Disclaimer: Characters rightfully belong to Stephenie Meyer. The song for which this story is named after belongs to Lennon/McCartney.
I Want You (She's So Heavy)
By Anna Diamond
Chapter Two
Summer carnival season had officially kicked off. Esme and Carlisle, as gracious as ever, had still let me tag along despite my injury. I think they felt really bad that I wouldn't have even been in a cast if it wasn't for their dipshit imbecile of a son.
We had just arrived in Half Moon Bay, CA and were setting up in the park. Due to the fact that I was currently crippled I wasn't able to be out helping everyone with the rides and sideshows, instead I was confined to the small and somewhat cramped caravan I was to share with Alice.
They had assigned me to administration duties, and today I was sorting out flyers to be posted around the small township.
I had just sorted them neatly into piles ready to be distributed when the door opened and Alice bounded in.
"Bellaaaaa," she started in the 'I'm going to make you do something you don't want to do, but disguise it as a request' voice I had learned to be wary of.
"Yes Alice?" I replied – hoping that in my cripple state she would not force me into enduring another round of Bella Barbie.
"Well, you know how me and Jasper have been together for awhile now?" I nodded, waiting for her to continue.
"Would you mind terribly if Istayedwithhiminhiscaravanthissummer?" She said, rushing out the end bit.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"
"Would you mind if I stayed with Jasper in his caravan this summer? I don't mean to ditch you and I totally will stay with you if you ask me to! But you know.. Rose and Em share their own caravan... I just... thought it'd be nice."
There were definite pros and cons to this situation. The cons were that I wouldn't have someone nearby to help me if I needed them in the middle of the night, which could be a bit of a damper, but the pros were very appealing. The caravan wasn't very big and so to have it all to myself would be wonderful. Alice was my best friend, and I loved her to pieces, but for such a small person she had an incredibly huge presence (not to mention wardrobe) and so sometimes the small space could become stifling.
"That's cool Alice. I don't mind." I answered her, picking up a stack of carefully sorted flyers.
Her face lit up instantly.
"Oh my gosh Bella you really are the best friend ever! Thank you so much!"
"Really Alice, it's no problem. I may need you to still come in and help me out from time to time, but you know me. I really don't mind being alone."
Alice looked puzzled for a second.
"Alone?" She asked.
"Well yeah. You're staying with Jasper right? I really don't mind being alone Alice. Really!" I said. I was so close to having this place all to myself now, I really didn't need her having second thoughts on me.
"Oh Bella, see, that's the thing."
Oh no, this couldn't be good.
"Mom wouldn't let me leave you on your own for obvious reasons, and…"
"Hey roomie." Said the tall silhouetted figure that had suddenly appeared, blocking the light from the door.
I simultaneously jumped and screamed, accidently throwing my stack my flyers into the air.
"Do. Not. Sneak. Up. On. Me. Like. That. EVER. Again!" I said, with my hand over my heart trying to catch my breath.
"Okay, well I'll let you guys get acquainted. And in the words of the late, great John Lennon… 'All we are saying is give peace a chance' okay?" The cheeky pixie said, before scampering off.
Of course my caravan-mate would be Edward. He usually stayed with Jasper, and so it would only natural that if he was being kicked out by Alice, this would be the only place for him to go. That, and karma seemed to be kicking my ass for something I hadn't even done yet.
"So," He began, dumping his bag on the bed. "Looks like we're sharing" he said, raising an eyebrow at the bed.
"Not so fast. That bench over there folds out to a bed. You're taking that, thank you very much." I replied, pointing to the bench.
"Oh come on," He pleaded, "That thing can't even be 6 foot long. I can't sleep scrunched up like that. It's bad for my back!"
"Well," I replied, feeling quite smug that he was going to suffer as much as I was "Should've though of that before you decided to break my wrist. I need the whole bed to rest my injured arm. Doctors orders."
He at least had the decency to look ashamed at that.
"You know I am sorry about that. I really didn't mean to throw you so hard."
