Her One, His Only

Chapter 1: The Arival

I wake up to the sound of tires on gravel.  As I sit up and stretch, I look out my window to see an endless line of trees and I about jump out of my skin when I feel someone touch my leg.
    "We're here, sweetheart," Esme says softly from the front seat.
What? I turn to look back out my window just as the solid line of trees opens up to reveal a beautiful meadow with tall grass and wildflowers.  There's one thing missing, though: the house.
    "Are we building the house, Es? I mean, I'm all for the challenge and family-building-exercise bit, but I'd kind of like a place to sleep. . ."
    "No, Amber, we are not 'building a house.'  The house is in front of us, not to the side." Carlisle chuckles. 
I slide to the middle of the back seat and see a beautiful three story house. . .or should I say, mansion.  Wow, Amber, way to be observant.
The car slows to a stop as I hop out.   Behind us, the rest of the family pulls up.  Emmett, Edward, and Jasper arrive in the Jeep and Rose and Alice in the convertible.
"All right, guys, who has my stuff?" I call out as they all exit their precious vehicles.
"Well, little sis, there's a bit of it in every car.  Who would have thought it would take all of us to carry your baggage?" Emmett answers as he hands me one of my bags.
"Not funny, Em," I mumble as I grab my crap and head towards the house.  They know not to joke about that kind of thing.  I'm not high-maintenance or anything, but that doesn't mean that I don't have things that I carry with me... like a haunting past.  It's only been a year since I lost my family.  Both of my parents and my little sister Clara.  She was only five.
I jump as a hand falls on my shoulder.
"Are you ok?" Jasper whispers.
"I'm fine."
"Amb-"
"I said I'm fine, Jaz.  You don't have to worry about me," I sigh as I turn to go up the stairs.  Or, at least I was going to until big-brother-Jaz grabbed my arm.
"You're my sister now, Amber.  Worrying comes with the territory," he smirks.  I let it go with my signature eye roll and drag everything upstairs.
After I finish getting all of my stuff up to my room, I head downstairs to raid the kitchen.  I don't even start trying to get everything all set up because I'm about 90% sure that Alice and Rose are going to corner me pretty soon to try to talk me into getting all new stuff for my room.  That, and at this point, I swear I could out-eat a sumo wrestler right now.
"If you're looking for food, you won't find it there,"  the all-knowing Edward says from right behind me.  Stupid sneaky vampires. He rolls his eyes at my mental comment and hands me his Visa. "Don't go too crazy."
"Aye aye, captain." I say as I maneuver around him to leave.
"I mean it, Bear!"
A mischievous laugh escapes my lips as I grab the keys to my truck and head out the door.
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    After a thirty minute cruise around the lovely town of Forks, I finally found the grocery store.  I'm wandering through all of their fresh produce when this rowdy pack of guys storms in and start being all obnoxious.  One of them spots me, cocks his head, and calls out to his fellow goofballs saying, "Hey guys! I think I found the new girl!"
    So, of course, they all crowd around me with various cries of "Finally!" and "About time!" They all don't even bother to hide the fact that they were checking me out.
    "You boys need something?" came my frustrated smart remark.
    "Hmmm. . .your name would be nice." said one of the guys, wearing a cocky little smirk on his narrow face.
    "Yes, well, we all want what we don't have, don't we?" I say, returning his smirk.
    By the time that I finished my oh-so-witty comeback, this one guy has elbowed his way on through the group.  I'm not going to lie, he's pretty attractive. He has a round face with short brown hair and big, puppy-dog-like, brown eyes.
    "C'mon, guys, leave her alone! You're gonna scare her away," Brown Eyes says, sounding really protective for some reason.
    Smartalec raises his hands in a sign of surrender and he and the rest of the guys back off to go do their own thing elsewhere in the store. 
    "Sorry about that.  They're good guys, really, it's just that they get excited when there's a beautiful girl around."  It seems like he isn't really thinking about what he's saying because as soon as the words leave his lips, his face turns bright red.
    "So. . .um. . .are you ok?" he asks in an attempt to distract me from what he'd just said.
    "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." Well, this is getting awkward.
    "I'm Seth, by the way. Um. . .if you want, I can show you around sometime."
    "Well, I'm kind of busy right now, sorry." I say, gesturing to my basket of groceries. He nods in understanding but still looks disappointed. "But maybe tomorrow. . .?"  I add, attempting to sound less-rude and salvage the chance that I could make at least one friend here.  At that, Seth lit up like Christmas tree.
    "That would be great! Meet you back here at noon?' He says, being an adorable little eager beaver.
    "Yeah, that works!" I grin in response. His enthusiasm is contagious.
    "Ok, I'll see you then," he says.  He opens his mouth as if he's going to say something, hesitates, and then waves and walks away. I wonder what he was going to say. I guess he must have decided against it.
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    Just as I'm finishing up with putting the groceries away, Emmett and Jasper stride in with the cheekiest of grins on their faces.  Oh crap.  What can these two goofballs be up to now?
    "So," Em started, "how was the store?"
    "Fine. . .why?" I glance up from stuffing the refrigerator full of food just in time to see Edward enter into the kitchen as well.
    "Who's the guy?" Eddie asks in his typical overprotective fashion.  Immediately, Jaz's grin drops. 
    "What? Guy? You just said she had made a friend!" he snaps.  Ding ding.  Interrogation time.
    "He's just a guy who offered to show me around a little."  I answer, trying to sound nonchalant.  Emmett starts singing "Amber has a boyfriend" but quickly stops after receiving one of Jaz's scary as heck glares.
    "What do you mean 'show you around?'" Jaz growls.
    "Okay, seriously, Jaz?  Relax.  I can take care of myself.  You know I can."
    "I know you are capable of defending yourself, however, that doesn't mean that you can go out and put yourself into dangerous situations."
    "'Dangerous situation'?  Jaz-"
    "Amber, there are dangerous people here. People that-"
    "Enough, boys!"  Esme snaps as she magically appears besides me, "If Amber wants to go out, make new friends, and spend time with them, then she is free to do so without any pestering from the three of you."
    She gently turns me around and leads me away from them.
    "May I ask about this guy you've agreed to hang out with?" She asks as soon as we step out onto the back patio.
    "Sure, but there's not much to tell." I shrug.
    "Well, how about we start with his name?"
    "He said his name was Seth."
    "Hmmm. . .he sounds cute." She grins as she nudges my shoulder.
    "Es!"

Author's Note:
This is my first story, do please try to bear with me.  I do edit every chapter before I post but I am human, so it is possible that I miss something occasionally. If you have any comments or constructive criticism, please feel free to voice your thoughts. I am all ears. I do not own Twilight, only my characters and my plot. Happy reading! And thank you so much for opening my story.