AN: That took sometime. I blame Jacob. Trying to pin his mood, and him was hard! Next chapter will be mostly Claire with her mom, and talking to Natalie, then it'll be more Jacob and Nessie and their mystery guest! Hint: Its not who you think it is. Enjoy! :D
PS: Thanks for all the reviews and I don't own anything but Natalie! :D
Chapter Four
What a Coincidence…
Jacob stared at me for a while before Nessie finally nudged him hard in the gut. She continued to smile as she did and looked up to Jacob. His expression hadn't changed much.
"We met at the candy store in Pike's Place, we bonded over a love for gummy oranges." She said happily.
I nodded in agreement. "They were out of yogurt coated raisins." I added for good measure. We both actually did love gummy oranges and yogurt coated raisins, it was weird.
"Horrible candy shop." She said shaking her head. I continued to nod.
Jacob sobered rather quickly, flashing me a some-what forced smile. "We should go in before they think were dealing drugs out here." He said walking to the door and holding it open for us.
"Does that happen a lot around here?" I asked looking between Jacob and Nessie.
"Only with groups more than two." She said nonchalantly, walking into the book store with a shrug.
"Good to know." I muttered to myself while I followed Nessie.
Jacob followed behind us while I pretended to examine a set up for a new book. Nessie wasn't far away studying another rack of books. He stood between us, balancing on the balls of his feet uncomfortably.
"I have to go to the bathroom real quick." Jacob announced awkwardly. I gave him a nod and tiny smile. Poor guy is nervous out of his wits.
"Okay, we'll be in the mythology section." Nessie said, ignoring her boyfriend's jumpy behavior.
Jacob nodded, glancing around the book store for a moment before he walked toward the bathrooms.
I looked over to Nessie, stepping closer to her so the nosy lady five feet away couldn't hear. "Is he okay?" I asked worryingly.
"It shocks him that I picked up a friend." She answered shrugging.
"Really?" I asked baffled. She was actually really nice and friendly.
"I'm an oddity, gummy oranges and all." She pointed out.
"I see," I murmured with narrowed eyes, showing I wasn't going to believe that excuse.
She sighed and walked toward the row of books that had a little sign on top that read 'mythology', I followed. "I didn't want to scare you but there was a kidnapping last week, not far from here. He's on edge from it and I didn't want you upset as well." She explained with a frown.
This is bad. "Oh fudge," I groaned.
"What?" She asked worryingly as we stopped in front of the section we had walked to.
"Nothing, just praying to anyone who will listen that my mom doesn't find out about that." I muttered, banging my head on the nearest book shelf. My mother is going to freak.
"Overprotective?" She asked smirking. I had a feeling she knows what its like to have a parent like mine.
"She makes a German Sheppard look like a sea monkey." I elaborated.
"Well that's an interesting image." She laughed.
"She'll flip if she knows a girl was just recently kidnapped." I moaned, shaking my head.
"Jake did the same, he wanted to leave me with one of his friends while he was out, but I talk him out of it." She said happily.
I raised an eyebrow at her, she would never survive being taken by anyone who weighed over ten pounds more than her.
"I'm stronger than I look." She noted seriously.
I thought for a moment. "I'll take your word for that, I've seen smaller girls throw around guys twice their size." I said suspiciously.
She chuckled under her breath and looked back to the books. "Oh, look Norse mythology encyclopedia." She cooed.
I looked to where she was pulling the thick, smallish book from the shelf. I glanced at the spines of the books in front of me. They had about six books on Nordic mythology and about two shelves of Roman and Greek mythology. "Not too shabby," I said casually, trying not to sound impressed. I crouched down and studied the bottom two shelves that contained nothing but books on Egyptian mythology. "Their collection of Egyptian mythology is pretty good too." I noted under my breath.
"See, I told you they were the best in town." She said cheerily.
"I'll admit, you know your book stores." I said rolling my eyes.
I was trying to pick between a book on the pharaohs of Egypt and the Egyptian Underworld when Jacob walked up to us."Anything good?" He asked shoving his hands into his jean pockets, looking down at me and Nessie, who was studying the Greek shelf just above my head.
"A few things." She answered innocently, moving to hide the pile she had collected.
"Nothing too heavy, I parked pretty far." He pled painfully.
"Okay," She sung, in mock defeat. I could tell she was going to get everything she wanted and more.
Nessie and I scoured the book store, no shelf was safe and no book was left unturned. I only grabbed two new books, while Nessie had half her weight in books. She gave Jacob a smile so huge when she showed him her load I think I saw some of her tonsils. All I heard from Jacob was a groan as he took the bag like a gentleman. I stashed my two books in my new shoulder bag before he could offer. We had just started walking out of the shop when Jacob mumbled something about dinner.
