Only Child Chapter 6
I awoke to find bright rays of golden sunshine streaking through the nylon curtains. It was disorientating, I lay in bed for almost an entire minute trying to remember when exactly I was. It came back to me eventually, I was in the 'lovely' town of Forks. Great. got dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, even with the forecast sunshine, I knew from my Mom's experience that the weather up here could be unpredictable and in any case, Forks was no Florida.
It was around 9 am, I figured my parents would be awake now, and I was hungry for once. I made my way to their room, leaving my door latched- so I wouldn't have to fumble around with key cards on the way back.
"Mom, what's for breakfast?" I half-shouted as I knocked on the door.
The was the sound of rustling sheets and muffled voices from inside before my mom,-already clothed, her make-up fully applied- opened the door.
"Well be ready in about 5 honey, we're gonna grab a bite to eat at the diner your dad and I went to yesterday, you ok with that?"
I nodded. "Im gonna go wait in my room, come get me went your good to go." I headed back to my room to get my purse.
It took my parents nearly 25 minutes to come get me, my Dad's not really a morning person, unless sport or pancakes were involved. I figured at the moment, neither of them were.
I ended up having waffles with butterscotch sauce fir breakfast, we went to this diner that looked as if it were straight out of a 50's movie. It was actually kinda freaky. Everything about the place screamed 'Rock 'n' Roll', even the waitresses uniforms, which were salmon pink dresses. Who ever owned this place must be old or insane. Don't get me wrong, the food was great, but who wants to be greeted by salmon pink and a pained expression in the morning- nobody.
"Mom, what are we doing today?" I asked once we were all finished eating.
My mom sipped slowly from her coffee before answering. "Well, this morning we are going for a little hike in the forest,"
I groaned, Dad gave me a stern look.
"we wont stay too long, but I think we could all do with some fresh air for a change. Then at about 12:30 we are going to Charlie's for an hour, and after that we are going to La Push for a BBQ."
"Alright, sounds. . .fun." I smiled slightly. "But when we get to L.A, im choosing where we go."
Dad gave me a funny look. "Sounds great, beach, shopping, fancy restaurant, beach, fancy restaurant, shopping, beach, shopping. What more could we possibly want to do"
"Shut up Dad." I said, playfully smacking his arm. "We could go to a Dodgers game as well."
"You two finished?" Mom asked as she got up from the table. Dad and I nodded and followed her to the car.
The rest of the morning passed sluggishly, I'd never been one for nature or the outdoors, unless there was a beach involved. To be frank walking around in the forest bored me to tears, if I hadn't have had my ipod on me I would probably have gone insane. I don't know why my mom was soo desperate to go hiking anyway, she's not much of a nature girl either. I gotta admit though, the air up here is real clear, crisp almost; not like back home, people who aren't used to it say its like breathing in soup. Whatever, just cos they like breathing in air that's as thin as a piece of tracing paper. We were driving down a small, residential street now, it seemed like an eternity since I had seen anything that wasn't a tree. I would be glad when today was over.
Charlie, my Mom had told me earlier that morning, still lived in the house that they had brought together just after they had married, nearly 40 years ago! As we drove up to the small, weather building I felt a pang of, sadness. The house itself looked as lonely as its owner probably felt, if I hadn't had known better I would have thought that the place was abandoned.
"My god, this place hasn't changed at all!" my Mom thought aloud, Dad's hand reached out to grab hers gently. I just sat there, trying not to notice that we had arrived while my parents go out of the car. They stood on the sidewalk, starting intently at me in that way only a parent can- I reluctantly got out of the car. Mom and Dad strode towards the front door, leaving me trailing along like a lost puppy. I hated going to strangers houses, almost as much as I hated the 'great' outdoors.
Charlie answered the door with a booming 'Hello' before ushering us inside, first into a cramped hallway, and then a small, slightly outdated living room. I sunk slowly onto the couch and tried to get comfy, I could tell we were going to be here for a while.
Mom and Charlie prattled on for what seemed like hours; Dad said very little at first, but became more animated when the conversation began to swing toward sports. And I just sat there, saying virtually nothing and nodding every time me name was mentioned. One thing I did notice about Charlie's house was that the entire place seemed to smell of dust.
Just as I was starting to fall asleep, I heard Charlie ask "You guys gonna be ok to get down to La Push by yourselves or do you need a lift?"
"We should be alright thanks Charlie." replied my mom as she got slowly to her feet, my Dad and I copying her example. "See you in a few minutes then, we're headed to first beach right?" Mom asked.
"Yep, you'll be able to see everyone once you pull up in the car park."
"Thanks, see you there then."
It took us about 10 minutes to get to La Push, and park up in the tiny car park that was already half full. The sun was peeking timidly out from behind the sparse layer of clouds, I knew a sunny day had been too much to ask for.
By the looks of it, the BBQ was already in full swing when we arrived. There was a crowd almost of people of all ages surrounding a rather large bonfire. I trailed behind my parents, looking only at the sand.
The people of La Push, (well the guys at least) must be on steroids or something, they are all HUGE! Seriously, im average height but standing near these people makes me feel like a midget.
Mom and Dad stopped in front of an elderly guy sitting in a wheelchair, I automatically presumed him to be the elusive Billy I had recently learnt of. I glanced once around the sea of faces that surrounded me, none of them took any notice of me, well apart from this one guy. As I turned to face Billy I could have sworn I caught him gazing at me.
Mom was chatting animatedly to Billy, just as she had been to Charlie, Dad looked slightly uncomfortable. "Whatever." I mumbled as I went to go sit on a nearby log, today had soo not been a good day. Right now all I wanted was to take a long, hot bath and go to sleep.
Before I could even sit down on said log, I heard my Mom half-shout "Marie, would you come here for a moment honey."
