Bye Bye Love- The Everly Brothers

A/N: Chapter 14 is here! Be happy.

Disclaimer: Somehow I don't think this is ever going to change. I'm not Stephenie Meyer, and I'm not getting paid to post/write this.

Jacob's POV

Time was passing quickly; time flies when you're having fun. And I was having some serious fun.

Being friends with Andrea was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. I thought back to the time when I'd thought Bella was the center of the universe. Now I understood. Annie was the center of everything. The world was held together because she existed.

She kept me in place, tethered me to the earth's surface. Without her I would float away into and be consumed by the darkness. I would never come back. If she left me I would leave me too. It would be the end of everything.

Every moment of every day I was thinking of her. She had completely invaded my brain and I didn't mind it. When I was with her I concentrated on keeping her happy; when I was away from her I thought up new ways to draw her nearer to me. Nothing mattered as much as she did. Nothing would ever matter as much as she did.

Her face, her hair, her scent, her body...everything about her pulled me in. I kept wanting to be closer. I always seemed to want more. More time, more physical contact, more conversation. More of everything and anything. I took what I could get.

The few days that had passed had been eventful. It was becoming clear that Andrea not only accepted me as part of her life, but was enjoying my presence there. She laughed at my jokes and smiled when I showed up on her doorstep uninvited. She'd asked me to have breakfast with herself and the rest of her family twice and I felt that both times had gone extremely well.

Most of her siblings had welcomed me with open arms. Not all, but most. Samantha was highly suspicious and John was right behind her. I understood the boy's motivations, I was a male entering his territory, he felt the need to protect. That was easily remedied. I'd just needed to reassure him, privately, that I meant no harm. That and I promised to teach him how to ride my motorcycle.

Samantha wasn't so quick to be deterred. At first she'd refused to allow me to be left alone in the same room as Andrea. Luckily Ann had quickly realized her sisters intentions and told her to 'butt out'. Samantha however was ready with other less noticeable plans for keeping me away from her sister. Things seemed to happen whenever I was about to get a moment alone with Andrea; things like the accidental breakage of dishes or the sucking up of a small toy by the vacuum.

Despite her best efforts however Andrea and I were growing closer. We were spending more and more time together and I figured that there was no better time to ask her out.

"Umm,what? You get that we're only friends right? I thought I explained this to you clearly."

"I know that. Not 'go out' as in date, but 'go out' as in go to a late night tribal council meeting involving food, legends, and probably some fights." With Paul there that was a given.

"I don't know Jacob..."

"Oh come on! I really want you to come with me!" If I had to get on my knees and beg I would do it. It was customary that pack members brought their imprints to meetings when possible. I wanted her there, I'd already cleared it with everyone.

She looked unconvinced so I took a different route. "I thought this was what people who were friends did Ann. I want you to meet my other friends and like them."

"Well, what if I don't like them? What if we don't get along?" I knew enough about girls to understand what she was actually asking.

"You'll be fine, they'll all like you," I reached for her hand, patting it. "They know you're going to be there, they'll be on their best behavior. Please come with me!"

She was caving I could see it. "I suppose I could go, but only if you're sure they'll, I mean, I'll be able to get along with them."

I rolled my eyes at her. "It won't be a problem, trust me." They already accepted her as family, she was an imprint after all.

"Maybe," she was hesitant. "...Alright."

I sucked inward, I needed the air. Unfortunately a fly happened to flitting past, was caught in the flow and ended up in my mouth. I coughed and hacked, but it went down.

Ann patted me on the back, it didn't do much. She was probably using all her strength. It didn't matter. She was touching me. I even kept the coughing up for a bit longer than necessary.

"Are you okay?" she sounded so concerned! This was heaven. Never mind that I'd been choking on a fly. Never mind that said fly was now being digested by my stomach. All that mattered was that Andrea was touching my arm and looking up at me with those beautiful green eyes of hers. "Jacob! I asked if you were all right!" She shook my arm.

I blinked out of my thoughts to answer her. "Sorry, the fly went down. I'm good." Better than good, I was walking on air.

She made a face at me. "By what time do I need to be ready?"

I'd left her to do whatever it was girls did before they felt like they could leave the house. That was one secret I was sure that I would never want to know the answer to.

