A/N: I don't own Twilight. I know it's been a while, but here is chapter 64. Fiiiiinally. I've been busy irl with school stuff, and I should only get busier, which kills me because of this story, but life happens. So the last time we met, Kim finally got rid of Jared. We're kind of on a new arc now. I just don't know what to call it. The content is gonna be pretty heavy on the four main characters from here on out.

Anyway, here is chapter 64 of Static. It's one of the longer ones. It features Leah, Jacob, Bella, and Paul - oh, and a whole lot of feelings, too.

Enjoy.

LXIV.

baby, you don't wanna leave
you'd be sorry, 'cause honestly
i can make you feel better, any day

A couple nights later, Leah sat on the couch in her condo. Kim was out, so she had borrowed her laptop and was now watching makeup tutorials on YouTube. It was therapeutic. These girls—and some guys, too, of course—recorded themselves putting on makeup for free, just to showcase their passion and hopefully spark some inspiration in others. Leah didn't have any of the products that these artists had, so she couldn't really be an active viewer, but it was still beautiful to watch. It was fucking gorgeous.

Her flip phone—the prepaid one with minutes—vibrated on the coffee table next to the laptop. She paused the YouTube video and answered the call.

It was Jacob. She pretended like she didn't have caller ID.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Hey, it's Jake."

She hadn't talked to him since the other night when she'd sabotaged their first real date. Why would he want anything to do with her after all that? "Hey," she replied.

"Whatcha up to?"

"I'm sitting at home, watching Selena," she lied.

"All you ever do is sit at home and watch Selena," he said. "On VHS."

"Uh, get your facts straight before you come at me like that," she said. "I'm watching it on DVD." In reality, she hadn't even opened the DVD that Bella had given her. Despite the fact that it wasn't Pandora's box, as Bella had said, Leah still treated it like it was.

"So I assume you gave your mom her VCR back?"

Leah grimaced when she realized she still had the VCR. Sue hadn't called or anything, but nothing really got past her. She knew.

Leah decided she couldn't lie anymore. "No," she said quietly.

Jacob just chuckled. "Bring the VCR and yourself downstairs," he told her. "I'm right outside."

"Stalker, much?" Leah asked jokingly. "Tell me, Jake, what am I wearing?"

"You're wearing nothing," he replied slowly, "but an NSYNC onesie. Since all you like is 90s shit, I mean."

Leah got up and began to walk to her bedroom, undoing the tie on her sweatpants. She held the cell phone between her shoulder and her ear. "You're not a good stalker," she told him. "Like any self-respecting human being, I don't fuck with NSYNC."

"Backstreet Boys, then?"

"Nobody fucks with the Backstreet Boys. I'm wearing nothing but a Spice Girls onesie."

She removed her sweatpants and found a pair of jeans on the ground. She pulled them on. Then she walked to the bathroom in search of her sandals. She would wear them over her fuzzy socks, and she'd probably freeze, but it was a good look.

"The Spice Girls aren't a boy band," Jacob said. "They don't count."

"The Spice Girls are better than any boy band that ever was," Leah replied, "or ever will be. For one thing, you can tell them apart. There wasn't just, like, one lead, and they don't all look the same. You have Scary Spice, Baby Spice, Posh Spice, Ginger Spice, and Sporty Spice. In Backstreet, you've got… Justin Timberlake."

"He was in NSYNC, not Backstreet," Jacob corrected her. "Even I know that."

"Well, like I said, I don't fuck with NSYNC." Leah brought her hair down from her uncontrollable bun and decided not to change sweatshirts or put on a bra. She exited the bathroom, put on her shoes, and looked for her wallet.

"Why do you still live in the 90s?" Jacob wondered.

"I don't, but the 90s were cool. Everybody knows that."

"Yeah, I guess spending a lot of the time not knowing how to read was pretty cool."

"I had a damn good time, but you wouldn't know about all that—it was a little before your time."

"You were born less than two months before me."

"Isn't that crazy to think about?" she asked him. "Like, Kim was born less than a month after me, and you were a month after her. Everybody's mom was pregnant all at once."

"Jesus Christ. The 90s were something else. So, Leah, are you gonna keep wasting your and my cell phone minutes, or are you gonna come outside?"

