Re-Imprint

The October air was cold and biting against my skin, and I was beginning to regret my decision of not wearing a hat. The tips of my ears were probably frozen into ice and I had long sense stopped feeling them, but I didn't want to move from my perch atop the jungle gym. Though it was cold, the sky was a clear, endless blue. The loud laughter from the kids playing had melted away into the background, and I just focused on the sky.

For as long as I could remember, I had wanted to fly. Heights didn't scare me at all, and I loved to to be close to the sky.

I took a deep breath of the cold air in, both loving and hating the way it froze my lungs. A harsh wind blew across the park, sending my tangled red curls flying around my face. I glanced down at my gloveless hands and frowned at the blotchy red they had become. I knew I should go back to my car and go home, but I was reluctant to leave.

Something was telling me to stay.

"Hi, Joey."

The light, musical voice caught my attention and I looked down. A small smile spread across my lips at the little girl scaling the jungle gym.

"Hey. It's Nessie, right?"

"Uh huh," she giggled.

She finally reached the top of the jungle gym and settled down next to me. She set her chin down on her hands and stared out at the horizon like I was. She didn't say anything for a few minutes, then made a funny little grumbling noise. I glanced over at her and saw that her eyebrows were furrowed together, one corner of her mouth tilting downwwards.

"What are you thinking about so hard?" I asked, trying hard not to laugh at the serious look on her face. It was priceless.

"There's just not a lot of trees here," she huffed.

"But there's lots of trees, sweetie," I motioned out at the small forest surrounding the park.

"Yeah, but they're not real trees. There's too many buildings behind them. And this isn't a real forest. It was put here."

My mouth fell open, in awe of this little girl that seemed way too intelligent for her age.

"There's a lot more trees in Forks. And everything's really pretty and green." She glanced up at the clouds, the crease in her brows deepening. "And the sky isn't so grey."

"That's where you're from? Forks?" She nodded. "And your sister just let run through these woods by yourself?"

"Of course not. Jacob always came with me!" Nessie's face lost the gloom in her features and broke out into a wide grin. "See?!" She turned and pointed behind us, to a bench on the other side of the playground.

I didn't know what happened then, only that my heart stopped and I almost fell off the jungle gym. He was staring at us, I could feel it. Even though he was yards away, and I couldn't see his features, I knew that he was staring right at me.

"Come on, Joey!" Nessie called.

I snapped out of it and realized that she was starting to climb down the jungle gym. I slowly followed, my heart pounding for a reason I didn't understand. Nessie skipped over to the bench, tugging on the guy's hand when she reached him. He nodded curtly, like answering an unasked question.

"This is Joey!" she giggled, spinning back towards me. "Joey, this is Jacob."

My steps stopped, a few feet away from them. I couldn't breathe and my chest grew tight, a deep ache forming and I tightened my arms around my ribcage. It felt like something had been ripped away from me, and replaced with a burning heat that scourched my soul.

"Hi," I managed to squeak out.

His dark eyes were thunderous, and his jaw was popping furiously, teeth grinding together. Arms were banded across his chest, the skin pulled tight over his muschles, like velvet over steel. An overwhelming urge to reach and touch his caramel colored skin over took me, to see if it was as warm as it looked. I hadn't even noticed that all he had on was a sleeveless t-shirt and cut-off jeans and the shoes on his feet were old and worn.

"Hi," he ground out, and it was so rough and dark that a shiver went down my spine.

His gaze burned me and the shiver changed to goosebumps that crawled along my arms and made my skin sensitive in a way that I wanted to rub my hands all over my body. Or rub myself against him. I recoiled back at the direction my thoughts had gone to, shocked to my core.

Jacob looked down at Nessie, the two of them sharing a silent conversation with their eyes. She frowned, and looked back at me.

"But I don't want to go home!" she whined, stomping her little feet. "I want to stay here and play with Joey!"

I took a step forward, and Jacob instantly backed up, his eyes hardening to glassy beads. I bent down to Nessie's level and smiled as warmly as I could.

"Don't worry, sweetie. I have your sister's number. Maybe we can set up a play date. Would you like that?"

"Yeah! And we can get more ice cream!" she giggled.

"Exactly," I smiled, amused at her swift mood changes.

"Come on, Nessie," Jacob snapped. He sounded angry, but it was still like beauitulf, dark honey to my ears. "We're going home."

He grabbed her hand, and started dragging her away from the bench.

"Bye, Joey!" she called back.

I watched them go, his wide shoulders tapering down to narrow hips, his back tense and stiff. Who was he to Nessie, and better yet who was he to me? How could he make me feel this way in five minutes?

And why did I feel like crying now that he was gone?