Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. This song is one of my favorites, and it's by Scars on 45.
I never meant to say you were the thorn in either side
It was a side-effect from the scars of the fourty-fives
And as the vital mistakes, it reminds me of what we have
Despite the things you do, you know I'm a fool for you
They say a legal kiss is not as good as a stolen one
We put our lives on show and yet we sing to a different song
And from the bassinet to the graveside we never walk
Of everything I've lost, I miss my mind the most
What a perfect day.
Renesmee came twirling through the front door, singing and humming a sweet melody that was forever playing in the back of her mind; the poor girl was lost in a sea of elation—the tides could not be simply fended, nor did she care to attempt to do so. In fact, all she wanted to do was drown happily in the pull of the misty, salty ocean waves. God, Nessie prayed Jacob's arms would simply enveloped her being into a marvelous oblivion and never let her come back for a singular intake of oxygen ever again.
Currently, Nessie's life was a tightrope, but her heart was oblivious to the impending danger ahead, for she was walking on thin air, all but soaring high—free as a bird. Cloud Nine was much closer to Earth than she was, and Jacob was all to blame. Not that she found reason to complain. Truly, whatever force it was that connected their hearts to each other was more than welcome. She would willing share in the feeling of serenity with Jacob, if eternity bid her the opportunity.
A glowing smile danced across the strawberry contours of those lips, her heart thrumming like an African nato drum as she thought back to how Jacob hugged her legs tightly, yet carefully, around his toned waist when they were swimming together in the Pacific Ocean, linking their mouths together in a ravenous fever, their tongues mingling and massaging one another until they both needed oxygen in their lungs again.
Having his warm hands venture all of her exposed alabaster skin was pure bliss, as though she was born for this brand jubilation. The hot sensation of his touch lingered all over Nessie, tingling in places that have been so long dormant and untouched while she could still smell him, his scent laced in musky forest air, the cool night sky, and just a pinch of cinnamon. Nessie thirsted for a mere sample, to momentarily become undone in Jacob's voluptuous, delectable taste and satisfy her vampire half.
It was magnetizing, whatever it was that pulled the young Renesmee Cullen toward Jacob Black, and she fell victim to the infectious magic that consumed every single fiber of her being when his fiery fingertips waltzed across the surface of her skin. Could anything compare to the ecstasy of drawing him close to her?
Oh, how Nessie felt like a mere dream without Jacob's presence, and he was her one and only reality.
Edward and Bella ran into the living room, their faces contorted into livid and agitated expressions. The aura of the space grew intensely uncomfortable, nearly breaking the spell of of enrapturing heaven. Leave it to Mister and Misses Bummer to ruin Nessie's afternoon.
"Renesmee Carlie Cullen," Bella scolded, her fists planted firmly on her skinny hips with lowered eyebrows, "where in the hell have you been?"
"Oh, puh-leeze!" the half-breed spat, annoyance dripping from her tone like slick venom. "Not now, Mother. I'm in a wonderful mood and the last thing I need is you two to murder the high."
"No. You speak to us, young lady. You were out all day and all night, and you never bother to pick up a phone!" Edward bellowed, a raged concern evidently painted throughout his features, while his golden-brown irises changed to pitch-black.
"You had us worried sick," Bella added.
"Take a chillaxtive, guys. Jacob and I escaped the rest of the world for awhile," Renesmee replied, unshrinking under her mother's dagger-shooting scrutiny. "It was fun to pretend to have no demanding, overprotective parents or responsibilities. That's not a crime!" she reasoned.
"You were out with a boy!" Edward queried incredulously angry. "Renesmee, where have your good senses gone? We are very disappointed in you!"
Nessie shrugged, still relaxed. "Be disappointed. I don't care."
"I can't believe how you are behaving. You sneak out, doing only God knows what with a grown man, and you don't even call to tell that you're okay! Do our rules mean so little to you or is this that mutt's influence, Renesmee? You are forbidden," Bella punctuated the beginning of her brand-new regulation by stomping her foot, "from seeing Jacob Black!"
"Mom, you cannot do that to me!" Nessie complained. "Please. . ."
