Chapter Text
It’s been a month since Jacob hears Leah blathering about the new album Muse was going to release. But since they live practically in the end of the world, she wouldn’t be able to buy the CD until it was available in a store at Port Angeles. Anxious, she had called the store and begged for them to reserve one for her—she even agreed on paying an extra tax for it—because she couldn’t face the slightest possibility of not getting her copy.
Unfortunately, a week before the CD was due to arrive, Leah fractured her wrist after slipping in the bathroom while washing it. Since Seth was at Forks with their mom, Leah called Jacob and he took her to the hospital. She got her wrist in a cast, a recommendation for physical therapy and a temporary driving ban (and that’s how they’ve found out they can get serious injuries now that they don’t phase anymore).
She was not happy about it. The always independent, self-sufficient Leah Clearwater was in need of help to do almost everything. Sue even got back to La Push for the two weeks Leah would be with her wrist casted. However, since Sue couldn’t stop working to take care of Leah, Seth and Jacob were taking turns between work and college.
And that’s how Leah very successfully persuaded Jacob into driving her to Port Angeles to get her copy of The Resistance.
Personally, Jacob was not a big fan of Muse. He thought they were noisy. Leah used to say the lyrics were smart and the songs arrangement were elaborated, but it wasn’t enough to change his mind. Howsoever, Leah’s excitement were contagious, and he found himself eager to see her reaction when she had the CD on her hands—hand, he corrects himself, because she couldn’t hold anything with the left one.
So he drives her to Port Angeles. It’s a fresh Saturday spring afternoon, so Leah lets her window open. The soft wind blows her now long hair till some locks find Jacob’s face (it tickles, but he won’t complain). She talks about her week, how she’s managing to teach art to seventh graders with her left wrist useless. Jacob laughs, because he likes her teacher stories, and then says it’s absurd that she can’t have a medical certificate for another week just because she’s not left-handed.
“I know, right?!” She shouts louder than the wind. “I need my both hands to work!”
“Thank God you’ll get rid of the cast at Tuesday.”
“And go to physical therapy”, she mumbles and her mouth turns into a pout. “Stupid human body.“
“I’ll just assume you miss your old wolf days.”
“Never!” She argues fervently. “I’m pretty happy now, thank you very much.”
Jacob laughs, he knows Leah well enough to acknowledge she would never, in a million years, miss those days. It was painful for most of them, but no one suffered as much as Leah. The only thing that allowed her to have a not so disgusting experience with the wolf thing was their own pack—his, hers and Seth’s. They could say they had fun sometimes, getting to really know each other instead of following the pack mentality.
“Hey”, she calls him and turns her face to his direction, “we’ll hear the CD on our way back.”
“No.” His response is categorical. “No way. You know I don’t like their music.”
“But you’re taking care of me, which includes making me happy by hearing my favorite songs.”
He turns the wheel to the city. It’s sunny out there, and Jacob realizes the weather matches Leah’s humor. She is smiling like a little child, like it’s a Christmas morning and she knows she’ll get the gift she wanted so much. He likes her smile, and one of the reasons he fought so hard for they right to have their own pack years ago was because Leah was smiling more—but he would never ever tell her this.
“Lets make a deal. You put on the CD, but I will have the right to skip up to fifty percent of the songs.”
“Thirty.”
“Forty.”
“Thirty five.”
“We have a deal.” He offers her his right hand and she shakes it with more strength than necessary.
As soon as they get out of the car after Jacob parks it, he contemplates Leah while her attention is fully directed to getting into the store and grabbing her CD. She is wearing a dark red top that ends right above her bellybutton, blue jeans and her favorite All Stars. Every chance he gets to appreciate her beauty, he does. It’s been a while since Jacob finds himself looking at her for a little longer than mere friends would do, and he definitely is not struggling with understanding what’s happening inside his heart.
He knows exactly what’s happening.
Still, he gets himself together and follows her inside.
The air conditioning is on and the cool air is a blessing for him. Even though his temperature is much closer to normal now, heat still bothers him.
There’s only one attendant at sight, behind the service counter, and Leah almost jumps right to him—a boy that must be around nineteen. She explains she reserved a CD, gives her name, and the boy smiles at her. A smile Jacob doesn’t like. Something boils inside him, and Jacob prefers to walk away, but not until he sees Leah’s expression before The Resistance: bright eyes, glimmering smile, rosy cheeks.
God, she’s... she’s… He can’t even find the right words to compliment her.
