A/N: Hello! This is my first story. So I am nervous for the outcome, obviously.

I started writing this when my internet was down, so I have a few chapters written, which are subject to change if I get reviews that change my mind about the route it's going.

The usual "meet and my world changes direction" imprint does not happen in this story, and I have a bit of fun with the possibilities. As of now, it's just one POV- I might dabble in others later on.

Disclaimer: The characters in this story(minus Emma) belong to SM. They are not mine. Carry on.

Move-In Day

I knocked on the door in front of me and waited for any sounds from the inside. I was looking at the peephole so I could wait for the shadow in front of it. For a minute there was only the sound of wind chimes from a neighbor's patio and cars driving down the street to fill my ears. But when nothing happened for another minute, I started to hear my own heartbeat pounding my ear drums. She said she'd be here from two to four o'clock and it's quarter after three, what the heck…

With newfound agitation I knocked again, louder so even the neighbor with the wind chimes would hear it. Then I finally heard movement. A loud thump with a muffled curse came from inside before I heard loud distinct footsteps coming towards me. The pounding in my ears got louder as I heard the locks click and the door finally swung open. A girl with russet colored skin and shoulder length black hair was standing before me, and even though I could tell from her somewhat puffy eyes and rumpled clothes that she had just woken up, my self esteem was taken down a few notches. Natural beauty like hers was not common, and apparently, I was going to have to bear the notch-lessening every day for the next year.

My breath came out in a short whoosh from holding it before I sucked it back in to speak, "Um, hi…are you Leah?" She looked at me with her eyes still squinted and it looked like she was coming up with a blank for who I was, so I helped her along.

"I'm Emma…" still no response. "…from Minnesota, I answered your ad about the apartment, we emailed back and fo-"

"Oh shit, it's Tuesday isn't it?" her eyes got wide as she finally looked past me and took in my two suitcases and back pack I had sitting on the landing of the staircase.

When she finally looked at my face again, I thought I should answer the question, "Yep, it's the first."

She quirked her eyebrow at me. "First what?"

I quirked my own. "Of September." I started to wonder if I had woken her from some sort of hibernation if she didn't know what day it was.

She shook her head as if to clear it and said, "Sorry, um, Emma right? Your room's the one on the right," as she stepped away from the door and pointed towards what I assumed were the bedrooms.

Watching her walk towards the kitchen, I guessed she wasn't going to help me, so I slung my back pack on my shoulder with a short glare at her back and lugged my two suitcases into the apartment. Looking around, I could tell she didn't care much about interior decoration; mismatching couch and loveseat, a clock on the wall, some books on a shelf, a television, but no pictures or posters. That could be fixed, hopefully.

"Wow, it's bigger than I thought it'd be." I looked out the front window towards the courtyard to see it had started to rain again. It just never stops here, does it?

An echoed "mmhmm" brought my gaze back to Leah and watched as she finished chugging a glass of orange juice, at first thinking she had answered my thoughts. She finished and set the glass in the sink, turning back to me. "More space than the dorms, that's for sure. I don't have that much stuff either, so looks even bigger."

"Yeah, I've got some stuff being shipped that we can put on the walls and whatnot. I couldn't bring any furniture, but I like what you have here," I nudged the blue-green couch with my knee, noticing how cushy it was.

"That couch is like heaven, do not patronize it," Leah gave me a fierce look that stopped any qualms I might have had on the subject. She must have been in 'heaven' before I showed up. With her arms crossed over her chest, she let out a breath and nodded towards my luggage. "You want some help with that?"

"Oh, yeah, sure, thanks." I mentally cringed hoping she didn't catch that I used three answers for one in my haste. She was intimidatingly tall, and strong too I noticed, watching her pick up my sixty pound suitcase like it was a carry-on. I waited for a snarky comment on the weight of it, but it never came. Guess she really is that strong.

The room that was deemed mine already had a bed and dresser in it, which surprised me. I thought I'd have to do a lot more furniture shopping.

"The bed and the dresser were Jake's."

Jake? She was living with a guy?

"Was he your, uh…?" They had separate rooms, so boyfriend didn't seem right. Maybe a relative?

By the look on her face, I gathered that his departure was welcome. "God, I'm so happy he's gone. He moved home last minute, couldn't take the 'separation'" she used air quotes with an eye roll, "from his dear girlfriend and transferred out."

I just nodded along. I didn't know the details, but they were definitely not together.

