.
Disclaimer:
None of the awesome-ness that is twilight belongs to me, it all
belongs to the amazing Stephenie Meyer. Hopefully I can sort of do
her characters justice.
Author's Note: Holy Cow guys! I am sooo sorry! I can't believe that it's Sunday already. I started this chapter on Monday, after I updated with chapter three, but then I started reading a fic, and once I got done that one, I wound up reading another one, and then it was time for homework, and then I had an English presentation on Friday, not to mention the crazy weekend I had. I was in Rochester NY all day Saturday and other than Friday at school during my Marketing Class, I haven't been on the computer until now. Holy, do I ever feel bad. Anyway, I'm going to make this chapter as long as I can to make up for it! And then try to get another two chapters out before I leave on Thursday for Dayton. As always, read on my Lovelies…
'Adfigi Animis'- to be imprinted
Chapter Four- 'Telephone'
Posted: April 6, 2008
It was a habit of mine to watch the clock as my body tried to force me into a state of comatose. I didn't want to sleep, because I was tired, and I wanted to call Amber about as badly as I wanted a sandwich, which was really badly… My werewolf metabolism was catching up with me, but still I watched the clock, because there was a rumour that it made it harder to sleep if you knew what time it was… I was starting to believe that was only for when you wanted to fall asleep because it wasn't helping me too much. I had been watching the clock for three hours, and like I said, it wasn't keeping me awake at all, which was becoming tiresome, so tiresome that in fact at what would have probably been two in the morning; I succumbed to my body's desires, and let my dreams take me over. I dreamt of my day, reliving it, rehashing its every detail in an effort to make sure it had actually happened. My subconscious tried to remind me by letting me physically feel the anxiousness I had had to touch her, the shock I had felt when her gaze had met mine form across the gymnasium, and the strange emotions that flooded my system the entire time we danced. It had been bugging me ever since it first happened, the feeling of electricity passing between Amber and I. I think it got under my skin because I had no way of knowing whether or not she liked me too, and even if she did like me, I was nearly positive she didn't like me as much as I liked her.
It was then that my mind decided my memories were finished and it found itself rather funny, torturing me with visions of her in my arms, breathing deeply, other ones of my comforting her as she cried. There was probably one of every scenario playing out in my head. Some made me very happy, but others were demandingly torturous, and I wasn't sure what to do with them, they were certainly not gentlemen like. Some were naughty, like you would see still framed in a Playboy magazine, but there were others that were much more sensual and slow, things I had barely had enough imagination to think about, but also, more of the reason that I was convinced I was in love with her. I had never had such a romantic fantasy that involved a girl, me, and my garage.
I awoke in the morning very shortly after first light and jumped right into a freezing cold shower, which I desperately needed, regardless of whether or not I had taken a shower the night before… It was still pretty dark outside when I emerged from my bathroom in nothing but a towel, I looked for the millionth time to my clock-radio and saw that it was barely six. I was still tired, I had to admit, but there were things I had to do. First was of course, get dressed, but after that came my stomach's growl, meaning that sandwich I had wished for last night had not come, and now I'd probably need three. After walking down the staircase I opened Billy's bedroom door and made him a pot of coffee, which was sure to wake him by the time I had breakfast ready for consumption.
We chatted very little over breakfast, and I had been right, he hadn't taken long to eat. He told me of his fishing plans for the day and I wished him luck catching something, he told me to have a good day, and to keep out of trouble. It had lost effect on me now, it was practically his substitute for the word 'goodbye'. I turned on his old tube radio, it was stuck on some 'oldies' station, and I chose not to tinker with it, for fear of breaking it. It was my fathers only antique, unless you counted him in his self.
The day had brightened considerably since I had gotten out of the shower, but it still lacked the sunlight that I wished it had. No matter how long you lived in a place like Forks, all it took was turning on the television to know that there were places nicer than this. I decided to give Billy a break today and did the dishes for him, or tried too… The phone rang all of three times. The first time it was some telemarketer, selling toner, the next was someone looking for my dad, and the last was Quil. I had been about to yell into the phone 'He's not here, and I don't want any damn toner!' and then chuck it across the kitchen, but I heard Quil's voice soon enough to stop myself.
