Chapter Three - Something As True As This Is

"Taylor! Hurry it up!" yelled Sam.

"Give me five seconds," I answered, continuing to line my crystal green eyes with black eyeliner.

Before I left my room, I quickly sized up the outfit that I had chosen to wear to Billy's
barbeque.

I was dressed pretty casually in a grey and purple plaid, button up tee, a cropped denim vest, and a pair of dark skinny jeans. With that, I had on a pair of knee-length slouch style heels, and had curled my black hair into glossy ringlets.

I quickly snatched my black Guess purse and hurried down the stairs to where Sam and Emily were waiting for me.

"It's about time," Sam snapped as I turned the corner and stepped into the living room.

"You look nice," Emily whispered to me as we made our way to Sam's truck.

The three of us piled into the cab and made our way, pretty slowly might I add, to Billy's.






I was immediately greeted by a huge pair of burning arms wrapping around my waist, and lifting me two feet off the ground.

"Taylor! You showed!"

"I said I might, "I responded, chuckling, "jeez, Embry, relax."

Embry smirked as he set me back on my feet and slipped his hand into my own, leading me into the Black's backyard. Almost instantaneously, I was approached by a girl who looked about seventeen and could very well have been a mirror image of Emily, minus the scars.

"Hi," she smiled, "I'm Kim, Jared's girlfriend."

"Hey, I'm Sam's sister, Taylor," I replied, taking her offered hand in mine, that wasn't already occupied by Embry's.

"Hey Kim! Come here for a second," Jared called, "Oh, hey Taylor!" He added as an afterthought.

Kim rolled her eyes, "excuse me."

"Yeah, it's no problem," I laughed.

Kim gave me a little wave, then went over to her boyfriend.

"She seems nice," I mentioned to Embry.

"Who Kim?" he asked, his mouth stuffed with food.

I laughed at his puffed out cheeks and replied, "yes Kim."

He swallowed the food in his mouth before saying, "yeah, Kim's cool. She's really good for Jared."

I stole a glance at Jared and Kim as Embry began piling more food onto his already-full plate.
The moment Kim was in Jared's line of sight, his eyes lit up, and a sparkle appeared in them that hadn't been there before.

"You hungry?" asked Embry, offering me his plate.

I smiled and took a barbequed wiener off the plate, "thanks."

"Well, well, Miss Uley. It certainly has been a while," replied a gruff voice behind me.

I turned around and found myself a foot away from a middle aged in a wheelchair.

"Oh, hi, Mr � um�"

"Billy," he smiled, "Billy Black."

"Hi Billy," I replied, shaking his hand, "how are you?"

"Oh, never better. And how about you? How was school in California?"

"You know, it was fine. Nothing compared to being here in La Push though."

He chuckled, "yes I suppose so. Have you seen Jacob since you've been home?"

"No, I haven't. I met the other boys, but I haven't seen Jake."

"Hmm," he pondered, "I don't know where that boy could be all the time."

I remained silent as Billy ran a mental list of places where his son could possibly be.

"Hey Billy," interrupted Embry, "you mind if I steal Taylor away for a moment?"

"Hmm?" said Billy, snapping out of his revere, "oh yes, my boy, go right ahead. I should really
go mingle, you know, be a good host. Miss Uley." He gave me a little wink and a nod, then
turned to Embry, "Em, you wouldn't happen to know where my son has run off to, would you?"

"I think he's over at the Cullen's" he responded.

Embry and Billy shared a knowing look before Billy replied, "oh, I see then."

As Billy left, Embry turned his attention back to me.

"Hey, the guys just told me about this party that they're planning on checking out after this barbeque, you interested?"

"A party?" I squealed, "yeah totally. I love parties!"

"Sweet," replied Embry, "we'll probably drop by for a look later on tonight."

"Cool," I responded, "maybe I can show you La Push boys how we party in LA."

I shot Embry a suggestive glance and he responded by raising an eyebrow.

"Hey Taylor!" I heard Kim's voice over the senseless chatter that surrounded me, "Taylor!
Come here for a second!"

I gave Embry a seductive wink and turned my back to him as I made my way over to where Kim was standing.

As I chattered away with Kim, I noticed Embry standing hear the edge of the woods talking with Sam and Quil. I tried to keep my attention focused on the conversation I was having with Kim, but for the entirety of the conversation, I was consciously aware of Embry's eyes following my every move.





At around quarter to ten, the crowd around Billy's had started to die down. I was in the backyard talking to Kim and a few of her friends, when Jared approached us and said that he and the guys were leaving for the party.

