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"…oh, Emmett!" Rosalie giggled in that high-pitched tone she reserved for boys. "You're still so funny." Her eyes were full of stars and rainbows, leaning into Emmett McCarty, who liked very similar to the Emmett I knew back then. No weight loss or gained, still that same Jewish curly hair on top of his head, and obnoxiously loud. He rambled listlessly about his work as a personal trainer and even tried to be polite enough to grab me into conversation, but I was rather content sunk into one of his couches drunk off box wine. I didn't like him back then, and I still didn't like him now. A few years in between didn't make a difference to me, not when he went all that time going radio silent on Rosalie! She recited a corny joke, one she often told, and Emmett went into a bellow of laughter that caused wine to come spurting from his nostrils.

While I was absolutely abhorred by the sight, Rose threw herself into a fit of giggles and even made a show of cleaning him up. "Charming." I said sarcastically, feeling a bitch face go over my features. Rose took a moment from her happy-go-lucky façade to shoot me a warning look, but I steadily ignored her gesture. She forced me here, on the day before Christmas Eve, to sit and entertain a past lover boy of hers. I could be sarcastic or sardonic or snippy if I so pleased!

Even Dwyer had excused himself early, pretending to have some other thing in his life happening on a night like this. Of course, I was invited back to his house- I had expected something cheap like that from Dwyer, but with a drawn-out hug and sappy good-bye I was once again left alone with the retro lovebirds.

Much, much more wine later they were glued at each other's hip, one not able to stand up and fetch something without the other following. We tried playing card games and such, but they'd cheat for each other or start kissing, quite loudly mind you, and it would all be forgotten in seconds. I was glued to the TV, a plasma that was most likely Emmett's closest companion, as my favorite culinary show had been marathon-ing for the last few episodes.

"Bells?" Rosalie called my name, followed by loud giggles that I hadn't heard from her in ages. It almost brought a smile to my lips, but I knew that oaf was the cause of it, so I simply turned around in my seat to face the kitchen. I rose my eyebrows in mild irritation as if to say 'yes, your highness?' but she missed the agitation on my face or simply chose to ignore it. "Emmett has a- Emmy, stop!" She chastised her boy toy with a giggle and playful slap before facing me again. "Emmett has another friend joining us and we were wondering if you could-" Rosalie was interrupted by her companion kissing all down her face, more giggles and high-pitched squeals following.

"Yes, Rose?" I asked pointedly, needing the girl to just get on with her favor. I had already dealt with Dwyer and he wasn't so bad, so who was next?

She smacked Emmett's hand again before successfully breaking free, shooting over to where I was sitting before she could be sidetracked again. "We were wondering if you could go downstairs and wait for him?" The task seemed simple enough, though Emmett himself should have had enough manners to see to his friend personally, but the way Rosalie was biting onto her bottom lip and giving me that look made me think differently. So, basically, I was getting the temporary boot so they could screw freely?

"In this neighborhood?" I asked incredulously. Emmett didn't make very much, and unlike Forks where everyone knew everyone, Seattle definitely had its tough neighborhoods.

"Bella." Rose sent me a stern look followed the crossing of her arms, which almost always precluded a long lecture about my 'bad' attitude.

"Okay, okay." I waved her off before collecting my wool coat and slipping an unopened wine cooler in my jacket's pocket. "I'll be back in like, ten minutes?" I tried.

Rosalie smiled mischievously, glad she got her way without too much of a fight. "Make it fifteen?" I was about to bitch at her that it was thirty degrees out and almost midnight, but she held her hands up at me. "I promise not to bitch about anything for the next two weeks. Anything, anyone, anywhere. No bitching." I was left with my mouth open at that kind of offer, which was worth so much more than money or gold or food. Rose's silence on my personal matters and the people I chose to surround myself with was almost too good to be true, but if I waited out there in the damn cold for some 'friend' then I was going to make sure she held up her end of the bargain. So without argument, I trotted out of the one bedroom apartment and slammed the door after me, stomping down the brick staircase as I climbed down. It was an open plan apartment complex- no elevators, no lawns, nothing more than very simple, cramped apartment doors and windows. But in a way, it suited Emmett McCarty.

Once I was in front of the building, I took a long breath and held it in for a minute or so. This was my life- spending the holidays with my best friend and her ex-boyfriend, being kicked out so they can get a quick holiday bang in, and did I mention its twenty-two degrees out?

Without any real direction, I walked down the concrete steps to the nearest corner; to be honest, the neighborhood wasn't all that bad and it had plenty of lighting for the time of night. It was too bad there was so much smog in the city, seeing as the stars shone brightly over Washington just for us… and here these people were missing out. Or at least, someone used to tell me that. It brought a small smile to my face to think of him- a man I had so many cherished memories with, yet so many terrible ones as well. Our ups and downs were on the most major scale you could think of- from 1 to 100, every single experience we shared could light up that paper scale like the homes I passed on my walk to nowhere in particular.

