You may be wondering, is this Stephenie Meyer? Hahaha, no. I wish I could write remotely as good as her. I'm trying to do some of the same things she does, but I don't have the vocabulary or the fluent mind set to write the perfect story like hers. All characters belong to her. This is just my adaption to a scene from New moon. New characters will show up, that never actually made an appearance in the regular books. These characters are just new and made up, and in the twilight universe, would never have existed in these events.
Chapter 22: Malia
I didn't bother messing with my hair much. I tried looking at styles in the mirror of tying it up, but I gave up on that redemption to save the mess and just left it down. I headed downstairs and Charlie was looking in the reflection of the television trying to fix his tie. I grabbed my jacket off the coat rack and put it on, zipping it to hide the fit the dress had on my body.
"Ready to go, Bells?" Charlie asked me, still trying to fix his tie.
"Yeah, do you need help with that?" I walked over to him, shifting the knot up closer to the collar of the shirt, and adjusting the ties behind each other. Then I fixed the folds of his jacket. Charlie looked at me side eye for a brief moment.
"Is that what you're wearing?" He looked at my unkempt jacket zipped up on me covering the dress that surely wasn't a part of the ensemble.
"I'm wearing a dress underneath dad, It's just a little tight fitting. I'll take it off when we get out of the car." I joked a little. No, I wasn't uncomfortable wearing a dress in front of my dad, but it's always uncomfortable having your dad see you in clothing that isn't entirely baggy. This dress grabbed my waist and all my curves, and seeing your dad notice you in a modest, but immodest dress can sometimes be weird. He was my father after all, and having your dad notice you growing into a young woman can be a bit embarrassing.
We drove down to the reservation again just like last night, but the drive was a bit farther away because the gravesite was farther down the road towards the end of the reservation. We got there, and I sat in the car looking at the crowd of people. Harry had many people that loved him. I kept looking through the crowd for Jacob, but I didn't see him anywhere. Leah and Seth were standing in a row, allowing people to come and go and give their condolences to them. I decided that lingering in the car for an extended period of time would cause people to wonder where I was, so I went to unzip my jacket, and heard the door open for me. I looked over and there was a tall, large boy I haven't seen in what felt like a long time.
"Bells," Jake nodded at me with a small smile. He held his hand out to me to help me get out of the car. I looked over at Charlie in the driver seat, but he was already gone, and I didn't even notice him get out. I looked through the front windshield and saw him walking over to greet Billy and Sue. I looked back over at Jacob who looked rather presentable. He had a very white button-down shirt, with a nice dark charcoal blazer. No tie, but he looked very well done. The dark slacks clung a bit to his upper thighs, and his dress shoes shined. This ensemble must have cost him a large amount out of his pocket, I'm surprised he could afford it considering Billy talked about how Jake was running through his clothes so fast when shifting. I held my hand out to him and he lifted me out of the car, dropping my jacket in the seat. I stumbled a bit, when he helped pull me out, but he caught me with his hand around my waist where the dress was tightly fitted at.
His warm hand melted through the fabric, and I found myself leaning in very close to him, with my cheek and hand against his chest. I felt his head rest on top of mine, and his nose bearing into my hair. This felt good, this felt normal and warm. I could have this if I really dared to want to. He makes me feel safe, and close, and at the moment I felt very clung to him. But some embraces have to end, and he let go of me and smiled. I looked up at him feeling my cheeks grow warm as I looked down towards the ground away from him feeling bashful.
"Thank you for coming, Bella. You look good." He smiled at me, and I looked back up to him and smiled back.
"Look who's talking, Jake. You're all monkey suited up. Never thought I'd see you in a sports blazer and shiny black pointed shoes." I jokingly said to him, teasing him as if it were the old times.
"Well, out of respect to Harry, I thought I shouldn't wear shredded pants and tennis shoes to this thing. But c'mon I want to introduce you to a few people." Jake led me over to the crowd and we said our condolences to Leah and Seth, who were then greeted by Sam and Emily. Leah seemed more annoyed by their interaction, but it could have easily been stress from the funeral. Jake glided me over to Sue and Charlie who then thanked me for the casserole I cooked for her last night. Apparently, Leah and Seth scarfed the rest of the many leftovers down after we left. I'm glad they enjoyed it; it was the least I could do. We went over to Billy who nodded at me and greeted me with a few tears in his eyes. I haven't even reached out to Billy either to give my condolences these past few days; I never really thought about it. I suppose I felt a little uneasy to call their house phone incase Jacob picked up.
The food was served and Jacob chauffeured me over to the dining area where they were serving lasagna and burgers. Very weird combination, but the guests seemed to be enjoying it. Jacob sat me down. He asked me about what I did this week, which was the usual of me attending my classes and going to lunch. I reminded him that I needed to apply to colleges and that Angela was going to help me with my applications. It felt easy again, as if the incident at the hospital had never occurred. I found myself inching my hand closer to him, to touch his fingers that he had rested on the table while his other hand was being used to feed himself with. But I was stopped by a small unfamiliar voice that approached us from behind.
