I sat near the beach on the La Push Reservation under a nice shady tree, mindlessly peeling the dead skin from my shoulders and arms. I had received a sunburn a few days prior when the sun decided to shine its presence on us.

I was waiting and hiding. Waiting for my very best friend to find me sitting out there, and hiding from them. The Cullen's. Well, a specific Cullen. Edward.

There was nothing wrong with Edward. Nothing at all. Oh, wait, except that he used to be my best friend until I met his stupid girlfriend's best friend, Jacob Black.

Jacob, oh Jacob. It is no lie that he is my very best friend. He makes my heart beat furiously, which in turn makes me feel like eventually we will be more than best friends, but for now, I have to deal with friendship. I am more than ok with it because I'm afraid it might screw up in the end. I'd rather be friends than nothing at all.

But Edward. Our relationship just wasn't as good when Bella Swan came along. Something about her normalcy and plainness attracted Edward to her. When she arrived, he threw me to the curb and spent less time with me. I was hurt, not because I was in love with him, because I certainly had no taste for pasty, white vampire boys, but because he was my best friend. It was a blow to my heart.

However, one day Edward invited me to go with him and Bella hiking. I thought it was just him being nice, but it ended up being because he thought he would be the third wheel. Bella had brought along Jacob, a 6'5" tall, rustic brown, chocolate eyed boy. His brown hair, which was short and choppy, was thrown freely around his head. That one look was all I needed to know that this boy would change my life forever.

Now I was paying the price for skipping out on Edward a few days ago. I was supposed to have dinner with him and Bella but was convinced otherwise to stay with Jacob. How could I say no to him? How could I also not remember all the times I was blown off by Edward? Besides, there was something, some magnetic force, pulling me towards Jacob. I needed to be with him, near him.

Edward was furious with me. If I was near him, I'd probably be dead. If he wanted me to go so bad, he should've invited Jacob. I don't understand why he didn't. But I was hiding from him. I knew the Reservation was the only place Edward wouldn't go. Something about a treaty. Ok.

I looked down at the ground. The sand was white and fluffy. I picked some up and slowly shuffled it through my fingers, letting it fall back to rejoin the rest of the sand. I did this several times before I felt a warm breeze blow in from my right side. I looked up, my heart leapt, and I grinned.

"Hey." I said softly, standing to meet him. I brushed any sand I may have had off the back of my pants.

"What are you doing?" Jacob's voice was like velvet to my ears, except this tone wasn't friendly.

I stared at him, confused. "I'm waiting."

"For what?"

"You."

His body relaxed and he took a step closer to me, wrapping one arm around my shoulders. "It's been a rough day."

"Wanna tell me about it?"

"No." I frowned. "Yes." He sighed and plopped down on the sand, bringing me tumbling down on top of him. I situated myself so I was next to him, but he pulled me into his lap, wrapping his arms loosely around my waist. His chin fit perfectly on my shoulder. "We found one."

"Found one?" I thought about it a minute. "Found…a vampire?" He nodded.

Maybe I should mention that my best friend is a werewolf that hunts down vampires that aren't the Cullen's. Bella is the main reason vampires come to Forks anyway. They are attracted to her for some reason. Her blood smells good to them. When I hung around Edward, I had no problems. He didn't even find me in the least bit delicious. Thank God. He fights himself to not eat Bella. He controls it well.

"Yes. The scent was on the treaty line. It was like…the thing knew what was going on here. It zigzagged over the line. Bella hasn't come to La Push in months, so I don't understand why a bloodsucker would come to us or be so close to the line."

"Maybe whoever it was likes the smell of wolf." I said, grinning slightly.

He shook his head seriously and my smile faded quickly. "No bloodsucker likes the smell of us."

He didn't get the joke.

"Jacob, maybe they're just curious. Ya know, looking around. I mean, the Cullen's do live here, and every once in a while a vampire does come into town to visit them."

Jacob shuddered slightly and I knew he must have been thinking about the time some vampires did visit the Cullen's. They tried to eat Bella. Oh, I also should mention, Jacob used to be in love with her. I was jealous because I didn't know if he was still in love with her or not.

