"SO YOU'RE BACK TOGETHER?" Gwen asked, pulling into a parking spot next to their favorite fro-yo shop. "Just like that?"
Lydia bit her lip. "Not 'just like that,'" she defended. "It's not going to be like it was before, not right away, but I want to give him another chance." She looked at her best friend as the two got out of Gwen's car. "Are you disappointed in me?"
Gwen scoffed in amusement. "I'm not disappointed, Lydia," she said as the two walked to the shop. "I'm just a little worried. He broke your heart," she murmured, looking at Lydia with eyes full of concern. "I just don't want you to give him a second chance and he ends up hurting you again."
"He won't," Lydia said quietly.
Gwen didn't look convinced, but she gave Lydia a soft smile. "If you're sure, then I'm happy for you," she said. "I was really worried about you after he left, and then you started feeling okay without him. I just... I never want to see you get hurt like that again."
Lydia gave her friend a smile, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as they got in line behind a middle-aged couple. "You don't have to worry about me, Gwen," she said softly.
"Of course I do," Gwen said. "You're my best friend."
As Lydia and Gwen sat down with their five cups of fro-yo, Gwen checked her phone. That familiar lovesick smile on her face told Lydia exactly whose text she was reading.
"They just parked," Gwen told Lydia with an involuntary smile, setting her phone down. A few moments later, three teenage shape-shifters waltzed into the fro-yo shop and Gwen waved them over.
"Hey, River Phoenix," Embry greeted, taking the strawberry-flavored fro-yo she slid his way with a grin. "Oh yell yeah, you got those little chocolate chips!"
Lydia chuckled in amusement. "Because if I knew if I forgot you'd start whining about it," she teased. She looked over at her best friend, who was smiling sweetly at Leah from across the table. Stifling a laugh, Lydia greeted, "Hey, Leah."
Blinking in surprise, Leah's gaze when to Lydia. "Oh, hey Lydia."
Lydia fought not to laugh, leaving her best friend and her shape-shifter imprint to talk quietly as she returned her attention to Seth and Embry. "So, anything interesting happen at school today?"
Embry scoffed. "There's barely a hundred people at our high school, of course nothing interesting happened."
"I had a pop quiz in geography," Seth mumbled dejectedly. "I think I failed."
"Should have studied," Leah said, breaking the dopey staring contest she had going on with Gwen to scold her little brother.
"What was it on?" Gwen asked curiously. "I'm good at geography."
"We had to label all the countries in Western Europe on a map," Seth said. "I only knew ten before my mind went blank. And I don't even know if I spelled those right."
"I can tutor you, if you'd like," Gwen offered.
Lydia almost laughed at how in-awe Leah looked at the sight of her imprint offering to help her little brother out. She caught Leah's eye and mouthed, Whipped, which made the shifter girl shake her head with the smallest of amused smiles.
The group of five spent about an hour at the shop, swapping stories from their days at school or whatever came to mind. Lydia enjoyed their company—as much as she still liked the Cullens and hanging out with them, she also loved hanging out with Embry, Seth, and Leah just as much, as well as the rest of the pack. She wondered if it had something to do with the fact that they were teenagers like her, rather than teenagers who'd been teenagers for an outrageously long time. There was a lightness to Embry and Seth's attitudes, and Leah's when she wasn't unconsciously brooding about one thing or another. They weren't so old that they'd seen so much cruelty or injustice in the world, like the Cullens. Things didn't feel so life and death around the pack, even if they were just as capable of violence as the Cullens in theory.
She was glad she'd found them. It was nice to have friends that weren't Gwen and the Cullens.
"Hey, River Phoenix," Embry said, lightly kicking her foot underneath the table. "What's got you thinking so hard?"
"Life," she answered, earning an amused snort from Embry.
"Don't think too hard about it," he teased. "You might blow a fuse."
Lydia kicked him n the shin, earning a pout from him. Her phone buzzed in her pocket with a text message. She took it out and read it quickly.
