I laughed as I ran through the trees, not quite my full speed, but not exactly human speed either. I really couldn't resist teasing him just a little.

"C'mon Jake" I cried over my shoulder, lithely dodging a fallen tree in my path. "Bet you can't catch me!"

I heard his short bark of laughter from behind me, then the sound of his running changed. His footfalls sped up and I could hear him pounding the twig-strewn ground not with his human feet but with his wolf paws.

Oh so that's how your gonna play this then. I thought smiling to myself as I broke into a sprint. I could hear him starting to arc in from behind in order to come at me from the right.

"C'mon then!" I shouted again, "You wont get me though!"

As a new bout of laughter burst from me - I really was feeling the happiest I had in days - I leaped into the air, and, using a well-positioned branch swung myself up into the top of a large tree. Here, I crouched making sure I was hidden from view by the foliage surrounding me. This was the perfect place, from here my scent couldn't waft in his direction, he'd have to rely on his eyes alone, because I was very good at not making a sound; when you can hold your breath for as long as i can it's very easy being silent.

Looking down from my hiding place I watched as he emerged from behind another large oak, slowed to a walking pace now. He had clearly realised I had stopped running and was now attempting to hide from him, but I doubt he realised I was that close by, as the next moment he transformed back into human form again. He could control the change both ways now; he didn't even change when he was angry, unless he wanted to.

A gasp escaped my lips as my eyes widened in wonder, silently mouthing the word "wow" to myself. Thankfully the angle at which Jake was standing meant that I could only see him from behind, otherwise I think I might have fallen out of the tree, as it was I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks.

I watched, unable to take my eyes off him, as he quickly pulled on his sweats and started to pull his t-shirt over his head; they'd been tied around his neck. Even from high up in my hiding place I could appreciate how muscular he was, the strength he possessed. Unlike Emmett, who in my opinion was just a slightly goofy, non-green version of the Hulk, Jake was, …well, … it suited him - he wasn't too big and he wasn't out of proportion - he was just right. I felt a funny tightening in my stomach as he turned, still pulling on his top and I caught a flash of his abs, a perfectly formed six-pack clearly evident. I bit down on my lip to stop another gasp escaping. What was wrong with me?

I mean Jake and I have always been best friends. For the whole two years since the Volturi left he has been constantly by my side, we literally spend almost every minute of the day with each other. He was the one who had reassured me that everything was okay when I started to grow at a rapid rate again after they left, repeating Granddad Carlisle's theory that I might have stayed young whilst the threat was prominent in my life, in order to seem less threatening - almost like a survival technique - but now that the danger was absent, however momentarily, I would grow rapidly in order to face whatever new dangers I was presented with, with my full strength and abilities. Jake had told me to be brave and that he would never ever let anything happen to me. There was an undeniable bond between us, due to the imprinting - something he didn't know i knew about, - and we trusted each other completely, and always told each other everything.

But a couple of months back Jake started getting weird around me. About the time I stopped growing.

Both physically and mentally I now seem to be about seventeen years old, I look roughly the same age as my mum and dad now, infact i'm even a couple of inches taller than my mum, even though technically I have only existed for about two and a half years.

But recently I started getting awkward around Jake, and so he in turn has started almost avoiding me, we hadn't been alone together for ages and it seemed as if Jake was a bit uncomfortable around me, as if he didn't know how to act. Sometimes I feared that he knew, knew that I've started feeling, well, feelings towards him. But I just convinced myself I was being very paranoid. How could he know? I'm always very careful with my thoughts, you have to be when you live with a father who can read what you are thinking; it can be very embarrassing.

"Nessie?" Jake called, a hint of a smirk in his voice.

I clamped my mouth firmly shut. He clearly intended to follow the sound of my voice to find me. If I replied he might figure out that I'd been watching him.

"You can't hide forever, Nessie" Jake continued the smirk growing larger, " we have to get back to the others soon. You don't want to deny Charlie seeing his favourite granddaughter do you now? Especially on his birthday. "

The little cheat, I thought. Not that any one could describe Jake as little. He turned around scanning the forest, facing away from me again, I silently jumped down from my hiding place to land softly on a large boulder, just a few feet away from him; I didn't want the sound of my landing to give me away, and the floor was covered in twigs and leaves. Quickly, before he had a chance to make a full three-sixty, I once again leapt into the air, only to land right behind him this time, I grabbed his shoulders and growled "Gotcha!" in his ear.

"Hey! Where did you come from?" he laughed pulling me deftly into a playful chokehold, but letting go quickly as I pretended to aim a kick between his legs.

"Told you you couldn't catch me." I teased.

"Maybe I let you win"

"If it hurts your ego that badly, we can call it a draw if you want" I smiled at him. We both laughed.