"Yeah well, here I am stuck in plaster over summer because you had to one up me, which really sucks by the way. You may as well start making yourself useful and pick up all those flyers you made me drop."
He nodded and stooped down to start picking them up and organising them. He handed them back to me nicely sorted.
"Thanks." I said, taking them and placing them on the desk. "You can go now."
"Yes boss… this means I get to sleep in the bed right?" He said hopefully, waving towards the paper he picked up.
"Oh my god, get out!" I said throwing the nearest object I could find at him – which just happened to be an orange.
"Oh fuck that hurt!" He said, rubbing his arm where it hit.
I picked up another one threateningly and gave him a pointed look.
"Okay, okay I'm going." He said, walking off. I swore I could've heard him say "psychotic bitch" under his breath as he walked away.
Many hours later, after walking around the tiny town distributing the flyers, and helping "test" some of the rides it was time for dinner.
Esme, bless her heart, still found time to cook dinner for the family and "extended family" while we were on the road. The rest of the workers had to fend for themselves though.
Tonight it was lasagne, my favourite. We all gathered at the tables that had been set up in between all the staff caravans.
"I hope you guys are hungry!" Esme called as she stepped out of the caravan she shared with Carlisle with the dish of food.
There was a chorus of "Mmm's" and "Oh man that smells good" as she served it up.
We all ate in silence; everyone was too tired from such a long day to do more than eat.
Once the plates were cleared up, we began chatting.
"Rose, I'm going to need you to have a look at the Ferris wheel. It's making a funny noise. I've got a horrible feeling that one of the bolts has come loose." Carlisle said to Rosalie.
"Sure thing. Want to go check it out now?" She replied.
They excused themselves from the table.
"So Bella, Edward," Esme directed at us. "Have you two been behaving yourselves so far?"
"Mom, she's tried to kill me already! Look, I have a bruise!" Edward accused, rolling up his sleeve to show a faint red mark on his upper arm.
I rolled my eyes.
"He deserved that, besides, it barely left a mark." I defended myself.
Esme frowned. I knew deep down she was harbouring a desire for Edward and I to get together. To her it was the most natural thing in the world. To me it was going against nature in millions of ways.
"Would it really hurt for you two to get along at least for five minutes?"
"Yes, it would." We both replied at the same time. I looked at Edward in surprise and he smirked at me. I turned my head away, turning up my nose snobbishly as I did so.
"I think it's for the best that we've stuck you two together. You really need to work out your differences before it drives a wedge between the family."
Oh there it was. The guilt trip I knew was coming. I did really feel bad for that, and didn't want to drive the family apart, but what could I do? Edward and I were born to fight each other. In fact I was quite certain that if we got along for just 5 minutes, a massive black hole would erupt where we stood, collapsing the entire galaxy in on itself and then some. For the sake of humanity and whatever other life that potentially existed in the Milky Way, we couldn't get along! Laws of Physics could not be broken.
We both nodded in a non-committed way to what Esme said.
She continued talking and I found myself tuning out – not out of disrespect to her, no way, I loved her like she was my own mother - because I was so busy fretting over the current situation I found myself in. I had to spend the next 2 months sharing a cramped little caravan with the person I hated most in the world. This would be impossible!
And potentially embarrassing; I knew for a fact that I talked in my sleep. Alice recorded it once at a sleepover. For the rest of the school year I was known as Sleepy Spice – because I had started singing, or rather mumbling the lyrics to various spice girls songs.
There was no knowing what lengths Edward would go to with using this against me. I envisioned yet another video gracing YouTube in the near future.
"And for that reason, you two will also be working together all summer too." Esme's voice pulled me out of my reverie.
"I'm sorry what was that?" I asked, confused. She couldn't possibly have meant what I thought she meant.
"You're going to be paired up on sideshow duty." She clarified.
"Mom, that's not fair! I'm always on the rides!" Edward cried.
