Only in the Moonlight Does This Feel Right

I shot up from my bed, little beads of sweat rolling down the sides of my head as I panted hungrily for air. These dreams of me running after huge wolves throughout the forest were becoming quite more frequent. And it, frankly, was beginning to scare me a little. The dreams were just so vivid, every aspect of them seeming real.

I looked to the side and saw no one there and I really didn’t imagine to either. I knew that Jake had left last night after dinner with the gang, but it just felt odd not to have him here. I had gotten used to his large, muscular figure greeting me each morning (sometimes at night as well) with a smile, but he did have his own family, so I wasn’t going to create something out of nothing.

I looked at the small date on the calendar and sighed, getting up to get to work. After all, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to go to bed after waking up so violently.

December 25.

I walked downstairs and into the living room before heading towards the closet. I grabbed some rolls of wrapping paper before returning to my room and getting everyone’s present out and enclosing them within the special decorated paper. I finished at around 7:45, which gave me more than enough time to take them downstairs and place them under the large fresh tree. Once that was done and taken care of, I took a shower, got dressed, and headed down into the kitchen to help a groggy Emily prepare the large feast that was in store for everyone.

About an hour passed, and mostly everyone was here with the exception of Seth, Billy, and Jacob.

“Can we eat now?” Paul whined from the living room.

“No, we have to wait for everyone else to get here,” Emily stated.

Paul began to curse Jacob and Seth for their ‘stupidity’.

Five minutes passed and Jacob and Billy soon arrived, Billy occupied the space next to the couch in his wheelchair, while Jacob joined me on the couch after saying ‘hello’ and ‘merry Christmas’ to everyone. We waited another five minutes before the sound of a car’s engine being killed was heard, and steps coming up the porch got closer and louder.

In walked Seth, the usual smile on his face and a happy demeanor about him, followed by Sue, his mom. Another girl entered the house and she looked like she couldn’t possibly care less about being here. Her eyes were dark and held no life to them. Her facial expression was one of annoyance and irritation.

Who was this girl…?

She took a seat on a chair and crossed her arms, and looked around the room for something to entertain herself with before sighing grumpily and looking dead ahead at the wall.

“Jake, who is she?” I inquired. “I’ve never met her,”

“Leah Clearwater, Seth’s older sister.” He answered. “She’s a bitch, don’t get involved with her.”

“I’m sure she’s not a bitch,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Trust me, she is,” He retorted and helped me up from the couch since we were all going to head into the dining room.

The girl stayed put for a few minutes before getting up herself and following us into the next room over. She pulled out an empty chair and sat down next to her mom and Seth. I helped set the table with Emily and we soon dug into the mounds of food. Hopefully, since this was a holiday and people pig out more than they usually do, we’d have enough food to last through breakfast.

“So good…!” Paul said.

“Thank you, Paul,” Emily smiled happily at the compliment.

Breakfast was unusually quiet, and the only noise was coming from the forks and knives hitting the fine white china with little clinking sounds. I finished eating soon enough, but waited for everyone else to finish eating what was left on their plates.

Soon, everyone was gathered around the living room again and we began to sort through all the presents and gave them to their recipient.

I got about ten all together, and I thanked everyone who gave me one vigorously. The guys began to open theirs, and soon the last two to open theirs were Jacob and Emily.

Jacob took off the paper and smiled before engulfing me in a hug. “This is great, Jade, thank you.” He said and tightened his grip on me.

“Glad you think so,” I smiled. “And you’re welcome,”

I had gotten Jacob a brand new tool kit for fixing his bike and Rabbit. He had been complaining a few days ago that he had lost a few of the tools he needed and that some were just getting too old, so I took it upon myself to buy him some new ones.

I handed Emily an envelope and she read it out loud.

“Dear Aunt Emily, Chris and I are so happy and thankful to have you in our lives, and we cannot put into words how grateful we are to you since you have taken us in while our father’s dealing with his problems. As our Christmas gift to you, we’ve been saving up our money since we got here, and… we’re giving you a day at the spa and two weeks worth of relaxation. Chris and I will be taking care of the house, and you are to do nothing but enjoy every moment. We hope you enjoy your gift, sincerely, Chris & Jade.” She looked at the bottom and continued to read. “Everything at the spa is on us, and so feel free to order whatever you’d like.”

“So…?” I asked. “Do you like it?”

“I love it, Jade,” She smiled, her eyes watering. “But I don’t think I can accept this. This is your money, but thank you.”

