"Leah. I realize that we've only known each other for a few months but I say this with love, you have awful taste in clothes."

Leah lowered the beige jumpsuit that she'd held up for Rachel's approval and rolled her eyes. "Hey, I told you I don't know shit about fashion but you insisted I help you find something."

"I know but damn, I didn't think you were this helpless."

Leah couldn't help the smile that spread across her lips and put the offending outfit back. The last week of helping Rachel plan this party had given her the one thing she hadn't realized that she was missing.

Girl time.

Don't get her wrong, she always enjoyed hanging with the guys and even growing up she'd much rather hang out with her guy friends rather than the girls in her school but she had truly enjoyed being around Rachel in the last few days. She was hilarious and said what was on her mind, not to mention Leah had felt like Rachel had just adopted her like a surrogate sister that she didn't know she'd needed.

"What about this?" Leah asked, pointing to a mannequin clad in a simple black dress.

"Mmm… better. But not nearly as hot as that," Rachel nodded to another mannequin, dressed in what Leah could only describe as a silky red little nothing.

"How the hell do you expect to fit your baby bump in that?" she laughed.

Rachel waved a hand and reached for one of the dresses. "Not for me! For you."

"Oh no. I mean that dress is… way too much."

"Or just enough." Rachel turned to eye her and smirked. "You're like a size 6?"

"8 if you account for the height but Rachel that dress is not me," Leah shook her head.

Rachel sighed and stared at her. "Fine. What were you gonna wear?"

"I don't know. Pajamas?"

"You have to try this on." Leah shook her head, adamant that the dress that Rachel was dancing in her face was not going to look good on her. It showed way too much of what Leah had way too little of. Sure it was a gorgeous bright red and slinky in the perfect kind of way but it was too bright, something that didn't describe Leah. "Your head is saying no but your eyes are telling me you wanna try this on. But hey, consent is sexy… But Leah, you told me that you wanted to start the New Year off with a bang. You said you've felt like the almost widow for months and you want that to change so…"

Leah opened her mouth to argue but found no solid argument. "Uh… that's not fair."

"Hey, your words not mine," Rachel shrugged. "Just try it on and if you hate it, you can rip it off, wear your pajamas and I promise I will never make you go clothing shopping with me so long as we live."

Leah nibbled on the corner of her mouth before reluctantly reaching for the dress. "You better find a new shopping buddy."

"Yes!" Rachel cheered. "It's fine. Paul likes shopping anyways."

Leah rolled her eyes as she was pushed towards the dressing rooms and reluctantly put the dress on. She didn't look at herself as she slipped into it and opened the door for Rachel's help when she needed to be zipped up.

"Okay turn around," Rachel said after zipping her into the dress.

Leah sighed, her arms outstretched in defeat and shrugged. "Happy?"

"Oh. My. God. Leah I'm serious, if you don't get this dress I'm getting it for you."

"What?"

"Look at yourself," Rachel turned her towards the mirror and they both shared a look of shock. Leah had never been an insecure woman. She knew she was beautiful but she knew that there was more to her than just what people assumed beauty was. But damn did she look good in this dress. The red made her dark eyes pop and her skin glow and the fabric hung from every curve she didn't know that she had. The dress dipped just enough into her cleavage and the straps, covered in rhinestones gave her the right amount of sparkle.

"I look good."

"You look better than good," Rachel scoffed. "You're gonna give everyone at this party heatstroke. You look hot as hell!"

She turned to the side, her eyes widening at the way she looked. She had to admit, the dress suited her in ways she wasn't expecting. "You don't think it's too much?"

"No! Some strappy black heels, a few curls in your hair, some mascara and you're good to go."

Leah glanced at her nervously. "Why do I feel like your barbie?"

"My barbies wish they were you. Honestly Leah, you look gorgeous but if you don't want the dress, you don't have to wear it."

"No," she answered quickly. "I mean… I like it. And it's so different than anything I wear that I… I feel like a different person."

"In a good way?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Is that weird?"

Rachel turned her so that they were face to face and smiled. "You wanna know what I've learned from being pregnant? I learned that not only is my body changing but who I am is changing too. And it's scary sometimes because I'm different than who I was last year but it's like being a butterfly. It doesn't regret not being a caterpillar anymore. It's just different now. It's got wings now. So would you tell it not to fly and to pretend to be a caterpillar still?"

Leah looked at herself in the mirror again and smoothed out some of the wrinkles in her dress. Rachel was right. She had wanted this new year to be different. She'd spent so much of grieving Sam or hating him that she'd forgotten who she was. And even before that she'd just been 'Sam's girl' that she hadn't figured out who she was outside of him. Now was her chance.

And she was going to take it.

"You're right," she nodded, looking at herself one last time. "Time to fly."


