It Was You From the Start

“Do you want to go for a walk?” I contemplated in my head. I didn’t have to be back for another hour.

“Sure.” I got Toby’s leash out of my bag, and hooked it to his collar, putting him on the ground. Jacob lead me to the sidewalk.

“How do you like it here so far?”

“Well, the house it great. And the store is just to die for.”

“And you haven’t been here long enough to actually see anything yet.”

“Exactly. From what my dad was saying about La Push, this place is awesome. I know if don’t like it though.”

“Why did you move here then?”

Uh, oh. He asked a question I wasn’t ready to answer, truthfully anyway. I didn’t want to tell him my mom died. I didn’t want to tell anybody my mom died, unless they really had to know. I wanted to be normal. Though, with my dad going around telling the whole town I was moving here, doesn’t exactly consider me normal.

Part of me wanted to tell him. I thought I could trust people here or at least just this one guy. I’ve only know him for twenty minutes, but he looked so familiar, like I’ve known him for years. But I still couldn’t tell him.

“My mom thought it would be a good idea if I spent one year with him. She didn’t think I’d do it after high school was over, so she suggested my senior year, which sucks.”

“If I had to move this year, I’d be devastated.”

“You’re a senior?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“You don’t seem like it. You seem so much…”

“Older? It’s the height isn’t it? Gosh, I hate being tall. And I can’t help it.”

“No, I was going to say you seem younger.”

“No one’s ever seen me as younger than I actually was. It’s kinda new for me.”

“I feel special. I’m the first one.” I smiled. He laughed.

“Has Quil said anything about me he shouldn’t have? Quil sometimes has a hobby of overreacting. If he did I’d kinda like to know.”

“Are you going to hurt him?” I asked.

“He did say something didn’t he? Oh, I am going to kill him.”

“He didn’t say anything.” He looked surprised. “Really. All he said was that you fixed cars. He didn’t say anything else."

“What about Embry? Or Jared? Paul?”

“You are the only one of his friends he mentioned. Unless you count Sam and Emily. He said you guys would be going over there for lunch, after cliff diving.”

“That’s where everyone is!”

“You didn’t know?” he shook his head. “Quil didn’t say anything about not mentioning it to you, so I’m not in trouble. Then again, I don’t think he thought I’d run into you.”

“I thought they’d be going diving, but I didn’t think they’d be going this early.”

“Quil seemed excited. He was actually up before me. He had to wake me up.”

“His mom just started letting him go. She’s really cautious about stuff like that.”

“I am, too. I actually got a little scared when Quil asked me to come.”

“It’s completely safe. Just a little high. It’s over in seconds. You jump, you fall, and you get out of the water. You should come sometime.”

“I don’t think so.”

“I’ll jump with you.” I thought about it for a moment.

“I just might take you up on that.”

“So, tell me about yourself.”

“What are you trying to be my best friend here?”

“I’m working on it.” He smiled. I chuckled.

“What do you want to know?”

“What’s your favorite color?”

“Green. It’s a weird color. Most people are disgusted by it, and I don’t know why. It’s such a beautiful color.”

“Yeah.” He agreed, staring at me again. I looked down and remembered my shirt was green. I blushed. “Mine’s red. In case you were wondering.”

“I think I could have guessed. Your car is red, and you painted my car red.”

“I had the leftover paint, from my car. When’s your birthday?”

“February fourteenth.”

“Valentine’s Day. That’s cool.”

“I guess. I always got more valentines than everybody else as my present. My friends were very bad gift givers.”

“But your mom isn’t.” I looked quickly at Toby, who was walking in front of us.

“No, she’s not.” I said, still staring at Toby. “So, Jacob, what about you? When’s your birthday?”

“October twelfth.”

“Soon…very soon.”

“Less than two weeks.” He frowned.

“Aren’t you excited?”

“Yeah, I guess. But I’ll talk to you about that later.”

“You’re turning seventeen?”

“Eighteen.” He corrected.

“So you’re older than me, and you’re best friends with Quil?”

“It’s all about the connections. Our grandfathers were friends, as well as our fathers. So we kinda were, too.”

“Quil’s actual father or mine?”

“Yours, of course. I guess I’m just so used to him being just Quil’s dad. But he’s not even Quil’s actual father, is he? I always forget. He’s just so nice to Quil and the rest of us. He’s like a second father to me, I guess.”

“Who’s your dad?”

“Billy Black.”

“My dad was talking about you, too. He didn’t mention your name, or at least I don’t think he did. I was still surprised over the whole Quil thing.”

“Did Calvin say anything embarrassing about me?”

“No, well, I don’t think so. He said you were Billy’s boy, very nice, and going through a rough patch, but he wouldn’t explain.” His head sunk. He looked like he’d just been hit with a 10,000 pound brick. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to bring up whatever I had.”

“It’s okay. It’s just…well…th—”

“You don’t have to talk about it. Not now anyway. We’ve got at least a year to get all the personal stuff out.” I knew I’d be about to tell him the truth about my move sometime. I really did like him.

“That means you’re staying?” he seemed to cheer up.

“I guess it does. I can’t go back now. And I have a job, and friends.” I smiled at him and he smiled back. We were back at the parking lot by now.

“Do you want to go get some lunch at Sam and Emily’s? I was going to see if I could head over there.”

“Actually, I’d love to, but I promised Karen I’d be home for lunch. If you wanted to come I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t mind.”

“No, it’s cool. I was supposed tot be with the guys this morning cliff diving, so I think I should go.”

“Okay, will I see you tonight?”

“Tonight?”

“Quil said you guys were doing a bonfire.”

“Oh, yeah, these things are just slipping through my mind.” He said, walking backwards to the front seat of his car, still looking at me.

“Start writing things down. Like in a planner or something like that.”

“I’ll get to work on that.” He got in his car. I opened my car door and put Toby in the passenger seat. I got in and closed the door behind me. I started my car, and started to pull out. I looked over and noticed that he did, too.

Since he was going one way and I the other, we waited at the exit from the parking lot with our cars next to each other. I got another look at his face and realized something I hadn’t before. It was the face from last night.

Jacob Black was the mysterious figure I couldn’t recognize from my nightmare last night.