PROMISE - S. CLEARWATER

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐄𝐍: 𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐏𝐒𝐄

"You okay?" I whisper as I wrap my arms around his neck. He nods and lets his gaze meet mine, finally shutting his mouth. "Okay."

"You look perfect, Willow."

I flush and look down. "Thanks. It's all Emily's doing."

"I only enhanced what you already have," she calls from across the room.

"She's right. You're still you, just...amplified."

"Seth, look at you!"

He grins and does a fake hair flip. "This old thing? Just something I found laying around."

We laugh and he wraps his arms around my waist, examining my hair and makeup. "These little butterflies are cute. They match the beads."

"They do."

He moves his hand to trace over the beads on the straps of my dress, then down to the ones on my waist. "Where did you find this?"

"The thrift store. It's got amazing selection."

"Yeah, if you look like a Greek goddess in literally anything."

I flush even harder and pull him in for a kiss. It's mostly to shut him up, but I can tell he's enjoying it, because he pushes against the small of my back so I'm right up against him. Sam clears his throat behind us. "Okay, Seth. You can kiss me all you want later."

"Oh, I will," he threatens, his eyes a little glazed over. Like he's dreaming or something. Weirdo.

"Gross. Have fun," Leah says as she walks out. I don't blame her; Emily and Sam are about three seconds away from a makeout session. I grab Seth and walk into the kitchen so I don't have to witness it either.

"They're kissing, aren't they?" I whisper as we stand at the counter. Seth nods and scrunches up his nose. "We were literally just doing that."

"Trust me, I remember," he smirks. "But it's weird when I can hear the kissing noises. Those are nasty."

"Okay, that's completely valid."
He smiles and pulls me in again with one hand, letting the other rest on the counter. I smile and gaze up at him. "I love you."

"I love you more."

He kisses me softly, then a little harder, then softly again. I hold the sides of his neck so I don't accidentally mess with his suit. Of course Sam and Emily choose that moment to stop kissing and come check on us, because Sam bellows out, "Seth!" and scares the two of us apart. It's sweet, though, because Seth automatically moves so he's in the way of Sam getting to me. Not that I need protection from Sam. Emily does that enough already.

"You two, car. Now."

Seth nods and grabs my hand, pulling me along behind himself. I smile at Emily on my way out and try to keep up with Seth's pace, which is quite the feat in heels. He finally notices my wincing between steps and stops, looking at me.

"Are they already hurting?"

"Only because you're walking at cheetah pace."

He rolls his eyes and reaches under my knees with one hand, the other going under my shoulders, and lifts me up. I wrap my arms around his neck and peck his cheek.

"Better?" he asks.

"Immeasurably," I respond with a grin. He rolls his eyes once again but treks on dutifully, somehow managing to make me feel light as a feather in his arms. I'm pretty average as far as size goes, but I've never felt as small as I do while Seth carries me in a fancy suit.

"Okay, I'm putting you down now," he says as we reach the car. I nod and slide out of his arms, brushing my dress back down into its proper position. He opens the door for me and waves his hand out dramatically. "After you, m'lady."

"Why thank you, kind sir," I reply with equal dramatics. He chuckles and waits until I've tucked my skirt in behind me to shut the door. Sue's helping Billy out of his wheelchair on the other side of the car, which is going surprisingly well. I would've expected a little more fumbling and falling than what I'm seeing. Though, I'm sure they've done this before.

Seth gets in on the other side and scooches into the middle seat, letting his hand fall on my thigh before buckling himself in with the other. "I don't think I can stress this enough, but you look beautiful tonight."

"I love you," I murmur against his cheek, leaning in so close I can smell his cologne. He nuzzles my cheek in response before pulling my seatbelt across my chest. "Safety first?"

"For you? Always."

I smile and lean my head over onto his, careful not to mess up any of Emily's hard work. We keep our heads together as long as we can during the drive. The roads are a little rough coming away from the rez, but as soon as we hit the main road, I let my eyes close. Seth is so warm beside me it's like I have a furnace to lean on. But he's not too warm; maybe that's part of the imprint thing? I don't think I'll ever fully understand how it works.

"Stay there," he demands as we park in front of the Cullen's house. No wonder the wedding was being held here; it was amazing. All glass and modern and stuff. I couldn't even imagine living somewhere as fancy as that. Seth pops me out of my stupor of staring at the house by opening my door. "Okay, you can come out now."

"Did you just make me stay so you could open my door for me?" I ask as he helps me out. I don't even need to look up from my feet to know he's grinning. "You're so cheesy, angel."

"I just want you to get the princess treatment you're entitled to," he says in his own defense. I just grin and kiss his cheek. "Let's go in. You've got to meet the Cullens."

"Won't they not like me? Because of Victoria and Riley?" I ask nervously. The last thing I want is to offend the people hosting a wedding for other people I've never met before. Especially more vampires - I'd already made enemies out of enough of those.

"I'm sure they'll like you just fine. You're pretty great, Will. Word on the street is that they wanted to help Bree, but the super secret vampire police didn't let them."

"There's super secret vampire police?"

Seth laughs and pulls my hand into his. "Let's go in. There's so many people you'll want to meet. The other Cullen siblings are so cool."

I follow him in and stare at all the lights and flowers hanging from everything. For my first time leaving the rez - other than to get my dress - in months, this is a pretty cool place to be.

"Okay?" he asks softly as I take everything in. I nod. "Okay."