"By the way," she said, turning towards me and putting a hand on my shoulder, "I am so glad you're a girl. First my brother, then him…you can only share a bathroom with a guy for so long."

I let out a snicker of agreement and nodded my head.

"Speaking of my brother, if he's more in tune to the date than I am, he'll be up her sooner or later." She acted like his coming was her demise.

"Do you not get along, or…?" I left the question open as I looked skeptically at her.

She had put both of her hands in her hair, pulling it away from her face. She let her hands fall to her sides before rolling her eyes.

"No, we get along fine, but he's just so damn perky. Plus, you're a girl he hasn't met," she added as if that explained everything. My confusion must've shown because she hesitated before adding, "He's… sorta into a love-at-first-sight philosophy." She let out an aggravated sigh before muttering what I thought could have been "Oh God, please no," but sounded more like, "I got cheese, yo." The former made more sense, but was still a bit cryptic.

"Ahh…hm. Okay." My eyebrows were probably hitting my hairline, but what else do you say to that? So the brother of my new roommate thinks I could be the love of his life if I look good enough to him? Weird, but hopefully not true. Leah certainly hopes not. I barely know Leah as it is. Right. Need to work on that.

I sat on the bed and looked at the sheets already spread on it. Leah saw my gaze and confirmed they were cleaned after her cousin went home.

"So where is home for you? In Washington?"

Leah leaned against the dresser with a look on her face that told me she had mixed feelings about the subject. "Yeah, it's a few hours from Port Angeles, the La Push Reservation. Right next to a little town called Forks."

"Reservation…" my brain finally caught up with the conversation, "Oh, what tribe are you?" I asked, hoping that wasn't too blunt.

"Quileute." She answered just as bluntly, but turned the conversation quickly. "So you're from Minnesota, right? Whereabouts?" Well that's curious. Animosity? Hopefully not, that'd be sad…

Thinking about home made me miss it. It definitely wouldn't be raining buckets. "Edgerton?" I answered as a question, thinking maybe she'd heard of it, but when she didn't answer, I clarified, "It's in the south western corner, close to Sioux Falls. Middle of nowhere, surrounded by farms."

I added in an announcer voice, "Home of the Flying Dutchmen!" Then smiled because I realized I just had an outburst of crazy and I smile when I'm nervous or embarrassed. Sure, Edgerton High's mascot was the Flying Dutchmen, to my dismay, but it was really only funny if you knew about it.

Leah did not know about it.

After waiting for her to react in any way shape or form, she finally let out a short laugh and said "Small town folk, huh?"

The only thing I could utter now in my embarrassment was a strangled, "Yep." Any more words coming out of my mouth and she would no doubt question my sanity.

"Guess we have that in common-"

She was interrupted by a loud banging at the door. Clearly, this person knew to knock hard for its occupant, but said occupant scrunched her face into a grimace and looked at me apologetically. "That's Seth. Prepare yourself," she said as she left the room to get the door.

Remembering that this Seth was her brother that wanted to see me to find love, I pushed my hair behind my ear and walked into the living room cautiously just as I heard Leah mutter "If you do, you're not spending your mushy love time here, by any means." She thinks it's true?! Who are these people?

Standing next to her was a male form of Leah, but taller. I could tell he was pretty well built in the muscle department and had the same russet colored skin and black hair, but his was cropped short. He turned his head to the sound of my footsteps and just stared at me. No introduction, no greeting, just silence, and Seth staring at me. Then frowning at me. Then glaring at Leah who looked like she was trying to hold back her laughter.

My eyes were shifting between the two of them, unable to look away. The silence was getting to me once again, and the nervous smile was making its way across my face. Stepping forward, I stretched out my hand in greeting. You know, the universal "hello" as opposed to a one-sided stare-down.

"Hi, I'm Emma, Leah's new roommate."

His shoulders slumped a bit and he dejectedly stuck out his own hand as he looked at me again sans the intense stare. "Seth. Nice to meet you."

As I shook his hand I realized it must've not worked. Guess I'm not your true love after all, Seth.

But my brain wasn't working and then I heard those words out loud, coming from my mouth, and watched Seth's eyes widen and swivel to Leah who sort of jerked and started to run away from him cackling.

"Leah! Frickin A! What the hell?!" he yelled, running after her and running smack dab into her bedroom door that she had slammed shut in his face.

