Dirty Little Secret

DEE'S POV

She piled in the car with the rest of the guys, driving down the familiar dirt road to her house. Well, her house from seven years ago. She glanced over at Embry in the front seat. She was in the back in between Jared and Paul.

"So, how's mom been?" She asked curiously.

"Same old, same old," He shrugged, twisting around in the seat.

"And dad?" She said quietly. When she was still in La Push, her dad was never at home. He'd always stay late at work or go on 'business trips'. Nobody ever knew where he went, and she knew there had to be more to it.

"Dee," He said just as softly.

"I know, I know. But you know I'm right."
"Yeah," He sighed. "He hasn't really been around. He comes in late sometimes, at night."
"Does Mom know the 'big secret'?" She said putting air quotes around it.

"Nope, and I don't intend on telling her." She rolled her eyes and sat back against the seat.

They drove up and she looked out the window, the 'same old' house stood there just like it had. Nothing changed about it. It was still a deep red color with black shutters on the aged windows. It had a big black door and a long driveway.
Jacob drove up, and the old-fashioned Rabbit looked so in place with everything.

She slid out of the truck after Paul and walked carefully up to the house. She took a deep breath, walked through the garage, and pushed open the small door leading into the coat room. She slid off her shoes, knowing how her mom had issues, and she walked around the endless corners in search for her.

Dee finally found her, curled up on a couch in front of the main fireplace, carved specially and imported from wherever dad went. She was reading one of the classic's, like always. She approached her slowly.

"Hi, mom." She said, swiping an awkward hand through the air.

"Denise?" And she was the only one allowed to call her that.

"I'm here." She gave a half-smile and stuffed her hands in her sweatshirt pockets.

"Ohhh awww!" She squealed and whined as she trapped her in a very tight hug.
She tried her best to get her arms free but it was impossible. She heard the sniggers behind her so she turned her head around to glare at the guys. "You're back! How long have you been here?"
"I'm back for the year and I just got here yesterday." Oh- shoot.

"Yesterday?! Why didn't you come see me!!"

"You cleaned out my room, so I stayed at Jake's." She got a very motherly look in her eye and she pulled her back to examine her.

"Oh, you've grown up so much. You're such a young woman now!" Dee's eyes widened and she stood stock-still as she listened to the laughter behind her.

"Well, we'll work on your room right now."

Dee pushed through the guys, her cheeks tinted the slightest of pinks, and down the hall to her first-floor bedroom off the living room. The walls were still a dark plum and the curtains were left on. The only differences were the many boxes stacked against the walls, and the bare bed in the corner. With the help of her massive friends, the boxes were moved in no time and the bed was made up as well.

"We're going back down to Sam's for a while," Embry called out after all her bags were thrown on her bed.

"Okay," She said and she trapped him in a hug. "Thanks, guys." She gave each boy a hug and they left, she hadn't even realized how smart she'd been leaving Jacob for last. "Thanks, you were a tremendous help."

"Sure, sure," He shrugged- like old times. She looked up into his eyes for a few seconds more and she hugged him around his stomach- the only part she could reach. She imagined kissing him . . . he'd have to lean down alot, if he'd wanted to kiss her, of course.

The incident at the beach could've been pure accident- who knows?

She flicked on some music from her I pod and speakers as she started unpacking her bags. After about an hour, one of her favorite songs in history started playing: "Dirty Little Secret" by The All-American Rejects. She tried to keep her singing to a small mumbling, but eventually she started dancing, then jumping across the room and full-singing into her hairbrush.

Dee never had the best singing voice, in fact it was really quite bad. She loved music though, and whenever someone would say something that reminded her of a song, she'd have to sing it. She compared life to music in alot of different ways. And even though she wasn't pleasant to listen to, she was a real laugh to watch.
And that's what she heard, lots of deep laughter behind her when the music faded out.

And there they were. All 5 of the hulking boys standing in her doorway, sniggering uncontrollably. She spun around very slowly, and stood staring at them. She hid her hairbrush behind her back. While the pause was in session, she couldn't help but think how much the song related to her life right now- the 'dirty little secret' that they refused to tell her.

"Hi," She murmured.

"So, I guess your vocal cords are still horrible, but you're still a great laugh." Quil
said pulling her in a one-armed hug.

"Thanks," She murmured somewhat sarcastically.

"So, I guess you've unpacked." Embry grinned at her.

"Yep," She decided to keep her talking short, let them know that her bad temper could set off.

"We're going back to Jake's to watch a movie, then we'll stay there again, wanna come?" Paul asked impatiently.

"Er- no, I'm going to stay here and-"
"Belt out to songs you can't sing?" Quil suggested.

"Out." She said pointing to the door with a playful but deathly glare. He stuck up his hands defensively and filed out.

"I'll meet you guys tomorrow at Jacob's house." She said waving them off.

JACOB'S POV

This was just too tempting. There she was, dancing around in her room, in short-shorts and a tank top. Pajamas, but very tempting pajamas. He had to keep himself under control, for Embry's sake. He was fine on the outside, but his urge to be closer to her deepened. He reluctantly followed the pack out to the car and back to his small house. It was a quiet night for him. He didn't talk at all.

"Jake- what's up?" Jared asked, noticing the problem. So like him.

"Dee." He sighed.
"You know," He said more lightly. "When I met Kim and saw her in class, I always felt the need to be with her. My brain wouldn't shut up. Every little thing, just picking up her pencil to write, tempted me."

"Yeah," Jacob agreed quietly.

"Is that how you feel?" He questioned.

"Yep," He said, shaking his head at his own vulnerability.

"Well, you know what happened with Kim right?"
"You never told me."

"At that party last years, Steven's, I danced with her the whole night. Then my brain was practically screaming, and I kissed her."

"Just like that?" It couldn't be that simple.

"Yeah, Sam hated me for it, but then I told her later on. About the legends and all that."

"Thanks, Jared." He said truly grateful.

Would it work if he just walked up and kissed her? Just like that? Then again, where would the alone time be? Nowhere. The guys, Embry, everyone was always around her. Her mom. Billy. Shoot- how was he supposed to do this?

He thought the rest of the night, thousands of possibilities and endless questions that never stopped. Plus the occasional picture of Dee popping briefly in his head. . .