After the sun had set, we rode the bikes back to the shed. By this time the game was over and Grandpa Charlie had left Billy’s. We walked into the small red house and Jake showed me his room. “Here Ness, you can have my room. I can sleep on the floor,” he volunteered.

“Jake, that’s not necessary, I’ll take the couch and you can have your own bed.”

“Honestly, have my bed; I don’t fit on it anyway.”

“I feel bad taking your bed,” I pointed out.

“Don’t. I’m offering.” He scooped me up and carried me into the kitchen, where my duffle bag was sitting on the table. “Get your pajamas and stuff on,” he ordered as he set me down, “We’ll figure out how we’re sleeping afterward.”

I grabbed my things and walked to the bathroom. I changed into my pajamas and got ready for bed. When I was done I walked out of the bathroom right into Jake. “Whoops,” I said, apologizing for running into him. He wrapped his arms around me and picked me up again carrying me to his room. He lightly tossed me on the bed and laid the blankets over me.

“You’re sleeping in the bed,” he said sternly, but still with a smile on his face.

“Then at least stay in the same room as me,” I begged.

“I think we can arrange that,” he said with a wide smirk.

I tossed him a pillow and blanket from off the bed over to him. “Here,” I said. He snatched them from the air and settled himself on the floor before turning off the light. The room was dark except for the moonlight shining through the window.

I rolled over too the edge of the bed to be closer to him. As I looked down at him, I noticed he was looking up at me with an awed look on his face.

“What?” I whispered.

“Nothing,” I saw him blush in the moonlight.

I made a silent laugh, “Come here you big dog,” I said reaching to pull him up. He laughed too and climbed up onto the bed. There was barely room for the two of us, and he had to curl around me to fit. “Much better,” I sighed as he draped his warm arm over me.

I woke up the next morning with Jake’s arm still draped over me. I guess we fell asleep some time last night like that. I tried not to move much, as I heard him still snoring and didn’t want to wake him. I snuggled against his chest and waited for him to wake up.

I wondered what time it was so I looked over to his clock. In my attempt to look at the time, I fell off the bed in the crack between the wall and the bed. The snoring cut off and the springs creaked as he rolled over.

“Renesmee?” he asked groggily.

“Sorry,” I whispered, “I didn’t mean to wake you up, I just wanted to know what time it was.”

“Oh, well that’s fine. Are you ok?” he asked looking at me; still in the crack.

I laughed, “I think I could use a hand or two.”

“Looks that way,” he said, pulling me up and setting me on his lap.

I looked up at his face, his beautiful tan, and placed my petite hands on his feverish skin. I lowered them to his muscular chest. He was wearing no shirt, so his core muscles were visible.

“Can I ask you something?” I whispered.

“Anything,” he was serious.

“What were you thinking last night? When you were on the floor next to the bed, and I looked down at you? You had this look on your face.”

“What look on my face?” he questioned. I could tell the gears in his mind were working, trying to remember what I was talking about.

“Last night. You were on the floor, next to the bed, and I looked down at you. What were you thinking about?”

“Oh. That,” he blushed like he had last night.

“Yeah that,” I pressed wanting to know what his reason was for blushing.

“You just,” he paused, “You looked,” he couldn’t get the words out of his mouth. “Beautiful,” he said finally.

“Oh,” I breathed, not knowing what else to say. I took my hands from his chest and wrapped my arms around his neck. He hugged me back, squeezing me to the point where it was hard to breathe. I could have sat there all day like that, even if it was hard to breathe.

But his stomach ruined the moment. “Someone’s hungry,” I said unable to hold in the laughter.

“Well, we all have to eat,” he said laughing along with me.

“Not everyone,” I said thinking of my family.

“Well, everyone excluding those bloodsuckers you call a family,” he said sarcastically. I rolled my eyes as we got up and headed to the kitchen where we made cereal. After breakfast we headed down the beach and found a sandy spot to sit. We sat there for a while looking out at the waves.

“I don’t want to have to go back to Alaska,” I mumbled after a while. He pulled me over onto his lap and I leaned against him. After a few moments, he rolled me over so I was lying on top of him.

I pressed my hands to his chest as well as my face. His feverish skin felt comforting. We had gone through a lot in the last twenty-four hours, and it felt nice just to lay here with him and relax on the beach.

It was still early spring so it wasn’t that warm out; therefore no one else was on the beach, just me and Jacob. The silence strolled on as his body temperature kept me from shivering. Finally he filled the silence, “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking about this,” I said gesturing my hands at us. “All that’s happened between us in the past few days,” I said continuing. “Us, in general,” I kept adding to my list. “How nice this feels, and yet it’s not enough,” I added a little embarrassed; blushing.

Jake sighed, “I know.”

“And how it’s going to be so hard to not think about this around my father,” I too sighed.

“I know,” he repeated, “But just because you have a father that reads minds, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t live your life.” He wrapped his arms around me, and the heat felt good on my back.

“Yeah, I guess,” I said slowly, “but it doesn’t make things any easier.”

