Serendipity

Brennan found herself sighing most of the time for the past few days, but today her sighs were especially weary – spending her first New Year's Eve without Jacob was more upsetting than she had originally thought it would be. However, she didn't have a choice after Andrew returned home the day after Christmas. The man seemed to stalk around the house with a dark glint in his eye, and Brennan knew better than to even think of getting on his bad side.

Instead, she tried to remind herself that she was lucky enough to have spent Christmas with Jake and the rest of the gang a few days previous. Nonetheless, she was disheartened, more so when she recalled how Jacob had practically begged her the night before to agree to go with him to Sam and Emily's for the ball drop.

Another batch of air escaped her lungs at the thought, and she wondered how many times she had just sighed in the past hour.

Her phone lit up with life, a musical ringtone blaring from the speakers and causing the still girl to jump in surprise. Her fingers caught the device and slid the familiar green button to the side with haste, not wanting to miss the call.

“Hello?”

“You're really going to leave me tonight? You're going to let me wait for my first kiss of the new year?”

Her spirits lifted at the phony tone of Jacob's voice. “Pretty much. At least you, Seth, and Embry will have each other, right?”

“Hey, they don't have girlfriends – I do. Do you see what's wrong with that image, Bren?”

Brennan quietly giggled, not wanting to laugh too loudly and alert Andrew to the fact she was on the phone with someone, least of all with her boyfriend. “I can see what's wrong with this one, Jake. It's only one night. I'll just have to see you next time for that kiss.”

“But it's the first kiss of the new year – our first New Year's Eve together. I want to spend it with you.”

“I do, too, Jake.”

“Then say you'll come.”

“I can't. My dad's not going to want me going out tonight.”

Much like her own, a sigh was let out into the receiver on Jacob's end. “Alright, Bren. I guess... I guess I'll see you later,” Jacob's voice wavered in defeat. “I love you, Brennan.”

Her heart seemed to flip around in her chest at the words he spoke, her mouth going dry before she could return the remark. “I'll talk with you later, Jake. I love you.”

Her fingertips touched the red button on the touchscreen, ending the call with a heavy heart and replaying their conversation in her head once more. How did she get so lucky with a guy like Jacob?

The door opened unceremoniously, the door rattling on its hinges with how abruptly it had done so. Her father stood in the door frame with a daunting air surrounding him, his dark brown eyes glinting with disdain. Her stomach dropped when words left his mouth.

“Who the hell were you talking with?” He barked, and though he stood a few feet away from her, she could smell the toxic mixture of liquor and tobacco lingering on his person. “Who the hell do you 'love'?”

Before she could stammer out a response, Andrew stomped forward towards her, Brennan's hands growing sweaty as they lost her phone to the wood floor below her. Andrew's fingers dug into her shoulders with a vice-grip, shaking her for answers.

“Who is it, huh?!”

No answers escaped her lips, only quiet sobs of fright as the intoxicated man jolted her around violently, her tears wetting her cheeks.

“You're just like your damn mother!”

“P-please, stop!” The mention of her mother was what drew out her voice.

“Shut up! You're just like her! You're gonna be knocked up by the end of the year!” Andrew shouted, his brow furrowing, eyes darkening as he remembered his past – remembered how he had become a father at such a young age. “You're going to ruin my life again!”

His grip intensified, and she yelped from the pain, Brennan beginning to squirm her way away from him as best she could. Having had enough, Andrew shouted in her face from frustration and shoved her across the room, Brennan stumbling backwards till she hit the wall with a hard bang, the air being knocked out of her lungs.

Before she could gather herself, her eyes widened as Andrew picked up her cell phone from the floor and sent it hurtling towards her in one swift motion, the device missing her head by mere inches as it clashed against the wall and cracked apart.

“Don't even think about leaving the house anymore. You're not going anywhere,” he growled.

Andrew's figure left the room, the door slamming shut right after him and leaving Brennan to herself once again. The eerie silence consumed her, the shock that lingered in her preventing her from having a response.

However, once her eyes fell and found her dismantled phone, her vision grew blurry with hot tears and silent sobs escaped her. She was alright being confined to her room – it was the safest place in the house in her opinion, but the phone was her means of communicating with Jacob. How was she going to reach him without it?

Who was going to comfort her now...?

Her hands picked up the pieces of the mobile phone and she wished she could somehow put it back together, though she knew it was impossible. She sluggishly pushed herself up from the floor, her tears pelting the floor beneath her as she made her way to the bed.

Curling up in a ball and burying her face into her pillow, her cries grew more violent, the girl allowing the silence to dissipate as her muffled mourning took its place. As her tears left her body, so did her strength, and sleep overcame her soon enough.



Tap... tap... clink...

A soft sound was what started to stir Brennan from her sleep a few hours later, however, still being emotionally and mentally drained from her father's outburst, she did her best to ignore the sound and remain as she was. Much to her displeasure, her will was not as resolute as the clinking on the window glass.