A sigh came from deep within my chest and I jammed the phone in between my ear and shoulder as I proceeded with the dishes, a more tedious than necessary task.
"What can I do for you this early in the morning, Quil?" The irritation was evident in my voice.
"What on God's green earth did I do to you?"
"Nothing man, don't worry about it…"
"Okay then… Anyway, I was just wondering why I had to drive our friend Embry home from the dance last night. You remember Embry, right? The one that you drove to the dance and were supposed to take home from the dance?" I swore I could hear the sneer dripping off of his words, but I knew it impossible.
"I got a little sidetracked, Amber asked me to drive her home."
"Who's Amber? Oh! She wouldn't happen to be the girl that totally embarrassed you last night, would she?"
"I wouldn't say she embarrassed me, she just… caught me red-handed and off guard, there's a difference."
"Off guard is certainly a way to put it. You looked like she hit you last night when she tapped you on the shoulder." He was sceptically searching for information now. Out of all of my friends, Quil was definitely the one that seemed to like to gossip the most.
"I felt a spark…" I defended, though I knew it wouldn't get me far. I wondered if he could help me figure out what was going on.
"A spark? That has got to be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard." I could hear him laughing through the receiver for a moment before he calmed himself and realized I was serious. "Really? Well then, what was it like when you had your hand on her bare back…? I mean, if just a tap on your shoulder got you riled."
I made a face and nearly dropped the cordless into the soapy water. "You my friend are a pig, I didn't mean that kind of spark, not that I didn't get those too, I meant like… I just, I don't… God, I don't know what I mean, but I wish I did."
"If I was a pig you would have eaten me by now you hippo." Stupid Quil, leave it to him to make fun of me for eating the most now, in my time of desperate need for brotherly consoling.
"I'll think about it later once I phase. But I have to finish these dishes and call the girl in question."
"Alright man, later."
"Yeah, I'll call before I go out into the woods."
"Sure." I heard the phone click, and then the dial tone and saw no reason to keep my neck stretched uncomfortably any longer. I pulled my hands away from the fry pan I was scrubbing, dried my hands and put the phone back on its docking station. The dishes seemed to take much longer after that, seeing as I hadn't been interrupted at all for the last forty minutes.
It was strange how quickly my day was passing, but I was glad for it. I hadn't wanted to call too early in the morning and seem, I dunno, desperate I guess. But if I waited to long, she might not be home to pick up the phone so, at about eleven I decided it was about time I got up the gall and called the object of my desire. Well, that was putting 'object' loosely, she was more of a goddess or an angel than a baseball bat. The phone rang eight times and the answering machine had just picked up when I heard her angelic voice;
"Jacob?" She nearly screeched. "I'm here, don't hang up the phone!" I could hear her panting lightly and then heard her curse at someone in her house and say something like 'Jerk, you knew I was in the shower, and you couldn't pick up the God damned phone? It's not hard, you just pick it up and say hello!' then I heard her voice lower and she whispered; 'I told you last night I was waiting for him to call. What if he would have hung up? You're lucky I caught it…'
"Amber?" I spoke finally, hoping to make her leave whoever she was talking too alone.
"Jake, right, hi! Sorry about that, my cousin was just being a humongous jerk!" The last part she had yelled, in an effort to make her cousin hear what she was saying I was sure, and I couldn't help but chuckle at her antics.
"I take it you and your cousin don't get along very well?"
"We do… When she's not being a doorknob."
"Right… I suppose that makes sense."
"Listen Jake, I really hate to say this, but… Can I call you back in like, ten minutes? I heard the phone ringing and barely had the time to grab a towel before I ran for the phone."
Oh great, because I really needed the image of her running around the house in nothing but a towel. That was really going to be of any help to me right now…
"Sure Amber, no rush."
"Thanks Jake, I'll be like, ten minutes." And I heard the receiver click, and after it followed the dial tone. This was going to be an excruciating ten minutes.
