The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt : Movie theatre

Pen Name: jack queen king

Pairing/Main Character(s): Jake, Bella

Rating: K+

PANIC

and so when she suggested catching a movie I was thrilled and nervous, equally. God, was this a date? My first. I had to tell Billy, of course, because I needed to ask for money, and I had to say where I was going and when I'd be home. I was trying to be casual, all, "Just a movie, Dad. I'll be back later," but I was probably infra-red with giveaway heat.

"Who are you going with?" Dad asked, fake-casual, yet following me from room to room.

"Uh, Bella."

"Bella Swan?"

Oh, like there's any other Bellas in town.

"Yeah. That's the one."

"Charlie Swan's daughter?"

He's such a comedian, my Dad. Missed his calling, totally. He should be the star of his own reality tv show.

"Yup."

Thinking on this for a while, with me hoping he'll hand over a fifty and the car keys and let me outta here.

"Bella Swan?"

Christ, already. Those creases around his eyes from the last hundred years of laughing at his only son deepen, and any second now he's going to cackle like a witch. And I'm going to, oh jeez, I don't know what I'm going to do. My temper's uncertain these days, although losing it with my Dad would be about the stupidest thing ever. Even in a wheelchair he's got an authority that you just don't mess with. So inwardly I may be gritting my teeth, which I brushed until I probably took a layer of enamel off, but outwardly I smile.

"Don't drag this out, Dad. There's no mileage in it. Seriously."

He'll find mileage, no doubt about it, but he hands me a fifty, and a twenty too, and I'm on my way before he's had the chance to say, "Remember Jake, Charlie's got a gun," which I bet he's busting to remind me.

At the cinema, I die, I just die, when I see another student from Forks Stupid High hanging there with Bella, waiting for me. A guy student. One who looks pleading and besotted and like he wants to get in the back row with her and do whatever. I'd rather punch his face off than say hello, but I greet him politely, thinking WTF? She brought a chaperone because she thought I might jump her? Impossible. Or maybe I'm the chaperone, because she and I are all matey-matey and hang out a lot, and she thinks he might jump her. She needs me for security.

"Jake, Mike. Mike, Jake," she says, unnecessarily, since I know him. He's a dickhead.

It's all very awkward in the dark, with me affected by a complete inability to concentrate on the screen because she's so there. Her knee, inches from mine. Her hand, ditto. I'm sixteen, and something about being sixteen has made my sense of smell more acute, although the "what happens when you grow up" talk at school didn't mention it. I can smell Bella, her shampoo, her laundry detergent, her soap, and underneath the layer of synthetic chemicals, something else. A sort of mild agitation, which I read as clearly as words on a page. She's a bit freaked. I could speculate for all I'm worth as to why, but I'd be leading myself up the garden path. Everything I know about women, which is four-fifths of nothing, has taught me that I'll never understand them.

So I scent for Mike - the doofus. He's excited. Okay, so now I really want to punch him. He's got absolutely no right whatsoever to sit next to Bella Swan in the dark and feel excited. He's toast.

The movie finishes and I didn't bother with so much as a second of it, and I know Bella didn't either. I know Doofus did, because his heartbeat and adrenaline and sweat were heightening whenever the film-makers' shooting and editing had decreed that audiences should respond that way. Manipulated, much? Douchebag?

Out in the foyer he says he feels sick, and I have a glimmer of feeling sorry for him. He actually doesn't look too good. Bella's restrained and quiet, not like she usually is with me. I mean, she's pretty quiet as a rule, although she and I talk plenty. When we're alone.

I drive him home, hoping he won't throw up in the car. Then I drop Bella off.

"Hey, Jake, thanks for tonight," she says at her house, her voice husky in that way it goes when she's talking really quietly. It's only about ten-thirty, but this is a small town, and the streets are empty. Loud talking would be heard by the neighbors, by the bears and squirrels off in the woods, and just possibly by her dad, polishing up his weaponry, giving each bullet a kiss and whispering a name to it before setting his sights.

He's got no reason, no reason at all to worry about me, the son of his lifelong best friend. Except that I've got a crush on his daughter that's apparently apparent to my own father, who will not hold back with the funny. If Charlie doesn't know already about my epic love, I will be very surprised. I would have expected Billy to be on the phone as soon as I walked out the door, offering to pay half for the wedding. There's no doubt whatsoever that Billy approves - if he didn't, when I asked him for money to take a girl out he would have told me to get a job.

So.

Bella's out of the car and heading up to her front door, me following along behind not really knowing what to do. I've never kissed a girl. I really, really want to kiss her, and I lick my lips to moisten them while she's not looking, but as it turns out I didn't need to.

"See you soon, Jake. Thanks for the lift. I'll call," she says over her shoulder, gone. Door in my face while I stand there like an idiot blinking at it.

Okay - so did that go well or not? I've no idea, and I don't have anyone to ask. Billy? Nope. My sisters? Hell, no. My friends? The guffawing would last for weeks.

Mulling it over, I drive back to La Push. No touching, no kissing, no flirting. The inclusion of a third party. Add it up, Jake!

I'm a dick and I got it all wrong. She just doesn't like me like that.

At home, Billy's still up, though it's way past when he'd normally be in bed. Great.

"How was your date, son?" he asks with pride and fondness.

"It wasn't a date, Dad, I already told you," I answer, pretty downcast.

"That's funny," he answers. "Because Charlie told me Bella asked you out and then panicked and asked another guy along because she was so nervous about it."

"What?"

Managing to pull off looking smug and innocent at the same time, the devil in my Dad adds, "Oh, yes, Charlie seems to think Bella likes you a lot."

"Really?" I ask my Dad. "Charlie said that?"

Well, I've still got the car keys, and I'm just about to run through the front door, drive all the way into town again and throw gravel at Bella's window. Maybe I'll even climb up there and get that kiss I wanted so bad and was too scared to try for.

"Hey, there," Billy's voice stops me. "You should probably think twice about going around to her place at eleven-thirty at night."

This time I hear the warning, which he utters with absolute gravity.

"Remember Jake, Charlie's got a gun."

Underneath the serious tone, I just know he's laughing, but still.

Guess I'll hit the sack right now, and call her tomorrow.

.

.

.