Life's Little Storms
~Melody~
Sleeping that night was rough for me. I had constant flashes of Anna's dead body in Jacob's jaw. Her once again lifeless eyes began to haunt me like they had been months before. I woke up with my hair clinging to the sweat on my neck. My chest continued to heave as I stared around my room. Something moved in the right corner of my room, and I snapped my neck to see what it was.
"Do you have nightmares often, Lody?" Anna's teasing voice caught me off guard. The only person who has ever appeared in my bedroom randomly was Jacob.
"Anna?"
"The one and only."
I sat up, "What are you doing here?"
"I've been around you most of the time, Melody." She moved to the edge of my bed. The cold of her undead body seeped through my blankets. "I've watched over you once you left."
I thought about my time in South Carolina. There had been no new of deaths. Anywhere in the US in fact. Not since Victoria and her army of newborns tore through Washington. I leaned forward and looked at Anna's face.
"Your eyes are golden."
"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Anna rolled her eyes.
My eye brows scrunched together. "Why? How?"
"I watched those people you hang out with. I followed them while they hunted to adapt to their ways."
"Why?"
"You're my best friend, Melody. If that guy can marry a human, then I want to be able to continue our friendship."
"You bit me, Anna."
"I had to, Melody. I did it for us. We would be best friends for the rest of eternity. I know it was selfish, but all those times I wanted to talk to you I couldn't because I was supposed to be dead. I was alive and the only person I wanted to be by my side was suffering because she thought I had bit the dust."
I thought about Anna compared to Jacob. Everything Anna had done, it was out of love for me. She wanted me to be by her side. Everything Jacob had done, it was out of love for Bella. Anna was someone who had been through everything with me.
I thought about when my mom told my dad that she wanted a divorce. I had immediately texted Anna that my parents were fighting. Of course it was late at night, and neither of us were old enough to drive yet. It was a few minutes after I sent the text that I received a call. Anna called me and talked nonstop in order to keep me distracted from my parents.
But Jacob... When I was attacked by Victoria, he took me and kept me in the safety of his room. He had spent all day assuring me that the crazy red head wasn't going to get me because he was protecting me. He made me feel alive. I sighed.
"I forgive you, Anna."
She grinned before grabbing me in a tight hug. When I gasped for air, she pulled away with a sheepish grin.
"Sorry, I forget you're still so tiny." Her lips turned up into a smirk as she spoke in a voice mocking Dracula's, "My precious, little human. I must be careful with you."
I collapsed against my pillows with a laugh. It was still Anna. Being changed into a monster hadn't actually changed her. On the outside she was hard and cold, but on the inside she was still the teenage girl I had known. She laid on the pillow next to me. I looked at her then the ceiling. We sat in minutes of silence. The only sounds that could be heard were my breathing and the soft patter of rain on the window.
"Who's that boy you were dancing with earlier?" Anna asked quietly.
I looked at her. "Seth?"
"No, the one who got mad at you for keeping me a secret."
"Jacob?"
"I guess."
"We dated a while after I got here."
"What happened?"
"He cheated on me right in front of me."
Anna jolted up. "Seriously?"
"You know that girl who was getting married?" Anna nodded. "They kissed because he was going to commit suicide after he found out that Bella and Edward were engaged."
"That douche." She scowled.
"He claims that we're soul mates, but I don't know. How can someone do that to someone they're supposed to love and protect?"
"I don't know, Mel."
We sat in more silence. "It just hurts, Anna. I want to be held by him again, but what if he
hurts me again?"
There was a pause. "I read somewhere that anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die."
I rolled onto my side, with my back facing Anna. I sighed deeply through my nose and shut my eyes. My body relaxed into the mattress as I thought about things I could say to Jacob. Half of them were angry, half of them were begging. I sighed once more.
"Goodnight, Lody." She said quietly. Her cold hand grasped mine above my blanket. "Whatever happens with Jacob, it will be okay."
"Thank you, Anna." She didn't reply, but I knew that she was smiling. "Good night."
When I woke up the next morning, Anna was already gone. I knew that last night was not the last time I would see Anna. That new fact made me start my day with a new sense of hope.
,*.
I slammed the door to my car and began making my way towards the little garage where Jacob and I had spent hours on end. The door was opened, so I knew Jacob was in there working on something. He was bending over the hood of his old Rabbit. An old eighties song was softly playing through the radio that sat on his work table.
"Hey." I said, softly.
He looked up with a look of surprise. "Melody, hi."
I shuffled my feet slightly with my fingers twisting in front of me."Whatcha doing?"
"I was changing the battery for the Rabbit."
