Breaking Dawn

Chapter 25: Wednesday, January 10th

After spending the last few days with Jake, I feel as if I've become more... attached, to him. I told him I love him, and that made him ecstatic. I made sure he knew I meant as a friend, but he was happy nonetheless. I've started being able to eat food little by little. I don't get as nauseous anymore.
Jake's birthday is in four days and I still don't know what to get him. I know he enjoys fishing more than he used to, and he enjoys his truck. Perhaps I could get him seat covers because he is a bit messy. Or maybe I could have Charlie pick up fishing lures because I know nothing about fishing.
I pull my feet close to me, wrapping myself in a blanket. Charlie is at work, as usual, and I'm stuck at home in bed. The wolves are always out patrolling Forks and the surrounding areas, trying to make sure that no 'intruders' come around, which I know means the Cullen family. As much as I would like them to visit, I know they won't. Edward won't allow them, because he doesn't want things to be harder, and Jake won't allow them, because he wants to kill every one of them.
I rub my eyes and try to shake the thought. I need to keep my mind off of Edward. It has been getting easier, but when Jake isn't around I have nothing to do besides think.
I sit up, and immediately my eyes meet the ring on my dresser. The sun is catching it perfectly, the diamonds sparkling perfectly. It reminds me of Edward's skin in the sun, glistening beautifully.
There's a loud knock at the door. Edward, I think. It takes me too long to remember that he's truly not coming back. I wrap my blanket around myself and start downstairs. Accidentally, I step on the blanket, causing me to fall. I go head first down the stairs, wrapping my arms around my head. I hear a slam and can't decipher if it's the door shutting or me hitting the ground.
"Bella!" I hear.
I open my eyes and a shadow of a person is above me. I pull my arms away from my head, trying to assess if I hurt my head.
"Bella, are you okay?" Jake asks.
Am I? I wiggle my fingers, those work alright. My head doesn't hurt, that's fine. I conclude that everything is working. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Jake grabs my arms, pulling me up. I get one foot stable under me, but when I step on the other one I scream.
I see James crushing my leg, snapping the bone. That is what this feels like.
"Bella! Bella, what's wrong?" Jake asks with urgency, immediately picking me up.
With the pressure of my body weight off of my leg, the pain is not as intense, but it still makes my eyes water.
"We're going to the hospital, okay?" Jake says.
"Jake, I'm fine," I insist. "Please just let me down." The tears are still welling up in my eyes from the pain, so I quickly wipe them away.
"You're not fine, we need to go to the hospital."
"Jake, please just let me down," I beg.
He slowly lets me down. I make sure not to put any weight on my right leg.
"It's just a sprain," I say, "will you help me to the chair?"
He wraps his arm around me, supporting almost all of my body weight.
I sit in the chair and try to just rest my foot on the ground, but even the pain from that is too immense. I try to hide my grimace, but Jake notices.
"Bella, it's already bruising, you need to go to the hospital."
"I'm fine," I snap.
I close my eyes and breathe. I don't want to go to the hospital because it is where Carlisle worked.
I look down at my leg. It is swollen immensely, and slowly turning a couple shades of purple. Also, it looks far too similar to my leg after James broke it.
"Will you at least put ice on it?" He begs.
I look at him apathetically. "Fine."
He moves swiftly to my freezer and finds a bag of ice as if he's rummaged through the freezer before. I'd guess he has, though, because Jake eats more than his own body weight.
He wraps the ice pack in paper towels, walking back over to me. My leg is now throbbing, and I'm almost sure that my inevitable gracelessness has caused me to break my leg again.
Jake goes to position the ice pack on my leg and I can't manage to stifle my whimper as it touches my skin.
"Alright, we're going to the hospital. It's not an option now."
I sigh and shut my eyes. It's not worth fighting him over, because 1) I won't win this battle, and 2) there is clearly something wrong with my leg. "Okay," I breathe, "let's go."
It takes him no effort to pick me up, then proceeds to carry me to the passenger side of his truck.
He slides into the driver's seat smoothly, unlike how I manage. I almost have to jump into my truck, and always manage to either hit my head or miscalculate my endeavor and injure myself another way.
The ride is painful, and Jake can tell. With each bump we hit, a shooting pain runs up my entire leg. In Forks, there is a bump in the road every few inches.
The ride back is more painful, in a sense. The doctor ran some tests and concluded that I am not eating enough, which is a partial cause of my broken leg. Jacob was not very enthused to hear that news. The second cause (and main cause) is that my bone didn't heal properly after the first break, so it broke in the exact same spot. This time, however, I get to have a cast and crutches.

"I thought you were eating again," Jake says with a hint of frustration.
"I never stopped eating."
He stares at me intensely. "You cut down on your eating a lot. I thought you were eating a normal amount again."
"I've been trying Jake," I say. My eyes automatically focus on the floor. Even if I wanted to look at Jake right now, I don't think I could.
"No, you haven't, Bella!" He says gravely. "You wouldn't have broken your leg if you were eating enough!"
My eyes stay focused on the ground. "Jake..."
"Don't make up excuses. If you're not going to eat, I'm getting Charlie involved."
"Don't," I say sternly, looking directly at him. "I'm truly trying to eat again, it's just that whenever I eat, I feel sick."
"Then why wouldn't you go see a doctor? If you're sick, Bella-"
"I'm not sick."
"Then what is it?" He asks.
How am I supposed to tell him that I'm not eating because of the stress of Edward leaving without him getting upset? "I... It's just that I've been stressed lately, and when I get stressed it affects my hunger." There, that's a simple enough explanation.
"You're stressed?" He asks, trying to confirm what I've just said.
"Yeah," I sigh.
He stays quiet for a moment. I notice from the corner of my eye that his focus changes to the ground as well.
"Bella, I'm sorry," he says. He brings his eyes up to mine, a saddened expression residing on his face. "I thought you were feeling better about the... situation. I'm too dumb to see how you really felt."
"Jake, you're not dumb."
"Yes, I am." He says seriously. "I spend so much time with you, and I couldn't even notice-"
"Jake, if I had said how I feel you would have noticed. I've been trying to keep it all in so I wouldn't make you upset. It also helps me cope by not talking about it."
"Bella," he breathes. I can tell he's trying to put his thoughts into words, but he can't manage.
"You don't need to feel bad for me," I say.
"Okay, then I won't feel bad, but I will feel regretful that I wasn't kinder about the situation. I feel awful, I really am-"
And I cut him off by crashing my lips onto his.