I still don't own Twilight or any of its characters! But I'm working on Plan Z!
Part 4
Two Teenage Girls, one bathroom? Grab the Camcorder, I'm putting this on YouTube!
(Bella POV)
Charlie helps us get our luggage upstairs. I was prepared to share a bedroom with Carlie like we did at home, but Charlie surprises us both when he informs us that we girls would be taking the two bedrooms upstairs. He thought we would adjust better if we each had some "personal space", at least that's what his friend Billy Black had told him. So he has gotten a few friends to help him with the partial renovation to his basement and now he has a small bedroom and bath to himself downstairs.
Carlie touches my hand briefly, *He just did it to be even closer to his cruiser,* we both have to stifle a laugh, causing Charlie to look at us with a very confused expression on his face.
Our belongings had arrived via moving truck before our plane had landed so all we had to do was arrange our furniture and put away our personal effects. The downside to the triumph of finally getting my own room was that Carlie and I still have to share the tiny bathroom at the top of the stairs.
My sister and I were eyeing up the five shelves in the bathroom while Charlie, oblivious to the danger of being between two teenage girls and the lone bathroom, quickly explains that we didn't have to take just baths anymore, he'd installed a shower and shower head just last week. He then looks around himself and quite possibly realizes the danger he was in. One of the wonderful things about Charlie is: he doesn't hover.
My teenage instincts kick in as soon as Charlie went down to the kitchen, announcing he was ordering us pizza for dinner.
I grab my bag of toiletries and make a run for it.
My twin had the exact same thought and we crash into each other at the top of the stairs. HARD. I go flying backwards, towards the steps, and would have been introduced to the local ER this very day if Carlie hadn't have caught my hand just in time. We wrestle, push, and shove at each other while trying to squeeze through the doorway simultaneously. I trip over her shoelaces and would have knocked myself senseless off of the door frame if she hadn't decided to be merciful and catch me again.
"You know what this means?" Carlie has an evil grin on her face and I knew I was going to regret whatever came out of her mouth next.
"What?"
"I get to put my things in the bathroom first because I saved your life twice in ten minutes big sister!" she practically does a touchdown dance while taking her considerably larger bag of toiletries into the bathroom.
"Carlie Elizabeth Swan, are you blackmailing me?" I was flabbergasted. Blackmail just to get a little more shelf space in a bathroom? Evil. Diabolical. Perfectly Carlie.
"Why, yes, I think I am Isabella Marie Swan," she manages to look slightly shocked at her own deceitful tactic.
Hmm. Something's not right, she usually only uses blackmail out of desperation. I try to catch her eyes while she makes a show of arranging and rearranging her bath products. She's deliberately hiding something. What is it this time?
(Carlie's POV)
After nearly killing my sister twice in the span of about ten minutes, I decide that it will be best to keep my hands to myself for the time being. I concentrate on arranging my bottles of shampoos and conditioners and soaps in alphabetical order according to brand and then specific treatment. I can feel Bella's eyes on me as I work, like two lasers etching question marks into my skin. I'm a better liar than Bella, though not by much, so I do my best to keep my face smooth while I perform my menial and, well, unnecessary task. After a few minutes of intense scrutiny, she gives up and goes to her room. It's the one facing the street. I like my room better, it faces the woods. Dark and mysterious. Beautiful.
I'd never have admitted this to Mom, Dad, or even Bella, but I always loved how everything smelled in Forks; the deep, rich earthy smell that just fills your senses when you open a window or walk out your door. That's how the world is supposed to smell. Woodsy and clean, so different from the smog and garbage smell you always get living in the city. Something pure and unspoiled.
Rain always washing away the mistakes and giving you a new canvas to work with every day. In that one thought, I realize that there is a chance I could be happy living here. Well, as happy as a murderer who killed their parents with one stupid, selfish act could get.
