He'll Be the Death of Me, I Swear

We--meaning Landyn and I--were now sitting in the living room. His parents had excused themselves a few minutes ago. It was probably Landyn's doing.

"Are you still mad at me?" he asked softly, looking down at our intertwined hands.

"No," I sighed. Yes, I should be mad at him, but I couldn't be. But I was mad at myself for not being mad at him, as stupid as that was.

"Don't waste perfect happiness on that lowly emotion: anger. I would tell you I'm sorry for doing it, but I'm not." I gave him a look and he shrugged. "I would never go back in time to undo that. And I'm sorry for that, but not for the whole situation."

"Of course not. You're a guy."

"Now what does that mean?"

"It means I want to go to sleep. Tomorrow I think I'll speak to Jacob."

"Really?" he asked, baring his teeth.

"Yes, really." I jerked my hand from his and walked upstairs.

"You still can't live without the guy, can you? I'm not enough."

"You're not my best friend Landyn. His place in my life could never be taken by anyone but him. I'm sorry."

"Fine, but if he does anything I don't like, I'll let you know."

"Stop with the threats, hun. They don't scare me at this point."

"Except for me telling him about what we did after school. Well, the second time around any way. He'd get a laugh out of hearing what you did to me the first time I tried."

"Yeah he would." I lay down in bed and he sat beside me. "Have fun watching me sleep."

"I always do."

I dreamt that night. I dreamt that Landyn left me to die. Mentally, I mean. He told me he didn't love me anymore and just left, saying I'd never see him again. I cried myself to sleep.

The next day I left my empty house. My mother had died and I was alone. I was eighteen, but still, I missed my mother. I dragged myself to school and all I got was questions and stares. I probably looked horrible.

"Danica," Jacob whispered, looking at me with a face twisted in agony. He ran to me and threw his arms around me. "It's ok. I'll take care of you. I promise."

I believed him. I wanted nothing more than to believe him, so I did. It was the easiest thing to do.

"I love you, Dani. I always have," he whispered.

"I love you, too," I said without a thought. It just seemed so right. I mean, I had been so horrible to him: chose a vampire over my best friend! Yet, still, he remained by my side. I didn't deserve him. "Jacob, I don't deserve you."

"You deserve every part of me, Danica. And I won't play hard to get, I swear." He smiled absurdly, but he was trying to be sweet, so I cut him a break.

"My little Jacob. You are amazing, Jake."