Potential Chapter 80 for The Puppet Master

Alright, however appropriate or inappropriate this is to the story I had a LOT of fun writing it. So its up to you guys now. Let me know if you think its too raunchy or out of character for the Twilight saga. I'm posting the whole chapter, but in case you're not sure, the iffy part is at the end.

~*~



I walked forward into the sun happily taking in such a delightful scene.
The sun beat down on a dusty street paved with square stones. Crowds flowed through alleyways, into the main plaza. The festive people that wore red ribbons and held the hands of their children as functional families had come out for the spectacle of the decorated city.
I looked around, following the crowd that all seemed to be heading the same direction. Light murmurs hummed like an orchestra waiting to start a symphony when suddenly I realized that I wasn’t sure where I was or why I was here.
I didn’t recognize the buildings. They were older and certainly not American inspired architecture. Still I kept with the current of the moving people, wearing purposeful red garments deeper into the old city.
That was when a dark cloaked figure joined the mass of people, he walked more purposefully, somehow weaving through the crowd expertly without bumping into anyone. He was easily taller than the rest of them, and while he didn’t look at all like he belonged there, they ignored him.
He stopped when he was right beside me, looked down his white nose from his great height. I narrowed my eyes, straining to see exactly who this figure was, but his face was shadowed his hood.
“Walk with me,” he instructed.
I didn’t hesitate to follow, but he still felt the need to pull me. His hard, cool hand wrapped around my wrist to tug me along. I nearly tripped a few times to keep up with his pace. He could move so much easier than I could as the crowds naturally parted for him.
Now that I was with the man in the black cloak, I was recognized by all the people around me. They started to acquire familiar features, even though I hadn‘t met any of them. I knew them from somewhere. I just couldn’t place where.
The cloaked figure yanked on my arm, silently demanding that I stop gawking at the people and pay attention to where I was going. As my focus returned I found us squeezing into an alleyway. Chills danced down my arm as we stepped into the shadows.
The grip on my wrist squeezed tighter. It was cold and hard like stone. Realization hit me too late. This tall, domineering figure from my dreams wasn’t just any person.
It was a vampire.
For the first time I pulled back, panic making me forget everything else, like just how pointless it was to fight.
“Let go! Let go of me now!” He stopped, looking down his pale nose at me once more. I could just barely see the glimmer of his eyes underneath the rim of the hooded cloak, making me think that I must know this vampire.
“Who are you?”
“Hurry up. We’ll be late,” said the man in a velvet voice. I couldn’t stop moving, even when I recognized his voice. My entire body erupted in chills. The blood drained completely from my face, leaving me cold.
No, no, no…
His head tilted up letting the barest hint of light shine on the shadows allowed a small glimpse of white skin, stretched over chiseled masculine features.. Red eyes shined on either side of an aristocratic nose and thin strands of elegant dark curls touched his high cheek bones.
We both stopped to stare at each other.
And then he smiled, his sharp features seemingly illuminated by his handsome smirk.
“Hello Camille,” Laurent greeted.
I screamed in earnest, but the sound was choked off early when he swept me off my feet and slammed me to his chest. His hand slapped over my mouth so that when I realized what had happened I was already restrained.
“Now, now,” he coaxed moving us forward.
Wild and thrashing, I pulled on his arm to let me go.
Despite my muffled screams and flailing limbs no one paid any mind to me. Their laughs and chatter had dulled as we entered with the flow of the people into the plaza. Laurent adjusted his hold on me, picking me up until his mouth was beside my ear while he walked us forward.
“Calm down, little one. Calm down. I just want you to see something,” he said laughing just a little. His breath brushed wisps of my hair with each word.
Reluctantly, I lost the ability to fight against him. Instead I focused on the people around me. Everyone was facing the same direction, the clock tower in the center of the plaza. Surrounding us all were sturdy, older looking buildings that must have survived decades with careful maintenance of a people proud of their heritage.
I looked to my left, seeing a huge ornate fountain with clear chlorine waters. The cupids spouting water were distinctly Italian.
Italy? Fountains? Clock towers?
Three more cloaked figures walked into view on the roof of one of the ancient buildings, looking down on the scene below. I followed their gaze toward that clock tower at the dusty steps led up to the double doors below it. A large, well built man stood in the doorway, the silhouette broad shoulders and body oddly out of place in the scene.
He took one step and though he was not in the sunlight I could see his face clearly now.
“Paul?” I whispered in confusion, surprised to find his name was not muffled against Laurent’s hand.
Paul was shirtless, which was fine when he was at home among the other werewolves, but he would never draw attention to himself like that in public. More cloaked figures emerged on the rooftops, tensing as the crowd began to murmur to one another again.
What were the other vampires waiting for?
Laurent suddenly clenched his hold on me tightening his hand over my mouth again. He pulled me close to him again, lips grazing my ear when he spoke.
“You’re very brave when its just you that needs saving. You attract danger, hoping it will find you before it finds anyone else. You forget that most people want you alive. He doesn‘t have you anymore.”
The blood drained from my face. In my shock I felt as cold as Laurent. Adrenaline dumped into my system, giving me an all knew urge to fight against him. I had to do anything I had to get away. I had to show him I was alive, that I was here.
“Paul! Don’t!”
I tried to wriggle away from Laurent, but couldn’t escape him. Laurent his grip tightening to hold me against him with painful, almost suffocating force. I coughed out as his arms pushed on my ribs, refusing to give up my attempts to reach Paul in time.
Laurent‘s chuckle at my struggle had only the barest hint of madness. He was enjoying this.
“He couldn’t be human without his Cammy. Couldn’t even be a wolf without her. You. Were. His. Everything,” Laurent hissed, punctuating each word with deliberate slowness.
“Let go!”
“Your foolishness left him with nothing. Watch him. Watch as he finally succumbs,” Laurent taunted.
Paul took another step, which turned out to be a cue for the hidden spectators. Like a choreographed dance, all the other cloaked creatures on the surrounding rooftops simultaneously dropped into a crouch, coiling to attack.
Please, please. Don’t let him do this. I need him too.
Tears flowed down my cheeks and sank between Laurent’s fingers in his bruising hold. My arms were pinned to my side, but I kicked out like a mad woman, tangling my legs in Laurent’s cloak in my efforts.
Paul took the final step into the sunlight. His brown eyes closed as he turned his face toward the sky, solemnly accepting his fate. The rays glinted off his skin, making him sparkle like a vampire. He was sad and beautiful.
He was the spectacle everyone had come to see.
The cloaked figures tightened their position and dropped on him all at once. White hands emerged from their sleeves, fingers curled into claws to better rip him apart.
Only then did Laurent let me go. I hit the ground running, but would never be able to reach him in time. The gray cloaks rushed forward in a blur. The people finally reacted. They screamed and ran the way they came, picking up their children and knocking each other out of the way.
I couldn’t see him, couldn’t be heard over the commotion. The wet sound of flesh tearing, the roar of defeat and yelps of pain mingled with the enthusiastic hiss of scrambling vampires.
“Paul! Paul!”