"Wait, so you actually wanna see me?" she asked, confused.

"'Course I do."

"Even after the other night?"

"Quit asking questions and meet me," he said.

She ended the call with a clat and grabbed her mom's VCR from the living room. Then she flew down the stairs like a bullet.

When she entered Jacob's Rabbit after putting the VCR in the backseat, she immediately felt so awful and so regretful about what had happened. "God, I am so sorry," she told him. "I know you're probably just trying to be nice, but if you don't wanna hang out with me after what happened the other night, that's okay."

"Leah," Jacob began slowly, "you're fucking crazy."

"Well, yeah, I'm fucking crazy," she agreed, "but I don't wanna feel that way anymore. I just… I got some real issues to sort out."

"We all do," he said. "It's not that deep."

"I think I'm especially fucked up about sex," she went on. "I mean, I didn't plan on trying to fuck you the other night. It just always seems to be that way. When I hung out with Paul for the first time in years, back on, like, senior Prom night, we had sex. And then just a little while ago, during my first day at an internship that I completely sabotaged, I had sex with my boss. I didn't mean to try to have sex with you on our first date. I didn't. I just… I thought I had to because I got used to it. I'm sorry, Jake. Really. I don't like saying sorry to anyone, but I am."

There I go, she thought. Making it all deep again.

"So do you want to get pizza or burgers?" Jacob asked easily.

Leah blinked. "Burgers," she replied.

He backed out of the parking lot and began to drive into town. His eyes were glued to the road and the minimal lights.

"Good job dismissing my confession," Leah said halfheartedly. "That's the last time I'll ever pour my feelings out to you and not worry about the mess."

"Lee, I kind of assumed you were weird about sex when you were obviously upset about the fact that I didn't carry a condom on the first date," he replied. "That's okay, though."

"But is it?" she asked. "Because that's pretty fucking weird to me."

"Yeah, it's weird. It's actually weird as hell—"

"Careful, now," she warned. "I may not have feelings, but I'm sensitive."

"But," he continued, "it's just an issue we've gotta sort out. We've all got real issues, and we've all gotta get through them."

"You make it sound so simple. You make it sound like you wouldn't run off the second shit hits the fan."

Then he turned to her. The town's one stoplight illuminated the far side of his face. "I'm not Paul," he told her. "I don't go running off the second things get a little tough. I'll stay, you'll trust me, and we'll work it out. Easy as that."

She tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips, trying so hard to hide the smile forming underneath her air of too cool for this shit. Jacob was right; he wasn't Paul. He wasn't anything like him. But Leah still had a streak of mean that wasn't her own. She hoped that she would eventually get over it before it ruined everything.

The little burger joint in Forks was relatively busy that night; it seemed like the entire population of the badlands was in attendance. Jacob and Leah had to wait half an hour before getting a booth near the back.

Jacob faced the back of the restaurant, and Leah faced the front. She didn't mean to be rude and look past him, but two other guests of the restaurant made her take a double take even though she shouldn't have been so surprised.

Being seated in the booth right behind Jacob were Bella and Paul. Paul's back was to Jacob's back, and the girls were staring right at each other. Leah didn't know whether or not to be nice, so Bella smiled first. Her makeup was done and her hair fell in waves—she actually looked really pretty. Happy, too.

Leah looked back to Jacob, whose eyes were down on the menu. "Our exes are right behind you," she told him.

His eyes didn't leave the menu. "Oh, sweet."

"They're way more dressed up than we are."

Jacob, clad in an old sweatshirt and jeans, shrugged. "We're at a burger joint. You're wearing socks and sandals."

"Bella looks really good," Leah said. "Like, she's glowing and shit. The bags under her eyes are gone and I know she's not wearing any makeup."

"Ask if she's pregnant."

"You first."

Leah scanned her own menu and settled for the same thing she always got when she came here. The server approached their table with glasses of water and then took their orders. When the server left, Leah peered over at Bella and Paul again. They were holding hands across the table, and they were leaned in close.

Paul had never even offered Leah to hold his hand in public. He hadn't been "about that lovey-dovey bullshit" at all.

