the grudge , e. call

six; one phone call

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It had been a week since prom. Sadness hung over Maliah's room like a dark veil. She hadn't been able to move much, sadness settled in her stomach and left a nauseas feeling. She was lucky if she made it through the day without crying or throwing up. Embry hadn't called her or come by to see her. Maliah was sick over their fight, how could she not be? They never fought.

In his free time, Quil harassed Embry via his voicemail. "Hey. Just calling to let you know that Maliah hasn't stopped crying since the prom."

"Just call her man. She doesn't deserve this."

He would call while he worked on his homework. Voicemail. "Where the hell are you man? I never expected you to hurt her like this."

After dinner, Quil would call. Voicemail again. "You're a real asshole, Embry."

It continued on like this for the entire week following prom. "Did I really hear that you were hanging around Sam and his cult? I thought you were better than this."

"Maliah deserves better than you, Embry. You're a dick."

"Don't think we're still friends anymore after this shit you've pulled."

"I fucking hate you. And she will too when she finally stops crying over you."

Embry listened to each voicemail and every word landed like a punch to his stomach. He was beat down, tired as hell, hot, and suddenly a giant wolf. How was he supposed to explain that to Maliah? How was he supposed to deal with this change when Quil wouldn't shut the hell up?

When the Ateara's phone finally rang, Quil was the one who picked it up. "Hello?"

"It's me." He recognized Embry's ragged voice. "Can I talk to her?"

Quil's face hardened and his anger pent up. "You can talk to me. Why did you do this, man? And seriously, Sam's cult? Out of all of us you were supposed to be the one with the will to say no. You were the one that had the most to lose by joining him and you did anyways? That's fucked up."

Embry sighed deeply. "Just let me talk to Maliah."

Knowing there wasn't another choice, Quil sighed and took the phone to Maliah's room. He held it against his chest to block the receiver and cracked her door open. "Em is on the phone," he said gently. "He wants to talk to you. If you don't want to talk to him, I'll tell him to go fuck himself."

She sat up slowly and wiped her hair out of her face, wet from tears. "Give me the phone."

"Are you sure?"

Maliah nodded with a quivering lip and reached out for the phone that Quil was hesitant to give her. She held it to her ear and cleared her throat. "Are you ready to be reasonable?"

A sigh of relief was released from Embry's chest the minute he heard Maliah's voice. "I want to talk to you."

"I missed you." Maliah was pissed, she was seething, sick to her stomach. But that was all she could manage to say because despite how hurt she was over what had happened, Embry was still her favorite person.

He took a deep breath and told himself it was better to hurt her feelings than to maim her the same way he found out Sam did to Emily. What if he lost his temper around her? What if he killed her by accident?

Embry wouldn't let that happen, he'd make sure of it. "Listen Maliah..." his voice caught in the back of his throat. "I just-"

"Just say it, okay?" Maliah said. New tears lined her eyes and she was expecting an apology, not what he was going to say next.

"The time apart made me realize something, Mal,"he said slowly. He questioned if he really wanted to do this, which he didn't, but did he have a choice? "It made me realize that I just don't... love you anymore. And I'm really sorry."

It was like time was suddenly moving in slow motion. She pulled the phone away from her ear and ended the call. As Maliah stood up she could feel her head spin and she threw the phone against the wall.

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The last thing Maliah remembered was the terrible nightmare she had where Embry broke the news of his lost feelings to her over the phone. Only as she wiped sleep from her eyes, her hand crossed her tear streaked face and she realized it hadn't been a dream. Her person, her soulmate, the love of her life had ended their relationship over the phone. One phone call from him and Maliah's entire world was changed.

The room she woke up in was a stark contrast to her own room. It was bright, clean and didn't smell like the vanilla musk candle she normally burned. Her vision was a little blurry and stars dotted her vision as it adjusted to the overhead light.

"Mom?"

Ilene rose from the seat she occupied beside Maliah's bed. "You're awake. I'll get a doctor."

"What happened?"

"They think you were dehydrated, from you know, all the crying and throwing up. You passed out when you stood up," Ilene said. She looked at her son. "Quil go get the doctor."

A few minutes later he returned with a nurse. "She was all I could find."

After washing her hands the nurse pulled a stool over to the bedside and opened Maliah's chart. "So, I'm going to tell me what happened and what we've done to fix it, and then ask you some questions your mom couldn't answer." Maliah nodded. "You passed out and fell on your arm. You have a very small hairline fracture on your radius, so we've put that in a splint for six weeks. You can take it off after four if you avoid stress to your wrist. You passed out from dehydration. Your mom reported that you've been 'sick and crying a lot,' which when you're not able to keep anything down can make you dehydrated. For that we've put an IV in your right arm with saline and electrolytes."

Maliah nodded slowly. "Okay, that makes sense. I guess."

"So now for the questions. Do you want your family to leave the room?" Maliah shrugged. Thanks to Sam Uley, everyone on the reservation knew she was sexually active. What was there to hide? "Do you drink, smoke or do drugs?"

"No."

The nurse made note. "Have you recently considered suicide or self harm to cope with any large changes or conflicts?"

Despite losing her boyfriend and one of her only other friends, Maliah was relatively mentally healthy. "No, I'm good."

"When was your last menstrual period?"

Maliah shrugged. "I don't know. It's pretty irregular. Maybe like three months ago."

"Are you sexually active?" Maliah nodded. "Is there any chance you could be pregnant?"

Ilene and Quil exchanged a look, thinking that it would explain a lot. Floored, Maliah answered, "I don't know."

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ivy speaks!

guys it's getting juicy ;) written and produced in walt disney world, for those curious, so forgive any minor errors. ily pookies