"It's freezing! How the fuck do you guys do this?" Lyra exclaims as she removes her shirt and jeans, revealing a rarely used dark blue two piece bathing suit, "Look, I may be practically invincible but I'm not invincible to the cold."
"You don't have to jump, you know." Paul told her, walking up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist to keep her warm.
"I know but I want to." She said looking over the edge of the cliff, seeing the long fall until the water.
Sam gave Jared a nod and he chuckled to himself before lifting Embry and tossing him over the edge of the cliff. Sam soon followed after him, wanting to be in the water for when Lyra jumped.
"If my pups can do it, I can do it." Lyra muttered to herself as she took in the drop. Heights had never been her favorite, and this distance between her and the water caused her stomach to churn.
"That doesn't mean-" Jared began to say before he was cut off by Lyra.
"If you can jump off a cliff, then you can finally ask Kim to be your girlfriend." She told him and he slouched, "Now go, take the leap!" She cheered, causing him to smile.
"Let's go!" Jared whooped in excitement as he jumped from the cliff.
"Do you wanna at least go lower?" Paul asked her, voice full of concern. He knew Lyra wasn't afraid of doing reckless things, hell she dated a vampire twice her size and ran with wolves in addition to her practically being invincible, but he still worried about her.
She smirked, "And let Embry's first impression of my supernatural form be that I'm a little bitch? No way." Without a second thought or word, she leapt from the edge of the cliff, diving down towards the water with a scream.
***
"I'll kill Tyler if he gave me his flu." Jessica complained as Lyra slid into her seat at the table. Lyra normally sits with Bella as she worried about the brunette, but Bella mentioned earlier that she was planning on sitting with their friends.
"It's going around." Lyra told Jessica as she unscrewed the cap of her water bottle, "I wasn't allowed near my dad while he was sick because I might have gotten it. He said he felt like shit the entire time." Most of what she said was true. Jeremy really was sick two weeks prior, Lyra was allowed near him since her demon genes prevented her from getting human illness, but Lyra stayed home all of the previous week to help Michael take care of her dad.
"Yeah, my sister was so sick she couldn't come on our hike last weekend." Angela agreed, and then her eyes went wide, "Oh my God! I've been meaning to tell you guys. When I was in the woods, I saw this huge-"
"Bush?" Mike guessed out of boredom as he poked around the mystery meat on his lunch tray, "Mud puddle? Tree?"
Lyra rolled her eyes and tossed a grape at his forehead to get him to be quiet so Angela could continue. Mike stuck his tongue out childishly, but laughed and picked up the grape off the table before eating it. "I'm not joking." Angela dropped her fork into her tray, a little annoyed that Mike and Jessica were downplaying this, "Why doesn't anyone believe me?
"I believe you." Eric said quickly, reaching over and grasping her hand, "Totally, baby. I believe you."
Jessica snorted, "No, he doesn't. He's just trying to get lucky."
Lyra smirked, "I don't think it's working."
"I'm serious." Angela insisted, "It was jet black and huge. On all fours it was still taller than a person... A bear, maybe?" Lyra's smirk dropped and she tensed slightly. She was going to have to tell Sam to be more careful.
Mike smirked. "Or an alien." He joked, "You're lucky you didn't get probed."
Lyra rolled her eyes. "Mike, you're such an idiot." She said as Bella approached the table and sat down.
"You know, you're not the only one." The brunette told Angela, having heard the last of the conversation as she approached, "My dad's been getting calls at the station. Like, five hikers were killed by some bear... but they can't find the bear." Angela turned and shot Eric, Mike, and Jessica all pointed looks, feeling a bit smug that someone had her back instead of making her feel stupid.
Eric laughed awkwardly. "Last time you clowns doubt my girlfriend." He said, still trying to kiss up to Angela. Jessica feigned a gag and Mike just chuckled, shaking his head.
Mike cleared his throat and slid his chair closer to Bella's. "So," He began, "Bella's back."
Bella let out an awkward, breathy laugh, shooting Lyra a look as if to say, save me, "Um... Yeah, I guess so."
"Alright, that's—- that's— well, welcome." Mike said, "So, listen... now that you're talking, and, uh, eating again, which, you know, gotta get that protein in there." He reached over and shook Bella's arm lightly while Lyra bit her lip to stop herself from laughing at how awkward this was, "Um, I was wondering if you would go see a movie with me."
"Yeah sure." At Bella's shocking response, everyone looked at her in surprise, "Yeah, I do."