Back at Rez I helped set up the drift wood fire while trying to contain my excitement. The others rolled their eyes at me, but I didn't care. This would be Andrea's first pack meeting and that was a big thing. It was a definite step in the right direction. Now all I had to do was keep things running smoothly.

While I waited for four thirty to roll around, I'd decided to show up a little early, I worked on the Rabbit. I wanted it clean and nice-smelling when I picked her up.

I opened all the doors to air it out and then set to work on de-junking the inside. I found a few things I'd thought I'd lost, a shoe, a very old math sheet that I'd known I'd done; as well as a few surprises. There was some cheese under the passenger seat, and a bunch of mushy, now brown grapes in the back. I didn't know where half the things I found had come from.

I then set to vacuuming it out with the hand held portable. Crumbs, wrappers, and small pieces of hard candy were all sucked inside. I sprayed it with an air freshener that claimed to smell like green apple.

With all that finished I had nothing to do but wait.

I hung around the house for a while, flipping through the television channels with the remote. I passed by Rachel Ray on the Food Network, and some girly movie on WE. Nothing.

After investigating the refrigerator and finding zilch I left to raid Emily's kitchen. Sam didn't like us hanging around when he wasn't there, but had never specifically forbidden it. Besides I was convinced that Emily found it funny when we partially disobeyed Sam.

She watched me approach through the living room window; I saw her roll her eyes at me. I didn't knock and once I was inside headed for the kitchen.

"Shouldn't you be somewhere other than my house?"

I nodded without turning from my position in front of the refrigerator. "Probably, but I'm out of food and hungry."

"Hmmm," she left me alone after that. I could hear her watching some TV show about babies...

Babies?

"Hey, uhh, Emily," I sat down next to her on the tiny couch, it wasn't much bigger than mine. "Since when are you interested in children?"

She jumped, startled and changed the channel. I caught her glancing at me, hoping that she could undo whatever damage had been done.

"Don't tell me anything you don't want me thinking about." I warned her.

"Then I won't say anything at all. You'd better leave though, don't you want to look presentable?"

She was right about that. So even though I'd failed to fill my empty stomach I left Emily to do whatever it was she was doing. She'd successfully distracted me from my quest to find food and had instead directed me to my dresser it's contents. Or lack there of.

I'd never had a reason to 'dress up' before and hadn't expected one to ever come up. Even if I'd wanted anything more I would have had to work for the money to get them, something I'd never been willing to do. Now I had to make due with what I had. Normally I wouldn't have cared at all about I was wearing, but I wanted to look...respectable. In other words I didn't want Andrea to think that I'd just thrown on whatever my hands touched first.

Sure that was what I was going to do, but I didn't want her to know that.

I didn't stop to look in the mirror before I flew out the door and into the Rabbit, I couldn't stop twitching. I'd never been so excited in all my life. Not only had I found 'the one', but I now got to share something important to me with her. The feeling was better than any I'd ever experienced before.

As I turned onto the long driveway my excitement changed into a dull sense of panic. What if she'd changed her mind? What if this drove us apart? Was she ready for all this? She'd been hesitant about accepting my invitation, what if she didn't really want to go? Had I pushed her into saying yes?

I rang the doorbell and stepped back from the porch. Waiting, with baited breath for someone to answer.

When she opened the door I stopped breathing completely. Ann was wearing a white, cotton summer dress that ended just above her knees. It banded at the waist and had an added bow in the back. On her feet were ballet flats. She couldn't have been more stunning.

I noted the blush had appeared on her cheeks as she approached me; she must have noticed my staring.

"I know you're feeling self-conscious, but I won't apologize for staring."

Her face went from faint red to dark burgundy in a matter of seconds. "I knew I looked horrible, I shouldn't have let Abby dress me up..."

I couldn't believe that she thought she looked anything less than disconcertingly beautiful. Her fears were completely unfounded and utterly absurd. "What are you talking about?! Are you blind!?"

So maybe that wasn't the best way to phrase my surprise at her lack of self-confidence. She turned away from me; I would have been worried that she'd taken offense at my comments except that I could hear the smile in her voice as she asked,

"Is that your car?"

