Chapter III

Arrangements

Hate to sound sleazy, but tease me, I don't want it if it's that easy

Tupac Shakur

I probably would have stood with such a stunned face until the end of the world or even longer, fortunately, I woke up when Angela patted my shoulder and whispered in my ear:
"Bells, are you going to stare like that, or are you going to approach them. After all, no one will be offended if you leave our company for a moment."
Apparently, the members of the pack thought the same, because I didn't have to go anywhere. It was Jake who decided to approach us, to the general delight of the girls...
"Bells... It's been a long time... since we haven't seen each other." he said, squinting his eyes. Did he purposely make that pause?
"Hmmm... I guess we both had a lot of studying to do before the end of the year..." Geez, my lack of eloquence was almost palpable.
"Angie, will you let me kidnap Bella for a moment? I wanted to talk to her in private."
Angie's face said: " Bells, this handsome guy will you also roll us up from under your nose?". Well, so far he has rolled me aside. In the dark room he looked for a place where we were able to hear anything but loud music.
I pointed out that it was some kind of emotionally pulsating track, grunge style. Garbage "You look so fine."
I leaned with my back against the wall, Jake stood in front of me, I felt like a little girl facing disciplinary expulsion from school. Jacob was focused and serious.
"Bells, I think I should apologize to you for everything..." he began. "I unnecessarily went so far, and what's worse, I gained nothing, except that Edward left. I should probably be happy about this turn of events, but I know how much he meant to you. Hmmm... Well, maybe I'm a little happy after all, and maybe apologizing isn't quite the right thing to do, because it's hard for me to pretend true remorse... In fact, it is impossible to forget that night... Well, but, that's not what I was going to say, Bells... I hope you understood why I didn't speak for so long. And I probably would have been silent even longer if it hadn't been for that chance meeting."
I had feared the confrontation for so long, spinning bizarre visions in which Jake accused me of my selfishness, my toying with him, my silence, my lack of attempts to stop him from leaving, that now, having heard his brief monologue, I felt relieved... almost joy.
I smiled affectionately:

"I'm the one who wanted to apologize... I remained silent, because I did not know what to say, moreover, now I do not know either. Edward did not leave me, he just gave me time to think."
He frowned slightly.

I continued:

"I think we should behave normally towards each other."
"I mean how? What do you mean by normal?"
"Hmmm, you know , like before, two friends, jokes together, walks... just like other people."
"Bells, I'll honestly say that I'm not quite comfortable with the role of an admirer, without constantly courting you, which is what the previous NORMALITY was all about."
I was confused... He was right.
"Jake, I think you should also look around, look how many people, specifically girls, are around. You know I think we should both get some distance from everything, just like that."
He moved closer to me, I felt my pulse slipping out of control, I didn't know if he had come up with another crazy idea to kiss me, or...? I heard the refrain of a song, as if a commentary on our conversation.
You're taking me over Drown in me one more time Hide inside me tonight Do what you want to do Just pretend happy end
I saw anger in his face, his eyes were the deepest shade of black, he smiled ironically and whispered right in my ear:
"Distance?" He was so close that I could feel the heat beating from him, I could also smell the resinous forest. He had his face right at my temple, tickling my hair. Suddenly, another image flashed in my mind... His arms, my hands on his shoulders, moving lower, along his back, to his buttocks.
My impatient urging of him to go as fast as possible, as deep as possible... I felt that I was not controlling my breathing. He must have noticed, because this time with a devilish smile he whispered his question again:
"Distance...?" Suddenly he moved away from me, straightened up and said: "As you wish." After which he took my hand and calmly walked me back to my friends. We didn't have the conditions for conversation now, so I was plagued by a million unasked questions and a desire to hear an explanation of why he was so annoyed by my proposal.
But Jacob behaved quite naturally, talking to my friends, joking around... Maybe it's my oversensitivity, but with a beating heart I was waiting for an event. And indeed, he was about to start a small show...

