Chapter 2

I changed the rating to M. Realized these potty mouth characters might get into trouble under a T rating. I've also altered the timeline a little. Sorry, I've read so much FF, it's really hard to remember. Edward left in September after Bella's birthday and returns in March, so about six months. I said five. Close enough, I say!

I stared into the flames, lost in thought about what I should tell Bells. Either way, it would change the mood. Damn bloodsuckers have messed with my life more ways than one.

I decided to give her some of the information because no one had seen a Cullen, so I didn't want to get her hopes up. I knew she would wish it was him. I let a huge breath out.

"They found a scent at your house tonight," I said.

"W..wa…was it Victoria?" she stuttered, her heartbeat racing.

"I don't know for sure who it was and I'm here with you so I can't go check it out."

"Is Charlie okay?" she worried next.

"As far as I know. He was at the hospital with Sue, remember?"

"Yeah, I guess that seems like days ago, not hours ago. I can't believe Harry died. He's going to be so sad. Do you know if he's going to go back to your house or mine? I don't want him going back home if there's a vampire there," she stood starting to panic about her dad.

To be honest, I was kind of relieved this was her track of worry, not wondering if it was Edward. I felt like a shitty friend for letting her take that line of thought. The pack had been patrolling the border for almost a year, starting with Sam. If he said it was a Cullen female, then I was sure it was.

"Bells, what if it was another vamp altogether?" I timidly asked.

She rested on the log and wrapped her arms around her chest. I hated when she did that, acting like she would fall apart without him. I was here in front of her, I could help her keep herself together. In fact, I had been since the day she showed up with those bikes.

"Come here," I whispered to her. She sat up a little and leaned my way. I put my arm around her and pulled her into me.

"What would I do if he came back, Jake? He left me. I wasn't good enough for him-for them. Why would they come back? It doesn't make sense. I'm sure it's not a Cullen. I didn't even deserve a good-bye."

"Of course you're good enough. He's the one that isn't good enough for you. You're one of my best friends. And you totally deserved a good-bye. Everybody deserves it."

She started sniffling and I could feel her tears soaking into my t-shirt. I didn't say anything else to her, just let her cry it all out. It took her a while.

I heard twigs popping in the distance. Paul must be checking up on us. Douche.

"What Paul?" I called out into the night.

"Sam says that he needs you guys to go back to his house. Sorry to interrupt," he shouted back.

Bella sat up, uncomfortable with Paul's assumption. Asshole. I owed him a good shot to the back later. Right between his shoulder blades. Or a good kidney shot.

"Let's go, Bells," I said, dumping a bucket of sand over the fire smothering the flames. Just like my night.

Trying to cheer her up, I told her to stand on the log. I stood in front of her and told her to hop on. I carried her down the cliffs on my back, dodging logs and shrubs, making her scream with laughter as she clung onto me. I wouldn't let her fall and I enjoyed the feel of her so close to me.

We made it down to the bottom and I let her slide down my back, making sure I didn't moan out loud. I'd die of embarrassment, and was pretty sure she would too.

We got in her old clunker and I drove it to Sam's wondering what had happened. Bella didn't say anything and I didn't either.

There was a lot of activity happening, which was unusual for this time of night. Of course, Leah and Seth had just phased and Sam was dealing with that mess. Quil and Embry met us on the porch.

"Hey, dude. What's happening?" Quil asked lasciviously, wiggling his eyebrows. I punched him in the balls and kept walking. What was with them tonight?

Sam told everyone to settle down as soon as we walked in. I noticed Jared and Paul were absent but Leah and Seth were sitting on the couch looking uncomfortable.

"What the hell, Sam? You know what could happen and you let them inside?" I balked, shocked he would do such a stupid thing.

"They're fine, Jake. They're sadder than anything else right now." Then he turned, effectively ending the discussion.

I stood with my body between them and Bella. I wouldn't risk her safety. As I glanced around I noticed Emily wasn't in the room either. Real nice, Sam.

We all waited for Sam to start and he dove right in unexpectedly.

"We had a confrontation with a Cullen at Bella's house tonight." I heard her gasp behind me and step up next to me. Of course, her arms were already tangling themselves around her stomach.

