A Little Thing Called Destiny - Chapter Three
Title: A Little Thing Called Destiny - Chapter Three
Rating: T
Warnings: None
Summary: "So, now that we've bumped into each other a total of two times in less than half an hour, what do you say we introduce ourselves? I'm Jacob." The tale of two people brought together by fate. Pure fluff. AH. AU (Click to start from beginning.)
Bella waves to Melissa as she walks out of the Georgian. It is Saturday, still early in the day, barley ten a.m. She'd come to pick up her check and is without plans for the rest of the day. On the way to her car, she stops short, shocked. Jacob is there, leaning against his car which was parked next to hers.
"Jacob, what the hell are you doing here? You scared me half to death."
He pushes off of the car and smirks. "Hello to you, too, Beautiful. I thought you'd be happy to see me."
Bella smiles back. "Of course I am." She tilts her head upwards and gladly accepts his kiss. "I was just surprised to see you is all."
"I called Angela earlier and asked if you worked today. She said you were just picking up your check. She gave me the time you'd be here and I thought I'd stop by and surprise you with a date."
"What have you got up your sleeve this time?" Bella says laughing and shaking her head slightly. Since their dinner at the Georgian six weeks ago, Jacob had taken Bella on six more dates. He'd made sure to keep his word for each and every one and taken her to do something fun. They'd gone bowling, laser-tagging, paint-balling, roller-skating, to a comedy show and to another terrible movie (which they also got kicked out of). Bella couldn't wait to see what he had planned today.
Jacob opens the passenger door of his car for her and then walks around to the other side. "You'll see when we get there."
"Aw, Jake, you know I hate surprises."
"The last surprise wasn't so bad, was it?"
"Well, no, I guess not," Bella concedes.
"Promise you'll love it."
"Isn't that your bakery?" Jacob asks after they've been driving for twenty minutes. Bella hadn't even noticed they were on 2nd and Maine, but when she looks out the driver side window, she sees the quaint little shop that was formerly a popular coffee café. It was owned by an elderly married couple, but when the husband had died, his widow closed the shop and put the building up for sale. Bella'd had her eye on it ever since and when she'd told Angela about her dream to buy it and open a bakery, her best friend had agreed to help her buy and run the place. Bella was so close to getting to her goal savings amount, she could already smell the baked goods and hear the bustling of customers.
"Yeah, that's it," Bella says dreamily. "I'm so close to getting the money to buy the place."
"You'll get it soon," he says reassuringly.
"I hope so."
Bella lays her head against the window. She and Jake sit in a comfortable silence as he drives. After another half hour, Jacob exits highway eighteen and Bella sees the sign that sets her in a panic.
"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no! There is no way I am going in there!" Bella exclaims as Jacob drives through the entrance of Wild Waves, one of Washington's popular amusement parks.
"Come one, Bella. This will be fun. You're the one that said you've never been to an amusement park. I can only imagine the kind of childhood you had."
"My never having been to an amusement park is by choice. Therefore, there is no reason for you to pity me and so we should just turn around and -"
"Shut up," he says without malice as he cuts the engine. "We're going in and you're going to enjoy it." Bella has no choice but to get out of the car and enter the park when Jacob comes around to the passenger side and literally lifts her over his shoulder. Despite her protests and efforts at tickling him, Jacob carries her like that until they get to the ticket booth.
He grabs a map and then her hand and leads her around aimlessly for the first few minutes until he figures out what he wants to do first. Bella convinces him to get into the teacups with her - even though it's a squeeze for him - and then they get on the Ferris wheel. Jacob draws the line at the carousal. After a while he begins to mention roller coasters to her.
"Nope, not going to happen," she says after he's asked her three times.
"Come on, Beautiful, nothing is going to happen to you."
"But I'm afraid of heights"
"So am I."
"You're kidding. Why do you want to get on some death trap then?"
"Because, it's fun!" he says, exasperated.
Bella thinks about it for a moment. Millions of people get on roller coasters everyday and they're fine. And if Jacob can face his fear of heights, then so can she. "Fine," she says. The smile that flashes across his face is worth it.
