All of this yummy goodness belongs to Stephenie Meyer. Sigh. We can only wish.
Gaelyn, my wonderful Mexican entrée BFF, beta'd this for me. She's busy and somehow manages to make time to read my stuff.
And, also a huuuge thanks to LupsandTnks for betaing this, too. Happy birthday again and good luck with the lotto! :)
Settle in, this is a loooooong one! :)
Chapter 6—Hands Down
This night is wild,
So calm and dull,
These hearts they race,
From self control.
Dashboard Confessional—Hands Down
Bella's POV
"Bella!" Alice was getting impatient. "Let's go! We're going to be late!" She stood in the doorway, tapping her foot.
"I'm hurrying! If you would let me dress myself, I'd be done already." I put as much venom as possible into the words, as I pulled on the aquamarine glittery, strappy top Alice picked out for me from the local trendy, and expensive, boutique. Sometimes I could swear that Alice was only friends with me so she could play "Dress Up Bella" whenever she wanted.
I tripped over the rug Alice had put on the floor last week, falling and dropping everything I had just put into my purse. I swore under my breath. Winter break, which was only a few weeks away, couldn't come fast enough.
Alice sighed and walked over to me. "I'm sorry, Bella. I'm just nervous."
Alice nervous? Since when did Alice get nervous? "This party's got me all worked up. I'm so afraid that something's going to go wrong." She started gathering up the contents of my purse.
"Alice, you love parties. And you're a great planner. What could go wrong?" We stood up.
"I don't know! I've been having these dreams that the band doesn't show up, the food is awful and undercooked…" she trailed off. She was honestly worried.
"It will all be fine," I tried to reassure her with a hug. "Anyway, you look fabulous. Jasper's going to love your outfit. You've always been able to pick hot clothes!" I wasn't exaggerating. She had picked out a brightly colored silk top with geometrical shapes decorating it. She had paired it with calf length black leggings. Alice had somehow managed to make her petite frame look taller tonight. She was still freaking out. If compliments about clothes wouldn't fix her nerves, I didn't know what would.
She opened her mouth to say something back to me, but I cut her off. "And, no, no one's told him what you've got planned. It will be a surprise." I smiled at her, in a last ditch effort to pass her a little confidence. "But, you're right, we'd better go. Jake's got to be downstairs by now waiting for us."
The elevator ride downstairs was a long one. When you start on the eighteenth floor, and have to stop at every floor on the way down, it makes for quite a trip. Since Alice wasn't up for much talking, I found my mind wandering to the boy who was downstairs waiting for me.
After the football game, Jake's pursuit of me rose. At first I resisted for a couple of reasons. First, I was still unsure about starting a relationship with someone. Alice said it was because I'd never dated before.
"But tell me you've been kissed, Bella. The dating thing I can maybe understand." Alice was in disbelief. "Spin the bottle at a party? Seven minutes in heaven?"
I shook my head at her. "Yeah, Alice, like people still play those." I was trying to blow of my truth." Alice glared at me. I sighed. "No, Alice, sorry to let you down. I've never been kissed." It was true.
"Well, it only takes one good kiss for you to realize what you've been missing," she said knowingly. Those were her only words of advice on the subject.
Secondly, I was holding out hope, no matter how ridiculous, that I would see the mystery guy from the football game again. Our school is huge with almost 25,000 undergrads alone. How was I supposed to find him among all those people? I'd tried to be much more observant of those in my classes incase he was right in front of me the whole time and I had missed him. No luck.
His bronze, messy hair alone made him a standout. Several times I'd thought I'd seen him and had gone running up to someone with similar hair only to be let down. Then I would have to slow my heart down and try to get my cheeks to return to their normal, pale shade. No one had the same green eyes.
After a few weeks, I'd run out of reasons to give to Jake explaining why I wasn't as eager as he was to go out.
"You had fun at the game with me, didn't you?" He would ask, with worry in his eyes. "I didn't do anything to upset you, did I?"
He could tell he was wearing down my defenses in the end. When I finally agreed to go out with him on a more regular basis, his response was almost… smug.
"Now, that wasn't so hard was it? I knew you'd come around in the end." I couldn't be offended; he always flashed his big, bold grin or let out that booming laugh of his.
It's not that I didn't have a blast when I was with Jake, because I did. He always found a way to make me laugh, even if it was because of something stupid I did, like trip on a raised brick in the sidewalk. Or drop my entire tray of food in the dining hall spilling chili all over myself, because I got tangled by my own feet. Both of which had happened. I was too embarrassed to even see the humor till Jake's laughing filled my ears.
