Dark Haired Children, Chapter 4
title: Dark Haired Children, Chapter 4.
author: channings.
rating: T.
type: multi-chapter.
status: work in progress.
description: Jacob Black is haunted by vivid dreams of the girl he loves - pale, furious, deadly. But she knows her feelings now and despite her approaching nuptials, Jacob is convinced he can save her. 'Until your heart stops beating' was a promise.
A/N: I'm going to post once a week, lets just leave it at that. I have a crazy schedule all of a sudden and I need to figure out when I intend on posting from here on.
man, oh man, you're my best friend
I scream it to the nothingness
there ain't nothing that I need
Jacob's forehead pulled in concentration. Frowning, he said, “I think it's a checkered shirt.”
Bella rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but what do you think of it?” She'd already posed the question but Jacob wasn't quite understanding.
“I think you have twelve others just like it in your closet,” he said. Considering their road trip had been unplanned, neither one of them had thought to pack an extra set of clothes. An outlet mall nearby was the only thing keeping them from turning around and heading back to Forks. Jacob had convinced a Bella who hated to shop - the fact that she was her own weird species of female was not lost on him - to let him stand outside the dressing room and give his 'guy opinion' on her wardrobe choices.
She glared at him. “So?”
“So, you're fresh out of high school and getting married in a week. Don't you want to go for something different?” He yanked a shirt off a nearby rack and threw it at her. “There, maybe you like lace and don't know it?”
She looked revolted so he was thinking, probably not. He removed a cream top with thin navy blue stripes off the rack and gave it to her hesitantly.
“This, maybe?”
She eyed it as if expecting it to mutate. “Maybe,” she agreed.
Bella disappeared into the dressing room, and Jacob could hear the flurry of fabric as she changed. When she came out, he couldn't help but grin. The look wasn't worlds different from her usual, but it stood out when he was so used to her in shirts that reminded him of truckers. “Wow.”
She blushed. “I thought so, too.”
“Definitely get that then. Any chance of me persuading you into a skirt?”
She laughed. “Not in this lifetime, Jacob Black.”
Bella ended up choosing a comfortable pair of straight-legged jeans. She paid for her items and then, turning to Jacob, she said. “So, your turn. Can I see you in something other than shorts in earth tones?”
“I wear jeans, too!” he said defensively. He pushed the door open, and they stepped outside. “And shirts in a wide variety of tones, thank you.”
“Once a week, you mean?” She pointed at his current outfit - a brown t-shirt with dingy green cut-offs - as if it proved something. “Let’s see you in a button down. Something classy.”
“Are you implying that I don't appear to have class, Bella?”
Ignoring him, she pointed at a men's store across the parking lot. “There! Classy.”
He continued to defend himself, as she dragged him into the store and started picking up shirt after shirt and pair after pair of pants. She muttered, “I always wondered why Alice enjoyed fussing over me.”
Ironically, the first shirt Bella had him try on was checkered. “I think you have a top exactly like this, Bella,” he said, scowling, “There is no way I'm wearing this.”
“We can match!” She said - and for a minute, the idea of wearing a top he hated didn't sound so bad - but then, blushing, she caught herself. “I mean, um, why don't you try this one instead?”
When he left the store grumbling, Jake had a plain blue t-shirt, a leather jacket that Bella claimed made him look 'edgy,' and a pair of jeans identical to ones he already had in his closet.
“I don't see why you're complaining,” she insisted, “when I paid for everything.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Don't you mean Cullen paid for everything?”
“You grouch. He gave me the money, which makes it mine.”
Jacob made a face. “Sure, su -,” He stopped talking when a short redhead approached them.
“Hi!” she said with a wave. She wore a pink shirt with Greek letters on it - probably for whatever sorority she was a part of - and had a handful of flyers. “You guys wanna come to a party tonight? It's at the Zeta Phi Omega house at WSU.”
“No,” Bella said.
“Yes,” Jacob said.