(Bella's POV)
I can't shake the feeling that Carlie is hiding something from me as the three of us sit in Charlie's minuscule dining room and burn our mouths on what turned out to be the best pizza I'd ever tasted. She scoots her chair closer to Charlie as soon as she sat down, avoiding all physical contact with me. Charlie doesn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary, so that eases my mind a bit.
Carlie and I mostly talk about finding jobs and saving up enough money to buy vehicles so our uncle won't feel obligated to chauffeur two teenagers around everywhere. Charlie responds by telling us that he has already bought a truck from his friend Billy, who lives out on the Quileute Indian Reservation in La Push. He blushes as he apologizes for not having acquired a second vehicle yet.
Carlie surprises me yet again when she announces that I can have the truck. I am the older sibling after all, and she's willing to wait and see what comes up for sale in her price range.
Our uncle huffs and mumbles, "I got something for one of you it wouldn't be fair if I didn't get for the other." Carlie tries to argue with him but soon realizes that it is a lost cause. It's easier to just shut up and smile.
Carlie and I volunteer to take over kitchen duty as we would be making twice the mess and eating twice the food. Charlie was immediately grateful and admits with a blush that the only thing he is good at cooking in the kitchen is his morning coffee before work. He makes his way into the living room and turns some kind of game on, baseball I think, and leaves us girls to wash and hand dry (no dishwasher) the dishes and put everything away. Carlie relaxes a little more as we sit and make out a grocery list.
We had done the grocery shopping at home because Mom was a very inventive chef and more often than not, her experiments went completely wrong. Carlie touches my hand, remembering a memory of one of Mom's fiascos. Our kitchen looked like it had been painted by a group of toddlers. Noodles, sauce, and vegetables, and quite possibly the entire cast of Scrubs (Mom's favorite show-Dad's had been the newly revitalized Doctor Who) had been flung everywhere, including all over Mom. She had misread the directions (we never did find out if it was accidental or not) and had placed the aforementioned ingredients into a food processor and hit Whip. Whatever she was making at the time was ruined. She had forgotten to put the lid on the food processor.
Dad had come in to see what had happened right behind us. Mom thought he'd be mad, but he was used to these mad experiments of hers.
All he had said was, "Do you think you could do it again? I want to catch it on video and I'm putting it up on YouTube!" She had thrown a pot at him for that remark. He always said he'd fix that nick in the door frame, but somehow he'd managed to avoid it until...the end...
I could feel the wince in Carlie's mind as she pulls her hand free. The sudden separation makes me gasp as my mind becomes my own again.
"What did you do this time Bella?" our uncle calls from the living room.
"Nothing Charlie, just stubbed my toe on the table leg." Please, oh please, don't look in and realize I still have shoes on!
"Bella..." I could imagine him shaking his head as he returned to his game.
Just then, we could hear a vehicle pull into the driveway.
"Ah, finally!" Charlie heaves himself off of the cushions and starts walking outside, motioning for us to follow as he passes the kitchen. My twin and I exchange a slightly horrified glance andget up to pursue our suddenly grinning uncle, glad to have another distraction sent our way, no matter what it was.
In typical sibling fashion, we race outside to see what all the commotion is about. I should have known better. I did know better. I was two steps ahead of my sister when my foot came down too close to the edge of the step. I go flying forward, onto my face. Carlie's legs get tangled in my flailing limbs and gravity decides at that moment that she needs to go down with me.
After a few seconds of roaring laughter, I look up and see two russet skinned figures staring down at us. One is older, in a wheelchair and a much-abused cowboy hat on his head. The other is younger, maybe younger than my sister and I, with a big smile and laughter in his eyes. Charlie helps us to our feet.
Once he's fairly sure that I won't spontaneously fall over again, he introduces us, "Billy, Jake, meet my nieces, Bella and Carlie Swan. Nessie, Bells, this is Billy Black and his son, Jacob."
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, SPARE A FEW SECONDS TO REVIEW, I'D REALLY APPRECIATE IT! OTHERWISE I MIGHT HAVE TO PROVOKE THE VOLTURI AND BLAME YOU!
