A/N: Thanks to hubs for beta and reviewers for reviews!

First outfits: http://www(dot)polyvore(dot)com/cgi/set?id=15962474

Second outfits: http://www(dot)polyvore(dot)com/cgi/set?id=15962490

By 4:42 the next day, I was glowering at the clock on the wall. I glanced down to check my outfit again – check for what, I don't know exactly – since there wouldn't be time to change after class before Jake would arrive, and I smiled. My flirty dress and strappy sandals were still intact. I looked up at the clock again and smiled at it briefly – 4:43! – before resuming my scowl.

I tried to lose myself in thoughts of Jacob again. It had worked to help me finally fall asleep last night. It had worked most of today to get me through class. It was too close now though. Right this minute, Jacob Black was driving to my house, and I was stuck sitting here waiting for the clock to change.

4:44!

I was so lost in thought that I had missed the professor dismiss class a minute early; I didn't miss all my classmates gathering their things and leaving.

When I came around the corner and caught sight of my place, I nearly squealed in delight. Jake was already there, leaning against his bike parked right next to my car in the driveway. He smiled when our eyes met.

It took a lot of effort not to break into a run. Happily, Jacob stood and walked to meet me in the middle.

He wrapped his arms around me and crushed me to him. "I missed you, Renesmee," he murmured into my hair.

"I missed you." The smile on my face was apparent in my voice even though I was pressed into his chest.

Jake breathed a huge sigh that sounded almost relieved. He pulled on my backpack, taking it off my shoulder.

I took his hand and led him into the house, trying not to be disappointed that he hadn't kissed me right away. I was nervous that Jacob might recognize Seth's scent all over the apartment but there was no way I'd be able to talk him out of wanting to see where I lived. And the only way to find out was trial by fire.

He took several deep breaths as I showed him around the apartment but if he'd caught an out of the ordinary scent, he hadn't identified it.

Jacob set my backpack down in my room. "Seth and Beth?" he asked.

"Beth has a late class tonight and they always go to dinner before it."

Jake nodded. "Do you need to change or anything before we go?" As he spoke he looked me over and his voice got huskier with each word.

He closed the small distance between us and placed his hands on my bare upper arms. "Undeniably cute feet," he breathed before pressing his lips to mine.

I think Jacob meant to keep the kiss soft and gentle but I pushed for more and he gave it with a moan. As the kiss deepened and became more passionate, our tongues caressing each other, I jumped and wrapped my legs around his waist. His hands moved obligingly from my waist to my butt to hold me up. The back of the dress I wore hung down so his hands met the satin of my panties, making him grunt.

Jake pulled his mouth from mine for a breath, and I moved my lips to his ear, kissing, licking, sucking, and whispering his name.

"Oh, fuck," he groaned, and his hands gripped me harder.

I rocked my hips against him and breathed, "Let's." Evidently I'd thrown the 'hard to get' plan out the window.

Jake's mouth was back on mine, hard, fast, rough, hot and then I felt his smile spread and knew he was going to stop.

His grin was cocky, horny, and amused all at the same time. "No, Renesmee."

I felt a pout form on my face. "You don't want me?" I whispered.

"Renesmee, I want you more than I've ever wanted anything. That's why I'm asking you to stop now."

I pulled back wanting to get down. He understood and let me go. I took two steps backwards and smoothed my dress. "Better?" My voice sounded harsher than I meant it to.

"Yes." He closed the distance in one stride. "And no."

I sighed in frustration.

"Renesmee, I want you. Even more than that, I don't want to say 'no' to you. I just don't want to rush this." Jake ran a hand through my hair.

I'd never been one to handle disappointment well; I'd never dealt with rejection – not counting Seth, which I didn't. Like a child, when pouting failed, I resorted to anger.

"Did you tell Candy not to rush you?" I snapped.

Even under his tan skin I could see the blood rush into Jake's face. Hell, I'm half-vampire, I could smell it.

"Don't you see that's exactly what I'm talking about?" He ran a hand through his own hair.

I placed my hands flat on his chest and tried to push no harder than a human could. He didn't move so I dropped my hands and took another few steps back. "You don't want me because of Candy?" I spat.

I saw Jake's face turn to anger and began to fear that all my precious lies wouldn't matter at all. But I was still too stung by his rejection to worry how badly I had blown it.

"Renesmee, I want to fuck you so hard you'll scream my name till your throat bleeds," he growled and then took a deep breath. "I would also like to get to know you first. To go on more than five dates with you. Meet your friends and have you meet mine. Have what's between us mean something." He took another deep breath and I waited. "It's been eight years since I felt anything even close to this. I obviously blew it back then. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm so afraid of messing this up."

Several things hit me all at once: Jake really liked me (that was good news), he hadn't really cared for anyone since Bella (that was neither good nor bad or maybe both), and he had just compared how he felt about me with how he'd felt about my mother (that was really, really bad news).

I suddenly felt sick. I walked to the couch and sat down, hanging my head in my hands.