So what changed?

"Hey, you okay?" Jacob asked. "Your face looks all tense."

Leah blinked and looked back at Jacob. "I'm really not in the mood for burgers," she said. "Wanna get outta here?"

"We already ordered," he reminded her. "That's a dine and dash."

"Could you maybe not be so basic for once?" she asked impatiently. "Besides, we're not eating it and we ordered, like, the simplest things on the menu. Someone else will want it."

"I don't think that's how—"

"Jake," she said sternly, her eyes boring into his.

"Okay, let's go."

They got up and made a run for it. Leah didn't look back at Bella and Paul once.

"What was that all about?" Jacob asked as they got back into his car. He began to drive to Sue's house so they could finally drop off the VCR. "Was it 'cause you saw Bella and Paul? 'Forks is a really small town, you know."

"Jake, it's so much bigger than that."

"Then what is it?"

"Okay, well, first, are you mad?"

Jacob sighed. "No," he admitted. "Just hungry."

"We can eat somewhere else."

"No, I wanna know what the problem is."

"Jake, me and Paul didn't exactly end on good terms. He just walked out without even explaining himself. And I know for damn sure that Bella left you cold, too."

"Yeah, but I'm over it. Like you said, they're both weird so they're good for each other."

"I know," Leah said, "but what had me going crazy back there was the fact that he was holding her hand and shit."

"So they're together. I think we both saw that coming. What's the issue?"

"Paul never held my fucking hand. He was too cool to even act like we were together when we were with other people."

Jacob held her hand. "Fixed," he said.

She just looked down at their hands. "Not everything is a quick fix. You can't treat everything like it's a simple issue."

"Leeee-ah," he said, drawing her name out. "It really is that simple, though. The problem is that Paul was a dick who wouldn't hold your hand. The solution is that I'm holding your hand."

"But—"

"But what?"

It had never really occurred to her how straightforward Jacob was. Nobody had ever been that clear with her or cared this much about what she wanted or how she felt. She was so used to being the abrasive one, the one who did all the talking and prompting, that to actually have someone hold up their end of the relationship was miraculous.

Paul had never been this conscious, and if he was now, then it was Bella who had changed him.

Had Leah not been enough?

Leah wanted to be honest with Jacob and talk about her current frustrations with Paul, but he was the wrong person to discuss this with. She knew Jake would listen and try to help, but it wasn't that deep. It couldn't be—Leah was just fond of over-thinking every aspect of her life.

The issue wasn't that important, and even though Jacob would listen, it didn't mean that he would want to. He was patient, but she didn't want to test it. Their relationship, as equitable as it was despite being brand-new (somewhat), still needed time to grow.

Maybe Leah needed time to grow. She needed to realize that she was finally equal.

"What's on your mind, honey?" he asked her.

And suddenly, her head was at ease. At least, for the time being. His goodness prevailed like it always did, and she couldn't be proud enough to deny it.

"I guess I need you around," she admitted. "You make me feel better."

He brought her hand up and kissed it, his eyes still on the road. "Any time," he told her.

After sneaking the VCR back into her mother's house and attaching a Post-It note to it that said Sorry, Leah and Jacob picked up a pizza and headed back to her condo. Kim still wasn't home; it made Leah feel a lot better about barging in so late.

"Sorry it's not burgers," Leah told Jacob as she turned on the light switch to the living room, and then the kitchen. She set the pizza box down on the stove and opened the cabinet to look for plates.

"I don't even care," Jacob replied. "I'm starving."

"Good."

Leah set the plates next to the box and leaned back against the oven door. She wrapped her arms around his torso and brought him in close.

She didn't know how to feel—about him, about them, about the quality of their relationship—but she felt good.

"What's this all for?" he asked quietly, a slight smile on his face.

She smiled back. "Thanks for driving everywhere," she said. "And all the time."

He shrugged. "I like driving."

She tilted her head to the side again and pursed her lips again. Classic. And even though he'd seen this look a couple of times now, with the tired circles under her eyes and all, he was fine with being used to it. He didn't give up easily, and he wasn't afraid of sticking around. Jacob liked Leah full-time, which was rare because part-time love thrived around here. It was all they really knew.