I had been correct in my assumption; those ten minutes had dragged on for what had seemed like forever. Billy had left long ago, and I was home alone, thankfully. The frustration I was feeling could have been felt in a 100 yard radius around me I was sure. It was longer than ten minutes later that she had called me back. I had a sneaking suspicion that she took some extra time to yell at her cousin again, though I couldn't be sure since I wasn't there. When the phone rang I jumped up from my seat on the couch and rushed to the dock for the cordless. I had been told to always wait to pick the phone up, but by the third ring I couldn't wait any longer to hear her voice.
"Hello?" I asked, knowing full well it would be Amber that was on the other end.
"Hey Jake, sorry that took so long. I couldn't find any clean socks."
"I hate when that happens." I empathized. Then again, my socks were probably dirtier than hers. I rarely wore shoes in the garage and my socks would never stay clean for long.
"Yeah… I hope you don't mind, I'm kind of doing laundry while we talk… I just, really wanted to hear your voice."
I wasn't sure if that would have sounded weird to anyone else, considering we had only met the day before, but to me it was reassuring, it made me believe that maybe there was a possibility she liked me at least a fraction of how much I liked her.
"No problem… If you would have caught me twenty minutes sooner, I would have been doing the dishes…" I chuckled nervously, she probably hadn't needed to know that, nor would she likely have cared.
"Yeah that's cool I-" and I could hear another set of breathing enter onto the phone line. I heard the other person sigh. And then they spoke, and my heart fell at his words.
"Am, can you get off the phone, please? I have to call Marcy."
"No actually, I can't." I wasn't sure she'd even said it. Other than her calling her cousin a jerk before, I had never heard Amber have any trace of anger present in her voice. I had to of course, consider the fact that I barely knew her.
"Please Amber? It's important! Jennifer told me she called earlier."
"Jennifer's lying. The only time the phones rang all day was when Jacob called earlier. And that's beside the point, call her on your cell."
I heard him sigh, whoever he was. Obviously he was upset with Amber's reluctance to give him the phone.
"We'll talk about this later." He told her sternly and I began to wonder if he was her father, though really he sounded not much older than me.
"Whatever, get off the phone! I'm trying to have a conversation! Is that so terrible? You know what? Don't answer. Just, get off of the phone, now!"
Sadly the rest of our conversation had gone much like that, her fuming and me listening politely. I was still none the wiser about that guy, or who Jennifer or Marcy was. I hadn't learned much about Amber either, just that she loved the guy who had yelled at her, and her cousin, but hated that they treated her like a child. It made me wonder why she didn't just kick them out of her house if she was so upset with them. But of course, out of respect I neglected to mention that.
I had also gone into the woods after the conversation had been over. My 'thoughts' to Quil had been extravagant and after he had listened to or seen all of the thoughts I had to show him, he resounded in laughter in his head.
'Dude' he had thought to me, 'you've got it bad.'
'Well thanks Quil, you've been a great help…' I had taken a deep breath to steady myself before thinking to him again. 'As if I couldn't have guessed that much by myself.'
Billy had since returned and we had eaten a large dinner of smoked fish, as we always seemed to do on Sunday's. He had caught quite a few fish and had let me know how jealous Charlie had been. That was when I had realised my mistake. My mind had been so focused on Amber that I'd forgotten about my best female friend, Bella. I wondered if she would be angry with me. We were supposed to take the bikes out today, but then I wondered why she hadn't called to ask me if we were going or not… I considered it almost the whole way through dinner and afterward, I had called her just to make sure.
She had said the phone was busy the three times she called, so she decided I was busy and figured it could wait until the next weekend. I assured her that we would and I could nearly hear her smile through the phone. She had excused herself due to homework though, and I had jogged out to the garage, there were still a few tune ups I had wanted to get done on the bikes before we took them up, and I was glad now to have the time.
