A Drop in the Ocean

“What are you thinking about, Ness?” Aunt Alice’s voice brought me out of my deep thoughts as she twirled around with a pink shirt held to her torso. “This and that; I don’t mean to be in such a daze,” I apologized in a soft tone of voice. “That looks really pretty though,” I admitted and Alice grinned.

“No more trips into outer-space, Ness. I can’t find outfits without you being down here on Earth,” she commented and found a pair of pants to go along with the cute pink shirt, then my Aunt proceeded to usher me into a changing room. This was going to be an extremely long day.

Five hours, Alice and I spent inside the mall of Port Angeles. Five hours, we whirled from store to store looking for the perfect outfit, the one from Aunt Alice’s vision. Can you believe we finally found it when looking in the very last store? Just as Alice said that I would: I fell in love with the outfit right away.

We made the drive back to our house outside of Forks in about forty-five minutes—there was a bit of traffic out that afternoon. Alice and I carried all the bags up to my bedroom and then she disappeared to allow me to get ready. Because of all the changing and sweating I did at the mall, I took another shower. I then started to dress in the new clothes and was pleased with them as I gawked at myself in the mirror.

My stomach was rumbling, I was hungry but I told myself not to eat just in case Jake was going to take me out to eat this evening. I chewed on my lower lip slightly as I spun slowly in the mirror. The halter top was blue and showed off my developed goods rather well. Maybe not inappropriately well, I hoped. The pair of blue jeans I slipped on was expensive—the kind that didn’t look to be that way at all since they already had decorative holes and rips in them. It seemed to be the trend these days.

After gazing at myself in the mirror for quite a while I decided it was time to start applying makeup. Good thing I had started because just a few minutes later, I heard Jake’s voice downstairs.

“You sure smell nice this evening, Jake,” I heard my Mom compliment. He must be wearing something really powerful to get rid of that wolfy odor… “Thanks, Bella. I hope Renesmee likes it.” I could hear a difference in his voice when he said my name. He no longer said it like I was his cute little sister—he said it and there was feeling behind it. A feeling that made the butterflies deep in the pit of my gut start to go crazy.

“Where do you plan on taking Renesmee, tonight?” I heard my Dad ask as I slowly walked down the stairs; the pair of boots on my feet made small sounds as I came down. They were new and nowhere near broke in yet. I wasn’t near as ‘graceful’ as my vampire kin…I was still half-human after all. “I’d love to know the answer to that, too,” I said softly as I walked into the large living room.

I met Jake’s warm brown eyes with my own; I’m not sure I had ever seen him look at me the way he was looking at me now. “Do you like the outfit? It’s new,” I said quietly and stepped a little closer, watching as his brown eyes went from my head down to my feet, then back up. “You look amazing, Ness, as always. You just look…even more amazing tonight,” he complimented and I felt my pale cheeks tint pink just slightly.

“Jacob,” my Dad said his name to snap Jake out of the way he was looking at me. I giggled softly as Jake turned his attention back to Dad and started to tell him the plans for the date. “Well, the rain moving in kind of spoiled what I initially wanted to do. I wanted to take her out for a picnic on the reservation but… it started to rain on the drive here. I thought maybe I’d take her out to eat again, maybe in Port Angeles. If we get done eating soon enough, thought about maybe taking Ness to the cinema to catch a flick. Her choice, naturally.”

“Movie first,” I said softly and smiled up at Jake who was still a good few inches taller than myself. Maybe a good six inches taller at least. I liked his idea but… “If it’s not raining anymore after the movie, maybe we could still have that picnic on the beach. Bonfire maybe since it’ll be getting dark…” I suggested and noticed Jake get that grin upon his face.

“Sound like good plans to me,” said my Mom who cuddled up to my Dad’s side. “You two just be careful,” she said sheepishly which made me smile. I’d never seen my Mom act like that. “You know we will be. Who better to take care of me than Jake?” I asked softly and stepped forward, hugging both of my parents.

“By the way,” Mom commented, “Alice did a good job on the outfit. You look very pretty.” I blushed when Mom said that, of course Dad immediately agreed with her. “Good enough for a picture I hope?” Alice came into the room with a digital camera—I wasn’t sure if it was hers, Mom’s, or whose it was.