There are more than only CDs at the store. They sell vinyls, DVDs and music related books—teaching books, idols biographies and things like that. Jacob realizes the shelves are too short, and it’s not because he is too tall. They’re really low, so low he can scan the entire store from where he is now, without moving nothing but his neck and eyes. He sees Leah receiving the CD and hears her saying that she wants to take a look around. She goes to the old vinyls section while he keeps on leafing through a Jimmy Hendrix biography.
Then, he hears steps. He lifts his head enough to see a girl coming from the second floor. Jacob needs a few seconds to recognize her and, before she sees him, he runs to Leah. She has his back at him and he enlaces her waist with his arm, his fingers are in direct touch with her belly skin.
“What the f-“
“Be cool”, he murmurs next to her ear. “Don’t move. I need a huge favor.”
“You can ask for it without touching me.” She is furious, he can tell.
“I actually can’t.” He gets closer and fells her back stiffens against his chest. “I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend.”
“What?” She starts to turn around, but he holds her in place.
“I told you to be cool.” He uses his other arm in his favor, holding gently her elbow. “The girl that came from upstairs, the other seller? I rejected her about a month ago. I was having my coffee at a Forks cafeteria and she asked to sit with me. I told I was not interested, but she insisted, so I-“
“You told her you had a girlfriend.” She rolls her eyes. “Classical.”
“Please, Leah”, he says next to her temple.
“She isn’t beautiful enough?” Her attempt to joke would succeed only if Jacob hadn’t heard the little shake in her voice.
“Not like you, babe.”
She laughs, and the sound reverbs through his body. God, he loves her laugh.
“So, it’s a yes?” He tries.
“No.”
“It’s a no, then?”
“No.” She puts down the vinyl she was holding and touch the back of his hand, the one that contours her waist. “I have conditions.”
“Of course you do.” He rests his chin next to her neck.
“Stop being so clingy.”
“But that’s what couples do!”
“We are not a couple. We aren’t even a fake couple, not yet.” But she doesn’t go away, so Jacob understands as a sign to keep close.
“Tell me your conditions.”
“First, we will reduce the percentage of songs you have the right to skip to thirty.”
“Oh no…” Jacob hides his face in the curve between her shoulder and her neck. They’re so close he can smell perfectly her patchouli essence.
“Oh yes!” She almost dances, swinging her body a little from the left to the right. (He almost dies at the feeling of her moving next to him.) “And you’ll buy me dinner tonight.”
“Ok, that’s a fair one. Dinner is included in the dating pack.” He takes a deep breath, inhaling everything he can. “We have a deal.”
For the second time in the day, they exchange a handshake—more discreetly this time.
In a heartbeat, Leah turns her body to him, sliding between his arms. She places her good hand above his chest and the casted wrist behind his neck. Her eyes are soft, traveling down to his lips.
Jacob can perfectly feel the shape of her waist between his hands. Her skin is smooth against his, their legs are pressed to each other’s. Leah’s heat doesn’t bother him; on the contrary, it pleases him in a way he can’t put into words.
She keeps coming closer and he cannot avoid a question, Is she going to kiss me? And this first question is followed by another, What do I do if she does? He closes his eyes when Leah is so close he can feel her warm breath against his skin. Something fuels in his stomach, he is pretty sure he’s starting to burn.
But then she kisses his jawline, next to his ear, and whispers, “The girl is looking at us. She is beautiful. In a Kate Winslet kind of way.”
“As I said”, his mouth goes to her cheekbone, kissing softly, “not as beautiful as you.”
“You’re just trying to please me.”
“Maybe, maybe not.” Jacob straightens his body and moves his hands away of hers. It almost hurts. “Have you finished?”
“Yeah, yeah.” She looks around, her eyes linger on the vinyl she was examining, a Joan Jett vinyl. “I’ll pay for my CD and we can go have dinner.”
He rolls his eyes and, instinctively, touches her back, guiding her through the store. When they reach the balcony, the girl is behind it, helping the boy with something else. She stiffens when she sees Leah, and Jacob comprehends it—Leah’s presence is intense. Looking closely, Jacob can really see the Kate Winslet kind of beauty in her expression, but he couldn’t care less. In the next moment, his eyes are at Leah’s features. She delivers the money, says a gentle “thank you” and grabs the bag with her CD.
“Let’s go, babe?” She asks him in the sweetest voice, and he can swear something melts inside his chest.
“Yeah, let’s go.” He takes the bag off of her good hand, so he can intertwine their fingers.
Jacob can feel the girl’s eyes darting at his back when they leave, but he doesn’t look away from Leah. Her vicious smile almost says “nice one, let’s do it again sometime”, and he realizes he is perfectly willing to do so.