Easy As Breathing

Chapter 2: Trumped By The Monsters… Sort Of.

A/N: Well, here's chapter two. I don't like it as much as I liked chapter one, but I felt like I had to continue the story, and this is where it went! Let me know what you think.

"What are you doing!" she screamed. "You are going to KILL yourself!" I could hardly hear what she was saying for staring. She wasn't really beautiful, definitely not a supermodel, but there was something about her… I could feel every fiber of my being shifting toward her. Her face was what caught me. She had blue eyes, not stunning blue, just regular blue. Regular blue eyes have never looked as beautiful as hers did, fringed with a ring of thin, pitch-black lashes… and she wasn't wearing mascara, or any makeup at that. Her face was round, she had these cheeks that looked like they should be on a baby, but it worked on her, made her look pretty, cute, adorable. She had an airy, casual, normal, human air about her. Once again I was reminded of Bella, and I felt a guilty stab of pain as I realized that my love for Bella was still painfully there. But there was no denying that I loved this girl too. There is no easy way to explain it, she was all that I wanted, all that I needed… but there was still the fact that I was naked up to my neck in freezing cold water, I didn't even know her name and she was screaming at me. This was going to take a lot of explaining.

A/N: I know, she doesn't sound that gorgeous. Actually, she was kind of based on me. I kind of have a thing for Jacob! lol, plus I loved how Stephanie made Bella so normal! I wanted to portray that too, that no matter what your little flaws are, there are many, many things about everyone that are beautiful. I know, it sounds kind of mushy, but I really think its true.

"Umm… I… lost my clothes." It was the only thing I could think of to say. I realized I couldn't lie to her, and this was technically the truth and the only halfway normal thing I could tell her. What was I supposed to say? "Actually, I'm a werewolf and the love of my life ran off with a vampire, so I thought I would go for a seven day run and a quick dip in freezing water to get away from it all." Actually, had I said that, her response would have probably been the same.

"WHAT!?!?!"

"I'm kind of naked, I lost my clothes." I lamely responded.

"Umm… I think I'm going to want a better explanation than that, especially since no one saw you get into the water. You would have had to swim here from someplace else. Either that or you have been here watching us the whole time." She said. Great, she wasn't stupid. That could either make things easier or harder for me.

"Uh, the last one was about right."

"So," she enquired, "are you going to explain?" She said it with such a cute, confused, inquiring face that I had to try really hard to keep from smiling.

"Can you get me some clothes first, so I can get out of the water?"

"Oh my goodness! You must be freezing! Hold on, I'll get you our bonfire blanket."

She ran up the beach, shivering in the violent wind, and grabbed a blanket off the ground. She shook the sand off while she ran back to the water. Her teeth (white and straight, but not blindingly so) were chattering. My heart reached out to her, I just wanted to take her into my arms and warm her up. I wasn't cold at all, but she didn't know that. She was so sincere, from the first words she said she was concerned about me, not herself. And as much as I wanted to tell her I really didn't need the blanket, that she should just wrap it around herself, I was even more aware of my nakedness now that she was around, and I really needed to get some clothes.

She waded a few inches into the water again; I watched her shudder as a freezing wave crashed up her legs.

"I don't want to get the blanket wet, so you will have to come to me. The coast is clear, and I won't look." She stretched out her arm, the blanket hanging from her fingertips. Then she turned and put her other hand over her eyes, squinting them shut tight at the same time. It was so cute, such an innocent thing to do. I knew that she wouldn't peek, as much as I wouldn't mind if she did. I rose from the water and walked up and grabbed the blanket. I knew I would get way too hot if I wrapped it around my entire body, so I just rubbed my hair dry and slung it around my waist.

"Okay, you can look now, I'm decent." I said. She turned and jumped a little, a blush rising on her already wind-flushed cheeks.

"Umm… I thought you said you were decent?"

"You mean I'm not?" I said, confused.

"Well, it's really cold and… I thought, umm…that…" Even as she trailed off I saw her eyes trail over my chest and all the way up my towering frame. I suddenly realized that she wasn't really used to the physique of a Quileute teen (aka werewolf), and that it probably looked kind of fishy for me to spend three hours in freezing cold water and violent wind and then not even cover my torso with a blanket. So, for her sake, I pulled it up around my shoulders and stepped the rest of the way out of the water.

A/N: I was going to try to stay away from the whole physical aspect of everything, but it didn't take long for me to realize that Jacob is kind of cocky in a way and would find a way to show off his excellent bod. And what girl wouldn't blush? lol.

"You're right, I guess I was kind of numb; I couldn't really feel the cold until now" Once again, not a lie, really, I was emotionally numb, and she had sort of un-numbed me. Also, for her sake I didn't want to dump the truth on her all at once.

