Chapter 9: His Comrade

"Nervous?" Seth asked me from the driver's seat. He looked at me with a knowing smirk covering his face.

I dropped my hands into my lap as I attempted to stop wringing them. He was right, unfortunately. I was extremely nervous about Jacob meeting James. He sounded nonchalant on the phone, but I knew Jacob well enough to know that he could've been faking it. I rubbed my forehead. "And if I am?"

"You have no one to blame, but yourself for what happens this afternoon," Seth laughed.

"Thank you. You're just so helpful." Sarcasm dripped from my every word, and Seth threw his head back, laughing harder.

James leaned forward from where he sat in the backseat on our way to Jacob's barbeque. "What do you expect to happen?"

"Nothing. Seth's just being stupid." I gave Seth a pointed look, and he shut up. We drove the rest of the way in silence.

Seth, James, and I stood at the entrance to the base waiting for Jacob to come and sign us in. We were about a half hour late thanks to me "being a girl" which according to James was just me taking a long time to get ready. Seth of course knew I could shower, change, put makeup on, make my bed, and blow-dry my hair in less than 30 minutes if I wanted to. To be truthful, I just wanted to put off coming to this thing for as long as I could. As we waited, I jumped up and down and moved around to burn off some of my anxiety.

I was in the middle of doing some lunges when I felt a hand on my shoulder. James or Seth was probably sick of me fidgeting so much and wanted me to stop. I turned around, and Jacob was standing there. I hadn't even noticed the Jeep he arrived in drive up due to my worries. He studied me and then reached behind me to take the clipboard the officer at the gate held out to him. While he signed us in, he said, "You're usually so punctual, Renesmee. I assume you were waiting on your friend?"

I blew out a huff of air which made my bangs fly up. "No, I was busy getting ready. It's what girls do," I said matter-of-factly and crossed my arms.

"Yes, what large proportion of girls do, but you're not most girls. I've seen you go mud sliding for a day, and then look impeccable for prom within 20 minutes of returning home with no help whatsoever." He smiled fondly as he remembered the day of my junior prom which he escorted me to.

He handed the clipboard back to the officer, and turned to where Seth and James stood. Seth came forward and they did their bro hug. Then Jacob did something completely unexpected. "You must be James." He held his hand out for James to shake.

I raised my eyebrow in suspicion at Seth. He shrugged in confusion. James shook Jacob's hand and looked to me. I cleared my throat. "Uh, James this is Jacob."

"Nice to meet you." James said with a polite smile. Jacob simply nodded.

"Alright. Everyone in the back of the Jeep." Jacob was all business as he strode towards the drivers' door.

We followed. James helped me in which Jacob watched closely, but he said nothing. After we were driving towards a certain part of the base, I noticed there was another person in the passenger seat next to Jacob.

Jacob, sensing my confusion as he always had with my emotions, spoke up, "Guys, this is Amelia, the medic in my unit. Amelia this is Seth, another bro of mine, Ren, and Ren's date James." Jacob choked a little bit on the word date, and unfortunately James noticed and looked slightly confused. I realized James didn't actually know about my history with Jacob. Amelia smiled at us and said hi. Her gaze lingered on me for a moment longer than either of the boys, though.

Her hair was pulled back into a perfect bun. It was a gorgeous color, light brown with natural golden highlights. Her brown eyes had green flecks in them, making them appear to glow in the sunlight. She had one of those perfect smiles too. Her black t-shirt hugged her frame, which I noticed was well endowed. Amelia was absolutely beautiful.

And in that moment, I just knew that she and Jacob had slept together.

I instantly disliked her, so I returned her smile with a scowl. She narrowed her eyes slightly, but said nothing and turned back to face forward. The Jeep stopped. Jacob and Amelia got out, and I noticed all the tables filled with food in front of us. Suddenly excited, I leaped out and dragged James with me. I hugged all of the friends I hadn't seen in a while and began to introduce James to everyone.

He was extremely polite and seemed to get along with everyone. I thought about what it would be like to actually commit to dating him. We would laugh and have fun. No one, with the exception of Jacob I'm sure, disliked him. There wouldn't be a lot of fighting between us, not the way Jacob and I did. I could love James. It would be a safe love, but it wouldn't be passionate like with Jacob.

I stopped because I knew it would never work with James as long as I compared James with Jacob. Besides, it wasn't fair to either of them. They were vastly different people. I shook my head and tried to focus on the conversation about fishing happening between James and my grandpa. I glanced over to where Jacob sat. I noticed begrudgingly that Jacob sat with Amelia who was laughing. Her hand was on his forearm while he looked down at his hands and smiled at whatever was going on with their conversation.

I turned to James and told him I was going to get something to drink. At the drinks table, I scanned the various bottles until I found the Mountain Dew. Yassss. I grabbed a red solo cup and poured the Mountain Dew until the cup was full.

"I see you and Jacob have similar tastes." Amelia had snuck up behind me.

Trying to be polite, I nodded. "Yeah, he got me into it, actually."

She smiled in response and asked, "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

Eyeing her suspiciously, I hesitated. "I guess. Not sure what we have to talk about, though."

"Look, Jacob's my friend. We've been through hell together, and I care about what happens to him, about what you do to him."

Immediately my defenses when up. "What I do to him?"

Amelia sighed and leaned against the table. "I know what you mean to him, and I know the story between you two. I don't think it's fair of you to throw a new boyfriend in his face. He's trying to be civil, but he's dying inside. He doesn't like seeing you with James, and it's not fair to him to be put through this so soon."

She finished, but I just stood there with my mouth open. I couldn't believe what she was saying. I can't believe Jacob confided in her. About us. Had he told her during their "pillow talks?" Probably.

I wanted to slap her. No, I was going to slap this bitch.