Sunshine and Pine (A Sequel to Everything to me)

Run for the Hills

I'm laying in bed, contemplating the envelope in my hand. It looks crisp and fancy. Far too fancy for anyone I know. There's no return address. Just overseas postage. There's a small part of my brain that really knows who this must be from, but I don't want to believe it. Lifting the envelope to my nose, I inhale. The scent makes my eyes clamp shut, and floating in the darkness of my closed eyelids are the blood red eyes of my dreams. The smell is faint, it's journey across the world masking the worst of it. But it's there, burning me all the same.

The sound of muffled shouting in the living room hits my ears through my closed door. My hair stands on end at the sound of Leah - my pack member, cousin and closest friend - giving the fight of her life about something. Tossing the letter onto my dresser, I fly out of my room to rush to her defense.

"I'd just come home smelling like someone lit a Cinnabon on fire. Like a freaking chemical fire. I am NOT going!" Leah shouts over her shoulder, marching to her room.

I shuffled into the living room and Aunt Sue turns her head to see me standing there with wide eyes.

"What's the drama queen on about?" I ask.

Aunt Sue wordlessly hands me a sheet of crisp white card stock, and with a sigh, slumps down on the couch.

ISABELLA MARIE SWAN

AND

EDWARD ANTHONY MASON CULLEN

Together with their families........

"When did you get this?" I demand.

Aunt Sue's eyes shoot open at the urgency in my voice. "Charlie just dropped it off like 20 minutes ago. Said he was doing the rounds in LaPush for Bella. Why?"

I've already chucked the invitation haphazardly behind me on my way back out the door. I turn into the forest behind the house, tearing from my clothes as my paws come thudding onto the dirt.

"Jake?" I reach out into our wolf pack, sifting through some of the new wolves' minds, who are on patrol for the afternoon. There's no sign of Jake, he must not know yet. I'm so close to the Black house when I hear feet padding through the mud.

"FUUUUUUUUUC—" With a rip that could only be clothes giving way to fur, the scream shifts to an ear splitting howl. And suddenly Jake is passing me in a blur.

"Jake! Jacob, wait!" Pulling the quickest u-turn I can at this speed, I take off behind him.

"She's marrying him! She's fucking marrying him!" He screams, to himself or as an explanation I can't quite tell.

"I know Jake. I came right over. I'm so sorry." My mind flashes to minutes ago, looking at the same pristine white invitation he's currently picturing ripping to shreds in his own mind. Seeing the truth to my words, he lets me follow.

I stay a few feet behind him as we run through the forest, silent as ghosts, for a long time. Well, silent on the outside. Inside Jacob has been spewing every profanity known to man and picturing all the ways he could dismember Edward. But eventually his thoughts morph from rage to something softer, something sad.

"I feel like I'm breaking Lucy." The thought is so quiet, I'm not sure he meant to direct that at me for a moment. But his pace has slowed and his eye searches the side of my face.

All of a sudden Jake comes to a complete stop. Not seeing that coming, I shoot way past him before I can stop myself. By the time I turn around, Jake has shifted back into himself and is sliding down a tree to the forest floor. I've never seen him this far gone, and I feel hatred for Bella like never before. How dare she treat this ball-of-sunshine of a man like this. He deserves so much more than this.

"Did I do something wrong? What does that ice sculpture have that I can't give her?" He's searching my eyes for answers that I don't have.

I shift down next to him, long past the point of being worried about nudity.

"Jacob Black, you did nothing wrong." I say with all of the conviction I have.

"Bella is bat shit crazy." Jacob gives me a harsh glare, my rage not well received. Guess I'll try a gentler approach.

"Jacob," I sigh. "You are the warmest, most laid back, kindest man I have ever known... Don't tell Paul I said that." The tiniest twitch pulls at his lips through the mist of tears.

"If Bella can't see that, then that is her loss and she can go get the life sucked out of her and live happily ever after as a bloodthirsty ice sculpture. Stupidest decision ever if you ask me." Jacobs head drops to his knees with a sob.

"You are going to find someone amazing one day. And they're going to love the shit out of you. Because you're amazing and you deserve nothing less than that." I say with a finality that can't be argued.

"I want to believe you Luce. Really, I do. But why does it feel like I've left part of me behind. Part of my soul is back there, and I'm in agony." My eyebrows pinch together. His words bring a memory forward in my mind. I'd gone back to Vancouver to visit my dad, and in the airport on my way home I'd called Paul.

"Come home to me beautiful, you've taken part of my soul away from me." I'd absolutely melted at his words, until I heard Jared gagging in the background, followed by a muted thud that could only have been a punch.

But Jacob hadn't imprinted on Bella. Everyone knew that. But looking at my friend's face, maybe he wasn't so far off from it. A deep deep love that didn't quite thread into his quileute genes.

"I can't go back there Lucy. Not to watch her become some lifeless knock off version of herself." He mumbles into his arms.

My heart breaks at the softness of his voice. "Then don't...Maybe you should take some time to be away from everything. Get some space. Clear your head. Meet someone that doesn't know anything about all this craziness." Jacob looks up with bloodshot eyes at my words.

"You think I should just run away?" His voice hoarse from silent sobs.

"Yeah. Why not?" I shrug. "I think if going back home right now is going to cause you pain, run for the fucking hills." I give him a reassuring smile. "Maybe just call your dad every once in a while, so he knows you're not dead in a ditch somewhere." I shove him playfully. He lets out a chuckle at that, but it breaks into a sob halfway through and I can feel his agony in my heart. But then he's nodding his head.

Standing up to leave, I give him one last look. "Please don't stay away for too long. You're kind of important to me." He gives me a tearful smile as I break into a run and shift mid stride.

As I sprint through the trees towards home, I hear Jacob's heavy footsteps take off in the opposite direction until all I can hear is the wind whipping through my fur.