a book you read in reverse
title: a book you read in reverse
fandom: twilight
ship: jacob/bella
What wild imaginations one forms where dear self is concerned! How sure to be mistaken!
- Jane Austen
*
He promised her a day in his company, but never shows. She gets it, though. He's busy, and with good reason. Instead of doing anything crazy, she curls up and falls asleep on the beach by the driftwood.
When she wakes up, a shock of red hair is emerging from the water in front of her, a pack of wolves is exploding into action behind her, and she's too shocked to move.
Victoria disappears into the water. The unfortunate consequence of this is that Bella's limited freedom has been reduced yet again. La Push isn't the safe haven it once was.
*
There's nothing wrong with Jake's house, but being there all day, every day, with nothing to do but worry... Bella feels like she's going a little stir-crazy.
She needs a distraction, but those are hard to come by. She's never liked TV anyway, and it certainly won't hold her attention now. She busies herself with cooking and cleaning, but they allow her mind to wander.
The places her mind wanders to are not exactly pleasant. She can't help but imagine all the gruesome outcomes of this situation, not when she knows what Victoria is capable of. It doesn't help that it's all her fault, either. Worry lines are developing on her forehead permanently, and she's all but bit her own lip off.
Billy sees what she's doing to herself. The only suggestion he has for her is weak, at best. But it's all he's got for her right now.
"Maybe you should try reading a book."
*
It's kind of a monumental thing when Bella Swan picks up a book again. Especially because the book that she picks up is heavy enough to bludgeon even a werewolf with.
Her compilation of Jane Austen novels hasn't been touched for about a year. (And while she hasn't read anything that's not for school for about that long, the fact that she chooses this one is remarkably significant.)
See, Jane Austen writes sweeping romances about love at first sight, truly devoted lovers, and graceful, lovely infatuation. The kind of thing Bella used to love, but hasn't been able to stomach lately.
But today she is in the mood to read a truly classic love story. A story where you fall deep in unwavering, unmistakeable love that doesn't give up into you get your happily ever after. And that's exactly what these books will give her.
(Here's the thing. Bella Swan has never read Emma.)
*
After she's re-read Pride & Prejudice too many times to count, she forces herself to move on to something else. She flips through the extra thin, breakable pages, weighing her options.
The romantic leads of Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park are still rather unfortunately named. Persuasion is about lost love and hits a little too close to home. Those three are out. It comes down to the other two, and she's read Northanger Abbey before, so Emma it is.
The pages fly by under her eager fingers, and for days she lugs around the heavy set of six novels between her house and Jacob's. It strains her muscles a bit, and she always has to set the book on the kitchen table instead of being able to curl up with it on the couch. It never occurs to her how easy it would be to buy a single, independent copy.
*
She's at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and her book on a Tuesday mid-morning when the door bursts open with a crack.
She gasps to see Jake standing there, hair a mess, shorts on crooked, with fading red scars on his shoulders. She's scared out of her wits until she sees the triumphant smile brightening his features.
She's setting down her coffee and rising out of her chair when he's suddenly across the room, wrapping her in his arms.
"We did it, Bells," he says. "You're safe now. It's all over."
She pulls herself closer, breathing him in.
He's alive he's alive he's alive.
*
Jacob squeezes her hand in a warm, comfortable grip. "Now that we don't have to worry about that bitch bloodsucker anymore," he says with his signature grin, "I owe you quite a few hours of Jacob-and-Bella time. And I propose we start with movie night."
A smile, foreign, cracks across her face. "Only if you let me pick."
It's already kind of late, so they opt out of a trip to Port Angeles and head to the video store instead. She determinedly steers both of them away from romantic comedies -- reading is one thing, but watching is another -- but Jake screeches to a halt before she's clear of them.
He points to a faded case with a picture of a blonde actress Bella recognizes but couldn't name. Her eyes travel to the title and she rolls her eyes.
"You're reading this, right?" Jake asks.
