Through October, autumn settled over the Olympic Peninsula. Many of the trees in the forest surrounding Forks remained dark green all year round, but now there were flashes of warm colors painted against the sides of the mountains. The rain came more frequently, heavier and colder with every day that passed.
Despite the gloomy change in her physical surroundings, Bella felt a gentle sort of happiness creeping up on her like a predator stalking its prey. Its source was Jacob, of course. The new intimacy between them seemed to fill him so full with joy that it was overflowing and spreading into Bella too. They'd had sex only twice more, both times in Jacob's narrow bed while their fathers were out fishing. But the infrequency of their sexual encounters didn't seem to bother Jacob.
He kissed her in the auto shop whenever he could, but kept his touches light. Bella gave in to all of it, with a great sense of relief. All this time it felt like she'd been swimming against a river, but now she'd gone still and allowed the current to take her. Her subconscious rewarded her for the lack of a struggle with unremarkable dreams that never woke her in the night. Charlie was excited about the prospect of her starting college. Bella let him drag her around a prospective students' day at the campus in Port Angeles. They got into one of their huffy, short-sentenced arguments on the drive home about who would be paying for the classes, a disagreement that Bella suspected would continue for the next several years.
Bella managed things in the office of the auto shop, while Harry crowded Jacob as he worked on various cars, or sat on the sidewalk in a lawn chair and made conversation with anyone passing by. In the evenings, she continued to cook complicated meals, but no longer dreaded the unoccupied time between dinner and sleep. Her nonfiction selections passed the time easily, on the couch with Charlie while he watched TV.
For the last weekend in October, Bella committed to a busy social schedule, which made her stomach flip nervously. It began on Friday afternoon, when Harry told them to leave early for a wolf-pack and friends party at Sam and Emily's house.
Jacob drove Bella's truck along the bump dirt road to the brightly lit house at the edge of the forest. There were little swaying ghosts hanging from the rafters on the porch, and a plastic skeleton propped upright on a rusted bicycle at the edge of the driveway. Bella chuckled at the decorations as Jacob parked the car. The party spilled out from the house onto the lawn. Sam stood vigilant next to a grill that sent a steady column of white smoke up into trees. The others sat around in chairs or laid out on blankets in the grass.
Rain clouds threatened overhead, and everything on the lawn was slightly damp, but no one complained. Jacob pulled Bella over to one of the groups gathered on the ground. Quil laid on his back with Claire pulled against his side, her long black hair fanned out across the colorful weave of the blanket. Embry was sitting up with his arms propped behind him. The only concession the wolf boys made to the chilly weather was thin t-shirts, which Bella suspected were only a formality.
"Jake! Weigh in! French fries or tater tots?" Quil said in greeting, as Bella and Jacob settled on the blanket.
"Jeez," Jacob chuckled, "you two really are debating the serious questions of life over here."
"Answer the question, Jacob," Embry said seriously.
"Who's arguing what?"
Embry said, "I'm team fries, Quil's gone to the tater tots dark side. Claire said wedges, so she's disqualified."
Quil laughed, but only after stroking his hand down Claire's head. Jacob considered, then launched into a lengthy explanation of the benefits and downfalls of several different types of fried potatoes. There were frequent interruptions from Quil and Embry as they attempted to persuade him to their side. But Bella mostly tuned them out and looked around the rest of the party.
Emily came out of the house with a plate of hamburger patties, and Sam looked at her like all the oxygen in the world flowed from her. His shoulders seemed to relax as she approached, and the second she got within arm's reach, he slid a hand around her waist to rest at the small of her back. He pressed a kiss to the scarred flesh of his right cheek. The Leah-shaped absence in the gathering seemed to go unnoticed by everyone, even Seth. Paul and Jared were sitting on folding chairs in the grass nearby. Rachel and Kim perched on their laps, connected with their men at a hundred different points. Arms around their waist, hands rubbing their back, noses brushed against their throats, fingers trailed along their thighs.
