Disclaimer: I do not own nor profit from these wonderful characters.
Rating: PG
Everything Goes: Part 7:
Bella's first day at work went smoothly. Leah Clearwater was an interesting boss. She was a total change from Mr. Newton. She was vibrant, fearless, and outgoing. She told Bella on the first day she expected exceptional work from her. Good was not good enough. Everything they wrote for the magazine was expected to be top notch. They might be a small magazine at the moment but Leah had plans to take it national. So although Bella was thrilled at being a part of something big she also felt a lot of pressure. Luckily she knew she did well with deadlines.
She would freak out and consider herself a failure and then she would push herself harder until she reached her goal. Then of course naturally it would turn out far better than she had originally hoped for. So Bella knew that she was worthy of the position and she was going to prove it to her boss. Leah made a great leader. She did just as much work as everyone else in the office. She was also brutally blunt with you. She was not two faced. She would call it like she saw it and tell you straight up.
Bella wished she was as strong and determined like her new boss. Leah was like an unstoppable force. She was also very beautiful and elegant. She held her self with great confidence. Leah didn't ever show any doubt in herself. She just hoped she never let her boss down.
It was on her third day at the office when Leah stopped by her cubicle and informed her that she liked the short piece Bella had left on her desk and warned her that she would never expect less now that she knew what she was capable of. Bella just smiled and nodded her head. By Friday Leah asked, no demanded she go out with her for happy hour. Bella was still a bit unnerved by the attack on Alice the previous weekend at the Dirty Rooster that she really didn't want to go but Leah made it clear "no" was not an option. So she left a message for Jake where she would be.
She knew he would not like her going to a bar. The police still had no leads on Alice's attacker. She had barely spoken a word since the attack. So at this point the police did not have much to go on. They found the guy that Alice originally left with. He swore to them that he and Alice had got out to the parking lot and talked for a few minutes. They then proceeded to kiss a bit and that was it. She told the young man that she did not feel comfortable going home with him and that she was visiting a friend and was not about to take him back to her friends apartment. So he gave her his number and told her to call him sometime. That was it. Nothing else. He drove away as she was making her way back to the club. He saw nothing out of the ordinary. Of course he admitted he was a bit drunk at the time.
So until Alice would open up and discuss what happen to the police they had nothing else to go by. The police did however admit it was the third attack similar to Alice's in the area. Bella felt like shit. If she had not been so gung ho on proving to Embry that clubs were just a meat factory then she and Alice would have gone out to a movie, dinner or shopping like they always did. Instead she brought Alice to a place that might have caused permanent damage to her soul.
She had trouble sleeping lately. She kept having nightmares where she was the one being attacked instead of Alice. Or worse she would see Alice crying and begging Bella to come and help her. Jake would hear her crying and shouting and rush to her room. He would help wake her up. Then hold her while she sobbed in his arms. He understood her fear and guilt. He would remind her each night that it was not entirely her fault. It could have happen to anyone. He would then confide to Bella that if Bella was guilty then he and the guys were too. After all they should have stopped her or checked on her when she left the club.
Bella would tell him that it was not his fault or the guys. He would hold her in his arms until she fell back to sleep. They would wake up each morning from the alarm to start their day. It was comforting to wake up with his warm body next to hers. She found it interesting that when she fell back to sleep with him holding her the nightmares didn't return. It was only when she was sleeping alone that she had the luck of having them at all.
She could not exactly ask him to start sleeping in her bed. If they had never crossed the line that night she would have ask him for such a favor. She knew that like herself Jake was already having a hard time holding back from touching her when it was unnecessary. They had this strange "no hands" approach to their relationship.
Even when they sat beside each other they put a safe amount of space between them. It was starting to bother her. She missed him holding her hand. She missed laying her head on his lap while they watch television. She missed the casual kiss on the cheek. She knew it was for the best at the moment but it still bothered the hell out of her.
Bella walked into the small bar following behind Leah who was dressed in her daily work clothes. Even in a pair of designer slacks with a button down silk blouse she looked amazing.
