Chapter 6: Eyes on the Road

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"I'd be lying if I said he's not like that all the time. Paul really is a complete prick" Embry snorted while playfully nudging me. "Or maybe he just likes you."

I laughed nervously, knowing that it was intended to be a joke at Paul's expense, but was really at mine considering how much I wish that were the case. "Yeah, that disgusted look in his eyes was actually true blue love." Embry chuckled, seeming to take joy in the fact that my humor was just as easy as his. He continued talking, about what in specific I'm not sure since I was guilty of only half listening. I was still bothered by my very brief encounter with Paul.

Then with no warning, my heart nearly leapt into my throat when I felt an arm snake behind me, and squeeze at the area below my shoulders. I stiffened in reaction, mentally kicking myself when I felt Embry immediately loosen his contact. Why the fuck did I do that!

I stared at the grass, illuminated only by the dim lamp lights placed in the enclosing of the yard, watching the shoes passing by and crushing the blades beneath them; I was too embarrassed to look at Embry. First off, that was NOT a pass. He merely put his arm behind me, and I freaked. Dear God, I was a Class A loser. "Uh…" I forced out, "uh, Jacob's been gone a while."

"Yeah he has" Embry said in a voice that was not at all affected by my previous behavior. "I'll go get him-"

"No, let me!" I said a little too fast, swallowing my embarrassment and looking up into his face. "I, uh, have to go find my brother anyway, I haven't seen him in a while."

Embry smiled genuinely, and I relaxed quickly. "You know," he chuckled "You needa stop being so… jumpy. Tense. On guard. I thought we were friends."

"… who said we were friends?" I couldn't help but smile.

"Psh, you know you want to be my friend."

I nodded "Guilty." I stood, dusting off my butt from the debris of the table bench. "I'll be right back." I rushed past the dwindling number of people, noting it was indeed getting late.

Paul was no where in sight.

XXX

The inside of the house was almost a ghostly kind of empty. I saw a light at the end of the hall in the very room where I first saw Paul, and felt myself being pulled toward it. I walked quietly down the hall, until I reached the cracked door; I could only imagine the expression that must've been on my face.

Inside the room was my brother sitting on the floor, a wired remote in his hand, the blare of the TV lighting his handsome freckled face. But what threw off the seemingly normal image was the smiling Leah that sat next to him, a console remote in one hand and her other hand tousling his hair. A large smile graced her mouth, prettied the steely features that I was greeted with. I wouldn't believe she was the same person that gave me such a chilled regard.

… Well, at least he wasn't bugging ME to play a game, and he was distracted. I shrugged and made my way back down the hall, assuming Jacob wasn't in the house.

The front door had been left ajar, and I walked over. There he was, that hulking mass a human being… crouched over on the porch stair, his head hanging low and his large hands fisted intensely into his hair. What was he doing?

"Jacob?" I called so quietly, I thought he didn't hear me. But I saw the muscles in his hands twitch, and the hunched statue came to life. He turned to look up at me, and my heart sped up when I saw a small smile.

"What's up, Nel?" His voice was hoarse, only adding to the strangeness of how out of it he seemed.

"Oh, well… you were gone for a while, um…"

"Just thinking" he shrugged.

"About?" I tried, but unsurprisingly, he shut me down; I probably would have done the same.

"Nothing important" he said quickly. "Hey, wanna get outta here?"

I blinked in surprise. "I'd like to, but… it's kinda late, and we got school tomorrow, I don't think my dad—"

"Don't dash the idea 'til you ask" he smiled, standing to his full height and walking past me through the front door. "Or until I ask." I raised my brow, but followed.

We were headed to the backyard where Billy and my dad were seated right outside the screen door, but I tugged on his arm before he could go outside. "Are you sure you're okay?" He looked down at me, and said nothing. Something like static went through my arm, he felt unbearably warmer than he already was. What the…

