-:- 10 -:-

Betas: Michelle and Nyx'sReincarnation

Summary: A lie may take care of the present, but it has no future…Jacob will soon find out how every action has a reaction.

-:- Liar Liar -:-

Bella was done. She'd had enough. Angered, she threw her phone back onto her bed. It bounced and fell off. She flinched slightly at the loud thud. She had never been so mad at Jacob, her boyfriend. Or better: her soon-to-be-dumped boyfriend. This was the millionth lie in a few weeks' time, all the lies and the secrecy made Bella's blood boil. Jacob was cheating on her. Why didn't he just say so? Didn't he care enough about her to be honest? Didn't she deserve the truth?

A few minutes ago, Bella had called Jacob but Billy, his dad, had picked up the phone instead. When Bella asked if Jake was there, Billy turned her down, saying Jake needed to take care of some stuff. Yeah right.

Feeling more betrayed by the second and not liking her paranoiac thoughts, she called Jacob's mobile. After the second ring, he picked up.

"Hey Babe!" Bella ignored the warm feeling she got whenever she heard his voice.

"Hi," she said meekly. "Where are you?"

"Home?" he said very quickly and this time, Bella couldn't ignore the pang of pain that dropped from her heart and landed in her stomach. Lying, again.

This was by no means the first time. Last week, he had told her he had football practice with Seth, while Bella was with Seth at that very moment.

This had been the last drop to the imaginary bucket. She was done. She deserved better than this. A few weeks ago, she had been the happiest girl on the planet with a guy like Jake on her arm, but she refused to take this any longer. Even though she really didn't want to lose Jake, sharing him with someone else was the last thing on her mind! He was either going to be hers completely or not at all.

An hour later, she still hadn't calmed down. Rage was running through her veins. She picked up her phone from the ground and dialed Seth's number. Normally she would call Alice, her best friend, but she would shush her and say it is probably nothing to worry about. Bella had been shushed for far too long now: she was taking matters into her own hands.

She wanted to give Seth a heads-up, saying she was going to dump Jacob so that he could comfort his sorry ass later tonight. If that's even necessary, Bella thought viciously. He will probably run straight into the arms of the other one.

The real reason for calling Seth was that Bella hoped he could talk some sense into Jacob. Or else tell her who the other girl was. She wanted to know the name of the bitch she was imagining right now. Her fingers curled into an angry fist.

"This is Seth." She finally heard after she almost let the phone ring for two whole minutes.

"Seth? It's Bella." Oh, good one. Caller ID, you moron, he knows it's you. "Just calling to say I'm dumping Jacob tonight. I am so sick of his lies, Seth. You know as well as I do that he has been lying to me over and over again. He has been acting really strange lately, so either you are going to tell me what's going on or you are going to give me the name of the girl he has been seeing behind my back!?" Bella was breathing loudly. She hadn't wanted to throw it all out like that, but sometimes she got the rare case of word vomit. She was still angry, but that feeling was gently being replaced by hurt and betrayal.

A minute passed between them in silence.

"Seth?" she finally asked.

"Still here," he said quickly. "I'm just a bit shocked, Bella. I thought things were going great with you and Jake? I mean, wouldn't you want to think about it a bit more before you make a rash decision?"

That was clearly not what she wanted to hear. "I have been thinking about it, Seth, for a while now and I don't want to put up with lying, sneaking bastards. I went down that road before with Edward and I'm not doing it again," she snapped.

"Oh- Okay. Ill- I'll talk to Jake." He sounded nervous, not like the happy, confident Seth he normally was.

"Thanks," Bella said shortly and hung up. Apparently, she couldn't count on Seth, either. He was playing it down, like this was no big deal, though he had sat next to Bella, listening in on Jacob convincing her that he really was with Seth.

Bella remembered the pain in his eyes at his friend's betrayal. It probably matched hers right now.

The picture on her nightstand caught her attention. It was taken a few weeks ago during a hot summer day at the beach in La Push. Jake's dark brown eyes were looking right at her. His long, glossy black hair was pulled back in a ponytail. There was a hint of childish roundness to his chin as he planted a kiss on her cheek. Bella was smiling brightly at the camera, with her arms around his neck. Both of them were kissed by the sun. The waves and the sand in the background…That had been a fantastic day, Bella thought miserably. She looked away. The boy in the picture was no longer hers.

Bella's decision had been made: tonight would be the end of her Jacob chapter.

A few miles from Bella's house, Seth turned toward Jacob, who was sitting next to him, his face resting hopelessly in his hands.

"She wants to break up with you tonight," Seth said lightly, like Jake hadn't just heard every word Bella had said.