Growing up with an older sister, scenes like this were not foreign to me, but seeing Seth's reaction, with a younger brother I'm sure it would have been so much more fun. I couldn't hold back the snort from my own mouth as he couldn't come up with anything else to say and just hit the door with a "Bah! Humbug!"

I could hear Leah on the other side of the door still laughing, "Oh come on, that is so weak! Resorting to Dickens!?" Her cackling went on.

"Yeah that is pretty weak," I added, making him turn around with a look that said 'come on!' "Shakespeare has the best insults though…you bolting hutch of beastliness!" I added with a British accent to spur him on. This was just too much fun. Younger brothers…who knew?

"Oh no. You don't even know what you're getting into. I mastered Shakespeare insults!"

I instantly started holding my stomach from laughing, not because of the "dissembling fat-kidneyed codpiece" he called me over my laughter, but because of the first sentence he gave me.

"Leah!" I hollered in between trying to breathe, "Have you seen Dane Cook?"

I instantly heard her cackles explode into full-blown laughter as she saw my train of thought and hollered back in a voice to mimic her brother, "You don't even know!"

Tears were forming in my eyes as I watched Seth turn his head from me to Leah's door and back again until realization set on his face and he yelled back at the door, "No more sibling bonding! You hear me! No more!" By then I was just reliving the video of Dane Cook going through how the only thing a guy can say in an argument with a girl is 'You don't even KNOW!' over and over again. The fact that it was just played out before me had my cheeks and sides aching.

Seth stomped over to the 'heaven' couch and plopped onto it sending his feet flying before they hit the ground again. He was mumbling but I caught snippets of "my DVDs, but she just had to watch them…"

I tried to calm down and was almost there when Leah burst from her room, pointed at me and while leaning her weight against the doorframe, and said "Thank you!" She had a full-blown smile on her face from laughing at the expense of her brother, and I could now fully see how beautiful she was.

It was degrading was what it was.

My own laughter calmed down with that thought, but with a smile on my face, I congratulated Seth on the insult that went unnoticed before. Seth was staring at the wall in front of him and gave me a sour, "Yeah, well…"

Leah's earlier sentiments about her brother being 'so damn perky' came back to me when the mad-at-the-world look he had going now seemed to ruin his face. "I thought you said he was perky, Leah. I'm not sensing the perkiness."

"Yeah, but Seth here just got owned by a girl and his sister. Not much perkiness in that, right?" she patted his head.

Seth rolled his head to the side on the back of the couch and glared at me. "Who are you," he pointed back to Leah, "and what have you done to her?"

"Well," I started, deciding to give the five basic answers to college introductions, "I'm Emma Swenson, I'm from Minnesota, I'm a junior, I'm a Music Ed Major, and I live here." But his second question caught me off guard. "As for what I've done to your sister…absolutely nothing. Why?"

"Because I'm the happy one and she's the bitter one." A snort came from Leah as Seth was seemingly pointing out the obvious. "You frickin' switched us up!" another snort came from Leah. "And I want answers!"

I walked around and plopped next to him on the couch. "Hey, I got here about five minutes before you did. I don't even know your guys' last name!" Leah and I had really only been on a first name basis over the emails, and I couldn't figure it out from her email address.

Leah sat on the arm rest next to me. "Clearwater."

I was confused. "Uh, tap water is fine for me, thanks."

Seth let out a chuckle before leaning forward and addressing his sister, "She's funny!" he said, pointing his thumb at me. "She should meet Embry, maybe that'd work-"

"Seth," she looked over me to Seth with an angry look that I would not want to be on the receiving end of. A slight shake of her head cut his thought short, and he let out an irritated sigh.

"Fine." He let out another chuckle before moving so he was facing me on the couch holding out his hand. "Let's try this again. Hi, I'm Seth Clearwater, Leah's brother."

My hand had started to reach towards his until I heard the entirety of his greeting in my head replayed. My hand jerked back to cover my mouth as I mumbled a low, "oh, shit," and both Seth and Leah started laughing quietly again. The tables had turned, and now I dejectedly stuck my hand into his and shook it. It was alarmingly warm, something I hadn't been able to notice before as I was trying to make my way through the most awkward greeting of my life. On either side of me, I could feel their body heat radiating off of them. Maybe it was genetic.

"So Minnesnowta, what brings you out to Washington?" Seth's jab at my home state was not lost on me, but I ignored it with an eye roll and answered him.

