A/N - Love to my betas batgirl8968 and SqueakyZorro, and to those of you who have stuck around even though this is the slowest story ever to update!
Previously on Howl at the Moon, our four friends arrived in Elkins, and Jake told Nessie he wanted to go to college instead of high school with her. To his surprise, she thought it was a good idea.
I own nothing.
Jake led Nessie by the hand back inside the cabin. A sense of relief replaced the overwhelming anxiety he had felt since the night he decided not to accompany her to high school but attend college instead. He knew she would not be happy, but he had worried what her reaction would be. If it truly would have hurt her, he would have put off his new dream and attended high school with her. He would have done anything as long as she was happy. But now he knew she supported him and his dreams as much as he supported hers, and for the first time, he was excited about what the future might hold for him...for them. Closing the wood-trimmed, glass door behind them, Jake didn't realize he was grinning like a fool.
"What's got you so happy?" Seth asked, pulling his head out from behind the refrigerator door.
"Nothin'. Are you trying to chill the whole cabin there?"
"Man, you should see all of the food we got in here. Esme sure knows what she's doing," he said, pulling a couple of frozen pizzas out of the freezer. "I guess she didn't expect we'd actually be cooking gourmet meals ourselves either."
"Speak for yourself, butthead. I ain't eating that junk." Leah piped up from the living room where she sat, still scouring through the stack of brochures Jake and Seth had brought back from the visitor's center.
Nessie leaned her elbows on the counter, watching Jake and Seth investigate the contents of the refrigerator. Her stomach growled at the sight of all the food.
"What do you want for lunch, Ness?" Jake asked.
"Whatever you guys decide on is fine with me." Nessie shrugged off the question, but Jake watched as she fidgeted and wrung her hands together.
"You need to hunt."
Nessie turned away as Seth looked at her, and she was quite sure she could feel Leah's gaze on her as well. She knew they weren't thinking badly of her, but she couldn't help feeling uncomfortable with them knowing. It was the one thing she would never be able to change about herself and the one thing that made her different from all of them, because while they also hunted occasionally, they didn't need to, not like she did.
Jake walked over to her and took her hands in his. "Ness, it's okay," he whispered. "We can go if you need to; you don't have to hide it."
Nessie sighed, knowing that eventually she would have to give in, no matter how much she tried to put it off. "It's just that I've needed to a lot more lately, and I don't know why. I just hunted two days ago, and it's just so often now, and you know I hate it. You know why."
And Jake did know why she fought the urge to hunt as much as she could. He remembered that day in the field like it was yesterday, and how, even though she didn't let it show too much, it had scarred a little girl who understood a lot more about life at that age than any other little girl did. And he remembered the day he learned just how much.
Just days after the confrontation with the Volturi, Jake had been on his way to the Cullens' late one morning, when Nessie's screams echoed through the trees.
"No, No, No! I don't want to go hunting. No, No, No!" A pint-sized Nessie tore through the front door of the cottage and jumped into Jake's arm as he ran to the door.
"What's wrong, Nessie?" he asked, swiftly lifting her up and holding her to his chest.
"I don't want to go hunting. Momma says I have to, but I don't want to go hunting anymore!" she screamed, wrapped her arms around his neck in a death grip, and nestled her face into Jake's shoulder. "Don't let them make me go, Jacob, please," she whispered into his neck, and Jake's heart shattered at the sound as her tears ran down his shoulder.
"Don't fall for it, Jake. You know exactly what she's doing to you," Bella huffed as she walked out of the cottage and stood in front of the pair with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot. "Renesmee knows very well that if she won't eat human food, then she has to hunt."
"I will eat human food, I will, I promise!" Nessie cried, gripping Jake's neck even tighter as her sobs shook her tiny body.
"I'm going up to the main house to get Edward. Maybe you can calm her down, Jake. Terrible twos? Ha! Humans have no idea," Bella mumbled as she headed through the trees.
Jake walked over to the front steps of the cottage and sat down, Nessie still wrapped tightly in his arms. "Nessie, what's wrong? Why don't you want to hunt anymore? We used to have so much fun hunting, don't you remember?"
Nessie stared at him silently before placing her palm up to Jake's cheek and flooded his mind with images.
