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Diary Excerpt from December 12th
Getting to see my dad again, I'm really excited. A lot of people, when I tell them I was raised by only my father, expect me to have some character flaw. What can I say; Charlie was just so good at playing house! I miss my old man all the time…
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Who is that stranger standing in the doorway to the kitchen? Why does he have a mustachio?
The laughter that filled the room made my cheeks flare a violent red; I had voiced those questions aloud, complete with bad Italian accent. The stranger, who Esme claimed was my beloved father of twenty-two years, gave sheepish smile, once again attracting my eyes to the bush above his lip. With nothing to compare the man to, other than my memories of him beardless for the past twenty-one years, I accepted Esme's claim that he was my father. Being the good daughter I was, I slid off the stool, which I had been sitting on to watch Edward do my job of cutting tomatoes (I am so lousy with knives), and made my way into a nice fatherly embrace.
Well, now I knew without a doubt that the man in front of me was Charlie. With both of us being rather undemonstrative, only he was able to give a hug that warmed my very core. I sighed, burying my face into the coat of his police uniform, soaking in the scent of home. The kitchen slowly filled with noise once more as the occupants gave us a moment. It had been a while since I had seen my dad, too long really. But flying home wasn't an option this school year, and he hated flying in general, so New York was out of the question.
"Hi Bella," he said quietly, his hand patting my shoulder as I pulled away a bit to make eye contact. His brown eyes were clear, the same way I remembered, and I'm sure mine were the exact opposite, watering up. The half smile he gave me confirmed this, and he copied Edward's previous gesture, digging his knuckles lightly into my scalp. "Hey kiddo."
True to the word, I stuck out my tongue, swatting his hand away. "Nice to see you too, old man." The aghast look he gave me appeased my desire for revenge- Charlie hated to be reminded of his age ("I am not old! That is not a gray hair!"), and I hated being reminded of mine ("Just because I'm not forty doesn't make me young!"). "Really though, it's nice to be seeing you again. You really should have flown out to New York for Thanksgiving."
Charlie laughed, slipping an arm over my shoulder and walking me towards the bustling island where dinner was being pulled out of the oven. "Me? Fly? Never. That's what I give you money to do." We laughed, and I returned to my stool while he slipped away to talk to Carlisle. When they had become buddy-buddy, I can't remember, but it always seemed so mismatched to me. Charlie, in his fish-scented police uniform, contrasted so greatly with Carlisle, covered in some expensive cologne and dressed in nice slacks and shirt.
Alice tugged at the back of my shirt while as I drifted off into my mind, and the stool threatened to topple over due to my jerk backwards. A quick screech and the handy placement of Emmett at the exact moment kept me off the ground, but it was another cheek-flaring moment. To escape the laughter, all directed at me, I grabbed the finished salad, stalking off into the dining room and mumbling under my breath. My eyes were locked on the floor, cautious of the many things that could send my and the lettuce flying, and by the time I made it safely there, everyone else was filing in behind me.
People were drifting towards their seats in pairs. Charlie teamed up with Carlisle, who automatically went towards Esme. Jasper and Alice were making faces at each other, taking the first two seats they found open. I managed to steal the seat between Edward, who entered with his date being the turkey, and my dad, while Rosalie and Emmett talked in hushed voices. While I normally would have questioned the lack of volume, I kept my mouth occupied with the mountain of food Esme served on my plate. Alice and I made eye contact when she turned to Carlisle to serve him, and she shrugged. Edward caught the exchange and leaned towards me, whispering in my ear.
"Esme is a strong advocate of eating out your feelings. Tomorrow, she'll be taking you to the gym to work off your feelings. It's a cycle." I laughed, both at his comment and the tickling of his warm breath on my ear, and he pulled away right in time to miss a muffin thrown from Esme's general area. Both of his hands went up as he began to plead his innocence. The table roared with laughter, and a typical Cullen family dinner was started.
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"Okay, so I'm come in two days for dinner. Does that sound okay?"
Charlie nodded, giving me a final hug as he slid his coat back on. "Drop in whenever you want. My schedule hasn't changed since you started going to high school, and the spare key is still under the eave. When you come, though, you might want to bring some rubber gloves and soap; the house is a total pigsty. And I still can't cook."
I laughed as I opened the door for him. "Nothing has changed, as I expected. Good night, Dad. Talk to you soon."
