Title: Racing Hearts

Author: Lazalot_Anreads

Beta: None

Characters/Pairings: Bella/Jacob

Rating: NC-17

Challenge: None

Summary: After Edward left, Bella and Jacob became best friends and eventually - when they were both old enough - went to college together in Los Angeles. This is the story of how they got together.

Notes: New Moon AU

Chapter 001 - Bella's POV

By the time I pulled my head out of my ass and realized that I was in love with my best friend, Jacob had started drag racing as a hobby and had a gaggle of girls surrounding him everywhere he went. It had been years since he'd come on to me, so I was sure that he was over me.

I called Emily first, but her advice sucked. "Just sit him down and tell him how you feel," she kept telling me. "Everything will turn out fine, I promise." I didn't want to just come out and tell him I was in love with him until I knew for sure that he was still in love with me, though.

So I called Leah. She totally understood my reasoning, and since she couldn't tell me one way or another if he loved me because the Pack mind didn't stretch all the way from La Push to Los Angeles, she devised a brilliant plan. "Make him jealous. Start going out with other guys and you'll find out REAL quick if he's still interested or not."

"Do you really think it'll work?" I asked.

"Definitely." Leah gave a wicked little laugh. "He won't know what hit him, Bella, trust me."

Just then, I heard the door open. I quickly said goodbye to Leah and hung up before going to see if Jacob needed any help with the groceries. He didn't, of course; he never did. I don't know why I bothered.

"Hey, Bells," he said, hugging me once he'd gotten everything squared away in our tiny kitchen. "Was that Leah on the phone?"

I froze. With those wolf ears of his I couldn't have known WHAT he heard, so I was cautious. "Yeah. She and the Pack send their love."

"Okay. Hey, are you coming to the race tonight?" He smiled his heartbreakingly sweet sunshine smile at me, and I melted. While I disapproved of breaking the law, Jacob REALLY loved to race, so I almost always pushed my reservations aside and went to his races. This time would be no different. "Please?"

"Ugh," I groaned playfully, "fine. But only if you smoke a blunt with me first. You know how I feel about big crowds."

He chuckled and tapped my cheek as he walked past me to sit on the living room couch. He got the weed out of the coffee table drawer along with a cigar wrapper, and proceeded to roll a HUGE blunt. I eyed it greedily.

"Well, Bells, do you want to just stand there looking or do you want to smoke this baby?" He fired it up, and the scent of marijuana filled the room.

I went to sit beside him on the couch, grabbing the blunt from him and taking a big hit. We passed it back and forth, laughing about everything and nothing, until there was only a tiny bit left that we had to snub or risk burning our fingers. Then I stood up, patted Jake on the head, and went to get ready for the race.

I had to look good if I was going to pick anybody up, so I took a shower and shaved my legs, then brushed my teeth before blow drying my hair so that it fell in waves to my hips. I put on a pair of tight black jeans and a dark red t-shirt. Then I put a little mascara, blush, and cherry lip gloss on before slipping my feet into a pair of black sandals and grabbing my purse.

Jacob, who had already gotten dressed while I was in the shower, stood up from the couch and whistled when he saw me. "Make-up, Bells? What's the special occasion?"

"No occasion," I informed him breezily, already heading for the door. "I just felt like looking good for a change."

"Bella, you ALWAYS look good, make-up or no make-up," he replied sweetly. We climbed into his dark blue 1971 Plymouth Scamp that was so juiced up I was surprised it didn't fly, and drove to the place we called The Strip, where the illegal drag races took place.

We climbed out of the car and Jacob was immediately surrounded by a bunch of really hot girls, so I just waved to him before making my way toward another racer I got along fairly well with - Jeffrey Harp. He was surrounded by girls, too, but not nearly to the extent that Jake was. "Hey, Jeff!" I called over some blonde's head.

He grinned widely. "Hey, Bella! Good to see you, girl!" As if we didn't see each other at least once a week. "How've you been?"

"Same old, same old." I shrugged and gave him a warm hug. I wondered if I could use Jeff. He had a girlfriend back in Tennessee, where he was from, who was coming up in a couple of months. But I only needed him for a month, tops. He was an actor, so I knew he could pull it off, but why would he want to? What was in it for him?

"What are you thinking so deeply about?" I snapped back to attention, and Jeff laughed at me.

He was a good guy. I decided to just come right out and ask him even though I thought I was going to die of embarrassment. "I'm really, really in love with Jake but I don't know how he feels. I need somebody to pretend to be my boyfriend so I can hopefully make him jealous enough to confess that he wants me. At least, that's what I WANT to happen. Will you help me?"

