A/N: All of my stories are a bit old but this one was edited by the lovely Tasminia... now if I can just find someone to go over all the rest of my stuff.

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Chapter 1: Xtreme Sand Castling

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"Oh come on, Claire," he bellowed. I didn't want to look at him, I was just in a pissy mood and if I looked at him now I would feel all guilty and have to give in.

To be honest, I wasn't all that broken up about him ditching my Makah exhibition, Quil and my mom had been there which was enough for me. It just so happens that today, one of the few days that I get to see my boyfriend Adrian, I was in a bad mood— I should say put in a bad mood by my sister Lana, but that's another story altogether.

Saturday morning, middle of June, beautiful sky, and no work to do, somewhere in my head I knew it was stupid, but sometimes you just gotta let a girl pout, ya know? Well no, Adrian didn't know and instead of letting me be mean to him and give him the cold shoulder like any normal boyfriend would, he was trying to be reasonable.

"Claire, I do all of your Makah things," Adrian argued, smiling his stupid dimpled smile; that stupid smile which was infectious, of course.

"I know, its fine really," I said giving in and smiling weakly as we turned the corner, approaching my house. "So you coming in or what?" I asked as we reached the foot of my stairs, Adrian pausing hesitantly.

"Yeah, sure… um, is your Uncle Quil here for the weekend?" he asked sheepishly, he was simultaneously jealous and terrified of Quil. I couldn't blame him, Quil was a head taller than him and built like a brick wall— he was also extremely protective of me, and Adrian, my lanky boyfriend, with the dirty mind and roaming hands had a lot to feel guilty about. "I mean no offense, but your uncle terrifies me. He's just… too big."

"Quil's not my uncle and yeah, he should be here by now." Adrian had a habit of calling Quil my uncle, as if to point out I shouldn't be having the lusty-lust for him, which I so obviously did.

I had to hold back a smile when I saw him cringe from the corner of my eye. It was funny, he had a lot more than Quil's size to worry about and he didn't even know. Quil, my super great (and undeniably sexy) best friend, the werewolf, didn't just look like he could crush him with one hand, he could with all of his mystical wolfiness.

I grabbed Adrian and dragged him inside, calling to my mom as I entered. I found her in the living room, dressed much more seductively than when I left her and attempting to help Quil as he built the new entertainment center she bought at ikea. I swear I caught her checking him out as we entered the room. I didn't blame her really, he was shirtless and as I said before, built like a brick wall—but it's just creepy to see your mom check out anybody, especially your life long best friend and the object of your unrequited love.

"Hey kids," she said huskily as we entered. No lie, her voice could only be described as husky, and I noticed for the first time her outfit, which showcased her hourglass figure daringly, was actually something she nicked from my sister Lana's closet. I bit the inside of my cheek to suppress a giggle, but the look Quil gave me from behind her back forced me to dash out of the room and into the kitchen before I collapsed into hysterics.

My parents divorced about three years ago— Irreconcilable Differences— just before my fourteenth birthday, which meant my young (by old people standards) and attractive mom was on the prowl. Who best to fill my mother's fantasies than the outrageously sexy confidant of her sixteen (soon to be seventeen) year old daughter?

I used to suspect the divorce was because of Quil, and I hated him for it (only for like a week, I can't stay mad at Quil). I even remember hearing snippets of whispered conversations between Aunt Emily and my mom, his name catching my attention because of the major cross I was bearing for him at the time—and now, who am I kidding?

It's been three years though, and he's spent more time hanging out me and my sister than my mom. This was an oddity of Quil's that I absolutely could not live without, his complete aversion to growing up. I'm not talking about the werewolf stuff, which made it physically impossible to age— I'm talking his fun loving, kid-ness, which makes him the best friend ever. I mean, he looks to be in his mid-twenties, so adults trust him, but he still lets you eat ice-cream for breakfast when your parents are away. This of course, in my opinion, would also make him the best boyfriend in the world but—

"I think he's gay," I tried to voice my fear as casually as possible as I headed to my bedroom. It wasn't that I had a problem with gay people, I love them, totally support them, honest. Jared's wife Kim, who is one of my favorite women in the world has a gay brother Matt. He works at a zoo and he always send me the most awesome things for Christmas. It's just that if Quil actually is gay there is NO HOPE. I mean there isn't much hope now, but a girl can dream right? Or at least she can dream when he's still straight— there is just something exponentially more pathetic about lusting after a gay man, that just takes the fun out of it.

"What? That's so random, Claire," he laughed as he settled on my carpeted floor. Adrian's grin was wide, Quil was a bit of a sore spot in our relationship because of his utter perfectness and constant presence in my life. I know all too well Adrian would be thrilled if Quil came out of the closest, he'd probably escort him to the Gay pride parade in Seattle if that's what it took to find him a life partner.

So I gave Adrian some hope, although the idea was killing me. "It's not random. Seriously, the facts are these: he's a twenty-something, pardon me, hottie with no girlfriend. In fact, he has no prior history of girlfriends. He has, for a lack of better words, a MILF constantly throwing herself at him, and finally, I have pictures of him playing pretty-princess-tea-party with me… in DRAG. There is no other explanation," I stated, as if I were presenting scientific research.

