This story is really coming along! I would like to thank my amazing wonderful fabulous beta reader, Bane of Princes! She's da bomb, dawg!

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. Where would anybody get the assumption that I own it, anyways?

Jacob didn't call me back. Not once. It had been two weeks since I had called him. Earlier, I had thought to leave him alone, for he was probably still too sick to talk to anybody. I started to get a little skeptical when it got around to being day three. I was angry by the time day four with no contact with Jacob rolled around.

He has to be getting better. Unless he's dead, there is no good reason for him to be ignoring me like this, I thought angrily. I felt irritated with him, like he should be at least making some small attempt to talk to me. Similar aggressive thoughts swirled around in my head.

Just then, the phone rang. My heart skipped a beat, thinking that it was Jacob. I picked up the phone quickly.

"Hello?" I said, sounding breathless and hurried.

"Hey, Bella! It's Angela." I have never been more disappointed in my life. I loved Angela to pieces, I really did, but I was hoping to have heard Jacob's husky voice on the line.

My depressive tone of voice was very obvious to her when my dull response was, "Oh. Hey.". There was a moment of silence.

"Oh, hey? I see how it is, Bella. Maybe I should call less often if you're going to sound like a little kid who got coal for Christmas all the time." She snapped, half irritated and half joking.

"No, Ang, I'm glad that you called, really. I was just… hoping for someone else." I said quickly.

"Oh, really?" Angela said, understanding my dilemma. There was another slight pause. Then the dam of questions broke. "Who? Is it a boy? Is he cute? Do I know him? Would I like him?" she somehow managed to squeeze all that out in one breath.

"No, Angela, it's not a boy boy, but just a boy boy. Have you met Jacob Black? He's who I wanted to call me. He's sick, and I called him like, two weeks ago to see how he was doing and he didn't call me back." I explained to her.

"Oh yeah. Jacob. I hope he gets better soon." Angela could remember him clearly, I could tell. Alarm seeped into her voice. "You like him? Since when?" I sighed. Sometimes, Angela would jump to ridiculous conclusions. Actually, most of the time she would jump to ridiculous conclusions. But this time, I wasn't sure how to respond.

"I really don't know if I do. Normally, I wouldn't be waiting with bated breath for him to call. But then again, it has been two weeks since I called and left him a message with his dad. Maybe I'm just overly anxious, or something. I really have no idea of what's going on in my head at the moment." I concluded with a sigh.

"I think that you should call him again. Maybe his dad misunderstood you." Angela said automatically.

I questioned her answer. "Really? I don't want him to think I'm being obsessive, or that I'm madly in love with him, because I'm not. I'm just worried about him."

"I think you should. You said it's been four days. Right? One or two days, yeah, I can see that being obsessive. But two weeks without your friend calling you back? That's just showing that you actually care about him, Bella." Angela said in a soothing tone.

I thought about that for a moment. Jacob was one of the best friends I had. He would be calling me too, I was sure of it. "All right. I will. Do you think I should call him now, or do it tomorrow?" I asked her.

"I think you should call him now, if you're really worried about him, which I can tell you are. Trust me, Bella. He won't think that you're a stalker." Angela assured me.

"All right. See you tomorrow." I said, anticipating calling Jacob.

"Bye, Bella!" Angela said cheerily. I hung up.

I put the phone down and sighed. For some reason, I was nervous about calling Jacob. I fretted about whether he would be cranky that I was calling him. Maybe he got a girlfriend, so he feels weird about calling me back. What if he got a lot worse, and he's like, hospitalized? Maybe he just doesn't like me anymore. What if he is mad at me for what happened when we were hanging out at the beach? Maybe I embarrassed him, or something.

I continued to worry about all of the possible negative outcomes of calling him for about fifteen minutes. I was brought back to reality when the front door slammed and Charlie clomped inside with his heavy boots.

"Hey, Bella. I hope you don't mind that I invited a couple of friends over for the afternoon." Charlie said casually as he hung up his jacket and put his hat in the drawers that we kept mittens and scarves and hats in.

"Um… no, Dad. I really don't mind. Who did you ask over?" I said uncertainly.

Liar. You want to be all alone so you can call Jacob, I thought.

"Billy and a couple of his friends… and some of the guys from work." He answered offhandedly.

There was a pause. I was thinking about what I should do about contacting Jacob since Charlie and his friends would be here. Then, finally, I responded.

"Okay. Have fun." I said. There was another pause. "Is it okay if I go and see Jacob? He's been sick and I wanted to see how he's feeling." I blurted out, not even thinking about what I was saying.

"Um… sure, Bella. Don't be out for too long, though. It's a school night." Charlie said vaguely. His mind was obviously somewhere else.

"All right. See you, Dad." I said as I grabbed a jacket and my keys.

"Bye, kiddo!" Charlie called as I walked out the door.