Mike was equally surprised, though also incredibly pleased. "Cool! Let me see, um... We could check out, um... Love Spelled Backwards is Love." He proposed, "It's, you know, a dumb title, but it's a romantic comedy."
"No," Bella said bluntly, "No romance. Uh... how about Face Punch? Have you heard of that?"
Lyra watched Mike's face fall, "I mean, that's an action movie.."
"Yeah, it's perfect." Bella told him, "Guns, adrenaline... it's my thing."
Mike clearly wasn't expecting that and looked to Lyra in confusion. "It's a recent development." Lyra assured him with a shrug as she popped a grape in her mouth.
"Actually, Lyra and I were talking about going to watch that movie." Bella added.
Bella quickly shot Lyra a look and the banshee nodded in agreement, saying, "Yeah, and Emmett asked me to check it out so we could talk about it"
"You still talk to Emmett?" Angela asked, leaning over to talk to Lyra quietly.
Lyra nodded as Bella continued, "Yeah, so you should come. Actually, we should get a lot of people to come. Do you guys want to come watch Face Punch?" She asked, extending the invite to their other three friends at the table.
"Face Punch!" Eric exclaimed excitedly, "Yeah! Mike, hey, we were supposed to watch that..."
As Eric went on talking about the trailer and trying to reenact what was in it, Lyra turned to Bella. "What are you doing?" She whispered, "You usually turn Mike down."
"I'm trying to take your advice." Bella explained softly, "I can't keep sulking around. And besides, it's not going to be a date, it'll be a group of friends hanging out. You're coming, right?"
Lyra sighed, "Of course, Bells."
"Great! Thanks, Lyra." Bella said gratefully, "And hey, look, I'll invite Jake."
"Whatever you want, Bells." Lyra replied before noticing the gash on her friend's forehead. She reached up and gently pressed her finger to the healing wound, "Hey, what happened?"
"Motorcycle accident." Bella admitted as Lyra dropped her hand.
Lyra sighed before tucking some hair behind Bella's ear, causing the girl to blush, "Be more careful next time."
"There won't be a next time. Jake said no more bikes." Bella said bitterly, a slight pout on her lips.
Lyra smirked slightly, thinking to herself, Give him a look like that and he'll change his mind on the spot.
***
"Bella, I swear to God, if the only two people that show up are the ones pining after you, I will commit suicide by suffocating myself with my popcorn bucket." Lyra told her friend seriously as they stood there while Bella tried to get a hold of Jessica. Angela had already called Lyra to let her know why she and Eric weren't coming; and Lyra never thought she would think this, but she was actually hoping Jessica would come. She loved Jacob to bits (not that she would ever tell him that) and Mike was tolerable, but seeing as both of them had huge crushes on Bella and would be trying to put the moves on her, Lyra knew it'd be awkward.
Bella shot her a pleading look as she dialed Jessica's number again, "C'mon, Lyra, please stay." She begged, pressing her phone against her ear again. Lyra sighed, muttering a small 'fine' as she turned and made her way back to where Jacob and Mike were standing to make sure they stayed civil.
"So, Face Punch, huh?" Jacob was saying to Mike as he shoved his hands into his pockets, trying to make some sort of conversation, "You like action movies?"
Mike's annoyance was clear to see, "Not really."
"I heard it sucks. Bad."
"You know, are you even old enough to see this movie?" Mike asked tauntingly, "I mean, you know, without, like, adult supervision?"
"Leave him alone, Mike." Lyra drawled as she approached them, shooting the blonde a harsh look as she stood next to her cousin. She knew there'd be bad blood since they had a thing for the same girl, but Jacob had just been trying to make decent conversation for once. Now, Lyra knew he wouldn't show Mike the same courtesy again, "I don't feel like breaking up a fight tonight."
Jacob snorted, "You wouldn't have to break it up." He grumbled.
"What?" Mike demanded, raising his brows, as he hadn't quite heard what Jacob said.
Lyra elbowed her cousin in the ribs to keep him quiet, hissing, "Don't antagonize him."
"I'm not!" Jacob replied defensively.
Before the cousins could start bickering, Bella announced, "So, Jessica bailed." She slipped her phone in her pocket as she approached them, slipping her hand into Lyra's as soon as she was close enough.
Lyra sighed at the news, though she wasn't entirely surprised. "Yeah, and Angela's got the stomach flu, so Eric's taking care of her. And since someone has beef with the only people I would invite—" A pointed look is sent in Jacob's direction by the ginger, "—That leaves only the four of us."
"Great!" Jacob said with a smile.
"Great." Mike muttered, his enthusiasm clearly lacking. Lyra rolled her eyes, exchanging a look with Bella before heading into the theater.
