"Bella? Bella, I know you're in there. You cannot stay in bed all day again today. It's three in the afternoon, Bella. Get up, please?" My dad's voice was muffled through the thick door. I'd pushed my dresser in front of it to keep him out but today he hadn't even bothered to try opening the door. I supposed it had something to do with the myriad of random knick knacks I'd thrown at him yesterday when he'd tried. Was it yesterday? I couldn't quite remember. All the days blurred together after Edward had left.

I clutched my chest as a wave of intense pain coursed through my entire body, bringing salty, wet tears to my eyes at the thought of him. Edward. My Edward. He had left me alone and unprotected because he feared he was what I need protection from. I knew he would never hurt me but that wasn't enough to make him stay.

"I'm starting to get really worried about you, honey." My father broke into my thoughts. He'd been speaking all through my inter monologue but I hadn't heard a word of it.

"Just leave me alone!" I cried, turning away from the door and wrapping myself tighter in my covers. Why did it matter to anyone if I stayed in my room for the rest of my life? Life was meaningless now that the love of my life was gone forever.

I must have dozed off because I woke to a hand reaching towards me. Terror and surprise struck me like lighting and in a flash I was up and backing away. Or at least that's what I had intended to do before my foot caught in my covers causing me to trip out of bed and fall, face first, onto the floor of my bedroom.

Instead of claws gripping my arms and fangs sinking into my flesh, the warm sound of laughter poured over my skin like honey. I righted myself, a flush coming to my pale cheeks, and turned to face the intruder.

Jacob Black sat on my window ledge, gripping his side as he continued laughing. "Well, hello to you too." He managed through bouts of laughter. His whole dark-skinned body shook as he gasped for air.

"What do you want, Jacob?" I spat, gathering the blanket in my arms. I felt a bit guilty at the hurt look on his face, but I didn't apologize.

"Ah don't get upset, Bell. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. It was just kind of…" He moved his hands about, as though he could catch the words he was looking for right out of the air.

"Kind of what?" I asked, my voice thick with accusation.

Jacob put his hands up in mock defeat, standing up from the ledge. "Whoa there. When did you get so pissy? I apologized."

I sighed deeply, my whole body moving with the effort. I wasn't angry with him. I didn't know why I as getting so defensive and angry. "I'm sorry, Jacob. I guess I lost some of my charm when I stopped talking to people." I dropped the blanket onto the bed, taking a seat beside it.

He smiled, already forgiving me. "By the way your dad made it sound, it's been quite a while since you have actually spoken to someone." He looked me up a down, not intimately or anything, but it was enough to make me glance down. I was wearing a week old purple sweat pants and a school pride shirt from my old school that didn't quite cover all of my stomach. My hair was a tangled mess and I didn't want to estimate how long it had been since my last shower. A red-hot heat rose to my cheeks. I had just been standing there like that the whole time! I quickly grabbed my blanket and threw it over myself, trying to cover up.

Jacob laughed again. "Don't worry about it, Bella. I'm not one of those preppy girls from school. I'm your friend."

I began to protest when something that should have been very obvious occurred to me. "How did you get in here?" A glance at my door proved that my dresser was still standing guard in front of my door.

Jacob nodded his head out my window to the tree. "I climbed up. I tried knocking on your door a few times, but when you didn't answer I got worried so I just climbed up."

"And let yourself into my room?" I asked, my voice incredulous. Indignation welled up inside me and I stood and began pushing him back towards the window. "Out. Get out."

My pushing didn't move or bother him in the slightest. He hardly seemed to notice. "No way. I'm not leaving here."

"Get out of my room, Jacob Black!" Since pushing him wasn't working I decided to take an approach I knew worked. I turned back to my bed and began throwing the contents at him.

Jacob attempted to protest but his words only increased the speed and intensity at which the objects were thrown. Just as I was about to turn from the empty bed to my dresser, Jacob caught my wrist, spinning me around to face him. I tried to struggle, hitting him with my free hand, but he grabbed that wrist too, holding me tightly.

"Bella, stop it. Just stop!" Eventually, I ceased my futile struggling and looked up at him. I hadn't realized how close we were until I met his intense brown eyes. His face had turned from pleasant and playful to a dark seriousness. The muscles in his sharp, chiseled jaw were clenched but his eyes didn't display hostility but worry. "I'm not leaving his spot until you agree to come out and do something with me."

I was so caught up in his striking figure that I almost forgot that this was the part where I respond. My throat felt dry as I finally responded with a small nod.

A small smirk brightened up his dark features and he released me. I hadn't realized how warm his hands were until the cold air assaulted my wrists. "Good. I'll be waiting downstairs. You have half an hour before I come back up here and make you leave, regardless of what you're wearing." Without giving me a moment to respond, Jacob moved back over to the window seal and leapt out.

"Wait!" I called rushing to the window after him. He was already up and moving towards the porch, where my father stood, holding open the door. Jacob stopped and looked up at me. "Thirty minutes isn't enough time."

Jacob smiled again. "Better hurry then."

Precisely twenty-eight minutes later, I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen for the first time in a long time. While I wouldn't dare admit it aloud, it felt kind of nice to be freshly showers and wearing clean clothes.

Jacob and my father were sitting at the table talking animatedly about something when I walked in. Both stopped talking and smiled at the sight of me.

"Nice to see you up." My father said. "If I'd known calling Jacob was all it was going to take, I would have called him weeks ago."

I shot him an unamused look, but didn't say anything, returning to my search through the cabinets for something to eat.

"Come on, Bell. Let's go." Jacob said, standing from the table and moving over to where I was standing.

"I have to eat something." I said dryly, not looking at him.

"I've already gotten that taken care of." He said with a smile. "Let's go." He grabbed my hand and began leading me out of the house.

