┏━━━━⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚⋆━━━━┓

THE TEST OF FAITH

"SO, IN A NUTSHELL; YOU LIKE EMBRY AGAIN— IS THAT IT?"

"Did you even listen to a word I just said, Lahote?"

"Yeah, which is why I just asked you to clarify, dipshit."

Patrol rolled around only a day after Nelly and Embry ate her mother's lasagna in the warmth of her kitchen, and truthfully, Nelly had wanted to keep these new developments to herself.

But the Sequoia girl could never keep anything to herself, and with Akira on a new schedule at work and her own pack duties sneaking up on her, the only person around to tell was her patrol buddy: Paul.

Nelly rolled her eyes as they continued on their walk, careful to avoid any stray tree roots along the mountain's path. "I don't like him, at least not in the way you're thinking," she grumbled out. "He's tolerable now, thanks to this stupid imprint shit."

Paul's face scrunched up. "Yeah, that's why you've been acting different with him lately."

She could smell his sarcasm from a mile away. "It is!" she cried out in complaint. "There's no other explanation for it."

"Have you ever considered that maybe the bond just intensified feelings that were already there?" he mused, and she didn't need to face him to know that there was a smirk on his face. "I mean, you guys did like each other before, right?"

Nelly choked on air for a second. "Uhm, no," she denied, and it earned her an unimpressed glare from the boy. "We were friends, best friends— neither of us would ever think about each other like that."

In truth, she knew that neither of them would ever try anything to jeopardize their friendship. They were too close, and Nelly always figured Embry would never even look at her in such a way. And so what if she had the teeniest crush on the Call boy growing up? It was a need-to-know fact, and no one except her damn diary needed to know that.

Plus, an Imprint could be a lover or a friend, and she had a feeling Embry was banking on the latter. Especially with the way he had been trying to get their friendship back on track these past few weeks.

"That's a crock of shit," Paul scoffed, kicking a stray pebble out of their way. "Dude's got heart eyes whenever you're mentioned, and don't even get me started on when you're in the damn room because—"

"You need glasses," she interrupted, rubbing a hand over her face. "I've known Embry for a decade; trust me, he doesn't see me in that kind of way."

Paul stopped moving in his tracks, causing Nelly to bump into his back. She was about to stutter out a complaint, but he merely turned to her with the widest grin she'd ever seen.

"Wanna put that theory to the test?"

˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚

Paul's plan was borderline idiotic for a multitude of reasons, but no matter how much Nelly tried to say that nothing would come from it, the hothead seemed to disagree.

It's a genius plan, thank you very much.

Trust me.

Mustering up what little trust she already had in Paul, the pair put their game faces on. Nelly's dignity and twenty dollars were on the line, so she hoped she would be right.

The two emerged from the treeline, their own obnoxious laughter drifting through the air the minute they spotted most of the pack in Sam's yard just like Paul said they'd be.

Nelly counted them out in her head: Sam, Jared, Brady, Embry, the Clearwaters, and Kim. Seeing the Connweller girl for the first time in what felt like ages made her stomach tumble, but she curbed it down; they had a plan to see through— she'd worry about those other feelings later.

They were seated at a picnic bench just by the back door, and Nelly caught Embry's eye the moment she felt the boy next to her drop her arm around her shoulder. Embry's easygoing smile that was pointed in her direction vanished at a comical speed, eyes narrowing on the figure to her left.

"Call, you didn't tell me how fun Nelly is," Paul called out as the pair waltzed up to the others.

Nelly rolled her eyes. "I'm so fun because I laugh at all of his jokes," she corrected with her own convincing fit of laughter.

Paul's chest was puffed out in a show of elevated confidence, head bonking against Nelly's own as he chuckled in response.

Sam hummed, analyzing the pair with inquisitive eyes. "I take it the new patrol setup's been going well then, yeah?"

"Oh, definitely," Nelly nodded convincingly.

"She's definitely my new favourite patrol buddy," he responded, and it earned a sound of complaint from the Cameron boy. Paul merely shrugged, "sorry Jare— I can't say the same for you, but at least Nell's easy on the eyes."

Nelly smacked his bare chest with her palm, his shirt having been discarded before they made their arrival known. "You're such a flirt, you ass."

He caught her wrist with his hand, a taunting eyebrow raised. "Wanna repeat that last bit for me, sweetheart?"

The sound of glass shattering echoed throughout the landscape, and the very noise made Nelly flinch. Both of them turned to face the direction of where the noise had come from, and the brunette girl blanched at the sight of Embry holding the shattered remains of the glass he must've been holding.

He was red in the face, chest heaving as he suddenly pushed his way out from the bench. As he walked by the pair, he knocked his shoulder into Paul's roughly, resulting in the Lahote boy staggering away from Nelly.

The last thing anyone heard was the slamming of the back door, Embry disappearing within whilst leaving a trail of metaphorical steam in his wake.

Nelly didn't expect much from their little plan, but she sure as hell didn't expect that sort of reaction. Her chest seized up, breathing shallowed; had Paul been right about something for the first time in his life?

Turning to the boy himself, Paul only tossed her a knowing glance, his chin tilting in the direction of the house.

Told you so.

⋆.˚ ᡣ𐭩 .𖥔˚⋆

[ wyn's note ]

paul loves to piss these bitches off, my little shit disturbing king <3

seems like everyone knows about nell and embry's connection BUT them (until now at least LOLOL)

thanks for 33k my loves!! always much appreciated xx