4. Starvation Is Never a Good Idea
The journey back went along as smoothly as it had started. Our conversations were easy, no conflicts, and occasionally we had some races. She won every time, but not by much. Seth had been wrong; I was obviously not faster than Leah. Maybe I was faster than before, but I was no match for Leah. No one was. We finally got back home on the dawn of the fifth day of my mission. It had been so long since I had seen Nessie. Now I no longer felt pain when I said her name because we were back home.
We rushed into the clearing in front of the cottage and immediately Leah read my thoughts and knew what we were doing there. Nessie came running out towards me to greet me.
Oh! Leah sounded extremely shocked.
What? I searched her thought for the reason behind her surprise.
She just looks so grown up…in person. In your head she looked like she was a child.
What are you talking?
Maybe your memories are from a while back or maybe she just grew again since you last saw her.
No. The memories of her you saw in my head are from the days before I left. They are recent; and she hasn't grown in the past five days. Her growing has progressively slowed down.
No but she looks so much older. She looks like she's an adult not like the childish person I saw in memories. It's like she looks different because you- She didn't finish her thought instead she started to think, I'm going to go phase I want to meet her in person I'll be back.
Ummm Okay.
"Jake!" Nessie exclaimed as she rushed over to me and tried to wrap her arms around my neck. She couldn't reach to the height of my mane, so I bent my head over. She clutched on and I pulled her off the ground by lifting my head. She laughed.
"Jake, hey put me down!" She nearly screamed in excitement. I hadn't lifted her up since she was little little and I guess she missed that.
I sat her down, as she wished, and before she could ask to be lifted again Leah returned.
"Hi" Nessie greeted Leah somewhat hesitantly.
"Hi Nessie. I'm Leah Clearwater." This Leah greeted Nessie with no hurt or resentment it was pure sincerity that I heard in her voice.
"Clearwater? Are you related to Seth Clearwater?" Nessie looked bewildered at her. She must have been so confused.
"Yeah. Actually he's my brother."
"Oh." Nessie stared blankly into the sky, she always did this when she was thinking deeply about something.
I couldn't stand it anymore. I needed to explain things to her. I ran over to the closest tree and phased but I quickly realized that I had no bottoms to wear. Fortunately, Edward came around the tree and handed me a pair of khaki shorts.
"I thought you might need them." Edward said with a crooked smile emerging on his face.
"I bet you thought." I said in an accusing tone and then added "but thanks anyways"
I put the pants on and started walking back towards Nessie, Leah, and Bella. I hoped nothing horrible had happened since I turned my back. They seemed to be getting along. Leah was smiling warmly and so was Bella. It didn't look like Leah harbored any negative feelings towards Bella. Nessie also smiled back but there was something off in the way she smiled. Her smile was still stunningly perfect but there was something different about it.
"Hey Leah, you should probably head back to the reservation. Everyone is kind of waiting for you, even though most of them are most likely asleep. But still they've been waiting for you to arrive."
"Ya, your right. Are you coming?" She looked at me and understood my answer from the silence. "That's all right, I should have known. I think I remember my way home." She smiled but looked scared at the same time.
"If you need me to come with you I will." I said trying to comfort this more likable Leah.
"No, no, no. I'll see you guys later" She waved goodbye and started walking away.
"Wait a second please" I heard Edward say. My heart skipped a beat. I had no idea what he was going to say but whatever he said I hope it didn't set off the old Leah's temper.
Leah turned around and Edward began speaking. "I just wanted to give you a head's up that today is Thanksgiving and the wedding is tomorrow"
It was Thanksgiving already. I could see the shock on Leah's face that mirrored my own. We both had had no concept of time for the past week.
Edward continued, "I just wanted to tell you first so you wouldn't be surprised when you got home. Also perhaps we will see you later this afternoon. Goodbye, Leah. Hope you have a good welcoming home." That was generously nice of Edward to say to someone like Leah.
"Oh." She mouthed that it was barely audible to hear her voice. She was just as taken back as I was. "Um yeah Edward thanks for telling me. I-I'll guess see you later this afternoon."
She furrowed her eyebrows slightly together and started running home.
