Bella had warned me that the girl who bought the Rabbit off of us would be moving down soon, but no one told me I'd be meeting her right away. Bella had said she'd bring the girl down to meet me, so I figured a couple of weeks after she moved in.
Nope. The day Bella told me they were scheduled to move in (I remembered it because Bella also mentioned the little fact that her leech would be away hunting--I was going to "kidnap" Bella before Alice could), I was waiting around outside for a reasonable hour to go get Bella from work when the Rabbit lazed its way up the driveway. She seemed nervous; at least, she waited in the idling car for almost ten minutes before she killed the engine and got out. I stayed a comfortable distance away on the porch. Didn't want her to bolt like a frightened cat. Of course, she didn't come any closer, and I wasn't sure if she saw me on the porch or not, but Billy heard the car pull up.
I poked my head inside before he could come to the door. "Don't worry about it, Dad, it's just the girl who bought the car from us. She probably just wants to say thanks."
Billy nodded. "Alright. Why don't you invite her inside?"
"Um, besides the fact that she looks like a deer in the headlights right now? She'd probably faint dead away if I did." I closed the door before he could say anything else and turned back to face the girl.
She had gotten braver and was making her way up the porch now. I smiled encouragingly. "I don't bite, you know. Really."
She cracked the tiniest of smiles at that. Weird. The somber frown looked out of place on her. I shook the thought from my head as she spoke. "Sorry. I'm not good with new people right now."
I chuckled a bit and made my way off the porch. I extended a hand. "I'm Jacob. So, I guess your father bought the Rabbit for you."
"Uncle, actually. And yeah, he did. I'm Prue Dubois, by the way."
"French?"
"The name is. I'm from Louisiana." That tiny smile was back. Funny, even with that small, barely noticeable smile, her eyes sparkled. And they were such a nice shade of blue-gray. Ocean colored.
I broke my train of thought forcefully, hoping I hadn't been staring. If I was, she hadn't noticed. I tried to be nonchalant. "So, you just moved in, right? That little place alongside the Cullen property?"
She nodded. "Tom--my uncle--he's been here for a couple of weeks now. David, my older brother, and I drove out here. We just got in this morning. My other siblings are flying out next week."
"Wow. Big family. Must be nice, having all those people to talk to."
She shrugged. "Sometimes. Hector and I are twins, but after this trip, I feel a lot closer to David. Ellie's the baby. I used to be really close to my mother, but..." she trailed off, and I had the strongest urge to take her into my arms. She'd been hurt, obviously, and it killed me to see the pain in her eyes.
I frowned. "Used to be?"
She shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it. I shouldn't have brought it up."
I nodded. "Don't worry about it. So, um...how about a tour of the town? I could drive." I expected a decline (at best) and several other things that weren't too kind (at worst). What I didn't expect was a nod. "I'd like that."
She tossed me the car keys. "Just promise not to wreck the car, I don't get a new one if this one crashes."
I laughed at that, and it widened her smile a bit. Holy crow, she was pretty when she smiled. All thoughts of picking Bella up vanished as I opened the car door for her. "Allow me."
She started at that, and I was afraid I'd done something wrong, but then she climbed in. "I'm not used to people doing things like that for me. It surprised me."
I grinned at that. "I'm full of 'em. It seems to be a habit of mine."
I almost got a smile at that, but not quite. I did have to duck to get in the Rabbit though; I'd forgotten how small it was. Of course, Prue wasn't all that big either; compared to me, she was downright short. Taller than Alice, but not as tall as Bella. She brushed her hair back from her face. She had a mane of reddish-gold hair down her back; at the moment, it was braided, but a few loose tendrils escaped.
Before I could clear my thoughts and get in the car, Billy called to me. "Jake, Sam's on the phone. Could be important."
I gave an exaggerated sigh to Prue. "Duty calls. I guess we'll have to take a rain check on that tour." I handed her the keys back.
She shrugged. "I need to help unpack anyways. Maybe another time."
I nodded. "I'll call you tomorrow."
She started the engine, but drove off before I could say anything. I went inside to the phone reluctantly. "I'm here. What's going on?"
Sam's voice was calm. "There's nothing urgent, Emily wants all of us together for dinner."
"Okay. Oh, hey Sam? When you...you know, imprinted, how did you know?"
"I just did." I heard Sam chuckle. "I looked at her, and suddenly, I knew my world was complete. And I couldn't stop staring. Still can't, not really. Why?"
"Because," I swallowed. "I think I have."
