So I told her I loved her, and she punched me in the face. Even worse, she broke her hand punching me in the face.

Nice going, Black.

Bella does love me. I'm sure of it. She's just too scared to try to explore what we could have. Too afraid to accept what she knows she feels. But I will make her see it, since she won't let herself. One day soon.

She leans all the way to the right as if she were merging herself to the door of her truck keeping as much distance between us as possible.

"Are you sure you don't want me to take you to the hospital? It's on the way home Bells."

"No, all I want is for you to take me home. Edward will take me to Carlisle. I'll be fine."

My nerves twitched at the mention of those leeches. We drove in silence the rest of the way to Bella's house. A mile away I could already smell the bloodsucker, so I wasn't surprised when I pulled up and he met us at the end of the driveway. His high end car screeched to a halt and he launched himself at me within a matter of seconds.

"If you ever touch her against her will again-"

"Edward, don't!" Bella screamed as she tried to force herself between us. He was doing all he could do get a piece of me without hurting Bella, but she wasn't having it. Take that, leech.

"She's not sure what she wants," I spat.

"Well allow me to give you a hint. Wait for her to say the words, instead of assuming ," he said with a menacing glare of his sickening gold eyes. As if he knew it would be like waiting for the 366th day of the year.

A day that would never come.

"Trust me, she will," I retorted, with all the false confidence I could muster.

"Jake, you should just go," Bella said.

And before I knew it, Charlie was out in the driveway with us trying to mediate the situation. I told him what happened. After the recap I started to feel my blood boil. I had to get out of there. It helped slightly that Charlie was on my side, but not enough. I ran off into the woods and phased. Then, I ran. All the way back to La Push. I was at First Beach.

I phased back and dressed as soon as I got there. I came here for a moment of peace, so I could think and plan on reconciling the situation with Bella. I can't think with the pack's thoughts buzzing through my mind. On the run to La Push I learned that Quil's mom made meatloaf and he couldn't wait to eat it, Seth couldn't figure out the best way to ask a girl from school out, Sam thought Emily may be pregnant, and Leah was heartbroken by the news that he may be having a baby with her cousin. As much as she irritated me, I couldn't help but feel sympathy for the girl. We may not get along, but we're both in love with people who just don't feel the same as us.

Is that what life would be like for me from now on? Sitting on the sidelines being forced to watch Bella live her life with someone else and knowing there isn't a damn thing I can do about it. I refuse to live a life like that. And I refuse to lose Bella to a dead old man.

So I sat on a washed up log on the shore, watching the waves crash against the shore and thought about everything that happened today. I found my courage and put it all out on the table. And Bella still wouldn't see me in a new light. Shit. How could I fix this?

"Hey, you got room for one more over there?" Footsteps approached me from behind and even if I hadn't recognized the voice I knew her smell.

"Go away, Leah."

Leah is walking, talking negativity. Definitely not what I need right now.

"Jake, I know I've always been a bitch. But right now I just don't have it in me. I know you're hurting. And I know you know that I'm hurting. I thought we could talk about it. I don't think anyone understands what you're going through better than me."

She had a point. So I let her sit with me. And we talked. Really talked. We said things to one another that we wouldn't ever dare say aloud. We admitted feelings about Sam and Bella that were only ever said in our minds. It was nice being able to talk to someone who understands, even if it was Leah. And it was also nice being able to be there for her. She's really a loner and doesn't have any friends.

That's when it happened. In a matter of seconds, minutes, hours, I couldn't tell the difference, but I felt it when it happened.
Gravity shifted, realigning itself to a certain center point. As if all of my being was drawn toward this one energy.
The old stories always said that imprinting would be like love at first sight. But if that were true I would have felt it a long time ago. Not now. Why all of a sudden?

She must have felt it too. And she must have been just as confused as I was because she sputtered something about having to get home to her mom and in an instant she was gone. And I physically felt it as she walked away from what just happened between us, as if some invisible force was pulling me in her direction.

I was left there on my log wondering how this could have happened. Why did this happen? And what did this mean for Bella and I?

I walked home as slow as possible. Partly because I didn't want the pack to know what just happened before I even had a chance to fully process this, and partly because I didn't want to risk hearing Leah and how she was feeling right now. Some things I'd rather not know.

When I got home my dad was watching TV with a can of his favorite grape soda.

"Hey son," he said without taking his eyes off the bear fight he was watching on Discovery.

"Hey, Dad."

"Had fun with Bella today?"

"Yes and no. I kind of put it all out there. Then I kissed her, and she broke her hand punching me in the face."

He gave a deep laugh. "Yeah, us Blacks are an ambitious type of people. Slow it down son, you've got plenty of time to make her see that you're the better choice. It will all work out."

"Thanks Dad. I sure hope so."

"There's no need for hope. You've got everything she needs. Just wait for her to realize. There's nothing more you can do. Go sleep on it and call her in the morning."

Yeah, except most people go for what they want instead of what they need.

"Alright. Goodnight Dad. Thanks. See you in the morning."

"Goodnight son. Hey, toss me another soda before you turn in."

I did as he asked and headed to my room. I thought about telling him about Leah. But he seemed so sure about Bella that he instilled a new confidence in me. Maybe I was just feeling close to Leah after our heart to heart. Maybe it wasn't an imprint after all. Tomorrow I would call Bella and fix everything. Tonight I just needed some sleep and a handy case of amnesia to forget this night ever took place.

A/N: My first fic in YEARS ! Can we say "excited?"

A thousand "Thank You's" to my beta Lollirotxox

Check her out!

I would love some feedback on this. There's lots more to come. Thanks for reading :]