"Bella?"
My lips met his, and the whole world seemed to stop.
His lips were soft and his hands were warm on my face, my waist, running through my hair..
The rain fell in a soft drizzle around us; the storm was over.
We broke apart, and I saw something so soft, so happy in his face that I couldn't help but break into laughter.
He smiled his huge, wolfish grin, and laughed too.
"Bella"
"Jacob"
He laughed again; I'd never seen him so happy before.
He took my tiny hands in his large ones, and looked into my eyes.
"I will never let anyone hurt you", he said, suddenly somber, pulling me close.
When he let go of me, my face was wet, but not from the dwindling rain.
"Bella? Why are you crying?"
He crushed me to his chest again, mumbling into my hair:
"Surely I'm not that bad a kisser?"
I half laughed, half sobbed into his chest
"I'm so, so sorry Jake! So sorry for anytime that I was terrible or a tease or catatonic or stupid or-"
"Bella!"
I sniffed, wiping my face on his saturated t-shirt. It didn't make much difference.
"Lets go inside, at least?"
I sniffed again and nodded, wiping the stupid tears of my face.
We sat down on the couch, and he took my hand in his again
"Bella..you have to understand", he said. I almost detected pain in his voice.
"You have no idea how much I love you, how much I care..i would never let anyone do you harm, and if they did, I'd hunt them down. I know that this might hurt to say but..Edward Cullen isn't coming back"
I reeled back slightly at his words, expecting pain to shoot through my heart like a dagger.
But it stayed whole
I was whole again, because of Jacob.
I furrowed my brows, staring at a stain on the cushions.
Edward left me with no one, and Jacob fixed me.
Edward doesn't want me, therefore I shouldn't want him.
I should want Jacob, and..
I do.
"Bella?" his deep voice shook me out of my reverie.
I smiled at him, replying simply,
"You are my life now"
I rememberd Edward saying that to me, so many months ago.
But Jacob did'nt know that.
He just smiled, and kissed me.
A week later, I sat in the old garage with Jacob. I felt so at ease, so comfortable with him. if I fell over or hit my head, I didn't have to apologize for bleeding. I wasn't ashamed of being human.
He was shirtless, his wolf-side keeping his warm while I was huddled in jeans and a huge padded jacket. He was working on some kind of bike; a birthday present, for Leah, he told me.
"Who's Leah?"
"Harry and sue Clearwater's daughter. Its her birthday in a few weeks"
I stared, transfixed at his hands as they expertly twisted bits of metal and fitted parts.
It was so peaceful here.
"Jake?"
More twisting of metal.
"Yeah?"
"Want to go on an adventure tomorrow?"
"To where? You suck at hiking Bells"
I frowned.
" There's this meadow that I used to go to. I was wondering if you could help me find it"
"I think I have an old compass and a map somewhere, I'm sure I could help you find it"
I smiled, and he went back to assembling the bike as I stared out into the rain.
How would I cope with being in Edwards meadow
No! I told myself, it was anyone's meadow. I'm not going for Edward, I'm going for the meadow..