JADA
"Is everything packed?" Dante peered his head around the trunk of the large van and sent Julian a thumbs up. His bright smile was even brighter today, it almost matched the sun that was finally out.
I'd spent two weeks in Hawaii, and it had rained every single day. This morning I had prepared for the regular sunken Saturday, but was woken up by the bright rays of the sun through my open curtains. I could almost taste the utter joy that circulated around the pack house. They all greatly appreciated the rare hot days, that much was obvious.
When I say hot, I mean hot. The weather was usually relatively warm, around 77 degrees give or take. Today, I'd taken one glance at the weather app on my phone, and almost shrieked in excitement. 95 degrees, and it wasn't even ten in the morning yet.
Julian had slept in my room the night before, and while we were getting dressed in all the summer clothes I'd brought, loud, consecutive knocks sounded from my door. Julian opened it curiously, only to be met by the familiar Italian man with his award winning smile. "A few of us are going to the beach today, you in?"
Julian had turned to me, I'd nodded, and we had packed immediately. An entire group of people were going together, but I noticed families and groups of friends were all packing their own cars as well. Everyone was ready to take advantage of the beach, and I couldn't blame them.
Dante had volunteered to drive, and that led Cassandra to sit in the passenger seat. She was wearing a floral sundress, but it clung to her slightly, and I could see the fast growing bump. She was -not including the day she spoke to me in the kitchen- always beaming. I'd found out they'd been trying for years to start a family, and despite her dislike for me, I found myself happy for them.
We all climbed into the large vehicle. Although the van itself was big, there were not enough seats for all of us, so Isaac, with his constant enthusiasm, quickly offered to sit on the floor. I was sitting in the chair behind Dante, Julian was in the chair beside me, and Isaac was sitting against the center console between Dante and Cassandra's seats, looking back on us.
Isabelle was sitting behind Julian's seat, Elena was in the middle, and her boyfriend, John, was on her other side. He was a vampire, but he was equally as excited about the sun as everyone else in the car. He wasn't the best at showing it, perhaps even worse than Julian, but his lips rested in a tiny smile, and that was enough for me.
Dante and Julian had grown rather close over the past week and a half, though it was hard not to like Dante. He was a big man, and from a glance looked brooding, but he was almost the most optimistic person in the vehicle, not including my new found friend, Isaac.
I tried not to become attached to him, it was the rules, but it was impossible to dislike him. I'd run into him in the game room playing pool by himself after the run in with Isabelle in the kitchen, and he'd grown on me faster than I'd ever care to admit.
Dante started up the car and Isaac cheered. The sun made his black coffee eyes sparkle, and they always twinkled in the natural light without flaw. His hair blew up slightly with every jerk of the van, and I found myself grinning at him.
He tilted his head at me curiously. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
I leaned forward and ruffled his hair. "You're just too cute."
His cheeks flushed scarlet and I cooed at him teasingly, to which he flicked my hand off his head and stuck his tongue out at me. "Whatever, loser!"
The drive down to the beach was quick. It only took ten minutes to drive along the mountain top along the coast and then down towards the shore. When we arrived at the parking lot, there were a handful of cars already parked, and an array of people all along the beach. I noticed the majority of the people in the water were from Isabelle's pack, but there were a few humans a bit farther away as well.
All eight of us clambered out of the van and walked around to the trunk. I grabbed my bag and Julian's before handing it to him. The entire group began to walk towards the water. When we reached the end of the parking lot I took my flip flops off and held them in my free hand, loving the feel of sand beneath my feet.
"It's so warm," I sighed adoringly.
Isaac, who was practically skipping alongside us, whipped his head around to face me and nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, yeah! We don't get sun a lot, but when we do, it's hot!"
We reached a good, empty spot on the sand and spread our towels out side by side. Julian was on the end, then Dante, who was situated beside Cassandra. Isabelle was to the left of her best friend, and my towel was beside hers. Isaac had insisted he wanted to sit beside me, and Elena and John were on the left side of him.
I placed my bag at the head of my towel and shimmied out of my shorts and floral tank top. Before I could throw my hair into a ponytail, Julian had rushed forward and scooped me up over his shoulder before bolting towards the water.
I screamed loudly, and Isabelle was standing up in seconds; alert. When her soft gaze landed on Julian and I, she surprised me by laughing. All six of them watched the scene humorously.
"Julian!" I screamed, thrashing in a weak attempt to make him drop me. His shoulder was digging into my stomach and I was hanging so low the top of my head reached the top of his butt.
