It had to be Jessica

Chapter 11

It had been about two weeks since I officially became Edweird's girlfriend, when Bella first approached me during lunch with that nervous expression she usually had when she was feeling exceptionally anxious, I knew something was up. When she opened her mouth to speak I felt a shock course through my bones as my jaw dropped. Soon, a sound that was a mixture of a squeak and a scream came out.

That was how we found ourselves here, standing outside the treeline, dressed in jeans, warm jackets and comfy ass hiking boots. Our respective dates were waiting for us to move along and start up the semi-steep incline. I had a backpack with our lunch, a thermos filled with deer's blood in my pack as well for Edward. I happen to know a butcher and he was able to get me quite a bit of fresh animal blood. I had to look up a few recipes that include animal blood in the recipe, there were quite a few of them in order to give him an excuse to actually sell me the blood, something about legalities on it to people who don't know what they're doing with it.

Hiking my pack up higher onto my shoulder I looked over to Bella, she was taking several deep breaths. I could tell she was nervous.

"Come on." I grabbed her arm and started pulling her after me, linking our arms together. "Neither Jake nor I will let you trip or fall." I grinned at her. Getting a shy but grateful smile in return.

"Thanks Jess." she replied softly, accepting the help up over a rather large rock. Before she basically fell into Jacob's arms. Jake and I exchanged amused looks before I hurried ahead of them to catch up with Edward.

'I brought some deer's blood. It should still be good, I kept it warm for you!' I thought enthusiastically, getting an amused look from Edward and a silent thank you.

"Where exactly are we going?" Jake asked, holding hands with Bella, eyeing the surrounding trees with a somewhat untrustworthy glance. I occasionally caught myself staring at his muscles, which had seamless outlines of his thin jacket and... er... cargo shorts. He could have at least tried to dress like he was cold.

"We're going to mine and Edward's favorite meadow clearing, Bella should know it." I raised my brow at her, seeing as I had taken her there once before. Her eyes widened and she got this slight excited glow to her face.

"We're going there?" She asked, nearly breathlessly as she had briefly lost focus and nearly fell.

"Yup!" I grinned widely. "Thought it would be nice to enjoy a little picnic and enjoy some nature while we're at it."

"That explains why Bella asked what my favorite sandwiches are... I thought I was turning into one of those douche boyfriends for a minute." Jacob let out an audible sigh of relief. Besides his light, tribal patterned pack, Jake had adamantly insisted he carried the food.

Funnily enough, once Edward had realized that Jacob was helping us with our loads, insisted he carried the emergency kits Bella and I prepped ahead of time -I noticed the extra clothes for Jake- and the transforming picnic blanket. It took the two of us our entire respective car rides to the trail to prevent the boys from carrying our bags too. I get that to them, our bags must feel like empty pillow cases, but let us be independent damnit!

I kept close to Edward, seeing as today I seemed to be extra clumsy. I can't help but feel a sense of foreboding. That something was gonna happen out of my and Bella's control. I kept my eyes on the treeline and tried to pay attention to my surroundings at the same time but that was difficult.

Stumbling over a tree root, I grabbed onto Edward's arm to catch my balance. "Damn nature and always tripping me." I grumbled, getting an amused glance and near silent chuckle.

Bella kept stopping along the trail, examining some flowers and ferns that are growing along the bottom of the trees. I couldn't help but feel amused as I watched Jake explain what types of plants they were. I didn't even know he knew what exact type of fern that was.