Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters you recognize.
So sorry I took so long to update! I've been a little stuck in getting from point A to point B...not to mention I've also had midterms. I hope you find that this chapter was worth the wait! I've got ideas for the future of the story, just having a little trouble in getting there...but also, nothing is set in stone, so comments and suggestions are appreciated and taken into consideration. Soooo:
Let me know what you liked, what you didn't like, what you want more of, less of! RxR! The more you review/comment, the more the story will be what you want it to be!
Also want to say thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed and put my story on your alert/favorite list!
The next day was what Quil and Claire called "Lazy Sunday." One Sunday every month, Quil took the day off work to take Claire to the movies. On the preceding Saturday night, Claire always slept over at Quil and Jacob's house. They would drink chocolate milk, eat popcorn, and stay up way past Claire's bedtime. On Sunday, they would sleep until the afternoon, make blueberry pancakes for breakfast, buy a bunch of candy at the convenience store, and then head into Port Angeles to see the big movie of the weekend, followed by dinner at Claire's favorite restaurant. It had been a tradition for them since Claire turned five, and they both looked forward to it every month.
Jacob also looked forward to Lazy Sundays. He spent his mornings with Embry at the garage, then, by the time he got home in the afternoon, Quil and Claire were gone and he had the house to himself all evening. It was the only alone time he ever really got, and he relished it. Not to mention the fact that they always left him a mountain of pancakes. On this particular Sunday, however, he looked forward to not spending his day alone.
At work, he sped through rebuilding the carburetor of the 2008 Lotus Elise they were working on, while Embry detailed the body.
"Dude," Embry said, "Elijah just got the newest Modern Warfare game. It's hot. I'm going over there to play when I'm done with this. You've got to come check it out."
Jacob lifted his head to respond, but Embry's enthusiasm faded as suddenly as it had appeared. "Oh…never mind," he said, before Jacob even reminded him. "I almost forgot what day it was for a second. Got any big alone-time plans?"
"Actually, I'm gonna try to hang out with Sierra," Jacob said, avoiding eye-contact with his friend.
"Ooooooooh, I see how it is," Embry teased. "26 years of friendship and then this new girl just waltzes into your life, and just 'cuz, you know, you were… made for her and she… completely changed your sense of gravity, she trumps me? Pshh. I should have known better than to trust you with my heart, Jacob Black," he said with a facetious pout.
Jacob chucked a wrench at his chest. It just barely grazed his left shoulder as he ducked out of the way. "After 26 years of this," Jacob said, "you can see how I'd need a break."
"Hey!" Embry cried, pointing at the scratch on his shoulder that was bleeding slightly. "That's domestic violence!"
"Oh poor you," Jacob chuckled, rolling his eyes.
There was a light rapping on the wall next to the doorless entryway of the little garage. "Hey. I'm not interrupting, am I?" Sierra stepped in from the light rain, pushing the hood from her sweatshirt back off her head. "Leah told me I could find you here."
Jacob's face lit up when he saw her. "Hey," he said crossing the room in two graceful strides to wrap her in a warm embrace. Embry came over to give her a quick hug as well, though his was not quite as enthusiastic.
"I'm almost done with this," Jacob said, returning to the carburetor. "Then we can get out of here."
"Cool," Sierra said, taking a seat on the stool that was normally used by Quil.
"So are you hungry?" Jacob asked her, his large fingers working nimbly on the finishing touches of his project. "Quil and Claire made pancakes."
"What?" Embry shouted. "You've never invited me for Lazy Sunday pancakes!"
"Yeah, well you're not as cute as I am," Sierra joked, picking up on the humor in his complaints.
"Please," Embry scoffed, "I'm way cuter than you!"
Laughter bubbled from all three of them. "Alright," Jacob said, slipping the carburetor back into its place under the hood of the car. "You ready?" he asked Sierra.
"Let's blow this popsicle stand," she smiled.
"You good closing up, man?"
"No problem," Embry said, the teasing tone gone from his voice.
"Sorry I didn't bring an umbrella," Jacob said when he noticed Sierra pulling her hood up.
"That's alright," she said. "I like the rain."
The light drizzle turned to a torrential downpour as they trudged up the hill to Jacob's house. They were both soaked through by the time they got there. They removed their shoes just inside the doorway, and Sierra tried to squeeze as much water as possible out of her clothes so she wouldn't drip on the floor. Jacob noticed she was shivering slightly from the chill. "I can toss your clothes in the dryer," he offered, already stripping off his dripping wet t-shirt. "Let me just grab you something dry." He threw his shirt into the machine tucked away under the staircase, and then ran upstairs without waiting for her to respond.
Momentarily, he returned wearing dry sweatpants and a long-sleeved t-shirt, a similar pair of pants and t-shirt slung over his shoulder, wet jeans in his hand. Sierra was surprised by how quickly he had changed. He handed her the dry clothes and pointed her to the bathroom.
Sierra emerged, gripping all of her own clothes in one hand, her arms folded self-consciously across her chest. She normally didn't even go braless in her own house, but she figured it was better than letting the wet bra bleed through his dry shirt.
Only when her clothes joined Jacob's in the dryer and he could tell that she was warm enough did he allow himself to notice the aroma of blueberry pancakes wafting in from the kitchen. He opened the over where they were being kept warm and inhaled deeply. "Mmm," he smiled.
