Disclaimer- I am not Stephenie Meyer or Charles Dickens.
I'm a little behind on proof-reading my other fanfic, so I'm going to post something else in time for Christmas. Hope you all enjoy.
I adjusted my position for the fourth time. I was the only one flying coach today- Rose, Emmett and Jasper were all in first class on the way to New York. And I had only been able to buy a middle seat. Ugh. Where was the justice in this world? And of course, it was a full flight and there was a screaming baby sitting next to me. I had spent the night on the folding couch bed in the living room while listening to Rose and Emmett hump and moan like gorillas. I should have thought to bring ear plugs. Jasper could sleep through a Civil War battle.
We were meeting Emmett and Alice's parents, Esme and Carlisle, at La Guardia. Then, the seven of us were going to fly to London Heathrow to meet Esme's sister, Liz, whom I had met a few times in the two years I had lived in Forks and stayed with my father, Charlie. Liz was married to another international doctor who was also a millionaire like Carlisle, Tony Masen. They lived in Chicago until about seven years ago, when he got offered a seat on the International Board of Pediatric Surgeons. Angela, Rosalie and I had been asked to come, seeing as we were all Alice's best friends, and she had wanted to take us all there since we had all become best friends. She and Emmett had gone to visit them several times. They had some kid, but I hardly cared.
The more miserable I was, the more fantastical I imagined London to be, especially at Christmastime. Carlisle, with his theatrical knack, would read us A Christmas Carol by Charlie Dickens by the fireplace while we roasted Chestnuts. I'd probably burn myself, but luckily, there were two skilled doctors there. Speaking of Charles Dickens, there would be carolers dressed like something out of the Victorian Era. There would be giant red bows and soot on everything and gas lamps and carriages and snow and the royal guard with their giant furry hats--
Somebody behind me kneed me in the small of my back. I sighed and sat up, opening my eyes. I wished Angela was here. She'd be riding coach with me. She didn't go because her parents wanted her to be there because they were pretty sure it was her great aunt Suzy's last Christmas and she was ready to kick the bucket and they wanted her to be there. Angela claimed she didn't mind, but how could she not? The only thing was with this trip, we had to pay for our own plane tickets. My parents were too proud to allow Carlisle and Esme to pay for my ticket, as were Angela's.
Just ten more hours of this, Bella, I told myself. I pulled out my ragged copy of A Christmas Carol while I was kicked in the small of my back, again. I turned around and saw that there was a kid, about six, with his feet up against my chair, pressing against it so that he was horizontal in his chair.
"Bobby, honey," his mother said in an annoying, high-pitched voice, seeing me. "Some people don't like when you do that to their seat on the plane."
SOME people don't like it? NObody likes it, you dumb bitch! I thought crankily. Time to smack that kid! I imagined her to be some bewildered-looking lady with giant, red 80's hair and bad stirrup pants and a clown make-up, although I didn't dare turn around again. He didn't stop.
How I had turned out so good without my parents beating me was questionable. I opened up A Christmas Carol and began reading about Ebenezer Scrooge. Little Bobby Annoying wasn't letting up.
I was ever-so-grateful when Rosalie came down the aisle and spotted me. Bobby's mom got up to go the bathroom.
"Hey, Bella," she said. "Sorry, there aren't any open seats in first class on this flight."
My seat popped forward again from Bobby. "That's- Okay," I said. "Just buy me lunch- in- New York."
"Bella, this is getting ridiculous," Rosalie said. She grabbed the head of my seat and glared at the kid, getting down to eye-level with him. "You are going to stop. That.Now," she hissed through clenched teeth. "Or I will call the flight attendant up from first class and have them fling you out of the plane over the Rocky Mountains where Sasquatch will eat you before you can get your presents from Santa. You got it?" I wish I could have seen the look on little Bobby's face, because his feet left my seat. A couple of people around us started clapping.
"Rose!" I cried.
