Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. Never have, never will.
Bella cast one last look around the cabin to make sure that she hadn't forgotten anything. The cabin had been scrubbed clean and it was devoid of any mark that anyone had spent the entire summer inside it. Jessica waited on the porch for her so that they could walk down together. Victoria's voice could be heard as she told Jessica to go ahead and go down because she needed to talk to Bella. Of course Victoria would wait until the last minute to work through their issues. Bella picked up her bags and adjusted them on her shoulders before reaching for her rolling suitcase. Victoria sat on the stairs, her bags nowhere in sight.
"Can we just get this over with?" Bella asked with a sigh.
"I don't wany any trouble. I have a lot of apologizing to do and not a lot of time to do it in."
"That is no one's fault but yours," Bella pointed out, her arms folded over her chest.
"We should head down; once Jessica tells Riley and Jake that you're with me they'll come looking after a few minutes," she answered before standing.
They walked in silence for a few minutes and they were almost to the parking lot when Victoria spoke again.
"I should have believed you when you said that James tried to force himself on you. Why didn't you tell Sue and Harry?"
"Because I was scared, if Riley had found out he would have killed James."
"He knows now, I brought it up not long after we got together. Imagine my surprise when he flipped out on me."
"It was my word against James', so I don't blame you for believing James over someone that you barely knew."
"Riley was right about you; you're a good person Bella. I thought for sure that you would try to steal him away from me when we first got here."
"That ship sailed a long time ago," Bella admitted with a shake of her head.
"I'm sorry that I didn't apologize sooner."
"It's fine. Does this mean that we're friends now?" Bella asked cautiously.
"No, more like we tolerate each other. You're too nice for me to be friends with. I'd chew you up and spit out your bones."
"Thanks, I guess," Bella said awkwardly.
They stepped out of the clearing and onto the asphalt of the parking lot, Bella shielding her eyes from the sun. Riley stood a few feet away, leaning against his truck, his hands shoved into his pockets. The last thing he had expected to see was Victoria and Bella together. Jacob came over to take Bella's things and she promised to be ready to leave in a minute. She looked to Victoria and she nodded without saying a word. Bella's eyes met Riley's as she crossed the few feet to him.
"I'm sorry for not telling you the whole story about James," she said, her eyes showing concern.
"It's in the past. I was livid when I found out, but I've dealt with it. Do Jake a favor though? Don't keep things from him. If you think for a second that he won't somehow find out than your are kidding yourself. That kid is all freaking knowing," he said evenly.
"Hey, he never did tell my dad when he found out that we were sleeping together," she reminded him.
"Did you ever find out how he figured it out?"
Bella shook her head, wondering how she hadn't caught on to Jacob's feelings sooner. She had always been in awe of his confidence and the way he carried himself. She never would have thought that they would be anything other than friends before that summer.
She watched him interacting with Seth and Embry. He smiled and nodded in agreement to something Seth said before feeling her eyes on him. His mouth pulled up at one corner in a easy smile that could melt any girls heart.
"I'll see you next summer, Bells," Riley said to get her attention.
She nodded, letting him pull her into a loose hug. She patted his back gently before letting go. She stepped away as he and Victoria got into the truck at the same time. Angela stepped up to her on one side and Jessica on the other as Riley pulled away, waving to the three of them one last time.
"Can I just say how happy I am that I'm going to be seeing you again in less than two weeks?" Jessica asked.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, rub it in," Angela said with a sigh.
"Hey, no one held a gun to your head when you were filling out applications to colleges that were hundreds of miles away," Jessica reminded her.
"No, my parents just laid a guilt trip on me."
"We'll Skype and we'll text and talk everyday," Bella reasoned.
"Do you promise?"
"Ugh, you are so dramatic," Jessica said, reaching around Bella to squeeze Angela's hand.
"Smile girls," Sue said from several feet away.
Bella draped an arm over each of their shoulders and they huddled together so that Sue could take their picture. She knew the real reason behind Angela's sadness. Edward had left the night before for New York because his semester at NYU started two weeks earlier than most schools. They were going to take things as they came and were crawling along at a snail's pace.
Angela and Jessica walked away but before Bella could move more than a few feet Alice and Emmett were in front of her. She smiled, waving at Jasper and Rosalie over Alice's shoulder.
"We're here for different reasons, I swear. I only wanted to say goodbye and give you my number and e-mail address. He's going to try to strong arm you into free labor by offering to help you move into your dorm room. I think it's just because he wants to see Jake and Embry," Alice said with a playful eye roll.
Alice had applied to every college in the state of Texas in hopes of being close to Jasper since his parents didn't have the money to send him to school out of state. As luck would have it they had both been accepted to Texas A&M. Bella chuckled with a slow shake of her head.
