Enough

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Girl Talk

Bella's head was full of what had happened the night before after Jacob's rescue attempt. He had dropped her off home quite late, it was well past midnight. Bella had called ahead to tell Charlie that after leaving Edward's house, she had gone to the reservation to celebrate with her friends in La Push. He had sounded surprised but pleased that she had pried herself away from Edward and was hanging out with Jacob instead.

"Good for you, kiddo." He had said agreeably. "Don't worry about your normal curfew. Its your birthday, stay out as late as you want."

"Thanks." Bella had replied wryly.

Moonlight brought a comforting beauty to the graphite night as she bid Jacob goodbye on the front porch.

"I enjoyed tonight. I haven't had that much fun in months."

Jacob's eyes brightened, a happy grin spreading across his face, making him look more like the teenage boy he was, before his insane growth spurt had made him look older than his years. He laughed quietly. "Great. I had fun too."

Bella sighed, glancing toward the house. She had already seen the curtain twitch at the window. The light was on downstairs. Charlie had stayed up to wait for her to come home. He was probably wondering why it was taking so long to exchange a simple goodnight.

"I suppose I better go in."

"Already?" Jacob asked. "It feels like the night has just flown by."

"I know." Bella agreed. She glanced up at the pale orb of the moon. How had the time passed so quickly?

Jacob's eyebrows pulled down over his eyes. "I don't know when I'll get to see you again, Bella." He said in a low voice. "There is something important I need to tell you."

"I'll come back the next time he's away." Bella promised impulsively.

"Away?" Jacob rolled his eyes, looking disgusted. "That's a nice way to describe what he's doing. Edward Cullen is nothing but a parasite, Bella."

His insult immediately put Bella's back up. Even though she'd had lovely time in La Push, a part of her was feeling intensely guilty for ditching Edward the way she had.

"If you can't be nice, I won't come back at all." She threatened, though she didn't really mean it.

Jacob took a deep breath, smoothing out his expression, he caught her hand in his. "Come on, Bella, don't be mad. Knee jerk reaction."

Bella tried to pull her hand out of his, but he refused to let go. "Look, if I'm going to try and come back again, you're going to have to get something straight, okay?"

Jacob waited patiently.

"See." Bella explained. "I don't care who's a vampire or who's a werewolf. That's irrelevant. You are Jacob, and he is Edward, and I am Bella. And nothing else matters."

Jacob's eyes narrowed slightly. "But I am a werewolf." He said curtly. "And he is a vampire." He added with barely concealed revulsion. "I'm not going to sugarcoat the obvious for your benefit, Bella. Don't forget you've run away from him twice now. Don't you think your subconscious is trying to tell you something? You should listen to it."

"Oh, enough of this!" Bella shouted, exasperated.

Jacob raised his eyebrows, measuring her frustrated expression with curious eyes. "I'm not pretending to be something I'm not, Bella. This is who I am. I won't change. I'll always be honest about how I really feel. Or would you rather I lied?"

Bella opened and closed her mouth for a minute, her shoulders sagging in defeat. He was being totally sincere, she had to give him credit for that. "Okay, Jake." She conceded. "I guess we'll have to agree to disagree."

"If that makes you feel better, then go for it." Jacob shrugged nonchalantly. He had gotten his point across, that was all that mattered.

"It does. So, no more talk of vampires and werewolves. We're just Jacob and Bella." Bella stated obstinately.

"Okay." Jacob smiled at her, the warm, familiar smile that was like a precious gift.

Bella felt the answering smile spread across her face in return. "It's too much hard work staying mad at you."

"Good." Jacob's smile widened. His eyes were happy and clear, free again of the angry bitterness. "Will you come back soon?"

"As soon as I can." Bella had promised, before heading inside to face Charlie.

Bella was still dwelling on that conversation as she drove home from the local store the next day. She wasn't paying much attention to the road that shimmered wetly in the sun. She was still thinking about Jacob, making plans in her head to go and see him again. In her mind's eye she saw him smile. It was such an endearing smile, it took over his whole face, lighting up his eyes, making them shine. It had felt good to have thrashed out their issues over Edward, it didn't make things perfect, but it made them better. She really felt like they had reached an understanding. Despite her pangs of guilt, she was right to have gone with him when he turned up at the Cullens. Edward had to learn that he couldn't keep manipulating things to his advantage –

As soon as she thought Edward's name, she spotted something in her rear-view mirror. One minute there was nothing but bright highway, the next minute the sun was glinting off a silver Volvo right on her tail.

"I don't believe this!" Bella muttered, feeling frustration creeping up on her again. She considered pulling over, but didn't feel like she would be able to keep her temper if she faced him right away. She had been counting on some prep time….and having Charlie nearby as a buffer when she saw him again. At least that would force him to keep his voice down when he lectured her.

The Volvo followed inches behind her. Bella kept her eyes on the road ahead.

Still feeling angry, Bella changed direction, instead of driving home, she went to Angela's instead, avoiding meeting the gaze she could feel burning a hole in her mirror.

Edward followed her until she pulled to the curb in front of the Webers' house. He didn't stop, and Bella didn't look up as he passed. She didn't want to see the expression on his face. She waited until the Volvo was out of sight, then climbed out of the truck, hurrying up the short concrete walk to Angela's door.

Before she even had a chance to knock, Angela swung the door open, taking Bella by surprise. "I heard your truck." She announced, answering Bella's question before she had a chance to ask. "Come in. Its good to see you."

"Thanks, Ange." Bella said in relief, stepping inside quickly. She was feeling a bit less panicked, able to breathe more easily now she was safely inside the building. It felt so ordinary in Angela's house. It was nice to know that life was normal somewhere.

Bella followed Angela up the stairs to her room. She kicked toys out of the way as she went. The house was unusually quiet.

