Before this chapter starts, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed for the last chapter. Also, I know a bunch of you aren't happy with the thought of Jake carrying Bella up the mountain, and a few suggested Seth doing it. I probably could've explained the plan better last chapter. Anyway, Seth wouldn't carry Bella because he'll be guarding them the next day, not the night before, and Jake will be camping out with Lilly.
Also, a quick note for this chapter: there's a song that's mentioned soon and I would suggest listening to it so you have an idea what they're talking about. Just a suggestion though, obviously you don't have to. The song is I'm Gonna Love You by Jennifer Love Hewitt.
On Wednesday, school dragged on slower than usual. Maybe it was because it was halfway through the week, maybe it was because it was the last night the pack really had to train for the battle, or maybe it was because Lilly knew that the next day a vampire would be carrying her up into the mountains to camp out with the girl she had come to hate more than anyone she'd ever met.
Lilly spent most of the afternoon at Emily's with the other imprints until dinner time, when she was forced to go home and eat. Dinner with Gran was a quiet affair, and Lilly knew her grandma was still coming to terms with what would be happening within the next couple days.
Like the few nights before, Lilly couldn't fall asleep, knowing Jake and most of the pack were training with the Cullens. Even though they'd assured her they didn't fight the Cullens and mostly watched, she still got nervous at the thought. So, she just sat up in bed with her bedside lamp on, her sketchpad in her lap and her laptop on her bed beside her, one earbud in her ear so she could listen to music. She was working on a new sketch of 'Her Wolf', silently wondering if she was becoming obsessed.
When one of her favorite songs began playing, she smiled. It was the song Jennifer Love Hewitt sang in The Hunchback of Notre Dame II; 'I'm Gonna Love You'. But this time, as Lilly listened to the lyrics of the song, she couldn't help making the connections to Jake. As cheesy as it sounded, it fit how she saw Jake perfectly.
A light tapping at her bedroom window brought her out of her thoughts. She barely had time to turn her head before her window was pushed up and Jake swung himself inside. She smiled at him, pausing her music and pulling her earbud out.
"Hey, you should at least be trying to sleep, you know." Jake grinned at her as he approached her bed. Lilly lifted her laptop and set it on her legs so he could sit on the edge and scooted up to sit next to her against the backboard.
She shrugged, leaning her head on his shoulder only to lift it again when he shifted to put his arm around her shoulders. She sighed, snuggling closer into his side, wanting the comfort as much as the warmth.
"Did you get that math homework done?" Jake asked casually, making Lilly smile. It was nice to have the normalcy amongst all the crazy supernatural stuff, even if it was math.
She nodded. Jake's eyes moved down a bit to see the sketchpad in her lap and pencil in her hand. He tilted his head a bit so he could look straight at the picture she was working on. She must've just started it, because it was little more than an outline of a wolf's face, one eye shaded in darker than the other, probably the part she'd been working on when he arrived.
"Is that me?" he asked curiously before he could stop himself.
Lilly looked down in embarrassment. After a few seconds, she nodded.
"It's really good. Some of the guys mentioned you're really good at drawing. Could…Could I maybe see one of your drawings sometime?" he asked nervously, not wanting to push some invisible line. His sister Rebecca had been an artist, still was, and growing up she didn't always like showing off her work to anyone outside of family.
Lilly hesitated for a few moments before she closed her sketchpad and handed it to him. Jake took it slowly, giving her time to back out if she chose, but she didn't. So, he placed it on his own lap and opened it to the first page.
All of her sketches were amazing. Most of them were simple pencil sketches and scenery, but a few of them had some color. There were sketches of First Beach, the ocean, the forest, flowers. About halfway through the book was when Jake saw the first sketch of himself. It was a simple, colored sketch of himself that almost looked like a reflection of his own wolf. There were two more after that, one of him howling and one of him growling.
"Wow." he breathed, turning the page to find a sketch of the woods behind Emily's house. "You're really good, Lilly. These are amazing. Where'd you learn to do this?"
Lilly shrugged in embarrassment, quickly pulling up a Word document on her laptop to type, 'I pretty much taught myself. I just love drawing.'
Jake read the two, short sentences and smiled. "Well, you did an amazing job. I can easily see you doing this for a living."
Lilly looked down at her lap, his praise making warm butterflies in her tummy. Jake closed her sketchpad when he got back to the one she was working on and handed it back to her. She placed it on her bedside table to be out of the way.
"So, did anything fun happen at Em's?"
Lilly smiled widely, a chuckle escaping as she quickly deleted what she'd already typed on her laptop and began typing again.
'We were helping Emily bake a bunch of deserts. Kim was having issues opening the bag of flour and accidentally ripped it, and then it slipped out of her hands. When it hit the floor the flour swooshed up and covered her. She looked like a ghost!'
Jake snorted and had to bury his face in her hair to muffle his laughter. Lilly pulled away from him just to grab her phone off her bedside table. She opened her pictures and showed him the picture she took of Kim standing sheepishly in Emily's kitchen, white flour covering her face, some of her hair, and the front of her shirt.
Jake's free hand flew up to cover his mouth, muffling his laughter again. If Jared didn't see this already, he was definitely showing it to him next time they were phased together.
