LOVE NOT SO LONG LOST

BY: PEGGY (PEGASUS) MCDANIEL-MCCOMBS

This my first one shot story...I hope you enjoy...thanks huggs


It was the fifth of June, and here I sat on a sound stage waiting for the actors to take their places.

The director was bellowing out orders to move this there and move that over there to the crew, as I went over the script I held in my hand. The script comes from a novel I had written some years ago, but never had published of my own accord; this novel was still in a manuscript form, for I never intended for it to be out in the world for all to see. You see this is the first novel I had ever wrote, I wrote it straight out of college, and the story line was close to my heart, it was about a man I met in college, his name was Jacob Black.

My name is Bella Swan and I'm a novelist, I have wrote many novels over the last few years and my books were doing very well, I have three novels on the top ten best sellers list as of today.

My best friend Angela Ross is a renowned actress, we have been friends since high school, she is known for her work in the Oscar winning soap called the Edge of tomorrow. On her down time she comes to visit and stays with me for a week at a time. But the week she came was a bad week for me; I had a number of appointments, as well as a book signing, so I left her to her own company.

During her time at my house, she found the said manuscript and began reading it, she fell in love with it and took it on her own accord and had it copied. In turn she gave it to her agent and begged him to read it and let her know what he thought of it. She wasn't surprised when he called her and told her, he wanted to sell the idea to a studio, of course Angela told him she didn't have the rights to the manuscript that a friend had wrote it and she hadn't told her(me) of her idea about the said manuscript. Angela agent was adamant about her getting the rights to the manuscript, he told her it was worth millions if it was to be made into a movie.

I was surprised to see Angela so soon after her stay with me, I usually didn't see her but a once or twice a year, and for her to show up within a few weeks of her last visit, was indeed a great surprise. Well it was until she admitted what she had done. I was furious, not only did she read the manuscript that I had tucked away; she copied it and showed it to her agent which intern, wanted to make it into a movie. After I ranted and raved for hours, I gave in and said he could show it to the studio he had in mind. But intern I was the only one that would have rights to it and I and I alone would decide what changes would be made. By saying this I thought that no studio would agree to such terms and I would still have my manuscript to keep to myself forever.

A few weeks passed when I heard from the agent, the studio said they would meet with me. I was shocked to say the least. Usually in matters as this an agent would deal with the studio, but because I was so adamant in doing it myself, I would be handling the rights and say of what is or is not to be changed in said manuscript.

I kept the appointment with the studio, with the film production manager, as well as a man from their legal department. I sat down and listened to what they had to say, and then gave them my terms, and after an hour of negotiations and me getting up a few times to leave and them calling me back, I got my way, I would now be corresponding along side of the writers, I would read what they wrote and if I didn't like it I could change it, fortunately I would be working along side with two fans of my work, their names were Paul Meraz and Embry Call. I knew some of the words would be replaced and maybe change a few things around but I knew for sure that the story line would stay the same, which I was adamant about. After many weeks working closely with these men we were ready to start production.

So here I sat waiting for the actors to take their place, working so hard on this script, brought back memories of my days in college and the man I met there and fell totally and incandescently in love with, he with his drama major and myself with my literature major. We spent all our free time together, we even studied together, I would run lines with him and he would read my short stories, I wrote for extra credit. It worked out wonderfully.

Well it did till the last week before graduation, Jake and I had decided to have a romantic dinner together. I had a late class and Jake offered to do the shopping for our dinner, then when I returned home we would work on dinner together. I was looking forward to our little romantic dinner and our time alone there after. I hurried home and when I opened the door, I froze. There on the sofa laid Jacob on his back with Melissa Buckram lying on top of him kissing him for all it was worth.

To say I was heartbroken would be a misconception, I was shattered, and I ran from my own apartment as fast as I could. I heard Jake behind me yelling for me to stop but I just couldn't do it, I couldn't face him right now, I needed to get as far from him as I could, I ran to my car and with Jake beating on the glass to my side, I back away and disappeared into the night. I ran to the beach and sat watching the waves crash against the shores as I cried until I couldn't cry any longer, I though of running away, to return to my home and forget college forget everything, but I only had a week left before graduation, I couldn't put all the effort I had put into it to just run out with only a week left, so I stayed, I drove home hoping Jake would have went home.

I opened the door to my apartment to find Jacob sitting on the sofa with his head in his hands; he looked up as I entered. I could see the tear tracks that stained his cheeks from crying. I walked in and closed the door and headed to my bedroom where I closed the door and locked it. Jake stood outside of my room, as I heard him tell me that the girl came to the door and said that I had told her to wait for my return, he didn't know if I had or not, so he let her in and she took a seat on the sofa, Jake, being the easy going guy he was started up a conversation with the girl and to his surprise she dove on him knocking him back against the sofa and kissed him and that's when I came in. Me being the selfish stubborn woman I was then didn't believe him and begged him to leave and told him I never wanted to see him again. After awhile it became quiet, so I took it that he indeed left and went home.

