A/N: After all that drama you lovelies deserve a fluffy chapter. Bella finally made up her mind. I know it happened all in one day, which is really fast. I did it quickly because it bothered me how Stephanie Meyer dragged out all of Bella's depression. I think we all wanted the confusing stage to pass quickly. So yeah, that chapter was a dramatic mess! Soon I'll stop with these long author's notes, sorry!
I woke up in Jacob's arms once again, knowing that I wanted it to be like this for the rest of my life. His warm breath caressed the back of my neck, relaxing me and keeping me at peace. The arm that laid against me was heavy, but not uncomfortable. I couldn't imagine a better way to wake up.
I used this moment to think about what we would do today. I had a mission to do this morning, and it wouldn't be easy. Breaking off my relationship with Edward permanently was probably the hardest thing I would ever have to do. It had to be done in person. I would meet him at the border, break it off, and retreat back into Jacob's arms. I cringed at the thought of his reaction. He would surely be upset. I checked the clock next to Jacob's bed. 9:30. I had slept in way too long.
"Jake, wakey wakey. It's late and you need to get up." He groaned loudly in response, but made no movement. "Alright, I see how it is. Just remember, you asked for it." I stood up and walked into the bathroom. I took our toothbrushes out of the little cup they were in and filled it with cold water. When I walked back into Jacob's bedroom, my resolve crumbled. Why did he look so darn peaceful? I couldn't dump icy water on him when he looked like that. Jacob was in the center of the small bed with his arms tightly around my pillow, holding it against him.
With no intention of dumping the water on him, I walked up to the bed and tapped his shoulder. He whipped up out of the bed, smacking the cold water in my face. My whole chest was completely soaked, my pajamas sticking to me in all of the wrong places. I crossed my arms over my chest and gaped at Jacob in disbelief. He looked back at me with his mouth open, looking completely shocked.
"I- Bells- I- I am so sorry! I thought you were going to dump it on me, but- oh, sorry!" I couldn't help but giggle at how silly he looked. He had done the same thing I had done before, faked his sleep.
"Jacob, it's okay. I forgive you. I just thought you looked so cute that I couldn't wake you up like that. He still hadn't really moved, he just sat on the edge of the bed with his mouth wide open. I sighed and walked over to my suitcase, pulling out an old Beatles shirt. I grabbed some old yoga pants and quickly changed in the bathroom. I walked back out into Jacob's room and was immediately wrapped in his arms. I sighed and returned the hug.
"I'm sorry Bells. Look, I'll make it up to you by cooking breakfast." I had no idea Jake could cook, so I just raised my eyebrows at him. He swung me over his shoulder and carried me downstairs. I grinned at him, even though he couldn't see it. He set me down at the kitchen table and winked at me, making my heart melt a little right then and there.
"Whats on the menu this morning, Jake?" I couldn't help but ask. He didn't answer, instead walking around the kitchen and whistling an unknown tune. He grabbed two bowls: a mixing bowl and normal-sized one, and a box of cereal. Lucky Charms, my favorite. Jake gave us both heaping servings and set mine in front of me. He sat down across from me and started to devour his cereal. I didn't even pick up my spoon, I just watched him eat for a few seconds.
"Are you going to eat at all? This is gourmet cuisine here, and you're missing out." I smiled at him and he smiled back. His teeth shone white against his gorgeous russet skin. I was completely mesmirized by his beauty.
"Looks good, Jake." From that point on we ate in silence, crunching on our cereal.
After breakfast Jacob took a shower. I knew that this would be my only chance to break it off with Edward. I grabbed Jacob's home phone and dialed Edward's number. He answered with a sad, pitiful voice.
"What do you need, Isabella?"
"I need to talk to you. In person, and as soon as possible. How fast can you meet me at the border?"
"In theory, four minutes." I grinned, perfect.
