─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 18
𝙳𝙾𝙽'𝚃 𝙳𝚁𝙸𝙽𝙺 𝙻𝙴𝙰𝙷'𝚂 𝚃𝙴𝙰
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
"THAT KID IS DEAD!" Benny seethed, pacing up and down in front of his sister who sat on some random sidewalk on the reservation as she hugged her knees to her chest and stared blankly at the road.
After Sabrina had undertaken the nerve-wracking task of driving Jacob's car back home — so it wouldn't get stolen because it was just sitting there unoccupied in Port Angeles overnight — she had wandered away from Jacob's house on foot, just aimlessly roaming the streets of La Push until she got tired and had to sit down.
At that point, Benny had rushed over in a panicked frenzy, hoping and praying that his sister's terrible driving hadn't caused both her and Jacob to meet their untimely demises. Instead, he found his sister sitting alone in the dark on the concrete, her face blank but a whirlwind of pain just raging in her eyes.
A part of Benny would always look at her like she was that tiny, clingy little eight year old that needed his protection. So, when she looked up at him with her wide, innocent doe eyes all red and watery with tears, filled with a type of agony that he hadn't seen in her in a very long time — the agony caused by lost loves and abrupt abandonment — Benny lost it.
"HOW DARE HE? I MEAN WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS?!" He screamed, "That's it, you know. From now on, it's no more Mr Nice Ghost. FROM NOW ON I'M GONNA BE THE POLTERGEIST IN HIS FUCKING TV!"
"Benny!" Sabrina cried tiredly, her eyes permanently stinging with tears that her body didn't seem to be able to shed, "Stop!" She begged, "Just... stop. You don't have to do that."
"Oh, no, I do," he said, nodding vigorously as he stood with his hands on his hips just like their Uncle Charlie (full dad-mode activated), "I definitely definitely do. In fact, I want to. Yeah. I really really want to. You know, for my own piece of mind."
Sabrina gave him a small, humourless chuckle but even with the tiny smile on her face, Benny didn't miss how forced it looked or how she tried to hide her tiny sniffle. He wished he could help her but he just didn't know what to do that would make it better. Sure, Sabrina had been sad before but this was different.
"Sabrin—"
"Hey, kid!"
Benny was interrupted by the harsh, firm call of a woman's voice scolding his sister. Sabrina jumped to her feet, startled by the sound and turned towards its source, eyes frantically searching around for a threat before landing on a woman.
The first thing Sabrina noticed was how tall the stranger was; she towered over Sabrina almost as much as Jacob did and had long, sleek black hair that hung right down by her hips. Her smooth copper skin was clear and as bold in colour as her striking dark eyes that seemed to permanently glow with anger.
"The hell are you doing out here so late? The park closed hours ago, it's not safe to be out here alone," the woman warned with a seemingly permanent scowl resting on her face.
Sabrina blinked, the sudden rush of adrenaline draining from her system and leaving her hands shaking.
"I was just... brooding...?" Sabrina answered, though it sounded more like a question.
Well, it wasn't exactly a lie...
The woman raised her brow as she slowly approached Sabrina and the younger girl couldn't help but blush with embarrassment as she internally acknowledged how impossibly beautiful the woman was — beautiful in a scary yet exotic way.
"I know you," the woman said plainly as she looked at Sabrina with a vague sense of familiarity and narrowed her eyes, "Yeah, you're Chief Swan's kid. Uh... Sophia or something?"
Sabrina frowned and her shoulders sagged.
"It's Sabrina actually," she dejectedly tried to correct.
"Yeah, whatever," the woman brushed her off, uninterested but seemingly more relaxed, "I'm Leah. You probably know my dad."
Sabrina's face lit up with recognition.
"You're Harry's daughter!" she exclaimed, rushing up to Leah and pulling her in for a hug.
Leah was so caught of guard that she didn't have time to react as the younger girl — that only managed to stand at a height that was probably just below Leah's shoulder — threw her tiny arms around her and squeezed with an impressive strength for her smaller size and stature.
