A/N: Sorry, but this chapter is short compared to the usual. There's not much of this semester left and I've been scrambling to stay on top of school. Unfortunately, this story is on a back burner because of it. But I'm not giving up. Thanks to those that haven't given up on it yet.
Hope you enjoy~
Chapter Two
"So what brings you to my neck of woods?" Jacob asked me, stuffing his large hands into the back pockets of his jeans.
After helping shove our things into the house, Jacob and his father decided to stick around after Lucy declared she was throwing together a yummy batch of cookies. While Peter was taking a nap, Billy joined Lucy in the kitchen for tea, in the meantime—talking about whatever it is adults talk about these days. The conversation had quickly bored me so I excused myself to explore the creek out back. I guess Jacob was also disinterested by our parental units and quickly joined me outside.
I stood on the back porch for a moment, just looking around me. I wasn't used to having such a large area behind the house. Back at home, we basically shared a backyard with five other houses. The homes were pretty tightly packed. Then I noticed the small bridge stretching across the strip of water. Wanting to be closer to the water, I climbed down—or rather tried to—before Jacob caught the sleeve of my blouse. My skin became flushed in embarrassment but swiftly retreated once he showed me how to climb down to the creek without maiming myself.
That is how we came to be walking atop the bubbling rocks and watching for signs of life.
I pretended to gaze up at the sky. I was surprised to see the sun peaking from behind a cloud. This morning it was like the sun had never existed. "Would you believe me if I said fate?"
Jacob had been asking me awkward questions and I've been doing a good job of answering them with fanciful responses. It was easier than opening up or trying to come up with a lie. Luckily, the giant didn't seem to mind.
"Fate? Like you're meant to be here?"
"Well, I should be dead and yet I'm still alive."
This of course was a partial truth. I should have died in that house with the rest of my family. But Jacob didn't have to know that. I looked over at his beautiful face and he looked in disbelief.
"…I'm kidding, Jacob. Chill." He broke into a wide, white smile in amusement. But it dropped after the next thing I said. "Except for that plucky werewolf we almost ran over this morning—"
"What?!" He stopped walking and turned to me abruptly. "Wait," he looked worried but quickly covered with a curious smile. "Werewolf?"
"Well, not werewolf per say…" He just looked at me so I elaborated. "Lucy and I were talking about the legends here or whatever and this wolf just sort of appeared in the middle of the road."
I expected him to laugh at the story. "Oh…" He was quiet for a moment. "Are you okay? I mean, obviously since you're standing right here. I mean, did it hurt you? What'd it look like—" He began to rush out.
"Woah, there, cowboy. One question at a time." I craned my neck to look up at him. He still had a look on his face. "I'm fine. It literally just stood there. It was a wolf. What else can a wolf look like, anyways?"
He just looked at me some more as if contemplating something. His mouth opened to say something but was interrupted by a series of howls behind me.
"Ah-woo! Hoo hoo hoo hoo…"
I saw Jacob clench his jaw and struggle to not roll his eyes. But I saw his lips twitch to fight a smile. Suddenly, a large arm had found its way across my shoulders and I was pulled into a very warm body.
Oomf.
My breath seemed to leave me for a moment before I noticed the chest I had been pushed into was bare. Now don't get me wrong. I loved a nice, rounded chest full of testosterone like any other female enamored with the opposite sex any day. But I was in an unknown place conversing with my new (and still unknown to me) neighbor. I don't think it's the time to be appreciative of this naked man's chest and his…nakedness. Besides, I preferred male watching from afar.
"What do we have here?" a deep, jovial voice vibrated from the naked chest. I had yet to see this stranger's face but I could tell he was almost as tall as Jacob and I knew I didn't have any death wishes for my neck. So instead of addressing him directly, I simply turned my head toward Jacob and passed him a look, my ear pushed right against the stranger's ribcage. "You finally update your dating profile, Jake?"
"Quil," a different voice sounded, "really, dude?"
Another hot hand, obviously not this Quil-person's, snaked in between myself and the chest I was held against and succeeded in separating us. I stumbled forward so that I was standing in the middle of a triad though I was closer to Jacob, I think. I felt something wet on my right foot and noticed that my black converse had lightly splashed in the stream I was now partially standing in.
Jacob cursed. "Dawn, I'm sorry about…" He waved toward the boy that had grabbed me then I felt Jacob step closer to me, once again towering over my smaller figure to address the newcomers. "Quil, Embry. You're back early."
"We agreed to take the morning shift today. It's the afternoon now. Shift's over." I wonder if they're talking about work or something. "Who's your girlfriend?"
Jacob rolled his eyes and murmured, "Not my girlfriend."
"Didn't answer my question," the boy quipped back.
The giant turned to me, now addressing my questioning gaze. "Dawn, these are by two best friends, Quil," he pointed to my previous captor before looking at the other one, "and Embry. Guys, this is my new neighbor, Dawn. She moved in just this morning."
