Chapter 11

Vanessa's pov

I remembered that I was supposed to meet Jacob at eight. It was seven thirty. Cody was still here. I kind of wasn't expecting that. I thought I could go out the back door without him noticing. Boy, was I wrong. I was just about to turn the door knob when I saw him standing next to me. "Where ya going?" God, I got the third degree a lot these days. Do I have the word "devious" tattooed across my forehead or something. "Just for a walk. Why?" He gave me a look that was not pleasant. "Liar. Where are you going?" I was so going to make something up. I'm a terrible liar. "Going to go meet a friend." That wasn't a lie was it? "Great, can I meet her?' I made this weird sound with my lips. It sounded like a horse whinnying. "I never said it was a girl." Even dirtier look. "You're going to go talk to Jake, aren't you?" How the hell did he know about that? "How did you know about that? What aren't you telling me?" He backed away from the door. "Never mind, I guess. Just don't do anything stupid, OK?" Stupid? What stupid thing would I be doing? "Like what?" He frowned and said, "Don't fall in love with him, OK?" Whoa, rewind and freeze. Did he actually just say that? Well if that's stupid,call me idiot of the year. I stormed out and ran to the forest. I was fifteen minutes early, and he wasn't their yet. I got in the hollow tree and burst into tears. I didn't even hear Jacob's footsteps. "Are you alright?" That made me cry even harder. It'd be easier if he was a jerk to me and hated my guts. He kind of did something I wasn't expecting. He took off his shirt and threw it on the ground. That wasn't the unexpected part, I'm used to seeing half-naked men. That did not come out right, but you know what I mean. He climbed in the tree, and put his arms around me and held me close. I didn't mind, this is what I had been dying to do but just didn't have the guts to. I buried my face in his chest as he stroked my hair. "It's OK. You don't have to say a word."I nodded my head and raised my head up to look at him. I felt the tears sting my eyes, but held them back. I bit my lip as hard as I could. He raised his hand and wiped the tears from my eyes. Why did he have to be so amazing? He started to back away and I said, "Please, don't leave. Sorry if I ruined the evening a bit." He smiled and pulled me close. "You could never ruin anything. Come on, it's only been an hour. The night's not over yet. He pulled me close and hugged me tight. I was going to have to cry more often. I could barely breathe, but I didn't care. I would die in his arms if I had to. Better than facing reality. He let me go, and I stared at the stars. I got up out of the tree and gestured for him to follow. I saw him grab my hand and my heart almost stopped right then and there. "Where are we going, Vanessa?" I laughed. "You can call me Nessa. Vanessa's kind of long." He smiled and said, "OK, Nessa. Better?" I nodded my head. "And we're going to a place I found. Someplace no one else knows about." He smiled and nodded his head. "It's up there." I pointed to a branch of a tree, at least fifty feet from the ground. "You are human right?" I laughed and nodded. "If you're human, how the hell did you get up there?" I smiled and said, "I climbed? Is their another way I should know about? It took awhile. I figured it'd be faster with you here." He looked kind of confused. "You'd have to get on my back, and hold on super tight." I nodded and said, "If that's OK with you." He smiled and nodded. He kneeled down so I could reach his back. I feel like I'm five. I wrapped my arms around his back. "Hold on tight, Nessa." I got goosebumps all over my body every time he said my name. He grabbed onto a branch that was ten feet off the ground. I saw him swinging from branch to branch. I couldn't decide whether he looked more like a monkey or a gymnast. When we got to the branch I had pointed to he stopped. I slid off his back and onto the branch. "Ya know most girls would be terrified to be up this high." I smiled and nodded. "Well, I'm not most girls. I'm a bit different." I smiled and he laughed and said, "No, you are not most girls." I walked to the tip of the branch and he looked terrified. I jumped up and down on it. "Be careful! I kind of don't want to scrape you off of the grass." I smiled. "Stop being a worry wart." He smiled and said, "I can't help it, you're my imprint. I wor-". What did he just say?