It got easier as the weeks went by.
Jacob caught up on his sleep, and his appetite along with his personality returned slowly but surely. He visited the borderline less and less. Going from every day to a few days a week to only once a week. Every Wednesday.
Rebecca married. She left with her husband. Apparently, Hawaii was calling her name. Jacob theorises it was to get away from the shit show their life was turning out to be.
Rachel went to college. Good for her.
Sam stayed away from Jacob. Something happened with his girlfriend, Leah, and they split up.
Jacob still had his friends, though, which was a silver lining. He still found it difficult—knowing what was running through their veins, but Jacob disassociated himself from that part of him. He had been disassociating a lot, actually. But as his personality returned, and the more he ignored the storm brewing up their future, the less it happened.
He got by.
﹌﹌﹌
October passed, and the autumn season drew nearer to an end as November dragged on.
The rain was coming down heavily. The mud turned to sludge and dry crunchy leaves moistened to soggy mush.
Wednesday.
Jacob wasn't expecting anything. Nothing ever happened. But he waited. For ten minutes he waited. He prepared his muscles to move but only resulted in a twitch when a movement behind the sheen of downpour stopped him.
"Jacob," Edward said simply. Softly.
The two boys stood on their respective sides of the borderline. Ten feet apart from each other.
"You were gone," Jacob commented quietly. His soaking mop of dark hair hanging and sticking to the skin of his face. His coffee-brown eyes refused to meet supernatural amber.
"It's better if we stay away from each other. I'm sure your family explained why," Edward said. Not quite in reply to Jacob's underlying question.
"You said I needed to trust you..." he reminded Edward, who saw the pained image Jacob recalled in his mind of Sam's snout pushing Jacob away—hollering out to the young boy to trust what he say's. "Can I?"
Jacob had lost everything. His whole life had been a lie, and he couldn't trust anyone anymore. He could never be normal. He had no choice.
It was a simple enough question. Edward knew the answer, but he felt a deep need to lie to Jacob. To tell him, "Yes, you can." Give any pathetic attempt at dodging "No."
"I do not think I deserve your trust." It wasn't a lie.
"So they're right then?" Jacob snapped back. "What they said about you. Your family."
"...I try not to let them be right."
"Have they ever been right?" Jacob finally glimpsed between the drenched curtains of his hair to lock his uncertain eyes with Edward's.
Yes.
"...Jacob...You're only a kid. I can't-" Edward tried to ramble out but was quickly cut off.
"Tell me the truth! They said-..." Jacob looked back down. His fists clenched. "They said that one day...I'm probably going to grow up to be-..." His voice got caught in his throat. He swallowed down the lump and tried again, "be one of those...things...Like Sam. And that I was designed to-"
"Jacob, stop."
"But... I don't want to be a monster. I don't want to hurt you." Jacob's eyes stung as tears threatened to merge with rain.
"You won't hurt me," Edward almost whimpered with his own lump catching in his throat. "And I would never hurt you, either. I promise you that. You are not a monster, Jacob. Neither is Sam," was what he sternly affirmed with more confidence. Like it was fact.
"I don't understand," Jacob choked out in a sob.
Edward frowned, his eyebrows forming a crease between them, "I know, and you probably won't for a while."
"Will you help me? Understand?" Jacob looked back up to the other with half-lidded eyes.
Edward stood there, contemplating. He shouldn't. This should be the end of it. It never should have happened in the first place.
"Ok."
Jacob messaged Edward to ask if they could meet next Wednesday. He agreed.
﹌﹌﹌
"Why didn't you show up?"
Jacob—four feet away from the invisible line between the marked trees—was sat hunched over on the now dry soil, legs folded, hair falling in front of his face, and binder seated in his lap as he did his homework. He didn't look up at Edward as he spoke. Instead, focusing on jotting down answers on the paper.
"I wanted to. But I felt as though it would be safer for us both if we didn't have a repeat of what happened last time..." Edward replied. He, too, was sat on the ground with his own homework in his lap. "I did go to look for you. But you either weren't there, or Sam was around."
"Oh..." Jacob stopped writing. "I'm sorry."
"I told you to stop apologising."
"I went every day. Promise..." Jacob finally looked up to the other, "But when I never saw you, I stopped coming so often. I only come on Wednesdays now," he shifted his gaze downward.
"I see...How have you been?"
'Not good.'
"fine. You?"
"Could be better. You can tell me what's wrong," Edward grinned, "I don't bite."