"Nice haircut Jake" I darted my attention back to Nessie.
"Thanks." I said. I wasn't sure whether she was being sarcastic or not, she was eyeing my haircut. I had no idea how my hair looked. Leah had cut it the other day after I had told her I needed a haircut. I assumed it looked good but now I wasn't so convinced.
Bella intertwined into the conversation "When did you get it done?"
"Leah actually did on our way home." I ran my fingers self consciously through my hair but soon discovered that it was short to do that. It was longer than the crop I'd gotten when I joined the pack but I still felt bare.
"I like it. It suits you." Bella said with a smile that reminded me of my best friend.
"Cool. So today is really thanksgiving?"
"Ya it is" Nessie nearly screeched "I'm starving!"
"That is what you get for going on a hunger strike Renesmee." I heard Edward reproach Renesmee. She'd gone on a hunger strike? Why on Earth she would do that? She might have vampire parents that didn't need to feed everyday but she was half human and humans needed to eat and drink daily or else they might die. I shuttered at the thought of my Nessie dying. I wouldn't be able to bare without her. I tried to shove off the thought and focus on the conversation that was ahead of me.
"Nessie you need to eat! Are you crazy? Why would you wanna do such a dangerous thing?"
She looked away from my eyes and looked shyly on the ground. Edward answered me instead. "She went on a hunger strike for you. She was determined not to eat until you back home."
I looked incredulously at Nessie. "Why would you do such a thing like that?"
She looked up at me, her big brown eyes blinking. She almost looked embarrassed or maybe ashamed. A veil of her curls wrapped around her face that looked almost like they were protecting her. Then she opened her mouth, "Because I missed you." I kept my eyes focused on her eyes and she did the same. I was absolutely petrified. I had no idea what to say. On the one hand, I hated myself for leaving her because it caused her physical pain; she hadn't eaten since I left. But then again I was almost so amazed that she had missed me so much that she was doing physical actions to show how much she cared for me. I was rendered speechless.
"Nessie you didn't have to do that for me." I tried to end the serious moment with the joke. "On the bright side you'll be empty so you'll be able to eat all the Thanksgiving food in the world."
She brightened up. "Yum that's true. I'm hungry just thinking about it and I barely woke up ten minutes ago."
I hadn't gone to bed in twenty-four hours, I was tired. I bet Leah was too.
"Before we move on to a different subject I would like to inform you that Bella and I will not be joining Thanksgiving for obvious reason. We will actually rejoin the rest of the Cullen family today when you two are feasting. We won't return until tomorrow morning, but don't worry we will be here in time for the wedding. Bella and I were also wondering if you would uh" Edward searched for the right word. "Babysit Renesmee for us while we are gone for the night?"
"Sure Edward no problem I'm down to babysit Renesmee" I looked at Renesmee making sure she heard my emphasis on the word babysit.
She glared up at me and I played along. "If you don't behave I'm going to have to put you in a time out." She couldn't hold her glare and smiled in place of her scowl. She could never be mad at me.
Edward and Bella went back inside the house and left Nessie and I to hang out together.
"I missed you" I started.
"I missed you more" She objected.
"I highly doubt that Nessie."
"Okay whatever but who was that girl, Leah Clearwater." I would have rather talked about other subject besides Leah but Nessie had asked me so I had no other choice but to give her what she wanted.
"She's Seth older sister. She going to be the bridesmaid at Charlie and Sue's wedding. Remember your mom was talking about the possibility of being the bridesmaid at the wedding?"
"Ya I remember Jake. But she's a wolf and she obviously female."
Oh she caught me completely off guard. We never spoke about Leah and Leah had never seen Nessie before, except for in our heads. So unsurprisingly Nessie should not have known who Leah was and her situation. "She's a wolf and she is the only girl wolf in the pack. It's a long story."
"Well shorten it!" She exclaimed.
"Okay hmmm how can I say this, she basically just lives on her own now since she is the only girl wolf. It is more comfortable for her if she lives that way." I hoped my simplified shortened version of the story would satisfy Nessie's curiosity.
She looked up at the sky again. "So you brought her here, from wherever she was, so she could attend her Miss Sue's wedding."
