A/N: Sorry, this was a little bit later than I expected. But it's out before midnight! Besides, it's Friday and almost the weekend, so who cares how late it is? Well, I sure don't. But some people probably have to work tomorrow.

Enjoy this, it's nice and long. A little Jared/Kim and a lot of Jake/Kim! I know some people out there like this pairing so far! I beta myself so all mistakes are my own.

"Please don't make me go in there!" I cried, latching on to Jacob's arm. He was the only one on my side, only because I let a few tears leak.

He sighed and wrapped his big arms around me. "Guys, it's only one class. She's obviously not ready and it's not a big deal to skip just one class. She'll go tomorrow, won't you Kim?"

"No."

Summer sighed. "Kimbo, I thought you were over him!"

"I was!" I cried, not bothering to cringe at the disgusting nickname she used. "When he wasn't here! And now I have to look at him and maybe even talk to him. He sits beside me for Christ sake!"

Quil poked his head in the room. "I don't see him. The seat beside yours is empty. Maybe he won't even come to class. He and Paul are the biggest skippers in school. Maybe you'll get lucky." Hah, in Kim's world, there's no such thing as good luck.

Embry was there too, standing silently in the background as usual. They were my support team, giving me…support. "How about, you go and I'll meet you outside when class is over?" Jake tried to bargain.

"You always meet me outside of class." I accused, folding my arms across my chest.

"I'll cancel our plans tonight." My tapping foot stopped moving automatically. "So you're going to go to class, right?"

I sighed. "Okay!" I cried. "I'll go to class. You win." A few unnecessarily loud hoots were heard before Quil and Summer headed off towards her class, swinging their interlocked hands as they stormed down the hallway. Embry smiled silently at me as he waited for Jacob.

And Jake surprised me. He leant down with his eyes closed and pressed his lips to my forehead, right where the hairline starts. My heart stopped beating and I was afraid my respiratory system was in serious danger today. "See you soon." He promised as my heart began to flutter again.

I tumbled over my foot and into my history class. "Good afternoon, Miss Spencer." The teacher greeted me pleasantly. Well great, so much for making a break for it when no one was looking. So I sat down in my seat, resigned and quiet.

Everyone was still staring at me, and the ring on my finger felt like it weighed three thousand pounds and had a huge sign that read, 'Look at Me!' I tried to ignore them and doodled in my notebook.

The bell rang three minutes later. No Jared. I was extremely relieved, but somehow seriously disappointed at the same time.

Ten minutes later, we were in a class discussion about some old guy who founded something or other. I wasn't really paying attention, doodling in my notebook and staring at the clock, waiting for it to change. The door opened and in walked a new student.

Someone I'd never seen before. He turned towards the teacher.

Jared.

I could tell, his eyes were the same shade of blue and the scar across his left eye was still there, only more prominent. All of his shaggy black hair was shaved close to his skull in a buzz cut. His features were sharper, he towered over everyone by a good foot and he had abs. Huge abs, that you could see so very clearly through the thin, tight white t-shirt that he was wearing. His shoulders were bulging, he looked like he was going to turn into the Hulk and tear the poor shirt apart.

Then my heart picked up double speed when the teacher stopped lecturing him about his lateness and he headed over to his seat. The one that was right next to me. My hands curled into fists and I looked away at my paper, picking up my pen and tapping it in an offbeat rhythm on the desk.

He sat down and my nervous shivers started to melt away with the heat that he brought with him. It felt like I was standing next to a roaring fire. My anxious pen tapping continued without pause.

Can you say elephant in the room?

"Excuse me," He said suddenly with a sharp edge in his voice. "If you are going to tap excessively like that, can you please get a sense of rhythm first?"

I dropped my pen. "Sorry." I lifted my eyes, daring myself to look up at him.

His was narrowing his eyes at the blank paper in front of him and just like if he could sense I was looking at him, he peered at me out of the corner of his eyes.

His jaw dropped.

I blushed and looked away at my own paper, scooting as far as I could get on my stool and almost falling off. A hot hand grabbed my elbow just as I tipped over.

I didn't look at him as I righted myself and I didn't say thank you either. I sat stiff as a board for the rest of the class, trying to shake the feeling that he was watching me. I didn't succeed, because his eyes never strayed from my face.

The bell rang and I stood up so fast, my stool fell over. I didn't bother to pick it up, preferring to grab all my books and half run out of the classroom. "Hey wait up!" He called, I could hear him chasing after me.