~*~

This was the second time in two days I woke up drenched in sweat having woken up from Twilight dreams. I gave myself a moment to lay there and press my finger tips to my closed eyes. It seemed Bella was getting inside my head, giving me her nightmares.
Volterra.
Why would I have a dream of Paul reenacting Edward’s attempt at suicide?
There was a knock on my bedroom door.
“Cammy, are you awake?” Aunt Debbie asked. I threw the covers off, shaking off my nerves and rolled my shoulders. Now it was time to get some personal business done. Graduating wasn’t a big deal, I guessed. La Push was so small that there were only about twenty other people walking with me.
“Yeah,” I asked. She cracked open the door, peeked in to make sure she wasn’t disturbing me and then smiled her bright blue eyes at me.
“Bob and I were thinking of taking you and Paul out to eat afterward. How does that sound?” she asked. I wasn’t sure why it struck me as a surprise. I guess I still wasn’t viewing my own graduation as a real event. Maybe it was for other people, but I always felt like I had bigger things to worry about.
“Sure,” I said. “I have to warn you though. If you’ve ever seen Paul eat…”
Aunt Debbie put a hand up to stop me.
“I have seen that boy eat. Believe me, I‘m aware of the consequences. Invite him. We’ll have a nice time,” she insisted. I nodded, pleased.
“Okay. Thanks,” I said.
Aunt Debbie closed the door, leaving me to dress. It was always strange going through the outfits and finding mysterious articles I knew for a fact I’d never bought for myself. What did one where to a graduation? Did it even matter with the gown over it?
Jeans and tennis shoes it was. I grabbed Eclipse and tucked it under my arm to start the day. The minute I walked out Aunt Debbie spun me around and guided me back to the bedroom.
“You cannot read during your own graduation. And you need tot wear some nice trousers or something at the very least. This is serious. It’s a big stepping stone to the rest of your life,” she insisted nudging me through the doorway. She closed the door after me to let me dress again.
I frowned into the empty space.
“What should I wear?” I called after her.
“Think… dressy casual,” Aunt Debbie said. I looked around my room, unsure of what that could even mean. I decided it was somewhere less dressy than Cullen casual and more dressy than jeans. The only thing I could think of was the skirt I’d worn the day before and a sort of flowy shirt.
I opened the door.
Aunt Debbie approved with a smile and raised a camera that seemingly materialized from nowhere to flash a picture. I blinked away the spots dancing in front of my eyes.
“Are you ready?” Aunt Debbie asked. I rubbed the heel of my hand over my eyes hoping it would help my vision return and nodded. “Did you want to put on make up or do your hair? Because we need to be heading out pretty soon.”
“Can I do that in the car?”
“Sure… Bob! Come on!” Aunt Debbie called up the stairs toward the bedroom.
“Do I wear a tie to something like this? Or a jacket?”
Aunt Debbie rolled her eyes dramatically for my benefit.
“A shirt and khakis will be fine,” she said. With that Uncle Bob came down the steps buttoning the last button of his shirt. He flashed a grin.
“You look nice,” he said.
“Thanks. So do you,” I said. Aunt Debbie edged toward the door, not so subtly encouraging us out. It wasn’t until I saw the clock on the dashboard I realized that the event was starting in just fifteen minutes.
“Oh crap.”
“Yes, that’s why we needed to go,” Aunt Debbie said.
She drove like a… well, like me when I realized I was going to be late. Luckily, La Push was used to seeing the Celica zip through their little town and spin into the first parking space available.
I got out seeing nothing all that different about the school. I mean, it was weird to see cars there when it was supposed to be closed for the summer break, but other than that there were no balloons or posters or anything.
I was definitely getting mixed messages about this graduating thing.
“Cam!”
I spun around, taken aback by the sight that I saw. He wore dark gray pants that were way too short on him, but had been attempted to cover black socks that led down to worn, but nice loafers. This was all matched with a bright blue shirt button up, the pastel complimenting his darker skin tone in an oddly fashionable way. The sleeves were rolled to the elbows probably to hide the fact that they didn’t quite touch his wrists.
He smiled a wide, wild smile at me and held out a bouquet of pastel yellow flowers wrapped in crinkling transparent plastic.
“Paul, you look-…” Oddly enough I was actually thinking of a comment Bella had made comparing Edward to the hero in an Anne of Green Gables novel. An Anne of Green Gables hero that had suffered a very sudden growth spurt. I suppressed a laugh, because despite it all I understood that he had done something very sweet for my sake. “Very handsome. Where did you get the flowers?”
He smiled back at me, gripped me in a quick kiss that was appropriate enough to be seen in front of my aunt and uncle.
“All the way from Paris. I had them shipped,” he quipped.
I laughed.
“Weird. I saw a bouquet just like this in Old Quil’s store. Probably could have saved you the shipping fees,” I retorted back. Aunt Debbie walked back to us, looked at Paul’s impressive build squeezed into clothing that was obvious tailored for a man with a normal body frame.
He scratched his head.
“I… guess I should have waited until afterward to give you these,” he said. I shrugged, patted the smooth petals and smelled them for good measure. We didn’t have many couple things like a song or favorite movie, but these yellow roses seemed to be a reoccurring thing.
I allowed myself that gooey moment to show my appreciation for them.
“They’re perfect,” I told him. He beamed, satisfied with himself. We locked eyes, still smiling at each other when Aunt Debbie moved into the conversation.
“You look nice, Paul,” she said politely ignoring the fit.
“Thanks,” he said.
Aunt Debbie shot me a look.
“Go on. The website said you had to be in the cafeteria by ten,” she said. Then she caught sight of the flowers. “Oh. How lovely. We’ll hold them for you. Bob, look at these.” I stalled a little bit longer, standing with them in the parking lot, but Aunt Debbie shooed me along.
She and Uncle Bob stood in the parking lot talking to Paul. It was a nice sight to see and I realized just how important this was to Aunt Debbie. She didn’t have any kids, but I hadn’t thought I’d done anything to really warrant this kind of excitement from her. Or even Uncle Bob.
The moment I walked into the building someone pushed a red gown and cap into my hands and directed me toward a line of murmuring students. Some of them wore leis and others had brand new sparkling jewelry hanging over gowns.
None of them were in the Pack, but I recognized one or two of them. They stood nervous, giggling to one another as I passed them all to the back of the line. I draped the gown over my head, straightened the hat over my quick pony tail.
The Pomp and Circumstance march came flowing out of the speakers. Suddenly my stomach was fluttering with nerves. The line moved forward, forcing me to move along with it. I hadn’t been to many graduations and this one was certainly low on the formal scale as there couldn’t have been more than twenty other people in my class, so small we didn’t even have to sit in alphabetical order.
But we all filed in with me trailing behind. The line moved right down the center of the aisle where tables had been cleared leaving nothing but long benches for the families and friends. Folding chairs lined up at the foot of the stage for the graduating class. We all took our seats quickly without the usual chaos of friends trying to sit next to each other.
The lights were low and rain pattered on the rooftops outside, but the stage was lit for the principal, teachers, and other education officials in charge of the La Push high school. I sat, shifting uncomfortable in the polyester gown that made any exposed skin underneath itch.
“Families, teachers, and graduating class. It is my honor to stand before you where and announce that you are well on your way to your futures. To your adulthood and careers. More than half of this class is already accepted into four year colleges and more than that has received some kind of scholarship to help you start your lives…”
He stopped right there.
Well, actually he didn’t, but that was where I stopped listening and realized that I didn’t belong in either of those categories. My brow furrowed as I looked at the complete average faces sitting around me.
I only knew one or two names, but I recognized them all.
While I had been hyperventilating in front of vampires, attending Pack meetings, signing and breaking treaties, fighting and making up with Paul, these people had been doing what they were supposed to. These people were sure of their futures.
