Chapter 4

Old Friends

Holly POV

Mixtures of brown and green blurred past the open window as Bella sped down the winding roads to La Push. Some new Miley Cyrus song could be faintly heard underneath the static of the radio and the roar of the wind. I focused my attention on trying to make out the words to the song and sing along in my head. A couple of times, Bella tried to pull me into conversation, I assumed to figure out how much I figured out. Each attempt was met with my persistaint silence, and soon after Bella would speed up, her poor truck's engine crying in protest.

I probably seemed like a bitch. I mean, I showed up at her house, intruded on her perfectly good life, and now I was ignoring her. But that was okay with me, because I wasn't going to talk about it. To admit something means that it's real. The theory was that if no one said anything, then it wasn't true.

The wind played with my hair, blowing it into my face. I turned toward the wind, trying to get help from the gust to pull it back behind me again. Through strands of hair blocking my vision, I noticed a large dark figure through the trees, running away from the road. When I finally cleared my vision, there wasn't anything there. "What was that?" I wondered out loud, although I knew it was probably a shadow passing by. Still, Bella slowed.

"What?" She seemed genuinely curious.

"Nothing," I responded, and she went back to driving. That was the extent of our conversation during the rest of the drive.

After what felt like an excrusiatingly long ride, the trees began to give way to beach and rock. The air circulating in the truck began to take on the smell of salt water. I breathed it in.

As we rolled closer to Jacob's house, I began seeing people I recognized. Most of them I'd never talked to, but had seen taking daily walks or swims. Still, I smiled and waved back at these people. Finally, we pulled into his dirt driveway.

Jake was out of the house before I was out of the car. My first view of him made my breath catch inside my throat. He was a lot taller and more muscular now. His long hair still framed his face, though. And that dazzling white smile contrasting with his tan skin that I had come to love.

"Holly!" He said my name like he hadn't said it in years.

Naturally, I responded with the same enthusiasum. "Jake!" I ran into his arms.

"Bet I'm still faster," he whispered into my ear as he spun me around.

"I've been practicing," I whispered back, and laughed. This was what I loved about Jacob. Everything with him was so easy. We never fought, never got into uncomfortable topics, and he made me forget. I'd feel bad for taking advantage of that after my parents, but Billy once told Charlie that I make him forget, too. So, we continued to use each other like we didn't know we were doing it. Who could really blame us?

Jacob laughed back at me and put me back down on the ground. "You've grown!"

I rolled my eyes. "And you haven't changed at all."

He smiled and pushed me lightly, causing another smile to escape my lips, too. "Bella!" he exclaimed like he just noticed we weren't alone.

"Hey, Jacob," Bella responded, leaning up against her truck with her arms crossed. She gave the impression that she didn't want to be there, but a small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

"Um, I'm going to go find Billy…" I excused myself so they could clear up….whatever they needed to clear up. I walked inside Jacob and Billy's dingy old house. It smelled of smoke and wilderness. In case you don't know what that smells like, the two scents go well together. "Billy?" I called.

"Holly?" Billy's voice trailed from the kitchen. I followed it, passing by wolf décor and old Quilute tales framed on the wall. Of course, Jacob had told me them around a campfire in his backyard last summer. He, Quil, and Embry joked around about the stories.

The kitchen was dimly lit due to a burnt out bulb on one of the lights. The tile underneath my feet was yellowing and old, and the carpets were worn down in spots. Billy and Jacob didn't care, and neither did I. I loved this house because of all of it flaws and stories.

Billy's wheelchair was at the end of the table. He was enjoying a coffee. A still warm coffee cup was on the table across from him. I assumed it was Jacob's, and I felt bad for intruding. They didn't have many father-son moments like this.

"Hey, Billy." I flashed a smile at him.

"Sit down and stay a while," he joked.

We talked for a while. Mostly, it was pretty boring stuff. He wanted to know about school was going, how friendships were going, how long until I went back…

And I admitted something I hadn't even told myself yet.

I didn't want to go back.

Why would I, really? I had a life here, not there. I had a sister, a father, or at least a father-figure. I had friends and family, why would I want to go back to all school, all the time?

Billy just said that he agreed with me, to my surprise. He thought that I should spend my time with friends and family.

Eventually, Jacob and Bella returned, and after sitting in silence for a few minutes, Bella insisted that we had to go. So, we said our goodbyes, promised to come back soon (Jacob pushed for the next day), got in the truck, and got back on the road.

Again, Bella and I were back to sitting in the torturing silence. I played with the radio dial, trying to find a station that would come through clearly. After going through all the stations her truck would pick up, I sighed and gave up, slouching back into my seat.

It was dark out now, but even in the dim light, I could tell this wasn't the way home. We pulled off the road and onto a smaller, private road. I debated weather to break my silence and ask where we were or not. Turned out I was more stubborn than I thought. Not like it mattered, because when we finally pulled up to a large, white house, who would be on the porch other than the one person I wanted to badly to avoid.

Edward Cullen.