All thoughts of the previous conversation disappeared in an instant. This was my chance to impress her. To regale her with tales of how I'd built it, persevered through rain, snow and shine. Of how I'd worked to save money to pay for parts, and had done it all on my own.

"Uhh, yeah." My verbal communication skills had failed me just when I needed them the most.

"So," she said.

"So," I repeated.

She gave me a tight smile before saying, "Should we get going now or what?"

"You'll be fine," I soothed as I opened the passenger side door for her, trying to be a gentleman. A moment later though, when she hadn't gotten in, I started worrying that I had somehow offended her. Had I accidentally insulted her? She'd never come across as the femenazi type, but what did I know? I really, really hoped she wasn't a femenazi. That would be just my luck, of all the girls to fall for...

"Is something wrong?" I asked, trying to keep the concern from my voice.

"Well, I actually expected it, I mean the car, to be sort of, not so unsoiled." She shrugged and got in. I shut the door and let out a sigh of relief as I too climbed inside.

"It's a pleasant surprise," she commented, leaning back in her seat.

"Does that mean it's passed inspection?" I joked.

She rolled her eyes at me. "Yeah."

The rest of the ride passed in silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable, it wasn't even awkward. I took it as a good sign.

It wasn't long before we reached the reservation. I parked outside my house, helped Ann out of the car and then led her toward the beach. It was an uneventful walk. We passed a few other houses, and a couple of cars including Sam's new-used Geo.

We didn't speak, well, she didn't speak. I commented on things as we went by them and waited patiently for some kind of response. If I was lucky she'd nod or shrug. It was clear that her feelings of inadequacy had not yet passed. I didn't know how to alleviate her fears. I came to the decision that the best I could do was stay by her side and try to show her why those worries were unnecessary. I didn't think I would ever get used to the idea that she didn't see herself the way I saw her.

Soon enough we came upon the already roaring bonfire and were accosted by the pack. I knew Andrea wasn't going to appreciate their attempts friendliness. There wasn't much I could do but try to get us away from them as soon as possible.

"So Jake, is this her?" Embry asked.

"Well, is it?"

"No, guys, it's obviously his oldest sister's best friend's second cousin twice removed," Leah answered with a roll of her eyes.

They were all speaking loudly and at once, I could barely make out what they were saying; it must've sounded like a bunch of mindless chatter to Ann.

"Hey, back off!" I warned. They were closing in, trying to push each other out of the way. Though I certainly didn't mind the way Andrea was pressing into my side it meant that she was feeling claustrophobic. "You're making her uncomfortable!"

I was contemplating violence and almost ready to hit whoever it was that was closest to me when I heard a car door slam shut.

"Oh, this sure is heavy!" I looked around to see Emily pushing Sam away as he tried to help her with a box full of food. "I really wish someone would come and help me!" Sam looked as confused as I was and once again tired, unsuccessfully, to take it from her. "Whoever did that would deserve some kind of reward...like maybe the first few hot dogs?"

It was then that I realized her plan. Heads snapped up and the crowed around us moved toward Emily.

Ann let out a sigh. "Thank God for that. Who is she?" she asked, nodding toward where the group had converged.

"That's Emily," I answered. "We should probably thank her later." Andrea nodded her head in agreement and allowed me to guide her toward the center of the activity.

I introduced her to everyone and she was a sweet and polite as could be. I knew it was difficult for her to speak to so many strangers and to answer their questions but all things considered she did very well, only occasionally stumbling over her words.

Soon enough it was time to fight for your sustenance and gather around the fire for legend-telling. I advised Andrea to let me handle the food.

"You don't have to tell me twice," she'd muttered as she sat on a log. She was a smart girl.

I didn't know what she would want, but I knew what I would want, so I got two plate fulls of everything. She rolled her eyes at me when I handed her one and started on my own. I ended up having more than half of hers as well, her lack of appetite worried me.

"Jacob, I realize that you and your strange friends are able to eat half a cow each, but that doesn't mean that everyone can."

It wasn't long after that everyone began to quiet down and prepare to listen to the long told histories of our tribe.

My mind began wandering nearly as soon as Billy started speaking. I'd heard them all before and they didn't concern me at the moment. I was watching Andrea, hoping to see her reaction to what I knew to be my past. She listened, wide eyed as my father went on and on about our tribe's background.