A small bubble of panic joined the already nervous butterflies in my stomach. I understood all at one why graduation was a big deal. This was the end of childhood fantasies, this was the end of coasting through my own real life so I could give the books all of my attention.
What was I supposed to do when there were no more books to follow?
Sudden cheering woke me out of that strangely terrifying train of thought. The principal smiled, turned to a teacher holding a stack of papers in her hand.
“First I want to say,” she said straightening the papers while she waited for the excited hoots and cheers of the graduating class and families to fade. “That no matter what anyone in this class has accomplished now, no matter what choices have been made so far, that none of you are done making choices or meeting milestones in your lives.”
Well, that didn’t make me feel any better.
She grinned out at the crowd, looked down and read out the first name.
It wasn’t like the other graduations I’d seen and maybe that was because I was from a city with an overcrowded school system. This ceremony was organized chaos. There had been no practices or cues to learn. People just got up and ran up the stage to receive their certificates, smile for the camera when they shook hands with the officials, and let their families cheer from their respective corners of the audience. It took literally four names to come to the H’s.
“Camille Rose Haugen.”
I stood up, squeezed past the knees of those sitting in the same row of surprised that there was utter silence at my name. I climbed the stairs, shook the hand of some guy I didn’t know, and took the certificate.
The moment my hand touched the paper the room exploded with noise.
“CAMMY!”
The floor vibrated with the booming cheers from a particular corner of the cafeteria. Nearly a dozen familiar faces stood along the back wall of the cafeteria clapping, hooting, and whistling. Almost the entire Pack was there. Sam, Emily, Kim, Quil, Embry, Seth, and finally Paul who wore his wide wild grin.
And all around them, people stared in annoyance and covered their ears.
I laughed out loud, held up my diploma victoriously.
They cheered even louder.
“Alright, alright, alright. That’s enough. Go sit down, Ms. Haugen,” the teacher said, clearly irritated. Even with the help of a microphone her voice was muffled. Smiling madly, I trotted down the steps back down to my seat.
Soon enough hats were thrown, gowns were shed, and thank god there were no streakers.
“Congrats!” Paul said throwing his arms around me and crushing me to his chest. I hadn’t stopped smiling since that surprising and great show of support. “Did you hear us cheering for you?”
I pulled away, gave him a look.
“Yes, as well as the rest of the tri-county area,” I assured him.
His small smirk evolved into a wide, devious grin that showed he and the others had obviously planned this. Maybe it had been a joke to embarrass me, but the truth was that the show of support had been exactly what I needed.
Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bob pushed past another celebrating family. My aunt wrapped me in a hug, pulled me away grinning. “Oh, congrats. You did it, honey!”
I laughed awkwardly.
“Yeah,” I said.
She snapped another picture of me before I had time to ready myself for the flash. I blinked.
“Your parents would have loved to be here,” she said. I pressed my lips tight, determined not to show the stab of guilt that came from that little comment. Oblivious to the effect, Uncle Bob turned to Paul.
“So. Where are we going to celebrate?” he asked.
“Oh,” I said. I turned to Paul. “I forgot to tell you. Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bob are taking us out for food.” Paul’s eyes sparkled with hope.
“Food?”
I was about to say something when huge warm hands wrapped around my waist and lifted me off the ground.
“Congratulations!” Quil cheered dramatically.
The Pack surrounded me, practically enveloped in my very own personal dog pile, taking turns with hugs and ruffling my hair. A couple other dozen hands joined in from overhead to do the same, leaving me trying to half-heartedly attempt to swat them away.
“Thank you…” I groaned, tucking a strand of hair over my ear and wobbling to catch my balance again. There they all were smiling down at me, despite all the differences we’d ever had between us. What was strange was that I was grinning just as wide. “Thanks for coming, you guys.”
Weird how just moment ago I couldn’t have even bothered to remember and now I truly was happy that everyone had decided to make a big deal over this event. Sam patted me on the shoulder.
“We’d stay longer and celebrate, but we’ve all been pretty busy lately,” Sam said. There was a pointed look in that comment that said that they really had to get back to patrolling and sniffing for intruders.
“Alright, but I’m keeping him for today,” I said pointing at Paul.
He grinned smugly at Sam.
Sam smiled.
“Okay,” he agreed, smiling a little himself. Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bob gave one another a look, obviously lost on the implied exchange between Sam and me. He patted Paul on the shoulder. “See you later tonight then, Paul.”
Paul frowned.
“That means you’re patrolling tonight, doesn’t it?” I whispered
He nodded. I put my arm around him and gave him a sympathetic pat.
“Alright. Cammy’s the graduate. She gets to choose where we’re eating,” Aunt Debbie said. In all of Forks there are about three places that will actually let you sit down and eat in the same place you ordered food, so I picked on of the few diners a safe distance between La Push and Forks.
We weren’t the only celebrating family there, so Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bob left us alone to wait while they talked to the host about how long the wait for a table would be. Paul leaned back, put his arm around my shoulder.
“I can’t believe you conned them into doing that for me,” I said.
He gave me a look that said I wasn’t fooling anyone by pretending to be annoyed by it.
“You loved it,” he insisted.
“I did,” I admitted, grinning. And there we were sitting there on the vinyl bench, happy as I’d ever been when only moments into the principal’s speech I’d been about to have a personal crisis.
“So… You didn’t say anything about the trip to the vampire lair,” Paul said.
I frowned at him, then deciphered his meaning.
“The Cullens were very welcoming. I had a pretty cool philosophical conversation with Carlisle. I left before I could play Chopsticks on Edward’s piano or jump on his new bed, but I guess there should be time for that later.”
My voice trailed off, thinking of how that night had ended.
“But…?” Paul said leading me into telling me what was bothering me.
“I got into a fight with Jasper,” I said.
He stiffened, frowned in confusion and then looked at the rest of me as if looking for battle wounds. Now,
“What?” he asked.
I put my hand up.
“I didn’t call him out for a showdown or anything. We just… Well, he said something that was completely off, which made me go and scream at him,” I said, remembering the names I’d called him. His entire race.
“What did he say to you?”
“It’s not important. But he just sat there taking it while I went off yelling at him. I almost wished he called me a name or something instead of just making me feel like I was having a one person argument,” I said. I leaned back in the bench and tapped my fingers on my thighs.
“You see, that’s what the Cullens do,” Paul said in agreement. Like me he leaned back and watched the others in the lobby. “They just sit there and watch you react to something they did, making you feel like you’re overreacting.”
I folded my arms.
“I know. It’s frustrating,” I said.
He stiffened again, raised a black brow at me.
“What?”
“You just agreed with something I negative I said about the Cullens,” he said. I blinked. Holy crap, he was right. I was overreacting, wasn’t I? Then there was a show of concern. “Geez, Cam. What did they say to you that made you that angry?”
“It’s not important and… Well, I probably should apologize,” I said. “I was really pissed. I basically told him he and his wife were full of it and vampires were a bunch of smug killers.”
Saying it out loud again made me feel even smaller and more petty than I had last night.
“Yeah. I definitely need to apologize,” I decided.
He shrugged.
“I don’t know. It sounds about right to me,” he said, smirking that knowing smirk he had when he knew he was annoying me by saying something insulting about the Cullens.
“Which is exactly why I should apologize,” I said, smiling at his attempt to make me feel better. “I’ll do it later. Jasper is telling Bella his life story today.”
“Seriously?
I nodded.
Paul snorted.
“Sounds like a blast,” he said.
I rolled my eyes. Personally, I liked reading Jasper’s story a hundred times better than reading the story of the third wife. I frowned, remembering exactly the importance of that story. When Bella learned that werewolves couldn’t live without their imprints.
