The Moments of Truth (and some moments of werewolves and sweetness, too)

hey, it's me. (duh. who else would it be?) the title for this chapter is a bit long, but i guess that's appropriate since the chapter itself is pretty long. 

Disclaimer:the twilight saga is property of stephenie meyer, and she refuses to sell it to me *sob*. though she is mentioned in the chapter, stephenie meyer is a real person, not one of my characters. she isn't anyone's property. 

and now for the chapter...

    I stumbled back to our seats, shell-shocked. “Hey CJ, you okay?” Onyx asked me worriedly.

            “Uh, Onyx? You’re going to La Push, right?” he nodded. “Do you by any chance know a guy named Jacob?”

            “Jacob Black? Yeah, he’s my cousin.” I stumbled forward in surprise. He caught me and lowered me to my seat. “Is he… like you?” I whispered. Onyx leaned back and grinned.

            “Naw, I’m the hot one.” I rolled my eyes and punched him playfully on the arm.

            “Real mature, Onyx. If you’re the hot one, I’d hate to see what Jake looks like.” appreciative ohhh’s and ahhh’s followed my remark. I grinned at him. “But seriously, is your cousin a werewolf?”
            “Heck yeah, he is.”

            “And…have you ever heard of the Twilight saga?”

            “Duh. Twilight Night is this week.”

            “Do Jake and Sam’s packs exist?”

            “Yeah.”

            “And the Cullens?”
            “Uh-huh.”

            “Then aren’t they afraid of being exposed?”

            “Hardly. Twilight is supposed to be a fantasy. So no one believes it’s actually true.”

            “What about Stephenie Meyer?”

            “What about her?”
            “How does she know?”

            “How do you think?”
            I thought for a moment, then gasped. “She’s a vampire, too!”

            “Now she gets it.”

            “But she said she got the idea for Twilight from a dream.”
            “Your parents probably told you Santa was real, too, but that didn’t turn out to be the truth, now did it?”

            I massaged my temples. “Ugh, my head hurts. I am so confused.” I slumped back into my seat.

            “Don’t worry,” Onyx told me nonchalantly. “You’ll get used to it.” I doubted that, but I didn’t say anything.  

            “Hey…since Jake is your cousin, and he’s friends with the Cullens…could I meet them?” Onyx pretended to think.

            “Well, I don’t usually do that kind of thing, but for you, I think I can make an exception.” He grinned as my face lit up.

            “Yay, I’m special,” I smiled.

*   *   *

            Three days later, we finally arrived in La Push. Onyx and I had to go separate ways at the train station, but he promised he would be at the Black’s house when I got there. In our rental car Mom, Dad and I pulled up to a nice little house. Nikki, Bry and their parents were staying at a motel in Forks since Billy’s house wasn’t the most spacious. On the porch of the house was Uncle Billy. He waved to us from his wheelchair. We carried our luggage to the porch.

            “Billy! How’s it going?” Dad asked.

            “Never better. How about you, Johnnyboy?”

            “I’m great. You remember my wife Kitty, don’t you?”

            “How could I forget? You’re a lucky man, John.”

            “Don’t I know it? And this is my daughter, CJ,” Dad said proudly.

            “CJ! You’ve grown so much since I’ve last seen you! The last time I saw you, you were only 8 years old!”

            “Hi, Uncle Billy,” I said sweetly. “It’s nice to see you again.”

            “Jacob! Come see the Carters!” Billy called. Down the stairs came a teenage boy with dark skin, black eyes and raven-black hair. He had to be at least 6 feet, 6 inches. The kid was huge! Right behind him was (to my relief) Onyx, waving smugly.

            “Hey, CJ, Uncle John, Aunt Kitty. How are ya?” greeted Jake. Then he turned to me. “CJ, what’s up? Onyx was just telling me about how you guys met on the train.” So know Jacob knew about the link. And I knew about Jacob.

            “Hey, CJ!” Onyx called down to me. Mom raised her eyebrows.

            “Oh…so you two…know each other?” Mom asked.

            “Yeah, we met on the train,” I said quickly. “Imagine my surprise when I found out Onyx was Jake’s cousin!”

            “I can imagine,” Mom mumbled.

            “Jake, why don’t you take CJ’s bags and show her where she will be sleeping?” Billy suggested. So Jake, Onyx and I grabbed my stuff and Jacob led me to the living room. He set my bags down on the couch.

            “I think the plan is for your parents to sleep in Billy’s room, Billy will sleep in my room, you’re gonna sleep on the couch and Onyx and I are gonna sleep on the floor here,” he told me. Then I noticed the air mattress on the floor next to us.

            “Thanks, Jake. I was just wondering…since my parents are busy…could you show me your wolf forms?” I asked timidly. They shrugged.

            “Why not?” Onyx said. So they led me to the backyard. Once we were there Onyx led me to the far side of the yard, away from Jacob. Suddenly a thought crossed my mind.

            “Hey, wait. Don’t you have to strip naked before you phase?” I remembered, and all of a sudden I was feeling a little lightheaded.

            They laughed. “You could do that,” Onyx agreed.

            “Or you could do this.” All of a sudden Jake’s clothes exploded. I’m pretty sure I got hit in the face with his underwear, but I was too busy trying not to faint to care.

            In the spot where Jacob had been now stood a wolf the size of a horse. “Wow, Jake. You’re a…you’re a werewolf,” I whispered in shock.

            “No, really? Cuz he never knew that till you told him,” Onyx smirked. He had his hands place protectively on my shoulders. I twisted around and asked

            “Can I see you as a werewolf, Onyx?” he nodded.

            “Go inside while Jacob phases back. Count to 50 then come back out.” I followed his instructions, and when I stepped outside Jacob was the one on the far side of the yard with Onyx in the middle. Jake motioned me over to him, and then gave Onyx the signal to phase. Soon in his place was the giant wolf from my dream. His huge tongue lolled out the side of his mouth as he panted happily. I stepped closer and closer until I could reach out and stroke his warm, soft fur. I buried my face in it. He had a woodsy, musky scent. Very nice.

            “You smell good,” I whispered so only he could hear.

            You too. He thought-spoke. We stood like that, just enjoying each other’s company. Sweet moment, yeah? Which meant, as you all know, it had to be interrupted and/or ruined.

            “Alright, kids, supper’s on the table and—oh, are you in the middle of something?” Embarrassed, I pulled myself away from Onyx.

            “No, it’s okay, Uncle Billy. We’ll be there in a minute,” I assured him, thought I was internally groaning. I looked away as Onyx phased back.  Then the three of us trudged into the house for dinner.