Her hair, looking almost blue in the firelight, shinned. Her jade colored eyes glittered as she listened, soaking in all the new information. I could tell that she was enjoying herself and watching her made me happy too, things were going better than I could have ever planned.

And then life threw me a curve ball.

"Aww damn," I muttered. I watched silently as Andrea's posture became rigid, tuning out the story I'd heard a million times. The first imprint. Of all the ones that could have been told, he'd had to use this one. I was almost sure I'd mentioned that Andrea didn't know anything about imprinting, much less the entire story.

I'd been planning to tell her at some unknown later date. When the time was right. I'd wanted to hold off until I was sure that it was possible for her to take it all in. I'd hoped to wait until she could look at all sides of the 'problem' and consider it objectively.

It seemed that fate had other plans.

Annie's POV

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Of all the things to keep from me, of all the stories to withhold, he picked this one.

It was extremely difficult to sit still until the end of the 'storytelling', but I didn't want to seem rude. Getting up in the middle of a tribal council meeting would make me appear ill-mannered. I wouldn't disrespect my mother's memory that way. However, as soon as an acceptable amount of time had passed after the last few uttered words regarding legend I very sweetly told Jacob that I needed to speak with him. Alone.

He trailed silently along behind me as I stalked away from the blue-green bonfire, up the beach and toward the cliffs. I stopped when I was near enough to the edge of a smaller drop-off to both see and hear the waves crashing against the rock. I could feel the spray of the water and the salt stung my eyes. I didn't care though, I could think of nothing but the information that had been so recently reveled to me.

For a moment I stood silently with my back to him then, quiet suddenly, I couldn't hold it together any more. I whirled around to face him and started shouting a string of meaningless words and phrases that were intended to do nothing but cause him pain. My mind didn't catch up with my mouth for a full minute and by the time it did I had no idea what I'd just said. Whatever it was had done it's job, his face was twisted with badly suppressed anguish. I couldn't make myself feel sorry for hurting him because he'd hurt me first and I felt justified in my anger.

I knew my logic was flawed, but in the heat of the moment it didn't matter.

"How could you have kept that from me!? Jacob! All this time, acting like you wanted to be friends..."

"I do want to be friends Andrea! As long as that's what you want it's what I want!"

He tried to defend himself but I was having none of it. I didn't believe him, how could I?

"I am going home, now. And you will not follow me. I will call you later, maybe." I stomped away to deal with my extremely confused thoughts. I didn't care that I was going to have to walk all the way back to the house in the dark. I didn't care that it was most likely going to rain and that I didn't have an umbrella and would therefore get soaking wet, catch a cold that would evolve into pneumonia and die.

I didn't care about any of that.

What I did care about was that Jacob had lied to me. He'd pretended to be my friend to gain more. I didn't want more! I also cared about finding out why it bothered me as much as it did. I'd been fairly sure that I was keeping a safe distance between him and myself.

What was all that imprinting nonsense about anyway? Didn't the 'imprintee' get a say? What if she didn't want it? What if she was happy just staying friends with the one who had done the imprinting? What if she didn't even want that much?

I kept my head down and focused on what I could see of the road side. I didn't want to trip or anything. That would be the icing on the cake. Not only would I be wet and cold, but I'd also be bleeding. Which would kill me first? I wondered. The pneumonia or the infected cut? Maybe they'd have to amputate which ever limb was harmed.

So focused on my morbid musings was I that the small blue Geo Prizm I'd seen by the beach was nearly on top of me before I noticed it. It was moving slowing and eventually following beside me at a crawl.

"Hello, Andrea?" I sighed and stopped, turning to face the now rolled down window. "I know we just met and all, but I'd feel a lot better if you'd let me drive you home."

It was the girl with the scars. Emily? She'd called off the welcoming party who'd met us on the beach. I'd guessed that she was an imprint, she'd been sitting with someone called Sam who looked a lot like Jacob. Extremely big and very tall. She wasn't exactly a stranger and maybe she'd have some answers to my questions. That, and I didn't really want to die from pneumonia and/or lose a limb.

"Yeah, I guess that'd be alright." I got in the old, broken down car and buckled my seatbelt.

For a few minutes there was silence in the car and then she asked, "So, he really didn't tell you?"