"Yeah, but I'm not finished yet," she says, grabbing hold of his large arm and trying to pull him away. He doesn't budge.
"So?"
"So I can't watch the movie before I finish the book," she explains. "Don't you know anything? That's practically blasphemy."
She stalks away to the section labeled Action/Adventure, but Jake has made up his mind. (Maybe he has the hots for the girl on the cover, or something?) And when Jake makes up his mind, Jake wins.
*
What Bella doesn't know about Emma makes watching it worse than watching any old romantic comedy.
See, it tells the story of a girl so wrapped-up in her own head that she doesn't realize she's in love with her best friend until it's almost too late.
*
When the credits roll, Bella only stares blankly at the screen. Somehow her face ends up buried in her hands.
"Honey, what's wrong?" Jake asks, placing a hand on her back.
"Nothing," she says, sitting up. "I was just... surprised by the ending, is all."
"What was surprising about it? It was your standard chick-flick ending."
"She ended up with Knightley. I guess I wasn't expecting it."
He snorts. "It was kind of obvious, Bells. They were setting up for it, with all that sexual tension and what-not. What's wrong with Knightley, anyway?"
"There's nothing wrong with him, exactly. He's just... he's old!"
It's obvious that Jake doesn't buy that.
It's all wrong, because when you love somebody, you know it. How can you be wrong about who you love? Worse yet, how can you be in love with somebody and not know it?
She lets the truth out in a whisper.
"I was waiting for Frank Churchill to come back."
*
For all she professes to love it, Bella doesn't really understands Jane Austen's work.
(She never really got that Northanger Abbey was satire.)
*
It's not until years later, when she's in college, studying British Literature, that she picks up Emma again.
(She once wrote a whole paper about Edward Ferrars and barely felt a pang.)
She can't remember for the life of her what she found so offensive about this book before. And this Knightley character is growing on her.
She tells herself it's unrelated when she finds herself calling Jake a few hours later with no reason but to say she misses him.
fandom: twilight
ship: jacob/bella
What wild imaginations one forms where dear self is concerned! How sure to be mistaken!
- Jane Austen
*
He promised her a day in his company, but never shows. She gets it, though. He's busy, and with good reason. Instead of doing anything crazy, she curls up and falls asleep on the beach by the driftwood.
When she wakes up, a shock of red hair is emerging from the water in front of her, a pack of wolves is exploding into action behind her, and she's too shocked to move.
Victoria disappears into the water. The unfortunate consequence of this is that Bella's limited freedom has been reduced yet again. La Push isn't the safe haven it once was.
*
There's nothing wrong with Jake's house, but being there all day, every day, with nothing to do but worry... Bella feels like she's going a little stir-crazy.
She needs a distraction, but those are hard to come by. She's never liked TV anyway, and it certainly won't hold her attention now. She busies herself with cooking and cleaning, but they allow her mind to wander.
The places her mind wanders to are not exactly pleasant. She can't help but imagine all the gruesome outcomes of this situation, not when she knows what Victoria is capable of. It doesn't help that it's all her fault, either. Worry lines are developing on her forehead permanently, and she's all but bit her own lip off.
Billy sees what she's doing to herself. The only suggestion he has for her is weak, at best. But it's all he's got for her right now.
"Maybe you should try reading a book."
*
It's kind of a monumental thing when Bella Swan picks up a book again. Especially because the book that she picks up is heavy enough to bludgeon even a werewolf with.
Her compilation of Jane Austen novels hasn't been touched for about a year. (And while she hasn't read anything that's not for school for about that long, the fact that she chooses this one is remarkably significant.)
See, Jane Austen writes sweeping romances about love at first sight, truly devoted lovers, and graceful, lovely infatuation. The kind of thing Bella used to love, but hasn't been able to stomach lately.
But today she is in the mood to read a truly classic love story. A story where you fall deep in unwavering, unmistakeable love that doesn't give up into you get your happily ever after. And that's exactly what these books will give her.