He was in the forest, and a buck, a doe, and a fawn were grazing in front of him. Suddenly, the two adult deer disappeared and the fawn was alone, crying out for her parents, unable to find them.
"Oh, Nessie," Jacob whispered, hugging her again.
Nessie held her palm up to Jake's cheek once again and he found himself in the same forest, only now Edward, Bella, and Nessie were in front of him laughing and smiling and playing. Then Edward and Bella disappeared and Nessie was alone, crying out for her parents, unable to find them.
"I'm taking the mommas and daddies away from their babies," she whispered to Jake.
"Oh, Nessie, you shouldn't think of it that way. That's not what you're doing. You're not taking them away."
"Mmm hmm." She nodded. "The monsters tried to take me away from momma and daddy to…kill me. If I hunt, then that makes me a killer and a monster, too, just like them," she whispered in his ear as if the Volturi would return if she said their name out loud.
"Renesmee Carlie Cullen, now you listen to me!" Jacob scolded. "You are not a monster, and I never want to hear you talk about yourself like that ever again. Do you understand me?"
Nessie scrunched up her nose and warily looked at Jake. He had never gotten angry at her before, and he could see the tears welling up in her eyes.
"Nessie," he said in a softer tone. "You have a whole bunch of people that love you – your mom and dad, your Grandpa Carlisle and Grandma Esme, your Grandpa Charlie, Jasper and Alice, Emmett, and even your stinky Aunt Rosalie." Nessie giggled as Jake made a funny face and pinched his nose.
"Now, how could so many people love you if you were a monster, huh?"
Nessie looked down as she twisted a strand of Jake's hair through her fingers. "I still don't want to hunt, okay, Jacob?"
"Okay, Nessie, you don't have to hunt if you don't want to, but you do have to eat. Do you promise me that you will eat whatever Esme cooks for you?"
Her brown eyes grew wide and bright as she adamantly nodded her head. "Oh yes, Jacob, I promise."
Jake couldn't hold back his grin. "Should we go up to the house and have some lunch then?"
"Okay, but Jacob?"
"Hmm?"
"You forgot somebody."
"What?"
"You. Forgot. Somebody." Nessie poked her finger into Jake's chest with each word.
"Somebody who, Ness? Who did I forget?"
Nessie, now irritated, rolled her eyes at him.
"Oh, how silly of me! I forgot me, didn't I?" Jake hit himself in the forehead with his palm. "And I love you too, Nessie."
Nessie giggled again. "Silly Jacob!"
Even all these years later, Jake could see that same fear behind Nessie's eyes, the same fear he saw every time she had to give in to what was her true nature, the fear that she would cause another living creature pain. "Ness, you had a growth spurt the other day, remember? That's probably the reason; your body just needs the extra nourishment, but we can wait a little while longer if you want. How about some pizza for now? It's pepperoni and sausage, your favorite."
He smiled, and Nessie felt herself relax at the sight of it and smiled back. "Umm, no, that's your favorite. I like olive and –"
"– pineapple. Yuck." Jake feigned gagging and walked back to put the pizzas in the oven.
"Shall we finish our game while we wait? I need to conclude my kicking of your ass," Seth said, playfully pushing Jake into the side of the counter.
"Hell no. I was kicking your ass," Jake replied, pushing Seth back and then hurdling himself over the counter and onto the living room floor.
As Seth raced back to his spot in front of the TV, Nessie followed slowly behind, curling up in the corner of the couch and resting her head on the cushioned arm, silently grateful that Jake hadn't pushed her to hunt. She knew if it had been any one of her family members, they would have tried to convince her to go, lecturing her about what could happen if she waited too long and got too hungry. But she knew that as long as Jake was around, he wouldn't let her harm anybody, even by accident.
Nessie yawned and stretched out on the couch. She couldn't help but feel relieved to be somewhere where she could finally relax and be with her thoughts, away from the prying eyes and ears of her family and the prying mind of her father. For so long she'd had to censor her thoughts, or at least try to, when she was at home. Nessie knew Edward would never maliciously or nosily listen in on her thoughts, but she also knew he couldn't help but hear certain things she really did not want him to hear – some of the more embarrassing teenage-girl things. Now, she finally had privacy to think whatever she wanted, wherever she wanted, the way a seventeen-year-old girl should.