"I went to the University of Minnesota through my sophomore year, but wanted to transfer, so I applied to a few schools and liked the University of Washington the best."

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Why the transfer? Now you're half a continent away from home."

I knew it was coming, but let out a sigh anyway. "I just wasn't happy there. Needed a change." I had a feeling this answer would be reiterated many times over the next few weeks.

Seth's head bobbed up and down before saying, "Change is good. So why the apartment choice over the dorms?"

The third degree was a little startling, but I answered. "Cheaper, less drama, my own room, bathroom not shared by twenty other people, nobody blasting hip hop music through their rooms…" I trailed off, hoping neither of them loved that kind of music to death, and turned questioningly to Leah.

"Good answer. Any more questions, officer?" she looked over me to Seth with a glare that I would not want to be on the receiving end of.

Seth held up his hands in surrender and I watched them start to shake with the movement his shoulders were making. He started to laugh before glaring back at Leah with an evil grin, "…you don't even know!"

The breath I must have been holding spewed through my lips like a raspberry and I was laughing along with them.

After some questions of my own, it was revealed that Leah was a business major in my year, and Seth was an undeclared freshman here for orientation and the like. It took a lot of convincing on his part for me to believe he was only eighteen, to the point where he had to take out his driver's license. I said I believed him, but I couldn't really. He was huge! He looked twenty, twenty- one at the least, but there wasn't anything I could do about it, so I let that be. The freshman girls would definitely have their hands full.

Likes and dislikes took on the conversation, and at the mention of Dane Cook, Seth rolled his eyes and claimed, "I'm never watching that with you guys if you're only going to use it against me!"

I suggested some DVDs I had brought with me on the plane, and balked when neither of them recognized the show It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. By the time we had gotten through two of the discs, it was late and Seth had to get back to his dorm. He left with a wave and a triumphant "Rock like an Eeeag-"

Leah shut the door on him before he could finish 'eagle'.

I giggled and said, "Well, he's got his 'perky' back anyways."

Leah scoffed and brought the cans of soda we had finished to the recycling bin. "Yeah, that never really goes away. He just loves the drama of it all when it does."

I was hoping I wouldn't see the "bitter" Leah that Seth had mentioned before. I noticed throughout the night that when she had calmed down, she was more quiet and reserved, most of the conversation being between myself and Seth. I had a feeling that she didn't get that close to people often, and after being so openly happy before, was questioning whether I would be just a roommate or a friend. Or maybe that was my own questioning.

From the moment I introduced myself at the door, I knew that living here might start out tough, having a roommate with such a tough exterior. But if my past had taught me anything, I knew that the tough things in life can't be ignored, least of all a person.

Standing up from the couch, which did prove to be like heaven, I started towards the bedrooms. "I'm gonna put my bed together. I haven't even unpacked anything yet."

Leah was on the floor by the front door pulling on her tennis shoes. "I'm gonna go for a run, I'll be back later."

"What, now? It's dark out."

"Yeah, it's cooler out at night." Her eyes were set on her shoes. "Nice for running."

I thought I caught a double meaning in her words, but I couldn't think of anything that could fill the secondary one. Nevertheless, I knew that jogging at night was not the smartest thing for a college-aged girl to do alone. "Would you mind if I went with you?"

"No!" Her head shot up at my suggestion, her eyes wide. "No, I'll be fine, you go unpack."

All I could do was stand there, mid-stride towards her. My foot finally made it to the ground as I tried to assess the situation. "Do you at least have some pepper spray on you, or a taser or something? I have a Swiss Army Knife you can-"

"Emma," I met her hours ago, and I'm already receiving the angry look. "I'll be fine. Trust me." A sarcastic smirk lit across her face. "The big bad wolf won't get me." She got up from the ground, and it was then I heard the bitterness, but from what, I couldn't tell. I guessed it was because I was mothering her already, and tried to backtrack.

"Okay, um…just, be safe…I guess." My failure to stop mothering was bringing the nervous smile back. I mashed my lips together to keep myself from saying anything else.

She answered me with a sigh and "Yeah, sure," before she was out the door and I was alone in the apartment, suitcases waiting to be unpacked.

It was my first day here, and I'd let it go for now, but sooner or later, I would find out why the mention of someone named Embry, having someone to run with, and my concern for her safety ticked her off so much.

A/N: Review please? I'm giving you the puppy-dog eyes, and feedback is lovely!