Bella looked away, shifting to watch Seth as he exited the house and approached their blanket. The youngest member of the wolfpack still moved with adolescent gracelessness, only exasperated by his enormous growth spurt. He set a tray between them; plastic spoons, a massive bowl, paper towels, serrated knives, and sharpies. Grinning, Seth ran away to the side of the house into Emily's garden. The area was separated by a low fence and ornamental arch, covered in a climbing rose bush, finally shedding the last of its peachy blossoms. Seth returned with a wheelbarrow full of pumpkins. A general exclamation of approval shot through the gathering, as everyone stood to choose.
Because she didn't feel like fighting the crowd, Bella ended up with one of the smallest pumpkins, streaked with brown lumps and slightly asymmetrical. Seth joined them on the ground. He, Jacob, Quil, and Embry chattered happily as they cut open the tops of their pumpkins, and got their hands wrist-deep inside to scoop out all the slimy entrails. Bella and Claire looked on with overdone expressions of disgust, which went unnoticed by everyone except Quil, who glanced over at his girlfriend at least five times a minute. When they reached the carving stages, he stared anxiously over Claire's shoulder as she worked the knife carefully. Jared, Kim, and Sam all looked at their imprints with similar expressions of devotion, and Bella felt the heavy dinner roil in her gut.
"Cute," Jacob declared when Bella showed him the simple Jack-o-lantern face carved into the smoothest side of her pumpkin. Two triangle eyes and a crescent mouth. She forced a smile.
Jacob held up his, showing off the circular eyes and square teeth that made the smile slightly sinister. Bella nodded, "very spooky."
As the sun faded over the horizon, everyone lined their creations along the edge of Emily's porch. They glowed orange with the tea light candles inside. Some of the other boys were settling in for a long evening of drinking beer on the lawn, Emily brought a CD player and speaker out from the house. Bella held Jacob's hand and stayed close to him, already thoroughly exhausted. Luckily, it seemed, Jacob, Quil, Claire, and Embry were all preparing to leave, since all of them would be heading to Port Angeles for proper Halloween celebrations the following evening. Bella regretted agreeing to join them. Now there was no reasonable excuse to back out and Jacob was obviously excited.
"Do you have a costume, Bella?" Claire asked.
"No," Bella said.
"I have something for you," Jacob interjected.
Bella looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.
"Trust me," he chuckled, "it's nothing crazy."
"I'm not walking around Port Angeles as a slutty nurse."
"Of course not, that'll be Quil."
Everyone looked at Quil, who was staring at Claire adoringly. "My girl is pre-med, she gets to be the doctor."
Embry groaned at the sugary sweetness as Claire wrapped her arms around Quil's neck and gave him a big smooch on the cheek. Bella pressed her face into Jacob's bicep, so she wouldn't see him if he looked at her.
From the porch, Sam called for everyone's attention. He looked ridiculous, a hulking gladiator with small Emily pulled against his side and a row of glowing Jack-o-Lanterns at his feet.
"Thanks for coming, everybody," Emily said. She exchanged an overjoyed glance with Sam, she bit her lip. "Um, we have an announcement."
Everyone waited anxiously while she gathered her words, but Sam gave it away. His big hand slid down her waist and settled over her lower stomach.
"Oh my god!" Jared shrieked.
Rachel jerked out of Paul's arms and bounded onto the porch, shouting, "are you serious? Oh my god! Are you serious?!"
Emily's eyes watered as everyone erupted into celebration. Rachel pulled her into a tight hug, slightly awkward since Sam refused to release her. Kim rushed up to them and joined the embrace, all of them with teary grins on their faces. One of the boys let out a celebratory whoop that bounced against the trees and rang through the forest. Everyone swarmed Sam and Emily, Jacob tugging Bella behind him.
"Congratulations," Bella told Emily as they shared a brief hug.
"Thank you, Bella," Emily's eyes were still wet. Sam loomed over them, entirely ignoring his wolf brother's congratulatory words in favor of monitoring her every breath and blink. "I'm glad you're here."
"Me too," Bella said, though the words tasted slightly sour..
Quil and Claire shifted in front of Bella, and she easily withdrew to the perimeter of the group. Jacob was speaking with Sam, saying all the right things about the alpha's impending fatherhood. Seth inserted himself with a joke that Sam's inner monologue would be even more obsessive about Emily now. Jacob and Embry threw their heads back and laughed, Sam just shrugged, not even bothering to deny it. Bella put her hands in the pockets of her jacket, allowing the joy of this family to ripple out onto her.
