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CHAPTER FOURTEEN — THE BOY WHO WAS HOOKED ON A FEELING BECAUSE OF THE GIRL
WHEN HIS MOTHER ASKED ABOUT the wolf in the beach house, Embry was sure about what he wanted to answer. It was a gift from Claire, he would say, the girl who I left my imprint on. She's really nice and kind, and... But that was impossible, something forbidden to do. He was still the same Embry Call who remained grounded almost every week for his empty bed that was found at night by his mother, and how late in the morning he would come home without explaining where he was or what he did.
So instead of talking about the girl who changed his life, Embry talked about his new friend (he wasn't even sure if he could call Claire with that title, but he did it anyways). He tried not to get excited for the smile that appeared in his mother's face when he mentioned the name of Claire Newton, as that was the very first time he ever got to chat about a girl in front of Tiffany.
Usually, Embry would prefer to talk about anything but except of his relation with Claire. He still felt so self-conscious about it, even though the stalker theory was over and they had already spoken in four occasions—yes, Embry counted each of them. But in that moment, with Tiffany making subtlest questions about Claire, Embry found himself repeating Claire's name again and again while he explained his mother about the way he met her in Emily's home and their other encounters.
And when Tiffany suggested to bring Claire home to meet her, it was that Embry woke up from whichever dream he had been put into, and denied the suggestion with a rushing gesture. Though Tiffany crossed her arms and tried to convince him (even negotiating the duration of his current punishment; apparently, she was desperate to see Embry hang around with other people than his pack partners, and well, he knew how good Claire was for an option of change), it existed a list of reasons why Claire shouldn't meet his mother... Yet —or ever, actually. It all depended on Embry's shy attitude and his inefficiency of dealing with his feelings and thoughts about Claire. So it was quite a hard thing if he really considered a future scene where Claire and Tiffany introduced each other and giggled and shared shameful stories about him. Not that he had literally imagined that, but still, future was an uncertain thing when it came to be about Claire and him.
That was the main purpose of the list; to remember him the reasons why he should remain Claire's existence in a secret until everything was settle on its ideal place. He had written it in order to stop thinking on it for remembering the lines, and that was, of course, because with persons like Jacob and Jared in his head all day, it was easy to turn into a target of jokes. Embry hid the small paper in his toolbox, which he kept under his bed, covered with old notebooks and folders from school. He was probably exaggerating a bit but he didn't mind at all? He knew what would happen if his mother ever found about his little secret, and alas, he preferred to avoid that.
