promises, jacob black. (sequel to nicknames)

fourteen

jacob arrived home at around 4am. he was so tired that he was falling asleep as he got into his pyjamas. only when he got ava's bed, he realised she wasn't even there.

what the fuck?

out of worry, he shot up and checked the bathroom. it was empty. where the hell could she be? his heart started racing like crazy. he ran up to his room, mentally praying in his head that she was there.

thankfully, she was. she was curled up in the middle of the bed in jacob's shirt and shorts. she had her glasses still on her face and her book open on the pillow. her hair was all over the place and music was still playing quietly from the speakers. the window was wide open and the nightlight was still on. it was obvious she fell asleep by accident.

jacob smiled at her. she was super cute with her reading glasses but she would never let him say it. he went over to the window, closing both it and the curtains. then he turned off the music, unplugging the speakers. he hummed as he moved her stuff off the bed, her book, her phone and her glasses were placed gently on his nightstand. he carefully put the bookmark in the book and smiled at it.

the book mark was the picture of the two of them the night emily and sam got married. they had gotten multiple versions of the photobooth strip and they were treasured greatly. there were a few photocopies but they didn't mean as much as the original.

the 4 originals were special to the two of them. jacob owned two and she owned the other. he kept one in his phone case and the other in his diary that he wrote in occasionally. the one in his phone case had a red lipstick print of octavia's that she did one night when they had gotten a bit tipsy. octaiva kept one of hers in her phone case like jacob and the other as a bookmark.

jacob switched off the light, double checking that all the sockets were switched off before crawling into bed. he gently tied her hair into a bun and kissed her forehead. he held her close and closed his eyes, attempting to fall asleep.

"where were you tonight?"

"ava, you're awake?" he whispered. he opened his eyes to look at her but hers were still closed. she had a small frown on. jacob leaned in and kissed her frown away. annoyingly, she ended up relaxing her face which is something she didn't want to do. she wanted him to know she was hurt. she wanted him to know she was upset. she wanted him to know that she knew something was happening.

"jacob. where were you?"

"on patrol." he replied without missing a beat. he had rehearsed this on the run back home, "seth told me he smelt an unknown vampire on our land. i had to check it out."

octavia knew he was lying but she didn't question him, wanting to avoid an argument for the night. instead she opened her eyes and smiled at him. jacob's heart pace relaxed, feeling calm and happy.

"did you find anything then?" she decided to entertain his lie. she wanted to know if he was going to tell her the truth, if he trusted her enough to tell the truth.

jacob hummed, "no, i didn't. i didn't smell it either, so i think he must have gotten the one of the cullen's confused."

the two lay in silence. jacob's eyes were closed so he didn't see the harsh frown on her face. she couldn't understand why jacob was lying to her. her heart was begging her brain to forgive him and act like nothing was wrong. but could she do that?

"jacob?"

"yeah?"

"we tell each other everything right? no lies, just the truth." when she spoke her voice cracked slightly and jacob's eyes shot open.

he immediately stared at her, looking into his eyes., "of course. of course, why would i lie?" he leaned in and gave her two reassuring kisses. as they kissed, he whispered sweet-loving things.

"when i was younger," she said once he pulled away, "my dad and i shared a bed because i was afraid of the monsters in the cupboard and under the bed." she smiled at this memory and he kissed her softly, "one night i woke up and i was alone. there was a storm and it was raining like crazy." i checked all the rooms and nobody was there, he left me alone to be with somebody." her bottom lip wobbled.

"ava," jacob whispered sympathetically. she rarely spoke to him about her father, not any more than sam did. they both had unresolved trauma because of how he treated them. jacob saw it a lot in octavia but she never admitted to how she felt.

"it started happening more often. he'd leave me alone every night and it was scary. sometimes there'd be no food and i'd go hungry, or the heating would go off and i would go cold." she sniffed, a frown on her face, "i don't like to sleep alone because of that. i don't like waking up and seeing nobody beside me. it just reminds me of the bad times with him."

"i'm sorry ava." jacob whispered. his heart broke that he wasn't telling her the truth and that he had to lie to her. in his mind, he decided that he'd go to bella tomorrow and tell her that he has to tell ava about the baby. that way she'd be able to accompany him to the cullen's and he'd hold her as she slept.

"just promise me you won't leave me again. not while i sleep." her voice were dripping with sleep and her eyes were drooping.

"i promise." did he really?

she forced her eyes open and held her pinky finger in front of his face. jacob chuckled quietly which caused her to giggle too. they interlocked fingers, "i promise baby."

"i love you." a small smile crept on her face. she loves him.

"i love you more."