"Yup that's it Nessie."
"She'll be my step auntie once they're married?"
"Hmm I haven't really thought about that but your right I suppose. As of tomorrow she'll be part of the family."
We said goodbye to Bella and Edward before we headed over to the Clearwater's for the Thanksgiving meal. Bella and Edward were somewhat hesitant to leave Nessie with me, though they had done it over a hundred times. We walked over to the Clearwater's , instead of running. We normally would run but because I was tired and hungry and she was tired and hungry, it was just my luck, we both walked along together peacefully.
Nessie started a conversation on our way over there, "So I thought Native Americans didn't celebrate Thanksgiving but I guess I'm wrong?"
I started laughing even though it was a legitimate question. "Most don't but we do."
"Awe so I see you're the exception."
"Exactly. Aren't I always?" She and I both began laughing together in harmony. When Nessie stopped our harmonious symphony, she stared up at me a little longer than normal. I had gotten a haircut; I thought the haircut was the solution to the weird stares. I didn't understand. "Nessie is there something wrong with my face?" She shook her head as if exiting out of a trance. Then she looked up at me wildly blinking her chocolate brown eyes.
"There are zero thing wrong with your face. It's absolutely perfect." She said with an unexpectedly bold smile.
I smiled an audacious smile back at her. "Well I guess I already knew that."
She beamed a radiant smile then shook her head and became serious. "So back to my original question, why do you guys celebrate Thanksgiving?"
"It's kind of ironic, huh?" She nodded her head up and down. "Well for us, it's more of an excuse to hold a celebration where all the family gets together, rather than a celebration of whatever they teach in the textbooks. The stories in the history books are bogus."
"I think it is so cool you guys do that. No one really cares about the Pilgrims anyways. Thanksgiving is just an overly commercialized holiday. I'm glad you guys center it around the family instead getting wrapped up in the superficial part of it."
I was surprised about her evaluation on our Thanksgiving celebration situation. She was so smart. I had never given it much thought before. It surprised me but then again Nessie managed to surprise me everyday with something she did.
When we got to the Clearwater's the entire gang was there. That made me happy. My dad was there with my sister Rachel, which meant Paul was here. Rebecca couldn't come again since she decided to stay in Hawaii this year. I saw Seth and Sue with Leah, it looked like they were getting along fine. That relieved me. I had been a good Alpha, for today at least. Charlie came awkwardly and greeted us at the door. He beckoned us to come inside with a hand gesture. Charlie was so funny to watch whenever he saw Renesmee. He was always paralyzed in shock by the progress of Nessie's growth.
"Hi Ness." He said with sparkling admiring eyes.
He opened his arms and Nessie ran into to them with too much force. He let out a gruff sound as the air whooshed out of his lungs. She realized her mistake and let go of Charlie. Despite that, he smiled and welcomed his granddaughter back into his arms. She hugged him again, but this time she did it with less strength.
"Hi grandpa!" She exclaimed. "I missed you so much." She gave Charlie a peck on the cheek. And I swear, I think he blushed a little. Nessie and Bella, before she transformed, and Charlie all shared the same trait; the always blushed.
"Hey Jake. How's it going?"
"It's going good." Charlie never forgot about the day I told him, more showed him, I was a werewolf. He seemed to always act differently around me since that day, but maybe someday he'd get over it. In any case, he was marrying into the werewolf family so he'd better get used the idea seeing werewolves. I knew he would be able to do it, but seriously everyone was giving me weird looks recently so couldn't he at least stop for the day. "How are you doing?"
"Everything is fine." He shifted his attention to Nessie. "Where's your mother?" He asked her.
"I thought Mom told you they were going to visit Grandpa Carlisle today?"
"She did. I just thought they would come say hello before they left." Charlie had a frown forming on his face making his crow's feet disappear.
I cut in, "We're here gramps. We don't need boring old Bella to have a party. If I remember correctly she didn't do well at parties anyway."
He smiled and said, "She took after me. We both hate the parties."
"Well I guess that sucks for you because you're in Quiluete territory and we party."
He smiled with his lips together. "Great." Then he turned around and started walking away mumbling something about werewolves.
