The Consequences {Jacob Black}

Chapter XXCV

I licked my lips, nervously fingering my ringlets and staring at the wall in front of me.

"Why don't you take a seat?" the same girl who had asked for my name suggested. I took a deep breath and took the only empty chair.

"Is he okay?" she asked, looking over at Jake. I just nodded. "I'm Jessica," she said, extending her hand to me.

"Ryanne," I said again.

"This is Hailey, Amy, Veronica, Gabriella, and Tiffany." She pointed to each individual girl. I nodded, memorizing each person's name.

"You, uh, brought your boyfriend?" I wanted to knock my head against the table. Thankfully, a waitress came over.

"A young man offered to buy you all drinks," she said, pointing to Jake. I rolled my eyes, knowing what he was doing. The boy was the king of peace offerings.

"What can I get you all?" We each ordered and then the woman walked away. She walked up to Jake and started an easy dialogue that was probably meant to sound flirtatious.

"Where are you from?" the one named Hailey said. We all talked about that for a brief second before the waitress arrived with our drinks. I looked over to find Jake staring at me.

Thank you, I mouthed to him. He tipped his soda towards me in response, a gentle smile on his lips.

"So you brought your boyfriend?" I felt bad that I had brought him, but my fears overrode my caring about others. And I felt super selfish for it.

I nodded to respond to her question. "He, uh, he's been through a lot with me. And I feel safer with him around." All of them looked at me like I was stupid. I suppose it was to be expected. Like I had told Jake, most of them didn't have someone like Jake.

"I don't know what you guys are thinking, but Jake won't hurt you."

They just nodded at me, put it didn't seem like they believed me. I wanted to add that he'd bought the drinks as a gesture towards them. We sat there in silence, awkward teenagers that had so much in common and didn't know how to connect about it. I looked down at the foam of my macchiato and tried really hard to think of something to say.

"So he came down here to, uh support you?" Amy asked then. I sighed, not wanting to remember the day.

"Jake, um," I paused and looked over at Jake. He smiled at me again, soft and sure. "Jake was there the day that, uh." The five girls around me nodded, allowing me to not finish my sentence. "He's the reason that things didn't get any farther than they did." Jessica looked down at her lap and I instantly felt bad. But no one said anything and I didn't get any looks from the others. "So this is kind of closure for both of us, you know?"

"Is that why you're here?" Tiffany asked. "Closure?" she seemed shy, quiet, and afraid.

"I, um, yes and no," I admitted. "Part of me wants to face him one more time, to let him know that he didn't win. The other part of me wants to make sure that he, uh, doesn't - that he can't do this to anyone else."

Jessica nodded along with me. And I think that I saw Veronica do the same thing. But the rest of the girls just looked floored. I wasn't sure what I had said wrong, but I instantly felt bad for it.

"I'm sorry; I didn't want to offend anyone. I just -"

"No, don't be," Gabriella said, resting her hand over me. "Don't be sorry. I'm here because my parents wanted me to come and do this and I didn't want to disappoint them. They don't know everything that happened. And I don't want to tell them, you know." I nodded. "I don't want them to worry about me. I keep telling myself that I can do this, but I wasn't sure. Not until you said what you did. I hadn't thought of it that way. Being here, not allowing him to win, protecting other girls; you're right, that's what we need to do."