A/N: This chapter is going to open up to some of the things that happened with Jacob and Bella, but I'll warn you now that you won't get the entire story. I'm saving all the details of that for a later chapter, and I think you'll appreciate why

On an unrelated note, vacation was amazing, Cornerstone blew my mind, and my birthday was incredible. I got Twilight the board game from Kate (which is hysterical to play btw. Wow.), pumpkin lotion, a bag of wonderful sparkly goodies, and a freakin double decker pb&j for the trip home from Andrea, and a show which I've become incredibly addicted to called Beautiful People (yes the entire series on dvd, be jealous haha) from Jess. I was in seventh heaven! I smell of pumpkins and every night I curl up to stare at the beautifulness that is Jackson Rathbone on my tv screen.

Anyways, enough rambling! I hope the wait was worth it! On with the show!

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"Bella."

I tried not to scrunch my nose at the way I hated the sound of my name on his lips. I swallowed hard against the dryness in my throat and slowly let my gaze drift upwards from Jacob's black and white shoes to his face. His hands were pushed deep into the pockets of his jeans and his hair was hanging in his face so I couldn't see his eyes. It made my stomach twist in ways that I prayed wouldn't make me hurl all over the train seat.

I didn't even know how to respond so I opened and closed my mouth a few times trying to keep the terrified tears from my eyes. I pulled one of my ear buds from my ears and cleared my throat.

"Jacob? I thought you moved?" my voice sounded choked and horrified. His head shot up and the hair fell away from his eyes revealing an uneasy and annoyed expression.

"God. Everyone needs to know and spread my business, don't they?" he scoffed grinding his teeth together and darting his eyes from my face to the seat back in front of me.

"M-My mom told me. She wasn't spreading your business she just thought I'd want to know-"

"Why?" his eyes were black as pitch and I sunk back a bit at his fiery expression. "So you could appropriately avoid me? Or so you could come home without the risk of running into me?" he pursed his lips and stared at me stone faced, his arms crossed defensively over his chest.

I shrugged my shoulders and jumped at the sound of my phone vibrating in my hands. The screen lit up alerting me that Alice was responding to my text. I quickly flipped the phone over face down in my palm and curled my fingers around it setting my hand back into my lap. I decided to ignore his crappy attitude and attempt to ask some harmless questions.

"So… how's Paul?"

Jake took a step back and stared at me a little bewildered before his eyes softened slightly. I remembered then how I could turn his bad attitude around just by asking a question or saying something random to throw him off. I realized suddenly that despite remembering those things, I didn't feel anything other than discomfort at being face to face with him again. I didn't feel an ache in my chest or the hurt that accompanied a lot of the memories of 'us'. I didn't even get that little twinge in the pit of my stomach. Oddly enough, I could only thing of how badly I wished Edward were sitting beside me right now.

Huh.

I blinked a few times and refocused on Jacob remembering the question I'd just asked. I looked at him with my eyebrows raised waiting for his answer.

"He's fine. He was supposed to come with me, but he met some girl." He sneered.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Don't be." The conversation seemed to be on a continuing downward spiral of awkwardness and we both grew silent. My phone buzzed again and I was itching to open Alice's message. I noticed my feet tapping and decided I needed to act fast or he'd surely notice my nervous twitch.

"So, how is the new job? What brought you to Chicago?" I stammered, blushing angrily for not being able to keep my cool. I'm sure I sounded like an idiot.

"The job is a job. It pays the bills. I was in Chicago simply because it's cheaper to fly there than to come into Kalamazoo or South Bend. I'm taking the train home to visit and grab the rest of my things so I can officially be moved out and have no ties back in Michigan." He said very matter-of-fact.

"That's true, it's quite a bit cheaper to fly to Chicago, I forgot about that." I nodded. "Congratulations on the job and the move though, that really is awesome. I'm excited for you." I said sincerely.

Jacob nodded and I watched as his eyes lit up in what I took to be realization.

