Welcome back to the next chapter! I know previously I was feeling uneasy with the lack of reviews I was receiving. I just felt that maybe I wasn't able to connect with my readers, that maybe you guys were getting bored with my story. But I did receive three new reviews! And they made me so happy that you guys are leaving feedback!
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Chapter 42: Preventable
"Bella…" He said my name slowly, as if the words he was about to follow with were going to be a touchy subject. "Run away with me."
I shifted my body weight, pushing myself up onto my elbow, looking at him with disarray. "What?"
"Run away with me. Away from this reservation or something at least."
"Jacob—what— no I can't. I'm still in school, you're still in school. And Billy? Billy needs you Jacob."
"Billy has a lot of friends here to take care of him, and Rachel is going to be home in June after she graduates college. He will be fine." Jacob leaned towards me, grabbing my hands into his. "Bells, please…" Jacob whispered to me with pleading eyes, "Kwop kilawtley." Words he had whispered to me before. I knew of their meaning, and I knew they were to be true, but this wasn't a negotiable offer.
"Jacob… no I can't. I'm not even finished with school and neither are you! We can't just leave. I— I mean, what? You can't be serious." I said, taking my hands out of his, placing them back onto my thighs.
"Bella, I would run away with you, I would stop changing for you." His eyes fell with sorrow. But this wasn't what I wanted for him. His pack needs him. The civilians need him. "We can grow old together, Bella. Start our lives together. Just you and me…" Grow old together, I forgot. He doesn't age. He doesn't age while he continues to be a werewolf. He will stay sixteen forever until he discontinues his ties to the pack, and I will continue to grow old. Older and older while he stays sixteen.
"Jacob, that's insane. You need to finish school. How would we even start our lives together if neither of us have high school degrees, at the least. I mean, I — I want to go to college, Jacob. I want to maybe go into journalism. I need to go to school for that. Besides, what would leaving do? If we leave, then we will just be around other people, which means a higher possibility of running into your possible imprint."
"No. So far it seems that we all end up imprinting on someone either from the tribe, or other tribes like ours. People of our own culture, ethnicity… Sam thinks we imprint on someone that gives us the best genes for our future generations. And if we leave away from any possible tribes that closely resemble what I come from I might never run into her."
"Okay, and school?"
"School? Bella, you can still finish school. We can go after you graduate. Please…"
"Jake, no. No, no, no," I repeated louder as I said each 'no' to him.
"At one point you wanted to run away with me, remember? To get me away from Sam. Don't you remember that?" He was right. At the time before I knew of Jacob's change or what he was going through, I blamed Sam for ruining his life. Causing Jacob to hide and keep secrets from me. I thought Sam pulled him into this gang and was causing Jacob to be a part of something dangerous. But this wasn't danger he was running from. He was running away from fate.
"Jacob," I said slowly, shaking my head. "I would run away with you if I knew it was the best thing for you. But before, I thought you were on drugs or something and I thought you were in some kind of cult or gang, or whatever. But this, Jacob? This isn't something to just drop your life for and run away from." I said, looking down at my sheets. "Jacob, I love you. And I know you love me. But this isn't the right answer."
"Doesn't feel like you do, Bella, if you're so willing to allow me to eventually imprint on someone." He looked away from me and lifted himself off the bed.
"Jacob where are you going?"
"Bella, I love you." He turned around to look at me. I didn't know what to say besides that I loved him, too. And I do. I know right now he is being stubborn and overreacting. But if we were meant for each other, meant for our lives to gravitate towards each other forever, then an imprint won't get in our way. And running from it won't solve our problems. It would only cause future ones. "You were willing to become a vampire for him, Bella. You were willing to drop your entire life to be with him. To leave Charlie, to leave your mom, your friends, to leave me for him. But you won't run away with me…"
I leaned towards him on the bed, reaching my hand out to him. "Jacob, no it's not like that"
"Well it sure feels like that to me," Jacob replied, shutting the door behind him.
