Chapter Two: Reckless and Romantic

-TWILIGHT IS THE WORK OF STEPHANIE MEYER. I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT (unfortunately). INSPIRED BY NEW MOON.

Danger. That was the trick to the hallucinations. When I was in danger, his beautiful, velvet voice would yell and scold me. Recklessness and stupidity were the only ways to conjure the lovely voice in my head.

Mike told me I could have the day off one afternoon. I reluctantly dragged my feet towards the beat up pickup truck I drove. No work meant no distractions, and that meant thinking about him. On the ride home, something caught my eye. Two motorcycles, in terrible shape, sat on the side of the road next to a large handmade FOR SALE sign in the Markses' front yard.

Reckless and stupid: Charlie's favorite words to describe motorcycles.

I went up to the Markses' door and knocked. One of the Marks boys opened the door. "How much for the bikes?" I asked as soon as the door was open.

"They don't work. Take em if you want," he said, probably wondering why I wanted two dilapidated bikes.

"Maybe I can take them to Dowling's," I said.

"He'll charge more than they're worth." That was true. I always worried my old truck would need to be taken to Dowling's if something went wrong, but Jacob Black had did an excellent job fixing it up.

Inspiration hit me. "It's okay, I know a mechanic."

The drive to La Push was short and filled with nervous hope and excitement.

"Bella!" Jacob cried happily, a huge grin spreading across his face when I got out of the truck.

"Hey, Jacob!" I said, oddly excited and enthusiastic. Jacob had gotten huge; he must've been over six feet, and he had gotten much more muscular. His voice was also deeper, but had the husky tone I remembered.

I felt oddly nervous around Jacob. Not because of his massive build, or the fact that he was so happy to see me. It reminded me of how I felt when I first began to spend time with…

"So, Bella, what do you want to do?" Jacob asked.

"I kinda have a couple motorcycles that need to be fixed up. Do you think you could…?"

He smiled. "Cool, I'll give it a try."

I stressed the importance of secrecy from Billy and Charlie. Charlie would kill me if he found out.

As he inspected the bikes and began working on one, Jacob chattered happily about school and friends. I actually listened to what he was saying, something I hadn't done for a while. I looked at Jake while he worked. He was actually kind of handsome.

Quil and Embry, Jake's best friends, showed up while we were in the garage. When they saw me, they exchanged a look, then looked at Jacob. Quil whispered something to Embry that I didn't hear, but Jacob kicked them out and threatened them to not come back tomorrow, when I would be there again.

"Sorry about that," he laughed, embarrassed.

I giggled. It was the oddest thing. I hadn't genuinely laughed since he left. "It's okay."

"You know," Jake said, slowly walking towards me until he stood in front of me, making me feel like a midget. "I'm really glad you came by today."

When I looked into his eyes, an emotion I had only felt with one person before hit me full force. As Jacob's lips came towards mine, I realized exactly what the emotion was. I liked Jacob.

But I couldn't kiss him, not yet.

I put my hand on his pursed lips and laughed again. It felt so good to laugh. "Not yet Jake."

His eyes flashed with hurt, but he quickly recovered and returned to his cocky self. "You didn't say no," he said with a wink.

I smiled and closed my eyes as he wrapped his arms around me. When he pulled away, I waved goodbye and walked to my truck.

I beat Charlie home and began cooking dinner. When he walked in, I flashed him a grin. "Hi, Dad!"

"Hi honey… Did you have fun with Jake?" he asked uncertainly.

I nodded and smiled again, remembering what had almost happened before I left. "Yeah I did. We hung out in the garage and I watched him work." At least I wasn't lying.

When I went up to bed, I smiled a lot, thinking about Jacob. I had never felt like this before, even with him. Sure, I had the butterflies and giddy nervousness when we first began, well, "dating". Never this, though. After seeing Jake for just one afternoon, he had returned my happiness that I thought left with Edward.

Edward.

It didn't hurt when I thought his name. No pain at all. Jacob's presence had healed me.

I didn't have the nightmare that night.

As the days with Jacob continued, I never once dreamed of the night Edward left. I could actually talk about him and his family without pain, not that I ever brought it up with anyone besides myself.

Jacob didn't try to kiss me again. When he wasn't working on the bikes and we were just hanging out, he would take my hand in his or put his arm around me. I didn't mind at all. In fact, I loved it. I began to hang out more with people from school, like Angela and Mike. Jessica still hadn't forgiven me about Port Angeles.

Life was becoming bearable.

Thanks everyone for reading ! (: I know it sucks, you don't have to remind me. Bad comments are greatly annoying. (;