Before the New Moon

Chapter 5

Despite all the draining revelations on the trip, the overall experience wasn't as terrible as both Jasper and Edward had made it out to be. Sure, Alice enjoyed shopping and trying out clothes much more than I would like, but after everything I'd learned that morning, safe to say I needed something mundane to focus on. Besides, it was nice to see Bella having fun with Edward. And I know he enjoyed seeing her try on clothes.
Because despite her being one of my best friends, Bella really, desperately, needed a wardrobe upgrade. Edward loves her very much, but he's not blind to Bella's allergy to looking fashionable or generally put together.
But summer was ending, and with that change the Cullens had to go on a back to school prolonged hunting trip in preparation for the beginning of the new school year. Which left the two humans of the group with some bonding time, as Bella likes to call it. I call it "proving to her dad that she does in fact have other friends".
Despite my place as living proof of Bella's sociability, I feel pretty comfortable at her dads house. Granted, her dad isn't here most of the time. But the place is nice and cozy. It lacks the refurbishment and remodeling that the Brown's household did, but it was surprisingly cozy. The furniture was old and worn out, but in a way that invited you to sit. And despite the small spaces, and the mismatch of colors and furniture, the house had a warm homey feel to it. The walls and shelves were covered in old pictures of Bella as a child and more recent ones of Charlie on fishing trips with his friends.
Most of the fishing pictures included the same faces, people I barely recognize from town. But two figures stood out to me. The picture was framed on the wall, a simple wood frame protected it. The photo was taken from one boat to another, you could see Bella's dad sitting in the middle, hands holding a fishing rod firmly, a calm smile on his face. The other two figures on the boat were what caught my attention. They both had deep brown skin, and long black hair, they shared the same broad shoulders and overall facial structure, clearly related. But I didn't just know that from the picture. I'd seen them both before, while Bella recovered from her encounter with James.
Billy and Jacob Black I was sure their names were. There seemed to be a strange trend in Forks Washington where parents and children looked incredibly similar and completely different at the same time. I'd only met the pair in person a few times, but it was enough to leave a long lasting impression. Both men were big, in various aspects. Sure, they were physically imposing, but their vibe was big too, like their very presence demanded attention. Billy especially, he definitely looked like a man in charge. I suppose you'd have to be, leading a tribe and everything. But unlike Jacob, who did everything he could to minimize his presence, Billy unsettled me.
His face was scarred, and his eyes were hard and almost cold. He did a pretty good job of looking relaxed, but he always seemed on edge. Especially the last time we met. It was one of the times I'd gone to keep Bella company while her leg was broken and her dad wouldn't let her out of the house. He'd brought Jacob and left with Bella's dad to do whatever people over forty do. He wasn't here for long, he waited on the porch for Bella's dad to come back from his shift. I'd come to give Bella the schoolwork for the day, I'd walked from the school to find him sitting on his wheelchair on the porch.
I faltered for a moment, not expecting the encounter. He didn't say anything for a long moment, just watched me walk up the house. It wasn't after I grabbed the door knob that he spoke.
"Eleonor was it?"
"What?" I jumped a bit, his deep voice catching me off guard.
"You're Eleonor, Bella's friend." It wasn't really a question.
"Uh, yes sir." I confirmed, dropping my hand from the doorknob and down to my side. He nodded, finally turning his head in my direction and looking me straight in the eye, unfaltering. Like he was trying to discern something.
"You haven't been getting into trouble have you?" He smiled and let out one of those dad laughs, but neither of those actions reached his eyes.
"Trouble, sir?" His smile didn't ease any tension, I felt like I'd been caught in a lie.
"Yeah, trouble." He leaned back in his wheelchair fixing the sleeves of his coat. "Like Bella. Who runs off and falls out of windows." He turned his gaze back to the road expectantly, I followed his stare and saw the same empty road I just came from.
"Well, I'm not as accident prone as Bella is, if that's what you mean." I answered carefully.
He hummed in response, nodding his head in the same way parents do when they catch their child in a lie, but said nothing else. I stood there, unsure of what that meant, there's no way he knew anything, was there?
A few tense moments passed, or perhaps hours, and I heard a short police siren. Bella's dad had arrived.
The conversation interaction ended there, and after greeting Bella's dad briefly I basically ran inside to see Bella and Jacob watching a movie.
Which leads us back to today. Where I've made myself incredibly interested in the furnishings of the Swan household while I wait for Bella and Jacob to get back to her house and I am once again left alone with her father and Billy Black. Because apparently she forgot to mention that her dad wanted to have a fun dinner, which means pizza, and watch some baseball game with Billy and Jacob and she jumped at the chance to invite me.
Maybe Bella's dad was right. Maybe she in fact didn't have any friends other than the Cullens.