I could remember a time where me and my dad would decorate the house all bright, and Jacob would come over and we'd watch all the holiday movies together and then wait until my dad fell asleep to fool around. We'd do corny romantic stuff but also things that just made us feel together- my eyes welled up with angry tears at the thought. I had gone four long years without needing him, or overthinking things, and here I was in his very city and all that was on my mind was him. Jacob Black, the man I had given everything to and once upon a time thought I loved with all my heart. Now thinking about it, I wasn't all that sure if it was ever truly love we shared.

My thoughts dispersed as I walked into the corner liquor store, blocking out the Hindu music playing loudly over the speaker system, and grabbed myself a two-for-one set of candy bars. I paid with a few quarters I had in my coin purse and snatched at the deliciously devilish snack I would no doubt regret later. "Merry Christmas!" The cashier said cheerily, his accent too thick to truly hear him. I nodded in reply and made my way out, hating myself for wearing heels. I really wanted to be in my comfy, hole-ridden pajamas watching some unrealistically cheesy romance movie. But no, I was in a big city on the corner of a side street, cracking open a wine cooler and chowing down on a cold Snickers bar.

It brought on a new set of tears to my eyes, my stupid, plain brown eyes and I furiously wiped at them, uncaring of my smeared mascara.

It didn't stop me from taking another hearty bite or enjoying another sip of my B&J's, so I continued on with my little pity party and sat uncomfortably on a bus bench. Not that buses ran this late, but I hoped to dear God I wouldn't be mistaken for a hooker or something. Just then, a sleek black car rode past, zooming down the street. "Asshole." I uttered, hating people in fast cars that drove like they owned the damn street. The car turned into a house's driveway before coming back out and driving down the opposite side of the street back my way. The car was still going pretty fast, but not nearly like the bat outta hell like before. I tried not to make eye contact with the driver, though the tinted windows made it impossible even if I wanted to.

"Please don't think I'm a hooker, please don't think I'm a hooker…" I whispered to myself, pretending my candy bar was the most interesting object in the world.

The car kept going down the street, emitting a sigh of relief from me. I took a healthy drink of my wine cooler and made a satisfied sound, trying to keep my mind rooted here in the present and so much dwindling in the past where I didn't belong. Flashes of Rene and Charlie and how I spent holidays as a kid went through my mind and they were entertaining enough, so much so that I neglected to notice that sleek, black car come back around a third time.

This time it went painstakingly slow, so slow that it caught my attention finally when it stopped a few feet after the bench I was seated at. My heart sped up as it pulled to the curb, its lights still on bright but no sign of who was in it. I looked around and noticed no on the block was likely still up, and there was just a convenience store and Emmett's apartments further down the street on this side of the block. I swallowed throatily, ready to make a run for it to the corner store if I needed to. Stop being so paranoid, just stay calm… but when the lights and engine cut out, my breathing started to erratically speed up.

A figure stepped out from the driver's side, wide shoulders covered in a dark cloak of sorts, and I couldn't help but think that I could feel a sense of familiarity in the way the figure walked. Was this perhaps the 'friend' I was supposed to welcome? I didn't actually think the friend existed, I thought instead it was just an excuse to kick me out of the apartment so they could have alone time. When the figure approached, I could tell in the outline of the wide expanse of shoulder that it was definitely a male, but we were too fare apart to tell anything else. I suddenly looked down at myself, not sure if I wanted to greet a stranger with a drink in one hand and a candy bar in the other. But I couldn't necessarily toss it over my shoulder, not with him fast approaching because then I would just look totally suspicious and then I'd have to explain why I was littering…

"Isabella?" My eyes widened considerably as he walked up to me, and not toward the apartment complex as I had first thought. When he got close enough to see right in front of me, my back straightened on a dime- what in the world was he doing here, on this street, standing in front of me in a sharp looking suit coat, leather gloves glistening off the street lamps? "This is a pleasant surprise." He murmured purposely, a glint in his otherwise withdrawn cobalt eyes.

I cleared my throat and thought to say something, and quickly, else he might think I froze to death and couldn't respond. "Um…" I started off stupidly, hating myself for sounding like a bimbo in front of him, "hey Jake." It was more of a squeak rather than a dignified reply, which was the exact opposite of what I had planned! Not that I had necessarily planned on ever running into him again… but in the back of my mind, I did think to plan ahead for such an experience. But here he was, standing all handsome in front of me, and I was drowning my sorrows in a cheap drink and a Snicker's bar.

His upper lip curved into a smirk, turning his usually chiseled features into something softer… just for me. Which likely wasn't true anymore, because that was when we were younger and lived in a small town where there weren't very many other girls like me. But hey, he had been everywhere since then! He probably met lots of otherworldly women, Aphrodite type chicks- how could I compete with that? "Good evening, Isabella."

