So, this is set about… three years after Edward leaves Bella. He doesn't come back because she seems happy. Keyword: seems.
She has become a painter for a small company after learning the business. She has never loved anyone but Edward and never really got to know Jacob. She is also now afraid of commitment.
I finished painting the wall I was working on and turned to the boys. Jason, the blonde, blue eyed man with a British accent, was one of those most women fall for in a heartbeat. Kris was tall, dark haired with kind hazel eyes and a shy smile that made up for the lack of a foreign lilt, and just as desirable to women and less full of himself. Of course, the exception to that rule was me. I felt brotherly love towards them, but nothing more.
"Are you done yet?" I demanded impatiently. I was tired and really wanted to go home.
Jason laughed. "Calm down, babe. Not much longer."
I rolled my eyes. He had been calling me 'babe' since two weeks after we had started work together.
Kris snorted, looking at Jason's half finished wall. "Please. I can see you've really been doing something."
Kris shared a house with us and was a fellow painter. We had all decided that it would be much easier to just share a house rather than fend for ourselves on our small budgets after about a month.
He and I helped Jason finish his part and we left. It was six pm, but the owners of the house were still at work.
When we reached our house I went straight for the kitchen.
"What do you guys want tonight?" I asked when they followed me in.
"Whatever you're fixing, Bella," Kris said. "Unless you want me to cook…"
"You can help if you like." I pulled out chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, and some corn.
We all fixed dinner together, ate, and headed to our rooms. I grabbed my bag and headed for the bathroom.
Jason was on his way and I smirked, closing the door before he got there. There was no lock, but the boys had agreed not to come in without my permission while I was there. Kris was better about that rule than Jason, but I didn't mind so much. He was only messing around, mostly.
I showered, dressed, brushed my hair out, and brushed my teeth before relinquishing the bathroom.
Jason rolled his eyes, his sign that I was took too long, before kissing me goodnight. It was usually brotherly. He just teased me with the 'babe' stuff. It was our little joke. Although he had mentioned that he wouldn't mind if I wanted to try going out sometime. He thought it was kind of nice that I wasn't all over him at the same time, though. He was a brother figure with a sometimes dirty mind. I didn't mind though. He was a good person when it came down to it.
I went downstairs to see if Kris was still up or if he had gone to bed without a shower and found he was still there.
I sat down next to him and he smiled at me.
"Not sleepy yet?" he asked.
"Not quite," I answered.
"Come here, you," he said and held open his arms for me.
I scooted over to him and rested my head on his chest, watching television with him.
He stroked my hair gently and laughed. "You know, I never had a sister, but you turned out to be perfect for the job."
"I'm glad it worked out," I said, laughing a little myself.
He checked his watch and yawned. "I think it's time for bed. I need to kick someone out of the shower before we run out of hot water."
He stood and walked me up the stairs. "We have a new job starting in two day."
I frowned. "Where?"
"554 Oak Street. It's the big mansion on the corner. The guy is a doctor or something. He's loaded, probably really old too," he said. "Anyway, just thought you would like to know." He kissed me, like Jason's kiss it was strictly brotherly.
"Night," I murmured and walked to my room. I slipped in and sat on the bed.
My room was fairly plain. It was painted a creamy white and I had only a few things to decorate it with; a small jewelry box, a bookshelf loaded with all of my books, and a dresser.
I finally fell asleep after a few minutes.
When we got to the mansion, we found a note on the door.
Evidentially the doctor had to work early in the morning until late, so we would probably not see him. He left us a key and so we went in and searched for the living room. That was the first room we were supposed to do.
First we cleared out everything into one of the empty rooms in the house.
When we finished with that we left. We ate lunch, came back and started setting out the canvas to catch any paint or dust or even drywall.
I decided to start taping and floating the wall where it needed it.
The boys were looking at the other rooms to see how much paint we would need for the job.
I was wiped out by the time I finished. I was collapsed on the floor by the time the boys came back to see how I was doing.
I had finished, but was completely worn out.
"Here, babe, I'll carry you, okay?" Jason said.
I had stood up but my legs weren't steady under me. I had used a ladder, but that didn't mean I didn't stretch everything in my body to do the work.
"Fine," I muttered.
He picked me up and carried me out the door, careful not to bump me into anything.
"You should have waited for us," he said.
I glared at him and Kris chuckled.
"He has a point, Bella."
"Whatever," I muttered and laid my head on Jason's shoulder. "At least I got the first coat of mud on."
Jason set me down in the passenger's seat and Kris got in the back of the van. Jason ran around to the driver's side and drove us home.
"The doctor guy, um, Dr. Masen, is coming by later to discuss how his sister wants each room done. She's picky, I guess," Kris said as we walked into the house.
"Well, when is he coming?" I asked.
"I think around five. He's getting off early today," he answered, going through the refrigerator. "So, would you like me to cook some steaks for an early dinner?"
"If you like," I said.
He grinned. He liked to cook and I enjoyed helping.
