New Girl

Christmas Tree Farm

Jacob showed up to the after party along with his friends. Lauren had invited him and there was an awkward moment when the Cullens and the Quileute boys stared at each other like the rival gangs in West Side Story about to have a dance off. Jessica waited for something to happen. The tense moment was broken when Lauren came over and kissed Jacob, uncaring of who was watching.

Mike stilled. His face looked like somebody had just shot his dog and punched him in the stomach at the same time. He got up and muttered something about needing to get home. Ever the most perceptive, Angela said she needed to get home too and the two left.

Lauren and Jacob did not notice as they were too wrapped up in each other. The blonde smiling as she told him about the play. Jessica came over as Jacob's friends were just awkwardly standing there since their leader had essentially abandoned them to be cutesy with his girlfriend.

"Hi," she greeted them. "I'm Jessica."

"I'm Embry," one of the guys said. He pointed to his friend, "And this is Quil."

Quil waved a hand and said, "Hey."

"You guys wanna get some food?" Jessica gestured to where Lauren and Jacob were giggling with each other. "I have a feeling those two aren't going to be any help."

Embry grimaced. "Believe it or not, they're usually worse than this."

Quil shook his head. "Word of advice, always knock before going into a room if you don't want to see something that will scar you for life."

Jessica led them to the huge buffet of food Esme had prepared for the party. "I've known Lauren for years. She was that bad with her last boyfriend too."

"It's different with Jacob," Embry remarked.

"How is it different?"

Jessica knew Jacob was a werewolf. Lauren had refused to give her more details about what that meant. The only thing the blonde assured her on was that she wasn't in any danger. Jacob could never hurt her.

Embry and Quil shared a look. Quil replied with a vague, "Trust us. Jacob is totally whipped for your friend."

"We're talking she's his center of gravity now," Embry added. "Cheesy but true."

Jessica mulled that over. "That's...actually kind of sweet."

Figures Lauren would be the one to bag the hot werewolf guy. Blondes apparently just had more fun even if they were kind of mean at times. Where could Jessica get her own hot werewolf? Was there more than one in town?

Jessica warily looked over the two Quilete boys and stared into their brown eyes. Lauren had refused to tell her more about the werewolf thing. For all Jessica knew, there could be a whole pack of them. Was the entire Quileute tribe composed of werewolves?

"Are you...?" she began but then changed her mind. "Never mind."

She didn't really have a right to ask them if they were werewolves, and if they knew nothing about the werewolf thing she would just look crazy and stupid. She was going to leave that train of thought alone.

Jessica gestured to the table filled with food and drinks. "Help yourselves."

On the way back to her friends, she saw Edward and Bella sitting alone at a grand piano. There were murmuring things to each other Jessica couldn't hear. Like Jacob and Lauren, they were lost in their own little world. It looked nice.

A pang of longing left Jessica feeling bereft. Why was she the single one in her group of friends? Angela was single too but it wouldn't be long before a nice guy finally saw her friend for the angel she was and asked her out. And Jessica would be the single friend that third wheeled (or worse fifth-wheeled) on dates with them.