Forever, Always

Bella's Return

       Dakota and Jacob slept in the next morning. Charlie and Bella were supposed to be back by noon. That's when Jacob and Billy were gonna head over for lunch to watch the game. Dakota wasn't supposed to spend the night last night because she was meant to be at the airport with her dad to pick up Bella. Obviously, she didn't listen.
      The only reason they got to sleep in was because they had dropped off Bella's homecoming present a few days before. So they didn't have to do it today and could sleep in. Something that was much needed for both Jacob and Dakota.
       Dakota's phone went off at 11:47 a.m. which woke the pair up slowly. It took Dakota a while to wake up and get free from Jacob's grasp because they were an entangled sweaty mess of limbs. When she finally did manage to free herself, her phone stopped ringing. Great, Dakota thought, now he's gonna be even more pissed at me. She groaned and grabbed her phone from the nightstand and quickly called her dad back.
       It rang once before he picked up and Dakota was dreading the conversation so she laid back down with one hand over her eyes.
       "Why didn't you answer the first time?" Her father was clearly agitated with his youngest daughter.
       "Sorry dad, I was slow waking up and didn't want to wake Jake up in the process."
       "I have Bella, we'll be home in 45 minutes and I expect you to be home. Like you were supposed to be last night."
       Dakota sighed, "Can we talk about this later?"
       "Fine. See you soon, love you." With that said Charlie hung up.
         Dakota put her phone back on the nightstand and on silent this time. Not wanting to deal with anyone else this early. Jacob had begun to stir and became more alert once he realized Dakota wasn't in his arms. He soon enough discovered she was still in the bed and pulled her back into his arms. Jacob pressed his head into the crook of her neck and tightened his grip around her waist.
        "What did Charlie want?" His voice was rough and raspy from just waking up.
       Dakota's took a second before responding. She loved the sound of Jacob's morning voice, "Said he got Bella and will be home in 45 minutes and I need to be there. He's not to happy about me spending the night either."
       Jacob grunted and shifted his leg between Dakota's to get more comfortable, "Oh well."
       The drive from the Black house to the Swan house was only 15 minutes so neither botherEd to get up just yet. Billy would tell them to wake up when they needed to. It would only take them a minute or two to change and put on shoes, and about 5 to get Billy in the truck. They had time.
        Jacob fell back asleep rather quickly but Dakota couldn't. She laid there staring across the room thinking about the many things that could go wrong. Everyone has always liked Bella more than her, how could they not. Dakota was loud, rough, and spoke her mind. Bella was quiet, gentle, and went with the flow. Bella was more girly in a sense. She doesn't wear boyish clothes like Dakota, she doesn't get into fights or learn how to fight, she doesn't climb trees and mess around with cars, she is the complete opposite of Dakota. Dakota does all of that. She works out and plays sports and taught herself how to fight. She wears a lot of Jacob's clothes and talks back and gets dirty. Who would prefer her over Bella? No one.
       Billy told them to get ready to leave 20 minutes before Charlie and Bella were supposed to be back. Jacob whined about getting up because he was very comfortable using Dakota as a human body pillow but eventually got up. Jacob and Dakota didn't have a problem with changing in front of each other so once he got out of the bed he pulled off his pants to replace them with jeans. He left putting a shirt on for last, which Dakota didn't particularly mind. He had a muscular body and v line that she found nice to look at. Jacob settled for a black long sleeve shirt while Dakota just slipped into a pair of leggings. She liked the shirt she was wearing so instead of changing it, she just shrugged a jacket on over it. Jacob liked Dakota wearing his shirts because of how much bigger they were on her than him. He wasn't ridiculously taller than her but his shirts were still really baggy and reached down to her mid thigh.
       As soon as they put on their shoes, they left. Billy rode with Jacob in his truck while Dakota drove her Jeep. It had been her 16th birthday present she got last month. And Dakota absolutely loved the black Jeep with all her heart. She would take care of that care better than anything else.
Dakota parked next to the sidewalk because her father took up half the driveway and Bella's truck got the other half. Jacob parked behind her and got his father out of the truck before knocking on Dakota's window since she hadn't gotten out yet. She was 4 minutes late. Charlie wasn't going to be happy with her, procrastinating wasn't helping but she wasn't ready to face her father and sister just yet.
