hey guys,
The inspiration for this story came from mrz.edwardanthonymasencullen, thanks so much girlie. You rock my socks. I hope you like it. Thanks Kristy for putting in a zillion semi colons.
Please let me know what you think of it.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
The room was shrouded by silence, Edward and I had been studying non-stop for weeks in preparation for the finals. Junior year was almost over and the class had been more than excited to get this last exam over and done with.
Hmm Edward, maybe school is getting to him; he's been acting so short with me lately, one word retorts and snappy replies. There was no more playfulness to his demeanour anymore, he doesn't joke and laugh with me anymore. Maybe I need to talk to Rose and Alice about this.
A bell sounded at the front of the room to signal pens down, whilst everyone else was still furiously scratching away at their papers. I placed my pen on the desk and stood to submit my paper before walking into the hallway. It was empty, save for the few students that had finished their exams along with me.
Freedom! My last exam for the semester was over. The upcoming holiday was almost guaranteed to be one of the best. The Masens had invited me to their cabin for the first two weeks of the summer. Alice, Rose and unfortunately for me, Emmett had literally jumped on me after finding out that I would be joining them. Why they showed their excitement by inflicting physical pain was beyond me, but it made them happy. Jasper was excited, probably because I would be able to drag his girlfriend away when she got out of control. Edward may as well have broken a rib; he hugged me that hard that day.
I jumped into my truck and headed home, Mum and Dad had said their goodbyes two days ago as they left for London. Renee and Charlie had planned their 'second honeymoon' shortly after finding out that I would be spending the first two weeks of the holidays with the Masens. I guess it felt less like they were abandoning me since I had plans to go away myself.
As I drove home there was nothing that could taint my happiness, school was done with for the term and I was leaving tomorrow to go to a cabin with my best friends in less than 24 hours.
I was about to turn onto my street when I changed my mind and continued on to Edward's. He had finished his finals yesterday as had Alice so they should have been home, unless Alice had dragged Edward out on one of her many spontaneous bonding expedition. Last time she had been unleashed on me I was taken hostage and forced into her car before being taken sky-diving.
People like me shouldn't participate in extreme sports, it took Alice over an hour to get me into the plane and when I landed I ended up breaking a leg and the pinky on my left hand. Emmett's brilliant response when I had come home bearing my war wounds was to laugh and say, "It ain't so pink anymore."
My thoughts continued along the same line until I arrived at the Masen household. It was a huge red brick house with white and green shutters covering the windows and three cars squeezed into the drive. Ed's Bentley, Edward's Volvo and Alice's Porsche.
Smiling to myself I walked to the door and rang the bell. Mummy Liz came to the door and raised her eyebrows at me. She had a shining air to her; with long bronze hair and brilliantly green eyes that made her look like she belonged on film.
"Bella how many times have I told you to let yourself in. We got you your own key for goodness' sakes."
"Force of habit, who knows what I would be walking in on. It's probably safer to make my preference known."
"That's only necessary when entering Rosalie and Emmett's room dear." How she could talk so freely about the sex life of her adopted children was beyond me.
Elizabeth and Edward Snr had always wanted a large family, sadly after Edward, Elizabeth was no longer able to conceive, so instead they took in foster children.
Emmett had come first; he had been ten years old when I met him. Edward had practically sprinted to my house to tell me of the disturbing boy that had tried to tackle him before even introducing himself. He was extremely tall for his age and I was immediately glad it wasn't me he had tackled because I would have been a blob of Bella ground into the earth. However as soon as he smiled his hazel eyes lit and the dimples in his cheeks made you want to pinch his cheeks and hug him. It took only four months before Emmett was given clearance to return home. After Emmett had run back to the Masen's for the fifth time the McCarty's had given him up for adoption.
Jasper and Rose had come next, their parents, Joseph Whitlock and Marjorie Hale, had gone to school with Ed and Charlie. For this reason they had practically grown up with Edward and I. After Marjorie left and Joseph had died of cancer, Rose and Jasper had refused to speak with anyone other than Elizabeth, so the adoption of these two was only natural. Both had blonde hair and blue eyes standing much taller than I did. Their beauty intimidated me, but underneath their beauty they were some of the kindest people you would ever meet.
