"Dreams don't often come true, do they? Wouldn't it be nice if they did?"
-L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
• • •
Peering over at the two people who had quickly grown to matter most to her, Bailey watched as they lost themselves in a world made entirely of their own. With shy smiles and secret glances, it proved clear to see that while friendship remained the basis of their close relation, something deeper lied beneath. It became evident in the glint of admiration that sparked Jacob's chocolate eyes every time Bella stammered out an awkward attempt at wit and the soft beam of happiness that lit up the planes of Bella's face every time Jacob laughed his carefree laugh. The Quileute boy and pale-faced girl liked each other, that much was clear to see. However, Bailey found herself questioning the extent that like truly went to. Perhaps they had once been lovers, she thought to herself absentmindedly. Then she recalled a phone conversation she'd had with Charlie just a few odd-weeks ago.
"It'll be good for you," he told her as she sat with her cellphone tucked between her cheek and her shoulder as she packed her clothes into the suitcase resting atop her bed. "Good for Bella too. She's been having a real hard time as of late."
"What do you mean?" Bailey asked him worriedly, feeling her heart plummet to her feet at the thought of her beloved older sister experiencing anything less than true happiness. "Is Bella okay?"
"She's gettin' there," he lamented with a stressed sigh. "Don't know if she ever told you, but she got this boyfriend a little while after she moved in. Never really liked him to be honest with you, but I wasn't going to stop her. He made her happy at the time, you know? But they'd only been together a couple months before they got into it. Had this big fight Bella was so upset over that she came stomping in the house one night with every intention to hightail it out of here just as fast at your mother did. Remember when she had that stint in the hospital?"
Bailey nodded her head sadly, recalling the phone call she'd received from her mother the moment Bella had been admitted all those months ago. At the time, Bailey had been knee-deep in exams courtesy of her Gran's rigorous homeschool regime, and had thus been kept updated via telephone but repeatedly told to stay put in Acoma. Her parents and Gran had all claimed Bella was fine, would recover quickly, and that her injuries failed to prove severe enough for worry -because lord knew Bailey Swan loved to worry.
"Of course," she replied subdued.
"Well that was right after that big fight they had. Guess it helped them make up, so they got back together and everything was going fine. Then a couple months ago the punk's whole family decided to move back to Alaska right out of the blue, and broke Bella's heart in the process. He just up and left her cold turkey, and she's been having a real hard time of it ever since."
"Poor Bella," Bailey whispered, feeling her own heart break in the process. "I bet she feels absolutely destroyed."
Charlie sighed a sound of sorrow. "She just sits in her room all day staring out the window. School doesn't help and no matter how hard I try to get her to go out with her friends, she always just comes up with some excuse. I tried to threaten to send her back to live with her mother in Phoenix," he admitted quietly, the stress weighing on his shoulders evident even through his voice. "But she wasn't having any of that."
"Maybe I can help her, Daddy," Bailey tried to comfort him, finding herself at a loss at just what else she could do. "Maybe I can help her heal."
"I hope so," Charlie responded with a tenderness that failed to present itself before. "Maybe you can help each other heal," he amended.
Then in that moment, Bailey vowed to do everything in her power to make sure that very thing took place.
"If we're going to be working on this everyday," Bella piped up, gesturing to the motorcycle parts spread out along the blanket on the ground, "we should probably include some homework. Don't want the Dads to think I'm a bad influence on you."
Jacob scoffed from his position on the floor, knees pressed into the dirt as he tinkered with the various metal parts laid out in front of him and pieced them together. "You influence me? Please."
Bailey giggled at his apparent sass, and as the childish sound that so closely resembled the tinkling of wind-chimes filled the otherwise quiet of the garage, Jacob smiled over at her criss-cross position on the work bench.
"I am older than you," Bella retorted with a slight grimace.
The Quileute boy smirked. "Age ain't nothin' but a number." Jacob then looked back at Bailey and held his hand out to her. "C'mere."
Tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, Bailey took his hand and allowed him to pull her down onto the floor beside him. She tucked her feet beneath her and sat back on her legs, crossing her ankles in the process, then proceeded to take the rag and metal part from Jacob's outstretched hands. "Try to wipe as much dirt and grease off of it as you can, yeah?" He directed, rolling up the too-long sleeves of her sweater for her so the soft fabric wouldn't get dirty. She nodded her head and smiled, then carried on as told.
"I convinced you to secretly build us two-wheeled death machines," Bella continued on, smiling softly at the image of her little sister and best friend tinkering about on the floor. The tip of Bailey's tongue poked out from between her teeth as she concentrated, her dainty fingers rubbing the cloth vigorously back-and-forth as she attempted to clean the beyond-dirty valve cap, and it make Bella's smile widen. Ever since she was a little girl, Bailey had always made the very face she sported in that moment, and just like all the times before then, her thick brows furrowed in focus and her cheeks circled pink with exertion. The sight made Bella overjoyed. She hadn't seen her little sister in so, so long, and it was a relief to know that while everything else in her life was spiraling out of control, Bailey had stayed the same.