“No,” I contradicted sharply. “No, you’re going and that’s the end of it.”

“Jade, I can’t just let you and Chris do everything around the house.”

“Yes, you can and you will. End of discussion.” I smiled.

“Jade,” She stared me down, her authoritarian side showing.

“Not gonna work on me, Emily,”

She kept her stern expression last for a few more seconds before sighing and looking at me in defeat. “Fine, you win,”

“I always do,” I smirked jokingly.

“When did you want to go?” Chris inquired, finally speaking up.

“You decide,” She said. “It doesn’t really matter to me.”

“January first it is,” I smiled. “You’re gonna start off the year on a relaxing note.”
After everything was settled, everyone went home and wished us a merry Christmas. I helped Emily clean up, and Sam and Chris took off somewhere. Their continuous leaving was beginning to tick me off a bit, where were they going all the time?

After Emily finished the dishes, I ordered her upstairs so I could finish up the rest of the place. She, surprisingly, didn’t put up a fight and walked upstairs tiredly and I heard the soft click of her door closing behind her.

I got my iPod out and put it on shuffle, beginning to listen to a few of my favorite songs on full blast. First to pop up was “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga. I mouthed the words as she sang them as I was putting the now dry dishes into the cabinets. After that was done, I grabbed the vacuum cleaner, plugged it in, and began to pick up all the little dirty particles from the floor as I began to sing along to the chorus:

“Can't read my,
Can't read my
No he can't read my poker face
she's got to love nobody
Can't read my
Can't read my
No he can't read my poker face
she's got to love nobody

P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face
Mum, mum, mum, mah
P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face
Mum, mum, mum, mah”

I grabbed the bag of torn up and crumpled wrapping paper, turned the vacuum off, and then walked outside and around the house to the trash cans. I opened the lid and stashed it in there before heading back inside.

I reorganized the living room, putting cushions and chairs that had been moved around during opening presents back where they belonged, and then decided to open a few windows seeing as it was becoming stuffy.

I continued to clean the house, covering every nook and cranny, and soon felt accomplished. I had to admit, this place looked good enough to be on one of HGTV’s shows—you know, one of those shows where they show off your house to everyone in the country?

I wiped a few beads of sweat from my forehead and felt the cool breeze from the window caress my skin. It felt so good…

“That’s it, time for a cool shower,” I decided and marched upstairs and into my room, getting some basketball shorts and a tank top, along with all the other necessities, and going into the bathroom.

-{}-

Sam had called for a meeting today, and so we headed home after presents and got ready for it. I was shirtless and in my usual denim shorts as I walked to the usual spot we always meet at. Seth and Leah were already there, along with a bored looking Quil and Embry. Soon to arrive were Paul, Chris, and Jared followed by the one and only Sam.

He looked at each of us and nodded, greeting us silently before beginning his speech. “So last week we found the scent of that guy, Blake, around the road.” At the sound of his name, my hands balled up into fists. “That was the day before we had you take Jade into town so we could look around more,” He looked over at me quickly before returning his attention to everyone again. “His scent’s been gone for a week now, but I don’t think that we can come to the conclusion that he’s gone for good.”

“What do you think he wants with her?” Seth asked.

“If we knew we wouldn’t be having this meeting,” Leah retorted, rolling her eyes at her younger brother.

“Have you found anything on patrols, Leah?” Sam asked.

“Nothing,”

Sam groaned lightly and thought for a minute. “Has she been acting weirdly?” He looked at me for an answer.

“No, sometimes she wakes up at night because of nightmares, but that’s it.” I shook my head. “Nothing out of the ordinary,”

“Do you think we should consider widening the patrolling area?” Embry inquired.

“Maybe, just for a week at the most, if we don’t pick up his scent again after that, then we’ll change it back.” He turned to Chris. “Have you noticed anything weird about Jade’s actions?”

“Nope, she’s acting like she usually does,”

“Okay, well, for now, let’s just widen the patrolling area,” Sam concluded.

I walked back home, put on a shirt and got onto my bike, heading over to hang out with Jade before my patrol shift started at one in the morning.

-{}-

Chris got home about two hours after he left and marched up to his room. I stood up from the couch, turned the television off, and followed him a minute later and walked into his room. He was lying down on his bed, staring at the ceiling, hands behind his head.

He looked at me through the corner of his eye and returned his attention to the ceiling, probably hoping that I would leave. I closed the door behind me and leaned against it.

