Chapter 7- Love is The Key
JPOV
Yesterday was one hell of a day. Sam was right. I needed to keep an eye on her, make sure she was okay. She was my girl; no one else fucking touched her. Yesterday, when she was on that date with the fucktard, his intentions were to rape her. I knew there was something off about that bastard. I immediately reported him to the cops right after I dropped Aisha home. Let him rot in there. Aisha… had seen me fighting, and as much as I wished I could go back and erase all that, I couldn't. She knew I could fight, but I could feel her curious gazes toward me. And, when she saw me shirtless, it was like I was a whole new character to her. She almost seemed happy. Almost. And, she had looked fucking beautiful. I had never seen her like that, with modern clothes and her long hair neat and tidy. For once, it wasn't in her messy bun. And, she'd worn revealing clothes. I mean, not exactly "revealing", cause that makes it sound so fucking slutty, but she'd worn out of her type clothes, which was saying a lot. I just wish she'd worn those for someone else. Someone like me. I'm pretty sure Leah came over and helped her with it. They were close friends.
It was also very awkward with her. I took her to a restaurant to eat, and that waitress had been too nice to us and had jumped to the wrong damn conclusion. At the end of the car ride, when we had reached her house, I had this strong urge to kiss her. I was so close to doing it. Since I am a werewolf, I can hear people's heartbeat rate---especially my imprint's---just being inches away from them. Her heart had sped up, beating wildly. For a minute, it felt like she was gonna lean forward, but something had flickered in her eyes and she immediately told me to stop and ran to her house. The bell rang and I headed to my next period. English. For once, I was actually dreading it. I knew she wouldn't talk to me after what happened last night. It would be too fucking awkward. But, I hoped and walked into the classroom and sat right beside her. Right then an electric wave shot within us, and she could feel it too because she shivered.
Mr. Gales collected our homework and then continued on with his boring lectures.
"Hey." I said, at least trying.
She remained silent. Fuck, this was going to be hard. She had her hands on the table, overlapping each other. She was staring straight at the teacher and actually listening.
"Hey." I tried again.
She looked at me and smiled forcefully, like she couldn't stand the sight of me. Like I smelled bad.
"Hi." She said, a mix of confusion and sarcasm in her tone. She turned away and looked at the teacher.
"Look, Aisha, about yesterday…"
"I don't want to talk about it." She said bluntly. I shut up.
When the teacher told us to share an experience of embarrassment in our lives to the person sitting beside us, because apparently in English right now the topic was emotions, she had no other choice than to talk to me. She turned to me, but didn't say anything. She stared at my hands.
"So, er, do you want to play soccer later on?" I asked.
She didn't reply. Instead she blurted out, "Why did you try to kiss me yesterday?" She could never keep her mouth shut.
I shifted in my seat. I wasn't expecting that. Fuck.
Now it was my turn to remain silent. I stiffened and turned my head toward the front. He'd started talking again. She sighed angrily and turned back, too.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, the lunch bell rang. She quickly got her things and flew out of the class. Oh crap. This wasn't going to be easy. I was gonna have to talk to her. After putting my things away in my locker, I caught up with her.
"Aisha, wait. Can we just forget about what happened yesterday? Please?" I said.
"Fine." She muttered, still walking fast. "I'll forget about it on one condition. We play a round of basketball, two on two. If I win, you have to tell me why you tried to kiss me yesterday, and if you win, I'll just forget that this whole thing happened in the first place. Deal?" she said, a smile playing on her lips. I smiled back.
"Deal." I said, not even bothering about my appetite. This game was on.
Five minutes later, we were in the Gym, basketball in some dude's hands. He shook it in the air, and I jumped and went for it. I was desperate for her friendship… and maybe more. And I really didn't want to tell her why I'd tried to kiss her. What was I gonna say? Oh, um, I imprinted on you, and now I'm madly in love with you and need to be with you for every second of my life. Yeah, right, Jacob. She'll totally believe and understand you.
With the ball in my hand, I dribbled it all the way into the end of the court, but she blocked it and snatched it out of my hand. Damn. She was going hard on me. She quickly moved with her small frame, and scored a goal before I could stop her. She smirked.
"You're going down." She said, smiling.
"We'll see about that." I said, rubbing my hands together.
"First one to score two goals wins. I'm already half-done. You need to catch up, Jake."
I punched her playfully, but not enough to actually hurt her. But, still she pretended to be hurt.
This time, the ball in my hands, and quickly dribbled it. She was trying to distract me, or trying to snatch it from me, but I wasn't losing so easily. I finally scored, making her twinge in disappointment.
"We're even now." I said, smirking as I said this.
She frowned. "I know."
This time, the ball with her, she dribbled it and blocked me with her back facing towards me. I saw her little butt swaying, back and forth. My dick shot up straight and I turned away from her, wishing what was happening would stop. She turned around.
"Hey, Jake? You okay?" she asked, pure concern in her voice.
After I'd calmed myself down, I swiftly turned around.
"Yeah; great. Let's continue." And, so, we continued.
