Rocket science


Since Jared imprinted on Kim, the pack brain had become all the more intolerable than ever. I couldn't blame him though, he simply couldn't help it. But during the next week, we all had the feeling we knew this girl a little too well. Sam was the only other one who had imprinted, and he had always been very guarded. Especially since Leah joined the pack. He was always focused, always in control. He very rarely slipped on these things. Jared didn't even attempt to control himself.

Now you know how it feels, Paul thought to me one day. Only then did I realize this was about how it had been for the others all along. This wasn't much of a difference for them, they had gotten used to it when I had been mulling over Bella.

'Had been mulling'? Paul mocked. Why do you keep talking in the past? You still do.

I guess that was true. But at least I managed to control it now; I wasn't all as heart-pouring as Jared...

Hah! Yeah right. Paul snorted.

Gah.

It was worrisome that yet another member of our small pack had imprinted. Two people out of eight. One fourth. Maybe this was more common than anyone thought. I tried not to think about it too much, but it was constantly gnawing on my subconsciousness. Especially when it was forced into my brain every wolf-second like it was now.

The days that followed were pretty much uneventful on the leech side. No redhead, no Cullen. The more time that past, the more confident I became that Cullen wouldn't return. He'd probably had second thoughts, or changed his mind. He would have been here by now, if he wanted to, it'd been weeks since Bella last heard from him. Even Charlie seemed happy, and like he almost forgotten Cullen had ever called. Bella didn't mention either the phone call or the stuff she found under her floorboard. We didn't talk about it, and she seemed to have forgotten all about it. She seemed better. Nothing could have made me happier.

I spent as much time with her as I could. During the days that followed, our relationship progressed even more. Now I could kiss her when I saw her. I didn't have to consider everything up and down. I would kiss her, and she would maybe blush a little. But I was allowed. It was still very new for me to be able to do that. It started to become a regular pattern between us, the awkwardness and uncertainty slowly slipping away. It was the happiest I'd felt in a long time. We shared a few heated moments on her front porch too, but nothing happened that hadn't happened before.

We weren't official, though. We didn't ever discuss or talk about us. If we were a couple or not. If I could call her my girlfriend, and the other way around. I had a feeling she wasn't too fond of the phrase 'boyfriend'. Bad experience. But that didn't matter to me. We were still just Jake and Bells. Even though we weren't officially together, it didn't mean anything less. She knew how I felt for her. And I knew she cared for me too, even if she didn't say it out loud.

It was Thursday, and we were over at her place. I'd come here after school, and now we were sitting alone in the living room. The dinner was on the stove, waiting for Charlie to come home. Bella sat beside me on the couch, her legs draped over my lap. We'd been sitting like this for a while, talking. She was fiddling with the sleeves of her shirt, making her eyes occupied as we spoke.

"Has Billy told you about the Mariners game this weekend?" she wondered, twirling a loose strand from her shirt around her pinky.

"He's been rambling nonstop about it for a week now," I said. It was true. Charlie had ordered two tickets to this epic event. One for himself and one for Dad. The only question was if they actually would be able to go, considering the unsure situation at the police station. If there were more killings (which equaled more Victoria, in what case I wouldn't be sitting here), Charlie wouldn't be able to go. But up till today, their weekend held a bright baseball-filled horizon. "Dad hasn't been at an actual game since he was about twenty, so he's pretty excited."

"Tell me about it," Bella rolled her eyes at me. "I think Charlie has forgotten I'm not really that into baseball. He has been trying to teach me everyone's names and the whole biography of a guy called Ichiro-something. There was something about a car... I can't remember."

"Suzuki. Yeah, you're pretty much describing my week."

I reached out to place my arm around her shoulders and Bella settled closer to my side.

"Let's just hope they'll be able to go," she whispered, moving her gaze up to meet mine.

She probably said it because she wanted them to have a good time, not because it meant we would have the weekend all alone together. She probably hadn't thought about that at all. That was just pervy me.

"I'll guess we'll find out soon enough."

I stretched forward so that I could kiss her lightly on the lips. She kissed me back, and leaned a little closer to me. I felt her hands sneak up around my neck and run up my hair. I captured her bottom lip between mine and she smiled.

