OOPS! My biggest apologies for the wait on this chapter. I was going through some personal stuff and couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with this chapter. I wrote and rewrote this a thousand times... It's way too short and I'm not completely satisfied with it. Nevertheless I wanted to get it up for you guys. In the future, my hope is to upload one chapter per week. Enjoy :)
FOUR
The mystery was solved almost a day later. During lunch I received a text from an unknown number. Glancing over the message discreetly, an involuntary smile turned the corners of my lips.
UNKNOWN: Hey it's Jacob. Kim gave me ur #. We'll pick u up after school. Send me ur address :)
"Who's that?" Lily. She saw my facial expression at once, not one to be oblivious.
Alex leaned forward on the table with her elbows,chin propped up in her hands. "Do you have a boyfriend back home we don't know about?" she asked slyly.
I rolled my eyes, head shaking no at once, thumbs hovered over the keys of my phone. "It's nobody. Just some kid I know from La Push. He's the friend of a family friend."
The two girls decided not to push, luckily. I could tell that if we were closer friends they would have squeezed any information out of me possible. Not that I had anything to hide or even talk about.
I hurriedly sent Jacob my address and tucked the cell phone away in my pocket.
Theo informed me that he was also invited to that afternoon's beach trip. He seemed kind of pissed that I would be going too, but didn't say much beyond what was necessary. Even when mad he stayed mostly silent. Sophie picked us up from school and dropped us off, only to retreat to the mini-office attached to the living room downstairs to grade assignments. I informed her of our plans, to which she told us to let her know whenever we would be coming home (no later than ten since it was only Tuesday, a generous curfew in my opinion).
I changed into a bikini—that being my only swimwear option—just in case, even though the weather wasn't exactly warm. I put on an oversize sweater and a pair of comfortable striped leggings, slipping on a pair of slides.
A text informed me that Jacob was waiting outside.
I called a goodbye to Sophie and headed out to the front of the house. There were two unfamiliar cars parked in front of the driveway: a small, black Volkswagen and a pick-up truck in dire need of a good wash. As I emerged from the front door, my brother was climbing into the truck, where I saw Tyler, Jared, and Kim. Kim stuck her head out from the passenger's side window, waving toward me.
"Hey Alba! Hope you don't mind riding in the Rabbit," she called to me, waving in the direction of the shiny VW.
On cue, Jacob's massive self extracted himself from the second car. I raised my eyebrows in near disbelief as I walked toward the vehicle; if I hadn't just watched him come out of the car, I might not believe he could fit in there. At 5'4, it looked small for me.
"You ready to go?" Jacob asked, leaning his wide forearms on the roof of the car.
"This is your car?" I wondered, ignoring his question.
"My pride and joy," he stated proudly, patting the exterior with affection. "I built her up from scratch."
"And you didn't choose a bigger car?"
Jacob laughed. "Hey, it's a privilege to ride in this car."
Jared honked the horn behind us, signaling that he was going to start leaving. The two of us entered the car together. Despite his height and size, Jacob seemed to fit comfortably in his pride and joy. Kings of Leon played softly from the radio, and a dreamcatcher hung from the rear view mirror.
As he put the car in drive and followed the truck down the road, I suddenly felt nervous. My hands tried to keep busy by tying my hair into a ponytail, but that only lasted a minute or so. Luckily, I didn't have to fidget for long.
"What's your favorite color?"
The inquiry caught me off guard. I glanced at Jacob, my response quick. "Green."
"Why?"
"Most of the earth is covered in greens. Trees, grass, leaves, flowers. It's the most natural color in the world. There are so many different shades of it. Plus, green looks good on me. Oh, and my eyes are hazel."
He seemed highly amused by my answer. I assumed he didn't think my reasoning would have so much detail or thought into it, but details were everything.
"What's your favorite color?" I countered.
"Green," he answered.
"What? No it's not, that's cheating," I protested, crossing my arms over my chest.
Jacob grinned, his eyes focused on the road but still sparkling with amusement. "It's not cheating. Simple: I didn't have a favorite color before, but you made green sound awesome, so now green is my favorite color."
I rolled my eyes. "Fine. What's your favorite movie?"
"Easy. The Matrix."
"Not a fan," I admitted.
He seemed personally affronted by this. "How? It's one of the greatest movies of all time! Samuel L. Jackson? Red pill vs. blue pill? Alternative reality?"
I shook my head. "Boring."
"Boring," he muttered in disbelief, eyes wide.