"And Esme, I hate to sound ungrateful after everything you've done for me, but aren't I supposed to be on admin duty? I'm not sure if I can assist on the side shows with my arm." I said.
"This is exactly why you're being put together. Bella your arm will be fine; Edward will help you with anything you need. And Ed, please, humour your dear old dad and I? It won't kill you to spend a summer on the side shows instead of ride operation."
There was no way out. Not only would I have to spend every night with Edward Cullen, asshole extraordinaire, and bane of my existence, but it seems all my waking hours would be in his presence.
Again, we both nodded. A sense of despair settled over me. Wasn't it bad enough to have a broken limb during summer? No, fate had to go and pull this doozy on me too.
A few hours later after walking along the nearby beach with Alice and Rose, I headed back to the caravan of doom and despair. I knocked on the door in an agitated way – it was my caravan first after all – I just didn't want to walk in on Edward doing something I didn't want to see, or in any state of undress. I didn't need anymore nightmares tonight than I was already bound to get.
"Come in" he called quietly.
I opened the door hesitantly and a camera flashed in my face.
"Oh come on! Give me a break!" I said exasperatedly, running the fingers of my good hand through my hair.
"Sorry Swan," he said in a voice that clearly indicated he wasn't sorry one bit. "Candid photos are always the best!"
I hmphed and pushed him and his stupid Polaroid camera out of the way, going to sit on the bed at the other end of the caravan.
I grabbed the book closest to me. I didn't want to fall asleep before Edward, just in case he heard me sleep talking.
I opened the book and stared blankly at the pages. Edward was moving in my peripheral vision, and I glanced up slightly to see that he was arranging some of his photos on the wall above his fold out bed/bench.
"Miss Swan, you wouldn't happen to be checking my fine masculine physique in profile view now would you?" He said, completely surprising me. He hadn't even turned his head or anything! How could he know I was stari… glancing at him?
"Your nose is crooked, and your chin makes your whole face look too serious." I said automatically as a retort, hoping to shoot him down.
"You say that as if you've spent a lot of time studying my face?" He replied, turning to look at me.
"Oh please Edward. This caravan can only hold so much ego. I've known you my entire life; I'm bound to know a thing or two about your facial features by now after staring at your ugly mug for so long." I retorted.
The ghost of a sardonic smile crossed his face, his lips twitching.
"Indeed. Indeed." He replied, turning back to his photos.
I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to the book.
An hour had past, and Edward was still wide awake. I could feel my eyelids start to droop and though I tried my hardest to stay awake, I found myself starting to drift off.
Before I knew it, I was back at the Cullen summer house in my bikini.
Alice bounded up to me, "Bella, make the punch will you?"
"No Alice! No punch!" Well at least that's what I tried to say. When I opened my mouth all that came out was seagull squawks.
"Silly Bella," Alice chastised. "You know I don't speak seagull!"
I held my throat in desperation. I tried to talk again, but more squawking came out.
I looked down at my body and where my bikini once covered my NC-17 parts, there were feathers and they were slowly spreading to cover the rest of my body.
I looked at my hands and arms in horror – they were slowly turning into wings which then started to flap. I was now staring up at Alice – easily a first.
"Alice! Help me! Oh my god! I'm turning into a seagull!" All came out as a series of frenzied squawks. I flapped my wings furiously and found myself face to face with her.
"Bella, you're a swan! Not a seagull. What were you thinking?" She said; her tone quite comedic, despite the horror of the situation at hand.
I couldn't stay in one place very long, or I would've fallen out of the air. I turned sharply to the right and let out a pained squawk as a sharp pain travelled up my right wing, paralysing me with pain.
Tears started to well in my eyes, and pooled out, melting away my feathers where they touched them.
"Bella, are you okay?" A male voice echoed from somewhere deep in my subconscious.
"Bella wake up!" The voice echoed again, much louder this time. I could feel the heavy dew of sleep starting to evaporate, and began blinking my eyes.
I found myself face to face with Edward.