On the drive home, Bella pretended to fall asleep. Jacob had put on music, the sort of soft love song that hurt when she listened to the lyrics, but it was easier than talking. He dropped her off outside her truck, still parked outside Harry's shop.
"I'll pick you up tomorrow," Jacob said after he'd kissed her goodnight.
"Do not show up with a slutty cat costume for me," she warned.
"Jesus, Bells," he huffed, "I don't have a death wish."
His sunshine broke through the clouds that had settled over her at the party. She smiled at him, then walked around the car to the driver's door. He rolled down the window, and she leaned over to give him another kiss.
The road back to Forks was already dark. The autumn sun was already long gone from the sky. Heavy clouds and tree canopies overhead obscured any suggestion of moonlight or stars. Compared to the forest, the lights outside gas stations and fast food restaurants in Forks seemed as bright as any metropolis.
Charlie was still awake when Bella arrived at home. In his usual spot in front of the TV with a beer on the table beside him.
"Hey, Bella," he called when she came inside.
"Hey," she said.
"Fun party?"
"Yea." Bella collapsed onto the sofa beside him. "Emily's pregnant."
"Really? Good for them." He harrumphed. "They haven't gotten around to the wedding yet."
He sounded like he couldn't decide whether or not to be offended by the idea. Bella offered, "I'm sure they will soon."
"Hmm," he replied. "Oh, Jessica Stanley called."
"Jess?"
Charlie pointed towards the kitchen, presumably where he'd written a message. "Wanted to know if you were going to Port Angeles for Halloween. I told her you were going with Jacob."
"Oh, thanks."
The conversation ended there, which was a relief. After all the conversation and noise and emotion of the wolf party, Charlie's calm silence soothed Bella's nerves. Only the low buzz of the TV and sounds of their breathing to distract from her reading,
Over the next day, Bella buzzed around the house on her own. She returned Jessica's call and made sourdough for the next few days, raked the fallen leaves from the driveway into the flowerbeds. She'd saved her laundry, which took up some time, since she now ironed every single item, even underwear, just for something to do. Halloween weekend was busy for Charlie, even in Forks with the actual holiday on Tuesday. Children wandered off while trick-or-treating. Adults drank too much at parties, then got behind the wheel of a car. Teenagers stole beer from their parents and broke into abandoned buildings. The previous year, through the haze of her depression, Bella remembered Charlie being relieved she didn't have plans to participate. This morning, before leaving for the station, he'd given her a stern look and told her to find a phone and call him if she needed a ride home, do not get in a car with anyone that's even a little bit drunk, even Jacob.
When Jacob knocked on the door to collect Bella, the first thing she noticed was the color orange. Then, the fact that Jacob was wearing a dress.
"Hey!" Jacob said.
"Hi," Bella took in the orange dress with jagged cuts at the hemline, the black polka dots, the flip flops, the wooden baseball bat. She recognized the ensemble from a thousand Saturday mornings of her childhood, sprawled in front of the Blacks' TV on her stomach, Jacob next to her and Aunt Sarah making pancakes in the kitchen. "Oh, hello Fred Flintstone."
He beamed. From behind his back, pulled out a plastic bag and told her, "go change, and be grateful I didn't get you a wig."
Jacob sat on the front step to wait for her, and Bella went upstairs to get dressed. The Wilma Flintstone dress Jacob had provided was not from a costume store. He'd taken one of his massive white t-shirts, removed the sleeves, and cut the hem into triangles. The edges nearly brushed her knees, but he'd also provided her with a braid of white yarn that served as a belt, so she looked less like a little girl dropped into adult clothes. Her necklace was a string of cotton balls. The ensemble left her woefully exposed to the cold, but Jacob had also bought her a pack of fleece-lined stockings. Her throat felt tight as she pulled them on, instantly feeling the warmth of them spread into her skin. She pulled on her anachronistic tennis shoes and jacket, though she wouldn't need it if she stayed close to Jacob.
"Damn!" Jacob said when she stepped outside. "You look hot."
Bella eyed him suspiciously before locking the door. Jacob shrugged his big shoulders. "Just stating the obvious."
