Disclaimer: I don't own twilight or the series or I'd be richer and not have to take out student loans.
A.N. I know, I know. I was mean and I said that I wanted 35 reviews and yet, here I am, beta-less sniffs and still updating.
Mostly this is because there are wonderfully nice people of there reviewing…even if there are only ten of you.
What I can't get is I got over 800 hits off this story. That's right! So many have been reading this fic and yet so little reviews.
However, there are people who are waiting for this fic and it's not fair or cool that they have to suffer! And of course Trini-Li. She bugs me to update, reads it on my computer, and then reads it on and then reviews! As she put it, that's dedication, bitchs!
I just want to thank everyone who has reviewed and favorited! Big shout outs to Pooks79 who has repeatably reviewed this story! Thanks also to Beautiful-Liar13, Gwynne, moonbunny666, brooklynsam3, marlijn, dreamertotheend, nanniegirl who have put my story on their favorites and story alerts. You know guys, if you guys reviewed you'd be one step closer to the smut I have prepared. It's good shit I guarantee.
I think after this story, which is more substance than smut, I will write a SMUTTIFIED Jake/Bella fic.
Chapter 6: A Rekindling Friendship
She had known he probably wouldn't be thrilled to see her due to their falling out, but he seemed less then thrilled and closer to irritated.
"Why are you in LaPush? Couldn't you find a place in Forks that had a nice view?" his voice came out sarcastic and biting.
"Why hello to you too Jake," She muttered under her breath.
"He turned you I'm guessing," he looked up to see her standing in a shaft of sunlight and his eyes widened.
"Your skin."
She frowned. "What about it?"
"It looks normal."
"Thanks Jake," she sounded more then a little annoyed.
"I mean, you can out in sunlight and you don't "-
"Sparkle? Yes I don't sparkle. They're not sure why but they think it's connected to my shielding abilities." It was only then that he really looked at her. It was still Bella, same rich dark hair that swept around her shoulders, but she was maybe an inch taller and her face seemed more defined she looked,-"You look old!"
Now Bella was officially pissed, she glared daggers at him slapping her hands on his chest, "God Jake! I get it! I'm a cougar!"
"Sorry," it came out in a laugh. He was a little sorry. Bella had always been sensitive about her age and their age difference. But she did look older. Older than she had been after her wedding and older after being turned.
"I still age, asshole," she muttered. "Just a lot slower than humans. Probably closer to how you age."
He remembered vaguely Jarad mentioning this at the meeting but seeing the result in person was different then just hearing about it.
"So, I see you're into real estate now? Not just a mechanic?" She was eying his blue coveralls that were covered in grease, dirt, mud, and indefinable shit. He shrugged. "I fix up places. Turn them into housing."
"Like a house-flipper?"
"I guess, but not as gay."
It couldn't be any worse, he surmised. Here he was looking and smelling his absolute worst and she the person to see him like this. He wanted their reunion to be different, a different day, a different him, where he would have a beautiful woman on his arm perfect hair, clean and polished, and maybe just pretend that it didn't bother him in the slightest that she had blown back into town. Maybe if he had pretended that he wasn't still hurt and angry and the tiniest bit attracted to her and her obnoxious scent, he could will it into reality. He stared at the pelting rain and took another deep breath of salty air. It was already raining so it couldn't get much worse right?
"Jacob! You done with your tenant? It's pouring cats and dogs out here and I wanted to start dinner!," Billy honked the horn of his truck twice as Jacob felt his stomach bottom out. Worse had just arrived.
---
If Bella felt apprehensions about seeing his dad again she hid it well, Jacob observed. And his dad seemed to warm up to her again almost immediately.
"I heard from your dad you were back in town," Billy called out over the sound of the rain. "You two should catch up! I'm sure you and Jacob have loads to talk about."
It was only then that Jacob saw Bella's smile wane a little. "Sure, but I'm sure you and Jake have a busy evening ahead"-"Nah! We were just going to have a dinner at home. Watch some sports. Your dad's coming over, matter of fact. I'm sure he'd like it if you came over," Billy's wolfish smile could charm any woman and Bella looked like she was weakening. "I guess I could stay but only if Jake's okay with it."
