Liplocked Lullabies

“Up? Down. Down? Up. Down...up. Down?”

I sat in front of the small circular mirror, clutching my hair in my hands. I sighed, before dropping my hair back onto my shoulders. “Down.”

Emily laughed from her position on the bed, and I scowled. “It’s not funny, I don’t know what to do!”

“You’re putting too much thought into it,” Emily replied, yawning and swinging her legs off the bed. “Jacob will like you however you dress.”

“No he won’t!” I cried, scrunching up my hair and checking myself out in the mirror one last time. “I’m just nervous.”

Emily smiled. “You’ll be fine. Jacob really likes you and you look gorgeous.”

“No I don’t!” I wailed, wondering why in the world I was stressing so much over one little date.

When Jacob had called last night and suggested that we go out on our first real date, I was so excited to agree.

Maybe it was the fact that most of the “dates” I had gone on before consisted of my date for the evening parking his car in a deserted area to try get into my pants.

I knew right away that Jacob wouldn’t try do that to me, which is why I knew that this date would be different.

I continued to worry about my appearance until the doorbell rang, and Emily smiled and wished my good luck.

I sighed, before glancing at myself once more in the mirror. I tried to keep it simple and casual, since I had no idea where Jacob was taking me, and decided on a floral blue tube top, skinny jeans and dark blue flip flops.

Silver earrings dangled from my ears, and a chunky bracelet that one of my aunts had gotten me for my fifteenth birthday rested on my wrist.

I hugged Emily goodbye and ran down the steps, hoping that I would get to the door before Embry did.

Unfortunately, things never seemed to go my way, as Embry was laughing and smiling at Jacob.

“Have fun man,” Embry said, once he spotted me practically tripping to get down the stairs. I heard Jacob’s faint reply, and Embry opened the door wider just as I reached him.

Jacob stood in the doorway looking absolutely breathtaking. His dark hair was smoothed and combed to perfection, and he had replaced his cut-offs for actually jeans and a nice dark green button down which opened to reveal a plain white undershirt.

He smiled warmly as I walked towards him.

“You look beautiful.” He smiled, his pearly white teeth contrasting greatly against his dark skin.

“Thanks,” I nodded, feeling a blush begin to coat my cheeks.

“Are you ready to go then?” He asked, waving one last time at Embry who was watching them.

“Yeah,” I smiled, before closing the door behind me.

_______________________________________________

Jacob opened the car door as we pulled up in a parking lot. I stared at him quizzically, wondering where in the world we were.

I looked out the window, but only saw the long stretch of road behind us. Jacob must have seen the uncertainty etched into my features because he smiled.

“I assure you I’m not going to drag you in a corner and attack you or anything.” He laughed, grabbing my hand and closing the car door, before locking it.

Jacob began leading me in a certain direction, claiming that he wanted to park a while away because the parking at our actual date spot was horrible, and that he wanted it to be a surprise.

We talked mostly about how the Rabbit was coming along, how Bella was doing (a sour subject in my case, which quickly got dropped), how Embry was doing, how the rest of the pack was doing, how school was going and other things.

After about five minutes of walking, we rounded a corner, and I immediately let out a laugh.

“A carnival?” I looked at Jacob skeptically, and he frowned.

“Do you not want to go to a carnival?” He asked, nervously. “If you don’t like it...we can go somewhere else.”

“It’s amazing, Jacob.” I smiled, reassuring him that I wanted to be here.

It was good to know that Jacob was just as nervous as I was. After all, he looked so calm and collected all the time, while I was always the nervous one.

We walked towards the carnival entrance and Jacob paid for the entrance tickets, so I took this small space of time to look around the carnival.

Jacob was right about the parking being insane—the fair was so crowded that it was hard to even see a few meters ahead. Cars were parked bumper to bumper along the curb, so I assumed that the parking lot nearby was full.

A small sign that read Forks Beach Fun Festival stood proudly along the entrance gate. It was held along the boardwalk and nearby beach, hence the Beach part of the name.

Numerous concession stands littered the area, selling anything from key chains to sodas to stuffed animals. A large Ferris wheel was the centre of the carnival, surrounded by greasy food booths and overpriced gaming stalls.

The place was packed with people of all ages. Old seniors from the Forks retirement home hobbled towards the booths, while middle-schoolers gathered by the games and young couples ogled each other from afar.

Jacob was still holding my hand in his warm one, and I was glad, since it would be impossible to find him if I lost him in the sea of sweaty bodies that surrounded us.

Jacob managed to use his height and body strength to push us towards the concession stand. After paying for two overpriced watery sodas and two corn dogs (I refused to eat one, and Jacob was always hungry so he ordered an extra for himself), we mulled around, looking for something interesting to do.

