AN: SM owns characters. Some places do exist; all other coincidences are just that.
Chapter 3 – Catch-up
BPOV
My eyes felt heavy but my heart was jumping out of my chest. I stayed still for a few minutes before I realized I had to pee like a racehorse. What the fuck was going on inside of my chest and why the hell am I awake I feel like I could be Rip Van Winkle at the beginning of his very long sleep. Ahhhh, caffeine. It all makes sense now. I reach up to my eyes and rub the sleep out of them but it's too bright. The walls are white not steely blue. Where am I? I sat and realize I've gotta be in Rose and Em's guest bedroom. Somebody had taken off my shoes and thrown a blanket on me. I looked around but I don't see any of my bags. It's still pretty bright outside so it can't be too late. Hmm… I pull open the door to look for the bathroom and hear some laughing from down the stairs. Jackpot!!! Potty-time. I pop across the hall and empty my pea-size bladder of that massive Dunkachino that is now plaguing me. There is no better feeling in the world. OK, maybe I'm lying, but there aren't many. As I'm washing my hands mentally singing Happy Birthday, I look up in the mirror and realize my hair is an absolute haystack and laugh to myself. Ten hrs on a plane, falling asleep in the car and a couple hrs nap in the guest bed does wonders for a girls lions main huh? So I flatten it as best I can which actually makes it worse and decide to head down to the waiting wolves. I sneak down as quietly as possible and sit on the 3rd to last step. I just watch as both of my favorite girls are sitting on their boyfriends laps smiling and giggling. All of the sudden Em looks up and lets out the biggest belly laugh I've heard in a long long time.
"Belly Boo, If you wanted to pretend to be Simba, we could have tried to get you a job at the Zoo instead. I'm sure they need some Vet techs." ::smack:: And I officially love Rose.
"Hey guys, anybody know where my bags are, It seems my hair doesn't like sleeping in funny positions and static electricity and such." Snorts were coming from the couch, but Rose got up glaring daggers at Em and walked into the front hall to show me where my bags were still hanging out. I dug out my brush and started untangling the mess. Alice got asked if I wanted sweet tea or a beer. I opted for the later, and Rose asked if I was hungry. I nodded emphatically. Alice came over to me.
"Bella, I know it's been a while since you've met, but this is Jasper. We hung out some in college before he and I started dating but I wanted to officially introduce you again." I switched my brush into my other hand and reached my hand out to his. He shook mine swiftly and firmly.
"It's lovely to meet you again Bella, this one has been very excited for you to get here. More so than usual." And he winked at me. He knew her well.
"I'm glad to be back. It seems you have a way with her, that is, unless you've somehow convinced her to start taking sedatives in the last couple years?" Jasper smirked and me and shook his head. "Nope darling, we just work well together."
"Bella-Boo are you hungry?" Came a shout from the kitchen. "We were waiting on you to get started with lunch. We thought you probably hadn't had any good food lately and you could use a good lunch. We like to get together whenever everybody's got off, after games or shows to eat and just relax. The girls made sure they were off today. Jasper got off a little while ago and Edward and I were supposed to be off all day, but he got called in, you'll have to meet him later."
"Wow, that's awesome you guys can get together so much. I feel like I've missed out on so much." Em stopped washing the lettuce and gave me a big bear hug. "It's OK Bella-Boo, you're here now and can have as much fun as you want."
I sighed, "Thanks Em. For a guy that hardly knows me you sure are one of the sweetest guys I've ever met. How'd you get to be this way?"
"I dunno" He shrugged. "I guess I was just born like this." And then he added a dimple and a grin. I couldn't help but laugh.
"Alright, what do you need my help with?" I asked looking at the bags of ingredients that we laid out over the counter.
"OK, we're going to make the best sandwich in the world." I eyed him suspiciously. "Seriously, now set the ingredients up in this order: loaf of bread, mayo, turkey, space for the apple, another loaf of bread, the second jar or mayo, a space for the tomato and the last loaf of bread." I set the last loaf of bread down, put my hands on my hips and turned over to him furrowing my brow.