We sat there, kissing and nibbling for what seemed like hours. Her lips were so soft and I felt the hairs on my arm raise when she absentmindedly traced her fingers up and down my neck and chest. This was all still new, but no longer awkward. I loved that.

"Do you have any plans for the weekend?" she wondered after a while, when I'd started kissing her cheek and her lips were free to ask questions.

"Mmm, no," I mumbled against her cheek. I pulled back a little so that I could look at her. "Do you have any plans?"

She just shook her head and kissed me again, and I forgot all about what we'd just been talking about. There had been something about our weekend I think, (Hah, listen to me! "Our" weekend!), and I'd been wondering if she was implying something, thinking about something. But what it was was completely blown from my mind. I was kissing Bella Swan. It was like an insane, wonderful, wonderful dream.

Bella sighed, and deepened the kiss. I felt her tongue against my bottom lip and I went crazy. I started to kiss hungrily down her neck and my mind went completely blank when she tilted her head back, enjoying. I still hadn't gotten over the fact that I was allowed to do this. I kissed and nibbled down her neck and she sighed again. I was straining not to do the same myself. She absolutely blew me away.

Without ever making a conscious decision to do so, my hand moved to trace down her chest. It was like a reflex, it felt so natural to do it. She was so close to me here on the couch, and seemed to be enjoying the kissing as much as I had. But I remembered the last time I'd done this. Front porch. Misunderstanding. Not good. Understandable. Before I could get a grip and pull back, a moan so quiet it was almost inaudible escaped her lips. She pressed herself to me a little, running her hands trough my hair, disheveling it. After that, I really forgot everything about withdrawal. It wasn't difficult.

Bella moved even closer to me, and I felt the back of the couch pressing into my back. The touch of her was so soft under my fingers, her frame so tiny. As she leaned forward, a curtain of her hair fell forward grazing my cheek. My mind was a blurry, crippled wreck, all my thoughts meshed together in a big jumble. I couldn't think, couldn't breathe, couldn't do anything else than responding to her kisses.

I let my fingertips graze the small of here back, right where her shirt ended. She shivered, and I flattened my palm on her lower back. So soft and tiny. I stroke my hand up her back, feeling her spine curve under my hand. Where our skin met it felt like electricity, like sparks and fire. It ran through my whole body all the way to my toes, and I simply couldn't get enough of her.

As my hands started roaming, she responded as her hands started roaming me. This was new. She traced her fingers down my chest and stomach, and then moved them to my knee. She moved her hands up, lingering dangerously close to my thigh. I tried not to focus on that, but it was pretty much impossible. If I didn't get my mind back under control soon, I would end up screwing it all up once again. Very soon, actually. I tried to memorize the lyrics of a song I heard on the radio. Bella nibbled on my lower lip. I tried to think about my last boring history lecture. Bella shoved her tongue into my mouth. Math test. I was doomed. Her hands wormed upwards, resting on my upper thighs. Oh holy mother.

This immensely sweet torture was short living, because the next second I could hear Charlie's rusty police cruiser turn into the driveway outside. Man. Still, I couldn't help being relieved. If this had continued much more, I would have screwed up big time.

Bella heard it too, and she pulled back. She looked at me, and a deep crimson blush spread in her cheeks as she returned to the presence and realized what we were doing. "Uhm. I'll just... err... dinner," she stuttered as she untangled from me and got up from the sofa. I watched her as she hurried into the kitchen. Her neck was still bright red. I was glad she didn't turn around to look at me, because I felt pretty light headed my self.

Charlie's steps were dancing bright and I could swear I heard him make a little flip right before he opened the door. The reason why was plastered on his face the moment he appeared. He didn't even bother taking off his jacket or gun belt like he usually did, but strode straight in.

"I'm off!" he exclaimed loudly, his grin stretching from ear to ear. "I'm off! I'm free! This is going to be the game of all times!"

Looks like the old men would be leaving us alone for the weekend then.

Charlie danced over to Bella in the kitchen, waving his gun belt around like a lasso, giving her a bone crunching hug. On his way back to the living room I swear I saw him jump up and down a few times. He was pretty much acting like I felt right now. But for completely different reasons, obviously.

