Renesmee's POV
As I tried to tame one particularly stubborn curl, I heard a knock on the front door. It was only 6:15, he was early! I scrambled to find my purse and get down the stairs. Sadly, Charlie beat me to it.
"Jake! Good to see you, kid. Come on in."
"Hey Charlie, good to see you too." The butterflies in my stomach took off at the sound of his voice.
I rushed down the stairs, coming right upon the two, hoping to deter Charlie's antics. Jacob gave me his full attention as I entered the foyer. I blushed fiercely and dipped my head.
"So, you're taking my Renesmee out tonight?" Charlie, not so subtly, took back Jacob's attention.
"That's the plan, Chief." Jacob said, easily.
"Shew, you really must be trying to impress tonight. I don't think you've ever called me Chief before." Jacob laughed nervously, running a hand through his dark hair. I looked back up to his face, flattered to see even a flicker of nerves in him.
"Don't know what you're going on about, old man." He winked, fake-punching Charlie on the shoulder. "You ready?" He turned his full smile on me and my knees nearly wobbled.
"Absolutely," I tried to say evenly, but I was almost sure my excitement seeped through. He grabbed my hand and started to lead me outside, but Charlie stopped us.
"Not too late, Jake. You all may be young adults, but her parents expect me to keep an eye out on their behalf." Charlie gave Jacob a stern look, though he seemed to be holding back a smirk. Jacob immediately froze, his face as scared as I'd ever seen it.
I rubbed my thumb over the back of his hand, hoping to calm him. He snapped out of his fear and led us out to his car. I was nearly shaking with excitement as we backed out of the driveway.
I was fully prepared to be a nervous, bumbling mess. But with Jacob, that wasn't possible. He had such a warm energy, eagerly asking me about my day and telling me about his own. While I tiptoed around my journey to the local high school, he seemed delighted to hear any bit of news I would share. Soon enough, we were pulling up to the restaurant.
"So, tell me what you like on your pizza. Veggie, meat, just cheese? Or we can get wings, garlic bread, whatever you want." His nerves seemed to return as he rattled off nearly the entire menu. We walked together to the front counter, considering our order. He handed me one of their menus to peruse, pointing to his favorites. "For me, pizza is one of those things I'd try just about any topping on. Whatever you like, we could split."
My eyes drifted first to their wing selection. Chicken wings were one of the first human foods I grew to love, courtesy of Seth and our takeout nights on my visits. But, I stopped myself. While Jacob didn't seem like the type to be too judgemental, I didn't want to be remembered as the girl with sauce all over her face. Mentally kicking myself for not packing mints in my purse, I looked over the menu for the least messy / least likely-to-leave-bad-breath option.
"How about margherita pizza?" Cheese, basil, tomatoes…seemed tame enough.
"You got it." His sweet smile nearly melted my heart on the spot. "I think I'm feeling some wings too. Any sauce you don't like?" I held back my grimace at the thought of my sauce-covered face. Surely, I could handle eating one or two without making a mess.
"I'm not too big on spice. Other than that, you pick."
"Drink?"
"Coke's great."
"Find us a table? I'll be right there." He winked at me and it took my brain an extra beat to remember how to walk away. Get a grip, Renesmee. I chanted as I headed toward the seating area. I looked around the place, noting a solid mix of families and people closer to our age. I chose a spot slightly away from the noise. Soon, Jacob joined me, sitting the order number in the middle of the table.
"They said it would be about 20 minutes. Want to play some games while we wait?" I could see the excitement in his eyes. I could too easily imagine Jacob and the rest of my raucous family challenging each other on any of the arcade games around us.
"Sure! But I'll warn you now Jacob Black, I can be quite competitive." I tried to give him my best attempt at a flirty smile but I had no way to tell if I succeeded. He smirked back at me, pulling us both over to the token exchange machine.
"You pick first." He nodded his head toward the wall of two person games. I looked up and down the rows, searching. I wanted to start off strong here. Embarrassingly, I wanted to impress him. That's when I found my target.
"There." His eyebrows shot up as he realized I was pointing to the basketball goals. Without a comment, though, he guided me over with our full cup of tokens. He held out his hand to pass me two tokens for my own machine and where our hands touched, I felt a spark shoot up my arm.
