Forbidden Love by Jay Mirano (little red riding hood read aloud TXT) 📕

awkwardly in the corner as Luke took a disc from a plastic case and pushed it into the DR player.
The TV surged into life, blaring loud music from the speakers that made my ears ring. Three-dimensional cars screamed out of the 3-D TV, making me jump.
Luke flopped onto one of the couches with the remote clasped in his hand, and I sank into the other one, pulling my knees up to my chest.
"Come sit over here," Luke smiled, patting the empty seat beside him.

Chapter III

Mom looked mad. Like, really mad. Dad was standing next to her, his arms draped across her immobile shoulders.
"Where have you been?" She said, trying to sound soft but her tone harboured traces of anger. "We've been worried sick."
"You mean Jacob's

been worried sick," I retorted, crossing my arms
over my chest.
My Dad shot Mom an anxious glance, and she heaved a loud sigh.
"Yeah, I've been meaning to talk to you about Jabob."
"Did Alice..."
"Yes."
"Edward, would you mind leaving us alone for a few minutes?" She asked, turning to face my father and wrapping her arms affectionately around his waist.
Despite the fact the two had been a couple for almost two decades, there was no hint that the love was beginning to fade between them. They acted like love-struck teenagers all the time, not to mention they even looked

like love-struck teenagers. I'd never been able to introduce my Mom as my mother; she always had to be my sister, whereas Carlisle and Esmé were my parents. It was weird, but I understood its necessity - no-one would understand why my parents looked like they were the same age as me.
My father planted a tender kiss on my mother's cheek, before shooting me a wink. "Sure, love."
The door closed with a click behind him, but I didn't see the point. The entire family would be listening-in on this conversation with their super-tuned ears. We only had the façade of privacy.
"So what's all this about Jacob?"
I bit my lip, slowly disentangling my arms and letting them fall by my sides. "How much did Alice tell you?"
"Everything, I'd imagine," she said, elegantly settling into a seat and beckoning for me to do the same.
"I like him, I do," I said, feeling awkward having this conversation with my mother. "But I like him as a friend, a brother

; but he seems to want to take things further."
"What has Jacob told you?"
"What do you mean?"
I was gripped by a pang of curiosity, and I could tell my Mom regretted saying what she had.
"Has he mentioned... Imprinting, at all?"
My face paled. "No..."
Mom inhaled a sharp intake of breath, something she didn't need to do but I could tell it braced her for what was to come next.
"You and Jacob are soul-mates; he imprinted on you when you were very young."
"What does that even mean?"
"Jacob's bound to you - spiritually. You two have a connection that exists much beyond the physical plane."
"Is that a werewolf thing?"
"Shape-shifter."
"Whatever!"
Mom smiled, the delicate petals of her lips blooming with amusement. "Yes, it is. I knew it was a bad idea to take you away..."
"Mom, still a little slow on the up-take here."
"When you were born, we were all living in Forks."
"Yeah, I know that."
"But as the years went by, people here started to notice that we weren't... Ageing. We had to leave or else face getting found out."
"So why didn't Jacob come?"
"He wanted to, oh honey, he wanted to so much. But he couldn't leave his pack, especially not after the most recent spate of vampire attacks."
I blinked at her in confusion.
"We promised Jacob we'd return once the suspicion about us had died down, but we didn't anticipate the effect leaving would have on you both."
"I... Don't even remember any of this."
"I'm not surprised; you were both in so much physical and emotional pain that living a normal life didn't seem like a possibility. You were so young, not even ten, but you seemed to be fading away, withering. We heard from Jacob's pack that things weren't much better for him, either, but our hands were tied. We couldn't return, and he couldn't leave. It was a Catch-22."
I nodded, my lips quivering.
"Eventually you began to recover, but you were never the same. You seemed much more human afterwards than you ever were before. You stopped showing people images with your gift, and you stopped craving blood altogether. It was heart-breaking to watch."
"Are you saying that a piece of me... Died? From being away from Jacob?"
"I suppose you could put it that way. We hoped things would return to normal once we returned, and while they have for Jacob..."
"They haven't for me," I breathed, my eyes wide.
I always knew I wasn't human, but I always felt like I was. Now I knew why. A surge of shock racked my entire body, leaving my head spinning. It was all too much to take in, to even contemplate. Jacob was my soul-mate, and yet it seemed as though the connection tethering us to the other was broken irrevocably.
"Promise you won't be so hard on Jacob, Nessie. He just wants to protect you."
I nodded, tears stinging my eyes.

***

The next day at school, I drifted through the corridors like a ghost, barely even registering the stares I elicited from fellow classmates.
"Hey stranger!"
I jumped with fright, expecting to see Jacob was instead being confronted by Luke's smiling mug.
"Oh... Hey," I replied, mustering a half-hearted smile.
"I had fun last night," he said, leaning against a locker, his eyes sparkling. "We should do it again."
His words made my stomach write with excitement, a feeling I couldn't repress. Luke actually wanted to be around me? I couldn't understand why.
"Yeah, me too," I beamed, smiling genuinely for the first time in days. "What did you have in mind?"
"Well, are you free tonight?"
"I'm always

free," I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Until I manage to land myself a job, that is."
Luke jolted, his eyes growing wide. "You can come work for me!"
"Come again?"
"At my Dad's store, at least. We've got a position for a cashier free. Interested?"
"Oh but of course."
"Well then," he grinned. "Now we can be classmates AND workmates."
"I'd like that."
"And maybe..." Luke began, trailing off.
"What?"
"Maybe we could be a little more than mates some day."
He looked sheepish, and I could almost detect the hint of a blush beneath his cheeks.
I bit my lip, elation flooding through me. Suddenly, all my Jacob woes washed away. Luke seemed to have that effect on me.
"Anyway, tonight," he went on, quickly salvaging a situation that could easily have slipped into awkwardness. "Dinner? Diner? Eight?"
"Meet you there."
And with that, Luke sauntered off to class, leaving me reeling with anticipation.

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Text: © 2011 Jay Mirano
Publication Date: 05-18-2011

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