Jacob knew exactly what was wrong with his best friend and opened the door to help her out. But once she was out they just leaned against the door, not saying anything. Dakota was staring straight ahead and shaking her head.
"I can't do this. Please don't leave, stay and just never leave so he won't yell at me. Don't leave me with them. With her."
Jake gently grabbed her arm and pulled her into a hug, "Come here. It'll be ok. And I'm not going anywhere till I have to take dad home. But I'm just a phone call away, ok?"
Dakota nodded and squeezed him tighter. Then she released him and went inside where her father, sister, and Billy waited.
Inside that house was the most awkward place Dakota had been in a really long time. Bella sat uncomfortable on the couch in the living room, waiting to say hi to her sister before escaping to her room. Which was the other sister's plan as well, except her plan also involved Jacob.
"Dakota, how nice of you to join us. Why don't you give your sister a hug!" Charlie knew exactly how his daughter felt about the other but he was determined to fix that.
Jacob lightly pushed Dakota towards Bella where they awkwardly hugged. Not a single word exchanged, especially since Bella left to finish unpacking immediately afterwards.
Dakota turned to go upstairs to her room when her father called for her to stop, "Bella is starting school with you tomorrow. I want you to show her around and help her with anything she needs."
"Are you sure I can't switch schools? And I'm sure Bella doesn't need her baby sister helping her." She really didn't want anything to do with Bella.
Charlie gave her the look that was to say really. Don't argue with me. "Yes. Be nice to her Dakota, or you won't be spending the night at Jake's anymore."
Dakota's shouts of protests were immediate, "You can't be serious!"
"I am. You're mean to your sister? No more Jake. So be nice."
The young Swan huffed and stormed upstairs to the attic with Jacob hot on her heels. Charlie had changed the attic into a room for her with a complete bathroom and everything a couple years ago when Bella still visited. Though Dakota didn't like being forced into the attic at first she quickly embraced having her own living space. It meant she didn't need to worry about sharing her bathroom or interacting with them when she didn't want to. Dakota also decorated her room to how she wanted very quickly.
Her bed was in the back right corner where she promptly flopped onto. Jake joined her on the bed silently, knowing she needed to calm down before he said anything.
       "Why is he doing this to me? He knows I don't like her but that doesn't matter because he loves her more. Everyone loves her more." Dakota was on the verge of tears. Not because she was sad but because she was angry and hurt.
      "Dakota that's not—" Jacob was cut off.
       "Yes it is! Jake you've had a crush on her for years, I'm pretty sure if it came down to it you'd pick her over me."
       Jacob was silent, yes he had a crush on her but Dakota meant more to him than her sister. He was appalled that she would think that.
       He gently lifted her chin to look at him and whipped away her tears, "You will always come before her. Always."
       Dakota didn't believe him, because she knew him. Jacob was the type of guy to do anything for the person he likes to keep her happy. It's just who he is. And Dakota wasn't going to hold that against him but she wished he didn't like her sister.
       Dakota continued to cry out of frustration for another hour before she calmed down to hiccups and fell asleep in Jake's embrace. He was mad that her father threatened her with him but he couldn't do anything about it. All Jacob could do was hope his father would talk to hers.
       It was around 8 when Billy called for Jacob because it was time for them to go home. He sighed and woke Dakota to tell her goodbye and that he'd see her tomorrow after school. She nodded tiredly and walked him out.
       "Bye, Kota. See you tomorrow, I love you," Jacob whispered in her ear as they hugged goodbye.
       Dakota smiled against his chest, "Bye, Jake. See ya, I love you too."
       Billy watched fondly from the bottom of the stairs at the two's interaction. He had already said bye to Dakota and Charlie and was waiting for Jacob to help him into the truck. Billy was glad they had each other, he knew they needed each other. He was just hoping his son doesn't do anything to screw it up.
       Dakota had a soft smile on her face as she watched the two boys retreat in the old truck. They meant the world to her and she truly did love them. The Black's were her family. And now she had to extend her family to Bella.
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Two chapters in one day, oh yeah! Not gonna lie though this won't happen often because I am horrible at updates. But I will try to update at least once a week. I know Charlie seems tough on Dakota now but I promise their relationship gets better. Let me know what y'all think in the comments and don't forget to vote and follow!
Love y'all—🌙Lunagirl🌙