However, I didn't know if I agreed with Alice's dating advice about kissing.
Growing up, you have all these ideas of how your first kiss should be: walking along the beach, with the moon shining and the stars twinkling. Or after I'd gotten playfully tackled to the ground in a snowball fight, snow in my hair as well as falling from the sky.
One part was right. And that would be the falling. But in my case, it was me into water instead of snow onto the ground.
Jake had packed a picnic dinner for us to take to the local lake. It was a beautiful night. The sun was just starting to set, reflecting rippling reds and oranges all over the water. There was just enough chill in the air for me to know fall was definitely settling in.
I opened Jake's basket to find standard, white Styrofoam take out containers.
"What is this, Jake?" I opened the first container. "Sweet and sour chicken?" I looked at him, totally offended. "You invite me on this great picnic and have the audacity to serve Chineese take out? Are you kidding?"
Jacob squirmed. "Um, I'm not really the best cook," he offered in apology.
I burst into giggles. "Gotcha! Just kidding, I love Chineese." His face lit up again, glad to know he was off the hook.
The evening was going great til Jake wanted to walk out on the docks.
We were walking along the marina. There were several boats in their slips, but since the weather was turning cooler, most of the docks were empty. Jake and I were holding hands just meandering along, looking at some of the boats when he had the grand idea to pretend to throw me in the lake. He went to playfully shove me over the edge. Everything would have been fine if I didn't have the clumsiest feet known to man. My foot caught on one of the metal boat tie downs, I fell out of Jake's hands and right over the side of the marina. Into the freezing cold water.
It didn't take long for Jake to drag me out, sopping wet and spiting water. I was afraid Alice's outfit of designer jeans and pink cashmere sweater were ruined beyond repair. I'm sure I had mascara running down my face. And I know my hair was caked to my head.
Jake was laughing so hard he was doubled over.
"Really, it's not that funny," I sputtered at him, mad that I had let my clumsiness show so much. "I'd like to go home, please." I stalked off.
"Aw, Bella, you'll dry off!" He caught up with me at the car, still laughing. He found a raggedy old towel in his car and started to dry me off as best as he could. I was still cold and shivering. Jake wrapped me in his arms and rubbed them on my back trying to warm me up.
"No-no-not wo-work-k-king," I had tilted my face up to him as I rattled this out.
I didn't realize how close his face was to mine till I looked up. "Give me a chance, Bella, and it will." Jake's voice had grown husky.
Gently, he lowered his lips to meet mine. Our kiss started out very sweet, but quickly turned very… wet.
When I got home, Alice bombarded me.
"Bella! Your clothes! They're ruined!" She confirmed my fear. "What happened?" I filled her in about the lake, me, and our unfortunate meeting. Finally, I convinced her to let me take a shower to get the lake off of me. Once I was warm and dry, she pounced again.
"I know he kissed you! I can see it in your face!" I didn't want to tell her at first. But, I knew she wouldn't give up until she had every last detail.
"Alice, I didn't know kissing was so... I don't know. It just wasn't what I expected." I sighed. "Well, I don't think I was missing anything." I made a face.
"What? Tell me, Bella!"
"Alice, if you laugh, I will hurt you."
"Fine, just tell me!" She could sense this was going to be good at my expense.
"Well, it was… um… it was… wet." I hung my head.
She bust into laughter. "Bella! That's the best thing you've said in ages!"
I did nothing but glare at her. Rather meanly.
She stopped laughing. Her tone turned gentler. "It will get better, Bella. Don't worry about it." She patted me on the head and smiled.
I don't know if mine and Jake's kissing had really gotten better, but it had gotten more frequent from there.
With a cheery ding we reached the dorm lobby. And, just like I thought, Jake was standing in the lobby, pacing back and forth. He noticed our arrival as soon as we got off the elevator. He covered the distance between us in a couple of large strides, not taking his eyes off of me. He pulled me into an embrace.
"You look stunning," he whispered into my ear, bringing a blush to my cheeks. I never will get used to his compliments.
"Thanks. You don't look so bad yourself." He was wearing dark jeans and a hunter green button up. I smiled at him as he took my hand.
"Hey, Alice. Are you ready for Jasper's party?" He was trying to be polite. Like me, he figured she was beside herself with excitement.
"I think so," she squeaked. This was so not like her.
We loaded into Jake's small Volkswagen Rabbit and headed downtown.
