Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, not matter how much I wish I did.
Hi everyone! First off, I'm really excited you're going to read this. Please take the time to review at the end and let me know what you think – I'd really appreciate the feedback. Second, I want to explain where this story starts off, in relation to the series, so avoid confusion from the get-go. Renee and Charlie are still very much married in the beginning of this story. Renee decided to give Forks life a try in order to make an effort to keep her family together, even though she does not have a penchant for the small town. I think that's all that needs to be explained for now.
I'll try to update as quickly as I can. Reviews have a tendency to make me update faster though
- perfectshadeofdarkblue
Best Definition of Good Intentions
Just Aiming to Please
At the sound of the car horn, Bella turned around and waved to the retreating car. Before pulling her key out of her bag, she heard the familiar sound of the tires squealing as her friend sped off. Long ago Bella had become comfortable with that sound and now could only laugh at Alice's need for speed. As she turned her key in the door, she realized the door was already unlocked. She hesitantly entered the house. It was completely unlike herself to forget to lock and the door and her parents weren't expected back from their beach trip until much later.
Bella was immediately put at ease when she heard her mother's happy laugh drift from the kitchen. A smile made its way across Bella's face at the sound that she had almost forgotten. It appeared to her that some quality time together at the beach might have been just what her parents had needed. Her mother's back was to her when she reached the kitchen, so very gently Bella placed a hand on the older woman's shoulder. Despite the soft touch, Renee was still taken by surprised.
"Oh!" She gasped, jumping out of the chair.
"Sorry, Mom. I didn't mean to startle you," Bell whispered, not wanting to interrupt the obviously pleasant phone call. It wasn't very often that she saw this side of her mother.
In response, Renee held up a hand, telling her daughter she'd be just another minute. Very quietly, she wrapped up her conversation. "I've got to run; my daughter just got home. I'll see you soon." She replaced the phone on its charger and made her way over to where her daughter was now sitting by the television. "Bella! What are you doing home? I thought you hanging out with Alice all day," Renee answered, while looking at the clock over Bella's head, seeing that it was only two in the afternoon.
"We left at 8 this morning, Mom. Even as energetic as Alice is, the girl needs her rest," Bella answered rolling her eyes. "Besides, they're having a family dinner tonight to celebrate Emmett's acceptance to Stanford and Alice promised to help Esme. I wasn't expecting you and Dad to be back until late tonight, so I made plans to have dinner with the Cullen's. Is that alright?" Suddenly Bella was overcome with guilt. She hardly got time to spend with her Mom anymore because of their opposing schedules and hoped her mother wasn't planning something for tonight.
"Oh, your father's not home yet. I left him with Billy and instructions to fish. I got a call from the resort, asking me to come in to greet some VIP guests who decided to arrive earlier than planned. So once I get changed, I'm going to head into work," At the mention of Bella's father, Renee's face became distorted. Hoping that her daughter wouldn't notice, she started walking towards her room. She called back over her shoulder as she changed, "I'll probably stay there tonight, too, because they're bound to need me tomorrow. So why don't you just stay at Alice's tonight since there's no telling what time Charlie will be home after spending the day at La Push. There's probably some game on tonight that he'll stay there to watch."
"Sure, Mom. I think I'll try to take a nap before heading over to dinner, so I guess I'll just see you tomorrow." Bella made her way upstairs to her room disappointed. She had really been hoping her mother would tell her she couldn't have dinner at the Cullen's so they could spend some time together. It seemed as though Renee was getting called in randomly much more often, and this job wasn't making her as happy as she claimed it would. It was no secret that Renee wasn't a fan of small-town life, but she had decided with Charlie that it would be a good place to raise a child. That was nearly sixteen years ago and over the course of those years the small-town life hadn't grown on Renee one bit. It had actually seemed to frustrate her more, especially recently. Renee would be the first to admit that she wasn't very pleasant to be around when she was in one of her "I Hate Forks" moods, so she approached Charlie and Bella explaining that it might help if she could spend more time in the city. She didn't want to ask Charlie to give up his career here, although he would do anything she asked, and she didn't want to pull Bella away from her friends. Instead, she took a job working at a prestigious resort in Seattle, hoping that some of the glamour would rub of on her, and she'd be able to keep her family together, yet still live the life she yearned for.