His feet entered the water and his hands tightened around my waist, getting ready to throw me in. In my final seconds, I threw my arms towards his butt and pulled his swim trunks down. He let out a yelp and threw us both into the water.
The water was freezing, and I understood why few humans were actually in the ocean. I pulled my head up from the grips of the waves and saw that Julian had also had his head above water. He was laughing hysterically, as were the rest of the group.
John was lying on his towel with Elena resting between his legs. They were both watching us, and when Elena noticed my eyes on them, she smiled and waved brightly. I waved back, but John had kissed her forehead and she'd moved her gaze to stare up at him instead.
Cassandra was in her one piece, lying on her back, tanning. Dante had taken off his shirt and was headed our way. Isaac had already reached the water, grinning so widely I was worried his face would stay like that.
And Isabelle, she had taken off her romper and was standing in all her half naked glory near her towel. She was tanned already, and unlike the scene in her bedroom over a week ago when she'd been naked and pressed up against me, I took a minute to run my eyes up her figure.
She was tall and tanned and toned. Her legs held the right amount of muscle and went on for miles, her stomach was long and flat, and the outline of muscle along her torso had me struggling to keep from gaping. She was looking at Cassandra, who seemed to be talking to her, and I watched her blonde waves sway with every gust of wind. She laughed and then began to walk in our direction.
In an attempt to distract myself from the beautiful woman walking towards us, I turned to Julian. "Now my hair is wet, you tool."
"You love it when I make you wet," he winked in response.
Isaac let out an abrupt giggle and Dante snorted. The Italian man, unlike the slim boy beside him, was huge and darker than anyone in the group. To say he was ripped would have been an understatement, and yet on him, it didn't look like too much.
Of course, my sighting of Dante didn't last long as Isabelle finally reached the group of us in the water. She was holding a volleyball lightly in her left hand, and she lifted it up, "Anyone in for a game?"
There was a volleyball net about a hundred metres away from where we were situated, so it only took a minute for us to get there. Cassandra, Elena, and John decided to play, which successfully split us into two teams of four.
We decided it was boys against girls, so Isabelle, Cassandra, Elena, and I were on one side and Julian, Dante, John, and Isaac were on the other. Dante, Julian, and John were mumbling to each other while Isaac was poking his fingers through the net, oblivious to his group's talking behind him. It was that or he couldn't care less what their game plan was.
"Izzy, you take center. Jada-" three pairs of eyes turned to stare at me. "-how good are you at volleyball?"
Before I could respond, Isabelle, who was across our huddle from me, broke out, "Jada and I will take front, Cass will be the outsider, and you can be the setter. Does that work?"
Elena nodded at her sister and skipped to the left corner with the ball in her hands. She looked as optimistic as always, with her blonde hair in a high ponytail, and a wide smile spread across her face. She blew a kiss to John, who'd broken out of his huddle, and he gave her a soft smile in return.
"You ready?" Isabelle called to the boys. They all yelled out affirmative responses and Elena got into position and sent the ball flying across the net. Dante hit it back over, and Isabelle didn't even blink before she jumped closer and bounced it back.
When the ball began to fall near Isaac, he let out a yell and smacked it with his palm. It hit the metal pole on the side of the net, and bounced back to hit him square in the face. The hit wasn't too hard, but he fell back and landed on his back on the sand. He was staring up at the sky, slightly dazed, when we reached him.
I could feel Isabelle's warmth as she brushed against me and helped him up. She looked amused, and didn't miss her opportunity to tease him as she asked, "Do you not pay attention at all in training?"
His face flushed and he brushed the sand off his abdomen swiftly. "It's not the same thing! Balls and I don't mix."
Isabelle's eyes found mine and she chuckled, "Me too, Isaac, me too."
This caused Julian to snort and then slap a hand over his mouth to stop the laugh from escaping. I looked over at him and he sent me a, 'She's funny?' look. I shook my head and laughed, though I agreed with him. Seeing Isabelle so carefree was something I never wanted to take for granted.
"I think I've had enough with balls for today," Isaac admitted with a childish pout. I laughed and nudged him with my shoulder, to which he grinned at me.
"There's an ice cream shop over there," Dante said, pointing in the direction of an open bar like setting. I could see someone behind the bar, but no one was there. Everyone seemed to agree, because we ran back to our towels to put the volleyball away and grab some money.