The sound of his goodbye floated through the door right before I closed it, and I waited next to the door until I heard the engine of the police car start and loudly switch gears before fading into the woods. Satisfied that my dad had gotten the car working correctly, I turned around to face the large house, zeroing in on the noises drifting down the hall. My feet lead me past the formal living room, took a brief detour in the dining room to help Esme carry empty dishes to the kitchen, and then made my way up the stairs to the rooms. Edward and Alice's rooms were empty, but the noises were coming from our hall. The door to my room was still tightly closed, but I didn't trust it to have stayed that way.
Sure enough, inside my room was the entire gang. Jasper, Emmett, and Edward looked comfortable enough on my bed, all leaning against the headboard and looking rather squished, though they were chatting quietly. Alice and Rosalie were making the most noise, tossing various objects out of my almost-empty suitcase. They noticed when I walked in, though they took no heed to me and continued rummaging through my things. Rather than ask them why they were doing so, I tossed myself across my bed, laying parallel to the edge, my head a little to close to Emmett shoe-clad feet for comfort. Edward's foot poked my rib cage, and I propped myself up on my elbows to send a mock glare at him.
The ensuing battle of immaturity was interrupted when Rosalie jumped up, her hands wrapped around a DVD case I had come to be very familiar with. The guys recognized it as well, but they did not seem as joyous as Alice and Rosalie. Emmett was the first to verbally show his disgust.
"The Notebook? Are you kidding me? It's our first night here, and we're going to watch the biggest chick flick of all time?" Edward loudly backed him up, while Jasper nodded as demurely as he could. I have the impression that Alice's glare may have had something to do with that. Both girls headed towards the bed, but Alice was closest to her beau, and she slid up slyly, grabbing his hand and starting to tug him off.
"Please? Think of it as one of the Christmas gifts I'm sure you forgot to get me." Jasper rolled his eyes, no doubt laughing mentally- he would never forget a gift. Emmett, on the other hand, colored quickly, and Rosalie knew she would get him in an instant.
"Just this one little present, please? And then we can go back to my house and we can see what kind of present I want to give you…" Her voice was low enough that I shouldn't have been able to hear it, but I was paying attention. Watching Emmett be whipped was hilarious, and it was always handy for blackmail later. When her hand trailed up of the bed to rest on his chest, fingers tracing organic shapes, I gagged. Edward caught my eye and did me a solid, grabbing a pillow and hitting them with it.
I laughed as the pair reoriented, and Edward slid off the bed first, pulling me off quickly after him to avoid their wrath. "Sorry, but any pre-fornication rituals are to be done outside of my room. Or…just not on the bed, please." Edward laughed while I spoke, and Emmett finally got off my bed. Rosalie gave us an evil eye as he started to pull her out of the room, Alice and Jasper following suit. To not be the odd pair out, Edward slipped his arm around my waist and dramatically pulled me away, making sound effects to match. The comfort of home, as Emmett and Alice both took a turn whacking Edward upside the head, was pleasantly swallowing me up.
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It was as if I had forgotten that The Notebook was the ultimate love story, a movie that had so many memories attached to it. It was the official Valentine's Day movie for the past three years, the movie we whipped out when anyone hit a bumpy patch in their relationship, and the reason that sometimes we gained eight pounds in one night. The movie was hardly ever watched without a copious amount of ice cream, and tonight was no different. I was settled on the floor, my back against Alice's legs which dangled off the couch. The vanilla ice cream had turned to soup twenty minutes into the movie, and now we sat watching the ending credits, tears streaming down two sets of eyes.
Alice's legs disappeared from behind me, and I realized she had pulled them up and curled further into Jasper's shoulder. Poor Edward, I thought. He was the other occupant of the couch, and now his space was being encroached on by feet. Rosalie and Emmett had left before the movie ended, claiming exhaustion. Jasper declined going back with them, saying he was needed early in the Cullen household to help with Christmas and wedding details. What the two pairs would be doing in the wee hours of the morning were not things I wanted to think of, and I knew I would be playing Bublé tonight to ensure an undisturbed sleep.
I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, sniffling quietly and holding my breath until I knew I wouldn't cry when I opened my mouth. "Come on guys," I whispered, still in movie mode. "Esme is probably going to want us up bright and early to help with decorating, we should get some sleep." Alice nodded, and I extended my hand to help pull her off the couch. The two of us stumbled a bit back, almost falling over the coffee table. Jasper chuckled, and we all cast looks at Edward, waiting for his comment.