Jacob felt a twinge of guilt somewhere near his heart. She just got a divorce and all you can think about is being an asshole. It's Bella remember. She wasn't the seducing type to begin with. You'll be fine.
For the first time in a few days, maybe a few months, Jacob's lips spread in a genuine smile, one that lit up his whole face and danced in his eyes. "Sure. Come on over."
Once they were in the truck, motorcycle secured in the back, Billy's face turned serious. "Jacob, I know you're a man now, but I want to warn you about Bella," Jacob sighed. –"I'm over her dad. It's no big deal."
Billy Black's eyes lit up in surprise, "I was going to say be careful with her Jake. She's been through a lot these past years and she really needs a friend. I know you're attracted to her,"-Jacob snorted.
"I may be paralyzed but I'm not blind, Jake. She may not know, but I know. I know that smile."
Jake backtracked. "What smile?"
"That smile you gave her. It's the same smile you charm the ladies with. You're a charmer, Jake, at least when you want to be. The women you were with in Paris, ok, but not with Bella. What I'm saying is think with the right head. Don't let your hormones control you. Especially not with her."
Now Jacob was laughing. "Dad, Jeeze! I'm not fifteen anymore! Besides Bella's a vampire now not to mention almost thirty years old. She's two years older than me. She's changed dad. Time changes people. Bella's no exception."
Billy shook his head. "I wondered if she changed but seeing her today shows me she didn't. Bella is a good girl, Jake. Misguided at times but a good girl. It would be good for you both if you put aside your hormones and became friends."
They were home already, Jacob suddenly noticed as he watched Bella park behind them. He mechanically walked around the truck to grab his father's folding wheel-chair. Him hurting Bella? That was a new concept to him. His dad gave him a semi-serious stare with raised eyebrows before Bella could bound up to them as if to say, "Remember what I said." Jacob would remember all right, if only because he didn't know how to feel about it.
---
"I brought chips!" Her bright enthusiasm dimmed a little when she mumbled, "I'm sorry but I still can't cook."
Billy roared with laughter. "That's alright Bells. Jake and I cook. If you marry a Black you'll be set for life."
Bella and Jacob's faces went up in flames.
"I- uh"-
-"You and I could run away together. I could wine you and dine you," Billy gestured grandly.
Jake snorted in spite of himself. "Sure you could. Dad."
---
Dinner was interesting. At least if interesting meant half interrogation about who's he's been with, when and where, and half meal. He guessed he couldn't really blame Charlie. Although he never knew it, Charlie's daughter did in fact fall and in love with and marry a vampire. Not to mention that he was a sort of werewolf.
Jacob had always suspected that Charlie knew that there was something up with "that Cullen kid." Billy was an easy-going man but he'd never pretended to like Edward , not even in front of Charlie. Even without knowing that Edward drank blood instead soda, Charlie still resented him for breaking up with his daughter twice now. Not to mention the memory of the first time Edward had gone up and left Bella and how utterly destroyed she was from it. That memory still stung Jacob.
Bella wasn't the cheeriest of girls and tended to always lean towards a darker shade of humor and lifestyle. Not Goth, she never really wore black, sticking to subtle earth tones and rich greens that brought out her brown eyes and contrasted greatly with her now even paler skin.
However, there was a dramatic difference in normal sarcastic dry humor Bella and down right depressed Bella. Jacob remembered hearing Charlie taking to Billy about the night terrors and how her terrified shrieking lasted until Edward came back. The near-suicidal stunts she pulled were also an unwanted addition to Edward's breakup.
She didn't seem so depressed now as resigned. Sad maybe, but resigned. Jacob figured that a marriage ending always made people sad and but at least she didn't seem as broken as she once was. Because her brokenness had almost broken him. At that time, Jacob would have gladly sold every thing he had plus his soul if it meant Bella would be happy. It was the desperation to his puppyish devotion that Jacob resented. The fact that he would have done everything for her and that she had still tossed that away, more than stung, it burned.
