"She only drinks coffee at midnight, when the moment is not right, her timing is quite unusual."
--Meet Virginia, Train
Nessie slammed the mug on the table hard and looked up with wide brown eyes. "Now what?"
"You don't have to do this, you know."
"I'm doing it."
"Yeah, but—"
"I'm doing it, Jake."
"Right. You do that."
Silence.
"So… you done yet?"
"Jacob."
"Sorry."
More silence. She scribbled furiously, and for a few minutes, they simply sat there, her writing, him watching her with badly suppressed amusement.
Suddenly, she put down the pen and downed the rest of her coffee. "There. Read it."
"Ok. On the matter of my behavior towards Andrew Carver…"
"Not out loud!"
"Ed already knows, Ness. And if he knows, so does your mother."
"So? I don't have to tell them any more."
"They'll end up reading it anyways."
"Read it in your head, Jacob, now."
He obeyed. Of course he obeyed—Bella had told him time and time again that he really had to have some backbone with her daughter, or else she wouldn't let him marry the girl. And then what would he do?
Nessie was staring at him. There were shadows under her eyes—he looked up at the clock mid-sentence. Ah. She'd never been much for staying up late, after all—the latest he'd ever managed to keep her up was 1:00 AM, and by midnight she was ready to kill.
"Jacob! Don't get distracted." She snapped. Her mug was full again.
"Why do you even drink that stuff?" he asked cautiously, "You don't even like human food…"
"Not true! I like sushi. And burgers, and soda. And this stuff has amazing ability to keep people awake."
"But it tastes terrible."
"To you, maybe. You're not much for veggies though, are you?"
"You're not exactly a vegan either, Nessie."
She shrugged. "Please read my paper."
"So what exactly did this Andrew Carver do to you?"
She turned a little pink. "Asked me out." She coughed.
"Ah. And you…?"
"I slapped him. Hard."
"You broke his jaw…"
"Yeah, but the way he said it was just so… so… it was gross, ok?"
She saw the frown appear between his brows. He loved her, she knew, which was why he was determined she date a little before she was completely settled on him. You're still young, he'd told her once, and I've seen the boys at your school.
Which made her wonder a little, at first. Did he want her to fall in love with someone else? To have to make her mother's choice? And then she realized that he wanted her to have options. He wanted her to be happy, and if that meant she had to be with someone else…
Well, he was lucky, she thought vaguely. Or maybe I was.
He was right about the boys in her school. They were annoying and immature, and in all honesty she couldn't look at any of them beyond mild friendship status. Occasionally she might look at one with a more appeasing eye, but then, the thought always comes about…
He's too short.
Even when the fellow in question is a head or so taller than her, she can't make herself imagine not being picked up for a kiss, instead of simply tiptoeing. That was too cliché. No, being actually lifted off her feet was so much more exciting…
Nessie looked up and turned even pinker.
"What?" she demanded. He was eying her strangely, as though he weren't quite sure what she was thinking right now. And how could he be? He wasn't her father. Couldn't read her mind, quite yet, unless she let him, she remembered. That frustrated her in a way, that after all this time, he couldn't understand—
"I'm glad you hit him."
That caught her by surprise.
"You are?"
"Yup. No one can ask you out in a way you don't like, Ness."
"Oh." She immediately felt guilty. She really shouldn't antagonize him that way. She loved him more than her world, but that didn't mean she couldn't get angry once in a while. It wasn't as though it was perfect—it was as close to perfect as it would get, though, and in a way, that was perfect. Perfect was also too cliché for her.
"Here. It's good."
"You're sure? Not too insulting?"
"Of course it's insulting."
"Jake."
"I love you, Nessie." He said meekly, stealing some of her coffee. She smiled warily and leaned across the table to kiss him tenderly.
"I'm barely eighteen, you know," she said mischievously, when they both needed to come up for air. She looked eighteen, and it would be the only time she looked her age. She'd looked eighteen since she'd been seven, and gone through senior year eleven times to pass the time. "Both my parents and Aunt Rosalie would have your head."
"For a kiss?"
"Maybe."
"Nah… not even your aunt is that cruel."
"You're lying to yourself, Jake." She grinned evilly and kissed him again, and pulled away a few seconds later.
He glared at her. "You shouldn't lead me on like that. Breaks my heart!"
"Ah, Jacob…If you only knew…"
"Only knew what?"
"That Dad's right in the living room…"
"Oh." His eyes widened considerably, and he leaned back and put as much distance between them as the small table would allow. "Shit."
"He heard that."
"Sorry Ed. Edward. Didn't—didn't really—"
Her father peeked into the room, smiling serenely, "I'm not the one you should be afraid of, Jake. Besides, it's not as I couldn't hear you upstairs anyways."
"You promised you wouldn't eavesdrop!" came the indignant protest from his daughter, as he left the room and went back upstairs.
"Anything you say, love." He called back—well, what could be considered a call, for a vampire. He only had to speak it for her to hear him more than clearly.
"Here, Nessie." She was smiling as Jacob handed back her paper. "I think it's fine, but you might want to ask you beloved father." He emphasized the last two words, before he stood, and kissed her goodnight.
"I'll see you tomorrow, kid."
"Monster."
"Shrimp."
"Buttface."
"Ooh, can't outsmart that." He grinned and left, leaving her smiling form behind, coffee mug in her hands and her eyes already beginning to droop.