She kicked off the blanket from the bed and trudged over towards the window disgruntled and weary, but that vanished when she took notice of who stood on the ground below.

She opened the window gently as to not make any noise, and looked to him in confusion, “What are you doing here, Jake?”

He didn't answer his question. “Stand back,” he instructed, waving her away from the open window.

Questioning his motive, she hesitantly backed away as advised, soon hearing his footsteps turn into a sprint before he practically ran up the side of the home and entering through the window. Brennan's jaw dropped and she couldn't help but stare.

How the hell?

Jacob straightened his plain white shirt and dusted off his pants from any dirt or snow that might have been kicked up by him running and looked at her with a smirk. “Are you done staring, Bren?”

“How did you do that?” She asked, walking to the window and looking at how high the second story was before returning her gaze to Jacob.

He gave a playful shrug, “I'm amazing.”

Thudding footsteps from the hall snapped her to attention, and she quickly put a finger to her lips to silence them both. Jacob obeyed, not moving a muscle, while Brennan held her breath altogether as her heart raced with anxiety. Her father seemed to move away and into his own bedroom, the sound of a door closing and confirming that fact, to which she gave a breathless sigh of relief.

“Jake, I don't think you should be here. You need to go.”

“I'm not missing our first New Year's together, are you?”

“I don't want that, either...” her voice trailed off.

“Then it's decided,” Jake chuckled, coming near her and wrapping his arms around her waist. Upon closer inspection, he noticed things were off about Brennan – her eyes were puffy and slightly pink and her skin was a little pale. “Wait... what's wrong?”

She realized she must have looked as bad as she felt. “Nothing,” she answered, “you just woke me up so I'm still a little groggy.”

Jacob gave a soft chuckle to himself before nodding in understanding, perhaps he was just being a bit too worrisome? Dismissing the previous conversation, Jacob headed towards her bed with her in tow, sitting down upon the mattress before pulling her down into his lap.

“I guess you're a heavy sleeper, huh? I was calling you for like ten minutes straight.”

“O-oh...” she scratched the back of her head. “My phone's kinda... done for – I dropped it and pretty much destroyed it.”

“How high did you drop it from?” He looked at her incredulously. “The roof?”

She tried to stop herself from smiling at his joke. “High enough.”

“Well, at least you woke up just in time,” he grinned.

“It's not midnight yet?”

He pulled out his cell and checked the time. “Looks like we have one minute to midnight.”

Before putting away his phone, he set a timer and put it to vibrate so there wouldn't be a chance of them being caught by Brennan's father. The last thing he wanted to do was explain what a boy was doing in his daughter's room at this hour of the night.

He placed it beside them on the bed, Jacob's arms pulling her in tighter and burying his forehead into the small crevice of her neck so he could watch the time deplete along with her. In a peaceful silence where only the two of them existed, they anxiously waited for the final seconds of the year to pass by.

They were both ready to start a new year with each other.

In the final seconds, Jacob pulled away from Brennan.

Ten...

Jacob maneuvered her atop his lap, making it so she comfortably straddled him.

Nine...

His fingertips tenderly swept across her flushed cheeks, moving away strands of hair that went astray.

Eight...

His thumb ran along her velvety, scarlet lips, imagining how he would capture them with his own.

Seven...

His chocolate irises that lingered upon her lips floated up to meet her gaze, noting that her eyes were fluttering about the same way.

Six...

Without realizing, his body began to drift towards hers on instinct...

Five...

“Jacob, thank you,” she whispered softly, her hot breath lingering between them.

Four...

“For what?” His husky voice came from the depths of his stomach in a way that sent her heart skipping a beat.

Three...

“For being here.”

Two...

“You don't have to thank me.”

One...

“Why not?”

Zero...

“'Cause I love you, and you love me.”

His hand snaked around towards the back of her neck and pulled her into him, their lips mingling with one another in a heated passion. The only sounds audible to the pair were the other's hot breath and their lips smacking in an amorous fervor; not even the sound of fireworks from the surrounding areas could pull them out of the world they created for each other.

Brennan's chest was burning with desire, her heart racing and full from the moment she heard his confession of love. That was when she had known it – that she loved him in her entirety.

Brennan Riley loved Jacob Black for everything he was and everything he did for her – for everything he made her feel.

Tears streamed down her face for the second time that night, their kiss picking up traces of the salty droplets before Jacob separated from her, his lips heated and ready to taste hers once more.

He wiped her cheeks carefully, making sure the wet marks were dry and no longer present. “You don't have to cry, Brennan. I'll always be here with you.”

She leaned in and pecked his lips. “Happy New Year, Jake.”

“Happy New Year, Bren,” he whispered. “Here's to many more.”

Their lips reunited in an intimate meeting, the teens indulging themselves in one another as they reveled in their love.

They could only think of one thing: This happiness was meant to be.