"Hey there, Jacob!" he cheered when he noticed me. Then he practically ran over to the phone to bring on the happy news to my dad. It looked like he considered doing a back flip while dialing the number, but didn't risk it. Dad answered, and they cheered and rambled like old ladies. I could hear my dad across the line, and he was just as excited.

While they talked I got up from the couch to help Bella dining the table. We prepared for dinner in silence. Now and then our eyes would meet, and the blush would return to her cheeks. Our hands brushed when she handed me a mug of water. I smiled, and her blush increased as she smiled back. When she turned her back to me to stir in the sauce on the stove, I walked up behind her. I couldn't help it; I had to be close to her again. I gently moved her hair aside to the other shoulder and kissed her neck lightly. Her neck was still flushed, and her skin felt warmer against my lips than ever. I could see she was smiling out of the corner of my eye. Haze. Bliss. I know I was grinning, all right.

Dinner was consumed in silence, at least on mine and Bella's part. Charlie had gotten a very uncharacteristic verbal-diarrhea, happily filling us in of every side of baseball we didn't already know. He probably interpreted our silence as deep concentration, which was okay. His happy explaining was pretty entertaining to me. Bella's face was still a little redder than usual, but Charlie seemed too preoccupied to notice.

After we'd eaten, Bella busied herself with collecting the dishes over to the sink. Charlie grabbed the opportunity to pull me a little to the side in the hallway. He was still looking immensely pleased, but somehow he managed to frown. It looked a little out of place on his otherwise thrilled face.

"Jacob," Charlie said. "I was thinking. You know Billy and I will be away for a few days now. The game isn't before Saturday, and it's a good drive to get there. We might not be home until late Saturday night. Maybe Sunday if we book into a hotel. I guess it all depends on the mood, you know," he said dreamily. Probably picturing himself taking a picture with whatshisname. He spaced out for a second before he returned to the presence. "Yeah. So what I was saying... While I'm away, Bella will be here alone."

Suddenly I felt a little uneasy. I couldn't help but look over my shoulder to see if Bella could be listening in on our conversation. Apparently, Charlie had chosen this moment to give me the "leave-my-daughter-alone" talk. He'd probably refuse for her spend the night over at La Push (in Rachel's room, of course!).

Not that she would anyway. Not that he had anything to worry about. We weren't there yet, I guess. But Charlie had obviously made up his mind about that. I had no idea how Charlie knew our friendship had progressed into something more, since it wasn't exactly official. We hadn't really talked about it ourselves yet. But I couldn't lie to Charlie. If he said she couldn't sleep at my place, even if it was just as friends, then she couldn't do that. My shoulders slumped a little. I guessed I would just settle on running patrols around her house at night, then.

"Charlie, I know you're..." I started.

"You'll promise to keep an eye on her, will you?" Charlie said quietly, not aware that I'd said anything at all. "It doesn't seem likely that that Cullen chap will show up now, after this long. But just in case anything happens. It's nice to know she's not completely on her own."

I was stunned for the second it took me to reply.

"I will," I promised. I'd keep both my eyes on her. I wish I had more eyes. But it didn't seem likely to me that Cullen would show up either, not after this long. Maybe he'd changed his mind, or maybe it had all just been a misunderstanding. Whatever. Right now, I was still waiting for that stay-away-from-my-daughter lecture.

Charlie patted my shoulder two times, and then he walked past me into the living room. I was left in the hallway feeling stupid. Was that it? Man. I was turning mushy.

After gaping a little bit I got myself back into the kitchen. Bella was already spraying soap into the dishwater. I grabbed a towel and stood beside her.

"You okay?" I asked, splashing some water on her.

"Mhm," she smiled, splashing twice as much back and soaking half my t-shirt. I turned to look at her slowly, my expression clear. This meant revenge. Drowning alert. When I was about to splash back, she grabbed the towel and held it in front of her. "Hey, hey, hey! You started! Not fair!"

I grumbled and stopped mid-splash. Typical girl trick. Blame it on me. Not cool.

Bella laughed a little at my expression. "Why is it every time you're supposed to help we end up throwing stuff at each other?"

"It's much funnier this way."