After a late movie in Port Angeles last night and spending the entire day so far with Alice, Bella could barely make it all the way to her bed. Before giving into the sleep that clouded her mind, Bella made sure to set an alarm to wake her up so she would have enough time to get ready and not be late for Emmett's celebration dinner. However, all too soon, the buzzer went off, jarring Bella out of her dream state. Slowly she rose from her bed and made her way across the room to her closet. While rummaging around inside trying to put together an appropriate outfit, Bella heard her cell phone ringing. She quickly scanned her bedroom only to realize her purse, with her cell phone inside, was still downstairs where she had thrown in after walking into the house. Even though she had a pretty good idea of who was calling her, she didn't want to miss the phone call, so she hurried downstairs. She was almost to the bottom of the stairs, when her clumsy nature took over. She stumbled down the last few steps, managing to avoid falling down by tightly griping the banister. By this point, she could no longer hear the melody being projected from the small electronic device and decided she could slow down since she's already missed the call. Bella grabbed her purse and pushed the redial button as she made her way back up the stairs.
"Let me guess, you tripped on the way to the phone," a bubbly voice managed to squeeze out in between laughs.
"Very funny, Alice," Bella shot back, embarrassed that even though no one had seen her stumble, it was just what people expected of her. "I was just about to get ready. What's up?"
"Just wondering what time you're coming over." Alice replied sweetly, but Bella knew what she really wanted.
"Alice, I know that tone of voice. Now just tell me what you want because I don't have time to play games. I still need to get in the shower."
"Alright, alright. I was really wondering if you wanted to spend the night over here after dinner." Alice wasn't really asking and even if she was, they both knew Bella could never turn her down.
"I was actually going to ask if it would be alright to stay there. My mom went to Seattle for work and apparently my dad isn't going to be around tonight," Bella explained.
"She went into work again?" Alice asked astonished. "Jeez, that's like the third time this week. She's going to work herself to death if she's not careful. Do you ever even get to see her anymore, Bella?" Alice had a hard time imagining a mother gone so much, due mostly to the fact that she was so close to her own.
Suddenly, Bella's disappointment overtook her and she knew she could trust Alice and didn't need to hide it. "Actually, I don't. As lame as it sounds, I really do miss hanging out with her."
Alice could sense that Bella wanted to talk more about it but figured that they would have plenty of time since they were now having a slumber party. She hated seeing her friend so upset. "You know what will you cheer you up?" Alice sang through the phone.
"Oh, no. I really don't like the sound of that." Bella couldn't help but laugh at herself, immediately lifting her mood. Despite her complaints about whatever Alice was planning in her head, they both knew she would give in and go along with it. Bella hated being such a push-over, but there really wasn't much she could do about it when Alice started working her charm.
"You don't even know what it is yet, silly!" Alice laughed back.
"Okay, I'll bite. What will cheer me up, Alice?" Bella said, her voice oozing with condescension.
"Going to the Spring Bonfire after dinner!" Alice could hardly contain her excitement anymore now that the conversation was back to where she wanted.
The only response Alice heard was the sharp intake of breath Bella took as she was surprised. That was definitely not the answer she had been expecting.
"Bella? Are you still there? Bella?"
"Yes, Alice, I'm still here." Bella growled into the phone.
Alice pretended not to notice her friend's obviously annoyance, "So what do you think?"
"You know very well what I think. You also know, and so do I, that it doesn't matter. You'll manage to convince me to change my mind anyway," Bella said exasperated. She had clearly given up trying to win.
"Oh, good! You'll be so happy we went! It'll be so fun!" Bella could practically hear Alice jumping up and down on the other side of the line.
