Chapter 3
My So-Called New Life
It felt weird. Somehow, I'd felt different today. I had a spring in my step. I'd never felt like this before. What was it? I found myself smiling a lot more. Was this what it was like to feel happy? I liked it. I was going to see him again today. For once, I rummaged through my closet and didn't care what I wore. His family was a lot more relaxed; I felt I didn't have to impress them. I put on a pair of my ratty, torn blue jeans and a black t-shirt with my Chuck's. I bounced down the stairs towards the kitchen. Charlie noticed a change immediately. "You're awfully bubbly today. What you got going on for the afternoon?"
I poured myself a glass of orange juice. I put the pitcher back in the fridge and turned around, smiling at him. "Hanging out with Jake. I'm going to go over to his house and he's going to work on the Rabbit."
"You've been hanging out with him a lot lately. You really like him, don't you?"
As much as I didn't want to admit it, I did; I really did like him; a lot. What wasn't to love? He had a great personality, a great smile, and he was terribly good looking. I got into my truck and headed over to his house. When I pulled in the driveway, I could see him in the garage working hard on his car. I climbed out and slammed the door shut. As soon as heard me, he came running out of the garage towards me. I met him half way and he scooped me up into his arms and swung me around in a big hug. After he put me down, his hands lingered at my waist for a few seconds and my arms hung loosely around his neck. We didn't really notice because we were smiling at each other and staring into the others eyes.
We only broke apart because Billy came out the door. "Jake, you hungry? Oh, hello, Bella! Didn't know you were coming over today. You hungry?"
Jake looked at me like he was embarrassed. I just smiled at him. It's not like he caught us doing anything. "No, thanks, Billy," I politely replied, "I'm good for now."
He smiled back at us and wheeled himself back inside the house. "Sorry about that," Jake said. "I didn't know he was gonna come out like that."
"That's okay. I don't mind. How's your dad doing?"
"He's doing pretty well," he said. "I didn't tell him you were coming over because I didn't want him asking me a lot of questions. I suppose Charlie did the same thing."
"Surprisingly, no," I said. "He seemed excited and relieved that I was going to be here. I think he's just glad to see me out of the house. He knows I'm safe with you," I added with a bit of a nudge.
That last one made him smile. He took my hand and led me into the garage. I saw his car as soon as we stepped foot inside. "There she is," he said proudly. I could tell he was beaming with excitement. "She's not quite done yet, and I know she's not much to look at just now; but don't worry, I'll have her up and running in no time."
He showed me to a milk crate and had me sit down. I sat there contentedly and watched him work. We talked the entire time. It's strange; I didn't realize how much we had in common until this moment. And I was loving it.
I found myself thinking of him every waking moment. When I wasn't at school, I was in my room doing homework. And when I wasn't at home on the weekends, I was with Jake. But today was different. When I called him, his dad said he wasn't at home. That's odd, because we were supposed to hang out today. I hung up the phone and went back to my room. I thought nothing of it because I figured he probably had an emergency and had to leave right away. But when I called the next day and his dad said that he wasn't at home again, I began to worry. I wasn't sure what to think. Okay, I thought, we had some bad weather last night and he decided to stay at his friend's house and they didn't get to finish. The third day really had me starting to get upset. I began to think that he was deliberately trying to avoid me. Maybe I was scaring him off by us spending too much time together. I decided that tomorrow, I was going to go see him. I was going to see for myself whether or not he was really at home.
When I pulled into the driveway, I could sense that something was different. I knocked on the door and Billy answered. He didn't look as shocked as I thought he would. I guess he thought that I would begin to get suspicious and come check on him.
"I'm here to see Jake," I told him straight out. "I know he's home. Let me see him."
At first, he didn't want to let me in, but he could tell that I wasn't going to be going anywhere until I saw him. He wheeled himself back and let me walk past him. "He's in his room, sleeping."
I walked in and, sure enough, there he was, softly snoring away. He looked exhausted. Something wasn't right. What had he been doing these past three days that made him this way? I looked at Billy and asked him, "What's wrong with him?"
He looked at Jake, then back at me with genuine concern and said, "Bella, I don't think I'm the one who should explain that to you."