Unfortunately, he was a lot faster than me. So having no choice and not wanting to be rude, I stopped. "Can I help you?"

He looked down at me with such admiration that I thought he was going to confess the love that he'd held for me all these years. I thought he was going to tell me that I was the only girl for him and we could ride off into the sunset together. Instead he said, "I want to know your name. Are you new? I've never seen you around before."

That caught me off guard. I felt like I was going to throw up. "I'm not new…" I mumbled. "I-I've sat next to you in almost every class since kindergarten. You were my partner for an art project in the third grade. Two weeks ago, you ran into me in the hallway and help me collect my books. I sit next to you in history every day and we did a paper together at the beginning of the year." I started rambling, I couldn't stop. "I live four blocks away from you, my sister is your sister's best friend and I've been in love with you since I was seven years old and you don't even know my name?"

"What?" He whispered, looking like I had just killed his dog in front of him. "You're in love with me?"

I blinked, realising my mistake. "I was in love with you." Then I started to walk away again. He grabbed my hand, the left one and dropped it like a hot potato.

"You're getting married?!" He exclaimed, voice rising. People stopped to watch, he was making a scene.

I panicked. "No! Jared!"

"Who is it? Who are you marrying? I'll kill him!" People started whispering Jacob's name around to each other. I heard them, but I was hoping Jared hadn't. His eyes sparked with an odd recognition and he narrowed his eyes. "Where is he? Where's Jacob Black?"

They pointed to my locker, where he waited for me to walk me to art class every day. He started to walk over to him. What is he doing? Jake looked at him from where he was standing and seemed to notice who it was. They both looked furious. I followed after him, hurrying along and hoping I could stop a fight from breaking out.

"Is this creep bothering you, Kim?" Jake asked, glancing at Jared.

But Jared just pushed him, hard by the looks of it because he flew backwards. "Who do you think you are?" Jared roared. "She's mine! Kim belongs to me!"

"She doesn't belong to anyone! She's not a damn possession, you freak!" Jake yelled right back, raising his fist and hitting Jared right in the face. Oh no. That just got Jared angrier and he went forward, looking like he was going to rip one of Jake's limbs off.

I ran between them. "Stop!" I screamed. "Stop it!" My hands went on Jared's forearms and he stopped moving and his body which seemed to be shaking was abnormally still. "Are you insane?!" I cried, grabbing onto Jake's wrist and pulling him back with me. "You're messed up. You-you stay away from me."

Jacob looked seriously angry. "Are you alright?" I murmured, reaching up to touch his face. He grabbed my wrist, flung me around onto the lockers and kissed me slowly.

"Sorry." He gasped when he was done, out of breath. I was in shock. "I wanted to wait until tonight to do that, but after that…" He grimaced. "You don't belong to him and I'm not saying that you belong to me either… you're not a possession. But I was afraid that would be me if I waited too long. And I didn't want it to be."

"Jake…" I breathed, throwing my other arm around his neck and kissing him again.

"Well, hot damn!" Quil yelled from down the hallway. "I always miss everything!" There was an echoing slap. "Ow, baby! Don't hit me like that!"

I snickered. "I'm going to be late for class." I mentioned, noticing that the hallways were pretty much empty. "Summer! Let's go!"

She suddenly linked her arm with mine. "We have a lot to talk about. Bye lover boy!" She called to Jake. "Quil, you should take romance lessons from him."

"Why do you always make me look bad, Jake?" We heard Quil whine as we walked around the corner and we both laughed.

"So, details!" She squealed as we sat down at our easels. I told her the whole story and she ooh'ed and aww'd in all the right places. After we got our assignments, I got lost in my work. I wasn't as good as Summer, but art was something I liked to believe I was okay at. "Kim, your painting looks amazing!" She gushed.

I looked up at it, almost shocked. We were drawing self-portraits of ourselves this week, starting today. I was afraid when she told us, feeling so plain and insignificant that I wanted to skip the whole project. But today I felt…beautiful. And it reflected in my work. "I'm out of green." I mumbled, embarrassed and extremely modest. I got up to get it as Summer laughed and turned around to talk to the girl beside her.

I poured the green, a little bit excited to get back to my painting and finish it. I wanted to show it to Jacob, show him how he makes me feel. I hoped he'd be proud of me. Maybe he'd kiss me again…

I grinned and half skipped back to my easel, settling down into my stool and swirling my brush in the paint, lifting it to make another stroke.