I had the sudden vision of a huge gray world howling over a dead woman on the La Push beach. The heart-breaking sound of it, even in my head, sent chills up my spine.
“Cammy,” Uncle Bob called, snapping me out of it. “Paul, our table’s ready.” Paul jumped to his feet and held out a hand to me.
“Come on. Let’s eat,” he said. I liked the picture of Paul suited up in his outgrown Easter Sunday, extending his big warm band to me, a whole lot better.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m starving.”
The rest of the day was actually very pleasant. There was a lot of talk about the ceremony, Paul’s surprise for me and, of course, how fast he’d inhaled his food. It was all so normal that I found myself dreading the inevitable question of what I was going to do now that I was done with school. Like a normal eighteen year old.
Weird.
Either my aunt and uncle were distracted with the conversation about La Push or they just didn’t want to spoil the day, because no one even touched on the subject of the future. It was nice.
Paul and I were left alone again while they went to pay the bill and I got another chance to take a look at Paul’s outfit. His socks were falling down to his ankle, revealing a little leg hair and skin between the cuff of his pants and his shoes.
Paul caught me staring.
“I know. They don’t fit,” he said.
It caught me off guard so I snorted out a laugh that I’d been holding in since the moment I saw him, then hurried to give him a hug when he looked embarrassed. “I wanted to look nice today.”
“No, it’s great. I love the high waters,” I said.
He rolled his eyes, skin darkening with a blush. Then he giggled with me, then retaliated by mussing my hair exactly the way Quil and the others had earlier. And like then, I swatted his hand away playfully and smoothed my messy hairdo again.
I stared at him, waiting for him to take me seriously.
“I loved all the surprises today. The flowers, the dressy pants, and the Pack showing up today. I really needed it,” I said. “I needed to have you around today especially.”
“Why?”
I shrugged.
“This whole graduation thing just has me thinking about the future and all. I haven’t been worrying about much that doesn’t have to do with the story and I‘m afraid that I won‘t know what to do with myself when this is all finished,” I said. Something must have shown in my face then. “I don’t know anything about my own future.”
He matched my shrug with one of his own.
“It’s something to think about,” he said. “I mean, when the books are done are we going to go find jobs? Get married? Buy a house? Maybe find a good online college or something?” I stared at him for a moment. Then he reached out, fixed a brown strand of hair I’d missed and tucked it behind my ear.
“If what you say is true about us not going into a full blown war, then its not a big deal. We’ll figure it out together,” he said.
Something about that we in the statement had me hesitating. Not thinking too hard about it, but definitely hesitating.
“Did I scare you with that whole marriage thing?” he asked.
I shook my head quickly.
“No, no. I’m okay with marrying you,” I said easily.
Now his eyes widened.
“Not this second,” I added. “But I want to be with you forever. There’s no question about that. I thought you knew that.”
He blinked.
“I do…” he said slowly. Then stopped himself, looked at the crowded lobby and smelled the grease stained food that was one small step away from dive food. “God, this has to be the worst proposal in the history of mankind.”
I smiled and bumped his hip with mine.
“We’ll have a do over when we’re both ready,” I said.
“Deal,” he agreed with a deep breath of relief.
“And what did you do yesterday? Jacob went and sniffed out Bella’s visitor,” I said. Paul’s face tightened, losing all the humor in it as he switched gears from personal issues to vampire ones.
“It’s not something we smelled before,” he said. Then included. “It wasn’t what I thought was in La Push.”
He waited for me to give him an ‘I told you so.’ For that reason, I didn’t say it. Simply nodded, then waited as he blew out a frustrated breath.
“I just can’t believe that I’m cracking up like this. How is it that I’m so convinced I smelled something that no one else smelled?” he asked.
I remembered something then. Something Emily had said only hours before I took off to Seattle.
“It wasn’t just you. Sam thought he caught the scent too,” I said.
Paul frowned at me.
“No he didn’t.”
“Yes he did. Emily said he did,” I argued. Then thought for a moment, trying to reach exactly when and where she’d told me that. The doubtful look on Paul’s face had me second guessing my own memory. “Or maybe I’m wrong. It doesn’t matter.”
Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bob returned from having paid. They were still playfully arguing over how much they should have tipped the waitress. That was their relationship, fun little jabs and loving to prove the other wrong.
Not completely unlike Paul and myself.
“Thank you for the meal. It was great seeing you guys again,” Paul said politely.
Uncle Bob leaned in and shook Paul’s hand.
“You’re a good kid, Paul,” he said. Which was an odd thing to say to another man that was six inches taller than himself. “And we know how much you mean to Camille.” Then to me. “Did you want a ride home, Cam, or did you want to spend the day with Paul?”
Paul raised his brows at me, waiting for my answer.
There was nothing that really needed to be done at home, I said. Well, except for calling Jasper and apologizing. And I wasn’t looking forward that little awkward conversation.
“Would you mind?” I asked Paul.
He stared at me.
Right. Stupid question.
“I think I’ll spend the day here. Someone can take me home later,” I said. Paul’s smile could hardly be contained. We walked out together and into the car. Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bob dropped us both off at Emily’s.
As soon as we were through the door Paul yanked the collar of his shirt and pulled it over his head. He went straight to his room, my old room, and changed into some running shorts and a flimsy t-shirt.
He yawned when he returned and joined me on the couch.
“Sorry,” he said around the yawn and collapsed beside me, jostling the springs of Emily‘s comfortably worn couch. “What did you want to do?” I considered that a moment, then the urge to yawn took hold of me. Paul looked hopeful.
“Nap?”
“God, yes,” I said. “I slept like crap last night. And you have to rest up for tonight.”
“That’s right,” he said. He laid back on the couch and let me curl up against him. With the soft background noise of television to lull us both we dozed the rest of the afternoon, which really was the icing of the cake for a perfect graduation day.
I awoke scorching hot. Someone was trying to be gentle in moving me, but I was sticky with sweat. I pulled away from Paul, who looked apologetic as he peeled his arm off my sweaty shoulders.
I glanced around, remembering that I was in Emily’s house.
“How long were we out?” I asked.
“A few hours,” Paul said. I felt good. Smelly and sticky, but definitely refreshed. “I’m sorry. I must have held you a little too close. You’re burning up.”
I gave a nonchalant shrug and started to stretch my arms over my head before I remember what my armpits must have looked in this fever.
“Occupational hazard of an imprint.”
He looked up, checked the time on Emily’s very outdated DVD player sitting on top of the television where a couple was choosing between house number one, two, or three on some reality TV show.
“My shift starts soon. I can drop you off in Forks real fast unless you want to stay the night,” he said.
When I gave him a look he rolled his eyes.
“No one is going to hassle me for dropping you off at home over the border. Come on, Cam,” he said nudging me up from a very comfortable sleeping position on the couch. Then he took both hands and help to grudgingly up to my feet.
“I’ll be right back. I’m going to find Sam and ask to borrow his truck,” he said.
He went toward the back of the house to find seem, give me enough room to stretch and see just how bad my clothes were rumpled. It was pretty bad, but Emily’s house was such a comfortable, familiar place that it didn’t bother me much.
I heard some light chatter from the kitchen and meandered into the room to see Kim and Emily hovering over an ancient laptop at the table. Seeing Kim there was understandable, but Emily clacking away at the keys threw me off.
“Hey sleepy head,” Emily greeted glowing in the bluish light of the screen.
Kim smiled that knowing smile when she saw the state of my clothes and slightly damp with sweat.
“Werewolves. Too adorable to let go, too hot to cuddle with without turning into a sweaty mess,” she said. Emily nodded in agreement.
“I know. You have no idea how often I have to wash the bed sheets,” she stopped in mid-type to glance up from the screen. “Hm. That didn’t sound right, did it?”
Kim leaned away from the screen, smiling.
“Congrats again,” she said changing the subject for Emily‘s sake.
“Thanks. What are you guys doing?”