"Don't look at me like that Bella-boo, this is going to be the best damn sandwich you've ever tasted, I swear. Now… can you slice a tomato?" I nodded. And he tossed it to me. The big oaf tossed me the fucking tomato!!!
"HEY!!"
"No No No, She who has soft hands does NOT get to complain about getting tossed the tomato from 4 feet away. I call BS. Now, knives are in the drawer next to the oven, cutting board is under that. Get to it Bella-Boo, my tummy's grumbly." And Rose just chuckled from the doorway watching her boyfriend abuse me. Seriously not cool. I just sat there cutting my tomatoes grumbling to myself.
"Rose? Is Bella-Boo growling? I'm going to feed her with my most amazingest sandwich from the bestest part of my heart since she one of the most amazingest people of the face of this happy happy planet and she GROWLING?!?!? ::gasp::" Em ask throwing the back of his hand to his forehead feigning distress. I couldn't help but laugh. I turned around knife in hand and it was Rose's hand to get worried.
"Bells, please put the knife down. Please please please. We don't need a repeat of Thanksgiving 2003. Oh dear God, please put the knife down." At this Alice and Jasper came rushing in the doorway and stopped abruptly. Alice started flapping her hands and hyperventilating. Jasper's hands were on her shoulders whispering calming words in her ears but not batting an eye himself. Em was standing leaning up against the counter biting his lips together watching Rose get so entirely worked up. It seemed Jasper and Em both noticed the same thing, the thing Rose and Al and not. The knife I'd chosen was one of those gimmicky Japanese knives that has a colored handle, sheath and blade so you can color code your usage. Keep Kosher, or gluten-free etc. When Em was messin with me, I decided to sheath the knife back up and start flailing it around while throwing everything right back at Em. The knife was perfectly safe as were all of us who were standing right there. But Rose and Al just hadn't looked that closely.
Thanksgiving 2003, we'd all decided not to go home, but instead we wanted to make our own thanksgiving feast. I was chopping the green beans for green bean casserole and Rose was pulling the turkey out of the oven to check on it and move the juices around a bit, make sure it didn't dry out too much. Rose didn't know what she was doing, so she was asking me, but Alice had the music up too loudly from the living room. I turned around to yell at her to turn it the fuck down and Rose was right behind me. She scared the fuck out of me. I lost the knife and it launched at her. Luckily Rose' reaction time had always been good and her arms were in great shape and lifted the damn bird right in the way of the knife. Otherwise it would have handed right in her voice-box. Rose and I gasped right as Alice ran around the corner screaming "What???" We were all dead silent for a min until Rose finally put the turkey down on the counter. "Holy shit!!!" "Holy shit is right, no more knives for Bella!" "But she's the only one that can cook, we're gonna starve!"
I stopped flicking the knife around and held it out for close inspection. Em took it from me and set in on the counter, Rose and Alice each took 3 steps to me and slapped me in the shoulder. I busted out laughing so hard I was doubled over. I just couldn't help it. What was I supposed to do? That was just do damn perfect. I mean come on. Jazz stepped in to the rescue.
"Alright ladies. Step up and make your sandwich. No pushin and no spittin. We all meet back in the living room with beers in 5." I headed up the end of the line watching everybody make theirs and grabbed my beer from where I'd left it. Headed to the living room and grabbed the end of the couch. I took a bite and Em was right. It was heaven in my mouth.
"It's good huh Bella- Boo?" Em just smiled.
"Yep" And I ate wordlessly.
When we were all done and leaning back patting our food babies I wanted to fall asleep again. Stupid tryptophan. But I didn't want to be ungrateful of my hosts.
"So what do you guys do for fun around here nowadays?" The guys kept staring at the ceiling, odd. But the girls guiltily looked at each other then to me. This was going to get interesting real quick.
"Bells, have you been keeping in shape?" Alice asked me with THICK faux innocence. This could only mean trouble.
"If running about 5 miles a few times a week is keeping in shape then yeah. Which by the way, is the Esplanade any safer now than it used to be?" It was Emmett that spoke next.
