Chapter 2

The rest of the ride to Leah's house was done in silence as I ponder my ever growing nervousness and contemplate what her friends and family could look like. Leah is not a picture person, I have only seen a few pictures of her and her brother, but they were much younger probably only 12 or 13.

As we near houses I wonder which house hers will be, will it be large or small I have no idea actually once again I was left in the dark. We pull to a stop outside of a relatively large house in comparison to the others around it, and hesitantly I proceed to follow my best friend out of the car towards what I assume is her mothers' old house. Her mother had passed away in the middle of our junior year at Ohio University, I know she shares this house with, Seth, her brother, and one of his friends, but that is about all I ever heard about her life here in La push.

"Hey Seth we're back are you home?" Leah yells as we walk through the front door. There is no answer she turns to me and says, " They must be out or sleeping, are you hungry I can make something to eat, I'm sure if the smell of food drifts through the air some of the guys will show up for dinner."

"Whatever…where should I put my stuff…" I hesitantly ask.

"Oh yeah, go up the stairs fourth door, it's on the left I had Seth and Jacob fix it up for you last week." Leah says as she walks towards the kitchen.

The house has an open floor plan down stairs and has very few walls so the dinning room, front room, and kitchen were all unhindered by walls. The upstairs, however, consists of a long hall with several doors along both sides, some of which I assume have to be closets. I find the room Leah said is mine and start to unpack my belongings. I didn't have much considering I flew here and all, but what I could pack in the two large suit cases is more than enough I thought as I observed and took in my surroundings.

I lie back on the bedspread with my hands over my head trying to relax and take in everything that has happened since I left the airport. How could I ever get over this anxiety to meet Leah's friends? What if they don't like me? What could I possibly do to get them to like me? I am not that outgoing when I first meet people, but once you get to earn my trust, I like to believe I open up and let my true colors show. I guess I will just have to grin and bear the awful feelings that envelope me around strangers.

I am awakened from my thoughts by a soft knock on the door, I sigh, "yeah." As I look towards the closed white door.

"Uh…Leah said to come down and eat, the food is almost done." A strange voice says from behind the door. I panic, oh my gosh, some guy is at my door who else is here I can't come out. What if there are 40 people down there, and they are all staring at me?

"I'm not hungry. " I whisper softly hoping that he could hear me still.

"She told me you would say that…now come on open your door and let's go down together." A voice tries to reassure me.

"Who's down there?" I ask tentatively afraid of the answer.

"Just Seth and Leah and Brady, you know your roommates." He says casually.

"Then who are you?" I choke out sitting up on my bed gaining a little courage from his information, I would have to meet my roommate sooner or later.

"Open the door and I'll tell ya." He says with a small chuckle.

I hesitantly stand up and reach for the door knob, the metal knob feeling cold on my skin, turning the metal sphere in my palm seems to drag into hours. I swing the door open to see a large man standing there in cut off jeans and a white tank top smiling hesitantly. His hair is long about to his shoulders, eyes dark, and oh is he hot. Why does Leah have to have hot friends? I can deal so much better with ugly guys, oh no, I bet I'm staring, where to look, uh um, how bout the floor? Yeah, so that I don't fall or something even though I'm not clumsy.

"So the door is open…" duh I state the obvious I must sound like a complete jackass in front of this guy I wonder if Leah told him I don't like people.

"I'm Jacob, sorry to scare you, I just wanted to help out you know since you're Leah's friend and all, I live down the street, but like the rest of us, I'm here a lot since Seth's house is large enough for hold us all." Jacob rattles off, I could tell he didn't know what to say to me, he must know more about me than I thought, so I smile and hesitantly walk towards the stairs hoping that I wouldn't make a complete ass out of myself.