So Nessie thought about how happy she was that Jake had found something he wanted to do with his life. She'd often wondered if he was putting off his own life for her or if the imprint had held him back from what he wanted. She'd hoped it didn't, and though she had wanted him to go to school with her, she couldn't and wouldn't keep him from what he wanted.
She would have to manage spending most of the day away from him though, she thought. She found it hard enough to be so far away from him at night, but to be separated during the day, too, would be even more difficult. She felt the panic slowly begin to rise in her chest, and she tried to fight it back before Jake noticed the change in her heartbeat. She wasn't in time, and he glanced over at her, a concerned look on his face. Remembering his smile earlier on the patio made her smile, easing his concern, and he turned his attention back to his video game.
Yes, she thought. I have to do this. I can do this. For him.
#
The strangeness of the cabin and surrounding forest didn't sit well with Nessie, and though Jake and the others were just in the next rooms, she still couldn't help but feel uneasy during her first night in the new and unfamiliar place.
She lay in bed, the moon casting eerie shadows through the window as she listened to the sounds of the forests – the crickets' unending chirps, an owl hooting in a nearby tree, wolves howling in the distance. No, it must be coyotes. Seth said there were no wolves here.
Nessie picked up her cell phone, which was charging on the nightstand next to her, and stared at it, almost willing one of her family members to call her to give her some sort of comfort. She certainly wasn't going to call any one of them in the middle of the night though. There was no way she wanted to deal with the outcome if she were to call home because she was scared of the forest, or the dark, or whatever it was that was keeping her awake. Her father would never let her leave home again, and Emmett would certainly never let her live it down. She could even hear his voice in her head. "Scared of the dark! What kind of vampire are you?"
Nessie missed Emmett, and Edward, and Bella. She wondered how often they thought about her. She wondered if Edward was pacing his usual path into the carpet. She wondered if Alice was driving Bella crazy playing dress up. She wondered if life was going on in the Cullen house without her. She wondered if this was what it felt like to be homesick.
Even the sounds of the forest, while the same as those she was used to in Forks, sounded strange and were of no comfort to her. In fact, she no longer heard the sounds at all – even the crickets had ceased their song – and the air was filled with an unnerving silence. Nessie began to question whether the world outside of her window had ceased to exist.
Suddenly, a piercing snort echoed through the cabin, and Nessie nearly jumped out of her skin before she realized what it was. "Oh, my God, Jacob! You snore so loud!"
Giving up on sleep for the night, she ripped the comforter off the bed and wrapped it around her before grabbing the pillow and walking downstairs. She lay down on the couch and began flipping through the channels until she found some old reruns to keep her company, watching two episodes before she finally dozed off.
The sun shining through the cabin windows woke Nessie in the morning, and she noticed that the TV had been turned off and the remote was sitting on the coffee table in front of her.
"Wake up, sleepy head. What're you doing out here?" Jake asked as he walked down the stairs, already dressed for the day.
"Couldn't sleep."
"You seemed to be sleeping just fine when I came down earlier, even snored a couple times."
"What! I do not snore!" Nessie yelled, throwing her pillow at Jake who caught it and promptly threw it back at her with a laugh. She reached up and touched her hair and instantly imagined what it must have looked like. Embarrassed that Jake had seen her like this, she tried to brush her unruly curls back in place with her fingers. She knew it would be no use though.
Jake turned away from her and walked into the kitchen, pulling out a box of pancake mix from the pantry. "I think we should go into town today, maybe explore a bit, see what it's really like here. It's still summer, so the school will probably be closed, but we can still take a look from the outside, make sure it meets my seal of approval."
Nessie rolled her eyes. Exactly what the Jacob Black Seal of Approval was she had no clue, but she was certain it would be something utterly ridiculous and overprotective. She was also quite positive Edward had something to do with whatever it was Jake was going to be looking for as well.
Jake looked down at the pancake mix and then over at Nessie, and she knew what he was thinking. "I'm fine, Jacob, but if you're going to worry about me all day, I might as well get it over with."
