Innocent

NIKKI:

They're all freaking suicidal!

Valerie started stripping down to her bathing suit, and I realized she was serious about jumping off a cliff. It wasn't a joke?

"It's really not that scary." She said, kicking off her shoes. "I mean, it seems scarier than it is."

"You'll die! There's rocks down there, and you don't know how deep the water is." I really wasn't expecting to add cliff diving to my bucket list.

"We do it all the time, it's perfectly safe." Seth appeared, half naked as always. "Unless you're scared?"

"I'm afraid of a horrible rocky death, yes!"

"But you can't hurt yourself." Seth angled his neck to see one of them peeking over the edge. "Watch this."

He hurried over to the shirtless clown - Embry, I think, and shoved him over the edge. Embry howled as he plummeted to the water below. I heard the splash, waited a moment, and then smiled as a few curse words tied to Seth's name echoed off of the trees.

"You see?" Seth yelled over to us. 

"Lucky push." I muttered.

"No pain, no gain." A deep voice shook my bones from behind me. I recognized his very large build, the largest build of them all. 

"It's not scary, right Paul?" Valerie hugged herself to keep warm. It wasn't cold, but this area doesn't get super warm, even in the summer. But it is warm enough to swim, without the breeze.

Paul completely ignored her. "I have this really intense urge to throw you off a cliff today," He said to her, eyeing her sneakily.

Valerie sighed, but smiled. "Last time he tried to throw me off, I freaked out."

"Come on, you owe me." He punched her shoulder playfully.

Valerie thought it over, and eventually held out her arms. He scooped her up and marched proudly over to the edge.

She gave one last wave over his shoulder, and her face flashed fear right before she flew a few feet forward into dead air and dropped down in a screaming laugh.

Paul spun on his heels and focused directly on me. "Next victim?"

I waved my hands in front of me. "I don't have a bathing suit."

He approached me shamelessly and stuck his finger under the strap of the top of my bikini. "And what's this?" He let it slap back to my skin.

Something came over me, I don't know what it was, but I reached for the knot behind my neck and pulled it loose. I yanked the fabric out from beneath my oversized t-shirt and held it in front of him. "My bathing suit." I said firmly, throwing it down to the ground at our feet.

He didn't back off like most guys would at my unnecessary awkwardness. Instead, he laughed out loud. "You're definitely going in now."

Ten seconds later I hit the water butt-first in a sloppy cannonball. Once I surfaced again, I understood why he laughed at me like I was pathetic. 

My t-shirt was white. And I was wet. And without any sort of bathing suit top.

Oh shit.

I treaded water, watching in horror as the others waited on the shore on a big blanket. How am I supposed to get out without flaunting my -

A splash beside me forced water down my throat. I choked on it.

Paul surfaced, smirking like he just guaranteed himself the win. "What are you waiting for?"

"I like swimming." I said. "I used to swim every single day at the lake near my old house." That weird something came over me again. "Sometimes I would go skinny dipping at night."

He raised his eyebrows. "Really now?"

I bit my tongue. I barely know this guy and I'm already coming across as a whore. 

He seemed to have noticed my discomfort. "Here," He pulled my bathing suit top out of the water. "You might need this."

I checked his eyes to see if it was a trap, but he seemed sincere enough. "Thanks." I took it from him, trying to figure out how to get it back on.

"Let me know next time you go skinny dipping." He winked, leaving me to suffer embarassment alone in the middle of the ocean. 

Somehow, I managed to shimmy back into my top and drag myself out of the water. I avoided eye contact with Paul. He was digging for something in Valerie's bag.

"Don't eat them all." She warned him, her head resting in Seth's lap.

I grabbed one of the towels and wrapped it tightly around myself.

Paul opened the bag of green grapes. "I can't help it." He ate a handful all at once.

"Paul, come on." Seth stroked Valerie's hair. She let her eyes droop and eventually close, perfectly at peace.

"Why is she so tired?" Embry held up his hands to catch the bag of grapes. "It's only one thirty."