I shuffled slowly back to where I had previously been standing.
"Billy, Jacob, this is my daughter Marie. Marie, this is Billy, Charlie's friend, and this is his son Jacob." I heard my Mom introduce. I looked up to see the guy who had been looking at me earlier, he was probably one of the tallest people I had ever seen, ever.
His face lit up as his gaze met mine, it rendered me breathless for a second.
"Hi." I waved awkwardly at them both. Billy just smiled, Jake however held out his hand. Hesitantly I took it. His skin was red hot.
"Nice to meet you," He said, a smile spreading across his face, I smiled shyly back. "So, what brings you to La Push?" He asked.
I gestured at him to follow me, something about Jacob made me just want to tell him everything, he seemed like the kind of guy who wouldn't judge me for the truth.
We ended up sitting on the log I had gone to sit on earlier. "Well," I began, taking a deep breath.
"My Dad baseball team are on tour all summer, so Mom & I have to follow them round. They're playing in Seattle next week. Mom wanted us to come to Forks to go visit my half-sisters grave, which is a totally good thing for her to do, cos she actually knew the girl. But I wish she had let me stay in Seattle, cos no offence, but this place is kinda boring."
In the time I had delivered my short speech, the lovely smile had faded from Jacob's face.
"Your talking about Bella, right? He asked
"Yep. Did you know her or something?" I asked, for once truly curious about my dead relative.
"Yeah I did, I knew her pretty well actually. There was a time when she was my best friend."
I was shocked, Jacob didn't look old enough to have known my sister, not properly at least, he could only be what, 20.
"Really? You sure, you don't look old enough to have even known her…How old are you?"
"Im 32." he said, looking down at the floor.
My mouth popped open, literally.
"32, are you sure, I wouldn't have put you a day past 25!" I blurted out, inwardly detesting my sometimes childish trait of speaking before thinking. I didn't want to seem too forward with the guy. He was hot and all that, but, this guy was old enough to be my Dad. "How come you look so young, you had botox?" I asked, maybe I could get mom some of whatever Jake was using for her birthday.
"Im guessing good gene's…" He said, his voice trailing off at the end as we both looked over at his ancient looking father. "…maybe not." He said, with a grin so vastly spread over his face that I couldn't help but laugh. There was just something about him, I was unable to look away, because I knew when I did, I'd just end up looking straight back.
"You hungry?" He asked, his eyes sparking in the faint sunlight.
"Kinda." I replied, my eyes glancing toward my feet as I felt my cheeks heating up. Why was he having this effect on me, it was so intense, and the fact I wasn't used too it, made me feel slightly uncomfortable; even though I didn't want to feel that way.
He began walking towards a rather outdated barbeque where 2 women were busy cooking what looked like half the towns food supply.
"Jeez, how many people were you expecting to come?"
"3 less than actually showed up.," He said as he grabbed a plate. "you like hotdogs?"
"Yeah, who doesn't?"
He placed 3 hotdogs on my plate before handing it to me, and grabbing the entire tray for himself. For the second time that evening my jaw dropped.
"Your not planning on eating all that are you?" I quizzed him the moment we sat down again.
"Yeah, I was. Why, you want another one?" His eyes locked with mine for a brief moment.
"N…no, thanks." I stuttered as I looked at my plate.
As I ate I thought about Jake, I wanted to know why I felt the way I did about him. I was clearly crushing on the guy, it was harmless, right? I'd probably never see him again after tonight. Besides, he was twice my age, it was just creepy. I could feel myself blushing now, I needed to think of something else. Fortunately Jacob provided the distraction I desired.
"What you thinking so hard about?" He asked, his eyes skimming my face as he searched for the answer.
"Nothing." I replied as I began picking at my remaining hotdog with my fingers.
"Sure sure. That's what you want me to think. Im not a child, you cant fool me that easily."
"I know, but you made me forget what I was thinking about." I lied, in a way which I thought was convincing. Jacob raised his eyebrows at me.
Damn this guy was good, I needed to think of something, fast.
"I was…wondering about my friend. Her parents dragged her camping and she hasn't called me yet, she must be soo bored." I said, it wasn't a complete lie, I had been thinking about it; just not when he had asked.
"Hmm, her boredom will depend on where she has been dragged camping to."
"Somewhere in Arizona or Texas I think."
"Ahh, yeah, she'll be bored out of her mind. Now, please tell me what you were really thinking."
There was a slightly awkward silence.
"I was wondering, what erm, you do as a job?"
"Oh." He said in an almost disappointed way, like he had expected me to have been thinking something else. "Im a mechanic."
"A mechanic, that's cool. I take it you like cars then."
"Yeah, I do. Not many people get to do a job they love these days." He said, giving the impression that most of the people close to him were stuck in dead-end jobs.
"You and my parents seem like three of the lucky ones." I said as I glanced up at his face, smiling. Inside and out.
The rest of the evening passed on in the same way, we talked about casual things, deep things with real meaning and stuff that was so crazy, Jake made me seem the more mature one. It was as if there was nobody else sitting around the cracking bonfire, just us.
My mothers voice brought us back to reality.
"Marie, sweetie." She shouted from across the fire, where she stood wrapped in dad's arms. "Time to go."
"Sure thing Dad." I got to my feet. "Well Jake, this has been, really fun. It was nice meeting you." I smiled at him, taking a good, long look at his face before turning away.
"Wait, Marie."
I looked back at him.
A beautiful smile lit up his face "Can I have your cell phone number?"
Authors Note
omfg, it took me what, 2 months to post this chapter, you can totally send me death threats if you want, i feel awful about it. The next chapter hasnt even been started yet.
I will try to post more reguarly, maybe once a week if i can, no promises though.
please review, critisism is soo welsome, i need it!
thanks
liviex