I had been thinking about it a lot recently— not in the way I used to, lying awake at night sighing like only a tween could. Oh Quil, why don't you love me you big dreamy werewolf? Much more objectively now, I had become increasingly more curious about Quil lately, what he did do when I wasn't around, his past, his dreams, what did he think of me… did he think of me?

"A hottie, huh?" Adrian asked looking at me in his whole wounded way. I knew he would catch that.

"Well you know, he's got that whole forest-man chic thing going for him," I smiled kissing him lightly, which was all the invitation he needed to start his hands roaming. We weren't having sex yet, at times when hands and rubbing got heated I thought that maybe we should, most of my friends had, but it made me nervous all the same.

Quil came in then, no doubt making sure "all of our feet were on the floor and our hands were where they were supposed to be", he was hilarious sometimes; not to Adrian of course who would much rather be ignoring all of those conditions right now.

Adrian lived in Forks, a small town not too far from my reservation, but far enough to keep my "pale face" from seeing me every day. I didn't mind the touching rules, even though my time with Adrian was limited.

If anyone else had set up guidelines for me, I would have been annoyed, but Quil was sort of like the big brother I never asked for, and I secretly preferred him to my actual sister—who would probably be home soon. Ugh! My sister Lana… the reason for today's dark cloudy funk. She's generally a pain in the ass, but today she was rampant, spreading wide-ranging malaise wherever she went. Lana didn't get accepted to some college she was counting on and that meant she was determined to make everyone pay.

Quil, having seen Adrian's groping hands plopped soundlessly next to me on the floor.

"I gotta go," Adrian said quickly, avoiding Quil's eyes as he planted a swift kiss on my lips and headed out the room.

"Stop doing that," I said, playfully hitting Quil's bicep, hurting my own hand in the process. I shook my hand out, wincing as I followed Adrian to the door. "You don't have to go," I said pouting in the doorway dutifully, although the idea of a free afternoon with Quil was intoxicating.

"I do, my parents sorta think I'm doing a summer school thing. Not really allowed out of the house besides that," he did his whole mischievous grin thing, which I noticed didn't make me all gooey anymore. Not a big deal really, it doesn't mean I don't like him anymore, right? I never liked gooey anyways.

"What did you do?"

"You know… some of this, some of that," he kissed me again and turned to go, leaving me pondering my feelings in the doorway as he left. I turned after a while to find Quil, holding an ice tray and staring at me strangely. I tried to analyze it: worried or maybe pained? I didn't have time to decide because Lana came barging through the door then, almost pushing me to the floor. Quil caught me, flashing a dangerous look at Lana, who was way too far in Lana Land to notice.

He handed me a paper towel with two cubes of ice folded in it and pointed to my hand. He was just so damn sweet sometimes, which was killing my "Get-over-Quil-it's-never-going-to-happen" and "Stop-mentally-cheating-on-Adrian" campaigns.

For the last two months, all intimate moments with Adrian were interrupted with images and fantasies of Quil, which was when I decided to take action. I immediately created the "Get-over-Quil-it's-never-going-to-happen" and "Stop-mentally-cheating-on-Adrian" campaigns, which were list of rules I was required to follow in order to keep the inappropriate yet oh so yummy thoughts at bay.

"Whatcha wanna do tonight, kid?" I hated when he called me that, didn't he see my fully bloomed-ness? I was woman now… other than my breasty area, which I feel are at least adequate! Why hadn't he noticed?

"You staying over? I'm sure mom will be pleased," I said lifting my eyebrows theatrically.

"If you want me to... might be good to have a buffer between you and Queen Lana today. What's up with her, girly things?" Girly things and women business were the general code words he used for all things related to women that made him uncomfortable.

"Another school rejection, somewhere in California I think. So, how bout we escape to La Push?" I suggested wondering who was watching the store today. Quil's mom sold him her store about five years back when she retired to Florida for fun in the sun, and now he had a rotating staff of werewolves.

"Okay, what you wanna do there?" He was running his hands through his hair, which made the muscles on his torso more painfully obvious. I thought that if I was a cartoon character my eyes would be bulging out of my head right now and I might have a large trailing line of drool, but I tried to pull my staring off as contemplation.

"Who's taking care of the store?" I asked distractedly.

"Seth and Michael. What, you wanna work the counter today? It's really nice outside, I'm sure we could find something better than that," he said as he slipped on brown leather sandals and a white wife beater.

"Oh, yeah, I was thinking about seeing Aunt Emily, and maybe some Xtreme sand castle building, you up for it?"

"Extreme sand castle building?" His face was quizzical, but also slightly worried.

"Yeah, well things sound cooler when you put Xtreme in front of them… snowboarding for example," I reasoned. He laughed his barky laugh and I continued, "you think it will catch on?"

"Well… what sort of uniforms would you wear? And is there any fire involved, because that could significantly affect its rise in popularity."