"…What?"
Haley shrugged her shoulders sheepishly. "We never actually dated," she stated simply.
Bella continued to stand there; her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. "But that…wait—"
"I'll get the whiskey." Paul stood up, rolled his shoulders and made his way into the kitchen.
Haley patted the now empty space next to her. "You can come and sit down if you want. You're looking a little pale."
"She always looks pale," they heard Paul call from the kitchen.
Bella shook her head. "I don't understand."
Haley looked surprised. "Really? I figured the whole concept of pretending to date someone was well known, but if you need me to explain it to you—"
"No," Bella snapped, cutting her off. "I'm fully aware of the concept; I just want to know why you and Jacob did it."
Haley bit her lip and refused to meet Bella's eyes. "You're mad, I get it. But it was all my idea. Jacob was pretty reluctant at first, especially the first time he saw you again at that party. You know, the night he introduced me to you as his girlfriend? He really didn't want to, but I talked him into keeping it up since I saw you giving me the evil eye, like I'd put my fingers in your cheesecake, or something." She giggled and Bella felt her eyes narrow.
"I don't like cheesecake," she said, irritated.
"Anyway," Haley continued, unperturbed, "I thought things were going well, you and Jacob were going to have lunch and then…" She finally met Bella's eyes. "And then you started dating Embry."
Bella's eyes widened and Haley nodded in understanding. "Yeah, Jacob just wanted to call it off, said that if you were happy with Embry then he should just let it be. But I don't know," Haley paused to flip her hair over her shoulder. "I sort of got the vibe that you weren't all that in to Embry, to be honest."
You'd be correct.
Bella turned away from Haley, letting the information wash over her. It was…slightly unbelievable.
"But…what about that time Mia made you cry? She mentioned Jake and you started to cry? It was that day that Jacob fondled me by accident."
Haley scoffed. "We're all girls here, you don't have to pretend you didn't enjoy that," she said, smirking.
"I have a dick, thank you very much," Paul called again from the kitchen.
"What Mia witnessed," Haley continued again, choosing to ignore her boyfriend, "was me putting on a truly great performance, if I do say so myself."
"So all the arguing and yelling in the parking lot that day, all the arguing in general was—"
"All fake," Haley nodded.
Bella continued to stand there, quietly sorting out everything in her mind. Something was starting to bubble up in her throat, but she took a deep breath and pushed it down. "I have to go; Jacob and I need to talk."
Haley opened her mouth to protest but Bella was already half way to the door.
She spotted Paul out of the corner of her eyes. "But…I just now found the Jack Daniels!"
The walk back to Leah's house took considerably less time than the walk to Haley's had felt. Probably because as soon as Bella rounded the corner and spotted Mia's car still parked out on the street she broke into a sprint. Stumbling inside, she felt that feeling start to bubble up again in her throat, but she ignored it.
She turned into the hallway where she had left Embry and Mia.
"Yeah bro, Swan and I weren't actually dating."
Rounding the corner, Bella was met with the sight of a surprised looking Jacob, a sheepish Embry and a sleepy Mia, who was sitting up and running her fingers through her hair.
"That doesn't….wait….what?" Jacob's gaze was flying across all of the faces now looking at him "You two never actually…but that means…"
The feeling was back, once again bubbling up in Bella's throat and constricting her chest. Her lips started to twitch, and when Jacob turned to stare at her, his expression was just as shocked as her's had been back at Haley's house.
Bella snorted.
And then she started to laugh, a belly-aching, knee slapping kind of laugh. She doubled over, laughing so hard that tears swam in her eyes.
"The hell is her problem?" Mia asked.
Gasping for breath, Bella pointed a shaking finger at Jacob. "He and Haley were-" Chuckle. "Never actually—" Giggle. "They were fake dating too!" Bella's cheeks were starting to ache.
"WHAT?" Embry shouted, standing up and making wide gestures in Jacob's direction. "You assholes never told me!"
Jacob's lips trembled, but finally a huge grin stretched across his face. "That's 'cause you can't keep a secret." And then he too started to laugh. He slid down the wall and onto the floor, his hands clutching at his sides.
Mia pouted. "Well I don't feel nearly as clever as I did five minutes ago."
A door down the hallway opened and a messy and annoyed Leah stepped out. "What are you all still doing here?" She asked, glowering.
Mia perked up. "Hey Leah, guess what? Jacob and Bella had sex on your nice leather loveseat! Isn't that nice?"
Leah's face began to twist with rage, her eyes narrowing to slits.
"Abort! Abort!" Embry cried and everyone scrambled out the door.
When Embry and Mia sprinted to Mia's car, Jacob grabbed onto Bella's hand and steered her to the right. "Is it okay if we talk?" he questioned, looking down at her, a half smile playing across his face.
Bella nodded and returned the smile, and Jacob gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.
Five minutes later they were walking onto First Beach and Bella's grip on Jacob's hand tightened. She moved in closer to him, savoring the warmth he provided and eyeing the waves that were pounding onto the shore.
"I hope you're not mad about what happened Bella," Jacob said softly, his eyes surveying the sea as they began to stroll down the beach.
"I'm not mad. I did the exact same thing, remember?"
Jacob shrugged half heartedly. "Yeah, but I sort of started it."
"Haley started it. Mia finished it."
Jacob chuckled.
Bella furrowed her eyebrows. "How do you even know Haley?"
"She's been Paul's girlfriend for nearly a year. She's um…kind of nosy in the nicest way, if that makes sense."
"Okay, explain to me how Embry knew nothing."
"That's easy. He's been at college, and since he got back this summer he's thought of nothing but Mia. Also, he's a bit dopey."
"In the nicest of ways," Bella finished for him. She glanced up at him, suddenly feeling embarrassed. "So about last night—"
"Last night was fucking awesome." His eyes widened with terror. "Oh god, please say you remember what happened. I didn't think you were drunk—"
"I remember very well," Bella said. She watched with amusement as he sighed in relief. "Oh thank god."
"I was talking about what happened after, what we said—"
"I love you." He stopped walking and turned around to face her. He shrugged his shoulders and gave her a simple smile. "It's sort of a well known fact around here."
Bella felt a grin stretch across her face and she entwined her fingers in his. "I love you too. I said it back, but you may have been sleeping or something—"
Jacob interrupted her by cupping her face and kissing her, his lips soft and warm against hers. He pulled away before she could try to deepen it. "I'm glad I didn't imagine that part," he remarked before leaning back in and kissing her forehead.
"So," Bella began as she leaned into his chest. "Can we talk about dating and a relationship now?"
She felt his chest shake with laughter. "I don't know Bells, can it be a real one this time?"
A/N: And so ends the last chapter! Epilogue should be up within the next couple of days. :)
I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter providing encouragement and kind words. You guys, my readers, are simply amazing and I doubt this story would be so close to completion if it wasn't for you guys. So thank you so much! You all mean the world to me.
Since we only have the epilogue left, if you have any questions you want to ask, anything at all pertaining to this story, go ahead and ask. I'll answer them in a Q&A at the end of the epilogue. What can I say, I want to feel snazzy and professional.
Anyway, thanks so much for reading and please review!