Only in the Moonlight Does This Feel Right

Everything went back to normal after that night.

School was school. Lunch wasn’t as tedious as it had been on my first day. Not to mention the guys seemed to brighten up as well.

It all seemed to only get better and better.

“Hey guys!” A new voice called.

I looked over and a boy ran over to us, a smile plastered to his lips. I was curious as to who he was, and so I turned to Jacob.

He beat me to it, though. “Jade, this is Seth Clearwater.” He introduced. “You’ve never met him before because he was just going through some things and was never really around.”

“Oh,” I nodded in understanding.

The young boy turned to me and smiled an even bigger grin than before. “Hey, I’m Seth, you’re Jade, right? I’ve heard a lot about you.”

I laughed at his enthusiasm and nodded. “Yea, I’m Jade, nice to meet you.”

“Cool, Jacob can’t shut up about you.”

Jacob than elbowed him in the side and gave him a stern look. “Shut up, Seth,” he mumbled lowly. “Jade, do you need a ride home today?” His attention floated over to me.

“Well, Chris is here, but I think I’d rather go with you.” I pointed out.

The bell rang and then everyone else left, heading towards their classes. “Cool, meet you at the Rabbit after school, alright? It’s parked in the usual spot.” He said as we hugged each other.

“Okay, I’ll go straight there,” I nodded, and then separated as we went in different directions.

-{}-

I squeezed my way through the mob of people as I headed towards the parking lot. I felt like a cow in a herd as we all headed for the school’s exits.

Moo…

Finally I made it through the bodies as I rushed out towards the street. I passed cars and walked to the last few rows of automobiles. I saw Jacob standing against the hood of his car with a pretty laid back expression.

I smiled and walked over to him. “I’m here, sorry for taking so long, people forgot how to walk.”

He smiled at me and then shrugged. “Don’t worry, I just got here too. Get in; let’s leave before everyone creates a traffic jam.” He said and we both hopped into his car and sped off.

He missed the turn and I looked at him, he had a relaxed expression like nothing was wrong.

I cleared my throat. “Uh, Jacob, you kind of missed the turn…”

He only smiled as he kept his eyes on the road. “I know,” He replied.

“Well, aren’t you going to make a U-turn?”

“Nope,”

“Well… why not?”

He looked at me and then back to the road. “I’m kidnapping you.”

I rolled my eyes, but couldn’t contain my smile. “Oh yea, where are we going?”

He looked at me in disbelief. “I can’t tell the kidnapee,” He stuck out his tongue.

We drove for about five or ten more minutes and then I realized our destination—First Beach.

“Why are we going to the beach?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “It was the first place that came to mind. Not to mention I don’t want to go home just yet, I wanna hang out with you.”

“Alright,” I smiled. “What did you have in mind?”

“Don’t you have your bathing suit still in the trunk?” He asked. “You never got it out from last time.”

“The bathing suit is in there, but not the trunks I wear,” I replied.

He gave me a, ‘you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me’ look and rolled his eyes. “Jade, c’mon, it’s just you and me.” He said. “Besides, you’ll forget about it when you start to have fun.”

“But Jake…” I whined. He stared me down and I looked away. “There’s no where for me to change.” I muttered.

He smiled and pointed behind a tree. “You go, then I’ll go,” He said.

“You go first,”

He sighed and got out of the car. I felt the trunk door open and watched as Jacob walked off with his trunks in hand behind some trees. I looked away, giving him his privacy even though he was out of sight anyways. A minute passed and there was a knock on the window causing me to jump slightly. He motioned for me to get off and I opened the door and got out. I got my things and went behind the trees, a little deeper in than he went.

I changed relatively quickly and raced back, holding my clothes in front of me as I walked closer.

Jacob turned as he heard my footsteps and smiled. “See? You look great,” He complimented.

“Thanks…” I mumbled as I felt all the heat and blood rush to my face.

He shook his head as he chuckled, took my clothes, placing them into the trunk of the Rabbit, and took my hand within his. “C’mon, let’s go,” He said excitedly as he than began to run, me following quickly behind.

We ran into the water and I stopped as I squealed in slight shock at the freezing temperature. Jacob looked over at me.

“It’s too cold!”

He smirked, ran over, picked me up and carried me into the deeper water; I was squirming all the way.

“So you want down, do you?”

“Not right now!” He simply smirked as he let me go. “No!”

The water rushed over my body and it felt like tiny nails were being pushed at my skin from the coldness. I immediately jumped up and glared at Jacob who was bent over laughing.

I ran my hand along the top of the water and splashed him angrily. “Why’d you do that?” I yelled angrily.

He shook the water off his head like a dog and just continued to laugh. “Don’t be like that,” He chuckled.

I swam backwards, the small waves not toppling over me like usual, and soon found myself about twenty to thirty feet away from him. He just smiled at me and laughed as he began to swim towards me.

I waited for him to reach me, and when he did, I put my hands on his shoulders and pushed him under the water, laughing as I did so. He surprised me by putting his hands onto my thighs and lifted me up and over his head, being submerged under water.