"So, do you want to race back then?" he asked giving me a cheeky little shove and dropping into the starting position that runners use in a sprint race.

"No"

"Oh, wha-"

"I don't want to go back yet Jake"

"But - "

"We never spend any time together anymore"

" Yeah we do. I know it's different now that we've just started high school and I'm not with you all the time, but we still see each other the rest of the time, don't we?"

"I know. I just meant we're never alone together anymore. There's always someone with us. I -"

"Ness-"

"I miss it being just you and me, Jake"

"I know" he said, "me too" he added so quietly I wondered if he meant for me to hear.

There was a momentary expression of pain that flickered so fast across his face i wondered if i had imagined it, as if he was fighting a battle with himself, before he turned to face me fully. Then his face lit up, his eyes snapped to mine, and he gave me the wonderful lopsided smile he only ever uses for me.

"Well…" he said.

"Uhuh?" I interrupted again, grabbing his hand.

"What do you want to do?" his warm hand squeezed mine as our fingers interlocked.

"Um…" I didn't know what I wanted to do. I just wanted to spend time with him. We'd already gone hunting and I didn't feel much like playing hide and seek again. He laughed at the evident indecision on my face.

"How about the river?" he suggested.

"Yeah. Sounds good" with that he scooped me up into a bear hug before placing me back down on my feet in front of him.

"We really shouldn't be too long though, you know" he said serious again, "well, maybe just a couple of hours" he smiled at me, and with that he darted into the trees.

"Hey!" I laughed "in a rush?"

"Don't be silly, Nessie" he was teasing me now. "It's your turn to try and catch me!"

The whole time we'd spent together at the river I had been fighting the urge to just turn to him, fling myself in his arms and kiss him on the lips. It was ridiculous really. We were just friends. I couldn't let myself fantasise like this, even if he did look absolutely amazing with his top off. But the more I thought about him, the more I just wanted to reach out to where he lay in the long grass of the river bed and touch him.

"Nessie!" I heard him shouting breaking through my reverie.

"Hmmm?"

"Boy, you were deep in though weren't you?" he laughed, "I've been shouting at you for a while now. Thought I was going to have to pounce on you or something"

There it was again, the clenching in my stomach, and the fluttering in my chest. Damn it, what is wrong with me?

"You're blushing?" he chuckled.

Sure enough, even though I knew he didn't know what I had been thinking, I still felt like I had been caught out. My cheeks felt like they were burning. I turned my face away from him looking into the now dark forest.

"No" I said, pouting my lips.

"Yes you are," he laughed. "What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing" thankfully he let it drop, he did however continue to stare at me, which was a little embarrassing, I just wanted the ground to swallow me up.

"You know, I could just come over there, grab you and you'd have no choice but to show me what you were thinking," he said eventually. His eyes still hadn't left my face.

What? I thought. I can't believe it he feels the same!

"What do you mean?" I whispered out loud, my heart jumping up and down in my chest.

"What do you mean, 'What do you mean?' " He laughed. "Have you forgotten all about you little vampiric gift?"

"Oh" how foolish of me. You idiot, I scolded myself. I felt the disappointment starting to creep up on me; of course he wasn't thinking that.

"You know I can control that, Jake" I said stiffly, "I don't show anyone what I'm thinking, or remembering or whatever unless I want to."

"Yeah, but don't you have to be concentrating though?" He was teasing me again. "I'm pretty sure I could make your concentration slip for a second or two" he laughed sounding confident.

You have no idea. I said in my head. He was still looking at me; I looked back at him our eyes locking together.

"Ooo, pouting too!" he smirked

"We should go back now" I sighed looking away after a couple of seconds; I was scared he could read my thoughts just by looking in my eyes, it always felt as if he could see right to the core of me.

He sighed too, "okay."

I raised myself to a sitting position and he was there holding out his hand, waiting to help me up.

"No tricks, I promise" he chuckled. He was clearly trying to make me feel better. It was working.

"As if you could ever beat me," I laughed teasingly.

"Oh yeah?" he laughed too as he picked me up, he really was very warm. "Someone's confident!"

"Or just realistic"

"Wanna put it to the test?"

"Race back then?"

"You're going down, Cullen" he said in a mock growl. And with that he leapt the river to the other side leaving me stood on the other bank gawping at him, he really was in exceptionally high spirits today.

"Jake?"

"What?"

"Your on the wrong side of the river"

"I'm just giving you a good head start that's all." He claimed, a little bit too defensively, almost laughing at himself.

"Oh really?"

"Well, truth be told, you're messing with my head, Nessie"

"What do -?" I started, but he was already gone, he'd leaped back across the river and was sprinting back towards the celebrations I could hear in the distance, laughing as he went. I laughed too, and sprang after him into the fast approaching night.