The whole company began to integrate a bit. First the boys from the reserve approached us, seemingly to joke with Jacob that he had persuaded them to go on an outing, and then left them to the mercy of the local girls - they actually aroused a lot of interest with their original beauty.
Later, the girls in my pack suggested that we sit together, and so part of the company split off to look for a place. The restaurant was multi-level, one of those where different music plays in each room. In ours, as I noted earlier, we could hear slightly dark, sensual tracks, great as a background for flirting and loud enough to even force physical contact if one had something to say to someone and didn't want to lash out.
Jacob didn't sit with us, he went to the bar with Embry to order something for everyone to drink. God, my childhood friend bought alcohol, went to parties and ... as I could see, unlike me, he felt great in this climate.
I tried not to follow him with my eyes, which, however, was not easy, because he generally stood out so prominently from the crowd with his figure that I had the impression that half the women did not let him out of their sight. It's strange, for the entire duration of our acquaintance I never once had the opportunity to notice how he acts on women. Because there were none around!
Suddenly everyone's gaze fell on the entrance to the hall. Leah... She, too, came in, as you can see much late. Leah Clearwater was a beauty, and her beauty was matched only by her cut tongue. She was famous for her inaccessibility, and even among the pack she had no soulmate. She looked around, gazed with distaste at the intimacy of our two groups, and without greeting anyone, walked straight up to Jacob.
I didn't notice that they exchanged a single word, probably telepathy was enough for them. I was curious, however, when she smiled at him, as if agreeing to some proposal. This was intriguing, because in general Leah and Jacob argued incessantly. I knew that I was the main reason for these quarrels, because Leah, it seems, had made it a point of honor to personally knock me out of Jakes head.
I looked at them, trying to talk to Jessica - to this day I don't know what about. And with some kind of grief that is hard to grasp, I saw how they fit together. Yes, a matter of race, cinnamon skin tone, black hair... and beauty.
Not only did Leah have a flawless face, coal-black eyes and a mouth as full as Jacob's, she also had a body that exuded incredible strength. She resembled a cougar more than a wolf, and I also know that she was the fastest and cleverest of them. She wore a short skirt exposing her long, beautifully sculpted legs and a white tank top perfectly emphasizing her curvy breasts and slightly muscular arms.
Next to her I looked like an ugly, featherless duckling. I felt a stab of jealousy, I myself don't know if it was more about beauty or maybe about how good she looked next to him. To top it off, Jess, as if sensing what I was thinking about, said, looking in their direction:
"These two look like they were made for each other."
"They don't even like each other," I replied, trying to believe it myself.
"Well, I don't know, Bells, look." I turned my head in their direction and was stunned.
Leah and Jake walked away from the bar, leaving Embry there laughing, and themselves joined the dancing group in the middle of the dance floor. I watched as if mesmerized...

Someone from the pack laughed and shouted to the others:
"Look, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers."

