Neighbors.

11. 14. 2o13

It wasn't possible—this wasn't supposed to happen, not to me! Tell me how I went from hating the idea of imprinting, to having not only one, but two imprints.

She touched my hand, the thoughts flooding through in both pictures and words. Nessie was upset—jealous.

"Who is she? Why is she here? Do you like her? Is she your girlfrien—"

"She is not my girlfriend, Ness." I boomed. She dropped her hand, frightened for a moment then slowly moved off the couch and to her room. Renesmee may be cute and may have a charm but she wasn't helping my situation. In the end, what was I supposed to do?

I can't have both. That would be too selfish.

"Jake, she just doesn't understand—She wants some answers." Bella understood what had happened. I explained everything to her and Edward. Seeing her—seeing her here. Her scent was intoxicating. She was every bit as beautiful as ever. She was kind, warm and pure. I wouldn't have her any other way.

"Interrogating me isn't going to get her any answers." I muttered, looking up from my place on the sofa. "Because, truthfully? I don't know what I'm going to do."

"What I'm about to say, isn't because I don't what you near my daughter," Edward started. His brows were pulled together. Thinking about Charlie now, Edward could clearly see the way things changed for me—I was sure that is Jasper were here, he would be able to feel my emotional and gravitational shift towards Charlie. "But perhaps you should.. choose Charlie."

"Edward! Ness had him first." I almost agreed with Bella. I felt horrible knowing that I would be breaking a lot of promises to Nessie.

"No, Bella. Listen," Edward took her hand in his and sighed, "Ness is only young—it would be years before she matured emotionally and physically. Jacob just turned twenty-three, Love. He deserves someone his age—someone he can love."

She glared, "He can love Nessie when she becomes of age—Quil will, so why can't Jake?"

Jacob groaned, "What Edward is trying to say is, I don't have to leave Nessie. I could have both—Nessie will always have me as her brother, or her best friend. But because Charlie is older, I can have her.. uh—"

"Romantically." Edward finished. "He doesn't have to hurt anyone."

"I don't know, Jake.." Bella folded her thin arms. "It doesn't feel right—I felt weird around her. Like she knew something I didn't."

"She was uncomfortable." I defended, becoming aggravated. Why was Bella making this difficult? As if I asked to imprint on Charlie. "You saw the way Ness glared at her—don't even try and put this on me, Bells." I said before she could open her mouth to bite back about Nessie. "You know just as well as I do that I never wanted an imprint in the first place—and karma came back to bite me in the ass—"

"Language, Jacob." Edward cut in.

"Sorry," I muttered, flattening my hair.

Bella huffed, "So, now what? We just let that girl—"

"Charlie." I growled.

"—get away with having Jacob when he was supposed to be with Nessie from the start."

I stood up and moved towards the door, "Here's an idea—I won't have either. I'll leave them both alone, and then we can all be miserable!" I didn't bother to see the reaction on her face before I slammed their cabin door and stripped down into the forest.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten that I hadn't told anyone about my second imprinting—or that Charlie had come back for that matter.

You.. did... what? Leah barked, the bitterness in her voice sinking deep into my thoughts. That's not even possible!

Forget that, Embry said, mind wandering to his long-time best friend, When did she get back—why didn't she come see me?

Get over yourself, lover boy. I think we have a bigger problem here. Leah growled, her thoughts roaming over the fact that I had imprinted on two people, and she hadn't imprinted on anyone.

That's not even my biggest problem, I started, really unprepared to face the ugly truth, I don't even know what I'm supposed to do.

It was a moment that replayed through my head—one of the very best and very few memories I had about Charlie.

"Listen to your heart, Jacob. You don't have to live up to anyone expectations, or live to anyones standards. Be yourself, because we love you for who you are. Don't live your life in fear, Jake." Her pearl white smile moved through my spine, "You're so much more then that."