Moving Forward - J. Black

xiv.

EDITED

Emily had reached out to Eliza about joining her at the pack house for the day. As much as Eliza wanted to reject the offer, she felt guilty declining the woman who had tried her hardest to make Eliza feel comfortable as an imprint. Eliza was in the kitchen with Emily baking muffins for when the shifter returned from patrol. Both women were rather quiet as soft music played around them, Eliza hadn't felt this relaxed in a while, especially with the suspected newborn army and Victoria running around. Emily had been filling a decorative basket with the now-cooled muffins while Eliza scooped the batter into a set of pans.

The loud voices of shifters surrounded the home as soon as Emily placed the basket on the table. Eliza finished filling up the pans and move to open the oven when the door flew open and the shifters came running in. "I can't believe he kissed her." Embry was laughing as he entered the house first. "I can't believe she punched him." Quill joined in on the conversation as the two went straight for the muffins on the table. "Who kissed who?" Emily spoke up in curiosity as Eliza placed the muffin tins onto the metal racks and closed the oven door. "Jacob kissed B-" Embry's words caught in his throat as he turned to see Eliza also standing in the kitchen.

"Oh hey, Eliza." Embry quickly changed the topic, not so subtly smacking Quill in the stomach. Eliza blinked at the shifters as the room suddenly went silent. It didn't take a genius to finish the shifter's sentence. Eliza felt as if she had no right to be mad that Jacob had kissed another girl, especially Bella, when they hadn't talked about being anything romantically. Yet over the past few weeks, Eliza felt that their friendship had been building and she considered the possibility of going a step further. "I think it's time for me to head home." the atmosphere lost its calming essence. "Oh, are you sure?" Emily failed to hide the sympathetic look on her face.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I promised Alice I'd be home soon." Eliza searched the area for her car keys, her actions coming off a bit frantic. "Here." Quill found the set of keys on the table near him, a sympathetic look on his own face. A lot of shifters would kill to find their imprint and here Jacob was neglecting his, vampire or not. "Thanks." Eliza gave Quill a weak smile as she took the keys from his hand and made her way out the door.

"Well, she handled that well." Embry watched the blonde leave as Paul, Sam, and Jared walked in, Quill giving him an annoyed look. "I was kind of hoping she'd punch him." Paul commented as he entered, smirking at the fleeing vampire. "I wouldn't rule that out yet." Sam walked over to his own imprint, Emily staring worriedly at the door that Eliza had left out of.  

Eliza made it back to the Cullen home a little before dark that night. Edward had just stormed in with Bella Swan only minutes before and Eliza wasn't shocked when she saw Bella surrounded by Carlisle and Edward. "It should heal fairly quickly." Carlisle had the girl's right hand wrapped like a splint and Eliza immediately knew that she was right about the shifters' earlier conversation. "Trying to walk and chew gum at the same time, Bella?" Emmett mused at the human as he and Jasper entered the room, Bella letting out a laugh.

"She punched a werewolf in the face." Eliza's comment wiped the smile off Bella's face. The four male vampires glanced at Eliza wearily but the blonde had already left the room with spite. "Badass, you're going to be one tough little newborn." Emmett smirked at Bella as Jasper and Rosalie both looked over at the retreating blonde worried. "Tough enough to take you on." Bella gave a small smile to Emmett, but her mood was still dampened. Rosalie sent her newspaper down as Bella's attitude about becoming a vampire was annoying her more than normal. 

Graduation day was the following week and Eliza hardly paid attention during the ceremony, the only part she truly paid attention to was Jessica Stanley's speech. "When we were five they asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up. Our answers were things like astronaut, president, or in my case, a princess." Jessica Stanley stood at the podium as she spoke to her classmates and their families. "When we were 10, asked us again, we answered rockstar, cowboy, or in my case, gold medalist." Jessica's confession got small laughs from the crowd. "But now that we've grown up, they want a serious answer. Well, how about this? Who the hell knows." Jessica's carefree attitude sent applause throughout the crowd of teenagers.

"This isn't the time for us to be making big decisions, this is the time to make mistakes. To take the wrong train and get stuck somewhere. Fall in love, a lot. Major in Philosophy because there's no way to make a career out of that. Change your mind, and change it again, because nothing's permanent." Eliza let a small smile grow on her face at Jessica's words. "So make as many mistakes as you can. That way someday when they ask what we want to be, we won't have to guess, we'll know." Jessica ended her speech, the large crowd erupting in applause.

Despite the family's weariness of having humans in their home, Alice went along with her plan to throw a party for Forks High School's Class of 2009. Eliza swirled her drink around in her cup as she watched the people around her laughing with a bored expression, oh how she wished she could get drunk like everyone else. Eliza's eyes zoned in on an angry Bella Swan storming across the room, her curiosity getting the best of her. Eliza watched amused as Jacob, Quill, and Embry stopped their entry when Bella planted herself directly in front of her.

"What are you doing here?" Bella glared at Jacob, ignoring the presence of the other shifters. "You invited me remember?" Jacob subtly looked around for his imprint, feeling her absents the past few days. "Was my right hook too subtle for you? That was me uninviting you." Bella scanned the shifter with her eyes, while Jacob's eyes met Eliza's from across the room. "Look Bella, I'm sorry about, you know the kiss and your hand." Jacob looked away from Eliza as he gave Bella an apology. Eliza kept her gaze on Jacob a little longer than she wanted to before she turned away from watching the confrontation and made her way to the outside terrace.

Eliza felt the gentle breeze blow against her cold skin, closing her eyes and enjoying the sounds of the forest at night. Eliza's alone time was interrupted as she heard the door slide open, Eliza didn't need her heightened senses to know that it was Jacob that stepped out onto the terrace. "Go away." Eliza didn't even turn to face the shifter as she kept her eyes trained on the forest in front of her. "I'm sorry I kissed Bella." Jacob didn't listen to her instructions as he closed the door, both of them now sharing the terrace. Eliza let out a scoff at the 'apology', Eliza doubted that Embry and Quill willingly confessed to accidentally telling her and if they got away with letting the information slip. If the shifters didn't tell him, she's sure Bella must have.

"You're not sorry, you weren't even sorry when you apologized to Bella." Eliza glanced back at the shifter, only seeing his shadow in her peripheral view. "You're right, I'm not." Jacob sighed, knowing that Eliza would believe whatever Eliza wanted to believe. Jacob's words caused Eliza to move her gaze as she turned around to face the shifter. "Now you're just being an ass." Eliza raised an eyebrow at the shifter. "Even with the imprint bond, I haven't completely gotten over Bella." Jacob started his defense with a confession. "Clearly." Eliza scoffed when he paused between his sentences. "But I want to, I want our bond. I want to be a good imprint, a good mate." Jacob looked at the blonde with a serious expression. Eliza looked at Jacob emotionless, trying to tell if he was lying or not, but Jacob didn't give her more time to think.

"I got you a graduation present." Jacob stepped closer to Eliza, pulling a small black box out of his pocket. Eliza wearily took the box from his hand, rubbing her finger over the velvet material. Eliza didn't hide her surprise when she opened the box to see a bracelet with two charms attached, a wolf and a shiny blue gem. Eliza let a small smile grace her face as she looked down at the bracelet, grasping the charms in her hand. "Thank you." Eliza looked up at the shifter, honestly appreciating the effort and thought put into the gift. Jacob didn't get to answer the vampire when Bella slammed open the sliding door. "Alice had a vision." Bella looked past Jacob and directly at the blonde. Eliza wasted no time closing the small box and rushing back into the house.