Enjoy everyone! What a fun chapter! Love you all!
I rinsed out the shampoo from my hair and sighed into the warm water. I put my face directly under the shower sprout and took a gulp of the water. I felt two large hands touch my back and I jumped back.
"Jacob!" I gasped once I saw that it was him, "What are you doing in here?" I looked towards the walls of the shower stall; since this was a community bathroom of the campground, there were at least a dozen other showers running at the same time. Jacob put his finger to my lips and began to rub my back. My eyes ventured downwards and I bit my lip at his completely naked body. I looked back up towards his face to see him staring at my naked body, as well. "We can't," I whispered, although my voice was less than convincing.
Jacob's mouth covered my own and his voice shushed me. His lips connected with mine and I was suddenly lost in his touch. His hands moved to my butt and lifted me off the ground, which judging by the fact that our feet were visible to the other campers, was a good idea. Jacob's hand cupped the back of my head as he pushed me against the wall, making sure not to hurt me. He used his body to hold me to the wall while his hand traveled down to the spot where I wanted him to touch most. I moaned when his fingers connected with me and Jacob immediately idled.
"You have to be quiet," He laughed, wrapping his hand around my neck and kissing me.
"Sorry," My voice was breathy as I spoke.
"No talking," Jacob's voice was hot in my ear. He traced his lips down my neck and I leaned my head back in pure ecstasy. I felt him push himself deep inside of me and I let out a loud whine. Jacob's hand covered over my mouth as he kept going in and out. Because the sounds I was making were muffled, I was able to let myself fully enjoy the experience without having to worry about making too much noise.
"Hey Jake, this you in here?" I heard Quil's voice as he knocked on the stall door.
"Y, yeah," Jake answered, not stopping his movements.
"You know where Cali is? Claire is having some sort of meltdown." Shit- Claire. Although I felt bad, I shook my head at Jacob whose hand was still covering my mouth.
"No idea, sorry," Jacob answered. I felt myself reaching my limit and I arched my back against the wall, digging my nails into his back. It was crazy how quickly Jacob was able to bring me to my climax.
"Is there anywhere she might be? Claire won't even let me into the tent," Quil spoke. I felt myself about to climax and finally, my body shook in pleasure. My eyes rolled to the back of my head as nothing fell from my mouth while I rode my orgasm. My body went limp in Jacob's arms once I finished, him still penetrating me. Oh hell, that was amazing.
"I'll be out in a sec to help you look for her," Jacob answered. I could tell that his voice was strained, for he was about to finish, but thankfully, I don't think Quil noticed anything.
"Ok, thanks man." Jacob pushed me harder against the wall as he began moving faster inside of me. I bit my lip to keep from making sound and thankfully, he finished quickly so that I didn't have keep quiet for much longer.
"Amazing," Jacob whispered in my ear. I smiled with my eyes closed as I felt his ejaculate falling out of me and trailing down my leg.
"Wait!" I popped my eyes open, "Wait!"
"What?" Jacob whisper yelled, obviously shocked at my outburst.
"You didn't pull out," I spoke, my large, afraid eyes connecting with his.
Jacob laughed- what was so funny about this? "I never pull out." Jacob's lips nibbled on the skin below my ear, but this time, even that couldn't distract me.
"What?" I exclaimed, pushing on his chest, "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"What do you mean?" Jacob asked, obviously not understanding.
"Oh my God," I dropped my feet to the floor and paced to the other side of the small shower, "What are we going to do?" I put my fingers into my mouth and began nibbling on them in nervousness.
"Cail, chill. The pill is like 99.5 percent effective," Jacob spoke with a non-worried tone.
"The pill?" I shouted, way louder than I should have. I stopped and poked my head underneath the stalls, only seeing two pairs of feet at least five showers down to our right, "I'm not on the pill."
"You're not?" Jacob's hands went to the sides of his face as the color drained from his skin.
"No, I'm not," my eyes began to water, "Oh my God. Oh my God; I'm Claire. I'm Claire and you're Quil and I'm pregnant. Oh my God."
"Wait," Jacob grabbed my arm to pull me back to the present, "Claire is pregnant?"
My eyes widened, "Ok, you do not know that."
"Are you serious?" Jacob asked, his mouth falling open.