Nessie let out a giggle and then all the eyes in the room were on her. She always captivated the attention of others by doing one thing or another, but her laugh was the most potent. It was annoying when we went out and I saw other men looking at her, not boys but men. Guys her age were usually too shy to even look at her. But men gazed all they wanted. What the hell is wrong in their heads she is only sixteen for crying out loud.
Sue came up to greet us and was her usual kind-hearted self. She loved Nessie but then again who didn't. After satisfying her Nessie craving, she greeted and thanked me. She didn't need to specify what she thanked me for because I already knew.
It was still early in the day but Nessie and I were starving to death. Leah overheard us talking and asked us if we wanted to help her make some bread before the big lunch. My reply, "Hell ya I'm freakin' starving. I haven't eaten since that day we caught that massive moose together."
Her eyes widened and she laughed. "Me too. I haven't eaten since that day. I'm so hungry. That moose was pretty colossal. I'm positive it must have been prehistoric or something."
"What if it was a shape shifter like you guys?" Nessie said in a grim voice. She had to be kidding that moose couldn't have been a shape shifter even though it was rather large… It did take two of us two take it down… Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God we killed someone!
I gave Leah a horrified expression but she broke out laughing. "Imagine it, someone phasing into a moose!" She was right. Why would anyone shape-shift into that. As far as I was concerned we were the only tribe that could shape-shift. I joined her laughter. Nessie was wrong for once, she must really be hungry because she was going delusional. When we finally caught our composure Leah was nearly crying. It was official I liked this Leah better.
"Nessie's hunger must be talking." I used as an explanation for Nessie's random anomalous outburst.
Suddenly, Nessie's cheeks flared up and she said, "I am starving so can we just make the bread already." She sounded every word through her teeth. She must be having one of her rare(not so rare anymore) tantrums. Before I could say anything to calm her down she stormed off into the kitchen. Wow I thought she only got mad at her parents but now she was mad at me. I had to fix this. She couldn't be mad at me, she just couldn't. I followed her into the kitchen leaving Leah behind.
Nessie had her face buried in the pantry, looking for ingredients I supposed. "Nessie?" She whipped her head around and I was bracing myself for the worse.
"Yeah Jake?" She replied in her normal mesmerizing voice. I studied her face, then looked at the flour in her hand. She didn't have a trace of resentment in her face like she did just few seconds ago. She got over that tantrum fast. I was glad that she couldn't stay angry at me no matter the situation. I hoped she wouldn't redirect her anger Leah because she could not be mad at me. Leah was doing so well, it would only take one little incident to piss her off. Then run off like a fire cracker.
Leah walked into the room and my muscles tensed. "I'm sorry Nessie if you thought I was making fun of you, because I wasn't."
The hairs on the back of my neck started to rise. Just one little altercation and Leah's years of yoga classes would be for nothing. Please don't be mad at Leah. Please don't be mad at Leah…
"It's okay. I forgive you. I don't know what happened I just overreacted but thanks for apologizing." Nessie hadn't freaked out .All the muscles in my body relaxed. Nessie was her normal perfectly polite self again. "Too be honest, it wasn't even you who made me angry. Jake made me psych out." She looked at me and grinned. I grinned back at her but I was still kind of confused about what had just happened.
Note to self: Among promising to be the best Alpha I can be. I also must never piss Nessie off again.
My stomach churned but it wasn't from hunger. "Sounds like someone is very veryhungry" Leah said in a babying tone to me. Nessie and Leah shared a chuckle and my stomach felt better. At least they were getting along.