I dropped it, along with my paint tray. The whole canvas was covered in red and blue blobs. I felt tears fill my eyes, my stomach was knotting up. My painting was ruined.

"Oh Kim, I'm so sorry! I wasn't even paying attention!" Summer cried, as if it were her fault. I turned my head and looked at Paul, who was sniggering away two seats behind me.

Mrs. Long came over to me with a frown on her face. "Oh Kim, I'm sorry, I guess someone accidentally got paint on your beautiful canvas. I'm afraid there's nothing I can do, and that you're going to have to start over. I'll get you another paper."

All period, I tried to recreate what I had going. But I was no longer happy. I was frustrated, angry and ridiculed. The bell rang and I grabbed my stuff. "Where are you going!?" Summer called, her stuff falling as she tried to pack it as fast as I had.

Paul had really long legs, so he was walking faster than I could. I had to jog to even follow along. "Paul!" I called. He either didn't hear me or was ignoring me. "Paul!" I grabbed his arm.

"Woah!" He cried, flinging me off. "Oh, it's you. What?" Standing there face to face- or face to chest apparently- with him, he was a lot more intimidating. He wasn't laughing anymore, his face was so serious. And was it just me, or did he grow lately? He was catching up to Jared. "Well?" He probed.

"Uh…" I stuttered, blushing. "I just- uh, wanted to talk to you about my painting." He blinked once, not giving anything away in his face. "Why did you ruin it?"

"Look Kylie, I don't know what you're talking about."

"It's Kim."

"What?" He said, looking distracted.

I paused. "My name is… Never mind. Listen, I know you did it."

He laughed loudly. "You're such a liar, Karen. Now can I go?"

"It's Kim!" I cried. "And no you can't! I know you did it Paul, I've seen you ruin other people's paintings as well!"

"What, so now you're stalking me too?" He growled. "Jared wasn't enough? Once again, I. Don't. Know. What. You're. Talking. About." His hands twitched, so much like Jared's had before class. I backed up, realising I should have just forgotten about it. I went to walk away when he grabbed my wrist. Hard. "Oh no, we're not done here."

"Let go of my wrist!" I cried, feeling the pain searing up.

He pulled me towards him, leaning down so I was eye to eye with him. "You wanted to talk, so let's talk. Now say what you want to say."

"I-I…" I stuttered.

"Say it!" He roared in my face.

My wrist was going to fall off. I couldn't feel any circulation in my hand and I had tears of pain spilling over my face. Paul looked like a tree in a tornado, quivering and shaking like an earthquake. Then suddenly Jared was there, pushing Paul up against the locker, hand closed around his throat. He dropped my wrist and I cradled it. "Do not touch her!" Jared yelled.

"Get off of me, moron!" Paul exclaimed, shaking and thrashing. That seemed to alert Jared and he pulled him outside by the collar. The door slammed and they were both gone. My legs gave out and I fell to the ground in shock.

"Holy fuck!" Summer swore, racing over to me. "I was like, is that girl suicidal?! You don't get in Paul's face! What on Earth was so important that you felt the need to confront the most violate person in the world?" She got down to the ground with me, taking my wrist.

I squealed in pain. "He ruined my painting." I whispered.

She shook her head and gave a half laugh. "You're insane."

She prodded a sore spot on my wrist and I screamed, yanking it away from her. "Jesus!"

"What did he do to her!?" I heard Jacob yelling to random people standing around. "What happened? Kim!" He cried as he spotted me, helping me off the ground. "Did he do this?"

There was definitely something wrong with it, I could tell that easily by the way it was hanging out of the socket, just dangling there. There were purple bruises forming already. "I think I need a nurse."

"You need to go to a hospital." He murmured. "I'll take you up. Hey Quil, go to my house after school if I'm not back and tell my dad where I am okay? There's only one more period anyway." He smiled down at me. "Come on honey, let's go."

He led me out to an old green truck in the parking lot. "You drove to school today?" I laughed. "You don't have your license, do you?"

He shrugged. "Someone has to get my dad around places. I'm almost sixteen anyway, no biggie. It's a good thing I drove too, never thought I was going to need to drive my girlfriend to the hospital." He stopped talking abruptly.

"Well, your girlfriend didn't expect to have to be driven to the hospital either." I commented as nonchalantly as I could manage.

He looked at me and winked. "Aren't you just clever?"

"And you, Jacob Black, are very smooth."

