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Elise bit her tongue the following days, her friendship with Bella growing more and more awkward with the abundance of questions she was bombarded with regarding Jacob's hasty departure from the movie theatre. "He hasn't been answering any of my calls, he always answers."
"Billy said he was sick, Bella. He's probably trying to recover and can't get to the phone. Give him some time."
Clearly fighting in her mind, Bella was quiet for a little while before she allowed Elise's word close the gates to her ramped thoughts. "Yeah, you must be right. I'll just call in a couple days, he should feel better by then, right? What'd you say he has again?"
"Mono."
"That's the kissing disease, who could he possibly have been kissing?"
"Who knows, he a good looking kid. Maybe he's had a girl on the side we don't know about."
Bella pondered the thought, her thin bottom lip bitten by her teeth. "Yeah, maybe."
Elise should've known Bella wouldn't stop, she was persistent and didn't like to stop until she got every answer she'd been looking for, which is why it didn't surprise the darker haired girl when she caught Bella calling Jacob again two days later from her house phone.
Homework was scattered across the table, but the brown-eyed vampire affiliated female wasn't focused on it at all. "I'm going out, do you want to come with?"
"Going out where?"
"I'm going to Jake's house. I want to make sure he's okay."
"Bella, I don't know if that's a very good idea."
Guard up and suspicions rising, Bella shot her a look, her face scrunched up and filled with confusion and anger. "He's my best friend, Elise. He says he's sick but he would never just ignore me like this, somethings going on and I'm going to figure out what it is."
Sighing and pushing her hair back away from her face, Elise reluctantly followed Bella to her faded red truck. The drive to Jacobs house was familiar and the trees lining the roads seemed to zip by given how fast Bella was driving on the rain slicker roads, heavy downpours falling from the sky until they'd steadily pulled into the muddy driveway.
The sight before her made Elise groan internally, the new addition to the quileute pack walking across his front yard, hair cut and completely shirtless, a dark tribal tattoo freshly inked into his skin.
Bella all but jumped out the truck and ran her converse clad feet as fast as she could go the teenager, her hoarse voice calling out his name. "Jake, hey. Jake!"
Finally capturing his attention, his angsty brown eyes looked at her own. "Bella, go home."
"I thought you were too sick to come outside," She yelled over the rain, her voice carrying to Elise's spot outside the passenger door. "Or, pick up the phone when I call."
"You need to leave."
Every attempt at getting her to leave wouldn't phase the strong-willed female, her questions during at him without missing a beat. "What happened to you? What's wrong?" Her hands reached for him when he tried to turn and leave but she wasn't having it. "Did Sam do this to you? Did he get to you?"
"Sam's not the problem, he's helping me. But if you want someone to blame, how about those filthy bloodsuckers you love. The Cullen's."
All the confidence Bella marched in with seemed to completely dissipate into thin air. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You can't lie to me, Bella." Jacob shot back, his shoulders tense and squared up in a defensive stance. Rain pelted down his bare torso but the newly added heat from the internal fur coat he now had made each drop feel like nothing in the nippy weather. "Everyone else, Charlie and you friends maybe, but not me. Not anymore, Bella."
Elise groaned out loud this time when she saw the rest of the pack come from the woods, Sam and the others calling Jacob's name. "Look, we can't be friends anymore."
"I know I haven't been the best lately, but I'm trying. I don't mean to hurt you, I can fix it. Maybe if you just give me some time, I promise—"
"No, it's not you."
"It's not you, it's me, right? Come on, Jake."
His body was half turned to her, the compelling call of his alpha making his body want nothing more than to follow the order he'd been given to go, but his greater sense and right mind allowed him amount time to finish the unattended business he had with Bella. "It's true, it is me. Im not good anymore, I used to be, a good kid but not anymore. This doesn't even matter, it's over."
"You can't break up with me." Shaking her head from her words, she'd been in this situation before, she'd been left before by someone who'd meant the world to her and that memory seemed to cloud her vision and it was like she was reliving that crushing moment all over again. Except this wasn't a memory, this was reality, new and fresh, hurting just as badly as it did the first time around and she was struggling to keep herself standing upright. "I mean you're my best friend and you promised me."
"I know, I promised I wouldn't hurt you, Bella and this is me keeping my promise. Go home and don't come back or you're going to get hurt."
Bella watched Jacob run away from her and meet up with Sam Uley and the others, she watched how they disappeared back into the woods in tandem, not even bothering to look back and spare her another glance.
She wasn't sure how long she stood out there in the rain looking on into the same spot that her best friend had been moments before until a hand rested itself of her shoulder pulling her back to herself. "He's gone."