"Actually, one of the things I was going to do while I was there was drop this off with your mom." He reached into his back pocket pulled out a small white envelope with my name scrawled across it in the familiar script I'd been used to seeing in love letters and grocery lists during the 'good times' of our relationship.

"What's this?" I asked narrowing my eyes in confusion.

"No need to open it now. Just something I needed to get to you so I could put my mind at ease and hopefully yours too." There was no emotion in his voice so it was hard to tell what he meant by that. I wanted to open the envelope but not with him standing there staring at me, so I tucked it into my book bag and offered the bit of a smile my strained facial muscles would allow me to create.

"How's the band?" I watched as his shoulders relaxed a bit and was thankful for some civility in our conversation.

"Good. We played our first show in months tonight, hence my sweaty hair and the smell I'm sure is about to make you pass out." I tried to keep it light and add some humor to our awkward conversation and was pleased when Jacob's mouth twitched slightly into a small smile.

"Show go well?"

"It did."

Jacob nodded his head making an 'hmm' sound of approval.

The doors to our car opened then and the ticket collector stepped through.

"Tickets please!" he announced through the train, turning to take an elderly woman's ticket, quickly punch two holes in the stub, and mark a piece of paper to stick above her head in the luggage rack.

"Well, it was good to see you again, Isabella. Enjoy your trip." Jacob said turning on his heels and hurrying back to his seat.

"You too." I whispered to his retreating form. I looked down into my lap at my shaky hands and sighed. I flipped my phone over and hurriedly opened Alice's text.

"W. T. F?!!?!! Are you okay? Why? I thought he moved! Did he see you? Do I have to go buy a ticket and ride my ass to Michigan just so I can kick his and then go back home?"

I giggled at my phone screen and let my head drop back against the seat as I popped my ear bud back into my ear. I handed my ticket to the ticket collector with a smile and responded to Alice's text once he walked away.

"Yes I'm fine. A little thrown off, but I'll live. He did move, he's coming home to get the rest of his things. He saw me. We talked. I'll explain later, too much to text. No train ticket needed for you, though I do wish you were here with me." I typed and sent it back.

I caught Jacob peek behind his shoulder quickly as he handed the collector his ticket. Our eyes locked briefly and he turned around before I could blink. I bit down on my bottom lip and sighed as I scrolled through my contacts and found Rosalie.

"Hey, not sure if Alice told you, Jacob's on the train. Awkward Party 9000." I typed and hit send. I started to tap my foot to rhythm of "West Coast Friendship" by Owl City and I saw Jacob's head turn again in my direction. He knew what I was listening to simply because of the way I tapped and moved to the music.

I remembered a time when he used to think it was cute that I tapped on everything in sight and got so into the music I listened to. Towards the end, when things went sour, we were in the car and I was listening to this song. I started to tap my hands and feet and hum along when he slammed his massive hand over mine and slammed on his brakes.

"Will you stop it already?! You remind me of Quil when you do that crap! Just once I'd like to listen to a song without you ruining it by tapping on everything in sight. It drives me crazy!" he'd yelled, his eyes full of fire and annoyance.

I stared at him in disbelief and jerked my hands from beneath his. I turned my head quickly to stare out of the window and hide my tears as he slowly accelerated.

"I'm sorry." We both whispered in unison. I turned my face back towards his with the tears trickling from the corners of my eyes and wiped the back of my hand quickly over my cheeks. His eyes softened and he brought his hand back over to mine as they trembled in my lap, only this time his touch was soothing as he squeezed my fingers and brought them up towards his lips to kiss the backs of my knuckles.

I shook myself from the memory and realized he was staring at me. Blushing, I looked back down to my phone and stopped my tapping as I opened Rosalie's message.

"Uh-oh spaghettios. Do I need to cut a bitch?" Leave it to Rose and Alice to act as my protectors. I love those girls to death.

