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━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ❝ BY THE WAY YOUR JEALOUSY IS SHOWING. ❞ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"WELL, WELL, WELL, LOOK who decided to show up," Jacob drawled, pushing off the door. "You know, most people show up around the time they said they'd get here."
Quil popped his head out from inside the garage, grinning. "We were about to send a search party. Thought maybe you two ran out of gas or something."
Embry rolled his eyes, closing the truck door behind Talia. "Relax, it wasn't that long."
Jacob raised an eyebrow. "It's been more than an hour."
Talia blinked, genuinely surprised. "Really? It didn't feel that long."
"That's 'cause someone decided to take the scenic route," Jacob quipped, tilting his head toward Embry.
Embry shrugged casually, slipping his hands into his pockets. "Figured she'd want to see the sunset from the ridge. It's the best view in La Push."
Jacob gave him a knowing look but didn't press further, while Quil piped up with a dramatic sigh. "Man, Embry. Setting the bar real high for the rest of us."
Bella, sitting on the edge of an old workbench, smiled as Talia walked over. "You guys really are late," she said softly, but without any hint of annoyance. "Jacob's been pacing for, like, twenty minutes."
Talia laughed, shaking her head as she sat down next to Bella. "I didn't even realize we were taking that long. We just talked."
Bella tilted her head, her curiosity evident. She leaned in a little, lowering her voice so only Talia could hear. "Just talked? Like, seriously? No kissing or anything?"
Talia's laugh bubbled out, and she shook her head firmly. "No, seriously. Just talked. It was... nice."
Bella's lips curved into a small, knowing smile. "You look happy."
Talia paused, her gaze drifting toward Embry, who was now bantering with Jacob and Quil. Her chest felt warm as she thought about the ride over, his quiet reassurances, and the way he'd listened to her so intently. "He's just really sweet," she admitted softly. "But, I can't do anything about that because I'm not staying here, you know? Long distance stuff would suck."
Bella opened her mouth to speak as she tried an idea. "You could always live with me and Charlie."
Talia let out a little laugh, "oh yeah, go try and tell that to my parents and see what they'll have to say."
