Dear Bella Swan, you're Playing with the Big Boys
Disclaimer-I don't own Twilight
Thank you for all your reviews and support! Not to mention patience… :) I really do love you guys!
This chapter has been edited by Edwardsfavoritebrunette and My-Heart-Of-Music.
Chapter 8: Kisses
I placed my hands on my hips as I craned my head up so I could glare into the rich brown eyes that were currently sparkling.
"You did this on purpose," I accused, gesturing towards the object wrapped in the offending pink paper. The wrapping paper looked as though a pink highlighter had tried to color on some dried Pepto-Bismol.
"I haven't the slightest idea what you could possibly be talking about," Jacob replied innocently, dramatically batting his eyelashes.
I jokingly punched him in the stomach and immediately regretted my decision. Hello, abs of steel that just broke fourteen phalanges… and possibly even five metacarpals, eight carpals, and probably my radius, ulna, and humerus as well. Well not really, but even without seeing him with his shirt off, I knew Jacob Black was a ripped lad.
Jake laughed loudly at the pain etched on my face. "C'mon, I wasn't even flexing!"
I chose to ignore his statement. "I still hate pink, you know," I informed him, rubbing my sore knuckles.
Jake rolled his eyes. "Still the same old Bella, I see," he responded with a grin, passing me the present.
I grinned and tore at the paper. "You know it."
"Does that mean you're going to propose to me again?"
I halted the unwrapping process and felt my eyes widen. I tore my eyes from my half unwrapped present and lifted them to look at a mirthful Jake.
"I was seven," I replied, defending myself.
"So?" he shrugged. "The point still stands."
I narrowed my eyes. The event Jake spoke of happened during one of the summers I was in Forks. I was seven, almost eight, making Jake fourteen at the time. That summer I spent more time in La Push than in Forks, giving me plenty of time to develop a little bit of an infatuation with Jacob Black. Okay, I admit, it was a bit more of an infatuation. Hey, he paid attention to me despite the major age difference and played games with me while Billy and Charlie were out fishing or something – this kind of attention practically constituted marriage to my seven-year-old self.
By only the third week of the summer, I had the idea in my head that we would get married, ride off into the sunset on a white unicorn named Francis and live happily ever after. Yeah, it would be safe to say I made him play house a few times.
On the last day of summer, he still hadn't proposed to me. I assumed he was just being shy with his love towards me, so I decided to go on one knee and propose to him with the ring pop he had just bought me from the corner store.
I had eventually forgiven Jacob Black for breaking my little seven-year-old heart, but he would never let me forget my childish persistence.
Now, I looked at his hulking adult form… such a drastic change from when I last saw him.
"That was a cheap shot," I accused, ripping off the last of the paper and lifting the lid off the decent sized box that was previously hidden by the swarm of pink. Inside was a book of sorts that had a swan and a wolf on the front, along with the words, Best Times Ever. It took me a minute to realize I was holding a scrapbook.
I opened it, flipping through the numerous pages that held images of my summers spent in Forks and my time in La Push. There were pictures ranging from my one failed attempt at fishing with Charlie, the Kodak moment being when I was mid-shriek while Charlie tried to get me to touch the fish caught on the line, to moments of mine and Jake's silliness, most of which showed my liking of Jake via the creepy staring that occurred in more pictures than I wanted to admit.
I looked up to find Jake eagerly awaiting my reaction. I narrowed my eyes. "What, no bouncy castle?"
Jake rolled his eyes. "That's coming later."
I cracked a smile at our ability to effortlessly tease after all these years. "You scrapbook?" I asked seriously, looking down at the crafted book in my hands.
"What has the world come to? Not believing a man with talented hands can scrapbook something amazing," he muttered. "Yes, I scrapbook."
I felt a huge grin form as I pictured Jake cutting pictures with those funky design-edged scissors and taking great care in planning out how each page would look. I closed the scrapbook and put it back in the box. "Thank you, I love it."
