Chapter Seven

"Jacob," I breathed as Jacob walked towards me out of the darkness. He was wearing his cut off jeans and his hair was longer than usual. He looked slightly wild.

"You're not bringing them back here," he growled as he towered over me. I felt anger prickle in my chest. He couldn't tell me what to do anymore. He forfeited any right to do that when he started dating Lauren.

"Wow. You really shouldn't sneak up on people like that. What if I thought you were Lauren and I hurt you?" I didn't even bother trying to be nice. Now that he was right in front of me I was mad. How could he?

Jacob ignored me. "I won't let you bring them back Leighton."

"You can't stop me going Jacob. The Cullens need to be in Forks." I tried to stress to him how important this was. I wasn't trying to bring Edward back for Bella. I was trying to bring them back for the pack. Jacob glared at me for a moment, as if his dark eyes were trying to see right into me.

"Yeah well everyone knows I've never stopped you from leaving before," The venom in his voice was over-whelming. It was accusing and heart breaking. It only made me madder. I didn't leave him. I left Forks. I was always with him. He was the one who decided he wanted to replace me with Lauren. He left me. Jacob turned quickly and began to walk away.

"And everyone knows that you don't come after me!" I yelled after him. I didn't really know what I was saying. I was so mad at him I just wanted to hurt him. I wanted to hurt as much as I did when I saw him kiss Lauren.

"Didn't come after you?" Jacob roared. He turned quickly on the stop and covered the space between us in two quick steps. I froze for a second as rage twisted his perfect face. He clenched his fists as they began to shake. He leaned in so close that his nose was only an inch from mine. "I looked for you for weeks. I ran all over the country!"

"And what did you do when you found me Jacob?" I yelled back, feeling just as furious. I was so furious that I ignored his trembling. "Nothing! You didn't do anything! You just turned away! You didn't say anything to me!"

"What did you want me to say? You seemed perfectly happy to me!"

"Anything!" I screamed at him, and I saw him flinch slightly at the intensity of my voice. I noticed the front light of the Swan house turned on. "I wanted you to say anything Jake. That would have been all it would have taken! There was a reason why I never said goodbye, because I could never say goodbye to your face. If you had just said anything I would have come home in a second!"

I panted slightly as silence fell between us. Jacob still towered over me but the anger seemed to deflate from me. I had said too much. I turned quickly and rushed inside. I closed the front door and slid down it onto the lounge room floor. I could feel Jacob on the other side. I closed me eyes and remembered the first day I had hung out with him; when my car had broken down in La Push. It seemed like a million years ago. I let the tears flow silently down my cheeks. After he hesitated for just a second, I felt the exact moment Jacob Black walked away.

The next morning I began to feel a little guilty. I had, after all, accused Jacob of being the reason our relationship was one big mess, and that wasn't what I thought. I new it was my entire fault. If I had just accepted that maybe this was going to be different from Stephanie Meyer's version everything would have been alright.

I frowned deeply as I looked down at the blank piece of paper in front of me. It was the early hours of the morning. I couldn't sleep after my confrontation with Jacob and so I decided to be productive and start working on a design for my label. I had a lot to do business wise – technically I was hadn't started – but I thought If I got designing then it would be able to re-kindle the excitement it gave me. Maybe it would stop me feeling like I was just floating through the days, not doing anything worthwhile.

Unfortunately, my creative juices, which were first squashed by anger at Jacob, were now being squashed by remorse towards Jacob. I was doing so well at keeping him out of my thoughts and he had to turn up on my porch to tell me....What was Jacob even on my porch for? Besides eavesdropping on my conversation?

I felt my stomach twist. He couldn't have possibly have been just passing my house. It's in the middle of Forks and not any where near where the pack patrols. Embry had told me that because of the lull in vampire activity these days the pack had stopped patrolling Bella's house and now only patrol La Push, occasionally giving Forks a look over.

