Love, Loss and Temptation.
DISCLAIMER: I obviously do not own Twilight or New Moon. The credit goes to Stephanie Meyer.
The morning was damp, as it often was in Forks. Dew was visible on all blades of grass, glistening like diamonds in the sunlight that was peaking through the heavy layer of gray clouds that seemed to have permanently settled themselves in the sky. The sunlight tore a larger hole in the thick cloud, and poured into the windows of the citizens of Forks.
Bella Swan opened her eyes.
The day would look promising for anyone else. Sunshine was a rare treat in this town, and most people took advantage when it came to visit, most, but not all. Bella did not find herself at all impressed by this sight. The sun meant one thing for Bella, no Edward. Edward and the rest of the Cullen family would be trapped inside, unable to attend work or school on account of the sun. Although on the occasion when Bella had seen Edward in the sun, it has been the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. His skin, pale and beautiful, shined like an opal, sending off a radiant glow in every direction. The thought of Edward brought a smile to her face, but the thought of a day without him quickly wiped it away. Edward had been unable to stay with her last night, he needed to hunt. Although the lack of his presence usually saddened her, last night had been an exception. She had not been able to sleep, because someone kept waking her up, Jacob Black. His words would not stop ringing in her head and no matter how hard she tried to drown out the noise, with music or even trying to talk over it, the voice never went away.
"Bye Bells…", was all it said, in that deep voice laced with pure love, and loss. Jacob's voice. And accompanied by this voice, a figure. Tall and thin, head hanging low, looking up only slightly with large dark eyes, tears filling the rims. I hurt him, Bella thought to herself as she slowly got out of bed. It was seven in the morning, and still with only two hours of sleep, she was wide awake. It had only been two weeks since she'd last seen Jacob, but two weeks had passed by very slowly, each minute dragged on like hours, taunting her as she watched the seconds go by. Secretly Bella waited for his call, and every so often picked up the phone and began to dial, but something always stopped her. As soon as she could hear the soft ring a lump would immediately appear in her throat, making it difficult to breathe. Her body would stiffen and eventually go numb by the third ring, and then she would hang up. What was this emotion gripping her body? Fear? No, she thought to herself. He's still Jacob, werewolf or not. However, she was afraid, not of Jacob, but of rejection. How would he react if she tried to contact him? If she were to show up on his front porch would he hold her in his arms? Would he stroke her hair like he used to as her body was engulfed in the wave of heat penetrating off of his body?
Or would the response be just the opposite. Would he slam the door in her face? Would he insult her in front of his gang? A month ago the answer would have been no, but since the transformation Bella sensed that a part of Jacob was lost, taken over by his new identity. Was it lost forever, Bella didn't know but she was afraid to find out.
Her thoughts of Jacob did not cease until she reached her car, rushing out the door and skipping breakfast, yet again. Bella had developed a habit of forgetting to eat, usually because her thoughts turned down all of her senses, except for her heart. Her heart was hurting, and it didn't stop. Even over the desperate cries of her stomach or the pounding of her headaches, the pain did not subside. Bella knew this pain all too well, it had happened to her when Edward left. It was the hole. The hole which she believed to have been cured by Edward had returned, sometimes giving off sharp pains and loss of air. The pains had not come to the point of where she would feel the need to lie down and curl up in order to keep her body together, but she did not doubt that it would come to that point. She was a ticking time bomb, it was only a matter of time before she let the pain have her. The only person who seemed to have the remedy for such pains, was Edward. Their love was enough to heal most of her heart. However, even when they were together, even when he held her in his stone arms, Bella could still feel the sting. Love was what she needed the most, but not the only thing she ached for. Friendship. Jacob Black had offered her that. He had been her cure when Edward was away, he also could help the pain. She needed them both, but she knew that was an unreachable goal.
A car honked.
Bella did not notice she had subconsciously been driving to school the entire time. She was already half way there. Luckily, forks wasn't known for its crazy driving styles.
