Chapter Three- Reunion Ride

i

BELLA WAS GLAD TO SEE her childhood friend again. Although glad wouldn't be the only word to use for the situation. Jacob had gotten huge. She couldn't even imagine the short and chubby thirteen-year-old he had once been. He was ridiculously tall, towering over her dad easily. He wasn't lanky, at least not overly so. He had lean muscle, or so she believed from how much she could see in a t-shirt and jeans. His hair was still incredibly long, one of the things she had always been jealous of. It didn't take super long to grow, and it was a deep-inky black that fell over his shoulder. His hair was almost completely straight, too. Bella had always been jealous of that, as she had thick wavy hair that got untamable in humid air, and it was a shade of brown she never liked.

The thing that sent Bella off-kilter was his smile. It was blinding. He smiled wide, his teeth shining, and his eyes narrow. She had forgotten how his smile spread across his whole face, his whole demeanor even. The Quileute boy, nearly a man now, had always been the happiest person she knew. He'd been the optimist while she was the realist or the pessimist. He had always tried so hard, and she had looked up to him in that way. He was happy as the sunshine, and she didn't realize how much she had missed it until that moment.

Bella walked down to him, seeing that he was fidgeting in place. (She knew that he had always been a little awkward, and it didn't help that it had been so long. The best she could do was go to him first). She walked a little slower than she would have liked, but she was also aware of how clumsy she could be. It was something that had caused her a lot of problems growing up, and it was still an issue now.

"Jake!" Bella exclaimed, ignoring how Billy went up to Charlie and the two started whispering. "How are you?"

"Hi," he replied. He stared for a moment longer, his hands grasping at the side of his jeans. He glanced to the side briefly, and then looked at her again, his eyebrows raised. "Oh, right! I'm good, good. How about you?"

Bella grinned at him. Despite looking like a man, he was still very much like the boy she remembered. He was probably aware of that though, so she decided not to mention it. "I'm doing good. Glad to be back in Forks, as weird as that feels to say."

Bella put her hands in her pockets and smiled up at him, craning her neck to do so. She could already tell that it was gonna get uncomfortable to do this all the time.

Jacob smiled once more, still lighting up his eyes despite the fact that it was smaller this time. "You know, for someone who was living in the south this whole time, you're still really pale, y'know, for a pale-face." His laugh crept up into his voice, and brought on the urge to laugh for her too.

"Hey, I can't help that the sun doesn't agree with me!" Bella said, putting her hands on her hips. "Plus, I'm not super interested in the beach like some of the other kids, so it's not like the sun gets to hit me much."

"Yeah," Jacob said, tilting his head at her as he smirked. "Sounds about right! You were always the little bookworm."

Bella gasped as if offended, and looked away. She glared back up at him, although with a small smile. "Who are you calling small? If I remember correctly, you were the smaller of the two of us for a long time! Don't go pointing fingers, mister!" She continued, as she pointed at him.

He laughed, and her face heated up a bit. His laugh was wonderful, as it had always been. He pushed her hand away from him as he continued to laugh. He calmed down after a moment or so, and smiled some more. Bella was sure that the boy was incapable of not smiling at this point. How could one person radiate so much happiness?

"Are you ready for your surprise," he asked gently. His voice was soft, and it made her blush spread a bit.

"I thought you being here was the surprise. Ch-Dad wasn't very clear about that." She tilted her head to the side, letting her hair fall slightly over her face as she got shy. She kicked the toe of her shoe at the ground once, before making eye contact with him again. "What's the surprise?"

Her dad took the opportunity to speak up. "I figured you were gonna need a way to get to school and all. I know that taking the bus isn't fun, especially at your age. And with how early I'm up for work, I figured…" He trailed off a bit, looking over at Jacob. Bella turned away from her dad to look up at the young man who was scratching at the back of his head.

"I uh, fixed up this truck," he said, looking over at it. "It's not the best, and it doesn't go fast, but it will get you where you need to go."

"What?" Bella asked, dropping her hands from her pockets, and looking back to Charlie. "What does he mean it will get me where I need to go?"

Billy laughed and said, "Bella! It's yours! Your dad paid for the parts, and Jacob fixed it up."

Bella smiled wide, hopping in place for a second before jumping over at her dad and giving him a hug. He hugged her back and then stepped away. His smile was small, but it was there.

"Thank you so much!" She was ecstatic. She had her license, but only because it had been necessary when her mom was making them travel so much. "This means a lot!"

"Don't just thank me! It was only my idea," he said, gesturing his arm over at the other two men. Bella nodded and skipped over to Billy who was beaming. She gave him a small hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you," she said to him. She then turned to Jacob, who was spreading his arms out, welcoming her hug to come.

Bella grinned wide, and with a small laugh, she ran over and gave him a hug.

