When we got home, I showered with a smile on my face, combing through my hair while I watched my expression in the steamy mirror. My chocolate eyes were sparkling, how Jacob's had when he'd seen me in the kitchen. I didn't even remember the burn now; the pain was irrelevant, unimportant in light of what had happened today.
Jacob Black. The first time I had talked to him, we had spoken a brief couple words, referencing my truck and his Rabbit. This time, I felt like I had known him my whole life. The hours in La Push weren't nearly enough; I had to go back. I didn't know when, but I knew I had to.
I brushed my teeth and fell into bed with a happy sigh. My previous position that Forks was boring hadn't been rejected, because it most certainly was; La Push, however, had some definite possibilities.
I woke up and dressed for school trying to dull the skip in my step, knowing it would only confuse Charlie and make me seem crazy. One night hanging out with Jacob wasn't supposed to change me this drastically, make me this giddy. Maybe I was just so excited that things had finally become interesting, after the most boring year of my life. Whatever it was, I downed my cereal before Charlie could overanalyze my behavior, my truck roaring to life as I made to leave for school.
I paused before pulling out of the driveway, noting the truck's old faux leather bench seat, very similar to the Rabbit's. In a moment of craziness, I pressed my nose to the seat behind me, the faint scent of tobacco still there from when we had bought the truck off Billy. It didn't smell the same as Jacob's seat, but it was close enough.
"Try not to be a psycho, Bella," I told myself out loud, smiling at the irony in my words as I drove to school.
My behavior didn't appear to be noticed by my friends, although Mike's gaze seemed to linger on me longer than usual when he thought I wasn't looking; he was a couple seats down from me at lunch when I burst out laughing at something Angela had said, and it felt like every eye was on me at once. What, didn't I laugh?
Probably not, actually.
He caught up to me and Angela on our way to class, walking on my right side, at ease. "Hey, Bella."
"Hey, Mike," I said, putting on the neutral expression I always used when talking to him so I didn't give him any ideas. Angela smiled politely and excused herself, standing still to wait for her boyfriend Ben, and I gritted my teeth. I knew she was only being nice, but it wasn't exactly nice to leave me with Mike.
"So, today's Friday."
"Yeah, it is." And he's going to ask me out in three, two, one…
"What are you doing tonight?"
"I'm actually…going to La Push," I said slowly, deciding then as we walked that I was going to. I'd try to call Billy's house when I got home from school to make sure it was okay.
"Oh, why?"
"My friend Jacob lives there." I was worried about hurting his feelings by mentioning a boy, but didn't see any reason to lie.
"Oh." He looked slightly crestfallen, then perked right back up as he had another thought. "What about tomorrow night?"
"Not sure, I might do homework or go to Port Angeles." I didn't want to tell him explicitly that I didn't want to hang out with him, but that seemed like it might be the only way to discourage him.
"We should go together." He was grinning as if he'd come up with the best idea ever, and I sighed, trying to come up with an excuse. "Your truck can't have the best gas mileage, either. I could drive."
"I'll think about it," I said, knowing for sure that I was going to find some way out of it, whether I had to pretend to be sick or just tell him I didn't want to go. We made it to the classroom after an eternity, and I gave him a brisk half-smile before heading to my seat. Mike Newton had had a crush on me since my first day at Forks High, and it seemed time had not caused it to fade any. I sighed, wishing I was in La Push.
I moved quickly when I got home, tossing my bag on the kitchen table and yanking the phone off the hook just as it started ringing. How had that happened? I looked at it, bewildered for a second, before answering it, holding it to my ear. "Hello?"
"Bella?" Jacob's husky voice spoke from the other end, and I grinned involuntarily, nodding before I realized he couldn't see me.
"Yeah, hey Jake! I was just gunna call you."
He laughed. "We were on the same brainwave. Why were you gunna call?"
"To see if I could come over."
"Well, your answer is absolutely not, they said you're too pale to be here. You reflect light, it hurts our eyes."
I laughed. "Fine, well then you have to come to my house. I need help with calculus homework."
"Hmm… I guess I'll talk to the elders about letting you back on the reservation." I could hear the smile in his voice, wondering if he felt even a fraction of the excitement about me that I felt about him. "It's good that you want to come over, because I have a surprise for you."