Jacob giggled, "Oh right, I forgot. You read minds. What's up with that?"
"It's a vampire thing," the older boy shook his head dismissively.
"...You gonna elaborate?" Jacob quirked a brow.
"Well, I'm not actually all that sure, to be honest. Some vampires have special abilities, most don't."
"Ok, I'm gonna test you. What am I thinking right now?" Jacob smirked as he diverted his eyes to a tree.
It was quiet for a few seconds before Edward rumbled a laugh in that melodious way of his.
"You're thinking that Sam needs a Dracula chew toy."
"Ugh, you're good," Jacob beamed a smile in defeat. "Are you right every time?"
"So far, yes. The words and images they think come to my mind. In my family, it is me, Jasper, and Alice who have abilities. Jasper, my brother, can feel and manipulate other's emotions. And Alice, my sister, can see the future."
"....You're kidding."
Edward shook his head with a tight smile.
"What does she see?!" Jacob sat up straight with a look of amazement.
"A lot of things," Edward glanced at the forever overcast sky, distorted by brown leaves like a Rorschach test, as he thought. "The future is always changing, so she cannot accurately predict it. She can see people's futures in short spurts. Or events that directly impact us."
"What does she see for you?" Jacob leaned in slightly.
Edward looked down at his schoolwork, who would only write when there was no talking, Jacob noticed. "She saw you...that day. She had a vision of some Quileute kid beyond the border whilst we were out hunting. I had seen it in her mind before anyone else could see it on her face. That is why I went to scare you off," Edward told him with a fond smile.
"But failed miserably," Jacob added with a small laugh.
"Yes," the vampire's smile grew wider. "She cannot, however, predict Quileute wolves."
Jacob looked up from his paper suddenly, "Why not?"
"We are not sure of that either. Something to do with protecting the wolf's attack? Just a theory," Edward shrugged.
"But you can read Sam's mind?" Jacob shot back sceptically.
"Again, we don't know why," Edward grinned sourly.
"So if Alice would have seen Sam showing up-"
"I would never have gotten to know when your birthday is," Edward finished for Jacob.
"Huh..." Jacob looked down as he considered this with a mischievous smirk. "Thanks, Sam," he laughed with Edward before continuing, "Could she predict my future?"
"Not very far into it, but since you haven't phased yet, I suppose yes," Edward nodded in confirmation, "She could."
Jacob smiled to himself, "Cool."
"No."
"What?"
"I'm not bringing her here," Edward clarified.
Jacob huffed sheepishly, before resuming to scribble down words for his homework. "Dude, you gotta stop doing that."
A minute of silence passed between the two before Jacob spoke up after a thought came to mind.
"So...Was it actually you then? Who made the treaty with my great-grandfather?"
"Yes."
"What was he like?"
The memory flashed in Edward's mind with a far-off stare as he reminisced. "He was a good man. I never spoke to him—it was my father who made the deal. I was uncertain, but..." Edward recalled Ephriam's scepticism, but fairness, "as far as I could tell, he had a good heart."
Jacob smiled minutely at that, "Thank you."
Edward would let Jacob give his thank's this time.
"Forever. You looking forward to it?" Jacob asked as he finished writing down his last answer.
"No, not particularly. It's tiring. I never wanted this life or eternity. But I am grateful for everything my father, Carlisle, has provided for me and my family."
Jacob looked at Edward thoughtfully, "I have so many questions."
"I know, and we'll get to them. A Wednesday at a time," Edward affirmed with a tender smile.
Jacob began to pack his things away into his backpack, "I should go. Before Sam comes and rips us a new one," he chuckled nervously.
"Yes. You should really consider that Dracula chew toy," the vampire snickered with the younger boy and stood up, placing his books and papers into his bag. "You will let me know when you are home?"
"Sure," Jacob brushed the leaves from his jeans.
"Have a good night, Jacob. Get home safely."
"You too," Jacob ended with a side smile and waved his goodbye.
﹌﹌﹌
And so it was.
Every Wednesday, they'd meet at the borderline. Spending hours talking to each other, answering questions about one another's lives. What this and that was like. Edward would help Jacob with his homework. They shared music. Went into detail about their interests. Express their feelings about certain topics or what was currently happening in their lives. Every Wednesday was spent learning something new and growing closer to one another by the week.
And both wolf and vampire had gained a new silver lining.
✩──────✩──────✩
(A.N.
Thank you for reading! Please review.
Your comments sing to Jacob as Edward plays the piano and your votes give Sam the Dracula chew toy :3)