Bella turned to him. “My wedding is in under a week and -,”
“Let me guess,” Jacob said, smirking, “a party would be inappropriate?”
“Well, yeah.”
All the girl seemed to have gathered from the conversation was that Bella and Jacob were not together. “So you guys are like friends, right?”
Bella crossed her arms and frowned. “Yes, we're friends.”
The girl brightened. “I'm Lexi,” she said as if to both of them, though her smile was directed at Jacob. “I'm one of the sisters throwing the party. You should really come out. It's gonna be wild.”
“I'm Bella. We don't really need a wild time out. Thanks though,” she said a bit unkindly.
The girl blinked and then turned back to Jacob. “But you'll make it, right?” she asked, ignorant of the fact that Bella had used the pronoun 'we'. “I'll dance with you.”
Jacob laughed. “I was gonna come either way, but I'll take you up on that. I'm Jacob.”
“Alright,” she said, handing him the flyer and looking smug. “I'll see you then, Jacob.”
“See ya.”
“I don't think her job extended past handing us the flyer and leaving,” she said, once Lexi was out of earshot.
“It's called customer service, Bella.”
“Oh yeah?” she said indignantly. “I think she was going a bit above the call of duty. I'll dance with you. Really, Jake? Are you blind?”
“Nope,” Jacob said, his lips spreading into a grin, “Are you jealous?”
“What?”
He shrugged. “You seem awfully annoyed.”
“That,” Bella said evenly, “is because she was an annoying girl.”
“I don't have to go to the party, Bella. Admit that you're jealous, and I won't go.”
Bella stamped her foot. “I'm not!”
“Okay,” said Jacob. “I guess I'll be going then. And I have a nice, new, edgy leather jacket to come with me.”
“I'm not letting you go there alone, Jake. That girl is going to date rape you.”
He grinned. “Then come with me.”
Bella stalked in the direction of her truck. “Absolutely not, Jake.”
***
they say that anything can be replaced
found another girl to pass the days
she is beautiful, she has your face
Bella went to the party. Jacob couldn't help feeling smug as a pouting Bella walked through the door with him. She was jealous. It was obvious in the way her eyes fell on Lexi immediately, the way she moved in closer to Jacob-although this did nothing to bridle the sorority girl's enthusiasm; she ran to Jake and tip-toed to give him a hug.
“You came,” she said in his ear, alcohol on her breath.
He shivered. “I said I would.”
“Get a drink with me?” He allowed himself to be tugged towards a table with cans of beer, leaving a furious Bella standing by the door. A tall bottle of Long Island Iced Tea stood at the corner surrounded by an army of blue cups. Lexi stepped behind the table and gestured at the drinks. “What would you like?”
“Are you the bartender for tonight?”
She looked at a clock that hung on the wall. “Only for five more minutes, then Chloe takes over. Don't worry. You'll get that dance I promised you.”
It felt so good to be wanted for once, to be pursued. Admittedly, Jacob was caught up in this girl's flirting. He spared a glance at Bella and was satisfied to see her glaring at the ceiling. She was getting married after all. He needed to start worrying about his life since she seemed so determined to end hers.
At the motel, he had begged some, pleaded some, and finally given up. Bella had seemed eager for things to return to normal, to the ease that existed outside of the constant battle for her soul, and eventually, Jacob had stopped being angry. Now it was her turn, and why should he care how she felt about a college girl flirting with him? Sam was right - she'd made her choice.
“Whichever will get me drunker,” he said.
“That would be the iced tea.” Lexi filled his cup to the top. “Careful there.”
Jacob wanted to laugh at the mere suggestion that he would be getting drunk. He loved the way she said careful, the way she made him feel wanted. “Take a drink with me?”
“Okay.” She filled her cup one-fourth of the way. “That's like a shot, right?”
Jacob had no idea how much constituted a shot. “Yeah, yeah.”
“Okay, so, one...two...three!” Jacob chugged a little bit - if one-fourth of the cup was a shot, he was up to three before he stopped. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Sad thing is,” he said, “that did nothing to me.”