"I'll leave this for Seth and Leah," Jake said, putting the box on the counter. "We'll be quick. We don't have to go out too far today."
Nessie sighed and hesitantly got up off the couch. "Just let me get changed."
After their quick hunt, which left Nessie feeling better though she didn't want to admit it, she got cleaned up and the four piled into the Hummer and headed off into town. But Elkins wasn't much larger than Forks, and they found that they're explorations were finished quite quickly. There were no signs of any vampires, whether it be a coven or a nomad, in the area, and even the high school, an older two-story brick building that matched every other brick building in town was surprisingly uncomplicated and provided a number of escape routes for the family in the case of possible trouble. A constant cloud cover seemed to hover overhead, and as Jake and Nessie found during their hunt, the area had an abundance of wildlife and dining options. Elkins, it seemed, was just about the most perfect place for the Cullens to take up their new residence.
"Well, that was anticlimactic," Leah huffed as the four walked down the main street toward the Hummer. "Why did we even bother coming all the way out here? We could've just run, you know. It would've taken us a day to run to out here, sniff around for leeches, and then run back. This was just a complete waste of time."
"Leah, we did this as a favor to the Cullens," Seth said. "After everything they've done for us, it's the least we could do. And besides, we got a free vacation out of it, so quit complaining already, would you!"
"Geez, no need to get hostile, little brother."
"I'm just tired of it, Leah. Everything's a damn issue with you. Just enjoy something for once, be gracious, and say thank you!"
Nessie and Jake slowed their pace behind the siblings as they continued bickering with each other. While Jake knew he should probably do something to stop the argument, he couldn't help but be slightly amused at the sibling rivalry. It reminded him of when Rachel and Rebecca would go at it when they were kids. He would sit on the couch and laugh while Billy would have to step in the middle and pull them off of each other. The flustered father would always end up with scratch marks on his arms, a casualty of coming between a pair of fighting sisters.
Tuning out of the family dispute playing out in front of her, Nessie looked across the street and spotted the clothing boutique she'd seen when they first arrived in town the day before. "Jacob, what are we going to do now?"
"Go back to the cabin, I guess. We're really all finished here."
"I don't really want to go back yet. It's kind of boring there. Can we look around in there for a bit?" she asked, pointing to the boutique.
"You want to shop?" Jake asked, shocked. Nessie had never cared about shopping before, often running to La Push when her aunts decided to take her on impromptu shopping sprees.
"Aw, man," Seth whined, coming to a halt on the sidewalk.
Nessie shrugged her shoulders. "There's nothing else to do around here."
"I'll stay with her, Jake. We can have some girl time, and I can have some time away from this one," Leah said, pointing at Seth.
Jake sighed, contemplating whether or not it was safe to leave Nessie alone with Leah. He trusted Leah to keep her safe, but there was no guarantee Nessie would return without a possible police chase and a warrant out for her arrest. "You promise you'll stay out of trouble?"
"Scout's honor."
Jake looked down at Nessie as she mouthed a "please" and flashed him the dazzling smile she had mastered so long ago.
"All right," he conceded. "We'll leave the Hummer here. Seth and I can run back." Jake turned to Nessie. "Be careful, okay?" he said, leaning down and kissing her on the forehead.
Taken aback by his warm, slightly wet lips on her skin, Nessie felt her face flush. "O-ok, Jacob."
Jake tossed the car keys to Leah before he and Seth headed off down the sidewalk, soon disappearing into a line of trees.
Still shocked by Jake's sudden showing of affection, Nessie stood unmoving, staring at the spot where he'd vanished. Leah cleared her throat, and when Nessie looked in Leah's direction, she was met with a knowing smirk. "Do you still want to go shopping, or do you want to go back to the cabin so you can drool some more?"
I don't want to go back to the cabin to drool; I want to go back to the cabin and jump – "Shopping. Let's go shopping," Nessie answered, nearly sprinting across the street to get away from the look Leah was giving her.
Nessie browsed the racks in the small shop, picking out a couple of blouses she liked. She was surprised to find how much she enjoyed shopping when she didn't have another person picking clothes out for her, clothes she didn't even like. It felt freeing and independent making a decision for herself, even if that decision was not in the slightest bit important. After picking out a flowery tunic that Alice surely would not approve of – "we are not hippies, young lady" – and a strapless, white flowy top that neither Edward nor Jake would ever let her leave the house wearing, she wandered over to a jewelry display case where Leah was eyeing a pair of black and blue, crystal bow earrings. "You should buy them."
