Ebb and Flow (Twilight x Reader)

Chapter 23

Over the next few days, I'd been distracting Bella from calling Jacob. She'd gotten better within twenty-four hours like Mike had, and ever since then, she'd been trying to reach Billy. The first few times she'd tried to call I'd been able to prevent it, but in the end, it was inevitable.

On Saturday she even went to his house for God's sake. When she came back she told me that they weren't there, and I told her not to go showing up to people's houses without telling them she was coming.

Yknow. Especially to a house full of werewolves, but I didn't say that.

As soon as Dad got home from work Bella made him call Harry Clearwater, and she stood by the kitchen counter as Dad and Harry spoke. Apparently Harry had been in the hospital for some sort of tests they needed to do on his heart.

Dad hung up the phone once they were done talking.

"Billy took Jake to the doc down there, and it looks like he has mono. He's real tired, and Billy said no visitors," he reported.

"No visitors?" Bella demanded in disbelief.

Dad raised one eyebrow. "Now don't you go making a pest of yourself, Bells. Billy knows what's best for Jake. He'll be up and around soon enough. Be patient."

But Bella wasn't patient.

That night she came to talk to me about it in my room.

"I'm worried, Y/n," she said. "The whole thing is just. . . weird. I looked up the symptoms of mono, and the only one Jake was showing was a fever, before he went home from the movie at least. He didn't have exhaustion or a headache or a sore throat—"

"Hang on," I interrupted. "You seriously researched this? What, do you not believe Billy or something?"

She hesitated. "The article said that a person with mono needs to avoid physical activity, but there was nothing about visitors. The disease isn't very infectious."

"I think Billy is just being cautious," I told her. "The best we can do is just wait until Jake is better. Calling repeatedly or making surprise visits isn't going to help."

Bella sighed. "Okay. Maybe you're right."

As she went back to her room, I wondered why Billy couldn't have thought of a better excuse. Seriously, mono?

***

I hadn't realized how much Bella was depending on Jacob until he wasn't there. The following week she woke herself screaming more than she did before, and I could tell that she may have been showing signs of reverting back into her depression.

That was not good at all.

On Saturday she called Billy and told me he'd said Jacob was better, but out with some friends, so he couldn't talk at the moment. I'd briefly wondered if 'friends' meant Sam and his gang, but I stopped that train of thought once I'd seen my sister's face.

She felt alone again.

Well, I wasn't going to let that happen.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to Port Angeles to see a movie or something?" I was asking for the thousandth time as Bella was getting herself some lunch.

"I already told you I'm not feeling like it," she replied, getting out a plate of leftovers from the fridge.

"Well you must feel like doing something."

She closed the fridge door and crossed to the silverware drawer to get a fork, not answering.

"Bella?" I asked, wondering what was on her mind.