Emily nodded toward Kim.
“Yet another brilliant idea from our resident genius,” Emily said making a very Vanna White gesture toward Kim. Kim smiled appreciatively, though she didn’t bother to deny it. “We’re writing a manual. Everything the new werewolf or imprint needs to know about legends, imprinting, vampires, and more.”
I thought about that holding Eclipse in my hand, realizing that was exactly what I had and how handy it had been to understanding Paul and the others. Why shouldn’t everyone have that benefit?
“That is pretty brilliant,” I admitted.
“We’re working on the legend portion. Emily started taking notes at the bonfires so we have our histories written down. It’s actually a pretty handy way to understanding imprints. Last night we heard the one about the third wife,” Kim said. Emily gently nudged her with her elbow.
Once more that image flashed. The one of the huge gray wolf and his long mournful howl over his dead beloved. I shook my head before it could do anything more than momentarily disturb me.
“Cammy knows. Bella was there,” Emily said.
Kim perked, making her eyes big and dreamy.
“Ah, yes. Cammy the ever knowing,” she said whimsically.
I walked behind both of their chairs over their shoulders at their work. Indeed it was a very professional looking manuscript complete with footnotes and interesting factoids written in the margins.
“It looks like a textbook,” I said.
“Exactly,” Kim said proudly.
“You don’t have discussion questions and quizzes at the end of each chapter do you? If someone is just finding out their a werewolf or an imprint then they’ve been through enough already.”
Kim narrowed a look at me.
“They’re not hard questions,” she said. I rolled my eyes and muttered a “God help us” under my breath. Paul appeared in the doorway between the kitchen, grinning at Emily and Kim in greeting. Emily smiled back while Kim seemed to be distracted by some typo and angled over Emily to move the keyboard to her.
“You can help, can’t you?” Kim asked me tapping the backspace key and entering in a replacement word for whatever she considered was Emily‘s typo.
I shrugged.
“Maybe if I have some time, but I don‘t know how much I can give you without disrespecting the Cullen’s privacy,” I said.
“Maybe you can ask them,” she suggested. Then gasped with another striking idea and turned to Emily. “Maybe we can ask them. You know, hear it from the source?” Paul leaned against the door jam, fighting a smile.
“Yeah,” he snorted. “That would go over real well.”
Kim thought on that.
“Jared would not be happy,” she admitted, shoulders slumping in disappointment.
It didn’t seem so impossible to see Carlisle collaborating something like that, then again I was a bit idealistic about werewolf/vampire relations. I patted Kim on the shoulder. “One day, maybe. For now you can ask me some questions and I’ll answer them as vaguely as I can.”
“Sounds helpful,” Kim muttered as I moved to join Paul.
“Thank you, Cammy. Just let us know when you have a day when you‘re not busy,” Emily said over Kim’s muttering. We said our goodbyes then as we let ourselves out the kitchen door around to the side of the house where Sam was currently keeping his cars so the growing Pack would have more room to park.
“That’s pretty interesting,” I said. “A werewolf manual.”
He smiled.
“Yeah. We all got to talking after that day in Seattle. Sam made some joke that he could have used a how-to guide when he first changed. Emily and Kim took it to heart and ran with it,” he said.
I smiled a little to myself.
I could tell by the way Kim and Emily had been leaning over one another, typing together that this was one of the few ways they felt useful to the Pack. Emily made sure they were all fed and Kim was always working on things that would make the werewolves’ lives a little bit easier.
“What’s the exact role of an imprint?” I asked when we were on the road. “I mean, I know our lives are tied together and there’s always the very caveman answer that we are supposed to bear children to keep the bloodline going, but what exactly do we do for you that’s supposed to help the Pack?”
Paul hesitated.
“I don’t know,” he said. “As caveman of an answer as you think it is, I’ve always been told that imprinting helps a werewolf find the ideal mate.”
I shrugged.
“So we’re just mates?” I asked. “We don’t really have any official duties or anything?”
Paul frowned at me.
“You’re not ‘just’ anything, Cam. You’re my life,” he said. With that he took my hand, gave it a quick squeeze. “You don’t have to do anything but stay alive.” We crossed the border in comfortable silence, both of us keeping to ourselves with our own respective thoughts.
The truck pulled up to the house right beside the mailbox conveniently. The flag was up, which was off. If Aunt Debbie was mailing something off she would rather deliver it to the post office herself.
I opened the door.
Paul winced, nose wrinkling.
I looked at him.
“Vampire?”
He nodded, calmly. The very fact that he wasn’t freaking out telling me that is wasn’t anything to be overly concerned with.
“Cullen,” he said through the open door as I stepped out. I hesitated, thinking of the things I’d said to Jasper the day before. “They’re not here right now. It just smells like they came through here.” I stopped at the mailbox, opened it.
A small pretty looking envelope lay delicately inside
“Looks like they dropped something off,” I said.
The envelope was off-white with the most perfect calligraphy known to mankind. I immediately recognized the writing as Alice’s, opened it up to find a square invitation inside addressed to the Cullen residence.
I was still invited to Bella’s graduation party.
I sighed.
“You know, you may onto something when you say the Cullens really know how to make you feel like a complete schmuck after an incident,” I said. He held out a hand. I let him see the envelope front and back. “I’m going to call Jasper and apologize for being a crazy person.”
Paul shook his head.
“Don’t let them make you feel guilty,” he insisted. It was much too late for that and unfortunately, I knew that Jasper wasn’t trying to make me feel. Hell, it was Jasper, if he wanted me to feel bad he could probably just do it himself.
“I won’t,” I promised Paul.
He leaned over to my side of the truck we I leaned in for a goodnight kiss. He left in a cheerful mood, something he would need if he was going to be pulling an all-nighter. He waited until I was safely inside before he turned around and started toward home.
I watched him from the window for a moment, turned around to see Aunt Debbie wearing her reading glasses over a very large pile of mail. She gave me a long questioning look, but decided not to comment. It wasn’t until I was in the shower I remembered that I was a rumpled mess, and that Aunt Debbie had only to draw her conclusions of my day from that.
“Well, shoot,” I grumbled to myself.
I walked out of the bathroom feeling somewhat human again and started to make my way to my room. Then I opened the door and saw Edward standing with his back to me, staring out my window.
I hesitated with my hand on the door.
“Hey,” I said and shut the door behind me. He was as casual as a Cullen could get, standing in the dark as perfect as ever in his subtle designer clothes, staring at me. One moment went by. Then another. “Did you… need anything?”
He seemed to catch himself then.
“No,” he said. Then added offhandedly, “ Congratulations by the way. We would have been there if the ceremony wasn’t held in La Push.”
“Thanks,” I said.
More quiet.
“Edward, are you okay?”
He finally moved then.
“I’m fine,” he said immediately.
“You don’t look fine,” I said.
He dropped his gaze, suddenly and strangely awkward. My only response was also awkward, stiffly waiting for him to give me a reason for him to be here. By our agreement he shouldn’t have come to yell at me for anything, which meant that there was no other reason that I could think for him dropping by unannounced.
“I shouldn’t be here,” he said.
“Wait, wait…” I couldn’t help but laugh then which only seemed to irritate him. He slowly turned around to face me. Luckily, I had thought to change into my pajamas right after my shower, so I was willing to talk then if he really needed it. “What’s wrong?”
He didn’t move, but wasn’t able to look me in the eye either.
“Bella keeps testing my resilience to her,” he said. If at all possible, he seemed to glare angrily at the ground. “Without access to her mind her temptation is nothing short of frustrating.”
My brow furrowed.
“What are you talking about? You’re completely used to her scent by now…” Warning bells clanged in my head stopping in the middle of my sentence. My eyes widened, alarmed and suddenly terrified.
“Oh. You‘re talking about a different kind of temptation.”
“Yes,” Edward said, letting his frustration show.
We were both quiet then.
“And it has me thinking… about Jacob,” he said.
I almost choked and still choking when I felt the need to say something.
“I have no idea what to say to that.”