I nodded stiffly. "That's right."

"That stupid, stupid boy," she muttered. She let out a sigh. "You'll have to excuse his lack of tact. I suppose it didn't occur to him that that particular story would be told tonight."

I couldn't stop the questions that bubbled to my lips then. "Why didn't he tell me? Why did he let me think he only wanted friendship?" I forced my mouth to stop allowing words to exit, annoyed at myself for not being able to hold my tongue.

"Hmm, Jacob's the only one who can answer your first question. I don't know what motivated him to keep that secret to himself. As for the second...I don't believe he was leading you on. I don't think he could. Not knowing that friendship was what you really wanted." She pulled over and stopped the car. Turning to look at me she said, "I won't say that he might not have hoped for more later on, but as long as you were content then so was he."

I was unconvinced, and she could see that. "I realize that it was a bit of a shock to you. Believe me when I say that I understand your reaction. I was more than angry when I found out..." she shook her head. "That story, however, doesn't relate to the present situation. You must have many questions, I'll answer everything I can, and I promise that I'll keep quiet about it."

She was right, there were a great many things that I needed to know. And she looked like a trustworthy sort of person. Besides, who else was I going to ask?

The next hour or so was spent in a constant flow of conversation. Emily told me all she knew about imprinting, all the things I now wanted to know. Well, most of the things I wanted to know. She couldn't tell me anything about why Jacob had done what he did. I hadn't expected her too though, so it wasn't much of a loss. All in all I gained great insight to the 'pack mind' and all the stipulations that went along with being a werewolf.

"Andrea," she said, once I'd asked everything I felt comfortable asking. She put a hand on my shoulder. "I think you're a really great girl and I can sympathize with you. I understand the situation better than you will ever know." I nodded. "So I'm going to give you some advice and I really hope you take it. My life would have been a hell of a lot easier if I'd had someone to say this to me." She looked me square in the eye and then told me, "Give Jacob the benefit of the doubt. Don't stay angry at him for any longer than you have too. Let him apologize."

I felt my lips jut out in a pout. "Why should I?"

She sighed. "Because he's a stupid, idiotic boy. He doesn't know what he's doing. This is all very new for him. That and, well, I don't want to have to deal with him moping around the Reservation for the next week and a half." The look on her face at the idea of it was hilarious.

I tired very hard to keep a straight face and failed miserably. I'd meant to only let out a giggle and then the dam broke. We simultaneously burst into laughter that lasted for a least ten minutes. It must've been the exhaustion.

After she'd sobered up, I was still giggling, she finished our conversation. "I think it's time for you to go home now. Not that this wasn't insanely entertaining and enlightening, but I am starting to get a little sleepy." With that she re-started her car and had me home within fifteen minutes.

I crept quietly into the house and to my bedroom, changed into my most comfortable pajamas and crawled under the covers as quickly as I could. All I wanted to do now was fall into the darkness that was unconsciousness and forget about everything had happened. I didn't want to think about Jacob anymore tonight. Or today, whatever.

Of course sleep didn't come as easily as I wanted it to and I found that trying not to think of something inevitably led to thinking about it.

I couldn't keep Jacob out of my head. As much as I wanted to keep it simple and blame him for everything I knew that it wouldn't be fair. I couldn't do it. I knew, deep down, that he wouldn't have pushed me farther than I was willing to go. That story had been a shocker though! And I was still feeling betrayed. He should have told me in the beginning instead of letting me find out this way. I didn't imagine that he'd meant for me to learn of imprinting from anyone other than himself, but if he'd just sucked it up let me know then this wouldn't have happened.

He was going to have to sweat it out for a few days. I wanted him to be nervous, I wasn't ready to completely forgive him yet. I would eventually and it wouldn't be long, but not yet.

With my decision made I finally felt the sensation of falling asleep. My thoughts began to wander, stopped making sense and before I knew what happened I was dreaming of nonsense words that had no meaning.

It felt like I had only been asleep for a minute or two when a bright light woke me up. Surely it wasn't morning yet?

I rolled over with a groan and shielded my eyes from the near blinding light that had been turned on. I caught sight of my alarm clock and noted that it was only four in the morning. I wondered idly why anyone would be awake at this hour.