"What?" What could he be surprising me with? My first thought was one of insecurity, worried he'd met a girl and wanted me to meet her. Shape up, Swan, get rid of the crazy.
"Sur-pri-se," he enunciated. "Be here in twenty, or they'll stop you at the La Push border. There won't be anything I can do for you then!"
"But Jake, you're descended from the chief! Surely your words carry weight."
He snorted. "Sure, sure. You coming or what?"
"Definitely." I grinned as we said our goodbyes, and I left my backpack on the table, scribbling a note for Charlie on the notepad by the phone telling him where I was going to be. I coaxed my truck to its maximum speed, about sixty, on the way to the reservation, and it groaned in protest.
As I pulled up to the tiny house, Jacob bolted out the front door, a grin lighting up his perfect face. My truck's loud engine was apparently recognizable.
I jumped down and he was at my door, closing it and grinning down at me. I was only five-four, so he towered over me by more than a foot, somehow already looking older than he had yesterday.
"What's my surprise?" I asked right away, not much liking when people got me things. He laughed at my expression, reaching out and taking my hand as he dragged me through the mud and rain to his shed.
"Well, might as well show you now," he said, pausing once we were inside the shed but keeping his hold on my hand. With his other one, he gestured to the Rabbit, sitting in the exact same spot as yesterday, looking exactly the same.
"You – washed your car?" I guessed, although the paint looked just as old and dirty as the last time I'd seen it.
He laughed, the sound echoing in the shed. His hand was so warm, and so much bigger than mine; instead of looking at the car, I stared at our tangled fingers, biting my lip in an attempt to control my smile.
"No, Bella," he said, pulling me to the same door I'd climbed in the day before. He let go of my hand to open it for me, and I slid in to give him space to fit. He reached into his pocket and grabbed a set of keys, putting one in the ignition and turning it.
It grumbled for a second – and then turned over.
"You finished building it?" I asked, nearly screaming, and his grin widened as he nodded. "That's awesome, Jake!" I said, bouncing up and down in excitement. "How?"
"There was one more part I needed, remember?" he asked, and I scanned through my memories of our very brief conversation from forever ago, trying to think of it.
"Some kind of cylinder?"
His answering smile was astounding. "Yup! A master cylinder. My dad didn't tell me where he got it, but I guess he found it somewhere and couldn't help but get it for me. I've been looking forever."
"I know." He looked so happy, sitting in the car whose mechanisms he had basically built from scratch, with the engine finally running. "Yesterday, you said when I got it running…"
"I know, we made a date." I searched for a clock, not finding one but sure it couldn't be that late. "Do you want to go somewhere tonight?"
"Well, I really do have to wash it." He looked disappointed, but I quickly thought of a suggestion.
"Why don't we go somewhere tomorrow? Port Angeles, maybe?" There you go, Mike, I had plans with someone else. Not to mention I would get to spend the day with Jacob!
He grinned. "It's a date."
"Perfect." And he really was; the rain pounded on the roof of the shed and it was freezing out in the cold, but Jacob was here, and he was warm and he was sweet and he was home.
"How are you going to wash it?" I asked, wondering if he just meant to back it up a couple feet into the rain. "And by the way, Jake, how did you put the master cylinder in if you had school today?"
He grinned mischievously like a little kid, shrugging. "I'm not a senior with calculus, I miss some days."
I rolled my eyes. "I guess it was worth it."
"Sure was!" He kept the engine running and started backing the car up without notice, and I glanced around us, trying to make sure we weren't going to hit anything. Jake had seemed to prepare for this, though, and we made it smoothly out into the mud, rain tapping a rhythm on the metal roof of the car.
"So, Jake," I asked, wondering what the heck he was doing. "What exactly…"
"We're gunna wash it."
I stared at him, waiting for the punchline. "Wash it?"
"Yeah, might as well. I mean, the rain is going to rinse it for us, we basically just have to do the washing with soap part."
"It's freezing."
"Not too bad. Come on, Bella!" He grinned, climbing out of the car and holding out his hand for me. I shivered before the rain had even touched me, letting him pull me from the car into the cold. As soon as his warm hand let go of mine, I wrapped my arms around myself, watching him lope over to where he had a bucket with two sponges and soap in it sitting near the shed. Had he somehow gained more coordination in the small amount of time I'd been away from him? This kid never stopped changing.