Rachel had finished doing her makeup well after people had started arriving. When she finally was allowed to look in the mirror, Leah surprisingly still recognized herself. She was expecting to be overdone with dramatic eyes and bright lipstick but instead Rachel gave her light eyes, a nude lip and a little glitter on her eyes. She still felt and looked like herself.

"I am a god," Rachel said, reaching for some mascara and adding more to her own eyes. "You of course were a perfect canvas to work on."

"Thank god for that," Leah smirked, running a hand through her curled hair. "Thanks Rachel. I mean it."

"Anytime babe," Rachel winked. "Now, let's get out there and make everyone's jaw drop."

Leah stood and followed her out of the bedroom and into the living room where music was playing and champagne was flowing. The house was starting to already get crowded but Leah was still able to spot the guy standing by the kitchen.

"Woah," Quil almost choked on his beer as they walked over and pointed an accusatory hand at Leah. "When did you get hot?!"

Rachel smacked his arm and smiled as Paul placed an arm over her shoulder. "She's always been hot, you pleb."

"Well duh but I mean," Quil waved a hand up and down to emphasize his point. "Am I right gentlemen?"

"Dude, that's my sister," Seth frowned.

"Yeah no comment but Leah you look great," Embry complimented.

"Thanks guys," she smiled, reaching for a beer. "I heard you guys were bringing dates?"

Embry nodded towards the crowd. "I invited my coworkers Angela and Jessica."

"And I invited Mrs. Jones," Quil wiggled his brows.

"Please tell me he's joking," Leah blinked.

"I wish I could," Seth frowned.

Leah took a quick glance around the room, not seeing Jacob and frowned. "Where's Jake?" Each of her roommates took a sip from their beer and avoided eye contact.

"Yeah, where is my baby brother?" Rachel asked, looking over people's heads for him. "He's never late."

"He uh… got a little tied up," Embry stuttered.

"Tied up?" Rachel frowned.

"Bella," Quil simply said.

Rachel let out a low groan and shook her head. "If it's not one thing with that girl it's another."

"You'd think she'd want to spend New Year's Eve with her husband," Leah muttered under her breath.

"She showed up when we were all about to leave and she did not sound happy," Embry continued.

"One day that woman will get her claws out of him and when that happens, I'm gonna need a celebratory drink," Rachel sighed. "Well until he gets here, we need to dance and you lot need to drink for me."

"Aye Aye Captain," Quil said, downing the rest of his beer. "For you and the baby."

Leah wasn't much of a dancer but boy did she have fun pretending to be. She was sure most of her make up had melted off her face but she didn't care, she hadn't laughed or danced harder before in her life and before she knew it was almost midnight.

"Where the hell is Jake?" Rachel shouted over the music as they all took a break by the kitchen to catch their breaths. "I swear if he misses the countdown…"

As if on cue the front door opened and Jacob walked in, Bella protectively and obnoxiously on his heels.

"Hey guys," he said, sounding exhausted as his eyes landed on each friend before freezing on Leah. "Wow…You look-"

"Nice dress!" Bella spoke up, her arm slipping around Jacob's. "Everyone looks so festive."

"Don't we?!," Rachel narrowed her eyes after gulping her water down. "Afterall it is the time to spend with those you love. Speaking of, Bella, how's your husband?"

"I need a drink," Jacob said, making his way over to the drink station.

"Uh… Seth, why don't we find the girls?" Embry suggested.

"Fine by me," Seth followed him.

"Is that our song?" Paul asked, gently pulling his snarling and pregnant fiancee away from Bella.

Leah peeled at the label on her beer and blew out a breath of air. Just like that, everything went from fun to awkward and being here was suddenly the last place Leah wanted to be.

Quil looked between the two women and smiled. "And then there were three," he joked, not earning a laugh from either of them. "Tough crowd… I'm gonna walk away then."

Leah took another sip from her beer as Bella cleared her throat. "Um, Sue and I started looking at dresses today."

Leah blinked. "What? The wedding isnt for another 5 months."

"Yeah. I mean I know it's early but she's excited ya know."

"Yeah. I know. I know that my mother is excited for her wedding day. You don't have to tell me."

Bella raised a brow and nodded. "Leah look I know you don't like me and frankly, I'm not your biggest fan either but I'm not trying to take Sue from you. She just knows that I care about this stuff more than you do."

"What did you just say to me?"

"It's not an insult. You make it very clear that weddings and planning them are not your thing. Just a fact."

Leah placed her beer down and took a step towards her. "You need to stop talking."

Before Bella could say anything else insulting, Leah felt an arm wrap around her waist and pull her towards the living room where the dancing was happening. It wasn't until she looked up that she realized that Jacob had just saved his girlfriend's life.

"What are you doing?" she snapped, still shooting daggers towards Bella.

"Saving you."

"More like saving her," she scoffed as he pulled her to the other side of the room. She slapped his hand away and shook her head. "Why did you bring her?"

