Senseless | Twilight [ J. Black ]

13. catching up

song of the chapter: mind over matter- young the giant [i fucking love this song]

13. c a t c h i n g   u p

"Tell me how it goes with Jake. See u Thurs."

That was the last text that Florence had sent Bella before she hustled her way onto work. The shift passed fairly quickly, and the three hours flew by with minimal action coming her way. The most she had actually done that afternoon was watch as the guppies in the store's aquarium fought over fish flakes.

Now, she started packing up her things and flitting through her other text messages as she tried to recall when Leah had told her she'd be picking her up. It'd have to be soon.

*Ding*

Florence looked at the top of the screen as a new message came in from Bella.

"Not good. Ugh. Go see him for yourself."

"Hostile..." Florence muttered lowly, wondering what could warrant such a response from her friend.

"What happened??" She wrote back to Bella. Florence could feel her heart slightly pick up in pace as she mulled over all of the possibilities in their encounter. Hopefully Bella's not on bad terms with him, she thought. Although, that wouldn't be too bad for me...

At that moment, the bell at the front of the store rang as someone entered.

As per usual, Florence was too entranced by her thoughts- and her phone this time- to realize who was coming inside. All of a sudden, a hand had grabbed her phone as she hit send.

"Hey, what the-? Give it back!" Florence exclaimed in protest, running around the counter in order to reach at her phone that was now in Leah's grasp. Unfortunately, Leah was about 4 inches taller, and that meant that even with both of hands reaching all the way up, Florence could not measure up to Leah's arm without jumping.

"No can do." Leah replied, typing something quickly into the phone and dodging her friend's swipes. Another *ding* was heard as a message from Florence's phone was sent to Bella, and then Leah finally returned the phone.

"Leahhh," Florence groaned, reading the text that had been sent to Bella for her.

"Nevermind. I don't wanna know." Read the message.

"Why do you have to be so mean?" Florence asked her friend in irritation.

Leah rested her elbows on the counter and didn't look phased, if anything just slightly ticked off. Sell it, Leah told herself. "You're not gonna go see Jake or Bella, are you?" She ordered.

Florence gave her friend an annoyed look as she grabbed her keys and began to close up the shop. "Are you controlling my life right now?" Florence scoffed, flipping over the Open sign to Closed. "Why wouldn't I go see them?

Leah leaned back on the counter to watch her friend clean up and ignored the question.

Florence spoke up again, "Leah, hello? Tell me."

"Fine." Leah finally said, rolling her eyes. "We don't associate with them anymore. Bella, Jake, Quil, or Embry."

Before Florence could react, Leah grabbed the rest of Florence's things and motioned for her friend to walk to her car.

"What do they have to do with Bella?" Florence asked, absolutely bewildered at Leah's demands. 

"We don't associate with them anymore." Leah repeated with determination.

"What?" Florence questioned, more strongly. "Why?"

"Do you trust me or not?" Leah replied, standing in front of her. 

Florence needed time to process this information.

It was the first time she had seen Leah in a while- ever since the Facepunch movie- and clearly, something about Bella, Jake, and their friends was bothering her. Leah herself usually had a strong attitude, but she was never this keen at being so aggressive. 

"God, can you have an attitude," Florence muttered. "There's no reason in the world that would make me stop being friends with them."

Leah balled her hand into a fist, turning her knuckles white.

"Dude, what is wrong?" Florence shot at her friend, realizing her frustration.

Leah looked at anywhere but Florence. She knew she was being unfair, and she had to offer up an explanation sooner rather than later, but she could also only hope that Florence would trust her. After all, she was older by one year.

"Fine," Leah gave in, dark eyes now set on Flor's. "Jake, Embry, and Quil have now joined Sam Uley's 'cult'." She spat.

"W-what?" Florence stammered out, jaw dropped. "How? Why? And, what in the ever-loving hell does that have to do with Bella?" 

"C'mon," said Leah, waving her friend out through the store's entrance. This bought her some extra time to think. "I'll explain in the car."

As Flor walked silently to Leah's car, questions began spilling up in her. She could trust Leah on most things, but how long could she go away without talking to any of her friends? Why was Bella also involved? Did she also join the Uley 'cult'? Did Sam come into the store weeks ago to get her to join, too? But as Florence recalled how much hate Jacob once harbored for Sam, she decided that he would have never allowed for that. Unless he was forced. She even admired that about him.

Hopping into the car, Florence waited for Leah to get comfortable before speaking. Perhaps appeasing her would make her let loose.

"Give me answers, and then I promise I'll stay away from them." Flor lied.

Flor could at least spend a few weeks away from the boys, but she would eventually seek answers for herself. She could already see herself lying to Leah about hanging out with Bella, as that was inevitable. And considering her Mom's relation with the Blacks, there was no way they wouldn't run into each other eventually. 

Leah laughed as she let out a "yessss" and fist pumped the air.

Florence grabbed her fist mid-air, however. "Hold it," she said. "You still owe me an explanation. And stop being so mean."

Leah retracted her hand from Flor's grip and waved her slightly sore wrist around.

"It's a long story, though," Leah chided like a kid, staring at the road in front of her. A million thoughts crossed over her mind. What can I tell her? Leah thought to herself. She has to believe it. 

Little did either of them know about the growing distrust between them.

"Well, I have plenty of time right now," Florence shot back, waiting for her friend to explain Jake's recent predicament any day now. "What you're telling me isn't some sort of game."

As Leah was about to begin speaking, she steadied her hands on the steering wheel. She couldn't leave any details out to Florence, but having the distraction of driving would at least relax her. "It all started on the night that Jacob and I left you at the theater," Leah began, taking a serious tone. "And Jacob got really, really mad."

"How mad?" Florence asked tentatively, afraid to know if the answer was anywhere near dangerous.

Leah exhaled. "Hopefully you'll never have to see for yourself."

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a/n: this was such an interesting chapter to write ahhh. hope u like, also pls vote + comment :)))))))) <3 [im begging] [jk] [not really]