"Serious about what? You know nothing!"
"Cali," Jacob began, reaching for my wrists once again.
"No," I stepped back and held my palms out towards him, "Just," I sighed, "Just go. We'll talk later."
"Cali," Jacob's voice was soft and sympathetic, "I don't want to leave."
"Fine, than I will," I rolled my eyes and stepped into the changing area of the stall. I wrapped a towel around my wet body and stepped out into the community bathroom. Luckily, everyone who had once been in there had left. I heard the water turn off and noticed Jacob step out from the stall with his own towel wrapped around his torso.
"Cali, wait," Jacob's voice was frantic as he walked after me.
I turned on my heel quickly and used my finger to point at him while I spoke, "Where the hell would I have gotten birth control, Jacob?"
"I don't know," Jacob ran his hand through his hair, "I thought you might have been on it before."
"Before?" My mouth dropped, "What kind of girl do you think I am?"
Jacob rolled his eyes, "Look, I don't know how all that works."
"Oh, you don't?" I crossed my arms overtop of my chest, "Then you probably should have figured it out before you decided to have sex with me."
"Me?" Jacob half laughed, "You obviously didn't have any idea what was going on either, so don't blame this all on me." I opened my mouth to say something but sighed and shut it. "Look, babe," Jacob come over to me and rubbed the tops of my arms. His finger lifted my chin up so that I was looking into his perfect eyes, "I doubt you're pregnant."
"That's almost worse," I slumped my shoulders and lightly slapped his hand away so that I could drop my head.
"How would that be worse?" Jacob asked, kissing the top of my head and continuing to rub the skin of my arms.
"Because, Jacob," I spoke with an exasperated tone, "We have been having unprotected sex a lot, and I'm not pregnant." Jacob's face fell and I could see that he understood what I was getting to. His arms wrapped around me and I freely accepted his embrace.
"That doesn't matter to me," Jacob spoke.
"It matters to me," I answered honestly. I sighed and couldn't help but a few tears from falling from my eyes, "Jacob," My voice broke, "What if I can't have kids."
"Shh," Jacob's voice was soothing in my ear, "We'll have Carlisle come to see you when we get home. No need to worry until we have to." I nodded into his chest and took a deep breath. "Hey," Jacob pulled me from him so that we were face to face. His fingertips brushed the stray tears that were still dampening my face and he smiled at me, "I'm sure that everything is fine, but you know that even if you aren't able to carry a baby, that doesn't mean that we still can't have children."
I sighed, "I know." I filled my face with an only half real smile and Jacob began pecking my face all over, causing me to actually laugh. I pulled away from him finally, feeling much better, "But until then, get yourself some condoms!"
"Ugh," Jacob shivered, "No to the condoms, but I will begin pulling out, no matter how sad that makes me." Jacob popped out his lower lip and I rolled my eyes.
I playfully smacked his chest, "Get out of here!"
"Ok, ok," Jacob laughed. Once he left, I was quickly reminded of Claire's "catastrophe". I quickly dressed with the clothes that I put in my cubby before I showered and brushed my hair. Thankfully, I was tanning a little, so my complexion looked sun-kissed and bright. I stepped out of the bathroom and walked to Claire's tent.
"Claire, it's me," I spoke, knowing that she would realize who the "me" was just by my voice. The tent unzipped from the inside and I stepped in. "What's the catastrophe?" I asked.
"Nothing," Claire shooed her hand at me, "I just can't be around Quil."
"Claire," I let out a breath of shock at her, "Your pregnant with his child; you're going to have to talk to him."
"At some point," Claire answered with wide eyes.
"No," I corrected her with equally as open eyes, "Soon- soon meaning within the next few days to be exact."
"Look, Cali, you're my friend- Not Quil's, so shut the fuck up."
I held my hands up in peace, "Ok, understood."
"Good," Claire sighed. Her hair was pulled up into a messy pony tail and her usual put together face looked dull and tired- I wonder how much, if any, sleep she got last night. I got up and rummaged through her bag; I doubt that her emerging from her tent in the same clothes as yesterday wouldn't raise any red flags. I handed her clean undergarments and a new tee shirt and pair of jean shorts. She took them from me without any hesitation and slipped them on.
"You coming?" I asked her, on my way out.
