My mouth popped open. You have got to be kidding me.
"B-but when?!"
"You remember when you came today? The other guys were trying to get rid of you but I suggested you talked to me?"
He can't have meant then. He was definitely hostile then. "Yes..."
"Well, I hadn't then. I planned to tell you to leave me alone, to send you back to Forks. It wasn't until I looked at you - and I mean properly looked, rather than a glance to see you're there - that it happened. I was all ready to send you away, but the moment I looked at your face, I couldn't bear it."
So that explained the sudden change of expression and intention in his face when he looked at me; the way it seemed like something in my face had changed his mind - and it had! It seemed weird, now I realised what had happened, how it had all changed from that one moment. If he hadn't looked at me, he never would have Imprinted and he would have told me to go away. Instead, he spent the whole afternoon telling me everything about his new life. All the pieces were slotting together now.
"It just felt... like nothing else mattered." His voice grew excited and loud. "And nothing else does matter!"
But he was wrong; other things did matter. Like the fact I couldn't be to him what he wanted me to be; now more than ever.
"But Dameon, I don't feel that way about you! How can you Imprint when I don't feel the same way?"
This didn't faze him like it had for me; apparently he had the answer. He'd obviously thought this through. "Emily, I told you. I'm anything you want me to be; whether that's a brother, a best friend or more."
"But you said that Imprinting is your type's way of finding their soul mates! How can I be yours when I don't feel like that about you?"
His excitement disappeared. I'd found a flaw he hadn't wanted to logic out yet. "I don't know. None of us know how or why Imprinting happens, just how it feels." His voice picked up slightly again. "And how it feels is amazing. I couldn't stand to hurt you; ever. I will be for you exactly what you want me to be and no more or less. This doesn't have to be an issue; it doesn't change anything!"
He was wrong again. This Imprinting thing was clouding his mind to the facts. Couldn't he see?!
"Dameon, it changes everything! All the time we're together, I'll be knowing that it isn't the same relationship I want it to be. It won't be just some high-school crush like before, but something else; something much stronger. I don't know if I could handle that sort of thing. And I also know that all the while, you'll be watching, waiting for me to feel the same way. But I can't feel the same! You're like a brother to me Dameon, I love you but I'm not in love with you. A relationship like that just wouldn't work between us."
His face turned serious and sincere. "I know Dameon. I wouldn't ask it of you. Just please, don't make me leave you. I need to be in your life!" All the excitement in his voice had gone, and there was a hint of desperation badly concealed within it.
I felt so terrible. Some force, unexplainable but strong, seemed to have changed so much between us. I didn't know exactly how he felt, but I could guess. I couldn't stand that look on his face; the look like everything in his life was about to fall apart. I especially couldn't stand that I had caused it.
That wasn't the only reason I couldn't just leave him. I came all the way over here to get him back because I needed him in my life. I still did. He was the one thing holding me together and now he needed me too, I didn't have to worry about him leaving me or hurting me. If he did, it would hurt both of us; just like it would if I left him now.
"Okay, we'll try. Mainly because I've fought too much for you, Dameon, and I'm not going to give you up at the finishing post." It might have meant more to him than me, but it was the truth.
He beamed at me, all the desperation and sadness gone from his face. He threw his arms around me and pulled me into another bear hug, knocking the breath out of me again.
"Dameon... seriously... can't breathe"
"Whoops..."
He let me go, looking sheepish. I smiled back to show I wasn't mad at him, and he pulled us back down to the ground; me on his lap again. It was getting colder now, so I buried my face in his warm side.
It was nice, just sitting here with Dameon, like nothing else mattered. I knew everything, and I was sticking with him.
