A/N: Mid-New Moon. Bella/Jacob. The Cullens never come back.
"I'm selfish," Bella hears herself say. Jacob looks at her from his spot next to her on his father's couch.
"What?" he asks, clearly confused at her random confession.
She doesn't look away from the television as she says it again. "I'm selfish, Jake."
"Bella, what are you––" She cuts him off.
"I'm selfish and uncoordinated and indecisive. I'm stubborn and always want things my way even if it will hurt someone else. I treat everyone around me like they don't matter. I have a horrible self-esteem and I'm pretty sure I'm certifiable. I barely keep in touch with my mother even though I know she misses me so much and I act like Charlie is my roommate and not my father. I don't go out of my way to put others first and I'm scared that my only redeeming quality is that I'm a pretty decent cook."
She takes a breath and looks at him. He doesn't say anything because he knows she's not finished yet.
"I don't know why you love me, but you do, Jacob, and I don't deserve it."
The boy frowns and pulls her into a tight hug because it's the only thing he knows to do at a time like this. She begins to cry, and she cries hard because she hasn't cried in months and it feels good.
It takes a couple of minutes for her sobs to turn into sniffles. "Jake," she says when she's able to speak without her voice cracking.
"Yeah, honey?"
"I'm also a liar," she says. "I lied about not loving you." Jacob kisses her then, long and hard, because he knew it all along. Bella Swan is a bad liar.