I felt myself fill with excitement and disappointment. What if Jacob was on my porch to talk to me? What if he was there to apologise? Could we have sorted it all out if he hadn't gotten so mad about me finding the Cullens?

I shook my head to try and dislodge the thought. It was done now anyway and I couldn't have might have been eating away at me. The front door opened and Bella walked inside. She looked tired, and I knew that she probably had a disrupted night's sleep with nightmares of Edward, but she also had purpose to her step as she walked straight past me into the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee. I rose and eyebrow and resigned my pencil back to its case. I would have to try to design something another time.

"Good morning," I greeted her as I put my things away and cleared the table.

"So," Bella said, looking me straight in the eye as she took a seat opposite me. "You are upset that Jacob didn't try hard enough to bring you home."

It wasn't a question and I felt my mouth fall open. I wasn't the one who talked about my feelings too much. I preferred to just put it aside and work on something until I forget that I feel that way, or until I forget where it's hidden.

"How do you know that?"

"Leighton, the whole street knows it. You and Jacob were shouting pretty loud last night. I think Charlie was thinking about calling the police." She smiled dryly at her own joke and I raised a sceptical eyebrow at her.

"Sorry about the yelling," I told her in a tone that I thought clearly implied I didn't want to talk about Jacob.

"Well it got me thinking –"

"-That's dangerous."

Bella rolled her eyes at me. "It got me thinking about how much you are doing for me and I decided it's time for me to do something for you."

"You don't owe me any favours Bella."

"I know," She said, and I noticed how excited she was getting, she was leaning towards me over the table and her voice was rising. "But you're mad that Jacob didn't fight for you more. You wanted him to make you come home because that was where you really wanted to be right? You didn't want him to just walk away from you?"

I growled at her. I thought I had made it clear that Jacob was a no – go topic, obviously not clear enough. Bella ignored me and continued, "So what if he wants the same thing?"

She leaned in so close that her body was practically lying on the table. Her eyes were wide and she was looking at me expectantly, like she had just said a punch line to a joke and she was waiting for me to react.

"What?"

Bella sighed, "What if Jacob wants you to fight for him too?" she said slowly, like she was talking to someone who wasn't all there. "What if you are now doing what Jacob did to you? You are just letting him walk away with some one who is clearly wrong for him. You should fight for him. What's the worst that could happen?"

I stared at Bella. The thought of fighting for Jacob never really occurred to me. I already thought that he didn't want me. What if Jacob thought the same thing about me?

"Um... I don't really know Bella...there's Lauren to consider now."

Bella scoffed and smiled slyly, "What? Is she afraid of a little healthy competition?"

I found myself smiling back. I didn't know why. This idea seemed a little crazy.

Bella looked at me like she saw me doubt, "Don't doubt this. It's not hard. I've been thinking that all you have to do is tell Jacob how you feel. Tell him that you're sorry and that you still love him and you want him. How could he resist you when you put on those big puppy eyes –"

"-I do not use puppy eyes!"

"Yes you do, and it drives Jacob wild. He told me once. But once you tell him how you feel and no one is confused to what you want I'm sure he won't stay with Lauren." She said her name like it was unpleasant to taste and I appreciated her loyalty. But what was she saying? Could it possibly be right? Could Jacob and I work everything out if no one was confused about what it was that we wanted?

"I can see that you're doubting this but really Leighton I know that I'm right,"

"How do you know that I doubt it?"

Bella smiled. "You get that little crease between your eyebrows. You get it a lot. When you dropped out of school...after that meeting at the clearing..."

We both looked down at the angry red scar poking out from underneath the sleave of my t-shirt.

"You never get that." I said tonelessly and Bella shrugged.

"That's because I never doubt how I feel. You should try it sometime."

I studied her carefully. Truthfully, when I was reading the books I thought that Bella was almost crazy in her sureness about Edward. The level of devotion frightened me. Now, I was jealous of her ability to just launch herself off that cliff into the unknown that is love.