Ahead of us, Jared turned the truck into a parking lot nearly empty save for two other cars. In front of us, the magnificent view of the ocean laid out before us, the beach dotted with rock formations and driftwood. Considering the usual gloomy weather, the minimal sun that peeked out from beneath passing clouds gave the environment a fresh, crisp air. It definitely wasn't your typical beach outing, but I yearned to feel the sand beneath my toes and smell the salty sea that reminded me of family beach trips to Ventura, California to visit my grandma as a child, the days spent building sand castles and diving beneath the deep, intimidating waters. Dad even tried to teach me how to surf at one point.
Jacob led the way toward the sand, and I felt transported to a different time, despite the change of scenery—after all, First Beach was nothing like Ventura. Yes, there was the rhythmic crash of surf against sand, the waves lapping at the edge, the smell of salt and earth, but the circumstances had changed. The warm, blinding sun, sandcastles, and surfers had been replaced with mountainous rocks, damp driftwood, and rough waves. Nostalgia washed over me, powerful, sending the hairs on my arms standing up; the cool breeze sent a shiver up my spine. Theo and I exchanged a brief glance, leaving me wondering if we were thinking about the same thing.
"You okay?"
I lifted my head to meet Jacob's eyes. It surprised me how perceptive and observational he was, considering most people probably wouldn't have noticed the slight shift in my mood. Perhaps my emotions were more transparent than I thought, but I felt more inclined to believe that Jacob simply saw more than surface level, for whatever reason that might be.
I smiled and nodded to reassure him as we walked over to meet the rest of the group: Seth and Embry I recognized, while there were quite a few new faces I did not. However, I was quickly introduced to them.
A beautiful girl with scars marring half her face approached me first, barely waiting for anyone to do the job for her. Despite the scarring, her bright brown eyes framed by dark lashes and inviting smile completely deterred me from taking more than a second look at her imperfections.
"You must be Alba. I'm Emily Young," she revealed, pulling me in for a hug before I could say or do anything. She smelled of vanilla and cookies, and let go of me after a few seconds. "It's so good to meet you. You're absolutely beautiful."
The compliment and immediate affection took me a second to process. "Thank you," I said after a beat. "You're very sweet, Emily. It's nice to meet you, too."
"I'm just so glad another girl is around. Me and Kim get outnumbered pretty often," Emily explained.
"Don't forget Leah," piped up Seth.
"Yeah, if you can even call her a girl," mumbled Embry.
Seth whacked him on the head, while Emily sent him an eye roll and a reproachful look.
"Ignore him."
I snickered. "You aren't the first person to give me that advice."
Emily went on to point out the rest of the new faces: Sam, her fiance, Quil, and Paul, with the only exception being Leah Clearwater, Seth's older sister, who was currently MIA. The latter two in question had wetsuits on and surfboards at their sides, which they waxed.
"You guys surf in these waters?" I asked, noticing how choppy the surf was, and imagined how cold the water would be. The temperature today was barely mid-fifties.
Seth responded with an affirmative yes, and that's when I saw both Jared and Jacob changing into wet suits as well. All around me, these muscled teenagers were clad in skintight outfits and I felt only slightly uncomfortable. More impressed than anything, really. It got me questioning if they put steroids in the water here.
"Do you know how to surf?" Jacob wanted to know.
I shrugged. "Kind of. My dad tried to teach me and Theo when we were younger. I can balance for a solid ten seconds, and that's on calm waters."
"I'll teach you," Jacob suggested.
"In front of these guys? No thank you. I'll save myself the embarrassment."
"Good call, I probably would have pushed you over just for shits and giggles," Embry remarked.
Emily put her arm around my shoulder. "That's okay, Jake, Alba can hang with me and Kim while you boys do your thing. I'm sure we'll have lots to talk about."
She led me over to a colorful, expansive quilt where Kim rested on her elbows, her legs sprawled out in front of her. The pair of us took a seat beside one another, watching everyone, including Theo, who had been coaxed by the others, enter the water.
Emily, Kim, and I watched the boys surf and tumble for a solid hour. When I say "boys" I mostly watched Jacob. It was impressive how graceful and balanced he could be for someone such a massive size, and everything he did, he made it look effortless. And as he swam to the shore, shaking the excess water off him, I watched him walk toward me with that same sense of ease about his body; it made me feel some type of way I couldn't put words to.
Jacob suggested we go for a walk, just the two of us, and I agreed. I let him change into drier clothes, trying not to stare at his rippled back muscles as he removed the wet suit. Once he changed into a pair of basketball shorts and a plain t-shirt, he led me to the right of the group, toward a more secluded area where we dodged varying sizes of driftwood and rocks. At first, a comfortable silence engulfed us. I marveled at the fact that I barely knew this person, yet none of that awkward energy existed between us.