"Oh, yea. I'm sure it will," Bella replied blankly.
"Is that sarcasm I hear, Bella?" Alice only laughed at the response.
"What else do you want Alice? You better tell me know before I decide to not even come over to dinner," Bella threatened.
"Nothing. Now go shower and get ready! And don't forget to bring an outfit for the bonfire! Oh, Bella, I'm so excited!" Alice gushed before hanging up the phone, leaving Bella staring at her closet quietly.
"Oh, great. Now I need two outfits," Bella grunted to herself while rolling her eyes.
For the second time in five minutes, Bella gave up. Walking into the bathroom, she decided she would pick out an outfit after she had showered. She reached into the shower, turning on the water and allowing it to heat up. She quickly undressed and reached her hands up, tugging at the elastic that was currently holding her hair in place in a ponytail. As she stared into the mirror, she watched her brunette locks fall into place on either side of her face, cascading down her back and brushing against her shoulders. Dropping the elastic onto the marbled countertop, Bella sighed and stepped into the steaming water. Not one to linger, Bella let the fog clear her mind while she quickly washed her hair and body. After she stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself, she smoothly ran a comb through her hair before returning to her perch in front of her clothes. She smiled to herself as she quickly pulled out a knee-length brown cotton skirt and dark green v-neck sweater. Bella pulled on the clothes, silently reminding herself to apply a bit of makeup before leaving, so Alice could not complain about her lack of effort to look nice. It was bad enough to be forced to go to the bonfire, but Bella could live without subjecting herself to Alice's negative opinions concerning her appearance. Returning to her closet, Bella slid on a pair of silver flats and grabbed her overnight bag. Trying to be practical about the upcoming evening's festivities, Bella placed a pair of jeans inside her bag along with a sweatshirt. She was about the leave her closet when she realized that Alice would be less than pleased with that specific choice of a wardrobe. To make up for it, Bella reached up to grab her favorite three-quarter length sleeve red shirt. She also pulled her cropped black pea coat off its hanger and placed it inside the bag to join her first choice outfit as well as her overnight clothes and necessities. As she grabbed her purse to make her way downstairs, she pleaded with whatever higher power was listening that Alice allow her to get away with her first option of clothing.
Before Bella left the house, she thought to leave a note for Charlie, in case her mother didn't call to fill him in before she left for Seattle. She simply wrote that she would be spending the night at the Cullen's and would see him tomorrow. As she placed the note on the counter, she heard an unfamiliar song ring out behind her. Bella turned around to see her mother's cell phone sitting at the kitchen table. She picked it up, reading the caller ID flash James. Thinking it might be work and she could explain that her mother left her cell phone, Bella decided to answer.
"Hello?"
A low, husky male voice came from the other end, "Are you almost here, babe?"
Pulling the phone away from her ear to stare at it in disbelief, Bella replied, "Excuse me?"
"I can't wait any longer. I want you here now. I need you here now," the husky voice whispered back.
"Um…I think you've got the wrong number," Bella explained nervously. This call obviously couldn't be for her mother, but why would the number be saved in her phone.
Instantly, the husky voice raised an octave and sound restrained, "Oh!" Then after an embarrassed cough to clear his throat, he continued, "I must have hit the wrong number. Uh…sorry." And with that, Bella heard the dial tone.
Shaking her head, she placed the phone back on the table and made her way to the door. She paused in front of the mirror, noticing her hair was finally dry. She ran her fingers through the roots quickly, to give her hair some volume then gathered it at the base of her neck to tie it in a low, side pony. Smiling at her reflection, she was happy with the result. Simple, yet still looked like she put effort into her appearance. Her brown eyes danced back at her as she tucked her bangs behind her eye and walked out of the house, locking the door behind her. Bella climbed into her old red truck, tossing her bag and purse onto the seat beside her. The loud engine roared to life as she turned the key in the ignition. She pulled out of her drive way and made her way across town to the Cullen residence where she knew an interesting night was in store for her.