"Well, I try." He laughed a little bit, buckling his seatbelt and turning the keys in the ignition. "All we need to do is find Embry a lady friend now. Know anybody who might be interested?" I looked at the glove box and he coughed. "Sorry, I uh-"

"It's fine." I murmured. "Who needs anybody else when I have Summer, Embry, Quil and you, right?"

He reached across to grab my hand firmly in his. "You really are amazing, Kim." He smiled at me. "I don't know why so many people are blind about it."

"Maybe you're just a bit biased." I commented, blushing. "Now eyes on the road, Romeo, and keep the smooth talk to yourself."

He shook his head and chuckled to himself, releasing my hand and putting his back on the wheel.

"Dr. Snow?" I asked, ten minutes later, in the lobby of the hospital. "Is Dr. Cullen in today?"

She looked up grimly. "Um, no. He's not going to be in today. But if you just wait over in the waiting room, I'll have another doctor be with you as soon as possible." Then she walked away with her little clipboard chart, shaking her head.

"Well damn," Jacob whispered as he led me over to a seat. "If I had known that, I would have called Charlie to see where he was."

I shrugged. "It's probably for the best. My mom hates that Dr. Cullen's my doctor, because of those stupid legends on the Rez. I mean, he's an amazing doctor and surgeon, shouldn't she be grateful or something?"

He grabbed my good hand and started thumb wrestling me. "Parents are weird."

We waited for two hours. Two fricken hours. People were running around and shouting, yet no one bothered to pay attention to me, the mousy girl in the chair with the dangling wrist!

"Kimberly?" Dr. Gerandy called my name as he walked in. "Would you mind coming back tomorrow? We're really busy now because Doctor Cullen has left." I held up my wrist. "Oh. Well come with me then."

Jacob stood with me. "What a creep." He murmured, eyeing him up and down. "I think I like Cullen better."

"Same."

"Hey Jake?" I wondered out loud. "What time is it?" We were back in the truck, cruising down the road that led to La Push. My wrist was placed right again and wrapped up nice and tight.

He looked at his little clock on the car radio. I tried to squint at it, but I had forgotten my glasses in my locker, so I couldn't see anything but a blur of red. "It's about quarter after five."

"Five?!" I exclaimed. "Shit!" I pulled my phone out of the back pocket out of my jeans and checked it. It was on silent and I had sixteen missed calls, seven text messages and four voicemails.

Kim! I heard about what happened at school, so call me when you get this message okay?

Kim? It's Mom. You forgot to pick up your sister at Emily's again. What did I tell you about being so irresponsible? I- Click. I skipped that and deleted it.

Okay, I'm getting ready for my date. Where the hell are you?! You have my ring, Kim. Call me back.

I'm going to wring your neck. My plan is ruined, thanks.

"Jacob, do me a favour?!" I cried. "Turn this truck around and head for Port Angeles. Now!"

He looked at me, confused. "But Kim…"

"Now!" I cried and he squealed the truck around so fast that he startled a guy driving the opposite way at us and he skidded on his breaks and honked. I wound down my window and stuck my head out it. "Sorry! It's an emergency." I froze in shock as the guy rolled down his own window. He looked like Jared, but not. He was older, obviously, with the defined features and maturity in his eyes. He was tall with the same buzz cut Jared has, but longer as it was obviously done a long time ago. He seemed to recognize me and I squinted. "Sam Uley?"

His face, indifferent and calm, lifted up into a smile. "Good afternoon Kim. Listen, I have to talk to you about something…"

"Sorry, I have no time!" I exclaimed as I looked at the time. "Step on it Jake, seriously. I can't be late. Sorry Sam! Call my mom or something." And I ducked back in as Jacob sped off.

He looked straight ahead, angrily. "I really hate Sam." He spat with venom. "He thinks he's so high and mighty, just because he's on the council. My dad thinks he's God."

I shrugged. "He seems okay."

"And you know how Jared was missing for two whole weeks? I heard that after the first few days, people saw him hanging with Sam. And all his hair was gone and he had magically gotten muscles and they were like clones. I think they're doing drugs."

"Steroids?"

He shook his head. "No… Well, maybe. But I think they're doing something else too. Something that's stronger, bigger."

"Well… As interesting as that sounds, I would really like you to step on it. Thanks."

"This truck doesn't go that fast!" He exclaimed as he pushed the speedometer to eighty-five.

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my phone. "Jeff, its Kim!" I exclaimed as soon as he picked up the phone.

