"And what are you smiling about, Iz?"
Leah nudged Isabella cheekily as she sat beside her on the bench.
"It wouldn't have anything to do with that man of yours, would it?" she prodded when Isabella just wiped the sweat from her brow and took a sip of her water.
Leah didn't miss her friend's lips twitch at her words and her cheeks growing redder by the second.
"Oh my God! You kissed him, didn't you?"
Isabella ducked her head as memories of the previous night flooded her mind - the way she'd felt on fire as his lips had touched hers and his hands had drawn her closer to his warm body...
"You didn't," a gruff voice interrupted, against the clatter of a weight being dropped. Bella's jaw clenched as Jacob approached. "Iz, did you ever stop to think that this guy could have a wife - a family?!" His tone was incredulous, as he leant against the treadmill and got in Bella's face. "God, Iz, I've known you a long time and you're not the type of girl to not think about these things. You're not that girl that... Well, that has an affair!"
"Jacob Black!" Leah cried, simultaneously whacking him with her towel. " Do you know what you're insinuating?"
"Yeah, I do, Leah. And Iz needs someone to help her face reality. Yeah, it was great when she was just holding his hand and supporting him through his recovery, but now it's getting too serious." His fierce eyes turned to Bella. "And it will only end in you getting heartbroken, Iz. He'll regain his memories and whisk himself off to his old life without even a second thought about you, leaving us to pick up the pieces. It will kill Charlie and us to see you in pain. Start being the logical, rational Isabella that we know..."
"What if I don't want to be? What if I'm absolutely sick of putting the needs of everyone else before my own, Jake?" Bella's carefully constructed shield finally cracked and she let the anger and sadness flow.
"What if last night was the happiest moment of my life?" she breathed, her eyes growing teary. She lifted her head and met Jacob's eyes with force.
"You think that I haven't considered everything that you've just said? You think that I've got shit for brains, Jake, do you?! Every time that I reach out to take his hand I wonder if there's someone out there remembering placing a gold band on his ring finger. Every time that he smiles at me I wonder if that smile was always meant for someone else."
She looked wistfully at the far wall.
"And then when he kissed me last night I... I didn't even stop to consider anything and I felt incredibly guilty about that before going to bed last night. But, you know what, it was amazing and I've finally resigned myself to the fact that maybe things are meant to happen for a reason and maybe Edward is the one for me. Not for anyone else, but for me!"
Bella took in a few quick breaths before continuing on in a quieter voice. "And, you know what? I'm willing to risk everything for him! Because, despite how repulsive a notion it may seem to you, I think that I love him."
The sound of silence was deafening as Bella levelled her gaze at Jacob. Noticing that he was about to say something, she raised her hand. "So just don't... Okay?!"
Bella pushed herself off of the bench, hastily grabbed her bag and flew out of the door, leaving an aghast Jacob and Leah in her wake.
"Way to go Captain Tact," Leah said, before following the same path as Bella, leaving Jake slumped down in the seat previously occupied by Isabella, hanging his head in his hands.
He had thought that, bit by bit, this Edward was taking his best friend away from him.
But she hadn't walked towards Edward, just then. She'd walked away from him and he wasn't sure that he could get her to come back.