"No cutting needed, thanks though. He keeps looking over his shoulder at me. What should I do?"

I refused to look at him though I could feel him glance at me every few seconds. My phone lit up again.

"Alice just forwarded me your texts. How'd the confrontation go?"

"Awkward. Is it wrong I feel like I should apologize?"

"Not wrong, just weird. He was a total douche the last six months of your relationship."

"My exit was far from fair or graceful."

"Do what you feel you need to do. Txt or call when it's over. We'll need details." That last text was from Alice. I took a deep breath and stood up on shaky legs tugging my ear buds from my ears and sticking my IPod and phone into my book bag. I saw Jake take a deep breath and purse his lips as I slowly walked over to his seat. He looked up at me and I offered him a weak smile.

"Can we talk?" I whispered staring at my hands.

He didn't answer for a moment and I was too nervous to look him in the face. I heard the fabric of his jacket sliding against his seat as he slid over for me to sit beside him. I sat down, still staring at my hands and cleared my throat.

"Jacob, I need to apologize to you for the way I- well- for leaving the way that I did." I started, focusing intently on breathing in and out and not letting myself get choked up. Regardless of the emotion, weather it be nervousness, anger, sadness, joy, if it's an overwhelming emotion I normally burst into tears and I did not want that to happen now.

"Bella don't. It's over, it's in the past, let's leave it there. No use in beating a dead horse." He spoke softly and I chanced a quick glance at his face and noticed he too was staring intently at his own hands.

"I'm not trying to 'beat a dead horse', but whatever is in that envelope you gave me you said would help you put your mind at ease and me getting this off of my chest will do the same for me. Please, just listen to me for a minute okay?" I looked him full on in the face this time and he nodded once wiping the sweat from the palms of his hands on his jeans.

"Things were really bad between the two of us, especially the last few months we were together, we both knew that. You were constantly blowing up on me and getting angry over things that I did not understand and I was always making excuses to leave town and run from our issues." I swallowed hard and Jacob nodded slowly. "Granted, I'm not saying that we would have stayed together even if I had stuck around to talk things out, but it could have made our break up a lot less messy if I hadn't been a coward and just run away. I'm sorry for that, Jacob. I'm sorry for all of the excuses and for being so cowardly. The love we had in the beginning was incredible and I will always care about you and I do hate that everything fell apart, but I don't want us to go through life unable to forgive each other and avoiding each other like this. I don't want it to be completely awful and awkward if we so happen to run into each other once in a while."

The air between us was buzzing and the silence was thick. Jacob seemed to be deep in thought and he blew out a long hard breath before he finally spoke.

"I need to apologize too, Bella. You're right; things were really bad between us. I didn't want it to end like it did, even though we were miserable. I'm just sorry that I let my emotions get the best of me so much. I was so frustrated that your passions in life were taking you away from me so often and it got to the point that I couldn't even be happy for you. I was just completely jealous of your band and your love for music and- "he stopped, seeming to be searching for the right words, "I realized that the things we both wanted in life no longer lined up and it made me angry. I shouldn't have taken things out on you the way that I did. I especially had no excuse to ever lay my hands on you and I'm so sorry I was such a jerk."

"It was one time, Jacob. And you didn't hit me, yeah you scared the hell out of me, but you apologized for that over and over. I forgave you. You need to forgive yourself. Please?"

The knot in my stomach seemed to be unwinding and the weight I'd been carrying around was slowly being pulled from my shoulders as we finally opened these unspoken doors of communication.

Jacob's shoulders slumped as he looked over at me. I watched the stone walls he'd been hiding behind crumble away as he placed his hand over mine.

"I screwed this up. Really bad."

I nodded and sighed. "We both did."

