Hello, everyone! I made my goal of getting 5 chapters off to llynn20 (who is returning the beta-ing favor in a fabulous way) by today, so I am posting the first chapter of this new story!

Here's some background: I LOVE Mat Kearney. It's actually quite sad. But, anyway, I've wanted to write something based around his song All I Have for a long time and finally just decided to it. There is a link to the lyrics on my profile. This will be a four part story based around the seasons of the year. It's told from Jacob's point of view. I suppose I should warn you in advance that it's a Jake and Bella story. But! The odd thing? I am very much on Team Edward... I just have a hard time writing him. I think his personality is just kind of... stiff. Jake seems much more flexible and fun. So I tend to write from his point of view. Don't let it be a turn off.

I don't think I really need to tell anyone that I don't own any of these characters. But I will anyway. I don't own any of these characters. They all belong to the wonderful Stephenie Meyer. Speaking of... did anyone get to watch Oprah yesterday? I have it DVR'd but I didn't get a chance to watch... must do that this weekend.

Okay, enjoy!

Part One: Autumn

Here we go at it three years later
Will you help me to dream it all up again?
Tired of the same song everyone's singing
Rather be lost with you instead

Chapter One: Lines

It is one of those perfect fall days that make me feel like I'm not in the middle of the city. The trees are just starting to turn, bits of gold and scarlet and orange peeking through the deep green of the leaves.

The path is overcrowded with both tourists and locals, more so than usual. I guess nobody wanted to waste the warm fall day. My music was blaring in my ears, loud and full of beat. It felt good to stretch my muscles up and down the hilly path.

I finally made it to the final uphill stretch that leads out of the park and back to reality. Pushing myself, I pick up the pace and start up the hill.

Totally absorbed in my music, I almost run over the person who's just jumped in my path. I screech to a halt, pissed.

"Hey, Jake. What's up man?"

Panting, I try and speak. I can't; I'm too winded and startled. But I can glare. And glare I do.

"I tried calling your name, but you didn't hear me." I point to the earbuds in my ears. "Oh, my bad."

"Yeah," I wheeze out. "Your bad."

"Some of the crew's about to start up a game of kickball. Want to play?"

I eye the last 500 yards of the path. My rhythm is totally broken and I won't regain it before I'm out of the park. I shrug, conceding. "Sure, Sam. I'll play."

We started out with a small crowd, but quickly it grew to the point of overcrowding. Random people had been joining and everyone was starting to lose focus. It was a weird group though; one where everyone knew at least one other someone.

I didn't want the game to end; I wanted to soak up the last bit of late summer sun. And I was having a blast. It had been a few weeks since everyone had been together. And the add-on players all seemed pretty cool. Plus, in a few months, it would be too cold to play at all.

"Last inning," Sam bellowed from my right where he was playing third base.

I'd never seen the girl who was kicking before, so I assumed she was one of the random players.

"Take it easy on me; I've never done this before!" She calls to me where I stand on the mound.

"We'll take it nice and slow," I call back, not trying to hide the flirtation from my words. I lob the ball toward her, slow and straight, something I know she will connect with. Her face scrunches up in concentration and just when the ball is about to sail past her, she charges it and kicks it, hard.

"Run, Bella, run!" The sidelines cheer her on. But, she stands there for a minute, watching the ball sail through the air before jump starting herself and running towards first. The ball lands right between the outfielders, who toss it back to second base. The girl, Bella, stays on first.

Before I pitch again, this time for a tall guy dressed too nice for kickball, I look over at Bella. She is breathing hard, more from excitement rather than the running, I think.

"Next time you won't take it easy on me, will ya?" She asks with a grin.

"No, I guess I won't," I respond, laughing.

Two kickers later, she scores.

At the end of the inning, I ask for her number.

"Why should I give it to you?" She chides me, feigning severity.

"Cause I'm fun," I tell her. "And you'd have fun with me."

"Fun, huh? Is that the best you've got?" She says, crossing her arms over her chest, staring me down.

Going for broke, and for a laugh, I throw out my best one-liner. "I feel like Richard Gere standing next to you. That makes you the Pretty Woman."

She busts into laughter. "That's a good one. But… you just called me a hooker. Got anything else up your sleeve?"

