Breaking Boundaries | Jacob Black

Almond Croissants

"I can't believe you didn't ask him yet."

"How can I?" Natalia scowled down at the pastry dough rolled out beneath her hands, "Why don't you ask Jared yourself?"

"I can't. It's too early days and plus, we've been taking it slow," Kim lets out a loud sigh.

"Trouble in paradise?"

"Hm. Not exactly. I just--" Kim's head cocked as if in thought. The two girls were once again at Emily's house, responsible for overlooking the making of the pastries this afternoon as Emily went out to buy some more groceries. They were to hold a campfire later that night and she'd wanted to make sure that they had an abundant amount of food for these boys. Hence why the other two imprints were left alone.

"Just?" Natalia prompted. She started cutting out the dough, rolling it out once more with the flour-coated pin before taking one edge and rolling it into a small cylinder the size of her palm. They were trying -- and hopefully not failing -- to make croissants.

Kim dropped her hands from the bowl in which she'd mixed in flour, eggs and sugar, "don't you sometimes feel like--like this isn't something you should have? Like it's not natural?" there was nothing playful about her tone, causing Natalia to look up from her handiwork with a frown, "It's nice to have Jared. I mean, I've been crushing on him in middle school and it's like a dream come true for me you know? But sometimes...I can't help but wonder you know? If this is just--something..."

"Forced?" Natalia prompted.

Kim nodded, "something like that."

"Yeah. It did cross my mind once or twice," the latter resumed her croissant-making as she spoke, "but I try to look at it this way-- if I hadn't met Jake and had ended up with someone else, I'm not sure I would've been as happy as I am right now," a shy smile flickered across her mouth.

"Yeah but...what about them?" Kim's voice lowered to a soft, broken murmur. Her eyes went back to Natalia's and it was clear that there was more than just concern. Kim's eyes were filled with the kind of fear that came from low self-esteem, from a place of insecurity.

Kim continued, not realizing the way her shoulders hunched, "I've always had a crush on Jared," she said softly, looking out of the window cottage, "for years, I'd try to talk to him. But I never could, he was just too popular, too nice to everyone. The whole class loved him. And then-- just one day out of nowhere, he sat next to me in Maths class," Kim swallowed thickly before her eyes flitted back to Natalia's face, "it was weird, but I was blind to the attention. This was the boy I'd been fantasizing about forever and he was finally giving me the time of the day."

Natalia's heart ached for Kim. While it was true that the wolves loved their imprints dearly, the nature of their relationship was always something so questionable that Natalia herself sometimes had a hard time coming to terms with it. She set down her dough so that she could lay a comforting arm over her friend's shoulder.

"And then things happened so quickly. One minute he was asking me out on a date an the next-- well, I was his imprint and voila," Kim let out a small, mortified chuckle, 'maybe I should've played hard to get. Maybe I shouldn't have made it so easy for him."

"It's not something you can control," Natalia replied as she rubbed soothing circles over her back, "and what matters is that Jared--he loves you now. He'd do anything to make you happy. Isn't that what matters?"

Tears had gathered in the other girl's eyes and she sniffled, "I suppose so."

"I asked the same thing to Emily once," Natalia's lips curved up into a grin at the memory, "I asked her whether the wolves are forced into this weird imprinting thing. But she told me that the imprint is driven by their subconscious choices. I don't know how much of that is true, but what I do know is this--" she took a soft breath, "Jared wouldn't have chosen you, if his subconscious -- his wolf -- hadn't gotten attached to you or realized that you were good for him. Maybe--Maybe he would've found someone else if he wasn't a wolf. Maybe he would've been happy too. But I don't think he'd be as happy as he was, if you weren't the one he'd chosen."