"Ok," I resigned. Maybe I would try it. I knew more than anything that I wanted Jacob. Now it was time that Jacob knew it too. "What do I do?"

"There's no real trick to it. Lauren should be at school this morning. Maybe go and visit Jacob."

"Ok," I agreed and I reached out for the keys to the car I hired. I hadn't got around to buying a new car; I secretly wanted my beetle back.

"Not yet Leighton," Bella laughed.

"Why?" I asked, confused.

"Because it's 7am so Lauren probably isn't even at school yet – and you're not fighting for Jacob in you're pyjamas."

An hour later, I was dressed to impress and on my way to La Push. Bella, not usually the one to go to for fashion advice, had insisted that I should wear an outfit that has sentimental significance, but when I pulled out the paint shirt that I had worn when Jacob and I painted my old room she laughed. She then pointed out the dress I had worn at New Years. It was a plain black strapless dress with a slight puff in the skirt. Bella said it brought out my eyes and accentuated my chest region. I remembered how it felt when Jacob kissed my collar bone in this dress.

I pulled my hair into a casual pony tail but applied some powder Alice had given me and some of the mascara that made my eyes pop.

I wasn't sure what exactly it was that I was going to say. I had tried to rehearse something with Bella but she didn't help, she just insisted that after Lauren he must be desperate to go back to me. Especially when I was looking good and Lauren never looked good due to the sour look she always had on her face. I was thinking some thing along the lines of, "Jacob. I still want you. Do you want me to?"

I arrived at the Black's house a little bit past eight. The house looked exactly the same as the last time I had seen it and I was glad that at least some things didn't change. Jacob's Rabbit was sitting in the driveway and I parked behind it and walked slowly to the door, controlling my breathing. I didn't feel as nervous as I thought I would. I was fighting for Jacob and I was surprised at how right that felt.

I reached the front door and paused for only a moment before I knocked twice. The door swung open and I breathed in the scent of Jacob. It was musky and like the forest. I looked up at him. He looked surprised to see me. He shifted his weight across so that he blocked my view of the lounge room. I felt my determination stumble for a second. Maybe he was still mad at me about last night? Should I have waited longer?

"Jake..." I started and I looked up at him. On the way I let my eyes drink in his golden body. He was wearing a pair of sweats and was shirtless. I could feel the warmth radiating off him. Jacob looked slightly uncomfortable as I met his dark eyes, but he was curious too. I could see his eyes raking over me as I looked at him. He was remembering me too.

"Leighton..." He started but I held up my hand and touched his soft lips to stop him talking.

"Jake, I miss –" I paused as an angry scowl interrupted me. It wasn't Jacob's voice. Jacob closed his eyes for a moment as his body tensed but then he took the smallest step to the side so that I could see into the small lounge room.

Lauren was standing in the arch of the hall that led to Jacob's room. I felt the blood leave my face. I felt faint. She was standing with her hands on her hips. She was wearing Jacob's shirt - Only Jacob's shirt. It was so long on her that it reached half way to her shins. It was thin material and I could clearly see that she wasn't wearing a bra under the shirt. She was scowling at me and looking questionably at Jacob but I could see that under that she was glowing. She was radiating.

I stared at her for a moment as my mind comprehended what was happening, what had happened. I couldn't feel my body anymore. All I could think about was that I brought that shirt for him. I had brought it just before we went to our cabin and -. I stopped thinking. That was the very shirt that I had pulled on, just like she had, after -. I stopped thinking again.

"Oh," was all I could say as I turned to leave. I couldn't look at Jacob. I couldn't look at Lauren.

I got into my car and drove away without looking back, feeling thoroughly defeated in my fight to win back Jacob Black.

Hey Everyone.

Don't forget to go to my profile and check out the new "Music from Forks" that I posted. It's just a playlist of each chapter for something extra so you know what I was thinking with the "feel" of the chapter so to speak..

Anyway... Happy reading! =)

Lorrae