Jake tried many times to talk to me about that situation, but I wouldn't have it, I wanted to feel sorry for myself to be the hurt one in the relationship. This went on for the next week. Jake did try one last time to get me to believe him, but I wouldn't see things for the way they really were.

After graduation, I packed my things and readied myself to return home and start my career; it took a week and a half to settle everything so I could go home. One day before I left Angela came to see me before she left; she was headed for New York to start her career and wanted to tell me good-bye. I began to cry and she asked me what had happened between me and Jake, she knew we had broken up but never asked me for the circumstances, I had told her about Melissa and Angela shook her head, and began to tell me that it wasn't the first time that whore had done something like that, I looked at her concerned and asked her what she was talking about. She told me what had happened before, where she had broken up a couple and that I was totally in the wrong that I should have listened to Jake, I felt horrible, I had mistrusted Jacob, how could I do that to him, I who was suppose to love him, more than life it self, what kind of person was I, I had to see him, and I only hoped he was still on campus.

I ran to his room only to find that he had already left, that he had left the day of graduation, so he must have left after he talked to me. I had lost him forever. I moped around the last remaining days and while packing my car to leave it dawned on me. Jake had said his dad still lived at LaPush on the reservation, here in Washington, I was getting my hopes up once again; please let him be there, I thought to myself.

I finished packing my car and took off for LaPush, when I arrived there I stopped at this little grocery store and walked in and asked if they knew a Jacob Black, and he did, I was so excited but it wasn't long lived. I asked if he knew where they lived and he said yes, but I wouldn't find anyone there, when I asked him why, he proceeded to tell me Billy Black, Jake's dad had died not more than a week ago, and Jake was here for the funeral and left the same day of the burial. I asked him if he knew where he had gone, but he didn't know, he said he very much doubted that he would ever come back. I slumped in defeat, my Jacob was long gone, and it was all my doing, if I hadn't been such a stubborn selfish being I would have had my Jacob with me.

So I sit here going over the script, waiting for the actors to take their places, I looked up and couldn't see anything with all the people in front of me, not that I need to see anything, I just had to listen to the lines to make sure they were saying them right or to add something that would sound better on the script. The manuscript that no one was to ever see and that was bringing back a heartache I chose to put behind me. I heard a bell ring and heard the actors filing in to take their places as I buried my head into the script and readying myself to listen as the actors said their lines. I sat like that for hours, listening to the actors portraying the people that I knew once upon a time as my memories filled my head and dreaded when they got to the part where Jacob and I first met.

As that time came, I sloughed down in my seat, remembering my Jake and how I missed him so much, as the tears I was fighting so hard to hold back streaked down my cheeks, I listened to the male actor as he said the lines. They sounded so real, almost like it was Jake saying them to me once again, I kept listening; the voice was so close to his it was impossible to be so. I straightened in my seat and tried to look over the crew that blocked my view of the actors.

I kept listening, to this actor who sounded just like my Jacob; I stood up and moved forward to stand next to the crew, as they watched me quizzically, the actor had his back to me, so I walked to the side of the stage as the actor began to turn, in a almost slow motion fashion, it took forever for him to complete his turn. When I laid eyes on the actor in front of me, I dropped the clipboard that hosted the script and the pencil I held. It made a clanging noise as it hit the stone floor. The director yelled cut, clearly agitated, as the crew as well as the actors followed the noise to see where it came from.

The actor who was doing Jake's line turned to look at me, his eyes became huge as he walked up to me. "Bella," he said, as I followed with "Jacob," we stood there for a few seconds before his lips curled into a smile and grabbed me and swung me around in a complete circle as I wrapped my arms around him. "Bella, Bella, Bella," Jake said over and over again, as he sat me on my feet and crushed his lips with mine. "Jake, oh Jake, how will you ever forgive me," I asked him. After the shoot, we went off to talk, I told him what had happened and how I looked for him after leaving school and to his surprise the story was about him, that I had wrote it after leaving school and my many failed attempts to find him.

I apologized for my stupid stubborn selfish ways and told him I had changed and I was nothing like that any longer. He told me I was forgiven the minute he left school, but he figured I didn't want to go on with our relationship so he just left it alone. He also told me he moved to Las Angeles and had lived here for years, he had a mechanic shop not far from here and acted on the side, it gets him by and he was doing what he loved to do, both with working with his hands and acting when ever he could. That he was still single and asked me if I was. I told him I was and that I also lived in Las Angeles and couldn't believe we lived not that far apart and never seen one another. He asked me to dinner, I agreed and we have been seeing each other every since. I don't know where it will lead but all I know is that I love Jacob Black and I always have and I will never let him get away from me again.

The end or is it the beginning.

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK...WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU...THANKS...HUGGS