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Disclaimer- Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and everything involving it. I'm almost positive...
Cara:
The house was small, two floors with a wide driveway out front. It looked worn down and lived in. It was a home. But there was this air about it, dark and lonely that told me what it was.
This was where her dad was killed. I shuddered just thinking about it, trying to put myself in that position. After a minute, I gave up. It was impossible to even pretend to know what it would feel like to lose my dad, the only person I'd had for so long.
There was a movement from the top window, a flutter of the curtains that sent my heart whirring. I hoped it was her, why would there be anyone else in there? After what had happened.
With cautious steps, I tripped up the stairs, senses keen for anything odd. There were a few cars on the street out front but nobody was out there. I knocked and waited.
One…two…three… I knocked again, holding my breath. Part of me wanted her to answer the door and part of me didn't. This was a bad idea- I'll search the whole town for her. I'm going to be sick- will someone answer already?!
And finally, she did. The door swung open, pulling the breath out of me as it did. I couldn't help the jealousy I felt towards her and her perfect skin and body. Her eyes were that same golden color, like honey held against the sun, the lightest gold imaginable. Edward stood behind her, protecting her.
"Hi" I cleared my throat when my voice came out too high pitched. "Hi, I'm-"
"Cara. Come in" Bella waved me in, her voice kind if confused. I noticed her eyes sweep the area behind me before closing the door. Instantly, I felt that presence at the back of my mind and realized… it was him.
"Can you stop that?" I said, looking at him. His eyebrows shot upward but he nodded respectfully. The house smelled like bleach- a lot of it. It made me dizzy.
"Sorry for being blunt… but what do you want?" Bella asked, curling up to Edward's chest as his arm slipped around her waist. They looked like the perfect couple, his eyes shining with obvious affection.
She must really love him to turn into a vampire, I thought and glanced at Edward to make sure he wasn't in my head.
"Well… I'm not sure if you heard already. It's Jake-"
"No, I haven't. What? What's wrong, is he okay?" For someone who left him for another guy, she sure did seem very concerned. Was it possible for her to get any paler? Cause she would have just then.
"He will be. Last night, we were out in the woods and we ran into a bl- a vampire. He wasn't like you guys… I didn't even see him and I could tell. Jake sent me to get Sam and by the time we made it back…" I swallowed audibly, the image of a mangled Jacob flashing before my eyes and I noticed her… husband lower his eyes. "I thought you should know"
We sat in silence, tense and awkward and I couldn't remember why I had so desperately wanted to come. She did deserve to know about Jake, but why else did I want to speak to her? It only made it worse that he never left her side.
"Thank you, Cara. I appreciate it, I probably never would have known otherwise" Her voice was low and if she could, she probably would have cried. Edward held her closer, his eyes boring into hers and it seemed like they were speaking. So quickly I couldn't hear a word of it.
Eventually, Edward sighed, nodded and stood, sparing me a breathtaking smile before disappearing out of thin air. The door slammed milliseconds later. And we were alone, Bella and I. Jacob's old love and his new one. No words can describe how awkward it was.
"Can I ask you something?" I blurted out.
"Anything" Bella answered.
"How could you do it? Just leave him like that… no phone calls, visits? Nothing, just abandoned him without a word" I gulped, palms clammy. "Do you even know what it did to him?"
"I probably know better than anyone what that can do to a person… and I'm so sorry." She wouldn't meet my eyes, her own hands pressed together. For a second, I forgot that we were born enemies. We were just two girls with only a boy in common. "I can't apologize enough"
"You'd be surprised. And you just come back out of nowhere! Asking for his help! If it were me, I wouldn't have given it" It suddenly felt too hot, like a sauna. I pulled at my collar.
"And I wouldn't blame you… did Jake ever tell you about me? About how we became friends?" There was a glimmer of hope in those topaz eyes as she spoke.
"He never talks about you. I only know through the Pack" I said and she flinched, a sudden pain showing on her face. My anger towards her lessened slightly at that. She really felt horrible about what she did.