I had been outside in the garage for several hours before Billy had yelled at me from the house, all he had yelled was my name, so I hadn't a clue what it could be. I hadn't been happy about it, but I'd quickly wiped my hands off and run to the house at werewolf speed. I had regretted it quickly because standing on the front porch was my Amber. Her dirty blonde hair blowing slightly in the breeze, thankfully she had been facing away from me, but Billy scowled anyway, knowing I could have been caught. Amber turned to me when she saw him looking oddly over her shoulder and her radiant smile nearly blinded me.
"Hey," She'd said. "I was just asking your dad if I could steal you for a bit. Is that okay?"
I had blinked for what seemed like minutes, I was shocked to see her hear, and mentally kicking myself for not hearing or smelling her approach the house. Billy had to say my name four times before I even noticed he was talking to me. Amber was giving me this cute and curious look which was hard to tear my eyes away from. Billy had told me to go get changed out of my grubby clothes, which I had done, in record time, which Amber had mentioned, and I brushed off with a joke. Billy had told me to be back before it got too late, and I had barely acknowledged him. Amber was all I could think about, the only thing my eyes wanted to see. We had climbed into her car and she had began talking softly, telling me where we were going; a 'cool place just about twenty minutes from here' she had told me that her cousin hadn't been happy about her leaving when she asked, so she had snuck out her window just to piss her off more. I couldn't even tell her she shouldn't have. I was much to happy to see her, I was sure if I had been in werewolf form, my tail would have been wagging. I considered how pathetic that would be, but really couldn't stress it too much as she continued talking to me in a voice more precious to me than anything else the world had to offer.
"I felt bad for earlier." She told me, I hadn't responded, so she wasn't sure if I had understood. "On the phone, with all my blabbing." She had smiled at me and I had smiled back, it was a contagious smile.
I had assured her it wasn't a problem and she had told me that it was, and she should have given me a chance to talk, or at least a chance to tell her to 'shut it'. Her eyes were trained on the road most of the time, she only glanced at me every few seconds, and I was glad then that she was driving. It would be difficult to admire her if all I could see was the road.
"Anyway," she began with a new found exuberance. "I'm making it up to you. I know that guys hate listening to girls droning on and on, and frankly, I don't blame you. I hate listening to Jennifer sometimes too."
Our conversation had trailed on the whole time we were in the car. I couldn't get her to talk about herself though, which made me slightly frustrated. I wanted to know everything there was to know about her, I wanted to know why she was so reluctant to tell me anything about herself, I had told her pretty much everything there was to know about me. Or at least, the side of me she was aloud to know about. It was too soon to tell her what I was, no matter how much I liked her, I had to wait until I knew what she felt for me. I couldn't risk my pack's secret getting out. It wouldn't be fair to them, I couldn't risk it, I couldn't lose them, no matter how much they paled in comparison to how much I cared for Amber.
When we arrived at her 'cool place' I knew finally where we were. She had brought me to first beach. I wondered how I hadn't noticed where she was taking me, but it would have been difficult to notice, my eyes had been trained on her, and I had been twisted in my seat to face her, which she had enjoyed. Telling me I was the one person she knew who seemed to be engaged in whatever she was saying. I had been glad when I stepped out onto the beach, it was one of my favourite places in La Push, and I was glad to know that I would never have to force her to come here, this was a place we could share together. She had grabbed a sweater out of the back seat of her car, which until now I hadn't noticed. It was fairly new, a car which had come onto the market only three years ago. It wasn't a standard colour though, so I assumed she had special ordered the orange that her car was painted. When she saw me looking at it she smiled and said; "It's called tangerine. I love orange. It only seemed fitting to have it on my car."
Author's Note: Alright, I know I said I'd make this chapter super long, but I don't have anymore time to write tonight, and I really wanted to get a chapter out tonight. I promise I'll get at least one more chapter out this week to make the rest of it up to you. Still though, this is the longest chapter so far. Anyway, try to have a good Monday tomorrow; I know they can be rough. Hopefully this will help you get through your day? Anyway, as always review and I'll get chapter five out to you a.s.a.p.
x.Tiffany aka Bedwardella