Chapter 14

finally recovered from covid (mostly) so here's chapter fourteen mfsss
i used some lines from new moon in this chapter, so credit to smeyer for those.

hope you enjoyy :)

/language/

Three knocks on the door shook Bella out of her stupefied haze about ten minutes later. She hurriedly swiped at her eyes and splashed some water on her face, praying no smears of snot were left on her cheeks. She dried her hands on her jeans, and drew a deep shuddering breath, opening the door.

She didn't know what she had expected to find outside. Perhaps an angry mob, intent on paying her back for ruining the birthday of their chief's son. Perhaps the son himself.

Instead, there was Leah, with her arms folded across her chest. Still scowling, that was expected, but her eyes held a note of sympathy to them.

"What happened?" she demanded.

Bella couldn't answer, but the answer rang in her head loud and clear. She shrugged, wiping her nose on her sleeve.

"Nothing," she finally said.

Leah cocked her head, raising an eyebrow. "You know everyone's going crazy down there. With you bursting in like that. I swear they think you have IBS or something."

Bella gave her a weak smile.

Leah awkwardly reached up and scratched the side of her neck. "Now I'm gonna be honest, I don't know you. At all. But Seth's batshit crazy about you. And when I saw Jake about to come up after you I'm like fuck you, read the room. This girl doesn't need more males."

Jake? Great.

Then Leah sighed and suddenly pulled Bella into a fierce, stiff hug. "I swear, if that boy hurt you I'll kill him," she muttered. "Actually I'll kill him anyway," she added after a moment.

"Why does everyone know?" Bella groaned helplessly. She couldn't help but stand rigidly.

Leah scoffed. "Nothing's really a secret around here. Besides Quil's too open about who he likes. He got told a million times not to tell you. He never has a chance with anyone anyway."

Bella slumped against the girl with relief. So she didn't actually know.

"Yeah, it um…sucks," she sniffed. She had no idea what Leah thought really happened with Quil, and honestly didn't care to know. "But you don't need to beat him up for...anything. It's all good. Seriously."

"Listen, men can act real shitty sometimes," Leah told her. "Trust me, I know. He might treat you like crap for rejecting him, but let the asshole know you don't need him." Her voice had a hard edge to it. Bella wondered for a moment if she was trying to tell it to herself.

"Thanks," she said gratefully. "And I'm really sorry about… that whole situation you've had to deal with. It sounds awful."

Leah nodded shortly. "I'll get over it. As soon as I pay the sick rat back."

Bella decided not to pry.

Then Leah jerked her head back and stared at Bella in wide-eyed horror.

"You did reject him right? Please, for the love of God tell me you do not like Quil back."

Bella laughed, a horrible nasally snort that whined through her congested nose. "No, no. Gosh, no. No."

Leah huffed. "Good."

...

Once they were downstairs, the older girl handed her a plate of food. "Eat."

Bella took the plate and they sat down by the fireplace.

Then she realized Jacob was directly across the room from her, in perfect view. Half of the younger kids had returned from the garage by now, and they were all crowding around him, the toddlers tugging at his hair and climbing into his lap. But he wasn't paying attention to them.

Bella carefully avoided eye contact with anyone besides Leah, itching to leave. Just because she had come to terms with liking him back didn't necessarily mean she wanted to confront him. Or talk to him about what that meant just yet. And if he caught her looking at him, he might take it as an excuse to come over, and then what would they talk about? "Hey, I noticed you avoided me the entire night. It's my birthday but it's no big deal. I think your hair smells really good, by the way" and "Oh thanks, I have a massive crush on you too"? Absolutely not.

Just then, Seth bounced in, slamming the front door behind him. His mittens were encrusted in tiny white flakes, his hair damp and stringy. He made a beeline for the table.

"It's snowing," he announced, his breath evaporating in a cool cloud.

Bella had to raise her plate above her head as the children climbed over her to press their faces to the windows, clamoring with excitement. Leah gently slugged a couple in the head as they knocked into her, spilling her drink.

"That's my punch, dipshits!" she howled.

"Language," Mrs. Clearwater reprimanded her.

Bella looked out herself. The view was beautiful— hundreds and thousands of snowflakes lightly drifting down from the dark sky, blanketing the yard in a thin ivory sheet. If she squinted, she could just make out her truck to the side, already half painted white.

She saw Jacob get up slowly, and open a window. The curtains billowed and swelled as a cold wind blew through the house.

"Second best birthday gift ever," Jacob decided as they all stared out into the night.

Bella had an tiny inkling of a suspicion what the best one was. But she didn't want to assume.