"Ugh," Claire's voice was hesitant and I rolled my eyes.
"Come on," I grabbed her hand and pulled her out into the campground.
"Where is everyone?" I asked.
"I think a lot of people went on an early morning walk."
"Let's make breakfast," I suggested.
"Ugh," Claire moaned, "Why?"
"Because it's the least I can do, considering I woke everyone up last night with my screams.
"Yeah," Claire rolled her eyes, "Thanks to you, Quil came into the tent to make sure that I was okay." I giggled at how ridiculous Claire was being, even though she kind of had a right to.
"Can you plug in the skillet? I'll start to make the batter for the pancakes." Claire sighed but begrudgingly did as she was told, "Get a move on," I joked, tapping her on the butt with the spoon I was holding in my hand. Once she set up the skillet, I gave her new instructions, "Can you get the bacon out and put it over the fire?" Before my eyes, I watched Claire's face go from uninterested to broken; "Claire," I spoke with compassion. I dropped the spoon into the mix I was stirring and walked over to give her a hug.
"Cali," Claire began with her face buried in my shirt, "I can't even cook. I'm going to have a kid and I don't even know how to cook."
"Claire you can always learn how to cook." I quickly realized that she wasn't really upset about the fact that she wasn't a master chef, and that she way crying over the bigger issue.
"Claire, what's wrong?" Shit. Quil was quickly standing next to me, reaching for Claire's sides to pull her to him. My eyes bulged as I handed her over to him, unable to stop it. "What happened?" He asked me. I opened and closed my mouth a few times before figuring out something that wasn't exactly a lie, but would be taken as one.
"Hormones," I spoke. The disgusted look from yesterday filled Quil's face again, only he kept his grip around her tight. I half smiled at the sight of the two of them; why was she so afraid to tell him? He obviously cared for her tremendously. I sighed, I couldn't pretend to know what she was feeling; all that I could do was be there for her when she fell down, to help her back up. Quil began slowly walking her shaking body into their tent, zipping it up behind him.
"Is she going to tell him?" I turned to see Kelly standing behind me.
"I don't know," I answered honestly.
"Tell him what?" Seth asked, popping up behind Kelly and shoving a handful of chocolate chips into his mouth.
"Nothing," I answered him quickly, swatting his hand with my spoon. Kelly smiled and kissed him on the cheek; at least their relationship was stable. I went back to my batter and in a few minutes was able to start cooking them. Kelly had taken over for Claire in terms of the bacon, and luckily everyone began to show up right as I was finishing up cooking. I spent the next half hour was spent cooking away- if I thought Jacob ate a lot, I had another thing coming. Even though I tripled the quantity of batter, I still had to make more! Finally, once everyone had their food, I grabbed a plate of two pancakes and a few pieces of bacon, then walked over to where Jacob was sitting in a circle with the rest of the pack and their imprints.
"Cali, I liked you before, but after these pancakes you definitely won me over," Embry spoke with pleasure filling his features, shoveling what must have been his tenth pancake into his mouth.
I laughed, "I'm so glad; I was very worried." I sat down at Jacob's feet and began eating the food I had just slaved making. I had to admit; I was a very good cook. Even though I was a dire feminist- I had to admit that it really pleased me to be domestic.
"Hey," Jacob nudged my shoulder with his knee, "You ok?"
I smiled up at him. Even though Claire had completely terrified me with her pregnancy, there was no way that looking up at the man that I was in love with, I could not be completely content. "Of course," I placed my hand overtop of his own that was rested on his lap before turning back to my food.
Quickly after everyone finished eating, we all decided to go on a hike. As we were all cleaning up and getting ready to go out, Claire and Quil emerged from the woods- how odd, I hadn't even noticed them leave their tent. Claire was laughing at something Quil had said as she playfully punched him in the arm.
"Kelly," Her name fell from my lips before I even found her. I walked briskly over to her only a few inches away, talking to Seth, and pulled her over to where I had been standing. "She told him."
Kelly looked off to where Claire and Quil were happily walking without a care in the world, "Actually, I don't think she did."
"What?"
"Claire was literally going nuts and so I eventually went in there, sent Quil out of the tent, and then slapped the shit out of her."
My mouth dropped, "You hit her?"
"I had to!" Kelly proclaimed.