"Alright, now that the teasing is done I want a proper greeting," Jake told me, holding his arms wide open. I closed the distance between us and he picked me up - my feet dangling above the chilled sand - in a big hug that was amazingly gentle for his physique. I was the one to pull back first, but when I glanced into the handsome face I hadn't seen in years, I couldn't help but throw my arms around his neck once more. Jake raised one of his hands from my back to cradle my head to his chest. "I missed you, too, Bella." He punctuated his point with a kiss to my temple.
"Where's Seth?" I asked once we had removed ourselves from our embrace. Even though my hair was up in a bun, pieces of my too-long-and-in-desperate-need-of-a-trim side bangs caught in the wind and flew in my face, causing me brush my hair back in annoyance.
Jake was only nineteen when he became the father of a beautiful baby boy. The first and last time I had met Seth was right after he was born at the end of the summer when I was twelve. I had overheard Jake elegantly telling someone it had been a whirlwind of events: drunken sex with an acquaintance, a phone call two months later informing him she was pregnant, and then boom, baby.
Later on, I learned that Jake had not only stayed with Leah during her pregnancy, but he also tried to do the right thing by asking her to marry him when the bun had been baking in the oven for eight months. She accepted but only a few short months after Seth was born, she walked out on the two of them during the middle of the night, leaving her engagement ring and a letter on the kitchen counter. Despite being a single father at a young age, Jake finished college and got a job as a mechanic with a part time job working with the wolves at the zoo in Seattle.
"He's asleep at my dad's house."
"And I'm going to assume he's still adorable," I joked.
Jacob scoffed as he put his hand in his back pocket. "Of course! I am his father after all." He pulled out his wallet and flipped it open before handing it to me. I couldn't stop the smile that formed on my face when I looked at the picture inside. Seth was clearly Jake's son, inheriting his boyish grin and expressive, brown, almond-shaped eyes. The picture was of Seth on First Beach, sitting on one of the many pieces of driftwood along the shore. His smile was so big I could see he had two teeth missing, one of them being a front tooth.
"Aw, he's adorable! How long are you here for? Do you think I could see him again?"
"Well," Jake began, his eyes twinkling. "How opposed are you to babysitting?"
~!~DBSYPWTBB~!~
"I don't care that Spiderman can't fly and needs the help of buildings to aid his transportation. At least he isn't affected by kryptonite!" Jasper argued.
"Oh, please," Emmett scoffed. "That's not even a valid argument. Besides, Superman is strong where Spiderman is scrawny!"
Edward rolled his eyes. "Batman is so much better than both of them put together."
Jacob smirked. "Wonder Woman wins, hands down."
"Boys!" Rose yelled as Edward, Emmett and Jasper all opened their mouths to verbalize their retorts.
I had introduced Jake to Rose, Alice, Emmett, Edward and Jasper, all who welcomed him with open arms. The group of us sat by the fire, varying from talking together in one big group and having an assortment of conversations going at once. The fire was slowly dwindling down and people slowly began leaving in groups, wishing me a happy birthday, once again, as they left.
Right now, all four boys were bickering like old ladies about who was the best super hero. They had all been arguing for a good ten minutes already. Rose, Alice and I had been taking turns playing tick-tack-toe in the sand, trying our best to see in the dim light from the fire, and trying our best to protect our makeshift sand board game from the wind.
"You can all continue this discussion at a later date, time, and possibly location. I'm tired and if you guys keep going then we'll be here all night." Rose let out a yawn, highlighting her point.
Jasper turned to look at me. "What's the birthday girl's opinion?"
"I second what Rose said," I told them with an official raise of my hand.
Alice raised her hand as well. "I third that."
Emmett was the first one to move. "The ladies have spoken."
~!~DBSYPWTBB~!~
Monday was filled with students buzzing about the dance on Friday, and also about the arrival of a new student. I heard about him all morning but the first time I actually saw him was in Gym. His pale blue eyes were almost covered by washed-out yellow - almost white - hair. I admit, he was easy on the eyes, but he was a major creep.