Jason pulled out the steaks and started cutting up onions to sauté.
We each ate our steaks and then took turns taking showers before sitting down to watch television.
The doctor didn't come by six and so we decided to change for bed.
"Jason, can I borrow a shirt? All of my nightclothes are in the laundry," I said, entering his room.
He nodded and pulled out a dark blue button-up shirt.
"You can use this one. It's clean."
I took it gratefully and changed in my room. I joined the boys downstairs again and decided that I wanted a snack. I went to the kitchen and pulled out a package of Oreos and poured a glass of milk.
When I got back the boys were already asleep on the couch. I giggled and poked them each.
"If you're going to sleep, go to bed," I told them.
Jason shrugged and stole a cookie from me. "I'll stay up until you go to bed, Bella."
"And I'll supervise," Kris said, taking one of the cookies too.
I sipped at my milk and ate a cookie. "So, I guess he won't be here?"
"Guess not," Kris muttered. "Must have had an emergency."
"I guess so," I agreed. "Poor guy." I stood and turned to them. "I'm going to bed. Night."
"Hey, hey, hey!" Jason tugged on my wrist and stood. "Goodnight, Bella," he said and kissed me.
"Night, Jason."
Kris kissed me too and then I ran up the stair, only tripping once.
The phone rang and I grabbed the one on my bedside table.
"Carver Painting Company." I said automatically into the receiver. My voice was slightly deepened from how sleepy I was.
"Is this Kristopher or Jason?" a male voice asked.
"Um, just a minute, let me get one of them…"
I took the wireless phone downstairs and handed it to Kris. "Here, I think it might be the doctor person."
"You make it sound like a pet preference," Jason whispered.
I grinned. "Maybe it is."
Kris said an occasional 'um-hum' or 'yes I think we can handle that' every once in a while before smiling. "Thank you for calling, Dr. Mason."
He paused. "Okay. We'll see you in the morning." He pressed the end call button and handed me the phone back. "He's going to be home tomorrow for a while so that he can pick textures and designs."
"In other words, my turn to pay attention," I said.
"Exactly. Be nice, but not too nice. We wouldn't want to have to hurt him for overstepping boundaries," Jason said.
Kris nodded. "We've lost two jobs because people thought you were leading them on and then turned them down after they asked you out."
"That's not my fault."
"Maybe not, but it still happens."
"Sorry."
"Go to bed," Kris ordered. "Unless you want me to carry you up there."
I laughed and walked around the couch to leave the room and managed to trip over thin air.
Kris sighed and stood. "That's it. I'm carrying you anyway."
He picked me up and took me to my room.
"I trust you can sleep without hurting yourself?"
"I think so," I said.
"Good. Go to sleep."
And with that he turned off the light and closed the door on his way out.
I woke up with a fever in the morning and the boys wouldn't let me come to work.
Jason took care of the designs and texture stuff, making notes for me. I was feeling better and running a normal temperature by the afternoon. I drove over to the mansion and hurried inside.
"Did anyone put on another layer of mud this morning?" I asked.
Jason and Kris exchanged a look and shook their heads no.
I moaned and picked up the bucket and got on a ladder. I worked around the room until I finished.
I tugged at the baggy shirt I wore.
"We should be able to paint tomorrow afternoon if we get a coat on early. Of course that depends on how fast we can get the ceiling scraped down," I said. "What color are we going to paint this room?"
"I think he said maroon with white stripes. And these flowers," Kris showed me a design. "He didn't seem happy about the choice, but his sister was thrilled about it."
Jason grinned. "She was hot."
"I agree," Kris said, blushing. "She was."
I frowned. "You two can discuss that later when I don't have to listen."
"Fair enough, only you might not like that when we won't let you tell us how perfect the doctor is. He isn't old at all. In fact, he just started work here. He's only in his early twenties, maybe," Jason said.
"Since when have I cared about what a guy looks like?" I asked.
"Babe, you love me, don't you?" Jason asked.
"You're my brother…sort of."
"Not when you need to be rescued."
"Those are emergencies."
"Will you two cut it out?" Kris asked.
"Fine," we said at the same time.
"Let's get out of here. It's getting late and the doc will be home any minute. I don't need to see this one break his heart," he said, jutting his thumb at me.
"Grrr."
He kissed my forehead. "You know I'm just playing."
"Grrr."
He laughed. "Come on, it's time to go. You don't even have to talk to me."
"Fine."
When we were all loaded into the van, a silver Volvo started to pull into the driveway.
I felt my heart wrench. Edward used to drive one of those.
We left before I could see the doctor.
And then the rain started. I cursed the weather that was so like Forks'.
We ran by the post office and checked out mail. Bills. Ick.
I took care of sorting our bills and placing the checks from each of us in the return envelopes. Along with balancing my checkbook and checking that they had each done a sufficient job with their own.
By the time I was done, it was bedtime again. I kissed the boys goodnight and went up to shower, and then to bed.
Soooooooooo………do you like it? I might cry if you don't like it, but it wont stop me from writing.