"It's okay, his mom's not around," Rosalie said. "I owe you lunch." She sashayed back to first class. I took a glance back at Bobby, and he looked so scared there were tears rolling down his face. His mom didn't even notice when she got back to her seat. She started doing needlepoint, again, humming Jingle Bells to herself. Although the flight was cramped, it was more comfortable than ever.
When we finally landed in New York, Rose, Emmett, Jasper and I bypassed all the New York food stands to go meet Alice, Esme and Carlisle at the entrance to the international terminal. "The food's better here," Rose promised. I was positively starving by now, so I believed her.
Carlisle was on his PDA trying to wrap up some last-minute things and Esme was calling her sister internationally. Tiny, petite Alice was flipping through a catalogue, sitting on her carry-on bag. She bounced up when she saw us. "Hey, everyone!" she squealed. She has always had a love for fashion. She was wearing a paisley empire-waist top a black leggings. Her navy blue peacoat was on top of her suitcase and her black leather slouch-boots matched her black beret. Only Alice could wear a beret and not look like a complete dork. Her luggage she had checked probably all matched the Kate Spade carry-on rolling bag back behind her. She was never known for packing lightly. She jumped on Jasper and wrapped her legs around his middle, she was hugging him so hard. "I missed you!" she cried happily.
"I missed you too, Ali," Jasper said.
"I gotta go," Carlisle said, hanging up. Only Esme stayed on the phone for a more minutes. "Bella, Jasper, everyone- I'm so glad you all made it!" He took turns hugging me and Rose, then did that goofy guy-buddy handshake thing with Emmett and Jasper, trying to prove that he was still cool, although he was the old guy, now. Emmett rolled his eyes behind his father's back. "I am so excited you're all getting to come with us! You're going to love England!"
"Alright, thanks, Liz," Esme said, hanging up. "Okay, everyone, Edward's going to pick us up with a driver at Heathrow."
"Who's Edward?"
"My nephew," Esme said, as if I hadn't been listening all those years I had been spending the night at their house when they lived in Forks.
Geez, I thought. What kind of kid goes by 'Edward' and not 'Ned' or 'Eddie' or something that's not such a mouthful? Sounds like a dork.
Well, I'm sure Edward had his own group of nerdy chess-playing friends in London he'd much rather hang out with than us. We'd do just fine for ourselves. According to Esme, Emmett knew how to navigate the underground rail system pretty well. We could entertain ourselves.
"Why can't Aunt Lizzie do it?" Alice whined, holding Jasper's hand.
"Because she's got a meeting with the American Red Cross in London when we land that she can't skip out on," Esme said.
"Is that such a tragedy?" I muttered.
"Ugh, Edward," Emmett muttered. He grinned. "He's a bit of a geek, the last time I saw him, but he's probably not so bad, now."
"Yeah," Alice said.
"He's not a geek," Esme cried.
"The last time we saw him, he wears glasses, a retainer and plays piano. Major nerd, I'd say," Alice said. "And he was soooo skinny. I mean, I weighed more than he did!" She laughed. That was saying something- Alice was tiny, she had always been tiny, since she was so petite- I had to laugh, too.
"His voice cracked all over the place," Emmett said.
"What about his lisp?" Alice squealed, gleefully.
"'Hi, coushin Emmett- wanna check out my mold and shpore colleshun?'" Emmett made his voice crack up and down like a teenager's. "I swear to God, he had one- he was that much of a science nerd." We all laughed.
"You all will be nice and civil with your cousin when you see him," Esme commanded.
"If I can see him," Emmett wise-cracked. "That shrimp was shorter than Alice!"
"Liz said he had a growth spurt in college," Esme said, defensively. "He was a late bloomer."
That just caused us to giggle more.
"Dear, you're not helping," Carlisle said. He pulled me aside. "Bella, sweetheart, I hope you don't mind, but I took a liberty and upgraded your seat, since you were the only one of us not sitting in first class. I hope you don't mind."
"Mind?" I asked, thinking of little Bobby kicking my seat. "No, I don't mind at all. Thank you, Carlisle! Just don't tell my parents. Hey, food!"
"Okay, okay. We all have to stop, now," Rose said.