OK people. Here is chapter 3 finally. sorry I took so long.
Disclaimer: Jared and Kim belong to Stephanie Meyer, however, the plot is all mine. =]
Enjoy!
chapter 3
When my mom finally let me retire to my room, I felt like passing out. I barely had enough energy to go to the bathroom and carry out my nightly routine. A grave knock on the door startled me whilst I was brushing my teeth and I instantly knew it was David since I could hear my mom's snores coming from her bedroom.
"What do you want?" I squeaked out stupidly. My breathing was rapid and shallow, and I'm pretty sure I was sweating bullets.
"Awww Kimmy, don't be like that. Why don't you let me in huh?" his disgusting voice omitted from the other side of the thin wooden door. He knew as well as me that once my mom was sleeping, you could be having a monster truck rally out in our backyard and she wouldn't hear a thing. I could see that I had no other option, and so opened the door reluctantly, bracing myself against what was to come.
"So you thought you would disobey my orders and continue to lounge downstairs even though you knew I was going to propose?" he questioned me with malice glittering in his small eyes.
"You could have proposed with me there you know!" my voice sounded unnaturally loud to me and I was quite proud of that I managed to stand up for myself. The feeling of pride was short lived though as he grabbed onto my upper arm forcefully and put his face up against mine to speak lowly and venomously in my ear so that his message hit home.
"Listen, you little brat, don't you ever speak back to me and from now on, if I tell you to do something, you will follow through. You got that?" he asked me whilst spraying my poor face with spit.
Fear caused me to quietly agree with him and then sprint to the safe confines of my room, making sure to lock the door behind me.
I awoke the next morning to someone banging on my bedroom door frantically.
"Kim, you have a friend waiting for you at the door!" my mom's voice floated to me from the hallway.
Who the hell came to see me of all people? Seemed to be the first thought that entered my mind. When I realised that my mom was expecting me to come and see the supposed friend of mine, I toppled out of bed, and called out to her that I would be down in a minute.
I quickly ran to the bathroom and brushed my teeth, whilst internally fretting over the condition my hair was in. It had a tendency to stick up at different angles all over my head when I woke up in the morning, and usually took me 20 minutes to sort out before I went to school. However, since this "friend" was most likely Esther, having got her clutches on my address somehow, I didn't bother with my hair and threw it in a ponytail whilst running down the stairs.
It seemed that my guess was miles off and I was shocked into stillness when I made it to the living room, because sitting there and conversing with my mom on the couch was none other than Jared.
"Jared. What are you doing here?" I blurted out before I knew what I was doing, and I instantly clamped a hand to my mouth in mortification.
"I was wondering if you wanted to do something today. Maybe go to the beach?" he asked with a hopeful expression etched onto his gorgeous face. My mom was nodding excitedly behind him and I took that as a "yes. You're allowed to go" on her part.
"Su...sure" I stammered out nervously. "Just let me get changed first" I added when I realised that I was still clad out in my pyjamas. With that I turned and ran up the stairs two by two. When I was safely locked away in my room, I thought back to last night and David's weird actions, and I relished in the fact that he wasn't here to ruin my perfect morning. I couldn't believe that Jared had actually turned up at my house so that he could ask me out, and that he was downstairs right this minute waiting for me to get dressed. I suddenly realised that I was supposed to be getting ready, and after picking out an outfit, I sprinted once again to the bathroom to take a quick shower. When I was clean and dressed, I checked my reflection in my vanity mirror and applied a small amount of mascara and lip gloss, opting to leave my hair to dry naturally. I grabbed my cell, iPod and my gray hoodie, in case it rained later. The few glimpse of sun that we got in La Push, like today, weren't promising and so it was always safer to have some means of protection against the rain with you wherever you went. I bounded down the stairs, feeling as if my life was finally falling into place, and I unconsciously let out a dreamy sigh when I saw Jared waiting for me by the front door.
"Ready?" he asked me, while trying to unsuccessfully hide his amusement at my embarrassing sigh. I blushed and nodded, not speaking because I didn't want to humiliate myself any further.
"Have fun honey!" my mom trilled and came to hug me. I felt her slip some money into the front pocket of my jeans during our embrace and I responded by giving her a quick kiss on the cheek top say thanks. Jared watched this exchange in silence and smiled when I turned to him.
He opened the door for me in a gentlemanly fashion and he did the same with the passenger door to his truck, helping me to climb up when he realised that I was having problems getting into the high seat. My eyes widened in shock when I felt the heat radiating from his arm, but I decided not to say anything since he might be uncomfortable with the subject of his body heat. He walked around and hopped into his seat.
"Aren't you going to put on your seatbelt?" I questioned, looking at his face as if he was committing the crime of the century. I was weird about seatbelts and demanded everyone wear their own as long as I was in a car with them. I guess it came from the horrific memory of the car accident I was in when I was younger. My dad had gotten a new car when I was about 8 years old and he insisted that he and I take a drive over to Forks and back. On our way home, our car collided with another vehicle that was speeding, and even though both of us survived, the memory was still embedded in my mind, and I always made sure to wear my seatbelt. When Jared gave me a quizzical look, I explained my fear and he laughed heartily, but put his seatbelt on nevertheless. I let out a gust of breath I didn't know I'd been holding and relaxed in my seat.