"It's so great to finally meet you!" Sabrina squealed with delight, pulling away.
Leah simply grunted in reply, taking a step away from the girl that was bouncing on the balls of her feet. Sabrina took her wordless response as a 'good to meet you too' and continued to ramble on excitedly about what great things Leah's dad, Harry, had told her about his daughter.
"But, wait, what are you doing out here so late?" she asked finally, her fast-paced talking ceasing as she waited for an answer.
Leah's eyes were widened with horror. How did this girl have so much energy, it was literally almost midnight?
"Brooding," she shot back at the girl, giving her a look that was clearly telling Sabrina to mind her own business.
Sabrina, being Sabrina, did not exactly pick up on that little social cue and instead proceeded to do what might be considered to be intrusive.
"Is your reason also boy trouble?" Sabrina questioned, plopping down on a near by bench.
Leah sighed tiredly, not wanting to sit down and keep talking to girl but also not willing to leave Sabrina alone at this late hour in case something happened to her. Stupid moral compasses. So, Leah Clearwater reluctantly sat down on the opposite end of the bench to Sabrina, leisurely leaning back into the seat and draping an arm over the back of the backrest.
"Something like that," she grumbled, reaching into her jacket and pulling out a flask.
Benny snorted in amusement as Leah unscrewed the cap on the flask and took a really long sip of its contents. Yup, sometimes even he wished he could do that before having a conversation with his little sister.
Sabrina's brows furrowed curiously as she watched Leah drink from the flask.
"Is that tea?" She innocently asked, "'Cause a cup of green tea always makes me feel better."
Leah smirked.
"It's more like a... Long Island Iced Tea," she joked.
Sabrina clearly didn't understand that joke but Benny laughed, already taking a liking to Leah. The younger girl simply nodded thoughtfully.
"I've never tried that one before," Sabrina commented, genuinely believing that it was just another type of tea, "Is it anything like green tea?"
"No, it's not actually—" Leah tried to begin to explain that it wasn't actually tea but decided to save her energy upon seeing the clueless, naive expression on Sabrina's face, "Yeah, it's like green tea," she deadpanned.
Sabrina nodded and Leah shook her head fondly. This girl reminded her a lot of her younger brother, Seth — both of them having such happy personalities and sunny dispositions that were accompanied by their youthful, endearing naivety.
A beat of silence went by and Leah watched the brightness in Sabrina's eyes dull a little as she shrunk back into her seat.
"I don't think even green tea could fix this," Leah heard the girl mutter to herself.
Now curious, Leah sat up a bit straighter but did not lose her nonchalant, seemingly disinterested demeanour. Looking back, it's almost laughable how ironically similar their current situations were.
"Why? Who happened to you?" Leah asked her, trying to sound like she didn't really care when, in fact, she did not enjoy how dejected and downtrodden the once perky girl now looked.
Sabrina brought her legs up onto the bench and hugged her knees to her chest. She stared at the ground in front of her, trying her hardest not to cry, and sighed.
"The boy I like is in love with my cousin," she answered simply.
Leah's eyebrows hiked up her forehead in surprise. Well, she could certainly understand what that situation was like.
"Yeah," Leah snickered bitterly, "Been there," she remarked, taking another big swig from her flask.
Sabrina looked up hopefully.
"Really?"
"Oh, yeah. And it sucks."
Sabrina placed her feet back on the ground and sat forward in her seat, eager to ask Leah for her advice.
"How did you get over it?" Sabrina asked her, "Does anything ever help make it any better."
Leah could see her own despair and pain reflected in Sabrina's eyes. She could see the desperation and the yearning that thrummed inside of her as she both longed to be with the person she loved and longed to be rid of them and all the feelings they had brought upon her. Oh, yes, Leah knew exactly how she felt. She, herself, still felt that same way every day and she greatly pitied Sabrina for having to go through that kind of pain. She wouldn't wish this fate on anybody, let alone such a sweet, sensitive young soul like Sabrina.