"Probably not. You're better off on treadmills for sure. If you're going to do the Esplanade do it during the day and don't use headphones. I can show you the areas where the known creepies hang out but it's a lot of using your head." Then it was Rose who came next while she practically held the pixie down as she was bouncing off of Jasper's lap. I was starting to get a little nervous.
"Bella, What'dya say to a game tomorrow morning? Our team just lost its setter and we were hoping you might want to fill in."
::HAHAHAHA::
"That's what's got you so worked up? Of course I'll play, what time's the game? You should know by now I'm always up for a game. Is the competition any good or is it gonna be backyard style?" Alice let out a HUGE breath of air I didn't realize she had holed up in the big ol mouth of hers and then jumped in.
"No Bells, there's more to it. See we didn't just lose our setter for the game, he left us for another team. He didn't like playing with so many girls so he found a team with the minimum number of girls who only used the girls the minimum number of times per play, you know the drill. Anyway. The fucker'd been playing with us for years and then he told us he was going to play again this season only to ditch us at the last min. The last day of registrations was the day after you called us to say you were moving her so we… well… um… ." She let that last part out all in one breath. Not much to think about here. I guess I'll just let em sweat it out for a min though. He He, Evil Bella.
"So let me get this straight. I'm calling my two best friends to beg for help to find a place to live in a ridiculously short amount of time between handing in my resignation at my old job and flying across the country to start my new job, I haven't see you girls or Emmett in three years and I haven't seen Jasper in five and within thirty minutes of me waking up from a much too short nap, you tell my sleepy ass that you want me to bail your candy asses out of a bind and set for your motherfucking turkey-assed selves? Is that it?"
"Um, We play Sunday mornings and Thursday nights" Alice said as she bit her lip. Rose was starting to smirk. She could always call my bluff damn her.
And I just stared at Alice. Not blinking. Slowly flaring my nostrils just to see how squirmy I could get her. All of the sudden my contact went blurry and I couldn't take it anymore. I busted a gut laughing. All Alice could do was cross her arms and pout.
"Oh Alice honey, I'm sorry. I still love you now tell me more about this team please." She let a smirk out and wiggled her but up off of Jasper till she was sitting right in front of me.
"OK, so, you have to wear a black shirt for now, the less writing the better." K, I can do that. I nodded. "All other clothing pieces are technically optional according to the league but I've ordered you shorts like the ones we used to use in the old days" she winked at me as if we were trying to keep a secret." I nodded again "I've got shirts at the screen-printers with everyone's last names and numbers, don't worry, you've got '8'. Oh, and I ordered you some of your socks when I ordered the shorts." Excellent, now I didn't have to find a distributer again. "Actually the shorts and socks should be getting here today. Rose and I decided we wanted them too and got some for Angela just in case. Um… So there's the six of us, Ben and Angie, and Mike. We usually have one out due to work, or whatnot." We play at The Castle in Cambridge. Rose did I miss anything?" We both looked over in her direction.
"Competition is going to be interesting this year. That setter we said we lost. He claimed to be on some international team once upon a time. He was decent but I doubted that level of play. He decided to form his own team and I know for a fact he got some guys who used to play on the Argentinean National team. I played with them a couple times at the Y before that kid rolled the ball across the court." I remember when that happened.
I was settling mom in for the night after a looong day of treatment at the hospital. My phone rang out in the living room and I just let it go. But instead of the voicemail beep, it rang again. Mom look up and shooed me to go answer it with questions written all over her face. I was becoming more and more glad every day that we'd decided to take those sign language classes, and that my mom had such an expressive face. I ran into the other room and grabbed my phone just in time. It was Rose. "Rose, Honey, what the fuck is so impor…"
"Hello, hello, Ma'am, is this Bella Swan?" said a deep nervous voice.
"Um, yeah, who is this and what's going on?" I sank down into the couch cushions.