He eyed me thoughtfully. "You would owe me BIG."

"I know. Does that mean you'll do it?" I started to get excited.

"Why not? Tara won't mind, and I haven't done any real acting lately. This sounds like fun. When do we start?" He was smiling lazily, looking me over like he wanted to eat me.

I gulped. He really was a great actor, already getting into the part. "Now?"

"Okay, what do I say about Tara?"

"The two of you had a fight and broke up, I guess."

"Okay, that's all I needed to know. Don't look now, but you know who is headed this way." That said, his entire body language changed. He touched my hip and leaned in, smiling a beautiful smile. Not as beautiful as my Jacob's, mind you, but still beautiful. "So I'll take you out to dinner tomorrow night. Seven o'clock sound good?"

Feeling Jake come up behind me, I smiled back and agreed. "Sure, sure. Sound's great."

"Hey Bells," Sounding tense, Jacob wrapped a possessive arm around my waist - at least, I think it was possessive. "Is my hearing wonky or did you two just make a date? Jeff, what about Tara?"

"We had a fight last night. We broke up." Jeff shrugged like it didn't matter. Since the whole point of this was to make Jacob jealous, I pulled away from him and went to Jeff, putting a consoling hand on his arm. He pulled me closer and, acting like he'd forgotten Jacob was there, brushed a light kiss across my lips.

"Bells -" Jacob looked like he didn't know what to say. Finally he settled on, "Why are you with this guy?"

"I got a race," Jeff said suddenly, and with another quick kiss he got in his car and drove to the starting line.

I turned back to Jake. "He's hot. I don't mind being his rebound girl."

"But that's not you!" Jacob said with certainty. "You haven't dated since -"

My glare cut him off. "Exactly. You'll excuse me if I want to move on from that."

"But you just said it yourself, you'll be a rebound girl!" He was getting frustrated.

I placed a hand on his arm and he calmed instantly. I smiled and said, "I'm not serious about Jeff, Jake. Can we talk about something else now?"

"Sure, sure." He grinned at me. "So who do you think would win a race between me and Jeff?"

I groaned and smacked his rock hard stomach lightly, then turned to watch Jeff cross the finish line (which was actually also the starting line) first. I cheered and took off running toward him. He caught me up in a loose hug, kissing my forehead. I smiled up at him and then looked back. Jake was watching the two of us with the strangest look in his eye. It looked like hope.

Hope? That was NOT the emotion I was going for. In fact, if the look hadn't disappeared a second later I might have given up the whole charade right there. Instead, I decided to let it pass and gave Jeff a congratulatory kiss that turned passionate-looking almost immediately.

Jeff was turning out to be a perfect choice for this role. He knew exactly how to act like a new love interest. Jacob cleared his throat behind me and I pulled away from Jeff, turning to him with a raised eyebrow. "Yes?"

"I'm up next." Jacob pulled me into a hug and kissed the top of my head as he always did before he raced. He said it was for luck. It must have been working, too; Jake had never lost a single race. "You coming home tonight?"

I gasped with disbelief and yanked away, smacking his arm. "Of course I am! What kind of a question is that?"

He just snorted irritably and went to get in his car. The race was about to start. I leaned back into Jeff's side and watched him line up, feeling excitement build inside me. It was working! I couldn't wait to talk to Leah. He had a class the next day from two to four, so I'd call her then.

Jeff continued to hold me until Jake got back, then kissed my lips and left to go home. He said he had an early class. Jacob and I got into the Plymouth and drove home. On the way, I rolled a joint for us to smoke when we got there.

"So," he said when we were side by side on the couch, smoking the joint, "what has you interested in dating all of a sudden?"

"Well," I swallowed, "I'm tired of being a virgin, for one."

He actually snarled at me. "You're going to sleep with that guy?"

Inwardly I was cheering. Maybe I could end this tonight. "His name is JEFF. Quit calling him 'that guy'. He's a great guy and you know it."

"Bella," Jacob said through gritted teeth, grounding the joint out in the ashtray so hard it broke, "just answer the question. Are you planning to sleep with JEFF?" His whole body was trembling.

I started wondering if I had gone too far. But I had started this, and I wanted to stick with it. I wanted HIM to confess his love first, if he had any to confess, which I hoped he did. "Yes," I lied. "I'm planning to sleep with Jeff."

He stared at me for a long moment, and I stared back, willing him to believe me. I guess he did. "I'll see you around, Bells." He walked out, slamming the door behind him.

Oh no! What had I DONE?