“I don’t know… I don’t think I look good enough for pictures,” I said quietly, kind of shy. I’d never been shy about photographs before but something was definitely making me jumpy about having my photograph taken right now. Maybe it was because this would be the first romantic photo between Jake and me? Sure there were photos of us together on Christmas…Easter, other holidays. There were photos of him holding me when I was just a little baby… which naturally brought back that feeling that this was awkward in more than one way.

“You look beautiful, Ness.” His voice brought me out of my thoughts and I looked up towards him, right up into those perfect eyes of his, blushing extremely heavily; my heart even did that funny pitter-patter thing again which I was certain everyone in the room could hear. “She believes it when he says it, not when we say it,” my Dad commented and I rolled my eyes. Typical, he’d read my mind. There’s that privacy issue again.

“I’m just thankful she believes me,” said Jake as he wrapped an arm around my waist, to pull me a little closer for a picture. My cheeks wouldn’t flare down though, which made my Aunt Alice laugh. “You are such the human tonight, Ness,” she said with a giggle and took a couple photographs. I was standing next to Jake, his arm was around me and my head was kind of curled beneath his armpit. After all, I did say he was taller than me.

“Believe it or not, you’re the picture perfect couple,” Alice commented as she took a few more photographs and then showed me on the display screen of the camera what a few of the photographs had turned out like. I smiled quite a bit, biting on my lower lip out of anxiousness and nervousness. “We are, aren’t we?” I questioned in a slight bit of disbelief as I gawked at the photo.

“Alright, you two best go ahead and go before I change my mind,” said my Father, Edward. I laughed softly and again gave my parents a hug. “What is everyone else going to do tonight while I’m away?” I asked and pulled back, grabbing my purse off a chair. I couldn’t imagine them doing much of anything fun without little ol’ me. I had always thought I was the one that fun revolved around in the family. I couldn’t even picture how everyone got on without me around.

“Hunt, I think. We haven’t in a little while. We might all have our own little romantic nights, something we haven’t had since you’ve been born,” teased my Dad and I put my hand over my ears, making a small ‘lalalala’ noise. Clearly he’d read my mind again, or he wouldn’t have teased me that way. That was beside the point, though.

“But Jake,” started my Dad which made Jacob turn back in his direction. “Ness is still my teenage daughter…immortal or not. I want you back here by…” his voice trailed off and my Mom shrugged slightly. “One o’clock. My Dad used to make me come in by ten on school nights, eleven on weekends. I wasn’t half vampire though and I didn’t have a Father who could run ridiculously fast and read minds,” Bella teased just a bit.

“Not to mention, our daughter doesn’t go to school and Jake is graduated,” Edward pointed out to which Bella nodded. At least they were acknowledging the fact that I didn’t go to school…maybe that was a sign that I could go soon…

“One o’clock, really, that’s later than I thought you’d let me stay out! So thank you, so much!” I beamed and Jake couldn’t help but let a chuckle slip. “It’s a lot later than I figured, too. I thought Edward was about to say nine o’clock…that would have shot all of my plans to hell and back,” Jake teased, I could tell by the tone of voice. He made it sound as if he had secret plans but I’m sure my Dad would have heard them in Jake’s mind if he had…

“Get gone already, you two!” Prodded my Aunt Alice which brought me out of my slight daze, she was lightly giving me a shove from behind which made me laugh. “And when you get home, you have to tell me about your night, Ness,” she went on as Jake and I walked out the front door and down the porch steps to the car. Jake had a modest car, nothing quite as fancy as my family drove.

“You’ve already seen my night before I live it, Alice!” I stated as I stood outside of Jake’s car, playing with the hem of my new halter top out of a bit of anxiousness. I could still feel those butterflies in my stomach going insane.

Jake opened the passenger door for me which made me blush. I turned back towards the house and gave a small wave and a smile before slipping my body into the car, Jake shutting the car door once I was in. Of course I was going to tell Alice about my night once I got back home, and my Father would read my mind whether I told her or not so… there’s that privacy thing again.

But a girl had to tell somebody about a wonderful date so of course I’d tell Aunt Alice…and probably Aunt Rose, too. I may not want to tell my Mom, though…if Jake values his life. Depends on how romantic this date gets!

