Skulls and Bones ▸ Sam Uley [REWRITING]

00. Hot Days in La Push

   "Are you sure?" Regan asked. "I could tell him you were with me the entire time." Leah nodded and gave her a grim smile.

   "It's fine, Regan. I just needed someone to talk to who wouldn't treat this like it was no big deal. You made me feel loads better." Leah stood from the bench she was sitting on and Regan held her hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun's rays. The Clearwater girl reached down to give Regan a quick hug, sending a tiny smile her way once they pulled away from the embrace.

   "I'll see you later, Lee," Regan muttered. Leah nodded before she walked off, starting in the direction of her house. The Clearwaters lived close enough to walk to the beach instead of driving, like Regan had to.

   This was turning out to be an awful hot day, like all the others in La Push were. Regan sighed and leaned back against the table, welcoming the warming metal now that she had gotten used to it. Her mind couldn't stop racing, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for why Sam was avoiding Leah like the plague. Had she done something to piss him off? Had they gotten into an argument? Even so, Regan didn't believe it would drive Sam to ignore Leah. She had never seen someone so adoring as Sam Uley when it came to her best friend.

   Just as Regan was relaxing underneath the sun, trying to figure out the new mysterious enigma of Sam Uley, there was a rustling coming from the trees, from where Leah had just exited. Regan sat up, blinking her eyes against the brightness of the sun. She threw her hand over her eyes once more and saw Sam Uley walking towards her, his strides long and purposeful. He was wearing the thinnest tank top she had ever seen, probably due to the weather.

   "Speak of the devil," Regan muttered.

   Sam had made his way over to where she was sitting, walking past her without so much as a nod. Regan blinked in confusion. That wasn't like Sam at all. Rude wasn't exactly a word anyone used to describe him, and it was certainly out of character from the man who hung out with she and Leah. Once he was a few feet away and Regan truly had time to process that he was dead-set on ignoring her, her annoyance flared.

   "Hey!" she called, gaining enough courage to decide to stand up. "Uley. What crawled up your ass?"

   Sam stopped walking, his shoulders going still before they gently started to vibrate. It was the smallest of tremors, but Regan saw them. They moved throughout his muscles like he was a toy and someone had wound him up. "I don't know what you're talking about," Sam replied, his voice deep and dark and unbelievably angry. It almost made Regan turn back.

   Almost.

   "Like hell you don't," Regan said, marching up to him with steps a lot less cool and calculated than his had been. He was still looking straight ahead as she stood face-to-chest with the humongous man, almost as if he were trying to keep his temper in check by not looking at her. "Leah's been worried sick about you. You know that right? And you've been parading around here like a cowardly little freshman boy."

   "You don't know anything," he snarled, snapping his head up to look at her with a look of contempt. The look on his face was filled with such animosity that it made Regan step back in surprise. The action of her feet shuffling backwards made him snap his gaze to her. She saw the anger there, the animalistic power in his gaze. Like vapor, however, the second he looked at her— really looked at her— his glare softened, turning into something that looked like a mix of shock and wonder. His eyes were wide; his lips lifted, just slightly, at the corners. His face lost the previous anger and hostility it had held. It was the kind of gaze she had seen many times, directed at Leah. The same look of amazement. Regan rose an eyebrow, gluing her hands to her hips as she tried to focus on something that didn't make her feel so uncomfortable.

   "Hello?" she snapped, waving her hand in front of his face, which was still frozen in the same expression. "Are you even paying attention to me?"

   He simply continued to stare at her, jaw locked and eyes wide with surprise.

   "Okay, Uley," she spat out angrily. "You're obviously off your rocker. Just fix things with Leah, alright?"

   And with the parting words, Regan stomped away from the man, muttering about how much of an ass he was being. She didn't look back, didn't see how he was staring at her. It was only then that Sam let a small smile spread across his face. He needed to talk to Harry Clearwater about what had happened. About how imprinting might have been rare, but Sam was one of the lucky ones. That he had found her.

   "Regan Hamilton," he whispered, the name sounding foreign on his tongue. Foreign, frightening, but wonderful.

   Before he talked to Harry, though, he was going to take it all in. All the shock, all the surprise. And then he was going to wonder why he never noticed Regan Hamilton before.

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EDITED 11/21/2022

As most of you probably noticed, I am revamping this story and republishing it. It won't go through much changes, but the faceclaim is changed and I'm editing just because I wrote this story when I was 14-15 and I'm now almost ten years older. My writing style has definitely changed. The plot won't change much, but I want to edit and refine a little.

Hope you enjoy this the second time around!