AN: Another chapter is here. Lets see what happens with Meridian and Jake.

Chapter 5

March 19, 2006

I tried not to show how happy I was but I sucked at hiding my emotions. Luckily Charlie had left early for work. I had made overnight oats so I slept in late not having to worry that Charlie had eaten breakfast. I sang defying gravity in the shower and felt like I was, as if the earths pull had no effect on me. I looked at the weather which was chilly but no rain today. I put on a pair of leggings, a long deep purple sweater that showed off my figure, and a pair of knee high boots. I braided to sections of my hair and bound them together with a hair tie making a halo.

I kept checking the clock waiting for nine thirty to roll around. I did some class work but didn't really feel like I did my best. I then made up a huge lunch for the both of us, and possibly Billy. I put together a large Dagwood sandwich, two bags of chips, a baggy of carrots, four apples, four bottles of lemonade, and a box of my cookies. I got plates, cups, and cutlery all bundled up in four cloth napkins and found the picnic basket we used on occasions like this hiding in the cupboard under the stairs.

At nine thirty I jumped into my car almost forgetting the picnic basket in my haste. I made myself slowly drive out of town instead of taring out of there like a bat out of hell. I tried to enjoy the forest like I usually did but barely saw it. I only saw two cars pass me and wondered how Sue was doing. I though about dropping by but decided I would do that after visiting Jacob. I played some more show tunes and sang along to a song from Chicago. My hood was down and the day seemed to be perfect. I finally made it to Billy's house and found him watching a fishing show inside.

"Good to see you Meridian, Jakes out in the garage fiddling with that motorcycle of his. Is that lunch?" I nodded then elaborated.

"Yes, if your hungry now I can get you some?" He waved the offer away.

"No no Jake made waffles so I can wait until noon. You go find Jake and I'll return to my show." He said with a small laugh.

"Alright, see you later." He nodded waved a hand and turned back to his show. I trooped outside towards the garage and heard the sound of a ratchet. I sauntered in and was surprised to hear him playing kryptonite by three doors down. It was blasting from a large pair of speakers.

"Hey love the music." He was on his hands and knees working on a section on his bike. He banged his head in surprise and looked up at me. A sharp part of whatever he was doing had sliced his skin above his brow and blood was leaking from it.

"Fuck Jake I'm sorry, your bleeding." I got on my knees beside him.

"Oh, it'll heal in a sec, damn your quiet." I saw the skin knit together but the blood was still there.

"Yeah, okay just because its healed doesn't mean the blood goes away." He pulled off his shirt and used it to wipe the blood off. I scoffed and shook my head at him.

"What it'll wash out or I'll get another shirt, though with the way I go through clothing now I'm running out of shirts." He tossed the shirt on the counter and bent down to look at his bike.

"Maybe you should buy some more clothes?" I asked the obvious.

"Yeah but I don't like to go shopping, its boring, and tedious." I laughed shaking my head again.

"Wow, you used tedious I'm very surprised." I did the mature thing and stuck his tongue out at me.

"Yes I can use large words, don't be surprised." He nudged me with his shoulder. I nudged him back feeling playful.

"I know you can use large words, remember that spelling bee your Dad made you go to? You worked so hard to memorize articulation and you were only eight." He groaned.

"I almost misspelled it, I was sweating bullets, since then I'm challenged myself to learn words and use them like this weeks word is misappropriate. Don't tell anyone I don't want to be called a nerd."

"Oh yes just because I like comic books, and enjoyed imagining the vikings were coming when we were kids doesn't mean I'm a nerd." I laughed long at that.

"Okay if that's what you want to believe." I lightly punched his shoulder

"Hey, so what went wrong with your bike that you have to fix it?"

"This isn't my bike, this is Paul's, he accidentally crashed it so I've been repairing it for the last month or so on the side. That over there are my motorcycles or bikes, whatever you wanna call it." I went over to the two that stood at the far end of the garage.

"They're awesome, I wanted to get a motorcycle but Dad wouldn't hear of it, so I got the car instead. Don't get me wrong I love my car but having one of these would be even better." Jake stood wiping his hands on a piece of towel.

"Would you wanna go on a quick ride with me?"

"Are you serious? Yes." I was so excited I flung myself at him and hugged him. I backed off realizing what I had done and feeling awkward. I didn't know how to act, if yesterday was just a fluke since he hadn't kissed me or anything. He stopped me from moving away and bent but then stopped.

"I want to apologize for yesterday=" I groaned internally, here it comes the its me not you thing. He did have a pretty good excuse in the form of his being a werewolf. I tried to turn out of his arms not really wanting to hear this feeling disappointed.

"Yeah its okay, um I can go-" He turned me back towards him.

"No stop, I meant to say that I'm sorry for not asking permission to kiss you." I blinked up at him surprised.

"Oh, god I'm so stupid sometimes. Jake if I didn't make it clear yesterday I like you, and when I say that I mean really like you, interested in a relationship kind of like." I said holding my breath after I said that hoping to not scare him away. A flurry of emotions crossed his face, surprise, hope, and possibly pain but I wasn't sure on that last one.

