Chapter 9
ok scratch what i said yesterday bc chapter 9 is here and it's my longest one yet yayy
and i must admit this chapter is full of songs lyrics, i cackle each time i find a new way to slip in a taylor swift reference.
hope u enjoy :)
The holidays rolled around soon enough, and along with the freedom from school came the rush of excitement leading up to Christmas. The shops in Forks crammed decorations in each window as preparation for the big day, miniature Santa Clauses and tiny pine trees beckoning to those passing by, strings of golden bells intertwined with paper chains hanging from the doorways. Heavy-duty winter coats, mittens, and boots were dug up from attics and each word spoken outside crystallized in a delicate rush, jeweling the air with chalky breath.
Still, snow never came.
These days they stayed in the garage even though the bikes were long finished, but Bella could tell Jacob was itching to go out again. The heater was always on in the winter days, fighting against the blustery wind outside, and it fogged up the window panes until they drew squiggles through the frosty sheets.
Jake complained about the lack of snowfall each morning. According to him, 'twas "the damn season to snow anyway", and he told her more memories of his childhood as he remembered how much fun it used to be building snowmen with his sisters this time of the year. Bella listened happily to the literal stream of consciousness flowing from his mouth, just content to be with him.
Sitting on a creased red and black rug on the floor with bag of Cheetos open beside them, she tried to persuade Jake to start on some missing assignments over the break while she tried to catch up with reading some of Renee's letters she had discarded months ago.
But really, Bella sat and silently watched him as he flipped through the pages of his notebooks.
He read with his head hung low, eyes twinkling in the glow of the electric heater, the black sheen of his hair falling into place like dominoes cascading in a line.
The position reminded her of that first visit and that first story, months ago.
The beginning of everything.
The start of how he brought her back to life.
What must it be like to grow up that beautiful? Bella wondered as she gazed at him.
Then she turned her head to stare at the wall, weirded out by the thought.
Beautiful?
Yeah, Jake was sorta beautiful.
She supposed. In a purely platonic and friendly way, of course.
Not like the alluring, almost intoxicating glamour of the Cullens, though.
She found his essence in the rugged peaks of wind beaten mountains, the icy forest lakes, between the creaking beams of a rustic wood cabin. She heard the melody of his voice in the sound of trickling cliffside pools, the tender song of a lone loon, the graceful curve of a swan's neck. Nature in its purest form— it all reminded her of Jacob.
Did I just compare Jake to a swan's neck? And cobwebs?!
He suddenly slammed the book shut and jumped to his feet, cutting off her train of thought.
"You know what sucks?" he announced, continuing before Bella could reply. "My dad invited Sam and his buddies to Christmas dinner tonight."
Bella's head popped up. "Really?"
"I don't want them in my house," he muttered, kicking aside a pebble with such gusto it skipped away several meters.
"It's just for a couple hours," Bella reminded him. "They'll be gone before you know it." Besides, she was far more excited to meet the infamous group than she liked to admit.
"I don't know why he's so obsessed with them," grumbled Jake. "A couple days ago he asked me if I wanted to hang out with them that day. Is he serious? I'd rather babysit Seth for a week straight."
Bella inched closer and timidly patted him on the shoulder in hopes to calm down the seething boy.
"And then I asked him why they can't go home to their own families, cuz it's not like they don't have their own families, right? And then he says—get this" and Jacob pitched his voice several octaves higher until his words reached a high squeak "—it'll be nice for us to have some new company. In my opinion, four people is plenty. We won't even have enough food for those beasts. I've seen 'em wolf down over ten plates of food each. I bet they chug gallons of beer, too. And I swear if Paul gets his grubby fingers on any of my stuff…"
Bella hid a smile as each exaggeration got more and more drastic. He sounded like a three year old.
...
The day dragged on, and Bella subtly checked outside the door thrice each hour, barely keeping back her excitement. She didn't want to irritate Jacob, but she also couldn't wait to see this 'cult' she had heard so much about.
Time soon turned the flames in the fireplace into embers as she sat in the couch on the living room, cursing the clock and wondering if Charlie would get there before them.
They appeared in a line of dark heads and bare feet as soon as twilight fell.