I perched myself on one of the bikes and looked up at Jacob. He grabbed the rag from his back pocket and wiped his hands off. A bead of sweat dropped down the line between Jacob's abs. My eyes followed the bead until it disappeared under the waist band of his jeans. I swallowed before meeting his eyes.
"What's on your mind, Mel?"
"You."
Jacob smiled down at me. "Oh?"
"Yeah, I've been thinking about you...and me."
"What about us?"
"I forgive you."
"You...forgive me?" Jacob asked skeptically.
"Yes."
Jacob's smile seemed to shine brighter than the sun. Although in La Push, that was very
possible.
"But..." I swallowed. "I'm not ready to be with you again."
The smile broke down, but there was still a little bit of hope shining in his beautiful brown eyes. "You're not ready, but will you be again?"
I sighed, "I think so. Eventually."
"I will wait forever for you, Melody."
I reached out my hand to him after he closed the hood. His warm fingers wrapped themselves around my own. I yelped when he gave a gentle tug and I stumbled into his arms. Like the night before, he and I were standing as if we were going to dance. His warm breath made the small baby hairs around my face blow away.
"I respect your decision, Melody." Jake looked at me through half-lidded eyes. "But I need to do something."
I looked at him, unsure of where he was going with this. "What are you talking about?"
Jacob lifted his thumb to my mouth and brushed it against my lower lip. He paused for a second before dipping his head. The minute his lips touched mine, my eyes closed and I melted into him. Our lips moved in perfect synchronization. Jacob wrapped his arms around me, and he spun my around so that I was sitting on the hood of the Rabbit.
His rough palm brushed against my cheek as he pushed his fingers into my hair. He pecked my lips twice more before pulling away. I sucked in a deep breath of cool air and stared up at Jacob. He smiled at me.
"I think I can be even more patient now."
I gave a breathless laugh and ran a hand through my hair. "Sounds good."
~Jacob~
My lips tingled as I looked at Melody once more. She was perched on a stool next to my tool box, flipping through a magazine. Even with messy hair, she looked beautiful. It was like a weight had been lifted off of my chest. I didn't have to be with Melody in order to be happy. Just knowing that she forgave me was enough to make me feel like I could fly.
"What's on your mind?" I asked, looking up for a second.
She gave me a confused look. "What?"
"You are barely paying attention to the magazine."
"I know..." She sighed before closing the magazine. "The vampire who attacked me-"
An unwanted shiver danced its way down my spine. "What about them?"
"It was Anna."
"Anna?" I put my tool down and faced Melody fully. "What do you mean?"
She looked unsure as well. "I think the shark was Victoria or one of her minions. Anna
was the one who attacked me that day."
"Why are you telling me this now?"
"She visited me last night." She bit into her lip. "I haven't seen her since she attacked me, but I could tell that she was different from before."
"What?" I yelled. I walked over to her and spun the stool so that I was standing in between her legs. I lifted each of her arms and inspected them.
"She didn't hurt me, Jake." She laughed slightly. "She was apologizing to me for what she did. Then to tell me that while I was gone she was living the same life as the Cullen's."
"She apologized for attacking you, and you forgave her?"
Melody looked up at me from under her lashes before quietly replying. "I forgave you."
I was silent, so she continued, "Actually, Anna was the one who convinced me to forgive you."
"Really?"
"Mhm."
I forced a smile. "Then I guess I have to thank her."
Melody grinned widely. "I would love that." Her shoulders slumped. "Can you please warn the pack about her? I don't want them to attack her for being on your lands. I can even tell Anna to stay on the Cullen's side of the treaty."
"I can try, Mel, but they won't be happy about it." My doubt didn't seem to sway Melody because she sat up straighter with a bright smile on her face.
"Aren't they supposed to respect one of the pack's imprints? Like, try to do what they can to make sure none of them can get hurt. I know Anna won't hurt anyone, but I don't want them to mistake her for someone else."
"Well, yeah. I'll talk to them. I don't run perimeter until tonight, so if you can get her to hide away until we know for sure that they will look out for her, I suggest you do it."
"Then hopefully we won't have a problem." She smiled sweetly at me. My breath caught in my throat, and I wanted to kiss her again. But I knew that the first time I did it, she was too shocked to do anything about it. Now she would probably slap me upside the head. Instead, I kissed the tip of her nose gently. Melody pulled away with a giggle.
"Thank you, Jacob. I really appreciate it."
"Anything for you, Melody." Melody smiled with triumph before looking back at the magazine, this time she was looking at it intently. I continued to smile at her as I silently vowed to do right by her this time. I would never hurt her again.