A/N: Sorry for the wait! This chapter unfortunately doesn't have Carlisle, but he will for sure be back in chapter four, but I did throw in a little Jacob Black for you guys! I will try really hard to update faster! :) ENJOY AND PLEASE REVIEW! :)

Chapter Four

Message

"…then I bolted out of there like the devil was chasing me, ran to my car and I'm pretty sure from there I had a panic attack. Jake, it was
so embarrassing, he probably thinks I'm an unstable freak show."

Jacob smiled at my expense and the afternoon sun glinted off his white teeth and warmed his tan skin to a shade of dark gold. We were sitting on the La Push beach with our shoes off and the rocking waters licked the tips of my bare toes with each sway. I glared at his evident amusement of my embarrassment. He stopped chuckling and turned to look at me. Jake shrugged lightly.

"Who cares?"

I was speechless. That was the guy's attempt at comforting me? My eyes narrowed at him and he fought back a grin. The corner of his mouth twitched.

"What do you mean 'who cares', Jacob Black? It was mortifying."

He broke his gaze from mine and looked out into the endless waters, as if he was looking for an answer in the picture before him. If I weren't so annoyed at his lack of response, I would have admired how he looked exactly like a portrait of a thoughtful boy admiring the beauty of nature. But instead, I rolled my eyes and searched for what he was finding so damn interesting in the water. He spoke again, more quietly this time, but his voice was filled with controlled emotion.

"I meant, who cares what a stupid bloodsucker thinks anyway? The damn leech probably doesn't care enough to worry about you anyway…stupid vampire…"

Needless to say, although we had talked about it, Jacob was still a little more than resentful and angry at my easy acceptance of Edward after he had returned. Also, him being a werewolf just hyped up this 'I-Hate-Vampires" thing even more. Jacob was grinding his jaw out of anger and I moved my hand to place it on top on his. I squeezed it and the intense heat from his skin shot up my arm. I could see the tense muscles in his broad back relax a bit.

"Jake, take it easy. Don't get yourself so worked up, Billy will kill me if you come home in a rage, again."

He stopped grinding his teeth and ducked his head chuckling. I mentally sighed. That was easy, I was afraid he would be angry with me for days; it had happened before. Don't get me wrong, I loved the guy, but when he was mad, he was mad. Besides, if he got any angrier I would have been dealing with a pissed off wolf sitting with me and that would not be good, for me or him. He raised his head to look at me again apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Bells. They just piss the hell out of me." He shrugged as though that were enough to say on the subject, and I decided not to say a word more. I hated dealing with Jacob when he was rambling on about the worst things about vampires. So far, his list was well over two hundred.

Jacob shifted beside me and lifted himself easily on his feet, while pulling his shoes on. I grabbed mine as well and dried my feet on the warm sand before pulling them on also. Jake extended his long arm and pulled me up to my feet as if I weighed as much as a feather. I examined the defined muscles in his arm move as he pulled it back to his side and shuddered. It was hard to imagine this Jacob standing next to the old one. The difference would be massive.

We walked in a comfortable silence back to his house and to my truck. Jake reached there first with the help of his long legs. He leaned against the rusty paint waiting for me to catch up and he smiled at me. I smiled back. Jacob was one of the best people to be around as long as he wasn't angry, jealous or worked up. That wasn't often, but when he was completely happy, like now, I was so glad to be with him. I caught up to him and leaned against my truck as well. I bumped my arm against his playfully and he bumped back. We both giggled.

Then he sighed as if suddenly remembering something and the playful smile left his face.

"Sorry, Bella. I just remembered Sam asked me to run patrols today. I completely forgot."

The smile dropped from my face too but I tried not to look as disappointed as I actually was. Truth be told, I had been counting on Jake to keep me entertained until at least Charlie got home.

"It's okay, Jacob. You do your thing, okay?" I smiled unconvincingly and he hugged me before saying bye and disappearing into the trees.

I stood alone outside of his house and sighing, climbed into my truck.