For the duration of our bread making time, Nessie and I had managed to have a flour fight and gone unnoticed by Leah and everyone else. When we put the loaves in the oven Leah finally noticed that we were covered nearly head to toe in white dust. She gasped and then said that we needed to be hosed down before her mom saw us. Luckily her mom was upstairs stairs getting old photo albums. We snuck out the front door, unfortunately not before everyone saw us. They looked at us like we were all crazy, but we would be in the clear as long as Sue didn't see us. Leah showed us where the hose was and that's when all hell broke loose because Nessie and I started to have a water hose fight. I was winning considering that I was not as soaked as she was. She was more drenched and clean and I was a watery flour mess. I gave her a chance to get back at me, and sooner than I expected I was clean head to toe in dripping wet clothes. We sat outside waiting for our clothes to dry with our body heat. Well, dry enough to the point where it wasn't noticeable they were drenched. Since our body temperatures ran slightly higher the drying process was much quicker. We were in the middle of discussing who had won the battles today when we smelled the bread in the kitchen. We both caught the divine aroma and bolted straight for the house. We ran in a disorderly manner but once we reached the door of the house we composed ourselves.
In the kitchen, Leah was taking the bread out of the oven to cool. I wanted to stuff the entire loaf into my mouth. Heck, I wanted to stuff all four loaves into my mouth. I started salivating. "Those look really good."
"I agree." Said Nessie, expressing my same amount of excitement I had.
We stood there staring, "When do you think they'll be ready to devour?" Nessie asked breaking our silence.
"Now or maybe…now but I'm pretty sure NOW is good." I suggested.
Sue walked in the kitchen and saw us ogling at the loaves. "Hey guys having fun?" She asked with a perplexed look on her face.
We enlightened her on our situation. She then proceeded to as ask us, "Want to help me slice them up and put it on the table."
NO, I wanna eat them.
"Sure we'll help you Mrs,Clearwater." Nessie said in her usual well-mannered voice.
I looked at Nessie giving her a disappointed look. She looked at me and smiled her perfect smile. I would never be able to say no when she did that. We sliced the bread and put them in decorative lacey baskets. Alice would probably fall head over heels for them. Gosh I knew the bloodsucker too well. I walked out of the kitchen carefully balancing three of the four baskets in my arms. Nessie followed carrying one basket. We placed them on the dining table, specially elongated for the today's event.
People flocked to the oven fresh bread. Before anyone reached them I grabbed several slices for myself and Nessie. She devoured the pieces I gave her. I did the same, though I think I inhaled the food rather than chewing it. The slice tasted heavenly and didn't settle my hunger. I wanted more. I looked at Nessie who had the same look of dissatisfaction as I did. Leah called to us from inside the kitchen. We went to her and saw another loaf in front of her on the island.
"Ta-da!" She called. "I made sure I made another one for us but we have to eat it quick. I don't want my mom to see us because she'll tell us not to ruin our appetite and blah blah blah. You understand." She said with a sweet smile.
"When did you have time to make it Leah?" Nessie said with an eager smile on her face.
"I made it when you guys were having the flour fight." She smiled at Nessie and Nessie smiled back a little embarrassed. Leah cut the loaf into 3 equal parts. We all gulped down our own portions. I was surprised Nessie could eat so much for her small size but then again she hadn't eaten in days.
"Thanks Leah so so much. I really needed that. It hit the spot." Nessie said while cleaning her crumbs.
"You're welcome. Just make sure no one else knows. Especially Seth, he is starving he would kill me if he knew."
We were stuffed for the rest of the day until it was time to eat the Thanksgiving meal. I sat at the dining table and as the food was set on the table my stomach fall of a sudden felt empty. The food was great and the dinner conversation was even better. They mostly seemed to revolve around Leah, but I was fine with that. Everyone seemed drawn to Leah like they had been years ago, before Sam dumped her. She could barely eat in-between the questions that were asked of her. I knew she was hungry, she hadn't eaten since the last time I ate, so I deflected the conversation from her. I started babbling something about Nessie and immediately everyone was drawn to Nessie and started talking to her. I looked at Leah and gave her a wink then she understood and gave me a 'thank you' look. I shrugged and joined in on the conversation.
The day seemed to pass quickly along, quicker than I would have liked. When we parted it was nearly dark. The sun would set probably any minute. To stuffed to run we walked home, like we had done this morning, when we were too hungry.
"Jake?" Nessie asked in her curious voice.
"Mhm."
"Leah's really interesting."
I stared at Nessie, curious to where she was going with this. "Mhm."
"I'm glad you went to get her. I had no idea who she was at first, but now I know and I'm glad you got her." Nessie had heard part of Leah's bio story during the Thanksgiving meal.
