"Oh, he would have found a chance to ask you without me - I just really wanted to watch your face."
"Jerk," Bella muttered.
I laughed now, remembering her aghast expression. Nothing I'd ever told her about my own dark story had ever made her look so horrified. The truth didn't frighten her. She wanted to be with me. Mind-boggling.
"If I'd asked you, would you have turned me down?"
"Probably not," she said. "But I would have cancelled later - faked an illness or a sprained ankle."
How strange. "Why would you do that?"
Jacob chuckled and Bella rolled her eyes; the answer was so obvious.
"He calls you absurd for missing things but this guy is even worse," Jacob laughed.
She shook her head, as if she was disappointed that I did not understand at once.
"You've never seen me in gym, I guess, but I would have thought that you would understand."
Ah. "Are you referring to the fact that you can't walk across a flat, stable surface without finding something to trip over?"
"Obviously."
"That wouldn't be a problem. It's all in the leading."
For a brief fraction of a second, I was overwhelmed by the idea of holding her in my arms at a dance - where she would surely wear something pretty and delicate rather than this hideous sweater.
Bella grimaced; she would have to get rid of that sweater.
With perfect clarity, I remembered how her body had felt under mine after I'd thrown her out of the way of the oncoming van. Stronger than the panic or the desperation or the chagrin, I could remember that sensation. She'd been so warm and so soft, fitting easily into my own stone shape...
I wrenched myself back from the memory.
"But you never told me - " I said quickly, preventing her from arguing with me about her clumsiness, as she clearly intended to do. "Are you resolved on going to Seattle, or do you mind if we do something different?"
"As long as it's with you, anything is fine," Bella smiled.
Devious - giving her a choice without giving her the option of getting away from me for the day. Hardly fair of me. But I had made her a promise last night...and I liked the idea of fulfilling it - almost as much as that idea terrified me.
The sun would be shining Saturday. I could show her the real me, if I was brave enough to endure her horror and disgust. I knew just the place to take such a risk...
Bella was really smiling now... she wanted to know more about what he looked like in the sun.
"I'm open to alternatives," Bella said. "But I do have a favor to ask."
A qualified yes. What would she want from me?
"What?"
"Can I drive?"
Was this her idea of humor?
"Nope," Jacob shook his head.
"Why?"
"Well, mostly because when I told Charlie I was going to Seattle, he specifically asked if I was going alone and, at the time, I was. If he asked again, I probably wouldn't lie, but I don't think he will ask again, and leaving my truck at home would just bring up the subject unnecessarily. And also, because your driving frightens me."
"I knew that last bit would come up," Jacob chuckled.
I rolled my eyes at her. "Of all the things about me that could frighten you, you worry about my driving." Truly, her brain worked backwards. I shook my head, disgusted.
Edward, Alice called urgently.
Suddenly I was staring into a bright circle of sunlight, caught up in one of Alice's visions.
It was a place I knew well, the place I'd just considered taking Bella - a little meadow where no one ever went beside myself. A quiet, pretty place where I could count on being alone - far enough from any trail or human habitation that even my mind could have peace and quiet.
Alice recognized it, too, because she had seen me there not so long ago in another vision - one of those flickering, indistinct visions that Alice had shown me the morning I'd saved Bella from the van.
"No!" Jacob said, knowing where this was going. "You can't go there."
"It's not going to happen, Jake," Bella said, she too, knew where this was going.
"Bella..." Jacob started to say.
"Let me just keep reading," Bella interrupted and stated reading again.
In that flickering vision, I hadn't been alone. And now it was clear - Bella was with me there. So I was brave enough. She stared at me, rainbows dancing across her face, her eyes fathomless.
It's the same place, Alice thought, her mind full of a horror that did not match the vision. Tension, perhaps, but horror? What did she mean, the same place?
Both Jacob and Bella shivered, knowing what place Alice had to mean.
And then I saw it.
Edward! Alice protested shrilly. I love her, Edward!
I shut her out viciously.
She didn't love Bella the way I did. Her vision was impossible. Wrong. She was blinded somehow, seeing impossibilities.
Not even a half a second had passed. Bella was looking curiously at my face, waiting for me to approve her request. Had she seen the flash of dread, or had it been too quick for her?
I focused on her, on our unfinished conversation, pushing Alice and her flawed, lying visions far from my thoughts. They didn't deserve my attention.
"If it's not a flawed vision..." Jacob started, gritting his teeth.
"It is," Bella said, her voice calm though she was a little afraid. "Edward won't let it be."
"Does he even have a choice?" Jacob hissed at her.
"He muddled up Alice's visions before," Bella said. "When he stopped talking to me... he'll do it again."
"Right," Jacob said, not believing it, but hoping it was true.