On the count of three, we started our games. I channeled all Uncle Emmett had taught me on our backyard hoop, forcing myself to ignore his presence next to me, so close I could nearly feel the heat coming off his shoulders. If I looked his way and noticed his strong arms shooting the ball, I would be a goner. Soon, our games' buzzers sounded signaling the end of our time. My screen flashed my score, 18. Hesitantly, I checked Jacob's screen: 17. I won! He realized at the same time I did and let out an impressed whistle.
"Look at you, Nessie. Proves me wrong for underestimating you."
"Nessie?" Has he given me a nickname? I may swoon.
"Yeah, umm, are nicknames okay?" He seemed embarrassed, averting his eyes and holding behind his neck.
"Sure!" I reached out a hand to lightly touch the arm left hanging at his side, wanting to reassure him. "No one has ever given me a nickname before, I like it."
"Never? Not even from your family?" He asked me reflexively, then seemed to look uncomfortable. I couldn't see why, I had talked about my family before. It wasn't an off limits topic here.
"No. I mean, aside from little generic endearments. But they've never shortened my actual name. A lot of people in my family do have nicknames like that though." I thought about it for a moment. "I guess it's because my mom was really intentional when she picked my name. I'm named after both my grandmothers." I realized after I spoke that I may have been too honest. Would this blow my cover story? Jacob's face seemed to relax mostly, some understanding showing in his eyes. If he wouldn't question that fact, I doubted anyone else in Forks would either.
"Ahh, I see. So I shouldn't use that nickname around your mom. Noted." He laughed softly at his joke. But, I was stuck on the idea of him meeting my mother. That was a whole can of worms. Instead of dwelling on that, I decided to keep it playful.
"Oh, you expect to meet my mother, do you?" Jacob's grin faltered a bit, not the reaction I was expecting.
"Not exactly. But, you know, when they come back later this summer I thought I might talk with her. And your dad, too. Only if you want me too, though." I immediately back-pedaled, wanting to ease his tension.
"No, no, I was kidding! I would love that. It won't be for a few more weeks, though." I didn't want to get my hopes up, nothing was promised after this first date. But, my words seemed to calm him. He smiled easily again.
"I can be patient. Now, let's try another game. I need redemption." He grabbed my hand again, as if it were the most natural thing. He led us over to a line of red and blue tables. I paused, trying to place the name of the game and he saw my confusion. "Have you played air hockey before?"
"I haven't, but I know the gist. I've played hockey, though." He looked surprised, so I elaborated. "I told you my family loved to play sports, that especially applies to outdoor sports." I didn't mention that decision was due to our avoidance of destroying Esme's antique furniture.
"I'll show you." While Jacob set up the game, I cataloged those playing around us. I felt I understood the rules but allowed Jacob his moment. With the table now running, he handed me my own paddle and explained how it was used to hit the puck and block my goal. Then, he told me to place the paddle on the table to get a feel for it on the board.
He reached over, placing his hand on top of mine, slightly readjusting my fingers to keep them out of harm's way during the game. My hand felt so small nestled into his large, warm palm. He turned his head to talk to me, his face so close to mine. My heart lurched in my chest, giddy over his proximity. What if he kissed me right here? The thought had my eyes darting down to his lips, curious what he could be thinking. We stood like that for a moment, neither of us moving. I looked back up to meet his eyes and I saw an almost torn look in his eyes. My gaze seemed to bring him back to the present as he awkwardly cleared his throat and backed away.
"Let's play." His joyful energy returned and he loped over to his side of the table. I felt his loss the second he pulled away. I tried to hide my disappointment as we casually volleyed the puck back and forth a few times.
"I think I'm ready," I spoke up. "And just because I'm a rookie, don't you dare go easy on me."
"You got it, sweetheart." The endearment sent another wave of butterflies through me. Something I'd been called hundreds of times by my family had a whole new meaning coming out of his mouth. With a smirk, he sent the puck my way.
He was true to his word and did not go easy on me. He scored twice in a row before I got the hang of things. I could see in his face that he was contemplating backing off, but I smiled encouragingly. I grew up with Emmett teaching me all the games, the word "easy" was not in his vocabulary. I redeemed myself quickly, making my own goal. The score battled back and forth, but I was never able to pull ahead of him. With his seventh goal, the game shut off, confirming his win.
Jacob proved to be a gracious winner, only letting out a small cheer before coming over to my side of the table. I was impressed with my performance, only losing by two. When he was back in front of me, he held up his hand for a congratulatory high five.
"That was fun!" I assured him, happy to learn something new while with him.
"Definitely. For the next game, I want you to look around. Are there any other games you haven't played before?"