"Well I'm glad you like her."
"Yeah she's okay…She's pretty."
"Yeah I guess she is." I always thought Leah was pretty. Everyone thought she was pretty, until Sam imprinted on Emily and Leah became ugly with hate.
"I overheard something else, but I'm not exactly sure if I heard it right."
"Mhm." I didn't know where she was going and I didn't like it.
"So Sam broke up with Leah for Leah's cousin? Leah's so perfect though, I don't understand why he would do that. I thought he was nice. What kind of jerk dumps someone like Leah. I can't believe Emily could be so conniving… were they having an affair or something behind Leah's back?"
I stared in shock at her. I had no idea how to respond. My mouth fell open, I couldn't believe she had heard all that. How was I going to explain it to her? I managed to stutter out, "Uhh…that's basically it." She didn't need to know everything. I would let her believe Sam and Emily were having an affair behind Leah's back as long as it kept her from the truth about imprinting. She didn't need to know about that subject for a long time.
" Grr. I can't believe they would do something like that. They ruined Leah's life. I can't believe Sam was such a…such a douche bag! And Emily's such a…she's a slut! I would never do anything like that to my best friend/ cousin! Even though, I don't have any cousins and my best friend is you. I would never do that to you!" I coutinued to listen to her firery rant. I almost was shocked how many cuss words she knew. She never ever cussed, but I was too out of it to tell her cussing was a bad habit. I felt bad for not telling her the truth, and worse for letting her believe Sam and Leah were horrible people. But in all truth to the outside eye, Sam and Leah looked like the bad guys. When Bella and Edward came back we would have to talk about this subject of imprinting. We had previously decided not to tell her about imprinting until she was all grown up but would that need to change?
I finally gained my speech back and spoke back to Nessie to stop her rant. "Nessie you need to stop cussing. That's not a good habit and I know I do it all the time but I'm a bad kid. I've always been, but if you parents come back and they find you cussing they will never let me be alone with you again. Edward hates me enough as it is and after this he'll probably rip my head off."
"I don't care who my dad says I can see and can't see. I would sneak out to see you."
She was being so complicated, so stubborn like her mother. "No, Nessie you need to listen to your parents. They know what's right for you and when you start getting angry at them, they have no idea what to do. They love you and it hurts them when you talk back to them. So please stop cussing, so Edward will continue to let me see you. And if you don't wanna stop for your parents, do it for me. I couldn't live if I wasn't able to see you for the rest of my life."
She looked at me in adoration, her big brown eyes flittering from one eye to the other. "Okay Jake I'll try to stop. I'll try to control myself. I don't want to hurt them and I don't want to be banned from seeing you. I'll try not to use curse words in my vocabulary but it's just that…that makes me so angry! Leah loved Sam and he broke her heart into millions of little pieces. He crushed her and he doesn't even care because he's with his pregnant wife! That just makes me so mad. I just don't understand how he could do that to someone he loved." She took her eyes away from mine and looked up at the sky. She was thinking deeply.
"Also, I want you to promise me that you will never ever starve yourself for me or anyone else again. Promise?" It was more of a command than a question.
"I promise." She said in a sigh. She looked away into the stars again.
We arrived in the cottage in silence. It was awkwardly quiet so I tried to turn the mood around. As soon as we were at home I turned around and said, "Yeah now the party can finally start. No adult supervision needed for this party!"
"Jake aren't you an adult?" She asked with an amused smile on her face.
"Yeah, but I am and will always be a kid at heart." I smiled a huge grin at her and squinted my eyes shut.
"Okay, I guess that's right. That explains why you're so immature."
"Hey I wouldn't be talking I am older than you be several years."
"Ya but girls mature faster than boys and I am exceptionally mature for my age. Look at me for crying out loud, I'm probably more mature than you." She giggled and walked off to the bathroom. "I'm going to take a shower."
I was glad I lightened her mood. When she was happy I was happy. When she was sad I wanted to die. Thank goodness I could always make her laugh.
Thanks for reading! Please leave comments! I'll try to get some more chapters up over the holidays! Happy holidays Everyone
