Start Living Now

It took a while to actually get out of the Cullen’s house. Thankfully, I didn’t break any body parts. Jacob was surprisingly gentle. Every time he picked me up, he did it carefully, as if I was a fragile porcelain doll. Even when he had to carry me down the Cullen’s staircase in order to get to the wheelchair, he never lost his grip.

We were finally outside, just in time to see the sun setting on the horizon. As I took in the surroundings of the mostly wooded property owned by the Cullens, Jacob took off his shirt. I tried to wheel myself to him, but realized that the brakes were enabled, so that I wouldn’t go
anywhere.

“Uh, Jacob? Are you seriously gonna take your clothes off in broad daylight, on the front lawn of the Cullen’s house?!”

Jacob stopped unbuttoning his shorts. “Well, yeah. I can’t just Phase- I mean, Shift out of them; I’d wouldn’t have any other clothes to change into. And I’d rather have you see me naked for a few seconds instead of a whole night.”

“You can’t just go into the woods and do it?”

“Oh, no. Not with Blondie over there. No way. I think I’d be safer, naked, and in front of you, than her.”

I put my hand on my chest and fluttered my eyelashes. “I’m flattered.”

Jacob laughed. “I like your sarcasm. I was hoping we’d get along.” He pulled down his pants, and fingered with the elastic on his boxers. “Okay, look away if you want, but you’ll be missing out on the goods.”

And with that, Jacob pulled down his boxers, revealing himself for the whole world-well, me- to see. I looked away, to be polite. It’s normal for Shapeshifters to be comfortable enough to walk around in their birthday suits; it’s mainly how the meetings were held in my old pack. But I wasn’t a member of Jacob’s pack, and to me, watching him Shift was a rude gesture.

I heard a bark behind me, so I turned around. In front of me was the russet-colored wolf. Well, I couldn’t deny that it wasn’t Jacob who saved me, even though I don’t remember anything after getting shot by those last few bullets. Jacob walked up to me and barked again, as if he were laughing at me. His eyes were full of amusement. This was the first time I’d seen Jacob in his wolf Form besides the day of the accident, so I tried to get a good look of him. He was massive, I think he was at least twice the size of Niko, and Niko was the biggest one out of all of us. His fur was that exquisite shade of russet brown- as toss between chocolate and auburn, and he had grey-white paws. All in all, he was the most gorgeous wolf I’d ever seen. Another bark drew my attention back to Jacob’s face. I laughed because he was giving me those puppy dog eyes, I knew what he wanted.

“Okay, Okay. I admit it. You’re the wolf I’ve been talking about in my sleep, happy now?”

Jacob barked again, and pressed his muzzle against my cheek. I laughed again, and scratched the fur on his neck. Mind you, I had to reach up to do it. Even though he was crouching in order to reach my face, he was still enormous. He must’ve enjoyed where I was scratching him because his eyes rolled up into the back of his head and stuck his tongue out. As soon as I stopped, he licked my face.

“Eugh Jake! I’ve got your slobber everywhere!”

Jacob barked again, clearly laughing at me. He Shifted back, standing buck-naked in front of me. Once again, I averted my eyes, which only made him laugh again. “Ok, you can look now; I’ve got my shorts on.”

I looked back at Jacob, who was standing up from picking up his shirt. His muscles were tensed, and boy did he have some muscles! He laughed at me and put his shirt on. I looked away, blushing. As he walked up to my wheelchair, he gently placed his hand on my shoulder.

“For somebody who is so confident, you sure do blush a lot.”

“Well it’s not every day I meet a Shapeshifter who just pulls off their clothes in order to prove a point, even if they are practically a stranger.”

“Hey, I’m not a COMPLETE stranger. Besides, I’ve got you for the whole night- there’s plenty of time to get to know each other.”

“Touché.” I threw my arms up in the air, which surprisingly, didn’t hurt- they were already healing- and laughed. “So now that you’ve proved your point, what do you want to do now? It’s still early.”