He had the hose out even though the rain would have eventually filled the bucket up, and soapy bubbles started rising up the sides. He looked up at me, squinting through the rain sticking to his long hair. "Don't worry, the fun part's coming."
"Mmhm." I shuddered obviously, and he laughed, carrying the bucket over to the car.
"Alright, shouldn't take long with both of us." He handed me a sponge, dripping with soapy water, and without thinking I smacked it against his chest, spattering both of us with soap bubbles. His eyes widened and an evil grin spread across his face, his fingers flexing as he reached for the other sponge.
I turned and tried to run away from him, my boots slipping in the mud as I made it to the other side of the car. He was still grinning, running a soapy hand through his hair to pull it out of his eyes. "You're gunna regret that, Bells," he said, creeping toward where I was with the sponge balanced in his hand.
"Prove it," I said, feeling surprisingly exhilarated despite being freezing. My hair had long since been soaked, sticking down my back and over my shoulders. I knew there was no way I looked as good as Jake did, though.
"Oh, I plan to." He started in one direction and I made to get away from him, but he shot the opposite way, sliding over the hood of the car and catching me around the waist. We both slipped in the mud, and his sponge dropped as he caught himself on the door handle; I wasn't as lucky, nearly colliding with the ground before he tightened his arm, keeping me up. He was bent forward, holding my uncoordinated body, and his face blocked the rain.
"Jake," I told him, hoping to keep him from doing whatever he was planning. "You know you're like a model, right?"
"Flattery doesn't work on me," he said, although pink flooded the tops of his cheeks. He straightened us up, taking the sponge that he'd dropped on the ground and wringing it out over my head. Muddy, soapy water poured onto my hair and down my face, and I stood with my eyes squished shut, letting it happen.
"There, now we're even," he said, and I wiped my eyes, making sure they were mud-free before I opened them. He was close enough that I could feel the heat coming off of him, and I was very nearly drawn into it, but stayed still where I was.
"You are a big bully."
He barked a laugh, putting the sponge on top of the car and yanking me forward so I was against his chest. I was immediately several degrees warmer, shivering as some of the cold left me, but also because of how safe I felt; I had thought sitting in the car with Jacob was like home. This was a hundred times better.
"Did you actually want to wash the car, or did you predict that we would throw sponges?"
"A little of both." His voice rumbled in his chest, and it was soothing. My eyelids fluttered closed, my arms tightening around him.
I was the first to let go, actually wanting to help him with his car so we could go to Port Angeles and also wanting to get out of the rain. We were more civil for the rest of the time, getting the Rabbit as clean as the old paint allowed, and I noted aloud that washing it had been relatively pointless considering it was currently sitting in mud and getting rained on, and he laughed, saying he knew that. The way he said it, looking at me with a shy smile, made me blush and glance away.
He drove the car back into the shed slowly and we spent some time drying it off with towels that were quickly soaked, and with which I would have much rather dried myself off. As we walked back up to the house, Jacob still impossibly warm, I stopped in place, grabbing his wrist and yanking him down so he was closer to my level.
I grabbed my hair and wrung it out over his head, and he laughed, straightening out and shaking his head like a dog. I knew he'd meant to splash me, but I could hardly differentiate between what was coming off of him and the rain by now. He opened the front door and shouted for more towels when we made it to the porch, finally safe from the rain under the awning.
"Thanks for helping me. Sorry you froze." He didn't look particularly sorry as he watched me shivering, and I punched him with a numb fist. He caught my wrist, pulling me to his chest again. Like before, I couldn't resist hugging him tighter, breathing him in.
Billy rolled up to the door, wordlessly holding out towels, and I wondered how many we would go through before there weren't any more clean and dry ones. "You kids have fun?" he asked after watching us separate and start toweling our hair off, and I grinned and nodded, looking for Jake's reaction. He seemed to have been watching me for mine, smiling in response when he met my eyes.
"It was fun and all, but I think I might have hypothermia," I said, wrapping the towel around my shoulders and taking off my boots and soggy socks. "Jake over here is a space heater, though."
Billy's expression seemed to twist in discomfort, and I tried to figure out what he could be upset about before it changed back to normal, a mask of amusement. "Well, come on," Billy said, backing up so we could get inside. "You need to shower?"
