Lemon Water // Paul Lahote

eighty seven

Paul

"You have got to be kidding me" I heard Embry mumble as I carried Serena down the stairs, "I just started eating and now you're ready to go?"

"She'll be asleep for a while, I can tell" I told him and he nodded, scarfing down some more food.

"You can tell or is it because you were there?" He asked, mouth full of food.

"Both? I don't know. She usually gets like this when she comes out of 'the well' and she also just calmed herself out of phasing so her body went through double. If my calculations are correct, she'll be asleep for at least another 10 hours"

"Calculations? Please, Paul" Embry laughed, "You're failing math. The only calculations you're doing is how much sucking up you need to do to get Serena to do something for you"

"Paul," Esme chimed, coming into the living room, ironic since they're dead, "would you like to eat? I made Alfredo for Embry and I made plenty extra for you in case you were hungry when you woke up"

"Yes please," I told her, "That'd be awesome. I wasn't expecting to fall asleep and miss a meal"

"Paul never misses meals," Embry laughed, "You should see him when he gets hangry"

Serena

"Oh my God what happened?" I groaned, rubbing my eyes to get the crusties away

"Good morning, sunshine" Embry said from across the room. Looking at the alarm clock, I saw that it was 8:57am.

"What happened?" my body wouldn't move yet, a signal of a great sleep.

"After you got out of 'the well' you almost phased but you managed to calm yourself down with Paul's help, and then you proceeded to sleep for 15 hours"

"What day is it?"

"Sunday, Mom is making breakfast in a little bit"

"Embry?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Do you ever wish that you had an imprint?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, I always feel bad whenever I'm with Paul because I feel like I'm rubbing it in your face that you haven't imprinted yet"

"Relax, you're not rubbing it in my face. A bunch of the guys don't have imprints yet"

"You mean you and Jacob?"

"Well, yeah, but we're 15. I don't want to find my life partner yet. Plus, I'm scared that I'll end up with a literal child like Quil"

"Claire is good for Quil"

"Do you think that when she's older and lived her life a little he'll want to have a romantic relationship with her?" He asked me

"Maybe? But I'm not sure if either of them will be able to get over the 14 year age gap"

"I would think that Quil would keep phasing after all this is over. We age slower while we're actively phasing, so if he keeps up with it long enough Claire will eventually catch up with him"

"How much slower? Am I suddenly going to be the older twin? Like will I be twenty while you're barely nineteen or something?"

"I'm hoping this all doesn't last that long. I love being a wolf and everything, but I have no social life. I can't go out and do things and as long as I'm a wolf, I can't leave La Push. I can't travel the world like I've always wanted too if this keeps up"

"I'm sorry." I said sadly. I was sitting up now, leaning back against the wall with my legs pulled up against my stomach. Embry mimicked my position.

"What are you sorry for? I've been a wolf since before I met you"

"You would have more free time if you didn't have to play princess protection program 24/7. This is a lot of my fault"

"We would be playing princess protection program if you were with us or not. I'd much rather doing it for my sister than for Bella"

Our conversation died down after he said this. I didn't want to be a burden on him, but the only way I wouldn't be is if I was a wolf, and I wasn't sure if I was ready for that.

The weekend went by slowly, and when it was finally Monday I was relieved. That was until Bailey yanked me to the side of the hallway. "When were you going to tell me you hang out with a bunch of wolves!" The whispered angrily

"What?" I played dumb, shocked that she would even bring this up.

"You know what I mean, Serena! Your brothers are wolves! They change into giant animals!"

"I have no clue what you're talking about, Bailey. Did you sleep ok last night?"

"I know everything, Serena. Laken told me everything. Like how there's a bunch of vampires after you, how your boyfriends a wolf, how I'm Laken's soulmate? How could you keep all of this from me when you knew?!"

"Not here. Not now" I grumbled, walking away from her. Laken just screwed us all over. We all agreed that nobody new would learn about our situation until this whole thing blows over. Now, another person is in danger and if Luke finds out Bailey is close to me, who knows what he would do.

I was uneasy the rest of the day. Not only does Bailey know about everything wolf related, but she also knows about the vampires. Does she know about 'the well' too? Does she know how dangerous it is to know?

When school finally ended, she tried to corner me in the locker room, but I got out of there quickly. She couldn't talk to me at practice in front of all our teammates, and I certainly wouldn't let her do it somewhere Luke could hear.

By the time practice was over, Bailey finally got to me. "Please, Serena, can we please talk about this? I'm so confused! And Laken doesn't know much about it either!"

"Fine, let's wait for everyone to leave" I replied, getting my stuff to shower.

When the locker room finally cleared out, Bailey spoke again. "He didn't mean to tell me. He told me it was dangerous and that I shouldn't know yet, but he let it slip and I wouldn't let him go until he told me everything he knew, which wasn't much because Sam won't tell him"

"What do you want to know?" I asked her, preparing myself to tell her everything I knew despite the dangers that await us.