Disclaimer: ANYTHING BETWEEN THE { } BELONGS TO STEPHANIE MEYER
{ Quil laughed and made kissing noises at me. "You available this Friday, Jacob?"
"You wish," I said, then made a face. "Yeah, guess I am, though."
He hesitated a second and then said, "You ever think about dating?"
I sighed. Guess I'd opened myself up for that one.
"You know, Jake, maybe you should think about getting a life."
He didn't say it like a joke. His voice was sympathetic. That made it worse.
"I don't see them, either, Quil. I don't see their faces."
Quil sighed, too. } "Then try looking, Jacob." He grabbed my chin, forcing me to look out over the population of First Beach. "See over there? A blonde girl, green eyes. Her name is Christina Preston. She's visiting here from Texas. The one with copper hair? Her name is Harmony. She spends all day throwing punches at that guy sitting next to her. It's not hard to get to know these girls, Jake. At least try." He spun on his heel and started walking back up toward the parking lot. Probably worried about her getting cold in her wet clothes. He was worse than any paranoid, overprotective mother.
And apparently I was his newest charity case. I wondered if Sam had prompted him to go matchmaker on me. But still, his speech had been mildly inspiring. I knew that there was no way a girl could ever replace Bella, but it couldn't hurt to look at what was on the market.
{ I walked around for what felt like hours. Long enough that the sun changed sides in the sky - it was one of the rare sunny days in Forks. I stared into the face of every girl who passed anywhere near me, making myself really look, noticing who was pretty and who had blue eyes and who looked good in braces and who had too much make-up on. I tried to find something interesting about each face, so that I would know for sure that I'd really tried.
This girl had a really straight nose. That one should pull her hair out of her eyes. This one could be in a lipstick ad if the rest of her face was as perfect as her mouth . . . }
I grimaced. It was pointless. Completely pointless. I'd seen every girl on the Rez before, except for the two Quil had pointed out, and now even they were in my radar.
It would be better therapy to sneak into the Cullen's garage and key Edward's stupid shiny Volvo while he wasn't there.
"Jason, will you grab my towel?" A voice pierced through the general chatter of the crowd, through my thoughts; it shot straight to my stomach. It was churning now, as if there were ten little vampires pummeling it with baseball bats. Looking around for the owner, I spotted a tall, dark-skinned girl standing at least thirty yards down the beach, her back to me.
{ Far away, too low for anyone but me to hear it over the waves, a howl rose out of the forest. Sam. } I ignored him, feeling strangely compelled to be nearer to her . . . I felt tingles run down my spine. Closer.
Wandering purposefully towards her, I focussed on the interesting things about her. Her long, shimmering black hair. The way she stood, leaning on one foot. Her fingers curled delicately around the handles of a pink bag, labeled with some clothing brand I had never heard of before.
I froze when a boy joined her and they both moved to spread out towels, right by the water. Did she have a boyfriend?
Very subtly, I settled down where I was, within perfect hearing distance. Nobody would think so though, if they saw me sitting where I was. Just another guy enjoying the sun, sand and surf.
"You know what would be great right now?" The boy asked her. "If Heidi was here. I bet she'd look great in a bikini."
"You know that she couldn't come, Jase. Not everybody can fly to America when they feel like it. She had NCEA."
It was now that she spoke about the country like a foreigner that I noticed that was exactly what she was. I detected not only the timbre of her voice now, but her accent, the way she said words differently. Adorable.
Suddenly alarmed, I wondered what the hell this girl had done to me. Only minutes ago I had been moping about Bella and now I was . . . obsessed with this girl.
"Hi, I'm Jacob," I heard myself say, finding myself standing in front of her without warning. "I've never seen you here before. Are you new?" I looked at my feet, ashamed. How had this happened?
She stood up quickly, brushing sand off the backs of her legs. "I'm Ashika. This is Jason. We're visiting from New Zealand."
She seemed friendly enough. Feeling like a chick, I stole a glance at her expression from under my eyelashes. I never looked away.
She was beautiful. Ashika was beautiful. Her lips curved up in a gentle smile, her teeth shining white in the sunlight. And her eyes. They were dark, almost black. They were bottomless, conveying fiery, and tender emotions at the same time.
Without warning, I was defying gravity. In that moment, I knew that if she were next to me, I could walk on water, I could fly. I would keep going until I died and then some more. In an instant, she was my everything.
Completely glazed over now, I was hanging off her every word, yet somehow not taking in any of it, too overwhelmed by the sheer wonder I felt for her. I half-noticed the boy - Jason - leaving his towel, mumbling something about a bathroom.
I gazed at her adoringly, into those ebony eyes looking up at me. And then I leaned closer, ever so slightly, breathing in her warm scent. She tilted forward and all I could see was her mouth. I lightly touched my lips to hers. They were soft, supple, sweet.
And then I knew. I knew that I would be wherever she was for the rest of her life. I would move heaven and earth for her. I would be her mentor, her best friend, her shoulder to cry on. I would be her brother, her father, her uncle. Her crush, her boyfriend, her lover. It didn't matter that she lived nearly seven thousand miles away.
I was hers. Forever