Author's Note: Well hello there! This story has been cooking in my brain for a while now and I've been dying to write it, but I wanted to finish the outline first. I really hope you guys enjoy and please please please review! I love/need/crave feedback.
When Piper Moore looked out the window of her boyfriend's SUV, she experienced an overwhelming feeling that her choice of place for relocation had been the wrong one. Everything was grey and gloomy; not the ideal location to go to cheer yourself up.
She had decided to move after her father passed away, thinking that a change of scenery would do her some good. So she chose the exact opposite of sunny San Francisco, a small town named Forks in the middle of rainy Washington. What had she been thinking? Sure let's trade up, sunny, perky San Fran for a gloomy, grey, depressing small town! That'll be sure to cheer her up.
She sighed, acknowledging that there was no turning back now. She turned away from the dank scenery to glance at her boyfriend who was trying to navigate the unfamiliar roads. She was grateful that he had decided to come with her. Mark (the boyfriend, in case you were wondering) worked in Tech Support, which allowed him to work from home, wherever home was.
"Here we are," Mark said victoriously, pulling into the driveway of 124 Bayberry Lane. This announcement was a relief to Piper, who was worried that they might never find it. They had been driving around aimlessly for almost 20 minutes.
It was a small, one story house with two bedrooms and one bathroom. The white paint looked a bit weathered and the lawn could use a bit of maintenance. It wasn't Versailles, but it would be fine for their temporary relocation.
The movers had beaten them there and were already unloading some of the boxes. Mark hopped out and, in a fashion befitting his alpha-male nature, began directing the movers. Sorting the boxes by the rooms they were destined to be set.
Piper also stepped out of the car, examining her new surroundings. True it was a bit grey, but she was beginning to appreciate the abundance of green. Her apartment in San Francisco certainly didn't have a lush forest behind it. Maybe this was a place she could get used to.
After the movers had moved the boxes and furniture into the house, Piper and Mark set to work, unpacking and organizing their furniture. For the first time in her life, Piper was glad that they were poor, recently graduated college students. They didn't have a lot of stuff which meant less work for them.
Once they were finished, Piper fell back on their new bed with a sigh of contentment. "Well, it's official. We're Forkians," she announced.
Mark smiled and collapsed next to her, lying on his side so he could face her. "Forkians?" he asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically.
Piper just grinned and stuck her tongue out at him. She took a moment to appreciate just how lucky she was. Mark Newburgh was a very good-looking guy. He had curly dark hair and eyes that matched with a face of boy band member. Or at least, that was the comparison she first thought of when they first met during her sophomore year at Pepperdine. She had been so happy when he had asked her out, and they had been together ever since.
Mark put a hand on her stomach and kissed her with a grin. "What do you say we christen the new bed?" he asked, giving her a wink.
Piper laughed but pushed him off. Mark's sex drive was insatiable, which would normally be a good thing. Normally being the key word. His dominating personality carried over a bit too much into the bedroom. He was almost too rough in bed to handle. She often came out bruised and sore.
"That'll have to wait until later," she said sitting up and straightening out her blouse. "We need to get some food in the fridge. Unless, of course, you don't feel like eating tonight,"
Mark just shrugged, remaining in his horizontal position on the bed. "If we have to," he conceded, but looked at her apprehensively. "Be careful what you get though, you've been getting a little pudgy,"
Piper flinched. He had been hinting at her weight gain for a while now. She had always been a tiny girl throughout high school and college, but now that she no longer had time to be as active, she had gained a little weight.
She personally didn't think it was a problem. She maybe weighed 130-or-so-pounds, 5 or 10 pounds more than when Mark had met her. If anything, she kind of liked the weight gain. It had given her the curves that she had yearned for as a teenager. Mark didn't seem to be as happy with it though, so she was making a point to watch what she ate.
"You know what, I'll come with you," he said, pushing himself off the bed. "Have to make sure you don't grab any doughnuts," His tone was light, but the serious flash in his eyes told her that he was anything but joking.
They then hopped back into the car and began to drive around town aimlessly, searching for the local supermarket. Piper found herself feeling thankful that Forks was such a small town. In any other town, Mark's absolute refusal to ask for directions could lead to hours of driving around blindly, but here, there were only so many places you could go.
==++Jacob's POV++==
Jacob Black grumbled moodily as he threw items on Emily's list into the cart. He had been nominated to run to her errands today and he was far from happy about it. Of course, he was thrilled that Emily was pregnant (he knew she and Sam had been trying for a long time) but he hated that it meant she couldn't' do her own damn shopping.
