. . . . .
"Bella?" Charlie called up the stairs.
"Huh?" I peeked out my door and nearly came face-to-face with Jacob.
"Oh, I wasn't sure you'd heard your dad, so I came to check. I, um, I was wondering if you wanted to go get some coffee or something." He scuffed his boot against the hallway floor and looked down at his hands.
I looked at the book I was holding. My excuse for staying in.
Jake's head came back up with a start and he took a deep sniff of the air that breezed through the crack in the door. "Oh. I see I'm interrupting." His voice became hard and he turned away, headed back down the stairs.
"Jake. Hang on," I stepped outside of my door and shut it behind me. I didn't know why I bothered. Edward's super-hearing would give him access to anything we said, and I knew he'd be digging through Jake's thoughts. "I'd love to, but I've got a test tomorrow. And… well," I motioned to the door.
He nodded without making eye contact and clomped down the stairs. Charlie asked him if he'd like to stay to watch the game, but Jake told him he had to get back home. The front door shut a little too hard after him.
"Bells?" Charlie hollered from the living room.
I trudged down the stairs, knowing I wouldn't have to pretend to look guilty.
"Too busy for Jake?" His left eyebrow lifted.
"It's just that I have this big test tomorrow," I held out the book as proof. "I'd love to see him, really. I feel badly. But I can't do it right now. I wish he would have called."
Charlie nodded and patted the couch next to him. I shook the book toward him again, emphatically. "I just want to make sure you're getting out enough… with other people." Charlie looked embarrassed, and I was irked that he was bringing this up again.
"Dad. I have been hanging out with him. And with Angela and Jessica. And I've been working a lot, and it's not like Edward works at the store. So yes, I'm getting out enough with other people."
"Well, ok. I just hate to see him so sad."
"Me, too, Dad. But that's just the way it is. You know, if roles were reversed and I was with Jake all the time you'd probably be begging me to hang out with Edward."
Charlie raised his eyebrow at me again.
"Just saying," I shrugged and turned to the stairs.
"Remember what I said about learning to love what is good for you."
I pretended I didn't hear him and went back up to my room.
. . . . .
We were at prom. Dancing. Everything was all dim lights and soft music. I was breathless and flirting, giggling and spinning in circles. My hair was tangled around my shoulders, my cheeks were sore from smiling so much. It was the best night of my life.
His hand was warm around mine, his lips were warm against my neck.
Warm.
The dream-me pushed back hard and looked up with surprise.
Jacob's white smile beamed down at me, leaned in. "I love you, Bella."
Dream-me looked around. Looked for Edward. He was nowhere to be seen. And then dream-me tucked back into Jake's arms, back into the warmth and the love.
. . . . .
I was headed to the library to check out a few books for a research report when I found Jacob leaning against the side of my truck. He looked too solemn to be up to any good. I stopped short, waiting for him to speak.
"We need to talk about your boyfriend."
I rolled my eyes. What now?
"I'm serious, Bella. There are some things you need to know about him. About who he is."
I took a deep breath and tried to stare him down. He wasn't budging. I shook my head and lowered my voice.
"You don't need to tell me who he is, Jacob. I know who he is."
"No, I don't think you really do." He stood up straight, his hands clenched at his sides.
I looked at him incredulously. I couldn't believe his nerve.
"Jacob, I know you know more about them than just about anyone else. And I appreciate that you're looking out for me. You're a good friend. But it's rude to march in here and tell me that I don't know my own boyfriend. Because I do. We've been together over a year—I know him pretty darn well."
"You might know the him he wants you to see, Bella. But you don't know the real him. You don't know how dangerous he is to you," his voice shook and he took a deep breath to calm himself before pressing on. "Besides, you haven't been together for a year. He left you for a big chunk of that, remember?" He leaned toward me, his eyes blazing.
I backed away from him, annoyed that he was pushing the conversation so hard. Angry that he brought up the fact that Edward had left me. I tried so hard to forget it; to convince myself it could never happen again because it hadn't really happened a first time.
"You don't know anything about—"
He cut me off, ignoring my feeble attempts to defend Edward's long-ago absence. He advanced on me, following me back up the sidewalk.
"No, you need to hear this. Everything about Edward—about all of those bloodsuckers—is designed to attract you."
"I already know this, Jacob. He explained this to me before we even started dating," I put my hands on my hips, secretly relieved that he wasn't telling me anything I wasn't already aware of. "I know that I'm supposed to be drawn to him, and that it's my scent that attracted him to me in the first place. That he wanted to kill me. But that's not why we're still together. We got to know each other, and it's who we are that keeps us together."
He looked a little put-off, as if he hadn't expected that Edward would have been honest with me.
"It's offensive that you're insinuating he only likes me because of the way I smell. That he's only with me because he wants to murder me."
"That's not my point, Bella." Jacob looked frustrated. "There's so much more about them that you don't know, and you should know everything so you can make the right decision."
"The right decision? You mean you." My cheeks blazed with anger. I stepped forward to confront him. "You want to stand here and tell me all of the bad things about my boyfriend so I see how great you are in comparison and pick you instead."
"Not really, but I won't complain if that's what happens."
The left side of his mouth twitched up into a half-smile. The gesture usually charmed me, but I was too irritated to let him win that easily.
"Well, you won't have a chance to not complain. I'm not changing my mind."
I banged the screen door closed and headed for the kitchen, leaving him standing alone on the front step.
I heard the door open and his boots on the living room floor. He paused inside the kitchen doorway, his arm up on the door jamb, his face sorry.
"Listen, I didn't want to start a fight. I just thought you should know. They're dangerous."
I put down my glass of water and put my hands on my hips.
"Dangerous. Yes. I know. That's what they have been telling me ever since I met them. But they're not dangerous to me. You don't understand."
"That's just it, Bella. I do understand. I'm one of the only ones who does. My people have been fighting their kind for generations. We know what they're about. We know what they're capable of, and what they've done in the past. All that makes me afraid to let them anywhere near you."
"Well, lucky for me, you're not the one who gets to decide that." I opened the fridge, poured him a glass of milk, and set it next to the half-pan of brownies on the counter beside him. He was always crankier on an empty stomach and I wanted to end this fight without ending our friendship.
"Jake, I love you. You're my best friend. I understand that you're natural enemies with the Cullens and their kind—but you have to understand that I love Edward. He's my boyfriend. I realize this relationship is a little unconventional. But it's going to work. It is working. Maybe it wouldn't work with just about anyone else like him, but Edward and the Cullens are different. I'm different. I belong with them."
"You belong with them? You realize that sounds crazy? Suicidal?" His lips pulled tight across his teeth and he clenched the glass so hard I half-expected it to shatter.
"You're making a huge mistake, Bella. They could kill you."
I sighed and put my hand on his arm.
"Jacob, I know. But so could the common cold. Or falling down my front steps. I could die a hundred times every day. And that's probably way more likely than dying at the hands of one of the Cullens."
"I just don't want you to get hurt."
"I know." I leaned toward him and he set the glass down on the counter.
"I just worry about you, Bells. You have no idea."
He gathered me in his arms and held me there, a little too tightly, against his chest. I snuggled into him and took a deep breath. He loosened his grasp and buried his face in my hair. We were so comfortable like this, just us. I sighed again. How lucky I was to have such an amazing friend. Someone who just felt like home.
. . . . .
A/N: Tell me what you think-reviews are appreciated!