(A/N): oneshot.
Summery: Bella's friend comes to visit and tells the Cullens about Bellas sport life back in Arizona. Takes place sometime after New moon. Renee is a little OOC.
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The phone rang from downstairs, temporarily pulling me out of my thoughts. I was lying with Edward, dozing off. Charlie will get it; I thought, and didn't make any move to get out of my comfortable position on the bed. I was wrong, the phone rang again, and again after that.
"Do you want to get that?" Edward questioned, "I would, but what message would we be sending when I answer your home phone in the middle of the night?"
I smirked, that probably wouldn't give off the best impression. I still wasn't very coherent so I just slurred, "Let the machine get it." He nodded and went back to playing with my hair. The phone, yet again, rang. Then came the beep.
"BELLAAA!! I KNOW YOU'RE AWAKE. COME ANSWER THE PHONE. I HAVN'T TALKED TO MY BEST FRIEND IN FOREVER!!" came screeching from downstairs. This jolted me awake, not because of the horrendous volume, but the fact that Lexi was calling me. I sat up straight in bed and rushed out of my room down the steps without responding to Edwards questioning look.
I reached the phone right at the end of Lexi's rant about my best friend duties to her. I picked the phone up with a swift motion. "Lex, how's it going?" I asked with my newfound energy.
"BELLA!! I've missed you sooo much!! I have amazing news!!" she continued shrieking into the phone on her end.
"I've missed you too, Lexi. You still surprise me every time I talk to you with how loud and obnoxious your voice is at 1 in the morning," I said sarcastically, feigning annoyance.
She scoffed through the phone, "you know you're excited to hear from me." She knew me too well. We spent the next couple of minutes briefly catching up. She told me that Phoenix is as hot as ever and how she still was playing tennis for her school. "Bella, I have some surprising news though, I'll be visiting Forks next week and was wondering if you wanted to meet up?"
"Of course Lex! That's so exciting, when are you coming? I'll pick you up from the airport." We exchanged information and determined that she would be staying with me for the duration of her stay. After politely saying goodbye and hanging up the phone, I trudged up the stairs and back into my room where Edward was still lying on my bed.
He looked up when I entered and gave me a breathtaking smile. I slipped underneath the covers and leaned into him. "Who was that?" He asked slyly. Like he didn't know, he was probably listening to our conversation with his supernatural hearing. I smiled sweetly and decided to humor him.
"That Edward, was Lexi. She was my best friend in Phoenix when I lived there. We went to the same school and clubs and stuff. She's coming next week to visit and staying here." I explained. Edward's face faltered at the last sentence. And then it hit me, he wouldn't be able to stay over while she was here. My face fell as well with my sudden realization.
"Edward, I didn't even realize that you wouldn't be able to stay over while she was here. It'll only be for a couple of days?" I said hesitantly. He nodded and agreed. I rejoiced inside, Lexi was coming!!
Again, my smile fell. Crap, Lexi was coming. She was my best friend back in Arizona, but she also knew about my life and there were a few things that I didn't think were necessary for Edward to know. Hopefully she won't bring them up. She knows that I don't like to talk about my past from Arizona. She knew that there was more to me coming to Forks than just wanting to let Phil and Renee travel together.
"Bella, love, what's wrong?" Edward questioned me. I forgot he was here for a minute. I shrugged it off as nothing but I could sense that he suspected that something was off. I lay down and he joined me and I fell asleep thinking of everything that Lexi and I would do in Forks.
(a week later)
I woke up next to Edward and instantly my day was brightened. Lexi was coming today!! I hopped out of bed and Edward followed suit. He pecked me on the lips and I skipped off t the bathroom to take a shower. The warm water calmed my tight muscles and I found myself singing in the shower. I washed the strawberry shampoo out of my hair and jumped out of the shower while simultaneously wrapping a towel around myself. This wasn't such a bright idea because I tripped on the towel and fell onto the tiled floor.
