BOREALIS ☽ Leah Clearwater ✔

Chapter 13... Cool Down

"Leah! Where are you?"

The sound of my name yanked me back to reality. I shrieked and jerked back from Josh, pushing away. With a startled yelp, he stumbled backwards, tripped over the rock... and fell right into the water with an epic splash.

"Leah!" came the voice again. It was Jacob. Grabbing my blanket from the ground and clutching it to myself, I glanced around nervously. He hadn't walked in on us, had he? Just what I needed! 

Thankfully Jacob was nowhere in sight. 

I sighed with relief. Thank God.

Josh surfaced in the water. "You pushed me!" he shouted with faux horror.

"I didn't mean to!" I hissed. "I thought someone had seen us!"

"Someone saw us?" Josh's eyes went wide as he looked past me, his gaze darting around the woods. "Where?"

"I was wrong, there's no one here... yet. Jacob, my alpha, is nearby. So we need to get decent, like, now!"

Josh just looked at me.

"What?"

"You're not even going to say sorry?"

"Sorry?" I barked an incredulous laugh. "For what?"

He splashed the water at me. "For pushing me in! Though maybe I did need to," he smirked at me, "cool down a bit."

Our eyes met and our fiery moment replayed between us. 

Cheeks burning, I turned away. "I-I told you that was an accident." And not just the push. I couldn't believe I had been so... rash. I had been seconds away from sleeping with someone I had just met. Imprint or not, I barely knew him! What is wrong with me?

"Well," he began again, after a moment. "The least you can do is help me out. Could you give me your hand?"

"S-Sure," I said, approaching the edge with my gaze still averted. I reached out, but holding the blanket in place made it hard. With no other choice I sighed deeply and then tossed it aside; my face was blazing bright red now. What are you being so shy for, Leah Clearwater? He had his hands—and mouth—all over you one minute ago.

Thankfully, Josh didn't make a comment. He just took my hand and said, "Thanks."

Then he pulled. 

With a short shriek, I plunged after him into the water. The water of the river pool was cold, even against my hot skin. Beneath the water I could see Josh, submerged and grinning at me. I glared back and surfaced.

"Sorry," Josh said, smiling, surfacing too and swimming over. "Thought you could use a cool down too."

"Gee, thanks," I growled back.

"You're not actually mad, are you?" he said, swimming closer. "It's just a bit of water."

I wanted to snap at him but it was hard to think of a good comeback when he was so close to me. There was only water separating  us... It took all my willpower not to wrap my legs around him and finished what we had started. Geez, I knew I was an animal, but this was ridiculous.

The way he was stared at me, his brown eyes heated, I knew he must've been thinking the same thing. He inched forward... I bit my lip, my hands drifting through the water towards him.

"Leah? Where are you? I heard a splash!"

Josh shoved back through the water, putting much-needed distance between us. He disappeared beneath the water and resurfaced by the water's edge. He pulled himself up and out of the pool.

I was lost in the sight of him; I couldn't gain control of my thoughts until his blanket was around his waist again.

I shook my head. My god. What have I become? Forcing my mind and body to behave, I followed after him, pulling myself out of the water on the far edge. I shook the water off and grabbed my own blanket, wrapping it around myself. 

Once I was sure we were both decent, I called back to Jacob. "Over here!"

It only took a few seconds before Jacob jogged into sight, wearing a pair of borrowed sweats. As he staggered to a stop, his glanced between Josh and I, his eyes narrowing as he noticed our dripping hair.

"Josh slipped and fell in," I said quickly before Jacob could start asking questions. "And I dunno, I got like, weirdly overprotective and jumped in after him."

Jacob nodded knowingly, but his folded brows didn't ease. "Yeah, you go a little bit nuts when you've first imprinted."

"Oh, yeah, I think we've realized that already," Josh said, smirking at me again.

I avoided his eyes as I fought off another wave of blushing.

Jacob cocked an eyebrow at me but didn't say anything.

"So, uh, why were you looking for me?" I asked, purposefully moving to another topic. "Is story time over?"

"For now," Jacob replied. He shot another glance at Josh and for a moment he looked somewhat sad—I wondered what he'd heard from Joshua Sr. "There's still plenty to talk about and Joshua thinks that maybe we should continue our conversation... in La Push."

I straightened up. "La Push? He wants to go to La Push?"

Jacob nodded. "So we should head back, there's lots to prepare. And besides," he shot me a significant look, "our friends are probably worried about us."

Friends. I guess Jacob hadn't gotten around to spilling the beans about the Cullens and just who his own imprint was...

"G-Good idea." I said, taking a step forward, then froze. I looked back at Josh and a lingering pain throbbed in my chest. I wasn't sure if I could leave him, at least without knowing for certain when I'd seen him again.

He was looking at me the same way: desperately.

I looked back to Jacob. "W-When are they coming to La Push?"

"In a few days," Jacob said, looking between us again. "Why?"

I took a deep breath. Could I last that long? I wasn't sure. "What if... Josh came with us?" I asked, my voice rising in pitch as I spoke until it came out as a squeak. I cleared my throat. "I mean, if... if he wants to." I glanced back at him again.

Jacob frowned. "I'm not sure..."

"It might be easier to, uh, explain the situation to Joshua Sr. and Joel if Josh could help us. Kind of like what we did with Nessie and the witnesses." I wasn't sure if this was actually a good idea or if it was pure selfishness. I genuinely couldn't tell. My mind was so focussed on Josh that it prioritized him over everything else.

But Jacob seemed to like the idea. "You may be right. But we'll need to tell Joshua. And JJ will need actual clothes."

"There's some in the cabin," Josh said, darting to the little hut. He disappeared—crouching low to get through the door—and returned with a bundle of clothes. "We keep a change of clothes here for after our runs."

"Great. Then let's head back and tell your dad," Jacob said, turning and heading up the path.

Josh and I followed after him, a few paces behind.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" I asked in a whisper.

"It's the only option," he replied with a huff. "If the alternative is being without you, I can't bring myself to choose it. Which is crazy." He shook his head, like he couldn't believe it.

I sighed. "I know."