Isaac was the first one to jump up and make his way over to the ice cream place. Despite almost being nineteen, he was the most childish teenager I'd ever met. Dante and Julian were talking to each other, not too far from Isaac, and Dante threw his head back and laughed at something Julian said.
I was glad Julian had a male friend to speak with about things, and especially glad he had finally let someone other than me in. It wasn't that I was tired of him, of course not, but I knew he must have missed male company, or having a few more friends like we had in school.
In front of me, Cassandra and Isabelle were talking amongst themselves. I watched the scene curiously before Elena left John's side from behind me and caught up to my pace.
I turned my head slightly to look at her, but she was watching her sister fondly. "Don't string her along anymore, Jada." She flashed me a small smile. "I know it must be pretty difficult for you too, and I can't really understand how you feel because I'm not a Hunter. You can't tell, but she's hurting right now. I don't know what your plans are, but cut her some slack. She's my big sister."
I didn't have anything to say to that, and luckily she didn't push for a response, just bumped her shoulder against mine gently. "I know we think differently and I know werewolves spend their whole life believing mates are the most important thing. I'm guilty of it myself. But I know how it must seem to you, John was the same way. Vampires are solitary creatures, or most of them, anyways. They see their soul mates as companions, equals, but we see each other more as fate and other deep, werewolf stuff. I know he loves me as much as I love him, he just doesn't hold the same values. And that's okay."
"Can you guys..." I grimaced, attempting to ask without sounding too crude.
Elena seemed to understand what I was trying to say, because she nodded and sent me one of her infamous bright smiles. "We can, and we've talked about it, but he was twenty three when he turned, and I'm not even eighteen. Werewolves age but vampires don't, it was the biggest hardship in our relationship at the beginning."
"And you plan to turn?" I asked.
She nodded, but her eyes flickered to Isabelle. I thought I saw grief build up in her eyes before it faded. "Yes, I will. There are very few stories of hybrids, when I turn, I will no longer be a werewolf as John will give me enough venom to abolish my wolf, and so our child will be pureblood."
"I can only imagine it was a hard decision, it would be like killing off a part of yourself," I noted cautiously.
"It would, but even if I spend forever with him, it won't be long enough."
She squeezed my hand and slowed down so she could fall back into step with her boyfriend, who I knew had heard our entire conversation. He saw me staring and sent me a polite nod, to which I responded with one of my own before turning my head once again.
Isaac had just paid for his ice cream and he was being handed a giant cone of chocolate ice cream. Dante had broken apart from Julian to order with Cassandra, and oddly enough, Julian and Isaac were speaking to each other. They'd been polite, but I found they put effort into avoiding direct contact with one another. I could have imagined it, though.
Their heads were ducked together and I watched the interaction curiously. Julian's lips curved upwards slightly. Not in a smile, but a small, confident smirk. Isaac ducked his head down in embarrassment at something Julian had said, and my best friend threw his head back, laughing.
"Isaac has never made a close friend before, at least not in the pack."
I turned my head to see Isabelle, standing about half a foot away from me. "He joined my pack when he was eleven, and I've never seen him get along with anyone as much as he does with you," she watched the two of them before adding, "and now Julian."
"He's a good guy," I said.
Dante and Cassandra had both ordered their ice creams and were seated beside each other. John was paying for his and Elena's ice cream, and Julian was holding a cone of his own, one I didn't even notice he'd gotten. Isabelle didn't respond to my comment, but she did speak again.
"What flavour would you like?"
"Oh, no, it's okay," I immediately said, "I can buy my own ice cream."
Isabelle had contacts in, I suppose to not scare the humans, but they were still very green. She kept her eyes locked on mine when she smiled gently at me, and for some reason, her expression was so raw that I ripped my eyes away. "It's on me," she said, no longer staring.
"Well, I suppose," I grumbled, "but I'll pay you back."
She laughed easily, and the sound felt like a breath of fresh air. "You don't have to pay me back, Jada, it's just ice cream."
She ordered her own ice cream and turned to me, to which I ordered my own. When she paid, I thanked her profusely, but she just smiled, soft as ever, and told me it wasn't a problem.
All eight of us hung around the ice cream place until we had all finished. Glancing around the group, I felt a strange sense of belonging, but also a deep dread. With each day, Julian and I grew more fond of the people we've grown to know quite well. And with each day, we put ourselves more at risk. And yet, sitting at a picnic table surrounded by these seven joyous people, I felt myself wondering if I'd be willing to give everything up, just to stay.