(Here's the thing. Bella Swan has never read Emma.)
*
After she's re-read Pride & Prejudice too many times to count, she forces herself to move on to something else. She flips through the extra thin, breakable pages, weighing her options.
The romantic leads of Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park are still rather unfortunately named. Persuasion is about lost love and hits a little too close to home. Those three are out. It comes down to the other two, and she's read Northanger Abbey before, so Emma it is.
The pages fly by under her eager fingers, and for days she lugs around the heavy set of six novels between her house and Jacob's. It strains her muscles a bit, and she always has to set the book on the kitchen table instead of being able to curl up with it on the couch. It never occurs to her how easy it would be to buy a single, independent copy.
*
She's at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and her book on a Tuesday mid-morning when the door bursts open with a crack.
She gasps to see Jake standing there, hair a mess, shorts on crooked, with fading red scars on his shoulders. She's scared out of her wits until she sees the triumphant smile brightening his features.
She's setting down her coffee and rising out of her chair when he's suddenly across the room, wrapping her in his arms.
"We did it, Bells," he says. "You're safe now. It's all over."
She pulls herself closer, breathing him in.
He's alive he's alive he's alive.
*
Jacob squeezes her hand in a warm, comfortable grip. "Now that we don't have to worry about that bitch bloodsucker anymore," he says with his signature grin, "I owe you quite a few hours of Jacob-and-Bella time. And I propose we start with movie night."
A smile, foreign, cracks across her face. "Only if you let me pick."
It's already kind of late, so they opt out of a trip to Port Angeles and head to the video store instead. She determinedly steers both of them away from romantic comedies -- reading is one thing, but watching is another -- but Jake screeches to a halt before she's clear of them.
He points to a faded case with a picture of a blonde actress Bella recognizes but couldn't name. Her eyes travel to the title and she rolls her eyes.
"You're reading this, right?" Jake asks.
"Yeah, but I'm not finished yet," she says, grabbing hold of his large arm and trying to pull him away. He doesn't budge.
"So?"
"So I can't watch the movie before I finish the book," she explains. "Don't you know anything? That's practically blasphemy."
She stalks away to the section labeled Action/Adventure, but Jake has made up his mind. (Maybe he has the hots for the girl on the cover, or something?) And when Jake makes up his mind, Jake wins.
*
What Bella doesn't know about Emma makes watching it worse than watching any old romantic comedy.
See, it tells the story of a girl so wrapped-up in her own head that she doesn't realize she's in love with her best friend until it's almost too late.
*
When the credits roll, Bella only stares blankly at the screen. Somehow her face ends up buried in her hands.
"Honey, what's wrong?" Jake asks, placing a hand on her back.
"Nothing," she says, sitting up. "I was just... surprised by the ending, is all."
"What was surprising about it? It was your standard chick-flick ending."
"She ended up with Knightley. I guess I wasn't expecting it."
He snorts. "It was kind of obvious, Bells. They were setting up for it, with all that sexual tension and what-not. What's wrong with Knightley, anyway?"
"There's nothing wrong with him, exactly. He's just... he's old!"
It's obvious that Jake doesn't buy that.
It's all wrong, because when you love somebody, you know it. How can you be wrong about who you love? Worse yet, how can you be in love with somebody and not know it?
She lets the truth out in a whisper.
"I was waiting for Frank Churchill to come back."
*
For all she professes to love it, Bella doesn't really understands Jane Austen's work.
(She never really got that Northanger Abbey was satire.)
*
It's not until years later, when she's in college, studying British Literature, that she picks up Emma again.
(She once wrote a whole paper about Edward Ferrars and barely felt a pang.)
She can't remember for the life of her what she found so offensive about this book before. And this Knightley character is growing on her.
She tells herself it's unrelated when she finds herself calling Jake a few hours later with no reason but to say she misses him.