"I moved away for the same reasons you did though. I needed to get better, to fix myself, and to heal. Only I needed to actually take responsibility for myself rather than letting you take it for me. I'm just sorry it took you walking away for me to man up. But I understand why you left now, Bella. I was horrible to you and you didn't deserve it at all. You were nothing but good to me and I took it all for granted. Yeah, towards the end you were distant and the whole breaking up and then you ditching town two days later really sucked, but you were scared. I can't say that if the tables were turned I wouldn't have done the same thing."

"Thank you, Jacob." I didn't know what else to say as the tears rolled down my cheeks. I was frustrated I let them get away from me, but it felt so good to finally hear an apology from him.

Jacob had a rough life, a father who was never there and a lot of problems he needed help with that I couldn't fix for him. We'd both made our share of big mistakes, and he'd really hurt me, but that didn't mean I should hate him. There was a reason I'd fallen in love with him in the first place and he really was a great guy deep down, just not great for me.

I sighed as he pulled his hand from the top of mine and let me wipe the tears from my face. I stuck my dry hand out and he looked at me questioningly.

"Forgiven?"

In proud Jacob fashion, he accepted my handshake, shook my arm once with a curt nod and then released my hand and dropped his back to the seat beside him.

I stood up, feeling lighter than I had in months, walked back to my seat and quickly fished my IPOD from my bag. I stuck the ear buds in my ears and turned the music to "Day Late Friend" and closed my eyes.

My phone was buzzing with texts from Alice and Rose so I fished my phone from my bag as well and texted them both, "I need sleep. I'll call you in the morning. Love you."

I slid over to the window and rested my head against the glass as the train continued on its journey and I fell into a deep sleep.

xxxx

I awoke with a start, someone was jostling my shoulder and for a second I was really confused as to where I was.

"Miss. Miss! This is the end of the line, your stop." The conductor said brusquely before he snatched the small piece of paper from the luggage rack above me. I jumped up, snatching my bag and nearly dropping my IPOD to the floor in my haste. One ear bud popped from my ear and I let it dangle as I scurried out of the train door and down the steps to the platform. I looked around sleepily and caught the sight of Jacob climbing into the passenger's seat of a van and pull away.

"Bella!" I heard my name being called and smiled as I turned and saw my mother standing with one leg in the car and the other on the pavement of the parking lot. She was bouncing up and down excitedly and waving frantically as if I wouldn't see her even though I was the last person off of the train.

I waved back and jogged up the few steps to the parking lot, dropping my bag next to the car and jumping into my mother's arms. It felt good to be with her again and I welcomed the shower of kisses she planted on my cheeks.

"Oh, baby I missed you so much!" she squealed, placing both of her hands on my cheeks and looking me over like she was inspecting me for missing parts.

"I mished you thoo." I smiled through squished cheeks.

She planted one last kiss on my right cheek as she let my face go and climbed into the car, jabbering a mile a minute. I shook my head and reached down for my book bag, shoving my IPOD back into the small front pocket. Just as I stepped to my side of the car, my phone buzzed.

I climbed into the passenger's side of the car trying to catch all of what my mother was rambling about and pulled my phone from my bag. It was a text from Edward.

"I hope you made it back to Michigan safely. Text me if you can and let me know you're safe, the girls were acting funny and got me worried about you. If you're too busy though, I do understand. Sleep sweetly, Bella."

I dropped my head back against the seat and clutched my phone to my chest. I was almost too exhausted from everything that had happened tonight and my mom continuing to talk my ear off to even think of what to say in response. It did make me feel good though to know he cared enough to check up on me.

"Alas, I survived. Thank you for checking up on me. I'll text you soon. Sleep even sweeter, Edward."

Sent.

As I drifted in and out of consciousness, my mother continued to ramble and bounce in her seat waking me up here and there to ask me questions. I held my phone against my stomach just in case I got a new message from anyone back in Chicago. Oddly enough, I was already missing being in the apartment with Rose, Alice, Em, Jazz, and Edward.

Oh, Edward. I though with a sleepy sigh.