It turns out, after running and dribbling and bouncing and thirty sweaty minutes of defeat and victory--- all in the basketball's hands--- that I won. I mean, come on, I was the guy, I had superpowers, and I had the muscle. Aisha was just a tiny little fish, compared to me, the shark.
Of course, she huffed and puffed while muttering things like "cheated" and "not fair". My Aisha. She never gave up. I liked the sound of that. My Aisha. It sounded so much like… us. Together. But I had to put that and my crazy feelings for her aside and make this pretense to be her friend, when my mind really didn't co-operate with that.
"So… friends?" I asked, reaching my hand out for her to shake. She hesitated, but she gave in.
"Friends. Always." She said, smiling. To my surprise, she hugged me. Real tight. My hands automatically sealed around her, taking in her strawberry shampoo smell. Mmm. After a minute, I began to panic. I loved this, could do this forever, but why was she doing this? Just a minute ago we'd confirmed that we were friends.
"Er, Aisha?" I asked, unsure if she'd changed her plans about us.
She immediately pulled away, her face reddening in embarrassment. Yeah, still friends.
"Sorry, Jake. It's just that… I … I've missed you Jake." She simply stated and smiled sheepishly. I smiled back.
"I've missed you, too, Aish. A lot."
The bell rang, just in time, and we broke apart and headed toward our next class. We bid our goodbyes and left for the next class. I fucking loved her, and I had bury that inside me just for the sake of friendship. I wished I could tell her all of this. Damn. Why the fuck did this have to be so hard? Why did she have to be my goddamn best friend before any of this? Why couldn't she just have been some plain, average girl who had never even talked to me? Oh, she was going to be the death of me, that Aisha. I knew it.
***
Ugh. I couldn't take the restless nights and cravings away from her. I had to go see her. I thought of visiting her again like I did the other night, and immediately perked up at the thought. I got out, stripped out of my clothes (or jeans, cause that's the only thing I was wearing) shifted into the wolf and raced toward her house. I'm sure Billy heard, but he already knew where I was headed. I'd told him about Aisha and he'd been very supportive. I reached her house, and this time climbed her window, my sharp claws piercing in the plastic window sill. I bumped my paw against her window, hoping the sound of that was enough to wake her up. She shifted, but didn't react. I did it just a bit louder, and her eyes shot up straight to me. She fell out of her bed with a yank, and I immediately clawed open her window and jumped into her room. I didn't care I was an animal and about my size, I needed to make sure she was okay. She sat up and stared at me with awe. She rubbed her eyes in that cute way of hers and then really looked at me. And then smiled.
"You came." She said simply. Like she was expecting me to come and was waiting for me.
I nodded my head, making sure she saw the movement.
"Wow. You're so… big and huge." She said, eying me up and down. I grinned, showing all of my teeth, and this made her laugh.
"You have a great smile." She said.
This time I laughed. I honked and snorted and guffawed.
"Shhh! You'll wake my mom up." She whisper-shouted, throwing her hands in the air dramatically. I nodded. I slanted my head in the direction of outside, saying to go outside so we could talk freely. She shook her head. I almost got caught last time, and plus it's so cold. She snuggled into her blanket. Without warning, I gently tackled her bed, and sat beside her. I hoped that she'd be warm from me. She tangled her hands in my fur and rubbed and pet. I lay my head on her lap, not putting all of my weight on her, just enough she could deal with.
"You're so cute."
I smirked. If only she could see me human right now…
"Hey! I should name you something, right?" I nodded.
"Okay, what do you like? Sandy?"
I shook my head back and forth. Too girly and lame.
"Uhm, Barbara?" she asked, smiling to herself.
I bulged my eyes out at her and pretended to play dead.
"Okay, so I take it that you're a male." She said in a mocking tone. I had a feeling she already knew all of this, she was just teasing me.
"Hmm. Let me think. How about Jakie? It reminds me of a friend, a very close friend, and I think it'd suit you. What do you think?"
Now, that was a name. I nodded enthusiastically in approval and she smiled.
"Jakie, if I tell you my deep darkest secrets and share every one of my feelings with you, you won't tell anyone, right?" she asked, on the verge of tears. It almost sounded as if; she was going to talk like a soft, fragile girl. I wanted to fucking wrap my arms around her and take her all in. Which is exactly what I did. She hugged back, but then she yawned and I realized I had disturbed her sleep. I shrug/waved at her, and her face fell a bit.
"Aw, you're leaving?" I nodded.
"But you will visit again, right?" I nodded, smiling as I did so.
"Okay. Bye Jakie." She smiled sweetly at me. If only she could do that to me in human form.
I went back to my home, shifting back into my human form.
Oh god. I wished I could stay with her forever and never leave. She was like a drug to me, had me addicted. I was now in her tangled mess. I, Jacob Black, was in love with Aisha Ringfield, and now matter how long it took, no matter how much emotional fucking pain and physical pain I had to endure, I was going to bear through it all and win her love. Prove to her that love is the key, not friendship.
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