Jake misunderstood. How could he not when he had no idea his first love was my mother?

"Renesmee, I'm sorry." He sat near me on the couch. "God, I'm screwing up, aren't I? I should not be pouring my heart out to you on our second date." Jacob's voice was pained.

I decided to tell him everything then. I turned to look at him as I opened my mouth to speak.

And I couldn't do it. I still wanted him too much to let him – make him – walk out of my life. I wanted him all the ways he wanted me. It didn't matter to me that once upon a time before I was born Jake had loved Bella, kissed Bella. I knew that he was over her and had been for years. He still sent her postcards and I knew he still cared for her. But there was nothing wrong with that. I lived with Seth and still counted him one of my best friends. We'd only been split up a few months and our relationship had been more serious than Jake had been about Bella. In a world where werewolves, vampires, and half-vampires existed, it just couldn't matter if the perfect man for you had once thought your mother was the perfect girl for him.

Jake was still waiting for me to talk, clearly trying to read my face.

Making it easy for him, I smiled seductively. "Five dates?"

I saw Jacob relax and a smile spread across his face. "I said 'more than five.'"

"Jake, I'd like this to mean something too." I paused and couldn't help but smile with him; he looked so exultant. "Six dates," I added firmly.

His chuckle was deep and dark. "Count on it," he confirmed huskily.

"Let's go then." I stood up and took his hand.

"Are you gonna change first?"

It was my turn to chuckle. "I'm not gonna make it easy for you, Jacob."

"What have I gotten myself into?" Jake muttered in a voice so soft a human wouldn't have heard it.

We set out walking from my house, found a restaurant when we were hungry and wandered home after. We walked and talked for hours that night, just as we had the night before. It was so easy to be around him. I wished I didn't have to keep so many secrets from him and could fully let my guard down. It was almost weird, getting to know someone I felt like I already knew. I embraced the opportunity to just be near him. When he leaves – because he learns the truth of my parentage or because of something more mundane like another woman takes him away – I would have these amazing memories to relive.

He kissed me goodnight sweetly on my porch and I waited and watched him ride off.

Unlike the night before, Beth and Seth weren't already in their room when I got in.

"How was the date?" Seth asked before the door had closed behind me.

"Wow, Seth. You've turned into such a girl you're quicker than Beth to ask for gossip!" I feigned surprise and excitement.

"I was chewing!" Beth defended with food still in her mouth. I laughed because I wasn't sure if she was defending her own slowness or her boyfriend's speed.

"Well, girls, it was incredible." I smiled at them both.

"Show me!" Beth squealed.

"Seth, after I show your girlfriend how incredible it felt to kiss my hot date, would you like to see?" My voice came out cattier than I'd intended. Until Beth asked me to use my gift to share my time with Jacob with her I hadn't realized that I had more than one reason for not wanting to show her. Not only did I not want her to figure out who he was but I didn't want to share. At all. I had let Seth go to her without a fight, but there was no way I could let Jake go like that.

Seth turned to Beth with obvious jealousy on his face. Apparently he had an issue with sharing, too.

"Baby, I don't want to see like that," Beth whined. "I just wanted to see if Renesmee was even close to as lucky as me."

Seth didn't look appeased.

"Ask her," he sneered, turning his eyes to me. "Ren can tell you exactly how he measures up to me."

Oh, shit. Seth had never brought up our history before; he usually avoided topics that even had anything remotely to do with it.

"Seth, don't," I said, my voice low, angry and threatening. I hadn't meant to start an argument between them and wanted to stop it.

I looked at Beth and saw tears welling in her eyes.

Seth looked at her then, too. The jealousy and anger melted off his face.

"Oh, sweetie. I'm so sorry. That was horrible of me. I was trying to make you jealous so you'd know how I felt. I wasn't thinking, and I was so stupid. Baby, please forgive me even though I don't deserve it. I love you so much." Seth's words came out quickly and I wondered if Beth would be able to catch them all.

She caught enough of them and then they were kissing and apologizing and kissing some more.

I left them to their private moment, wishing fleetingly that Seth had imprinted on me. I wasn't in love with him anymore – I wasn't even sure I ever had been these days – but I was jealous of his devotion to Beth. I could live for eternity – and likely would – and would never see any love as strong as what a wolf feels for his imprint.

Everyone loves Friday, but no one has ever woken up as happy as I did that next morning. When my last class ended at 5:50, I was going to Jake's. I was going to meet and then go out with his friends and then we'd all go back to Jake's for drinking games. For Jacob, this was going to be an average night. For me, this was going to be heaven.

I rushed back home to change; I would have gotten way too much attention if I'd worn the outfit I was going out in tonight around school all day. I changed quickly into the outfit I had agonized over the night before – while trying to ignore the sounds of Seth and Beth in the other room making up. Again.

The turquoise and silver dress was short and the neckline was low. The boots were phenomenal. I smiled at my reflection before throwing on the grey metallic leather jacket that would help me draw less attention until we were at the club and make it less obvious that I wasn't really affected by the cold.