The ride to Port Angeles passed in a blur of conversation between Jacob and Embry. The backseat was cramped, even for a normal-sized person, so Bella let Embry take the front seat. He wore his usual cutoff jeans, and a blue t-shirt with a faded Superman logo. When they reached Port Angeles, Bella realized that Embry's lack of dedication to his costume was abnormal with this group. Jared had come without Kim, who stayed in La Push to work, and did not look entirely pleased to be matching pirate costumes with Seth. Claire and Quil were both wearing all white, though to say Quil was 'wearing' anything was an exaggeration. He was 95% naked, with only an unbuttoned white shirt over the tiny white briefs clinging to his hips and thighs. The red cross on his crotch and plastic stethoscope around his neck did little to distract from the rippling expanse of his bare chest. If any of the local police officers were brave enough to approach this pack of giants, they could have arrested him for public indecency.
Music played from a stage at the end of Port Angeles' main street. On either side of the closed off road, people spilled out of bars and restaurants. The movie theater had been transformed into a haunted house, occasionally sending out groups of people clinging tightly to each other, flushed and giggling at the artificial terror they'd experienced inside. There were vendors under tents, now stringing lights above their artisanal baked goods and face painting stations. The boys carried lawn chairs, coolers, and blankets from the cars to the festival. They set up towards the far end, where there was plenty of room to spread out but they could still hear the band. Covers of classic rock alternated with original numbers, all the musicians on stage in costume. The lead singer wore a high-collared cape and plastic fangs, which made Bella chuckle.
When Quil sat down, he immediately pulled Claire into his lap. His arms snaked around her waist and they settled into the position instinctually. Bella got into a similar position with Jacob, though it required significantly more awkward squirming. He was so warm against her body, she eventually threw off the blanket. The October chill barely seemed to touch her with his big arms wrapped around her. Embry passed around beer. Bella managed to drink hers without visibly cringing at the taste, but it was difficult. She drank two in the time it took Jacob to empty five, and she seemed to feel the effects much more than him.
Bella listened far more than she spoke, which was easy. The rest of them talked about La Push, and Forks, and their acquaintances up on the Makah Reservation. They all groaned sympathetically when Jared talked about his boss, who they'd all known since childhood. Even Claire, who was only in town for her Fall Break, participated in the conversation effortlessly, especially when the other boys poked at Quil for how often he disappeared for days at a time to visit her in Seattle.
In the second hour of conversation, Embry pulled out a deck of cards, and announced they would be playing a drinking card game. Bella checked her watch and told Jacob she was going to find Jessica's group of Forks High School recent graduates.
Jacob's eyebrows drew together as she stood. "Want me to come with you?"
"No," Bella answered, too quickly. "They're around here somewhere, I'll just say hello to everyone and come right back."
He held her by the hips and said, "got your pepper spray?"
"Yes, Deputy Black," Bella said, rolling her eyes and patting her purse.
Jessica's instructions of where to find them had been incredibly vague, and Bella had not made much of an effort to clarify things. She promised herself she would make more of an effort with Angela, when she came home for Thanksgiving and Winter Break. Mostly, Bella wanted a chance to walk around by herself. Spending time with the wolf pack and their girlfriends always made her feel a bit like an intruder. A very welcome intruder in a very warm, friendly group of people, but she could never fully shake the feeling of stepping into someone else's territory.
Bella walked along the rows of vendors. The lingering buzz from the beer made it much easier to deal with the crowds pressing around her and make conversation with the vendors. She accepted a sample from an older couple selling homemade fruit tea. They excitedly told her all about their brewing process, how they grew most of the ingredients themselves.
Bella read the label on one of the bottles. "You can't grow oranges here."
The man grinned. "Not normally, we have a greenhouse."
"Oh," Bella nodded. "A greenhouse, cool."
"He built it himself," the woman said. She smiled at him when his smile-wrinkled face flushed to his ears. "For our twentieth wedding anniversary."
The effort of paying attention to Bella was obviously difficult for them. They kept glancing at each other. Like magnets, their bodies drifted closer together, constantly chasing small touches. Bella looked away and chose a bottle from the neat rows. She handed over a few bills and wished them a happy Halloween. Walking along between the shops and tents, Bella flipped through art prints and admired handmade jewelry. She breathed in the thick aroma of food trucks selling tacos and hamburgers and hot chocolate. A trio of preteens stood next to her at a booth selling homemade hot sauce. Bella watched in morbid fascination as the boy tried the spiciest on offer. The two girls were impressed, which seemed to justify the tears in his eyes.
