HONEYBEE| Sam Uley

twelve

The waves lapped so peacefully against the shore, kissing the damp sand fondly as the wind howled its unpleasant chorus. She sat behind the large rocks where the air couldn't batter her, her legs stretched out in front of her on the blanket she had brought, more of their kind wrapped around her parka-wearing body as her gloved hands skimmed through a book; perhaps reading in the wind of the beach was not the best idea but it was silent here on First Beach, so peacefully silent though, she didn't feel as alone as she did in her own home.

Vaguely, she was aware of the way her cousins and their friends splashed around the shore, kicking a ball between them as they laughed rowdily. It was not a cold day, particularly, just a windy one and as her eyes looked upwards, she caught sight of Leah and Seth shoving one another into the wet sand. Estella had never been graced with a sibling and as much as Leah and Seth argued and teased- she'd always wanted one. A sibling would make her current predicament infinitely better.

And equally, she knew she could very easily walk over to the soccer playing people and join in with them to swallow up her loneliness but that was not the company Estella needed- she didn't need mindless hours of entertainment unto which she only felt worse when it ended. She needed someone who she could leave feeling at least slightly brighter.

"Hey, would you like to play?" A voice asked curiously and her eyes looked up in almost shock to see that Sam Uley had found her hiding spot among the rocks- it was such a peaceful spot, where the wind could not penetrate due to the wall of boulder sized rocks though the sand on which she sat was a six by six feet patch of softness, her back pressed against one of the boulders with her legs curled inwards, book clasped in her dainty hands. "Sorry, were you hiding?" He chuckled perching on the edge of a rock and she smiled though was in shock at the fact that he wore nothing but shorts and a flimsy T-shirt.

"Not really, just enjoying the not-so-bad weather." Estella giggled softly, sliding a woven bookmark into place between the pages as her eyes flickered up to meet his, it had been a Christmas present from Jacob Black, a boy who lived a little further along the track from the other Clearwaters. He was nice enough and they were friends but she hadn't spent a lot of time with him recently... Estella hadn't spent a lot of time with anyone recently.

She felt so strangely disconnected from the world, as an outcast you could say. She never much got on with the other kids- not that they hated one another, just that she didn't enjoy the things that they all did, she wasn't rough and loud. When she ran, her knees knocked together and tripped her up and she couldn't catch a ball to save her life. But she had always found comfort with the mothers of the reservation; Allison, Katherine and Sue were always there, baking something or making wind-chimes, braiding her hair and that was where she felt she belonged, with the mothers. She didn't belong here, on the beach playing soccer- but she didn't have a mother anymore.

"Would you like to join me?" She asked softly when she noticed Sam taking little interest in the sport the other people played. Rather than answering, he took a seat beside her and that was answer enough as he looked up at the sky.

"Weird." He mused, watching the clouds roll by and she frowned at him, only now noticing how close they'd been forced together. She wanted to shuffle further away but there was no space and the warmth of his body was beautifully comforting, flowing through her and unclenching her body that had tensed in the vague cold. "The sounds just cut off the second you sit down, must be the boulder," he hummed, gesturing to the rock behind them and she smiled.

"Must be," she said. "What brings you to the beach on this fine Saturday?" Estella queried warmly, tucking the book between her thighs, she had not been blessed with a thigh gap but she didn't mind, it wasn't ever something that bothered her. Across La Push, everyone was accepting of you, no matter how you looked, you were beautiful and it gave her the most confidence. It had given her the confidence to wear beads and ribbons in her hair, knowing that nobody would laugh, they would only compliment even if they did not like it themselves.

Katherine and Michael Clearwater were always accepting of however their daughter chose to dress, if she wanted to wear zebra print tights and a tiger print dress with her sparkly yellow wellies- that was okay. Thankfully, that flamboyant fashion sense had died long ago but it was that acceptance that always warmed her heart and assured her that everything was going to be okay, that she could be whoever she chose to be.

"I just came to see how everyone was doing, Jared and Paul wanted to play with them," he gestured and she knew he meant Seth and Leah. Jared and Paul had recently taken after Sam in the looks department, cropping their hair and the ends off of their trousers and currently, they ditched their shirts as if they were playing on a Hawaiian beach and not in a place that was so windy it would rip the weathervane straight off, rather than sending it dancing in spinning circles.

"Oh, I see," she hummed. "You didn't want to play?" She shifted her body, bending her knee slightly so her right ankle slid beneath her left knee, her sandy welly moving away from Sams bare leg.

"I don't really play games," he hummed.

"I think I'll start heading back in a moment, I could leave the blankets for you? If you'd like?"

"No, no, I'm heading back soon anyway... would you like some company?" He asked almost as an afterthought, strangely nervous about leaving with her while he knew his own fiancé was already angry at him about the business with the house on the hill. But he couldn't help himself, whenever he tried to be away from Estella, he felt even more drawn to her. Though he still didn't want to hurt Leah, he'd never wanted to hurt anyone. Maybe he was being selfish, he was sure he was but what could he truly do?

"... I would love some."