"Oh, and I'm Jacob, Jacob Black." I wanted to get to know this girl, and I figured I should start with telling her my name.

"Nice to meet you Jacob, I'm Alaina. Alaina Phoebe Moskovitz." Even her name was pretty. She smiled at me. "Why don't we go sit by the coals and warm up?" She was shivering again. It was starting to really scare me, something about her made me want to protect her from everything and anything that would even begin to cause her harm or discomfort in any way. I suddenly realized what was happening to me. I had imprinted on Alaina and there was no way I could live without her. It made me smile. This time, I had been dealt the monster trump card. The one thing that could ever even begin to trump my love for Bella, the only person out there that could ever put ointment on my wounds, had stepped into my life. And there was no way I was letting her step out.

A/N: Alaina is kind of a nerd, in a way. I love my middle name, but I still don't introduce myself with it! I thought that sort of showed how innocent she was, that she introduced herself like that. I know I might be kind of stretching it with the underlying meaning in this one, but I kind of liked the way she did it. I like Alaina, I really do. Now I sound like I'm tooting my own horn, but she wasn't really planned like this, it just kind of happend. So, she's kind of new to me too. OH, and the trump card thing. I think there was a part in Eclipse where Jacob says to Bella that if there were no monsters they would be together, well now the "monsters" (like himself) are giving him a more-than-soul-mate like they gave Bella one...Edward... idk, I thought it sounded kind of confusing when I read through it but I didn't want to take it out so I thought I would TRY to clarify, but idk if it worked!

As I had suspected, it didn't take long for me to get too hot inside the blanket. Once we got to the fire, I took the blanket off my shoulders again. Alaina raised an eyebrow (rounded morethan archedand obviously not plucked or waxed. She liked herself the way she was) but didn't say any thing. She scooted closer to the fire, relaxing a little bit as heat from the coals wafted towards her. I scooted up a little, despite the heat, just to be next to her.

"So, Jacob, are you going to tell me your story?" she asked.

"Do you promise to believe me?" I asked

"Umm, sure, why wouldn't I?" she enquired.

A/N: I still have no idea how I am going to have Alaina react when Jacob tells her the truth. Because he will, he is way to smitten not to. Wait, now I am giving away the ending of my own story, kind of. It's just like me to comment on every aspect of my own story!

"It's kind of a crazy story. What about your friends, are they waiting for you? To tell it all will take a while, and I am still only wearing a blanket. Are you sure you even want to hear it?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. But you're right. I should get back to the cabin. I'm here on vacation. I live in Seattle. Oh, and you are going to need some better clothes, but I don't know if Toby has anything that will fit you."

A rush of jealousy suddenly surged through me.

"Oh? Who is Toby?" I asked, raising both brows, I wasn't skilled enough to raise just one.

"My brother… what's it to you?" She raised one brow again. Man I wished I could do that.

"Oh, just wondering. I want to know everything about you." As soon as I said it I knew it was a little bit creepy and moving way too fast. I hoped she wouldn't take it the wrong way. She blushed a Bella-ish blush and the painful stab returned. Even the monsters of the world couldn't completely annihilate true love. But they had come pretty close with Alaina.

"Oh, that's cool I guess. Stay right here, I'll be back in a half hour. What's your pant size?" She was going to shop for me. I was once again struck by her sincerity. She didn't even know me. I was overwhelmed by the thought that she might like me too. Why else would she be doing this for me? I told her my size and she pulled on her sneakers again, gathered up the rest of her stuff and walked up the beach, turning to smile and wave before she disappeared behind a grassy hill. I was suddenly exhausted. I scooted away from the hot fire, pulled the blanket off, leaving part of it draped across me in case she came back early, and then I fell asleep.

A/N: OK! That's the end of that chapter! I hope you liked it. PLEASE review, even if you are telling me that this is the worst story you have ever read. I love hearing from people. Oh, and I know the imprinting thing might seem a little cliche, but I thought it was the only thing that would make Jacob feel better without making it seem like his love for Bella wasn't the real thing. Like in Romeo and Juliet when the minute he saw Juliet, Romeo forgot all about Rosaline, I thought that made Romeo seem way too dramatic like he never loved Rosaline at all, and I didn't want it to be like that with Jacob, so I gave him an excuse to forget about Bella. But notice he hasn't! Just like Bella still has a soft spot in her heart for Jacob, he still has a place in his heart for her. They won't ever forget each other if they both live forever, but they also won't leave their "trump cards," Alaina and Edward. Okay, I might as well just not write the rest of the story. Auughhh! I am so long-winded! OK, I'm really done now.