She had forgotten what a hug from him was like. He was warm, and with how large he was, he could wrap entirely around her. Her arms went around his neck, and she cradled her face into his neck. His arms scooped her up by her middle, and he lifted her, twirling the two of them around. His laugh was soft, but it rumbled through his chest, and into her hers. He was ridiculously warm, and she loved it. A tiny part of her relished in it, aware of how easy it would be to fall asleep like this. He smelled of wet earth, oil, and pine trees.

She was only briefly aware when he set her back down. Her mind was a little dazed, and it took a moment before she registered the lack of warmth. She shook her head and put her eyes back on Jacob. Said boy was blushing hard, and it was highly visible despite his darker skin. His blush only made hers darker, and they both chuckled awkwardly.

"So, how about a test drive?'

ii

Charlie had given them both a stern talking-to, explaining everything they weren't to do while driving the truck. Bella only smiled and told him that she had plenty of experience driving, and to not worry. He had shaken his head but had waved them onwards, before helping Billy up the ramp to the house.

Bella had backed out of the driveway carefully and turned in the direction of the reservation. There was a trail in that direction that let them overlook the beach. They had plenty of light left, so they had time to sit and talk there before heading back.

The ride was quiet. Jacob listened to the sounds the truck made, wincing a bit every once in a while. Bella simply enjoyed the air rushing into the cab of the truck. The windows were down, and she was simply taking in the feeling of Fall. It was something she didn't really have a recent memory of. Her mom had insisted on staying in mostly southern states. Autumn didn't really exist there, the only difference was the temperature being slightly more bearable. Here, though, the air got colder, the rain returned in full force, and the plants actually started to die. There weren't a lot of deciduous trees, but the effect was mostly the same.

"I'm sorry about the truck," Jacob said, startling Bella just slightly. "I would have done more on it if Dad had told me what was going on with it. He kind of left it a surprise that you were coming back."

He was looking over at her, and she could only side-eye him. She had to pay attention to the road, especially with all the winding turns the back roads had. "There's no reason to be sorry," Bella started, "I love the truck. It means a lot to me. It's honestly all I need."

She turned and smiled at him quickly, before turning to the front again. Jacob shook his head in her periphery and looked back out the open window. Bella saw the sign marking the trail, and pulled the truck over to the side of the road, into the grass. She and Jacob rolled up the windows and hopped out of the truck. She made sure to lock it up, and turned to Jacob.

"I'm in the right spot, right?" Bella shoved her hands back into her hoodie pockets and looked into the woods. The woods had always made her feel comfortable. When she and Jacob had been young, they loved playing out in the trees at his house. Sarah had let them play there, although that was when they had been twelve or so.

"Yeah, it's like a two-minute walk from here," he said before dashing into the woods. He let out a whooping cry, and Bella followed after him in glee.

She felt like a kid again.

iii

"So, what's kept you away, all this time?" His voice was soft but serious. He wasn't looking at her, only looking out over the beach, listening to the sound of the water slapping against the rocks.

"My mom," she answered after a moment. She wrung her hands in her lap, and she didn't look out at the beach. Part of her was suffocating in guilt, and the rest of her was grieving all the lost time. "She had done so much to keep me from coming back here. It was awful."

Jacob looked at her, his eyes taking her in. She was hunched over herself, glaring at her hands. "You didn't wanna stay away?"

Bella leveled her eyes with his and shook her head. "No, I didn't. Mom made it clear that nothing I wanted really mattered. It's not like she hit me or anything, but I felt so alone with her. We were constantly moving around. It felt like every time I started to get comfortable and happy in the new spot, she'd rip me out of there." She gripped her left hand in her right and dug her nails into the back of it. She was so angry with the situation. How had any of it been okay?

Jacob took her left hand in his, and rubbed at the back of it, trying to wipe away the deep crescents put into her skin. "Don't do that, honey." His voice was so soft, that it made Bella want to cry. She had missed him so much, and he was the same as he had always been. He was older, more mature in mind and body, but he was the same boy that she had grown up with. He cared so deeply, and about all the little things that no one else did.

"She finally got sick of me. She got sick of me begging to see Dad. She got tired of me calling her out on her bad habits, her bad boyfriends. She went and got with some guy, and shipped me back here." Bella cried quietly as she told him. "There's so much more, but I can tell you about that later. I'm just glad to be back with people that actually care."

Jacob squeezed her hand gently and smiled a tiny smile. He looked at her, truly looked at her, and said, "I'll always care about you, honey. You don't have to worry about that."

He pulled her into a soft side hug, and let her cry against him.

After all was said and done, the pair dusted themselves off, and headed back to her house. The sun was falling low when they made it back. Charlie had looked miffed for a moment, before taking in the look on Bella's face. A look of surprise had flitted across his face before he just dropped the issue. He'd let it be. The kids needed some time to talk anyways.