"Could I?" I asked, remembering the mud that must still be in my hair. "I don't want to inconvenience anyone."
"Oh, of course you can, Bella," Jacob said, looking like he wanted to tell me not to be silly. "We can maybe wash and dry your clothes, too." We had matching white towels, but while mine had wrapped all the way around me and then some, his was taut over his shoulders and the corners hardly met in front of his chest. He was huge.
"What would I wear while they washed?"
"I'm sure Jake has something," Billy said, leaving us and heading toward the living room, and a bit of red darkened Jake's cheeks.
"Do you mind?" I asked, looking up at him with a small smile. "You owe me, since this is all your fault."
"No, I don't mind at all." In fact, he looked ecstatic as he turned to go to his room, and I followed him closely, still attracted to his heat like a moth to a flame. What did Jacob remind me of? He was so warm, always smiling and happy, and had some kind of internal pull that drew me to him… The sun, I realized. Jacob was just like the sun.
He pulled a t-shirt and old sweats out of a drawer, both of which looked much too big. I accepted them gratefully, hoping that the extra fabric would mean more heat. He drew yet another clean towel from the dwindling supply in the hall closet and handed that to me, too, pointing to the bathroom. "Should be everything you need in there."
"Are you going to shower?" I asked him, looking him up and down. He looked mostly clean, if not just wet, and he shook his head, splashing me with his wet hair again.
"Fine," I said, laughing and shoving him away. "Be right out."
I showered as quickly as I could, despite the hot water relaxing my freezing muscles. Jacob's warmth was far more genuine and preferable.
My bra and underwear were both pretty wet, but it wasn't like I could borrow those from Jake, so I put them back on and then draped his clothes on over them. I twisted my hair into a messy bun at the top of my head with a hair tie I always wore on my wrist and glanced at myself once in the mirror before opening the door.
It was hard not to laugh at the way I looked; Jake was both much wider and much taller than I was, and his clothing reflected that. I was holding his sweats up to keep them from falling off as I walked down the hall, a bundle of laundry in my free hand.
Jake was in his room changing clothes when I entered, having forgotten about knocking until the door was already wide open. He had on dry sweatpants that looked similar to mine except black instead of gray, his arms stretching the wet shirt above his head as he took it off.
It took more mental effort than I had ever exerted in my life to tear my eyes from his chest and stomach, both the perfect russet color of the rest of his skin, and meet his eyes. He grinned and started laughing at me, and blush colored my cheeks, but not because he was laughing. It was because he'd tossed the shirt in a small laundry basket in the corner and stayed shirtless, reaching for the bundle I was holding.
"I'm sorry for laughing, but did you look at yourself?" he asked, chuckling as he turned and dropped my laundry into the basket. His back muscles shifted, and I looked at the ceiling. Stop staring, Bella!
"Yeah," I breathed after remembering I hadn't replied, and I glanced down, seeing him straighten up from grabbing the laundry basket and start towards the door, which I was blocking. I jumped out of the way and smacked my leg on his bed frame, grimacing at the pain but grateful for a distraction.
He laughed again, and I followed him like a puppy to the washer and dryer in a built-on room to the left of the house. He seemed to think I didn't trust him to do it right, but I just didn't want to be away from him.
We went into the living room where Billy was reading something, and he left the room as we approached, mumbling about calling someone. I glanced at Jake to see if his father had a problem, and he shrugged.
"He's a little weird, don't worry about him," he told me, falling onto the tiny loveseat where we had sat the night before. Last night, I'd kept a reasonable distance, and tried to do the same now, but as soon as he saw me shivering he pulled me close to his side and reached for the remote.
"Bella, you think you might have low iron or something?"
I laughed. "I'm telling you, Jake, I wasn't built for the cold. I'm from a desert."
"Don't look like it," he murmured, holding up my pale hand, the burn a faint pink oval.
"Keep making fun of how pale I am, see what happens," I threatened, grinning, and his lips pulled up in response.
"You're the one who said your favorite color was brown because of my skin!"
"That was a compliment!"
He didn't have anything to say to that, and I shivered again, taking initiative and snuggling closer into his side. He put his arm around me, turning on the TV and flipping through channels without speaking. It was perfect like this, just me and Jake. Easy as breathing.
