Raya Rose: The Opportunist.

The next morning was not what she expected. Though Raya wasn’t really sure what she should have expected. When she woke up Jacob was no longer in bed and she didn’t expect him to be. In all honesty she was nervous to confront him, but her plan was to play it cool. Like if it was any other typical morning. She had to test him, see how he would react first then she would react. Yeah, that seemed safe. She took a quick shower and headed to the kitchen where she found Jacob rummaging through the cupboards.

“Morning” she said sitting down at the table.

Jacob jumped up giving her a quick look and turning right away to the cupboard “Oh hey” he said quickly. She gave him a quizzical look shrugged her shoulders and went to the fridge. She opened it and looked in it.

“I am so hungry!” she said trying to make small talk.

“Yeah” Jacob mumbled taking out a box of cereal that was in the back of the cupboard he had been rummaging through. She observed him as he reached for a bowl, his hands slightly shaking. Weird she thought. He poured himself cereal and went to sit at the table.

She followed his same action grabbing some cereal and sitting across from him. Jacob’s eyes were on his bowl of cereal the whole time he ate. Raya would occasionally look at him and Jacob would squirm in his chair looking everywhere but her.

“Ok, what’s your deal?” she asked curiosity winning the best of her.

“Huh?” Jacob asked looking up at her slowly.

“Don’t act dumb. What’s going on with you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” he said going back to his bowl.

“Oh please! You’ve been jittery all morning, you haven’t even bothered to make eye contact with me, and you’ve been so distant this morning. So what gives?” she crossed her arms.

Jacob sighed “Raya, last night—“

“Yes?” she arched her eyebrow.

He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably “Last night we—we— uh we made love”

“Ok?” Raya said kind of amused by the way he worded it.

“And maybe it wasn’t the best thing to have done”

“Ok?” she displayed a neutral face, but in all honesty her heart had dropped an inch.

“Now things are going to be awkward, I mean let’s face it, I don’t think either of us wanted last night to have happened. It was a mistake and we’re both adults, and we should just bypass it and get on with our lives.”
`
Raya studied him for a bit. Jacob stayed silent waiting for her response. They had a stare off. And again Jacob felt that magnetic pull towards her. He clutched his fist trying to control himself. Raya uncrossed her arms and stood up, went to the sink and washed her plate. Jacob sat there burning holes to the back of her head wondering what she was thinking. Once she was done with her plate she turned around to face him.

“Things will only be awkward because you’re making them awkward. And if you think last night was a mistake, don’t bother worrying about it, because last night we didn’t make love. We had sex. S-E-X, sex. And there’s nothing more to it. So” she said moving closer to him “Don’t you worry your pretty little head, last night was as insignificant to me as it was to you” she said giving him a pat on the shoulders and exiting the kitchen, leaving a dumbfounded Jacob sitting there with a priceless look on his face.
********************

Damn it! He hurt her feelings. She paced around the room. She couldn’t let him get to her. Remember the plan she repeated to herself. Stay there for awhile, just so she could lay low, then bolt. Bolt Raya, Bolt she kept reminding herself.

No one knew anything about her for all Bonnie and Rich knew was she as well as dead. She had run away from them when she found out that they were planning on killing her. Crazy? Yes it was. When they had found out that her parents had left her a huge fortune, all hell broke loose. Her life had suddenly been hanging on a line. The way they planned her death was genius, no one would have ever known she was murdered. No one.

There had been a terrible storm, one that left many without a home. Many locals were to go to a school where they had an underground gym. Perfect timing for a storm. That night they grabbed her and had planned to finish the deed making everyone believed she had died in the storm. Unfortunately for them, the storm was much more aggressive than they thought. They kept fumbling with each other and fumbling to hold her down and when an enormous gush of wind struck knocking all of them down, she took that opportunity and ran for her life.
She ran against the wind not knowing where to go, but she ran. She finally stopped running when she crossed upon a grocery store, where she saw them taking people in. She ran in there and stayed there, until the storm died down.