With them was a woman who looked only a few years older than Bella. The one person in the group dressed festively, she had on a red dress with white trimming and boots. She carried a pot of stew, swiping away the hand of the man beside her who offered to carry it in.
Then she spoke in a light, bubbly voice that sounded like the wind rushing through a cluster of chimes deep in the woods. "Hi, Bella! I'm Emily."
The name of the girl standing in front of her suited her, Bella thought in awe.
She was about a head taller than Bella and remarkably pretty, with sparkling eyes and wisps of raven hair escaping from her cropped ponytail, presenting the carefree yet perfectly polished look Bella could never achieve herself. But Bella's eyes were immediately drawn to three scars of varying length running down her right cheek.
The longest cut through her lips and reached almost to the bottom of her jawline. They were clearly not fresh—the tell-tale pink signs had already faded away into a lighter brown, but Bella couldn't help but wonder what monster of an animal had been able to maul her to that extent.
Next to her with his arm draped around her shoulder towered a massive man who, despite the bitter weather, wore only a faded pair of denim shorts hacked off just below his knees and a loose white tank top. The light of the room accentuated every smooth curve of muscle bulging from his silhouette, and Bella found herself accidentally locking eyes with him in her haste to stop ogling.
Sam held her gaze and looked at her intently, his demeanor unreadable but one eye twitching.
His eyes... they had a bitter, hardened quality to them, as though they had seen years of some kind of torment, not missing a thing as they smoothly glided over Bella's entire form, taking in her bitten fingernails to her scuffed shoes.
She couldn't bring herself to turn away.
What was it about him that made her feel that he knew her, really knew her?
Under his scrutiny, Bella felt that he was somehow poking through her mind and flicking over her history, peeling back the layers until he could extract all the pain of her past, the self loathing that came with the knowledge that she, Bella Swan, was still nothing more the worthless toy of the Cullens, thrown away like an electronic gone haywire. For under everything, she was somewhat of a mad woman now.
But how? How could he know?
She finally broke away from the intense stare he insisted on and motioned awkwardly to the table. "In there," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Each of the boys that shuffled in after the couple wore the same clothes as their leader, each one impressing Bella with their immense stature, reminding her of some sort of agile lumberjacks as they slipped into their seats. Their hulking bodies crammed into every inch of extra space around the table, jostling around until they all fit like snug pigs in a blanket.
Not a word was spoken.
Jake wasn't joking when he said these men were beasts, Bella thought ruefully.
Bella hadn't seen Embry since November and she barely recognized him when he slunk into the dining room, last in the formation of boys. The shoulder length waves of his hair had been chopped off to inches above his eyebrows, the patchy scalp clearly the result of a grown out buzz, and his once boyish face had developed grim lines set around his mouth. He didn't even glance in her direction as he took his place at the table.
Charlie arrived moments later, still in his policeman uniform, and shook hands with Sam. The latter's wide palm grasped Charlie's with such force Bella's father reflectively flexed out his fingers once they were loose. He nodded to his daughter, squeezing into a chair.
Bella heard some loud words being exchanged then, what she could only assume was the result of Billy 'having a word' with his son. Sure enough, Jacob stalked down the stairs moments later and went to stiffly stand beside Bella in the corner of the room.
"I hate this," he growled in her ear. "We should just get our food and go to the garage."
"Wouldn't that be rude?" she whispered back.
"I don't care if it is. I'm not staying around them any longer."
To Bella's surprise, neither Billy nor Charlie objected to the two leaving the dinner even before it started.
Jacob stomped out first, leaving Bella in the room, and she saw Billy cast a knowing glance at Sam.
Sam got up seconds after, and he and Billy nodded ever so slightly at each other as they both left the room. Bella couldn't help but wonder what sort of secret message had just been exchanged.
She hung behind to fill up her plate, looking apologetically at Charlie in a sort of I-promise-I'm-not-being-rude-I-just don't-want-to-piss-off-Jacob-any-more kind of way. He waved her off dismissively with a "Go have fun, kid."
Feeling more comfortable, Bella left the room with her gloved hands full of dinner and her coat. But as she passed by the hall, her ears detected the hushed whispers of two grown men conversing with each other, and she stopped to lean against the wall, holding her breath to listen.
