𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐀𝐋 [NEW MOON]

0.8

-

"Athena? Hunny, you had me worried sick." My dad rushed into the room, placing his cup of coffee onto the bedside table, "Are you feelin' alright?"

I gave him a deadpanned look, motioning to my bandages.

"Right, mountain lion attack. How the hell did you end up that far into the woods anyway?" He questioned, sitting in the side chair.

I don't remember being in the woods at all.

"I think I was taking a walk or something..." I muttered, wanting to drop the topic all together, "Where's Bella?"

"Uhh, I think she's out with her friend- Jessica was it? I don't know, at least she's getting out." He waved off, pulling his phone out once it began ringing, "That's the station. I'll go sign those discharge papers and see you for dinner?"

I nodded with a tight lipped smile, waving him out the door.

-

I'd known one thing for sure...being injured definitely wasn't for me. It was a struggle just to get up the stairs, and let's not even talk about getting myself dressed.

Not to mention that it'd already been three days since I left the hospital, and I still had absolutely no memory of this so called mountain lion attack. Nothing was adding up, and the only person I remember being with before all of this- wasn't answering the phone.

"Hey, it's Paul. Leave a message."

"It's me again... your voicemail is probably at it's limit, so call me back...please." I spoke into the phone, flipping it shut right after.

I'd definitely gotten use to hearing his voicemail, but I was starting to get desperate. If he'd been visiting me in the hospital so much, according to the doctor, then what was stopping him from answering a single phone call?

A knock at my door brought me out of my thoughts, with my sister walking into my room shortly after.

"Hey." She bit her lip, messing with the sleeve of her shirt.

The first times she's initiated a conversation with me in god knows how long, and it's just...hey.

"What's up?" I pulled my shirt over my torso carefully.

"I was-" she paused, looking at me for the first time in months "I was gonna head over to see Jake- I had this idea...do you wanna take the ride?"

"Jake Black? As in the boy you use to hang around when we were little?" I raised my eyebrows.

She chuckled, pushing her hair behind her ear, "You remember?"

"I guess I'm not the only one making new-old friends, huh?" I hummed, sliding my sneakers on, and tossing my hair into a ponytail, "We leavin' now?"

-

Now I knew that my sister wasn't the smartest, but what she'd come up with was a whole new level of dumb.

"So let me get this straight. You wanna bring those giant rust machines in the trunk to this boy, and hope he'll agree to fix them for you- just like that?"

"I know...but they have a lot of potential, and Jake's really good with this kinda stuff." She explained as she drove, "He fixed this truck up back before I moved here."

Biting my tongue, I let out a sigh.

"This should be interesting."

Within no time, we pulled up into a dirt driveway- making me wince with every other rock and bump we hit.

"Sorry." She apologized, stopping the car, just as who had to be Jake ran out of the garage.

"Bella!" He called "Where the hell have you been, loca?" He hugged her, leaving me to stand there awkwardly.

"I uh, brought you something." She motioned to the covered bikes once he set her down.

"Ok." He watched her, his eyes averting to me shortly afterward "Who's this?"

"This is my sister, Athena. I'm surprised you don't remember her, you guys met like a million times." She pulled the tarp off of the bikes.

"No worries, I'm pretty forgettable." I chuckled, taking my hand out on my pocket to shake his,

"But to be fair, last time I saw you- you were this small, dinky little long haired boy covered in mud, now...." I trailed, unconsciously eyeing his slightly built form.

I also don't remember him being so...beautiful.

"Athena." Bella scolded, scoffing playfully. I hissed, slapping her arm in reaction.

"It's all good." He grinned, his dimples appearing as he let my hand go. Jake quickly turned his attention back to Bella.

"It's a little crazy..." She sighed,

"Wow...scrap metal." He exclaimed sarcastically "You shouldn't have."

I laughed to myself, watching the awkward exchange between the two. I could tell that by the way his face lit up at the mere sight of her, he may or not have been crushing on my sister.

"I saved it from the junk yard." She cleaned her throat, "I figured they'll probably cost more to fix than they're worth. But then I thought that, if I had a mechanic friend to help me out..." She explained,

"Oh...me being the mechanic type friend." He stated, seemingly amused by the whole idea.

That damn smile.

"Since when are you into motorcycles?" He asked.

"S-Since now." Bella rebuttaled.

There was a pause between them, giving me the opportunity to speak up,

"She knows that this is probably really stupid and reckless-"

"Yeah, it's completely stupid and reckless." He interrupted, "So when do we start?"

Bellas expression visibly brightened, which in return made me smile.

This could be really good for her, which would mean her not getting sent back to live with her mom.

"Now, please." She laughed faintly, turning as he went to completely pull the tarp away. What shocked both of us was when he went to grab the bike off of the truck bed himself.

"Careful, those are like six hundred pounds-" I warned, but shut up when he effortlessly set the bike onto the ground, "Ok, what the do you lift?"

"Yeah- Jake you're like- buff, when did that happen you're like sixteen." Bella stuttered, basically reading my mind.

He glanced at her, "Age is just a number baby, what're you like 40?" He teased.

"Then that would make me almost 41, so let's drop the age thing huh?" I cut in, pulling my phone from my pocket and checking to see if Paul had called back yet.

"If the shoe fits." He dusted his hands together, making me send him a playful glare.