...

By 9 p.m., most of the party guests had slowly slipped out the house family by family until there were only a couple adults with drowsy children on their shoulders left. That was when Embry entered the house. The moment everyone inside saw his huge frame shuffle in the door, a quiet hush fell upon the room. He surveyed them all with two sharp glances then sat down in the very corner, leaving the adults to their gossip. Which they got straight to.

Soon, Jacob got up from his seat and walked over to the boy, clearing his throat. Bella strained her ears to hear the faint snatches of their conversation.

"You came," Jake said. Bella wondered if he knew Embry had been there since the start of the party.

"I did," replied Embry.

Jacob sat down beside him. He didn't seem to know how to approach his friend anymore. "How're things…going?"

At that moment Embry looked like he wanted to cry. As his tense expression started to crumble, Bella got a glimpse of the boy, Jake's friend, who was still there under the steely front he always seemed to pull on. Then he recovered and the mask was drawn on again with a quick shrug. "Good. Tough. But okay."

"You busy?"

"Yeah. Hungry, too. Can I have some food?"

Bella lost her focus and their voices melted into the general noisy hum of the room as Quil appeared behind her and nudged her shoulder.

"Found you, Cinderella. Where'd you go?"

"In here."

"Clearly. Hey, Jake!"

Of course he had to call him over.

But now Quil was walking towards him and Embry instead. "C'mon Bella," he said, dragging over a stool and she reluctantly followed. Quil sat down, cross legged in front of the two.

Bella sat down on the stool and looked at her socks. She could feel Jacob's eyes on her, watching her curiously until she found herself looking up on impulse. She met his soft eyes almost immediately, holding hers until she couldn't draw herself away. He winked. Bella blushed violently, hoping the glow of the fire would hide her flushed cheeks. He turned back to look at the fire and Bella ground her teeth, wishing Leah would come save her from the gaggle of boys. But Leah had come and joined them instead, along with Seth, and they all sat in a small circle now. The adults were on the other side of the room, and Harry was in the middle of telling another one of his fishing stories.

"Jake, it's your birthday and we haven't even played any games," announced Quil, now that he had the group's attention.

"Yeah. That's because it's my birthday, not yours."

"You're no fun."

Jake sighed, but it wasn't a real sigh, not filled with exhaustion like Embry's. His was patient. He was always patient. "Whatcha wanna play, Quil?" he asked.

Quil perked up immediately. "Truth or dare."

Was that the best idea? Bella knew it wasn't, not at the mercy of Quil. But she couldn't leave them, and she definitely couldn't run up to the bathroom again if she got cornered into something. She would just have to hope Quil had forgotten her dramatic escape and wouldn't bring it up. But knowing him, that was unlikely.

"Okay. I dare you to shut up," Jacob said pleasantly.

"That's not even the proper way to go about it. You didn't say it properly. So my turn," decided Quil. "Watch this. Truth or dare?"

"Truth," said Embry.

Quil looked at him, surprised that he was the one who decided to answer. "Oh. Well, um, okay. Is...is Sam as freaky as he looks?"

Embry took a few minutes to answer, staring into the dancing flames. When he did, the distant air had returned. "No. Sam's a good guy," he said quietly and he stopped there, lost in thought.

Leah scoffed as soon as she heard his answer, crushing her paper cup in her fist. "Yeah, such a great guy. A real fuckin' G, that's him."

"He's a good guy." Embry stared at her without blinking, his voice firm and steady.

Leah glanced at Embry. She looked slightly weirded out by his insistence. "If you and your little pals say so."

"Bella."

Her head jerked up.

It was Quil who had spoken. "Truth or dare?"

He was asking her. She had to answer. But both options were risky.

"That's not the rules!" Seth complained.

"No one gives a crap about the rules in this game, Seth. Bella, truth or dare?" Quil repeated.

"I thought this was truth or dare not Simon Says with Quil," Jacob said.

"Ask someone else," Seth said.

"Maybe you should," agreed Leah.

There was silence then. Everyone seem nervous on her account and that made her more worried for whatever Quil had up his sleeve. Bella's heart pounded in her chest as he leaned forward like a cat ready to spring.

The adults were right over there. He couldn't dare her to do anything risky. But choosing truth, that was like walking straight into a death trap. She had a tendency to ignore the warning signs, but not this time. Whatever she needed to confess, she would do in her own time, quietly and slowly, like Jacob should have gotten to do. She wouldn't let anyone spoil the way he found out. And she knew Quil would try to.

"Dare," she told him. She didn't exactly know why she said it.