“Do you smell that?” Jacob asked suddenly, looking around confused.

“You mean the sewage?” I questioned, and Jacob didn’t respond. “Then yes.”

I scrunched up my nose. Was this really where couples took each other on dates? I hadn’t really been on a real date.

Sure, Andrei and I had walked around on the beach, but it wasn’t anything special. Still...just being with Jacob made my heart swell and I got a swarm of butterflies in my stomach when he held my hand.

For some reason, I really wanted him to kiss me again. Jacob let the subject drop, and began to walk around again.

“Do you want to go play that game?” Jacob asked finally, pointing to a game booth where a pimply preteen was trying and failing at knocking down a tower of milk bottles.

“Sure,” I shrugged, wanting to cherish the moment I would spend with him.

We waited by the preteen as he continued to attempt to throw the miniature ball at the milk bottles. It fell short, and landed with a thud on the floor. He looked disappointed, but handed the money over to the game-keeper and walked away, muttering to himself.

Jacob stepped up and eyed the man uncertainly, but handed over a dollar, to get three balls.

“Hit ‘em down, win a prize.” The game keeper grunted, gesturing the array of stuffed animals that sat limply on a shelf above the milk bottles.

Jacob nodded in acknowledgement, and lifted the ball carefully, testing the weight of the ball in his hands, before rolling it back and forth.

Slowly, he lifted his palm, watched the milk bottles, and threw it roughly. The small ball hurtled towards the milk bottle, before smashing them apart and onto the floor.

The stall keeper looked confused and bewildered at the same time as he went to retrieve the broken bottles.

“How did you...that’s impossi—did you cheat?” The man gaped, his mouth hanging open.

“No sir.” Jacob smiled triumphantly.

“A promise is a promise,” The shopkeeper muttered, before nodding towards the stuffed animals.

Jacob looked at me expectantly, and I pointed my finger at the large mint-green bear that sat at the end. He was hidden from my view, but I managed to see his mint-green ears peeking out and I fell in love.

The shopkeeper handed the bear to me, and I smiled, before following Jacob around to the other stalls.

After winning two other bears to keep my original bear company, we headed towards the Ferris wheel.

It was dark now, and the stars were hidden under the permanent blanket of clouds that littered the night sky in Washington. No matter, stars wouldn’t ruin my night.

After climbing on into the next available booth, Jacob, my three bears and I sat comfortably as we waited for other passengers to be loaded onto the ride. Slowly, the Ferris wheel began to chug upwards and the doors closed, leaving Jacob and I by ourselves.

We smiled at each other simultaneously as we settled into the silence. Finally Jacob broke the silence.

“You know Journey, I’ve always liked you.” He murmured suddenly, causing me to look at him in absolute shock. “Even if I didn’t really know it as a kid. I mean, you were Embry’s little sister after all. I thought you had cooties.”

“Thanks, Jake.” I said dryly.”

“But I guess things changed,” he continued, “who knew you would’ve turned out to be this beautiful and amazing girl?” I blushed, but said nothing. “I remember when you, Embry and I were racing that time in your backyard, and you pushed me onto the road and I broke my arm. I let you sign my cast. I think that was when I first started liking you.”

“Really?” I managed to squeak, remembering that the race was also the time when I had first started like Jacob.

“Yeah, really.” He smiled, before leaning and kissing me on the lips quickly.

I was stunned, feeling the warmth of his lips on mine.

I expected this all to be a dream, and instead find myself in the back of Allan Bauer’s car as he tried to stick his hand up my shirt. Nope. I was still here.

I smiled as we pulled up to the top of the Ferris wheel. The view of Forks was wonderful, even if there were no stars in the sky. And then, I looked back at Jacob and smiled.

And I looked at my bears, sitting directly across from me and smiled. My own personal gift from Jacob.

The mint-green bear was by far my favourite, as he wore a mini tuxedo vest, with a bow-tie and collar. His paws were large and his beaded eyes twinkled in the darkness.

A small white piece of paper hung from the collar of the large mint-green bear, and I wondered why I had not noticed it before.

Squinting, as not to stir Jacob, who had placed his arm around my shoulders, I attempted to decipher the fancy calligraphy scrawled on it. It looked torn up, but I could recognize that handwriting everywhere.

My throat went dry as I knew right away who had written the message. Still, I forced myself to read it.

I’m back. Miss me?
-A.

A.

A.

A....

A as in Andrei.

Andrei was back.

Andrei wanted revenge.

Andrei was going to kill me.

The thoughts slowly swirled around my head until I finally began to understand.

And then, I screamed.