DAKOTA LAHOTE - e.c

14. long talks

embry pulled into the driveway of the lahote's, feeling nervous for whatever was about to be said. "so."

she just looked at him funny.

"for the record, i didn't diss you, or at least mean to." he says calmly. "i literally can't not listen to sam, it's a wolf thing."

it was weird for her to hear him talk about it like it was normal. "i think if you truly cared, you would've gone against him for me."

he stayed silent, not knowing what to say. she went on. "you didn't even call me, or send me a note or anything. you just . . . disappeared. do you know how that made me feel, embry? and when you picked up the phone, you told me to stay away."

he winced as if her words hurt him physically. they did.

"so this is me doing so." she says, getting out of the car, slamming it on the way out.

***

after the car ride back, dakota called amara, filling her in on embry. she left out the part about the wolves, but she didn't plan on telling anyone about that.

the next day, the saturday, she woke up to the doorbell ringing. she got out of bed after five minutes, waiting for whoever was there to leave. but around lunchtime, paul came home, handing her flowers.

"what's this for? bribery to keep your secret?" she said.

"it's not from me, dipshit. from your lover boy."

she stuck out her tongue disgustingly. "ugh. gross."

after a moment, she got to questioning. "so, does dad know?"

"know what?"

"that you transform into a beast or whatever."

"no, he doesn't know. he doesn't know anything about the quileute tribes."

"so, how did you get the werewolf gene?"

"from grandpa." he says hastily. "any more questions, or can i leave now?"

"one more." she replies. "can you, um, do it out in the yard? i wanna see."

"girl." he glared. "not right now, i have things to do. enjoy your flowers."

he left, grabbing a banana on the way out. dakota inspected the flowers. she wasn't sure what kind they were, but they were bought from the local supermarket. they were pretty, she had to admit, but she didn't like the gifter.

she sighed, not knowing what to do with her saturday afternoon. a thought popped in her head. she grabbed her car keys, heading towards her car. it only took her seven minutes to get to emily's. luckily, none of the boys were there.

she walked up, knocking on the door, peering inside. emily walked up, not hiding her surprise at her visitor. she opened the door and smiled. "dakota! how nice to see you. come in."

dakota did so, saying hi back while taking a seat at the dining table. "hi, emily. how's it going?"

"i should be asking you that." she goes back to the kitchen, mixing some type of cake mix. "how are you?"

"um, i could be better."

"that was a lot to take in yesterday."

"yeah, it was." dakota hadn't thought about it a lot, only because it would make her dive into a pool of questions. it's not like paul's at the house a lot either.

"do you need anything from me? i mean, i've dealt with this stuff for years now. i'm engaged to one." she says, gesturing to the ring on her hand with a big smile.