A/N: Aww, I really loved hearing from all you guys last chapter. I want you all to know that I read and enjoyed every single review. I got back to as many as possible, but RL has gotten so crazy lately I don't even know how I get these chapters out. Please know that I read and appreciate every single review I get, so keep'em coming. :)
Ange_de_Laube has created a beautiful banner and BLINKIE for IP. Go to my profile for the link. Thanks again Ange.
A lot of you had a big problem with Edward having Bella stay with his parents instead of his place. She is temptation incarnate to him, so think about it guys. Why wouldn't he want Bella staying with him? Now whether it's smart of him or not is a totally different question.
Michelle Renker Rhodes is my beta chickie and helps me keep the story straight. Love her.
All characters belong to S. Meyer.
Chapter 7 Going and Coming
BPoV
"Words can't hurt you, Bella," Jamie told me once when we were little. A couple of neighborhood boys had been chasing and teasing me, and I'd thrown myself on the floor, crying. Jamie found me, picked me up and taught me the lesson about sticks and stones.
And then to illustrate the point he beat the shit out of the boys with his hockey stick.
But as the years have passed, I've come to the conclusion that, while I'm sure my big brother meant well, he was wrong. Not so much for beating the ever-living shit out of those boys - they totally deserved that, trust me. But because words can lead to actions, and what is it that they say about actions?
Actions speak louder than words.
I never meant for our actions to hurt anyone. Especially not you…or me… But what were we thinking?
Seriously, what the hell were we thinking?
OOOOOOOOOO
I sent Edward's little brother Jasper and his girlfriend Alice back to the house for a tall glass of sparkling water with a twist of lime and exactly four ice-cubes and a ham and Swiss cheese Panini sandwich with pesto mayo, cut into four equal triangle pieces.
And then I disappeared into the woods behind the immaculately landscaped back yard, complete with in-ground pool, cabana, built-in barbeque and Tiki hut bar.
As I pulled a cigarette out of my backpack and lit it, I pondered my options.
Find my way to the main road and run the fuck away – hightail it out of here with the first willing stranger that gave me a ride.
Or stay and continue this charade while living under the roof of what was seemingly the most perfect, financially and physically blessed family this side of the Pacific. The Richie Richs meet the freakin' Waltons of the Northwest.
I took a long, soothing drag from my ciggy, stopping quickly to stamp out ashes - because God forbid I burn down the forest - and kept on walking through the tall trees that almost hid the full moon in the sky from view. My flip-flops clack-clacked loudly, sticking in the mud and slapping against my feet. I only stopped when I came to a flowing, sparkling river, reflecting the moon's light.
Damn it, I'd made a promise to Edward. I'd agreed to his goofy proposal to play his girlfriend for the summer. I imagined how disappointed he'd be once he realized I'd left and he'd have to find some other way to make Bree crawl back to him. I could picture the pained look in his beautiful eyes, the lines of anxiety on his perfect forehead. But shit, our agreement had never included parents!
I didn't do parents.
And he hadn't warned me. I mean, I was no expert but that right there had to constitute some sort of breach of contract, didn't it? I'd be well within my legal rights to call for penalties – at least partial restitution. Say, five thousand? Two? Greyhound money?
As I puffed on my cigarette and stared out at the river, something cracked and crackled just behind me. I gasped and whipped around and caught Edward emerging from the line of trees a few feet away.
His rigid shoulders sagged and he breathed out heavily in obvious relief.
"Thank God! Where the hell were you?" he demanded. "I've been searching for you for the past ten minutes!"
"Well, I'm standing right here. So obviously this is where I was." I rolled my eyes and looked away from him, taking another long drag.
Yeah, I can be anal too, mister.
The next thing I knew my sweet, sweet ciggy was being snatched out of my hand.
"Hey! Give that back you dirty-rotten-overbearing-beautiful-yet-anal-DICKHEAD!"
He held my ciggy up over his head, way too high for me to reach. But I jumped and jumped anyway, trying to get to it.
"Nice language, Isabella. And no, I won't give it back. I thought we agreed no smoking."
I stopped jumping and crossed my arms across my chest.
"And I thought we agreed I'd be staying with you!"
"No," he corrected carefully, still holding my cigarette up high. "We never agreed on where you'd be staying. It took Bree and I two years to move in together. She would never believe I'd moved you in so quickly!"
"I don't give a rat's ass what she believes! I don't do parents!" I exclaimed with a firm glare and an angry huff.
"What is your problem with my parents?"
