After what felt like an eternity to Leah and me (Quil had been way off - it was more like 30-40 minutes), we arrived at our campsite. It was miles away from any of the other campsites, no risk of being seen. It was a small clearing, only big enough for us to be comfortable. Any more would make our campsite very cramped, especially with people the size of the wolves. We had three large tents with us, too. I helped Leah set up ours, the largest one that had a small room out the back where we store our things. The guys' tents were slightly smaller than the main room in ours. When we were done setting up our home for the next few days we joined the guys outside. I stood there and stretched, breathing in the crisp air. We were surrounded in thick, bushy trees. Perfect for out hunting trip tomorrow!
"Hey, Nessie. Want to help me gather some firewood?" Jacob asked. "Quil and Embry brought enough hot dogs to feed a small army and they're dying to start eating them."
"Sure! Alice said she packed a surprise snack for us, too, that we have to cook. I'm curious!"
We went off into the forest alone, picking up any dry wood we could find. I also grabbed some sticks that I thought we could sharpen to cook the hot dogs.
After searching for about twenty minutes, my arms were getting quite full. "Jacob?" I called out, panning the surrounding area. "Jacob! I think I gathered enough!" I looked around again, not seeing any sign of my Jacob, human or wolf. "Jacob! This isn't funny!" My heartbeat quickened to a hum and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. He never left my sight for more than a second! We were only ten feet apart at most! I felt the tears well up in my eyes. Where was he?
I started to slowly back up, panning the area frantically. I ended up backing into something large and warm. I gasped in surprise, spinning around and dropping my bundle.
"Jacob! Where were you?" I barely got the question out before the tears started to roll down my cheeks. He set down his own bundle and wrapped his large arms around my quivering body.
"I'm so sorry! I saw some thick, loose limbs in one of the nearby trees. I thought you saw me climb up." He held me tighter and whispered in my ear. "I won't leave your side again, I promise."
I couldn't hold back. I jumped up and embraced him, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. My kiss was deep and passionate, making Jacob have to step back a step or two to keep his balance. Once he regained his composure he returned my kiss, wrapping his strong arms around me to glue my body to his. I made sure to keep a level head the whole time to prevent us from making any mistakes we'll regret, or be made to regret, later. I took one of my hands off his neck and unbuttoned the top few buttons of my shirt, just enough to give him a little more surface area to kiss. He moved from my mouth to my jaw, then to my neck. He continued down until he reached my shirt, and then moved back to up until he met my lips again. After one last kiss I unlocked my legs and he put me down, his face staying close to mine.
"To camp?" he asked.
"To camp." I replied. We gathered our bundles and walked back to camp together.
"There you are!" Seth said on our return. "We were starting to think you got lost or something."
"Then you're pretty stupid, Seth." Jacob replied, smiling.
"We heard Nessie yell, though," Leah said in concern, running to me. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I just lost Jacob for a spell, that's all," I assured her, handing her the bundle. I held on to the sticks to cook the hot dogs so I could prepare them while the started the fire. "I'm going to grab my blade and sharpen these while you all start the fire."
"I went in the tent into my pack and grabbed my knife and the carefully wrapped bundle Alice packed. You couldn't see anything in it, and my nose could only smell my family. Almost as if Alice had them pass it around to cover any scent that would give it away. I chuckled at the lengths she went to to keep it a surprise. All that was on the bundle was a piece of paper in Alice's careful handwriting,
"Have fun!
Love Alice"
I took my knife and bundle out to the group and the already roaring fire. I took a seat next to Jacob and started to sharpen the end of one of my sticks.
"Man, I can't smell anything in that gift of Alice's," Jacob stated. I'll be sure to tell her that her ploy worked.
I continued on my sticks as Jacob and Leah tried to figure out the gift. Once the end was sharp and the bark was cleared, I handed it to an eager Quil and began to do the same for Embry. They didn't waste any time. As soon as I handed each of them their stick they started cooking a dog. Once I prepared enough sticks for everyone I grabbed Alice's package and opened the wrappings. As soon as it was open I had everyone's complete attention.
"I smell chocolate!" Leah announced.
"And marshmallows!" Seth added from the other side of the fire.
"S'mores!" Quil and Embry roared in excitement. They plowed into Jacob to try and get to me. I tried to protect the package.
The gift didn't stand a chance.