I'm tired, I was just about to go home," she said in the most scariest calmest voice I've ever heard.

I saw Embry's eyes widen from the corner of my eye and saw him take a few voluntary steps back. I, however, suddenly felt very amused with her. I found myself smirking at her, wondering how far I could get away with today, with her new calm demeanor.

"Well that's too bad. He said if you refuse, me and Embry have to carry you to his house. So it's either walk there with what dignity you have left, or let me or Embry carry you there," I have no idea what has gotten into me, but I just really feel the need to push her, to test how far I could go.

She looked me in the eyes, knowing that I was purposely trying to aggravate her, but serious, nonetheless.

She stood still for a second, testing me. She moved her leg, attempting to run, but I caught her and pulled her into my arms and lifted her up, cradling her like a baby.

I laughed out loud when I saw that she was fuming, but couldn't help but notice how perfectly she seemed to fit in my arms.

Which was an incredibly weird thing to even think about...

"Alright kid, I'll go, just put me down," she said through clenched teeth.

Kid? Big blow to my ego.

"You can't call me kid anymore Clearwater, look who's in who's arms," I reasoned, smirking.

I set her down and she walked off on her own with me and Embry on her tail. Embry cocked and eyebrow at me, but I thought nothing of it. I knew what he was thinking, and I was doing my best to ignore it. She started speed walking, but we kept right on her tail. Oh how annoying she must find me and Embry.

She kept going faster, increasing her speed 'till she actually started running. That's when we stopped following her, I mean there's no point in trying, she'll just outrun us like she always does. Show-off.

We'll just tell Sam we couldn't convince her to come.

"Dude, why were you acting all weird with Leah?" Embry asked, studying my face.

And there it is.

Play stupid or tell him the truth, that I myself don't know the answer to? Decisions, decisions...

Play stupid it is, "what are you talking about man?"

"I'm not an idiot dude, I saw the look you were give her. You got a thing for Leah?" Wait, he thinks I have a thing for Leah?

Embry is brain-dead, I don't know what the hell he's thinking assuming I like Leah!

"No, Call. I don't," I say, eyeing him with confusion.

Embry narrowed his eyes at me, "keep telling yourself that, man."

I don't have a thing for Leah, she was just...different today. And I liked that different.

When we reached Sam's house we saw her standing on the porch making no movement.

Is she...paralyzed?

"What's she doing now?" Embry asked.

"No idea," I said, my eyes never leaving her figure.

Embry and I walked up behind her confused. Why wasn't she going in? That's what we usually do.

"You push the doorbell Clearwater, just so you know," I said, deciding to be a smartass. She looked uncomfortable, so I, of course - with my new dangerous confidence that could easily get me badly injured by her - took this chance to make the suspense of almost unbearable. I rang the doorbell and hoped Sam or Emily would answer, just so I could read the expression on her face.

Not that I care what her expression means, I just wanna see her face.

"I know what to do, jackass," she snapped.

I smirked, loving that I was annoying her.

Sam opened the door with wide eyes. He almost did a double take at Leah. I rolled my eyes at his reaction.

He turned to Leah and grinned, "Leah! I'm so glad you cou-"

"Whatever, I'm only here 'cause it was an order," she said cutting him off and walking right past him.

I bit back a laugh that was bubbling it's way to the surface and noticed Embry had an amused smirk on his face.

"Order?! You told her it was an order?!" Sam half-whispered, half-yelled, infuriated.

"Well...it sort of slipped out, and at least she's here..." I smiled sheepishly.

Sam sighed, "now she definitely hates me. Go on in, find a seat."

Embry and I walked in and took our seats by Quil and Seth. Sam on the other hand went and took a seat by Leah. I don't see this going well at all.

Leah let out an irritated breath of air, looking frustrated. I knew how this conversation would go, Sam says something, Leah gets mad, Sam apologizes, Leah gets angrier and storms out. Booo-ring. I went to get some food, I was starved. When I got back to my seat I heard Leah gasp. Now that, that's something you don't hear from Leah very often. My head snapped in her direction. She gave me the worst death glare I've ever seen in my life. I'm guessing Sam told her coming here wasn't an order. I smiled sheepishly at her, getting the bird in reply.

She stood up but Sam pulled her back down and whispered something in her ear, making her freeze. I saw her give a stiff nod at him as she stared at Seth.

Sam walked away with a troubled look in his eye. He went to the kitchen and grabbed a drink for Leah and sat with her again. He attempted to engage in a conversation. He didn't progress much, she really didn't seem interested in a conversation. I watched his attempts of making her laugh and fail miserably.

Emily walked out of the kitchen towards Sam and Leah. I saw Leah's eyes widen in horror at the sight of her cousin. Emily strode past the radio and froze.

"Oh, I love this song!" she squealed.

She walked back to the radio and turned it all the way up.

"I need you like water, like breath, like rain,

I need you like mercy from from heavens gate,

There's a freedom in your arms that carries me through,

I need you."

"Em, no! Turn that off!" Sam said, his voice cracking.

Leah got up and walked out of the house with a stoic face. Sam ran to the radio knocking it off the shelf and accidentally increasing the volume.

He looked at her empty seat and fell to his knees, "DAMN! LEAH!"

He sighed and headed for his room.

"This was our song..." he whispered before going into his room.

We all knew what he meant. We didn't need to be told twice, we all understood how much they loved each other We all knew how much they both hurt, and this song proved how intense their relationship was and still is. They still love each other, just not the same way as it was before. But that doesn't mean they don't remember...

I stood up staring out the open door. I felt the urge to go after her. But I knew that'd just put her into an even worse mood than she is now. Why do I all of sudden care so much about her?! I will not fall for Leah Clearwater, I can't!

Author's Note: I hope you liked it! Please review, this is my first fanfiction, so I'd appreciate some critiquing. You can be harsh, no worries, I'd enjoy that :) Thanks for reading!