Bella's Point Of View
"Ummm" Jacob murmured. I knew I looked stupid, but that was just validating all of my insecurities.
I turned and ran into my room, locking the door and flinging myself onto my bed.
A few moments later I heard a loud knock on my door, "Bella, it's Jake. Open up, please."
"No!" I ran to my make-up station and began wiping the lipstick from my face. Dabbing at the mascara running down my cheeks, stained red with blush.
"Bella..." Jacob paused in the bathroom door. I'd forgotten to lock that door. "You misunderstood me."
"I'm not going." I rubbed furiously at the red stain on my lips, angrier by the minute.
He slowly approached me, hands in his pockets and kneeled next to my bench. "You just...took my ability to form a coherent sentence."
I said nothing, still rubbing the make up from my face. I was a mess, I wanted to die in a hole of mud so nobody could see me like this.
"Please come down, your mom feels awful and so do I." Jake pulled one of my curls and it sprang back into place. "Besides, I still have to give you my gift tonight."
I stopped wiping and looked at Jake in the mirror. I was curious about the gift he had for me. "No."
"Bella, you don't need to ever feel insecure around me. I always find you beautiful, when you dress like this it's just...breath taking." Jake reassured me. "If I make you feel bad, I don't mean to."
After a few minutes, I finally spoke up but in a very soft voice. He had to strain to hear me, "I hate this attention."
He smiled, wiping a tear from my cheek with his thumb. "I know you do." He pulled me into a standing position and wrapped his arms around my waist, pressing his forehead to mine. "But we all have to endure crazy things from our families, remember the circus themed party I had? I hated clowns but Mom insisted it was cute. They love us, only doing what they think will make us happy. Pacify her for a day and I'll reward you tonight."
I laughed softly. It sounded so vulgar, his voice husky.
"So is that a yes?" He shook my hips from side to side and pulled me into him. I laughed out loud this time, nodding slightly and he pulled me in for a hug. "That's my girl."
A while later...
Dinner was even fancier than the country club; it was at a night club and it was a huge event party thrown in 'my' honor. Phil had his Team Owner's brother in-law or something, pull a few strings, he owned the club. Through the line of connections they went to town on this huge party and invited everyone, most of them had only come for the free food and gift bags I am sure. The walls were lined with catering, pastries beautifully laid out on the pink table cloths it was all very-girly. I sighed and took a cup of coke and glanced out onto the dance floor, I'd lost Jacob somewhere on the way to the bathroom earlier and wished he was here with me. Several guys were in a cluster, dancing quickly to the music, pumping their fists in the air and grunting while a group of girls giggled and watched from a near by table.
The crowd shifted with the music and I spotted Jacob, backed into a corner and surrounded by a bunch of young girls. I say young, but they had to be at least 15 or 16 and all had on way too much make up. I'd bet my truck they stuffed themselves too. I shook my head and made a beeline for him, I still owed him for this morning.
"Hey," I said cheerfully.
"Hey Bells, there you are!" Jacob sounded relieved, I almost felt guilty for what I was about to do.
"Oh, Are you his girlfriend?" The blonde smiled at him, but spoke to me.
"No, Just friends," I smiled, leaning into Jacob. Like I had planned, he snaked his arm around me and laid his hand low on my hip. "He's amazing at kissing though, don't take no for an answer he'll shove his tongue down anyone's throat."
Jacob looked mortified, not knowing where to look.
"Oooh, I'd love to test that theory!" The red head sang out over the music, inching towards him.
I pulled myself away from Jacob and left him standing there with the three girls. I knew he was going to be mad, but he had this coming.
A few hours later...
"Is-a-bell-a!" Jacob growled, his hair was messy and his shirt was wrinkled. "What the hell?"
I laughed, this was picture worthy. He only used my full name when he was angry, which was rare. "Payback for the tub, the dance and the groping."
"Just for that, I'm not giving you my present." He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to fix it but only made it stand up even more.
"Here." I ran my fingers through his hair, flattening it. It was getting pretty long and it was easy to fix. "There. Much better."
"I'm still mad." He tried hiding his smile.
I looked at him through my eye lashes, "You deserved it. Any prospects? The Brunette wasn't wearing much make-up...she looked decent." I joked, getting a smile from him.
"I hate you." He laughed.
"Fair enough." I grabbed my clutch and headed out to find mom and phil.
We had all gotten home a little past midnight, I'd gone straight to shower and wash away the days events. It felt so good to have my hair down and the make-up out of my pores. I chose some comfy pajama shorts and a tank top, grabbed a book and went to my balcony.
I was 6 chapters in when Jacob joined me. "You still mad?"
"I was under the assumption you were mad at me." I responded, pretending to read.
"I can't stay mad at you Bella. I wanted to give you my birthday present."
I looked up to see that he had also showered and was in a dark gray shirt and blue plaid pajama pants. The way the pants hung from his body. Holy shit. I tore my eyes away from his body and smiled.
"Close your eyes." I did so and he placed something in my lap. "Open."
When I opened my eyes I saw a medium sized box, professionally wrapped this time in a gold foil paper. A beautiful cream colored bow on top shined in the moonlight. "Wow, it's beautiful."
He laughed, "I know, your mom helped me wrap it. I suck at that stuff."
