Howl.

"I can't talk to you anymore, Lilly."

The phone static made his voice sound strange, and I wanted to believe that he hadn't just said that. This wasn't like him. "What?" My voice cracked. "Why not? What's going on, Embry?"

"I can't tell you. It'd be easier to just.. not talk to you anymore."

My heart beat furiously in my chest, and I started to cry. "Was it something I did?" Embry and I had been inseparable since the fourth grade. This wasn't making any sense. "Em -"

I was loudly interrupted by the dial-tone: the final assurance that our friendship had been cut off. Gently, I placed the phone back on it's cradle and took a deep, lingering breath. What had happened to him?

A violent ray of pink and yellow sunshine broke through my curtains. It was still morning, I knew, because of the damn alarm clock that had gone off at six o'clock. I ignored it for as long as I could, but that only lasted about another second before I rolled over and slammed my fist into the snooze button. "God fucking dammit," I mumbled.

It was the first day of summer vacation, and I was up at six in the morning. What the hell was wrong with me?

The hardwood of my bedroom floor was cold against my feet when I walked across it into the hallway. I could hear Mom downstairs, thumping around. She would be leaving for work soon, which meant that I would have the whole house to myself. I didn't want to be home alone.

"Good morning, Lilliana," my mother said as I shuffled into the kitchen. I grunted in response. "Why are you up so early?"

"Don't know." I poured a cup of coffee and dumped four spoonfuls of sugar into the black liquid. I hated coffee.

"You should get outside and do something today. It's going to be beautiful." Mom had a tendency to be way too perky, even for six in the morning. It was almost annoying, the way that she smiled and bounced her steps.

"Maybe. If Mary isn't doing anything." The love of my life was Mary Hodgins. She was probably the most badass person that I knew, and in spite of the fact that she was rather rude and mean, I loved her more than anything. We'd been best friends since junior high, after she moved to La Push from somewhere in Nevada.

"Even so, you should still get outside. You need some vitamin D, especially after being cooped up in the house so much. Do you remember when you and Embry used to spend all of the daylight hours outside?" She continued talking, but I wasn't listening. I had had a feeling this was coming. It had been in my gut since the moment that I stepped off of the last step. Goddammit, I hated when she talked about Embry.

"Mom, please stop."

She looked at me, frowning. "I'm sorry, hun. I always forget it's such a touchy subject for you."

"Yeah, I'm sure you do. Let's not talk about it ever, ever again." I set my mug into the kitchen sink and crossed my arms. "And you don't forget, Mom, you completely overlook the fact that Embry could ever abandon me the way that he did, because you thought that he was the best thing ever. Am I right?"

She stared at me with doe eyes. "I'm sorry, Lilly. Really."

"Whatever." I walked away, climbing back up the stairs and locking myself in the bathroom. God, I needed someone to talk to. It'd been almost six months since the last time I spoke to Embry, and I still couldn't get past him. Jesus Christ.

I turned the shower on, letting the water run for a couple of minutes before stripping my clothes off and stepping into the steamy hot water. I could've gone back to sleep, and why I hadn't was still a mystery to me.

"You know I'm not ever going to leave you, right?" Embry hugged me, despite my protests. "We're best friends, Lilly."

"You've said that so many times in the last year, I think it's been carved into my forehead," I said, smirking. "Now, let me go, you giant."

"I'm being completely serious."

I sighed, and looked at him and his smiling face. His dark hair fell into his eyes, almost like he had put it there intentionally. My knees buckled slightly, and I pushed against him to support myself. "Yeah, yeah. I know."

Fuck you, Embry Call.

By the time I had finished showering, I'd killed an hour, and Mom had gone off to work after leaving me a crisp twenty dollar bill with a note that said, "Have anything you want for dinner. Love you - Mom."

By ten o'clock, I'd gotten so bored that the only solution that I saw was to get outside. I got my bike out of the shed in the backyard, and although I hadn't been on it for a good four months, I hopped on it with ease. Bicycling had been the only thing that could really take my mind off of... well, anything. I loved feeling the wind whip my hair around my face, the sound that the tires make when you coast, and the feeling of freedom that came with it.

My first stop on my bike ride was Mary's house, who was not at all happy to see me so early in the morning. "What the hell are you doing here, Lilly? It's fucking ten thirty."

"Yup!" I smiled, and pushed my way past her. "And you're getting up whether you want to or not, because I've been up since six and have nothing else to do."

Mary rubbed her forehead, and heaved a sigh. "Give me twenty minutes, and we can do whatever the hell it is that you want to do."

"That's the spirit." I plopped down on the big, white, leather couch positioned in the center of the living room and turned the television on. Mary disappeared into her bedroom, and sure enough, twenty minutes later she walked out looking like she'd been ready for this for days.

"Where are we going, anyway?" She asked as we stepped off of the front porch. "Is there anything open this early?"

"We can get breakfast, retard," I said, picking my bike up and starting down the sidewalk. Mary walked beside me.

"Don't be such a bitch, Lilly. You're the one who woke me up this early."

"Oh, Mary. Did you take your pills when you were getting dressed? I think you're a little unstable today." I smirked and rode in circles around her.

"Shut up, Lilly. I don't take pills."

"But you should."

"Yeah, we established that how many years ago?"