Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Tanya and I both got out of the car at the same time. She stood in front of the car, right in front of Jacob and I just stood off to the side. If Jake can't keep his anger in check I don't want to be caught in the middle of him phasing.

"What did you do to her?" Jake growled as soon as we got out of the car.

"Why don't you ask her? I doubt you would believe anything I say anyways." Tanya answered and then looked at me to answer Jake.

Jake kept his eyes on Tanya, but he didn't say anything; waiting me to answer.

"She didn't do anything Jake. She took me to a movie and a dinner. Then we got caught in the storm and had to stay the night." I answered truthfully.

"So you went on a date with her?" Jake asked skeptically.

What we did was very much date like, but she didn't once call it a date, at least not out loud to me.

"No Jake. I do that all the time with you and never once have I called it a date." This got his attention. Tanya looked a little saddened by what I just said, but I can't find myself to care at the moment. Right now I want Jake to back off and to just be my friend.

"Then why were you out with her all night? You stayed the night with her. The Bella I knew never would have done that." Jake said.

Is he insinuating that we did something? Does he really think I would do something like that with someone I barely know? Before I got a chance to yell at him for that Tanya spoke up.

"Just because two people stay in the same room overnight does not mean they had sex. Bella and I did nothing of the sort. Bella is not that kind of woman. What kind of friend are you to even think that?" Tanya said, her voice sounding just as mad as I am.

The words seemed to have affected Jake and he had the decency to look a little sheepish. He didn't look in the least bit mad as he continued to think over what Tanya had said. I took this opportunity to try and salvage a real friendship with him.

"Jake, we've been best friends since before I can even really remember. You've always been there for me and I'd like to think that I've always been there for you when you needed me. I know you like me more than a friend should and I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry for being selfish enough to want to keep your friendship while knowing your feelings. But I'm not your imprint, you know this. Don't you think that when you do imprint and if we were together, that we would both be hurt?" I couldn't help but rant a little at him.

He's my friend and I love him dearly, I don't want his emotions to ruin our friendship. He's helped me too much when the Cullen's left, for me to just let him go. I don't want to, but if he doesn't understand that we aren't meant to be, I might have to.

"Think about how your imprint will feel if you two are together when you find her? She'll feel guilty about destroying what you two had. I don't see anything good happening from you two being together when you do finally find your imprint." Tanya added.

She's been around for so long that I'm sure she's seen lots of couples be destroyed when one finds their real soul mate. It's not an easy thing to watch, especially for the person who gets left behind with no one.

"Think about Leah and Sam, I don't want us to end up like them." I said to further drive what Tanya said.

Jake now looked a little remorseful. He looked hurt and I can't help but feel a little guilty that I'm the one that caused it.

"We could be happy together Bella." Jake eventually said after a few minutes of silence.

Even though he's clearly grasping at straws here, I can tell by his tone that he doesn't really mean what he said. He's too stubborn to just let it go. He knows that we would only happy until he found his imprint. Even before that though, I wouldn't be fully happy since I don't love him like that. He knows this.

"Why did you come to visit me Jake? What were you expecting to happen?" I asked a little harsher than I intended, but I have to get him to see. I know why he came here; I just wish I wasn't right.

"I'm sorry Bella, I…I just thought…" Jake said, trailing off.

"I know Jake, but can't we just be friends please?" I asked, somewhat pleadingly.

Jake stood there, in front of the store and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked like he was deep in thought. It took a couple minutes before he responded to me.

"If that's the best I can get, that ya, of course we can just be friends." Jake said; he sounded a little defeated though. He added a small smile to show he was being honest.

I couldn't help but beam at him. I no longer have to worry about Jake trying to be more than a friend with me. I think he finally understands that we just aren't meant to be a couple, only best friends. I can easily tell it hurts him to accept this, but I know he'll get over it…eventually.

I ran over to him and gave him a big hug. I'm so happy that he finally decided to do the mature thing and be a friend.

"Thank you Jake, this means a lot to me." I told him as I released him.

"Sure thing Bells, but don't think that just because my plans for coming here are ruined that I'm leaving. I still want to hang out with my best friend." Jake said.

"Of course Jake." I answered.

"That will have to wait until after her shift though Jacob, I'm afraid I asked to meet you here because Bella and I needed to be here to open the store. Kill two birds with one stone if you will." Tanya said as she made her way to the store entrance.

"Oh, right. Well, maybe I'll just come back later then to browse the books?" Jake said with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Or you can just come back to hang out and not make excuses to do so. Just give me an hour or so to teach her what she needs to know to do her job." Tanya said.