"Jacob, hey I've been looking for you everywhere." A tall bronze woman said, shuffling herself closer to us "Where did you run off too?" Her hair fell into long dark ringlet curls with thin, but well rested bangs across her forehead. Her face was a nice oval shape with high cheekbones and full lips, her irises were lighter than everyone else's, with a beautiful gold glimmering through them. She was quite beautiful, especially in the white ruffled dress that I don't think was completely appropriate for the funeral, but I don't think I ever met her before. She stood behind Jake with her hands softly placed on his shoulders. He turned around and looked at her warmly with a burger bun stuff into his mouth.
"Malia, hey." Jacob continuously chewed while speaking with food in his mouth. Once he gulped the last bite, he continued. "Sorry about that. I saw Bella pull up with Charlie and wanted to help her with the go arounds. You remember me talking about Bella," Jacob stood up, from the table and leaned into her, with his hand grazed behind the small of her back as he turned back towards me to introduce us.
"Oh, Bella. Of course. Hello," She greeted me. "Well as he said, my name is Malia. It's nice to meet you." She gave me a full warm smile. Her teeth were bright, and white, with one small crooked tooth on the lower row of her teeth that was barely noticeable. It's only been a week since I last saw Jacob, could he have possibly formed a relationship in that amount of time? Is that why he hasn't called me? He gave up on me I presume, and I can't blame him of course after my burst over Alice leaving. But, not my Jacob. My Jacob I believed loved me, loved me enough to not have moved on so fast. The past several months, I thought we had developed something that was more than just a friendship anymore. Something real, something new, but I can't carry on calling him that anymore. I returned the smile, fixing my dress as I stood up to greet her as well.
"Hi, yes it's nice to meet you as well," I briefly glanced at Jacob with a wry looking expression on my face and then back at her. She's gorgeous, breathtaking. And here I am, in the plainest dress, and my hair not fully kept. I did look pretty flattering, I thought. Angela did say the dress sat well on my figure, but I guess looks don't really matter to a sixteen-year-old boy when you're constantly rejected by someone. And that's what I did, I belligerently rejected Jacob again and again.
"Jake, your dad told me to get you, we are all going to sit at our seats to get ready for the service." Her voice was like sweet honey, melting off her tongue as she spoke. "I thought we could sit together next to Billy." She smiled at him, not glancing at me until she turned back towards me. "It was very nice meeting you, Bella." She smiled at me again and Jacob turned away from me and followed her to the seating area. I followed behind them and sat over near Charlie where he was sitting with Sue Clearwater and Billy. Jacob and Malia both sat on the left side of Billy with a man near Malia that I assumed was her father, while Charlie sat to his right with an open seat for me between him and Sue. Leah and Seth both sat on the right side of Sue at the end of the row. I took my seat, and the music began to flitter between the trees and branches with the leaves. After the music ceased, Jacob helped wheel Billy up to the podium whereas a Chief of the counsel would give his praises and condolences to the family and bless Harry's spirit. He spoke many kind words about Harry, and Charlie shed a few tears. Sue sat there calmly with her arm around Seth and her hand grazing Leah's left shoulder. They both weren't crying, but their faces fell, and torment filled their expressions.
After Billy finished his kind prayer to lift Harry's spirit, Sue, Seth and Leah both stood up leaving their seats to follow each other to the podium after Jacob wheeled Billy away from it. When Sue spoke of Harry, the crowd sniffled with tears filling their eyes over the lost and the beautiful words that Sue had said. The service was quite beautiful overall. There was a bonfire behind them on the sand that was in well enough distance to keep the podium and speakers from scorching. The trees were blooming with green leaves, and the black chairs were rested on by tribal quilts. I looked over at Malia, how beautiful she was. She didn't notice me staring, but throughout the service I couldn't look away from her. She kept smiling at Jacob and he smiled back at her, many times. I should be happy for him. I should be happy that a girl is making him smile, a girl that wants to make him happy. Not that I don't want to make him feel that way, to comfort him in his time of grieving, but at the moment it just didn't seem my place to intervene in their connection.
People started to gradually leave their seats as they walked up to the casket, with everyone leaving a type of sentimental piece on top of it. Charlie left a fishing lure, and then walked away from the casket with his head down. Jacob walked over to me and I held my hands together down at my waist. He smiled at me with his arms wide and leaned in for a hug with his face bared into my hair again. His warm scent filled my nose as I rested my face into his neck. The warmth emitting off it caused my body to melt again, as if we were the only two people in the world standing here. As if we weren't at a funeral, but just a place, all alone together.
"Thank you for coming, Bells, I appreciate it." Jacob said, huffing out a sigh. "Come by the reservation sometime soon, it's been a minute. Billy would love to see you." He let go of our embrace and I nodded at him and continued to walk away. It wasn't my place to be here anymore. I was only a family friend who had already said my goodbyes. Now it was time for the family, and close relatives to stay behind.
