𝘐𝘍 𝘐 𝘏𝘈𝘋 𝘖𝘕𝘓𝘠 𝘍𝘌𝘓𝘛 𝘏𝘖𝘞 𝘐𝘛 𝘍𝘌𝘌𝘓𝘚 𝘛𝘖 𝘉𝘌 𝘠𝘖𝘜𝘙𝘚
𝘞𝘌𝘓𝘓, 𝘐 𝘞𝘖𝘜𝘓𝘋 𝘏𝘈𝘝𝘌 𝘒𝘕𝘖𝘞𝘕 𝘞𝘏𝘈𝘛
𝘐'𝘝𝘌 𝘉𝘌𝘌𝘕 𝘓𝘐𝘝𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝘍𝘖𝘙 𝘈𝘓𝘓 𝘈𝘓𝘖𝘕𝘎.
- 𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐆𝐄, 𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐓 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓
━━━━━━♡♥♡━━━━━━
Emily leaves us after a little while longer. We make fun of Seth and Sam's misunderstanding of the word 'clean', then make space for the former's clothes, and then she lets us be alone again. This makes Seth very happy, as he starts kissing me almost immediately. I think his new favourite thing is telling me that he loves me, because he also does that repeatedly. Not that that's a bad thing. In fact, it's a really great thing. I went so long without anyone saying it that Seth saying it feels even more right.
We find out later that Jacob's run away. No one says why until all the boys go out again, when Emily shows me a wedding invite from the Cullens. Bella and Edward are getting married in a few weeks. Of course that's what would send Jacob into an episode. And now he's gone, with no word on when he'll be back or even where he's going.
"You should go to the wedding. The Clearwaters were invited anyway, and since you and Seth are practically attached at the hip, I'm sure they wouldn't mind you being there. I highly doubt Leah's going - you'll just be taking her place," Emily says as we wash dishes. I wince at her use of that phrase, which she catches. "Her ticketed place, of course. I'm sure she won't mind. I could ask her, if you want."
"It's okay. I'll ask her when she and the boys get back."
"Look, I know Leah can be a little hard to get along with sometimes, but she's not someone to be scared of."
I start a little and turn so I'm facing her. "I'm not scared of Leah!"
"I wouldn't blame you if you were. She's a little intimidating. And really cold a lot of the time."
"Still, she's never been mean to me before. I like Leah, standoffish or not."
Emily smiles. "I'm glad you like her, because you're stuck with her for the rest of your life."
"You'd think she was the one who imprinted on me, the way you're talking."
"Well, it was her brother, so family..."
"You're also their family, Em."
"Fair. More distant, though."
I grin, "You're going to be my cousin-in-law someday!"
"Is that even a proper title?"
"Who cares?"
She chuckles and puts the dishes she's washed and dried away. "Fine, but if Leah does end up scaring the pants off of you sometime before you can ask her for her invite, let me or Seth know and one of us can ask her."
"Will do. Thank you."
"Anytime," she smiles at me and throws her towel over her shoulder. "Looks like we're done - and just in time."
I turn to look out the open window, only to be greeted with the sight of a bunch of shirtless and sweaty guys, plus Leah, who's mostly fresh. They're all messing with each other, except for Seth, Leah and Sam. They're all hanging back behind the others and seemingly having a serious conversation. It's a little worrying, I'm not going to lie, but I'm assured in the fact that Seth will tell me about it once we're alone.
"Hey, honey," Emily says as Sam comes up behind her and kisses her cheek. "Everything alright?"
"Perfect," he mutters back. I take the hint and move away from the two of them, going over to Leah instead.
"Hey, Leah?"
She looks up abruptly and frowns a little. "Hi, Willow."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Are you gonna go to the Cullen wedding?"
She shakes her head no and holds up a finger before I can say anything. "You can have my place. I was going to suggest it anyway, since weddings aren't really my thing."
"Are you sure? I don't want to make you feel isolated from your family or anything by going in your place-"
"Come with me," she says. She stands and leads me out the front door, in the direction of the beach. "I'm going to make the assumption that Seth already told you about how Emily and Sam came to be, and if not, you can ask him later."