"Stop worrying" his usually kind voice had a bite to it, and I realized it was best to drop my observations of his behavior. There's no way he was going to talk to me about what was bothering him. He stepped out, but I remained behind the screen door. I saw a friendly exchange between Jacob and my father, which I found odd. Dad had a majorly fixed stink eye for Jacob the entire time we've been here. I caught him starting frequently whenever Jacob and I talked or even breathed next to each other, to which he'd whip his head the other way (smooth, dad). But right now, he had nothing but pearly whites for Jacob. I guess talking to Billy and other boyhood company opened him up and made him reassured of the atmosphere. I couldn't really hear above the music and people talking, but Jacob looked mainly at my father when he spoke. My dad pursed his lips without a verbal response, and I saw Billy lean forward and clap a hand on my dad's shoulder, a jesting smile on his face as though he were teasing dad. I watched my dad pause, raise his enclosed hand to his mouth to clear his throat loudly, and I saw his lips form the word "Sure." He said something else, but I didn't bother to keep up. Jacob turned and began to walk back to the house where I was seated on the couch as I watched everything that transpired. He threw one last wave over his shoulder to the older men. He opened the screen door, and I saw the light lining of worry on my dad's face, but the door slammed shut before I could give him a reassuring smile of my own.

"Ready to cheese it outta here, Nel?" Jacob held out a hand to me.

"Does a bear shit in the woods?"

Jacob laughed all the way from the house to his car.

XXX

I still found it completely amusing how his large frame looked so awkward driving this little car. Then again, Jacob looks too big to even be on a boat, so he had to make due with his God given massiveness, I guess. I was obsessively changing the radio stations, never finding anything I was satisfied with, and he swatted my hand away and shut it off. "I'd rather hear conversation than the crap that plays on the radio these days."

"Okay. Why the sudden notion to take me home?" If I couldn't ask directly what was on his mind, I'd damn well tip toe around it.

He shrugged. "Crowded."

I knew he could see the skepticism on my face. "You're with a group of equally large boys ALL the time, you told me. Suddenly it's crowded? I didn't think you were a believer in personal space."

"I'm 16, all I want is personal space."

"That's really why you wanted to leave?"

"You ask a lot of questions."

"I only wanna know what's making you refuse to make eye contact with me. That's never been an issue before now."

His dark eyes flashed with panned amusement as he looked me dead in the face. "Better?"

I turned beet red at this backfire of mine, but I held the gaze. "Okay, point taken. Subject change. Why do Forks High School students hate the La Push boys?"

He kept his eyes locked on me rather than the road, only briefly flicking forward here and there. Sure, there was no one else driving this raggedy, broken up concrete road, but I still felt nervous… or was that excitement? Something stirred in my lower belly when I realized I could stare longer into his eyes without wanting to shrink into myself. "My guess is as good as yours. What do you think?"

"Jealousy" I replied without hesitance, recounting Dillon's biting words.

He made a sucking noise through his teeth and threw me another heart-palpitating smile. "Aww shucks, Nel."

Marry me. I almost said it. I was really close, I'm talkin' tip-of-my-tongue close… but I didn't. I don't think it woulda worked out in my favor, anyway. Instead I tried "Well, yeah, I mean… look at you."

Wrong move.

"What about me?"

Fuck.

"Ah… well."

WHAT THE HELL DO I SAY?

He looked at me expectantly, the smile gone but something suggestive playing in his eyes, dark and alluring and drawing me into them mercilessly. "Well…" he prodded. He didn't mean it that way, I already knew. He was pretty much using a tactic against me to get me to cut out the words from heart and hand them to him on a silver platter, knowing I'd fall for it like every other poor soul before me. Dramatic much? Ha, you try sitting in a car with a boy-borderline-man that looked like him. Hell, I wasn't even ashamed to admit it: I was a goner.

And just as I was about to buckle and tell him what he already knew concerning his beauty, the car made an unholy collision by the likes of which I never thought was possible. I always thought people bullshitted the whole "slow-motion" thing, but that's exactly what I was seeing before my eyes: a flash of an animal darting in front of the headlights, but it wasn't slow enough where I could see what it was. The impact made the metal crunch sickeningly; Jacob gripped the steering wheel like he could make it stop, but it did little to help. The car began spinning out of control, changing from the ear-splitting skid on the pavement to the bump and grind of the uneven packed dirt on the side of road, into the long grass. I closed my eyes when I saw the cracks on the windshield give way, the glass shattering everywhere. I raised my arms to protect my face, screaming bloody murder when the shards hit me, feeling the sharp, quick slices on my hands and torso. I could hear Jacob letting out a long string of curses, feeling his arm suddenly stretch out across my chest. The terror ended only when the left side of the car smashed into something solid.

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A/N: Yes, I took forever. I hope my reviewers are still around to accept my apology of life getting in the way of writing. Missed you all, expect another update within the week! Pinky promise.