"Yeah, right. They're fifty bucks."
"So? They'd look good on you, and they're Betsey Johnson. Her stuff is so cool," Nessie said, picking up a pair of crystal skull earrings. Suddenly, she couldn't help but wonder if she was channeling Alice. She shivered at the thought.
"Nessie, I don't have that kind of money, especially not to waste on earrings," Leah spat, throwing the earrings onto the counter and walking out of the boutique.
Unfazed by Leah's outburst, Nessie headed over to the store clerk, paid for her items, and walked outside to find Leah sitting on a bench outside. She took a seat next to her.
"Sorry," Leah mumbled.
"It's okay."
"No, it's not. I shouldn't have gone off on you like that. It's not your fault."
"Really, it's okay," Nessie said, handing a small bag to Leah. "I bought you something."
Leah reached for the bag and pulled out the crystal earrings. "No, Nessie. I can't accept these."
"I'm not taking them back. They're yours."
"Well, then I'm going to return them and give you your money back."
"You can't. All purchases are final," Nessie said, smirking as she showed Leah the note on the receipt.
"Well, I guess they're yours then." Leah stood and threw the earrings down on the bench before walking toward the Hummer.
Picking up the earrings, Nessie ran after her. "Leah, wait, please? I wasn't trying to make you feel bad. I just wanted to do something nice to say…thank you."
"For what? I haven't done anything."
"Yes, you have. You've been my friend the past few days. And I've never really had any friends…" Nessie looked down shyly, "…so, I wanted to do something for you. I wasn't trying to make you uncomfortable. I just saw how much you liked them, and I wanted you to have them. I'm sorry if I offended you. It wasn't my intention."
Leah never wanted people to think of her as a charity case. She'd had enough of people feeling sorry for her the past few years, and at first, that was what she thought Nessie was doing – the rich girl buying expensive things for the poor girl because she couldn't afford them. But after hearing the loneliness in Nessie's voice, Leah recognized that Nessie didn't have the intentions she'd originally assumed, and that maybe the two of them were more alike than she had realized.
When Jake had asked Leah to accompany them on the trip, the reason he gave her was that Nessie didn't have any friends. But Leah hadn't had any friends for a long time either, and now she was beginning to wonder if Jake had asked her to come along for her own sake as well. She wouldn't put it past him. Ever since becoming alpha, he was always doing sneaky things, and while it made him a pain in the ass at times, she couldn't deny that most of what he did was to the benefit of his pack. She would get back at him for this trickery, though.
"Fine, give them to me," she said, holding out her hand. "I really do like these. Thank you, Nessie. But don't think I'm not going to pay you back somehow."
Nessie shook her head." No, Leah. I don't want you to feel like that."
Leah smiled and insisted. "Nope. Sorry, Nessie. I owe you. It's just the way I roll. And besides, friends do things for each other, right? So, was there anywhere else you wanted to go?"
"I wanted to check out the bookstore if that's all right with you."
"Sure. I'm going to run into the drugstore and pick up a few things, and then I'll meet you in there. You okay by yourself for a few minutes?"
Nessie nodded.
"Cool. We won't tell Jake about it." Leah winked. "What he doesn't know won't hurt him."
They each headed their separate ways, Leah to the drugstore and Nessie into the bookstore. It was small, nothing compared to the major chain stores in Seattle that Nessie had been in on occasion with Bella, but it still had quite a few shelves and aisles.
She noticed the section of classical books first and browsed the shelves. She'd wondered if perhaps she could find one that she hadn't already read, but knew it was a futile quest. She'd read them all, and unlike Bella, she had never been one to reread a book. She knew how they began, and she knew how they ended. She never saw the point of wasting time with something she already knew when she could use that same time to learn something new.