Alice on the other hand had not been adopted until last year. She had shown up at the hospital that Liz worked in, with severe injuries although Liz was immediately drawn in by her bright personality and spirit. Her short black hair had annoyed her to no end in the hospital when she wasn't able to style it properly and the wardrobe she was subjected to had left her in a huff for days. Alice had been in a car accident that had proven to be fatal for both of her parents. Alice had quickly hit it off with the family, taking an instant liking to Jasper. At first she had refused to so much as glance at Edward after claiming he was a conceited arse that was peering into her soul. It had taken Jasper and I locking them in a room together for three hours to get them to speak.
Elizabeth and Ed had built up a close relationship with all of their children, yet I still couldn't understand how she would want to know about the sex life of her children, let alone make jokes about it.
"I need a blindfold and earplugs for their room after the first time." I joked hoping she would change the subject. It was true after the first time I walked in on them I yell up the stairs to make my arrival known. Edward just shakes his head every time I do it and drags me up the stairs behind him.
"Eddie's upstairs, Ali went to the mall with Jasper just before you arrived sweetheart." Liz said as she led me down the hall. "Just call me if you need anything."
"Thanks Mum." Edward and I had begun calling the other's parents Mum or Dad around elementary school, when I had accidentally said it too Ed when asking when dinner would be ready.
I walked up the stairs, past the hundreds of photographs that Liz had hung in the stairwell. I turned left at the top of the stairs and stopped in front of the only blue door on the landing. Knocking lightly I opened the door to see Edward lying on his bed with his earphones in. I guess that's why he didn't hear the doorbell.
He looked up at me and I had gotten caught by his beautiful green eyes, they were glistening slightly in the light. His bronze hair was tousled slightly and his body was well defined in a brown shirt and jeans.
"Hey Eddie."
"Isabella." His greeting was short, but he was hoping to annoy me by using my full name.
"At least that's my name Eddie." His eyes flashed and I took a step back slightly. When he saw this he gave me a small smile and patted the bed beside him.
I went to sit down and felt him put an arm around my shoulders, "How was your final exam?"
"Slow, agonising, boring, tedious, they all seem like fitting descriptions." He chuckled slightly and sighed before getting off the bed and sitting awkwardly in a chair at his desk.
A silence followed at this point and I felt uncomfortable, it hadn't been a natural silence instead it felt like something was looming over our heads. Some unspoken message or a new feeling had risen up.
The rest of the afternoon was spent exchanging small pleasantries and awkward conversation, until Alice burst into Edward's bedroom. "Bella, just the girl I need." She grabbed my hand and dragged me from the room before another word could be said. She dragged me over to her bedroom and sat me down in her makeover chair.
"Where are you making me go this time Ali?"
"Bella, shame on you. Have you already forgotten about the end of year party at Newton's?"
"Unfortunately no."
"Good, now lets get you ready," she said as she pulled out a beautiful dress, it was mostly black, with gold and white woven into the top and a bubble skirt that held a person's legs at the bottom.
"It looks great Ali, Jasper won't be able to keep his hands to himself."
"I'm glad you think so, because it's not for me, it's your party dress." I looked horrified, the dress would look great on Alice, but how could she expect me to pull it off.
After a long argument, with Alice insisting that if I don't wear the dress she was offering me, I would be going starkers I was sitting in the chair with brushes tugging at the tangles in my hair, powder being puffed onto my face and makeup now highlighting features that before had been close to ordinary.
When my torture had ended Alice sent me downstairs to get some food while she got ready. I stepped into the kitchen and saw Liz singing to herself. When she turned and saw me she stopped abruptly and looked at me sheepishly, "Bella you look absolutely magnificent."
I blushed, why do people say things like that to me? Was there something that they saw and I didn't?
"Thank Alice, she's the one that tortured me into looking like this."
"Well she did a marvellous job dear. Who knew you had legs like that?" It was the aim for this family to embarrass me as much as possible wasn't it? I knew theyj keep me around for a reason.
I heard footsteps stop behind me, "Bella?" I heard Edward choke as he took another step forward. I turned around, he looked so handsome wearing a simple black button down and a pair of jeans. His mouth was left hanging open giving me a slight feeling of self-satisfaction.
"Oh hey Edward," I said grabbing two plates off the bench and bringing them up to Alice.
By the time I got upstairs Alice had everything finished except for her hair, "Why is it that I have to sit there for hours while you play Barbie doll, and you can be finished in five minutes?"