"No. You want to act like a spoiled brat, then you will be treated as such," Edward agreed, knitting his thick, black eyebrows together in irritation. "Renesmee, you are not allowed to speak or see Jacob Black ever again! Do we have an accord?"
"Ooh, I'm so scared," Renesmee retorted sardonically, rolling her eyes.
Trying to shove pass her bothersome parents, her vampire mighty, cold fingers captured Renesmee's thin wrist easily and rose the other hand flying into the air. Before the vampire-human hybrid's instincts could aid her to flinch away from the contact, there was a sudden SMACK! stinging sensation pulsing on Nessie's right cheek.
The shock of the drastic action gnawed at her the most, not the pain. Nessie had never been slapped, but there she stood with her own hand, caressing the pink splotch away. Her shoulders felt like the mass of the universe was attempting climb onto them, and she battled back the oncoming tears. She had never been so damn humiliated in all of her eight years.
"Don't you dare speak to your father in that tone of voice!" Bella chided, savage and demanding, which only served to strengthen Nessie's determination for Jacob.
Renesmee's milk chocolate eyes blinked, glowering darkly back at the female vampire. She used a shield of biting fury to conceal the fear ebbing away inside her stomach, where butterflies transformed into black moths of despair. Nessie yanked her arm away from Bella, breathing in and out.
"How should I speak to you then, Mother, to either of you?" The youngest Cullen laughed humorlessly. "Neither of you seem to want understand! All my life, I have been the half-dead being, breathing and walking around like everybody else, but nobody realized that there was something missing. But I feel whole when I'm with Jacob. Don't you get it? I. . . I love him."
"You are not!" Bella countered.
"No, you won't spoil this for me!" Nessie shouted. "You do not have the authority to tell me who I can and cannot love! None of you have that power over me."
Bella softened after a low exhale, now choosing the play the role of the good cop. "Sweetheart, you are my baby girl, my one and only, and I am scared to death for you. You father and I only want to protect you. Jacob is. . . Well, he will only end up breaking your heart, whether he intends to or not. Please, try to understand our point of view? I know you think I'm the bad guy, but what I say or do is out of love."
It was hard, painful, but Renesmee managed to swallow the heavy lump of melancholy emotion. "You don't know him." Anymore.
"Yes, I do, better than you," yet Nessie somehow found cause to doubt this statement. Rachel and Rebecca Black had been Bella's childhood playmates, not Jacob, and though they had eventually become best friends later in life, Nessie couldn't believe that she knew the man Jacob was now. "He will find real love one day and you can never be that for him. I am warning you, Renesmee, don't get involved with Jacob. He's damaged goods and that's what you'll be if you don't stop this right now."
"I know, I know. I know I am an utter moron for feeling this way about Jacob, and this might be the most selfish thing in the world, but this could very well be the only shot I ever get for a love of my own. I can't bother to be frightened by the future, or deny who I am. So, don't ask me to." Nessie's mahogany vision glanced to her silent father, who now seemed to be listening with an open mind, unlike Bella. He knew exactly what she was going through, him being a mind reader, after all.
"Renesmee, I won't dispute the fact that Jacob is a good man. He has risen to the occasion of heroism more times than I could keep track of. I don't doubt you will be the best for him, but your mother has a credible standpoint," Edward spoke, keeping is tone even. "We set these rules in place for your safety, sweetheart. Although, they may not always seem beneficial."
"Say what you want. It doesn't matter. You can't change my mind. Jacob could be imprinting right now for all I know, but that doesn't mean what we feel for each other isn't just as real. He's magnificent," Nessie explained, hopefully getting through to Edward at least.
Just thinking about Jacob set her mind at ease, tranquility washing over her body where she had been tense mere instances ago. Laughter bloomed and bubbled within the confines of her stomach when she recalled awakening that morning with her body snuggled securely between Jacob's arms and his chest as his chainsaw snoring vibrated the gravel. It was crazy, to be out all day with a complete stranger—kissing him, sharing her secret place with him, racing him through the forest—but Jacob certainly didn't feel like a stranger.
Nessie swore she had gazed upon Jacob's gigantic grin a million times before.
"It's a fling," Bella said, interrupting Renesmee's musings. "You'll get over him. It will pass in time, honey. Forget about Jacob before it's too late."