Edward must've heard the thud of my butt colliding with the icy floor because he instantly knocked on my door. "Bella, are you ok?" he asked frantically. I assured him that I was just being clumsy and he laughed. "Okay then, continue. Oh, and why did you stop singing? It was amazing," he joked.
I blushed. I forgot that he could here me. "Damn vampire." I whispered to myself. Outside I could hear Edward's musical laughter. I silently finished blow drying my hair and walked out of the small bathroom.
He stood outside of the door and brought me into his cold embrace. "I'm going to miss you these next couple of nights." He murmured into my ear seductively. I shivered t his touch and agreed with him, Glancing at the clock I realized that we were late. I grabbed Edward's hand and we flew out the door and into his silver Volvo's passenger door. He smiled at my new enthusiasm and climbed into the driver's seat. We drove out of the driveway and started to head towards the airport.
"BELLA!!!" Lexi screamed as soon as she saw me. I started running towards her, abandoning Edwards hand for a minute. As I reached her she pulled me into a huge hug. We spent almost five minutes just gushing over how much we missed one another over the past couple of years.
To be honest, when I left Phoenix I didn't expect to see any of my friends again. Lexi was my closest friend from all the things we used to do when we were together. She still looked the same, tall, sporty, tan, with long curly blonde hair. Everything a tennis player is expected to look like.
Lexi was one of the best. In the few emails she and I exchanged post-move, she informed me that she reached number one on the ladder for AZ state tennis. She felt kind of guilty though, telling me about this because she knew what a sore topic tennis was with me. But, truly, I was excited for her. She was a good player.
I pulled back from the hug and we walked back to where Edward was standing. "Lexi, this is Edward, my boyfriend. Edward, this is Lexi." I introduced them. Instead of gawking like most girls our age would at Edward, she just extended her hand, not phased at all by how uneven Edward and I were in appearance.
"I always knew Bella would snag a hottie. Looks like he's just your type, Bella." I blushed and rolled my eyes. Edward curled his arm around my waist and smiled.
"You haven't changed at all Lex," I said with a small smile. "You haven't either Bella, except maybe now you're even paler than before." She said, her face lit up with a huge grin. Lexi was such a happy-go-lucky person. I laughed, but agreed.
We headed back to my house, Edward drove while Lexi and I questioned each other in the backseat. Upon arriving in the house, Lexi, Edward, and I trudged upstairs. Okay, well Lexi and I trudged upstairs. Edward gracefully ascended.
Lexi was pretty much beat from the day we had. Edward could see this and he gave me a kiss goodbye and when he leaned in I whispered, "Wait downstairs, she'll fall asleep right away and I will be right down." He nodded. Good, if I didn't spend some alone time with him I would suffer from Edward withdrawal.
I turned back towards Lexi. She was lying on top of my bed, yawning. I smiled and started to walk towards the doors leading out of the room when she stopped me. "Wait Bella, I have to tell you something." I returned to the bedside and asked her to continue.
Tentatively, she opened her mouth and explained, "I was sent here with ulterior motives. I ran into your mother last week at the movie store and we got to talking…" Oh no, Renee was involved in this. Not. Good. "and you know that it is almost spring…" Now I knew where this was going. I didn't want to talk about this now, especially with Edward downstairs eavesdropping. He didn't know about my past record with Lexi and my mother. "And we were thinking that you might consider coming back to Arizona for a while to play again. I completely understand if you refuse, but we could really use you back on the team. You could be number one again Bella! You were the best of the best! Don't throw that all away."
By the time she finished, I had gotten angry. "Lexi! You know why I stopped playing. I haven't played since I moved. Tennis is dead to me now! Understand that! So sorry to disappoint you, but no, I will not be going back to Arizona for that reason, ever." I cooled down by the end of my rant and added, "Lexi, I know that you want what's best for me but, if I start playing again, things will just go back to how they were. I know that I disappointed Renee and you but I could never be happy with that life."
She nodded, but still seemed to disagree. "Go to bed Lexi, I'll see you in the morning." With that I left the room and climbed downstairs to go talk to Edward.