Today was Jasper's birthday. Alice rented out his favorite place to hang out, booked a band, ordered food and was throwing a huge blowout. Her theory was that Jasper wouldn't be expecting any kind of large celebration on his nineteenth birthday because she'd thrown another huge bash when he turned eighteen the year before. I think he thought he was safe till he turned twenty-one. He would have been safe with anyone but Alice.
Jasper was arriving with his ROTC buddies under the pretenses that it was guy's night out. I'd been teasing him about it for a week. I kept telling him I knew he was happy to not have to hang out with Jake and I all the time. Jasper, always being the gentleman, swore he never minded and that he needed to make sure Jake was behaving himself around me. I just roll my eyes at this.
The club looked great. Alice and I had made a banner reading "Happy Birthday, Jasper!" and it was hanging over the bar. She had hung streamers and balloons all over everything. The food tables were set along the back wall. The chafing dishes were already set out along with plates, silverware and serving utensils. Once Alice saw all of this, I could see her visibly calm down.
"Jasper should be here in about thirty minutes. All that's missing is the band. Oh look! They're here!" She pointed towards the back exit of the club. A guy was pushing in equipment to set up. He was possibly the biggest person I'd ever seen. He was muscular and tall.
"Oh my gosh, he's huge! Look at him, Alice! I wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley!" I laughed. The front door of the club opened and several people entered the room. "Alice, you go talk to the band. I'll go greet."
She walked off to talk to the equipment pusher. I took my place by the door to welcome the few people who just arrived.
"Thanks for coming! Jasper should be here in a little bit." I smiled as they made their way to the bar. People kept coming and coming.
"How many more could she have invited?" Jake hadn't left my side the whole time. He wrapped his arms around my waist for a quick embrace. Neither oneof us knew everyone Alice had invited, but the welcome was still the same.
"I don't know! The room's already packed." I leaned into his hug. He responded with a kiss on top of my head.
Alice came bounding up to me. "Bella! I'm so excited! Everything is going so great. I don't know why I was so worried." Her light laugher floated over the crowd. "I wonder when Jazz will get here?"
As if on cue, the door opened and Jasper's friend Nate came in the door. "He'll be here in just a minute. They are parking the car now!"
"Does he have any idea?" Alice was bouncing.
"Not a clue," Nate answered with a grin.
The door opened and all of Jasper's friends came streaming in. Jasper was last.
"Surprise!" The room erupted into shouting. Jasper froze, shocked, and Alice bounded towards him.
"Happy birthday, baby!" She gave him a kiss. "I knew you'd be surprised!"
The band launched into a cover of a popular 80's song. Half of the crowd swarmed Alice and Jasper; the other half headed to the dance floor.
I looked at Alice and Jasper, both of whom were practically bursting with love for each other, and wondered if I would ever find someone that made me that happy.
"Come on, Bella, let's dance." Jacob interrupted my thoughts.
"Jake! You know I'm an awful dancer!"
"Like I'd let you fall," he rolled his eyes and pulled me out onto the floor.
As much as I'm not a dancer, I sure had a great time trying. Jake never took his hands off me; there was literally no way I could have fallen, tripped or slipped. I was having a blast. The band was great. I couldn't really see them from where Jake and I were standing, but they were loud enough that you didn't have to see them. They played mostly covers but would occasionally throw in an original tune that actually wasn't bad.
Finally, Jake decided we could take a break. I suspected it was because the band decided to take a break. We wove our way in and out of the people still on the dance floor to get something to eat and drink. Jake's plate was overflowing.
"Jake, did you leave any food for the other people?" It was almost unbelievable how much he could eat... like he really was a bottomless pit.
"Ya I eff ome." He was too busy eating to answer me properly.
From where we were sitting, we could see the band was about to start playing again. The huge guy who was moving equipment earlier was the drummer. He looked like he could barely fit behind the drum set. There was another guy who was the bassist, I think. He had light brown hair that fell into his eyes. He looked like he was an overly serious type. The third member had his back to me, so I couldn't get a good look at him. He had reddish hair-- no, it was more of a bronze color, and it seemed to have a mind of its own. It was sticking out in every direction.
Could it be? My mind instantly drew up images of the mystery guy from the football game. My heart beat sped up. I could feel the color creeping into my cheeks
He turned around, still looking down at his guitar, tuning it. He looked up and out at the crowd with a bit of a glazed expression, almost as if he was thinking hard about something.
I gasped in surprise.
It was him. The guy I'd seen at the game. With the eyes and face I'd been blocking from my mind for two months now. My heart was beating so fast I was almost lightheaded.
But, even though Jacob and I had been dating for a while, and I enjoyed his company, his face was not the one I saw when I shut my eyes at night and tried to sleep.
It was his.