“Aww,” Lexi said, making a face, “I'm a lightweight, myself. Here, have some more.”
Jacob was finishing his refilled cup when Bella finally joined them. “I might have to tell your father about this.”
“I think,” Jacob said, “that no matter what I do, I will never compare to the girl who is ditching college to marry her vegetarian boyfriend.”
“Is there something wrong with vegetarians?” Lexi asked, frowning.
“No,” Bella said pointedly, “Nothing at all.”
Lexi shrugged. “Whatever, my shift here is up.” She held a hand out. “How about that dance, Jacob?”
Jake looked at Bella. “Can I?”
“You don't need my permission.”
He shrugged and allowed himself to be led out to the middle of the floor. Lexi turned to face him, bouncing on her heels. She shimmied slightly and Jacob was immediately aware that he'd never done this before, had never danced at a college party with a girl who would've been out of his league if he hadn't been a werewolf. He'd been so caught up on Bella, Bella, Bella - being a normal teenager who partied and danced with girls was entirely new to him. Stiffly, he swayed from side to side, and she laughed a little.
“I know a man like you,” she said, her eyes looking him up and down, “and I emphasize man, can move better than that.” She turned so that he was facing her rear and Jacob was suddenly mesmerized by the movement of her hips as she backed into him. His hands rested on her hips, feeling the circular movement they were making.
“You betcha,” he said distractedly. She raked a few fingers through her hair, laughing, and Jacob found that he enjoyed the sound of her laughter - he enjoyed how carefree it was, how alive she sounded. He'd grown so accustomed to living in a world of legends that turned out to be true and phasing and imprints, he'd forgotten how much fun it was to live in one without those things, in one where the girl wasn't planning her death.
His hips moved in time with hers and soon their bodies were touching, his breath was in her ear, their fingers were twined. “See,” she turned to whisper it to him, “I told you.”
He looked over at an unhappy Bella, who was leaning against a wall with her arms crossed. Bella is dying, he reminded himself, Lexi is living. He tried to focus on the smell of Lexi's shampoo as it wafted from her long brown hair, on the fire she was setting to his body as she moved against it. She was older and beautiful and - Bella is dying.
It was useless. Perhaps what he felt for Bella Swan wasn't gravity, but it was close enough, possibly stronger. He lay a kiss on Lexi's cheek. “I'm gonna go see my friend over there,” he told her. “I don't think she's having very much fun.”
Lexi turned, and he could see how disappointed she looked. “Oh, no!” she said, her voice slurring a little finally as the alcohol hit her, “No, noooo, Jacob, no, no, please!” Each no was a different octave. She smiled hopefully, but Bella was still visible out of the corner of Jake's eye.
“Maybe later.”
She pouted, and Jacob couldn't stop himself, he thought, how cute. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, swaying as she did so. “Can I at lea-a-ast get your phone number?”
“Er,” he said, “I don't really have a cellphone. My dad is from the stone age.”
“Home phone,” Lexi insisted. So he gave it to her, and as he started to walk away and felt her slip her phone number into his palm, he made sure to pocket it just in case.
“You're having fun,” Bella said when he reached her.
“But you're not,” he told her, “Lets go.”
Bella seemed about to convince him to stay before she thought better of it. “Okay.”
Neither of them said a word for a while. It was a silent walk back to her truck, just the quiet padding of feet, Bella's animated sighs. Finally, she asked, “Did you imprint on her?”
“What? No, Bella.”
She snorted. “Sure seemed like it. I've never seen you give anyone that kind of attention.”
“Correction,” he said matter-of-factly, “you've never seen me give anyone other than you that kind of attention. And anyway, you're engaged - in fact, so engaged, that you're planning to become a bloodsucker - so why do you care so much?”
Bella was pensive for a second. And then, as she and Jacob turned into the College parking lot and piled into her truck, she finally answered. “I don't know. But maybe that means something.”