wild ↣ p. lahote

xvi. this town

AURORA SAT IN THE CAFETERIA, toying with her necklace. She couldn't help but remember all the times she'd played with it before around the Cullens. All the times they'd warned her to never take it off. All the close calls.

"Rory, be careful," Emmett's wary voice spoke from beside Aurora. Aurora craned her neck up to look at him, dropping her necklace in the process. He was cautiously looking down at her out of the corner of his eye. His body, which Aurora had been curled up against, had stiffened. He was on edge.

"I won't take it off," Aurora said gently. She took Emmett's large hand in her two small hands as she looked up at him imploringly. "Don't worry."

Aurora settled back down into Emmett's side; his arm snaked back around her side once more. After a few more moments of watching the TV, her hands mindlessly found their way back up to her necklace. She began toying with it again, not noticing how thin the string had become. The old chain had snapped that morning, so she had substituted it with a small leather cord for the day until the jewelry shop opened and she could get a new chain.

Only when Emmett's body stiffened like he had been shot did Aurora realize what she was doing. She had rubbed the cord between her fingers to the point where it was down to a single thread.

"Shit," Aurora muttered, leaning up. As she did so, the weight of the pendant snapped the cord. In a split second, Emmett was across the room and Aurora was frantically trying to tie a knot in the chain. "Oh, give me a hat and call me a witch— shit!"

Aurora fumbled with the cord, distracted by the clamoring of the pots in the kitchen. She didn't dare look up to see what was making all the racket until she finally secured the knot and tightened it.

Aurora looked up to see Emmett slamming a pot against his head in the kitchen. "Emmett, I fixed it, it's okay!" Aurora called, hurrying up off of the couch and rushing to the kitchen. Emmett didn't seem to notice as he kept slamming the pot into his face. The sound of the metal bouncing off of his rock hard skin was loud and screechy. It felt like the sound was leaving scars on the inside of Aurora's ears.

Aurora reached up and yanked the pot out of Emmett's grasp. His cold, dark eyes met hers, and a wave of ice swept over her body as he gazed down at her—

"Rora?"

Aurora jumped as she looked up. Ethan was watching her from across the table with a concerned look on his face.

"Yeah?" Aurora asked, shaking the memory from her mind. She picked up her sandwich and bit into it as she looked at her friend.

"Are you okay? You were kind of spaced out." Ethan asked.

"No, yeah, I'm doing great," Aurora said, putting on a fake smile. Ethan gave her a sympathetic look.

"Rora, I know it's hard," he said. "I've had my fair share of boys breaking up with me and I know how much it sucks."

"I loved him, though," Aurora rebutted, dropping her sandwich. "I've never liked any of my other boyfriends the way I liked Emmett."

"That's when you have to ask yourself: did you really like him more than the others or was he just more interesting?" Ethan said. "Did you like him, or did you like the mystery and excitement of dating a vampire?"

Aurora frowned. Ethan was making a good point— how much had she actually liked Emmett? Had she really loved him, or had she just loved the adrenaline she felt around him? And how would she ever be able to know?

"Now you're just confusing her," Liam spoke up from beside Ethan. Aurora shook her head.

"No, I know what he's saying. The truth is: I can't answer that. I don't know the answer. I don't know anything at all except that I was left in the dust." Aurora sighed. "I hate it here."

"You still have us and all of your other friends," Ethan said, trying to help. He smiled hopefully at Aurora. "That counts for something, right?"

Aurora nodded and smiled at the two. "Yes, it does. You're right— I still have you guys. Who needs vampires anyways when you've got two werewolf best friends?"

Liam puffed out his chest at that, a proud smile crossing his face. "Damn right," he said. Ethan rolled his eyes at Liam, but he faintly smiled as well.

"Speaking of werewolves, how are your Quileute friends doing?" Ethan asked, tactfully changing the subject away from Emmett. Aurora frowned as she remembered the last time she'd seen them— in the woods near her house. She'd finally got to meet Paul, but he sort of weirded her out with his aggressive staring.

"Good question," Aurora replied, taking a sip from her water bottle. She shrugged at the two. "I haven't seen any of them since Thursday night when I ran into Paul and Sam."

"Paul's the newest one, right?" Ethan asked for clarification. Aurora nodded. "What's he like?"

"Um, kinda weird, to be honest. He was staring at me the whole time," Aurora recalled. "He seemed really bothered by the fact that I was crying. And angry, too. He seemed angry about something."

"So he's a creepy hothead," Liam stated, scoffing. "Great."

"No, I'm sure he's great," Ethan said, giving Liam a hard look. He turned back to smile at Aurora. "I hope we can meet them all sometime."

"Yeah, maybe you will," Aurora agreed. Just then the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period. The three stood up and dumped their trays in the trashbins before mingling with the other students and heading out of the cafeteria.

"I'll catch up with you guys later," Ethan said, heading down a different hall than Liam and Aurora. They waved and continued walking towards their lockers.

"He's always too nice," Liam said. Aurora looked up at him, knitting her brows in confusion.

"What do you mean?" She asked defensively. "He's not too nice."

"He is. He thinks he can get along with everyone, including the Cullens and the other wolves," Liam argued, frowning deeply. "He thinks way too highly of other people. One day, he's gonna put his trust in someone he shouldn't have, and it's going to be messy."

"But then you'll be there to help him," Aurora added, smiling knowingly up at Liam.

"Well, obviously, because who else is going to keep that dumbass from— I don't know, trying to kiss a vampire or something?" Liam spluttered, his face turning red. He looked down at Aurora and frowned. "Why are you smiling?"

"No reason," Aurora said innocently, grinning even wider. She looked back ahead, laughing a little. Liam liked Ethan so much, and he didn't even know it. It was cute.

"Alright, whatever, headass. I'll see you later," Liam said, rolling his eyes.

"Goodbye," Aurora said in a singsongy voice, winking at him. Liam gave her one last weird look before turning down a different hallway and leaving her to walk alone. Aurora sighed contentedly to herself as she walked through the hallway. She only had her last class, AP Bio, and then she was going to go home and relax.

Or... she could always swing by the reservation and see what the small wolf pack was up to. Aurora really liked Sam and Jared— and Paul seemed like he could maybe be nice. They seemed like they'd be fun to hang out with.

Or, she could go to the Cullens' house and—

Aurora's line of thinking stopped dead in its tracks. She'd forgotten. The Cullens were gone. Emmett had said he didn't want her. He abandoned her. They'd all abandoned her.

Aurora's good mood was suddenly deflated like it'd been a balloon popped by a long, pokey needle. She felt her feet start to drag as she reached her locker. Emmett wasn't there waiting for her— he was gone. Edward wouldn't be in her AP Bio class ready to laugh at her for getting a question wrong. Alice wouldn't be there to walk Aurora to Emmett's car while she droned on and on about Lord knows what. They were all gone.

Aurora's heart felt like it was suddenly filled up with lead and sinking, sinking, sinking down to her toes. She didn't want to be here anymore. She wanted to be far away from school. She wanted to be anywhere other than this damned place where she'd met and fallen in love with Emmett Cullen.