"They're parents!" I said, fisting my hair in my hands. "And your mother," I growled, pointing at him accusingly and narrowing my eyes, "she hovers."
"She does not!"
"Yes, she does! She's a hoverer! A flaming hoverer! 'Edward darling, would you like some more water?'" I mimicked her, "'Edward darling, don't forget to take down the number to the housecleaner for your apartment.' 'Edward darling are you still taking your allergy medication?' She's a hoverer!" I yelled.
"Just because your mom has no reservations about letting her twenty-two year old daughter traipse around the planet with nothing but a shitty backpack to her name!"
"You better take that back!" I hissed threateningly and jabbed his stomach with my forefinger – an action I regretted immediately when I hit rock-solid muscle.
"Ow!" I pulled my finger back and wrapped my other hand around it. "Stupid abs-of-steel-possessing-uptight-old-fashioned-ass," I muttered. He had the nerve to chuckle - the man that never chuckled.
"Jamie gave me that backpack," I hissed, "and it is NOT shitty!"
He smirked. "Fine, it's not shitty. I apologize. But again, Isabella, what is your problem?"
"My problem, Edward, is that I don't know anything about them!" I waved in the direction of the huge house.
"You don't know anything about me!" he chuckled again. "For all you know I might be some pervert and try to have my way with you in the middle of the night!"
"Hey, perverts I know. Perverts I can handle. Besides, you didn't try anything last night!"
Not that I was like, disappointed or anything.
"Maybe I was just lulling you into a false sense of peace."
My eyes flashed up to my poor ciggy, which had withered away into a stump in his hand. He followed the trajectory of my eyes and seeing the poor stump, smirked and flicked it into the river, never to be seen or heard from again.
"If that were the case why would you be telling me that now? Look, it's nothing personal against your parents; I just…haven't even lived with my own in the longest."
He frowned. "Isabella, trust me, please. It's just…better if you don't stay with me. My parents won't bother you, I promise. My dad works most of the day at the hospital, my mom runs a cyber-based design business, and Jasper spends most of his time with Alice anyway, and Rose and Emmett and the baby live a mile down the road. You'll barely see any of them. You'll stay in my old room and you'll have the pool to hang around in during the day and then you can come meet me at the hospital during breaks and in the early evenings, and we can keep up our charade."
I scowled.
"It'll be fine," he smiled soothingly, and then took another step and wrapped his hands around my face and holy heaven there went those burning sparks. He hissed, and I sighed unevenly, closing my eyes. When I opened them back up his rich green eyes glowed in the darkness.
"That is some crazy shit," he chuckled lowly.
"Yeah," I grinned helplessly, "it really is."
I gnawed on the inside of my lip, while we stood there, holding each other's gaze.
"Oh fine!" I conceded with a huff and took a step back, breaking our freaky connection. He dropped his hands to his sides and exhaled through narrowed lips before grinning his crooked grin, and his eyes sparkled, and I mean really, how could I say no to that?
OOOOOOOOOO
Edward was a big fat liar.
Yeah, sure, his dad was gone the next morning before I'd woken up. But when I snuck into the kitchen to hunt for some grub, I was met up by his mother.
"Good morning, Bella," she exclaimed pleasantly before I could make my escape. She had a pot of coffee in one hand and two mugs in the other. "I was just about to come get you to see if you'd like to sit out on the deck with me for a bit before we start our day."
I smiled weakly and followed her out to the deck.
The sky was confused again today, promising another hot, sunny morning. I sat straight and rigid on a cast-iron patio chair and waited quietly while Mrs. Cullen poured me a cup of coffee. There were pretty little pastries set out on a tray in the middle of the table, and napkins and some milk and sugar. I stared at the perfectly manicured lawn that stretched out before us and the beautiful pool and cabana while I sipped nervously on my black coffee, which I usually took with about four teaspoons of sugar and half a cup of milk, but I figured I'd forego all that right now. We made small talk about the warm weather, the benefits of an in-ground pool versus above-ground, the price of corn, and the deficit.
"My son Emmett brought the pastries over this morning," Esme said conversationally. "He was…anxious to say hi to you. We're all anxious actually to get to know you better. It's obvious that you're important to Edward."
I smiled sardonically. Yeah - important in so far as his quest to get Bree back.
"He's important to me too, Mrs. Cullen," I said sweetly and straight-faced.