We thanks Billy for having us over and then made our way out to the front of the house.

"Hey Taylor!" Embry called me over.

I jogged over to where he was standing with Quil, "what's up?"

"You're gunna be riding with me and Quil," he replied, "that cool"

"Yeah, sure," I responded.

Quil held the door to the truck open and I climbed in as Embry sat behind the wheel, and Quil climbed in the passenger seat behind me.

"So, who's the guy having the party?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"Luke Cunningham," replied Quil, "he's a buddy of mine from football."

"Ahh," I replied, as I focused my attention on a song that was playing on the radio.

Embry pulled into a driveway a few minutes later and it was no trouble to tell that this was where the party was.

There were boys running around outside, groups of girls were standing around laughing, and
gossiping, and a constant stream of teenagers flitting in and out of the house.

Quil helped me down from the truck, and we followed Embry, Jared, and Kim into the house.

"Quil! My man!" shouted a random guy, coming over to us and slapping Quil's hand, you know, like guys do.

"Luke, dude," replied Quil, "crazy party, man."

"Yeah man," Luke agreed. He surveyed our group and his eyes stopped when they landed on
me, "and who's this?" He asked.

"Taylor Uley," I replied, offering him my hand, "Sam Uley's sister."

"Luke Cunningham," he smiled, taking my hand in his, "and may I be so bold as to say, that you are a sight for sore eyes."

I smirked at his lame attempt at flirting, "well aren't you smooth," I teased.

He ran a hand through his short brown locks and chuckled, "yeah, it sounded a lot better in my head."

I laughed at his confession. At that moment, Kim came up behind me and dragged me into the kitchen.

"What's up?" I asked her as she got herself a drink from the fridge.

"Nothing," she shrugged, "I just wanted you to come with me."

I gave a little giggle and took a step back, "I'm gunna go find Embry."

Kim nodded and before I left, I saw Jared sneak up behind her and give her a quick peck on the cheek.

I saw Embry standing by the couch, talking to Paul and two other guys that I didn't recognize.

"Hey dude," I replied, bumping Embry with my hip.

"Hey yourself," he said, "oh, by the way, Taylor this is Seth Clearwater and Jacob Black. Seth,
Jake, Tay is Sam's sister."

"You're Billy's son, right?" I asked. Jacob nodded his response, "we missed you at the barbeque."

"Oh yeah," Jake replied, "I got caught up with something.

I nodded and listened to the boys continuing the conversation they had been having, dropping the occasional "mhmm" and "oh yeah" whenever it deemed appropriate.

I was completely spacing out when Jake brought up the topic of last night's hockey game, Montreal at Boston.

"Yeah, Kovalev's check on Ryder was something sick," replied Embry.

"Price had a good game," Seth commented.

"And Koivu's goal in the third," I cut in, "magic."

The three boys turned silent, staring at me wide eyed.

"What?" I demanded.

"You're into hockey?" asked Seth.

"I should be," I answered, "I kind of have been playing for the past four years."

"You any good?"

"I'm not bad," I said, modestly.

"What position you play?" asked Jake.

"Center."

Embry looked at me suspiciously, "who's your team."

"Montreal," I responded with hesitation.

"My girl!" exclaimed Seth, tossing an arm around my shoulders.

I giggled at Seth's excitement and was about to ask the guys what they thought of Begin's goal in overtime, when Jared and Kim came over and announced that they were heading out.

"Yeah, we should probably get going too," replied Jake, "I promised Nessie that I would drop by before she went to bed."

I noticed Quil and Jared exchange a look the moment Jake mentioned this "Nessie" person.

"Yeah, come on," replied Embry taking my hand.

"Hey Taylor.'

I twisted around and saw Luke making his way through the crowd. I paused at the front steps and waited until Luke caught up with me.

"Listen," he replied, "I just wanted to say that it was really nice meeting you and I was wondering if I could call you or something tomorrow and we could hang, if you wanted."

I smiled, "yeah Luke, that sounds awesome. Call me tomorrow and we'll figure something out." I climbed into Embry's truck and buckled my seatbelt. I had just experienced my first La Push party, and I was still in one piece.

Embry's arm was thrown carelessly over my seat and as I stifled a yawn, I snuggled into Embry's warm chest.

"Tired?" he asked me, pushing a few strands of hair from my face.

I nodded and fought to keep my eyes open.

Embry began to softly hum a song.

That, combined with the act of Embry moving my hair away from my face, brushing my face in the process, made it completely impossible for me to stay conscious, and there, in the cab of Embry's truck, I fell asleep.