"She came to my house this morning at nine for breakfast." I started to tell them all about it, but Valerie's eyes flew open, staring at me in terror.

"Nine AM?" Paul plopped down near me. "What's the occasion?"

Valerie straightened up. "Can't a friend make another friend breakfast without being questioned about it?"

I tried to hide my face in my knees. She sounded too defensive. Seth slid his fingers partly over hers on the blanket, and she slowly lay her head down again.

"I smell a secret." Embry tossed the bag of grapes back at Paul. 

I intercepted his catch. "She told you not to eat them all." I held up the bag, only five grapes left.

They both actually cowered, ashamed of themselves. 

I had to change topics. "Valerie doesn't have a secret." They'd find out about Beth eventually, so I figured I'd say something first. "I do."

Their eyes locked on me and didn't budge. "I got Beth to leave Tyler, but I told her I lied about it."

"Why?" Seth sighed, realizing the consequences just as I did.

"She was upset, all because of me. I couldn't just -"

"It doesn't matter." Embry butted in. "The minute we find him, he's dead either way."

"Isn't there something else we can do?" I sounded pathetic. "Something that won't hurt Beth?"

I didn't get an answer. Valerie watched me with a frown. I outright lied to her that morning. How was she supposed to trust me now?

"Maybe we should ask the Cullens." Seth almost whispered, bracing himself for a beating.

"Yeah? And what? Get them to brainwash him?" Paul spat. "You know how that turned out last time."

"It's worth a try." Valerie backed him up.

"The Cullens?" I asked. "Who are they?"

"A jacked up family of bloodsucking misfits." Paul said rather bluntly.

I was confused. "Why would you ask vampires to -"

"They drink animal blood." Seth explained. "They might be able to train Tyler to do the same."

"Sam won't approve." Paul told him. "You know he won't."

"Sam doesn't have to know." Seth said, eyeing Embry and Paul together. "As long as nobody says anything to him."

Embry looked at Paul, then at me, then back to Seth. "I can't make any promises. If it turns out bad, I'm not taking the blame."

We looked for Paul's answer, but it was written all over his face.

"It'll be fine." Seth said to me. "Don't worry."

I nodded, even though I had no idea what was going on.

. . . . . . . .

"Do you think Jacob will go for it?" Seth started his car with Valerie in the passenger seat. I was comfortable in the back.

"I don't know..." She said quietly.

"Who's Jacob?"

They both looked back at me like I was crazy.

"She hasn't met Jake yet." Valerie realized, slowly facing front again.

"Huh." Seth grunted to himself.

I felt my eyebrows crease. "Should I be worried?"

"No." She said flatly.

I didn't know why she was so softspoken, but I guessed it was because of what I almost said. "Valerie, I'm sorry about bringing up this morning."

"It's okay." She said quickly. "It's not your fault."

"They'll figure it out on their own., anyway." Seth added, blushing just as much as she was.

Valerie smiled, hitting his shoulder. "Not if you keep your thoughts to yourself."

"His thoughts? What, werewolves can read minds now?" I was learning something new everyday. Yay.

"We hear eachother. There's a difference."

"Sure there is." I rolled my eyes.

"If Jake doesn't back us up, then I don't know if we'll get the Cullens to agree." Seth started again.

"They trust you." Valerie took his hand in her own. "If you ask them, they'll consider it."

I leaned forward between the two seats. "What will happen to Tyler if they say yes?"

They both hesitated before answering me. "If he can drink animal blood and be satisfied enough with it, he'll be able to control himself enough around Beth."

"But he hasn't hurt her yet." I pointed out. "He hasn't even seemed like he wanted to hurt her. What does that mean?"

Seth sighed, probably overwhelmed. "I don't know."

I poked Valerie's shoulder. "And why would you want him to stick around? All he does is cause you pain."

She turned her face to look sideways out the window.

"If I were you, I'd kill him myself." I added.

Seth's eyes grabbed mine through the rearview mirror. He wasn't angry or anything, but he gave me a look that said to shut the hell up.

So I did. For now.