"Okay, I'll be there soon. Give me five minutes." I scribbled a note to Jake about running a quick errand and ran out the door. I wanted to surprise Jacob after I ended things with Edward. I hopped in the truck and drove to the border as fast as the truck could legally take me. I hopped out of the truck when I saw him standing there.
I stepped to the border to face Edward. "We need to talk. I'm not so sure if me being single is such a great idea. You see, I'm in love with Jacob." I kept my face hidden. "I love him, and I want to pursue a relationship with him."
"I see. Well isn't this a drastic change? A few weeks ago you were just begging me to have sex with you." His voice was icy and painful. It twisted in my heart.
"I thought you would understand," I managed to squeak out. I hadn't crossed the border yet, fearing his obvious anger.
"Well you thought wrong. I gave you everything, Isabella. Everything in my heart and body. And now, now you love my enemy. A mutt. Don't you see that you should come back to my arms? Look in my eyes, Bella."
I looked up to see his pleading eyes, the ones I had given into for my entire relationship. He was trying to manipulate me. "No, I am an adult, I can make my own decisions." I stepped backwards toward my truck. "And my choice is to leave you. I'm sorry." I ran back to the truck and drove to Jacob's house again.
I thought that I was going to cry in the truck, but I surprised myself when I didn't. I actually felt relieved to not have to choose between life and death. I was completely relieved to choose my natural path. I could have Jacob now with no worries about cheating or being unethical. We could finally love each other.
Jacob ran outside when he saw me return. I sprinted to meet him halfway between the house and the truck, jumping into his arms and locking my legs around his waist. He knew what I had just done without needing to ask me. Feather light kisses tickled my neck and his hands slipped under my shirt. We stayed like that for a while, needing no words to convey our feelings. Sooner or later he pulled me into the house to avoid the neighbors' watching eyes.
"I love you Isabella Swan. I have loved you since we were kids, when we made mud pies together every summer. I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I can't live without you Bella, I just can't." He touched my cheek with a searing palm and waited for my response. I leaned into his hand for a moment before I spoke.
"I love you, Jacob Black. I'm in love with you. I didn't see my love for you for a long time, but it was always there. I was too blinded to see it." I knew this was my chance. I leaned in, closing my eyes and pressing my lips gently to his. The warmth that tingled in my lips was completely new and different. We kissed innocently for a few moments and I broke us apart, leaning my forehead against his to grin. I didn't stay like this for too long, choosing to weave my fingers through his cropped hair to deepen the kiss. The experience was so raw and real. I had never kissed or been kissed like this, Edward had been too scared to kill me. A leap of joy filled me, I knew that Jacob and I could do things that I could never do with Edward. I was pulled back to reality when Jacob's warm tongue begged for entrance. I let him, wanting to feel this new sensation. We tasted and explored for several minutes, and then I began to get aroused. I knew Jake could smell it, because in a matter of seconds I could feel him pressing against my jeans. He walked us to the couch, and-
Ring! Jacob's phone started to wail in his back pocket. He really needed a better ringtone. He groaned and let me down before clearing his throat and answering. "Hello? Oh, hey Seth." He paused for a moment, listening to whatever Seth was saying. "That sounds good, "I'll ask Bella." Another pause. "Oh, really? Well that sounds exciting." He winked at me, grinning for the rest of the conversation. "Alright, we'll see you at six. Yeah, bye." He hung up the phone and looked in my eyes, teasing me with silence.
"What was that? What's so interesting? You can't hide these things from me!" I could feel annoyance building up in me.
"Guess where we're going tonight, Bells? A bonfire. And we'll be swimming at the beach first. With the whole pack. Sounds fun, huh? I'm personally very excited to see a certain brunette in a bikini." He twirled a finger in my hair before kissing me once more.
"Sure, sure. But there's a problem. I don't have a swimsuit. I didn't bother to pack any when I moved to Forks, so it looks like you won't see me in a bikini anytime soon. You know, probably never." I couldn't help but crack up at the look he gave me.