He looked thoroughly confused, but still pulled me into his lap and started to play with my fingers. "Since when do you play tennis, considering that you can't walk across a flat surface?" He asked in between planting kisses on my neck.
I looked into his eyes. "I played when I lived in Phoenix. Lexi and I both played on the state team and the school team. I didn't think it would matter if I told you or not because I don't play anymore." He stopped then to look at me in the eyes. His glare made me look away, afraid he would be angry with him.
"How could you think that I wouldn't want to know that about you? I want to know everything, no matter how insignificant it may be." I looked back to him, happy with his reaction and kissed him on the lips. We broke apart and he questioned, "How long did you play? What were you ranked?"
"I had only played a year and a half when I left Arizona. I was number one and Lexi was number three." I said quietly. He turned my face towards his with a shocked expression. "That's amazing, love! I would love to see you play sometime."
I face turned impassive, "I don't play tennis anymore," I said flatly. He looked surprised at my sudden lack of emotion but let it drop. He placed a sweet kiss on the tip of my nose and said that he had to return to his house. After he left I sauntered back to my room and fell asleep next to Lexi.
I was slapped awake when Lexi's left arm flung itself over my eyes. "What the hell?!" I said groggily. Looking besides me I saw that Lexi was still asleep. I woke her up and we started to get ready for a day of bonding.
"Hey Bellarina? Can you get me my hairbrush? It's in my suitcase in the side pocket." She said, using my old, horrendous nickname. I went over to her suitcase and unzipped the pocket on the left. Hmmm… nothing was in there. I opened the main compartment and began searching. I reached half way into the suitcase and my hand came in contact with something hard. I pulled it out.
How dare she? She brought her tennis racket?! Why? She knew that I wouldn't agree to go back with her, she said so last night. I felt disgusted at the item in my hands. This sole item caused my relationship with my mother to turn sour and eventually led to me moving in with Charlie. However I also felt relaxed, I missed the sport, but I did not miss what it did to my life. Mid thought, Lexi came back into the room.
"Oh, Bella, you found that in there. I brought your old one too. In case you wanted to play sometime." I looked at her in amazement. Why would she do this? "Of course I don't want to play. You should know that."
She shrugged. I heard a knock on my bedroom door. Edward was here and already let himself in the front door, which meant that he was listening to our conversation. I opened the door and gave him a pleading look that was supposed to tell him to help me escape.
"Lexi, I would be happy to give up today's plans and go watch you and Bella play tennis. I can't believe she never told me that she was so good," Edward dazzled Lexi.
Betrayal, thy name is Edward Cullen.
His face slightly fell after reading Lexi's thoughts. Probably something about how Renee turned after learning that I was a good tennis player as well. Lexi's face on the other hand, lit up. She squealed, "Bella, please. I'll go easy on you. You know that you want to."
After thinking for a moment I replied, "Fine, but on one condition, just because I will play with you doesn't mean that I will go back to Arizona." She nodded her head eagerly, Lexi was always up for playing tennis. It was her passion. "Oh, and Lexi, pa-lease, don't forget who was ranked above who. I'll go easy on you, number three." I smirked. Lexi always played better when riled up. I looked back to Edward. He was full-out smiling now, excited to see his girlfriend play a sport without fatally injuring herself.
We arrived at the courts at around mid day. I was wearing just some shorts and a t-shirt. Lexi however, was wearing one of those professional tennis dresses. It was quite cute actually. I used to own a matching one, before I got rid of all my tennis clothes.
"I bet you regret burning all your tennis outfits now, Bella," Lexi said when she noticed me looking at her dress. Edward looked at me, amused. "Bella Marie Swan, you set your tennis clothes on fire?"
"It's a long story." I muttered, blushing. The burning was part of my rebel stage when I pissed off Renee before I left for Forks.
Edward placed his lips next to my ear, "I wish you still had some of those dresses, I'd love to see you in one." I blushed even more and turned away. Edward chuckled at my reaction and handed me my racket. I kissed him on the cheek and ran to the court to join Lexi.
