|| CHAPTER SIX||

Here..
we've come to the end of our winding road
no one knows..
the reasons my eyes had til now been closed..
still you constantly, openly, stripped of me my deepest love
built on promises you never kept.. so just stay gone
There you are.. broken.. fake it

- For The Taking, Blackout

"You don't have to do this, Jacob, really.. I can go to the doctor by myself, it's fine.." Aria insisted again as Jacob shook his head and looked at her, leaned against the front door's frame, arms crossed while reminding her, "Don't have to, Aria.. I want to. Besides, Charlie's working and the car's been acting up on you all week." which made her scowl a little. Her father must have told him about her car's recent problems and her stubborn refusal to take it in and let him pay to have it serviced or something, or even letting Jacob just take a look at it.

She was trying, damn it all, to stand on her own two feet and not make everyone drop everything to help her and the fact that they seemed to want to, especially Jacob, really threw her for one hell of a loop. Nobody really had before so she more often than not found herself wondering what had changed while she'd been gone.

"Just go get ready before you're late, okay? We can go to the mall after and goof off or something, damn it. I haven't had a day off at the bike shop in over two weeks, the fact that I got one today is a reason to celebrate for me and I'm not going to stand here and argue with you, woman, damn it." Jacob teased with a grin as she gave him a strange look then shrugged and jogged up the stairs, leaving him alone to his thoughts for a little while. He flopped onto the couch and leaned back, resting his eyes a few moments as he wondered why she seemed so damn reluctant and stubborn now, so distant. She hadn't been before. Sure she was caving in a little bit at a time lately, but it was taking an agonizingly long time to get to that level of closeness they'd had once.

Back when he'd been her best friend and she'd apparently wanted more but kept it secret, then he'd realized too little and too late (after she left town) that he'd wanted more than friendship with her too.

Whoever this guy that had hurt her was had really done a number on her, apparently. Because in some ways she was nothing like the Aria he remembered. She always seemed so tense and stressed. He tried to do as much as he could to keep her from stressing too much, he heard it wasn't good for a pregnant woman to have too much stress in her life, but she wasn't as willing to let him do things now as she used to be back then.

It hurt a little because now he knew that he'd played some part in that.

Aria walked down the stairs and stopped at the foot of them, asked Jacob, "Are we going? You seemed to be in a big hurry to just go sit around and wait for nearly an hour." with a smirk as he nodded and smiled then said "I don't mind waiting. Kind of a patient guy." as he held her gaze and watched her face take on a faint blush which made him chuckle.

She raised a brow and scowled then grabbed a light jacket and the key to the house as she suggested, "How about a movie after? They're showing some really cool horror movie at the theater in the mall.. I mean you did say that you wanted to take advantage of the day off.. Plus I gotta pick up some things I ordered at that baby store while I'm out." which made him laugh as he nodded and asked, "What did you order?"

"A crib.. That I'll probably kick myself for ordering when I'm still up at 2 am trying to put together the damn thing." Aria admitted as she laughed and followed him out the door of her father's house, stopping to lock it behind her. The phone inside rang and she grumbled as Jacob looked at her, then at the house and asked, "You okay?"

"That idiot who's calling just left a voice message or something.. Don't know, don't care. I'm telling dad too, so can we stop by the station on our way back maybe? I mean this has been going on long enough. If it were a skeezy little perverted teenage boy, he'd be bored already, wouldn't he?" Aria asked Jacob who nodded in agreement and said "Finally you listen to me." as he helped her into his father's truck and shut the door firmly, going around the truck to get in on the drivers side. Parts of him were tempted to go back inside, listen to the message just to see what finally made Aria decide to tell her father just how bad things actually were, but he didn't because she was with him, he'd die before anything happened to her.

And if the prick responsible for scaring her showed his face in Forks, Jacob fully intended to handle that as well. He gripped the steering wheel as he pulled out of the driveway and took off down the street doing his best not to say anything. He didn't want to ruin the day and things had been strained between them for the most part since she'd come back. It felt like he was finally getting just a little closer to her, to the way things used to be and he didn't want to mess all that up.

"You look like you wanna rip the wheel off, Jacob." Aria stated as she looked at him and asked "What's got you mad?"

"The situation with whoever that is who keeps calling you. Pisses me off because he's scaring you, okay? Because I happen to lo- care about you and.." Jacob trailed off as he looked at her, saw her blinking as if she were shocked and realized what he'd almost said and what he'd covered with. He grumbled to himself and said "Just forget it.. If I thought you were ready to hear it.."

Aria nodded and bit her lower lip as the shock of what he almost said washed over her.. He'd almost said he loved her just now.. Surely he meant in a brother kind of way or something.. Because to her knowledge, Bella was the only girl he'd ever loved the way Aria longed to be loved by him.. Right?

For about ten minutes, there was awkward silence in the cab of the truck and Jacob fumbled with the radio trying to find music to drown out the silence and keep him from overthinking and making an even bigger mess than he already just had. When he found a song and turned it up, Aria grumbled and then turned it down, looked at him a few moments, shook her head and went back to staring out the window.

He'd figured she was going to be quiet and weirded out by what he'd said the entire drive and that he'd already ruined the day but a few minutes later she turned off the radio and said stiffly, "Who the hell died and made you leading decider in what I'm ready to hear and what I'm not ready to hear.. Or what I can't handle? Huh? And what's with you lately, I mean for years now it's been Bella this and Bella that and... Know what? Nevermind.. It's probably some replacement thing.." she finally muttered as she apologized and said with a sheepish shrug, "I blame my hormones. I'm sorry I blew up like that.. It's just.."

Jacob stared at her, brow raised and then said quietly, "What'd you mean just now?"

"Nothing, okay? Look, we're friends again, which I missed.. maybe it's better off if we don't bring up some things.. Like I said, it was a hormone induced meltdown, probably caused by stress from this idiot who's purposely trying to scare me shitless and worrying about just how bad I'm gonna be as a single parent and... what the fucking hell are you laughing at me for?" Aria blurted as she watched Jacob trying not to laugh but not doing a very good job at keeping it in.

He stayed quiet for a few moments and then asked casually, "Are you done?"

"I think so, yes."

"Good.. If it's all the same to you, Aria, I'm totally against not bringing up some things.. Maybe some things shouldn't stay buried. I'm glad you missed me as a friend, but I'm not gonna lie, I want more." Jacob said calmly as she coughed and gaped at him as if he'd grown a second head or a third eye suddenly, shocked speechless for once.

"H-huh?" she stammered finally as she looked at him and waited on an answer. All she got was a shrug and him muttering quietly, "You'll get it sooner or later, Ari." as he kept driving, eyes fixed intently on the road ahead. When he knew she'd turned her gaze back to the window on her side of the truck's cab he slid his arm across the seat and around her shoulders, moved her a little closer as he said with a shrug, "You okay?"

"I think so.. Confused but.."

"Like I said.. If I thought you were ready to hear me say it.." Jacob said as he looked at her. She glared at him a moment and then said quietly, "Like I said.. Maybe we don't need to bring stuff up.. I've finally g ot you as a friend again and I don't wanna ruin that." while biting her lower lip and staring up at him intently. He shrugged and then said "Maybe it wouldn't ruin things."

"Maybe."