Later on she went back to the house, and found it still standing, barely. It was a stupid thing to do right? Go back when she was almost killed by those people, but somehow she knew they wouldn’t go back to the house after the storm. She grabbed anything of hers she could find clothes, shoes, toiletries, and more importantly all the documents she could find about herself in their office. Not to mention she took some money, and things she could sell at a pawn shop… which were many things. Many.

She laid low for two years. Going from job to job from apartment to apartment. Thanks to all the things she had pawned she was able to live a comfortable life. But things soon had to end, and she could no longer afford things. That is when out pure luck she found Jacob. He had been stumbling down the street as drunk as could be. She thought nothing of it, until he fell to the ground. She couldn’t have just left him there. She had to help him.

So what did she do? She went over to him. When she found him she couldn’t help, but notice how handsome he was…and drunk.

“Sir, are you ok?” she got on her knees and shook him a bit.

“Huh?” he mumbled confused.

“You fell, and I think you hit your head pretty hard on the concrete, it’s kind of bleeding” she scrunched her nose.

He looked at her star struck “Are you an angel?”

She snorted. How attractive “Far from it” she answered “come on now, get up” she got up pulling him from his arm. He got up although with difficulty, but he managed to get up. He supported some of his weight on her, and by some of it she felt like it was all of it. But somehow she managed to take him to a nearby bench just a few minutes away.

Jacob chuckled when he sat down. His head moved from side to side dazedly. He turned to look at Raya, his head fell on her shoulder and he snuggled himself on her neck. Raya was not sure what to do.

“You smell nice” he sniffed her neck. Raya laughed nervously.

“Ok now, come on sit up” she pushed him off her gently.

“You’re so beautiful” he slurred. “You know what you should do?” he chuckled.

“No what?”

“Marry me”

It was her turn to chuckle “You’re very drunk”

“No—noI’mnotdrunk” he slurred.

“I don’t even know you’re name”

“It’s, it’s—“ he sat there looking up at the sky thinking about it. “I think it’s Jacob” he said falling back on the bench. “Now marry me”

She chuckled “No”

“Marry me, I’ll give you everything, a house, a place, and lot’s and lot’s of love!” he laughed again.

“Come on we should call someone for you, give me your cell phone” she said taking her hand out to him.

“ Not until you marry me”

“I can’t marry you Jacob”

He frowned “why not? Do you have somebody else?”

No, she had nobody else. She was barely making it on her own. Barely. And now she had a complete drunk stranger who wanted her to marry him. Suddenly, the wheels on her head started rolling.

Which led her to where she was today. Married to a man who was giving her mixed signals. She threw herself on the bed. She needed to quit all these feeling. They were too much of a hassle. She just needed to get her priorities straight and remember that she was trying to escape from Bonnie and Rich and somehow find a way to get everything that rightfully belonged to her. She just had to find a way.

If only life were so much simpler.

**************
Jacob felt absolutely crummy. He was at his dad’s house waiting for his dad to take him over to Charlie’s. There he sat on the small couch arms folded with a sour look on his face. He couldn’t believe last night meant nothing to Raya. Wasn’t he the one that was suppose to say it was “just” sex and nothing more? Damn it! He meant come on, how many times had he been on one night stands? Dozens of times, that’s how many. And each and every time the girl would want to start something with him, but he didn’t want any sort of relationship so he would leave as soon as you could count to three. Now here there was a girl who claimed to be his wife, they have sex, and suddenly it was just another one night stand? They were married for fucksake!

In all honesty if he wasn’t so sour with what Raya told him he would have punched himself for behaving this way. After all, he was the one who told her they should just forget the moment they had last night. If it were another girl he would have been relieved that all she wanted from him was sex. He sighed, but it wasn’t another and he most definitely was not relieved that Raya just used him for sex. That’s what he felt, used. His heart was toyed with once, and now it was about to get toyed again. Damn the imprinting! Did Raya not feel the connection? Was it not obvious that what they had last night was more than sex? He shifted on the couch irritated.

“Son?” Billy rolled out of the hallway.

“Hey, dad” Jacob tried to shake away his irritation, so his father wouldn’t ask any questions.

“What’s wrong?”

Jacob scoffed. So much for hiding his anger.

“Nothing” he answered.

“Then what’s with the face?” Billy raised an eyebrow.

“What face?” Jacob played dumb.

