Better Than Revenge

"Seth, play again!"

"Yeah, one more game!"

"Pleeeease?"

I smiled warmly, hugging Seth's arm closer. I peered up at him, waiting for an answer just like my cousins. They were triplets, two girls and a boy.

"You can be the fast car this time." Ethan, the only boy in the seven-year-old triplet, gave up the best car in Mario Kart Wii.

"And Ellie will close her eyes when she plays." Emma offered with a toothless grin.

"I will I will!" Ellie nodded.

Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jim's oldest child was Ryan. He was almost fourteen, and refused to play videogames with his younger siblings. Seth jumped at the opportunity, but now he wouldn't come out of it alive.

"So you'll let me win?" Seth smirked at them.

"Yes!"

"Alright, one more game." He slipped out of my arm to grab his remote.

I told Seth he didn't have to stay with me, but he didn't want to leave. In fact, my cousins were so in love with him that he couldn't leave if he tried. He was so great with them, and it was a helpful addition for me. I wasn't stuck playing Wii for three hours.

I snuck over to Ryan and sat next to him at the kitchen table. He was busy pressing the tiny buttons on his phone.

"Hi, Ry." I said.

He glanced up at me. "Hey."

I peered over his arm to see the name of the person he was texting. "Who's Natalie?"

His cheeks blushed dark red. "Nobody."

I smirked, whispering to him. "Is she your girlfriend?"

"No." He said quickly, but when he glanced up at me again he gave in. "Maybe."

I smiled at him, but he was still embarrassed.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Ryan jerked his chin towards my wolf boy.

"Maybe." I teased.

Seth started jumping up and down while Ethan, Emma, and Ellie screamed bloody murder.

Ryan set down his phone and laughed a little. "He's weird."

I laughed too, but for a different reason. "You have no idea."

We didn't say anything else for a few minutes. I couldn't help but wonder if we would ever tell my family that Seth was a werewolf. I wasn't sure how they'd react, but they'd have to find out eventually. There wasn't really another option.

"He's really cool, though." Ryan said. "Good choice."

I just smiled at him, because it was true.

My family loved him, almost as much as I did. When my mom got home, she wasn't exactly thrilled that Seth was there, but Aunt Lisa started gushing with compliments about him and Mom changed her mind real fast. Seth basically adopted himself into my family, just like I was adopted into his. It made me feel nice, like he would always be in my life no matter what.

. . . . . . . .

I waited with my toes dug into the sand. I didn’t wear shoes ; that isn’t weird, is it? It’s a wedding on the beach. Shoes shouldn’t be required.

I had my hair pinned back in a loose bun on the nape of my neck and a flowing pale blue dress that reached down to my ankles. As the Maid of Honor, I received a matching blue flower that clipped neatly in my hair. The guys wore a pale blue shirt and tie, matching us of course. I hadn’t seen Emily yet, but I was sure she was gorgeous.

Yes, Sam and Emily finally decided to get married. It was beautiful, the way they loved eachother. It was painful to see them go by each day still engaged.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around in complete awe.

Emily grinned so big. “You look beautiful!”

“Me?” I asked in disbelief. She was breathtaking. Her dress was perfect, her hair was perfect. So perfect her scar was the only minor flaw. “You look incredible.”

“Thank you. Have you seen Sam anywhere?”

I did a double take, as if I didn't hear her right. “You’re not supposed to see him before!”

“I know, I know, but I need to ask him just one-”

Seth appeared, shielding Em with his body. “What are you doing?!”

“I’m sorry! I need to ask Sam -”

“No, are you crazy? Get back in your tent.” Seth guided her back to the little tent set up for the bridal party. She argued with him but ultimately lost. A pair of arms reached out and pulled Emily inside.

Seth rolled his eyes at me and huffed out a breath of air. We've been inseperable all the way through the next summer, almost an entire year, but just being able to call him my own humbled me.

“Are you okay?” I asked, noticing the anxious foot tapping.

He watched the ground and nodded too many times. “Yeah, yeah.”

I watched his hand fumble around in his pocket. “What’s in your pocket?”

He went stark white. “Nothing.”

“What’s in your pocket?”

He gulped. “Nothing.”

“Seth,” I tugged on his wrist and his hand came out, fingers enclosed in a fist. I gave him a questionable look.

“Don’t freak out, kay?” He said.

I froze from trying to open his fingers, but pried them open anyway.

A little silver ring with a blue stone sat prominently in his palm.

“It’s a promise ring.”

I bit my lip to try and not smile so big. “For who?”

“For Jacob.“ He teased, pinching the ring between his fingers and holding it up to the side of my head. His eyes switched back and forth from my eyes to the ring.

He smiled his smile. “It matches.”

I brought his hand down so I could see it more closely. “It’s really pretty.”
He slipped it onto my finger. It fit perfectly.

We smiled at each other, and I almost reached up to his lips -

“Hey, have you seen Emily?”

Sam looked nice in a tuxedo. “Do you people know anything about wedding days?”

“What are you doing? Go get ready.” Seth pushed Sam’s chest away and took my chin, leaning in -

“Is it really hot today?”

Seth dropped my chin. “No, it‘s not really hot.”

“What’s wrong, Sam?” I asked sincerely.

“I need to see her. I know it’s messed up but I need to see her.”

Seth looked at me, then back at Sam.

“Alright.” He whispered a secret in my ear. Then he stepped behind Sam’s back, covering his eyes from behind.

I went on my mission.

