Grace's POV
Two days had passed, and even Sam was nearly brave enough to believe that the werewolf I'd seen was only passing through. We all would have thought so, except our phasing powers never came back. We all tried to phase as often as possible, but the thoughts of bitter frustration were all I could pick up almost constantly.
As if all of this wasn't bad enough, the weatherman hailed the following day a sunny day, which meant I would be trapped in my empty house instead of meeting Jacob and the others at Sam's for our conclusion-less brainstorms as I had been doing.
I curled up in bed after pulling my shade down, I didn't want to have to slowly witness my skin begin to sparkle as the sun peeked through the next morning.
The sun was spilling out of the small cracks on each side of the shade when I finally decided to get up from my usual sleepless night the next morning, the weatherman had (unfortunately) been right.
I rolled out of bed and went to take a quick shower.
When I finished, I threw on a sky blue tank and some white lounge pants. Grabbing a nearby book called City of Bones I'd been meaning to read, I flopped onto my couch downstairs.
A solid hour passed, but I was so into my book, I didn't hear the car pull up outside.
My door opened, and a wide beam of sunlight fell directly on my arm. The skin erupted into a million shining rays like diamonds studded into my body.
I jumped in surprise, standing and recoiling away from the sunlight back into the shadows of my den. I looked up; Jacob was standing in my doorway. He looked surprised, but still handsome, even with a confused look, I still liked him.
"Well, I guess that's why you didn't come to Sam's…"
I cradled my arm to my stomach and nodded.
Seeing my actions, Jacob immediately closed the door and walked swiftly to where I stood. "I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?"
I held out my arm. "No." I smiled. "It doesn't hurt, you just startled me."
He looked relieved, then sat down on the couch, kicking off his shoes. "Ok then."
I looked at him
skeptically, then sighed and fell down next to him. "What are you
doing here anyway?"
He turned on my TV with a click of the
remote, and music from MTV filled the room. He was silent, as though
he didn't want to answer.
"Jake?"
"I was worried about you, since you didn't show up at Sam's. I just wanted to check on you."
My insides warmed up like I'd just drunk my body weight in hot chocolate. "Well, you checked on me."
He kept his eyes on the screen, hesitating again. "Yeah."
"But…you're still here."
He looked up at me.
"Yeah."
Jacob's POV
I looked back at the TV so I wouldn't have to look at her. She was nothing like Bella, nothing at all. I'd had a crush on her when we were kids, but when she left without even saying goodbye, I'd taken the hint.
But she was back, and it was hard to feel so split in two.
She wasn't Bella. And I loved Bella. I couldn't love Grace.
Could I?
Grace's POV
Jacob stayed past lunch (I hardly had enough food to feed him) and we spent the day laughing as we plowed our way through two pizzas and every music video that came on MTV.
I talked with him, really caught up, and it felt so wonderful to see him smile.
Could he be getting over Bella?
Or was I trying to read too much into the fact that he was spending time with me? Was it safe to be happy?
I wanted to be, but I'd always been a cautious person. It was too easy to lose everything, so I didn't let myself have anything.
But when I was with Jacob, it was harder to believe that I could live that way.
Maybe I couldn't.