When he turned into the produce section, however, he had a change of heart. He couldn't get over his luck for being nominated to do the shopping that day. The reason? Standing by the tomatoes was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
She had long caramel colored hair tied back into a ponytail and her breathtaking, pale green eyes were flicking back and forth between two tomatoes she held in each small hand, her brow furrowed in concentration.
Jacob could feel it happening. The earth seemed to shift beneath his feet. He could feel the entire universe rearranging itself, making this girl its center. He had imprinted.
Before he knew what he was doing, Jacob was walking over to the mystery girl. "Great tomatoes today, huh?" he heard himself saying. He wanted to bash himself over the head. Tomatoes? He meets his imprint and his "winning line" is about the quality of today's tomatoes?
Despite the dunderheaded-ness of his opening line, his angel smiled at him and nodded. "Remarkable in fact," she said with a grin. He could have died. Her voice was sweeter than he could have imagined and she had a sense of humor. Perfection beyond belief.
"I haven't seen you around before," he commented, pretending to be fascinated by a carton of blueberries.
"That would be because I just moved in today," she informed him. She placed both tomatoes in her already filled cart and turned to face him. "My name's Piper Moore," she reached out her hand and he took it, shaking it lightly. Her skin was so soft…
"Jacob Black," he choked out, realizing that this was supposed to be a mutual introduction.
"Very nice to meet you Jacob Black," she laughed (a beautiful, melodic sound).
Desperate for the conversation not to end, he looked for something else to comment on. "No frozen meals I see," was what ended up coming out of his mouth. Once again, he felt the urge to kick himself. It was true though, the food in her cart all seemed to be ingredients rather than pre-prepared meals.
"Well why settle for a frozen meal when you are capable of cooking something better?" she asked, turning her attention to a bunch of carrots. Jacob needed to pinch himself. She cooked too. She was too perfect to be real.
That very moment, Jacob realized that she was, indeed, too good to be true. A man walked up next to her, placing some spinach in with the rest of the food and glared at Jacob.
"Want to introduce me to your friend, babe?" he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder possessively. Jacob repressed the urge to snarl at the jackass.
"Mark, this is Jake. You don't mind if I call you Jake, do you?" I just shook my head, eyes still glued on the intruder that had ruined what he felt was an almost perfect moment. "And Jake, this is Mark,"
"Her boyfriend," Mark added pointedly.
"Nice to meet you," Jacob said irritably. It figures. He finally meets his imprint and she's taken, by this asshole no less!
"We should get going, Piper," Mark hinted none too gently, beginning to lead her away.
"Wait!" Jacob stopped them, grabbing a scrap of paper from his pocket and scribbling his number on it. "That's my number. If you guys have any questions or need any help moving, I'm on the rez, only 15 minutes away,"
Piper, his imprint, his veritable angel on earth, smiled at him and took the scrap of paper. "Thank you," she said gratefully, putting his number in her pocket.
"C'mon," Mark urged irritably, pulling her toward the check-out. Jake waved and went back to his shopping, his mind reeling with ways he could see her again.
==++Piper's POV++==
Piper was furious with Mark, though she didn't' have the guts to say it. Jake had seemed like such a nice guy, but as always, Mark saw a guy near her and ended the friendship before it could begin. It happened all the time and there was nothing she could do about it.
Mark was sitting at their new kitchen table with his fourth beer, watching Piper cook. All Piper wanted to do was grab the bottle away from him. Mark was a mean drunk and she knew that whenever he sat down with a beer, it was not going to be a pleasant evening.
She plated the Chicken Cacciatore and pasta and walked it over to the table, which she had already set with the silverware.
"What do you think you're doing?" Mark asked lowly, glaring at the plate she had made for herself.
"Eating?" she replied snarkily. She didn't know what she was thinking. She knew better than to talk back to him like that when he was drunk.
"Didn't I tell you to watch what you ate?" he thundered, smacking her plate (food and all) off the table, causing it to shatter on the floor. "Do you like being fat or do you just not want to be attractive?"
Piper shrunk back into the kitchen chair, pressing her lips together. She hated to admit it, but he really scared her when he got like this.
"Fat whore," he muttered under his breath before he grabbed the plate and made his way into the new living room, turning on the TV to watch the game.
Once he had left the room, Piper got out of the chair shakily, getting some paper towels and cleaning the smears of chicken and pasta he had sent flying onto the floor. As she cleaned up the mess and brushed away the bits of shattered plate, she tried to swallow back her tears. She hated it when he got like this, she really hated it.
Author's Note: Weeeeeeeeell? What do you think? Questions, Comments, Concerns, Compliments; all are welcome! Feedback is practically my life force which means I NEVER get sick of it. Let me have it people!