She just shrugged and turned to the mirror trying to mess her hair in her classic out of control look.
It was 8:30 before she let us leave the house apparently it was unacceptable to arrive at a party only an hour after it had started. When we pulled up to Mike's we could hear the music thumping from outside. The door was left open and we walked in to see the lights out with lamps scattered around the room. People were grinding up against each other and drinking, and the living room was cleared to make way for a dance floor. We stood in the doorway before Mike and Jessica bounced over to greet us, Jessica looked like she was falling over her feet and Mike looked like he had hit the jackpot when she put an arm around his waist. He turned to look at us and I saw his eyes rake over my body, the look made me feel uncomfortable.
We were invited to get a drink and make ourselves at home as we went further into the house I decided that this was definitely a bad idea, but I couldn't very well leave without everyone else. Time seemed to drag on and on, I walked around the house talking to people from my class, most of whom would never have spoken to me in their sober state.
I ended up walking around to the back porch to find Lauren trying desperately to flirt with Edward, he looked like someone had hit him over the head from something she had whispered in his ear. I walked up to him and put my arms around his shoulders.
"There you are Edward," I kissed him on the cheek. "I've been looking for you everywhere. Oh hi Lauren." I chucked her a smug grin hoping I could pull off the looked and turned to see Edward glaring at me his face looking livid. "You don't mind if I steal him, do you? Thanks." I didn't wait for an answer and dragged Edward off.
He stopped me in the middle of the backyard, "What the hell was that?" he half yelled at me.
"I was saving you? You're welcome, by the way."
"What if I didn't want to be 'saved'?" Where did this reaction come from?
"Well from the look on your face you weren't exactly enjoying talking to her." Jeez, why is he acting like such a jack-arse?
"That's not your decision to make now is it?"
"So you wanted to hook up with her then?"
"Maybe."
"Edward, what's wrong with you?" I reached out to touch his arm, but he jerked away.
"Don't Bella." His tone was icy cold, what was going on here?
"Okay, you've been like this for a week, what's up with you?" Besides the obvious I thought, instantly feeling bad for even thinking that.
"Like you don't know? Your acting a little hypocritical don't you think?"
"Hypocritical? Edward what are you talking about? Stop acting like a thirteen year old and tell me what's wrong with you." The entire time I have known Edward I have never seen him act like this.
"Takes one to know one." Okay now he's just being annoying.
"Edward seriously…"
"Don't seriously me, I haven't done anything to you."
"What could I possibly have done to you?"
"Just leave me alone Bella," Oh no, he wasn't getting away with this that easily.
"Seriously, tell me what's wrong, stop just standing there acting like a jerk!"
"Shut up!! I don't want to hear whatever crap you have to say. What's wrong Edward? How can I help you so that I can feel better about myself Edward? I'm not your freaking charity case! I don't want you here, just run back home and stop bothering me okay? Just go. Man, sometimes I wish we never met each other in the first place." Okay ouch. My eyes were stinging but I refused to let myself cry at this moment.
"Stop acting like such an arse! I haven't done anything to you. All I did was ask what was wrong; did you ever stop to think it was because I was concerned? Or maybe because your happiness actually mattered to me? For who knows what reason. No. Instead you treat me like a traitor without any justification, so you know what I'm done. Goodbye Edward." My farewell came out as a snarl and I turned on my heel and walked out to my truck.
I sat in the driver's seat processing everything Edward had said, his face held a look of anger and loathing. When he had opened his mouth to say something I had wanted to shy away from the daggers that were being thrown at me one by one. Don't cry Bella, don't cry Bella, I was chanting to myself as I drove home.
Within 10 minutes I walked through the door and stopped in the hallway throwing down my bag and falling to my knees letting the tears roll freely from my eyes. My body was shaking with my sobs as I sat on the ground letting the events of the night overtake me.
I lost sense of time, when I had stopped crying I found that over two hours had passed, the cold was entering the house through the still open door behind me and the contents of my bag scattered the entry floor. I made my way to my bedroom and checked my mobile. I had missed 28 calls and 17 messages, I quickly scrolled through ignoring any messages from Edward and turned my mobile off.
What had I done to deserve this? Edward and I were the best of friends, in all my years I can't remember us having a serious fight.
