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Chapter 30
Old Friends
Bella
Emmett hugged me again and gave me a kiss on the forehead.
"Have a good day, my little one," he said, still kissing me on the mouth. "I'm going to miss you."
I wrapped my arms around his waist and pressed my head against his chest.
"Me too, Em. Thanks for letting me go."
I wanted to say something else, but then it occurred to me that I had only said it to him once.
"I love you," I said a little shyly.
Of course he knew I loved him, but we had actually only told each other once.
"I love you too, my beautiful Bella," he replied.
His eyes looked like liquid gold and for a moment I forgot my plans for today and just wanted to be in his arms.
He kissed me a little more passionately than before. Then he smiled during the kiss.
"What is?", I asked.
"I know you love me. But it sounded so beautiful when you said it to me and that just made me happy. That's why I had to smile," he explained.
Oh God, he's just so cute sometimes.
Then he let go of me and put me in my car.
"Bye," he said, gave me one last little kiss and was gone into the woods.
I drove to Angela's first and then took her to the reservation.
We all met at Jake's house.
When Angela and I got out, the boys were already running towards us.
Jacob, of course, hugged Angela first.
"Bella. Bells. BELLA!", I heard the cheerful greetings of the boys.
Jared came to me first and hugged me as only werewolves can do.
"I haven't seen you in ages! Great that you can finally hang out with us again."
"Yes, I'm looking forward to spending the day with you again for once, too," I said.
Then Embry and Quil came and hugged me at the same time.
"Our little sis has returned," Embry cheered.
When we were younger and we were all always traveling together, they always called me their little sis. Which was totally illogical because Jake, Embry and Quil were younger than me.
I smiled at the two of them.
When I looked to Jake, he was still canoodling with Angela.
"Hey, Jake. Just because you're imprinted doesn't mean you should ignore Bella," Quil said, punching Jake's shoulder.
Jake seemed to wake up from a trance and shook his head briefly. Angela blushed. Apparently she had also briefly forgotten where they were.
"Sorry, Bells!" Jake said and gave me a hug.
It was so unusual to just feel comfortable with him and not constantly think about how a hug meant so much more to him than it did to me. Now it was how it should be. We were simply best friends.
"Which lake are we actually driving to?", I asked in amazement.
The boys started laughing and me and Ang exchanged a confused look and we both shrugged our shoulders.
"Driving?", Embry groaned.
"Sure, Bella! We're DRIVING to the lake. That one was really good," Jared said, because he was the first to calm down.
The boys ran towards the forest.
Angela came to me and looked at me questioningly. I shrugged my shoulders again and didn't understand anything.
"Do you want to take roots there? Come on," Jake called out to us and we followed them.
As soon as we were protected by the trees, the guys told us to turn around.
"And don't you dare look!", said Quil.
Ah ... now I understood what they were planning.
I heard them undressing and had to laugh.
"Guys, I've seen you naked before too," I said, giggling.
Instead of an answer, I heard four loud bangs and we turned to the wolves.
The rusty brown wolf trotted to me first and gave me a heavy backpack.
Then he went to Angela and nudged her with his muzzle and Ang scratched him behind the ear. Then he lay down and pointed with his head to his back.
I helped Angela to climb up.
There was a bit of a scuffle between the other three until the chocolate brown Quil wolf pushed his way forward and laid down in front of me.
I went to his shoulder and swung up with a jump.
Even though I was clumsy like no other person, but I had done that so many times before that I could still do it without any problems.
I placed myself just behind his shoulder blades and held onto his fur.
"Ang, hold on tight," I called out to her, and it was impossible not to hear the euphoria in my voice.
The wolves trotted off slowly. Jake howled briefly and I held onto Quil. He pushed himself off the ground powerfully and we flew through the forest. I couldn't help but laugh out loud because I was having so much fun.
If Edward knew that and his heart was still beating, he would have a heart attack!
I glanced at Angela, who had gotten used to the pace but still looked a little unsteady.
We smiled at each other.
It brought back so many memories of my childhood.
After half an hour we reached the edge of the forest. In front of us was a huge crystal-clear lake and behind it forest and mountains.
