Part 26
By Tekhne
I sat on the floor of the new garage watching Jacob. Part of the loan he'd taken out had bought a second aluminum shed, larger than the one that housed the Rabbit and our motorcycles. This one had had shelves and a counter up against one wall and could still hold three cars, but right now, it only had two. Jacob hovered over the engine of one, his nimble fingers adjusting some part I couldn't identify.
It wasn't the first time I'd watched him work, but this was different. Before, he'd been a boy, as awkward as I was. My best friend. He was still my best friend, but now he was a man. A graceful and beautiful man, at that. My man. My Jacob. He'd given up part of his childhood to the pack and the other part for me, trying to prove himself in ways he really didn't need to.
"Earth to Bella," he laughed, pulling me away from my reverie. "What are you thinking about? You're a million miles away."
"Not really. Just a few yards away, actually. Well, that and a little over a year."
He shot me a puzzled glance.
"I was thinking about you. About when I first brought those bikes to La Push." I grinned, remembering the game we used to play, adding years to our ages. "You know, you're probably older than Charlie now."
"Will you love me anyway, even if I am an old man?" He laughed and sat down beside me. He cupped my face in his hand and I felt the grease smudge across my skin. "Sorry," he whispered.
My hand covered his, pressing it back against my cheek. "I'm not. And I will." I leaned forward to kiss him, and he pulled me closer, his lips warm against mine.
"Is that all they ever do?" Quil laughed, his big voice echoing against the metal walls as he and Embry joined us. He noticed the grease on my face. "Interesting makeup there, Bella."
Jacob smiled, suddenly seeming much more like a seventeen year old in the presence of his friends. Of course, all three of them looked older than me, and it wasn't just their towering height or massive muscles. All three of them wore some darkness in their eyes that that no teenaged boy should know.
Quil held out a paper sack, and Jacob reached for a rag to wipe the grease off his hands. "We knew you'd be working and figured she'd be here. We just wanted to say hello and have a drink." Jacob pulled out four canned soft drinks, one after the other, and handed them off. "Besides," Quil added, "You're a workaholic and you need to be reminded to take breaks." He nodded to me. "Between patrols with the pack, computer classes and this garage, Jacob is all work and no play lately. Maybe you can do something about that." Embry elbowed him.
I felt the heat of my furious blush as I realized what he meant. The pack mind. The thought of what they might have seen. I closed my eyes. It wasn't like Jacob could control his thoughts.
Quil laughed, realizing the reason for my embarrassment. "Relax, Bella. It's not like that. I mean, we do know. He can't hide something like that from the two of us. Embry and I would have known without sharing Jacob's brain. Of course, he's too much of a gentleman to tell us exactly how satisfied he is. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out why. Just be careful. I don't think he's old enough to get married. At least, not legally. And don't worry, he manages to hide the intimate details. Honestly, we haven't seen anything in his head that we haven't seen in person."
Embry chuckled quietly. "Just be glad you changed after he learned to keep some of his thoughts private. It was embarrassing." He rolled his eyes and my cheeks flushed even hotter. "He thought about kissing you all the time. That, and braiding your hair. Well, he still thinks about braiding your hair, which is kind of weird, but that's it. He just stopped thinking about you constantly. Somehow." His tone sounded a bit envious. I wondered who it was that he was thinking about all the time.
"Yeah, well, it wouldn't hurt you two to learn that trick," Jacob teased, confirming my suspicions. I could see, under his burnished skin, a blush that rivaled mine.
"So how's college, Bella?" Embry decided to change the subject.
I shrugged. "It's school. Occasionally I see Jessica Stanley on campus, but not often. She's joined a sorority and sticks with them most of the time." I tried not to show my relief. "My roommate's—interesting, but we get along, and she's actually a pretty good friend. Her boyfriend's annoying, but harmless, and she's introduced me to some other friends who are nice to have around," I said, thinking about Travis and Lissa. Summer had come at a bad time for them—just as Travis was starting to make some headway. "I had a couple of Shakespeare classes that I liked."
Both boys rolled their eyes. "Shakespeare. Julius Caesar nearly killed me. I thought I was going to be bored to death," Quil said, his voice full of drama. "You're lucky, Jake. You missed it."
"At least next year is Macbeth. There's some murder and fighting in it." Embry muttered.
"I still have to take English classes, guys," Jake assured them. "It may be over the Internet, but it's still school."
Embry shrugged. "It's just weird; that's all. We're still the same age, and we still hang out with you in the garage, but it's like you're older."
Jacob snorted. "Yeah. Bella was just telling me that I must be seventy now."
"Actually, I said older than Charlie. And he's just in his forties."
Quil raised his eyebrows and grinned at me. "Guess that's what dating older women will do to you."
I watched the three of them teasing each other. It made me glad that at least some part of his life was without the responsibility that the rest of his choices and circumstances had placed on him. He'd talked to me about that when I was home for Christmas, making sure that I understood he was bound to the reservation as long as they needed him and the rest of pack to protect them. He wanted to make sure that I knew it was a lifetime commitment for him. I'd reassured him that he was a lifetime commitment for me, wherever he might be. I leaned against him, relaxing against his chest and it began to rain, pattering on the metal roof of the garage with a drumming so loud I couldn't hear their words any longer. I didn't care about the rain; I had my own personal sun.