My eyelashes fluttered on their own accord, not having someone call my name like that in a very long time. "Good evening." I uttered back, too gob smacked to trail him into conversation like a normal person would.

He looked around us, and I caught the slightest whiff of his cologne- did he wear Burberry or Armani these days? It smelled absolutely delectable, like spice and sunshine and a slow dance, if all that jumped into one scent. But for some inane reason, I almost preferred the way he used to smell back in the day… like generic soap and some sweat, with an underlying hint of motor oil from his endless nights working on cars and machinery around the Reservation. "Would you mind some company?" Was he serious right now? It wasn't like there was a long line of bachelors waiting around the corner to share the bus stop with me. I shrugged in nonchalance but that nerve-tingling sensation came back as soon as he took the seat beside me.

I could smell hair gel, that lovely cologne, minty toothpaste, some flavored cigar-ish scent… what was wrong with me? I quickly brought my attention back to my lap, refusing to imagine what would happen if he caught me sniffing him or something. But then I felt very self-conscious… could he smell me the way I smelt him? I took an inconspicuous whiff of my coat, which was unreasonably too thin for the weather, and made a face. I smelled like fabric softener. Stupid lavender fabric softener! Gone were my perfume spritzes, the vanilla lotion flavor I lathered, and even the dabs of DKNY green apple I applied to the back of my ears… none of it appealed to my nostrils, only the flavor of detergent I washed my clothes in stayed.

He turned to me and opened his mouth every so slightly, but I couldn't help but blurt out the first thing that came to my mind. "Why are you here?" I grimaced against the way the question came out, not sure what came over me. I did want to know why, but I knew better than to just be so blunt! Jesus, something was seriously wrong with me… maybe it was the cheap Merlot at Emmett's place mixed with a few warm beers from the bar? I wasn't positively sure, but it sounded reasonable enough.

Jacob's darkened eyebrows rose slightly, an unreadable look in his eyes. "Was there somewhere else you imagined I would be?"

I blinked a few times, not sure how to respond. Should I just answer his question with a question, just as he had? "I don't know." Yes, I wanted to smack myself. No, I couldn't think to say anything with substance.

He was quickly turning me into an idiot.

Jake took a short look down at my hands, which were frozen in this icy atmosphere, and chuckled. "I see you've started the festivities without me."

When I caught onto what he meant, a red stain covered my face and even traveled down my throat to my chest. Did he think I looked as pathetic as I thought? I suppose I was smart in omitting the fact that I was actually a few beers, glasses of wine, and a jug of egg nogg past 'starting festivities'. "Yeah, it's been a real riot while you were away." I jested awkwardly, feigning a small smile for him. Was he going to mention how I left him in his own home all those weeks ago, not even explaining why or how or when I did it? I was expecting to be hit with accusations and such, but he merely gestured to the drink in my hand with a surly look. How was I suppose to say no?

So I passed it to him and watched his Adam's apple as it bobbed up and down as he drank, so provocative without even trying. I remembered the waterfall in Chykkawa Falls he took me to on a particularly warm Sunday, and how the droplets of rushing water went over his face, down his throat, slipping past his bare chest and curbed around his nipples… I snapped myself back to the present and looked away from him. God, I had to stop doing that! They were memories, just memories, and they'd never happen again. They couldn't.

He kept my drink hostage as he gestured to the corner store, the one where I had indulged in a sweet or two just minutes before. "Wanna grab another one?" I eyed him curiously. When was the last time he had taken a step in a seedy establishment? Not that it was a strip club or downtown bar, but still- he didn't act or dress or speak the way he- the way we used to. But I didn't speak my doubts, only followed alone faithfully like a lost puppy. The tinkering of an alert bell rang throughout the tiny store as we walked on, and he went straight to the back where all cheap booze and sugary sodas could be found. Jake grabbed two Old English's from the cold storage, a loose grin on his face that made my stomach tie into knots. "For old time's sake?" I couldn't help the smile that split my face in half.

Yeah, our idea of romance as mere teens was cheap beer and candy bars. Without having to mention it, he grabbed a handful of chocolate bars and swiped his card with little thought and we walked out. Not like me, where I crossed my fingers and toes every time I used my debit card in fear that it'd be declined. We walked slowly back to our spot, still empty and warm from our previous stay. Like a true gentleman, he popped open the tabs and handed me one, suited in a classy brown paper sack. "Thanks." It was an automatic response because I couldn't formulate words into sentences at this point. He was too close, too cheery-looking, too Jacob Black for comfort.

We sat like that in peace, neither of us willing to tear the stalemate into pieces just yet.

A/N: more to come, readers! So much more to come!

I can't wait to put up the next chapter… too juicy and splendid to hold back!

But yes, you will have to wait. Not for months like usually… maybe a week? I have a few more tweaks to tweak!