Jacob wanted to know a little more than that.

He brought his lips to hers. He moved softly, slowly. It was like the kiss at the New Years' party except neither of them had to think about the eight other people they knew or anything at all.

He broke away for a moment, and she looked up at him, confused. Then he hoisted her up onto the counter so they could be more level with each other. More equal. She pulled him in between her thighs and kept her wrists behind his neck.

She pressed herself closer to him, and she found herself nearly slipping off the counter.

"Shit," she muttered. "Wait."

He paused. "Yeah?"

"Couch."

He helped her off the counter and stumbled back as she guided him to the couch without having to break away from him.

"Lee," he breathed.

"Mm-hm?"

"Why do you have pictures of dead singers on your refrigerator?"

She giggled. "I'll tell you about it later. Keep moving."

They ended up on the couch, where Leah broke away to undo the button of her jeans and roll them down, revealing her thick, brown thighs. Those thighs put Jacob in a certain place. He quickly took off his sweatshirt and t-shirt and tossed them to the ground. He brought Leah in close again, and she straddled him while simultaneously grinding against him.

He slipped his hands up her sweatshirt and felt that there was nothing underneath. He cupped her breasts and she kissed him harder, gently tugging on his bottom lip with her teeth.

"You know I'm weird about sex," she murmured. "What changed?"

"I have a condom this time," he replied.

She paused, just looking at him. "Jake," she said.

"Mm-hm?"

"You're just as weird as me." Then she returned to kissing him, and he shifted so she was on her back on the couch. He soon had her naked under him, and he was on his way.

He was in his boxers when she rolled over so she could straddle him again, and she slowly rocked against him as he hungrily moved his mouth from her breasts to her throat and everything in between.

She reached down to remove his boxers and finally touch him. Suddenly, she paused and leaned back. "Jacob," she said, looking at their bottom halves.

He looked up at her. "Yeah?"

Her voice was blunt. "You are not gonna put that inside of me."

"Put what?"

Her eyes slightly widened. "That."

"What, you a virgin?" he challenged.

She took a deep breath and rolled her eyes. "Are you?"

"I mean, we can still do other things," he suggested.

"Oh, yeah, definitely," she agreed. "Just not… that."

He placed his hand on hers, rubbing his thumb against the inside of her wrist. "Glad we're on the same page."

She rolled her eyes again and leaned forward to kiss him. "Mm-hmm, Jake."

After consuming cold pizza and talking for hours, Leah walked Jacob to the front door of the condo. He was redressed, and she wore just a t-shirt and clean underwear. All she knew was that it was late (or early) and that she didn't want to say goodbye, but he had school later and she had work.

"I'd have you spend the night," she said to him, "but I don't have any breakfast food besides coffee."

"It's cool. I'll come through for lunch."

"Nah, don't do all that," she told him. "I'll come through."

He didn't even have to try to convince himself that she would live up to her promise. He smiled and turned away. She stuck out her arm and grabbed the sleeve of his sweatshirt. He turned back to her.

She bit her lip. "Next time," she said.

He nodded. "Next time."

Leah woke up much, much later to the smell of coffee, and she decided that Kim must have had a long night of her own. It was eleven thirty in the morning and she was just getting started with her day.

Leah found Kim sitting down at the table with a cup of coffee. Kim's hair was up in a messy bun, and she looked exhausted.

"Where've you been, sis?" Leah asked, sitting down across from her, starting to pour herself a cup.

"I've been around La Push," Kim replied. "Sorry for not saying anything, I just got caught up with Emily."

"It's fine," Leah said. "It's probably a good thing that you weren't around last night. I wouldn't have wanted to kick you out."

Kim had a sip from her cup. "So you guys smashed?"

"I kinda wanted to be able to walk today," Leah replied, "so not exactly. But yeah, we had a good time."

"Aww, I'm happy for you, Lee."

"Love you, Kim."

"Love you, too. So I guess Jake's not that damaged after all?"

"Actually," Leah said slowly. "I don't think he's the damaged one. You see, I'm not fixing him like I thought I would have to. He's self-sufficient. He knows what he's doing. I think Jacob is fixing me."