"Jake?" her voice broke him out of his reverie, making him notice that they were alone at the table. "Our dads left ten minutes ago. They're watching ESPN and playing pool in your rec room.
"Oh." He noticed that his plate was empty. He must have mindlessly ate in silence this whole time. As if she was reading his mind, Bella waved her hand.
"Don't worry about it. You looked like you had a lot on your mind." He watched her eyes as she gazed at her half empty plate. She looked like she had a lot on her mind too, things that made her eyes almost pure gold. Suddenly he realized, "You haven't really eaten in a while have you?"
Bella smiled guiltily, "Caught me. The hunger pangs aren't so bad though. The meat is pretty rare and I can still eat to fill my stomach. My body just doesn't use most of it. I'll probably get bored of it in the next fifty years or so."
"Aren't you, you know, smelling my blood though, and my dad's and your dad's anyway?"
Bella shrugged. "I smell blood all the time Jake. I've gotten used to it. I'm sure you smell it just as much as I do. Perfume helps though to mask it for me." Jacob nodded remember the scent that had been so much stronger earlier today. He watched her eyes wistfully gaze out the window, "I was going to hunt tonight. I'll just have to do it late. I told Charlie I've taken up bow-hunting. It explains why dead rabbits and deer steaks end up in our freezer these days. Do you hunt, when you're, you-know?"
Jake nodded. Hunting in wolf form was addicting. A pure instinctual adrenaline rush, better than cliff diving and gory movies all rolled in one. Bella seemed to pick up on his fantasy. "I like it too. Too bad we can't hunt together. I'd be fun."
For an indulgent moment he imagined it and it did seem fun. Running with total abandon tracking a deer or a boar and catching it. Seeing who could run the fastest. Even the risk of being seen seemed to add to the adventurous quality of the fantasy playing through his mind.
-"Your pack would never allow it," she pointed out almost forlornly with a sigh.
-"Probably re-break the treaty while the ink is still drying," he scowled. It did sound like fun.
Bella glanced at the wall clock. "My hunting curfew is coming up so I gotta get going Jake. I wish I could stay longer but," she smiled and her eyes seemed even more noticeably gold. "I keep telling Charlie that I like to wear these weird contacts but if my eyes keep turning this color all the time he may catch on. I did like this though," she gestured towards her half-eaten dinner. "And I understand if you don't want me in LaPush," he was about to say something in response to that when she held up her hand to stop him. "I remember writing it in a letter to you that I was a monster back then. It was only recently that I really came to grips with that. I totally get that you may not wanting me around because of how I was then. I just," she seemed to pause and suddenly was unable to look him in the eye, before rushing on, " I just always wanted to say I was sorry in person but I was too chicken to ever…" She drifted off her face pinkening.
Jacob felt something stab through him. It took him a moment to recognize it as guilt for thinking all those nasty things about her while she was right there in front of him and for never reading any of her letters. They had stayed somewhere in the house but every time Billy suggested he open one, he had to take a walk lest he transformed in the house.
"Anyway," now she looked really embarrassed. "We should hang out again, sometime. I liked talking and not talking. We could rent HeadPunch?" Jacob laughed remembering that night.
"He really was a marshmallow wasn't he," Bella was snickering. Jacob smiled again and visibly felt himself relax.
"We should do that." She was red again for some reason as he leaned over the table to tug a stray lock of hair behind her ear.
"Definitely," they both jolted when they suddenly heard Charlie and Billy war whoop at what they assumed was a T.V.
"I better go."
Before he realized what he was saying he was telling her, "I'll walk you out."
It was freezing outside as Bella toed on her heels and nearly wobbled on a patch of sleet. If it wasn't for her vamperic senses she would have face planted. He only now noticed the color of her truck. "Another red truck?" He was smiling again. She sniffed at him, "I like red trucks. Don't diss the truck."
As he waved her off, Jacob found himself thinking that maybe Bella hadn't changed that drastically at all and maybe she just grew up. He also knew that if that was the case, he was probably in trouble.
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