“The one that looks like someone just stepped on your to e and didn’t apologize”
Jacob sighed “It’s just- it’s” Jacob groaned, he couldn’t tell his father. He hadn’t even allowed Raya and him to meet.

Billy nodded “Ah, I see. Lady problems”

“No dad not lady problem, Raya problems, which are way more complicated”

“Well son, I wouldn’t know what to tell you. I’ve never met that young lady”

Jacob smiled thinking about Raya “You’d love her dad. She’s great. She’s compassionate, so understanding and always willing to please everyone. She’s always there even when you don’t think you need her. She comforts you without you even knowing. She’s always makes people laugh or smile. Whenever you leave her presence you always leave smiling and not even know why. She’s beautiful, more than all the stars in the sky put together and she always smells so good. And dad if you could just taste the food she makes, it’s out of this world. She’s—amazing.” He breathed out.

Billy smiled watching his awe-struck son “Then I don’t see what the problem is”

“I—I can’t love her dad” Jacob sighed in defeat.

“It seems you already do”

“I know!”Jacob said getting up pacing around the room “But I don’t want to dad, I can’t!”

“Why not?”

“I can’t leave my heart on the line just like that. I always end up losing! She’ll sooner or later wake up and see that she could do way much better and leave with a damn bloodsucker” Jacob spat harshly.

Billy sighed “Jacob, you need to stop comparing every relationship with what happened with, Bella. Not all of them will be the same. So you had heartbreak, everyone does and they get over it. You’ll never know what could be with Raya if you don’t let yourself experience it. She sounds like a wonderful girl, son. Do you really want to let her go that easily?”

Jacob stayed still taking in his father’s words. Could he really ever let Raya out of his life that easily? Did he even want to? He thought about his life without her and everything was so bland, there was no color, no joy, no happiness. Raya had become his world without him even noticing. She had gotten under his skin and snuck into his heart. Damn it! He loved her! He couldn’t live without her after he had known what it was like to have her around. And his idiot self was losing her. She had already gone on a date with another man and she had already said their night meant nothing to her. He needed to step up his game and win the heart of the woman he loved. Hell no, he wasn’t letting her go anytime soon, never in fact. She was the missing link to his puzzle. He needed her.

“I imprinted on her dad” Jacob smiled from ear to ear.

“So you’re not letting her go?” Billy asked hopeful.

“Hell no!”

Billy chuckled “Then what are you doing here son? Go get her! Times a-wasting!”
“But don’t you need me to take you to—“

“I’ll tell Charlie to come pick me up. You go get her and win her over son”

Jacob smiled hugging his dad “Thanks dad--- for everything”

“Alright, now get out of here” Billy chuckled shooing him away.

Jacob chuckled running out the door.

“Make me proud son!” Billy called out after him.
*********************************
Jacob parked his car frantically. He saw Raya right outside the house adding another plant to her small garden. He smiled looking at her work hard and concentrating on digging a hole. He got out of the car and walked behind her blocking the sun from her body. She turned her head to look up at Jacob and gave him a confused face to why he had a goofy smile on his.

She raised her eyebrow “You ok”

Jacob chuckled pulling her up catching her by surprise “Actually, never felt better” he said looking down at her.

“Ok?” Raya said still not understanding what was going on. She had dirt on her cheek and nose and she had never looked so adorable. “Are we done? I need to get back to the garden”

Jacob shook his head no.

“No?” she said confused “Jacob what’s going on? You’re acting all strange. Have you been drinking?” she gasped “Are you on drugs?” Which only made Jacob chuckle harder.

“Raya, you just make me so happy”.

Raya’s face turned to absolute shock “I—I make you happy?”

“Uh huh” he said putting his hands on her cheeks brining her closer to him.

“Really?”

“Yes” he said running his nose on her cheek.

“Oh” was all she could breathe out.

He chuckled at her awestruck response.

“I think I’m going to kiss you now” he said in her ear.

Raya swallowed hard “You—you are?”

Jacob pulled his head up looking down at her sweetly “yeah” he whispered.

And with that he connected his lips to hers.

And with that he connected the missing link of the puzzle.

And with that the puzzle was completed.