Author's Note:
Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! I know I don't respond to each and every review, and I'm sorry about that, but this way I have more time to write…right?
So sorry that this is a little late coming out- I was very busy with life. Yes, I do have a life that I must take care of before FanFiction (why is the world so cruel?). Hope everyone enjoys this extra long chapter in repentance
Disclaimer:
I do not own Twilight or any of these characters.
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After a tense minute while Jessica keenly absorbed Jacob, something seemed to click in her mind and she let out a high-pitched giggle. Confused, I turned to my father, but he just shook his head tensely, dismissing me. It looked as if Jessica had changed her plans.
"Jacob Black!" Jessica squealed delightedly. "I remember you!"
Shock took over my features and I whipped my head around to stare at Jacob. He seemed fairly nauseous.
Sensing that he had to respond to Jessica, Jacob squinted his eyes at Jessica. "Umm…you were at the bonfire on First Beach with Bella, right?"
Jacob glanced my way pleadingly, and I took it that this was his version of explaining to me. I nodded mutely, still distracted by Jessica's increasingly strange antics.
"Yes!" she shrieked piercingly, and I cringed. This girl had some voice.
"Wow, you sure have grown a lot," Jessica breathed with a not-so-inconspicuous tint of admiration in her voice. "You don't look like some little boy anymore."
Jessica's voice turned sultry at the end of her statement and it finally registered in my mind that she was trying to flirt with Jacob. A wave of anger washed over me, but I quashed it quickly with the security of Jacob's discomfort around the human- he seemed as if he would quite enjoy it if a hole were to appear in the floor for him to fall through. If I wasn't so tense, this could have been very entertaining.
Responding to something in someone's thoughts, my father cleared his throat unnecessarily, grabbing Jessica's attention.
"Why don't we move into the living room? The rest of the family has gone out on an errand for Carlisle and won't be back for a while."
I knew from years of deceit that there was no "errand"- my family had cleared out to allow my dad and Alice to focus on the extra reading their gifts gave them. I'm sure Jasper was more than delighted to evacuate the house too, as the emotions rolling off Jessica and Jacob were palpable even to me. Jacob looked like he wanted to lock himself in his room, and Jessica looked as if she wanted nothing more than to be in that room with him.
Jessica meandered over to the couch ahead of us, swinging her hips a little more than I thought necessary. Apparently, my father and Jacob thought the same, but while Jake looked disgusted, Dad seemed to be taking some sort of humor from the situation. I favored him with a glare and started to make my way over to the couch Jacob and I always shared. But when I reached it, it was already occupied by Jessica, who was sprawled across the old sofa leisurely.
Huffing a bit at the loss of my favorite seat, I sulked over to the loveseat, only to find that taken as well by my smirking father. I shot him a baleful look at sat down in the last available seat- my grandfather's armchair.
As soon as I sat, Jacob entered the room, straggling behind in what I knew was an attempt to avoid the inevitable act of having a conversation with Jessica.
When she caught sight of Jacob, Jessica swung her feet off the couch at the speed of light. It escaped no one's notice that the seat she had just opened up was intended for Jacob and Jacob alone.
The glare I sent my father then was positively fearsome. Did he wish to torture Jacob? Did he truly hate Jake that much? He had obviously known about Jessica's little plan and had undoubtedly assisted her by sitting in the loveseat. It didn't matter how surreptitious he thought he was being- I could always catch my dad, a fact that delighted my mother, aunts and uncles and enraged my father.
Dad's face contracted into frown and he shook his head infinitesimally. I sighed; I would never understand how my mother put up with him.
Reluctantly, Jacob set himself down on the couch as far away from Jessica as possible on the tiny seat. It made no difference- the couch was only two cushions long and Jake's huge body overflowed the one he was attempting to squish on to.
Jessica shivered dramatically and bit her lip. "It's so cold in here!"
"Umm…yeah," was Jacob's brilliant reply.
Promptly, Jessica twisted her body so she was pressed up against Jacob's side, sneaking a quick victorious glance at me as she sighed contently.
When their skin touched, something inside me snapped. While before I only felt a little angry that Jessica desired Jacob, my best friend, now I was furious beyond belief that this pathetic excuse for a human would dare to want my Jacob, let alone touch him. He belonged to me and I would gladly rip apart anyone who tried to get in the way of that.
As my eyes bore holes into the place where Jessica's skin was touching Jake's, feelings that had not made an appearance sine that day in the forest were arising in me more powerfully than anything I had ever experienced before. I wanted- no, I needed Jacob. I needed my skin on his, replacing Jessica's filthy touch. The more I thought about the audacity of this stupid girl, the more the idea consumed me, casting a red haze across my vision.
The whole time these thoughts were bouncing around in my brain, my body kept completely still, my face blank. Though none of my inner turmoil was apparent to Jessica or Jacob, my father knew, as he always did. As soon as I realized this, I broke out of my statue-like position and snapped my head around to my father, pleading with him internally. Please Daddy, I begged.
My father heaved a sigh and looked over at Jacob and Jessica on the couch. Jacob was now trying valiantly to escape Jessica's hands, which were currently making their way up his shoulder. The red haze in my eyes deepened, and for a second, I forgot that I had a secret to keep. I forgot that I was half vampire and Jessica was human, and I forgot that my father was still here, listening to every thought I had. None of that mattered anymore, because I was locked in the fiercest battle I had ever encountered.
Rational, logical Nessie knew that Jessica was simply attracted to Jacob's good looks and would do nothing serious. But the other Nessie, the one I didn't know existed until this moment, was rearing its brutally jealous head, attempting to break through the surface. I was being torn in two, and I did not know if I would be able to come out of this struggle on the right side. I didn't even know which the right side was anymore. The predatory part of me said that the right thing to do was protect my Jacob from this threat; the Cullen-bred part told me to keep my cool under all circumstances and think of the consequences.
For once, I had no idea what to do.
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A/N: …Don't hate me, please! I'm sorry to leave you with such a cliffhanger, but this chapter was getting WAY too long. I don't know when the next chapter will be up, but I'll post it as soon as possible. For now, please review!
P.S. I'm starting a new story (an AU/AH) and a one-shot, so as I get farther into those, updates for "Confessions" will be less frequent. Also, we're nearing the end of this story and I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do, so that needs some time to figure out too. It would help me so much to hear from my readers!
~Rachel
