Empty Veins | Quil Ateara [4]

dix

Andy found her as placed a single foot into the forest, a sting shooting through her heel as she realized she only had on a thin pair of socks. Really, she needed to stop doing this. 

Lynn came bursting out, hair tangled with small leaves and sticks, and oh, it was getting long again, a shirt barely pulled over her shoulders as she tackled her to the ground, covering Andy with her body as she glanced around nervously, protectively. 

"What are you doing?" She asks carefully, touching her shoulder gently. 

Brown eyes snapped to her face, looking her over. "You were running. I thought you were hurt or being chased, or something." 

"Who would chase me?" 

She silent for a moment, mulling over her thoughts. "I thought many they got passed us. I was worried for a moment." 

"Why would--" Freezing, her mind fills with pictures of him, of his dimpled smile and tufts of curly hair. She loved him so much, her boy that didn't want to deal with her problems anymore. She swallows thickly. "Quil isn't going to come for me, Lynn. He... dumped me, and I don't blame him."

"Don't you--" 

"I was a bad girlfriend, Lynn, and he deserved so much better than I gave to him. He's better off staying away and he knows that." 

"That is not--" 

"I can distract myself from my own heartbreak right now. There are so many other things to worry about," she says, tongue darting out to lick her lips. "But if he was to show up, I would just tell him to leave. It's for his own good." 

Lynn sits back, resting on Andy's stomach. "What about you, then? How are you going to be happy?"

Sighing, she tips her head to the side, looking at the dirt and rocks close to her face. "I- I'm going to be an Aunt. That has to count for something." 

"And when that novelty wears off?" 

"I'll have you and the Cullen's. I've survived worse than a broken heart, Lynn. I just need to get through the first few days and I'll be fine." 

Her friend looks unconvinced, her worry shining clear in her eyes even if it's so far back that Andy couldn't reach it, but she relents, easing back and offering a hand to pull her to her feet. 

"You were running. What's wrong?" 

"Nothings wrong. I was looking for you, actually." 

"I get the feeling this is more than just wanting to hang out." 

She shakes her head with a wince. "I guess it could be considered that if it's just the two of us." 

"You want to do something reckless." 

"Well... I wouldn't say that."

"What is it?"

With that, she launched into her explanation of how they could go hunting for the Cullen's just the two of them, that together they would be able to sort of hypnotize the animals to bring them back and if that didn't work they could give them a heart-attack, and if that didn't work, then Andy could force him back while she went for the kill. 

She explained how they were starving and it was putting them on edge, how she too was starving and it was putting her on edge because she was in the same boat as them right now. If they could get them closer to peak condition then maybe things wouldn't be so tense -- maybe they wouldn't be suffering because of her sister's unintentional actions. 

It wasn't even her Bella's fault. No one could force her to do anything with her own body, nor could they force her to give away her child. It was just an unfortunate, dangerous situation that no one was really enjoying at the moment.