As I drove, I thought. Jacob did seem to have a point, however small. Why did it seem to matter so much to me what Carlisle had thought of my actions? Of course, I didn't' want him believing I was mental or referring me to a psychiatrist, but why was I dwelling on it so much? Carlisle was understanding, he had probably figured out I was stressed and anxious about Edward leaving me and had panicked because of that. But that wasn't it. I had freaked because I was scared Carlisle was worrying about me. I hadn't even thought of Edward all day, and evidently he had not thought of me either. He still hadn't called, and I was growing annoyed.

I replayed the scene in my head from the day before and began to wish that I had looked over my shoulder to see Carlisle's face as I ran out of the house. I needed a different picture of him in my mind, away from the smiling, perfect one I already had. I needed a picture of him confused or worried or scared. I needed to know that he wasn't perfect and smiling all the time, because I sure as hell wasn't. I needed that little bit of comfort that I wasn't the only person with emotions in this town. I nearly swerved my car around to head back to the Cullen house right then, but chose not to.

I drove down my street to my house and wasn't at all surprised to see Charlie's car absent from our driveway. I parked my car diagonally on the stretch of pavement our cars shared, not caring about the scolding I would absolutely get from Charlie about leaving no space for his cruiser. I didn't care; he could park on the street for one night.

Opening the front door, I saw nothing. All the lights were out; no one had been home the whole day. I sighed, and flicked the switches up slowly as I walked by them and up the stairs. My room looked exactly the same as I had left it this morning. Messy… and small. What had I expected? The magic clean-up fairy to clean my room while I was gone? I laughed scornfully to myself and grabbed my pajamas, even though it was only about four in the afternoon. I changed, and unenthusiastically made my way down the stairs. An afternoon by myself…great. Maybe I'd pop in a DVD and pig out on junk food for the rest of the day. I shrugged to myself and started towards the kitchen to get some ice-cream, when a flickering red light caught my attention.

My eyes zeroed in on the source and I saw the voicemail light on the phone flashing. My heart immediately sped up. Did he finally call? Did Edward finally remember me? I walked toward the phone slowly, forgetting my ice-cream altogether. My heart seemed to only get faster with each shaky step.

I pressed the button with my finger, and lifted the receiver to my ear. My palms were sweating and the phone slipped out of my hand a little. I braced it between my shoulder and ear, and my hand steadied my shaky knees by gripping the table.

"You have two new messages. Press one to hear your first new message."

The automated voice surprised me. Two? Maybe the second one was Alice? Or someone for Charlie?

I pressed 'one' and held my breath as the pause before the message seemed to get longer and longer. I bit my lip just hard enough to draw a little blood. I unconsciously licked it up and didn't even cringe at the taste. I finally heard a voice and my heart stopped.

"Bella, it's Edward. Carlisle called me and said you seemed a little stressed. Said something about you running from the house and disappearing down the road in your truck. What happened? He sounded worried. I'll call you sometime soon. Maybe tomorrow. Bye, Bella."

I froze. That was it? He hadn't even said hello, let alone sounded worried. This was the phone call I was waiting day and night for? I suddenly felt cold, and a shiver ran through my spine. Edward had only called because Carlisle had told him about my crazy episode. No 'I love you' or 'I miss you', or anything I had desperately been waiting to hear. Could it be he was so busy, he had forgotten? No. You can't be too busy to say 'I love you'.

I nearly hurled the phone at the wall in a sudden burst of anger, but I stopped in my actions when the second message played and my breath caught in my throat.

"Hello, Bella, it's Carlisle. I just wanted to check up on you to see if everything was okay. You seemed…anxious yesterday. I was worried about you. Please call me if you need anything at all. I'll be there right away, I promise. Call me back if you can… otherwise call me tomorrow. I'd prefer you call me after you hear this message though...I want to know if you're okay. Take care, Bella."

This time the phone slipped and hit the ground. I stood still, staring at the wall in front of me. My knees gave out and I crumpled on the ground, beside the receiver. I could hear the dial tone. My heart was going even faster.

How could it be possible that Carlisle was more worried about me than my own Edward? How was it possible that his message seemed more genuine than Edward's?

And how in the world was it possible… that hearing Carlisle's voice had made me even happier than hearing Edward's?

Hope you liked! :) The next chapter will be up soon hopefully! Please review :)