Note: So, I'm in the midst of finals and papers. Lots and lots of term papers. I've decided that with each paper I complete I'll upload a chapter. I have three term papers and one book report. If I can get chapter 20 written I'll post something for the book report if not... I won't post anything. I will get chapter 20 up before December ends. (There I go with promises again.) I have my last final (that I'll have to study for) on the 11th. Wish me luck. Review. Reviews will make me feel loved, feeling loved makes me want to write.

Sorry to those reviews I didn't respond. I still love you.

"Chaos is a name for any order that produces confusion in our minds."

GEORGE SANTAYANA

MONDAY, APRIL 16

Cupid's Chokehold; Chapter Seventeen. Bella.

The sky was still dark when I woke up, the realization that my covers were off and the confusing fact that I was still completely warm made me open my eyes. I shrugged my shoulders and quickly sat up when they brushed up against smooth warm skin. "Jacob!" I looked down at him and despite the sudden movement, the sun and my calling his name out he was still sleeping soundly. How could he do that?

The bed sheet had fallen down when I had sat up and I suddenly realized how absolutely cold I really was without Jacob. I bit my lip, I could get up and get dressed and start on breakfast or I could slip back down under the covers and my upper body could join my toes in the green house effect that Jacob had created in my bed. Slowly I slipped back down and rested my head on Jake's arm, I wasn't at all tired though and I couldn't bring myself to close my eyes.

I snuck my arm out from under the covers and brushed my fingers against his face. The skin beneath his eyes was smooth and malleable, a contrast against the roughness of his cheek overrun by his 5 o'clock shadow. I ran my fingers under his straight, strong jaw line and brushed my thumb against his puffy lips. He had only kissed me a week ago… and it felt like yesterday. His lips against mine was a hard feeling to forget and an easy feeling to miss. Which was why that kiss felt like yesterday.

I wasn't exactly a kiss connoisseur; Edward was the only person I had ever kissed aside from Jacob. Edward's kisses, however infrequently they happened used to make my knees shiver, my pulse race and my skin tingle. The side effects would linger for long moments afterwards and I could recall enough of the feeling to make my toes wriggle involuntarily. The only problem with Edward's kisses was that they could only go so far.

I had never thought that I would be the kind of girl to want to go beyond kissing with a guy after only one date, but if Edward had offered that first night in my room I wouldn't have had the strength or reserve in me to say no. I wouldn't have wanted to say no. But with Jacob it was different, I knew we could go that far, feelings aside on both ends. There was nothing but mutual consent stopping us… I was in control of how far Jake and I went. And after the past year's ordeal the control felt very nice.

I rested my hand on the back of his neck and curled my fingers into his hair. I may not have been tired but I was plenty comfortable again, I closed my eyes again and pushed myself further into Jake's warm hold. His arm traveled up my side, his elbow rested on my waist and his hand grasped my shoulder. Had I been claustrophobic I would have been freaking out and popping a few Xanax, but I felt incredibly safe in his close grasp...

My eyes fluttered open again moments or perhaps hours later, Jake's arm was rubbing up and down my back, "Morning beautiful."

"How long have you been awake?" I stretched and tried to be sly about moving out of his grasp. It was nice when he was asleep, but I wasn't ready to deal with the ramifications of being so close when was awake.

"Just a little bit, a few minutes maybe… I think the batteries in your alarm clock died," his arm that had become my make shift pillow flexed and I sat up and looked at my nightstand. His long finger pointed towards the blank screen on my thrift store alarm clock.

"Crap," I looked out the window and saw the sun high in the sky, "Oh, crap!" I fell out of the bed, slightly on purpose since it was the fastest way to get out of their. "We're gonna be late for school. I turned the knob on the door when I heard the door to the bathroom open and close, "Double crap," I turned around to Jacob who was still wrapped up in my covers. My mind momentarily went into a comatose state at the image he created; naked torso, legs covered by my comforter, right arm flexed hard as he held himself up and brushed his left hand through his hair. Crap, crap, crap!

I shook my head and tried to regain focus on the trouble at hand, "Jake, Charlie's home. Charlie has to have figured out by now that… oh, crap! What's he going to think? What are we going to do? You can't just sneak out the window, you're car is outside. Besides, Charlie asked that you stay here because of… oh my God, the girl, she's dead."

My head was being torn in too many directions as it spun and, losing all sense of North and South, I collapsed to the floor. The morning had started wonderfully, even though it had started early, and now my entire world was starting to collapse around me. Charlie was going to kill Jacob once we left this room, Victoria had killed some girl last night, and I was going to be late for school. With the exception of a vampire suddenly jumping through my window this morning couldn't get much worse.

I glanced at the wet glass.

Jake sleepily got out the bed and came over to stand in front of me, "Charlie had to have figured out where I was sleeping when he came home, the first thing he probably did was go to his room. He knew I wasn't sleeping on the couch and then I wasn't in his bed, you were scared last night, Bells, anyone would have wanted someone to stay with them through the night. It's hard to comfort someone who wasn't in the same room. Besides, unless Charlie checked in on you he doesn't even have to know that we shared the same bed and it's not like we did anything. We have nothing to be guilty about. And yeah, Victoria did get a little restless yesterday so school is the least of our worries right now. Just breathe."

Breathing I could handle.