It was starting to get dark outside and the crickets were chirping. I stopped traipsing to my car and tilted my head up to the stars that were just beginning to show. A light breeze stirred my hair, blowing a few strands into my face. I gently brushed them aside. Smiling slightly, I resumed walking to the car, a small skip in my step.

I started the car and backed out of the drive. The radio was already on and playing a soft rock station. Although the sunset had clamed me down somewhat, the nervousness that I had felt earlier returned to me, stronger than before. I tried to focus on something else. That didn't work. Turning up the music so it was too loud to hear anything else didn't work either. After what had seemed like forever, I pulled into Jacob's driveway. I could see the lights were on and there were people moving around inside.

I jumped down from the high seat in my truck and slammed the door shut. Each step I took towards his house got harder. I wanted to believe that I was doing the right thing, and that he would not think that I was being obsessive by coming to see him in person. But I just couldn't believe that.

I paused at the front door, trying to gather my courage. After a moment, I knocked. I could hear grumbling and talking on the other side of the door. Then, the door squeaked open, with Jacob holding the handle.

He doesn't look like he's too sick to call. He looks just fine. I surmised.

Jacob had gotten a haircut. Most of his long hair had been cut off, leaving a tiny bit on the top of his head. He looked bigger, like he had grown about three inches in the few weeks that I hadn't seen him. He looked bulkier, too. He looked much more muscular than when I had seen him last.

When he saw me on his porch, he looked shocked, and quickly adverted his eyes. Looking down at his feet like they held all of the secrets to life, he said sullenly, "Bella. You shouldn't be here."

"Why? Are you still contagious?" I questioned, trying not to sound offended. It hurt a little that I had waited two weeks for him to get better, and I was excited about finally seeing him, and he pretty much just said that he didn't really want to see me.

"No. You're just… not supposed to be here. You need to leave." Jacob said aggressively, still staring down at the ground. He sounded like he was going to have a meltdown or something else violent.

"Jacob… will you please look at me?" I said softly, trying to keep him calm.

"No." he said coldly.

"Jacob? Please." I said, trying to find the sunny guy that I had known before. He wouldn't show. I know that to some people, a cold gaze isn't the end of the would. But receiving a cold gaze from a guy like Jacob cut me like a knife. He just wasn't like that. He was usually so happy and friendly and loving. Today, he was just a shell of his former self. The only thing he left behind was a nasty attitude.

He shook his head at me and sighed angrily. By his body language, he was pretty much just saying, no, I don't like you, and, yes, I want you to leave now and never come back. Right then, my heart broke. Is he seeing someone? Is that why he's so mean? Did I offend him? Did I upset him? I sighed, trying to hold in my tears. In the course of a year, I had managed to make not one, but two amazing people hate my guts. One being Jacob, and the other, Edward.

It was getting a little awkward to just be standing there, not talking, the tension as thick as a cement wall between us. I tried one last time to meet his eyes, but he wouldn't look up. My foot inched backwards, feeling for a step. I turned my back on Jacob as I stepped down the last couple of steps. I heard a sad sigh and the sound of clothing rustling against itself. An extremely warm hand closed around my wrist. Jacob turned me around so I was facing him.

Our eyes met. His were cold and miserable, like he hated himself for being mad at me. Now I knew that I was the reason for his bitter chagrin. Under his forlorn gaze, I felt about two inches tall. I looked down at my feet, wishing that I had never even come. This anger and sadness was not what I had expected, or wanted. I could feel my eyes beginning to tear up, although I had tried to blink them back.

"Bells?" Jacob's voice was soft and sweet. He curled his finger under my chin. I looked up and met his eyes, expecting to see burning fury in them. But instead, his eyes were filled with extreme guilt, and concern. He looked sincerely sorry for upsetting me.

"I'm so sorry, Bells. That was so mean." he said, sounding like he was about ready to cry himself. I was beyond confused. Wasn't he just telling me to leave? Didn't he just look like he could kill someone? How is he so sad and sincere all of a sudden?

"Bells…" He murmured as he pulled me into a tender hug. He was so warm. I felt like I was being enclosed in a heating blanket.

"Bella, I'm so sorry. I wish I had never said those mean things to you. Please, forgive me. I am so sorry. So sorry." Jake whispered in my ear as he held me tightly.

"I… I forgive you, Jake." I said, still confused. I still felt like I was going to cry a little, but not because of his bitter resentment. I felt like I was going to cry because no one had ever said anything like that to me. No one had ever really noticed when I felt like I was about to cry, except him. Somewhere, deep in my chest, I felt a pull towards Jacob, like my heart was moving on from Edward to something else. Like it was attaching itself to someone. And I think that someone was Jacob.

Whoot whoot! Bella's finally getting a little smarter! Please review because it makes me happy!