They found a small table in the corner where a waitress nearly jump on them.
"Hey Leah." The waitress called out happily as she stood waiting for their orders.
"Hey Mallory." Leah smiled warmly at her.
"Didn't expect you here today." Mallory commented as she pick up her pencil.
"I've told you before I am spontaneous." Leah chuckled.
"That you are." Mallory agreed.
I suspected they were sharing an inside joke that I was not privy about.
"I would like a martini dry and a large order of chili cheese fries." Leah placed her order then look across the table at Bella.
"I will take a diet coke." She wasn't in the mood to drink.
"Seriously Bella?" Leah looked disappointed at me.
"Okay give me a coke and rum." She shrugged her shoulders.
"Got it." Mallory bounced as she walked away with our order.
"You have to live a little girl." Leah advised Bella.
"Sorry it's just I went out last weekend and had too much fun and let's say a friend of mine ended up getting the bad end of the deal." Bella dropped her head slightly as she tried to fight back the guilt she was still dealing with on a daily basis.
"What happen to this friend?" Leah ask curiously.
"She was attacked outside of the club." Bella didn't want to reveal all the terrible details.
"Wow. Here in town?" Leah looked surprised.
"Yeah according to the police it has been the third attack lately." Bella sighed heavily.
"Shit. We should have Seth investigate it. We could write up an article on how likely women are attacked in a small town versus a larger city?" Leah was thinking of all the different angles they could take the subject while Bella frowned at her.
"Hey I'm sorry about your friend. I truly am. I can't turn my brain off when it comes to the magazine." Leah gave her a small apology. She rarely apologized to anyone but she knew that Bella was really torn up about this.
"I can tell." Bella flashed her a weak smile.
"Hey it's my career. I told you that I have goals for this magazine. Nothing will get in the way of them." Leah vowed as her eyes shined brightly.
Bella heard her phone buzzing in her purse.
"I got to get that. It's probably my room mate checking up on me." Bella took her phone out. It was Jake. She smiled softly as she answered his call.
"Hey."
"Hey. What bar are you at? Are you alone?" Jake began to ask rapidly. His voice revealed how worried he was about her being there.
"I am at a place called Luck of the Irish. I am with my boss." Bella answered.
"Oh. Well do not leave alone. If you need me call me. I am at the guys. Embry's truck is having issues." Jake informed her.
"I will. Thanks." Bella hung up the phone and put it away.
"So your roommate keeps tabs on you?" Leah ask with a curious grin on her face.
"He is just concerned. He was with us when my girlfriend got attacked." Bella explained.
Mallory placed their drinks and food in front of them.
"Anything else?" She ask with a perky attitude.
"I will let you know." Leah chuckled.
After Mallory walked away she leaned over speaking softly to Bella.
"Mallory wanted your job. She is a nice girl don't get me wrong but she just isn't the smartest tool in the shed." Leah confided to Bella.
"Oh." Bella laughed.
"So you have a male room mate. Interesting." Leah grabbed some greasy chili covered fries and shoved them in her mouth while staring curiously at Bella.
"We have been friends for years." Bella answered as she took a drink.
"I'm sure you have been. Is he gay?" Leah could not stop herself. She was noisy by nature. It use to be a curse but now in her line of work it made her the best in her field. She had a knack for reading between the lines. It was what made her better than most of her peers. She also had good instincts. She had a way of sensing things and following her leads until she found exactly what she wanted or sometimes on a rare occasion the last thing she wanted to know.
"NO! God no! " Bella burst out laughing at the notion. Jake was far from that.
"Oh interesting. So I take it he is hotter than hell." Leah's eyes lit up excitedly.
"Yeah he is." Bella sighed heavily.
"But he isn't aware of just how much you like him." Leah stated firmly.
Bella's mouth dropped wide open. How had Leah got to that conclusion so fast from what little she had said about Jake? The woman was amazing. She also scared Bella. If she could see through her that easily she knew there was no way in the future she should bother trying to hold back anything from her new boss. The woman was seriously perceptive.