"It was Alice Cullen. She said she had a vision that Bella killed herself cliff diving." He turned to look at her. She shrank under his dark glare. I moved closer to her and pulled her against my chest, my arms wrapping around her upper chest.

"What did you tell her?" Bella asked timidly.

"I told her you were fine and were out with a friend. She was adamant that your future had disappeared. It got into a heated argument. I told her I had no reason to lie to her and that if you wanted to call her, I would leave it up to you."

Bella immediately reached into her hoodie and pulled her ancient flip phone out of the pocket. She stepped into the kitchen and I could hear the phone ringing on the other end. My heart sank into my stomach. Damn, she'd probably be leaving as soon as she hung up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Alice, hey it's me," she scratched out.

"Bella! Are you okay? Did you jump? What happened to you?"

"I'm fine. Not hurt at all, just tired. I was out for fun. Cliff diving, lots of people do it you know. A lot has gone on today. What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I came back because I thought you were going to kill yourself and I was going to try to stop you. Then I ran into some trouble, if you know what I mean, and they wouldn't let me see you. I was worried about you."

"Well, you weren't all that worried about me when you left without so much as a good-bye were you?" Bella grumbled.

"I'm really sorry about that, Bella. Are you okay?"

"No. I'm not okay." The wolves all looked at me, the question on their faces clear. Did she try to kill herself or was she curious about cliff diving? I shrugged. I wasn't really sure.

"Listen, Alice. One of my dad's best friends died today and there's a crazed vampire after me. I'm so tired, I'm falling asleep on my feet. Thanks for coming to make sure I didn't kill myself. I didn't. I've gotta go."

I walked into the kitchen to check on her. I could hear her breath hitch, and I knew she was starting to cry.

"Want me to take you home?" I offered.

"Can I go back to your house? I want to see Charlie and I think he'd like to see Billy. I can text him to go there."

"Sure, sure," I responded, walking back into the living room. "We're going to leave if you didn't have anything else." Sam shook his head no.

Bella was already waiting by the front door, so I followed her out to the red beast. Instead of going to the passenger side, she waited by the driver door. When I opened it, she climbed in and scooted over to the middle seat. I hopped in and started it up, driving the short distance back to my house. After I pulled forward, she rested her head against my shoulder. She let out a loud breath.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Would you be upset with me if I wanted to go see her tomorrow?" She leaned up and looked at me.

"It's your life. I'm not going to tell you what to do. Do I wish you wouldn't? Of course, but I'm not going to stop you," I told her honestly.

"Okay. Tomorrow I'll go."

I pulled up in front of my house. I hesitated before getting out.

"Thanks for going with me to the cliffs tonight. I enjoyed hanging out."

"You're welcome, Jake. I liked relaxing by the fire, it was peaceful. I haven't felt peaceful very much lately. To be honest, when I do, I'm always with you." My heart skipped a beat.

"Do you want to take a shower? I can give you something to wear. I'm sure it'll be 10 sizes too big, but it's better than what you have on," I gestured to the salt streaks on her jeans.

"That sounds really good. Go," she said, as she pushed me toward the door and slid out behind me. I grabbed her hand and walked into the house.

"Dad?" I called out, looking around for him. I saw him sitting at the kitchen table with a mug in his hands. He looked up at me with tears in his eyes.

"Jake. Bella. I thought you were going to take Bella home?" he said, looking a little confused.

"Yeah, something came up and she wanted to come here. Charlie's going to be here when he gets done at the hospital."

My dad just nodded, lifting his mug and taking a sip of what I imagined was probably tea.

"Bella's gotta get a shower, so I'm going to try to find some clothes she can borrow while I wash hers," I told him as I walked out of the room. I saw Bells standing in the living room waiting on me. I walked to the linen closet and found the best towels we had for her. I handed them to her and she walked to the bathroom and closed the door.

I hunted around in my bedroom for something that I thought she could wear. I found some gym shorts from just before I phased. They'd still be huge but at least they had strings to tie. I dug out a T-shirt from the bottom of my dresser drawer. Then I quickly started shoving things off the floor and under the bed and into the closet. I hadn't been home much lately, so when I was, cleaning up was the least of my priorities.