I didn't leave the reservation until after ten, and it was Billy who told me to go, to both mine and Jacob's surprise. Jake walked me to my truck, opening my door for me. I didn't climb in right away, looking up at him in the darkness, sprinkling rain falling on us.
"I don't know what his deal is," Jake said, his bottom lip jutting out in a pout as he tried to think. "We didn't say or do anything to him."
"It's because I'm an old lady, I bet," I told him, and he laughed.
"That's gotta be it. You're going to be a bad influence on me."
"Oh, I bet it's the other way around."
"We'll find out, I guess," he said, and I couldn't help but beam up at him, throwing my arms around his waist.
"See ya tomorrow, Jake," I murmured into his chest.
"If I need to, I'll tell my dad I'm with Embry or something. We won't have to worry about your truck's engine giving us away, since I'm driving." He smirked down at me.
"I seem to remember that you were in fact the person who rebuilt my truck's engine," I said, and I saw his smirk widen as I pulled away. He reached out and tucked a loose lock of baby hairs behind my ear, my hair still up in its messy bun.
"Call me tomorrow when you wake up," I said through the silence, resisting the urge to lean into his warm hand. "We'll figure something out."
"Sure, sure," he said, grinning. "Drive safe, Bella."
I got home almost at eleven, and Charlie was in his bedroom snoring. He'd written a response to my note on the message pad, and I smiled when I read his chicken scratch. Glad you're out and about. Hope you had fun. Night.
I wanted to shower again but didn't want to rinse the smell of Jacob off my skin, or his shampoo out of my hair; I took the hair tie out and let it fall in waves down my back. I changed into my own sweats, falling into bed and pressing my nose to my arm. There he was, the scent of rain and musk and a touch of some boy smell, cologne maybe. I made a mental note to ask him the next time I saw him.
I tried to distract myself all day Saturday while I waited, cursing myself for telling Jacob I'd wait until he woke up. By noon, I'd cleaned the whole downstairs and was starting on the bathroom, and by one 'o clock I had eaten lunch and showered, ready to go at any time. If Jacob would just call already.
I didn't wait until two, calling Jacob's house and waiting for someone to pick up. It rang, and rang, and rang. Nothing.
I hung up and frowned. I knew teenage boys slept a lot, but this late?
"It's a Saturday, people sleep late," I grumbled, trying to ease my confusion. I sat at the table and started homework, having finished most of an English paper when the home phone finally rang.
I jumped up, answering it before the first ring had even ended. "Hello?"
"Hey, is this Bella?" I recognized the voice, but it wasn't Jacob.
"Yeah, who's this? Wait, don't tell me." I focused on a memory from a couple days ago, trying to match the voice to a face. "Quil?"
"Yeah!" He and someone in the background sounded happy that I'd guessed right. "We're down at the rez with Jake, his dad's a mental patient at the moment. He wanted to use my phone to call you, but I told him you'd much rather speak with me."
I laughed and rolled my eyes even though he couldn't see me. "Why didn't he use his own phone?"
"Did you hear me? His dad's a mental patient. He told Jake—" There was a chorus of grunts and sounds like the phone was dropped a couple times, and then a perfect, husky voice was on the other end.
"Sorry about them, Bells," Jake said, and I could hear Quil's noises of protest very close, like Jake had him in a headlock. "I'll be there to get you in a little bit, okay? We can get something to eat and then go see a movie."
"Sounds great. Don't hurt your friends, Jake," I joked, and Quil grunted in agreement, his noises silenced as Jacob released him.
What was Billy's problem with me? Was Jake even planning on telling me? I went into the living room where Charlie was watching something on TV, sitting across from him in the armchair.
"Dad, I have a question."
Charlie's eyes seemed to widen in terror. What could his teenage daughter, who had very recently been hanging out with a boy, have to ask him? "Yeah?"
"I was wondering if Billy had said anything to you… about me." Simple enough.
Charlie looked relieved and then disbelieving. "Billy couldn't say anything about you, you're great, Bella. Why, what's goin' on?"
"He just doesn't seem very happy with me, I'm not sure. He knows I'm not going to corrupt Jacob, right?"
"Of course! Do you want me to talk to him?"
"No, don't. Thanks, Dad." I stood and left the room, still confused and thoroughly unhelped. What did I do to Billy?