I peeked into the tent and found the woman in the white dress.

“Emily!”

She turned and skipped over to me.

“I have a surprise for you.” I whispered.

“What is it?”

I pulled on her arm out of the tent and covered her eyes like Seth did to Sam.

She tried to pull my hands down. “What is this?”

“You’ll see.” I guided her over to Sam and Seth. He was still covering Sam’s eyes.

“Val, what are you doing?”

Sam recognized her voice. “Emily?”

“Sam!”

Their arms flailed about until I got Emily close enough to reach him. They held hands.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

Nothing.

I looked at Seth. His eyebrows mushed together.

“How are you?” Sam asked.

“I’m a little nervous…” Emily admitted, with a nervous giggle.

“I’m sure you look beautiful.”

More nervous giggles. “I’m sure you do, too.”

Seth interrupted. “Okay, we’re all beautiful people. Let’s get married, shall we?”

We had to pry them away from each other.

When Seth and I met up again, I felt exhausted.

“Well that was -”

“Wait.” Seth framed my neck with his hands and kissed my lips. “Okay, what?”

“That was romantic.” I finished with a goofy smile.

He blew on his knuckles and wiped them on his shoulder. “It’s whatever.”

Out of nowhere, it was time for the wedding.

The actual ceremony took place along the water, the altar placed a little before the edge. The sunset stood in as a backdrop. Truly beautiful, especially for the Pacific Northwest.

Claire hobbled down the aisle first as the flower girl, her cute little pink and white dress nearly getting caught under her feet. Quil hunched over and guided her shoulders, reminding her to drop the flower petals every few seconds.

We lined up accordingly, all the guys with one of Emily’s friends on their arm. Somehow, I got stuck with Paul. The girls were so checking them all out, and I found it amusing. Except for the one on Seth’s arm.

I decided to make a statement.

I stepped out of line for a moment and made my way over to Seth.

He seemed pleasantly surprised. “Hey.”

I glanced at the girl and how tightly she was holding his arm. It was strange how she glowered so openly in my direction.

“Is everything okay? What did Paul do?”

I spun the ring on my finger and felt warm inside. “Everything’s fine.” I said. “I just wanted to say hi.”

Seth smiled, leaning out of the girl’s death grip to kiss me quickly. It deflated her. I returned to my place with a satisfied smile.

It dropped when Paul held out his elbow to me.

I took it loosely. I looked ahead to see if the train was moving yet.

“You look pretty.” Paul said without looking directly at me.

“You don’t look so bad yourself.”

His eyes found the ground. “Where are your shoes?”

“I didn’t bring any.”

Seth turned up and suddenly grabbed my face in another kiss. Then he hurried back to his spot before I could do anything but giggle.

Paul grimaced. “Disgusting.”

I snapped out of my daze. “Jealous much?”

He psh-ed. “Jealous of that?”

I waited.

He shrugged it off. “Who isn’t jealous of puppy love.”

I looked up at him. “What did you say?”

“Don’t try and deny it. That’s exactly what it is.”

I stood on my tip toes to see over the girl’s shoulder in front of me. The girl from before was looking in the opposite direction of Seth.

“Jealous much?” Paul mocked me.

I ignored him.

“Would you open your eyes? To him, everyone in the world is a man except for you. So quit being jealous.”

“I’m not jealous.”

Paul rolled his eyes. “SETH!”

He turned his head, his eyebrows raised.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

Seth was on Paul’s side. “What?”

“She’s jealous. And you better fix it.”

I thought I was going to bite my lip off.

Seth watched Paul for a moment, then he walked through us to get closer to me.

“Alright listen,”

I listened.

“After the ceremony, I need you to follow my lead, okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“You can’t chicken out.”

The music started to play.

“Don’t worry.” Seth squeezed my hand and ran back to his spot again.

“They’re gonna yell at you people for getting out of line so many times.”

“What do you think he’s -”

“Shh!”

We began walking, slowly and gracefully, lining up accordingly at the end of the aisle. It wasn’t as bad as I had originally thought. Which was a plus.

I couldn’t concentrate on the wedding itself, though. I wanted to know what Seth wanted me to do.

In the middle of the ceremony Jacob got my attention from the other side of the aisle. He pointed to his ring finger and I glanced down at mine, the ring Seth gave me living happily on it.

I smiled big.

Finally, the kiss came and the cheering was like that of a football game.

I watched Sam turn his back to the guests and face the ocean, taking Emily’s hand in his own. Then they both sprinted directly into the water without hesitating a bit.

I couldn’t believe it. But I started laughing, along with the guests.

Soon enough, the rest of the guys followed behind, shelling off their shirts and racing eachother into the waves.

I realized only a few of the girls, Seth, and I were the only ones left of the bridal party who hadn’t taken the plunge.

Seth grinned at me.

I wasn’t so sure if I was actually ready for this, but I took his hand anyway.

We stood at the edge. I gazed at the happily married couple splashing around, and another smile invited itself to my lips.

“Val,”

I kept smiling at the silhouette of his face, dark against the orange sky. I watched the sun flicker in his eyes just like the fire did the night I met him. “Hmm?”

He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it, and opened it again. He tapped my shoulder. “You’re it.”

I laughed again and he jumped in, creating a big splash.

I waited until he surfaced and left everything behind me, running right into his arms.

I guess you could call it puppy love, but there’s just one flaw in titling our relationship that way.

Puppy love is only temporary ; true love lasts forever.

.:The End:.