It wasn't fair for him to use that against me. To keep bringing Edward up as an excuse against our relationship. This wasn't about me and Edward anymore. This was about me and Jacob. It was impeccably irritating for him to rationalize it the way he had, to compare the two. The two were not homogenous situations. Our relationship did not associate with Edwards and mine. In the past when Edward was here with me, I did want to run away with him. I would have dropped my whole life to be with him, but with that life, I never needed anything else other than Edward, and it wasn't a selfish decision. We didn't need anything materialistic like a place to stay, or food, or money to pay bills. We would just need each other, forever with our family. There were no bounds when it came to live a vampire lifestyle, because you did not need the basic human necessities to survive. Never having to worry about what happened next, besides staying good.
Charlie would have been fine without me. I would make sure to write letters to him, and tell him I went away somewhere, far away. I could tell him I was going to college and that I would stay and live there for the rest of my days. Renee had Phil, and she has a whole life of her own already where she had no reason to worry where I was, as long as I emailed her, she would be fine. Being a vampire would have made me lose personal contact with my family, but I still would have the means to be able to communicate with them. But being a vampire wasn't selfish towards anyone. It wasn't a selfish decision. But taking Jacob away with me just so he couldn't have the possibility of imprinting on someone, just so I could be with him forever, was selfish.
I drove home from school to drop my truck off at home. Charlie wasn't there yet, but I left him a note to remind him that I would be home late tonight.
Jessica had picked me up from my house with Lauren already in the car with her. I sat in the back seat in silence and Lauren and Jess ranted about what decorations would best suit the Fire and Ice theme of the dance. On our way to Port Angeles, we stopped by Angela's house and picked her up, too. Ben was leaving her front door and said his goodbyes to her with a kind hug and a kiss goodbye. I was grateful that Ben was in her life. He was good to her and he had made her happy. I rolled down the window and waved to him before Angela opened the door and slid into the seat next to me.
We were driving only five miles above the speed limit, barely racing past the trees that encased the trimming of the indecent road. Angela was chatting to me about her plans with Ben about going to see the new Amanda Bynes movie this weekend on Sunday and asked if I would want to join her, but I declined. I really wanted to spend all Sunday with Jacob, alone. To amend the situation with him. I knew that he was hurt by my decision, but if only he knew how detrimental it would have been to the both of us if we had left. It was a selfish decision that I wasn't going to force him into.
The music in the car was featuring loudly throughout the speakers playing some new song by Beyoncé called 'Check On It'. It wasn't necessarily music I could enjoy or get into, but Jessica, Lauren and Angela seemed to enjoy it, singing the chorus of it.
"So!" Jessica said, turning the radio down as the song was coming to an end. "Me and Lauren thought that maybe it would be a better idea that instead of going to Port Angeles to go dress shopping, that we would go to Seattle instead."
"Jessica, um. Why? That's much farther away. I already told my mom that I would be home around eight."
"Oh, it's fine. You can call her on my cell and tell her plans have changed."
"She's not going to be happy about that, Jessica. We should really just go to Port Angeles like we planned."
"We went to Port Angeles last year, Angela. We've already seen what they have there, and it's not a lot. But Seattle has this amazing dress shop, huge even. They will have so many dresses to choose from, and to be honest, we are going to have to be very picky when it comes to picking the right colors for the prom theme."
"Hey, I think Angela is right. I left Charlie a note saying I would be home late, but he won't be too happy if I'm home later than I should be." I said looking over at Angela. Her face grew with worry.
"Give it a rest, Bella. We are going to Seattle. Aren't you like, eighteen? You can stay out as long as you want," Lauren said. Her voice was filled with an acid tone. I knew she didn't like me or was particularly happy about the fact I was going with them in the first place.
"I don't like lying to my dad."
"It's not lying if you tell him, Bella. You can call him from my cell, too. Both you and Angela. It's going to be fun, I promise," Jessica replied in a peppy attitude. I already wasn't too stirred about the idea of going dress shopping for prom in the first place but having to spend an extended amount of time in the car with someone who detested me was just the cherry on top.
