The Rise of Lydia Rowe ↠ Jasper Hale (ON HOLD)

[2.19] revelations

THE NEXT DAY, LYDIA DROVE OVER TO EMILY'S. Sam had promised to explain what had happened between Leah and Gwen a few days before, and Lydia was undeniably curious. On the drive home that night, Gwen had wondered aloud if she'd done something to upset the girl, already mourning the loss of a chance with such an "intimidatingly gorgeous girl." 

Gwen's words, of course. 

"Hey, River Phoenix," Embry greeted from Emily's kitchen table. 

"Hi, Lydia!" Seth said, beaming at the girl. 

Unable to resist the urge, Lydia ruffled Seth's hair, earning a playful pout from the youngest shape-shifter. "Hey, guys." She looked up to see Sam in the room, and raised an eyebrow at him. "So," Lydia said, skipping straight to the good part. "What happened between Leah and Gwen?" 

Instead of answer, Sam looked at Embry. "Embry?" 

Embry looked slightly sheepish as he stood up, grabbing two muffins from the plate in the middle of the table and handing one to Lydia. "Wanna take a walk with me? I'll explain everything." He glanced briefly at Sam. "Promise." 

Lydia frowned at Embry's strange behavior, but nodded. "Sure," she said, following the boy out of the house. Seth and Sam were quiet as they left, though it wasn't as light as Lydia was used to. There was a weird sort of tension, and it left her a little on edge.

She and Embry walked in silence for a while, Lydia letting Embry lead the way since he knew the woods of La Push better than her. After a few minutes of simply walking and eating their muffins, Lydia finally asked, "So... what happened with Gwen and Leah?" 

Embry seemed to hesitate for a moment before he answered. "It's called imprinting," he told her. 

Lydia frowned. "Isn't that what ducklings do with their moms?" 

"Kinda similar, but also not really," Embry said, which was no help. "It's... it's hard to explain, really. To put it into words, it's... it's like love at first sight, I guess? But not entirely. That's how Sam described it, but..." He cleared his throat nervously, as if he wasn't entirely comfortable talking about the subject but was pushing through it for her sake. 

Before Lydia could tell him he didn't have to explain it if he wasn't comfortable, he continued, "When a shape-shifter imprints, they form this instant bond with the person they imprint on. They become like... like an anchor for us. Grounding us to the earth. It happens the first time we lock eyes with them after our first phasing." 

"So, Leah imprinted on Gwen?" Lydia guessed. 

Embry nodded, his lips tilting upward in a small smile. "Sam owes you a lot for bringing Gwen to the beach that day." 

"Why?" Lydia asked curiously.

"Sam and Leah used to date," Embry told her. "They were actually engaged. Then he imprinted on Emily—Leah's cousin." Lydia winced at that. "Sam fell in love with Emily and broke up with Leah. It... wasn't pretty." 

Lydia frowned, feeling a sense of pity for the female shape-shifter—not that she would ever dare admit it to the intimidating girl. "So, because Sam imprinted on Emily, his feelings for Leah just... disappeared?" 

"That's how he explains it," Embry said. "Sam didn't mean to imprint on Emily, it just... happened. Sam feels awful about breaking Leah's heart, but he couldn't help but fall in love with Emily." 

"And since Leah imprinted on Gwen, she's in love with her?" Lydia asked with a frown. "That seems... sudden." 

"Leah isn't in love with her—not yet, at least," Embry told Lydia. "We'd all thought that imprinting was basically love at first sight, but recent developments have made us reconsider."