Promises to Keep9The World in A Promise

Bella POV

I exchanged an amused look with Jacob when Embry and Quil made a great show of greeting me, as if this was the first time they saw me since I left. Their concentrated scrutinizing was comical. "What?"

Quil sighed heavily, his face crumpled into helpless lines so great that I laughed but not soon after almost choked on the my coke when by a slide of hand so fast I almost didn't see it, he passed a five dollar bill to Embry who cackled in triumph and quickly waved over a waitress to spend his winnings.

"Bella, I'm glad, but really, I thought you'd be a vampire by now." He explained. I held my breath, expecting Jacob to turn the table over in anger or something but he merely rolled his eyes.

Quil however, continued to look me over. "What do they feed you?"

This time Jacob narrowed his eyes but merely said, "Embry."

I grinned when without batting an eyelash, even without looking up from the menu, Embry lifted his hand and slapped the back of Quil's head.

Quil took the abuse without so much as a blink.

"Bella." I looked up at the feminine shout and smiled when I saw Sue, Seth and Leah's mother. "So good to see you."

"Good to see you to, Sue. This is a great place." I yelled over the music and she grinned proudly. "Well, this is the only way I get to see my kids nowadays."

I probably looked confused because Jacob chimed in. "We work here in shifts, so does Seth and Leah. There's always a couple of us hanging around."

I nodded and smiled at Sue. "Teenagers."

She laughed and rolled her eyes when somebody called her name. "Well, I have to go. Order something, it's on the house. Only Bella's." She said before Embry, Jacob and Quil could say anything. She kissed my cheek and waved. "We'll see you tonight. Make sure you see Charlie, he's been pining."

"For my cooking, perhaps."

She disappeared into the crowd with a laugh. I looked around the diner, the music was so loud the walls or what's left of it shook with the bass, the sounds of glass, plates and spoons rose higher than the hum of conversation, as was the shrieks and laughter of children who ran over the place. People ran and stumbled over each other, the rows of table were crooked and jammed across every available space without any sort of order.

I love it.

Someone slid along the booth that we occupied and smooshed me against Jacob. Seth beamed brightly at me. "So, what do you think?"

I beamed back. "It's great."

"I named it. From what the people called Taha Aki."

I laughed, he's enthusiasm was infectious. "I know. Very clever."

The three older boys on the table groaned. "Don't encourage him."

"Go away."

"This is grown up time."

They tossed French fries at him which he deftly caught and toss into his mouth. Smiling slyly at Jacob, he pecked my cheek before saying that he had work to do. Before I can catch my breath at the whirlwind of his coming and going, Leah came to the table, an apron around her slim hips, a pen and paper on their hands. "Oh, it's you guys. What do you want?"

Embry stared woefully at Leah. "Leah, is that the way you talk to customers?"

Leah sneered back. "Yes, what you gonna do about it?"

Quil pointed at her with a straw. "We'll tell Sue."

I stifled a smile when Leah's challenging expression fell but she wasn't one to step back from a fight. "Yeah? Then I'll tell about all those napkins you wasted by scribbling your number so you can give it to every available girl." Her eyes glinted. "I even saw you gave one to Kimberly Blackwing."

Quil knew when he was defeated, "Well played." I laughed when the guys threw paper napkins at him.

"Kimberly Blackwing?" Embry asked in disgust. "Are you really that desperate, Quil?" He dodged neatly out of the way of Quil's elbow and aimed a crooked smile to Jacob that spoke of evil thoughts. "Besides, everyone knows that Kimberly had set her sights upon a certain someone."

I perked up at that, ignoring the subtle twist in my stomach--the same one when I saw Amy--and looked sideways to where everyone else was looking, at Jacob.

Jacob lifted his left hand--his right hand perched along the top of the booth we were sitting on--to sip on his coke in a nonchalant manner. "Blackwing who?"

I stared at him but again, like when I asked about Amy, he appeared to look totally clueless and from Quil's, Embry's to Leah's reaction, I concluded that this happened a lot.