Sierra ate two pancakes while Jacob scarfed down the rest of the pile. "So is there anything you want to do before you get swamped with school and … other school?" Jacob asked, tossing their paper plates in the garbage.
Sierra twirled her damp hair bashfully, one arm still snugly across her chest. "I don't know," she shrugged. "I don't really know the area. It would have been cool to go into the woods or take a boat out, maybe go to St. James Island or something…but it's kind of wet out for that stuff."
"Outdoorsy type, huh?" Jacob smiled. He was excited by her enthusiasm, but grateful that for the time being, the rain was keeping her out of the woods. He didn't want to put her in any unnecessary danger while there were things going on that he still didn't understand.
"I like to explore," she said casually. "But I'm pretty easily entertained. What would you normally be doing if I weren't here?"
"Honestly? Probably watching TV. It's not every day that I get to watch something that's not either sports, horror, or appropriate for a 12 year old."
"So you're missing good old-fashioned cursing and sex?" Sierra laughed.
"You could say that."
"Cool," Sierra hopped up cheerfully and moved to the couch. "Let's watch something trashy and/or offensive, then."
Jacob cocked an eyebrow but she simply beamed back at him. He joined her in the living room, sitting next to her on the couch. It was drafty in the house and she cuddled up to the warmth of his body without thinking about it. Smiling to himself, he draped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer as he flipped through the channels. "Hung?" he suggested, stopping on a shot of a man walking down a city street, casually removing his clothing.
"You have HBO? Awesome!"
They spent the rest of the evening like that, curled up on the couch, quietly watching TV. Sierra was completely absorbed in the show, so utterly relaxed, that sitting in the same position for hours without moving didn't even give her a cramp or make her feel stiff. She was undistracted by yesterday or tomorrow, ten minutes ago or ten minutes from now. Her mind was exactly in the present.
Jacob stroked her hair absently, his conscious mind on the television, but meanwhile also taking in everything from the soft curve of her body against his to the warm scent of her skin, to the gentle up and down movement of her chest as she breathed.
It wasn't until Quil opened the door that either of them even moved. "So," Quil said with a devilish grin, eyeing Sierra's outfit, "you finally got someone to do with you what you've been doing by yourself all these years." He winked.
Jacob blushed. "Ha ha," he said sarcastically.
"We were out in the rain," Sierra explained, sitting up straight, her face a brighter shade of pink than Jacob's. "My stuff's in the dryer." She looked down at her watch. "I should probably go. I have my first day of class tomorrow."
Jacob started daggers at Quil as he got up and extracted Sierra's clothing from the dryer. Quil simply laughed and went straight to the refrigerator, scouring it for something to eat.
"Didn't you just come from dinner?" Sierra asked before disappearing into the bathroom.
"Well if you want to get technical…but you know, it's a long trip back here, especially with that stop at the Makah rez."
"What was it, like an hour and a half?" Jacob smirked. "I'm surprised you didn't faint dead away."
Sierra laughed from behind the door. When she emerged in her own dry clothes, Quil was sitting on the beat up old La-Z-Boy next to the couch, slurping down a large bowl of cold soup. "It was nice to see you, Quil," she said, making her way to the door. He waved wordlessly in response. "Goodnight Jake."
"Do you want a ride home?"
"No thanks. I'm fine. I think it stopped raining." She looked at Quil who nodded his head in confirmation.
"Ok, well I'll walk you out."
Just outside the front door, Jacob pulled her into a tight hug and kissed the top of her head. "Goodnight."
Sierra reveled in the warmth and passion of his embrace for a moment before forcing herself to push him away. "Jake, look…about what Quil said—"
"Quil was just being an idiot," Jake cut her off, rolling his eyes. "Spending all your free time with a twelve year old tends to have some drawbacks maturity-wise."
Sierra smirked at the comment, but sobered quickly. "No, but….Jake, really…I really like you. I mean, I don't – I don't even know what I mean." She struggled, unable to find words that were appropriate for the way she felt when she was with him. She wasn't even sure shewanted to find the right words. She barely knew Jacob, and she wasn't ready to question why everything felt so much simpler and better when he was around. "I just – I really like being around you, but I don't want to give you the wrong impression. I recently got out of a really long-term relationship and I'm not looking for anything like that right now. I'm really not the type to rebound…" She was beginning to ramble. "…and I'm still trying to figure myself out, and—"
Jacob laughed warmly and shook his head. "That's fine. Really. I'm really sorry if Quil's comment made you uncomfortable. He was just messing around. I mean, you're sweet, and interesting, and pretty, but this," he gestured back and forth between the two of them, "it's nothing more or less than what you make of it." He shrugged. "I like being around you, too. That's pretty much all that matters as far as I'm concerned." And it was true. Despite all the guys' comments about him 'finally having found a girlfriend,' he felt no need to rush anything. He was made to be exactly what she needed. Right now what she needed was a friend, and he was quite comfortable being just that. When it came to anything else, well, he had waited ten years for her to show up; he could wait a little longer for her to be ready to see him in a different light.
Sierra smiled. Trust Jacob to take an awkward conversation where she had been sure she was either going to feel like a jerk or an idiot, and make it easy. "Good," was all she could say.
"Friends?" he extended his right hand to shake hers.
Instead of taking his hand, Sierra wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him a gentle squeeze. "Friends," she mumbled into his chest. She pulled away and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Goodnight," she said, skipping off into the darkness.