Stay • Jared Cameron

five

"Hey, you look.." He trailed off as he stared at her.

"Better than this morning." She finished with a laugh. He smiled and nodded.

"I was going to say beautiful but that works too." He stared into her eyes in such an intense way. Evelina looked down to her shoes and turned quickly.

"I'll be right back." She slipped into the kitchen and did a once over. She had left dinner for her mother, everything was relatively clean, the back door was locked and she had everything. When she came back to the front door, she picked up her bag and shut the door behind her. 

Jared was looking at her when she turned around. He lead her to his car and opened the door for her. They began to drive along the way she would normally go to Jacobs. She recognized the trees and shrubs but had never really thought about them until now, she was trying to think of anything else than her nerves. She was so nervous Jared's friends wouldn't like her or wouldn't want her there. 

'It's not like it really matters, I mean we aren't dating or anything' She thought to herself.

They turned down a driveway just before Jacob's road. Evelina's leg was bouncing up and down at a rapid rate. Jared looked over at her with concern written all over his face.

"Are you okay, you look nervous?" He put his hand on her knee, this stopped the bouncing straight away. She blushed and looked down.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a bit nervous." He looked at her confusedly, "I mean, what if your friends don't like me?"

He smiled and pulled his hand away from her leg, she immediately wanted it back. "If I'm being honest, I'm worried you won't like my friends." She smiled at him.

"Why wouldn't I like them?" 

"They're really weird, as in really weird." He explained. She smiled wider and nodded.

They pulled up next to a truck that was parked on a field. Evelina looked at the small house near the centre of said field. It was small and had a very homey vibe. She got out and met Jared at the end of the car. He pouted when he saw her.

"Hey, I was supposed to open the door for you." She laughed at his antics. He laughed along and lead her towards the house. Quiet music could be heard mixed in with the loud voices of the people inside. Jared ran up the stairs and opened the door for her.

"Ha," He said with a teasing smile, "I opened this one." She looked over to him with a smile and tried to hide her worried expression.

She had only taken one step into the house when the talking stopped, all eyes turned to her.

She knew basically everyone as they stood surrounding the kitchen bench. Sam Uley stood next to a small girl with claw marks running down her face, Paul Lahote sat at a small table across from Embry and they both looked as though they had been arguing about something, Evelina always saw them doing so at school.

"Hi!" The girl exclaimed as she walked over to us, "You must be Evelina! I'm Emily, Sam's fiancee." Evelina smiled when Emily hugged her.

"Please, call me Eve." She laughed out when Emily pulled out of the hug. As she walked back to the kitchen, Jared ushered Evelina over to the table.

"Evelina!" Paul exclaimed as she sat down, "I'm Paul." He stuck out his hand for her to shake.

"Paul, I've been going to school with you for years now." She explained but shook his hand anyway. This comment made most of the people in the room chuckle, even Sam who seemed to be pretty serious as far as she could tell. She turned to Jared and noticed he was glaring at Paul.

"Hey Eve," Embry said across the table. She turned her attention to him and smiled.

"Hey Em, how are you?" Evelina couldn't really blame him for Jacob's actions, she couldn't blame any of them. Sure Embry had left her and Quil, but when they ran into each other again, he didn't try to end the friendship completely. Plus, she didn't want to cause any drama, especially in front of Sam and Emily.

"Yeah I'm good, how are you after yesterday?" He asked sincerely. Evelina leaned back in her chair and looked to Paul who was now looking to her too.

"I'm okay I guess, he was just so rude and blunt about it. I guess it just hurt but I kinda knew it was coming." They all nodded and after that, it wasn't mentioned again.

The night was filled with the best spaghetti Evelina had ever had in her life, some muffins, board games and lots of joking around.

"Okay I think I'm gonna go now," Paul said as he stood up from the couch.

"You're just leaving because you lost." Evelina teased. He stuck the finger up as he slipped out of the room.

"Bye!" He yelled as he walked out the door. They all answered in the same manner.

"We should probably go too," Jared said looking over to Evelina who nodded. They all stood up and walked through to the kitchen.

"Thank you so much for tonight, I had so much fun." She smiled at Emily and Sam.

"Come back anytime you want, you're always welcome here," Sam answered.

They all said their goodbyes and after they had dropped Embry home, Evelina realized the night was almost over.

"Thank you." She smiled over to Jared. He smiled as he stopped the car in her driveway.

"What for?" He tried to act innocent.

"For inviting me to hang out with your friends, it was exactly what I needed." He turned in his seat.

"They're your friends too Eve, I'm sure I'll hear all about you from Paul." He laughed thinking about how Paul was probably already at his house, eating his food and waiting for him to come home. She blushed when she heard this.

"I'll see you Monday?" She asked quietly. Jared nodded and smiled. Before she got out of the car, Evelina leaned up and quickly kissed Jared's cheek. She blushed as she opened the door of the car and jumped out. He stayed in the driveway and watched as she unlocked the door and turned back to wave him goodbye. 

Jared couldn't believe that he had imprinted on Evelina. She was so beautiful and he didn't know what he had done to deserve her. When he got home, Paul was waiting for him as expected. They talked until it was time for patrol and Jared couldn't stop talking about her then too.