I hit a little traffic on the way north and groaned inwardly that no matter how fast your car could go – my Roadster flew at 206 mph – or how quickly it could get up to speed –zero to 62 in 3.8 seconds – you would always need an open road. I didn't have one, and I was frustrated. Too bad I couldn't have daddy buy me one.

I pulled up at Jake's just as the clock hit 7:00. Jacob was standing in the driveway of Pete's Auto Body, and he motioned for me to pull my car in.

"There's no way I'm letting you leave that beauty on the street," he chuckled when I was out of the car.

He wrapped his arms around me briefly before going back to lower the large doors of the shop and then lock them. I watched him, admiring the sight of him dressed for a night out. I hadn't realized before but every time I'd seen Jake he'd been in the only outfit I would have imagined he ever wore, loose jeans and a t-shirt. From all the stories I'd heard of him, the addition of the t-shirt was a big deal.

Now he was walking toward me in jeans that were slim fit – snug around his hips but flaring looser over his calves, a shade of blue that was almost grey. His shirt was button-down, white, fitted, and had a single pocket on the front. The sleeves were rolled up just past his elbows and secured there with button-tabs.

Jake knew I was looking at him and his smile spread. I was breathless as I admired him.

"Breathe, Nessie," he sighed into my ear as he wrapped his arms around me.

I wheezed in a breath. "What?" I asked, letting it leave my lungs again.

"Breathe," Jake laughed, stepping back from me, his arms resting on my shoulders.

"I am," I faltered.

He pulled me close again, one hand on my hip, the other under my chin, tilting my face up toward his. "You aren't the only one who can make six dates feel like eternity," he chuckled.

I shook my head slightly. "I never thought that I was," I breathed.

Jacob leaned down and kissed me, but the smile that meant he was pulling away came too soon.

"Let's go eat."

"Werewolves," I groaned without thinking.

Miraculously, Jake didn't seem to catch it.

He locked the regular-sized door behind us, and we strolled down the street holding hands.

We ate at a casual restaurant and stayed chatting for a while after we finished eating.

"The guys are going to explode if we don't get up there soon. I've never brought anyone to meet them before, and they're kind of in shock." He stood up and took my hand.

"Way to put pressure on me there, Jake," I complained.

"They're going to love you, Nessie," he said happily, pulling me along with him.

"Wait! There it is again." I stopped following him just after he'd opened a gate around the side of Pete's Auto.

"There what is?" he asked.

"What did you call me?"

"You were in desperate need of a nickname." His voice was light, full of humor.

"So you nicknamed me after the Loch Ness Monster?" I chuckled, a little disbelieving.

"I'm a werewolf; you're Nessie. Now we're both mythical creatures." He seemed so pleased with himself and my new nickname that I couldn't even think of taking it away from him – or telling him that I already was a mythical creature… or half one at least.

"Nessie it is then," I said with a laugh. "My mom'll hate it but that's never stopped me from doing anything before."

"I promise not to call you Nessie when I meet your mom."

I stifled a laugh and followed him in.

There was a girl with hair purple as a petunia's petals waiting on the landing of the fourth floor.

"This is her?" she squealed when she spotted us.

"Yes, Pete. Please try not to scare her off," Jake laughed.

"She's holding your hand and isn't scared. What could I possibly do?" Pete asked innocently.

I laughed and Jake turned back to smile at me.

"Pete, Nessie. Nessie, Pete."

"Love the boots." Pete was nodding approvingly.

"Thanks. I'd love to die my hair purple or something crazy but I think it would kill my father."

Pete beamed. "Stacey fainted the first time I came home with blue hair."

"Okay, you've survived Pete. Come meet the rest of them." Jake dragged me into the open apartment door on the left.

Jacob pointed around the circle of people as he said their names. "Shawn, Lexi, April, Gabe. Nessie," he added, putting an arm around my shoulders.

We all exchanged casual greetings.

"Are we ready then?" April asked.

"You guys head down. I'll give Nessie the tour and we'll be right behind you."

Jake's friends laughed but shuffled out.

"See you in thirty seconds," Gabe said as he walked out the door.

Jacob gestured at the room around us. "The living room and bedroom." He pointed back down the hall. "The bathroom is that door we passed." Jake waved his hand in the direction of another doorway off of the main room we were in. "Kitchen's over there."

I chuckled, understanding why Jacob's friends thought it was weird that he wanted to show me around.

"And this," he added as he leaned down toward me, "is why I made up an excuse to stay behind."

Jake closed the distance between us and pressed his lips to mine.

Just as the kiss was growing more than casual Pete yelled up at us.

"Jake! Make-out later!"

I heard the rest of the gang's snickers.

Predictably Jake's smile spread across his lips before he pulled away.

"I guess we'll pick up later then," I murmured with a sigh.

He chuckled and then pulled me behind him out the door and down the stairs.