Bella pulled Lyra into the aisle quickly, taking the two middle seats of the four that were next to each other. Mike and Jacob both rushed to try and get the seat next to Bella, but Lyra grabbed her cousin's arm and pulled him down into the seat next to her before he could get to the one on Bella's left. Mike sent a small smirk at Jacob as he moved to sit next to Bella. Jacob growled lightly under his breath, the sound almost animalistic in it's quality, causing Lyra to tense slightly. It was so familiar to the sound the wolves made when they are chasing Victoria. She has a feeling that Jacob is going to shift soon. Very soon.
The movie starts and the situation was this: Mike had his hand angled upwards as if gesturing for Bella to hold it, Jacob was pouting slightly as he sent long glances towards Bella, Lyra held Bella's hand tightly as it was clear that it was what the brunette wanted and she kind of wanted to rub it in the boys faces that Bella would rather hold her hand than either of theirs, and Bella was scooting closer to Lyra by the second, occasionally looking up at the banshee. All in all the tension was thick as Mike and Jacob swapped back and forth between staring at Bella longingly and glaring at Lyra, who had a somewhat smug look on her face as she shifted closer to Bella, allowing the brunette to lay her head on the banshee's shoulders.
This cycle only lasted forty-five minutes as that was when Mike suddenly got up and ran out of the room, telling Bella he was going to be sick. Bella released Lyra's hand and followed after him, feeling bad, and with a rather large sigh, Jacob stood and did the same. Lyra trailed behind them, heading over to buy herself another pop since she had noticed Jacob trying to hold Bella's hand. She knew the brunette was going to reject him and try to explain herself so she didn't hurt his feelings that much; Lyra wanted to give them space for obvious reasons.
"How can I help you?" The girl behind the counter asked Lyra with a smile.
"Just a medium cherry coke, please." Lyra told her, sliding her money across the counter. She nodded, quickly reimbursing her change before fetching her pop for her.
As she handed it over, she said, "You're really pretty, you know."
"Oh, thank you." Lyra replied with a smile before turning to see Jacob stalk up to her with his jaw clenched. "What's wrong?" Lyra asked, moving away from the counter.
"I don't get it." He vented, "Bella likes me, I know she does—"
"I don't think she does."
"—but she keeps turning me down."
Lyra sighed, "Jake-"
"I mean, it's been months since the Cullens left. Months. Can't she just-"
"Jacob." Lyra said sharply, causing the boy to finally stop and look down at her, "You need to give her some time. She's not a broken-down car, you can't just fix her up, okay?"
This seemed to register with him and Jacob sighed softly, nodding as he calmed down a bit, "You're right. I'm sorry."
"I'm always right." Lyra replied, ruffling his hair.
"That's debatable." He replied before walking back over to speak with Bella again.
Lyra stood a good distance away, sipping her pop and trying to ignore the conversation she was overhearing. The two of them looked like everything was okay again, and they were just moving over to where Lyra waited when Mike emerged from the bathroom. His face was clammy, his skin pale, and didn't look good at all. "Well," He began, "I need to go home." Jacob shot him an annoyed look. The movie hadn't been that bad, especially if Bella and Lyra had been able to stomach it, so he thought that Mike had to be a baby about it. "What?" Mike demanded, scowling, "I was feeling sick before the movie." Jacob just stared at him, "What is your problem?" Mike snapped.
"Right now? You're my problem." Jacob said angrily.
"Jake." Lyra quietly chastised him.
He ignore her and continued, "If you're feeling sick, maybe you need to go to the hospital. You want me to put you in the hospital?!" He lunged toward Mike, causing Lyra to hurriedly step between them while Bella grabbed Jacob's arm to try and stop him.
"Jake, that's enough." Lyra stated, grasping his shoulders as Mike cowered behind her, "Calm down." Then she frowned, noticing how hot Jacob's body was, right at the same moment Bella did as well.
"Jake, you're really hot." Bella told him in concern, "Like, you feel like you have a fever... Are you okay?"
"I don't know what's happening." Jacob admitted, "I gotta go." As he stormed out of the place, Lyra looked between the door and Bella. The brunette merely nodded, gesturing after Jacob and letting her know it was okay. Lyra hurried after him, not wanting her cousin to walk home or try to get a taxi when he's this close to shifting.
"Jake, hang on, let me give you a ride." Lyra said, holding her keys up as she jogged after him. Jacob didn't say anything, still breathing deeply as if he were trying to calm himself, but still turned and followed her to her car.