After 2 sets, I had already beaten Lexi. Since I haven't played in over two years, I was surprised that I was still better than Lexi. She was a good player, but after starting to fall behind, her confidence was broken. I executed each forehand, serve, volley, and specialty shot with precision. They all hit her side of the court with topspin and speed making them almost impossible to return.
I didn't even look over to Edward this whole time. This was probably pretty boring for a vampire to watch. They had all of this super strength and I felt so inadequate about myself. I was such a bore.
Lexi admitted defeat and we went back over to the stands to join Edward. His whole family had gathered to watch. I shrunk from my embarrassment. Why were they all gathered here? I took my seat next to Edward and looked up at the family. He smiled down at me and planted a kiss on my mouth. I smiled in return, my former embarrassment gone.
I looked around at my family. Edward was smiling subtly at me while Alice was beaming. Emmett must've said something odd again because Esme was quietly scolding him. Rosalie looked bored out of her mind but I saw her glance lovingly at Emmett every once in a while. Carlisle was supervising this all with a content look. Jasper was concentrating on calming me but he also had his arm wrapped around Alice.
"Lexi, this is Edward's family. This is Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett; I go to school with them. This is Carlisle and Esme, their parents."
They all spoke their 'welcomes' and 'nice to meet yous' and then Lexi turned to face me. "Bella, will you come to the restroom with me. I'm all sweaty." Trust Lexi to be blunt. Uncomfortably I obliged and we walked together in silence.
When we reached the bathroom she looked up at me. "Nice match Bella, you've always been better than me. I kind of don't want you to come back anymore because I would be bumped down the ladder," she confided in me.
"Don't worry, I'm not going back," I said. It was the truth too; I had no intentions of playing tennis competitively ever again. Lexi nodded but then brought up a tough subject with me.
"Where are you going to college, Bella? I didn't want to ask with Edward and his family around incase you were uncomfortable with it." What she didn't know was that they were still listening in without her knowledge.
I didn't know how to respond so I only said, "Uhm, I don't know yet." I couldn't tell her that I had no plans to go to college and instead was going to become a vampire. I laughed at what her reaction would be to that, probably just nodding and asking to join me in becoming one too. Lexi was a follower, not a leader; I was the reason that she became interested in tennis anyway. I was proud of her for coming this far, she was sure to become a good player soon.
"Bella, have you gotten any more offers since you moved?" I froze at this statement. The Cullens didn't know about this part of my past. In truth, I had already been accepted to most colleges my freshman year in high school. They all wanted me for their tennis teams.
"No, I'm not going to accept any of the offers though, so it doesn't matter. I don't want to go to college because of that." She knew what I was talking about. I edited, hoping that Edward and my family outside wouldn't question me about it when Lexi left.
At this, her mouth dropped open. "Bella, why the hell not? Take advantage of it, you have a full scholarship to most colleges around the globe!" True, but irrelevant. I told Renee that I wouldn't go to any of those colleges when she applied for me before I left.
"Renee was the one that made me apply to those places. Tennis is in my past. I don't want to use it as a free excuse to get into college. It's no big deal." I was done with this conversation. I walked out the door, tripping on my way out. Great, now my clumsiness comes back to me. I wiped any emotion off of my face and went to go sit with Edward.
He now had a frustrated look on his face, as did the rest of his family. I decided to spend some quality time with Lexi to avoid the questions that were sure to come from my family as soon as she left.
The next day I spent entirely with Lexi. We went back to our old ways, where we stayed up all night talking, doing gymnastics, and just being crazy. We act like 12 year olds, and we enjoy it. The high feeling that I get after goofing out for 24 hours straight is by far, the thing I miss most about being around Lexi
Lexi was leaving that night, so we packed up and I drove her to the airport. We said our goodbyes and she left. I vowed to myself that I would see her at least once more before my change and play tennis with her. I would even let her win; before she learned that I had 'died'.
