𝙏𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙨 𝘼 𝘾𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙙 ━━ Embry x Reader x Paul

I

When Y/N was younger, she had befriended Jake and, by extension, his two best friends, Quil and Embry. She had met Jake on a trip to La Push with her father, who was going there to visit an old friend from high school. Though Y/N put up a fight at first, she relented when she realized there was another kid to play with and she wouldn't have to sit around while the adults talked about boring things. Though hesitant of each other at first, the two of them found themselves playing in the backyard, getting into all kinds of trouble that left their clothes covered in dirt and grass stains.

It was 'downhill from there' her father had said one time with a fond shake of his head, looking a picture of the four of them covered in mud framed atop their fireplace. When Y/N and Jake were together they almost always came back a mess, clothes ruined and dirt smeared across their smiling faces. It was no surprise that Jakes two friends, Quil and Embry, joined in on the fun when they spotted the two of them playing in the trees when they came looking for Jake one day after school.

They hung out as much as they could whenever Y/N ended up at La Push, since that was the only time the four of them could hang out together. Late nights spent fighting dragons in the backyard, with Jake being the fearsome dragon since he was the tallest, and Embry and Quil the brave knights. They would always get a kiss on the cheek as a reward, but Y/N's stomach always felt jittery when she would give one to Embry, which always confused her.

As the four of them grew, so did Y/N's feelings for Embry, once she finally recognized them for what they were. She hid them as much as she could, and it worked for the most part, but eventually Jake and Quil figured her out. They teased her about it whenever they could, and always tried to push her into confessing her feelings, but Y/N refused every time, much to the two boys disappointment. Y/N didn't want to get her hopes up for nothing, knowing that Embry could never return her feelings.

When the four started high school, their get-togethers were becoming farther and farther apart, with homework, extracurriculars and part-time jobs getting in the way. Because of this, Y/N didn't notice the apparently drastic shift in Embry's behaviour, since most of their interactions were through texts nowadays. Embry was becoming temperamental and got angry at the drop of a hat, which was unlike him. She would get texts from Jake or Quil during class complaining about it, and she would try to help as much as she could from another city, texting Embry more, sending him funny videos that she knew he would like, which they said seemed to help. But only for a while.

Weekends were almost always reserved for her La Push boys, but then Embry cut ties with the three of them, first claiming that he had mono, and then not responding to her at all, even when she knew he was better. The next couple of days after he started avoiding them, Jake and Quil learned where he had gone. There was a group of boys in La Push, small in number, but had just recently gained their newest member in Embry.

Everyone in La Push referred to them as a cult, though Y/N didn't know why at first, until she caught sight of Embry and his new crew from a distance. Though he was far away, and his back was to her, she knew it was him. He was taller than before and built to the point that it scared Y/N, he shouldn't look like that after only a week. On his shoulder was a tattoo, and even though Y/N couldn't see it, she knew it matched the ones on the other three guys that he was laughing with.

Jake was also spending time away from Quil and Y/N, doing so with Bella Swan, the new girl at her school that he was also childhood friends with. Y/N couldn't really blame him for wanting to spend time with Bella, the massive crush he had on her was obvious, probably even to Bella.

That left Quil, who was probably the most bitter between the two of them, having his best friends abandon him in the span of a week for other people at seemingly the drop of a hat. As much as Y/N loved Quil, she could only take so much of his complaining before it drove her mad. Since they were the only real friends Y/N had, she had no one else to hang out with on her days off. But this didn't stop Y/N from having fun, and instead, she went off and did things that they wouldn't let her do, like go for a walk in the woods. By herself.