Jacob's POV

Max's confused face made me almost want to take back what I said. But the tiny flicker of guilt in her beautiful brown eyes made me sure that at least part of what I had said was true.

I walked away from her, and looked back. She was just staring at me, her expression now unreadable. I quickened my pace and sped to my bike. I revved up the engine and headed home. Might as well catch some sleep since now I knew that Max was safe and sound. (A/N: Cue T-Swizzle's "Safe and Sound"…)

On the ten minute ride back to my house, I thought about it. What could Max be hiding from me? It was clear that she wasn't telling me something, and I was going to find out what it was.

Max's POV

I decided to jog home, turning off my music. I needed this head space to think, not mentally laughing at Justin rhyming "you" with "fondue." Jake was onto me, and I needed my guard up more than ever.

I opened the front door, and hurried up the stairs to take a quick shower.

In the shower, I started off thinking about another lie I could tell Jacob. I could say that a family member died, and I just didn't want anyone to see me all teary, but that wouldn't work in case he called up my mom to see if she went to visit as well and she had no idea what he was talking about.

Or I could just tell him the truth… Well, that wouldn't be a good idea since he might not accept my whole weird wing dilemma... Or he might. He isn't exactly the star human himself, so maybe he could understand what I was going through. But then again, he could blow up at me for not telling him sooner.

I stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around me. I still hadn't made up my mind, but I think I had a good idea of what I would do.

Jacob's POV

I went back to my house, planning to flop onto the couch and take a greatly needed nap. Unfortunately, the couch was already taken by Paul and my sister Rachel, cuddling together and watching a horror movie. The character just walked into the room and found this guy disgustingly bloody, and was weeping over his body when the guy shot up and snapped the girl's neck so she fell to the ground, dead.

This is obviously the perfect time for Paul to lean in and start kissing my sister (note the sarcasm.) I threw up a bit in my mouth. I didn't know that gory scenes called for romantic gestures.

I snuck past them and crawled up the stairs, and fell to my bed. Max was an amazing girl. She was feisty, strong, and not afraid to express how she felt. She was nothing like Bella. With Bella, she was weak in so many ways, but was still strong enough to break my heart by running back to Edward after the entire fiasco in Europe. Max was independent and slightly headstrong. Normally, she wouldn't be the kind of girl that I would have a crush on. She reminded me of Leah, but Leah had that nasty, bitter streak to her that made her hard to be around.

I blew out a long puff of air. Bella was long gone for me. But no matter what happened, I can't see Max do anything without comparing her to Bella, even though Bella didn't have any of the characteristics that Max possessed.

I stopped, and gave myself a hard punch to the jaw. I cried out, holding my mouth. Damn, that hurt. But I deserved it. I imprinted on Max. Bella or no Bella, Max was the one for me.

Maybe if I said it enough, I would actually believe it.

Max's POV

At noon, I decided it was about time for Ella to wake up.

Pounding on her locked door, I yelled, "Ella! Get your lazy bum out of bed!"

I heard her grumbling and her covers shifting, then silence. "Ella! I'm serious, get up!" I yelled again, pounding on her door again, harder.

"Alright, alright!" I heard her scream.

Satisfied, I went back downstairs, pulling out some breakfast I could make for Ella when she woke up. The pantry and the fridge were empty. I wonder why. I mean, there was food when I had breakfast… oh. I ate it all. I should have known.

I expected Ella to take a while before actually getting up, so I decided to run to the Walmart nearby to pick up a few doughnuts.

I went down the aisle, a basket hanging on the crook of my arm. I inspected their doughnut selection. Glazed, powdered, chocolate, creme-filled… I reached for a box of an assorted sort when I accidentally walked into someone.

"Seth!" I said, smiling at him.

"Hey, Max!" he grinned back, handing me the box I was reaching for. "Here. You wanted this, right?"

"Thanks," I said, taking it from him and placing it into my basket. Why did I grab a basket when all I was getting was doughnuts? I looked and saw that I had filled up half of it with various brands of chips, vegetables, and some Snapple.

Well.

"What are you shopping for, a party?" Seth joked.

"You know how I eat," I said. "This is all for one sitting." I glanced at his basket. "And you?"

His basket was filled with shampoo, some of the soap that Ella uses to make her smell like a freaking bottle of perfume, and I swear I saw a box of tampons peaking out of there.

He blushed. "This isn't for me, I swear. My mom and Leah wanted to get me some things, and so I figured I could grab some food while I'm here."

"Sure," I teased.

"Shut up," he replied, his face burning up.

"I'm kidding," I said. "No need to get all embarrassed."

We continued talking as we walked to the cash register, where Seth paid for his things. I watched as the cashier, a teenager, look at Seth in a way that made me uncomfortable. It was like she was undressing him with her eyes. He didn't seem to notice though, and handed her a twenty dollar bill. I took this time to take a good look at Seth. He definitely wasn't bad looking; he had a fine-cut nose, his tan skin brought out his bright eyes. His messy dark hair gave him a young, playful look as his muscles made him look like a man.

She pulled out the receipt, quickly writing something down on the back before handing it back to Seth. He thanked her with a smile on his face, and stood off to the side to wait for me as I paid for my things.

The girl didn't seem as excited to be paying for my groceries. She handed me the receipt, looking bored, until she noticed Seth still standing there. She waved to him flirtatiously, and he nodded at her, then offered to take my groceries.

I insisted that I could handle my own, and let him walk me back to my house. We talked easily throughout the entire walk, and I knew that he was certainly someone that I could go to for help. Maybe I could even ask him about Jake.

I opened the front door, and was about to say goodbye when he asked me.

"So Max, I was wondering if you might want to grab lunch sometime?"

I opened my mouth to respond when Ella popped through the door. "Max, it's about time! Where did you go-" she stopped when she saw Seth.

"Hello," he said, smiling at her. Gosh, he had such a great smile.

"Hi," she squeaked. I rolled my eyes. She was like the girl at the store- one smile and you were hooked.

"Seth, this is my baby sister, Ella-" I felt her punch my arm after I said this, "and Ella, this is my friend Seth."

"Nice to meet you, Ella," Seth said.

"S-same," she stuttered. Oh gosh. She gets like this a lot. A good-looking guy comes around, and then she is all over them.

"I should go," I said to Seth. "But thanks for walking me home. And I would love to grab a lunch sometime."

His grin grew bigger. "Great. I'll see you around Max! Bye Ella."

With that, he walked out of our driveway. I closed the door, and Ella turned to me, out of her daze.

"So, who was he?"

"You heard him, his name is Seth."

"No, really," she said, rolling her eyes. "What happened to Jacob?"

"Nothing happened?"

She stared at me with wide eyes. I stared back. After a few seconds without blinking, she muttered, "My eyes are burning."

I cracked a smile, and so did she. "But really, I though you and Jake were a thing."

My smile fell. "Well, not really."

"So is he your new guy?"

It was my turn to go bug-eyed. "What the fuck? Where did you get that idea?"

"By the way he looks at you, duh," Ella answered, acting like I had asked her what planet we were living on.

"Seth and I are just friends," I insisted.

"That's what they all say."

"Why does everybody say that? I said that we were just friends, so why don't you trust me with the fact that we are just friends?"

"Why are you being so defensive?"

I sighed. "Whatever, think what you want. I'm going to eat."

I brushed past her, glaring on the smirk dancing on her face.