“What do you want to do today?” I could hear his heartbeat through his chest.

“Let’s ride motorcycles again,” I suggested. I loved watching his face light up whenever I did well, proud that I’d made him happy. We headed back to his house and grabbed the bikes and headed down to the usual spot.

We had already ridden the bikes up and down the road a few times. Jacob would smile when I would do something well, causing my heart to skip a beat or two. We were riding close together; I could feel a tingling sensation between us. I couldn’t stop looking at him. He was such a distraction.

My bike hit something hard causing me to fall off. I hit my head on the hard, rocky surface below us. My vision went blank and I lost consciousness.

When I awoke, I felt sturdy arms carrying me. The wind was blowing in my face and I could taste dirt in my mouth.

“Renesmee?” I heard a familiar voice call my name.

My vision was still blurry so I couldn’t see who was carrying me, so I replayed to the voice quietly, “Yes?”

“Ness? Can you hear me? Are you ok?”

“Yeah,” I mumbled into his chest.

“I shouldn’t’ have let you ride a motorcycle. Your father was right,” he set me on something soft. I clung to him as he tried to stand up.

“No, it was my fault,” I mumbled. “I wasn’t paying attention.” He ignored me, pulling my arms off him so he could shuffle out of the room. He came back with ice and held it on my head.

“I can’t take you to the hospital,” he explained, “Your grandfather doesn’t work here anymore.”

“I’m fine,” I sighed. The ice felt good, but not as much as his warmth as he lay next to me on the bed.

He held me for a long time, only getting up to replace the melting ice. My head was sore, and it throbbed when I moved too much. It got dark, and I started to get tired.

“You can sleep,” he whispered, “I just have to wake you up every few hours,” he placed a stray curl behind my ear.

“There’s no point then,” I mumbled. I pulled him closer.

“I’m so sorry,” he muttered for the thousandth time.

“Don’t be,” I whispered back. He rolled us over, so he was over me, but held himself so his weight didn’t crush me.
It was dark in his room, and only the moonlight shown to give some visibility. His breathing got shallow as he leaned his head closer and closer to mine, his free hand in my hair. His lips met mine, carefully at first. He kept kissing me as I wrapped my arms around his neck. He rolled over again, pulling me on top of him, and we stayed kissing like that for a long time.
After what seemed like hours, he pulled me off of him and laying me on the bed next to him. “How’s your head?” He asked worriedly.
“Jake its fine, don’t worry about me,” I said falsely. My head was still throbbing with pain from the fall, but Jacob had added more throbbing, but not in the same sense. My head was pounding from the chemistry between Jacob and me. Our bodies matched up perfectly, it was as if we were made for each other. “Jake do you believe in soul mates, like everyone has that one special person there meant to be with, all they have to do is find them?” I asked after a moment.
“Yeah, I guess, in a sense,” he said hesitating.
“Hmm,” I mumbled thoughtfully leaning against him. We were quiet for a long time.
“What was that question for?” he asked after a while.
“I don’t know,” I sighed, my thoughts dazed with exhaustion. “I think I’m fine. Can I sleep now?”
“Sure, I’ll wake you up in a few hours to check on you,” he said yawning.
“Ah, Jake, you don’t have to do that. You sound exhausted. Just get some sleep, I’ll be fine,” I said.
“Don’t worry about me,” he assured me, though he yawned, “I’m fine. Get some sleep.” I was too exhausted to argue and I easily dozed off.

“Ness? Nessie wake up.” I felt a big, warm hand gently shaking my shoulder. “Renesmee?”
“I’m fine,” I mumbled.
“I’m so sorry,” he was frantic; “I fell asleep. I didn’t wake you up all night.”
“It’s alright,” I began to say until I heard him say something.
“No wonder your father thinks I’m so irresponsible,” he muttered under his breath.
“Jake, you’re not irresponsible. It was an accident, could have happened to anyone,” I tried reassuring him.
He didn’t say anything after that. I felt his feverish hand rub up and down my spine. I didn’t know what to say to him. I stayed still while he comforted me, even though he was the one in need of reassurance.
“Please don’t listen to my father,” I said after a few moments, “I need you to know that nothing he says about you is true.” He didn’t say anything. “Jake,” I pressed, “You know my dad. He’s kind of a spaz.”
“Your dad wouldn’t have fallen asleep,” he muttered.
“My dad doesn’t sleep.”
“Exactly,” he sighed.
“You are not irresponsible just because you need sleep,” I said trying to be comforting like my mother, but not having the same effect.
He sighed, “I should have stayed awake, I can’t believe I fell asleep.”
“Jake, it’s not your fault you have to sleep,” I tried to be comforting again. I reached for his hand that was still on my back a grabbed it. I closed our hands together and squeezed them tight in reassurance.
He sighed, pulling our intertwined hands up to his heart. I could feel his unnatural heartbeat thumping faster. My eyes lit up in amazement of how much of an affect I made on him. At this moment I knew things would never be the same between us, they would only get closer.