"Jesus. I've been calling you all day! Where are you? You still have my ring, right? You haven't lost it? I can't believe this!" He exclaimed, throwing accusation after another.

I sighed. "Just hold on, it'll be fine. I'll see you soon."

"See me? What? Kim-" I hung up on his and leant back in my seat.

We drove for another twenty minutes silently, the radio playing in the background quietly. "Hey Jake? I don't mean to be a bother, but can you, you know, drive faster?" I commented. He rolled his eyes at me and pushed his foot a little faster on the gas pedal.

About ten minutes later, the engine rumbled and we jerked to a stop. "Shit." He cursed.

"What happened?" I panicked, looking at the time.

"I told you the car didn't go that fast." He grumbled. "The engine is stalled. Luckily I brought my tool kit with me, but it'll take me a good half an hour to fix it."

I threw open the truck door and jumped out. "I don't have that kind of time, Jake! I'll have to run. Sorry about your truck, I'll meet you back here!" Then I paused. "Don't you dare leave without me!" I hit the ground and started running, ignoring Jacob as he called me, becoming more distant until I couldn't hear him anymore.

It wasn't that long of a run to Bella Italia, I just kept up my pace and didn't stop for anything. People stared at me, but I couldn't even stop to catch my breath.

I broke through the doors of the restaurant, startling the people around. "Can I help you?" The hostess asked.

"Yes I'm-" I trailed off, catching a glimpse of bright red hair. "Excuse me. Jeffrey!" I called, jogging into the dining area.

"I'll be right back." I heard him murmur, getting up from his table. "Kim!" He cried, grabbing me up in a hug. "How did you get here?"

I laughed breathlessly, my face probably bright red from the cold and running. "Jacob drove me. I kind of stalled his truck…" I pulled the ring off my good hand and handed it to him. "Go get her, tiger."

"Come sit with us. I want you to witness this." So I did.

She said yes, of course and they offered to drive me home. I told them I should probably wait with Jacob, and asked them to drop me off where his truck was.

He was obviously done working on it, the hood was shut and everything was put away. But he was still there waiting for me, just like he promised. "Go get him, tigress." My brother winked at me from the driver's seat.

"Is that your man? Nice catch, Kim. He's a fine piece of meat." Callie commented, smiling at me.

I grinned at her. "Welcome to the family." I hopped out, waved them off and ran over to Jacob, jumping in on his side of the truck and hugging him. "I'm sorry." I murmured.

He laughed, stroking my hair. "What was the rush for?"

I explained the story to him on the way home, driving slowly into the ceasing light. "I watched you run until I couldn't see you anymore. Did you ever think about joining track?"

"I'm not always that fast. Proper motivation, you know? I'm too lazy to join track anyway."

He sighed. "I guess we don't have time for our date anymore, I'm sorry."

"Hey, I was with you. I'll take that over any dinner date any day." I stretched over and kissed him on the cheek. "Let's just enjoy the ride home together."

And we did.

I got home to a quiet household. Mom was out because she was working a double shift today and would be at work until midnight. Lakota was at Emily's. Jeff offered to go get her but he was with Callie and I really wanted them to spend some time together. So I decided to walk the short few minutes to her house.

I knocked on the door and Emily opened it, her right side bright with happiness. "Hi Kim!" She chirped. "Come inside sweetheart, Lakota's just finishing up a picture she was drawing." I smiled and kicked off my shoes, following her inside. I never wore shoes in her house, no matter how many times she told me it was okay. It was so clean that I didn't want to scuff up the floors.

"So how are you today?" She asked me as I walked into the kitchen. "Hot chocolate?"

I smiled politely. "I'd love some. And I'm great today, how are you?"

"Well, I've been better. I'm a little stress out today, as is Sam." She looked it, her eyes were drooping. I suddenly felt bad for not being around for Lakota. "Oh, don't worry about not picking her up." She saw the guilt in my eyes and glanced down at my wrist, seemingly cringing. "I heard about what happened. I don't blame you one bit. Lakota! Your sister's here."

She jumped out of the chair she was sitting in and barreled over to me. "Kim!" I scooped her up in my arms, heavy as she was getting and hoisted her on my hip. "You never picked me up."

"Sorry kiddo, accidents happen right? You go ahead and finish your drawing, I'll wait for you." I smiled and we both sat down in the chairs at the small table against the wall. The room was silent, except for the scribbling of crayons on paper.

Suddenly, the door slammed open and I could hear two male voices. I recognized one right away. Crap.