Even if she was just a little bit taller.
"God," Jacob muttered, eyes wide in mock-horror. "You're right, you're like Satan-"
"Yo, Jake, you in there?"
The voice came so suddenly that Bailey flinched, soon after whimpering in surprise as the abrupt movement caused her to drop the valve cap to the floor where it ricocheted with a metallic clank! She scrambled to pick it up as Bella sprang to her feet to pull a blue tarp over the motorcycles, but Jacob quickly grasped Bailey's hands in his own and assuaged Bella. "It's cool," he told them both. "It's just my boys."
Then, as if his words alone had summoned them out of thin air, two bodies came barreling through the open garage doorway. "Hey Jake-" the boy on the left began, but came to an abrupt halt as his eyes caught sight of the two girls before him, the smallest of which had both her arms wrapped tightly around Jacob's bicep as she cuddled into the dangling appendage. He cast a side-long glance to his friend stood beside him, and the two of them exchanged secretive smirks.
"Hey. This is Bella," he then gestured to the boy who spoke -the tall, thin Quileute with the chin-length brown hair and dimpled smile. "Bella, that's Embry." Then he gestured to the figure beside him, of which was statured short and stockily built with cropped brown hair and a lopsided smirk. "And Quil."
The two boys waved before their sights fell on the remaining blonde in the room. Jacob smiled down at her as she clung to his arm and gently pulled her to her feet as he stood to his own. "This is Bailey," he informed them, tucking her against his side. "Bella's little sister and my long-lost best friend."
"Hey!" The boy named Embry protested in mock-outrage. "I thought I was your best friend!"
Jacob simply rolled his eyes and Quil interrupted Embry before he could get another word out. "So the bike building story is true."
Bella nodded. "Taught him everything he knows."
Quil smirked. "What about the part where you're his girlfriend?"
"Oh," Bella stammered, feet shuffling awkwardly as she fidgeted with her hands in a nervous gesture that only fueled her nearly visible aura of anxiety. "We're just friends."
"Ooh," Embry called, features contorting into a grimace of faux-pain that made Bailey giggle. "Burn."
"I said she's a girl and a friend," Jacob piped up in a desperate grasp for straws; however, there proved no masking the faint blush staining his cheeks.
"Embry, you remember him making that distinction?" Quil questioned with a knowing glint to his mirthful brown eyes.
Embry grinned and sauntered over in Bella's direction. "Nope."
"So I guess you guys have girlfriends?" Bella interjected, graciously coming to Jacob's rescue as his eyes narrowed in annoyance directed toward his two best friends.
Or in that moment, ex-best friends.
Jacob laughed too loudly to come across as genuine. "Right. Quil took his cousin to prom," he stated matter-o-factly, then his features contorted into a victorious smirk as Quil groaned audibly.
"Yeah, that's still a riot. You want funny, Black? I'll give you funny."
Bailey watched in amusement as Quil made a run at Jacob that he skillfully dodged before the pair ensued in a playful scuffle of lame insults and roguish laughter. They kept at it for a good while, taking turns catching each other in a headlock before ruthlessly noogy-ing one another's heads with their knuckles and pleading for surrender with a shouted 'Uncle!' Bailey giggled and cheered, egging on Jacob as Quil flopped to his back and then just as quickly switching sides to cheer for Quil as he made a rather impressive attempt at redemption. She felt at ease in their presence -felt like she had known them for the entirety of her life as they wrestled and laughed and grinned. When Jacob scooped her up in his arms and held her hostage against his chest while fending off the 'knight in shining armor come to save her' otherwise known as Quil, Bailey had no qualms and felt no anxiety. For the first time in a long time, tears fell from her eyes not out of sadness, but out of joy. Because as she accidentally hit Jacob in the face as she flailed around in character, Quil only guffawed to the point of breathlessness. Jacob playfully growled and moved to tickle her relentlessly, and Bailey squealed as she wriggled out of his arms and dashed to the corner of the garage.
"Worry not, fair maiden!" Quil called as he pounced on Jacob's back with an animated war cry. "I will save thee from thy monstrous beast!"
"Beast?!" Jacob exclaimed, rounding on Quil with narrowed eyes and an offended look on his face. "Who you calling beast, Shrek?"
An indignant gasp escaped Quil's lips. "Why, I never! Shrek? Really?" He slapped a hand over his heart. "If anyone's an ogre here, its you!"
Then they proceeded to chase each other around the garage once again, Bailey passed off between the two, and giggling all the while.
"I got five bucks on Quil," Embry murmured from a distance beside Bella, smiling widely at the antics of the three in front of him as they ran about like children on the playground.
Bella only smirked in response and slapped her hand to his outstretched one. "My money's on Bailey."
They watched her pounce on Jacob's back.
"Okay," Embry conceded. "You're on."