There. That was something a mom would want to hear, right? I'd always been such a good liar, too. Strange thing though, even though I'd only known the dude for about half a minute, I didn't feel like I was lying per se. I mean he was important to me, wasn't he? His fifteen grand were going to get me to Tuscany! Important dude indeed.
But the way Mrs. Cullen watched me thoughtfully made me nervous. Like she could see right through me…
"I'm not lying," I blurted, and then bit down on my lip – hard. Way to go, Bella.
This is why I didn't do parents.
"No, I didn't think you were honey," Mrs. Cullen surprised me, leaning forward in her seat. "I'm not sure…how much Edward's told you about his previous…"
"About Bree?" I blurted again. "Oh I know all about her!" I grinned, waving a hand dismissively. "He told me everything."
Mrs. Cullen raised a pretty eyebrow. "Did he? I'm glad to hear that." She took an elegant sip of her coffee. "We've known Bree since she was a little girl, but I was never sure…" she drifted off, looking past me for a few seconds before bringing her baby blues back my way. "You must know then that Edward had a bit of a…difficult time..."
"Yeah, but he's all over that now," I grinned. "He's got me!"
She smiled, furrowing her brows curiously, but though parents tended to make me antsy, there was something genuine about her smile. It kind of made my heart hurt.
"I can see how you would definitely be someone that would get him over all that," she said quietly.
I looked down at my lap then. My face burned, and I felt guilty and sad all at once.
Yeah, I didn't like parents.
"I see the way he looks at you, Isabella," she said carefully, "and I get the feeling you don't see it. I don't even think he really does," she chuckled quietly. "Isabella, I'm not going to ask what's going on. My son is a grown man and it's not my place to interfere."
Sure it's not, Hoverer, I felt like rolling my eyes.
"All I'm going to ask," she continued in that quiet, annoyingly soothing voice, "is that you please give each other a chance. Because if something goes wrong," she sighed, "Isabella, I'm going to be frank with you. My son's been very…upset for the past few months."
"I…can imagine," I said unsurely, because I really had no idea what else to say.
"But upset doesn't equal a broken heart."
I frowned and stared at her, forcing myself to hold her gaze no matter how uncomfortable Edward's adoptive mother made me. "Nothing's going to happen, Mrs. Cullen," I assured her. "Your son and I will be fine."
Her bright blue eyes didn't waver. "Alright, Isabella," she finally said. "And please, call me Esme."
"Esme then and you can call me Bella. Everyone besides your son does."
This made her chuckle.
And then I proceeded to put six dainty pastries on my pretty porcelain plate and devour them all.
And for a long, long time, I completely forgot about Esme's words.
OOOOOOOOOO
Apparently Esme wasn't the only one anxious to get to know me that day.
I was sunning myself by the pool over one of the deck loungers - not an easy thing to do in skinny jeans mind you, but I hadn't had time to hunt out a Laundromat in the past couple of days and it was the only clean bottom I had left - when a splash broke my reverie. I looked up and caught someone swimming from the opposite end of the pool to the one closest to me. When she emerged, it was Jasper's tiny little thing of a girlfriend.
She came to the edge of the pool and looked up at me, grinning.
"Hey Isabella! Jasper sleeps late and I wanted to get some sun in."
"Hey…tiny…pretty…thing," I greeted her, because hell if I remembered her name. "You wouldn't happen to have an extra swimsuit around or anything?"
She giggled. "Sure do. And it's Alice, by the way."
"Alice by the way," I repeated with a grin, giving her a thumbs up. She hopped like a little bunny out of the pool, went into a pink frilly bag on the lounger next to me – which I hadn't even noticed her set down – and pulled out two tiny red pieces.
"So have you met Bree yet?" she asked a few minutes later, as we sunned ourselves on our loungers.
What the hell was it with everyone wanting to discuss Bree today? I flipped my shades over my head and smirked.
"Yeah, I've met her."
"And?" she questioned curiously, bouncing in her seat in her tiny little black two-piece that went with her tiny little body.
"And," I shrugged.
She grinned. "Yup, that's what I always thought too," she agreed, as if my shrug had been exactly the answer she'd been waiting for. She lay back against her lounger again and closed her eyes, raising her face to the sun. "Jazz and I were ten when they started dating. Even then we never could figure out what the big deal was. She was always so prim and proper," she said, putting her hands up daintily. "Ugh!"
"Some would say there's nothing wrong with a little primness and propriety." I said the last three words in my best Kate Middleton imitation. "Hoverer- err, Esme, seems pretty prim and proper."