"Umm….well…" Bella wasn't sure how much she wanted to share with Leah. They were not exactly good friends. She was her boss after all. It was really none of her business about Bella's personal life.
"I'm sorry. It's none of my business." Leah laughed at the shock look that was on Bella's face. She lifted her drink and began to enjoy her weekly drink. It was her vice. Every weekend she had a martini or two to help relax her. It was her way of rewarding herself for doing a good job each week. If she had a bad week then she went straight to the liquor. Shots all the way. This week had been good. So she was drinking light.
"It's just that Jake and I just moved in together. I have never had those kind of feelings for him until recently. We are both dealing with these unplanned feelings we both have now." Bella chewed on the corner of her lip as she decided on how much to reveal to Leah.
"So why don't you guys just jump each others bones and get it over with?" Leah suggested with a wicked grin.
"Because. I mean…we are friends. I don't exactly sleep with my friends." Bella laughed nervously.
"What will having sex do to change your friendship? I mean he will still be the same guy and you will be same girl." Leah pulled the olives off the stick with her mouth chewing them while she stared straight at Bella.
"True. But it would be awkward between us. I mean we live together so we will see each other every day." Bella whimpered.
"Girl. You have so much to learn. If the sex is good then you have a live in boy toy. Are you scared you might fall in love with him and he won't share those same feelings back for you?" Leah knew that was the root of her concern.
"Maybe." Bella grabbed her drank and suck it down.
"Maybe my ass! Haha!" Leah finished her drink and then lifted her empty glass in Mallory's direction who nodded with a big smile on her face.
"Honey you can't live your life wondering what could have been. You need to grab the bull by the horn and go for it. Stop worrying so damn much. You're going to get premature wrinkles and worse gray hair." Leah grabbed some more fries.
"If Jake was any other guy I might follow that advice. But he is too special to me to just do it without considering the consequences." Bella shook her head refusing to even consider Leah's advice on this subject.
"Ok. But when someone else does get to him I hope you can live with the fact that she will get a hell of alot more than just friendship from him. I mean Bella once he does fall in love you will come in second. Are you ready for that? Can you deal with being in second place in his life and in his heart?" Leah's eyes narrowed in on her face watching Bella's facial expressions twisting while she contemplated the truth to what she was saying.
Bella felt sick to her stomach. She would hate it if that ever took place. She had been spoiled by Jake. He always put her first. Even when it came to the guys. But then again he had never been in love with anyone before now. It was possible that he would fall in love with someone someday. Would she be able to suck it up and lose him to another woman who would definitely get a lot more than a supportive hug and breakfast in bed.
Jake finished the repair on Embry's truck. When he walked into the tiny apartment the guys shared he was once again hit with the horrible smell of stale pizzas and dirty laundry.
"Guys you really need to clean up in here. Please tell me you don't bring girls up here." Jake held his nose as he fanned his hand in front of his face.
"I know I am always telling them it stinks in here." Quil laughed as he pick up a can of air freshener mixing the smell of flowers with the stink already present in the room.
"Great now it smells like flowers and dirty laundry." Collin growled.
"It's called a laundromat guys." Jake laughed as Embry walked in the room with a disgusted face as the smell hit him.
"Yeah well if you were any kind of friend at all you would sweet talk Bella into doing our laundry for us." Collin suggested grinning from ear to ear.
"Seriously you guys Bella does not do my laundry. I do my own." Jake rolled his eyes at them.
They had it in their heads that Bella did all the cleaning, cooking and laundry at their place. Jake cleaned up after himself. He was raised most of his life with two older sisters and a father who was not capable of doing as much as he would have liked.
Jake learned early in life to be a bit more responsible than his friends. They had mothers who had the misfortune of cleaning up after their sons.
"Sure. We believe you." Embry teased.
"I tell you what you guys load this ….stuff…up and I will take you to the laundromat and teach you how to do it." Jake offered.
The guys looked at him like he had gone insane suggesting they do their own laundry.
"Guys, girls like it when a guy can show he is capable of taking care of himself. They don't want to baby sit a grown man." Jake hoped they would listen to him. He knew that if any girl ever took one of them seriously and saw how they lived she would run for her life.
