Breathe

I pulled at the waist of my stiff dress, ready to rip the thing off and attend the wedding in pajamas. But Jacob insisted I wear it, and so I did. The dress was black, knee length, and form fitting. He had raided his sister Rachel's closet, because I didn't own a single piece of formal clothing. A long white scarf was draped around my shoulders, wrapping around my neck twice and still reaching my waist. I hadn't let anyone touch my hair, because I knew that if I let it dry naturally that it would curl up.

Jacob had dressed up, too, and I was surprised when he showed up at my house with a tie.

"I'm so happy that they're getting married in winter," Jacob said, his hand on my elbow as we walked up the stairs to the church. "I can't stand wearing long sleeved shirts."

"Well when you have a consistent temperature of 108 degrees, yeah, I wouldn't like it either," I said, laughing quietly. We entered the sanctuary, where the other guys were standing around, looking completely confused as to what to do. They all had their respective girlfriends, and as of last month, fiances. Paul had proposed to Rachel on New Year's, and even though Jacob still couldn't wrap around his head that his friend was marrying his sister, we were all estatic.

Rachel smiled at us when we approached them. "Oh, Jakey, you didn't mention how pretty she is." She smiled at me, and I blushed. "That dress looks perfect on you." Paul glanced my way, a glimmer of annoyance in his eyes.

"Thanks," I said. Jacob slid his arm around my waist, pulling me against him. "You look good, Paul." I had always had a secret crush on Paul, no matter how angry or annoying he could be. All of them were extremely attractive, even Sam, who was almost in his late-twenties, but Paul was probably the most out of the others. None of them compared to Jacob, though.

Paul cleared his throat, and gave me a small smile. "Thank you." He took Rachel's hand and whispered in her ear before leading her somewhere else. I looked up at Jacob, eyebrow raised.

"What was that?" I asked.

"That was Paul being a douchebag. But, that's the way he rolls." Jacob sighed, and I lifted my hands to his chest, pushing them around him underneath his suit jacket. He smiled at me, giving me a gentle kiss before we were interrupted by a energetic Jared.

"Holy shit. I can't believe Sam is actually getting married." I pulled my arms out of Jacob's coat and looked at Jared, who was beaming with excitement. "Hopefully," he said, "that means that we won't have to patrol for a few weeks while they're.. " He stopped, and shook his head. "Ew." Jared's eyes moved to me, and he smiled. "Well hello there."

I smiled, laughing. "Hello, Jared."

"I don't hate you, you know."

"That's good to hear," I said, wrapping my arm around Jacob's. "I always had a feeling that you didn't."

"Nope, not me. Although, Embry and Paul are sort of indifferent."

"Jared," Jacob said, sighing impatiently. "Did you have a Red Bull today?"

"Why, yes I did. In fact, I had two, but that was only because I didn't sleep at all last night. Kim kept insisting that I watch this movie with her. 'Sleepless in Seattle?' Is that what it's called? It was really retarded. Anyway.." Jared kept talking, but neither Jacob or I were listening. It was almost funny how spastic he was. I had never seen him like this before.

"Next time," Jacob said, "lay off the Red Bull and drink water."

We left Jared with Quil and Embry, who weren't happy about it at all. After speaking to a different number of people, most of whom I didn't recognize, we took our seats in the third row and waited for the ceremony to start. I never imagined Sam and Emily to have a huge, extravagant wedding, and they didn't. Neither one of them were lavish people, and even the fact that they had rented the church was surprising.

Jacob took my hand when we sat, lifting it to his lips to kiss it. "Is it weird that Paul imprinted on your sister?" I asked, playing with the end of my scarf with my free hand.

"Yes, but it's not like there's anything I can about it, even if I wanted to. Paul might be a jackass but he loves Rachel, so I can't complain with that."

"Hmm."

The ceremony was absolutely beautiful, and it made me wonder about my own wedding. Jacob and I were going to be together for the rest of our lives, and that was a comforting thought. But, when were we going to be ready? We were both only eighteen, barely even adults.

*

We managed to get out of there before someone else managed to find us, and as we walked down the sidewalk to Jacob's tiny car, I said, "you know, Jake, you really look gorgeous with that tie on."

He looked at me, grinning. It didn't take long to process what he was trying to say. We ran to the car, and I had hardly buckled my seatbelt before we were pulling out onto the street. The wedding had been fairly close to Port Angeles. No one really knew why they hadn't chosen La Push, but I wasn't going to object. Jacob sped the whole way back to my house, and not a single word was spoken during.

Jacob dropped me off, then went to park about a block away in the same spot he always did when he drove here and we were sneaking - the park.

"I thought you were going to a wedding?" Brenda asked as I came through the front door. I kicked my shoes off and threw them and my coat into the front closet.

"Yeah, the reception is in like, two hours. Jake had things to do so I just came home. I'll be leaving later." I bolted up the stairs, locking my bedroom door behind me. Jacob had already found his way in through my window, which surprised me because it had been closed when I left for the wedding.

"She suspect anything?" He asked, pulling my scarf from around my neck. I kissed his jaw, pushing his jacket off of his shoulders.

"Nope."

Jacob kissed me heatedly, his hands searching excitedly for the zipper of my dress while I unbuttoned his shirt. He had me undressed first, letting his hands roam my skin for a second before helping me. With only undergarments left, Jacob guided me to the bed, pulling himself on top of me as I pushed my way up to the pillows. He moaned softly, and I giggled, "ssh!"

When he finally found the clasp of my strapless bra, he threw it on the floor, wrapping his arms around my back. We kissed hard, pressing ourselves into each other like we'd been deprived of this for weeks. That wasn't the case, of course.

Jacob pushed my underwear to the point where I could wiggle them off. When someone knocked on my bedroom, both of us froze. "Sarah?" I covered Jacob's mouth with my hand, and turned my head towards the door.

"What?" My heart was pounding in my chest, almost to the point where I was pretty sure Jacob could feel it. The doorknob wiggled.

"Is everything ok? I heard a strange noise."

I looked at Jacob and he smiled against my hand. "Uh, yeah, I didn't hear anything. What was it you heard?"

"Sounded like something fell." Jacob's shoe. Dammit.

"Yeah, sorry, I knocked over a couple of books." I scrunched my nose. That was a terrible lie. Jacob licked my hand, causing me to grimace.

"Just wanted to make sure everything was ok. I'm going to the grocery store. I should be back in about an hour."

"Ok. Bye!" The footsteps going down the staircase was our cue. Removing my hand from Jacob's mouth, I playfully slapped him, wiping his saliva onto his shoulder. "That was disgusting," I said.

"Not anymore disgusting than what we're going to do," he said, grinning. I rolled my eyes, and kissed him.