A new band took the stage, the vampires packed up their equipment and descended onto the street. A small crowd gathered around them. They all laughed uproariously when the lead singer leaned into his costume for a picture with a beautiful blonde girl. Her outfit was ambiguously historical, a corset that pushed her large breasts up her chest and a flared skirt that barely made it about a quarter of the way down her thighs. Sheer black tights led into knee-high boots. The singer straightened his plastic fangs, mused up his hair, and popped the collar on his cloak. The girl's friends giggled as he tilted up her chin and posed with his mouth pressed to the column of her throat.
Bella shivered and turned her entire body away from the scene. The movement brought her eyes to the glass exterior of a brightly lit shop. There were lots of people congregating inside, most of them with either tattoos or body piercings visible through their costumes. Finally, the shop's name caught Bella's eyes: Harbor Body Art, and in the window, a sign screamed: HALLOWEEN FLASH TATTOOS! Bella's heart began to pound with adrenaline.
The door swung open, Bella had moved without thought. Something familiar prickled at the edge of her mind.
"Hey honey!" A pink-haired woman dressed as a fairy called from the counter.
Bella approached in a haze of excitement. "What are flash tattoos?"
The woman's expression remained friendly, but she explained slowly. "Well, they're predesigned tattoos, usually meant to be quick and easy. We like to do them for special events like Halloween."
"How much are they?"
"Forty to sixty depending on what you want. Tonight we're only doing arms and legs, and nothing bigger than the palm of your hand."
"I want one," Bella said, "Can I see the designs?"
"Sure." She gestured to a laminated sheet on the counter, then a series of pictures in the glass case between them. "These are our Halloween-specific ones, or you can get anything from the pages with the red border."
Bella looked at the holiday sheet first, a selection of cartoon ghosts, spider webs, bats, and black cats. The pages behind the glass didn't much catch her attention either. When Bella was nine, one of Renee's boyfriends had shown her his sleeve of tattoos; flowers, vines, trees, and little pieces of fruit all painted onto his skin like a piece in a museum. He told her it took several days and cost a whole lot of money. The little designs on the pages with red borders did not compare. Skulls, simple flowers, crescent moons, birds. But one of them seemed to call for Bella's attention. Her eyes locked on the image, a lion in profile, composed of no more than a dozen black strokes. Her heart thudded.
"That one," Bella said, pressing her finger against the glass, "the lion."
The fairy-girl blinked, then opened the back of the case and withdrew the card. "This one?"
"Yes." Bella opened her purse and withdrew her wallet.
"Alright." The woman recovered. She presented another laminated paper with five circles, ascending from the size of a quarter to six inches across. "How big do you want it? Smallest three only for tonight."
Bella considered for a moment, then selected the smallest size. Even with the adrenaline pumping through her veins, she didn't want to risk Charlie seeing it.
"Okay, forty dollars then. Can I see your ID?"
Bella handed over the card, then the money, two twenty dollar bills and a ten, because she figured it was polite to tip. Her wallet was significantly lighter when the woman returned her ID after taking a photocopy.
"Ok, Isabella, go sit and read over these." Bella was handed a clipboard and pen. "And one of the artists will call you back in a few minutes!"
"Thank you," Bella said.
She clutched the clipboard to her chest and squeezed into a set by the window. Lots of people were crowded into the small lobby area, but most of them seemed to be socializing rather than waiting for services. Each time someone emerged from the hallway of little rooms, a few of the gathering cheered for them before escorting them back outside. Bella read all over the Tattoo Consent Form, signed and printed her name in all the appropriate places. An information sheet about tattoo aftercare was next, Bella barely managed to read it because her legs kept bouncing excitedly.
"Isabella!" Someone called, Bella jolted. Then stumbled to her feet.
As she approached the man, waiting for her with a warm smile, Bella's mind seemed to whoosh with energy. A second later, an angel's disapproving voice echoed inside her head. "Bella…"
This wild compulsion suddenly made sense. Bella had abandoned the pursuit of these delusions when she'd decided to be with Jacob. But she could allow herself this, one final time, before she finally made herself move on. The inside of Bella's ribcage felt bruised from the battering of her heart. She took another step forward and handed the man her clipboard. "Hello."