'I thought all women were wired to be nurtures." Collin ask with a serious expression on his goofy face.
"YOU thought wrong." Jake snorted.
"That is what mothers do. Not single women." Jake reminded them of the difference between their mothers and a potential girlfriend.
"That sucks." Embry sighed heavily.
"I will go with you." Quil jump up and began to rummage through the pile of dirty clothes trying to locate his own clothing among the two others.
"Quil your becoming a pansy ass." Collin flashed him a disgusted face.
"Hey if learning to do laundry helps me pick up a fine ass lady you can call me pansy anytime you want." Quil replied with a smirk.
"You know guys single ladies take their laundry to the laundromat." Jake bit down on his lower lip as he came up with the perfect bait to motivate his friends to do their laundry.
He watched as it sunk into Collin and Embry's thick skulls. Both of their faces lit up when they realized that the laundry mat might be a perfect pick up joint.
"Shit I'm game." Collin shoved Embry back into his seat as he grabbed a basket and started shoving clothes in it.
Quil flashed Jake a knowing grin.
"Wait a minute! Wait a damn minute!" Embry shouted.
"What?" Quil laughed watching Collin putting clothes in a basket while trying to hold his breathe.
"It's Friday night guys. We should be going out having a good time. Not doing our laundry like a looser." Embry answered.
"Yeah." Collin dropped the loaded clothes basket on the floor.
"You guys are so dense. Think about it. Women who are lonely and hate the thought of being at a club on a Friday night would be at the laundromat doing their clothes instead." Jake hoped his logic made sense to them. They had a limited amount of brains between the three of them.
"Maybe." Collin was giving it serious consideration while Embry shook his head in disbelief.
"What could it hurt?" Quil spoke up.
"Nothing. Hell, after last weekend I am really not in the mood for another night like that." Quil reminded the guys of how they had left him behind. It was their meanness that had left him to find Alice that night.
"Alright. We can always go out tomorrow night." Embry caved in. He still felt badly for how they had treated Quil last week. It was true if they had not left him behind then he wouldn't have been question by the police as a potential attacker.
"Exactly." Jake smiled triumphantly. He couldn't wait to tell Bella later tonight how he managed to get the guys to do their laundry. They would definitely share a few laughs about this.
Laughs were far and few lately between them. He knew that Bella was quite concerned about Alice. She went to see her after work on Wednesday. Jake drove with her. Before they had gone back home they made a quick stop to see Charlie at the station. He was so relieved to see Bella safe and well. He reminded Jake once again that he expected him to keep her safe from harm.
When they were home alone if Bella wasn't moping about Alice then she would be on her laptop working on something related with work. He knew that Edward called her this week. He thought Edward was a okay guy but he also knew he was wrong for Bella. Edward was too stuck up for a girl like Bella who was more of a solid person. She was no way vain or shallow. She wasn't one of those materialistic girls. In fact she was often uncomfortable when she got gifts at all. She would rather you show your feelings with actions rather than buy her a shiny pretty thing that only said I have money to spend and I thought you were worthy enough for me to spend it on you.
He just wished that Bella would confide in him why Edward was suddenly making a reappearance in her life. He knew she had broken things off with Edward a few months earlier. She told Jake that they rarely saw each other when she lived in Forks and moving to Port Angeles she seriously doubted their relationship. if you wanted to even call it that. would make any more progress. She liked Edward, Jake could see that. He also suspected their dates consisted more on a physical need than emotional. It had not bothered him before. Bella was a grown woman with needs. She was human after all.
Now that he had grown closer to Bella in the physical sense he wasn't so keen on the thought of Edward touching her. In fact he really dislike imaging anyone having sex with Bella. It just seemed dirty somehow. She was too good for these guys. Hell, she was too good for even him. He knew she didn't like it when he put her on a pedestal. She would tell him she made mistakes just like anyone else. He couldn't himself from seeing Bella as the perfect woman. In his heart no one would ever come close to perfection, not like his Bella.
XXX