The Jaguar Versus the Wolf
Chapter 15 – Cheek-to-Cheek
Orbiting Satellites Book Two, Chapter 15 - The Tough Talk companion
Her hair looked so lovely today. There seemed to be an extra curl or bounce to it. I had been staring at her, across from the chessboard for over an hour. She'd won the last two games, I knew her dog was keeping a constant watch on me from the doorway. Not that I cared. What I cared about was the girl in front of me. Her, and her amazing hair. At this very moment it reminded me of a commercial I'd recently seen for French Fries. Yum, I think I'll have to remember to tell Bella the next time she goes grocery shopping to pick some up.
Food! I never thought I would come to love it as I have. Back in the Rainforest there were options to choose from, once I had turned away from blood. I had always been able to eat human food, and had, when the need or desire occurred. But I'd lived one hundred and fifty years before I truly began to appreciate the wonder of it. Certain foods were truly amazing. French fries being one of them.
"What's he thinking about?" I heard the dog whisper to Edward, as I was about to move my rook.
"Nothing that would worry you," he replied.
"Don't lie to me," he snarled back. That got Renesmee's attention. I didn't think she'd even noticed her guard dog was still in the house if he hadn't.
"Your move," I said to her, attempting to get her to switch her focus back to me… the game.
She didn't even hesitate, or take any time to think, as she easily swooped in and took my knight (I hadn't even seen that possibility). I thought she was going after my Queen. Why did she just take my knight? First it was my pawns. That was normal. Then a bishop. Not great for me, but I understood her reasoning. But my knight? That I couldn't understand. I was trying to figure out what to do next, but was getting distracted by our chaperones in the corner. For some reason Edwards single answer of "Food" made the dogs eyes burst open.
"Is she in danger?" the dog asked next.
"Not unless she turns into a potato," he snorted. "You need to start listening to me when I tell you that he's changed. She's perfectly safe with him."
That was the last I heard from the dog as he made a "Humph!" sound. I hoped he would have stormed out of the room and left us alone, but instead he stomped over and took a seat on the couch by Renesmee, glared at me the entire way.
Great! One more annoyance and I still had no idea how to save my Queen. It took me over twelve minutes, staring at the chessboard, but after considering every possible move I finally moved my Queen four spaces to the left, out of danger. I was safe.
I looked up to Renesmee, basking in my victory. But it was short lived. I thought she was going to look upset, possibly angry, but instead she looked smug. Her hand quickly dashed over to her knight and captured my King.
I lost.
While it was upsetting I thought that maybe I could use this to my advantage. "Rematch?"
"You want to play me again after that humiliating defeat?" she chuckled, but not in a mean way. It was more playful and gave me hope. "Maybe you should have a few more lessons with Jasper first."
"Oh, I will. Don't you worry," I assured her. "What do you think I do all day while you are at school? Give me three days."
"So you don't want to see me until then?" she questioned.
"I'm sure we can find other ways to entertain ourselves until then. There's a movie that's scheduled to appear on the television tomorrow that I was hoping to watch. Would you like to view it with me? And perhaps if you are not too busy you would join me in the gardens behind Esme's house and help me select some flowers for the entry table."
The dog rolled his eyes at my suggestion, and I got worried that my ideas would not impress Renesmee, but to his, and (somewhat) my surprise, she agreed. But it was somewhat reluctantly, it seemed. Perhaps I would need to come up with a way to spice up the events.
That night, instead of getting some much needed sleep, I thought and thought. It wasn't till half past two when I finally came up with an idea to make my time with Renesmee more exciting for her tomorrow. I still planned on watching the musical, but decided some close dancing (cheek-to-cheek as they say) during the movie's musical numbers might be enjoyable.
It would have been the perfect night, had it not been for her dog's constant presence. Try as I might I couldn't block out his annoying glares, and almost growls, every time he thought I got too close to Renesmee. While I'd of preferred he leave, or not be here begin with, I knew how unlikely that was. At least he kept to the side of the room, propping himself up against the far wall.
Halfway through the movie I was worried about how the night was going. I flat out asked her and though Renesmee said she was having a nice time, she seemed bothered; without any hints from her I was left not knowing why. There was the chance it was because of the dog's presence, but he was always with her.
"Do you not like the movie?" Bella told me that West Side Story was one of Renesmee's favorites.
On the off chance it was because her dog was getting more and more upset as the night went on, I took a gamble and on the next song asked her if she wanted to dance with him instead. Though he was only a glorified bodyguard, and not anything in the way of real competition, at least romantically, it didn't seem like it would be that big of a deal. They both were shocked at my suggestion, probably never having thought to do something like that together on their own, but agreed.
Watching them I knew I was right. They had never danced together before. While Renesmee was a hybrid, like myself, and naturally graceful, dancing with her dog managed to strip her of her natural grace and left the two of them clumsy and awkward with their movements. They were aware of this as well and hastily retreated from each other as soon as the song ended. They couldn't seem to look at each other after that. Were they embarrassed by the modest dance, or how bad they did? Either way at least the dog stopped glaring at me for the rest of the night and I didn't hear another peep out of him until the credits began to roll.
"Time for bed, Nessie," he announced, not even giving me a chance to tell her what a wonderful time I had with her. He whisked her off to her room before I got to open my mouth.
No matter. We still had plans to pick flowers tomorrow morning. And I had a few other ideas too. Enough to keep us busy and her entertained for the next few months.
This was getting ridiculous! Another week had passed and after all my efforts I barely saw Renesmee. And every time I did that stupid dog was with her. If I was ever going to have a chance I needed to just suck it up and deal with him being there as well. Or better yet pretend he wasn't.
She and the dog were in the middle of a chess game when I entered her living room.
"I call winner" I said casually to neither of them, knowing Renesmee normally would win... against the dog anyway.
"Here, take my place," he said, surprising both of us, and laying down his King. "I need to work on my car anyway," he added, shocking me further by leaving us alone.
Huh?
A.N. Well that's an interesting change in Jake. What do you think?
Please review.
