"Wanna go for a run?" Seth asks me.

"Bug off, kiddo. I'm not in the mood to run," I reply blandly from my bed. I feel like I'm in a hospital room, because my friends - my brothers - have all stopped in to visit me, and Bella came a few times. I've been lying here for a week. I move a couple times a day to eat and I showered yesterday and a couple days before but other than that…

"Please? We're getting worried about you, Jake."

"There's no need. I'm fine. I sleep, I eat, I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine."

"Well I am!" I snap at him.

"Alright, alright," Seth says, putting his hands up in surrender. I'm well-aware that I'm being kind of a jerk, but I think I've got a right to. Bella's been back for a couple days, and that means no Edward for me. No Edward equals no love. No love equals a very sad Jacob. And when I'm sad, I don't want to do much.

There's a knock on my door and I grunt. That was to be interpreted as 'come in'. The person on the other side gets what I mean and comes in. Seth looks over and nods at Bella as she timidly steps in. I stick my right hand up and wave. "Hey, Jake," she says.

"Hi there."

"How are you?"

"Peachy keen. And you?"

"I'm fine," she says in that quiet, proper little voice of hers and takes a seat at the foot of my bed. "But you're not. You haven't moved since I last saw you!"

"On the contrary," I argue. "I made a sandwich earlier."

Bella laughs. "That's not what I mean. Just tell me what's wrong and maybe I can fix it."

Sure, Bella. Sure, you can fix my heart. Just sew it right back up and give me a friggin' lobotomy and cut Edward out of my brain. Yeah, Bells. Yeah, you can fix it. It's as simple as open-heart and brain surgery.

"Nah, Bella, honey. You won't be able to fix it. Thanks for trying."

"Jacob! You're being stubborn."

"This coming from you?" I ask, raising an eyebrow at her. She flushes a deep shade of red and scrunches up her face as she looks down.

"Well… can you at least tell me what's bothering you?"

I choose my words carefully. "Matters of the heart, Bells. Nothing new," I wink.

She thinks it's about her, the poor thing. But I think it's easier on her mind than if I were to say that I was in love with her boyfriend. Yeah, that might not go over so well.

"I'm sorry, Jake. I don't mean for you to be hurt or anything, I just-"

I hold up my palm. "No need, Bells. I'm just having a bad week, is all. You don't need to apologize," I say, sitting up and swinging my arm around her shoulders and pulling her close, "… for the seven thousandth time."

"Sorry," she says.

"Shhh! No apologies. As of tomorrow, I will move on with my life and leave the house," I declare.

"Is that a promise?" Bella asks.

"Scout's honour."

"You were never a scout."

"Good point. Um, wolf's honour, then."

Seth stares daggers at me for mentioning the wolf thing to Bella so casually. They still don't like that she knows. But hey, she guessed it. S'not my fault.

Bella pulls out of the hug and looks around. "Let me guess," I spit. "Boyfriend waiting for you?"

"Please don't be mad."

"Whatever, you can go. Nobody's forcing you to stay." I hate being so mean to Bella, because she doesn't deserve any of my crap. But any mention of Edward brings out the worst in me, especially now. After being ripped away from him by my own dumb conscience, I've done nothing but love him. I think about him and… ah, whatever. Words are pointless. I've never felt anything this strong; not even when I get really pissed off, you know? Love is the most powerful thing ever. Maybe that's why sex is so crucial to everyone. I mean, duh, procreation but at the end, it's a love explosion. And love isn't really present until you've physically executed it and then been left for fricking dead in your room, sulking while the one you love is just a few hundred yards away.

Bella looks down again. She's really upset. Ah, crap. Seeing her sad makes me sad, and that is the absolute last thing I need right now. "Sorry, sorry. I suck at sensitivity. Tell you what; I'll get out of bed right now, and I can give you a ride to see your bloods- boyfriend."

Bella lights up and grins at me. "You don't have to."

"You want me to."

She sighs, and Seth groans. "Chill out, Seth," I say. "Back in a few."

I get up and follow Bella out of the room and out to my car. I try to make conversation after I start the car by going, "So, how was Florida?"

"Muggy. You wouldn't like it there."

"Mm, you're probably right. I'd be a puddle."

"Definitely. I don't imagine Edward would fare too well there, either."

My heart stutters. "Uh, yeah, no, probably not."

I don't know what it is, but we're both silent until we see Edward's silver Volvo idling there. I see him through the windshield and I swallow. He's even more handsome than I could put together in my mind all week. He offers me an enthusiastic grin, which I return. He looks at Bella and the smile wanes a little.

"Well, it looks like he's waiting for you. See you later, Bells."

She smiles at me and hops out of the car. I steal another glance at Edward and think, Miss you.