"Wait, Bells? What's up?" A confused expression lifted one of his eyebrows as he reached out towards my wrist to stop me from walking too far away from him.
"What do you mean?" I asked, not so enthusiastically.
"Are you leaving?" A glum expression formed on his face. "I thought maybe you could stay longer, and we could hangout." as he said those words, Malia walked up to us and wrested her hands on the sides of his arms from behind with her head tilted on his shoulder.
"No, it's fine I should really get to the car with Charlie. I'm sure he could use some company." I said back to him giving Malia a few small glances, but not in an unfriendly way.
"Oh, please Bella do stay." She said eagerly. "I would love to be able to have a chat with you! I've heard so much about you, and my Jacob just adores you." She expressed with actual optimism as if she was actually curious to get to know me. What does she mean she's heard so much about me? I've never even seen her here before and apparently, she's new, so how could she have learned so much. And 'my Jacob'? That's mine. That's what he is to me; not to her.
Luckily Charlie strolled over here to interrupt the conversation.
"Bella, Jacob." Charlie said, nodding at us both. He then shifted his glance towards Malia. "Oh, sorry, I don't think I properly met you yet?" Charlie looked over at Malia.
"I'm Malia, I'm here with Jake and my father," She smiled warmly at Charlie, and held out her hand to him. Charlie took her hand, giving it a nice firm shake and gave me a confused expression as to who she was and why she was with Jacob.
"Oh, hello. I'm Chief Swan, Bella's dad. Nice to, uh," Charlie glanced at me again, "meet you. I just came over here to tell Bella that she can take my cruiser home. I'm going to stay here and help with the chairs and go over to Sue's for dinner with Billy."
"Thanks, dad, I'll take you up on that offer." I nodded over at him turning around again.
"Bella wait, please stay. I thought we could all hangout by the bonfire with the others till it gets late." Jacob gestured over to Sam, Emily, Embry, Quil, Paul, and Jared. I took another look at the five boys realizing that Quil was now hanging out with the rest of them.
"Oh, Quil?" I asked Jacob. He nodded to me to confirm my suspicions. His quietness had me assume that Malia didn't know about the fruits of Jacob's new life.
We all sat next to the bonfire while Quil was jumping around with Embry throwing wet seaweed at each other. Leah and Seth came to join a little closer when the day grew darker. I remember in my dream that there were three extra wolves a part of the pack, and it makes sense that one of them was Quil, but I'm wondering about Leah and Seth. Seth is so very young, and Jacob didn't turn until he was sixteen. Leah is a girl, so she can't possibly be a wolf, but it seems the world's impossible have become possible lately.
We talked for the next hour. Correction, they mostly chatted amongst themselves telling stories while Malia was embracing Jacob on the log bench, but their lips never touched. I was kind of relieved about that, for I would've felt very uncomfortable. Odd of me to feel uncomfortable about it. I never allowed Jacob in, until the night of the phone call that. I knew I was growing feelings for him, but I couldn't draw myself closer to him for I felt that I was betraying Edward by doing so.
It seemed Jacob had filled in Malia about me when she started to speak to me. She asked me about Renee and how it's like living with Charlie, and just the basic questions of my life growing up, nothing too personal.
"So, Jake told me you had a boyfriend?" She said, blinking at me with a wide smile on her face. "I see he didn't come with you today, what's he up to?" My expression froze. It all came so fast, the pain, my chest being ripped out, the tears filling my eyes, the shortness of breath. I kept my head down to hide my eyes from her view and the others.
"Ex-boyfriend" Quil pointed out.
"Yeah and good riddance to that freak." Jared spoke up, poking fun off of Quil's comment. Why did Jacob talk about Edward to her? Why would that have ever come up in their conversations, and how much did he tell her?
"Freak? Well that's a bit rude of the two of you. I'm sorry about that Bella, you're absolutely beautiful. It's his loss," She gave me one of the same warm smiles, trying to connect to me this time as if she was a close friend of mine trying to perk me up.
"And with that, I think it's getting late you guys. I should really get you home, Malia." Jacob said to her, as she leaned in closer to him. Jacob glanced at me, smiling. "Bella, I could follow behind you to Sue's if you want to see if Charlie wants to be picked up." I was thankful that Jake interrupted the conversation. He was use to recognizing the torment that was making its way over my body when he was brought up
"No, it's fine, I can find my way back over there." I nodded at him, trying to assure him with a convincing smile that I was fine. "Thank you, though. I'll see you later. Night everyone." They all waved bye to me as I left the bonfire. The light behind me was fading as I continued walking up to the road from the sandy beach.
I found my way to Sue's just in time because Charlie was ready to go home, too. He made small conversation about his night and asked about mine, but I didn't have much to say during the drive home.