"Well," My voice waivered, "Did it work?"
"Does it look like it worked?" Kelly asked with a cocky smile on her face.
I sighed, "I just- I just don't understand why she hasn't told him yet."
"Well if it were you- if you were on your way to college, dating the man of your dreams, having discussed only ever having one child after you became a doctor so that you could put it in the hospital daycare- would you?"
I didn't answer her question; how could I? "How did you even know all that?"
"I listened; you know, time doesn't stop when you're out spending all your time with Jacob."
"Kelly," I breathed, my eyes immediately filling with water.
"Don't," Kelly shook her head at me, "That wasn't fair. I know, okay? It's just," She sighed, "I wasn't the one who lost a best friend- that was Kelly- but somehow I feel like I lost just as much as she did."
"Kelly, I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry." Her voice came out harsh, but I knew my best friend all too well, and I knew that she didn't mean it that way, "You were the one trapped to the hospital table, remember?"
"Yep, sadly I do," I looked out at the woods stretching all around in front of us and took a deep breath.
"My parents haven't called. Not once," Kelly spoke.
"That's not surprising of Christy," I smiled.
She laughed, "Considering I spent at least five days out of the week at your house and she never once called, it really isn't, is it?"
"No," I laughed. Kelly's mom, Christy, had jumped between working as a bartender and stripper (although she, to this day, refuses to admit it) since she had Kelly at 16. Then she met Jeff, Kelly's stepdad and the CEO of Nestle, and became a millionaire. Although Kelly's mom had been too busy working to be around much at all before, when she became a rich housewife, Christy began traveling, hosting galas, and attending huge parties and worst of all, not caring. It really didn't come as a shock to me at all that her mom hadn't reached out.
"If it makes you feel better, mine haven't either."
"That's because your parents mind compelled them that you started Julliard early- so no, it really don't help at all." I laughed at our sad attempts of humor and squeezed her hand. I smiled when she squeezed back, our familiar way of letting each other know that we were still here, and everything was ok, or rather, going to be ok.
I heard someone whistle and Kelly and I both turned towards the large group that somehow formed while we were having our moment. We both walked towards the group, Seth and Jacob immediately coming up towards us. I looked towards Kelly, for I was worried that this was just exactly what she had been talking about. Thankfully, though, she embraced Seth and seemed to forget about me. In all my years of knowing Kelly, I had never seen her like this- so… In love.
"We didn't miss the hike, did we?" Claire asked, popping up. Her face held a wide smile and Quil seemed perfect at ease beside her.
"Um," I answered, suddenly having lost my words.
"We're just about to leave," Kelly answered, shooting me a death glare as to say not to screw anything up.
"Ugh," Jacob moaned as he stretched his arm around me, the whole group beginning to walk. I greedily accepted his show of affection and smiled into his chest.
"You're cuddly this afternoon," Jacob kissed my head.
"I'm in love," I giggled. I never thought that I would be this type of girl: giddy and partially ridiculous, but I wouldn't want it to be any other way. Jacob laughed as well, leaning down to kiss me.
"Hey Jake," I spoke, watching my steps as I walked to be sure that I wouldn't trip, "Do you think I spend too much time with you?"
He seemed to legitimately think it over, "No, nope, definitely not." I giggled; he wasn't going to be much help with this particular subject matter, so I decided to just keep it to myself.
After a couple minutes of peaceful, casual conversation, Jacob looked up at the darkening sky, "This doesn't look promising."
I looked up to see dark clouds filling the once blue sky, "No, definitely not." I giggled, "Would you dance with me in the storm with my best dress like Taylor Swift's boyfriend?"
"Of course," Jacob spoke with a small laugh, kissing my forehead. "You know, I used to be cool."
"What?" I let out a loud laugh.
"I used to be cool," Jacob repeated, "I wouldn't be caught dead talking about Taylor Swift songs before. Then you happened."
I laughed, "Yes, then I happened."
"Ugh," Jacob moaned with a smile, "And I can't even be mad about it because you're so cute."
I laughed, "Cute indeed, I must say."
"Yeah and a cocky little thing too," He spoke with his lips on my head. I giggled and pulled his arm, taking his hand in my own and hurrying so that we could catch up to the group who was walking at a faster pace.
