CHAPTER FIFTEEN

"No, that's my favorite part!" Jay yells when Jared pauses the movie, and Paul looks over at her from where he's sitting on the floor.

"Then you have something to look forward to when we get back." He says as he looks over at her, and she narrows her eyes at him. "I need food, I'm starving."

"What else is new?"

"Shh, no arguing." Bella puts her hand over the younger girl's mouth and pulls her closer to her, so Jay sinks into the couch and rests her head on her friend's shoulder.

"What's for grub?" Jared asks, and Kim smiles as she looks at him. "No."

"Burgers!" Jay's voice is muffled by Bella's hand.

"Works for me." Jeremy agrees, and the oldest in the room nods.

"I could go for burgers." Henry says. "The diner down in Forks?"

"Dinglehopper." Jay smirks, and Bella chuckles. They've been watching The Little Mermaid because Kim freaked after Jay turned on Skinwalkers.

"That still isn't funny." Jeremy tells his sister.

"Yeah, well, neither are you, but we still keep you around."

"Haven't I told you two to play nice?" Henry questions as he gets to his feet.

"They never do." Bella shakes her head. "You should see them at lunch."

"Jay gets violent." Jeremy adds. "She threw an apple at me once."

"Maybe I threw it to you." The little brunette counters, and he quirks an eyebrow as he looks at her. "What? You caught it."

"No violence." Henry repeats, and Jay quickly gets up before jumping on his back. "Oof, damn kid." He mutters as he stumbles forward.

"I'm not heavy." Her eyebrows furrow.

"No, you're just a spaz."

"Oh." She shrugs. "I can live with that."

"Are we all packing it into my car?" He asks as he starts outside. "Or do we wanna take two?"

"I don't really want to drive my truck into Forks just to head back to the house and then back home later. I just don't want to drive it back and forth that much in the rain." Bella says, which he completely understands.

"So how are we doing this?" Kim asks.

"First, someone's gonna get the monkey off my back."

"Hey!" Jay smacks the top of his head before dropping down to her feet.

"My truck seats six, and we've got seven..." Henry mumbles.

"Yeah, but with these two—" His sister motions between Jared and Paul. "—the truck seats five."

"You can sit on Jared's lap in the backseat." Bella suggests.

"And Jay can sit on Paul's." Henry says as he turns for the door.

"Huh?" The little brunette raises her eyebrows.

"Great." Paul exhales, and she turns to him with a quirked eyebrow. She doesn't understand his occasional mild hostility toward her.

Jared's the first one into the truck, and then Kim climbs in and sits on his lap. Then Paul gets in on the other side, and Bella smirks at the irritated look that Jay shoots her. The youngest steps up and then carefully moves past Paul; he adjusts his legs once she's inside the cab, and Bella then closes the back door on the passenger side. Jay sits on Paul's lap, and Bella moves into the middle of the front seat. Henry's driving, and Jeremy's sitting on her other side.

Kim's curled into Jared with his arms wrapped around her, and Jay keeps trying to adjust her position, unable to get comfortable for the twenty minute ride into Forks. Paul suddenly unfolds his arms from across his chest and grabs her hips as he straightens his spine and leans forward.

"Stop moving your hips." Paul tells her, and he's so close that Jay can feel his breath on her ear as she suddenly stills. Luckily, his voice is low enough that the three up front didn't hear him over the music that Henry has playing, but Jared's trying to keep from laughing at them.

Jay then grabs the top of the front seat as she lifts herself off of his lap, and he lets go of her. The little brunette turns her body so that she can sit sideways, resting closer to his knees than was possible in her previous position. She's now facing Kim and Jared with her right elbow resting on the front seat near her brother's head, and her left hand resting in her lap.

"Everything okay back there?" Bella asks as she turns her head to look at Jay.

"Shut up." The younger girl mutters, and she stifles her laughter.

"So, Jay, what do you want for breakfast on Tuesday?" Kim asks as Paul relaxes again.

He crosses his arms over his chest as he rests his head back against the seat behind him, and he stares at the ceiling. He's trying to refrain from looking at Jay, because he knows that he'll only end up staring at her. His comment in the house wasn't because he didn't want her sitting in his lap, but because he doesn't want her to know how much he wants to be close to her. That's why he keeps his distance, when he can convince himself to do so, that is.

"I don't know. What's Tuesday?" Jay asks, and the older girl raises her eyebrows. "What?"

"It's the second, Jay." Jeremy tells her, and she sighs.

"No, Kim..." She shakes her head.

"I don't get it. You don't want a party, you don't want a special breakfast. Have you always been this against celebrating your birthday?" Kim asks, and Jeremy suddenly sighs as he lets his head hang. "What? What's the matter?" She asks, looking at Jay who's staring out the window past her instead of answering.