"Where's your family?"

"My parents took the twins to a birthday party in Port Angeles. Its so rare to have a moment of peace. You're so lucky being an only child, Bella. Its chaos around here when my brothers are at home. They're always getting under my feet." Angela complained good-naturedly.

"Oh, I don't know." Bella answered with a sad smile. "It can suck being an only child at times. I would have loved an older brother or sister. Someone to share the load."

"I guess." Angela gazed at Bella in concern. She had noted the wistful tone in Bella's voice as well as he glum expression. "Are you okay, Bella? Has something happened between you and Edward?"

"Oh, Edward and I are fine." Bella lied badly. She felt the familiar blush heating up her cheeks as her skin betrayed her real emotions. "He's supposed to have gone hiking with his brother Emmet."

"You say that like you're not sure."

Bella shrugged.

"You're lucky Edward has his brothers for all that hiking and camping." Angela tried to make light of the situation, not wanting to press Bella too hard for information. She was naturally curious, but empathetic as well. She knew that Bella would open up in her own time.

"Yeah, the outdoors thing isn't for me." Bella conceded. "And there's no way I would be able to keep up."

Angela laughed. "I prefer the indoors myself." She focused her gaze out the window, a thoughtful expression on her pretty face.

There was never any pressure to fill a pause with meaningless chatter around Angela. Like Charlie, she was comfortable with silence.

But, like Charlie, as well as Jacob, she was also too observant sometimes.

"Is something wrong?" Angela asked in a low voice now. "You seem…anxious."

Bella smiled sheepishly. "Is it that obvious?"

"Not really."

Angela was probably lying to make her feel better, but Bella was grateful for the attempt nonetheless.

"You don't have to talk about it unless you want to." Angela assured her. "I'll listen if you think it will help."

Bella was about to say thanks, but no thanks. After all, there were just too many secrets she was bound to keep. She really couldn't discuss her problems with someone human. That was against the rules.

And yet, with a sudden intensity, that is exactly what she wanted. She wanted to talk to a normal human girlfriend about her boy troubles. She wanted to moan a little bit, like any other teenage girl. It would also be nice to have someone outside the whole vampire-werewolf mess to put things into perspective. Someone unbiased.

And Angela was as unbiased as you could possibly get.

"I'll mind my own business." Angela promised, smiling kindly.

"No." Bella said. "You're right. I am anxious. It's…it's Edward."

"What's wrong?"

It was so easy to talk to Angela. When she asked a question like that, Bella could tell that she wasn't just morbidly curious or looking for gossip, like Jessica would have been. She genuinely cared that Bella was upset.

"Oh, he's mad at me."

"Is he?" Angela questioned cautiously. "What is he mad about?"

Bella fidgeted nervously. "Do you remember Jacob Black?"

"Ah." Angela smiled. "The guy who…um…whisked you away from prom? That guy?"

"Yeah."

"He's jealous."

"No, not jealous…" Bella wished she had kept her mouth shut. There was no way to explain this right. But she wanted to keep talking anyway. She hadn't realized she was so starved for human conversation, especially of the feminine kind. "Edward thinks Jacob is…. a bad influence, I guess. Sort of…dangerous. He's not." She rushed to add. "Jacob is perfect…I mean…. he's great. A great friend that is."

Angela shook her head. "Bella, I've seen how Jacob Black looked at you during prom. I'd bet the real problem is jealousy."

"It's not like that with Jacob." Bella denied weakly.

Angela gave her a knowing smile. "You may not want to admit it…but I also saw how you looked at Jacob."

Bella frowned. "Jacob is a very good friend." She repeated. "He knows how I feel. I've told him everything."

"Look, Bella, you may not be ready to admit it or acknowledge how you feel about your friend." She emphasized the word 'friend' making Bella wince. "As for Edward, he is only human. He is going to act like any other boy. Ben would be the same if he saw me looking at another guy the way you look at Jacob. Edward is jealous. Plain and simple."

Bella grimaced. She didn't have a response to that. Angela was very observant. She already knew that. But she was wrong in this instance…wasn't she? Or was Angela seeing things that she wasn't ready to admit to herself just yet?

Angela patted her hand in sympathy. "Edward will get over it. You need to focus on yourself and your feelings, Bella. Edward was your first proper boyfriend, but as we grow and mature, our feelings change. Maybe, just maybe, yours have too. Just think about it."

Bella nodded, not trusting herself to say anything further, just in case she let anything else accidentally slip.

"You and Jacob are pretty close, aren't you?" Angela continued.

"Like family." Bella agreed.

"And Edward doesn't like him…. That must be hard. I wonder how Ben would handle that?" She mused to take the heat off Bella.

"Probably like any other teenage boy." Bella smiled ruefully.

Angela grinned. "Probably."

Then she wisely changed the subject. Angela wasn't one to pry, and she sensed that Bella wouldn't-or couldn't-say anymore. The two girls chatted about inane things after that, laughing and joking together, as they spoke about their classes and majors, or where they were considering going to college.

By the time Bella left she was fully relaxed and at ease. Being around Angela was restful, and she had given her good advice. It was time she focused on herself and her own feelings. As much as she didn't want to admit it, things had changed, she was a different girl to the one who had first come to live in Forks with Charlie.

"You don't have to go." Angela said at the door. "You can stay a bit longer."

"Thanks, Angela, but Charlie will be wondering where I am."

"Okay." Angela leaned it to give Bella a quick hug. "We should do something like this again. It was nice to have some girl time."

"Definitely." Bella returned Angela's hug and finally left.

She was jumpy all the way to her truck, but the street was empty. Even so, she spent the whole drive glancing anxiously in all her mirrors, but there was never any sign of the silver car.

A/N-thanks for reading!