Jacob

To say Jacob was happy with the outcome of his date would be a severe understatement. He drove home smiling the whole way, his heart beating wildly, and his mind running a thousand miles a minute. His legs had felt heavy as he turned away from his imprint after they kissed; it had been a chore to say goodbye. The hours leading up to the previous day's date were tense as hell, with Jacob wondering about all the different ways he could screw it up. But it had been so effortless to make conversation with Marcie. It had been a cold day, and with Jacob's radiating body heat, they had spent nearly the whole date touching. Jacob had to wonder whether she had started doing it knowingly, and whether she'd been weirded out by the warmness of his skin while she'd been visibly shivering. He could always say it was because he'd grown up here and was used to cold weather. Before he'd changed, he had been—although perhaps not to the same extent.

And, god, Marcie had looked absolutely beautiful. He'd been unable to stop looking at her on their date and worried that he was creeping Marcie out. She hadn't said anything or looked uncomfortable, so maybe she didn't notice his long stares. Maybe.

He was so happy to have her in his life. If not for the imprint, just to have anyone new at all. Before Grace had moved to Forks and begun working at the shop a few months ago, he hadn't made any new friends since Bella moved to Forks. And she'd stopped hanging out with him in favor of her blood-sucking boyfriend. The people who worked at the shop were people he'd known most his life. Being in a small town made making new friends difficult. And it certainly wasn't an exciting place. Jacob was a sociable creature and thrived on meeting new people.

Where would they go on their next date? Jacob thought about what they could do next. Maybe he'd offer to drive them to Port Angeles to do something. They probably had bowling or Go-Karts or something fun like that. You could quickly run out of fun date ideas in La Push and Forks. If he'd met Marcie a few months ago, they could have gone ice skating on one of the nearby ponds, but it was much too warm for that now. They could have a traditional dinner date, or a movie, or maybe both. Jacob couldn't help but remember the last time he'd gone on a date to the movies—well, he'd thought it had been a date—just to get angry at Bella and end up shifting to a wolf for the first time soon after. At least he didn't have to worry about that now. He had his wolf in check for the most part; he'd learned to control his emotions as much as he could and had ways to calm himself down. He wondered if he'd been working so hard on his control for his future imprint. Maybe, deep down, he knew she was coming. He toyed with the thought. Not every wolf got an imprint. No, he couldn't have known. Jacob just wanted to be in control of his wolf. Marcie or not.

"Oh, would you stop already?!" A loud voice came entered his mind. Paul.

"Leave him alone. He's just met her." Another voice responded, chastising Paul. It was Leah. "Marcie seems cool, Jacob. Way better than who you pined over for years." The unspoken "who" was obviously Bella. No one ever let him live that down, a wolf who loved a girl who chose a vampire over him. Their enemy. And then become one. Despite being happy for Bella and her new family in the end, he'd be lying if it hadn't stung for a long time.

"She's great. Has her head on straight." Jacob responded eventually, an imagine of Marcie smiling at him coming to mind.

"Alright, seriously. Can't leave your thoughts in the middle of a patrol." Paul chimed in again, his voice clearly annoyed.

Jacob rolled his eyes. Well, as much as he could in his wolf form. He did feel a bit bad for Paul, for everyone really. When they were all in their wolf forms, as the three running a patrol right now were, it was impossible to not hear what others were thinking. Sometimes, one could control their thoughts, but it was incredibly hard to do so. But without the "pack mind", it would be even harder to communicate.

Would Paul ever be lucky enough to find an imprint? Probably about half the pack had one. According to the tribe elders, there had never been so many imprints before. They also had the largest pack in nearly all the tribe's history. For not just Paul's sake, but the entire pack to be saved from his sour moods, Jacob hoped he would find his imprint.

Paul growled lowly from behind Jacob. At least he didn't yell at Jacob again.

. . . . .

A few hours later, Jacob was walking back into his house, where he still lived with his father. Outside, the moon was straight above his head, and stars dotted the dark sky. It was late, and Jacob had to work the next morning. Most of his pack didn't work, instead living with parents, friends, whomever, and collecting a small stipend from the tribe. But Jacob aspired for more; he wanted his own house—a decent one, not the shack that had a roof that was falling apart and covered in tarps, and more. He wanted to be able to treat Marcie, too. One day, he hoped he would be able to leave La Push, too. He knew there was more out there. Despite Jacob's dreams, however, he still had his duties. And while Sam would try not to schedule Jacob too late in respect for his job, Jacob's job always ran into the evening—not giving Jacob much time either way. Thankfully, the pack had plenty of wolves to run patrols, and it was incredibly rare that they ever sensed a vampire nearby. It had all left with the Cullens. Jacob didn't have to run patrols every night, not even every other night. Sometimes Jacob wondered why they even still shifted, if there weren't vampires around. A part of him wished he didn't have the obligation of protecting the tribe, and it was larger than he wanted to admit. As much pride as it brought him, it was tough, not being able to make many choices from himself.

Jacob made himself a quick dinner which he scarfed down and showered before heading to his room to sleep. He laid down and grabbed his new phone, checking for messages. He had two, one from Grace and one from Marcie. He quickly responded to his friend's message before looking at Marcie's.