Angela leaned in closer to me. "It'll be okay, I guess. At least we will have each other." She said, smiling at me. We did, and I was relieved that she was going with us, that I would have her, and be able to spend this fretful trip with her.
We arrived in Seattle around seven. It was already dark outside, and the streets were crowded with people leaving work, or others dressed up for late night parties they were heading to. The city was alive tonight, which was expected for any Friday night in Washington's largest city. The streets were lit up much brighter than Port Angeles and had much more variety in stores that Jessica mentioned. We had even passed a few bookstores that piqued my interest as I scanned the shelves through the glass windows. This was somewhere I should re-visit at some point this month. I did need new books for my collection.
Most of the dress shops we passed were bridal ones until we found a large store for formal gowns and tuxedos that contained mostly prom attire and semi-formal gowns. Jessica was right about Seattle. The stores here were much bigger and had more dress options than anything Port Angeles had to offer. Not sure it was worth the drive though.
"Oh my god, Jessica, look at this one," Lauren screeched pulling out a long neon orange dress that had sequins lining the breast area and up on the one spaghetti strap that went across the chest of it and over the shoulder. She held it against herself, swaying it back and forth.
"Lauren, that's perfect. You are totally going to look hot in that. Now it's my turn! I want a red-hot dress, and you know, one that shows off the girls." Jessica and Lauren squealed in laughter together as they carried on down the other aisles.
Angela and I stayed together, slowly walking through the selections, keeping our eyes out for colors that would complement the theme of the prom. I know Angela was keeping her eye out for a pale blue dress, which we had passed several times, but they weren't the styles she preferred.
"You know, this one might be nice." I said to her, pulling it slightly out from the rack.
"Yeah, it's nice but, I don't know," Angela replied, pressing her lips together.
"What's wrong?"
"I just want to find the perfect dress. It's our last prom, and I want to have memories, you know?"
"And to impress, Ben?" I added.
She looked down, and her cheeks were noticeably growing in color. "Maybe," she said, chuckling.
"Any dress you wear is going to look beautiful on you, Ange. Ben will definitely love whatever you pick out." I said in an assuring tone.
"Thank you," she replied, shyly with a smile. "Now what about you, what are you thinking color wise?"
"I don't know. Blue, maybe? Blue is safe. Like a deep blue color."
"Bella, your party dress is blue, your last prom dress was blue, and now you want to get another blue dress?"
"I don't know. It's just a good color."
"Well, yeah, blue looks great on you, but maybe we can try another color? What are you rooting for? Fire, or ice?" She asked, pushing the dresses back and forth apart on the rack. I could feel my jaw drop at her question. A question that I felt that I had been battling myself for a while. Fire or ice? Jacob or Edward?
"Bella?" Angela said again, snapping her finger in my face with a wide smile.
"Oh, sorry. Um, fire?" I said questioningly to her.
"Hmm, fire. Well, I think Angela and Lauren would probably crucify you if you pick out a red or orange dress."
"A lot of people would be wearing red and orange, pink even."
"Yeah, but they aren't shopping with those people. They are shopping with us, so yes. They will most likely martyr you. And if I'm being perfectly honest with you, I'm not sure pink is your color." She said chuckling. She wasn't wrong. Pink wasn't a color I would generally choose to wear. Renee always told me that it didn't go well with my skin tone. "How about…. white?" My eyes grew wide at her response.
"No, absolutely not," I snapped at her.
"Why not? It would look nice on you."
"I don't plan on wearing a wedding dress to prom," or entertain Jacob's idea of running away together.
"Okay, okay. Well I won't let you wear blue this time. Why not meet in the middle then? How about black?" Black. Yeah, black was an idea that I would consider. I didn't mind the way my black sweater looked on me.
"Sure," I said.
"Great!" We continued to walk down the isles together, and occasionally would look back up at Lauren and Angela giggling as they walked in and out of the dressing rooms. I was pleased they were able to entertain each other while Angela and I searched for our dresses together. It was nice having this alone time with her while doing an activity together even if it was an activity I loathed to do. The prices of the dresses were a little out of my budget range, but Charlie had mentioned he would help me a little bit with college funding if I truly needed it. I didn't like the idea of taking money from him in the slightest. I had a job, and I was prepared to make sure I had enough to take care of myself while I lived with Charlie, but he insisted.