Quil leaned closer with a wide smirk. His narrowed eyes glittered like tiny black diamonds.

"I dare you…" he said slowly, "to kiss Embry."

Seth squealed and his sister sighed. Embry looked up at the mention of his name, more than bemused. But Jacob, Jacob hadn't shown any reaction at all. Not a single muscle twitched in his smooth face, and he kept his eyes trained on the fire.

Canine teeth pierced down on her bottom lip harder than she intended, a metallic tang filling her mouth.

It was a dare, she had to do it. There was some unspoken rule in life about completing dares that everyone knew. You were automatically exiled from society if you refused a dare. Or it seemed that way, at least. Besides, she tried to convince herself as she stared at the ground, it wouldn't even be a proper kiss. Just a tiny peck. She tried not to cringe at the thought. But the thing was, she and Jacob weren't official. There was no point in saving any kiss for him. So it wasn't like she was cheating on him, or on anybody else. He didn't even know she felt the same way, and if they ever did kiss, it would probably be far in the future, after everything was settled and figured out. So what was the protocol for other kisses? The mundane kind that were a result of a silly game and didn't have to ruin any existing relationships? She supposed there was no protocol, but it still felt wrong.

Maybe it would be easy―like touching someone's face, or holding someone's hand. Not that she had ever done those things with Embry before. She barely knew him.

Maybe it would feel nice. Maybe it wouldn't feel like betrayal. Besides, who was she betraying, anyway? Just herself. But now, no matter how much she'd like to deny it, she couldn't help but wish Quil had said Jake, instead.

Everyone was looking at her now, everyone besides Jacob. They were all expecting it. And she wouldn't be a party pooper. Not for the second time this night.

Just close your eyes and go for it, Bella told herself.

She looked nervously around. Then, she faced Embry, grabbed his face, and brought his lips to her own in one swift motion.

There was a sharp gasp from Seth, and a whoop of "Attagirl!" from Leah.

Bella drew away as quickly as she had kissed him, hoping Embry would receive her silent apology. The boy sat in silence, blinking.

And that was it. It was over now.

She dared a glance at Jacob. He hadn't even looked up from the fire, but his fists were enclosed around a paper fork so tightly she thought it might snap.

Well, that smarted a little bit. It was a bit selfish to wish for more of a reaction, Bella knew, but still. Didn't he care? Did he even like her anymore? She half wanted to snatch the fork out of his hands and wave it above her head, yelling "Hello, Jake? The girl you have a crush on just kissed one of your best friends? Do you care at all? Oh, and she likes you too, by the way."

It was just a dare, she reminded herself, it didn't mean anything.

Then, "I didn't say on the lips," Quil said gleefully. "Whoa, you like Emb or something? Now tell us, what happened with Jake?"

Bella was suddenly filled with unimaginable rage. Everything that had gone wrong that day, that month, was because of Quil and his never ending teasing which led to her constant overthinking. He was the reason everything started being awkward, and the reason why she could barely look at her best friend anymore.

"Fuck. You. Quil." she spat out from between her gritted teeth. "I don't know what kind of personal vendetta you have against me, but if your aim was to make my life an absolute living hell, congratulations, you've succeeded. I only kissed him because you dared me to, but now I realize how incredibly stupid it was for me to go along with it because I should've known you'd take any opportunity to be the worst, most horrible person ever. This month has been miserable because of you, and...and I'm so tired of you messing everything up. Can't you just leave us alone?"

She froze then, shocked at hearing the words in her head come out of her mouth.

Quil was gaping at her, and he actually looked hurt. Like, genuinely.

Then it hit her.

She'd just been an absolute asshole to a boy, who, granted, was a bigger asshole, but might not have deserved it this time. Above that, she just ranted and swore at him. She never swore.

Bella had to get out of there. She had to leave this mess.

"I have to go," she mumbled, choking on her words.

She spun around and stalked into the hall. Her hands shook by her side. Her legs wouldn't carry her fast enough, and when she bent down to put on her shoes, black spots appeared in front of her eyes. She shook her head, trying to clear them up as she heard footsteps behind her.

"I'll take you home."

Bella whirled around. "No." That was the last thing she wanted.

"Yes," Jacob said firmly, grabbing her shoulder to steady her. "Bells, the roads are icy. You can't go by yourself, it's too dangerous. Plus you're obviously not… thinking straight today."

"I am thinking perfectly fine, thank you very much," Bella shot back.

"Please," Jacob pleaded. "Just let me drive."

ok so poor quil lol. but do you think her tirade was justified? did he finally get what he deserved?
ty for reading! love yaa~