"I saw Jake climbing off the train. Did you two run into each other?" My eyes popped back open and I turned my head towards my mother. She kept her eyes on the road and gripped the steering wheel uneasily. I took a deep breath and rubbed a hand over my face wiping away the drool that started to accumulate in the corner of my mouth. I blinked a few times and cleared my throat unnecessarily.

"Yeah, actually, we did." I said my voice low from exhaustion.

Mom was quiet for a beat before taking a deep breath and asking, "and how did that go?"

"It was awkward at first, but it was a much needed conversation, I think. I feel like a huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders." I said, nodding my head and sighing at the thought of how good I really did feel.

"Well that's good honey, I'm glad." She smiled glancing over at me and patting my knee.

"He's not moving back… is he?" she sounded worried.

"No, no. Not at all. He's just back to collect the last of his things actually and then head back to… where ever it is he moved to. I actually forgot to ask where he went." I shrugged and jumped as my phone buzzed again. I looked down into my lap and smiled when I saw it was Edward.

"Hope I'm not waking you. Thanks for the response; I'll sleep easier knowing you're safe."

I sighed and my mom chuckled beside me. I didn't look at her knowing she'd notice me blushing right away but that didn't stop her from making comments.

"Who's got you all smiles?" she laughed and I chewed on my bottom lip to keep from smiling too big.

"A friend." I looked quickly out through the passenger side window into the darkness that surrounded us.

"Would this 'friend' happen to be one of those boys you're friends from the apartment below you, Ally, and Rose?" she asked knowingly. I saw her reflection in the window as she glanced at me and raised an eyebrow in my direction.

"Maybe." I finally looked at her and couldn't keep the smile from my face.

"So you've found yourself a rebound, eh?" my smile slipped away as quickly as it appeared.

"Mom! Edward is not a rebound. He's not even my boyfriend. He's just a really great friend. A very attractive friend, yes, but I know I'm not ready to jump into a relationship with anyone right now."

"That's good, babe. Take your time."

I rolled my eyes so she couldn't see.

"Thanks Mom, I know. Believe me." I whispered staring at my screen debating on responding to the text Edward had sent. He really was a sweet heart.

I was still a little frustrated that my mom would think I'd actually go for a rebound guy. I was way too scared to trust my heart with anyone, even Edward whom I was growing more fond of every day but was refusing to admit that aloud. Not to mention that I am a lady, not a tramp, and I do not go for random hook ups or make outs. That's just not me. I'm sure she's just concerned for me she just doesn't always know how to appropriately go about getting information from me about boys or awkward circumstances.

We pulled into the drive way and I was slightly disappointed that I couldn't see our yard because of the cloudy starless sky and how late it was. If I hadn't been so tired, I probably would have waited for the sun to rise so I could watch its gorgeous reflection off of our pond.

If Edward was with me, it wouldn't matter how tired I was I'd be able to stay up and watch the sunrise with him. I thought, surprising myself at the idea.

Maybe my little chat with Jacob really had done me more good than I realized.

As I crawled into my old bed I breathed in the comforting smell of home, plugged in my phone and texted Edward.

"Not gonna lie, I wish you were here. Hope you're sleeping well. Don't miss me too much;)" and I fell asleep smiling.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

This chapter wasn't as long as I'd hoped but I felt this was a good place to end it. I'm going to update much sooner though so no worries. Sorry if this wasn't as exciting as you'd hoped!

So, I realized I'd made an error in my writing way back when. I accidentally said that Jake had moved with Quill when he, in fact, moved with Paul. Sorry for the confusion!

I know there was a lack of people other than Jake in this chapter but never fear, the others will return very soon.

I may have a little surprise for you all in the next day or two so keep an eye out for that!

Thanks to my wonderful friends who inspire and encourage my craziness. Thanks to all of you for reading and reviewing. TwiMama has the shout out in this one for being so awesome and reviewing every chapter I'd written all in like a day or two haha. You're awesome!

So much love goes out from me to you!!!!!