"Almost two years ago, Edward left me. He told me one day he didn't want me anymore, he was done with me and picked up and left. He took all traces of himself- and his family- with him. Just… gone. Obviously, I couldn't deal. I mean, could you? If Jake just broke your heart like that, without so much as an explanation? Just, I don't want you anymore" Her knuckles were white- whiter than a bleach stain or her marble skin. I could see the pain in her eyes at the memory she was so freely telling me. It seemed too personal for me to hear, but she went on.
"Anyway, I basically turned into a zombie for a while. Walking dead. And one day, I went down to La Push and there he was- all smiles and auto grease. He made me human again, Cara. Can you understand that? He fixed more than my flat tire."
Bella smiled at me, her eyes far away. I bit down the jealousy I felt at her knowing Jacob so well. Better than me most likely. And I wished I could remember Jake back then, not too long ago, but so different.
"You're to him what he was to me, Cara. Even if you don't realize it. I could see it in the way he looked at you at the border. He may have been in love with me once, but he never looked at me that way" Suddenly, her icy cold hand was holding mine. I was surprised there wasn't steam rising from our hands. I wanted to cringe back, but fought it.
Suddenly, the door burst open and in walked a pixie of a girl. Tiny and lithe, her black hair perfectly arranged. Bella's hand slipped from mine and she smiled at her.
"How'd you get passed Edward?" Bella asked. The girl moved like a ballerina to come sit next to her. She smiled at me through tight lips and I could tell she wasn't breathing.
Lucky her.
"Emmett distracted him, momentarily" I fidgeted under her gaze as she studied me from head to toe. Funny how so little a person can make so much of an impact on my self esteem.
"Momentarily being the operative word" Edward grumbled as he slipped easily through the air to stand beside Bella. Three gorgeous vampires facing off against one werewolf. Where was the fairness in that?
"He's got a mean right hook, Alice. What can I say?" Emmett, I'm assuming, walked in. He was huge and muscular and would have been intimidating if it hadn't been for a goofy grin, so out of place on his god-like face.
"Phew, it smells in he- oh. It's the wolf girl" He grinned at me and lowered his head. "My apologies"
"It's alright" I stammered. It was overwhelming, being in a room with four vampires at once. I didn't have Jacob's confidence or Sam's leadership skills. I was just some teenage girl who had come to talk to Bella. That's all.
"Relax… we won't bite" And just like that, all the tension lifted out of the air as a blonde male entered through the front door. I noticed Alice's sharp look and Emmett's snicker but didn't understand.
"Don't worry, Cara. You're perfectly safe" Edward assured me but I stood anyway, an sudden need to get out of there filling me.
"Yeah… I got to go. I have a huge test tomorrow and I need to cram" I headed towards the door, struggling to stay upright despite the artificial calm that had come over me.
"Nice seeing you, Cara" I nodded to Bella and slipped out the front door, running into yet another vampire. I was so anxious, I didn't even process the fact that she was probably the most beautiful of them all.
"See you around, Lassie" She sneered, her gold eyes blazing with hatred and I couldn't even come up with anything to say. I just had to get home and the desperation was so great, I didn't even have time to take off my clothes before the change took over and I hurtled through the woods.
Later( I was going to stop there, but decided not to, yay)
"Where have you been!?" My dad exploded when I came down the stairs, newly changed. Not even two steady breaths and he was already yelling at me. Wonderful.
"Upstairs?" I said, gliding past him into the kitchen. Boy, was I hungry. I could probably have eaten an entire cow if he'd let me.
"Don't be smart, Cara. I was worried sick. With what happened on the news to that boy-"
"Jacob" I cut in, fishing out left over ziti.
"- yeah, I thought… wait, how do you know his name?" he asked, his arms crossed over his chest. For the moment, me being gone for twenty four hours was forgotten. I actually knew a boy, great gasp.
"I heard it on the news" I should tell him about us. There weren't any secrets between my father and I so didn't I want him to know about Jake? "He's also in my class at school" He's also my boyfriend and the one person in the world I imprinted on. I'll be with him for the rest of my life in case you're wondering.