"Well then lets go shopping. You need some La Push swimwear." His stomach rumbled, interrupting him. "On second thought, let's have lunch first." I punched him playfully before grabbing his hand to drag him into the kitchen. I cooked us some sloppy joes and popped open some chips. Sure to form, Jacob ate nine sandwiches and finished off the chips before we left. We changed into acceptable clothes for public, in separate rooms of course, and left the house.
"Bells, what about this one?" We were in a mall at Port Angeles looking for an acceptable bathing suit for me. Jacob only wanted to pick out the most revealing ones. I, on the other hand, wanted a sensible one-piece. "Bella, you can't wear a one-piece. That's so boring, and it doesn't show your body at all!"
"Fine, lets compromise. How about a tankini? I'll wear it today for the bonfire," "My voice lowered to a whisper. "and maybe I'll let you pick out a sensible bikini for me to wear if we go swimming." He grumbled in agreement, clearly unhappy with a tankini. We went separate ways and met at the changing room. He tried to follow me in, but I wouldn't allow it. "uh, uh uhh Jake. I'll surprise you with my choice."
I walked into the changing room with several choices of each type of swimsuit. First I tried on the tankinis that I picked out, judging each individually. I ended up choosing a light pink top with dainty white polka dots and a white bottom to match. It showed a couple inches of stomach, but nothing too much. I had been afraid to look at what Jake had picked out. When I finally saw them, I chuckled to myself. He picked five bikinis: two that I could see myself wearing, two that were a little bit too revealing, and one that covered virtually nothing. I ended up choosing two, but only planned on telling Jake about one. One was a navy blue drawstring bikini with white stripes. It covered enough to keep me comfortable, just not around the pack. I secretly also chose the one that I assumed was a joke. It was black and very, very tiny. It had a gold buckle in the center of the chest. The swimsuit wasn't comfortable, but I could wear it for Jake.
I shooed Jake out of the store so I could buy the swimsuits. We met up at Starbucks ten minutes later, treating ourselves to frappuccinos on our way out of the mall. I ordered a vanilla bean frappuccino and he opted for caramel. We sipped them and joked all the way home, joking about the upcoming bonfire.
We got home and immediately went into our separate rooms to change. I threw on my tankini with a pink tank top and jean shorts. I slid on a pair of flip flops, thankful for the beautiful weather. I packed a towel, sunscreen, jeans, a t shirt, and a hoodie for later on, shoving them into a backpack I found in Jake's closet. Ten minutes later we were off to the beach, walking hand in hand. Jake was wearing navy blue swim trunks with no shirt, and I really appreciated the view of his chest.
Halfway through the walk I handed Jake the cell phone that Edward had given me. "You can get rid of it now." We shared a thought and then he pocketed it.
"I'll do it at the beach, honey." He pulled my hand up to his face and planted a kiss on the back of my hand, making my heart flutter. We arrived to the beach at 5:45 and nobody else was there yet, so we had a few minutes to ourselves. We spent the time sitting on a familiar driftwood log kissing feverishly and letting the rest of the world drift away...
"Oh, looks like Jake's getting some action! Nice job, bro!" Jacob and I pulled away when we heard Quil's annoying voice popping our beautiful moment like a big bubble. I blushed scarlet, embarrassed that he saw us like that.
"Hi Quil," I managed to choke out, using a sheet of hair to hide my face. Jacob, however, wasn't going to let his best friend off the hook so easily.
"Quil, don't." Jake stood up and punched him on the shoulder, not too hard but enough to bruise him. "I don't bother you … well there isn't really a chance to interrupt you since you imprinted on Claire... ok never mind. But I wouldn't do that, even if I had the chance. So just... don't."
"Fine, fine, sorry. You're just too whipped these days." I held on to Jake's arm so that he wouldn't do any serious damage to Quil for his comment. Thankfully the rest of the pack began to show up, so the tension disappeared and we could finally have some fun.