She wandered out of the classical section and into the romance section. Alice and Rosalie loved these books. While classical literature lined the bookshelves in the little cottage Nessie shared with her parents, trashy romance novels sat on the nightstands in her aunts' bedrooms. Nessie had always been too shy to ask to read one of them, though she had picked one up off of the coffee table once when she was younger and inadvertently began to read it thinking it was a story about pirates, since that was what she saw on the cover. Edward was none too happy when he realized his two-year-old daughter had just had her first lesson in sexual education from his sisters' pornographic reading material. After yelling at them about leaving it where young eyes could see it, he and Bella then had to sit her down and give her a proper lesson on the birds and the bees. It had been one of the more awkward experiences in her life, to say the least.
Nessie continued down the center aisle and into the last row of books where she saw a sign that read "Graphic Novels" along the back wall. Having never heard of this type of book before, Nessie pulled one off the shelf and began to flip through it. She recognized it right away as being similar to some of the old comic books Jake had stored in a cardboard box in his room in La Push. The complicated drawings pulled her into the story and she stood there, studying the book, fully engrossed in a story called "The Walking Dead."
"So, you like zombies, huh?" The voice sounded a few feet away from her, and she looked up, instantly recognizing its owner. A backwards baseball cap hid his blond hair, and his blue apron with the supermarket logo on the chest hung out of his back jeans pocket.
"Oh, yeah, I guess," Nessie said, feeling her cheeks flush as she looked back down at her book.
"That's so cool. Most girls I know don't like horror. That right there's a classic," he said, taking a single step closer to her.
"Oh, um, have you read many horror stories?" Nessie asked.
"Oh, yeah. Almost all of Stephen King's, but to be honest, I prefer the old dudes like H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allen Poe."
"You read classic authors?" From the stories Nessie had heard about high school boys, especially from Edward, in general they didn't seem like very heavy readers, especially not of the classic writers.
"Yeah. Don't tell anyone, though. If people around here found out about it, it'd totally decrease my street cred." The boy smiled and Nessie could see he was teasing. "I'm Shawn, by the way," he said and stuck out his hand.
Nessie took it and lightly shook his hand. "I'm Renesmee. Most people call me Nessie though."
"Cool name. Like the Loch Ness monster. No wonder you like scary stuff."
Nessie just shrugged at his comment, not really wanting to get into another complicated discussion about the origins of her name.
"So, did you just move here or something?" Shawn continued.
"No, my family is thinking about it, but we don't know for sure yet," Nessie said, unconsciously crossing her arms and holding the book to her chest. "We're just here for the week to check out the area."
"Oh, well, it's okay here. Boring most of the time, but we usually find something to do. Like tomorrow night there's a monster movie marathon going on at the movie theater. I was planning on going. Would you like to come with me? We could meet at the theater."
"Oh, that sounds really great, but um, I can't. I have to -"
"She'd love to!" Nessie turned to see Leah walking up behind them. "What time does it start?"
"Well, The Wolf Man starts at 7:30."
"Oh, The Wolf Man! Isn't that just awesome! I'll have her at the theater by 7:15. That'll give you two time to, you know, buy popcorn and stuff." Leah smirked as a look of horror crossed Nessie's face.
"Okay, cool!" Excitement laced Shawn's voice. "Hey, I got to get back to work now; my break's almost over, but I'll meet you out in the front of the theater tomorrow night then. Bye, Nessie."
Nessie froze in shock as Shawn walked out of the bookstore. She wasn't exactly sure what had just happened, but she was pretty sure she had a date and that Leah was to blame, and now the evil witch was having a giggle fit behind her.
"What the hell was that, Leah?"
"It seems you have a date."
"No. No. I don't want a date."
"Trust me. You'll thank me later."
"No. I won't. There's only one person I want a date with, Leah, and Shawn is not that person."
"Exactly! You want to get Jake's attention? You want him to finally make a move? This is your chance! This will make him aware that other guys are interested in you, and if he thinks you've got your eye on someone else, it'll make him jealous and scared that he's going to lose you. I know how his mind works, Nessie. He's not going to let you get away. This will work. Trust me."
Nessie bit down on her bottom lip. The thought of having her first date with anyone other than Jake crushed her. She'd always dreamed of the night he finally took her out to a dinner under the stars, or some other equally romantic gesture that would sweep her off her feet. Having her first date with someone else destroyed that fantasy. But if Leah was right, and giving up one desire could help her get what she really wanted, it had to be worth it, didn't it?