"If I gave it all to you now, what would we have for later?"

"Ha. You assume there's going to be a later!" She's still smiling, so I don't think she's too staid. "It was great to meet you, Jacob, but I'd better get going." She points to one Mr. Serious who's pacing back and forth grumbling while shooting me nasty looks. I wave at him.

"You too, Bella," I say as she walks away.

I smack my hand to my forehead, like I've just remembered the most important thing. "Oh, hey, Bella! Wait a second!"

She turns around, now walking backwards. "What if I don't have a second?"

I wiggle my hands around in my empty pockets. "Do you have a quarter?" I try my best to look as needy as possible.

She stops. "What? A quarter?"

"Yeah, I need to call my mom and tell her I met the girl of my dreams."

She laughs and keeps walking.

One Week Later

"Jake! I'm not waiting for you any longer!"

"I'm coming!" I yell down the hallway towards the front door where Leah, my roommate, is standing. Her hand is already on the doorknob, ready to bolt.

I eye the piles of clothes in my floor. One of them is clean and one is dirty. But I can't seem to remember which is which. My closet is a mess; instead of everything being in its proper place on the hangers, my shirts are all jumbled on the floor.

"No you're not! You're standing in your room like an idiot wondering what you have that's clean and nice enough to wear tonight." She starts tapping her black heel impatiently. "You are not going to make me late again."

I am so busted.

"Five minutes? Please, Lee Lee?" I hoping her childhood nickname will win her over; I stick my head out of my room and bat my eyelashes. "Please?"

"Three. At three minutes, one second, I'm leaving."

"Thanks, Leah." I pull back into my room and look over the piles once more. So far, I've succeeded in pulling on a barely wrinkled pair of black pants, black socks and shoes.

I pull out a blue shirt from the pile and smell it. "Ugh. Bar." It goes back in the pile. I riffle through the other pile, coming up with a dark blue shirt. I smell it. "Potential." I toss it on the bed.

"Here."

I turn around to see Leah standing in my doorframe holding out a pressed white shirt and a tie.

"Just put it on." I take the clothes and smile at her.

"I'd be lost without you, Lee. Thanks." I really am grateful for her. She's been taking care of me for longer than I can even remember.

She blushes. "One minute," she says before turning and stomping back to her position by the front door.

In three more minutes, I'm ready.

And she's still waiting. Like I knew she'd be.

I open the front door. "After you." I sweep my arm out, awkwardly bowing as she passes.

Halfway to Sam and Emily's I realize I have a problem. I stop walking, people weaving around us.

"Uh, Leah? I kinda don't have a gift."

"Really, Jake? Really? Can you not get anything together this week? What's wrong with you?"

"I don't know! My head's all whumpfuzzled. Lots on my mind," I mumble.

"Well, you'd better un-whump-whatever it. I'm not saving you on this one. But you'd better not show up to their engagement party empty handed." She clicks off down the street leaving me standing there.

I don't get her. Just because she thinks she's perfect doesn't mean I have to be, too. So what I've been a little distracted this week. There's been a lot going on!

I keep trudging down the street, wondering what I can take to Sam and Emily's last minute that won't be too horrible. I've never been good with gifts. Leah always helps me pick out stuff. She even picks out her own presents that I'm supposed to get her.

A blaring car horn stops me in my tracks. My head snaps up—for all the attention I've been paying, I could be in the middle of an intersection and not know—looking for the danger. I'm safely in the middle of the sidewalk, but a lady in front of me is yelling her head off at the cab that almost clipped her.

"Hello! Walking here! Are you blind?" She waves her arms, both of which have filled grocery bags in them, at the cabbie who flicks her off as he speeds away. She turns around to take a step onto the sidewalk and hits the ground. One minute she's standing, and the next she's on the pavement. Her groceries have spilled out of both bags and are all around her.

At first she sits there, stunned. Then she starts laughing. I mean, hysterically laughing.

I approach her quickly. "Are you okay? Did it hurt?"

"No, no, I'm okay. Thanks, though." She moves to start collecting her groceries.

"No, I mean, did it hurt when you fell from heaven?"

"What?" She turns around, all huffy and offended. "What gives—Oh. It's you!" She smiles at me then and I offer her my hand to pull her off the ground. "You have a thing with pick up lines, then?"