"My brother seems to get on well with you guys," I remarked after some time. "And I mean he actually talks to you. I don't remember the last time I had a conversation with him."
Jacob, walking with his hands in his pockets, said, "He's a nice kid. I can tell he's been through a lot."
I nodded. "He's very sensitive. He puts a lot of blame on himself."
"What do you mean?"
Some people might be hesitant to share personal information. I, on the other hand, had the tendency to overshare; you might call me an open book. So I told Jacob our history, how Theo felt ashamed for our mother's death and struggled to come to terms with Dad. I even added my two cents about his battle to fit in, which I blamed for most of his inner turmoil.
Unlike your average stranger, who might retreat from such personal details, Jacob listened with genuine interest. We had paused to sit one in front of the other on a drier log, me with my legs crossed and Jacob's own long limbs straddling the driftwood. As was custom when I went off on long tangents, I realized how long I'd been rambling after a while and felt my cheeks warm with self-awareness.
"I'm sorry. I'm talking way too much." I bit my lip, looking down at my lap.
"I like listening to you," Jacob replied simply.
I looked up at Jacob with curious eyes. Most of the time when talking with guys, I felt suspicious of their intentions, like everything they said had double meaning. I never knew what they really wanted or thought or meant. Except with Jacob, one look at his eyes gave me a sense of security, as though they told me silently that they were honest and sincere. He never averted his gaze when we met eyes, and he didn't seem impatient despite how much I talked.
All of these thoughts overwhelmed me, especially since I had known Jacob for all of one or two days. I remembered reading books and watching TV and movies where the characters describe a powerful connection between two people, an inexplicable one that rarely made any sense. It partially annoyed me that I compared myself and Jacob to fictional experiences, considering he could be thinking the exact opposite. Besides, there was nothing otherworldly about us.
To shift my thoughts away from this subject, I veered the conversation to another subject that crossed my mind since moving here.
"It's weird being in La Push, considering my mom grew up here. I don't know anything about it. I'm half Quileute, but I don't even know what that means."
"You're lucky then, because I've had everything Quileute drilled into my brain since I was born," Jacob said, half-jokingly.
"You can be my source of knowledge," I teased.
"Personal encyclopedia, at your service."
We both laughed at that.
Jacob shifted slightly in his seat. "Old Quil—that's Quil's grandfather—he's the source of all the legends around here. Every once in a while all of us get together on the beach and he tells the stories of our people. It'll be Seth's first time, and Leah's, too. You should come with me."
The idea of hearing the stories of my heritage—ones maybe my mom grew up with—intrigued me. Most of all, the idea of going with Jacob made me warm inside.
"I'd love to."
I thought about the invitation throughout the rest of the day and into the evening, as Jacob and I rejoined the group. We played soccer on the beach, me, Jacob, Seth, and Quil versus Embry, Paul, Sam, and Jared. We won 4-2. Not to burst my own bubble, but I had to say that my goalkeeping skills won us the game. Besides, Embry was way too much of a shit talker for his own good, and it distracted him from actually blocking any of the goals that Jacob and Seth made. Not to say that I didn't laugh my ass off while he did it, but still. He was a sore loser, which only made me become a sore winner, rubbing our team's victory in their faces.
By the time sunset approached, Theo and I decided to head home. Jacob offered to drive me again, while Theo went in the truck. We listened to Kings of Leon again, singing along for the short ride. In front of my house, Jacob put the VW in park.
"Thanks for the ride," I said, unbuckling my seatbelt.
"Anytime," Jacob smiled. "I'll text you."
I went inside, face beaming.
After dinner, I began working on my homework in my room. I situated myself on the little window seat, Trig textbook splayed out in front of me. I was working through the homework problems assigned to us. The window, cracked open to let some of the cool night air inside, suddenly let a wind gust through, causing me to shiver, even through the sweatshirt I wore. I set down my pencil and notebook, turning so that I could work the window shut, when I heard the faint sound of a howl. Weird. Were there wolves in Forks?
The moment quickly passed and was forgotten, however, as I put in headphones and finished the rest of my homework.
AN: Please let me guys know what you think about this chapter. Do you like Alba's character? If not, what improvements can I make? I hope you like this little taste of Alba and Jake's relationship. Once everything is laid out things will get juicier. Leave questions/comments/concerns in a review!
XOXO