I swear, that boy was on steroids or on some horrible tasting milkshakes…

I resurfaced and looked at Jacob who was smirking at me. “Can’t get me that easily, Jade,”

Something went off inside of me. It was like I just wanted to be in his arms. I wanted to have him for me, myself, and I. I wanted to feel his touch all the time and wanted to kiss his lips…

Don’t get ahead of yourself, Jade, I scolded. He’s Jake, you’re best friend, nothing more, nothing less.

“I guess you win this round,” I stuck out my tongue.

“Wanna hug and make up?”

I smiled and extended my arms out for him to enter, which he gladly did. He wrapped his warm arms around my waist and pulled me closer and I snaked mine around his neck.

I didn’t want this hug to end.

We pulled away, but our arms were still around each other’s bodies. We stared at each other for a while, just listening to the waves push and pull back on the beach.

Our faces inched closer and closer. Our lips closed the gap and a spark went throughout my entire body. Everything felt good, complete—like this was how it was supposed to be.

One of his arms slinked away from my waist and up to my cheek, caressing it softly and gently, the other still having a tight grip around me. I let one hand wander from his neck to the top of his head and ran a hand through his black short hair.

The sound of a wolf howling brought us apart. We looked at the other in shock, but then Jacob looked up at the cliffs and growled lowly. I turned to look at what he was seeing, but nothing was there.

“Let’s get you home,” He suggested. I could only let myself be carried by Jacob on his back as he swam towards the beach. He jogged with me to the car and quickly handed me my clothes. “Go and change,” He ordered.

I did as I was told and came back to a Jacob who was fully clothed and waiting in the car. I got into the passenger seat and he started up the car and we got out of there as fast as the car would allow.

“Jake, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” He replied.

“Jake, it’s not nothing if you’re going over 50 miles an hour,” I rolled my eyes. It then occurred to me. “Is… is this because of the kiss?” I asked. “Was it a mistake?”

“N-no!” He argued. “It’s just that I have to get you out of there, it’s not safe.”

“What, the wolves?”

“Er, yes,” He nodded unsurely.

“Right…” I mumbled lowly as I slumped back into my seat and stared out the window, watching the trees zoom by.

The car ride was silent, not a word said by either one of us. We arrived at Emily’s house and we both got off. As to why he was getting off I didn’t know why, but I didn’t want to see Jake right now.

I quickly walked into the house, ignoring Emily’s hello, and up the stairs, racing into my room without a word.

I threw my backpack and books onto the floor and flopped onto my bed. I got comfortable and let sleep consume my thoughts and take me away from reality.

-{}-

I woke up and it was 11:45, the window showed nothing but darkness.

Shit, I thought. I’ve gotta finish my homework.

I got out my papers and some books and placed them all onto the desk after moving my laptop to my bed.

Three hours passed and I was soon finished with my work. Now all I had to do was take a shower, eat something, and then read the few chapters I had to read for English.

I grabbed some pajamas and the necessities, slipping by Chris’s and Emily’s rooms silently.

I turned the hot water on as soon as I got into the bathroom, stripped down, and got in. I got all the dirty and salt water off my body and hair with the soaps and stood there for a moment or two, my mind wandering off towards Jacob.

What did that whole thing mean? Are we together or still friends…? I’m not going to let myself become one of those ‘friends with benefits’. I thought. Does he even like me? Maybe it was all just one of those spur of the moment type of things…

I sighed; the whole ordeal was tiring to think about. I grabbed a towel, dried myself off, and then began to change into clean clothes. I decided that I was just going to let my hair air dry and left the bathroom, placing my dirty clothes into the hamper in my room.

I grabbed the book I was supposed to read, and then walked back down the stairs. I stopped at the top of the second floor staircase. There were people talking downstairs.

“Sam, what are we going to do?” Jacob’s voice rang throughout my ears.

“We’ll just have to wait and see what he does first,”

“But—!”

“No,” Sam retorted. “We’ll be doubling up on patrols. You won’t be going to school until this guy’s caught.”

There was another wolf howling, not too far from the house, and the front door opened and closed.

“Jade, come down,” Jacob said. “I know you’re there.”

I turned my back and then quickly raced back up the stairs and into my room. There was a knock.

“Jade, can I come in,” I didn’t respond, I just sat on my bed and stared at the door handle. “I’m just going to take that as a ‘yes’.”

The handle then began to twist, I laid back in bed and hid my head under the pillow like a child, and heard the door open up and close. His heavy footsteps walked towards me and sat down at the foot of my bed.

“Jade, I’m sorry for what happened earlier.” He said. “I like you, a lot though and I’m glad that it happened.” He sighed and stood back up. “But the timing is bad and I just wanna take it slow right now. Can we still be friends?”

I stayed quiet. “Sure…” I mumbled. “Just don’t ever do that again,”

“Alright,” He said slowly. “I promise you,”

“Thanks, goodnight Jacob,”

The door opened and closed again and I sighed. That wasn’t the way I wanted things to go. I wanted him to say he liked me and that we’d be a couple. Things never go the way I want them to though, there’s always some sick twist in it all.

I didn’t feel like eating or reading the stupid book anymore, and so I just let myself fall back again into a deep sleep where I controlled everything and it’s turnout…