My room was covered in pictures of the two of us and I pulled each of them down placing them face down on my desk. In each of them we were laughing and hugging. Lies, all lies. Edward didn't even want to know me anymore, he may as well have come out and said he had wasted most of his life on our friendship.
The house phone rang and I stood to make my way down the stairs and to the machine in the corner of the living room, Alice's voice filled the house.
"Bella? Are you there? Come on Babe talk to me. I've left a dozen messages on you cell. Everyone is worried about you. Bella?… Please answer the phone; you can't hate us all just because Edward's an idiot… Okay fine, I'll call you again soon then. We love you Bells."
I'm sure there was at least one person there that wasn't at all worried about me; I saw another message on the machine and hit play. Alice had probably called earlier and I hadn't noticed.
"Hey Jingle Bells." A distinctly familiar male voice came through the speaker. "It was great seeing you again last week cuz. Gran made a huge stink when I got back to Phoenix, she said she's glad you always visited before this. I don't think she could handle me flying across the country again. Psh anyway I never did meet your 'best friend', Eddie boy. I'm still so cut about that by the way, I have had to put up with you for two weeks a year since we were born when you come down here, why haven't I earned the title. Anyway, maybe next time huh? Too bad you're not coming down this year. Talk soon."
The message had made me smile; Jacob lived in Phoenix with his father and grandmother. My aunt Evelyn had died giving birth to Jacob, and every summer since I had gone to Phoenix and spent two weeks with Jacob. This year I was meant to go to the cabin with the Masens, just another thing to be sad about I guess. Instead Jacob had come up last week to surprise me, but with my exams and everything else going on it was hard to make time for him, but we managed until he left on Wednesday evening.
Just the thought of Jacob cheered you up; this was one part of my life that hadn't been touched by Edward. I was more than ready to wallow in my own self-pity when the phone rang again.
"Bella can you pick up please?" And I did… before slamming the phone back on the hook. Why would Edward even think it would be okay to call me at the moment? I felt the tears stinging in my eyes again, so I disconnected the phone and went up to bed. I chucked another blanket on the bed before climbing in. the emotions running through me gave me a chill as I looked at the ceiling. The tighter I pulled the blanket around me, the more protected I felt. When we were small Edward had always told me that if there were ghosts in m your room, they couldn't touch you if the blanket covered you. Now pulling the blanket around me had become an instinct to protect myself, an action that ultimately reminded me of him.
I don't think I slept, then again I don't remember the entire night either.
Silence. The whole house was filled with an eerie, unrelenting silence. Before I welcomed the silent moments in my life, between Renee and Alice I rarely had any of these moments. The quiet used to be comforting, but now it mocked me. I was alone, there was not a bird chirping, no traffic moved on the road outside and the usual creaks the house made had ceased.
It's as if with Edward taken away from me, everything else went along with him. My best friends could hardly abandon their own brother, not that I would ask them to.
I went over to the cupboard hoping that Charlie still had money left in there for groceries even though no one was meant to be at home this week. I opened the old cookie tin and saw enough money for about a month's groceries. I took out about a hundred dollars and put it in my wallet before driving to the store.
On the drive back to the house I felt slightly better about the day. There was something calming about shopping, a feeling of usefulness, that calmed me. Pulling onto my street I saw Alice's Porsche in my driveway, deciding against turning the truck around I pulled in next to her and cut the engine.
"Please don't start Alice." I said walking straight to the door and unlocking it. When I turned back to the truck Alice had already grabbed the groceries. She pushed past me into the house leaving me to get the last of the bags. I walked in the kitchen to find her sitting at the island in the centre.
"So apparently one of my supposed 'best friends' decides that she will ignore my 26 phone calls and 10 text messages just because her adopted brother acted like an arse." Her eyes held a look of disappointment, which filled me entirely with guilt.
"I'm so sorry Alice." I meant it too, I never meant to hurt Ali; I was just so caught up in what had happened.
"So you should be, Mum and Dad have been worried sick that their 'daughter' wasn't picking up the phone. Emmett and Rose got into a huge argument because she wouldn't let him beat up Edward and Jasper has been trying to escape the negative feelings in the house, he climbed on the roof just to get out of there. How was this supposed to get any better if you didn't pick up your phone and talk to me?"
"It won't get any better at the moment Alice."
"What do you mean it won't? You two will work everything out, it will be fine."