I start picking up cans of soup and frozen bags of veggies and freshly bruised tomatoes. "Nah, not really. Pick up lines are our thing, Bella."

She laughs. "We have a thing?"

"We do now." I take her other bag from her and lead her to a bench beside the corner store. I make her sit. "Are you okay? Really?"

"I'm fine! I'm just clumsy as hell. I fall all the time."

"Did you know your elbow is bleeding?" I take her arm in my hands, turning it so I can see how badly she's hurt.

"It's just a scratch. This was tame compared to what I've done before."

"I'd hope getting knocked about by a car would top the list?"

"Hum, I guess it would," she concedes. "Thankfully, that didn't happen today."

"Thankfully," I agree. "Now, about this elbow."

"I've got it covered, Jacob." She reaches into her purse and pulls out a first aid kit. I'm pleasantly surprised she remembered my name.

"Okay, if you carry around a fully stocked first aid kit, you must me more of a klutz that I could imagine."

"You have no idea." She hands me an alcohol wipe and a Band-Aid. "Do you mind? Little hard to reach your own elbow."

Once the alcohol wipe is open, I gingerly rub it over her scrape, wiping off the gravel and blood. She winces, but only slightly.

"Sorry, I'm sure it hurts." I resist the temptation to blow on her scrape to ease the stinging.

"Not too bad. I'm used to it, truthfully."

I peel back the wrapper from the bandage. "Scooby Doo?" The bright yellow bandage has mini Scooby's all over it.

"Yeah," she admits sheepishly. "They were on sale! I go through a lot…"

I peel off the tabs over the adhesive and place it over the scrape, rubbing down the edges to make sure they stuck.

Impulsively, I kiss the bandage.

Bella looks at me like I've lost my mind. "Did you just kiss my bandaged elbow?"

"Well, yeah. Aren't kisses supposed to make it all better?"

"That's what they say," she tells me with a smile. "You're looking awfully nice tonight, Jacob. Big plans?"

"I'm late for a party. And I still have to get a gift. I can't go empty handed. Leah will be so mad at me."

"Leah?"

I smile. She's so hooked. "Leah's my roommate. Who is already mad enough because she had to wait on me to get ready. And then I forgot a gift. I'm not off to a good start tonight."

"Okay, then. Let's not get you into anymore trouble with your 'roommate.'" She winks at me. "Who's getting married?"

"Sam and Emily; they're both good friends. They just moved into their apartment, so it's kind of a house warming, too."

Bella jumps up, pulling me with her. "This is easy. Take them a bottle of wine, some flowers and some cheese."

"Cheese?" The wine and the flowers I get, but cheese?

"Yeah, something to eat with the wine. Come on, let's go." Bella practically drags me around the corner by the hand. She doesn't release me until we're standing outside of a small neighborhood grocery. The one Leah and I shop at every week.

"I feel like I was just here," she says. "Oh wait! I was. But my tomatoes are all ruined now."

We go inside and she helps me pick out a bottle of red wine, some cheese and crackers and flowers. Soon my arms are full. I had the lady my card, she swipes it and I pocket it before gathering everything off the counter.

"Hey! Your receipt!" The cashier calls back to us. I'm already out the door but Bella is still inside so she goes back in to grab it. A few seconds she comes back out and pushes the receipt into my front pocket. I think I manage to turn a little pink.

We stand there kind of awkward for a minute. I'm not going to ask her for her number again. She already shot me down once and even though I'm pretty sure she'd give it to me this time, I don't want to risk it.

"Okay, I'm off this way." I gesture over my shoulder. "Are you sure you'll be okay? No more rogue sidewalks to battle?"

"No," she says laughing. "I'll be fine. Thanks for fixing up my elbow."

"You're welcome, Bella. Thanks for getting me out of hot water tonight."

"I'll see you around, Jacob. I'm sure of it." She winks at me again and starts off down the street.

AN: Just like with Seventeen Forever, I'll post teasers for the upcoming chapters on my FF blog, which you can check out at: noteventhetreesff (dot) wordpress (dot) com. There's a link on my profile. I love visitors! :) Oh, and would anyone like to see a playlist for the story? I have one made and can certainly put it online somewhere if need be!