His slight snore was all we got, and that caused Alice and I to laugh. Jasper reached over, shaking Edward's shoulder while Alice crept up, poking his sides. He awoke, though he was drowsy as ever. Jasper pulled him off the couch, and his arm fell over my shoulder. "Where's the fire?" He slurred as I drug him along. Alice's tinkling laugh flew over her shoulder, filling the hallway. Jasper shushed her in a way that made me avert my gaze and Edward would have catcalled had I not slapped my hand over his mouth.
"Honestly," I muttered under my breath, "you must be hell when you're drunk." The sound of Alice's door closing made me look back, and sure enough the hall was devoid of any life but us. Edward's door was already open, so I quickly pulled him through and dumped him on his bed. By the time he had crawled up to the pillows, he was already starting to snore. I smiled, slipping out quietly. As I closed the door, I heard something akin to "Thank you", though it might have just been a very tonal snore.
My door squeaked as I pulled it open, and I winced. I hated making noise when all the others were sleeping. The lights to my room blinded me when I turned them on, and as I slid into my pajamas and as slid out of my room into the bathroom across the hall, I realized I had made it through the house without having any lights. I cleaned my face and brushed my teeth while feeling proud that I had also managed to not fall, and then I returned to my room.
The bed was so inviting, I dove right at it. The pillow Edward had hit Rosalie and Emmett with just a few hours ago bounced when I landed next to it in the middle of the bed. Instead of crawling to the head of the bed, I stayed where I was, suddenly exhausted and too lazy to move. My arms wrapped around the pillow, hugging it towards me as my body curled around it to form a tight ball. As I lay there, I subconsciously reflected on my day, recounting the moments of joy that filled it, like when I saw my father or when Esme started a mini-food war.
The reminder of having watched The Notebook was what caused the breakdown. My mind drifted back to New York, where we had watched it last when Rosalie went to a scare with Emmett over some colleague of his. In my state of near sleep, I could remember it perfectly. I had to run to the store twice for refills on sherbet, and I had ended up canceling my date with Jacob to Broadway to stay and comfort her. He had been so understanding, it had caused only more grief in the situation. Rosalie gave me a twenty minute lecture about holding on to a guy who was so sweet to me.
I remembered him dropping by shortly after midnight, when we had gotten Rosalie to sleep deeply enough that we could converse with out significant others. Jasper had already slipped in to help Alice keep watch on our personal time bomb while Jacob and I occupied the short balcony the extended from the kitchen. I relayed what Rosalie had said, and he had laughed, mockingly begging that I heed her advice.
All the memories filling my head disappeared when I heard my door creak open, letting in a little light. It took a moment for me to realize that the lack of focus on the pale hand, which grabbed my iPod of the dresser and then closed the door again, was due to the tears blurring my vision. My ears picked up the sound of feet tiptoeing on carpet, accompanied by quiet sniffles that shockingly came from me. I felt the bed tip slightly as someone crawled on it, and familiar hand stroked my forehead, along with comforting whispers.
"Bella, shush. It's fine, Bella dearest. Just let it out." I didn't question how Alice heard my cries, since they didn't sound loud to me. Perhaps she was just checking up, and it was convenient that I just happened to be in tears. Whatever caused her to slip into my room, I was grateful, especially when I felt one of my iPod earphones take residence in my ear, and the soothing sounds of Michael Bublé filled my head from the left ear. The pillow I had attained a death grip on was slowly freed from my hands, and Alice placed it on her lap. My head followed it, and I curled into a complete ball of pity next to my friend. Her hands soothingly patted and stroked in time to the music, making me think she had the other earphone in her ear.
That was the last conscious thought I can remember. I was so anxious to sleep at that point; I let it cover me like a blanket. I'm sure the tears continued out after that point, though Alice would never tell me. Sleep was warm, and I let my eyes close to picture not a memory of my past, but the face of Bublé serenading me to sleep.
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Diary Excerpt from December 12th
I just want to curl up and disappear. It's dark enough, it's got to be tomorrow by now. Where did my sanity go? Perhaps I left it in New York, probably curled up on Jake's couch.
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Disclaimer: Don't own Twilight, don't own Bublé. Wish I did, though.
Sorry it's so late, and relatively short. My story isn't getting as much attention as I hoped, and I found myself not very attracted to the idea of writing (and very preoccupied with the idea of getting my wisdom teeth out). Of course, then it storms and I find myself writing almost the entire thing. Enjoy, and please review.