Strange, I always thought of Jacob as mature beyond his age and very perceptive.

I shook my head at the sheer amount that they ordered, Leah had to flip a page. When she left I finally voiced the question that surfaced when I thought about their eating habits. "Don't people ever get suspicious on why you guys eat so much? They might think you're on drugs or something."

They laughed. "Bella, please." Quil aimed an amused glance at me. "Do you really think anyone looking at us would think that we're taking drugs?"

I tilted my head in thought as I spread my gaze to the smiling faces around me. Taking in the healthy, beautiful color of their skin, the blue black of their hair, the sharp glint in their dark eyes, their muscular build and the intangible sense of, well, something that oozed out of them like perfume that set them apart from other people. It's not as vividly obvious as with the Cullens who were so obviously something else, but now that I know what the boys were, it was impossible to see them as anything but.

And like the day when Jacob came to my school, everyone sensed it, they didn't know what it was but it tapped into their subconscious that they boys are different, they are dangerous, that they are people that you don't want to mess with. Even now, where people are standing almost at each others toes, the crowd gave wide berth to our booth, darting nervous glances at us without even knowing why. Seth and Leah who traipsed across the room also had no problem of finding their way through the crowd.

I smothered the shiver that feathered down my spine and almost knock over my glass when Jacob laughed and lifted my hand, pulling at it so the guys can see. "Look, she got goosebumps."

I wanted to sink into the chair when they laughed and teased me, their voices getting louder by the second because of my blush. "Well, you guys are something all right." I muttered darkly which only made them laugh harder.

I sighed in relief when the food came and it took their attention away from me. I forked my spaghetti and watched them eat--it was still an experience--and I finally realized that I missed this. I liked the quiet, the calm, and it's not like the Cullens couldn't be rowdy when they were feeling feisty. Jasper and Emmet's annual duels and fighting matches were always entertaining. I like the way we spend time in the living room, in front of the fireplace, either talking or reading or playing music or simply basking in each others presence.

But I missed this, arguments over food with people around the table talking about nothing at all. Names of friends and family tossed to and fro like a game of tennis, threats over who ordered what on the table.

Eating alone can be a little lonely.

It wasn't like The Cullens tried at Edward's insistence but, it made no sense that they have to sit around the table doing nothing but watch me eat. It was nerve wracking and I was bound to do something stupid because of my nerves, like stab myself with a fork or something, so I either eat alone or with Edward which again, is a bit silly.

"What are you smiling at?" Jacob whispered and looking into his dark eyes, I felt myself smiling a little wider. "Nothing."

He looked at me suspiciously but the look in his eyes showed that he understood, he returned to his food and argued with Quil over some mechanical thing but not before he brushed a hand along my shoulder. I caught Embry's eyes that was somewhat serious, obviously he saw the comforting gesture and interpreted it as something else.

I was almost halfway through my plate when they finished eating their mountain of food. Suddenly, out of nowhere Quil leaned forward. "Two out of three?"

Jacob snorted. "Give it up already, man. You always lose."

"Never."

He shrugged. "Fine, more money for me." I eased out of my chair to let him pass and he stood before me. "I'm going to pulverize Quil over a game of foose ball. Stay here, okay? Finish your food."

The bland stare I gave him made him laugh.

"He's happy."

I turned to see Seth taking Quil's spot on the table. Embry still slurping on his coke.

I sat and twirled my fork, looking back to Jacob who grinned at Quil, obviously trading insults. "Looks like."

"You're going to break his heart again, aren't you?"

"Seth." Embry hissed at the younger boy but Seth didn't take his eyes off of me. The words may stabbed my heart with little pin pricks but the tone itself was bemused, curious even, it was not even remotely accusing.

Maybe he saw that his question hurt me, so he backtracked. "It's not like it's your fault or anything, or his. It's just, it's hard...seeing him that way. Feeling it." He shrugged. "I just want a warning next time."

My knuckles whitened around the fork. "There won't be a next time, Seth."