"You and Jenna always used to go to your favorite diner for breakfast, and then you'd spend the day with her. She'd even let you skip school while she played hooky." Her brother says. "I'm sorry, Jay, I didn't even realize."

"This is your first birthday since your mom passed." Jared realizes and then he bounces his girlfriend in his lap once, silently telling her to cool it with everything.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't even thinking about that." Kim says. "I can call off the party if you really want  me to."

"How about we have the party, but you cancel the cake?" Jay says, and Paul shifts his gaze to her without moving his head.

"Are you sure?" She asks, and the younger girl nods. "Okay, deal."

They make it to the dinner not long after, and Jay breaks away from the group after she finishes eating. Everyone else is sitting around talking and laughing, but her mind keeps drifting back to her mom. So, she walks over to the pinball machine in the corner to get a moment to herself.

A few minutes later, Paul sees her standing there, just staring at the game. Excusing himself from the table, he then goes over to talk to the little brunette.

"Interesting tactic." He says as he stops beside Jay, gaining her attention. "Most people usually play the game to win."

"I ran out of quarters." She says, glancing at him. "Smartass."

The older boy smirks as he reaches down and fishes around in his pockets. He then places quarters into the machine so that Jay can continue playing. He noticed that she didn't quite seem like herself when they got out of the truck, and he wants to cheer her up.

"No, bastard!" Jay yells after losing for the third time, and Paul reaches up to put his hand over her mouth.

"I'm very sorry for my friend. She's passionate...and competitive." He tells the couple sitting not far from them, and the brunette turns to look at them.

"Sorry." Her voice is muffled by Paul's hand, and the woman chuckles as she looks between the two teenagers.

—

"The party's this Friday, and it's gonna be a blast." Kim says as she and her new best friend make their way into the house. "Henry even promised not to drop in at the beach and chaperone."

"You're trying to drive me insane, aren't you?" Jay asks, and she chuckles.

"No, it's just an added bonus." She says, and Jay shakes her head as she walks into the kitchen to get herself something to drink. Jared and Paul walk inside then as well, and Kim looks over at the two boys. "Where's Jeremy?" She asks.

"Outside talking to some girl." Her boyfriend tells her.

Jay turns away from the fridge then and she collides with Paul's bare chest. He quickly reaches out to steady her, and she looks up to find him smirking as he looks down at her. The little brunette scoffs as she shakes her head and takes a step back.

"And they say girls have constant mood swings." Jay mutters as she tries to go around him, but he steps in front of her again.

"You're the only one who does this to me."

"Lucky me." She says sarcastically and then moves past him, heading for her bedroom.

Jared smacks his arm. "Why don't you just tell her already, and stop with all this back and forth crap?" He questions, but Jay's scream catches their attention before Paul can respond.

"God, what is wrong with you?!" The little brunette yells as Paul quickly runs up behind her. "I swear, even all the way across the country, you still just show up in my room."

"I missed you, short stack." Damon smirks. "Is this your bed?" He asks as he picks up her teddy bear. "You're not gonna let your boyfriend kill me, are you?"

"He's not my boyfriend, but yeah, I might." She nods as the raven-haired vampire lays down on her bed and rests the teddy bear on his stomach. "How are you in the house, and why are you in my bed?" She questions as she walks over to him.

"Henry invited me in before he left for work." He tells her as she pulls the pillow out from behind him, and starts hitting him with it. "Ow. Stop that, you little punk!"

"Then get off of my bed!"

"Uh, Jay?" Jared gets her attention, now standing in front of Paul, who looks angry.

"He's harmless." The little brunette says as she looks at the two boys. "Usually. This is the guy I told you guys gave me the pocket knife."

"Aw, you were telling your friends about me?"

"Shut up, Damon." She swats at him as he stands up from her bed. "What the hell are you even doing here?"

"Bonnie told Elena what happened at the beach the other day." Damon tells her, and the tension between them dissipates as she looks back up at him, her expression softening for a moment as she thinks back to Kol harassing her before Embry showed up. Her jaw tightens as her brown eyes meet his blue ones. "Why didn't you call to tell her yourself?"

"Didn't feel it was necessary."

"Uh-huh." He nods as he looks over at the two teenage boys in the doorway. "Do your friends own any shirts?"

"Not that I've seen thus far." She says as she turns away from him.

"We wore shirts to dinner last night." Jared argues.

"Yeah, that you borrowed from Henry. Doesn't really say much about what's in your closets."

"As long as it's not the Boogeyman." Damon muses, and she rolls her eyes.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Jay questions as she turns back to face him, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Yeah, uh... We need to talk, kid." He tells her, and then glances over at the two boys. "Alone."