"I really hope you're right about this, because if not, Jake's going to kill me…and you…and that innocent boy."
Leah smiled. "I owe you, remember?"
"Fine." Nessie sighed in defeat. "But this is your doing, so you're telling him. No way am I going to do it."
The entire drive back to the cabin, Nessie dreaded the impending conversation with Jake. She didn't want to be anywhere around him when Leah told him about her date. She wondered if she could slip out the back door unseen, hide in the trees, and enjoy the show from a distance when he killed Leah, but they walked in to find the boys once again raiding the refrigerator, and Nessie knew there was no way to escape.
"God, don't you two ever stop eating?" Leah asked as Seth carried a soda and a bowl of potato chips into the living room.
"Not likely," Jake answered, walking around to the opposite side of the counter. "Did you two have fun?"
"Yes, we did," Leah said, pushing Nessie out in front of her. "In fact, Nessie has something to tell you."
"Leah!" Nessie gasped. She couldn't believe the witch had just thrown her under the bus like that.
"Go ahead, Nessie. Tell Jake the news." Leah smiled wickedly at her, and Nessie began to question if she really wanted Leah as a friend after all.
"Tell me what, Ness?" Jake leaned back against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest, and Nessie's eyes wandered to the indent of muscle that lined his forearms.
"Um, I uh…" Nessie pulled her eyes away from Jake's arms and looked down at her hand as she twisted her fingers around each other.
"Ness, what is it? Remember what I said the other day; you can tell me anything. I won't get upset."
Yeah, that's what he had said, but she wasn't so sure about that now. She took a deep breath. "I have a…um…a date."
Though it was low, she heard the sharp, quick breath Jake took in through his nose when she told him. She waited for him to respond, but when he didn't, she looked up at him only to see him staring at her, his face void of emotion.
"You have a date?"
Nessie nodded.
"Who, exactly, do you have a date with?"
"Um, his name is Shawn. We met in the bookstore, and he asked me to the movies."
"And you said yes?"
Nessie nodded again.
"Well, you better clear it with your parents first. I don't need Edward on my ass about this when we get home." Jake pushed himself off the counter and walked into the living room, sitting on the couch and flipping the channels on the TV.
Surprised by his reaction, Nessie froze and waited for him to get angry, to get jealous, to fight for her like Leah said he would. But instead, he just stared at the TV, fully engrossed in the sports channel. She turned to Leah, who seemed just as surprised as she was that the plan didn't work, and mumbled, "Guess I'll go upstairs and call them then."
Nessie shut the door to her room and lay on her bed, unable to make sense of anything that had just happened. Jake hadn't gotten angry. In fact, his reaction, or lack of reaction, was the last thing she had expected. He was so protective of her, almost more so than Edward. How could he not care that she was going on a date with a boy she had just met? How could his usual nature suddenly change so quickly?
Maybe Leah had been wrong and Jake didn't have any romantic feelings for her at all. Maybe Nessie had seen more in Jake's recent behavior toward her than there really was. Maybe he was secretly happy that she had found someone else, another guy to focus her attention on, and now he was free to do what he pleased without her getting in his way and without the imprint holding him back.
There had never really been any guarantee that all imprints fell in love and got married. It had only ever just been assumed. Her and Jake's situation was definitely unique; they were supposed to be sworn enemies after all. Maybe this was the universe's way of telling them it had made a mistake, that this imprint had been some sort of freak accident.
Maybe theirs was the imprint that wouldn't get a happily ever after.
A/N- Ho hum. What are we going to do with Jake?
To those of you that don't mind my updating slowness, I have a new story called Searching for Gravity that I've started posting. It's a Jake/Nessie AU set 18 years after Nessie's birth.
My friend ISecretlyLikeTwilight has a great Jake/Nessie story of her own called Providence.
Also, if you're not solely a Jake/Nessie fan, another friend of mine, Wolfasaurus, has an awesome Jake/OC, wolfpack fic called Legacy. It's very smart and takes the wolves' roles/relationships to a whole new level.
You can find all of these on my profile. Give them a read if you're so inclined!