A mischievous grin came upon Jacob’s face. He walked around to the back of the wheelchair, turned the brakes off, and started wheeling me back to the Cullen’s house. “C’mon, I wanna take you somewhere.”

“Um…inside? Oh, how exciting!”

“No, smartass. I’m taking you somewhere, as in I’m taking you OUT.”

By taking me out, I assumed that he was actually planning on leaving the Cullen’s property. I didn’t think he meant he was actually taking me on a date or anything; he had Renesmee after all. Even if she was thousands of miles away with another half-breed, who obviously had a thing for her, according to Alice. I respected Jacob for trusting his imprint so much, because the Ancestors know, I sure as hell wouldn’t. That girl had ‘vindictive’ written all over her. But hey, I keep my opinions to myself…most of the time.

“Are you sure you can do that? What about-”

“Alice said I’m supposed to stay with you the whole night, right? And that I should be able to keep things under control? Well I was supposed to be somewhere later on tonight and its 6:30 now and I still plan on going. AND if we get there in time, we might even be able to sneak in a movie before we meet up with everybody. So if we want to be on time, we better get to stepping…or in your case, wheeling.”

“So you’re just bringing me with you because you have no other choice?”

“Not necessarily. I’d bring you with me at one point or another; I didn’t think you’d be up and about this soon. You were pretty messed up, after all. But I still think we should get going.”

“Okay, if you think you can handle it.” I laughed.

Jacob scoffed. “Honey, I can handle anything you dish out at me. Now, let’s go and find you some clothes; Alice probably already made you an entire wardrobe.”

“Why, where are we going?”

Jacob looked at me that mischievous grin again. “Ever been to La Push?”

As Jacob pulled into the reservation, I felt at home. Not only did the air smell WAY better than the Cullen’s’ place, but everything felt so natural. There wasn’t a sign of pollution, or crime anywhere. Everything was so simplistic, and after the past few weeks, simplicity was something I really needed. No improvised hospital beds, no tubes- just a quiet night where a budding friendship could grow.

Soon after, Jacob pulled into a driveway and parked the car. When I asked him where we were as he carried me out of the car, he simply replied that the house belonged to him and his father, Billy Black. It had just been the two of them ever since his mother, Sarah, died and his two sisters, Rebecca and Rachel moved away. He also mentioned that the place was nowhere near as big as the Cullen’s place, but that they were saving money for an additional room for the house. As Jacob wheeled me into the living room, he told me that his dad was at Sue Clearwater’s house for dinner. He mentioned that Billy was spending a lot of time there lately, and wondered if there was something going on between the two.

I carefully chose my response. “Well Jake, maybe it’s a good thing.”

“You think?”

“Well, yeah. Nobody deserves to be alone for forever. And if your dad is as amazing as you say he is, he definitely deserves to be happy, with whomever he chooses to be happy with. Besides, Sue sounds like a great lady. And if she makes your dad happy, then you should be happy too.”

“I never thought of it that way. I guess you’re right. Thanks, Jael.”

“Ah, you just needed some female insight; you boys are so dimwitted sometimes.” The playful bantering started in the car ride to La Push, and from the way things were going, wouldn’t stop until both of us fell asleep.

“Coming from the chick who almost got herself killed by sticking her head in the window of a truck that had two hillbillies that were hell-bent on killing us.”

“Hey, I did that to save your life, numbskull.”

“Oh yeah? Well, I wasn’t the one who actually needed saving. You were.”

I stopped with the bantering. “Thank you for that, by the way. Thanks for saving my life. I seriously doubt that I’d be here right now if you didn’t.”

As Jacob softly placed me on the sofa in the living room, he took my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Don’t mention it. I couldn’t just leave to you die; that would’ve been terrible. Besides, if you weren’t hurt, you probably would be running towards Canada by now… What’s in Canada by the way?”

I froze. “What?”