I studied the two guys in front of me. Quil had short, curly hair, and had a narrow bridge for a nose. He was definitely over 6 foot and had well-rounded muscles. He definitely needed to put on a shirt. The quieter one at his side was an inch or two taller, but lean and not as big. His hair was straightly cropped atop his head. His chin was slightly dimpled and his skin a shade darker than his friend. Neither of them was quite as tall as Jacob, but I still had to crane my neck to look them properly in the eyes and wondered, Seriously, what water are these people drinking? I guess I might've voiced my question aloud since the quieter one looked like he really wanted to laugh while I heard a snort come from beside me.
"The good kind."
I refrained from rolling my eyes as there was a lot of that going around at the moment and crossed my arms.
"Anyway," Embry started, "we were going to let you know that we're all meeting up at the cliffs—"
"But seeing as you're on a little date," Quil interjected.
My eyes sprung wide and I looked at Jacob, my face now an ugly tomato. "Oh, no. We're not on a—" I stopped at seeing Quil's smirk. I hate not knowing when it's a joke. "You know what? Thank you, Jacob, for your help this morning. Lucy and I appreciate it. Um…I'll probably see you around?"
Jacob smiled and waved, slowly making his way back toward the woods with his friends. Embry politely nodded to me. "It was nice to meet you, Dawn." Quil goofily waved, "We'll take care of your boyfriend!" I turned around to hide my cherry-face. I think I heard Jacob slap his friend as they ran on.
When Jacob left with his friends, I began to feel lonely. Back home, I didn't have very many friends. Just the two or three other oddballs that didn't quite fit in and those guys were just so I didn't look like a total loser. We rarely saw each other outside of the cafeteria and a class or two. Like them, my lack luster talents left much to be desired socially and so my options for fellowshipping were limited. I wasn't athletic, couldn't draw, was average-looking at best, and sometimes didn't know how to smile. Sure, there's the fake, polite smile and the smile-for-the-camera smile; but outside of laughter, I had none. I just didn't have anything that felt worthy of smiling about.
Being around Jacob and his friends felt kind of nice, familiar. They were quick to mingle with me, a stranger, and they were pretty goofy guys. I didn't feel judged and I think I smiled a little bit. But they were obviously really close, like babies-in-diapers close and I didn't want to impede on that. No matter how lonely I was.
"Hey, where's Jacob?" Lucy and Billy were still sipping tea and trading stories when I came back to the kitchen.
"Oh, he went off with some friends." I tried not to sound so disappointed.
Billy raised a brow. "Did he, now? They didn't invite you?"
I stalked over to the plastic cups sitting on the counter and fished out a cup. "I didn't let them. I figured I should come back and start unpacking." I filled my cup with tap water. "Plus they were going to the cliffs? Not sure of what one would do at a cliff…" Billy answered me in my mid-gulp of water.
"Cliff diving."
In my surprise, a spray of water left my lips before I covered my mouth. I could hear them laughing at my shocking display. Wiping my mouth with a napkin, I turned to Billy.
"You're joking, right?" He just looked at me, his crooked smile never leaving his face. "Well I'm glad I didn't get roped into that…"
Cliff diving? Who does that? How tall is this cliff? Is it safe? What's at the bottom?
Later that night, I laid my back on the floor. We weren't getting mattresses until after Lucy's last paycheck came through. Other than some of my parents' important furniture, we had left a lot of things behind in the house for the landlord to go through. We didn't want to waste money on a moving truck so we had to rely on the furniture that already came with the house until we had the money to move some stuff back from storage. The only thing in my new room was a dresser which I had already wiped clean. Most of my clothes were folded neatly inside. The few dresses I had were hanging in the small, semi-empty closet. My shoes were lined across the top shelf above the dresses and all of my other things I hadn't unpacked were thrown at the bottom on the floor.
The room was so empty. And quiet.
I sighed, thinking about the day ahead of me. Lucy had a meeting with the daycare in Forks, orientation at the hospital, and our truck needed an oil change. Then there was also grocery shopping, more unpacking, and a barbeque somewhere on the reservation. I guess Billy had invited us over and was having a few other friends coming. When Lucy told me about it, I was initially excited at the prospect of seeing Jacob, Quil, and Embry again. Just thinking about our encounter hours before had me smiling. But then I remembered other people would be there and people, I did not like.
If I was more like my brother, Spencer, I could spew nonsense and have people literally eating out of the palm of my hand. I would be the life of the party; I was already really good with names and faces. But my natural social traits ended there. My awkwardness would sometimes have my brother astounded at his train wreck of a sister. He basically couldn't bring me anywhere. He used to say to me, "Just stop already! You're hopeless," with a laugh. He'd ruffle my hair and help hide me away from the world when I didn't want to be around people.
Tears prickled my eyes and I tried to rub them away but I only managed to rub more salt into my eye from my finger and ended up full on crying. The silent tears that followed wet the carpet near my head and I had to move my pillow to cover the spot. I turned my body to lay fetal, my body shaking and I closed my eyes.
Great, now I have a headache.