The wolf below me was breathing regularly, even though he had just spurted for miles.
Jake and Quil laid down on the ground so we could climb down.
We turned around so they could phase back and put on their swim trunks, which they had tied to their back leg.
Angela and I took off our clothes, as we had put on the bikini underneath.
No idea how far we had run, at least far enough to get out from under the perpetual cloud cover of Forks and the surrounding area. Here the sun was shining.
This place was completely undiscovered by other people. It was always our place when we were younger, when I didn't know about the Cullens. At one point they had managed to haul a grill up here. Plus different chairs and loungers, a radio, and even a parasol. Their bronze skin was tan enough not to burn. But because I was so white, they worried and got me an umbrella.
"Wow ...! I totally forgot how great it is here!", I said and before I could fight back, Jared threw me over his shoulder and then into the water.
When I came back to the surface, I looked at him angrily.
The others laughed.
"What was that for?" I asked.
It sounded less angry than it should.
"For being gone so long, little sis," he said, jumping to me into the water with the others.
Jake took Angela's hand and ran with her to join the rest of us in the lake.
It was just like before, as if I had never been away. The fact that Angela was also here now made me all the happier.
We played in the water and laughed.
When we got out of the water, the sun warmed my skin, and I joined Angela on one of the lounges.
"It's beautiful here," she said with a smile.
I nodded.
"Riding wolves is fun, right?"
"Yes, totally! I thought I was going to fly!", she said enthusiastically and laughed.
One of the guys turned on the radio. It was playing 'All I Believe in' by 'Amadou, Mariam & The Magic Numbers'.
The others also lay down in the sun and I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sun.
We lay around like that for about an hour when a pebble hit me in the head. I looked up and just managed to dodge the next pebble that Jared and Embry threw at me and Angela. I grabbed a handful of rocks off the ground and hurled them at them.
"Hey, we just wanted to wake you guys up. We're about to have food."
When he mentioned food, I immediately noticed the smell of grilled meat and looked over at the grill.
Embry was turning one of the countless steaks. The backpack Jake gave me was lying open next to it.
Ah ... I had to transport the food.
Jake took Angela by the hand, and they walked over to the grill.
I followed them and grabbed a plate.
Ang and I both ate a steak and salad that Emily had prepared for us. The boys each polished off four steaks and a couple more Hot Dogs. As I lay back on the lounger, Jake placed the parasol over me.
"So you don't burn in the midday sun, albino," he said, sitting down with Angela.
The others also came to us and lay down or sat down.
"You know, Bells, your boyfriend may be a smelly leech," he said, ignoring my evil stare, "but at least he lets you come to us. Since you've been with Edward, we've never seen you. And he wouldn't even let you see Jake. Emmett brought you back to us. So I'm kind of grateful to him," Embry said.
The others nodded.
"For a bloodsucker, he's really all right. And he'd just as like to tear Jerkward to pieces as we would," Jacob said.
I ignored the fact that they were just talking about ripping Edward to shreds and rejoiced in the fact that they didn't absolutely hate Emmett.
"Why didn't he come with us?", Jake asked, since he had also offered him to come.
It didn't sound like he was sad that he wasn't there, but I guess he was just interested.
"He told me to enjoy the day with you guys. And that a bunch of werewolves can protect me just as well as he or any of the other Cullens. He trusts you guys," I explained.
We stayed there all day and enjoyed Saturday.
When I got back home, Charlie's car was in the driveway.
"Hi Dad!" I called out as I came in.
"Hi ...," two voices that couldn't be more different called out to me.
"Emmett?"
I went into the living room, and he was actually sitting in front of the TV with Charlie watching sports.
He shrugged when he saw my questioning look and said, "Jasper and Carlisle weren't there, so I thought I'd stop by here to watch sports."
He smiled, came to me, and hugged me.
After all the sun and the warm hugs from the wolves, I shivered a very tiny bit.
"And ... how was it," he asked.
"Just great!" I said overjoyed and told him what we had done all day.
Charlie seemed pleased that I was back with my old friends for a change.
As Charlie turned back to the TV, Emmett smelled on me and made a horrible face.
"It's nice that you had fun. But Bella ... you stink!", he said with a grin.