A low voice belonging to Billy rang out, then softened as if he had just been reminded of his surroundings.
Bella strained to catch the drifting words uttered next. "Keep an eye on him. It's getting closer." His tone was strangely harsh.
Getting closer? Whatever did that mean?
Then, "But go easy on him, Sam. For his own sake."
...
In the garage, they were met by the grinning faces of Quil and Seth. Jacob didn't seem at all surprised to see them, and set his food down on Seth's lap to take off his coat.
"I heard they're in there," Seth jerked his head towards the wall as he cradled the steaming plate. "Are these beans?" he asked, momentarily distracted.
"How's Embry?" Quil broke in, sounding anxious. "He's not dead is he?"
"Of course not," Bella said before Jacob could open his mouth. "He just looks a bit different, that's all."
"They are beans," mused Seth, grinning sheepishly once they all turned and saw the spoon in his mouth.
Quil nodded in response to Bella. "Good, good. That's good. So you met them all, huh, Bella? Did ya see their shiny man boobs?"
"Yeah. And no. They were wearing shirts, Quil."
"Whatcha think? Creepy, right? All filing in order like some kinda robots?"
Bella shrugged. "They seem alright. Pretty polite, too. Sam actually shook hands with my dad."
Quil spat and rubbed the saliva into the earth with the sole of his shoe. "That's what they want you to think. Until boo! They kidnap you!" and he lunged at Seth, crowing, arms stretched above his head to resemble wings.
If wings had the fluffy blue and red padding of a coat, that is.
Jacob recused his tilting dinner as Seth let out a shriek and cowered away, and that was when Bella noticed how distressed Jake looked, his face drawn in a sullen, agitated expression.
She patted his back timidly. He always received such little gifts of affection well, and it made her feel proud of her progress since early November, but he ignored her now, turning away.
She let her hand drop.
Then Quill winked at her. "Decided on Jake's birthday present yet, Bella?"
Bella blinked in shock, everything else forgotten. "Birthday present...? Where-I mean- when-I mean…what?"
"Ooh, burn." snorted Seth. He seemed to have picked up the saying from Embry.
After a moment of pained silence, Bella forced herself to speak. "I wasn't aware…" she began defensively, then turned to a bashful Jacob in the corner. "You didn't tell me!" she accused, hoping the hurt she felt was tangible in her voice.
Jacob's slight wince told her it was. But he remained quiet.
Of course.
January 14th.
In a literal two weeks and she had still forgotten.
The topic hadn't really come up recently, but why didn't he remind her it was his birthday? Did he not want her to know? Did he think she would annoy him about it? Bella remembered the jokes they had made about age, but she didn't think he would go as far as to hide the actual date of his birthday from her.
Evidently, these questions shone through her face, because Seth decided to give her the answer.
"He wanted you to remember."
Well that made her feel all but better.
"Gosh… I feel like an idiot," Bella immediately stuttered. "Jake, I'm so sorry. Seriously. I'm such a horrible friend."
"Friiiiiendshiiiip," Quil drawled, dragging out the word long and slow. "No fine print to read there, Jake."
Bella ignored him. "I don't know how it could've slipped my mind— I feel horrible. But I'll make it up, I promise. Anything you want, I'll get it for you."
Jacob's usual grin returned. "That'd be nice."
"Of course it would," Quil commented, a goofy smirk stuck on his face.
Seth nudged him enthusiastically. "Tell her about the other thing, Jake."
"Yeah, um…" Jake fumbled with his fork, stamping the prongs over the edge of his plate. "My dad's hosting a sort of party for me next week… at Emily's, and uh… I kinda figured you might like to come. Only if you wanna, though. It's fine if you're too busy."
Bella couldn't believe her ears. "And miss out on the only day I get to officially hold your age over you? Shut up. Of course I'm coming."
He let out a sigh of relief, then straightened up, clearly trying to play his reaction off as nonchalant. "Cool."
"Tick it off the checklist," Quill quipped, and immediately got clobbered.
thanks for reading!
a couple of questions for any darling reviewers:
1) ik it's supposed to be slow burn, but do you think things are moving toooo slowly?
2) is bella questioning herself too much? but is it somewhat understandable, taking into account all she went through before?
tysm! i really appreciate it.