"Sure," she said before she stuffed the towel back in my hands and started washing. "But it doesn't help much."

We finished the dishes without any more splashing (much), and Bella packed up some leftovers for me to bring home to dad. I called out a goodbye to Charlie who was buzzing around the house, excited like a little kid. Bella followed me out on the front porch.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" I asked. Hoped, hoped, and hoped.

"I can come over after school, if that's okay?"

I smiled and nodded. "Do that."

I leaned down to kiss her lips lightly. I had to control my own breaths not to get them out of hand. When I pulled back, her cheeks were a little rosier than before.

"Bye," she whispered.

"Bye Bells."

By the time I reached home my whole body was purring with happiness. I would get to spend the whole weekend alone with that girl. I didn't care what we were doing, we could be studying all day and all night for all I cared. But I got to be with her. I bounced over to the house and got inside, the door slamming loudly behind me.

"Hi dad!" I called out, flipping off my shoes in the hallway. I found him in the living room, on his way to the kitchen. "So it looks like you're going to the game, huh?"

"You probably found out even before I did, didn't you?" Dad was literary beaming like the sun. He looked a bit like he was considering bouncing off from the wheelchair doing a back flip himself, just like Charlie. "Charlie is picking me up tomorrow after work. He's signing off early."

"I heard," I rolled my eyes. "He hasn't stopped talking about it since I met him. Here," I handed dad the box with the leftover dinner. They were still warm. "Bella says hi."

"Ah, thanks. Spares me a trip to the freezer," dad grinned, weighting the box in his hands. "No fish fingers today." He easily balanced the box on his knees before he turned around and wheeled his way towards the kitchen. "So, you'll manage to rule this household alone for a few days? No drunken teens, thank you."

"No drunk teens," I promised.

"No home alone party. And don't burn down the house, it's all we have."

"Really. No worries there."

Dad laughed. "I believe you."

I wondered if he would ask me about Bella.

"I wont ask you about Bella," he said, as he disappeared around the kitchen door. "But you can bet your right leg Charlie will talk to her about it."

He would? I wouldn't bet any of my legs on that. Even if I still would have three legs to go. Charlie was off floating on baseball clouds.

"How did you know I was just wondering if you would ask that?" I followed dad out into the kitchen. Maybe I should have just dropped it, but I was curious. There was no point pretending, since my dad seemed to know pretty much everything. Maybe he was psychic.

"It's not rocket science, son," dad chuckled, his back still too me. He reached the counter and put the food on a plate. "Is she going to stay here?" he asked, peering at me as if he already knew the answer. Hey, maybe he did.

"I thought you said you wouldn't ask questions."

"You don't have to answer. I'm just curious."

"I dunno," I admitted. "We haven't exactly talked about it."

"But you think she will." He put his dinner into the microwave.

"Dunno."

"Hope then."

"Gee, dad," I surrendered. "Sure, yeah I do. But you don't have to put so much into it. It doesn't mean anything. She stayed with us two weeks ago too, remember."

Dad just nodded thoughtfully. "I see. Just don't do anything stupid, son."

Gah.

"Really. No drunken teens, don't burn down house, no pregnant women. I think I've got it."

Dad nodded contently, and beeped in the numbers on the microwave. "Good. That's all I need to know."

I smiled and shook my head as I returned to the living room. I had a happy feeling this weekend would work out just perfect. As it turned out, I couldn't have been more wrong.


Bam bam bam...

I know this story might have seemed a little slow paced so far, but it needed to be to make what will happen realistic. It takes some time to build up a believable relationship, I think. I never believed those stories I've read when Bella just jumps straight into Jacobs arms the moment Edward is out of the way. But maybe I've kept you waiting long enough?;) Anyhows, don't worry. I know where I'm headed with this, and it all happens for a reason. So hang in there! I DO have a point with all this, lol.

Thanks to kallmecrazy for taking the time to clean up my sloppy errors, a round of applause for you;) And thank you all so much for reading and being patient with this story, and thanks to those of you who reviewed who I can't reply to in person. And while we're talking about reviews...Aww, look at the pretty button. Pretty pretty review button. Push? You'll get a nice spoiler thingie if you do :)