I never knew how fun and nice Emily and Leah were. They completely accepted my decision and we became fast friends. We needed each other for this occasion, all of the pack boys kept attacking us in the water. I was having the most fun since I moved from Phoenix, it was perfect. Jake even threw me in the water a couple of times, but mostly we laid on a towel and watched the other guys.
"Alright, it's time for a chicken fight!" Embry shouted, rubbing his hands together in excitement. "Bella with Jake, Leah with me, and Emily with Sam."
"How come I'm stuck with Embry?" Leah whined. We all shrugged and laughed. "Fine, I guess its better than Quil." She pretended to shudder at the thought, making everyone except for Quil crack up again.
"Come on honey, let's do this. We're totally gonna win. Just hold on." With that he scooped me up and set me on his shoulders. I held on for dear life in my attempt to stay balanced.
"Woah, Jake. Be careful. I'm not the most coordinated person here." He waded into the deeper water with the other couples. Quil war 'refereeing', or in other words trying to see a swimsuit fall off up close. All of the other guys were sitting on the beach, watching us.
"Ok, there are no rules. Hair pulling is good. Taking each others tops off is great as well. Hell, we should just do this naked." We all ignored Quil's rules, he was a big dummy and we all knew it. "Alright, fine. Don't listen to me." He made a dramatic pause. "Ready, go!"
Leah and Emily ran into each other. Emily immediately went down with no delay. Crap. Leah came at me next, and Jake started running towards her. Apparently things were happening underwater that only Jake and Embry knew about, because all of a sudden Embry fell over with Leah above him.
"Fuck, Jake. You ass, that hurt." We all laughed together.
"Jakey, you can't go punching his man parts." I whispered in his ear.
"Yeah, Jakey. Don't touch my man parts," Embry chided in a mocking tone. I tried to punch him, effectively toppling over on top of Jake. When I righted myself, he had the nerve to say: "Nice job, Bella. You're sooooo coordinated."
"Alright, alright. It's time to start the bonfire. Let's go." Sam's words rang with finality and nobody made any comments. We all just walked to the shore and dried off, changing our clothes.
The bonfire was great, but there was no Billy to tell the legends. Sam took his place for the day, telling legends I had never heard about the ancestors. Jake and I were cuddled by the fire. He leaned back comfortably against a log while I laid in his lap, and we wrapped a blanket around both of us. My head rested against his chest, and I felt myself drifting off.
"Bells, everyone left. It's time to go home." Jake whispered in my ear. After a few moments we both stood up. The fire was still going, it was our job to put it out. He held up my cell phone, grinning evilly. I nodded and watched him throw it in the fire. We waited a few minutes to watch the plastic melt and deform. I turned around and kissed him passionately, exploring his mouth with mine. He smiled and picked me up, dumping a bucket of water on the fire.
"Let's go home and call Charlie." He grabbed my bag and ran us home, going to the bathroom while I called Charlie. I updated him about the bonfire, but chose not to tell him about Jacob and I. I didn't want him to know that we were together at risk of him coming home early. I still had nineteen days to enjoy Jacob Black, and I wanted to enjoy them.
Jake and I went up to bed together, putting our pajamas on and cuddling in his bed. "Bells, I have to patrol tonight for a few hours. I won't wake you up, but I'm leaving at one. I'll be back at five, honey." I was already drifting off, so I nodded and tucked my head into his chest before falling asleep.
I woke up when Jake came back from patrolling. He looked like he just took a shower, dripping water all over the bed. I couldn't care less, just wanting to be in his arms. I gave him a quick kiss and we both fell quickly back asleep. I slept with ease in my boyfriend's arms, and it felt wonderful.
A/N: Oooh, a longer chapter! So I have some ideas about where I want to go from here, but I love suggestions. It makes me super happy to see forty or more emails about story alerts, favorites, etc. If you have any ideas for my story, hit me up in a review. I love hearing from you! Please keep the reviews coming. Love you guys!!