I'm so happy Tanya set this up, even though it did cost me my phone. I can tell from Jake's posture and his blatantly ignoring Tanya that he still doesn't like her, but at least he isn't making threats to her and isn't demanding me to ignore her. Maybe after Jake's had some time to think and realize it was Tanya that helped us, maybe he'll get over it.

I can't help but notice an odd look in Tanya's eyes, almost like regret. I have to be imagining things though, why would she regret helping Jake and I mend our friendship?

"I'll call you when I need a ride home Jake, okay?" I said as I started to follow Tanya into the store.

"Okay, have fun Bells." Jake said as he waved goodbye to me. I could still see sadness in his eyes, but I can't be too concerned about it because this had to happen.

For the next hour or so, Tanya showed me how to operate the cash register, stock the books and to just over-all run the store. She told me that even though one of her family members would be here for most of the day, I would sometimes be left on my own to run the store. She said that they aren't worried about me stealing anything because if I did, they would know and they would easily be able to get it back. After she said that, she quickly said that she doesn't believe I would steal from them and that she does trust me to run the store with little difficulties.

She left the store around noon, the same time Jake showed up. Jake came over to bring me lunch and decided to just stay and eat with me. There had only been one person in here all morning, so when I told this to Jake he said he would keep me company for a bit.

"So really Jake, how did you get our parents to agree to let you come here?" I asked once we were done eating.

I was sitting behind the counter doing nothing and Jake was browsing a shelf of books in front of me. If I didn't know better, I would have thought he didn't hear me. He kept silently browsing the books until he ran out of books on that shelf to look at.

"I told my dad that you were the closest thing to an imprint that I'll ever get." Jake answered so quietly that I almost couldn't hear him.

I didn't say anything, having a feeling that he wasn't done talking. I figured he would say something like that to get Billy to agree to let him come here. I'm just surprised Sam let him go also.

"Once Billy agreed, which was easier than I thought it would be, he convinced Charlie for me. I'm not really sure how he convinced him, but he did. I didn't have anything else but the pack holding me to the reservation. Sam only let me because I threatened to take the role of Alpha from him. It's my birthright, so technically I can take it anytime, so I used it against him." Jake explained. "If the pack didn't have such anger issues we would all still be in school. The council is too afraid that we'll get so upset and phase right in the middle of campus, so school wasn't a problem either."

Well that explains a lot, sort of. I just don't get how he became so obsessed with wanting to be with me. I understand love makes people do crazy things, I can see that from what I did after Edward left me. I just don't see how after so many times I told Jake he doesn't have a chance, that he went this length to still try. I won't say anything though, it's done and over with. I personally don't ever want to bring this up ever again.

Jake left shortly after he told me that. He ran home and left the truck here for me to drive home. A half hour later, Tanya showed up again. She gave me a new phone to replace the one she broke.

After everything that happened yesterday and today, I find myself distancing myself from Tanya. I didn't even realize it until after I had left the store to go home. Where ever Tanya was in the store, I managed to get myself away from her. I was almost always in the complete opposite spot from her. Even when there was a customer there, I stuck to the customer's side. I don't think they appreciated it, but from what I could tell they preferred my company than the vampires.

Tanya had tried several times to engage me into a conversation with her, but I didn't give anything for her to go off of. I only gave short answers. After a while, Tanya stopped trying. For the last hour of my shift she stayed in the office. She only came back out when I announced I was leaving.

When I did get home, I finished my remaining homework and made dinner. After dinner I stayed in the living room and read a book while Jake and Charlie watched a sports game. This whole time I couldn't stop thinking about how close Tanya and I had acted. I have told myself multiple times that I don't want to get close to a vampire again and last night I stayed in a hotel room with one.

I need to just ignore Tanya and finish off this school year. Once I do that I can move someplace far away and someplace sunny so I never have to see another vampire again. It hurts to think that, but I guess it should. I was practically adopted into a family of vampires. I had actually felt like I was one of them…or at least a part of the family. Then they left me, I don't think I'll ever fully be over that.

Being around Tanya and her family isn't helping to get me over Edward and his family. I shouldn't have accepted the job at Kate's store, but there wasn't any other job available and I need a job to start saving money.

After an hour of pretending to read in the living room, I decided that I would just call it an early night and headed off to bed. As I drifted off to sleep I decided that I would do my best to ignore Ta- Ms. Denali and her family. I will try my best to do what Edward wanted, to have a normal life, nothing supernatural about it.

A/N: I'm not sure if I want to include Laurent in this story or not, what do you guys think?