Billy black had greeted me with the same intense gaze he had that day when I got here. Since then I'd made myself busy as far away from the living room as I physically could without going into Bella's room without her here.
"You like fishing?" Bella's dad caught me off guard.
"Fishing? No, why?" I turned to face him to be met with a glass.
"Thought I should bring you something to drink while we wait for Bells and Jake to get here with the pizza." He handed me the drink, giving me a sheepish grin. "I should've offered before, but I'm not a very good host. Most of the people that come through here just help themselves!"
"Ah, no. It's ok mister Swan. Thank you." I said, taking the drink.
"You can just call me Charlie you know, no need to be so formal."
Absolutely not.
"I'm sorry, I'm just not used to calling adults by their first names." I explained, "It's a cultural thing, sorry."
"No, no! No need to apologize!" He seemed embarrassed, "I should've figured my apologies."
Just then, Bella and Jacob saved the poor sheriff from his own embarrassment and arrived with the pizza. Bella's dad seemed like an easy person to get along with, I can see where his daughter gets it from. He seems to genuinely care about Bella, the sort of care from someone who doesn't know you but wants to. And with everything that's happened, that does give me a sense of guilt for keeping the truth about the safety of his daughter from him.
By the time Bella's dad and I joined the other Jacob had already started eating from one of the four pizza boxes.
"Bit excessive, don't you think?" I whispered sitting next to Bella on the couch.
"I was just gonna get two, but Jake insisted." She whispered back while grabbing a slice for herself. I hummed in response, taking a sip of my drink.
For a while there wasn't much conversation out of Bella or I, we sat and ate and watched the three men watch the game. A whole spectacle in and off itself truly. Sure, a lot of people like sports, but I suppose there's something to be said about small town people. They seemed to be really into it.
Jacob however had his attention split. Constantly answering Bella's questions before she could even ask them. Really impressive actually. Jacob is always attentive to Bella, and incredibly obvious. Tragic.
Still, in some alternate universe where Edward and Bella aren't together, I think I could see it. They were opposite in a complementary way.  Different and the same in just the right places. They got along in an easy way that radiated comfort.
Despite this, I'm sure Bella hasn't got a clue. And I'm not gonna tell her.
"So Eleonor, where are you from exactly?" Billy asked suddenly, shifting his attention away from the game. "Charlie tells me you're an exchange student?"
"Yeah, I'm from Puerto Rico." I answered curtly, hoping that those were all his questions, and knowing they wouldn't be.
"Really?" He continued, making a pleased expression, like I'd gotten the answer right. "Why come to Forks? It's not exactly the most eventful place, and I'm sure it's very different from the Caribbean."
I'll give him points for knowing where it's located, but something about the way he asks makes this feel like an interrogation. Like he can't ask his real question so he's trying to answer it little by little.
"It was just the cheapest place I could transfer to, you know." Half true. "I wanted to travel without going into debt." His face soured for a split second, I might've imagined it. Jacob gave his father a strange look, almost scolding, Billy looked back at him and Jacob deflated. I spared a glance at Bella who shrugged, the crease between her eyebrows letting me know that she at least found this as weird as I did. I looked to her dad, hoping that maybe he had a question, or a comment, or anything that could ease the tension. But in true white dad fashion, he was hardly listening to the conversation, finding the game much more interesting.
"So you've always lived in Puerto Rico?" Billy Black continued his questioning.
"Yes."
"What about the rest of your family?"
"Well, as far as I know my whole family's from Puerto Rico." Strange thing to ask. But he seemed pleased with that answer. And finally, Jacob interrupted properly.
"Does that mean you know Spanish?" He asked as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.
"It is the native language in Puerto Rico, so..."
"Wow, you speak English so well though!"
He gets a pass for that because I'm sure it's his  genuine reaction.
"Jake!" Bella scolded making him wince, "You can't say that! Why wouldn't she know English?"
"It's okay, I get that a lot." I tried saving him, but he kept talking.
"No, no, no! That's not what I meant!" He defended himself, "Obviously you can speak English, anyone can speak English! I just mean you don't have much of an accent or anything, so you'd never know, you know?"
There was a palpable silence in the room as even Bella's dad stopped his avid viewing to stare at Jacob.
"Yeah..." I broke the silence, causing Bella and I to start laughing. Bella's dad and Billy shared a chuckle while the latter patted his son on the back while he tried to hide behind the slice of pizza he was eating.
There were no more interrogations after that, but I still tried to avoid restarting any conversation with Billy. And despite understanding why Bella is friends with the thirty year old seven foot undercover cop, my unsettlement around his father continued.
Even after it was just Bella and I on the couch, we still felt as if we missed the point of Billy's interrogation.