Cozy • An Embry Story

.39

In this chapter, we're finally going to meet Embry's mom. In SM's original series Tiffany Call is an unwed single mother who works as a cashier at a souvenir store on one of the Beaches in La Push. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, but in the series all the Quileute characters (Jacob, Paul, Quil, etc) come from broken homes with financial problems which feels so coded and charged to make ALL the indigenous characters like that. (It's a body of fiction with werewolves and vampires, oh but all the indigenous characters have to be depicted as poor and from broken homes?) Especially since La Push is a real community, that Stephanie profits off today and gives no residuals to.

So in my fanfic Tiffany Call's backstory is still the same but I choose to write her as a paralegal who went back to school to get her degree.

Winnie's POV

"What do you wear to meet someone's mom?"

"Whatever she would wear." Leah answers to the magazine she's flipping through on her bed. Embry broke the news to me that it's time for me to meet his mother Tiffany. Despite how she's known me since Embry's and I's first day of kindergarten, a proper introduction as his girlfriend is overdue. So obviously, I went to the person who could best prepare me for this; Leah.

"Something she would wear?" I ask, looking up from the green polish I was painting on my toes.

"Yeah," She looks up at me. "Like her style. Not an exact copycat of her clothes. And even more importantly, nothing cuter than what she would wear. But something in her taste."

"You're a genius, you know that?" I point the nail polish brush at her.

"I do." She smirks. Leah doesn't let anyone in her room. When I first came over, Sue Clearwater thought I was here to tutor Seth, despite knowing how Leah and I hangout at least three times a week.

Leah's room is a lot like her. Neat, not in a minimal way but in an orderly way, where everything has its place. Quiet, the kind of quiet you feel in the outdoors, tranquil and open. Her room is as green as the outdoors too, the walls a moody dark green, the furniture a rich brown, with plotted plants on shelves or any available flat surface.

"Can I come in and hangout too?" Seth knocks at the door.

"Sure," He immediately comes to sit with me by the window, taking a spot on the floor since I have the only chair. It reminds me of a golden retriever. "Hi Winnie," He beams.

"Hey Seth," It's clear he patrolled today. The cut offs shorts and bare feet and exhaustion at the eyes an exact match to how Embry looks when he comes back from patrolling.

"How are you?" I always like how polite Seth is. Always a 'nice to see you,' or a 'how are you?' and he genuinely means it.

"I'm good, thanks," I answer before thinking something over. "Seth, shouldn't you be in school?"

"Yes, he should." Leah grounds out tightly, shooting her brother a look that he meets with a groan.

"I just got Leah to forget I was even home." Seth sighs, running his hand through his hair like he needs something to hold onto or he'll collapse under the pressure of Leah's sharp gaze.

"As if I'd forget." Leah rolls her eyes, before they land on me with a warning look that silently urges me that I better be on her side for whatever argument is about to start. "He finished up a patrol this morning. He was tired from the shift, then fell asleep after and missed most of the school day. "

"The guys patrolled when they were my age." Seth points out, only for Leah to give a disappointed glare.

"As if I care what the guys did in high school." Leah crosses her arms, completely forgetting about her magazine. "It was different for them, Seth. You have self control they didn't, and they had a rampant leech problem that you don't have to worry about. You have to put your foot down with Sam, and tell him you'll be in school."