No idea if this is a one-shot or if I plan to write more. Writing is an if-the-mood-strikes sort of thing for me. Disclaimer: Yadda yadda, Meyer owns everything, yadda yadda. Oh yeah, the reason Nessie doesn't refer to anyone as Aunt or Uncle is because that in my family, I never call my aunts and uncles Aunt and Uncle. I just call them by their first names. Assumptions
You know how parents try to predict what their kids will want to be when they grow up? Well, mine took it a step further. They already had two husband candidates for me when I was only six months old. Gee thanks, Mom and Dad! Now I have to sit there listening to everyone going on about how much they like one boy over another, never pausing to think that maybe I don't like either!
Okay, that's a lie. I like Jacob Black fine. In fact, I love him. But there's an important difference between the type of love every couple in my family experiences and the type of love I experience. I love Jacob, but only in the way that two best friends love each other. Wait, that's not right. I've seen more than my share of crappy romantic comedies where the best friends fall in love. I blame Alice. She loves things like that, where it's as if fate has linked people together before their hormones were acting up.
As Leah reminded me once, that's exactly what happened. Or at least, that's what the Quileute legends say happened. Damn imprinting and its implications.
"Of course you love him. Stop trying to spare my feelings."
"Shut the hell up, Leah! I'm trying to tell you something!"
"Well then, would you get to it?"
I hated her stupid smug superiority. So she thought she knew what I was thinking, did she? I grabbed her wrist tightly. Her arm flexed, but then she went still when she saw what I saw.
I showed her Jacob and I chasing each other through the forest. I lost sight of him and sped up, thinking he was actually beating me. Then I went sprawling. When I rolled over, I realized immediately that he'd hidden to trip me. He was laughing at me. I growled and launched myself at him, knocking him onto his back. Pleased that I'd caught him unawares in his turn, I didn't notice how close his face was to mine until he kissed me.
At that point, I felt Leah twitch. Stop it, I ordered her through my one-way link to her mind. I'm not finished yet. She still squirmed, distracting me from the images I was trying to bring to the forefront of my mind. Would you stop? This is important! I'm trying to tell you that I'M NOT INTERESTED IN JAKE! Stop being a jealous bitch and let me finish! Her arm tensed and flexed under my hand, but at last it went still.
I could feel my eyes widen in shock, and I shoved away from him as hard as I could. "What. The. Hell?" I sputtered as I rolled off of him.
He lay where I'd left him, unmoving. I didn't look to see what expression was on his face. I was too busy rubbing my mouth with the back of my hand, trying to erase the strange, moist sensation I'd felt there briefly.
The silence stretched, awkward. I fastforwarded through this part, sure Leah wouldn't sit through that. Plus, I didn't really feel like reliving it myself.
Jake didn't look at me when he finally spoke. "You didn't feel anything?"
"Nothing," I said, feeling him tense next to me. "Well, I could tell you drank some lemonade recently," I offered, knowing that wasn't what he meant, and also knowing I couldn't give him what he seemed to expect. "Jake," I hesitated, then plowed on. "I've only ever seen you as my best friend. You're like my older brother, except a thousand times better. You never put spiders in my bed or stole anything important to me. You've always been family to me. It's just...gross to think of you any other way. It's like kissing Emmett or Seth." I shuddered just thinking of either option.
"I suppose you like that - that Nahuel." From Jake's mouth, Nahuel sounded like a curse word.
"Nahuel?" That startled a shocked laugh out of me. "Jake, are you serious? We hardly ever even talk, let alone kiss! As if I would want to, anyways! He's so wild, he and his aunt both. It's probably because they've lived most of their lives with only each other for company."
There was more, but I stopped there. Leah didn't need to see the rest. I released her arm, which didn't have so much as a handprint on it. "See?"
For a long moment she sat there quietly, studying me as though for the first time. I was a beauty, but somehow I didn't think that was what she was noticing about me. All the same, I ran my fingers through my bouncy reddish-brown curls, trying to flatten out the frizz.
"Just a brother, huh?" Suddenly she smirked. "Didn't know Bella had the hots for Billy."
I groaned. "Ewww! He's old!"
"Edward's older."
"At least Dad doesn't look it."