Rain Sweet Rain
The rain began to fall harder and I wished I had been born in some place where the sun and moon could shine without the clouds being an ever present nuisance. I didn't want to part with Angela already, but the chance that she would want to stay here on the beach in a down pour were slim to none. I held her hand tightly in mine and began pulling her with me back to our cars. She pulled back.
"Not yet, Jacob. You seem ready to go back to the real world, but I don't want to just yet."
I was wrong. I should know by now that things in my world seldom followed the rules set forth for them to follow. Why should the girl I love be any different? I only had to smile at her and she understood that I wasn't eager to leave either.
"Should we just stand here in the rain and get soaked? Or do you have something stranger in mind?" I was hoping for the latter.
"Why not stranger?" she led me back slowly to the edge of the water and we walked the coast line as if it was dry outside and the sun had not gone into hiding. I followed a little behind her, watching as she moved as graceful as any vampire "friend" of Bella's I had ever seen. That was something I had to give them credit for. Of bloodsucker I had seen so far, none of them had been clumsy.
That thought inspired another that sent me nearly into hysterics. Bella was soooo clumsy, how would she ever make it through eternity falling all over the place and impaling herself with God only knows what?
"What's tickled your funny bone?" Angela was giggling nervously. I must have looked crazy, laughing at myself for no apparent reason, and that made me laugh even harder.
"Did I do something?" Now she looked a bit self-conscious and I felt I'd better let her in on the joke. Girls could be so over critical of themselves. It must apply to even the perfect ones, I thought.
"I was just thinking about Bella," I didn't think of how that would sound until the words left my mouth.
"Oh," her hand went limp in mine and dropped to her side.
"No, nothing like that. It's just that you're so...well, I was just watching you walk. You glide along so easily. Then I thought about how it was a wonder that Bella even got through the day as clumsy as she is."
That explanation didn't seem to suffice. I had only made things worse by bringing up her name for the second time in less than as many minutes. Jeez, had I really made it sound like I was comparing the two of them...Yep, it did sound that way when I thought of it from her perspective. After all, that's how this all started; with me looking for Bella---at Angela's house, no less.
Angela put a little more space between us and I heard her sigh. She was looking out over the water past the crashing waves. Her beautiful hair and clothes were soaked, dripping wet from the weather we shouldn't be out in. She had her arms wrapped around her in a way I remembered Bella doing when Edward had left her in so much pain. Though the rain washed down her face, I thought I could make out a tear rolling down her cheek.
"Come here," it wasn't a request. I wouldn't let anything ruin what had been such a perfect, albeit strange, day. She barely moved, but the fact that it was to me and not away gave me all the hope I needed. This wasn't going to be easy. Fate let me do all the screwing up this time. Ha-ha. Pretty crappy cosmic joke. I usually didn't need help messing things up.
I made up the short distance between us and pulled her into an embrace. She shivered against me, my warmth reminding her body how cold she was getting. She didn't resist me, instead she laid her head against my chest and let me hold her.
"I need to tell you some things that are going to be hard for me to explain and even harder for you to hear, but I think that's the only way I'm gonna clear this up. I'm a stupid guy, Angela," I tried to be funny, even though that's exactly how I felt. She smiled a weak smile, but didn't look up at me."I wanted to wait until we had known each other a little longer and you trusted me more, but I think I have to tell you now. I don't want to keep secrets from you. Believe me I have some pretty huge secrets, but I won't let them be in the way of what we can become to each other. I'd rather die than hurt you."
"Will you let me explain?" I instinctively knew she would. The longer we were together, the more in-tuned to her I became. I could almost predict what her next moves would be.
She nodded. Her head was pressed tighter against me. "But,Jacob? Can we get out of the rain first? I'm freezing..." her teeth chattered when she said "freezing" and my laughter made the both of us shake.
We walked back in the direction of the cars when we should have been running, but she wanted to drag out our time together as much as I did. I looked to her at my side to see that she was now miserably wet and her teeth were clinched together with the chill she felt from the wind. I scooped her up in my arms and she squealed.
"Next time...warn me...before...you...do that!" she was shaking,so I went faster along the beach holding her as close as I could without hurting her.
Her car was much newer and with much nicer upholstery than mine,so I made the snap decision and sat her down in the passenger side of my car.
"There's a rain coat in my backseat," she said without so much tremor in her voice as before.
"Anything else?" I didn't see what good a rain coat would do after she was already soaked to the bone.
"Well, I hadn't planned on making out with a gorgeous stranger in a down pour until next Tuesday, so I guess I forgot to pack a change of clothes," there was no venom in her little sarcastic remark so I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.
"Do you always roll on the ground with good looking strangers in deserted places?"
"Oh, heck yeah. All the time. Are you going to get in or just stand out in the rain and make fun of me?"
"Which would make you happier?" I was teasing her, but in truth I would submit to her every demand.
"Hurry up and get in here. Both of us don't need pneumonia, and I believe you had lots of dirty laundry you wanted to air out, right?" She pulled the door shut and leaned across the driver's seat to open mine. I knocked on her window. She jumped and looked out at me. I made the motion for her to roll it down, but she cracked the door open.
"What are you doing?"
"You didn't answer my question. Would it make you happier if I stood out here?"
She smiled and her whole face lit up. "Just get in here, silly boy."
I slid in the car and got the heater going. I didn't need it, but Angela was still cold and her clothes weren't going to dry themselves. I reached into the back and grabbed a pair of jogging pants I kept there just in case I had to phase unexpectedly and ruined the clothes I was wearing at the time. I dropped them in Angela's lap.
"Here. These will probably swallow you whole, but at least they're dry. Do you want me to get out so you can-" I lost my thought.
Angela was already wiggling out of her wet jeans and shirt. "You can turn your head, Jacob. It would be ridiculous of me to make you wait in the rain again."
I barely broke my gaze on her half bare legs when she pulled her arms out of the clinging shirt . "Really, Jacob. I'm dying to see you shirtless, too, but now's not how I pictured it would be."
I didn't look away. "So you've thought about me naked?"
"I...umm...Jacob, turn your head," her face was bright pink.
I conceded and turned away. My skin was tingling all over. Her wet skin smelled delicious. I had to be dreaming. There was no way this was real.
If this is a dream, then shouldn't I be the one in control of what happens? In that case, maybe just a peek-------To Late...
By the time I looked back, Angela had shimmied out of her wet clothes. I suddenly was thankful for so much rain. Now she was wearing a thin red rain jacket and my pants. It was almost too funny not to laugh at, but at the same time strangely erotic. Perhaps that was just my hormones talking. After all, there was a half naked girl in my car until seconds ago. She was still naked, only she was covered by some soft and thin fabric that shouldn't be too hard for a wolf like me to help her out of.
Calm down, Jake. Be a gentleman. What would she say if she could see what you were thinking?
"Me, too," she said, "but don't you think it would be better if we did get to know each other first? Just a little, anyway?"
The way she was looking at me I knew what she was talking about. How could she know what I was thinking? Maybe there was a lot to Angela that didn't show through the beautiful surface.
I had secrets. She had talents. We had lots to talk about.