"I know," Jake replied.

"She thinks you are cheating on her."

"I know."

Seth couldn't fight his smile anymore. "She is going to be so surprised." He bumped his fist in the air, but Jake wasn't feeling so sure anymore. He had not seen this coming. There was no one else. Hell, he wouldn't do that to Bella. Never. He knew what she had gone through with that bastard of a Cullen.

Jake would not, could not, hurt her like that, ever.

If only Bella had waited one more day to let her stubbornness get the better of her, everything would be fine.

"So what are you going to do?" Seth clapped Jake on the shoulder.

He sighed. "Call her, and ask her out. I need to get her to The Old Diner tonight."

For the last few weeks, Jake had been organizing a surprise party for Bella's birthday next week. Turning eighteen had always been a big deal for her and Jake wanted to make it even bigger. He had made sure every detail was perfect. The right flowers. The right music. The right room. He made sure all of Bella's friends were going to be there. Hell, he even convinced Jessica and Rosalie, Bella's nieces from Phoenix, to come down here and enjoy the party. Jake knew that Bella missed the girls terribly. He had wanted to make it worthy for her. He had purposely chosen to throw the party a week prior to her birthday, because he knew Bella so well. He knew she would try to figure out what he had bought for her or if he had a surprise of any sort.

Jake had been happy that today would be the last day he had to lie to his girl. He was normally always so open with her, never holding back, never keeping secrets. The past few weeks had been harder on him than Bella could ever imagine.

Bella and him? They were solid. If only she had kept her curiosity at bay for one more day…

Here we go, Jake thought as he dialed his girlfriend's number.

"Bells?"

"Yes." Hello Ice Queen. Nice of you to stop by.

"Bells, we need to talk." Jake flinched. That was not what he wanted to say. "Can I pick you up at eight tonight?"

Bella didn't know what to say. We need to talk…Really? Her stomach was doing back flips, making her incredibly nauseous. We need to talk…that never ends well. Was he going to dump her? No way. This time, she was going check mate.

She breathed lightly through her nose, keeping her cool. "Fine. I'll see you then."

She could hear him smile. "Oh, and Bells? Put something nice on."

Jake hung up before Bella could even answer. Why would she need to put something nice on? She didn't spend too much time thinking about it, though. At least if she looked great, she could dump his ass in style.

Jake arrived at Bella's house at exactly eight on the dot. He had always been punctual, she thought, smiling a little. But then when she looked at him, and boy did he clean up nice, she couldn't suppress the anger and the hurt. She got into his car, crossed her arms and remained silent, ignoring him all together.

The butterflies in her stomach were working over hours though, and Bella was starting to doubt herself. Did she really want to throw it all away? No. What if there was another reason for his behavior? Maybe. What if she was jumping to conclusions? All the what ifs…

"You coming?" She suddenly heard next to her. Jake had stopped the car, got out, opened her door and was waiting for her to answer without her even realizing it. Wow, she had been out of it.

"Why are we at The Old Diner?" she asked, confused. The building hadn't been used for years since a couple of break-ins made the owner go bankrupt.

"You'll see," Jake said mysteriously.

"You planning on killing me and burying my body here?" Bella joked a little to ease her nerves.

"No, but I bet you would still look beautiful as a corpse in that gorgeous red dress." Bella punched him lightly. Things were always so easy between them. Breaking up was going to hurt.

Without further hesitation, she put her hand on the door handle and pushed it open. It was completely dark. She suddenly felt two hands on her shoulders and she stiffened.

"Jake, what is th-"

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BELLA!"

The lights went on and Bella blinked rapidly. The entire room had been transformed into a retro club room. There were couches, lights, disco balls. The bar had been cleaned up and everywhere were familiar faces. All her friends, Alice among them, family members, Bella saw Billy as well, smirking at her with Seth on his side. Her heart stopped a second when she saw Jessica and Rosalie.

Oh, Bella, stupid, stupid, Bella. If she could punch herself in the face, she would right now.

Instead, she turned around. "You did this?"

"Happy birthday, Bells." He smiled sheepishly. "I wanted to make it special for you and I'm sorry you got caught in the lies. That was not part of the plan."

Bella was dumbstruck. "I wanted to-" she whispered covering her mouth, feeling guilty.

"I know," he cut her off.

Bella didn't even need to ask him if there was someone else. There wasn't. Her judgmental mind had jumped to conclusions. Before the crowd could get to her, she threw her arms around her wonderful boyfriend, pressing a kiss against his dark brown neck.

"I love you," she whispered, while hugging him tighter.

She heard him smirk. "I know."