"Um, well" I heard a muffled scream in the background, my heart began to race out of my chest. "I'm here with Rosalie, she told me to grab her phone and call you. We're at the gym, there's been a little accident." Although those words were by no means good. They weren't what had just been going through my head. She wasn't kidnapped. She wasn't being raped. She wasn't being tortured. Wait, Rose is screaming. Rose doesn't show pain like, ever.
"Sir, I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name"
"It's Emmett"
"Emmett, can you give me the quick version of what happened, please?" I heard another muffled groan and what sounded like Rose barking 'Don't do that!'.
"OK, she was on the volleyball court. The guys told me she went up for a hit and came down on a kickball. I've got a crying six-year old from the afterschool program here who's given us the impression that he's really sorry but was trying to send the ball to his brother and didn't know the game was going on." Typical, balls are always supposed to be rolled under the net not thrown over, but they're supposed to be rolled over on the side, off-court. Absolutely NOT under a hitters feet during a drill or game.
"OK, are you near her right now? I need to get more info about what happened to her specifically." I was in emergency mode. And Rose's muffled groans were getting louder.
"I'm right next to her"
"Can you put the phone on speaker?"
"Gimme a second" There was some rustling around and then a click.
"OK, you're on."
"Rose, Honey. Can you tell me if it what's hurting?"
"Knee" she cried out.
"Alright baby, I need you to keep breathing. I know this hurts baby. Are you in shorts, Can you tell if it's swelling already?"
"Yes" from both Rose and Emmett.
"How long ago did it happen?"
"About 10 minutes, It took me a couple minutes to figure out where her bag was to call you. She didn't want us to call the hospital without calling you first."
"Rose, You need to let them call the hospital, I'm going to keep asking you questions though. Emmett, please call the hospital and tell them it's not life-threatening, but you're in need of transportation."
"We're around the corner from the hospital, they won't send ambulances to us because of the proximity unless it's life-threatening."
"OK, we can't lie, so I'm going to need your help Emmett. Rose, honey, is the pain in the back, inside or outside?"
She strangled out a ragged, "It's everywhere"
"I know baby, where does it hurt the most Rose?"
"Um... the inside I think."
"OK baby, good. Just try to relax. Keep breathing. I'm coming but I'm gonna need to catch a flight, I'll be there in about 12 hours." I'd already pulled up Kayak and was booking a flight. It looked like I'd have to pack while on the phone and go ahead and get in the truck pretty much now, but I'd be on the red-eye and be there in the morning. My next issue was leaving Mom with Dad. I'd never done it for longer than an afternoon, but I could always have Esme stop in and Esme's husband Dr. Cullen was close if they needed him. "Have you called Alice?"
"No, she's working" There was deep slow breathing coming from Rose. I knew that sound. It was Rose trying to see through the pain. I'd only ever heard that sound one other time and that was not a night we ever wanted to relive again.
"Honey, she can get there faster than I can."
"But we're so close." I knew what she meant. Nursing jobs in Boston were hard to come by. Alice had just started interviewing at one of the hospitals and things were looking promising. They tended to look at your attendance history at your current place of employment quite closely and Rose didn't want to do anything to put that job at risk for Alice. She already knew this injury was going to be a setback for her chances. She was taking one for the team. My job wasn't at risk. We all knew that. I had plenty of sick and vacation time and I'd been on full-time staff now for a little over a year.
"OK. Rose. We need to get ice on that knee and wrap it up so that we can get you over to the hospital. Emmett?"
"Yeah?"
"Have you guys already called the hospital?"
"Not yet."
"Emmett, do you have a wheelchair there?"
"No"
"OK, can you guys have someone call and let them know that you're going to bring over Rosalie Hale, age 22, possible MCL tear and unknown other injuries. I'm going to need you or someone else, to get ice and wrap her knee before taking her over. But following my instructions TO THE 'T'. Understand?"
"Yeah"
"OK, first, I need you to take me off speakerphone and hand Rose the phone." There was some rustling around and I heard the tell-tale click.
"Hi" came her raspy voice.
"Hey honey, I love you. Now just listen. Before I have anybody do anything I need to know if you want Emmett to help you or if you want him to get a female employee." I could hear her taking in a big breath and then slowly let it out.