"I know the perfect place." Nessie said excitedly. "And don't worry Jake, we'll stop off at the truck." She said throwing her boyfriend a smile.
"Thanks," He grumbled.
Nessie ignored him and turned to me. "How do you feel about Japanese?" She asked hopefully.
"I'm all for oriental-anything." I said happily. I didn't know any good Japanese or Chinese places around here, and I've been craving sushi good sushi for months.
She jumped for joy and spun to Jacob. "Where'd you park?" She asked.
"Follow me," He sighed, walking down the sidewalk.
We walked in silence for a two blocks, Nessie still bouncing with happiness. Jacob led us stoically, I was about to give up conversing with him when he asked me something. I almost stumbled in shock.
"How long are you in Seattle for?" He asked glancing down at me.
"Two weeks, then I think my mom and me and going up to Alaska." I answered unsure.
"More vacation?" He asked intrigued.
"Oh no, we live on the road, in a truck and trailer. Not very glamorous." I explained with a half smile.
"Never settling down must be hard." He added, giving Nessie a cryptic look, making her sigh in frustration.
"Not really, I'm fine with my mom and my friends." I lied straight through my teeth. Jacob and Nessie didn't seem to buy it but didn't address it.
"Do you have anything else planned while you're here?" Nessie asked.
"Not really, I like to wing it." I shrugged.
"Your mom isn't going to be with you?" Jacob asked.
"Only on the weekends." I said with a happy sigh. Sometimes being alone is great.
"We're coming back tomorrow, want to meet up somewhere?" Nessie asked hopefully.
How do you say no to her? "Yeah, that sounds great. How about the Westlake Mall, I wanted to take the monorail to the Space Needle." I said, hoping I didn't sound too cheesy for wanting to see the sights.
"Sure, I haven't been in a long time." She said nodding happily.
"Mind if I bring someone?" Jacob asked suddenly.
"Yeah, that's fine with me." I answered, hiding my suspicion. I swear if they try to set me up…
"Great! It's a plan." Nessie cooed happily.
"The truck is over here."Jacob said walking toward a huge, blue, Bronco. Nessie bounded over to the vehicle with her baffling grace, while Jacob stalked behind her. I was about to follow when my phone started to ring. I groaned, already knowing who it was.
I pulled out my phone and answered the call. "Mom," I answered automatically, still walking.
"Claire, is everything okay?" She asked worryingly.
"Fine Mom, just walking around, in public areas with several witnesses." I said reassuringly.
"Good, buy anything yet?" I could see her brows waggling and suppressed a laugh.
"Yup, I've got a new bag and loads of other stuff, I'll show you when we get home." I said.
"Alrighty, you remember the spot right?" She asked.
"Yes mother, it's exactly where you dropped me off." I answered, frustrated.
"Just making sure." She said defensively.
"I love you," I said impatiently.
"I love you too Claire." She said laughing. I hung up the phone and looked up to see Nessie and Jacob looking at me confused.
"My mom thinks I'm going to disappear into thin air." I said rolling my eyes. Jacob winced and hissed a little. That must have been a horrible choice of words. I was about to apologize when Nessie spoke up.
"Come on, it's this way!" She cried out, grabbing both mine and Jacob's hand and pulling us down the street.
Nessie guided us, standing between Jacob and me. Jacob looked like he was in pain the whole walk to the restaurant. I didn't know if it was because of what I said or if he was in actual physical pain. Nessie was rubbing his back most of the time while she kept conversation with me.
She asked even more questions, forcing Jacob in the conversation a few times. We were about two blocks away from the restaurant and Nessie had covered every question she could ask about music and movies, so I decided to start my own questioning.
"So, what reservation are you from?" I asked Jacob casually, trying to look him in the eye, which was hard since he was over a foot taller than me.
"Quileute," He answered blankly. I shuddered a little. "You okay?" He asked, concern shining in his brown eyes.
"Oh, my mom used to live there when she met my dad, its odd meeting someone from there." I explained trying to wave away their worry.
"So you're Quileute?" Jacob asked only half interested. I could tell his mind was no where near Seattle.
"No, my mom was actually from the Makah Rez, she just moved to the Quileute Rez when she met my dad, he lived in Forks." I rushed, feeling a little nervous.
They seemed confused by my answer, particularly Jacob. "Have you ever been back to Forks or either Rez's?" Nessie asked quickly.
"No, its pretty painful for my mom, she lost my dad pretty tragically so she really doesn't want to go back." I answered awkwardly.
"Do you?" She asked softly.
"Yeah," I mumbled to myself.
There was a very awkward silence as we walked up to the restaurant. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving." Jacob said desperately as he held open the door to the dark establishment.
Nessie laughed.
AN: Review!