"So, Bella…" Angela said in a low voice. "How are you?"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Just in general. I mean, you seem a lot happier lately, but I don't know what it is."
"I'm sorry?" I said, huffing out a laugh from my throat at her statement.
"There just seems to still be something bothering you. You love Jacob, right?"
"Angela…"
"You didn't have to tell me I already know you do. You were jittery during the whole ride, like you were thinking about something in the last two hours of the trip up here. Were you thinking about him?"
"Yeah, I guess," I replied diffidently. Renee always did say my facial expressions were transparent.
"Want to talk about it?" Angela asked, pushing back a few possible dress choices in the wrack and feeling the material of them.
"No, not really."
"Are you sure?" She asked again.
I shrugged. "I don't know. Jacob and I just… got in a disagreement the other night."
"About?"
I obviously couldn't tell her what the real fight was about, but I could turn it around. "You know he's young. And well, it's going to be a long time till we can both move on with our lives together. He has another two years of school and I'm going to college."
"Bella…" Angela said to me, clasping her arms around my neck, pulling me in for a hug. It was comforting. I noticed that I too had my arms wrapped tightly around her torso. Talking to Angela is comforting. She's always been a very good friend to me, and a good listener, as well and I feel I never fully appreciated her for that. "And, how does he feel about that?"
"I mean, he doesn't see the problem with dropping out just to leave with me."
"Dropping out? He can't drop out, that's crazy."
"Yeah, I said the same thing…"
"But, that's not all. Is there?" She looked at me after she let go of her grasp around me.
"What do you mean."
"What I mean is, yeah you're happier than you were before, but there's just something blocking it."
"I still don't know what you mean."
Angela stuck her neck out as she was trying to find a way to beat around the bush on her question that she was poking at. "Well, I mean. You don't look as happy with him as you did with him" she said, emphasizing the word that was hinted towards Edward.
"It's okay, you can say his name. And no, that's not completely true. I think I'm just still healing or getting over him."
"That's understandable. He was your first boyfriend, first love," she said jeering at me. "Can I ask you something, though? You don't have to answer the question if it's too much, but…" Angela bit her lip, now looking at the ground, and then back at me. "If Edward came back… who would you choose?"
"It's not that simple. Edward would never come back, Angela. He didn't want to be with me. And if he did come back, he wouldn't want me."
"I don't believe that. But let's say you were trapped in this love triangle. Both of them wanted to be with you… who would you choose?"
"I—" I looked away from her and looked out the window at the buildings across the street. Looking for any distraction to hide me away from this question. But then I noticed it. There wasn't a face, but bright red hair glowed in the smudged window of the shop across the street. I kept staring at it, staring at it for it to move. I've only ever once seen that bright red hair once before, and then it was described to me again from Jacob. But after a blink of the eye, the bright red hair was gone. Poofed away as she never existed, until I then noticed a mother and her daughter were walking into the dress shop front doors. The girl's hair was also red, but not as red as it had appeared in the shop across the street.
And how did it move so fast out of the other shop's doors?
"Bella?" Angela said to me, but I ignored her for a slight moment, trying to get my thoughts back in order.
"Bella, I think I found you and me the perfect dresses." Angela said, holding up the dress that was for me. Even I couldn't ignore how perfect the dress was. It was gorgeous, but I wasn't sure I was enough for the dress itself. It was a long black halter-topped A-line style dress that had a light amount of gold floral lace on the lower area of the skirt and faded as it went towards the middle of the dress. The back of it was mostly open besides the thin strings that held it together and included a leg strip.
"Angela... Thank you, that's perfect actually."
"I hope so. It's the only thing that screams, Bella would look gorgeous, to me" She smiled. "And this one is mine!" Her dress was a pale light blue color. It was very simple, besides the shimmer in it that looked like diamonds in the skirt, but they were not sequins. The fabric of the dress itself was shimmering on its own in the light, and it reminded me of Edward. The way Edward's skin had glistened like a million diamonds in the sun. Her dress was an A-line cut, strapless.