I hung the clothes on the bathroom door handle and went into the kitchen with my dad. My stomach was growling big time, so I raided the fridge and the pantry. I decided to throw together some nachos. I browned a package of ground beef and warmed the jar of queso. Once the meat was ready, Bella walked into the room with the towel wrapped around her hair.

She looked hilarious in my too large clothes and I chuckled when I saw her. She laughed in return, knowing she looked like a little kid. "Stop laughing at me!" Then she grabbed a chip off the plate I had put out for her. "Don't make me too much, I'm not that hungry."

"Bells, we haven't eaten all day. How are you not hungry? I could practically eat a whole cow."

"Jake, you could eat a whole cow right after you finished off an entire pig."

I feigned heartache, holding both hands over my heart and crashing back into the counter. "I'm hurt. I'm hurt."

"Yeah, right. I think they put out an alert about the endangerment of animals since you guys started phasing."

I patted my flat stomach. "I'm a growing boy. I need protein," I said, my eyes dancing.

She grabbed the serving spoon and sprinkled some meat and queso on her chips. Then she stepped over to the table, set the plate down, and gave Billy another hug.

"Thanks for letting me hang out here," she told him quietly.

"Bella, you are always welcome here. Anytime. Jake here might throw me out if I didn't let you come here," he joked. I gave him a dirty look.

She blushed a light shade of pink. "I wouldn't know what to do with myself sometimes without him," she admitted. Her face blossomed into a deeper shade of red at her honesty. I knew that though. I knew that our friendship had helped her.

We had barely finished eating when an exhausted looking Charlie walked in the door.

Bella got up and met him in the living room for an unusually long hug. "Hey, dad. I'm so sorry to hear about Harry."

"Thanks, Bells. Sorry I didn't make it home for dinner tonight."

"It's okay. Jake cooked. We left you some if you're hungry."

"Jake cooked?" he asked, looking to me. I made a look of mock horror and Bella laughed.

"He made nachos. All he had to do was reheat some cheese and cook the ground beef. I did it when I was ten."

I stood up and made him a plate of food. Charlie washed his hands and sat down at the table. He started nibbling on the food, but I could tell he wasn't all that hungry.

"Eat what you want, Charlie. It doesn't matter," I reassured him.

When Charlie was done he asked Bella if she wanted to follow him home. She asked if he cared if she stayed here. She was too tired to drive home. He told her whatever she wanted to do was fine. She made him promise to text her when he got home. I watched Bells watch Charlie drive away before she came back to the kitchen.

"I'm really tired. Can I get some blankets to make up the couch?" she asked me.

"No way. I'll take the couch, you sleep in my bed."

She turned and walked into my room. I followed her to grab a pillow off my bed.

"Will you stay and talk to me for a little while?" she asked super soft.

"Of course," I told her. I waited for her to climb over and sat on the edge of the bed, then turned leaning my back against the wall. I put the pillow behind my back. "What are you thinking about?"

"Did you really mean what you said earlier in the truck?" she asked me.

"What did I say?" I asked, racking my brain.

"That most teenagers are just figuring out what they want to do next Friday?" she mimicked me, but in a playful way.

"I did. You're too serious. It's a good thing sometimes. But you don't have to plan the rest of your life today. You can take things as they come. Besides, isn't there a saying about the best laid plans anyway?" I could never remember that phrase.

She chuckled, the book nerd would know I was sure. "It's 'the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.'"

"Yeah, well, exactly. You can still live your life without him. In fact, time is going on and has been."

"I know. It's hard. Now, Alice shows up out of nowhere. The cliff dive was…was…"

"Stupid," I finished for her.

"Exhilarating." She paused and I waited for her. "I'd like to do something that would make me feel alive."

"What did you have in mind?" I asked, looking down at her.

She looked up at me and stared into my eyes. Her eyes darted back and forth between mine and I could tell she was thinking, debating, over-thinking like always. I started leaning toward her, wondering if she was going to let me kiss her.

I got about a centimeter from her lips and stopped, staring into her beautiful brown eyes, letting her come to me if she wanted. I could tell she wasn't sure. Then finally, she closed her eyes and put her lips softly on mine. I kissed her back, chastely, briefly. Once, twice and pulled back a little. It was she who kissed me again.

"Does that make you feel alive?" I whispered.