Jasper: Bella wants to hold a family meeting tonight. I can pick you up if you'd like to come?
Lydia frowned, wondering what Bella could want to hold a meeting about, and why Lydia was invited. Nevertheless, she texted back an affirmative and got a time from him.
"That Jasper?" Gwen asked, nodding at Lydia's phone.
"Yeah," Lydia said quietly. "Uh, Bella wants to talk to the Cullens and me later."
"What about?" Embry asked curiously, though his brow was pinched together in concern as he spoke.
Lydia shrugged, locking her phone and sliding it back into her pocket. "Guess I'll find out tonight," she said, giving Embry a look that said she'd tell him if it pertained to the pack.
"You and Jasper still talk?" Leah asked, the slightest hint of judgement in her tone. "Didn't he abandon you a few months back?"
Lydia doubted Leah meant much harm by her comment, but it still stung a little.
"Leah!" Gwen scolded.
Embry glared at her. "Not cool."
"Sorry," Leah mumbled, though Lydia could tell it was more for Gwen than Lydia.
"It's fine—not like it's not true," she said quietly. "But we're... we're working things out."
Lydia knew about the tensions between the pack and the Cullens. The fact that the age-old idea of vampires and werewolves being enemies would have been funny if Lydia wasn't friends with both sides. She prayed nothing would ever drive the two species to war.
Seth glanced at Embry, as if trying to gauge his reaction. Embry was already aware of Lydia's mending relationship with Jasper—truth be told, he was the first person she told. He'd only asked her if she was happy, which warmed her heart and put to rest any lingering doubts about whether Embry's feelings for her were truly platonic or not.
"So, the Cullens are back?" Seth asked without a hint of the contempt Lydia would expect from Leah or another member of the pack. He'd only ever voiced curiosity about the Cullens and vampires in general. Seth wasn't the kind of person who could hate another, especially not without even knowing the other person. Lydia just wished some of his kindness would rub off on his pack mates. "For good?"
Lydia nodded. "Yeah," she answered.
"Just be careful," Gwen murmured, giving her best friend a gentle smile. "For me."
"And me," Embry added, stuffing another spoonful of yogurt into his mouth. Gwen rolled her eyes at him fondly.
"Of course," Lydia promised them both.
✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧
When Lydia got home, she spent the time before Jasper would come to pick her up starting on her homework for the weekend. A little before the time Jasper had texted her, she changed out of the sweatpants she'd put on after returning from the fro-yo shop and put her jeans back on. She didn't bother with a jacket, seeing as she couldn't feel the cold anyway. After putting on her sneakers, she went down the stairs, peeking her head into the living room where her mothers were both reading next to each other on the couch. "Hey, I'm gonna go over to the Cullens, if that's okay. I shouldn't be gone too long."
Johanna looked up from her book, her brow furrowing slightly. "The Cullens? You're hanging out with them again?"
Lydia nodded. "Yeah," she murmured.
"Is Jasper back?" Tracy asked, setting her book down in her lap as she looked at her daughter, her face concerned.
Lydia bit her lip lightly. "He's picking me up, actually."
"He is?" Tracy asked in surprise.
"Yeah," Lydia said softly. "We're... I'm giving him a second chance."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Johanna asked her. "After... everything?"
Lydia knew she meant everything from the Cullens leaving to Lydia's newfound status as an immortal phoenix. Her mother's concern was heartwarming. "Jasper's... different. I want to give it another shot," she murmured.
Johanna looked at her for a moment, studying her daughter. "Do you know what you're doing?" she asked softly.
"I think so," Lydia answered. "I never stopped loving him, Mom, even when I was mad at him. I'll never stop loving him—and I'd rather love him up close if I have the choice."
"Okay," Johanna said after a moment. "Just... be careful, baby. I don't want you to get your heart broken again."
"Me neither," Lydia said softly. Her phone buzzed in her pocket with a text from Jasper, letting her know he'd just pulled into her driveway. "That's him. I'll text you when I'm heading home."
