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When I woke up, it was close to two-thirty in the morning, according to the clock on the nightstand. Alice slept soundly in the bed next to Rose and mine. Rose was tossing and turning.
I tried to go back to sleep, but my internal clock didn't let me. I was on American Pacific Time, still, not Greenwich Mean Time. I had been warned of this. This was usually when I got up and went to the gym with Angela in Spokane at the PSU rec center. Maybe Angela was up by now in Forks, maybe her body was letting her sleep in.
I groaned as quietly as possible and slipped out of bed, slipping on my pajama bottoms. I hadn't brushed my teeth at all. I looked out the window at London at Christmas. There was no snow, no soot. It looked like any metropolitan area in winter. I frowned. There was an ambulance siren in the background. This isn't what I imagined. I had been so wrapped up in gazing at Edward Masen, I had completely forgotten about looking at London altogether on the way up.
Searching my suitcase, I found my toiletries and underwear. I went to the bathroom to shower and brush my teeth. It was a larger bathroom than I expected. I turned on the water faucets and figured out how the hot water worked- it wasn't that different. Slipping out of my clothes, I stepped under the spray, letting the heat relax my stiffness. I hoped that the shower water would make me a little sleepy so I could go back to bed. It didn't. With my hair wet and the mascara washed off from under my eyes, I dressed back in my PJs and brushed the wet-sock taste out of my mouth. There. I resembled Bella Swan we all knew and loved, again.
I wasn't sleepy, so I'd try another trick. I went down to the first floor and to the kitchen. I checked for milk- I wasn't sure if it was soy milk or rice milk, I read the container closely and decided it was real milk from a cow. I carefully searched the cabinets for a saucepan. I found one under the heavy pot for spaghetti.
With every ounce of patience and care, I slowly lifted the spaghetti pot out and set it on the floor as quietly as possible so I could get to the saucepan without making noise that would wake the rest of the house up. I very carefully put the saucepan on the stove and turned it on so I could warm the milk. This was what Grandma Marie used to do for me when I was little and couldn't get to sleep at her house.
Right as I was about to put the milk back in the fridge, I saw a form in the doorway, and I jumped a mile, dropping the liter of milk and kicking the spaghetti pot, making it clang across the floor. I stubbed my toe in the process.
"I didn't mean to scare you," Edward said, reaching for the dish towel right as I grabbed my foot that made contact with the spaghetti pot.
"It's alright I always-" We knocked heads with a loud thunk. "Ow, God! That hurt!" I cried, grabbing my forehead.
He cried out, grabbing his own head.
Oh, the humiliation. While I thought he was cute, he'd never look at me that way- ever- after this. My klutziness had returned in full force, taking him down with me. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He glared at me for a moment with utter disregard. My cheeks turned the color of a tomato- I'm sure it was my whole body, too. "Really, I'm a complete klutz," I babbled. "I do stuff like this all the time-"
"Then you should be a little more careful," he snapped, kneeling down to pick up the liter of milk that had landed on its side and was spilling its contents on to the floor. "God," he grumbled as he set it onto the counter.
"I'll clean it up," I promised awkwardly, although I was so embarrassed, I didn't know what to say or do. Milk was all over my fresh pajamas, all over the beautiful tile floor… I was horrified. He kept on mopping it up. "Really, I can handle this!" I cried, pulling a couple of paper towels. The two or three paper towels turned into seven or eight in my haste and the paper towel holder spun off the rack.
"No, you obviously can't," he said. "Hasn't anybody ever told you it's not very polite to snoop when you're a houseguest, Bella?"
I wanted the floor to swallow me. "I- I'm sorry, I didn't know it was a problem," I mumbled. I picked up the saucepan and dumped its contents into the sink in the island and ran upstairs back to my room.
Rose had woken up. "What was that noise?"
"Nothing," I said, nervously. "Just go back to sleep."
What had he meant? I was snooping? God, what happened? Was British hospitality really this icy all the time? No wonder they hated Americans. Did Edward consider himself that English? The only thing I was looking for was a saucepan and milk, for God's sake, not secret documents. What did Edward and his family have to hide?
"I can't get back to sleep," Rose said. "Let's go downstairs and watch British late-night television. Maybe they've got porn on at this hour. What do you think British porn is like? Or do you think they import American porn?"
"Rose, I really don't care," I said. I was not going downstairs. I went to the hallway and started reading on the couch, hoping my clothes would dry soon. I wondered if they'd let me do my own laundry or would the housekeeping staff do it for me? I lost myself for the second time on this trip in A Christmas Carol. I didn't feel like reading any of the other books I had brought.
Rose came out of the bedroom. "Okay, what's up?" she asked in a low voice so as not to wake anybody else. She sat down on the couch, tucking her bare feet under herself to keep them warm.
"I just made a fool of myself," I whispered.
"Oh please, who could have seen you at this hour?"
"Edward was up."
"Yeah, I've been meaning to discuss him with you and Alice. They made him out to be this giant dork, and he's so cute. Alice said she hadn't really seen him since they moved out here, so I guess it's really plausible. He went to Scotland for undergrad."
"I kicked a spaghetti pot and dropped a liter of milk in front of him," I said, tucking my own numb toes under myself, too.
Rose thought for a moment. "Big whoop. You do stuff like that all the time."
"He seemed really pissed off," I said. "He said I was snooping in his house."
"God, what stick does he have stuck up his ass?" Rose snorted. "Don't worry about him. If he's going to be that much of a drama queen, maybe Alice was right about him being insufferable."
"Rose, we're staying in his house-"
"If he's going to be a jerk- Bella, listen, honey. You're loved. And wanted here. By all of us. So one person doesn't like you. That shouldn't ruin your whole trip. If he gives you any crap, I'll tell Emmett how rude he's been. Liz said to us that her house was our house last night. That greeting extends to you, I'm sure. She probably doesn't mind you rooting through her kitchen for a saucepan. What were you getting it out for, anyways?"
"To warm up some milk."
"For hot chocolate?"
"No, just warm milk to help me sleep."
"Maybe that will help. Let's do it just to spite him right now."
"No, Rose-"
She grabbed my arm and led me downstairs. The kitchen was completely empty and clean by now, except the saucepan that was soaking in hot soapy water. Rosalie started to wash it by hand. "I guess men can't clean pots and pans, either," she grumbled. "Read a Christmas Carol to me."
I sat down at one of the barstools and began reading A Christmas Carol aloud to Rose while she began to heat up more milk from a new liter in the refrigerator. She shuffled through the cabinets until she found some bars of bittersweet chocolate and threw them in with the milk.
I sat in the living room and Rose carried in two mugs of hot chocolate. I resumed reading aloud. We started taking turns so I could have a chance to sip my drink. We hadn't located marshmallows and it was a little bit bitter, but it was comforting to sit with a friend.
"I gotta take a break," Rose said, putting down the book. She picked up the remote and switched on the TV. "I wonder what's on right now."
"I don't want to get caught watching porn in a stranger's house," I said. "No porn."
"That's a first," Rose giggled.
"Yeah, I sit down at my laptop at school and start cruising the net for porn when I'm done with classes," I said. "In between listening to my residents whine and calling the ambulance on them when they've partied too much, that's exactly what I do."
"Oh my God, it's Family Guy!" Rose cried. It was true- it was Family Guy- being played here in England. We curled up together and watched for a few minutes. Before I knew it, I was back to sleep.