"Bella are you okay? You're crying. Did you hurt your arm?" He said frantically, worry etched into his face.
I sobbed as a fresh pulse of pain travelled up my arm. It turned out I had rolled over on to my arm in my sleep.
He handed me a tissue to wipe my eyes and I took it with my good hand.
"Thanks," I mumbled in reply.
Kicking off the covers, I stood and walked over to the cabinet over the sink to search for the pain killers the doctor had prescribed for me.
I found them and filled a glass with some water, downing them quickly.
Glancing at the digital clock next to my bed where Edward stood, I saw that it was nearly four am. He didn't look like he had even been to sleep yet.
"Have you even been to bed yet?" I asked, curious.
He shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm a bit of an insomniac I guess. Besides, it's not easy to fall asleep when the person across the room from you is squawking like a seagull."
He picked up the book I was reading before I fell asleep as a blush spread across my face. He heard me.
"Huh, well this explains the seagull noises. For future reference, I'm not letting you read Jonathan Livingston Seagull before bed ever again. I never realised it was such a stimulating fable!" He said, with a rather incredulous look on his face.
"Oh ha, ha." I said sarcastically, turning to look at his photo layout in front of me.
I recognised many of the photos, or at least the scenes in which they were taken.
There was the "candid" one he took of me earlier that night. I was looking straight into the camera with a look of determination. Next to that photo was one of Rosalie and me in the kitchen before the party the other night. He got us mid hip-bump. Maybe he was right, candid photos did have some merit. I had to admit that for once I didn't look so completely terrible next to Rose with such a genuine look of happiness on my face.
Below that was one of Alice and Jasper standing together, staring into each others eyes. They were both smiling so beautifully. Just looking at them made me smile, and I ran my finger across the photo wistfully, not quite touching it, hoping I could find that kind of happiness one day.
Surrounding that were a few random scenery shots. They were quite artistic, without being pretentious. I guess Edward did have a skill with this sort of thing.
I looked up at Edward and half smiled "You're very lucky you know?"
He looked up at me, puzzlement showing clearly on his face. He raised an eyebrow.
"Don't get a big ego, but some of these photos are gorgeous. They're really good, despite being taken on a Polaroid. It's kind of hard to believe that someone like you is able to capture such beautiful things."
"Someone like me?" He asked quickly, obviously insulted at whatever I may or may not have insinuated.
"Forget it," I replied, biting my lip.
I turned my attention back to the photos.
"No I want to know!"
I tried to think of the words to phrase it right, without starting a fight – it was too early for something like that – when a photo near the bottom caught my eye.
It was tucked under a few other photos, but it suddenly stood out as clear as day to me.
There was a flash when I had my little wardrobe malfunction at the party, I didn't just imagine it.
There I was, with my dress half over my head, my stomach and legs bared for the world to see, and one of the triangles of my bikini top scrunched up over my left boob, displaying it in all its naked glory.
A feeling of horror swept through me. This photo could be all over the internet by now.
"Edward, what the hell is this all about?" I said, my voice increasing in volume, and starting to shake as the tears began to form.
He put the book down, and wandered over to where I was standing.
"What is all what about?"
I stabbed my finger at the photo, tears freely flowing now.
"How could you?!"
He looked like a kid who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Running his hand through his hair he looked at me and exhaled.
".. I can explain that."
xxx
AN – This has to be the first "cliff hanger" I've ever written you know? Thank you to those who reviewed. I really appreciate every single one.
I really like how this story is chugging along. I know it's not a great piece of literature, but it is very fun for me to write, and hopefully fun for you guys to read.
I am having a bit of trouble with the title. I don't feel like it fits very well, so if anyone has any suggestions for new titles I'd love to hear them!
Also, I know for a fact there are a few grammatical errors here and there. Semi colons and I have never really been acquainted. If you see any mistakes then please feel free to point them out to me. Constructive criticism is encouraged.
Let's see if we can try and get me up to 10 reviews, yes? :)