He frowned and became irritated at what was apparently my own misunderstanding.
“For her, Cammy. It makes me wonder what Jacob can do for her,” he said. I let out a breath of relief, because I would have no idea how to handle that situation. Edward gave out a grown that was somewhat close to a vampire growl.
I started to say something. Closed my mouth second guessing any response to make.
“I still have no idea what to say,” I confessed.
He stared at me.
“Well, I thought you might know. About werewolves,” he said slowly with implication. We stared at one another for a long time, the tension hadn’t lessened in the room as I thought about what I did know about werewolf sex.
“Well, I don’t…” I began. Then realized that he must think that I have intimate knowledge about the topic. “I’m not having sex with Paul. Not yet anyway.”
Edward’s eyes widened.
“Oh, I see.”
“You didn’t know that?” I blurted, embarrassed. “Geez, Edward! I don’t go to La Push to bang my boyfriend.” Edward’s eyes flashed with anger and probably embarrassment, but my brashness seemed to ease the tension just a little
“I can’t read your mind, Cammy,” he reminded me.
“Well, wouldn’t you be able to smell… him or something?” I said awkwardly. Edward’s temper faded to a low mortified simmer as he worked his jaw and resisted the urge to groan again.
“You always smell like him. I wouldn’t be able to tell one way or the other,” he said. He plopped down in Jasper’s old chair, surprisingly ungraceful in his exasperation as he raked a hand through his copper colored hair.
“I’m sorry for assuming. That was incredibly rude,” he said.
I waved away his concern.
“It’s not a big deal. After all, I know all intimate details of your relationship,” I said. He closed his eyes, thinking for a moment. “Aren’t you staying the night at Bella’s?”
“I have to pretend to go home for a while before I can sneak back in. Emmett and Esme are watching the house,” he said. Then he gazed at the floor again while he waited for me to settle down. I sat cross legged on the bed, waiting as he clearly wasn’t finished.
“Unfortunately,” he started. “You’re the only person I know that can really understand Bella’s mind. Why does she want to rush into this?”
“The vampirism or the sex?”
He gave me a tired look.
“I know why she wants to be a vampire. She’s told me a dozen times and I believe her,” he said. I felt my stomach flutter, wondering if I would be breaking some kind of girl code or privacy issues by explaining her thought process.
“Okay,” I said rubbing hand over my neck. “Well, some people… just don’t have any moral qualms with sleeping with your own boyfriend. And society doesn’t exactly frown on that.”
Even as I said the words I realized that I remembered exactly how much I hated dancing around a subject. Somehow this conversation turning out to be even more painful than having The Talk with my own mother.
Edward stared at me, bewildered.
Exasperated again, I rolled my eyes.
“Oh for God’s sake. Even you know how hot you are. You have access to the mind of millions of other teenage minds. Put it together!” I said. Edward didn’t smile at that the way I‘d intended to. In fact he looked mildly disturbed by the fact that Bella had the morals average female teenager.
“Then why not just marry me?” he asked.
“Marriage and sex are not the same thing,” I said. He exhaled in frustration. “It’s probably healthy that you and Bella don’t agree on something. At least, I hope it is because there’s a whole bunch of stuff Paul and I don’t agree on.”
Edward perked at that.
“And are you waiting until marriage?” he asked. Then he suddenly stopped himself, wincing even as he said it. “That was also incredibly rude. You don’t have to answer that. Why are we having this conversation again?”
I held up my hands, refuting any claim to the reason he and I were in this awkward moment.
“You’re the one that brought it up, pal,” I said.
His expression seemed to be stuck in the wincing position.
“You’re entirely right,” he said. “I’m sorry again for springing this on you. It’s just that Alice is distracted, Jasper is worried about her. And Emmett? Well, if you know us like you say you do then you can probably guess how that conversation went.”
“If you resorted to talking to me, then yes, I can imagine.”
It was quiet for a moment and I realized Edward’s initial question had never been answered. I thought about that, remembering what Emily had said over breakfast not that long before.
“I’ve heard that werewolves are exactly like humans in that way,” I said pointedly. Then looked at him until he had no choice but to make eye contact. “But she wants you, Edward. Just because you’re not ready to… well, you know… and Jacob probably would… doesn’t make you any less of a candidate.”
Edward nodded sharply and clearly it had been the direct answer that he had asked for in the first place. He really was taking this competition with Jacob to heart, not that it was quite up to the dirty tricks just yet, but he seemed to be sizing himself up by comparing what the two of them could give Bella.
I thought about Paul and the last time he and had come to a similar impasse.
I understood the need to tell someone without being judged. In my time in Washington I’d completely lost touch with my Californian friends. I probably would be okay talking about this with Emily or Kim, but it was hard to talk about one specific werewolf with all the other ones around all the time.
“I’m not waiting for marriage especially,” I blurted. “I’m just waiting for a moment that feels right.”
Edward started to look pained, wishing that I’d just dropped the topic. Then in a single moment, he seemed to understand that it was something that I needed to say to someone.
He nodded once.
“That’s understandable. In a way, I suppose I am too,” he agreed.
And that was the end of that. Edward stood up, signaling the finality of the conversation. He toward the window, like he was getting ready to say his goodbyes. Then he stopped and blinked.
“This actually wasn’t the reason I originally came here tonight,” he said.
I let out a breath.
“Good, because that’s about all the sex talk I’m good for with you,” I said. Edward ignored that, choosing to continue instead of risk an even lengthier conversation about our significant others.
“I’m afraid the aftermath of what you did to Laurent may come back to haunt you and the dogs,” he said. My thoughts immediately went to my dream. I stared at him, frozen in horror. “Irina.”
“Irina?” I repeated, baffled as for one crazed second I had fears of Laurent coming back from the dead to finish the job he‘d started. Irina really made much more sense and it coincided much better with what Bella had experienced today. “Right. You asked the Denali clan for help today after talking to Jasper about the newborn wars. They said that they would in exchange for you letting them attack the Pack.”
He held up a hand before I could even question him.
“Which we won‘t allow and you know it,” he said. He waited a beat for me to deny it, which I couldn’t of course. “We made it very clear that they do not have that permission and that you, specifically, are under our protection. Irina will not come after you without serious repercussions.”
My brows went up.
“Me? Irina wants to kill me?”
I thought about, suddenly knowing that what Edward was telling me made perfect sense.
“Holy crap, I have my very own Victoria,” I realized out loud.
Edward shook his head.
“She’s a friend and her family promised to respect our wishes,” he said. At my worried look he insisted, “And she will.” I let that go, even though the warning wasn’t going to have me sleeping any easier.
“Okay. Thanks for the heads up, I guess,” I said.
“Thank you for listening to me. I know it was uncomfortable,” Edward said. The way he said made it clear I wasn’t the only uncomfortable one. He paused, thinking of something. He slid his hand in his pocket.
“Emmett gave me what he called an early wedding present for my wedding night,” Edward started to explain. “I won’t go into the details of his theories of desensitization and how it could help Bella and myself, but I have a feeling you may need it more than I do.”
Edward pulled out a small, shiny square and held it up for me to see. I couldn’t really make out what it was, but he set it clearly on my nightstand before he finished slipping through the window.
“Thanks Edward. Good night,” I said.
Then shut the window behind him and watched him disappear into the tree line. Only then did I really looked to see what the little foil packet he’d left behind was. My eyes widened now that I could see it up close.
“A condom,” I said out loud realizing I shouldn‘t have expected anything less from Emmett. I picked up the packet and really looked at it. “Definitely a gag gift from Emmett.”
Honestly. Why would a vampire need a condom?
What good would it do me?
I thought about that for another moment, opened the night stand drawer and tossed the condom in quickly, slamming it shut after it. Just in case, I thought to myself.