"So about Claire," Jacob began. Once he saw her, he must have thought about her pregnancy that I accidentally let slip.
"What? What about Claire? There's nothing about Claire. Claire who?"
Jacob nodded and smiled; we always seemed to be smiling when we were together, "Understood."
"Did I hear my name?" Claire poked me in the side. Quil's hands were on her shoulders and she looked perfectly at ease- wow, she was pulling this off quite well.
"Nope, you must just be self-obsessed," Jacob joked casually. I smiled at the joke and squeezed his hand, thanking him for his ability to know exactly what to say in almost every situation.
Claire rolled his eyes and playfully punched him. "Ouch," Jacob grabbed his chest dramatically, "I feel sorry for you Quil."
"I know, what a hassle." Quil kissed Claire's cheek and even though she didn't know it, I know that she was thinking about what a hassle a baby was going to be.
"You guys are great together," I spoke, surpring even myself. I guess I just figured that if I was in that situation, I would want someone to say that to me.
"We are, aren't we," Quil smiled, and in a rare moment of PDA, quickly twirled her around to kiss her. I smiled and watched them kiss, although that was only slightly weird. I heard a whistle and Jacob and Quil went to go grab some beers from the other guys who were passing them out.
"You have to tell him," I grabbed Claire's arm and pulled it towards me.
"Shut up," Claire replied with her usual, confident bite.
"He'll be fine with it Claire," I spoke frantically.
"You said you weren't going to tell me what to do!" Claire turned to me angrily.
"That was when you were acting like Quil would leave you or something. This is ridiculous Claire! You can't just pretend like nothing is happening."
"I can do whatever I want Renesmee."
I narrowed my eyes, "Low blow." She smiled smugly and crossed her arms overtop of her chest, like she had won- but I wasn't willing to give in that easily.
"And would you like to explain to me what you're going to claim when your stomach starts expanding? Oh, I'm sorry I'm just gaining a little weight, the weight of a tiny human to be exact, that's not me showing."
"Showing?" Quil snaked behind Claire and thrust a beer into her hand. Claire's eyes nearly popped out of her head as she went completely rigid. My mouth dropped but I quickly popped it back into its regular position.
This was my chance to prove that I wasn't completely incapable, "The…. The… the showing! The movie showing! Fifty shades, we're going tonight."
Quil gave a disgusting look and continued to walk along without any more questions.
"Nice one, Sherlock," Jacob snickered in my ear. I shoved him with my elbow and grabbed the extra beer out of his hands, taking a long swig. This secret thing was getting exhausting.
The hike in all lasted about an hour, and afterwards we all just relaxed out by the tents, laughing and eating and just having a good time. Because of my excuse that I had thought to be brilliant, but Claire and Kelly hadn't, Claire, Kelly and I drove through the woods, and somehow we found our way to the local movie theatre, which was about an hour away. The movie had just ended and I had to admit that it was just as sexual and amazing as I thought it was going to be.
"Ugh, he's so hot," Kelly gushed, eating the last from the large bucket of popcorn we had all shared.
"That was just hot in general," Claire agreed, "So much amazing sex."
"I agree," I slurped the end of my drink and threw it in the nearest trash can, "Although the whipping scene really did kind of freak me out."
"Of course it did; I'm surprised you didn't have PTSD when her hands and legs were tied down," Claire rolled her eyes.
"Ha, I'm surprised you didn't have contractions." Kelly and Cali both slapped each of my arms.
"Hey!"
"You deserved that," Kelly nodded her head. I laughed it off, knowing that we were all only kidding.
Before leaving, we stopped by the bathroom. I stepped into the stall and pulled down my shorts. I had forgotten my phone was in my back pocket and heard it crash to the floor, just slightly missing the inside of the toilet. I breathed a sigh of relief as I picked my phone up. When it fell, the camera button had been pushed, and I saw my reflection staring back at me. Maybe it was because of the movie- no, it was definitely because of the movie, but a dirty thought popped into my head. I debated with myself whether I shouldn't or should and eventually just decided to not be a baby and do it.