"Come here," Bella said, holding her arms open.
Alice stepped into the embrace and squeezed Bella tightly. Bella stepped out of the embrace to face Emmett.
"I don't need help moving in but once I get home I'll text you my room number and what building I'm in. That way you can come by and see them before they leave."
"Okay," he said with a firm nod.
She gave them both her number and got theirs before receiving a bone crushing hug from Emmett. She saw Jacob standing off to the side when Emmett finally let her go.
"See you around," Emmett called to Jacob over his shoulder.
"See you later. You okay?" he asked Bella who winced when he placed a hand on her back.
"He realigned my back for me. It just hurts a little, I'll be fine," she said off-handedly.
He took hold of her hand, leading her around the car to where Embry was leaning on his car next to Jacob's.
"Go easy on her," Jacob warned before getting in the car.
"I really have to say goodbye to you? I'll see you tomorrow," she said with a sarcastic eye roll.
"Not goodbye, just see you later," he said with a lopsided grin.
"I'll see you tomorrow, goofball," she said with a snort.
"Later," he said before kissing her forehead and giving her a loose hug.
Embry opened her door for her and she slid in with his help.
"See you in a couple hours," he said to Jacob.
"Maybe not until tonight, Charlie called me and said that Renee and Phil are taking us out to dinner," Bella informed him.
Jacob started the car and the music was adjusted to a bearable decibel as he pulled out of the parking lot. They had made the decision to hold off on talking about where their relationship was going until they got home because it was not a conversation to have while Jacob was driving.
He took hold of her hand as she got comfortable in the confined space. She rested her feet on the dashboard, her sneakers tapping to the rhythm of the music. She had never had a problem relaxing or being herself around him. He thought the world of her and she could do no wrong in his eyes. They stopped in Port Angeles for gas when Jacob saw a familiar ruby red Beetle. Nessera's brother, Niveen could be seen in the passenger seat but so far he hadn't seen him. He looked towards the store to see Bella in line at the counter behind Nessie. They didn't look to be talking but Nessie more than likely knew who was behind her due to her tense demeanor.
Sure enough, when she came out Nessie headed towards him.
"Hi," he said awkwardly.
"Are you making your way back from camp?"
"Yeah."
"I saw some pictures of you and Bella on Claire's Facebook page. You two look great together. I told her that too, so don't think that I'm saying it just to be saying it."
"I was going to call you when I got home to tell you."
"There's no need."
Bella stepped out of the store and Jacob waved her over before she could walk back around the car to get in. She slid in next to him and he wrapped an arm around her waist. Nessera smiled before turning away. Jacob looked back to the car to see Niveen staring at him with cold eyes Nessie might have forgiven him, but her family had not.
"We should go, my dad texted me to tell me that my mom and Phil have been there since early this morning."
"He's probably passed his tolerance level."
"He used all caps for the word now, so yeah, I'd say so."
The last twenty minutes of the ride to Charlie's were spent in silence. A rented suburban that looked like it could seat her mom, Phil, her, Jacob, their dads, Embry and Quil easily with room to spare for Billy's chair sat underneath the oak tree in front of the house. Her mom had more than likely asked for the truck since she loved drawing attention to herself.
The front door opened and Renee stepped out, waving excitedly.
"What the hell?" Jacob asked in astonishment.
"She will more than likely made a crude about the way you look. Just smile and nod if you can't think of anything to say. I'll find a way to make this as painless as possible. Phil promised to remind her to reign it in," Bella said in embarrassment.
"It'll be fine; she doesn't have a case of the grab hands, does she?"
"Only if you're George Clooney or Colin Farrell," she reassured him.
"We should get out of the car."
They opened their doors at the same time before Renee descended the stairs. Jacob grabbed Bella's bags from the trunk and Charlie materialized from around the side of the house to take the bags into the house. Bella hugged her mom, her eyes meeting Charlie's over Renee's shoulder. He let out a huff of air, giving her a relieved look.
Bella turned to look at the silver suburban that took up much of the driveway.
"So, do you think she'll float?" she asked her mom, gesturing to the truck.
"Oh, Bella, really," Renee said with a roll of her eyes.
Jacob bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing.
"How tall are you Jacob?"
"I'm six foot five," Jacob answered honestly.
"You're just as tall as your dad was before the accident."
"Yes ma'am, it wasn't easy to find a wheelchair for someone his size," he said with an agreeing nod.
"How is Billy?"
"He's doing just fine. You'll probably see him before you leave this weekend."
"I look forward to it. How old are you now?"
"I'm sixteen."
"Goodness, I thought that you were closer to Bella's age than that."
"It's only seventeen months, Mom. Not even a year and a half," Bella said in their defense.
"I'm mature for my age," Jacob said with a shrug.