Christmas Retales- 12/18/09

Good morning boys and girls! It's that time of day again (5:48 a.m.) when there's not enough time to work on a chapter and too much time to just fool around on the internet before work.

So gather around for another Christmas Retale!

~*~

Today's story is: Seasonal Harrassment

Another thing to think about while you're shopping for Christmas presents and dealing with the hassle of getting out of the store without being elbowed in the eye by another crazy shopper, is that many of the workers in that store are seasonal workers.

Now I don't know why, but Barnes and Noble likes to hire older people for this job.

And by old, I mean like nursing home escapees.

This seasonal worker is the sweetest old lady, and working beside her I noticed that whenever Magazine Guy walked by she would smile and then... stare at him until he was out of sight. Maybe its just me having a hard time imagining women her age having a libido, but I didn't really put two and two together right away.

She was training so I was trying to show her how to work a touch screen register (a frustrating task, but again, she was so nice I didn't want discourage her.) She also didn't hear very well. Anyone who knows someone hard of hearing can tell you that often makes them talk very loud. She was definitely one of those people, which I suppose isn't usually a problem when you've got a crowded store.

Later on in the day, I was trying to show her how to open the register (again) when I realized she wasn't listening.

Not in a "say that again, dearie" kind of way. She was distracted.

I glanced up and followed her gaze to see the Magazine Guy pass by the registers again.

He nodded in greeting, the truth being that he is a pretty attractive twenty-something year old, and I've watched him walk away before, myself. Seasonal Worker and I smiled back, her own grin being a little bit guilty.

Then the Seasonal Worker turns to me and says in her loud, hard-of-hearing voice, "He's a Cutie Patootie, isn't he?"

Magazine Guy stopped so fast that his shoes squeaked on the tile and looked back at us. His ears turned bright red, but she just smiled again. I'm not sure if she knows he heard her or not, but it was good karma, as he was one of the guys giving me grief for the Playboy yesterday.

~*~

I know. Another old lady story. But nothing weirder than that happened yesterday. Maybe today I'll make Magazine Guy a new name tag with "Cutie Patootie" written on it.

Christmas Retales- 12/17/09

Happy various holidays everyone!

Yes, I know. I haven't updated. Feel free to curse me, but I'm working full time trying to get hell out of my house and working in retail during the last two weeks before Christmas is an absolute hell. I would much prefer a more painless death, but the money is coming in.

Saying this, I must tell you that Christmas retail in America brings out the weird in people. The closer you get to Christmas the more frantic people become. And a crowded store full of anxious procrastinators is bound to cause a few. Everyday this week something weird has happened. From the lady in bright pink pants covering the floor with books like tile to the woman throwing ten dollar bills at the cafe worker to guy walking around with an open can of cat food handing out samples.

So I've decided to record the weirdest events of the day and post them each morning. Have a seat boys and girls, as I begin the series of Christmas Retales.

~*~

Today's tale is: The Old Lady and the Dirty Mag

Once upon a time I was at the registers when a little old lady comes up to purchase her item. I start to ring her up doing the usual stuff when I see this little old woman is buying a Playboy calendar. Thinking it was none of my business, I put it aside and gave her the total of the purchase.