"Wow, Angela. Ben is going to completely faint when he sees you in that."
"Really? You think?"
"Yes, definitely," And I meant it. The dress style was beautiful, and she had the figure to fill it out very well. We decided to go and try on the dresses, and of course when I put the dress on, it felt like it was made for someone else. I felt that I wasn't supposed to wear this dress. It was beautiful, to perfection at the most. The dress didn't fit snugly at all that I expected it to. The fabric itself was flexible, and the skirt of the dress flowed. It was absolutely stunning. But then it came down to the price. It was seventy-two dollars over budget. I knew I didn't need the dress, but it could be perfect for some other occasion I could eventually attend in the future that requires formal attire. It wasn't a flashy prom dress that was covered in sequins. It had some kind of class to it.
I walked out of the dressing room at the same time as Angela to both show off our dresses to each other. Jessica and Lauren eventually saw us as Angela, and I continued to awkwardly pose in the mirror with each other. Jessica found a cherry red high-low dress with a low-cut chest that had a slit going down in between her breasts. It definitely did accentuate the ladies that she wanted. And it looked very flattering on her.
"Wow, Bella, Angela. Those dresses are stunning on you guys!" Jessica shared enthusiasm staring at us. Lauren's reaction was less appealing as she raised her eyebrow at us, with her arms folded.
"Thanks, Angela found them for us." I looked over at her, smiling, which she then returned with an even prouder facial expression as she stood there confidently in her dress.
We took the dresses off and pulled them through the plastic dress protector bag. I paid for the dress with great displeasure as it was over budget, but I knew it felt worth it to me. It felt worth it to wear to prom and have Jacob with me by my side.
"Bella!" I heard my name being shouted not too far away from me. I recognized the voice immediately and spun around to look in that direction. Angela, Jessica and Lauren followed my reaction towards the husky voice that called for me.
"Jacob?!" I asked in confusion. "What are you doing here?"
"Charlie told me you changed your plans to go to Seattle instead to shop for dresses, and I thought, well why not find me a tux while you guys are here?" I walked over to him, grabbing his wrist and taking him somewhere more private away from my friends.
"No, I mean why are you following me?" I said through my teeth.
"I thought I could save you. Plus, I also figured you'd want to help me pick out my tux for prom. You know, got to match your dress style." He chuckled and pushed a stray hair that floated in front of my face behind my ear.
"This place is expensive. I thought maybe you could just raid Charlie's closet and get a sports coat or something."
"If I was going to raid someone's closet, I'd raid someone's that was my size. Besides, I think it would be more fun to watch you grovel over an opinion on what tux I should get." Jacob said, flashing a grin at me.
"I'm glad my pain is amusing to you," I replied, lightly pushing my fist against his forearm. "But we are about to leave to head home. And I don't want to leave Angela alone in the car with them"
"Angela is a big girl, Bella."
"Yeah, but it's already late. We really should be heading home. I'm really sorry you came all this way to follow me."
"Oh, it's okay, I guess." I felt bad that he had come all the way for me. Just to see me, even if it was to annoy me over shopping.
"Hold on," I said to him, pulling him with me back over to my friends. "Hey, you guys remember Jacob from La Push, right?"
"Definitely," Angela said, winking at me, "Hey Jacob!"
"Hey, Jacob," Jessica and Lauren said at the same time, drawing out the greeting with a light giggle.
"Hi, good seeing you again," Jacob said, waving his fingers.
"Jacob wants me to help him find a tux. I want to help him find a rental one, though. Do you guys want to help me really quick and then we can go home?"
"Oh my god, really? We can pick out your boyfriend's tux?" Jessica said surprisingly.
"Have at it," I said, chuckling. Jessica and Lauren immediately ran over towards the suits area of the store, which was a much smaller collection than the dresses. Angela stayed near me watching the three of them flick through the different clothes. I knew we had to leave soon.
"So, is Jacob going to the party with us tomorrow?" Angela asked me.