Leah glanced down and swallowed the lump forming in her throat.
"Here, kid," she held her flask out to Sabrina with a knowing look — she was definitely going to need this, "Have some tea."
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Sabrina didn't exactly remember what happened after that — most of the events that followed the moment she had accidentally downed the entirety of the contents of Leah Clearwater's flask now being but a distant memory turned foggy by the presence of alcohol (or "tea" as they had put it) buzzing in her system — but what she was met with when she woke up the next day was a complete shock to her.
Sabrina groaned as she came to, the bright sunlight that streamed through the window hurting her eyes as she forced them open — even though it felt like the inside of her eyelids were scraping against her eyes in process. Slowly, she started to become more and more aware of herself and her surroundings.
She was on the floor, laying faced down with her face squished against the carpet below her — the carpet whose pattern was now imprinted into the skin of her cheek. The loud, rumbling of a chainsaw suddenly registered in her brain but her ears were seemingly already accustomed to the disturbing sound as though it was just white noise to her.
Wait, no. It wasn't a chainsaw. It was two chainsaws. No...? Wait. Was that... snoring?
Sabrina rolled over onto her back and winced as she tried to push herself up into a sitting position. She rubbed her eyes, blinking in an effort to get the world around her to refocus so she could assess her surroundings. The room she found herself in could've been partially familiar to Sabrina but perhaps due the strange floor angle through which she was viewing everything from, Quil Ateara's bedroom looked a little different than she remembered.
When did they get to Quil's? Hell, when did they even leave the park? Where was Leah?
"And you know what the worst part is?" Leah managed to get out between Sabrina's fits of laughter as she, herself, swayed in her seat, "He's engaged to her now!"
The pair let out another burst of raucous laughter.
"That's terrible!" Sabrina cried, gasping for breath as her words slurred together, "That Yam Suley guy is such a dick!"
Leah burst into a fit of laughter, finding it absolutely hilarious when Sabrina tried to cuss. It was the kind of funny like when little kids used to swear words; out of place and typically unacceptable but still unintentionally hilarious.
"It's Sam Uley, Brina," Leah corrected, pushing Sabrina upright as she flopped around and leaning the younger girl against herself for support as her head lolled to the side sadly and she pouted like a puppy, "And he was a dick," Leah agreed, a small nostalgic smile tugging at her lips, "But I loved him."
Sabrina's heart ached for her new friend. Leah was a little rough around the edges but it was so obviously all just a front she put up to hide the fact that she actually cared about so many things far more deeply and vastly than probably anyone else.
"Love is such a bitch," Leah declared, sitting up after a beat of silence and another swig of the other flask that she had hidden in her jacket, "Unrequited love sucks ass!"
The buzz of the alcohol was thankfully still there but Sabrina could feel herself sobering up the slightest bit as images of the boy with the gorgeous long hair and most dazzling smile on the planet flashed through her mind; the boy that held her heart.
"Yeah!" Sabrina eagerly agreed, straightening her posture and scrunching her face, "What is even the point of loving someone who doesn't love you back?! It's just... poppycock!"
Sabrina huffed and slouched back down against the backrest of the bench they occupied. Leah noticed the look in Sabrina's eyes as she stared at the campfire, flames dancing dangerously in the reflections of her brilliant sea green eyes.
"Okay... you know my story. Now, it's your turn," Leah stated, turning to Sabrina and offering her the flask.
Sabrina took it gladly, eager for some more of Leah's magic tea, hoping that it's alleged ability to make her forget about her feelings was real. Leah waited patiently as the younger girl so desperately downed the last sip of alcohol with a disgusted wince.
"So... What's your damage, Swan?"
Sabrina blinked back the hazy memory that began to resurface as it made her head ache and her stomach churn. Taking a deep breath, she returned her attention to her surroundings.