She walked out to the sound of her mothers' goodbyes, grabbing her house keys as she walked out of the door. Jasper was standing outside of Emmett's Jeep, watching her with a hesitant smile.
"Hi," he said as she walked toward him.
"Hey," she said softly. She looked at Emmett's Jeep. "No bike?"
"I wasn't sure you'd want to ride it with me," Jasper explained quietly as he opened the passenger-side door for her.
She appreciated his thoughtfulness more than she'd care to admit. When he got into the driver's seat, she said softly, "You should bring it next time."
She didn't miss the way his smile grew just a little.
As he pulled out of her driveway, he frowned at her lack of outerwear. "Aren't you cold?" he asked, reaching for the A/C.
Lydia held out her hand, stopping him from turning the heat on high. "Phoenixes don't really get cold," she murmured. Deciding to take a leap, she slid her hand into his, bringing them to rest on the console between them.
"Your hand's warm," he said. "Vampires can't usually feel body heat."
"Another perk, it seems," she mused quietly. "So what is this meeting about, anyway?"
"Bella's putting her mortality up to a vote," Jasper answered.
Lydia frowned, looking over at him. "She's having us vote about whether or not she becomes a vampire?"
Jasper nodded. "Edward isn't too happy about it."
They spent the rest of the ride in relative silence. It wasn't as calming as it might have been before, but it was comfortable enough. She knew the tension wouldn't last, but for now, she accepted its presence, like a protective balm over her frightened heart.
They were the last to arrive at the house. Bella and the rest of the Cullen family were already assembled in the room they'd hosted Bella's party in just a few months ago. It was almost like poetic irony, in a sense.
"You all know what I want," Bella said, cutting right to the chase as soon as Lydia and Jasper settled in. "And I know how much I'm asking for. The only thing that I can think of for it to be fair is to just vote."
"You don't know what you're—" Edward mumbled dejectedly from behind Bella.
"Shut up," Bella hissed, before returning her attention to the Cullens and Lydia. "Alice?"
The dark-haired girl in question grinned at Bella. "I already consider you my sister." She practically skipped over to Bella, pulling her into a hug.
"I vote yes," Jasper said quietly. "I would be nice to not want to kill you all the time."
Lydia probably shouldn't have been amused by that, but she supposed making jokes was a lot better than brooding—in her book, at least. She didn't care much for grudges or endless misery.
"I'm sorry," Rosalie said softly. "I'm really sorry to both of you, for how I've acted. And I'm really grateful that you were brave enough to go and save my brother. But this isn't a life I would have chosen for myself." Lydia bit the inside of her lip, for the first time truly understanding the mental anguish Rosalie had gone through when she was changed. "I wish there had been someone to vote no for me. So, no."
Before the atmosphere could get too dreary, Emmett spoke up. "I vote hell yeah," he said, picking up Bella in a bear hug and spinning her around. "We can pick a fight with these Volturi some other way."
Lydia fought a grimace. She'd be more than happy to never deal with the Volturi, thank you very much.
"I already consider you apart of the family," Esme told Bella with a smile. "Yes."
Carlisle stepped forward, looking at his adoptive son for a moment. Reading his father's thoughts, Edward murmured, "Why are you doing this to me? You know what this means."
"You've chosen not to live without her, which leaves me no choice," Carlisle said quietly. "I won't lose my son."
After a moment, everyone's eyes went to Lydia. She almost questioned why she got a vote, but as Bella looked at her with hopeful eyes, she knew she was as much apart of the family as Bella.
Lydia planned on sticking around for a long time—forever, actually—so she supposed it made sense that, if the rest of the Cullens got a say, so did she.
Quietly, she asked Bella, "This is really what you want?"
Bella's nod was instant. "It is," she said, her voice sure.
Lydia knew her vote didn't mean anything, really. Even if she said no, that was only three against five. Still, she said, "Then I vote yes."