"No, he is busy. Also, do you know where the party is?" I asked her suspiciously.
"Yeah somewhere in the woods. It says the address on the invitation."
"No, I mean, do you know whose house it is?"
"No, I think it's vacant," she replied.
"Bella!" A slightly familiar voice shouted towards me from the dressing room area. I turned around to see a tall slender girl with bronze skin, with beautiful black curls draping over a long green ball gown dress.
"Oh, no," I said whispering to Angela.
"What? Who is it?"
"It's so funny to see you here! Are you looking for a prom dress, too? How incredible is it that we both are here on the same day, same time, same place looking for our prom dresses! Wow, I'm so excited. Aren't you? Prom, the lights, the dancing, the boys!" the words were flowing out of her mouth, uncontrollably at the excitement that she felt as she started to run over to me, shuffling through the room in the dress.
"Hey, Malia," I said, less enthusiastically than she did, but still polite. Angela looked at me, gawking her eyes.
"So, when's your prom?" Malia asked us.
"Less than a month," Angela said. "We are doing a fire and ice theme, so I got a light blue dress, and I helped Bella pick out a black one!" Angela was being much livelier than I was, but I assumed she understood how awkward the situation was for me. Last time I spoke to Malia was when she ambushed me in the parking lot and asked me about Jacob, and to let him know that she was trying to get a hold of him. But Malia was going to prom at her school, so I assumed that she had moved on, possibly and had found a date to prom of her own.
"Less than a month? Wow! Mine is in two weeks. Our theme is under the sea, which is corny I know. But that's why I picked out this green dress, like Ariel's tail. You know? It's beautiful right?"
I nodded at her frantically. "Yeah, it looks really great on you."
"Yeah, your prom date's jaw is going to hit the floor when he sees you in that one," Angela said, smiling at her with encouragement.
I kept side eyeing the other side of the store watching Jessica and Lauren hold up a bunch of different tuxedos against Jacob and flailing around handkerchiefs to go with it. Lauren was getting a tad handsy with him, as she would slightly run her finger along his bicep when she was passing by him. I knew Jacob was most likely oblivious to Lauren's gesture, or he knew but felt it would be impolite to shrug her away. I was more worried that Malia would notice him.
"Well, I'm happy you're going, Bella! It'll be fun. You've had a rough year, you know. Breakups are hard," Malia nodded at me giving a pouty look. Angela looked over at me raising her eyebrow at Malia's comment. "I would know. Mine and Jacob's break up was really hard for me. I thought he was the one, but men are gross and conniving. They don't care about us women. That's why I'm making my date pay for the limo."
"A limo? Well that's fun. I think Ben is going to just pick me up and drive me to prom. Maybe get dinner before."
"What about you, Bella?"
"Oh, you know. Maybe the same thing as Angela," I said nervously. I knew that Malia never got contacted by Jacob, but she infinitely seemed like a peppy and bright girl. Maybe this wouldn't be something that would bother her.
"Oh, Bella, we should do something together. Like go to dinner before prom like a double date. Would you and… your date be up for that?" Angela asked me. I had to thank her for being discreet about it later.
"Oh, that sounds so fun! I wish I had a group of friends like you guys and your friends over there!" Malia said pointing at Jessica and Lauren, she smiled at them, until the inevitable happened causing her hand to immediately drop. Her eyes quaked open until her eyebrows were furrowed together. "Jacob?!"
Jacob looked over with a laugh across his face at something that Jessica and Lauren were doing, but his expression dropped in panic instantly when he recognized who had called his name.
"Jacob? What are you doing here?!" Malia screeched at him. Jacob didn't move at first or answer her. His face was in utter shock when he had noticed who it was. He started to nervously laugh as he started walking over towards us awkwardly. His walk was more bow legged than usual. I looked at him, shaking my head back and forth quickly to signal him away from coming over to us, but he ignored me.
"Oh, hey Malia…" he said, nervously as he got closer to us.
"What— I don't understand. Are you going to prom, too Jacob?"