"Maybe, but I'm not going to deal with all of this for the moment."
"When then?"
"I don't know."
"Well deicide soon, we want our Bella back," She stood up to hug me. "I know he probably acted like a major arse, but he loves you Bella, we all do. He wants you back; he's just too stubborn to admit he was wrong. Everything will work out."
You could always depend on Alice to be there for you, no matter the circumstance. I started crying again and looked around the kitchen hoping to find something that would swallow me up. I wish I could be mad, or even better feel indifference, but I felt like I had lost half of myself.
After we had put the groceries away, Alice explained that they had put off their trip for a few days. Obviously Liz and Ed expected everything to blow over soon enough.
"Let's have a sleepover Bella, we can eat enormous amounts of junk food, watch girly movies and paint our nails." I raised my eyebrows at her. "Okay, I won't paint your nails."
Instead of letting me answer she sat on our old leather couch and turned on the television. We didn't say much to begin with, opting instead to just watch the first thing that came on. This just happened to be The Little Mermaid. Had anyone walked through the front door at this time, they probably would have thought we were odd, but it was fun.
After the movie had ended Alice turned to me and smiled, "So when are you going to tell Edward how you feel?"
"Uh never… especially not after last night." Alice was the only one that knew how I felt about Edward. For years we had been the best of friends, but after we turned 15 I had realised all the girls at school had begun to notice Edward, notice him, flirt with him, what's the difference. He never flirted back but that never stopped the jealousy I felt.
As soon as Alice had seen us together she pulled me aside and demanded I tell her what was going on between us, she had physically restrained me until I told her everything I felt for Edward. In part this was why I was so upset by the argument I'd had with Edward yesterday. We were never together, but it made me sad that I might have lost my chance to tell him.
I pushed the thought aside forcing myself to smile for Alice. While she muttered something about retail therapy and I walked into the kitchen to begin making dinner. The phone rang whilst I was making the pasta sauce. When did Alice reconnect the phone?
"Do you want me to get that?" Alice said obviously distracted by something else.
I didn't even pick up the phone when she called, why would I pick it up now? "Just let the machine pick it up."
The answering machine clicked over and I heard Carlisle's usually serene voice fill the room, but tonight his voice sounded slightly hoarse.
"Bella, Esme and I received some news today, we would appreciate if we could come over to discuss some things with you…"
"Alice can you get that?" I heard Alice get up and cut off Carlisle's message.
"Hello?"… "Oh no this is Alice."… "Really she did?"… "Sure I'll get her for you." She walked into the kitchen and held out the phone, "It's Carlisle."
"Oh really?" I said sarcastically. She placed the phone between my ear and my shoulder before walking form the room. "Hey Carlisle."
"Bella it's wonderful to speak with you dear, how are you?"
"Um I'm fine. How are you?" I was lying, but Carlisle didn't need to worry about me.
"Are you free this evening?" He didn't answer me, interesting.
"Uh yeah come on over."
"Thankyou Bella, Esme and I will be there shortly."
I made enough dinner for Carlisle and Esme and waited in the living room for Carlisle and Esme to arrive.
"Liz and Ed always mention Carlisle and Esme."
"I'm sure they would Liz, Ed, Carlisle, Esme and my Mum and Dad have been friends for years. Didn't they meet when they moved here three years ago?"
"Sounds about right."
We continued to talk for another 10 minutes until the doorbell rang. I ran to the door and hugged the first person I came in contact with on the other side. Usually when I hugged Carlisle and Esme they seemed cooler somehow and their embraces were strong enveloping hugs, Esme's being more delicate than Carlisle's. I looked up to Carlisle's usually smiling face to see him smiling down at me sadly.
"Carlisle are you okay?" he didn't answer and I turned to Esme who had the same look on her face. "What's wrong?"
"Maybe we should go inside Bella." What's going on? I had never seen Carlisle and Esme act this serious.
"How did you know I was here? We were meant to be going to the cabins remember?"
"I called Liz and Ed, they said we'd catch you here." Carlisle seemed more than uninterested in this choice of topic.
"Please Carlisle is something wrong?"
He took a deep breath, his eyes looking pained. He put on his doctor's voice and began, "I'm sorry Bella… There was an accident in London…"
That's the first chapter, the second one is finished and will be posted soon.
Let me know how you like it.
Kat -xxx-