Alice giggled. "There's prim and proper," – she mimicked my previous accent and stuck her tiny little nose up in the air – "and then there's prim and proper," she scowled. "God, Bree was boring!"
I shrugged. Other than the fact that she'd broken Edward's heart or upset him or whatever the heck - and honestly yeah, she did sound rather bland, I didn't know enough to give my opinion.
'Never judge a book by its cover unless that cover is so fucking ugly you can't even stand to look at it' – another lesson Jamie taught me.
Two hours later, we were doing belly flops off the diving board and twenty-year old Alice was my new homey.
Jasper appeared then, walking out of the house in blue board shorts and scratching his well-toned tummy while his blond hair stuck up in a handful of directions, apparently just waking. He had his mother's blue eyes, yet strangely enough they crinkled like his adoptive brother's when he grinned widely.
"Now what good deed did I do to wake up to two beautiful ladies this fine morning?"
Alice giggled and ran over to her man, wrapping her tiny two-pieced body around him. "Jasper Cullen, you need to stop flirting with your brother's girlfriend or he's going to kick your ass," she scolded him, chuckling.
And then they made out all hot and heavy-like.
"I'm just glad to see that my big bro seems to have finally gotten his head out of his ass." Jasper said when he came up for air. They both grinned my way.
"See?" Alice said. "It's not just me."
"What?" Jasper asked.
"Bella refuses to speak badly about Bree."
"Why?" Jasper asked, perplexed.
"I'm withholding my judgment until I have more to base it on," I said from the ledge of the pool.
"Fair and beautiful," Jasper nodded. "I'm impressed."
"Why thank you, kind sir."
"But yeah, Bree was a bitch."
"She really was, honey," Alice nodded at me in agreement.
Hmm.
A few minutes later I was counting to twenty because I was Marco and Alice and Jazz were Polo and these here kids were chock full o'fun.
"Who started the party without us?" a loud voice bellowed when I was up to fifteen. I opened my eyes and turned to see Emmett, Edward's older brother, holding a little guy while his wife Rosalie stood next to him, looking uber-celebrity-like in a gold two-piece and sheer gold cover-up. Apparently they were putting something in the water in this here town.
Emmett did a Tarzan yell and dove headfirst into the pool, emerging right under Alice and me and splashing us with his wet hair. Alice screamed, and I laughed.
"Idiot," Rosalie muttered, but she was smiling and she and her little tike came to sit by the ledge of the pool.
"Bella, this is Brady," Rosalie introduced us. I smiled warily and approached with caution. The little tike had been asleep in his carriage when Edward and I arrived last night, and he'd still been sleeping by the time Rosalie and Emmett left. A fact that was fine by me as I had little to zero experience with anyone not potty-trained.
"Uhm…hi?" I said unsurely to the little dude, waving carefully. He had a round, bald head, and blue-eyes like the rest of his clan, and he drooled and mumbled something unintelligible, staring at me through big, wide eyes.
"You want to hold him for me for a couple of minutes while I do a couple of laps?"
I looked behind me to see who Rosalie was talking to. There was no one there.
"Uhm…not really? Nothing personal against your little dude, I just know nothing about humans under two feet tall."
She laughed. "Well, at least you're honest. I like that. But don't worry, he won't bite."
I smirked dubiously. "You sure? Because I've heard it's something they do tend to do."
She laughed again. "Just for a few minutes," she said, and shoved him into my arms.
I held him up and away from me while he squirmed in my hands, mumbling and drooling while his mother jumped into the water and swam away.
Shit.
OOOOOOOOOO
EPoV
I'd called the house three times so far - three goddamned times. Where the hell was everyone and who the hell didn't have a cell phone in this day and age, and what in the world was so difficult about remembering to come to the hospital between 12:30 and 1:00 pm? I'd told Isabella I'd try to get a break in then and we could have lunch in the quad over the grass, where Bree and Mike had had lunch the past couple of days. It would be perfect for our purposes.
But no, here I was, sitting by my lonely self on a lonely bench eating a lonely apple at 1:27 pm because I couldn't get in touch with the girl I was paying fifteen grand to play my girlfriend. Meanwhile Mike and Bree were laughing it up and sharing salads and fucking drinks and looks and shit just a few short feet away. I scowled and turned away.
A few minutes later, while I ordered an iPhone on my cell, I felt a light hand on my shoulder. When I turned I was met by Bree's big, anxious eyes.
"Hey, Edward."
I closed my cell phone and stood up quickly. "Oh, hey Bree. How are you?"