She arrived in the school parking lot and parked in her usual spot. Just as she was getting out of the car, something caught her eye. Her heart jumped. A shining silver Volvo was waiting across the parking lot, Edwards car. Bella started to quickly walk towards the car, then stopped herself. What was Edward doing here, better question; was it really him? Victoria was still on the lose, maybe she had rented a similar car to Edwards, in attempt to kidnap her. Maybe it was in fact Edwards car, which she had stolen from the Cullens after tearing Edward apart. Bella slowly paced towards the car, her forehead sweating from the humidity. She was ten feet from the car, but the windows were too tinted to see who was inside. She stopped, staring at the car, debating weather or not to continue forward.
"Bella!", Edward's velvet voice shouted from the window.
Bella raced up to the car.
"Hi", she said breathlessly, she did not do well in humid conditions.
"What were you doing there?", Edward chuckled, his laugh made her face curl into a smile.
"I was just…well I wasn't sure..if…I just wanted to be sure it was you and not…someone else", Bella didn't dare say her name, she was beginning to feel slighty embarrassed. Edward sensed her embarassement.
"Don't be embarrassed Bells, it's a smart thing to do, you should be taking precautions.", Edward said, keeping his hands over his face as to shield himself from the sun.
Bella slipped into the passenger seat of the car and Edward rolled up the small crack in the window.
"So, why are you here. Don't get me wrong obviously I'm glad you're here but you can't be. The sun is out." Bella said in a matter-of-factly voice pointing at the sky.
"I'm well aware that the sun is out, but I could not be absent for such an important day" Edward said happily.
"Importany day?" Bell said to herself. Important day…anniversary? No, we didn't celebrate those…Birthday? No we did not celebrate his birthday either…Edward saw the confused look on her face and decided to give her a hint.
"Bella what is the date today." He said, more as a statement then a question.
"Well yesterday was the 22nd" Bella answered looking up as if she was trying to examine her eyebrows, "So today is the 23rd, June 23'rd…." her voice faded as the obvious answer hit her like a ton of bricks.
"Graduation Day", Edward smiled.
"Graduation Day", Bella repeated.
"I had a feeling you'd forget," Edward said as he held up her graduation clothes which he had obviously stolen from the closet. "So I brought you these".
Thank God for vampires.
Along with the robes, Bella noticed a small black dress.
"For after" Edward said noticing that Bella's gaze had moved from the robes to the dress. "Alice picked it out, please don't be angry, consider it a graduation present."
Bella smiled. Usually she disapproved of gifts, but as Edward said it was graduation and the dress had already been bought, there was no point in complaining about it now.
"Better get in there and change quick, the ceremony starts in five minutes", Edward said, with a slight big or urgency in his voice.
"FIVE?!" Bella yelled and she turned around the face the window.
"What are you doing?" Edward asked, but before he received an answer Bella had already ripped off her shirt.
"Just don't look", Bella said quickly.
But Edward could not pry his eyes away from her perfect back. It was pale, and each bone was perfectly symmetrical, he was taking in every second of it.
Bella felt an ice cube on her back, sending pins and needles through her body, it was Edwards hands. He had carefully placed three fingers on her back. Bella looked up from her back, clutching her bare chest and her eyes met his. They stared at each other. She was lost in his golden eyes and he couldn't seem to tear his eyes off her until he slowly moved in to a kiss. It took all his willpower not to lose control. He wouldn't have to wait much longer, after graduation she would be his. Bella knew this, and on that note she quickly changed into the dress and threw on her robes. She was about to throw herself out of the car when it hit her.
"How are you going to get out?", Bella asked
"Well Bella, seeing as we took so long, everyone is already inside and I do not see the danger in being caught." Edward said calmly.
Bella looked around and surely enough, the parking lot was abandoned. And with that the two quickly hopped out of the car, and ran hand in hand towards the gym doors.