Breathe

I swallowed something hard, and reverted my eyes to the dark road. Neither one of us spoke until the Port Angeles lights were in sight. "Sarah," Jacob whispered, "are you ok?"

"I'm fine." I looked at him, and licked my lips. "I'm freaked out but I'll get over it." He pulled into my driveway, and turned the car off. Unbuckling my seatbelt, I forced my thin fingers through my ratty, dark hair. "It's a lot to take in in such a short period of time."

"I know." Jacob looked at me, and frowned. "I'm scared, Sarah. I mean, you saw what happened to Emily. Sam lost his temper and was standing too close to her. He won't ever forgive himself, I know that for sure." I could sense the sincerity in his voice, and my throat closed a little. "If that ever happened to you..."

"You would never do that, Jake." I looked straight into his dark eyes. "I know you well enough to say that. You couldn't."

He lifted his hand to my face. "You would be surprised what anyone could do."

"Don't say that." Turning my legs to face him, I leaned over and kissed his forehead. I continued to kiss his face until he pushed me back, but I stayed within close proximity. "Don't you dare say that, Jacob," I whispered.

"You need to get inside," he said. I looked towards the house. The front porchlight had been turned on; a signal that Dad was waiting up for me. He had grown increasingly protective of me ever since I'd started seeing Jacob. I think that he was intimidated by him, and wanted to let him know that he was in charge.

"He'll get over it," I replied, taking a handful of Jacob's shirt and pulling him towards me. We kissed harder than usual, but after a moment he broke away, pulling himself in the other direction.

"I don't want you to get in trouble," he whispered, turning the car on. I clenched my jaw, a little more annoyed than I should have been, and got out of the car. "I'll see you tomorrow, Sarah," I heard as I closed the door.

I walked back up to the front door without so much as a backward glance. Jacob wanted to be careful. I understood that completely; but he was going to tear himself up over it. It almost felt as though he was trying to hold himself back from me.

Dad was waiting for me in the living room with a rather irritated expression on his face when I walked in. He stared at me as I kicked off my sandals. "What?" I sighed. "I'm home before curfew."

"I realize this," he said, uncrossing his arms and standing. "I just don't like the thought of my seventeen year old daughter making out with a twenty-some kid who's ten feet tall."

"He's eighteen, and he's only six six."

"His friends are just as big as him. What if they tried to rape you?"

"I'm not having this conversation with you, Dad," I said apathetically, heading for the stairs. He moved in front of me.

"Sarah, I'm serious. What if he hurt you?"

"He's not going to hurt me, Dad!" My voice had raised, and I knew that Brenda and Liz were probably sleeping, but it didn't bother me. "Besides, you didn't care about guys hurting me before. Why is right now any different?"

"Don't say that, Sarah. I've always cared."

"You knew about Peter, Dad. When did you ever come to visit me?"

The apologetic look in his eyes gave me all the answers that I needed. "Sarah," he whispered. "I am -"

"I don't need to hear that you're sorry, Dad. Because you don't mean it. Let me through." I shoved passed him, and stomped up the stairs.

I wasn't going to cry. I refused to, but the feeling was so strong that it was almost impossible to hold it back. After collapsing on my bed, I took a deep, lingering breath and let it out slowly. Jacob was a werewolf. He had imprinted on me, and while I knew what it meant, it was confusing. And right now, there was something out in the woods that was consuming him. Jacob had an obligation to get rid of it, along with all of the other guys.

If I wasn't careful, something bad could happen. Before, there wasn't much that I was afraid of, but now it seemed like I had everything to be afraid of. There was so much more out there that I didn't know about.

I needed to see Anthony and Julia.

*

"This all sounds like a load of bullshit to me," Anthony said slowly. I looked at him, and sighed.

"I think it's kind of romantic, you know? I mean, the kid just told you that you are.. his soul mate, basically." Julia pushed her hair out of her eyes, and leaned back onto her elbows. We sat on the floor of the fully furnished basement, where pillows and blankets had been strewn across the floor.

"That's because your a hopeless romantic, Julia," Anthony whined.

"Don't be such a cynic, Anthony."

I groaned, and threw my head back onto the couch cushion. "I just don't how to make sense of it."

"I'm serious, Sarah," Anthony said. "We've never even met him, and we've been here for two weeks."

"I can't help that, Anth. It's not my fault."

"I mean besides the fact that he lives in La Push. I mean, where the hell is that?" He inquired, and I rolled my eyes.

"It sounds like he's not kidding around though. Why would he say something like that if he wasn't being serious?"

God bless you, Julia, but you will never understand.

"I don't know what to do," I whispered.

"Has he said the L word yet?"

It was Anthony who said it, and it almost scared me. "No," I said.

"Then how do you know he's serious?"

"You've never met him." I stretched my legs out, and shoved my hands into my hoodie pockets.

"I think there's something that you're not telling us," Julia remarked. I stared at her. "Are you?"

"No," I lied. "Why would I keep anything from you?"

"Because you just seem so... distant." She looked at Anthony, who nodded in agreement. "Are you going to see him tomorrow?"

I shrugged. "With him, I never know. But, if you want-"

"Yes. Let's all hang out at the park or something."

And then, as if by cue, my phone buzzed, alerting me of a new text message from Jacob. I pulled it out of my pocket and opened it, the butterflies in my stomach exploding so that it was almost painful. I'm sorry, it read. I still hadn't gotten quite used to the phone. Dad had bought it for me only about a week ago. It wasn't a conventional thing for me, but he insisted that I carry one just in case something like the woods happened again.

I sighed, and pushed my fingers through my hair before responding. Idk why, but don't be. Let's hang out tomorrow, ok?

"I should get home," I mumbled, and struggled to my feet. The only thing that I wanted to focus on at the moment was sleep.