He sighed and sat up from his bed. “What do you want?”

“I want answers,”

“What about?”

“Me and you,” I said and sat down on his bed. “Chris, you’ve been avoiding me like the black plague ever since I brought up the whole ‘step-brother’ thing. I just want to know why you never told me.”

“I wasn’t allowed to,” He said. “You can go now,”

“Chris, I know that that’s a big lie,”

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you Jade, because you’re not gonna get any other answer from me.”

“Chris, please, tell me why no one told me about this!”

“Does it really matter?!”

“Yes, it does—at least to me it does!”

“Well, it doesn’t matter to me!”

“Chris, tell me now!”

“You were supposed to be a replacement!”

I stared at him in shock. “I was… what?”

“I’m a twin, Jade, and I had a baby sister. Her name was supposed to be Jade when she was born. She didn’t make it though, she was a still born—dead before she was even out, and my mom died trying to give birth to her.” He said. “Dad told me I was an only child, and then your mom came along and our parents had you. They named you after her.”

Tears slid down my cheeks. I was only a replacement for her. I thought.

“Thanks for telling me,” I said and was out of the room without a second glance.

I walked hurriedly into my room and sat down on my bed, my back against the wall. I wiped a few tears away and stared at my feet.

There was a knock at my door, and Jacob walked in. He saw my face and rushed over to me after closing the door.

“Jade, what’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” I shook my head.

“Jade, I just want to help, please tell me,”

“I’m sorry Jake; I just don’t wanna talk about it right now. I’ll tell you later though, promise.”
He didn’t look completely satisfied by my reply, but nodded and kissed the top of my head. “Fine,” He said and pulled me close to him.

We just stayed like that for a minute, just relaxing and enjoying each other’s company in silence, and it felt nice. It made me feel like we didn’t have to be doing anything with each other just to show that we cared for one another.

After five minutes, Jacob looked at me. “You know, I actually never gave you your present,”

I looked up at him in confusion. “You didn’t?” I asked. I hadn’t even realized. I was just too busy looking at everyone else’s faces and reactions to their own gifts.

“No,” He chuckled and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a black box and handed it to me. “Open it,”

I smiled at him quickly before slowly pulling the lid back and revealing the most perfect and simple ring I had ever laid eyes on. It was a silver band with one small green gem in the middle. In fact, it was the same ring I had seen at the jewelry store back when we were in Port Angeles. “Jacob, I love it,” My smile widened as I looked up at the boy and saw him smiling back at me.

“Well put it on,” He urged.

“I don’t wanna ruin it,”

“How could you ruin it…?” He chuckled and rolled his eyes as he took the box, took the ring out carefully and placed it onto my right hand’s finger. “See, if anything, it looks better.”

I smiled and examined it on my hand, posing my hand for many different views before I kissed Jacob’s cheek. “Thanks, I love it—a lot.” I sunk into his chest. “How much did it cost you?”

“Well, I went in at around closing time, and he said that it was three hundred,” I stiffened and had the urge to take it off, give it back to him, and tell him to get his money back. “But, luckily for me and unfortunately for him, his car was having problems so I made a deal with him. Half off and I would fix his car. So I got it for a hundred fifty altogether.”

Well, at least it wasn’t as bad as three hundred… but that was still a lot.

“Thanks Jake,” I smiled.

“No problem Jade, I saw you looking at it in Port Angeles and thought I should get it for you,”

“Thank you,” I mumbled and buried my head into his chest tiredly.

There was a knock on the door and Chris poked his head inside curiously. I felt my stomach drop and looked away from his gaze.

“Uh, Jacob, can I talk to Jade alone?”

“Anything you have to say, you can say in front of him,” I said.

He only nodded before walking into the room completely and looking uncomfortable, but I enjoyed it. He sighed before he started to talk. “Jade, I didn’t want to tell you because it doesn’t matter to me—really. You’re my sister, the only sister I have, and even though you’re a step-sister, I don’t give a shit, because you’re my sister either way. We’re related and that’s all that matters to me.” He said. “I’m sorry for hurting your feelings, but you left too quickly for me to say anything else.”

A ball formed in my throat and I smiled. “Thank you, Chris that means a lot.” I nodded and held my arms out to him for a hug. He smiled back and pulled me into his arms and I couldn’t have felt more loved.

I had the two boys in my life that made me feel loved…

And that was all that mattered right now.