"So Kim, what do you want to do at the beach?" he asked me nervously. He was so cute when he was nervous, and I found myself smiling at him stupidly for a while before regaining enough body control to answer his question.
"Walk and talk, I guess" the way I voiced my answer made it seem like there was absolutely nothing else to do at the beach and it was stupid to even ask a question similar to the one he just did.
"Sure" he replied back and fiddled with the stereo until a song blasted out of the speakers. My face lit up in a huge smile when I realised it was one of my favourites.
"Do you like Paramore too?" he asked when he saw that I was grinning like a fool and mouthing along to the lyrics.
"They're my favourite band" I answered back truthfully. Most of the kids at our school didn't like this type of music and stuck to the mainstream crap large record companies fed them, and so I was relieved that Jared seemed to have a similar taste in music to me. We listened intently to the song and lapped into a comfortable silence.
10 minutes later, we pulled into the parking spaces available at the beach and Jared grabbed a large blanket out of the trunk. He clasped my hand with his own as we walked down the length of the beach, looking for a quiet spot, and I didn't pull away from the heat as I would have done if it had been anyone else. It felt nice and right to have his fingers intertwined with my own.
I settled down on the blanket once he had laid it out on the smooth pebbles of First beach and watched the silent waves lapping against the shore. It had a calming effect on me and I could always be found at the beach whenever I was stressed. Not that anyone apart from my mom looked for me.
Jared was giving me the same stares he did at school, and after a while, it was hard to concentrate on the ocean.
"So, how did you find my address?" I had been wondering about this since I first discovered him in my house that morning. It seemed quite rude to ask him outright like this, but it wasn't like he and I ever talked in school, so it was a mystery that he knew where my house was located.
"Um, don't be mad, but I kinda got it from the school office yesterday" he revealed shyly. Most people would have thought he was a stalker of some sorts by going to all that trouble in order to obtain my address, but to me it had the opposite effect. I was quite touched that he was willing to pay a visit to the administration officer (who had a reputation for hitting on the male population of our school) so that he could find out where I lived.
"It's ok, I'm not mad" and I was telling the truth. My sincerity must have been clear in my expression because his eyes lost the guilty quality they held before, and it was replaced with a mischievous glint. I found out why he was so amused when he tackled me to the ground a second later, and tickled my sides playfully. Now let me clear this up. I am extremely ticklish, and soon enough, howls of laughter were erupting from my lips in an unladylike fashion.
When he finally let me up for air, I shot an evil glare in his direction and pretended to be hurt.
"What was that for?" I whispered in a mock angry voice. This seemed to be the only logical thing to ask at this moment.
"You looked upset, and I wanted to see you laugh. Plus you looked like the ticklish type" he admitted, grinning at me widely. I had to admit that it was fun. When I didn't reply however, he started to look worried.
"I didn't hurt you did I?" he asked me in a frantic voice, whilst examining my face carefully. To say he looked terrified would have been an understatement.
"I'm fine" at this he started to look relaxed but I could still sense that he was worried about me and so I decided to change the conversation.
"So, what happened to you the last three weeks? You weren't in school." Wow. Real smooth Kim
"Oh, you noticed?" the boy was seriously thick if he had to ask that question. I sometimes wondered whether he knew about my little "crush" on him. I mean, it wasn't hard to miss my longing gazes which were always fixed in his direction throughout the entire English period. And he sat next to me, for crying out loud!
"I think the whole school noticed. Don't you?" it was meant to be a rhetorical question, but he still gave me an answer.
"Ughhh, why can't they all just leave me alone? Is it so hard to believe that I had the flu? Do you know how many phone calls and texts I got in those three weeks?" he seemed rather infuriated, and I suddenly cursed myself for changing the subject. I would much rather be talking about my health than this.
"Um...no?" I whispered back, shrinking in on myself, and wishing I was under the safety of my duvet. He finally realised my discomfort and scooted a little closer to me on the small blanket. His heat provided some form of reassurance and I instantly felt better.
"Did I frighten you?" his voice sounded so tender and loving. I looked into his familiar brown eyes, and realised that he could never frighten me and that I would always feel safe with him no matter what.
As Jared drove me home that evening, I felt like bursting with happiness. We had talked most of the afternoon and I found out many details about Jared's life and came to understand we had more common interests than just music. He also lived with just his mom and wanted to see the world someday, but expressed that it would be impossible.
However, he had changed the subject pretty fast when I asked him why, and made sure to avoid my questions about it for the rest of the afternoon. After a while, I decided to give up. The love of my life had only just started speaking to me; did I really want to push him away so quickly?
When he dropped me off at my house promising to see me on Monday, I wasn't shocked to notice that all the lights were off indoors. Thankfully, I had thought ahead earlier and took my keys with me. I quickly ate my dinner and cuddled up in my bed. I drifted off to sleep that night thinking about the complication that was known as Jared.