Already I missed her, I thought as I walked back to my truck. I got my keys out and unlocked the door, without looking up from the ground. "Gahh!!" I flinched away from the door. Edward was sitting there, with a smile on his face but had a relieved expression in his eyes. "Jesus, Edward, you scared me," I breathed out, recovering from the surprise.
He laughed while I went over to the passenger side, "How about we go to my house now? I think the whole family wants to talk with you."
I sighed, but agreed. Lexi, my safety charm, was gone. Now I had to answer all their questions. We rode in silence, only with occasional glances at one another. The white mansion came into view and Edward pulled up. We entered the house and everyone said 'hello' or 'welcome home'. I sat down on the couch, Edward next to me. I scooted closer to him and he put his arm around my waist.
Emmett came down the stairs, "Bella, what did that Lexi chick mean when she said that you had acceptances to colleges all over the world?" He asked frankly, reminding me of Lexi.
"Well when I used to play tennis competitively I started to get all these acceptances to colleges," I stated simply. Edward looked at me, shocked. The rest of the family did as well. After asking me to explicate further, I grudgingly told them, "I was the number one player in Arizona, number third in the nation then. All the prestigious schools wanted me to join their tennis program."
More shocked expressions. "Why didn't you accept any of them?" Alice questioned, curious.
"I hate tennis, I don't want to have to play at college. Plus I have no plans of going to college anyway," my newly blank face said.
Jasper looked at me, "Why are you feeling guilty and angered whenever you talk about college tennis? Your face loses it's emotion too."
I smiled, the emotionless front was an impulse that hadn't faded from living with Renee. "In Phoenix, Renee went crazy when she learned that I could become famous and whatnot. I was playing 30 or 40 hours a week back then. I moved here so that I wouldn't be pressured into living the lifestyle that Renee picked out for me."
My family still didn't seem to understand but I didn't want to talk about it any longer. I pulled Edward's hand and he rose and carried me upstairs. His face was pensive when he set me on his bed.
"I think you should accept one of the offers," he said quietly after a couple minutes of silence. My eyes widened. "You could live a normal life. I could go with you of course. But you could life the life of an average college student. We wouldn't have to hold you back."
"Edward, don't start with this shit again. Seriously, you bring up this idea every chance that you get and I have never accepted. What makes you think that I would accept this time? Plus, I really don't like tennis; Renee would go crazy again and put all types of stress on me. That life does not even compare to the life I want to live with you," I rolled my eyes, he is too self-sacrificing. I kissed his nose; his face was a little less troubled than it was before. I wrapped my arms around him and relished in the cool touch of him. I sighed in contentment, "You are my future Edward, and nothing can change that."
He kissed me passionately and we ended up both lying on his gold sheets that lay on top of his bed. "Did I ever tell you how wonderful you are, Bella?" he said into my hair. I kissed him again and we fell asleep like that, encircled in each others arms.
(A week later)
Our first day back to school had just ended. Edward and I walked hand in hand back to my truck. Today I had to go to La Push for a dinner that Charlie and I were going to at Jake's place. He kissed my forehead and whispered, "Be safe." With that he walked to his own car.
I drove to our house and retrieved my bag from the passenger side of the car. There I spotted another package. I grabbed it and took it inside, wanting to see what was it contained. It was a rectangular box wrapped in blue wrapping paper with an over-the-top bow on it.
Alice. I sighed, of course, only she could do this. I cautiously started to untie the ribbon and then take off the wrapping paper, careful not to cut myself. (b/c we all know what happened last time she tried to open a gift all by herself. haha) I lifted the lid off and peered inside.
Inside, neatly folded, was a crisp, royal blue, tennis dress. I lifted it out of the box. The skirt was a little short, but overall it was quite pretty. Why would Alice give me this though? I don't play tennis anymore. I was about to throw out the box when a piece of yellow paper caught my vision. I picked it out of the box and read the letter.
Bella,
Here's a little something for the honeymoon.
You can thank me later,
Alice 3
(A/N): THE END. :))
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