"Ann!" Samantha, of course. She was the only one who would do this to me. "Come on, get up," she was shaking me. "It's time to have...the talk."

"What do you mean 'the talk'?" I mumbled. We'd already done that, two years ago when she'd had her first boyfriend.

"I mean the Andrea is hanging out with a guy who is both literally and figuratively hot talk. I know something is going on okay? I'm not stupid."

I forced myself onto my back and cracked open an eye. "I know you aren't stupid and I never said you were."

Her head was nodding. "Good, then you won't mind telling me what it was you two were doing that kept you out until well after one o'clock in the morning."

There was no getting her away from the subject. Once she was set on something she wanted she kept going until she got it. She sort of reminded me of the energizer bunny. I decided that it would be better to get it over with. "Honestly, we didn't do much. It was a party Sammy, food and music. And some storytelling. I got tired and a La Push girl gave me a ride home, that's all. No secrets." That wasn't completely true, but she didn't need to know that.

She seemed disappointed. "Oh," her face brightened. "Well, then let me ask you about the eye sex."

"The eye what?" I didn't understand what she was talking about nor was I sure that I'd heard her correctly.

Her smile was reminiscent of the Cheshire cat's grin. "The eye sex, not on your part, on his. Don't tell me you've never noticed the way he looks at you?"

I felt my head shaking. Surely she was joking?

"Oh my gosh Ann! You're blind! He's practically making love to you!" She flopped onto the bed dramatically. "How have you not seen that?"

"I think the real questions are why were you looking and how can you tell?" This wasn't making any sense and I wasn't convinced that I was even actually awake.

"It's obvious to anyone with half a brain. Why do you think I'm so against you two being together?"

I hoisted myself up onto my elbows and glared at her. "We are not 'together'."

It was clear that she didn't believe me. "If you're not now then you will be later. I can see it." She let out a sigh. "I have to say that I wish you wouldn't."

It was then that I realized just how hard all of this had been on Samantha. While she hadn't witnessed the problem first hand as I had she had probably guessed just about everything. She was going to start eleventh grade in new school in just a couple of weeks, she'd needed to leave everything thing behind.

Could I say that she was being selfish for not wanting more change? No, not really. I didn't blame her for feeling the way she did. At the same time though she had to understand that this wasn't about her. Whatever happened between Jacob and I, while it would inevitably effect her, wouldn't change everything the way she seemed to think it would.

"Samantha, I can't make any promises. I really can't. I wish I knew where life was going, but I don't. If there's one thing I've learned in these last few weeks it's that I don't know as much as I thought I did." I sat up moved to sit on the edge of the bed beside her. "I know you think that Jacob is out to destroy everything you hold dear and to come between us..." I didn't know how to explain it too her. Maybe it was something one had to learn on their own? "These sort of things happen. Relationships happen, sometimes they fall apart and sometimes better things fall together and..."

I knew that I wasn't making much sense. I didn't know what I was talking about, I was normally much better at the 'advice' talks. "Okay, this isn't coming out right at all. I'm too tired to do this right now, can we please postpone the reassurances for later today?"

Sam didn't look like she wanted to say yes, not at all. As soon as I saw her eyes roll though, I knew that I'd won myself a bit more time. "Fine. First thing though, as soon as you wake up."

"Sure, great, awesome." I just wanted sleep. "Now please turn off that horrible light and let me rest!" She did as I asked and as soon as I heard the door click shut I turned off the bedside lamp and crawled under the covers.

Slumber eluded me of course. Samantha had dredged up exactly what I hadn't wanted to think about.

What was I going to tell her in the morning?

A/N: Sorry this took so long! School has once again begun and it's my senior year so I'm applying to college (not in the plural, there is only one place I want to go) and writing the essays so that cuts into fanfic time. But I swear that I was actively working on this chapter every day.

P.S. There is a link to the picture of Ann's dress on my profile!

Here's a joke:

Question- What did the fish say when it swam into a wall?

Answer- ?

If you know the answer send it in a review! If you don't know review and I'll send it to you.

BTW, I'm pretty upset that I only got 3 reviews for the last chapter. There are only 2 left (no more than that, maybe less...) and an epilogue, bringing the chapter count to 17(possibly). Then that's it! No more GM. So I seriously want some reviews.