DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT OR ITS CHARACTERS. I OWE ALL OF THAT GREATNESS TO THE ONE AND ONLY STEPHENIE MEYER, WHO I MUST REPEATEDLY BOW DOWN TO! BUT SERIOUSLY, IF I DID, WOULD I REALLY BE WRITING THIS STORY? DIDN'T THINK SO.

A/N

First off, I want to say thank you guys SO MUCH!

I can't believe how many reviews I've already gotten!

I really appreciate everyone's feedback more than you know. It'll really help me to make my first fanfiction the best it can be. Someone mentioned that I should spread the plot out a little more and not rush into it so much, so I'm DEFF gonna try to do that... as soon as I figure out what the actual main plot is...

I love all you readers with all my heart!

Here's Chapter Two: Epiphanies

-S.N.O.

CHAPTER TWO: EPIPHANIES

Driving down Forks Highway was never an easy thing to do. There were so many twists and turns, and not to mention the road was always slippery from rain. But it was so much harder to do when you had tears fogging up your vision every three seconds.

Breaking up with Jacob was never something I had planned on doing. But during my little chat with Alice I came to the conclusion that she was right. We never saw each other. I wasn't about to go through my yearbook and find a guy that actually lives near me when I got home, though. I was never one to go looking for guys. I had always said that if I were to have a boyfriend, he would find me. But even after this soon to be breakup between Jacob and me, I wasn't so sure I'd be ready for another boyfriend or crush yet anyway.

Crush.

Why is it called a crush? I think I'm finally understanding. It's because it hurts. It hurts to like someone who doesn't like you back. It hurts to have a boyfriend who you can never see. It hurts to like someone that you know it will never be able to work out with. Everything just… hurts.

And that little epiphany brought me to even more tears. I was about to hurt myself, and Jacob, more than anyone could ever imagine.

As soon as I pulled up to the old red house on the side of the road, I knew that both Jacob and his father were home. That was definitely going to be a bit awkward. Jake's personal car, a classic VW Rabbit, and the special wheelchair van for Billy were both in the driveway (Wheelchair Van pic on profile). I pulled up beside the Rabbit and just kind of sat there for a good few minutes, thinking what was I going to say? How would I say it? Would I let Billy stay around? These questions and more flooded my mind as I sat unmoving in my car, until I was snapped out of it by a light tap on my driver's side window. Startled, I looked out the window to find Jacob standing in the rain, holding an umbrella for me. How he could tell I was out here, I didn't know. This Volvo made virtually no noise, especially compared to my old Chevy Truck. He smiled as I looked at him, and I grew ashamed of myself for allowing the corners of my mouth to turn upwards as well.

Bad Bella. Very bad Bella. You should NOT be smiling right now! This is absolutely NO time for smiling! I thought to myself.

But he is my boyfriend, my mind replied to itself.

Not for long, it argued back. I shook these thoughts from my mind as I cut the engine and carefully opened my door. Jacob, the gentleman he was, helped me out of the Volvo and under the black umbrella with him. As soon as my door was shut he grabbed my waist and pulled my lips to his. After a few seconds, I pulled away, breathless, and mentally groaned. That was NOT what I was planning on happening.

"I missed you so goddamn much, Bella," he whispered to me. All I did in response was smile wearily up at him and start walking towards the house. He dropped the umbrella as soon as we were under the overhang, but kept a hold of my waist. We walked inside and my nose was immediately filled with the familiar aroma that I remembered so clearly about this house. I took a few seconds to just take it all in, because depending on how things went tonight, this might be my last time ever standing in the Blacks' home. I found Jake's father sitting in front of the television watching a baseball game. Jake pulled me into the living room and announced excitedly, "Hey Dad, look who's here!" with a smile plastered on his face.

"Who?" Billy asked as he turned his wheelchair around to face us. His wrinkly old face lit up as soon as he took sight of me. "Oh, Bella! Haven't seen you in so long! Nice of you to stop by, hon!" I walked over to hug him while thinking to myself, Yeah, real nice. You'll love me even more when tonight is over, Billy. Billy had always been fond of mine and Jacob's relationship. Our break-up would probably hurt him just as badly as it would hurt Jake.

And me.

"Hey, Billy. It's good to see you." I pulled away and went to stand with Jake again. "Um, Billy… would you mind if stole Jake for a little while?" The both looked at me with puzzled expressions on their faces.

"Uh…no, I… I guess not…" he answered to me. "But where exactly is it that you'll be taking him?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe just drive around and chat. Maybe go to City Plaza."

"Okay, sounds good. Just don't stay out too late, okay?"

"No problem." I said goodbye to Billy and took Jake's hand to lead him out of the house and around to my car. He stopped when I opened my driver's side door.

"Something wrong?" I asked him.

"Uh, no but… can we take my car instead?" I was instantly confused and I looked down at my car to see if anything was wrong.

"What's wrong with mine?"

"Well, nothing, I guess. I just like the Rabbit better."

"Jake, please. Does it really matter which car we take? I still don't even know where we're going, if anywhere." I explained to him, a hint of tiredness and exhaustion in my voice. It was still raining and my clothes were getting soaked, as well.

He sighed and opened the passenger door. "All right. We'll take yours," and got in. I just rolled my eyes and started the engine. Even though he was my age, Jacob was sometimes a lot less mature. Sometimes it was cute; others, like right now, not so much. Before I could put the car in motion, Jake grabbed my wrist and basically shouted, "Wait!" I stared at him wondering aloud what it was now that was stopping us from leaving. "I just wanted to do this…" he said, taking hold of my neck with his right hand and bringing my lips to his. I tried breaking away by pushing on his strong chest, but he mistook the action and started kissing me harder. Don't get me wrong; Jacob Black is a great kisser. It's just that I didn't want to mislead him anymore than I already had. He finally pulled his lips off of mine when he ran out of breath. "You have no idea how much I've missed that," he told me quietly, staring intently into my eyes.