I pulled my tee-shirt up and unclasped my bra, pushing that up as well. I took the picture quickly, taking it at least five more times before I was happy with the result. I found Jacob's contact and attached the picture. My finger hovered above the send button as I debated what to do. Come on, just do it! Do it! Ugh. I can't. I can! No I really can't. Fine! I pressed the send button and immediately panicked and tried to un-send it, although that was impossible. I bit my lip and put my head in my hands.
"Cali come on!" Kelly called from outside the stall.
"Coming!" I answered quickly. I redressed and flushed the toilet, although I actually had to go in the first place. I quickly exited the stall and washed my hands, and we were on our way. Right as we began to drive away, though, I checked my phone. The only words filling my screen were: Get. Home. Now. Ha.
Thirty minutes passed with us singing along and Claire casually driving, until the thunderstorm hit- or rather, monsoon.
"I can't see anything!" Claire yelled for what must have been the twentieth time.
"None of us can, Clairebear," I rubbed her shoulders from the backseat, thankful that she was the only one willing to drive in these conditions.
"Not even the road!" Claire added.
"Guys try your phone again," Kelly suggested. We all pulled out our phones and sighed at the same time- none of us have had signal since the storm started.
"Maybe we should try to walk it from here," Claire proposed.
Kelly and I simultaneously gasped, "What?" I spoke
"No!" Kelly whimpered.
"We may have to, it would be much easier to navigate on foot," Claire countered.
"Are you crazy?" Kelly yelled.
"No, pardon me for trying to figure out a way for us to safely make it back to the campsite."
"Safely? Haven't you ever seen any scary movies in your life? This is the part of the movie where one girl convinces the rest of the group to do something stupid, like abandon their only barrier between them and death, and then get mauled by some ax-murderer. But you know what, I'm not going along with that!"
"Are you ok?" Claire yelled back at her, "This isn't a movie, this is real life. No one is going to kill us."
"How the hell do you know that?" Kelly threw up her hands.
"Okay!" I put my hands up to silence them, "Ok, enough. Let's just try to navigate our way to the parking lot in the car, then once we're there we will go the rest of the way by foot."
"I hate you for being rational," Kelly couldn't suppress her smile.
"I'm suppose to be that person," Claire pouted.
"Pregnancy hormones," I patted her shoulder.
"I hate you," Claire's voice was cold.
"No you don't." I smiled.
"I know."
An hour later, going five miles an hour the entire time, we finally arrived at the parking lot. We all exited the car and squealed out in unison.
"What the hell!" I screamed, although my voice was barely audible because of the ridiculous amount of rain crashing down on top of us.
"This is insane!" Kelly screamed.
"Let's just get to the campground," Claire instructed. We all locked arms with each other as we slowly began making our way along the path. Of course we had decided to pick the most isolated campground, with no one else around.
We walked for all of what must have been five minutes before something moved around in the bushes, causing us all to scream in unison.
"Go, go, go," I spoke frantically. We hurriedly raced up the path.
"Ah!" Claire slipped on something and because we were all connected, we all went crashing into the mud.
"Oh my God!" I screamed, looking down at myself covered in mud.
"We're a mess," Kelly laughed, shaking her head.
"I'm a mess," Claire spoke, surprising both Kelly and I with how sad she sounded. "I'm pregnant and I'm a wimp because I can't even tell my boyfriend."
"Claire," I reached out and touched her shoulder.
"And now," Claire's voice broke and now she was really crying, "Now we're lying in a puddle of mud, terrified, soaking wet and not able to find our way back to the campground.
We all stayed silent, not really sure what to say. Kelly was the first to speak after a few minutes of nothing, "We should scream."
"What?" Claire asked with a sniffle.
"We need to scream. All of us."
"Me?" Claire asked with the voice of a sad toddler.
"Especially you," Kelly added. A loud strike of thunder roared and we all screamed.
"Come on," Kelly tried again, "It's so loud, no one would be able to hear us. Scream!"
"She's right!" I spoke, looking down on myself covered in mud, "We are pathetic- let's scream."
"Right now?" Claire asked.
"Right now!" I screamed excitedly.
"Go!" Kelly piped in.
"Ahhh!" I screamed so loud that I was sure the forest trees would fall, but the storm made it so that I could hardly hear myself. Kelly screamed too, hers even louder than mine, causing me to try to be louder.
