"You're doing it again," Jacob's voice was almost a singsong tease, and Leah wheeled on him the moment the words were out of his mouth. She took a breath, ready to retort, but when their eyes met she saw the concern behind his. She let the breath out in an exasperated sigh.
"I guess I am," she replied, defeated. "Pacing like this; I don't know why I'm so restless."
"I bet I do," Jacob grinned. It was starting to grate on Leah's nerves, the way he seemed so nonchalant and carefree on the surface. She could hear his thoughts as clearly as her own, and they said he was concerned about her emotional state.
"Humor me," she snorted, glancing back out the frost-edged window overlooking the driveway and small front yard of the Clearwaters' house.
Jacob shook his head, lifting himself off the secondhand sofa across which he had been sprawled in the living room.
"It's been a cold winter. And a boring one to boot. Not much to do, with the Cullens away until May and Sam's pack running most of the patrols." He felt her wince inwardly at the mention of Sam's name. It still hurt her sometimes, the mention of his name and the memories she carried of him.
Leah sighed again, as though trying to exhale the memories from her body. She crossed her arms tightly across her chest and leaned her shoulder against the windowsill, looking out across the frosted landscape outside.
"I guess you're right," her voice was flat. "But I still don't know what I can do to settle myself."
"Leave it to your fearless leader. It's Thursday; there must be something going on this weekend that'll take your mind off things. I'll see what I can find out." Without waiting for her reply, Jacob was out the door and racing across the frozen ground in a heartbeat.
"Damn, he's so fast!" Leah exclaimed aloud as she watched Jacob bound across the yard, across the empty road, and vanish into the woods on the other side.
At first she was perturbed at him. He hadn't even waited for her answer as to whether she wanted to go do anything socially! After a few moments' thought, however, she realized that if he had she would have talked him out of trying to find something to do. He knew she would, and so he'd left before she could object. Leah shook her head and snorted, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"Jake, you know me better than I know myself sometimes. It's scary."
He was back in less than half an hour, grinning like a madman, eyes shining.
"What? What did you find? What are you up to?" Leah prodded as he stepped through the door. She had made a pot of coffee and was sitting at the kitchen table sipping it. She set the steaming mug down as he strode across the linoleum floor and reached for the pot of black liquid himself.
"I love how you just help yourself to my stuff without asking. Real gentlemanly, Jake," she shot.
"You would've said yes. Besides, it's cold out there."
She didn't reply. He was right, of course. As usual.
Jacob pulled out a chair across from Leah and turned it around, straddling it and resting his triceps across the arched back, staring at her with dancing eyes as he sipped the hot liquid. Leah pushed at her own mug with her fingertips, impatient.
"So are ya gonna tell me what's up or do I have to sit here until the weekend's over and find out later what I could've been doing?"
Jacob threw his head back, letting out a loud guffaw.
"You really are itching to get out, aren't you?"
"Shut up, Jake, or I'll just tell you to forget the whole thing."
"Okay, okay, you're right. I'm sorry for teasing you. It's just…what I found for you to do is…a little offbeat."
"Offbeat how?" Leah asked, suddenly interested again. "Offbeat" wasn't a word that Jake used to describe a lot of things.
"In a kind of geeky way. A weird-kid-from-the-city way," he paused, waiting for her reply. It was no more than a look of bewilderment. "Oh, all right. I may as well just tell you. There's an anime convention in Seattle this weekend. You know…Japanese animation? I was reading about it on the website and it sounded just bizarre enough to distract you from everything going on here."
"Or what's not going on here," she corrected. "But, jeez, Jake, Japanese animation? A whole convention for it?"
He nodded, then explained some of the events he'd read about: cosplay competitions, voice acting workshops, question and answer panels, anime screenings…but what grabbed her attention was when he mentioned the concert.
"A concert? What kind of concert?" She interrupted him in mid-sentence.
"Oh, get this! The convention organizers brought this rock band all the way here from Japan to play one show! That band is also doing an in-store signing at the Hot Topic in the Southcenter Mall. And these guys…you wouldn't believe 'em! They've got long hair and wear makeup that makes them look like bloodsuckers! And they play their gigs in suits!"
"What? You're kidding, right?" Leah could barely comprehend something like that happening so close to home. This was the kind of stuff that happened in Hollywood or New York. Not in Seattle!
"No, I'm dead serious! It all starts tomorrow!" Jake was grinning with amusement as he told her.
"Man…I gotta check this out. Did you find out where it's all happening?"
Jake gave her the details, including the name of the convention center where it was taking place and the price of admission for the weekend.
"The hotels out there are kind of…expensive," he grimaced, rattling off a few prices to her.
"Well, honestly, I don't know if I'll be staying all weekend. But I definitely want to at least see what this band is all about. What did you say they're called?"
"I didn't. But they're Girugamesh. Like Gilgamesh, but misspelled on purpose. I guess to make it easier to pronounce with a Japanese accent," he was still grinning.
"Well, okay then! I'm going to pack some stuff and I'm off in the morning to this Sakuracon to check out this Girugamesh!" A genuine smile split her face. This was the first prospect of something interesting and new in her life in ages. She felt oddly excited about it despite the fact that she barely knew anything about anime and had absolutely no idea whatsoever what the band Girugamesh even sounded like. But deep within her was a voice urging her to go, telling her there was something important there that she should not miss. In the excitement over something new and different, she missed that voice entirely. As such, she was completely unprepared for the event horizon that awaited her in Seattle as she set off at 9:00 am sharp the following morning.