"It's OK" she said.
"You sure?"
"Yeah"
"OK, tell Emmett to put it back on speaker."
"...back on speaker." not as much rustling this time, he'd obviously figured out her phone. And click.
"Hey Bella, I'm here. What do you want me to do?"
"K, You're gonna need enough ice to put around her whole knee and enough elastic bandage to go from middle of her calf to middle of her thigh." He spoke quickly to another person standing near him. "Now this part is pretty important. When you start wrapping her leg, you need to do it slowly and this is going to sound a little odd, but you're the only one that can do it." There was silence for a few seconds and he asked, "should I have other people leave?"
"As many as you can, you're probably going to need an extra set of hands though." More silence then came Emmett's voice, obviously not directed at me. He seemed to have pulled the phone away so his voice was almost muffled.
"Angie! Come here!" I could hear the familiar sounds of a seasoned athlete springing across a gym floor almost silently. "Hey Ang, can you get me one of the foam wedges from the store room and then help Mark clear those bags away from that wall over there. Once that area's clear I'm gonna want your help holding her leg while I carry her over there so I can wrap her leg before we head over to the hospital. Can you handle the gym for the rest of the day?"
"Sure Em, your shift just ended a few minutes ago, I'll clock you out when we're done here. I'll get the wedge. Hey Mark, start clearing those bags over there, I'll be there in a min." Tears were prickling in my eyes. Emmett might not have understood the whole story, but he understood enough to not ask and just do. I knew Rose would be starting to panic so I tried to soothe her.
"Alright Rose. In just a minute, Em and Angie are going to move you over to that wall. They're going to prop your leg up against a big foam piece so it's not floppin' around, OK baby? I know it hurts, I know, but they're going to try very very hard to make sure it's as quick and painless as possible. OK. Then, Em is going to put ice around your leg and wrap you pretty snug in the bandages. Remember from school? It's actually OK if it's a bit tighter than what you'd do for a sprain right? Cause we're going around the corner and we don't want to hurt you worse getting there." I was saying part of this for Emmett's benefit; I could only hope that he was listening. I could hear those light footsteps again and Angie spoke up.
"Hey, I'm Angela. You're Rose right?" Silence. "Can you help me put your leg up against this piece of foam here? Yeah just like that. Alright. Now you and I are going to hold your leg here and Em's gonna count to 3 and He's gonna pick you up. We're gonna walk over and sit you down so your back is up against the wall." Silence again.
"Bella, fyi, she's nodding. She's doing good. She's breathing a lot, but trying to stay on top of everything. haha, she just gave you a thumbs up." Came Emmett's voice. This was a good thing. She's not panicking and trying to keep a sense of humor. This wasn't all bad.
"1...2...3. Up" I could hear the shuffling and Rose crying and grunting. She was trying so hard to keep it all in. I couldn't help the tears streaming down my cheeks just listening from my end of the phone. Three thousand freaking miles away and I can't help my damn best friend. What kind of a sick world is this???
"Alright Rosie" Huh, that was either going to get his balls ripped off or she wasn't going to be too out of it to remember. "We're going down now. I want you to scoot back for me and keep your leg up against the wedge there. Angie, can you get the Ice and wraps from Mark?"
"Sure thing, be right back Rose. Just keep breaking for me."
"Alright Bella, the swelling hasn't stopped. Mark said the hospital knows she's coming and that it's a pretty light day so far so they're going to try and run scans on her right away. Thanks Ang. Alright Rose. K, here we go. This is going to be pretty snug. Let me know if it's too tight. Let's get that ice on there first. Ang, you hold her calf, Rose, you grab onto your thigh. On the count of 3."