'But-" I began my protest, looking to my dad for help. Even though I'd agreed to leave with Jacob, it had been mostly to get him to leave my room. My father, however, held to sanctuary. He simply smiled and waved as Jacob pulled me out the door and into his truck. He was still smiling and waving from the kitchen door as we pulled away.

"So where exactly are we going?" I asked finally. The drive into and then again out of town had been virtually silent. Or at least, I was too caught up in old memories of Edward to have heard anything Jacob may have said.

Jacob looked pleased that I was speaking when I looked over at him. "There's this nice spot on the edge of town."

My eyebrows furrowed. "Nice for what?" I looked back out the window. The sky was a dark, sullen gray, hardly outdoor activity weather.

"A picnic." He responded casually.

My eyes darted back to him, searching his face for some evidence that he was kidding. No such luck. Jacob looked positively pleased with the idea. "Really?"

"Yup." He responded, short sweet and to the point.

"Like a picnic is just going to fix me up." I muttered unenthusiastically under my breath.

"What?" Jacob said, grabbing my attention by putting his large hand on my shoulder. His voice sounded caring and genuinely curious, not accusing, but it still set me off.

I jerked my arm away from him, eyes blaring when I turned them on him. "I don't want your help Jacob. I never asked for it. "

Jacob's smile faded and he turned his eyes back onto the road, putting his hand on the steering wheel. "That doesn't mean you don't need it."

His calm even tone infuriated me. "I don't want to go on a picnic! I didn't want to leave my room! I don't want to do anything!" I cried, throwing my hands in the air.

Jacob slammed on the breaks, sending my flying forward into the tight embrace of my seatbelt. It was lucky we were alone on that dirt road because his rusty old truck stopped dead right in the middle of the road. His brown eyes turned on me, hot with frustration. "Then what do you want, Bella? Huh? Tell me what you really want!"

"I want Edward back!" The words came barreling out of my mouth before I could catch them. Jacob seemed as surprised as I was, a strange, unidentifiable looked settling very briefly in his eyes. It seemed as though those words were the final push needed to break the dam I had built to hold in the words I hadn't dared to say aloud. Hot tears began flowing down my cheeks and it all came spilling out. "I just want him to come back! Why did he leave me? How could he do that to me? He wants to protect me?! Does this look like I'm alright? Why didn't he stay? Wasn't I enough for him? Wasn't this enough?"

Before I knew what was happening, Jacob had unbuckled his seat belt and mine, slid over to me, and had his warm arms wrapped around him. At first, I tried to push him away, screaming that I didn't want to be touched, but that wasn't true because before too long I fell into the warmth of his embrace, still sobbing and venting al the hurt and pain I'd been bottling up. It was like an explosion. I'd held it in too long, crying myself to sleep at night. Now waves of hurt ebbed into tides of sorrow which in turn began anger. I hadn't realized how much I'd been keeping in until it was coming back out through tears and screams and sobs.

I don't know how long we sat like that, but it must have been quite a while because when I finally pulled myself from his (now tear-soaked) shirt, the sun was far in the west, threating to set. My eyes were bleary and my throat was dry. I looked up at Jacob and saw a mix of concern and care on his defined features.

"You alright?" He asked, voice tight with worry.

I nodded instinctively, then after more consideration, shook my head.

"Do you want to go home because I can-"

"No" I interrupted him, pulling myself upright and whipping my eyes. "A picnic does sounds…nice."

He smiled, but it was hesitant. "Are you sure?"

I nodded, trying to look more put together than I did.

After another moment of scrutiny, Jacob scooted back into the driver side, buckled himself in, and started driving again.

We were quiet for the rest of the drive to the spot Jacob had mentioned, though he kept glancing at me as though I may burst into hysteria at any moment. But I knew I wouldn't. I had run out of steam for the time being.

We set up our picnic (courtesy of his father's cooking) at the top of a small hill, surrounded on three sides by trees. On the fourth side were the lake and the setting sun. Side by side on a white-washed blanket, we ate in silence, but it wasn't like the tense, nervous silence of the ride here. It was comfortable and warm, like an old blanket on a cold winter's day, occasionally speckled with easy conversation.

A myriad of colors exploded across the sky as the sun lowered itself behind the mountains, as though the sky were grieving for the sun's going with vivid purples, bright yellows, beautiful reds, and tangible greens. I wasn't sure if maybe the sunset was beautiful to me because it had been so long since I'd seen one and even longer since I'd taken the time to enjoy an appreciate one.

Jacob didn't mention my little outburst in the car. He let me steer the conversation to where I wanted it to go, keeping it light. I'd had enough grief for one day.

To say I was over Edward would have been a gross overstatement. I still missed him desperately and my heart ached anew at the thought of him, but I was beginning to see that lying alone in my room wasn't going to help me get over him. Good friends, like Jacob, were the true answer and moping in self-pity and heartbreak were holding me back from not only recovering but my life as well.

I looked over at Jacob and was surprised to see he was already looking at me. His dark eyes were warm and soft, worried and compassionate. With a reassuring smile, I placed my hand over his. I was nowhere near being ready to start anything romantic with anyone, but at that moment I could see how much Jacob loved me. He was willing to put up with all of my tantrums and bad behavior and still see the person beneath the anguish. Perhaps in the future there could be something between us. Something real. His whole being radiated a gentle warmth that I hadn't realized I had been craving.

I turned my gaze back out to the sunset, the bright colors singing a symphony that would carry throughout the night and inside my heart. It was a song of healing, of rebirth and life. It was my song.

Disclaimer: This is terrible. I am aware that it is terrible. Any inaccuracies in character, time, location, etc. are due to the fact that I have never read the complete series of Twilight. In fact, I don't even like Twilight. I only wrote this because it was the punishment selected by my friends for not making a video.