Jacob picked me up in his Rabbit, and I grinned as soon as I saw it, the slightly cleaner paint reflecting the rare sun. He looked so proud, sitting in the driver's seat, and I walked slowly to the passenger side so he could bask in the moment. He was smiling when I got in, harboring none of Billy's apparent dislike.
"You're a genius, Jacob. I don't know how you built all that" – I pointed to the hood of the car – "but I'm really happy for you."
He laughed. "You sound like a mom."
"My mom actually says that I've been middle-aged my whole life."
He looked thoughtful. "I agree."
I laughed and punched him again, always shocked by how he never even seemed to feel it. We were quiet for several minutes, and then I began to get antsy.
"So, Jake," I said when I'd determined he wasn't going to speak, "does Billy hate me?"
His expression faltered, turning into a frown, and he shrugged. "I don't know what his problem is."
"What has he said?"
"Just… honestly, I don't even know. He said I shouldn't get close to you, whatever that means."
"Close to me? Did he say why?"
He grimaced, looking sick. "Who knows. He was kind of implying that you should be worried, like instead of what a normal parent would say and claim that their kid's friend is a bad influence. Almost like he was saying 'well ya know, Jake, maybe you should give the girl a break. Stay away from her.' A break from what? From me? What's wrong with me?"
"Nothing's wrong with you, Jacob," I said immediately, reaching for his hand to try and comfort him. "He could be right, though."
He glanced at me in confusion, his features scared.
"You might actually want to stay away from me. I think I'm obsessed with you."
He laughed then, his fear gone. "You act like I didn't already know that. I can take it."
We went to a small Italian restaurant and he tried to pay, but I told him that if he was paying for gas, I was not letting him cover material costs. Especially when I had a huge savings account, and Jacob seemed like he would feel lucky if he got new shoes. His jeans even looked on the brink of being too short, and I tried to figure out if he could have grown several inches in two days.
We went to the movie theater and sat in the parking lot talking for nearly ten minutes about which genre of movie to see; I was partial to romances, always a classics kind of girl, and he wanted to see an action or horror movie to see how bad the effects were.
"Jake, if the effects will be bad, why do you want to see the movie?" I asked, confused by his motivation.
"Because that's the fun part! It's almost like going to a comedy because you get to make fun of how bad everything is."
"But romantic comedies are actually comedies."
He rolled his eyes. "Chick flicks."
"So what? Just because something is for girls doesn't mean it's bad."
"I know that, but come on! Once, Embry and I saw this movie where this guy got stabbed and blood spurted out like ten feet!"
"Jake, think of the storylines. I could walk in and tell you what every single action movie is gunna be about just by looking at the title."
"Bella?" He was watching me, his expression no longer playful and joking. He seemed confused, very sincere.
"Yeah?"
"Why do you say my name so much, you think?"
I was very taken aback, having not even realized I was saying his name. "I dunno, Jake." I grinned.
He blushed, and I wondered why, trying to figure out what I'd said and also why I said his name enough for him to notice. "Maybe…" I bit my bottom lip. "Maybe I'm just kind of stunned, still."
"Stunned? By what?" More confusion crossed his perfect face, and I reached out and grabbed his hand, turning it over and tracing the lines in his palm.
"That you're real."
He was quiet, and then his warm fingers were on my chin, tipping my face up so I looked at him.
"You're stunned that I'm real?"
"I say your name because you exist, because I have to remind myself, I think. I feel very lucky to have you."
He grinned, keeping his hand where it was but flipping the other over and tangling our fingers together. "Have me?"
I rolled my eyes, feeling warmth in my cheeks. "You don't have to make fun of me, ya know."
"I promise I'm not." His seriousness made my avoiding eyes flash back to meet his, and more color stained my face. How had we gone from talking about dumb movies to this? "You do have me, Bella." His lips twisted in a small smile as he said my name. "You'll always have me."
"Yeah?" I asked, tightening my hold on his hand in my lap. His sincerity surprised me, but I didn't think for a second it was false. I really did feel lucky to have him, whatever way I did.
A breeze blew in through the cracked window, and Jacob tensed, his eyes flashing with some unknown negativity and his nose wrinkling. "What is that smell?"
I sniffed the air, not smelling anything. "I don't know?"
"Ugh, it reeks!" He plugged his nose, glancing out the window behind him where the smell had come from. His hands left me, and I felt cold.