It was your typical teenage boy's messy room — scattered clothes littered the floor, stacks of crumpled papers and textbooks stood piled on the desk beside a tangle of cables and gadgets, posters were haphazardly taped to the walls, half-empty snack wrappers were scattered about and the faint aroma of sweat and Doritos lingered in the air. Yup, this was definitely Quil Ateara's room but there were a few slight changes.
For one, the bed was on the complete opposite end of the room and was probably the neatest thing in there with its artfully placed pillows and sheets. The next change was the presence of another girl in the room. Leah Clearwater lay draped across the tiny beanbag couch-chair in the corner of the room with her limbs splayed out and hanging over the edges of the couch as she snored away. The loud, drilling sound of her snores entangled with those of Quil's — who was still sound asleep, nestled comfortably in the makeshift bed situated in the open bottom drawer of his large dresser that was now pushed from its usual spot against the wall to the middle of the room.
But the most significant change to the room was the wall where his dresser and bed used to be. With the space by the wall having been cleared out, room was made for a large old Star Wars sheet to be spread out on the floor. Atop the sheet lay messy brushes and rollers and many empty cans of paint. And where once the wall had been left plain and blank, now it was decorated with a large, eye-catching mural.
The mural depicted a majestic wolf in mid-stride, its chocolate-brown coat rippling with movement as it raced through a dense forest with a happy child perched atop its back, looking to be caught mid-laugh as she clung to its fur. The wolf's gaze was fixed forward, an intense yet playful glimmer in its eyes. Surrounding the creature and its companion was what was clearly the Olympic National Forest. The forest appeared to come alive with vibrant hues of green, brown and gold with splashes of sunlight filtering through the canopy above. Tall trees looked to sway in the background, their branches reaching out as if to cover and protect the wolf on its fleeting journey.
Sabrina gaped, glancing frantically between the mural and her paint-covered hands. Did she do that? A work like that with all that detail and colour should've taken days. There was no way she could've painted that and definitely not in one night. What the hell happened last night?
"What's your damage, Swan?" Leah asked.
Sabrina sighed, a type of melancholy glittering in her blue-green orbs that no one her age should ever be capable of possessing. Oh, where to start.
"How much time ya got?" she joked, her blurring words now thickly coated with her usually hidden southern accent.
"Come on, just tell me!" Leah insisted, punching Sabrina's arm in a way that was supposed to be light and playful but was just painful in the end.
Sabrina sat up to swat Leah's hand away and scold the older girl.
"I was gettin' there!"
Sabrina sighed and ungracefully lopped back against the seat.
"In summary: I'm in love with my best friend who's in love with my cousin," she listed, "the only other people who ever truly understood me just up and left me... oh and I can see the ghost of my dea— Ow!"
If it wasn't already apparent, Sabrina was a bit of a clumsy, talkative drunk — and a total lightweight might I add. She may not have been entirely aware of what she was saying but, thankfully, Benny was and the boy swooped in and stopped Sabrina from saying anything she shouldn't be saying just in time. He slapped his sister's arm and by some stroke of luck, Leah didn't see his hand materialise just to smack his sister.
"What the heck was that for?!" Sabrina raged at what looked to Leah as simply the empty air next to her as she rubbed her arm.
Leah gave her a strange look.
"What?" she asked confused.
Sabrina froze, eyes wide and darting to the side for a second as she tried to come up with an excuse.
"Uh... the ground," she lied, unsure if Leah was going to buy this, "It... bit me."
Leah narrowed her eyes suspiciously and reached forward to remove the flask from Sabrina's grip.
"And... that's enough tea for you," she mumbled.
Sabrina pouted but let her take the flask from her relaxed grip.
"I guess we are kinda in the same boat," Leah mused.
Sabrina chuckled.
"Yeah... a sinkin' one," she sighed and slouched with her arms crossed over her chest, "Quil would also understand, y'know. His best friend abandoned him too."