"I'm Chris, nice to meet you. Follow me this way," he said.
They walked a few feet down the hallway, then turned into a small room. Posters covered every inch of the walls, but the center of the room looked more like a doctor's office than an artist's studio. A reclining bench covered in plastic, a stainless steel table with all the tools, a light hanging overhead like at the dentist. Bella sat on the table while Chris looked over her paperwork.
"Bella, stop," Edward's voice washed over Bella's entire being like a blissful wave.
In her mind, she told him, tattoos aren't dangerous, lots of people have them. The rush of adrenaline that brought on her hallucinations disagreed.
"Alrighty, Isabella," Chris set the clipboard down and sat on his little stool. He held up the printed card of her lion sketch. "This is what we're doing right?"
"Yes," she said.
"Where would you like it?"
Bella looked down at herself. She wanted somewhere easily covered, but didn't much feel like removing her tights and shoes. She lifted her arm and pointed to the inside of her upper arm, a few inches from the curve into her armpit. "Um, maybe here?"
"Sure," Chris nodded and pulled his stool on wheels over to the table, "lie back and take off your jacket for me."
Bella set her purse on the ground and shrugged off her coat, using it as a blanket when she laid out on the table.
"Is this your first tattoo?" Chris asked.
"Am I that obvious?"
He chuckled. "Newbies usually are. Don't be nervous, this'll be quick and easy."
"I'm not," she lied. Her palms were sweating despite the chill in the room.
A phantom touch brushed across her arm. Electricity buzzed beneath her skin at the memory of his touch. His voice was disapproving, but it was his, the velvet, seraphic tone that made her body suddenly teem with life. "Really, Bella? This is ridiculous, stop it now!"
Chris gently pulled her arm into position, horizontally from her body with her hand above her head. Each time he touched her, the delusion of her subconscious growled his disapproval and Bella's heart thudded with exhilaration.
"Do you want some music?" Chris asked. "It'll help both of us relax."
"Sure," she agreed.
A moment later, a melody blared through a speaker. The song was all guitar and a singer's baritone mumbling. Chris wiped disinfectant over her skin, the alcoholic scent burned through Bella's nostrils. His latex-covered left hand took hold of her arm, holding it steady against the table. The electric humming of the machine made her jump, and the angel's voice inside her head raged, "You promised me, nothing reckless!"
It's okay, she soothed him, I can let you go now.
"Take a deep breath," Chris said.
Bella sucked in a lungful, then winced when the needle first punctured her skin.
"Good job. That's the hard part."
When she exhaled, Bella finally processed the pain. The earlier fear seemed ridiculous now. A little needle, moving against the top layer of her skin. Barely noticeable compared to everything else she had endured. And it was over before she knew it. The angel's voice receded from her mind once her heart stopped its anxious thudding. It was a fitting finale, she supposed. For the last time she heard Edward's voice to be him scolding her for doing something stupid.
"All done!" Chris announced.
Bella looked down at her arm. The little black lines of the lion were painted on red, raised skin. She admired it for a moment before Chris taped a bandage to the area. She sat up and pulled her jacket back on, listened to an abbreviated lecture about tattoo aftercare. Promised him that she would keep it clean and moisturized, and not scratch no matter how much it itched.
Before she left, Bella asked the woman at the front desk for directions to the bathroom. Inside the dimly lit room, she hung her purse and jacket on the back of the door, then carefully peeled away the edge of the bandage to look at the tattoo in the mirror.
The sight of it settled something deep in Bella's gut that had been unsteady since the moment Edward left. It'll be like I'd never existed, I promise. The statement had haunted her all this time. Terror that her imperfect human memory would eventually fail her, that eventually some version of Bella Swan would exist as if she'd never loved Edward Cullen. She couldn't imagine what would be left of her, without the memory of that love.
But now it was here, stamped onto her skin. It would be there until the end of her short, human life. For however many years counted as forever for mortals. Healing no longer required forgetting.
The white fabric of her costume finally drew Bella's attention back to reality. She fixed the bandage and stared at herself through the looking glass. A new flush of happiness filled her cheeks, her eyes glittered with excitement. She looked alive.