"You sound sure." Seth's was not accusing, but Embry's was. His frown was more than enough for me to guiltily slide my eyes away. "Was it...bad?"

"Was it bad for you when the bloodsucker left?"

I winced, the memory of those months were still a little too clear for my liking. And the pain that I remembered was something that I would ever wish on anyone, least of all Jacob. "I'm sorry."

Embry sighed. "It's not your fault, Bella. Not all of it, anyway. It's him." His dark eyes met mine, frustrated. "He just can't let you go."

Something curled inside me at his words, a feeling that was so close to relief that I felt even guiltier.

"We keep hoping that he would or at the very least, imprint."

Seth shook his head at the question in my eyes. "He hasn't."

"Forget imprint, we'd be glad if he so much as comment on a girl."

Seth piped in again. "He doesn't."

"I do notice that he is a bit oblivious about girls."

"Except you." Seth corrected.

Even now, I could see the appreciation in female eyes over his lean form, the way their eyes wandered over to him and stayed when he flashed a brilliant smile. Caught by the sound of his laughter--the sound of sunlight. It wasn't just the impressive way he filled a T shirt, or the interesting grease smears on his old, tattered jeans. It wasn't the werewolf thing that might as well stamp the word bad boy on his forehead.

It was the grace of his movements despite his large build, the wicked glint in his deep set eyes, the ease of confidence that bordered on arrogance. The contrast of his rugged looks, his earthy laugh and the way his fingers touched the foose ball table, the easy way those long and large hands turned the handles that showed a hint of firmness but also gentleness that pricks the curiosity.

"He gets a lot of attention then?"

Seth scoffed. "If you think this is bad, you should see when he's at school. The girls there salivates over him like..." He paused and I waited for it. "..wolves.

Embry chuckled before it settled into a sigh. "But again, it's not like he notices it. It's like, he doesn't see them."

The way he said it made me flash backed to a particular memory. I could almost hear the waves and taste the salt in the air. Felt again the flutter of my heart when Jacob's dark eyes pierced into mine.

I'll never see anyone else, Bella. I only see you. Even when I close my eyes and try to see something else...

Í felt my chest constrict with a kind of sweet pain that had no place inside me, that shouldn't be there at all. As if he felt my eyes on him from his spot across the room, he looked back, a smile on his face that dimmed by seconds with whatever it was he saw in my face. His expression turned soft as did the curve of his lips while we kept our eyes on each other.

The loud screech of a toddler near by, didn't matter.

The judging and calculating eyes of both Seth and Embry, didn't matter.

The music that pounded over the speakers, didn't matter.

The wedding band that weighed my left hand, didn't matter.

The only thing that mattered was the oddments of memories and crystallized moments that brought me to this epiphany.

I love him and he loves me.

And no length of time will change that, not even the fact that I'm already living my happy ending, that I already have my prince charming, that I got my story book ending.

The beguiling sadness that breathed inside me was almost as sweet as it was heart breaking.

Again, this was nothing new.

We didn't talk about it. Not in the diner when he sat back on the table, not when we were driving to the bonfire because, we both know that nothing had change. That things will not change.

We sat in the darkness of the car, the silent between us was a loud screaming presence on its own, but still we didn't speak. Unsaid words hovered between us, choking the air with tension as I watched Jacob from the corner of my eyes. It didn't take long for us to reach the bonfire but the tension had build so quickly between us that it was near to bursting when we got of the car.

He walked in front of me with strong, silent steps.

I couldn't take it anymore. I have to say something. "Jacob."

He looked back and for the life of me, I couldn't think of anything to say. Not anything that we haven't talked about before. He turned and stood before me. I wondered if the look in his eyes reflected mine when he slid his arms around me. "I know," he whispered into my hair.

Inside the warmth of his arms, listening to his heart beat, I decided that there was nothing more to say, we've said all there was to say, all that needed to be said. It didn't change things then, it wouldn't change things now. We stayed like that for a few seconds more before he snapped his head up. "Everyone has gathered."

He pulled away, took my hand and guided me to the circle.