I listened as Jake walked around the car and opened the driver’s door. I looked over towards him with a small smile as he started the engine and we pulled away. “You’ll have to teach me how to drive one day, Jake. Dad’s mentioned it a few times but…” my voice trailed off and Jacob gave a cackle. “I’d love to teach you how to drive, Nessie.”

I smiled a bit when he called me by my childhood nickname. That awkward feeling was tingling at the back of my head though when he used that name…when I thought back to the fact that just a year ago, two years ago…I was way too young for him to have been thinking of me this way. I felt like I was his little sister again.

“I’m glad Mom and Dad mentioned school tonight. I think they’re warming up to the idea that soon I’ll stop growing and can go to high school. At least for two years and then I can graduate like a real human.” I honestly did daydream about what it would be like to go to school like normal girls. Plus I was somewhat excited to be full grown already.

“There are some high school experiences you just shouldn’t miss out on. Exams and the hell that is called ‘finals’ for starters. Certain teachers that make you wish you were dead…” Jake teased me and I rolled my eyes. “I care more about the ones like homecoming and prom, and some of the more fun field trips. Maybe even sports games after school,” I admitted. I looked over to Jake again, slowly raising a brow in curiosity.

“You’d take me to prom, wouldn’t you, Jacob? If I asked…” I bit on my lower lip; almost afraid of what I figured would be some sort of rejection. Like, ‘oh, Renesmee. They saw me courting Bella a few years ago, they can’t see me courting you now…’

“Of course I would, if you asked me. I wouldn’t go with nobody else, that’s for sure,” he answered and it made me smile quite largely. I definitely hadn’t been expecting that. “And I know I won’t find anybody else I’d want to go with… the human boys aren’t as wonderful as you,” I whispered and could have sworn I saw Jake blush in the dimness of the car.

“Not to say that I don’t hope to make guy friends. I remember Mom telling me about how Mike Newton wanted her real bad for like all of high school but he was scared to death of Dad. I’d love to be wanted…but I know there’s only one guy I’m ever going to want to be with.” “Now you’re the one giving me the butterflies, Renesmee,” said Jake as he glanced over at me, that goofy Jacob Black grin on his face.

I couldn’t believe it was even possible for me to give him the butterflies. I bet if I was some other girl he had a small crush on and hadn’t imprinted on, that he wouldn’t get the butterflies like this. It had to be an imprinting thing…which was a romantic notion in itself. I wish I could imprint on Jake… the scale feels unbalanced since he’s got a wolfy claim on me and I don’t have a vampire claim on him.

“I understand. I hope all the guys see what a great girl you are. But if you’re going to be mine Renesmee…” his voice was a little lower showing that he was getting serious; he reached over and placed his hand upon mine. “They can look all they want…and they can wish you were theirs…but you won’t be. You’ll be all mine, right?”

Naturally, I squeezed Jacob’s hand in reply and smiled. “I’ll be all yours, if you want me to be…and if I want to be. I’m hoping you really woo me tonight,” I teased, using his words back at him. “I already am, aren’t I?” He questioned and I rolled my shoulders. “A little bit; not extremely,” I giggled and Jake made a fake huff as he drove.

“I’m just extremely happy to be getting away for a while with you, even if this weren’t a date I’d still be happy. I won’t deny that I’m ecstatic because this is a date… my first date.” I whispered and Jake grinned that grin once more. “I’m ecstatic to be the one taking you on your first date.” I bet he was ecstatic, that ego maniac.

I couldn’t deny it even to myself that I was enjoying the fact already of being out on an actual ‘date.’ A sliver of me had been so afraid that this was just going to be one big rolled up ball of awkwardness but… it hadn’t been awkward yet at all. Other than the fact Alice wanted photographs, and I don’t know why I had acted so nervous getting my photograph taken with Jake. Looking back on it happening near fifteen to twenty minutes ago, that was pretty silly of me to be like that.

We spoke about this and that for the rest of the drive to Port Angeles. Football, my upcoming birthday, what movie we were going to watch at the cinema. There were definitely no quiet moments between the two of us, then again, was there ever?