Re-Imprint

The lights in the grocery store were harsh, bright and unwavering as we stepped through the automatic doors. Bella and Nessie were walking ahead of me, and I trailed behind, hands shoved into my cut-off jeans. The heels that Bella had grown fond of wearing clicked against the linoleum and the sound grated against my nerves. Nessie was yanking on Bella’s tailored jacket, trying to grab her attention as she went to get a cart.

“Yes, sweetie?” Bella asked, absentmindedly. She dug through the designer purse on her shoulder until she found the list of groceries that she needed and started to push the cart down an aisle. Nessie tugged on her hand, causing Bella to freeze and listen while Nessie thought out her words.

“Yes, they are all coming to visit tomorrow, and you can show them your room with all your toys. But I’m sorry sweetie, Uncle Billy has to stay home. He hasn’t been feeling good.”

I watched their exchange for about two more seconds before growing bored and wandered down a different aisle.

Some of the La Push pack was coming up to Seattle along with a few of the Cullens to check out a small problem. There had been a couple messy, suspicious deaths over the past few weeks in Seattle and the whole city was on edge because of it. The police were saying it looked like some ritualistic cult killings but the Cullens and Sam both agreed that it was the work of a new vampire, one that had recently been made and not trained on how to survive. It was killing at whim and openly. They hoped to convert them over to the Cullen way of thinking, that humans didn’t need to be harmed in able to survive. Otherwise the threat to the city would have to be taken care of, no matter the cost.

Bella was excited because it gave her an excuse to play hostess in her big new home. She just realized that the house was void of food and we had to go grocery shopping.

I absentmindedly picked up a bag of chips to study them before dropping it back onto the shelf. I turned on my heel to go around another corner when I caught a whiff of that vanilla and pine scent that was so familiar. Without thinking I followed it until it led me to the bakery. The smell was faint under the sugary sweetness, but it was there.

She was standing behind a counter, a short glass partition separating her and the other decorator from the customers. Her ginger hair was gathered up under a black beanie, a frosting-stained apron fixed over her white and black smock. I watched her pick up a piping bag of bright green frosting, tuck one end under her arm and wrap her hand around the tip end. My eyes slid over her name tag and I couldn’t stop a smile. Joleen?

“You know, I’ve never quite gotten used to people watching me.”

Joey looked up from the cake, green eyes twinkling, corners of her lips tilted up in a small smile. She bent back down and started piping something across the cake. The piping bag would go down, she’d squeeze her hand, and then come back up with a jerky motion, leaving strands of frosting dangling from the tip. Her hands moved with an ease and gracefulness I would never have and I was struck with awe of how beautiful she was in that moment. She wiped one hand off on her apron, leaving a smear of green behind it, joining the myriad of other colors. She switched the green bag out for a blue one and started filling in shapes on the cake.

“I kind of can’t help it. This is all pretty fascinating,” I muttered, transfixed.

She dropped the piping bag, picked up a small angled spatula and starting swirling it across the surface of the cake with a deft flick of her wrist.

“What are you making?”

That small smile returned and Joey shook her head slightly.

“You’ll see,” she chuckled.

After a few minutes she lifted the cake off its stand, placed it on a tray and snapped a clear, domed lid over it. She moved out from behind the counter and came around the front to place it in a cold case display. My mouth fell open at the scene atop it. A river was running across the cake in blue frosting, grass and rocks done along each side, wildflowers dotted among the rocks. It was astonishing.

“Damn. That looks so real.”

“Thanks.”

Joey’s body moved just enough that she slid closer a few inches and the vanilla pine scent intensified until it was all I could smell. She was saying something but my brain wasn’t listening to it as I tried to focus in on her heartbeat. I was struck again with how fucking slow it was. Or maybe I had just been spending too much time with vampires who didn’t have a heartbeat and couldn’t remember what it was supposed to sound like. Either way, I leaned in closer to listen.

Her green eyes flew to mine and those pink lips parted on a gasp. Her hands clung to her apron, fingers twisting in the white fabric. My eyes flicked down for a second and saw the colorful stains littering her hands that I had noticed the other day, before going back to her face.

“Jacob, I- I-“

“Yes? Something wrong?” I asked quietly.

Little puffs of air were escaping her mouth, caused by the ragged heaving her chest. They hit the side of my cheek and smelled just like vanilla and mint. Her previously sluggish heartbeat had quickened into a little pitter patter that I could barely hear over the furious pounding of my own heart.

Good God, I wanted her.

“There you are!”

Like a trance had been broken my gaze snapped away from Joey and her hands dropped the now crumpled apron. I spun around on my heel to see Bella pushing a ridiculously full shopping cart over to us, Nessie trailing behind her. When she saw me, her little body came rushing forward until she latched onto one of my legs. Then she noticed Joey and the display of cakes and her dark brown eyes widened in awe. For the most part Nessie hunted with her parents and drank from animals, but the one thing she could never get enough of was sweets. Bella and Edward found it disgusting. I just thought it was cute.

She inched closed until her face was practically pressed against one lid, breath fogging up the plastic.

“Can we get one?” she squealed, turning back to Bella.

Bella lip was curled back in an expression of disgust but she nodded once. Nessie squealed again and started looking at the cakes more closely, going over each design with a scrutinizing eye.

“Which ones did you make, Joey?” she finally asked.

Joey seemed stunned by the question before bending down to Nessie’s level to talk to her.

“Um, the one with the flowers, that one with the princess, the white one with the monsters, the orange one with the bear and this river right here.” A fingertip that was stained purple taped the top of the clear lid of the river one and Joey smiled proudly.

“I like the one with the princess. What ‘bout you Jacob?” Nessie looked up at me expectantly and I glanced down, barely seeing any of them.

“The bear one,” I muttered.

“Okay, then we’ll get that one,” she nodded matter-of-factly.

Joey picked up the cake and took it over to the shopping cart, Nessie skipping along happily. Bella had been talking on the phone the whole time in hushed whispers, not paying attention to our conversation about cake.

Seeing the three of them together caused the reality of the situation to crash into me with full force. I couldn’t want Joey. She was a part of this puzzle that didn’t fit; a jagged piece too sharp and dangerous. If allowed, the carefully constructed world around our little Cullen family would come crumbling down and I would have to face the truth.

That I only had so long until everyone realized I was living one big lie and Nessie was no longer mine. That no matter how much I hated it, I was imprinted on some girl I barely knew and didn’t care to know.

That I had ruined everything.