Or so, that's what Bella thinks until she sees the coaster Jacob is talking about up close. "You want me to get on this? Are you out of your mind?" Wild Thing is the name of it. That can not be good.
"Bella, this is the tamest one in the park. Plus, you already agreed. Don't back down now."
"Okay," she says as the line starts moving. "But you have to win me a teddy bear afterwards."
"Okay."
"A big one."
"Done."
"A green one."
Jacob laughs. "Sure, sure. A big, green teddy bear."
It's a ten minute wait until they get all the way up front. Once they're strapped in, side by side, Jacob turns to her. "Hey, Beautiful?"
"Yeah?"
"I may have told a little, teeny, tiny lie. This is actually the scariest coaster in the entire park." Bella is fuming. She could kill him for putting her in this mess. She goes to unbuckle her harness, but its already too late.
"Enjoy the ride!" calls the attendant over the loudspeaker, and then they're off. The ride up to the top is the worst. She tells herself constantly not to look down. She wants to shed a tear every foot higher in the air they climb, because she knows that once they hit the top of this ramp, she'll have to go flying back down the same amount of feet. Jacob looks over at her, remorse clear on his face.
"I'm sorry. Want to hold my hand?" he offers. Bella refuses his offer. No way she's riding this thing with only one hand secure on the handle. The first few cars start to tilt. She and Jacob are in the middle and she's getting anxious as the screams start. Their car starts to tilt and Bella makes the mistake of looking down and gasps. Why did she let Jacob talk her into this? They start to descend and Bella screams.
They're going too fast for Bella to open her eyes but she can feel every turn, every jerk and every loop. Jacob screams beside her, but he's laughing too. He's having fun, and isn't that the whole point of this date? Instead of concentrating on how afraid she is, Bella lets go and focuses on the freedom she feels. The wind is blowing through her hair and her stomach is doing this floppy thing that feels terrible and wonderful at the same time. This time when they go through another loop, Bella screams, but she's laughing too.
Afterwards, Jacob keeps his promise to her and plays one of the carnival games. He wins her a teddy bear, only it's the second biggest and it's blue, but Bella loves it anyway.
(ALTCD)
"These pictures are beautiful, Jacob." Bella says as she walks further down the entrance hall of Jacob's apartment. There are about a dozen of them, varying from pictures of wooded areas and places in the city to a little girl's smile and a lone tricycle. There are different hues and angles and lighting and they're all so wonderful.
"Thanks," he says shrugging off the compliment. "They're just pictures."
"Oh, Jake, you're way too modest. These are masterpieces."
"I bet you say the same thing when people compliment your baking. You probably say 'Well they're just pastries'."
"But I'm just making food."
"Food can be art too."
Bella ignores his comment and instead asks, "Can I see more?"
Jacob directs her to his couch while he gets a bottle of wine and his portfolio. They spend hours looking through his personal photos as well as the ones for his business portfolio. Bella likes the ones he works on alone the most. After a while, Bella glances up from the book and sees that Jacob is watching her.
"What?" she asks with a nervous laugh. She wipes at her face just in case there's something on it.
Jacob chuckles. "There's nothing there. I'm looking because I can't get over how beautiful you are."
Bella averts her eyes and blushes. "Jake…" She doesn't know what to say. He uses it as a nickname so often but it's different when he's saying it like this. She feels his fingertips on her chin and soon his lips are on hers. She sets her wine glass on the table as he shifts to lean over her on the couch. Her back is on the cushions and her fingers are running through his hair. He places searing kisses down her neck and his fingers dance around the hem of her shirt before they slip underneath and caress the skin of her stomach.
He pulls away suddenly and it takes her a moment to realize he's speaking to her. "Bella, we've been dating for six weeks now. I am so enthralled by you. You're just… amazing. I don't want to be with any other woman but you, and I don't want you to date any other men. I feel really juvenile asking this, but will you be my girlfriend?"
She smiles, nods and whispers, "Okay."
He kisses her hungrily. "Spend the night, Beautiful?"
Another smile, another nod.
Chapter Four