"And are you okay with that?"

Leah nodded. "Yeah," she said. "I really am."

The following afternoon, Paul helped Bella put on her motorcycle helmet as they stood in the driveway of his house in La Push.

"So you're telling me," he began, "that you've never ridden a motorcycle before?"

"Charlie found out before I could even start," she explained, her voice muffled by the helmet. "And I told you I like to live fast, but not like that."

"Not like what?" he asked.

"Not like I wanna die riding on a motorcycle all the way to fuckin' Renton."

"Chill, baby girl. Renton ain't that far."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're full of an alarming amount of shit?" Bella asked.

Paul grinned. "But you love it, anyway."

She tugged the helmet off and fixed her hair. "I do," she replied, "but we're not taking a motorcycle to Renton. I'd rather drive my truck than do that."

"Okay, well, I'm driving, then," he said. "'Cause your truck will actually kill us, and you're really bad at driving when you're stressed out."

"Fine," she said. "Do I look appropriate enough for this party?"

He looked her up and down. She was wearing a navy blue babydoll dress with a long silver necklace and black booties. Her hair was long, straight, and parted down the middle.

"You look like a damn dream," he told her.

"But do I look appropriate enough for this party?" she asked again.

"Nobody cares what you look like."

"I'll be the only white person there, but okay."

"Baby girl," he said sternly. "You look good. Now, we gotta get going if we wanna get there before it ends."

"Mexican parties end?" she asked.

He laughed once, loudly. "Nah."

They got into his car, the busted little blue one, and took off.

It really was a long drive to Renton, but Paul and Bella weren't late to the house party at all. It was one of his little cousins' birthdays, which really meant it was an excuse for everyone on Paul's mom's side of the family (and then some) to get drunk.

Bella and Paul got drunk with the rest of them, and they found themselves sitting down at a table, looking over at the people on the dance floor. A slow song was on, and various couples were dancing close, hip to hip.

"That could be us," Paul said to Bella.

She took another sip from her beer bottle. "But I'm white," she finished.

He laughed and took her hand. He stood up, and she followed.

"I'm gonna look stupid," she said.

"Nobody cares if you look stupid," he replied.

They didn't even go out to the dance floor—they just held each other close and swayed. He had his hands on her hips, secure and guiding. She brought her hands up to his neck and put her head to his chest. She felt like she was underwater, but she didn't mind. She wasn't drowning.

"You really know what you're doing," she told Paul.

"You already know," he replied. "Thanks for coming through tonight, baby girl."

She rubbed circles on his back with her fingertips. She knew it got him to relax, which he wasn't used to.

"Let's go," she said. "I'm tired."

He didn't fight her. He just took her hand again and they left.

They ended up on the swing set in the backyard. It wasn't too cold out, for once. Then again, they weren't in the badlands. They knew they would just come running back, though. The place was a beacon for people like them.

But even though they weren't at their strongest here in Renton, two hundred miles away, they were still at their bravest. Together and apart, Bella and Paul were brave people. That was what made them different. That was what made them special. Especially to Bella.

"Paul," she began, "I love you—like, a lot."

"Mm-hmm?" he asked like he was used to hearing this. Maybe he was.

"And you know that I love like crazy. I get so wrapped up in whoever I'm with until I go overboard and fuck it all up, but when I'm with you, I know you won't let me do that. You can keep up with me."

He nodded. "And you can keep up with me," he agreed.

"Yeah. I hope you're not too cool to get my feelings, though, you know? 'Cause if you're anything like me, which you've got to be, you can come off as pretty heartless."

He'd heard that before. Something like that.

"Just don't get too far ahead of me," she told him. "Because I like you just where you are."

"Bella, I love the fuck out of you," he replied. "And I'll be right where you want me. Any time, any day."

She smiled at him, and then she looked down at the ground like she was ashamed of something.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Nothing," she replied. "I just wish I met you years ago, when I was fifteen, sixteen."

"Why's that?" he wondered.

"You might have saved my whole damn life."

He felt a million positive ways about Bella, but suddenly, everything froze in place. The earth could have stopped moving with what she just told him.

It was all happening.

A/N: Thanks as always,

HS