"Well, whatever the reason, it's not normal." Jacob said. "There was something different this time. Something wasn't right."

"I don't know. Where did the scent go?"

"Well, it crossed over to our side and stayed finally. We followed it all along the coast. Up to Neah Bay. I think the thing jumped in the water and swam to Canada."

"Maybe it won't be a big deal. Don't worry about it."

I turned my head to look at him. He looked tired, and I thought I saw a hint of worry in his face, but it faded quickly when he looked back at me. Our faces were so close. I could hear him breathing softly as I could feel his warm breath on my lips. Those chocolate brown eyes were pouring their soul into me, and that feeling of needing to be with him was stronger than ever.

"Jacob, I—"

"Shhh." He breathed. He leaned in closer, and the tip of his nose brushed against mine. I felt the butterflies in my stomach flutter rapidly. I leaned back just a smidge, but only out of nervousness. Our noses weren't touching any more, and I could glimpse a bit of confusion and hurt on his face.

He sighed and leaned back. My heart dropped to my stomach out of disappointment and stupidness. I was stupid. I wanted him to kiss me. I wanted it so bad, but I was nervous. And stupid. He can't read my mind like Edward. He didn't know I was just nervous. I'm stupid.

"Jacob, I'm sorry."

He rolled his eyes and smiled. "Sure, sure." He waved me off. "I know I'm not the only reason you're here."

I looked at him questioningly. "How do you know?"

He grinned. "Why would you wait out here?" He motioned to the outside in general. "I mean, why didn't you come to the house? Billy would've let you in. He adores you! Besides, you never come out here. If I'm not home, you come inside and wait. There's something else. So just tell me."

"Ok, ok. Geez. I'm hiding from Edward."

He laughed hard. "OUTSIDE!"

"I'm on the Reservation."

"It doesn't matter. You were hoping he would find you out here, weren't you?"

"No! If he finds me, he'll kill me."

Jacob frowned. "What? Why? Oooh, because of the other night? Because you stayed with me instead? He'll get over it. You love me better anyway. I don't ditch you."

"You ditched Bella."

"I did not!" He growled. "She left me for that leech!"

I rolled my eyes, but wrapped my arms around his neck and laid my head on his shoulder. "That's ok. They pushed us closer together." I smiled. "You're my beeeest fraaand!" I squeezed his neck. He faked choked and we laughed.

"Oh, Dakotah. Edward won't hurt you when I'm around."

"Or ever." I laughed quietly.

We were silent for a few minutes, just sitting there staring out into the water. His rested his head on mine and his arms found their way back to my waist. Being with Jacob was easy. He made me feel wonderful. I always laughed and felt at ease with him. But there was always that something that pulled me towards him. I had to be with him. There was no question about it. I needed him, and I knew he needed me.

"Dakotah…" He began, quietly.

I looked up at his gorgeous face. "Yes?"

"There's something…I've been meaning to tell you. For a while." He pushed me away a little so he could look into my eyes.

"Ok. Tell me." My heart beat furiously. What could he possibly have kept from me for a while? Jacob tells me everything and doesn't spare my feelings. He's so blunt like that.

"Well, you see…you know how we, um, I mean, werewolves, er, imprint?" I nodded, now more anxious to hear what he had to say. "Well, I…have."

I was quiet for a whole minute before I spoke. "On who?" I tried to disguise my voice so I didn't show any emotion except curiosity.

"JAKE!" A voice shouted from behind us. I looked over Jacob's shoulder to see Leah running towards us. She looked panic stricken, and that worried me a little. Jacob half turned. Leah stopped in front of us, panting hard. "She…we…" When she finally caught her breath, she spoke clearly. "We found the trail again. Embry found a fresh scent off Neah Bay. Bastard must've slipped through Seth and Quil's grip. Embry followed it and found it. It's a man. He was stopped smelling the bushes and plants and shit."

Jacob set me aside and stood up to face Leah. "Smelling the bushes?" He questioned.

"Yes, smelling a scent."

"What scent? Who goes in the woods up there besides us and…" They stood, frozen, staring at one another before turning slowly to look at me.

"No." I mouthed.