CLANN- Closer
For several days now Charlie's been telling me to go see Jacob, get out of the house more. And if I didn't go out with the girls, if it had to be a guy, he'd rather it wasn't Mike.
"You don't like Newton? Or is it just that he's not Jacob?" He proceeded to stumble through his on-the-fly reasonings.
Jacob's been asking for me since the night I was found in the woods. Apparently he had driven up to help look as soon as Charlie called, and promised to stay until I was found. I'm sure Charlie was grateful for his help and Billy's support.
"He's a good boy, nothing wrong with him." Charlie said. I huffed at that, which was meant to be a laugh.
I remembered Jacob. I hadn't seen him since he told me about...the Cold Ones. I didn't feel much about him. Just that he was pleasant, had a great smile. And...he wasn't Newton. I remembered how he saved me from Newton's advances. I was grateful. I was still new to Forks at the time, and it was nice to be around a familiar face. Made me more comfortable. I agree, there was nothing wrong with him.
At that moment, the phone rang.
"Jake! Hey, we were just talking about you," He turned to look at me with a bright face. I think all the color left mine.
"Bella? She's right here," I started to deny I'd take the call but he forced the phone on me. The receiver end had already detected my breath.
"Jacob, hey. What's up?"
"Hey, how've you been Loca?" I side eyed Charlie.
"Fine, I've been fine. You?"
"Good-Come see what I've been working on! It's a broken down Rabbit I'm nearly done rebuilding. Had to start with literally just the skeleton-" He prattled. Charlie repeatedly pointed his chin at me.
"Ssssure. I can swing that." I mumbled. I had homework to catch up on but I guess this was more 'important'. I know Charlie feels indebted to him but... I suppose I was responsible for it. I really did put Dad in a bad spot.
"Doing anything tomorrow?" Jacob asked. My energy ghosted me.
"No, I can come tomorrow." I agreed.
"Great! I'll see you then!"
"Bye, Jacob. See? I go out." I told Charlie.
I wasn't looking forward to going to La Push. The idea of having to see someone when I wanted as few eyes on me as possible was...painful. But at least I wouldn't be home with this Charlie that hovered.
La Push had this other worldly sense to it. Maybe because it was right at the ocean and there wasn't anything like it in Arizona. It was surrounded by the forest, cradled by it...I started feeling these cords drawing me to it. A desire to be cradled by it and it's darkness too. I tried to shake the feeling as I drove, squeezing my eyes shut. Maybe it would be nice to explore the surrounding forest, but would I get lost again? The idea felt almost comforting.
It was a miracle I didn't crash on the way over.
I rolled up to the house then continued around it to get closer to the dilapidated garage behind it. I could hear metal on metal clanging as I got out of the truck. I shoved my fists into my pockets and trudged forward. Hopefully it wasn't terribly awkward to see someone you haven't seen in months.
He was deep inside it, doing something low to the ground, but when he caught sight of me he called my name.
"Hey," I said, taking a hand out to wave. I think I responded in time, mimicking 'normalcy'. He dropped everything and rushed to me.
"Hey," We said again.
"Come in, it's in here," He said, leading the way. "Just a few more tweaks and it'll actually be done today. We could take it out for a test drive." He was smiling widely, and looked so happy. I felt my face mirror his.
"Congratulations. It's insane you rebuilt it," I added when I saw it. It looked worse for wear, worse than my truck, but it was leaps better from what it used to be. Jacob was ridiculously accomplished for his age.
"Yeah," He agreed, patting it's hood.
"I'm jealous." We laughed.
"Not so sure you'd like to be a grease monkey," He said sheepishly.
"No, but I'll help," I said, pushing my sleeves up.
"Can you roll that tire over here?" He asked, squatting back down. I looked to where he pointed and tried moving it. Were tires really this heavy?
With some struggle, dropping it and having to stand it upright again, I got it to him.
"I just need to fix this axel a bit," He picked up a mallet and started hitting something under the car. He's a bit bigger, I noticed. More buff. I guess that's how.
"That should do it," He grabbed a rim and stuffed it into the tire with seemingly minimal struggle. He was only, what, seventeen?
"Isn't all this force kinda bad for you?"
"Nah, it's not that hard." He insisted.
"Mmm." I hummed. He then put it into place and started to manually screw the bolts in. It was nice, seeing him so focused in his work. And I was content in watching him. I didn't feel like I had to fill in the silence at all.
"Sorry. I'm just huffing over here and...making you sit on the ground," He apologized.
"Don't worry about it. I don't have a thing against dirt,"
"You're not like the girls in school," He said, screwing another bolt in.
"Or the one's in mine. " I said awkwardly. "How's your sisters?"
"Good. One's married, to a guy in the neighboring reservation."
"Ah, that's interesting."
