Certain Things || L.C.

Chapter Three

January 8th, 2006

Just under two weeks had pasted when Conner finally found the time to head out the rez and see Jacob. He had been busy the past week or so, working his new job at the diner. He had graciously excepted the waiting position offered to him, knowing that if everything went well, he may be able to move into the kitchen eventually. Friday he had gotten his first paycheck, it wasn't much, but he was now able to pay the teen for his labor.

The small house slowly came into view as his truck rolled down the gravel road, coming to a stop next to the rusty barn that set a few hundred feet away from the house. Immediately, he spotted his sister's old clunker of a truck, shocked to see she was here as well. He knew she had been getting out of the house more as of late, trying to appease Charlie. She had even gone out to see a movie with one of her friends just a couple days prior. Between Conner working and Bella's winter break ending, he hadn't seen much of the teen, but he knew for a fact that she had gone over to Jake's the previous weekend to get her oil changed. To say he was surprised to see her here was a bit of an understatement, since he wasn't aware that two teens really spent any time together besides the Quileutes' visits into town to watch whatever game was on with Charlie.

Opening the truck, he plopped down to the ground, feet crunching the gravel as he stepped into the shed. "Hi..." He drifted off, looking at the two apprehensively. Looking down he saw two rusty motorbikes, Jacob working on one with a wrench while Bella sat by, keeping him engrossed in a conversation. Sending his sister a weary glance, he spoke. "What's going on?" He asked hesitantly.

Bella sucked in a breath. "Hey, Conner." She started, awkwardly fiddling with her fingers. "I just saved these two from the junkyard so Jake could fix them." She finished, throwing him a hesitant smile. She hoped the older sibling would handle this information well, considering the reproductions if he ever let it slip to Charlie what she was doing out here.

Conner stared at the girl incredulously. "You're lucky I'm nice and won't tell dad. He'd lose his shit if he found out about this." He chastised the girl. "You know how he feels about these death traps."

She nodded fervently. "I know, and I promise I'll be carful. I'll owe you big time if you keep it to yourself." She bargained. "Besides, I've got a great teacher." She said nudging the teen beside her, causing a bright blush to creep up his neck. Jacob looked down bashfully, muttering something unintelligible under his breath, continuing to tighten whatever bolt he was working on. Conner raised an eyebrow. Bella was flirting, and it kinda weirded him out. He wasn't sure if she noticed she was doing it, but Conner quickly chose to ignore it.

The man reached into his jacket pocket, pulling a few folded bills, and reached towards Jacob, offering him the money. "Let me know if you need more for parts or anything. Charlie's not very good with cars, so I'm honestly not too sure how much I should be paying you." He said, dropping the money into the teens tanned palm.

"This should cover it. I think I know what part needs to be replaced, so I already pulled it from the junk yard, I'll just need to see what else we might need before I head to the auto store." He said, pocketing the money. "Let me just finish this one thing up, and I'll take a look at it." He finished, sending a grin to the man.

Conner stood, awkwardly teetering on his heels for a moment. "Well, hope I'm not intruding, but I'm kinda stuck here until Jake fixes my truck, so..." he trailed off.

"Of course not Con. I feel like I've barely seen you lately, with you busy with work now." Bella reassured, Conner sending her a smile in return.

"Yo, Jake, you in there?!" An unknown voice called, both siblings starting to gather their things to leave. They didn't want to intrude on Jacob's friendships. They would just take a walk or something to pass the time.