"Come on, Claire!" I laughed, pausing my screaming for only a moment. She screamed softly- if I knew anything about Claire, it was that she probably was trying to figure out his this would intellectually help her. She didn't do anything without a reason.
"Louder!" Kelly screamed.
"Louder!" I screamed as well. She screamed, just as loud as we were and we both joined in. After a second, I saw Claire's face change from curiosity to complete joy as she completely let herself go. We screamed like that for a while until our throats hurt too much and we had to continue on our journey.
We were walking up the path, clutched together, long after we had gotten up and out of the mud. Thankfully, the rain had completely washed away the mud, so now we were just freezing and wet.
"Kelly!" We heard a distant voice scream through the forest.
"Oh, yes!" Kelly jumped up and down, "Seth! Seth!"
"Claire!"
"Quil!"
And then finally, "Cali!"
"Jacob!" I screamed through my scratchy throat, "Jacob!" Although it was hard to see, I could barely make out Jacob as he followed my voice. Finally, he reached me and wrapped his arms around me. "Oh," I spoke, so happy that I almost cried, "Thank God you're here."
"I was so worried," Jacob pulled my face away and began kissing it. Usually I would have been annoyed, but with all the rain, I wasn't even able to tell the extra wetness.
"Ugh, I'm so cold, come back." He wrapped his arms around me again and I finally felt safe.
"I've got you." Jacob lifted me off the ground and cradled me in my arms; usually I would have objected, but I was much too tired for that.
Only minutes later (Go us! We were so close) we were back at the campground. Jacob plopped me down on my feet so that I could walk with him. I noticed Claire and Quil stepping into their tent, and the light on in Kelly and Seth's proved that they were already safe and sound.
Right before we were about to step into our tent, Jacob stopped me. "What are you doing?" I asked him. At this point, he was equally as soaked as me.
"I have something for you."
"Ok?" I looked at him oddly.
"Would you be happier if I promise you'll like it?" Jacob asked with a humorous smile.
"No," I began with wide eyes, "I would be happier if we could go into the tent where it wasn't pouring down rain."
"One second. Isn't that the least you could do for me?" Jacob used the one question that would make me do anything for him, and I immediately stopped complaining.
"Go on," I rolled my eyes, not wanting him to think that he won, even though he certainly did.
"So you wanted me to tell you more about that time at the coffee shop."
"Oh yeah," I wanted to ask him why this needed to be discussed out here, but I held my tongue.
"Well what I failed to mention is that, that day was also your birthday."
"Was it?" I played along, liking how nervous yet excited he seemed.
"Yes," He answered with a smile, "I missed a lot of your birthdays, Cali."
I smiled, "That doesn't mean anything to me."
"And I wasn't able to give you any gifts."
"And that definitely doesn't mean anything to me."
"Just shush," Jacob smiled, his hands resting awkwardly in his pockets. I smiled and shut my mouth.
"Well your last birthday before you came home, it weighed on me. And I couldn't take it, so I got you something," Jacob smiled.
"Jacob," I sighed, my limbs going numb. What could he possibly give me other than what he already has.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. Jacob opened it and revealed a shining, silver ring. It was simple and beautiful and the entire ring was made out of entwined infinity symbols. My mouth dropped as I admired it.
"Do you like it?" The nervousness in his tone was evident, although I couldn't imagine why.
"Jacob, I," I couldn't finish. My tears welled in my eyes and I had to bite my lip to keep from crying.
He smiled, "Can I put it on you."
I nodded, smiling so wide I probably looked nuts. Jacob slipped it onto my right hand ring finger and I almost fell to my knees I loved it so much.
"Too much," I managed to get out, looking back up at him.
"Not enough," He answered, rubbing his fingers against my cheek.
"I love it," I smiled. I leaned in and kissed him. A loud strike of lighting hit not too far from us and we both jumped.
I laughed, "I do love this, and you Jacob, but why did you need to give me this outside?"
He smiled, "Your Taylor Swift song, remember?"
I laughed, realization dawning on me, "Oh!"
"Can I have this dance?" He asked, offering a hand for me to take.
I placed my palm into his, loving the way my new ring looked on our entwined hands, "Of course."
Please let me know what you thought! Any ideas on what is going to happen with Claire's baby? And also, that was NOT an engagement ring! Lol
Thanks again everyone:) Follow/favorite/review