(Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, or any of its characters. Stephanie Meyer does. I own my OC's. There are also some quotes lifted directly from the books/movies, which I – again – take no credit for.)

First Day

(Tess POV)

Jake was loading the last few boxes into my soft-blue pickup. I hugged Charlie and walked over to Jake.

"Hey, thanks for loading this shit up," I laughed, playfully punching his shoulder as he tossed my suitcase in with the other boxes, "You know I'm barely half as strong as you."

"Yeah, I know." He grinned as he grabbed me by the waist, lifting me into the air and spinning me before setting me down as I squealed.

Kiss him!

No! That would be too embarrassing!

Do it!

No!

We weren't together, so why should I kiss him? I didn't even know if he liked me, but he sure knew how to get my nerves on edge...

Charlie cleared his throat awkwardly as he started walking towards us. I turned and hugged him again. He kissed my forehead and watched as Jacob and I piled into my Chevy.

He patted the blue door as he said, "I'monna miss you, Tess..."

"I'monna miss you too, dad." I smiled, but knew it didn't reach my eyes.

"Bye, Bell – Tessa." He said, backing away, "Damnit." I heard him mumble.

"Bye, dad..."

. . .

When we arrived at Jake's house on the reservation, he excitedly pulled me down from my seat behind the wheel.

"Okay, I want to show you something." He said, dragging me over to the shed.

"What is it?" I asked, stumbling behind him. Damn. He's really strong.

"You'll see!"

As we arrived at the shed, he let go of my hand, and I brushed my shoulder-length hair out of my face. His hand was really warm.

He looked at me, excitement radiating off of him as he pulled the door to the side. He beamed.

Inside was a rusty-red truck, same kind as mine.

"Wow, Jake. Really. Where did you find this? We scavenged for days to find the stuff for my truck!" I said, jogging over to the truck and running my hands along the hood and side of it.

"I know right? I just found it, about a week ago, in the junkyard. Someone's already asked for me to fix it up and deliver it to them. We have a month to fix it up slash revamp it." He said, still beaming.

"Only a month?!"

"Yeah... I guess it'll be a bit of a rush, but..." He paused, "I thought, maybe... we could... work on it together?" He stared at the floor, looking almost sheepish.

"Uhm, I don't think I'll be able to..."

He looked utterly crushed.

"... not work on this truck with you!"

He looked up, smiling again, "Really?"

"Well, I'm kind of stuck with you anyways, plus this would be awesome to work on my car-rebuilding skills, soo..." I smiled playfully.

"Awesome!" Jake jogged the few steps between us to scoop me up by the waist again. I giggled as he set me down, but before I could do anything he embraced me.

At first I was startled, but then I hugged him back. His embrace got tighter until I began getting short of breath. I'm guessing he sensed that, because he released me from his tight embrace.

"I love that..." I whispered to myself, only to realize I had said it out loud. "Oh, uhm, so when-when do we go get some tools?"

He had obviously heard me.

"Hehe," He chuckled, "Uh, if you want, we can unload this stuff and set up your room, and if we have time we can go get some tools." He said, holding both my hands in his. I felt his pulse trough his warm, surprisingly smooth hands.

Again, I resisted the urge to wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him, ever so passionately.

I noticed that, while roaming the vast universe that was my mind, I had significantly tightened my grip on Jacob's hands.

I immediately loosened my grip on his hands and turned away, blushing furiously as I headed towards my truck.

"Hey, Tess –" Jake started to say something, but decided against it.

I silently screamed at myself, "Stupid, stupid, STUPID!" Why did I have to like him so much? He'd been my best friend for as long as I can remember, and I've liked him since I was 10. Almost six years later now, and all that has happened is my feelings for him have gotten stronger.

I sighed, rather loudly, as I pulled down the trunk door so that the boxes would be easily accessible.

. . .

Several hours of nails, wrenches, and setting up later...

Jake and I wiped our foreheads. We looked around, taking in the sight of the room we had just finished setting up. Basically it was my bed, my desk a bookshelf and a side-table. I was surprised at how big the room actually was. Even with my big double-size bed there was still plenty of room to move around.

"Do you still want to work on the truck?" I asked Jake, plopping down on my bed.

Jake checked the clock on the wall. It read 7:43 pm.

"That would be no." He said, plopping down next to me.

"Well, in that case, go shower up and I'll make something to eat. Where's Billy, by the way?"

"Oh, he went fishing with Harry. Said he'll probably stay the night."

"Oh, okay."

"Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason, really. I was just wondering, since he hasn't looked in on us or anything yet.

"Oh."

"Now, go take a shower before your sweat soaks through my quilt!" I said, playfully shoving his shoulder.

"Fine, but once I'm done I'm gonna be starving, so don't take too long with dinner." He kissed my forehead, a soft, fleeting kiss, but a kiss nonetheless.

Once he walked out of my room and I heard the bathroom door shut, I sighed and lay back on the bed, giggling hysterically.

Oh, shit! I have to make dinner! I thought in alarm as I sat up.

I quickly got up and out of my new bedroom, which used to be Jacob's sister, Rebecca's, old room. I knew Jake took really long showers, since he had had to take one at my house, after dropping me off, completely covered in sludge, from fixing bikes all day with me, and Charlie had forced him to take one then and there.

I had been a little, no, really embarrassed at my dad forcing my best friend to take a shower, but Jake didn't even try to argue, he'd just run upstairs and gotten in. It had taken 45 minutes to get out.

So, taking that knowledge and putting it into account, I decided to make Mac-n-Cheese.

. . .

35 minutes later...

I heard the water turn off and looked over at the bathroom door. A few seconds later Jake walked out, a white towel around his waist, his abs in full view. He paused, turning to look at me. I dropped my gaze immediately, but could feel his gaze on me.

I looked back up after a moment, to see him smirking and closing the door to his room.

I sighed and stopped stirring the pot.

Looking down, I decided that dinner was done, I turned off the burner and scooped some mac-n-cheese into our bowls.

Jake came out of his room, this time with shorts on, with his long hair still dripping down his back.

I went to grab utensils – after setting the bowls down on the table – but Jake already had them in his

. . .

Dinner had gone smoothly, Jake eating 3 servings, me only eating 1.

I told Jake to pick out a movie to watch while I showered, which I did and got dressed in under 15 minutes.

I went out of my bedroom and into Jake's, my hair was dripping down the back of my shirt, but I didn't care.

I went and snuggled up to him as he asked me what movie – out of the 3 he picked out – I wanted to watch.

I picked Maze Runner, but half-way through I fell asleep.

. . .

The next morning, I woke up to see I was laying next to Jake, my head and hand resting on his abdomen. I snuggled deeper into him, his warmth enveloping me.

I looked up at his face, to see his eyes were open, looking at me softly, with a grin widening on his face.

"Oh, Jake! Um..." I exclaimed, practically vaulting out of his bed.

I wiped my hair out of my face, but Jake shot out of bed, taking my hands in his.

"Sorry, Jake, I-I-I didn't-didn't know that you were awake."

"You don't have to be sorry, Tess..." Jake said, pulling me closer to him.

"W-why shouldn't I be?" I asked, putting a palm against his bare chest. His body temperature was over 100 degrees.

"Jake," I said in alarm, "You're really... really hot." I was commenting on his temperature, but realized it could be taken a different way... Which apparently was the way Jake took it.

"I'm glad you think that, because I spend a lot of time to look like 'this.'" He motioned to his entire being.

I sighed, slowly blinking at him. "That's... not what I meant, and you know it."

"Oh, really?" He said, pulling me closer, so much so that we were pressed against each other.

"Jake!" I said, pulling away, "What I meant was, 'you're body temperature,' it's... above average..."

"Really?" Jake said, more seriously now, "I don't... feel any different..." He paused and looked around the room. "Well, why don't you go get dressed, and I'll make some breakfast?" He said to me, his usual warm smile spreading across his face.

I smiled back at him. "Okay..." I said, hugging him, only for an instant, before walking out of his room and into mine.

As soon as I shut the door, I jumped onto my bed and started giggling.

. . .

The rest of the year went relatively smoothly. Jacob and I finished the truck on the 1st of March and Jake went to deliver it to the person who bought it from him and Billy.

The day after, I saw the red Chevy in the parking lot of Forks High School.

I was never one with many friends in high school, knowing that most the girls there were bitches, and the guys would spread rumors about me dating them, so almost no one knew my name.

There was this random new girl. She was a Junior, that's one reason why it was so weird. All I knew was that her name was Bella and she was dating Edward Cullen. I'm guessing she bought the Chevy.

So basically, everything was fine until the end of December, when the red Chevy pulled up.

Author's Note: I hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter as well. The length will vary, I have a couple chapters that are more filler than anything, and I'm pretty bad at those, so I usually keep those pretty short. Feel free to leave some feedback, I need it!