"Uh, yeah." Jacob replied looking over at me raising his eyebrow. "With… Bella." And there we go. Having to face the issues of an ex-girlfriend that wasn't very much a girlfriend in the first place. I don't mean that in a malicious way, but it was true. Their relationship lasted for less than a week and I would hardly call it a relationship at that. She had come to Harry's funeral with him, but she would have attended that anyways because her father was friends with Harry. But Malia didn't think of it to be as casual of one as I did, and it was very clear in her facial expression right now.
"With Bella?!" She screeched at him and looked at me. "I don't understand." Her face distorted with confusion. "You said you guys were just friends." Her head immediately pivoted in my direction. "And you!" She looked at me with complete betrayal. "I told you in confidence about how much I liked him! You said you would talk to him for me, but I guess you two really did get to talking, huh!" She said acidly to me with her hands weighing on her hips. "I can't believe the both of you, especially you, Bella. You let a guy break your heart so bad that he had to leave town just to get away from your pathetic self, and all for what? To go after someone else's man. Are you kidding me? That's breaking girl code, Bella."
"Malia, it wasn't like that. It— it never was. Jacob told me you guys were broken up, already," I said to her, stuttering my words.
"And you still went after him?!" Malia sneered at me, getting closer to my face.
"Whoa, whoa, Malia," Jacob said, "this isn't Bella's fault."
"What isn't Bella's fault?" Lauren asked. I hadn't noticed that Jessica and Lauren made their way over here. Jessica had Jacob's tux that they had picked out draped over her arm.
"Ooo, Bella, you stole her boyfriend?" Jessica asked, rolling her eyes with a big grin on her face. I knew the intention she was insinuating here. Making the connection in her head about her entertaining the idea that I had any intention at all taking Mike from her when I deliberately made sure he and her both knew I wasn't interested in him.
"Um, you guys. I don't think this is any of our business. We should probably let them talk," Angela said, nervously, giving a small glance over towards me.
"No, no they should be here. Because they should know the kind of person she is. She's going to steal all of your boyfriends too, just watch!"
"That's enough, Malia. You don't know what you're talking about. Just leave her alone."
"Leave— leave her alone? Like you left me alone, Jakey?" Jakey? What a nauseating nickname for him.
"I didn't leave you alone! There was nothing between us in the first place!" And at that moment I knew. It was as if it was all in slow motion like watching those action movies when you see a bullet leave a chamber at such a downscaled speed. Watching it travel from the chamber towards the face of another man, but in this scenario, it was a fist. Malia's fist traveling from her center of gravity towards Jacob's face. It was a sudden flashback of when I had done the same thing to Paul when he had pushed my boundaries. And I, so ignorant and naive to not realize what the aftereffects would unleash when Paul had lost control. After I had lost control myself. Paul shifting into his wolf form in front of me. I knew their emotional aggravation issues were something they had to learn to control at these moments of agitation.
Her fist had finally connected to his face. To Jacob's face. A wave of panic rushed over me, but not even a ripple of skin from the impact was left on his own cheek. It was as if Malia had punched a brick wall and the agonizing screams followed. Malia had wrapped her other hand around her fist, hunching over in pain from the impact that she had inflicted on Jacob. I looked over at him, but Jacob was completely calm. I could see his body vibrating slightly, but he had closed his eyes, and continued to breathe through it while Malia was screeching curse words through her lips.
I stared at him, waiting in shock at the events that had taken place. Jacob heaved in one more breath of air through his teeth and then opened his eyes back up. He leaned over to Malia, bending down to her. No expression overwhelmed his face or his eyes. I knew he was trying to control his anger that must have been raging inside of him from his own instincts that have enveloped over his own control. I didn't move as he grabbed onto Malia's hand while she winced in pain. He examined it, turning her palm upwards and running the tip of his finger over her knuckle, trying to get a sensory reaction from them. Her fingers moved, luckily, so we knew they weren't broken. Her knuckles were severely red though and would most likely bruise over.