She started to open her purse, then paused thoughtfully. Then she cocked her head to the side and said, "Where are your Playboy magazines? I couldn't find them."

"We keep them in the back. You have to ask someone that works here to go get it for you," I explained.

"Why?"

Very patiently, I pretended like the answer wasn't obvious.

"Some people might think the content is too inappropriate to be on display," I said.

How else did one explain that it was full of naked women?

Her brow furrowed, clearly not satisfied with the answer, but she nodded understandedly and I continued to put her item in the bag.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble that would be great," she said suddenly.

I hesitated. She had said it so offhandedly that I wasn't sure what she was talking about. As she made herself comfortable, leaning an elbow on the counter impatiently, I realized she wanted me to go get her a Playboy.

An epic Christmas line was piling up behind her, but our policy is to tend to the customer. So I stopped what I'm doing and decide to go find this impatient old lady her dirty mag.

I went into the backroom where the stock was kept. The stock boys that worked back there are younger guys about in their twenties (and some not too unattractive) and trying to be discreet as I ran around looking for a Playboy.

I couldn't find it anywhere.

I sighed to myself, knowing I was going to need some help.

"Where are the Playboy Magazines?" I finally asked the guys.

The reaction was predictable.

"Yeah!" All the boys said at once. I endured a few razzes, "I didn't know you were into that, Ariana" and "No, no. I understand. You only read it for the articles."

Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink.

After that we dug through a few boxes. (Barnes and Noble isn't well known for selling Playboys.) We finally get one and so I go back to my register to ring up the lady. She smiles and thanks me, then suddenly frowns as she sees the cover.

"This isn't the latest edition," she complained. I stopped scanning the item and looked up. Suddenly furious she pointed at the magazine. "I already have this one."

I excused myself again to find the latest issue but it was the only one we had.

I ended up not selling it to her, as it wasn't to her liking. So she will have to make do with just the calendar.

The End

~*~

Tis the season, I guess.

The moral of this story is never judge something by its cover... unless, of course, you wanted a more current brand of naked women.

I guess its not the most interesting work story, but I thought it was weird and I've been feeling the need to complain about people. I'm going to work in about fifteen minutes so I'm bound to have another.

Feel free to post your own weird Christmas work stories if you have any. It's kind of fun.

Happy Belated Halloween!

Whew...

Its been hectic. From "The Puppet Master" to "Unfamiliar" and now cowriting something with my best friend and having a falling out with my other best friend of 14 years, I've been going a little crazy trying to catch up with stuff. Not to mention I need to find a new place to live by August and get started with the whole career thing.

But enough about all that, let's get to the fun stuff.

As you may or may not know I'm into ghost hunting, due to an overactive imagination and lack of finding anything else to do on my salary. So my friend Aideen and I are going to Mentryville to do some research on the ghosts of Santa Clarita. Hopefully driving around in the dark will give me inspiration for Cammy's upcoming trip to Seattle.

Writing scary stuff is hard, especially in writing in first person when YOU have to be scared along with the character. I had fun with Laurent in New Moon (can't wait to watch him eat it in the movie), even if it gave me nightmares when I was writing it. More than once I woke up in the middle of the night swearing that someone was standing at the end of my bed.

Since I listen to music while I write I created a scary playlist. If anyone has any scary song suggestions to wake up my imagination, give me a holler.

Peace, love, and soul! You guys are the best!

Daria/Cammy

Huflo everyone! Sorry its been so long since I've written. I've been here, there (Vegas) everywhere, and girl drama. Ugh! I'm going back to writing because real drama isn't as fun as fake drama.

Sooo...

I feel like reporting that I've found the perfect solution for the lemon fiasco, which is to say that Paul and Cammy (may or may not) get funky and how graphic that (will or will not) be. So I started writing. And it turned out pretty good.

Then I started some more current chapters, because as fun as lemons are, they are nothing without some literary foreplay. The chapter was pretty good until I realized something odd. The girl wasn't Cammy. She was Daria. For those who don't know, "Daria" is a TV show from MTV I used to be in LOVE with. It was like someone turned me into a character, gave me glasses and then made me interested in politics.

It's a subtle humor. Lots of sarcasm.

But she is much more of a smart ass than Cammy is, and you know something's wrong when Cammy answers a phone call from Jacob saying, "Barney's beanery. How may I help you?" So I kept writing, and the sarcasm didn't let up, and you know what? It WAS kind of Cammy. Maybe I won't have to edit as much as I thought.

Then there was Claire, who oddly enough, is based off a two year old girl named Cammy. You wouldn't think two year olds are fun to write for, but they really are. Especially with Quil and you can imagine a screaming toddler instead of actually hearing one.

Anyway, that was my writing expedition last night.

Still can't find New Moon. Still waiting for annoying sister to give it back. Tomorrow hopefully. I need to find a more interesting thing to blog about. Would you guys care if I started lying about my life to make this thing more interesting?

BTW, New Moon trailer is KICK ASS.

"I Hate This Stupid Town" The Bored have an anthem

My friends have started a website about finding things to do when there is nothing to do. It sounds weird, but it makes sense I guess. Like there's nothing on TV or you just want to get out and you have no money to do anything that might be fun.

This website researches and records information about towns so that people can come up with something to do. They have challenges for anyone to perform and get points for, local ghost stories to investigate, urban legends, and places of interest. So far all they have is stuff for California, but everyone is welcome to add their own areas where they live. Some of it might sound dumb, but if you're bored enough you'll do anything for an adventure.

http://www.ihatethisstupidtown.com/

It's amazing what you can come up with after just cruising the town. Not to mention its fun to freak out looking for legends about ghosts and stuff.

Let's Talk About Sex Baby

So... Last chapter went over pretty well. That was good since it was kind of borderline lemony. There's this weird anxiety I get before and after I post every chapter. Sometimes I had add things that I just cringe when I think about later. I think every author does. It's things like that that make me hesitate. I'm trying to get over that so that there isn't a weird stand-still in updates anymore.

I've been avoiding writing about certain topics in the story. Sex is one of them. I don't think I'm very good at writing fluffy scenes, so forget about sex scenes. You can't really be sure how you'll be received. Unfortunately with writing, you're going to go from the beginning of the event to the end without someone to stop and correct you if you're starting to do something they're not comfortable with. (Can you guess how many people I've been with just by reading this?) I love romances and writing them, but when it comes to the big moment it can turn into a complete flop.

So there's that.

~*~

The other thing that's kind of been driving me a little crazy is the Breaking Dawn thing. Not the issue itself. That I've resolved, but the people that want to know about it. If you haven't already guessed, I LOVE surprising people. I totally thrive off of a shock value.

But I also have a really big mouth. I WANT to tell everyone what I'm going to do about the Breaking Dawn issue. It's so hard not to reply every reviewer and tell them how this story is going to end. I've told my whole family over and over because I'm excited for it.

I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune later. Its before I actually act on my ideas that I think they are absolutely brilliant. Then when it comes time to do it I always second guess myself and think maybe my idea is not that good and I'll get a bunch of WTF emails.

Only one way to find out, I guess.