Everyone's eyes turned toward them. They were almost not touching each other, although their bodies were separated by millimeters.
Kosheen's song "Hide you" was just flying, in some slower, even more sensual version.
It seemed that Jacob and Leah could not look at each other at all, and still in this dance their bodies would be perfectly in sync. It was as if they were doing nothing else on the reservation...
I didn't know if it was talent, or animal instinct, or wolf telepathy. Probably a little bit of all of the above. I remembered, Edward had once told me, that wolves could transmit not only words to each other, but also mental images and even sensory experiences. They were like one organism, one rhythm, like the music. Cohesive, though not entirely predictable. Leah turned her back to Jacob.
I felt myself blush with emotion as I watched her move her hips, almost snuggling her buttocks into his lower abdomen. Her agile figure looked like it was made for dancing, under the skin that was slightly glistening from sweat, every muscle movement was visible. Yet they were still separated by millimeters of free space.
How, then, did he know what move she would make to meld perfectly with her? I could see, or maybe it just seemed that way to me, that Leah's back was already touching Jake's chest at this moment. She was taller than me, the top of her head was at the height of his nose.
I could see exactly how she sensually swung her arm behind her, embraced his neck from behind and brought his face closer to her hair with a light gesture. Jake smiled and very erotically mussed her hair with his lips. I don't know if she felt his gesture, but she smiled, closing her eyes. The two of them seemed to be having a dialogue with this dance...
She moved closer to him once, away from him once, he smoothly accepted her movement, his hands already waiting where her body was to be in a second. A perfect harmony of phenomenally beautiful figures, emanating strength, mystery. They seemed to both listen to the words of the chorus, and after its first line:
If you were in my heart I'd surely not break you If you were beside me Then my love would take you I'll keep you in safety Forever protect you(...) Jake turned his head and looked straight into my eyes. I held that look for five seconds, then got up and left. If I could have, I would have walked to Forks, however, the nearest refuge was the restroom...
I stood with my back against the wall of the corridor leading back to the halls and desperately tried to calm down. I thought of myself as the embodiment of maturity, and he was causing me hysterical behavior worthy of a 15-year-old. I was ashamed. Reason told me that I didn't really have a reason to get mad, but this only slightly cooled my fury.
In my current state of mind, my mind was busy designing scenes in which I try out a right hook - or better a left hook, since my right hand was still sore after the last time - on Jakes self-satisfied mouth. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and decided to count to a hundred, when I heard familiar footsteps , followed immediately by his concerned voice:
"Bells, why have you been gone so long? Are you feeling bad? After all, you only had one drink!"
He came up to me, stroked my cheek with his hand, a little dulling me from an ominous mood with this tenderness, but not enough for me to refrain from commenting:
"Yeah...? And weren't you too busy to control how much and what I drink?" Jake burst into laughter. He looked genuinely amused.
He had that mischievous look in his eyes that I liked so much from the days when we were both able to act normal around each other, and said:
"Bells, I love, just love, when you are so jealous!"
I didn't give myself time to think of an appropriate retort and acted instinctively. I punched him in the stomach with my fist. In the hand it did not coo, but it hurt... Of course, only me, because he stood and laughed loudly.
He approached me once again - clearly I did not inspire much respect. He pushed me slightly against the wall, and when he was so close that I could feel the heat of his chest on my body, he took me gently under the chin, brought his face a little closer still, and just when I thought he had decided to make another attempt at a kiss, he whispered, squinting his eyes:
"Distance, Bells... remember?"
"You..." I hissed, but did not have time to finish, because he pulled me resolutely behind him to the bar, where our package again, again and again, burst out laughing. Clearly the party was in full swing.
I lost count of the time. Jake behaved properly, as if trying not to provoke me again. He was just the way I liked him, laughing, spontaneous, open to everyone. The boys entertained the whole company with their banter, even Leah laughed once or twice. I tried not to watch her, but many times that night I felt her gaze on my back.

It began to dawn. We couldn't believe that the time went by so fast, although, to be honest, I think each of us was collapsing with fatigue. I certainly was. Sam and Emily came to pick us up - I was supposed to go back with the pack, since we were passing my house on the way to La Push anyway.
We all fit into the back of the van and after a few minutes we could already hear Quil and Embry snoring. Jacob giggled that they looked so cute together, leaning against each other in their sleep, that not a moment too soon there would be an induction. Everyone burst out laughing, only Leah furrowed her brow and turned her head, seemingly looking at the trees we were passing.
I sat next to Jacob and was surprised to notice that for the first time I was humming a little. I felt my eyes close of their own accord and my body grow warm and limp, I no longer had the strength to fight sleep. I leaned my head against his chest, he put his arm around me and, warmed by his warmth, listening to my heartbeat, I drifted off...
I woke up, lying on my own bed, when Jake was just pulling off my shoes.
"But you were so tired... You didn't even wake up when I took you in my arms to deliver you sleeping to Charlie. Incidentally, I don't know if he believed that you fell like that just from fatigue, because he looked like he wanted to check us all with a breathalyzer." he giggled. "Help you get dressed in your pajamas...?"
"Idiot."
"Relax, I was just asking" he laughed again.
"It was fun, wasn't it?" he asked rhetorically, as he whispered before I could answer: "Sleep."
And instead of trotting to the door, with his usual grace, he jumped out the window. Eh... typical Jake.