"Leave me, alone! I'm going home. You jerk, I can't believe you did this to me!" She yelled at him, but he stayed silent. Trying to hold in his own torment that was revenging inside of him. I looked up at Angela, Jessica and Lauren who both had their hands collapsed over their mouths. Angela looked genuinely worried, but Jessica and Lauren looked in shock, but were amused at the same time, trying to hold in their laughter.
"We can drive you home, Malia if you wanted us to," I blurted out. I didn't necessarily want to offer that, but I felt like it was a kind offer towards this preventable situation.
"No, I'm fine," she said, hissing at me with a grimace across her face. "I hope you both are happy, slut." She said emphasizing the 't' in the word. She shoved Jacob's hand away from her, and then shouldered him in the chest as she walked away out the door still wearing the green gown. The lady at the counter had run after her with Malia's clothes in her arms to make sure she would pay for the dress she was leaving in. I thought I should have asked to take her to the hospital instead, but her reaction may have been the same either way. The girl was feisty. Feistier than I expected her to be. Enough really to punch a werewolf in the face, not that she knew what Jacob was.
"Jacob are you okay?" I said looking up at him, reaching my hand to his face. He immediately brushed off my hand from him, nodding at me with a smile.
"Real question is, how are you feeling? I'm so sorry about that." He said to me, now returning the same gesture.
"I'm fine, I promise." I looked over at Angela who kept staring at me. An expression of worry was wiped over her face. I smiled at her nodding to assure her that I was fine.
"Wow," Jessica said, emphasizing each letter. "That was insane! She totally went off on you, girl!" Lauren chucked aloud at Jessica's reaction, insinuating the same reaction she had.
"Can you both knock it off?" Angela distressed. "Can't you see how freaked out Bella is? That girl completely ambushed her, and you two just laugh?" Angela was always generally a quiet person. She didn't care for confrontation much, which caused my eyes to gawk more at her reaction towards the situation than Malia's.
"Relax, Angela. It was funny. A crazy jealous ex-girlfriend? Like c'mon. You only see that in movies." Lauren said.
"No, it wasn't funny. You guys act like you are Bella's friends. Offering her a dress, rides to Seattle, but you laugh at her when a situation like this happens to her? You both were entertaining Malia's reaction the whole time! What is wrong with you two?"
"Angela," I held my hand out to her, raising my eyebrows at her. "It's okay I promise."
"No, it's not, Bella. They were horrible to you when you and Edward broke up. They didn't care. They thought it was funny and inevitable for it to happen. They are terrible friends, Bella and I'm tired of them treating you this way."
"Geez, Angela. We're sorry," Jessica snapped at her, sarcastically.
"No, you should be apologizing to Bella, not me."
"Sorry, Bella," Lauren said, rolling her eyes. Jessica's apology felt more sincere than Lauren's was, of course.
"How about I drive you both home?" Jacob said to Angela and me.
"You have a car?" I asked him, confused.
"Yeah, I finished the rabbit. How else did you think I got here?"
"You finished it? That's amazing, Jacob. Why didn't you tell me?"
"I wanted to surprise you. I kind of anticipated driving you home, anyway." He smiled at me.
Jessica and Lauren both looked at each other, crossing their arms awkwardly. "Yeah, well. We are going to head back," Jessica said softly, looking down at the ground. "Sorry…" She handed Jacob the tux that was draped over her arm.
They both walked out to their cars while Angela, Jacob and I went to the counter to pay for his rental tux.
The rabbit was amazing. It was nothing flashy in the sense, but it was amazing because Jacob built it himself. Last time I saw it, it was runnable, but it was missing a few exterior pieces that he still needed.
"Wow, Jacob, you built this?" Angela said, gawking at it. She looked back over at me with shock over Jacob's capabilities.
"Sure did. Took a long time, too," he said confidently.
"Well it looks great." He opened the door for us and we both got into the car and started driving through the city underneath the many streetlamps and building lights that lit up the roads.
"Thank you, Ange…" I said to her shyly with a warm smile.
"Any time," She replied, rubbing her hand on my shoulder from the back seat. The other side of her was piled up with our dresses and the tux, causing her to have to sit close to the window.