I sighed and turned my head away, breaking his gaze, and looked out the window.

"Jake…" I started, but somehow I couldn't finish. I could feel him staring at me and I could only wonder what was going through his mind.

"What's up?" he asked me cautiously.

"Jake… I love you. You know I love you… but…"

"But what, Bella?" He sounded frustrated. For what reason, I couldn't say. All I could do was sit there in my seat wondering what the hell I was doing. Here I was, with the most wonderful guy a girl could possibly ask for, and I was about to throw that away? For what? Just because I couldn't see him as much as I liked? I had obviously disproved that little notion by being here right now. Maybe Alice wasn't right… Maybe Alice was wrong… Was that even possible? Apparently. And obviously I was wrong for thinking that Alice was right. Jake was right. 'But what?' There were no 'but's. I loved Jake. We had been together for over a year now and have never had any problems before. So why start now? I smiled to myself.

"Bella…" I was snapped out of my thoughts to find Jake leaning back in his seat, seeming annoyed.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Bells… I think we need to talk." As soon as those words came out of his mouth, my smile fell.

"Um… about what?" My voice was shaking. And I'm pretty sure my body was too.

"Well… I think we both know that this isn't working out anymore. Actually, it never was." I stared at him in shock.

"Wh…What?" I was broken. Everything in me was broken. My heart, my mind, everything. And I was sure he hadn't even gotten to the worst part yet. The part where he would… No. I had to stop being so pessimistic. Maybe I could change his mind. "What do you mean it's not working out?"

"Oh, come on, Bella. Don't tell me that that's not what you came here about in the first place." He looked at me with his brow furrowed and his jaw tensed.

"It's not." I said to him. He gave me the famous Jacob Black 'Get Real' face. "Well, maybe that's how it started out." He let out a heavy sigh.

"What do you mean, 'that's how it started out'?" he asked.

"Well… earlier today Alice made me realize—"

"Alice." I was cut off and saw Jake cringe at the sound of her name. He had never really liked Alice. Something about her just made him crazy. I have no idea what, though. Everybody loves Alice. Well, actually now I might be able to understand why Jake isn't a part of that 'everybody', convincing me that we shouldn't be together, and all.

"Do you want me to continue or not?"

"Yes."

"Like I was saying… Alice made me realize that you and I basically never see each other. We never call each other to make plans, or just do something spontaneous."

"That's exactly my p—"

"Jake, stop. And yes, I came over here to break up with you." He opened his mouth to say something but I help up a hand a cut him off. "But after that last kiss, I realized on my own that we proved Alice wrong." He was just as confused as I expected him to be after that statement. "Meaning," I continued, "that we can see each other, not whenever we want, but practically whenever. Alice may have been wrong about this one, but I guess I kind of owe her thanks. If she hadn't told me that I needed to break up with you, then I never would have come here. And I never would have come here, then we wouldn't have realized that we can make this work. Do you understand? Jake, we don't have to break up! We never had to." I had a goofy smile on my face, while he had no expression whatsoever on his. He just looked into my eyes for a few moments before sighing again, and turning to look out the window.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"Bella, we do."

"We do what?" I was starting to get confused again.

"Have to break up."

"No we don't. Were you not just listening to me?"

"Bella stop! It's my turn to talk." I closed my mouth and waited to hear what he had to say. "Alice is right. I know, I can't believe that just came out of my mouth either, but it's true."

"I…don't understand."

He sighed yet again. There seemed to be a lot of that coming from him today. "We live too far away from each other to really make this relationship work. And she's also right about how we never call or e-mail or anything. Really, Bell, it's like we're not even together."

"But… you… and the kiss… and…" I was struggling to get my thoughts straight, in and out of my head.

"Bella, I meant it when I said I've missed you and kissing you as much as I do. But that doesn't change anything." And here I was, thinking I would be the one to hurt him tonight. Ironic, isn't it?

"Well… then I guess… we're breaking up," I whispered, still staring at him in shock. "If that's what you want."

"I love you Bella, I really do. But not the way you want me to." He took my face gently in his hand and leaned in to kiss my forehead. His mouth felt so warm and pleasant on my head. Oh, how I would miss that. As he pulled away, I spoke so quietly I wasn't even sure I'd said it.

"But can we still be friends?" He placed his other hand on my left cheek, forcing me to look up at him. I realized then how perfect his features were. We were only 16, but already he was so… so… grown up. His entire body was chiseled to perfection; his long, dark hair had no static or frizz whatsoever, even with this humidity; his eyes were big, and dark, and gorgeous; and his skin was completely flawless. It was no wonder why he didn't want to be with boring, average me. With my average long, brown hair, and my average brown eyes, and my average—

"Of course we can still be friends." I was suddenly pulled out of my rambling thoughts at the sound of his voice. He gave me a genuine smile before kissing my forehead one more time before saying "Goodbye" and stepping into the cold, wet rain.

"Bye, Jake," I whispered after him.

A/N

Ooooooo i bet you guys weren't expecting THAT, were ya? huh? huh?

anyways, i did a LOT of editing on that chapter. lots of little add-ins and little filler sentences.

i'm still not sure what's going to happen in the next chapter, but i think i've got a pretty good idea.

review if you have any suggestions for the upcoming and future chapters!

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

Love you all!

-S.N.O.