What She Didn't Know | Twilight Fanfiction

6. If You're Ever Embarrassed...

Jacob

The rest of the morning slipped away. Jacob and Jessica almost finished painting the bedroom in just over two hours. So, it was barely one o'clock in the afternoon. Their speedy paint job was in part because Jessica prepped the room the night before by masking the window, closet frame, and baseboards. The other helpful part was that the heavy emotions Jacob had experienced earlier scattered like shadows hiding from the light when he saw Jessica, so his elevated mood made the project more fun than work.

"Nice job, you two," Jessica's mom said, entering the room. She'd been at work, and Jason was out with the Game and Fish Department, taking part in a hunting and search party.

Jessica stood up from the trim she was painting, and Jacob stepped down from the short step-stool to greet her.

"It's nice to see you, Jacob."

"You too, Mrs. Stanley."

"Please. Call me Sharon." She pointed at the nametag plate pinned to her blouse. "Everyone else does."

"You don't think it's a shade too light, Mom?"

The shade was pastel lavender, according to Jessica. It was a learning experience, because white, black, and the rest of the primary colors in a rainbow made up Jacob's interior color spectrum.

"Not at all. It adds just enough color without shrinking the room's appearance, like darker shades do. What do you think, Jacob?"

"I like it."

Sharon asked about Billy and made some other small talk before she said, "I didn't know if you guys ate anything for lunch, so I stopped by the hamburger stand on my way home and grabbed a few cheeseburgers and fries if you're hungry? It's upstairs in the kitchen."

Jessica said, "Thanks mom, but I was planning on taking Jacob out to eat afterward because it's all he'll let me do to thank him. Unless you want to eat now, Jacob?"

His growling stomach decided for him. "That sounds fantastic."

"Perfect. Help yourselves to it," Sharon said.

They dug into the food while she disappeared down the hallway.

As they ate, Jacob spotted a framed picture of Jessica, setting on a shelf and pointed at it. "You play volleyball?"

"Yep. Ever since junior high. I even made captain this year."

Jacob stared at the picture. Jessica was in the center of her team, holding up a tall trophy.

She explained the photo to him. "That was at the district tournament this past fall. We only took second place. That was a feat because our competition didn't expect us to place at all. Our team was kind of short this year. But making the championship game was the real prize because we played the number one team in the district for the semifinals, and it was a nail biter." Jessica's face lit as she continued her story. "In the last play, for the winning point, we fumbled the ball, but just before it hit the ground, I dove, sliding beneath it and setting it up perfectly for my teammate to..." She suddenly stopped talking and rolled her eyes. "Look at me. Still patting myself on the back."

Sharon re-appeared from the hallway, making what Jacob believed was a joke. "You always were your biggest fan."

"Well, if I can't cheer for myself, who else will?"

"Us! Me and her dad would totally be her biggest fans, but she's so competitive, she even had to out-fan us. For real. That's how competitive you are, Jess." She laughed.

Jacob and Jessica's eyes met, and he noted the hint of redness that seeped into her face. In the next instant, she was out of her chair, cracking them up by doing her version of a football touch down dance. "Yeah, yeah."