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TWELVE

it had been a week since alex had heard anything from jacob, and both he and quil were rightfully worried. quil was also, once again rightfully, frustrated with the situation. whenever he called jacob's father, billy black, the man simply said that his son was sick and couldn't talk, and his grandfather was no help either by brushing him off and telling him that everything would work out as it should.

it was giving quil anxiety and rising anger issues, and alex decided that he'd do his best to take the other boys' focus off his missing best friend and embry.

god, embry.

the lanky boy still hadn't contacted him since disappearing, but he really shouldn't expect anything less considering he was ignoring his own best friends. it just hurt alex's heart particularly in a way he couldn't figure out, but he never mentioned it.

he tried to focus on his friends, especially quil and bella considering they were both dealing with jacob's abrupt sickness that apparently left him bedbound. bella was constantly asking him in school if he'd heard anything from either of the quilete boys about his condition, but alex would shake his head each time. it was starting to annoy him just how much she was asking him, but he tried to brush it off in favor of realizing it was because of her fear of abandonment. 

bella didn't want to be left behind again. not by someone she cared about as much as she did jacob black. and so alex remained patient with her constant asking.

but apparently she had finally reached her breaking point.

"come with me to la push," she says over the phone, stunning the boy into momentary silence. it took alex a few seconds to process her request before he could respond, eyes wide in confusion.

"what are you talking about, bella? why do you wanna go to la push all of a sudden?"

"i need to see jake. for myself. he's still not answering my calls, and- and i just need someone there with me. please, alex?"

"bella, i don't think he or his dad are gonna appreciate us just showing up out of the blue to see if jacob's still sick when mr. black has told you multiple times he is. it's better to just leave them be until he recovers," he tried to reason, but he could hear her heavy breathing through the phone and knew she wasn't going to give up.

"besides, i can't drive over right now. ostana has the car and is out, so-"

"i'll pick you up. text me your address."

alex let out a sigh of toned down exasperation. he liked bella, but this was a bit much even for his patience.

but if it got her to leave jacob and his father alone, and him from her constant asking for updates, he could deal with it. hopefully jake's dad wouldn't be upset with them.

she was at his house around ten minutes later, engine growling harshly as she pulled up, and alex winces as he pulls his hood up over his head to run to her beat up truck. he inhales greedily once inside in the warmth of the vehicle, and bella was quick to pull out of his driveway the second he was situated.

the ride to la push was awkward, if not a little tense, between the two of them. neither really tried to spark conversation, and it just reminded alex why they weren't as close of friends. they got along and everything, helped each other out in their english class, and could talk to one another sort of easily. but neither of them were extroverted enough to keep conversations between themselves going without another person around or a constant subject to talk about.

and alex was certainly not in the mood to hear her rant about jacob ignoring her again. she was really simple minded in this whole situation, because she hadn't once thought about quil, who had also been left behind by jacob getting sick.