5Chapter 18: This is the time – Superchick
Embry POV
"Don't be a stranger, Beth. You have to visit another time" mom told my imprint as she hugged her goodbye with a smile and the strangest part wasn't that my mom actually sounded like she genuinely meant it, but Beth hugged her back with only a fraction of hesitation. I was beyond happy that they hit it off and I loved them both more than I could possibly explain, but it had taken me by surprise how much they seemed to like each other. Beth wasn't friendly by nature and even though I knew she had worked hard to give my mom a good impression of her, I hadn't expected her to be as open as she had been with my mom. Talking about my mom, I wasn't sure what I'd expected, but certainly not more than mild interest and… I don't know. I never brought a girl home to meet my mom before – haven't actually had a girl to bring home before. Maybe the evening went as these things normally did.
"I will. It was a pleasure to finally meet you, Tiffany" Beth smiled wryly back. Some time when I had been out buying ice cream, my mom had demanded Beth called her by name instead of "ma'am". I was sure I had missed something big when I was out, but I felt it was probably something that should be between the two of them.
"I'll just walk Beth back to Paul and Ann's place" I told mom who – much to my surprise – waved it off.
"Of course, take your time. I remember how it was to be young" she said and I was actually speechless. This came from the woman who had checked my bed to see if I was home at night and blamed me for throwing away my life.
"I bet you have some pretty wicked stories to tell" Beth smirked and I groaned at the gleam in her eyes and my mom's giggle.
"Bee! Would you please not… just not" I begged. Ok, maybe they hit it off a bit too much. I was starting to feel Paul's pain. It really wasn't a good thing when girlfriend and parent got too much along.
"Don't be embarrassed, Embry. It's perfectly normal to..." mom berated lightly, but I cut her off with another groan. Beth let out a laugh and took my hand before beginning to pull me away from the house.
"We better be off. Bye for now, Tiffany" Beth called back to mom who answered with a similar farewell, before I heard the door close behind her.
"Was that really necessary or do you just enjoy to watch me suffer?" I asked half-playfully. I seriously hoped those two wouldn't start sharing… obscene stories from their pasts as a way of bonding. And if they did, I wished to all that was sacred that I wouldn't be there to hear any of it or I feared I might have to soak my brain in bleach to get the images out.
"You're not seriously just walking me back to Paul and Ann's place with no detours, right?" she said, ignoring what I said. She was smiling up at me as we walked, our fingers interlaced in a mix of hot and cold, and I felt my heart skip a beat at the warmth in her eyes. She was still wearing the brown contacts she had worn when meeting my mom – she had to go change them a few times, which provided her with the excuse to pretend to go to the bathroom and thereby seem more human. I was seriously impressed by how good she was at acting human. I had seen her do it before, when we went out that one time, but I think I noticed it much more tonight. How her shoulders and chest moved just slightly as she breathed for show. How she would fidget and change positions every now and again as if she felt uncomfortable sitting in the same position too long. How she would eat and drink, and tell my mother how good it was even though I knew she couldn't taste it like we could.
When she was around the pack and the imprints or just me, she never bothered pretending. It wasn't easy to see when she was talking because then she would automatically gesture and move around even when she sat down, but when she was watching TV, reading a book or simply just listening to others talking, she would almost look like a statue. Quil had once commented how scary she looked because she sat so still she didn't even blink for 40 minutes when the pack was gathered at Emily and Sam's watching a movie. I rarely noticed it, because it was just who she was and I was actually kind of happy that she didn't feel the need to pretend all the time – that was probably also the reason why I took so much more note in it when she did pretend.
"I wouldn't mind taking a detour. Anywhere particular in mind?" I smiled affectionately at her. It was strange seeing her with so light make up. Usually she wore rather heavy make up around her eyes and something on her cheeks – I think she called it rouge or something - that made her face seem more distinct and acute. Her lips were, however, covered in one of her signature lipsticks. I had seen her without make up before, seeing as she washed it off when she showered and such, but I'd never seen her out in public without her entire war paint perfectly applied. It suited her with just something on her lashes and lips.
"Nope, anywhere is fine and there's something about not knowing where we are going that just charms me" she told me and I nodded in agreement.
It was rather clouded and I could smell rain in the air, but I knew it wouldn't fall until sometimes tomorrow. The wind was chill, but neither of us wore jackets or was even bothered by it as we went. Beth was gliding across the ground as if she was barely touching it and in the night she looked ethereal. It was as if the world around her could not reach her even though I could see the wind playing with her hair and dress as she went.
As we walked aimlessly through the reservation, she talked about things from her life when she was human and I couldn't get enough of listening to her – not just because her voice was just the right balance of husky and velvet, but because the things she talked about where absolutely enthralling. I rarely thought about her age because she didn't act old-fashioned at all, but when she mentioned things she had seen it sometimes hit me with overwhelming, dizzying depth how much she had witnessed in her lifetime. She had been a part of things I barely remembered from the history lessons back in high school.
"… and I know Queen Victoria is a national icon, but I could never identify with Her Majesty's stuffy and boring attitude towards personal morale, but…" she sounded as if she was complaining about a girl she went to school with and I choked back a laugh at how insane that notion seemed. What I wouldn't have given to have Beth as a history teacher! She would've made everything far more interesting.
"... was strange when you grew up with a monarchy and then politics changed so drastically, though almost everything evolved rather rapidly and…" I wasn't sure she was even aware that she was rambling slightly, but I couldn't dream of stopping her. Had she been human, I would've cut her off to make sure she remembered to breathe, but that was needless.
Somehow we ended up by the shore where the pack always went cliff diving, and she trailed off in her story-telling when we could smell the sea through the threes from where we came.