Grace and Harrison want to have you over for game night on Friday. Do you want to come?

Jacob smiled. Of course he wanted to go. He'd do anything Marcie wanted as long as he could see her while doing it. He sent a text agreeing to Friday, but he couldn't help but wish it could be sooner. It would be about a week before he'd see her again, and he hated that. Jacob put his phone down and closed his eyes, trying to sleep without thinking about how long he had to see her again.

The next few days went by without much distress, and Jacob looked forward to Friday more than ever. By the time it was Wednesday, however, Jacob's heart ached, and he longed to see Marcie again. He couldn't help but wonder if he'd feel the same way if he hadn't imprinted on Marcie, and just wanted to date her. He doubted it. He was sure the imprint was the cause for the pain he felt when he was away from Marcie. Jacob wondered what reason there was for making the imprint relationship feel like this. One day he hoped to figure it out.

But today wasn't that day, and it was also the day he missed Marcie the most. He pulled out his phone after work and called Marcie.

"Hello?" Her light voice came through the phone.

"Hi, Marcie. How are you?" Jacob asked her. He had barely made it into his truck before he'd called her and was itching to tell her his idea. Did she feel the same ache as he did?

"I'm alright. Just working on schoolwork. What's up?"

"Do you want to get ice cream at the Forks diner?" Jacob asked her, silently pleading for her to agree.

Marcie

"Ice cream? It's barely 50 degrees outside…" Marcie said with a giggle, thinking about the offer. She'd never been the person to giggle, but Jacob had brought out some absurdly girlish, romantic side of her that left her giggling and blushing when she talked to him. Just answering the phone, speaking to him so briefly, left her cheeks feeling warm and her heart skipping a beat.

She didn't understand why her feelings were so strong. They had barely known each other for a week, and yet her thoughts were constantly on him. Her feelings felt foreign, implanted. But despite the…oddity of it, she found herself slowly welcoming it. She was ready for this—to date.

Marcie hadn't begun a new relationship in years. Truly, her only previous relationship had lasted for half of high school and into college. She hadn't been on a date since Jacob a few days prior in over a year. When she'd moved in with her ex-boyfriend at eighteen, he'd said since they spent all their time together, they didn't need to go out.

She'd slowly learned that meant she wasn't ever supposed to go out.

"Um, milkshakes maybe?" Jacob said through the phone, his voice uncertain when she hadn't given him an actual answer.

She blinked, feeling embarrassed. "Oh—yeah, definitely. Sorry. When?" But her voice lacked the same luster it had before. She hoped Jacob hadn't noticed.

"Great! Can I meet you there at eight? I just got off work, so I need to change." Jacob responded, his voice clear and bright. He sounded excited, and Marcie liked that he didn't hide that from her. It was cute, and made her feel wanted. She didn't need someone to be 'chill' all the time.

Marcie agreed to the time and they hung up. She'd just finished dinner before Jacob had called, and now she had just over an hour before she'd see him again. She looked at her outfit in her bedroom mirror. It was a denim overall dress that hit her knees, and she wore a white t-shirt underneath. She hadn't left the house that day, but she supposed with some leggings or tights it would be fine to wear out into the chilly northern air. Her hair hadn't been washed in days, but she didn't have the time to dry her hair and get ready again, so Marcie just threw her hair back into a loose ponytail.

Eight came around quicker than she realized, and Marcie rushed out the house and headed to the diner. Jacob was waiting by his own truck, and waved as Marcie pulled in, recognizing her car. She parked and hopped out of the car, heading for Jacob. His grin was contagious; she found herself smiling back at him as they greeted each other. He pulled her into a huge and she relaxed into it, wrapping her arms around his strong body, a part of her wondering why a mechanic had such a fit body.

She wouldn't be complaining about it, that's for sure.

They headed inside, finding a booth and a waitress soon dropped off menus. Marcie looked down at it, taking in her options for a milkshake. She liked ice cream, but to her it was more of a 'let's walk down the beach with an ice cream cone' type of thing. A milkshake felt more like a sit-down thing, a romantic retro date even. Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, cookies and cream—she took in the options, debating, before realizing Jacob hadn't even looked at the menu. Instead, his eyes were fixed on her.

"What?" Marcie said, looking up.

Jacob let out a small laugh and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I—um, I was thinking you looked beautiful today." He said.

Marcie's eyes widened and she laughed, her cheeks reddening from the compliment. "Thank you." Then her eyes looked him up and down, taking in the way his thin green shirt clung to his muscles and complimented his skin tone. And his hair, still damp, spiked up as if he'd taken care to look nice for her after a long day at work.

"I guess I'm thinking you look handsome." She told him, unable to keep her smirk off her lips.

He gaped at her a moment, but then they found themselves grinning, laughing together. They ordered their milkshakes, Marcie getting vanilla and Jacob strawberry. And there they sat, at that table, laughing and chatting until they were kicked out as the restaurant closed.

They kissed again, a short, sweet kiss that left Marcie wanting more. A kiss that she thought about the entire drive home, and the whole day after.