OK, I had to give him a little credit here. Granted I wasn't an orthopedic nurse but between sports, handing out with the trainers and having a couple of the Forks athletes come through our doors, I knew about various knee injuries and what positions were going to cause more or less pain. Who was this guy and how did he know that a possible, if not probable, MCL tear was going to make separation of the upper and lower halves of the legs excruciating? He wasn't your average gym-bound muscle-head. "I'm starting the bandage around the calf, and I'm working my way up. K, now I'm working my way around the ice. We've got the thick bandage so gimme a min, but this'll work. Halfway up. How ya doing Rosie, you hangin' in there?" Silence again. "She nodded her head Bella. I'm just above the knee now. It's pretty tight; her leg's getting really red from lack of blood-flow, are you sure about this Bella?"
"Emmett, you don't have a wheelchair and they aren't going to come and get her. Do you really want to carry her over there with her screaming and her knee flopping all over the place?"
"No" He said quietly.
"Alright then, this won't be on for very long. When you get there, you can tell them you know it's too tight. It'll probably get them to see her a little faster, If you need to, you can loosen it up once you get her in a wheelchair at the hospital, got it?"
"Yeah, K, it's done" He sighed.
"You did good Emmett. Now you need to grab her bag and take her over."
"OK, I'm going to go grab my backpack. Rosie, Stay here on the phone with Bella, I'll be right back OK. Ang will be right here."
"Hey Rose. How's your phone battery?"
"It's got 2 of the 5 bars lit up." Answered the voice I'd come to know as Angela.
"Rose honey, I know you don't want to call Alice yet, but you need to call her when her shift gets out. I've got a ticket on the Red Eye and I'll be there first thing in the morning, but they're not going to keep you that long so Alice'll need to get you back to your place."
"She just started her 24 shift."
"I'll get her home after." Emmett said. I didn't even her him come up. I wasn't so sure how Rose would deal with that.
"Emmett, I don't kn-"
"Bells, it's ok." Rose croaked.
"Emmett, do you have your phone handy?"
"Yeah why?"
"Enter this number. 617-555-2883. That's my cell, I never changed the number when I left after school so it's local if you or the hospital needs to call. I'm her emergency contact for everything, remember that! Rose's phone doesn't have a ton of juice left. It might last it might not, and if anything happens, and I do mean ANYTHING I need you to call me and text me with general updates so I'll get them when the plane lands. Angela, are you still there?"
"Yeah I'm here."
"Can I trust this guy with my sister?" Somebody snorted, I have no clue who.
"Yeah Bella, you can. But I'll give him a swift kick to the junk if I hear otherwise."
"Oh trust me, I've been taught the art of castration by many. If there's a need, there won't be any junk left to kick." And then somebody gasped. And Rose piped up, "It's alright you big oaf, I'll protect you." Well this was new. I couldn't wait to meet this Emmett character." BEEP
"Hang on guys, I've got another call."
"Bella, it's me calling you. I wanted to make sure you could get ahold of me when you got here." Smart man. I might like him after all.
"OK, I'll save it. I'll call when I get on the plane and again when we land. Text me with anything big and Rose, follow Dr's orders! I'm gonna go make arrangements for Renee and get on the road. I'll see you as in the morning. I love you."
"Love you too."
"Emmett, Take care of her"
"Roger that"
I made all my calls, jumped in my car, hopped on the plane, arrived in Boston, took the T to Rose's apartment and a giant opened the door before I got a chance to put my key in the lock. He was about 6'3", two of me across and built asked if I was Bella and told me he was Emmett. No wonder he hadn't balked at the idea of carrying Rose across the street. His eyes looked tired and sad but he grabbed my bag from me and told me she'd been sleeping all night. The drugs they'd given her were pretty good stuff according to his friend in med school and she hadn't moved. He'd been changing the ice on her leg per Dr's orders. It was elevated and in an immobilizer.
The text messages had told me there was no break but the tissue damage was unknown at this point due to the amount of swelling. I pretty much knew that but she still needed the drugs and immobilizer, not to mention referral for ortho and MRI. All of which Emmett had helped her get scheduled last night. He had all the aftercare instructions and upcoming appointments laid out on her kitchen counter for the two of us to look at later. She was tucked in pretty well in the bedroom still in her volleyball gear from yesterday. Em said he didn't want to make anything uncomfortable. VERY good move. So I helped her change, total dead weight of course, and then went into the kitchen to make pancakes and find out Em's side of the story.
