I stood chatting with Jessica and Angela in the crowded room, I could barely hear them over the music pounding in my ears. I think the entire teenage population of Forks was attending this party. It was the end of the school year and Lauren always threw a huge party to celebrate. Ever since I moved to Forks 2 years ago, I'd always come along with Jessica, Angela and Jake. Jake came with me even though he went to school down on the rez. After I'd finished talking with the girls I wandered around the house looking for Jake. I bumped into a few of my friends from school. Mike and Eric were chugging beer; Alice and Rosalie were hanging out on a sofa with Jasper, Emmett and Edward; who waved at me. I walked over to Edward.
"Hey" I shouted. "Have you seen Jake? I can't find him." I perched on the arm of the sofa, taking a handful of chips from a bowl on the coffee table. He shook his head.
"Not since you both came in." he smiled at me.
"Okay, thanks" I said, smiling back and getting up. I walked out of the French doors which lead into the huge back garden. I walked around the large pool, across the grass and back around to the front door and walked in again. No sign of him, so I climbed the stairs. Lauren's house wasn't small; it had 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms plus a couple of spare rooms used as studies or whatever. I checked each one, knocking on the door and pushing it open to find most of them empty. I finally came to Lauren's bedroom. I knocked on the door; I could hear laughing from inside then someone shouted for me to come in. Not wanting to interrupt anyone, I quickly pushed the door open and poked my head around, only to be greeted by Lauren lying on her bed with Jake. He turned around to face me once Lauren stopped giggling. I stared at him, looking right into his eyes; trying not to let the tears flow from my own. I slammed the door and ran down the stairs, bumping into a few people along the way. I kept running, even though I could hear people shouting at me and swearing after I knocked their drinks on the floor. I didn't care; I just needed to get out of this house.
As soon as I got outside, and the fresh air hit me; the hysterics came. I couldn't breathe, and tears were flowing down my face. I tried to calm down, focusing on the beat of my heart, but that didn't help. I could hear her sickly sweet laughter ringing in my ears, which bought on a new wave of tears. I found my truck, jammed the key in the door and pulled it open then threw myself onto the seat. I sat for a moment; Charlie would kill me if I crashed. I leaned back on the worn leather seat and closed my eyes, trying to clear my head. After sitting quietly on my own for ten minutes or so, I heard a soft tapping on my window. I opened my eyes to find Edward Cullen standing next to my truck. I wound the window down, and with my free hand wiped any tears away.
"Hey" I said, faking a smile... I don't think he fell for it.
"I saw you run out of the party, what's up?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned. I was friends with Edward, but not particularly close, I'd much rather talk to Alice, Jessica, Angela or even Riley about it.
"I...uh..." I could feel the tears filling up again as I thought of them lying on the bed together, what they were going to do, what they might have already done. "Jake...and..." I couldn't bring myself to say her name. Edward pulled the door open and I scooted along so he could sit with me. I wasn't used to being this close to him. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer to him. I could feel his muscular chest through his cotton t-shirt.
"Bella, you know you can tell me anything." He said, squeezing me lightly. "I won't tell anyone, you know that; not even Alice." He chuckled. I pulled myself together and turned to face him.
"Well, after I finished talking to you I went upstairs to look for Jake, and...and...He was with Lauren... on her bed, all over her." I said quickly, as if that made the pain any less. I saw his face change then. First sympathy, then to worry then right to anger.
"Oh Bella, I'm so sorry." He squeezed me a little tighter before trying to take the key that was clenched into my fist. "Want me to drive you home?" I nodded before handing over the key. He drove too fast for my ancient truck. It was making noises I'd never heard it make before.
Charlie was already asleep by the time Edward and I pulled up in front of the house. I scooted along to the other side of the cab and opened the door and hopped out. Edward got out and gave me the key back.
"How are you going to get home?" I asked him as we stood outside my front door.
"I'll call Emmett, don't worry about me. Look, you have my number if you wanna talk. 'Kay?" he flashed his infamous crooked grin at me and pulled his phone out of his pocket, before pulling me into a hug and walking back down the path.
Today, I had plans to go to Seattle with Riley. He wanted to go out for lunch seeing as we didn't get to see each other much since he left for college. So I got up, ignoring my vibrating phone, which was flashing a name I didn't want to see and showered before going downstairs to face Charlie. He was sitting at the table reading the sports pages of the newspaper.
"Morning Bells." He said looking up and smiling at me. I grabbed milk from the fridge and the cereal from the shelf and poured some in a bowl. "How was the party last night?"
"Hey Dad." I ate a spoonful of cereal so I could gather my thoughts and give an answer that wouldn't send Charlie into a panic. "It was good...you know, the usual." I said trying to stop the events from last night slip back into my mind. Charlie got up and folded the paper.
"Got any plans today?" he asked as he stuck some bread in the toaster and grabbed a plate from the cupboard.
"Riley's taking me to Seattle for lunch and probably a movie. What about you? Going fishing with Harry?" Charlie nodded and told me to say hey to Riley for him. I went back upstairs to get my things ready and lay on my bed to wait for Riley. When I heard the honk of a car horn I hopped up to look out of the window. I saw him sitting outside in his car, and I ran out of my bedroom grabbing my stuff and saying a quick goodbye to Charlie before running out of the front door and jumping in to his car.
"BELLA!" he shouted at me, leaning over to my side of the car to hug and kiss me.
"I've missed you so much Riley, Charlie has aswell, and he said to say hey." I said pulling out of the hug and smiling at him.
"We have so much to catch up on Bella. I missed you too. Anything exciting happen in Forks while I was away?" He asked me as he pulled away from my house.
"Exciting...in Forks, you are kidding right?" I chuckled. "Only bad things happen in Forks, Riley; you of all people should know that." Before Riley moved away to college, his high school sweetheart Victoria, cheated on him with his best friend, James.
"Nothing bad happened to you, I hope." He said. I didn't want to tell Riley, because he always told me Jacob was bad news. I just looked out of the window and watched the green flash by as Riley drove us out of town.
"Well the awkward silence tells me all I need to know... What did Jacob do?" he said, keeping his eyes focused on driving.
"Nothing...Don't worry about it." I muttered; I'm pretty sure Billy Black would like his son left in one piece.
"I'll find out somehow Bells, make it easier for both of us and just tell me, please." The memories came flooding back and I couldn't stop them. I felt the tears well up in my eyes, and before I knew it I was hysterical all over again. Riley stopped the car and demanded that I tell him what happened. After finally blurting out what happened that night, Riley got out of the car. I waited a little while before getting out.
"Riley...Can we ju-" I started.
"No Bella, how many fucking times are you going to take his shit?" he shouted at me. He was beyond angry now. I didn't want to lose one of my closest friends over this aswell, so I got back in the car without another word. Five minutes later, Riley finally got back in the car.
"Sorry, I just don't like seeing you get hurt. I care about you too much Bella." He said, barely above a whisper.
"I know." I muttered.
"We'll go get lunch, and we can talk it over properly, okay?" he said, lifting the tone of his voice slightly. I nodded and pulled the car from the side of the road and set out for Seattle again.
So, I hope you like the first chapter :D As you can see, Riley and Bella's relationship is completely non-book based lol. Anyway... Chapter 2 should come pretty soon. I'm starting it right after I post this! J