His eyes trailed down the length of her body before meeting her eyes. "I… look it wasn't on purpose okay."

"And yet you drove over here with her. Sounds pretty on purpose to me."

Jacob rolled his eyes with a long groan. "Gimme a break Leah. I already got enough shit from her."

She inhaled to keep her words at bay and crossed her arms. "What happened?"

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and laughed bitterly. "It doesn't matter."

"Clearly it does," she said. She looked over her shoulder towards Bella's direction and sure enough her eyes were trained on them, like a hawk watching prey. It was Leah's turn to drag Jacob around the party and led him towards Rachel's office before shutting the door. The bass of the music could still be heard but it was quieter now.

"Okay, what happened," she asked again, leaning against the door.

"Leah-"

"Jake, just tell me."

He stared at her for a while before taking a seat at Rachel's desk. "We got in a fight."

"Clearly."

"About you."

That made her push herself off of the wall and walk over to him. "About me? What about me?"

He let out another sigh and nervously rubbed his neck before shrugging. "She's got it in her head that there's something going on."

"Meaning…"

"Between us. She thinks you're protective because you're in love with me and she thinks I have feelings for you."

Leah scoffed, not believing her ears. She knew that Bella lived in her own fairytale land where she was the main character but this girl was officially out of her mind. "Why the hell would she think that?!"

"Because apparently she thinks that you told her to stay away from me or something," he laughed. When she didn't laugh with him, he frowned, his brows furrowing slightly. "You didn't say that did you?"

She shrugged, as if she'd done nothing wrong. "I mean not in those words exactly."

His eyes narrowed on her. "What? Why would you do that?"

"Because you wont! I mean Jake, she's using you. She has always used you and you don't seem to care."

He shook his head incredulously. "You don't know anything about our relationship." "Relationship?" she scoffed. "Jake, you don't have a relationship with her. A relationship requires trust and commitment and honesty and you don't have that with her."

"What the hell do you know? I mean seriously Leah, you're not exactly the person I'd go to for relationship advice."

Leah didn't have time for him to throw Sam at her, as if that would make her stop advocating for him. "Wow, congrats. You brought up my shitty dead fiance."

"I didn't mean it like that."

"Yeah, you did," she nodded. "Jake… if she really loved you the way you love her. She'd leave her husband. She wouldn't put you in second place."

"Stop," he warned, his eyes squeezing closed and his leg bouncing rapidly.

"You know what you're really afraid of. You're afraid that if you're not with her, you'll feel unwanted because you think she's the only person that could ever love you but that's not true."

He stood this time, anger rolling off of him in waves. She should back down, everything from the way his nostrils were flaring to the angry frown on his lips said so but it was too late now. He was ready to explode.

"I'm serious Leah. Enough."

Ten.

She could faintly hear everyone counting down outside of the room but the sound of her heart pounding in her chest drowned out the noise.

Nine.

Why did he not get that Bella was bad for him? Didn't he want to be happy?

Eight.

Or maybe this was what he thought happiness was?

Seven.

"You think you're the only person who's ever felt that? Who's ever felt like the person they were with was the sun and the stars? You're not okay? And you won't be the last because believe it or not Jake, Bella is not the sun or the stars."

Six.

"You don't know her," he said through clenched teeth. "You keep butting into shit you dont understand."

Five.

"I was engaged to someone just like her, remember?" she shot back. "Or have you so quickly forgotten that your best friend was just as selfish as she is."

Four.

"I'm warning you."

Three.

She threw her hands into the air. "Why do I feel like the only person who can clearly see that you deserve better?"

Two.

"You know what?" she continued. "Forget it. I'm done trying to prove you wrong. Stay with your married girlfriend. Be with someone who is so clearly beneath you because you're afraid of being with someone who might actually want you-"

One.

He swallowed the last of her words, his lips shockingly crashing against hers.

She was used to soft kisses, the ones that communicated love and admiration.

This kiss said something else, something angry and white hot like your face after a good cry. Everything about him tasted like fire and whiskey and she selfishly parted her lips for more. The shock of being kissed wore off and her hands fisted his shirt and pulled him closer until they were flush against each other. His hand snaked up her thigh, sending a shiver through her nervous system while the other hand held them up against the wall. She was spazzing out, needing more, needing to be closer but just as soon as his hand had made its way under her dress and gripped the flesh by her hip, it was gone. And so was he, his eyes wild with confusion as he took a giant step back and stared at the spot he was just in.

"Fuck," he breathed heavily, a shaky hand running through his hair. "Fuck!"

Leah blinked a few times, her heart pounding too fast as reality set in. She felt weak and held on to the wall for balance. Question after question ran through her mind but before she could ask them, Jacob was walking out of the now open door, leaving her in the empty room in shock as the cheers for the new year flooded in.


a/n: Told ya things were about to change!