Beating Heart | j. black

14

"Good morning!" Three boys shouted into the face of a sleeping Lily Swan. She jolted awake and started breathing rapidly, clutching a hand over her chest. "What. The. Shit. Do you guys think you're doing," she sneered at Jacob, Embry, and Quil as they doubled over, laughing. "I'm serious, why are you waking me up right now?" She asked again. Embry walked over and sat down beside her, lightly stroking her tangled hair. "We are taking you to the beach," he answered with a wide grin, reaching across her to the sketch pad sitting on her desk.

"Hey, give that-" Lily tried to reach for it but Embry was holding it too high up over her head. "Woah, Lily, these are amazing!" He exclaimed, lowering the book so that Jacob and Quil could see as well. They praised her for her work, but heat rushed to Lily's cheeks and she snatched the book away from Embry. "Thank you... Anyways, why are we going to the beach?" She asked, changing the subject. No one ever looked at her sketches, it's not that she didn't think she was good, Lily knew she was good. It's that there were messages behind the drawings, some that she didn't even understand herself.

"You took in a lot yesterday, Jake thought it'd be a good idea to take a day to get your mind off of it," Quil explained, Jacob looked away shyly, scratching the back of his head. "So get up and get ready, I'm not waiting more than 15 minutes." Lily all together took nearly 2 hours to get ready, Quil has stayed sitting on his motorcycle the whole time, hoping that Lily would feel guilty and hurry up. Jacob and Embry sat and watched her, making comments about how unnecessary half of the things she was doing were, and questioning why she needed highlight for the beach.

"Are you finally ready?" Quil said, clearly annoyed. Lily laughed and swung her leg over the back of Quil's motorcycle and wrapped her arms around his torso. "Yes! Now hurry up and let's go!" An excited and eager Lily Swan waited for Quil to start the engine, but he just sat still. Jacob and Embry backed out of the driveway and started off toward La Push. "Hello? Quil let's go!" She pleaded, but he wouldn't budge.

"You made me wait, so now I'm making you wait," he said, Lily dismounted from the motorcycle and headed down the driveway, "Where do you think you're going?" He asked turning the bike around. Without looking back, she yelled, "To the beach," Quil laughed and started the engine making Lily stop in her tracks. He sped passed her and followed the direction of Quil and Embry, Lily ran after him and caught up at a stop sign. "Shit, kid, you're fast," he said, dumbfounded as Lily climbed back onto the motorcycle. "I know," she said, playfully pinching his cheek.

"What the heck took you guys so long?" Jacob called holding his arms out as Lily and Quil made their way down to the water. "We were like, two seconds behind you, relax dude," Quil replied patting Jacobs' shoulder. Embry swung his arm around Lily and led her down to where he and Jacob had laid four towels down. "So... Lily, how have you been feeling?" Embry asked, trying to break the silence. Lily didn't know how she had truly been feeling, so she gave an answer that she felt would put the boys' minds at ease.

"I'm good, still trying to adjust to the fact that werewolves and vampires exist, but I'm getting used to the idea," she shrugged Jacob had sensed her uncomfort and changed the subject to the day's agenda. "That's great, Lily. So we thought we should introduce you to something we like to do when we're here," he said standing and extending his hand and leading her up a hill.

"And what would that be," she asked with uncertainty, "You'll see," he smirked. The two approached a cliff and stood at the edge looking out to the water. A light breeze danced through Lily's hair and she breathed in the fresh air, feeling way more relaxed than she had been the night before. "This is nice," she exhaled when suddenly two figures zoomed past her faster than she could register and launched off of the cliff.

Lily screamed and fell to her knees, leaning over the edge to see Embry and Quil plummeting down into the deep blue waters. Jacob hollered, cupping his hands around his mouth and pumping his hand in the air. "Are you guys insane!" She shouted when she saw their two heads pop up from below the surface of the water. "Yes, now get in here! You owe me!" Quil shouted back. Lily shook her head in disbelief, "Absolutely not!" She backed up from the edge of the cliff and began to walk back down to the beach. "Woah, woah, woah. Where are you goin'?" Jacob ran in front of her and stopped her.