Hey guys! Sorry to get this too you late and so short. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
Edward P.O.V.
Three days after Bella decided to knee me in the nuts, things were starting to get really weird in my house. Alice and Bella started getting along well. Really well. It was freaking me out.
In addition to that, Emmett had become all chummy with her. Hell, he even wanted to invite her to the party he was planning for Crazy Mike's.
But worst of all, I realized that I was beginning to like her too. Just a little. Just enough to worry myself.
Bella P.O.V.
It was Friday the 17th – not six days after my punishment began – that something happened to derail it.
I came downstairs dressed in my usual clothes with my usual pony-stump and my usual scowl to find my grandpa and his friends at it again. They sat around the kitchen table, drinking beer and eating potato chips while they played poker. I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall, staring at the back of Grandpa's balding head. He didn't notice me. Neither did everyone else – except for Billy. When I came around the corner, he gave me a slight nod, which I returned.
I loved Billy. He was like the grandfather I wished I could have.
Billy winked at me from across the table, and I grinned back. I liked watching him kick everyone's butt at poker – even if it meant being in the same room as my grandpa.
"Now that Isabella has joined us," Grandpa said, making me jump, "why don't you say hello, Jacob?"
Jacob? I turned around, and to my surprise there was an unfamiliar guy sitting on the couch, drinking a soda.
He nodded at me, like all boys do. "Hey."
"Hi," I responded, not sure why he was there.
"Bella, this is my grandson, Jacob," Billy said. I cocked my head at him. "Peter thought that you two would get along nicely, so I brought him with me today."
I sent my iciest glare toward Grandpa, but he had already put all of his attention back on the poker game, effectively shutting me out. Again.
I turned to Jacob, who was looking at me like he would rather be getting brain surgery than sitting in my grandparents' living room.
"Uh, hi," I said, uncomfortable beneath his gaze. He looked to be around as tall as Edward, but had a much tanner skin tone and Native American features. He looked like a much younger, handsomer Billy. His black hair was short and a little messy, like he'd been dragged to the house without time to brush it.
Jacob sighed and took a sip of his soda.
Okay?
The doorbell rang then, and I was almost happy that I could escape the awkwardness that Jacob made me feel. But Grandpa managed to somehow beat me to the door and he opened it.
"Hello, Edward," he said.
Edward looked a little confused, but he said, "Hi, Peter."
"I'm sorry, but Bella won't be cleaning today. She'll make up for it tomorrow."
What neither me nor Edward mentioned was that with me coming over every day – plus the Cullens' mom was a total neat freak – the house hardly needed to be touched with cleaning supplies. It basically sparkled on its own now. The past couple of days had consisted of Alice trying to get me to watch Gilmore Girls and Emmett trying to get me to play videogames.
"Okay," Edward said, looking over my grandpa's shoulder and at me. He gave me a look that asked me, what the hell is going on?
I jerked my head at Jacob lounging on the couch beside me. When Edward's eyes landed on the guy, they suddenly flamed up. His eyebrows scrunched up and his mouth turned down.
Grandpa didn't seem to notice his change in facial expression. "Have a good day, son," he said, shutting the door before I could fully decipher the look on Edward's face.
Jacob snorted. "You have to clean Cullen's house?"
I turned back to him, crossing my arms. "Yeah."
He quirked an eyebrow. "And why's that?"
This annoyed me for some reason. I hardly knew this guy. Why did he even care? "None of your business."
Grandpa smacked me on the back of my head, and I hissed, "Ow!" Damn old man.
"Be nice. You two are going to get along whether you like it or not."
Jacob chuckled and put his clunky hiking-boot-covered feet up on the coffee table. "Really, Pops? And who's gonna make us?"
I smiled a little bit at that, but hid it quickly when I heard Billy's stern grunt from the kitchen table.
Grandpa sighed and said to me, "You're going to be nice, got it? I don't want to hear that mouth of yours spouting off crap." He turned away, and I made a face at him, behind his back. The other guys at the table all caught it and started howling with laughter. Grandpa whipped around to glare at me, but by that time I was already looking at Jacob again.
"So your name is Bella?" He asked, flashing me a grin. He reminded me of the Cheshire cat, with that cheeky look plastered on his face. Like a cat that just got the canary.
"Yeah," I said. "And your name is Jacob."
"Call me Jake." He insisted, grinning yet again.
I smiled, but it was fake and quick. "Uh, sure."
Then an awkward silence ensued. I stood there, my arms crossed, tapping my fingers to a song stuck in my head. He sat there, staring off into space and sipping his soda. I imagined if we had met outside of my grandparent's house, we probably would have hit it off. Maybe even kissed or danced. But something about being set up by your Grandpa throws your whole world off. It's not natural.
Sighing, I sat down on the couch next to Jake and turned on the TV with the remote. He sighed too and held up his soda next to my remote.
"Cheers," he said, smiling wryly.
Edward P.O.V.
Was that seriously Jacob Fucking Black? Was he actually sitting in Bella's living room, drinking a Coke, nodding at me like we were buds or something?
I'd heard of stuff like this happening, but only in movies and shit. It was like a stupid soap opera.
I walked into the house in a daze, my head still trying to process everything. Seeing Jacob again, this soon after school got out really threw me. It had been hard enough seeing him in the hallway after she dumped me. Not to mention the fight…
I was thrown from my daze when Emmett grabbed my shirt, shook me, and yelled, "Dude, come back down to Earth!"
"Huh?"
"I said, 'You look like crap. Where's Bells?'"
"Not coming. She's got other plans today."
Emmett cocked his head to the side. "But what about Peter? Won't he be pissed?"
"Obviously he wasn't, since he was the one who answered the door and then shut it in my face. But not before I saw Jacob Black sitting in their house."
Then my brother gasped – like an actual dramatic intake of breath. I'd only heard that shit in movies too.
"So if you don't mind, I'm going to go to my room now."
I felt Emmett's eyes on my back, but I didn't turn around. He knew the jist of what had happened, but I hadn't really explained the gory details to anyone. Nobody knew exactly what had gone down between me and Tanya, not even Alice. And I was planning on keeping it that way.
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Asta-la-bye-bye!