I forgot that Jake had told me about Jared and Sam. I blushed, embarrassed and ducked my head to look at the table and ran a hand over my ponytail.

"Emily," Sam shouted from the hallway. "It's no use, the kid won't budge. I swear, I thought that after I explained to him about Jared being a-" He cut off as he entered the kitchen, noticing me. "Oh. Hi Kim, how are you?"

I blushed and glanced up. "Hi." I smiled weakly. "I'm good, how are you?"

"Tired." He gave me a pitiful grin and slumped against the counter. "Listen, about what I needed to tell you earlier…"

"Kim?" Jared asked. His eyes studied me and they lit up when he realised I was actually there. "Kim!"

Oh lord. "Jared." I murmured, nodding my head.

He looked concerned. "Are you alright? How's your wrist?"

"Sore." I responded, clipped. I hoped he'd get the message and stop talking to me. But he didn't, he just stared at me like I was a million dollars in a sunken treasure chest pulled up from the ocean. Emily slid a mug of hot chocolate towards me. "Thank you."

She smiled warmly. "You're welcome dear."

I lifted my head, as hard as that was for me and tried to look Sam in the eye. He was staring at me with unabashed curiosity. "I apologize Sam, go on?"

He cleared his throat. "The council believes that it's in the best interest of everyone on the Reservation," I watched his eyes slide over to Jared. "That you did not have any sort of romantic relationship with Jacob Black."

My hand froze on the handle of the mug I was going to lift in shock. I opened and closed my mouth but nothing came out. Finally, "Are you insane?!" I shouted.

The two boys flinched back and Emily turned over to look at me. "Since when do you have any say in what I do?"

"Jacob is…" Jared tried to find the right way to phrase it. "Not the right guy for you."

I laughed hysterically. "The way you're saying that, it's making me seem like you're trying to imply that you're the right guy for me." He said nothing, just looked at me with those intense, serious blue eyes. "You've got to be kidding me! At least Jacob noticed me. At least Jake knew my name! Mr. I-didn't-actually-know-your-name-until-someone-mentioned-it-in-the-hallway!" I blew up. "I'm sorry to say this but you are seriously messed up. What kind of drugs are you taking that has your fucked up brain convinced that I even wanted anything to do with you? I'm over you! I'm finally over you, after nine years of trying to convince you that I even existed and now you want to pay attention to me? I don't play fucked up mind games, Jared! So do me a favour and leave me the hell alone!"

I looked at my sister. "Lakota, we're leaving." I snapped. "Thanks a lot Emily, I'll see you soon." I grabbed Lakota's hand and stalked out of the room.

We walked home in the cold, dark rain together. And in that five minute walk, I'd never felt so paranoid. It felt like every step I made, someone was watching me.

And I swear I saw a pair of glowing eyes in the bushes.

I made it to my room and into my bed before the tears started flowing. I kept them silent, soft muffles into my pillow until my little sister finally fell asleep. Then I started sobbing, hugging my pillow to my chest.

I dialed a number on my cell phone, trying to calm down my tears. "Hello?" A deep, groggy voice picked up

"Jake?" I whispered, sniffling.

He groaned. "Kim? Hey, is that you?" His voice turned into a husky whisper. "I shouldn't even be talking to you right now…"

"I know. But I really needed to hear your voice."

He sighed and he started to sound angry. "Did Sam talk to you?"

"Who else?"

"My dad got to me. He said that 'by mutual decision of the council, dating Kimberly Spencer would not be best for-" I cut him off.

"The rest of the people on the Reservation. I got the same speech from Sam. Only he seemed to think that Jared was the right guy for me instead." I murmured.

He got silent and I held my breath, thinking I'd crossed a line. "Jared, my ass. You're my girlfriend."

I laughed. "I thought I wasn't a possession."

"Well, you can't expect me not to get a little bit possessive when I'm jealous. I don't like fighting for you."

I reassured him. "There's no competition. Even if we just started dating, I still like you best."

"You should get some sleep, honey. It's almost midnight. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Jake?" I called his name before he hung up. "Will you just talk to me until I fall asleep?"

He paused. "Okay. I won't hang up unless you're actually asleep okay? I promise."

He rambled on in that dark, rough voice that I loved so much. He didn't wait for me to answer, he just prattled about unimportant things that kept a dreamy smile on my face as I slipped into unconsciousness.

The last thing I remember him saying was that he'd do anything for me, before I drifted off peacefully.