"Learn anything?" I laughed.
"Yeah, let someone else do it." He laughed along.
I opened the box and found three smaller boxes inside. "Jake, this is too much."
"It is not, open them." He sat back in the chair and waited for me to continue.
The first box I opened, was labeled 'One'. It held a small wolf charm and looked to have been home made. "Did you..."
"Yeah, from the tree we used for the cave."
"Our cave? The cypress I helped you cut down for the shelf?" I was in awe, something so small and so thoughtful.
"Yeah."
"God Jacob, You are so talented. Thank you, I love it!" I fingered it delicately, amazed once again by his artistic abilities. I really wished he could go beyond Forks and do something with his talents.
"Bella! Open the others." Jacob said impatiently.
I smiled and laid it gently on the table, grabbing box 'two'.
Inside box two was the tiniest dream catcher I had ever seen. It was also a charm, had two tiny feathers hanging down with teal colored beads and I choked back tears. "Impossible. It's so little!"
"Tiny tools." He smiled down at me, "It's a smaller version of the one in your room."
I nodded, fingering the tiny web in the middle of it. "You are incredible Jake. Thank you so much."
"Sure sure. Last but not least..." He pulled out box 'three' and I opened it.
Inside of this box was a shiny charm bracelet with two charms on it, one 'B' and one was my birthstone on top of a birthday cake.
"Jacob...This is beautiful!" I stood from my chair and sat on his lap, crushing him with the biggest hug I could muster. He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me to his chest, laying his head on my own.
"I didn't make the other two, but thought you would enjoy hand-made ones a little bit more than the store bought ones." He rubbed my back, and I kissed his cheek before pulling back to look at him.
"Having these means more to me than anything else in the world. The hand-carved frame, scrapbook, the dream catcher and now these...You are incredible, Thank you doesn't even begin to cover it."
"You are very welcome Bella."
"Help me put them on?" I slid off his lap to grab the bracelet and charms. I gingerly snapped each one on before he snapped it onto my left wrist.
"God, so pretty." I pushed my hand out in front of me, staring at how beautiful and thoughtful it all was. For someone who'd came back from being afraid of gift giving, he was pretty good at it.
"Glad you like it, you deserve it. Hope despite everything, you had an amazing birthday. Well, I'll let you get back to reading. Night Bella." He wrapped his warm arms around me from behind and squeezed softly. I put my head between his neck and shoulder and kissed his scruffy cheek.
"Will you lay with me a while?" I felt like a five year old caught sneaking cookies before dinner but I shoved that feeling down.
"Sure, let me go shut my light off." When he walked inside I felt cold, empty and I couldn't wait for him to come back.
I picked up all the trash, and closed the sliding door half way. I slid into bed and waited for Jake to come back, while eying his gift on my arm. I was the luckiest girl in the world to have a friend like him.
"Hey, I'm back." He slid his body beneath the blanket and grinned over at me. "You have no idea how happy it makes me to see you eying that."
"How long did it take you?" I moved over and put my head on his shoulder, his hand wrapped around my waist.
"Few weeks"
"You are so sweet to me. How can I ever show my thanks enough?" The words were out of my mouth before I could react. Who said that?
He laughed in a low rumble, next thing I know we are kissing. My fingers thumbed his earlobes and he massaged my shoulders, running his hands all over my frame. His hands running through my hair, pulling me closer to him. Our tongues danced together, lips nipping each others and our breathing unsteady and loud. What was happening? Why did I enjoy this so much? I need to stop this madness.
He pulled me on top of him and I straddled his stomach, arching into him unable to get close enough. He moaned softly into my mouth and I began to feel something weird down below. I pulled back and my lungs burned for air, his face flushed and his hair sticking up all over.
"God Bella..." Jake panted, his hands holding onto my outer thighs.
"What just happened?" I rubbed the hair out of my face and laid my hands on top of his.
"I think our sexual tension just broke." he breathed, rubbing my legs with his thumbs.
"What tension." I asked dumbly, grinding down on his stomach. I sure was getting bold.
"What tension..." He laughed, pulling me down to his mouth again. His mouth was sweet like candy, he sucked on my bottom lip, nipping it with his teeth playfully. I returned the gesture and pushed my tongue into his mouth where he sucked on it lightly. The feeling was like nothing I'd ever felt with Edward, our kisses had never been this amazing or felt this good. I felt like I could get lost in the feeling and not care about coming out of it.
His hands pushed my hips down so my stomach lay on his, grabbing me around the waist. His kiss intensified and I mumbled against his lips, "Jake stop."
I was instantly aware of where this was headed if it wasn't stopped and it scared the hell out of me. We weren't even together. His eyes met mine and I slid off of him, my insides aching.
"Are you upset?" He asked quickly, afraid of upsetting me.
"No." I ran my hands over my heated face and swollen lips.
"I'm sorry." Jake was trying to steady his breathing.
"I wasn't trying to be mean, I just...it scared me." I squeaked. I couldn't believe I'd done it again. Couldn't I just say 'Thank You'? What was it about him giving me gifts that got me so...hot and bothered? Did I just say that?
"It's okay. Night Bells." He rolled over, shutting down our conversation and shut the light off. I wanted to kick myself, why did I always have to hurt him? Or more, why couldn't I let him IN?!