Sabrina perked up as an idea popped into her head, shooting up to her feet so fast her head spun and she stumbled slightly.
"We should call Quil!"
Ohhhhh. That's how they got there. Still didn't explain the entire work of art Sabrina had created.
"Tell me my future, oh great and powerful Sabrini!" Quil drunkenly begged, somehow having jumped on Leah and Sabrina's little 'lonely hearts club' band wagon after fetching them with the intention of getting them safely home and to bed. As it would turn out, he, too, was a bit of a lightweight like Sabrina and extremely susceptible to a little mild, usually harmless, peer pressure.
Sabrina giggled and pressed her fingers to her temple like one of those fortune tellers you'd find at fairs and carnivals.
"Your future is bright and your heart shall be full," she dramatically declared in a low, exaggerated voice, not even really thinking about that she was saying, "You shall stand tall and strong and protect these lands just as your forefathers before you."
"Whoaaa!" Quil exclaimed in awe, mouth hanging open as he sat cross-legged on the floor of his room, in front of where Sabrina stood.
Leah snorted derisively from where she casually sat upside down on the beanbag couch.
"Yeah right," she quipped, "He can't even even hold his tea."
"Wha- ugh- bff- I- CAN TOO HOLD MY TEA!" Quil bumbled insistently, "I was just dizzy..." he defended sheepishly, remembering how he almost threw up.
"Yeah, Leah, he can too!" Sabrina added, backing him up.
Leah blew a raspberry at the pair and continued to flip through whatever comic book she'd found on Quil's desk.
"Besides, you're not really psychic, B," Leah said, having taken. to calling her by the same nickname her brother used. She and Benny were certainly proving to be rather similar in character.
Sabrina huffed, nostrils flaring as she crossed her arms across her chest and stomped her foot like a toddler.
"I can too," she stated firmly.
Sabrina grinned devilishly as she remembered how she'd secretly stashed a whole lot of art supplies under Quil's bed months ago. Perhaps she could, in a way, show them what she'd seen.
"Here, I'll prove it!"
Oh.
"Quil! I'm home!" The muffled sound of Quil's mom calling to him from downstairs in a sing-song voice snapped Sabrina out of her daze, "We're leaving for Grandpa's in an hour!"
Sabrina's eyes widened with panic as she looked from the door — where the sound of Quil's mom's rapidly approaching footsteps grew louder and louder — to the hungover teenagers that still snored away, blissfully ignorant.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Quil's mom loudly rapped her knuckles against his bedroom door as she walked past on the way to her own room. Quil and Leah jumped, the sound startling them out of their sleep.
"Up and at 'em, baby!"
"Mommy!" Quil yelped, shooting up into a sitting position and accidentally knocking his forehead on one of the top drawers.
"Ow!" He cried out in pain, clutching his face.
"Oh my god, where the hell am I?" Leah grumbled, her voice made deep and husky from sleep, hair wildly disheveled and eyes wide with alarm as she took in her surroundings.
"No no no. If my mom sees this she'll kill me!" Quil panicked as he took not of the new painting on his wall and the mess they'd made of his room — not to mention the slight stench of alcohol on all three of them, "How did you even do that?!"
"Not a clue and no time to figure it out," Sabrina said, helping Quil out of his makeshift bed before moving over to pull Leah onto her feet, "Is there a back door?" she asked Quil as Benny watched the chaos unfold from the corner of the room with a smug, amused smirk.
"Oh, shut up, Benny," she threw at him under her breath as Quil nodded and ushered the girls towards his bedroom door — the dead boy merely cackled at her.
"Who?" Quil asked.
"Nothing," she waved him off.
"Quil? Honey, are you up?" Quil's mom asked loudly from the other side of the locked door so her son could hear her, knocking once more before twisting the doorknob.
The trio froze, unsure of what to do now. They looked around frantically, trying to find a way out.
"Uh... yeah, mom! I'm up!" Quil quickly yelled back.