"Yeah, our tribes are married now in a way," He laughed. I suddenly remembered how his dad and Charlie hoped we'd get together so our families would be married. I started finding it strange he remembered telling me about his project. He told me he was looking for an engine or something when I came out here with the others. And I said I'd keep a lookout for it. I think he said he'd call when it was done. That felt like a lifetime ago, but technically it was a little less than a year. I'm the weird one for forgetting.
"Is the truck holding up ok?" He asked. "I can look at it while you're here?"
"It's fine. I haven't had an issue. You did great on it,"
"Alright," He said with a grin."If something happens just call. Let's go wash our hands and we can take it out," We got out of our squats and started to the house.
"Have you really been ok?" He asked. I was so hoping he'd deem it unnecessary to ask.
"Yeah. You and Billy helped Charlie out a lot. Thanks." I said. At least he knew to leave it at that.
We entered the house and met Billy wheeling himself into the living room.
"Well look who's here. It's good to see you Bella,"
"It's good to see you too, Billy." I said with a pressed smile. He was looking-no, studying me. When will it ever not be awkward around him?
"How are you?" He asked strangely. I swallowed hard. He was the only other person who knew about the Cullens, and that I knew.
"G-good. You?"
"Can't complain. Forks hospital might say something different, being short a doctor. Have you heard from the Cullens?" I felt like I got stabbed straight through the heart.
"Dad!" Jacob shouted.
"Uh, no. I haven't." I stuttered.
"We're taking the rabbit out after washing our hands. Don't wait up." He said, urging me forward. I tried avoiding Billy's eyes as I made my way around him, Jacob following after me.
We wet our hands and lathered up in the tiny bathroom.
"Maybe I should change quickly," He said, and jumped into his room that was practically in front of the bathroom doorway, this house being so tiny. I heard him change loudly, abusing his dresser. I appreciated how he was trying to get us out of the house quickly.
"Alright, let's go!" He grabbed my hand and ran us out. He jumped the stairs in front and I landed awkwardly next to him. I couldn't help but laugh.
"Where do you wanna go?"
"I don't know, I'm not from here. It's up you."
"I guess you haven't seen much since moving back," He said. "We'll glide through the town first, then."
The Quileute reservation was a little smaller than Forks but lively. It was nice to see everyone go about their daily lives. It was the weekend so a lot of kids were playing in the street, front yards, and any other space available. We stopped by the only gas station for a cheap, massive slurpee before driving off road, on to the beach. Jacob was happy to see the rabbit could handle the reservation's coarse black sand. I found the black sand interesting. How did it get it's color?
We stopped nearby and got out to walk the beach. White driftwood branches littered it, reminding me of when I helped pick some that time last year. I remembered the blue bonfire that I had thought was beautiful. We were walking the same beach as when he told me the stories of his tribe. But I didn't feel much pain. Something here quelled it.
Not too far away we're people cliff diving.
"Woah, look at that!" I said.
"Not much to do around here, so we pretend to kill ourselves." He said. I smacked his arm.
"Don't say that. How do they even get up there?" Just as I said that, someone from the water had swam to its the side and started climbing.
"I wanna try that,"
"I was just joking! Charlie would kill you and me if you did." He said. With the waters looking black and the sky completely blocked off by the clouds, it looked surreal.
"Is it fun? Have you done that before?" I asked.
"I have but not recently." He looked at the people on the cliff with disdain.
"The water must be freezing though,"
"If you go, at least take me with you," He said. "So someone's there to save you from drowning. The currents there can be strong." He said, pushing me back to the car.
"But I kinda wanna-do you know them?"
"No. And I don't want to. It's dangerous, so just call me when you want to go. I doubt you brought a swim suit with you." He looked elsewhere after that.
"I don't even own a suit, so I'll do it in my street clothes." I got in and moved to passenger side so he could get in.
"I'll drive us closer to the trail instead of walking from here," He said. Right, the tide pools.
"I'm sorry about Billy." He started. "He still believes the Cullens we're the Cold Ones from the stories, so when you went missing..." I forced out a laugh.
"They're just stories."
"Yeah, I know." He said with a troubled smile. "But, were you trying to kill yourself when you went that deep into the forest? You're far from an experienced hiker." I fixed my eyes to stare straight ahead.
"No, of course not. I just got lost. It's a miracle I was found." Suddenly something hot grabbed my hand. I looked to find his grasping mine.
"I'm sorry about what happened. He obviously hurt you and...If you ever need to escape people's eyes, you can come here any time." He said.
"...thanks, Jake." Something about his dark eyes, deep skin and long hair was different from other people including Billy. He pulled me into a hug. That we were cramped in this car probably made it easier for him to-I would have stayed far away if we were still walking on the beach. But it didn't feel bad. It felt like he understood, and he was warm.
A lot of this was just added in today. I only wrote small notes of what I wanted to include, mostly the initial phone call. I just really needed to set up some stuff to make events fit this timeline, and get to the rest of what I had written. Hopefully it flows okay.