Natural Instincts - Jared Cameron

.seventeen.

"You know, I actually have so much homework to do," I said, standing and looking at my wrist attempting to make it look like I had a watch on, but really only glancing at my bandaged sprained wrist. "Yeah tight schedule. I'm gonna wait in the car, Alice." I said, keeping my head down and moving past Jared attempting not to touch him to avoid the butterflies. But nope. Of course I couldn't avoid that. Clearly I pissed off some gods somewhere, this was sick karma.

"Wait, Juliet, what's going on with you?" he attempted to pull me back and grab my hand but I quickly reclaimed it, looking up at him in his tall stature. I searched his eyes for understanding, looking at him like it should have been obvious to him.

I didn't want to sit here and explain myself. Not until my feelings were gone. So I walked off and waited in the car for Alice.

(Jared POV)

"Okay now I know she's mad at me. She's not just overwhelmed."

I looked at the guys who were just as confused as I was. Did she really not want the imprint that much? Had she rejected me? My heart began throbbing like it did the night she left me on the beach - the thought of her not wanting me caused me physical pain once again.

All I wanted to do was grab her and kiss her and love her the way she deserved to be loved. Why won't she let me?

Alice went to move out of the booth but I placed a hand on her frozen shoulder, wincing slightly at the temperature collision. "Wait, Alice, please. What's going on?" 

She looked at me attempting to conclude how clueless I really was in the matter, but clearly appreciating that I cared for her friend. I begged her with my eyes until she caved. 

"She's protecting her heart from you. She doesn't want to get hurt, so distance is her protection mechanism. At least until she sorts out her emotions." I stared at her blank, not following.

"Seriously? You rejected her, she told you she has feelings for you when she was in the hospital, and you didn't say anything which is fine. But when you told her about the imprint you told her you didn't want it to progress any further. She's confused, Jared, so am I."

I widened my eyes. I didn't say that! Did I? "Wait what?" I inquired, shocked at Alice's words.

"Jared, you were sending her signals all over the place, she was falling for you, idiot. Really bloody hard. And then you all of a sudden pulled the rug out and told her not to worry about any of that stuff and that it wouldn't have to progress. She's confused, I don't blame her. So she's trying to get space from you so she can make her feelings go away."

I didn't understand. "But wait, I told her it didn't have to progress purely because I thought she was uncomfortable, I didn't want her to feel forced into it."

Seth had a lightbulb. "Oh I get it. You told her over and over and over because you thought she was uncomfortable, you mustn't have realised she was only getting more uncomfortable at the thought of NOT being with you."

Alice caught onto his thought pattern. "That's it! She must have thought you were being so insistent because you were trying to make it clear you had no feelings for her, and that you never wanted it to progress. Of course!" Seth and Alice high fived like two little kids solving a mystery.

"Dude you're a fucken idiot. I would be confused if I were her too!" Jacob said, face palming behind me.

"Seriously Jared, are you illiterate? Even you admitted that you repeated that a thousand times because you thought you were gonna scare her off. No wonder she thought you were telling her there was no chance it would go anywhere." Embry teased.

Shit. I told her I imprinted on her and made her think I didn't want anything to change.

I sighed sadly at the realisation. How the hell do I come back from this?

Alice smiled. "This is a good thing, Jared. At least you know she's not mad at you. And even if it took you guys a million years to figure it out and get on the same page, turns out you actually feel the exact same way."

She was right.

"What do I do?" I pressed. "I need to fix it, I can't sleep, I can't eat, I can't live without her." 

Quil scoffed. "That's true, he's driving us crazy, Alice please help the man."

She giggled in response. "Prove to her you wanted her all along. Don't leave any doubt in her mind. Everything around her is changing, her whole life is a big question mark right now. She's craving consistency, and she thought it was you. She needs to be shown it was, and that you're just really bad at expressing yourself and articulating it." 

I nodded, understanding how she must be feeling.

"Ok. Alice, I need your number. I may need a helping hand with this," I proposed. 

She lit up. "NOW my vision is back on track!" Clapping her hands excitedly like a child, she pulled out a note from her pocket with her number already pre-written on it along with Juliet's class schedule. 

I looked at her questioningly. "All part of the vision," she explained, shooting a mischievous wink. "I'll be waiting for your call." She said confidently before walking past us and joining Juliet in the car.

"She's awesome," Seth cooed, the guys all nodding their heads in agreeance. 

There goes Juliet again, bringing together our kinds.

AN // Yay! Back on track to win her heart. Stupid miscommunication, we love Alice tho. Petition to get Alice and Jasper to adopt Seth.

Libby xo