"He did. I'm sorry."
She waves her hand dismissively. "It's in the past. I'm learning to live with it. But I've felt isolated from my own family for many years, and honestly, I think Seth would enjoy this wedding more if he took you to it. It would be better for everyone if you go instead of me."
"But I don't think that's true," I reply as I shake my head. "Your family loves you, and I'm sure the Cullens wouldn't invite you if they didn't want you there."
"No, I guess not. But I still want you to go. And one more thing?"
"Yeah?"
She stops and looks at me in earnest. "Just...don't you dare hurt my brother."
"I would rather cut out my own heart than hurt Seth."
She nods in satisfaction and turns away again. I take my chance and walk back to the house, where Seth is waiting for me on the porch.
"Why didn't you grab a coat?" he asks as I come over to him. I shake my dripping wet head, which makes him cringe. "Stop!"
"I didn't think to. What were you, Sam and Leah talking about?"
"Jake. Sam's worried he's gonna disappear and go crazy without us. I think the opposite; maybe what he needs is some quiet."
"That's fair. I thought someone died or something, with how serious you guys looked."
He chuckles and smiles at me. "No one died. What were you and Leah talking about?"
"You could hear us, I thought."
"I could. I just want you to tell me."
I smile back and lean on the wall. "I asked her if she was going to the wedding, and she said no, and that I could take her place. I made sure, she explained why it was ok, and made sure I wouldn't hurt you. That's all."
"And you said you would rather cut out your own heart than hurt me."
"I did."
He comes to stand directly in front of me. "Do you really mean that?"
"Of course I do."
He kisses me softly, not letting anything except our lips meet. "I'm not letting you be alone ever again. I promise."
I wrap my arms around his waist and bury my face in his chest. This boy, I swear. He knows everything right he could possibly say to make me want to marry him on the spot. With him, I wasn't sure I could ever feel alone again.
"I love you, Willow."
"I love you more, Seth."
He pulls back and looks down at me. "Dance with me."
"What?"
"Dance with me. Let's be a corny couple, dancing in the rain together with no music."
"Okay."
He smiles and takes my hands, leading me out into the grass, where there's nothing in our way for a long while. He holds one of my hands in his, letting the other fall to my waist, and we start to sway. Just back and forth, easy enough, until we start to spin as well. I step on Seth's feet a couple of times, until he starts to twirl me around with one hand. I can't help but giggle a little as the grass under my feet squishes and gets water everywhere.
"You're a good dancer, Seth," I say as he pulls me back in again.
"Thanks. Mom taught me. Sometimes we run out of things to do here."
"She did a very good job."
"I'll make sure to tell her," he smiles and dips me back. His hand moves to hold my thigh up to his hip as he slowly raises me back to eye level, gazing at my lips. "God, I love you."
"I love you too."
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Seth wakes me up the next morning with a shower of kisses across my cheeks. I giggle and swat at him, which makes him chuckle and lean away. "Good morning, Will."
"Good morning, angel. Sleep well?"
"Very. So much better now that we're always together, honestly."
"Me too," I whisper, pushing my face up so our noses brush. "I used to have really rough sleeps around this time of year."
"Really?"
"Mhm," I nodded. "But now that I have you here, I have the best sleeps in the world."
"I'm glad. I used to get really bad nightmares sometimes. Especially right before you came. Now they're all gone. You're just my knight in shining armor."
"Oh, yeah. You know me. Just running around with my sword and stuff. Very chivalrous."
"Slaying dragons for me?"
"All of them," I agree. He smiles and lays back down next to me, softly brushing his fingers over my waist. "There wouldn't be a dragon left in this land if you didn't want them."
"Well, then I'll continue to rest assured you'll slay all the scary dragons here in Washington."
I laugh, pulling his face closer to mine and pressing a kiss to his smiling lips. "Very funny, angel. It's no wonder why we're imprinted."