Drabble #10: The Poison, the Pen, and the Pest
Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns Twilight
Bella and Jacob were relaxing on the beach—well one of them was anyway. Bella was writing in her journal and Jacob was feeling increasingly dejected. She'd been writing in that journal for at least thirty minutes, not paying one iota of attention to the love of her life.
"How long are you gonna write in that journal, Bells."
"Just another five minutes." She tapped her forefinger on her chin, looked up at the sky, and touched the pen to the paper again.
"You said that fifteen minutes ago." He'd make a face, but he knew she wouldn't even notice it.
Shaking her head, she responded, "Geesh, you are so needy today."
He was leaning his head into the crook of her neck trying to see what she was writing so furiously about. "I'm not needy, I'm just ... okay, so I'm needy. I miss you."
She stopped writing for a second. "What are you talking about? I'm sitting here right next to you."
"Correction—your body is sitting right next to me; your mind is in outer space on some planet somewhere."
"That's really poetic; let me write that on a slip of paper here, I think I'll include that in one of my entries."
Jacob sighed and lay down on the blanket, his hands clasped behind his head. "One thousand and one, one thousand and two ..."
Bella laid the pen down onto the crease in the center of the book. "What are you doing?" She sounded obviously irritated.
"I'm counting the minutes 'til you're mine again."
"I can't write with you doing that."
"Then my plan must be working," he muttered.
Jacob stopped his counting, and sat up. Bella's eyebrows were knitted in concentration once more, her pen scratching out her thoughts and feelings for her posterity. Quick as a flash, Jacob grabbed the journal from her hands, reading one of her recent entries Bella attempted desperately to get it back, but Jacob's reflexes were well advanced of hers.
He began reading aloud as she scrambled trying to snatch it from him. "Holy Crow," he read, "Jacob has to be the sexiest guy alive. Every time I look into those smoldering brown eyes my knees grow weak. And his kisses absolutely send his heat down to my toes. I can barely stand it anymore ... Whew! This is some hot stuff, Bells."
Bella's face reflected her discomfort by displaying a beautiful hue of crimson. "Jacob Black, you give that back to me right now!"
Transferring the book to his other side, he swung his hand gently batting her away. "Hell, no—this is really getting juicy. Oh man, listen to this ... Jake has such a gorgeous body, the body of an athlete, it's all I can do to keep my hands off him, and—"
Exasperated, Bella lunged at him, trying her hardest to tackle him. He squirmed away, escaping her pitiful attempt at tackling him, and ran into the pines. She followed, running as fast as she could, but being Bella, she tripped and landed in a pile of green growing vines.
Jacob stopped when he heard her trip, and feeling a little guilty, went back to help her up.
What met his eyes, made him wince. "Crap! Bells, I hate to tell you this, but you're sitting in a patch of poison ivy. Don't move, I'll get you out of there."
He walked around and stood in front of her, reaching for her hands. He pulled her to a standing position and warned, "Try not to touch anything but my hands. I'm going to sit you on that log over there, and I want you to wait for me. I'm gonna bring the blanket back and wrap it around you so the sap doesn't get on the car seat."
Jacob returned a few minutes later as promised. He carried her, wrapped in the blanket, to the car and finally, to the little red house where he lived. He plunked her down near the shower stall, blanket and all and started running the water. "Okay, Bells, put your clothes inside the blanket. Try to keep it on the side that was in contact with you, then I'll throw it in the wash. You can wear some of my clothes until Leah comes over with yours."
Bella followed his instructions. When she finished showering, he knocked on the door. She answered it with a towel tucked around her. She opened the door a crack and Jacob's arm appeared with a pair of cutoffs and a plaid button down shirt in his grasp.
Ten minutes later, Jacob had hoisted Bella up onto the kitchen counter and was busy covering her rash with calamine lotion. He had to admit she was still adorable even with pink polka dots scattered all over her skin.
Later that evening, Jacob apologized. "I'm sorry; I shouldn't have teased you like that." He rubbed his nose along her neck.
"I'm sorry too, for ignoring you. You know how much you mean to me."
"After reading that stuff in your journal, I know it now without a doubt. But, can I tell you something?" He took her face in his hands, his warm brown eyes boring into hers.
"Sure, sure. What is it?"
"Don't get mad now, okay? I'm not sorry I read that entry. Man, that was so freakin' hot! And I'm tellin' you something else, too. I have an unused journal in my closet. I think I'll start writing down some of my feelings about you. We can write in our journals together. We can be like ... pen pals. And if we run out of ink, I'll think up something to keep us occupied, something worth writing about—something to burn up the pages."
"Yeah, well give me a little something to scribble about now—I feel a writer's block coming on."
Jacob cocked an eyebrow. "You don't have to tell me twice. Better get the fire hoses ready, 'cuz we're starting a new entry tonight. And hot won't even cover it."