"One second," he said, getting out of the car. I scrambled out my door, seeing him stalking away towards a line of close-together buildings with his shoulders squared.
"Jacob!" I shouted, and he tensed up again, turning around to face me. I did not know why, but there was suddenly such incredible pain on his perfect face that my stomach clenched into terrified knots.
"Are you okay?" I demanded, walking around the car and standing a couple feet in front of him. "What's wrong?"
"The – the smell, can't you smell it?" Behind the pain on his face, his eyes were crazed, confused; he looked like he was vibrating, shaking with tremors which lacked a source. He was sweating, beads forming on his forehead and beginning to dot the front of his blue t-shirt. I remembered noting how different the blue fabric looked against his brown skin compared to the way it would look on mine.
"I don't smell anything, Jake, calm down," I said, not sure exactly how to make him feel better but knowing that panicking – which was my current suppressed reaction – wouldn't help him. "Tell me what's wrong."
"I – I can't be here…" His eyes looked glassy, terrified, and another breeze blew past us in that moment, ruffling both of our hair. He turned into a statue, then squeezed his eyes shut, his fists clenching.
And then he turned and ran.
"Jacob!" I screamed, chasing after him; he crossed the street and ducked into an alley, invisible to me now because of the receding sunlight, and I followed him, chasing him between the buildings and then behind one of them. I turned a corner and ran into his back, rock-hard in his tense fear, and circled my arms around him, relieved to have caught him. I had to yank them back, though, when I felt how hot he was.
"You have a fever," I said, shocked that even through his shirt, touching him had been like standing in front of a house on fire. "Jacob, let me take you to the hospital." Could a sickness make you hallucinate like this? Surely if your temperature was as high as his felt like.
He was standing perfectly still, not moving or acknowledging my presence in any way. I stepped to the side, walking around him so I could see his face, and caught the scene in front of us that had his attention so explicitly.
A very, very pale blond woman was holding a man by the throat against a wall, her muscles flexing lightly against the stark white skin of her arm. She had looked at Jacob as he and I had approached, and her gaze was locked with his, her nose wrinkled how his had been. Her hair fell in wavy rivulets down her back and over her shoulders, but her hair and her paleness weren't the most noticeable things about her. In that category, there were two.
One: she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Even more beautiful than Jacob; there was nothing about her that wasn't incredibly and unquestionably perfect, from her model-esque legs to her young, heart-shaped face.
Two: her eyes were a dark, liquid red.
There were no lit streetlights, no club lights, absolutely nothing that could have made her eyes appear that color. She gazed at Jacob, my Jacob, with eyes the color of glowing coals, and I stepped in front of him childishly, not sure how I was going to protect a six-foot-five boy from this woman, whatever she was. It didn't matter that I didn't have a plan, though. If she was what was causing Jacob to be like this, if she was hurting him, I had to make it stop.
Of course, confidence was easy, until she turned her stoplight eyes to meet mine. And then I was frozen, just as Jacob had been, and in the same vein, he unfroze.
"Bella," his voice said, agonized and terrified and shaky, and I wanted desperately to turn to him, to push him back down the alley we'd come through and pretend this had never happened. To take him to a doctor, for his fever. To wash the Rabbit when it wasn't raining, and actually get it clean.
But I could not do anything. I couldn't even turn my eyes to face him. My gaze was locked with the blond woman's, and every other part of me was locked, too.
Many things seemed to happen at once. First, the blond woman loosened her hold on her captive's neck, and he fell to the ground, struggling to his feet and bolting away in the opposite direction. Second, a snarl erupted from nowhere, mingled with a tortured cry of pain. Third, the woman's eyes left mine and I could move again; the first place I looked was to Jake, seeing that he had fallen to the ground, on all fours. In this second, this moment, he was my friend Jacob: same messy black hair, same blue shirt and jeans, same skin the color of autumn leaves coated in a sheen of sweat.
In the next second, he exploded.
Had I blinked, I wouldn't have seen the transformation – I wouldn't have seen every part of his body double, triple, quadruple in size; wouldn't have seen his perfect russet skin sprout fur the exact same shade; wouldn't have watched his clothes tear into pieces as he grew and grew.
In one second, he had been my Jacob. Strong, tall, human.
In the next second, where my Jacob had been, stood a humongous, snarling, russet-colored wolf.