He said the kid who rolled the ball felt horrible. He'd cried and cried thinking he'd killed her. Angela had calmed him down but he was still a wreck. Once they'd gotten her to the hospital, they had taken her back almost immediately. A nurse took her to get a urine sample and they ran in pretty quick coming back in the room leading with 'congratuations, you're NOT pregnant, here are some pain meds', we both laughed at that. Horrible way to start off an ER run. He said once the drugs were in her, they took her to X-RAY but wouldn't let him go. When they brought her back the drugs were really taking effect so she was almost out. They put her in the immobilizer, sized her for crutches, gave him instructions for ice and meds for the next 1-2 weeks and made an appointment for a follow-up with an MRI and ortho. He said he'd already called his med school friend and asked about the ortho she was sheduled with and I'd decided I'd call Carlisle and do the same. After all, why should I trust a guy in Med school over a Dr. I trust with my mother's life. He might work on the other side of the country but he'd gone to school in New England so he might know some people still. He might be able to ask around.
What Emmett said next was something I neither expected or was prepared for. He told me he had a pretty strong feeling that Rose had at least one pretty bad experience with men in the past and wanted to know if I could tell him anything about it. I was silent for a couple reasons. Firstly, most people couldn't tell anymore, this guy was reasonably observant despite any muscle-bound stereotypes. Secondly, we'd never told anyone the story that wasn't directly involved or didn't have to know for her personal safety and NO ONE had ever questioned us on it. Rose was adamant she didn't want anyone to look at her differently. She went to therapy. She had a mostly healthy attitude about the whole thing. The only remaining issue was really a general mistrust of men. It was a fairly significant mistrust but she was working on it. I took a minute to collect myself from the jar of being asked before tell him that her experiences have not been daisies and sunshine but that it was her story to tell. I also thanked him to dealing with yesterday's situation the way he did and that it could have turned out much differently.
Rose had a long recovery, but she made it. And Em was there much of the way.
"So basically, you're telling me we might have some stiff competition, big deal. We've probably had worse." Alice's eyes lit up and Rose was grinning.
"So you in?"
"You know as well as I do that if I knew the two of you were off playing on some god damn court somewhere, I'd be chewing my fingers off trying to keep myself in my chair instead of running out on the court. You're damn straight I'm in." Now all four of the faces looking at me were grinning back at me just as big as could be.
"YIPEEEEEEEEEEE"
::DING DONG::
"They're here. They're here" Alice ran to the door for the UPS guy. 'Muzuno' written across every suface. I knew they made shoes, kneepads and balls. As far as I knew, none of wore any of the above. What the Hell?!? Alice ripped open the box with a fury that would rival the Tasmanian Devil.
"Rose here you go, Bells here you go" Shorts and 2 double-packs of specialty knee-socks were thrown at me. "Jasper here, oh, here's mine, and Em, here's yours. I've give everybody else theirs tomorrow. Excellent. I'm so glad these came today. Now we're only missing the shirts but they should be there by Tuesday so we'll have them for Thursday's game."
"Whoa, slow down there pixie."
"Come one Bells, you know I can't. This is my element."
"Oh, I know hun, I know. OK guys so fill me in. Which rules does this league use? Old school or new school?"
"New" Was heard around the room.
"Game to…?"
"25 unless it's game 5, then it's 15" Emmett said.
"Win by 2?"
"Most definitely" Jasper drawled out.
"Complete with Let-Serve and liberos?" Nods "Best 2 of 3?" Rose jumped in on this one. "It's Best 3 out of 5 for all regular season and tournament games."
"What time's the game tomorrow?"
"11, we roll outta here at 10:15 to get a good warm-up stop." barked Em. And Jasper laughed.
"Alright boys and girls, If i'm supposed to be standing on my own two feet tomorrow instead of falling flat on my face i'm gonna go hit the hay. Make sure i'm up by 9 if you want. 8 if you want pancakes Em."
"Excellent!!! Come one Bells, Let's get these bags upstairs."