"Ree, leave him alone," Phil cautioned from the front door.
Bella heaved a silent sigh of relief when Renee relented her Spanish inquisition. The three of them went inside and Phil gave Bella a one armed hug in greeting. In the house Renee pulled Bella up to her room where Charlie had placed some boxes so that she could start packing for college.
"That boat, as you called it, holds your things It was cheaper to drive them up than to ship them."
"That's what U-Haul is for," Bella said as she un-zipped one of her bags and started unpacking.
Her mom filled her in on her summer, talking animatedly. This was how it normally was her first day back from camp. Her mom had a few months of talking to make up for.
"Can I be honest with you?" Renee broached.
"When are you ever not honest with me?" Bella questioned from inside her closet.
"What do you hope to happen with Jake? You two are too young to be in a serious relationship."
"People mature at different ages, Mom; Jake had to grow up and take care of his dad after his mom died and his sister's left."
"But what do you think will happen?"
"Well, I don't know yet. Things are still new, so right now we're just enjoying being together."
"He'll be going into his senior year of high school, won't he?"
"So? What's the big deal?"
"I don't want you to get hurt."
"No, you don't want to become a grandmother at thirty-nine. We've had this conversation before, we don't need to have it again."
"I just want you to be careful."
"When am I not?"
"I don't want to upset you and no one is more glad than I am that you are so independent and so smart. I just don't want you to give up on your dreams."
"Neither does Jake, Mom," she reassured her.
"He does seem like he has his head on straight," Renee thought out loud.
"He does," Bella agreed.
"And he's really nice and adorably cute."
"He is pretty cute," she said with a light laugh.
"He makes you happy?"
"Insanely happy."
"That's all I want for you."
Charlie came to stand at the door and cleared his throat to get their attention.
"I've got to head into work for a couple of hours, there was an accident a few miles outside of town. Phil also wanted me to remind you that you have reservations at five-thirty."
Bella turned to him and pulled him to her.
"Be careful," she said quietly.
"I always am," he said with a small smile.
Renee went downstairs so that Bella could finish unpacking. Jacob's voice filtered up the stairs every so often followed quickly by Renee's boisterous laughter. She was happy that Jacob was making an effort to be nice to Renee. Now that she thought about it, Jacob was the first guy that she had dated to ever meet both Renee and Charlie. Riley had only met Charlie but had talked to Renee a handful of times over the phone. This was a good sign.
XXXX
Renee and Phil had left when Charlie had come home at eleven. They had dropped Jacob off at home hours ago and he would be back tomorrow with Billy, Embry, and Quil so that Renee could meet the other three important men in Bella's life. It was after one when Bella's phone vibrated on her nightstand. The rattling and ruckus it made was enough to wake the dead in the silent house.
"Hello?" she asked sleepily.
"Hey," Jacob answered, his voice low.
"It's almost one-thirty Jake, why are you calling her so late?"
"I didn't get a chance to say goodnight to you. After being able to say it every night for two months it didn't feel right. I was having trouble sleeping honestly, and the fact that you weren't worries me," he said in mock concern.
"It is amazing how much smoke you can blow out of you ass whenever you want," she said with a scoff.
"You love my ass," he said with a deep laugh.
"That's beside the point. I didn't get to thank you for putting up with my mom. You're only the second boyfriend of mine that she's met."
"I didn't know that she'd met Riley."
"His name was Felix and I was going through a bad boy phase. She hated him," she said with a sigh.
"How come this is the first time I've heard about him?"
"We only went out on a handful of dates. Renee insisted on meeting him because we went to homecoming together this year. I don't even talk to him anymore. He was a douche bag."
"I have to be honest; I didn't just call to tell you goodnight."
"I already knew that, genius," she teased.
"Something's been eating at me because I haven't been honest with you about how I feel about you."
"Okay," she said, urging him to go on.
"I've never felt this way before so bare with me. I wold move the sun, the moon and the stars if you asked me to. I would walk to ends of the earth if that meant that I could be with you. What I'm trying to say is that I love you and I hope you love me too."
Bella waited a half of a second to let the news sink in before letting out the breath she was holding. She wasn't much of a crier but she was so moved by what Jacob had side that it took her a couple of seconds to gather her thoughts.
"I love you too," she said breathlessly.
"I wish that I could be there with you right now but your dad would shoot me where I stand if I showed up."
"You're right, he would. I'd hate to lose you before I could show you how much I love you," she said with a heavy sigh.
"I'll see you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow."
She looked at the clock on her phone and realized that they'd only talked for ten minutes. It had seemed like longer than that. She went back to sleep with Jacob on her brain. Her dreams had been filled with him ever since the first time they had kissed. They would be fine, they just had to make it through the next four years.