Somehow, I was pretty sure I couldn't say that just yet. He had pretty much had a coronary at the news of there being other werewolves and I had to beg him to let us stay. What would he do if he found about that?
"Oh… well, I'm sorry kiddo. But that doesn't excuse what you did. Hey, make me some of that?... I'm serious. I'm gonna have to ground you, Cara Jamison. For the first time-"
"Third" I interrupted again.
"For the third time in your life, you're grounded. For a week" The microwave beeped and he pulled out the plate that would have been mine and dug in. I sighed and stuck in the other plate for two minutes. "And I was thinking tacos for dinner tomorrow. How's that?"
By the time I made it back to my room, it was late. As usual, my grounding lasted less than two hours and all it had taken was a little fawning attentiveness. Plopping on my bed, I smiled but it didn't last long.
I wouldn't be able to see Jake until tomorrow afternoon, after school. It seemed like such a long time without him but then I thought of Bella, spending months without Edward and she didn't even have the reassurance that he would definitely be there. It's not like Jacob could get up and walk out of the hospital in his present condition.
Staring at my ceiling, I thought of them. They seemed so perfect together and Edward seemed to love her more than life itself- not that he technically had one. Why would he just leave her? It didn't make sense, but then again. Most of the time, nothing makes sense. They just happen.
Like me and Dad randomly ending up here, in La Push, Washington. I'm not even sure it's on a map, it's that small. Families have lived here for generations and we just barged in on their community, starting our own history here.
Was it coincidence? Or was it something else that had drawn us to this place? I didn't know and right then the phone rang. I picked up on the second ring.
"Hello?"
"Cara?" it was Jake, his voice scratched and hoarse and I sat bolt upright, dread filling me.
"Jake? What's wrong?" I asked, already reaching for my shoes. Who cares if I was 'grounded'.
"Nothing… Dad gave me a cell phone so I wouldn't be totally dropped off the face of the earth" He sighed on the other end as I sighed and dropped my sneakers, falling back on my bed. "You're my first call"
"I'm honored" I smiled, closing my eyes. Even the sound of his voice made me feel better.
"I thought you would be… you okay?" I laughed into the phone. Figures he'd be caring about my well being when he was the one in the ICU.
"Yeah, Jake. How're you feeling?"
"Oh, you know. They give you the good stuff over here- half the time I can't feel a thing" He laughed and I smiled, not really sure if that was a good thing or not. "I miss you, though"
My eyes opened as a blush crept along my cheeks. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to that. The way he cares about me and talks to me. Nobody had ever said anything like 'I miss you' or 'I love you' to me except my father. And I'm not altogether sure that counts.
"I miss you, too"
We talked for hours, about nothing and everything at once. When I looked at my clock it was almost midnight and I really did have a test the next morning. Not that the grades I make in Forks will count towards anything, but years of perfect scores couldn't be erased.
"I have to go sleep, Jacob. It's late and I'm almost sure my dad will come barging in here soon, wondering why I'm still up" and who I was talking to. Did not want to get into that.
"yeah, yeah. If you didn't want talk anymore, you could have just said so" He said and I could hear the smile in his voice.
"And hurt you're ego? Never" I turned off the light on my bedside table and slipped under the covers, phone held between my shoulder and ear.
"'Night, love" He said gently, warming me from head to toe.
"Goodnight" Neither of us wanted to hang up so we stayed on the line for a few more minutes.
"I thought you had to go to sleep"
"Not yet…" I sighed, the clock now reading 1a.m."Alright… bye, see you tomorrow"
"You'd better" He was drifting too, both of us easing into sleep mode. "Goodbye"
"Jake?... I love you" I breathed into the phone, my eyes slowly closing. I still wasn't used to saying those words but they felt good in my mouth.
"I love you, too" We hung up at the same time and seconds later, I was dreaming- about a boy from La Push who had easily stolen my heart.
Aaw...review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and I'll try to update tomorrow. Midterms though, grrrrrr.