"Why is your door locked?" His mom shouted with confusion, still trying to open the door.
"Tell her you just wanted privacy or something," Leah suggested in a hushed tone.
"Or that you're changing," Sabrina added with a nod.
"Because I..." Quil stuttered, not sure which excuse to use, "I'm... naked," He replied, coming up with an excuse off the top of his head.
Sabrina and Leah paused, giving each other confused and slightly disgusted looks.
"Ew! Why'd you say that, Ateara?" Leah cringed.
"I couldn't say you were naked, my mom doesn't even allow me to have girls in my room," he answered as though it was a perfect explanation.
"Why does anybody have to be naked?!" Sabrina whisper-yelled incredulously.
"What?" Quil's mom called in confusion, "Quil, what's going on? You don't sound right."
"Uh, no no! I'm fine, mom! Just give me a minute!"
"Shit, what are we gonna do?" Leah cursed, raking a hand through her hair.
"The window!" Quil suggested, pointing towards the window as his eyes lit up with an idea, "You guys can go out the window."
"What?! Are you crazy?!" Leah exclaimed, "You're on the second floor!"
"What other choice do we have?" Sabrina asked with shrug.
With a reluctant sigh, Leah gave in. They rushed over to the window, Quil yanking it open. Carefully — but still as fast as possible — Sabrina and Leah climbed out the window and stealthily hopped onto the roof. Well, Leah stealthily hopped onto the roof. Sabrina actually tumbled out the window and crashed onto the roof, making quite the racket in the process.
"Shit!" Quil swore as Sabrina hissed in pain and Leah helped her up.
"QUIL, WHAT WAS THAT NOISE?" Quil's mom questioned with concern.
"NOTHING, MOM! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" Quil screamed, stressed out and not handling it well.
"Don't talk to your mother like that!" Sabrina scolded him.
"Whose sid— Ugh, never mind. Just go!" Quil yelled, fed up and not willing to waste time bickering.
"What are we stopping for a chat?" Leah commented sarcastically, "Why don't we just throw a tea party while we're at it?"
"Ohhh, I love tea parties!" Sabrina replied ecstatically, getting side tracked.
Leah glared and gritted herb teeth, not in the mood for Sabrina's strange, yet endearing, antics.
"No tea parties until we get off this damn roof, Swan," she growled grumpily.
With an eye roll, Sabrina followed Leah as they crept across the roof of the Ateara's house and swiftly climbed down the nearest tree — the tree which Sabrina instantly fell out of and landed on top of Leah with a loud, painful thud.
"How is it that someone so small and cheery can have the grace and coordination of a depressed elephant!" Leah moaned in pain and she pushed Sabrina off of her.
Sabrina huffed, blowing a lock of hair out of her face.
"I thought we weren't stopping for chats and tea parties?" She mocked sassily.
Leah pushed herself to her feet and together, she and Sabrina escaped into the tree line.
Eventually, they made it over to the Clearwater's house on foot since it wasn't too far away from Quil's place. However, it did take some more extra effort for them to scale the side of Leah's house and haul themselves through her bedroom window.
Well, this was certainly going to be one hell of a story to tell one day.
Sabrina glanced over at Leah as the older girl moved to shut her bedroom door and lock it. Sabrina was sweaty, out of breath and possibly had one hell of a hangover. And she definitely looked like it when Leah turned back to her to find the smaller girl standing with her fists clenched and her face as red as a ripe tomato. Much to her amusement, frustrated Sabrina reminded her of an angry baby deer.
Sabrina huffed, stomped her foot and aggressively pushed her hair out of her face where it clung to her sweaty skin.
"I am never taking tea from you again!"
A/N:
Not going to lie, Sabrina reminded me of Sheldon Cooper in this chapter and Leah and Quil reminded me of Rosa Diaz and Jake Peralta. Sabrina, Leah and Quil: the trio you never asked for but didn't know you needed. Hope you all enjoyed:)