She let go of my hand as she went to the edge and I instantly missed the feel of her hand in mine. As I watched her look out at the grey sea with a content smile, familiar warmth spread through my chest and I somehow just knew this was it. This was the moment I had been unconsciously waiting for. I ignored my rapid heartbeat and inhaled deeply before speaking almost breathlessly;
"Imprinting means unconditional love in whatever form the imprint needs it to be, but I can wholeheartedly and honestly say that I love you, Beth. Not because the Universe makes me or something like that, but because of all that you are" I told her with more conviction than I've ever spoken with before. I ignored how my heart was threatening to burst from my ribcage and how my nerves was about to get the better of me and just kept looking her in the eyes as she had turned to meet my gaze as I had spoken. For an excruciating moment her expression was completely void of emotion, but then her eyes turned soft and her full lips formed a tender smile.
"I love you too, Embry" she told me with a simplicity that made my heart skip a beat and a grin spread across my face as she carefully laced our fingers together.
.:-:.
How did it go with Beth meeting your mom? Did it end in screams and bloodshed? Quil asked, first thing when I phased into wolf-form. I had just left Paul and Ann's place. After walking Beth back sometime last night, she had asked me to stay and we had been up talking about nothing and everything, until I fell asleep.
Thoughts of last night's event went with my mom passed through my head before I even knew what to answer.
Wow, who would have thought that The Queen Bitch actually had people skills? Quil whistled in a mix between being impressed and joking. I felt a tinge of annoyance at the nickname, but didn't comment. I had told the others countless times to stop calling her names, but it was difficult to defend her when she made it so complicated to get to know her and like her. They only knew the con she wanted them all to see and there was nothing I could do to convince them of anything else before she decided to stop pretending and let her walls crumble if only a little bit.
She is almost like the mom-whisperer. Jared chuckled at his own joke. The dude was great, but his humor not so much.
You guys are joking about this, but witnessing how quickly they got along was actually kind of scary. I half-joked back.
I believe you! If I hadn't seen it in your head, I wouldn't believe Beth would ever wear anything that went past her knees. Quil laughed and I felt mildly offended. She was not dressing the way she did because she wanted to be sexual, but I couldn't deny I sometimes wanted nothing more than to wrap her up in a blanket so no other guys could see her - although, she was slowly starting to wear less provocative and skimpy clothes. She would never wear anything conservative, of that I was beyond certain, but despite the occasional show of her bellybutton or short shorts, she was actually wearing looser shirts. She was still wearing clothes that clung to her body, but more skin was covered. I didn't know if that was just because she was trying to blend into society seeing as summer was over and it was starting to get chillier – though I sort of doubted that was the reason. She loved nothing more than to stand out and provoke everyone around her. Then again she only did that to a certain degree. She might bend almost all the rules, but she knew there were lines she couldn't cross – especially when it came to exposing anything supernatural to outsiders.
I know you guys aren't fans of her, but she is not entirely like she appears. I huffed and before I could stop it, a certain memory flashed through my mind. It was a memory that had haunted me, but I would gladly bear it for my imprint if it took some of the weigh from her shoulders. It was of the time she had told me about her family and how she was turned. The look of pure anguish that had marred her face, and the sound of her sobs when she grieved were etched into my mind like a stigma. It had been more unsettling than anything I had ever witnessed, to see her in such pain and know I could do nothing to ease her other than just sitting there listening.
Oh God. The sound of Jared's voice pulled me out of the memory and regret started to fill me. They weren't supposed to see that! I should've been more careful!
That explains a lot. Quil muttered quietly.
Shit! You weren't supposed to see that! Please forget that you saw that. Bee would hate it if anyone knew. I pleaded. She would feel exposed and weak if everyone suddenly knew about her past. I didn't quite understand why it made her feel so vulnerable to share something about herself with others, but then again, maybe I did understand it. She had been through a lot of bad things in her life and everyone she ever cared about had been taken from her or turned their back on her. I could see how she would have trust issues, but I was also determined to make her see that she wouldn't have to fear that here with me, that it didn't make her weak to let people see her for who she was. She had been closed off and hostile for so long, it had become a part of who she was, but I knew for a fact that there was so much more to her than what she wanted other's to believe.
Of course we won't say anything, Embry, don't worry about it. Quil assured me, for once not messing around and Jared made a noise in agreement, and I felt grateful for their understanding. There were a lot of downsides to this mind-connection-thing we shared when we were wolves, but the pros far outweighed the cons. The bonds between us were strong and I had never had better friends than these guys. It was a bit frustrating when it proved difficult to hide things from each other, that we wanted to keep to ourselves or when we heard something in one another's head that we really wished we hadn't, but it had more than once proven useful that we didn't have to say anything in order to understand what the other was thinking and such. Of course there was days, when the whole mind-reading-thing was beyond annoying and could give the worse headaches – especially when Leah and Paul were phased at the same time.
I'm happy for you, man. You didn't deserve to have your mom on your back like you did. Quil then told me. Along with Jacob, Quil was one of my best and oldest friends. I remembered the time when I just started phasing and they hadn't yet. I knew and still did, why I couldn't tell my mom and I had accepted that a long time ago – I had even refused to tell her when Sam gave me the choice -, but when I thought I might lose my two best friends because of a secret like this, I had been devastated. It was terrifying to begin with that this whole other world had presented itself forcefully to me, but without the support and companionship of those two, it made everything that much more difficult. The fact that both their fathers were Quileute Elders made it possible for me not to feel guilty about being happy when they turned too. I wouldn't want anyone else to lose their parents like I almost lost my mom. I knew a lot of the others in the pack had difficulties similar to what I went through, but I also knew how much easier all of that was with the guys to support you through it all.
Still, secrets tend to be so poisonous – keeping them or telling them; both can rip just as much apart.