"It already is, Mom, but I'm not afraid. Why are you?" Nessie inquired, her curious words whispered delicately.
"You are my daughter! Mine! Don't ask me to turn the opposite direction while the mongrel has his filthy paws all over my precious, little nudger!"
"Ugh!" the half-breed scoffed. "I am not a baby anymore and would you like another fact of the day? All of this is extreme, but I'm not a real, existing person without Jacob."
"Renesmee, darling. . . Does Jacob care about you?" Edward questioned, softly walking closer.
"Yes," she replied, nodding. "I dare to believe he cares about me in the same way I do for him. In spite the way he tries to hide himself away from me, Jacob wants me, too. I mean, he told me so," that is, unless she dreamed of Nayeli being murmured. "Even if all this amounts to nothing, he and I could still be great friends." And Nessie could live with that. It wasn't a situation of get or gain for her.
Edward heaved a sigh and smiled. "Bella, we must not begrudge our daughter when she is making her own decisions as a young woman, despite it may be a horrible mistake. Renesmee refuses to budge," he stated in admiration.
"Be quiet, Edward!" Bella snapped, snarling. "You don't what the hell you're talking about! Jacob is bad for Renesmee!"
"What can we do, love?" he queried. "We raised our Renesmee to own a strong will and an even stronger heart, which would eventually backfire on us. Above all else, she is an adult. She must pave her own road to happiness."
Bella rolled her eyes in exasperation. "This is insanity!"
Nessie looked skeptical. "Dad, are you really on my side?"
"Is your virginity still intact?"
"Of course!"
"Then, yes," Edward nodded, albeit in a strained hesitance.
The half-human half-vampire's face lit up into a dazzling smile, grateful and joyous. She leapt into her father's cold arms, embracing him around his upper torso. "Oh, thank you, Daddy! I love you!"
Edward kissed Nessie on her forehead. "I love you, too, Princess. Just tell Jacob Black that if he ever hurts you in any way, I will kick his sorry wolf butt from here to damnation."
"I'm sorry for leaving you high and dry yesterday, Leah. It wasn't very cool of me," Renesmee apologized wholeheartedly, lounging on the couch in her best friend's apartment.
Leah's eyes rolled, shaking her head. "Your mother is right, Rennie. He's no good for you."
"Then let me find that out for myself, Leah. Please? Don't attempt to control my love life like my mother," Nessie requested, frowning beautifully.
"Ren. . . Please, listen to me?"
"I am, Lee-Lee, every word," she retorted, tugging Leah's hand into her lap, gently stroking her bronze knuckles.
Leah growled, stealing her hand back. "Not lately. Not since Jacob Black."
The hybrid's shell-pink lips jutted out in a soft pout. "Leah, must we speak of this twice? We've been best friends since day one. Jacob and I could never have that. You're the one that taught me how to swim and how to through a left hook, remember?"
"I'd die for you, Ren. Jacob wouldn't," the shape-shifter woman retorted bitterly.
"That's okay. I would never ask Jacob to, or you," Renesmee stated, her brown eyes sad. It was disheartening to have her imprintor express her disapproval of Jacob.
"Ren, why him of all people?" Leah questioned.
"Because. . . Jacob isn't all people to me. He's got something extraordinary inside that I can't resist. I can see it whenever he looks at me. I love being around him," Nessie elaborated sincerely, smiling. "Can't you understand that, Leah?"
"But, Ren, you don't know Jacob. He's a runner, and that's what he's gonna do when things get too tough around here," Leah cautioned, having learned from experience.
"I'm not asking for a lifetime, just twelve more days," the half-human half-vampire said.
"Yeah, right. There's no way you'll let Jake go after that amount of time, little Missy. I know you, sport. You're gonna want the whole enchilada—the marriage, the sex, the house in the suburbs, the kids," Leah replied, half-joking and half-sullen. She forced out a laugh. "The moral of the story is to stay away."
"Fine, Lee-Lee," Nessie said, getting up to walk out the door. "If you can't be supportive of my choices, just keep out of this. I don't want your opinion."
And in the half light a rush of violence is in your place
And if a look could kill, you'd need a license for your face
You say that love is blind and I'm the one who restores your sight
The girl who never knows. . .