"I'm good," she smiled. "And you?"
"Good, good. Busy. I was lucky to get this break in."
"Yes, I know," she grinned tiredly, "Mike and I have been fortunate that we've been able to get a break at the same time the past few days."
"Yes," I said, trying to keep my voice even, "that's fortunate indeed."
"Edward, I want you to know I'm not trying to hurt you. I know Mike spoke to you, and I know despite what you said it is…awkward. But it's the reality of the situation and-"
"I understand the reality of the situation perfectly, Bree. You don't need to shove it down my throat."
She sighed - a long, tired sigh. "Speaking of shoving things down one's throat how's your girlfriend?"
"She's perfectly well, thank you. I'm expecting her any moment."
Bree lifted one of her dainty eyebrows. "Forgive me for saying this, but…she just…doesn't seem your type, Edward."
I snorted. "Seriously, Bree? You were there a few of the times Mike would tell us all about the kinky shit he did with his girlfriends, weren't you? Talk about not one's type."
She had the decency to blush. "That's really none of your business."
"You're right, it's not. Just like Isabella and I are none of yours, yet you're the one who brought it up."
"Because you and I were together for a long time and despite everything Edward, I still care for you. I mean, about you. And she's so…different."
"Different from you, you mean. I'm too boring and rigid for a girl like her to take interest in me, right?"
She sighed again. "That was harsh when I said that, Edward, I know. But it had become all work and school and studying with you."
"It wasn't always like that. I wasn't always like that."
"So it's my fault then? Don't blame me for who you became, Edward."
"I'm not blaming you for-"
The sound of little heels rang out behind me. "Edward, sweetie, I'm here!" someone breathed against my back, and then I felt a pair of warm arms wrap around my waist and the searing heat her touch constantly brought. My shoulders relaxed and a slow smile spread across my face - perfect timing. Bree's eyes moved behind me and grew impossibly wider, and I turned around in Isabella's arms…
…She was standing there in a huge movie-star grade sunhat and dark shades and ruby red lips and a black sleeveless cover-up that didn't cover much up and showed off her sun-kissed shoulders and barely fell below her upper thighs which led to a pair of black kitten heels.
Fuck me.
Isabella smiled up at me sweetly – her perfectly white teeth stood out beautifully between her red lips.
Holy. Shit.
"Isabella, baby," – I cleared my squeaky throat – "what are you wearing?"
She looked down at herself and shrugged, grinning. "We spent all morning in the pool and then I didn't have time to change before Emmett and Rose dropped me off here." She swung from side to side. "Rose said I'd gotten enough sun on my face for the day so she told me to wear this hat, and Alice said my Converse didn't match the cover-up so she lent me these shoes and…yeah," she chuckled, twirling to give Bree and me a 3D view of her entire ensemble, "here I am! So do you like?" she blinked.
And though we were just supposed to be pretending, I couldn't help the appreciative yet shocked way my eyes roamed up and down her body.
"It's…" I flashed my eyes to Bree and swallowed - hard. "Isabella, you remember Bree, don't you?"
Isabella waved happily at Bree, grabbing my hand and intertwining our fingers. "Of course I do! How are you, Bree?"
"I'm…well, Isabella, thank you," Bree said quietly. Her eyes flashed quickly to Isabella's outfit before coming back up.
"Great!" Isabella exclaimed. "Would you like to join Edward and me for some lunch? I made some delicious PBB&B sandwiches and fried up some Oreos and Emmett gave me some of those yummy pastries he makes to bring over."
"PBB&B?" Bree asked. She looked extremely confused and uncomfortable.
"Peanut butter, bananas and bacon."
Bree simply stared at her.
"It's as delicious as it sounds," Isabella whispered as if she were letting her in on a little secret. "So do you want to join us? There's enough for everybody."
Bree looked down quickly at her watch. "Actually, as delicious as it does sound, I'm afraid my break is over."
"Oh. Okay. Well maybe next time," Isabella grinned.
And this time, when Bree looked at her, she wasn't able to hide the flash of obvious envy. Her lips tightened into a straight line and she glared momentarily, the way she had in the exam room a couple of days ago. Strangely, instead of feeling smug, I pulled Isabella into my side. She slid her arm easily around my waist. It felt…so warm.
"It was good talking to you, Bree," I said.
"You too, Edward. Take care." The way she looked at me, like there was more she wanted to say…
"Bye, Bree," Isabella waved.
"Goodbye, Isabella."
A/N: Hmm. The game's getting interesting.
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