"I feel the same, I just thought you didn't, I didn't want to assume but after yesterday…" He trailed off.

"Yes, I mean I don't know how it would work once I left but I want to at least try if your okay with that?" I hoped and it hurt.

"I mean yeah, I think that we should at least try this out. So the question is can I kiss you?" I felt breathless.

"Yes." It was quiet and somewhat breathy but he heard it. He bent his head and kissed me. I looped my hands around his neck and stood on my tiptoes to press my lips firmly to his. We slowly backed up until my butt touched the counter. He lifted me and I sat leaning into him. He broke the kiss but touched our foreheads together.

"Kissing you is something I've never experienced before." He said, there was a deeper tone to his voice and his eyes gazed into mine which was intense but also mesmerizing.

"I concur with that." I said breathlessly he seemed to do that to me. He threaded his fingers through my loose curls. He kissed my jaw, then the corner of my lips then my lips. He pulled away and grinned.

"So do you still want that ride?" I laughed.

"Yes definitely first let me go get our lunch.." He picked me up as if I weighed nothing and set me down. I went into the house and saw Billy was still sitting at the couch.

"That you Meridian?"

"Yes, are you hungry now?"

"Yup are you and Jake going to have lunch out in the garage?" I went to the basket and started taking out things so that Billy could have lunch.

"No we're going on his motorcycle somewhere then having a picnic."

"Sounds like fun just be safe." He said this last as I brought a plate to him.

"Here you go, sandwich, chips, carrots, lemonade, and cookies, would you prefer something else to drink?"

"No no this is perfectly fine. Your Uncle is very lucky to have you cooking for him."

"He complains I'm going to make him fat." I joked.

"Rather be fat and full with good food myself." I laughed.

"Yes I can agree with that, okay well I'm off, do you need anything else."

"Nope off with you." I patted his hand and took the basket with the rest of the lunch and went back to the garage. Jake secured the basket to the bike then turned to me.

"First head gear." He handed me a motorcycle helmet and went to the Harley. I followed putting on my helmet.

"How do I sit?" He showed my where to place my feet.

"You can hold onto me or the bars on either side of you." He got on in front of me and I put my arms around his waist. I felt him laughing silently, he started up the engine and slowly maneuvered us out of the garage and the driveway. Then he sped up on the road and I laughed with delight as the wind came up and we were buffeted from all sides.

"This is amazing, thank you."

"Your welcome." He shouted over the roar of the engine. We gained more speed and it almost felt like we were flying. He slowed as we came to a rise. He pulled off the road and went to the top of the little hill that was absent of trees. We stopped and I saw that it overlooked La Push but mostly the ocean.

"Wow." He pulled off his helmet and I did the same.

"Yeah I like to come up here to think." There was a log rolled close to the edge, most likely by Jacob. He held the motorcycle so I could get out then kicked the stand so it would stay upright.

"Its defiantly quiet and the ocean is beautiful from here." He took my hand and we walked to the log and sat down.

"One of the things I love about it. Harry showed it to me and told me that I could come up here and yell as much as I wanted and no one would bother me. I was seven when mom died and I came here a lot after he showed me. It was hard to pedal my bicycle up here but the piece was worth it." I didn't say anything letting him remember. He turned to me and smiled slightly.

"Thanks for sharing it with me Jake." I leaned against him. We stayed there listening to the forest and watching the distant ocean waves rise and fall. Then a loud rumble started me and I looked up a Jacob who looked sheepish I laughed tears coming to my eyes.

"Wow, for a moment I thought we would have an earthquake." I said poking his side.

"Sorry, its part of it all, I'm hungry all the time."

"Well we have lunch on the bike so let's eat." He got the basket and we ate, him making murmurs of appreciation. I loved watching him eat the food I made and enjoying it. Charlie seemed to like it but he was less expressive about it. I was just happy to be able to feed him something other than TV dinners and diner fare. He took the last swallow of lemonade and sighed.

"That was amazing thank you. What do you want to do for the rest of the day? I have to go on patrol round four which gives us three hours." I thought about it.

"Well we could see a matinee movie, you show me what your fixing. We could walk the beach, we could stay here." He laughed and kissed me briefly.

"I haven't seen a good movie in a while, Sam mentioned Indiana Jones the Last Crusade is playing in Forks since he took Emily to it."

"I love Indian Jones, lets do that then." So we did, we rode back to Jacob's house and deposited the basket. Jake told Billy where we were going and we got the okay. Jacob and I hopped into my car and drove to the theater. He bought popcorn and soda which I was fine with since we were both still a little hungry. I enjoyed watching a movie with him, it felt normal which was nice. He put his arm around me and we covertly shared kissed and popcorn. I was happy and this was definitely the best day I had here. I drove him home but we stopped at his hill and made out which was also mind blowing. He was sweet and didn't push me. I dropped him off and went back to Charlie's house. To get my mind off of Jacob I made lasagna for dinner and left Charlie a note telling him I was tired and was going to bed earlier. What I actually did was lay in bed and daydream about Jacob and I. I felt young and like a girl in love. Sleep took me soon enough and I dreamed of running through the woods with Jacob both of us wolves.