He looks directly at me, points to himself with his thumb, and then holds up two fingers. I feel my stomach twist up when they kiss inside his car. Ugh. I red-line it back home, where Seth is waiting for me with a scowl.

"That girl, man. You really like her, eh?"

"She's just my friend, Seth," I groan. We've been over this a million times, if not more.

"For now. 'Cause the vibes I get from the two of you… there's romance!" he sings.

"Oh, shut up. Your 'vibes'," I make finger quotes, "are way off."

"Whatever you say. Hey, do you feel like running yet?"

"Nope. I feel like showering. Feel free to start without me. Say hi to everyone and that."

"Come on! You and me haven't wolfed it up in weeks!"

I bark a laugh. "Did you seriously just say wolfed it up?!"

Seth frowns. "You know what I mean."

I don't tell him that the reason I haven't changed states in a while is to protect my own thoughts. I don't want my mind to wander and have Sam or Seth or even Leah grilling me about my orientation. That would be embarrassing and I'd probably get cast out of the pack or something. Nothing's fun about being a solitary werewolf. "I know. Later, okay? You and me. Races. I swear."

Little Seth lights up and heads out my front door. I turn on a cold shower and try desperately to mellow out. I steer my thoughts towards schoolwork and other normal things, but in one way or the other, they all lead back to Edward. This shower is absolutely not helping.

I turn it off and step out. Since my dad's not home, I just strut into my room sans a towel. That was quite the mistake, though, because there's someone sitting on my bed. A pale-faced, bloodsucking someone named Edward. I gasp and put a hand to my heart. "Damn it! You scared the crap outta me!" I try to hide my excitement with anger. "Just what are you doing here?" I ask as I rummage through my drawers for some drawers.

He shrugs. "Missed you, is all. Bella's taking a nap."

I settle on a black-and-white checkerboard pair of boxers before I seriously look at Edward. He's wearing khaki pants with pleats in them and a charcoal sweater with white cuffs and a collar peeking through. Breathtaking would be an understatement.

"You're breaking rules, you know."

"We broke quite a few last week."

I smirk. "Yes, but those weren't specified on the treaty."

"Oh, so crossing those boundary lines is bad," he muses, "but crossing these boundary lines isn't?" He reaches out and squeezes my butt for emphasis.

"Um," I stutter, "I mean, I guess so… n-nobody said anything about it."

"Listen to your heart go, Jacob. It's like a hummingbird," Edward says dreamily, disregarding my statement. I don't mind. And he's right; my heart is beating faster than I've ever felt it.

A sudden surge of emotion makes me shudder. Not anger, but there's this huge, welled-up ball of sadness in my gut and in my tear ducts that picks now of all times to explode. A tear falls down my face and I drop my head to hide it. Edward catches what I had done, though, and he decides to comment. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," I say weakly. "I really don't know."

Edward's freezing hand lifts my chin up. He's looking up at me from my bed, and he holds my gaze without any effort on his part. "Don't be sad, please. It makes me feel bad, too."

I smile. "'Kay. It's pretty hard to be sad with you around."

"The feeling is mutual."

I bend down and kiss him gently, not wanting to get all hot and heavy right now. I'm perfectly happy with the returning kiss he gives me, free of tongue, no heavy breathing. I slowly put more of my weight into him until I'm laying on top of him, grasping both sides of his face gingerly, smiling as I kiss him. Our eyes are open and staring at each other, like we don't want to miss a second of this. I slowly pull my face up to look at him. "God, I love you so much."

"As I you." He pokes the tip of my nose with his index finger.

"When's the next time we'll be able to do this?"

Edward's eyes turn from exuberant to wistful. "I don't know, Jake. Not for a while. But you can't mope about it. That is simply not allowed."

"Bella told you I was moping?" I ask in horror.

Edward nods. "But I wasn't much better. I felt dead."

I just look at him.

"Okay, I felt like a mortal corpse. I was numb to everything, and I had to try my absolute hardest to act for Bella. But now… with you… I'm reanimated! It's wonderful," he finishes by pressing his lips to mine. I don't say anything else, but I kiss him back to let him know I feel the exact same way.

We roll around on my bed for a while, giving the other bashful little kisses. I roll off him when I fear I'm getting too into it and I just look at him. "What?" he laughs.

"You're hot."

He just looks at me.

"You know what I mean."

"You are, too."

I smile and reach my hand over to find his and I interlace our fingers. After a few minutes, his are practically room temperature. I'm liking that. He feels more human.

I let my eyes fall shut, so completely content in the moment. I'm confident that Edward will stay until I wake up, but when I blink my eyes open, it's dark, I'm covered up in my blanket and Edward is gone without so much as an imprint on my pillow.