┏━━━━⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚⋆━━━━┓

LADIES NIGHT

"DON'T GET ME WRONG, I WAS ALL TEAM NELLY RAH RAH RAH, BUT I'M NOT GONNA LIE... I MISSED THIS."

Nelly rolled her eyes, tossing a throw pillow at the girl that was sat in front of her. "Thanks for the kind words, Kiki."

The Fuller girl wasn't phased, smiling giddily as she continued painting Kim's nails. "No problem!"

It was the first time the three girls had hung out, their little circle wholly completed once more, since Nelly had forgiven Kim. It was unanimously decided they needed a much overdue girls night, and Kim was happy to offer up her own home given that her parents were out of town for the next few days.

They had a few weeks to catch up on for numerous reasons; the most obvious being Kim's exile, and the least obvious was the fact that Nelly was getting busy with pack duties. Not only that, but Akira was working longer shifts at her job, so they all had things they needed to share.

Obviously, talk of Nelly's situation with Embry had come up first when the pizza had been ordered.

"In honour of being transparent," Kim started off with a grimace, "the boys heard you and Embry sucking face the other day."

Nelly's stomach dropped, her cheeks flushing when Akira's head snapped in her direction. "What the fu—"

"There's been a new development, Ki," Nelly interrupted, rubbing a hand over her face, as a means to stop Kim from revealing too many details. "Me and Embry patched things up."

The girl scoffed. "Oh, clearly," she remarked, fingers hovering in the air as they held the nail polish brush. "How did that happen?"

"A few days ago," Nelly admitted, and Akira's mouth dropped open even more. "He's taking me on a top secret date tomorrow... and enlisted Quil and Jake to help."

Kim squealed, clapping her hands together. "That's so cute!" she said, an infectious smile on her face. "Jacob could use the distraction, especially now that the love of his life is on her honeymoon."

Akira waved her hands in the air wildly. "Ok no, we are so not segueing away from this mind blowing revelation to talk about Jacob, of all people," she rambled on, all but leaning forward on her hands to crowd Nelly's space. "Tell me everything or I won't tell you my very own hot goss."

At that, Kim and Nelly simultaneously narrowed their eyes at the black haired girl. "What goss?" Nelly immediately inquired.

"You never have hot goss," Kim added, backing up Nelly. "Spill, immediately."

Akira rolled her eyes, screwing the cap back onto the nail polish container. "I have my own personal stalker now," she laughed, a finger pointed in Nelly's direction, "Embry's shenanigans are so last month."

Kim indiscreetly met Nelly's gaze as she asked, "who?"

"Seth's sister," she shrugged, like it was no big deal. Surely to her it was no big deal, but to the other two girls who were sitting there with mouths agape, it was anything but. "She's been coming into the shop a lot lately. I never knew someone could like the pumpkin bread so much."

Nelly blinked. "the... pumpkin bread?" she asked incredulously. She caught Kim in her peripheral shaking her head, a flabbergasted look on her face. "The worst item you guys make? That's what she's been buying?"

Not just that, but Nelly knew that both Clearwaters hated all things pumpkin. Evidently, something wasn't adding up.

"Hey! I like the pumpkin bread," Akira fought back with a huff. "It has chocolate chips in it. I swear, you guys never try new s—"

"Sorry, can we circle back to the Leah thing?" Kim looked just about as stressed as Nelly felt, both girls knowing exactly why Leah seemed to be spending so much time at Akira's place of work. "When did that start?"

"A bit after the funeral," the Fuller girl answered, tone a little quieter around the last portion of the sentence. "She drove me and B home afterward. She's very sweet— generous tipper too."

Though Nelly had told Kim that their dear friend was already in the know of the pack's furry little secret ("how the fuck did you manage to get away with that?"), the whole imprinting thing was something she couldn't even begin to explain.

"I bet," Kim whispered beneath her breath, and Nelly rubbed her hands over her eyes. "You think she's there for the bread, or the cute barista slash baker of the bread?"

Akira flushed, shrugging lamely in a poor attempt to dispel the evident heat from her cheeks. "She probably likes the bread. I'm telling you guys, it's actually so bangin'."

Kim and Nelly locked eyes once more, and suddenly, the Sequoia girl's stomach fell. Was this how Kim had felt all this time— all this time where she had to keep the whole imprinting thing a secret from Nelly?

She was consumed by guilt as they listened to Akira ramble on, both girls only able to offer her nods and false smiles. In reality, Nelly wanted to shake her friend and tell her the truth.

There was no loophole for this type of gag order, because there was only one other way to get Akira to know, and it involved a certain female shifter.

˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚

Three rings sounded before the person on the other end picked up. "You hate pumpkin bread, you fraud."

"... is this Nelly?"

The girl almost growled down the line. "No, it's Batman calling from my super secret lair," she responded snippily. "Yes, Leah, it's Nelly."

There was a beat of silence from the Clearwater girl. "How'd you get my number?" she asked, a twinge of uncertainty in her tone.

"Your brother is way too nice," was Nelly's calmer reply. "But that's not why I'm calling. I'm calling because a little birdy told me you've been visiting the Cornerstone coffee shop in town. Fact, or fiction?"

A sigh. "Let me guess, the birdy being Akira?"

"Is it fact or fiction, Leah?!" she all but screamed into the phone, frustration getting the better of her.

Another wave of silence gave Nelly all the information she needed before she heard Leah's voice pipe up. "I like pumpkin bread," she said, sounding like she was forcing the words from her throat.

"No, what you like is Akira," Nelly corrected her, and that earned her a hearty growl from the older girl. "No one would subject themselves to eating a slab of pumpkin bread per day just for shits."

"You are so insufferable."

"That's actually a big compliment from you."

Another snarl, though it was one more of annoyance rather than anger. "You can start being all friendly with your imprint, but I can't with mine? Is that it?"

"The difference is that me and Embry imprinted on each other," Nelly reminded her. "Right now, you're just Seth's big sister who has an unsettling addiction to that gross ass bread. You gotta tell her, Lee."

"I know," the girl snapped in return, before a sigh of deflation sounded. "She's nice... and it's nice being around her. You know what it feels like now— the calm."

"I know," Nelly sighed out. "But I hate keeping secrets from her. I won't keep any from her, she doesn't deserve that."

There was shuffling on the other end of the line.

"I'll figure it out."

Then, the dial tone.

⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚⋆

[ wyn's note ]

AHHHHHHH money moves for our secondary babies!!!!! don't u just love summer <3

in case a refresh is needed; kiki knows abt the pack (which is why nelly got in trouble all those chaps ago with daddy sammy) but the imprint thing is on the low. hence why leah has to woman up and say smth

AND ALSOOOO thanks for 45k reads my dolls !! all my love MWAH MWAH