Bella forced her way back through the crowd. The relief fueled a strange exhilaration, pushing her forward. Colors and noise blurred around her, the party still teemed with life and Bella felt like she was truly a part of it. A living, breathing person with someone to love and a life to live.
Jacob spotted her and jumped to his feet. There was a mountain of beer cans next to his chair, but he still caught her up in one strong arm when she walked straight into his embrace. "Bellaaa," he crooned happily.
The sudden heat of his body all around her made Bella's blood rush. She lifted onto her toes and kissed him hard. Jacob grunted, but his lips pressed back against hers, his arm squeezing around her waist. He was already smiling when Bella pulled away and opened her eyes.
"Did you find Jessica?" He asked.
"No." Bella had forgotten about them entirely. She stretched to whisper in his ear, "I got a tattoo."
"Huh?"
Bella shrugged the sleeve of her jacket off enough to reveal the bandage. She carefully peeled away the gauze. Jacob leaned over to squint at the little sketch, his supernatural vision catching the details in the streetlights' faint glare.
"It's a wolf…" Jacob said dreamily.
"Yea." Bella replaced the tape and righted her jacket. "I saw it in the shop window and acted on impulse."
The lies were so easy to tell, with Jacob staring at her with all the love his enormous body could hold.
"God, Bella. I love you." He swept her into his arms, her feet lifting off the ground. His lips collided with hers, the familiar taste of him flooded her senses, even muffled by the beer. For the very first time, his touch felt the perfect temperature.
"I love you, too," she said.
On the drive back to Forks, Bella sat in the passenger seat while Embry drove. Even with his ridiculous werewolf metabolism, Jacob was tipsy from the alcohol. He's stipped off his orange polka dot costume, crammed his enormous body in the backseat in only his boxers and promptly fallen asleep. Highway 101 streaked along on either side of them in pitch blackness. The 45 minute stretch between Port Angeles and Forks passed in the time it took to finish most of Jacob's 'American Idiot' CD. Bella and Embry nodded to the music, with occasional interludes of Embry singing along with the lyrics.
Charlie's cruiser was in the driveway, lights still glowed yellow behind the curtains. He was in the kitchen when Bella walked inside, eating a sandwich in his pajamas. Bella left her shoes by the front door and dropped her bag on the stairs, then walked right over to him.
"Hey, Bell–oof," he huffed as Bella wrapped her arms around his middle and hugged him tight. One of his arms circled her automatically, the other set down his plate, then moved to stroke the back of her head. "Everything okay?"
"Yea," Bella mumbled into his chest, "I missed you."
Charlie pressed his cheek into her hair. "I'm right here, baby."
The feeling of total security and love rushed over Bella like a wave. She listened to the steady thump of his heart through the faded concert t-shirt he'd had for her entire life. The sound had lulled her to sleep countless times. As a little girl, when the rain and wind outside had woken her from sleep, Bella would rush into his room and crawl into his bed. The warm hold of his arms and steady rhythm of his breathing had always felt like the safest place in the world. Like the house could crumple around them and Bella would be perfectly fine.
But over the last year, Bella had avoided Charlie, not wanting him to see her pain and worry about her, or send her away. Nearly her entire life since moving to Forks had been consumed with Edward. The longing for him, their whirlwind love, the agony of losing him. Bella hadn't had time to appreciate finally returning to the only real home she'd ever known.
Charlie let out a sheepish huff as they separated. Bella grabbed a banana and both of them leaned against the counter to finish their midnight snacks. When Bella went upstairs, she could hardly believe the lack of anxiety and dread. Her latest non-fiction library rental was Plants of Western Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. She read about the ancient Coastal Redwoods, so old and enormous they could survive when wildfire carved caves into their trunks large enough for California Condors with 6 ft. wingspans to make their nests. Ferns that had evolved alongside the dinosaurs. Wildflowers that lived dormant underground for years, waiting for the perfect spring to bloom only once before dying. Bella didn't even notice her eyes shutting, she simply drifted often into peaceful sleep free of any dreams at all.
Hope yall have been enjoying! Leave me a review if you have literally anything thoughts 333
Also, do not be fooled. I am forever Team Edward...