"That's awesome." he laughed, trying to keep quiet. He didn't think Abby was aware he was visiting her granddaughter's bedroom in the middle of the night, but he didn't want to bring it to her attention.
Lilly giggled quietly, the green flecks in her eyes lighting up with mirth and her dimples appearing. Jake smiled at the sight before she turned her phone back off and placed it back on her bedside table.
As Lilly deleted the sentence she'd just typed on the document, Jake noticed the set of earbuds sitting on her stomach.
"What were you listening to?" he asked curiously.
Lilly blushed, remembering her thoughts on the song she'd been listening to when he arrived. The slight darkening of her cheeks only seemed to intrigue Jake even more, as he tilted his head and gave her a small smirk.
She sighed, handing him one earbud and putting the other one in her own ear as she brought her play list back up and hit play.
The song started from the beginning. Jake tilted his head a bit as he listened to the first chords. It was slow and melodic, kinda like a piano or a keyboard. When the woman started singing he didn't think he recognized the voice, but she was pretty good, if you like that kind of music. The song was slow and sounded a bit sad in a way.
He focused on the lyrics, his eyes traveling over to Lilly's face as he listened, noticing her cheeks seemed a bit darker and her face was tilted down with a small smile. Her obvious embarrassment made him curious as to what was special about this song. From what he could gather it was a love song.
By the end of the song, he had an idea why she was embarrassed showing him this song. Or at least, he hoped he did. Part of him, most of him, really hoped this song made her think of him, but that would be too sappy, right? Too 'fairytale'-esque?
When the last note of the song faded out, Jake lifted a hand and brushed his knuckle down Lilly's cheek. "What's got you so embarrassed?" he asked teasingly, secretly putting a wall up inside. He couldn't get his hopes up, thinking that anyone, least of all the strong, amazing, beautiful girl that was Lilly Evangeline Fuller would think that highly of him.
Lilly bit her lip, peaking up at him from the corner of her eye. Jake was watching her intently, and she knew she wouldn't be able to get out of answering. Taking a deep breath, she minimized her play list and clicked on her Word document to type.
'Promise you won't laugh.' She looked over at him, her eyes giving away her nerves, and Jake realized he wasn't alone. Lilly was just as scared to put herself out there and risk getting hurt as he was.
He looked her straight in the eye, trying not to get distracted by the green flecks in her golden brown eyes.
"I promise." he answered seriously.
Lilly nodded slowly, turning back to her laptop to type out the sentence that would either embarrass her or maybe make their relationship a bit stronger.
'That song makes me think of you.'
Jake sucked in a sharp breath, making Lilly look down. Jake's eyes snapped to her face, reading her expression. She looked even more scared, probably worried she did something wrong.
He hooked his knuckle under her chin, tilting her face up and to the side so she could look at him.
"Lilly,…I'm not upset. I just…I wanted you to say that." Lilly's breath caught, her eyes widening a bit. "When we were listening to that song, I kept thinking that maybe, just maybe, it made you think of me. I wanted it to. But I didn't want to get my hopes up. I couldn't believe anyone would feel that way about me, least of all you."
Lilly's lip trembled and she leaned into his chest, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. Jake wrapped her in his arms, scooting her closer to him as he buried his nose and mouth in the top of her head.
Lilly couldn't help thinking in that moment that Jake was crazy. Any girl would be lucky to have someone like him. Sure, he had his faults, everyone does, but despite everything he'd been through, he was still just a kid. He was only sixteen and he's had to shoulder so much in his life; his mother's death, taking care of his dad when he was barely a teenager, having his heart broken by the girl he loved, and then turning into a giant wolf. When it came down to it, he was strong, fiercely loyal, cheerful, and kind. He at least deserved someone to love him unconditionally, faults and all.
They sat like that for a few minutes before Jake pointed out they should try and get some sleep.
"I'll patrol a bit outside your house if you want." Jake offered as he stood up. Lilly put her laptop on her bedside table, but frowned, not liking the idea of him losing more sleep than necessary, especially with the battle coming up on Friday.
She bit her lip, looking anxiously up at him. Jake looked at her, curious about what was going through her head.
Debating for only one more second, Lilly held her hand out to him. Jake eyed it curiously for a second before taking it in his own hand. She gave it a tug, even though she knew she'd never be able to pull him.
"You…want me to stay?" he checked. She nodded, trying not to be too shy. "In your bed?" he added, giving her the chance to back out. She nodded again, this time more firmly. "Are you sure?"
Lilly sighed in exasperation, pulling hard on his hand and leaning almost out of her bed. Jake chuckled, giving in and climbing into her small bed and under the covers next to her. The twin-sized bed was not only small in width, meaning Jake took up about half the bed just on his side, but it was also short in length so he had to bend his knees to keep his feet from hanging off the end.
After moving and shifting around for a minute, they found a fairly comfortable position with Jake spooning Lilly from behind, his enormous body curving around hers. One of Jake's arms was tucked under his head on the pillow with his other draped over Lilly's waist, holding her close with her hands curled into her chin.
When Lilly's breathing was starting to even out, showing she was almost asleep, Jake kissed the back of her head, whispering into her hair, "Goodnight."