We were playing volleyball and I got to share the joy of being on his team with Rose. We started off by playing Mike's team who had somehow miraculously been stacked with a bunch of good athletes. Oh, did I mention they were all boys, and that Coach Clapp had picked all the teams so they were "even"? I'd like to call bullshit on that one.
As we played, it didn't escape my notice the new guy could barely take his eyes off Rose. I mean, I understood that - Rose was no doubt gorgeous, but how he looked at her gave me the feeling he would soon start stroking her hair and whispering, "My precious" creepily in her ear. Basically, I got spine chilling, obsessive, possessive vibes from him.
After we lost, we got off the court and Rose and I sat on the bleachers as we waited for our next game. I let out a silent groan when I realized we had a little puppy dog following us. He waited about a whole 0.3 seconds after we sat down to saddle up next to Rose, pushing his side flush with hers.
"Royce King the Second, and charmer of the century at your service madam," he drawled, lifting Rose's hand to his lips to place a lingering kiss there. Rose smiled, oblivious to his evident obsessive fascination with her. I almost vomited.
This pretty much continued for the rest of class, and I was not the only one to see the puppy dog/Gollum antics Royce radiated like a beacon.
"Rose, how's Emmett doing?" Alice asked, her eyes flickering to Royce who had, once again, sat as close to Rose as he could without physically sitting on her. "You know… your boyfriend?"
Rose looked at Alice in confusion, giving her a why-the-hell-are-you-reminding-me-Emmett-is-my-boyfriend-I'm-not-am-idiot look. "He's fine… He's probably falling asleep in class as we speak."
Royce didn't seem to have paid attention to the exchange of words and I was willing to bet a year's worth of allowance he was trying to inconspicuously sniff Rose's hair.
I let out a sigh of relief when class finished and we went to the change room, entering a lovely large Royce-free area. Or so I hoped. My sigh of relief quickly turned into one of frustration as Rose informed Alice and me of our lunchtime addition.
"I invited Royce to sit with us at lunch," Rose said. "He really hasn't made any friends yet."
"Rose," Alice sighed. "Just think of Emmett for a second."
Rose responded by simply rolling her eyes. "I know Royce is a flirt, but he's harmless."
I snorted. Right… harmless, said the rabbit about the fox.
Jasper wasn't at the table yet when Royce arrived, so Royce sat in the empty seat between Alice and me. He threw his arms casually around us, massaging just below our hairlines with soft caresses from his thumb as he leaned across the table to talk to Rose. I cringed and pulled my head away, feeling the need to use an entire bar of soap on my neck. Alice appeared to be sitting as still as stone, just waiting for the nightmare to end. Jasper approached the table warily, noticing the extra person. He sat down in the empty seat on Alice's other side, throwing a disapproving stare at Royce for touching what wasn't his. By the time Royce actually looked at everyone else, he was met by three murderous glares. I actually flinched a bit when I took in Jasper, Edward, and Emmett's expressions - Emmett's in particular. Royce took the hint for once… leaning away from Rose and removing his arms after one final caress, but remained light-hearted as lunch progressed.
I felt a foot nudge my leg under the table. I looked up to meet Edward's gaze. "Ready?" he asked, nodding his head towards the cafeteria doors. I looked down at my half-eaten sandwich, and decided I really wasn't all the hungry anymore. I nodded and the two of us stood from the table.
Alice and Jasper were already long gone.
"So soon?" Royce asked in almost a whine. I looked over at him and noticed how his elbows rested on the table, his hand only inches away from Rose's.
"She has trouble with her locker," Rose giggled, acting as if she was letting him in on some super secret inside joke that didn't actually exist.
"Ah, well you just have to know how to rub it the right way," Royce commented, his smirk and reply clearly directed towards Rose.
The sound of metal hitting plastic sounded in the air as Emmett threw the spoon he was using for his thermos of noodles onto the table in obvious disgust. He shoved himself away from the table and held his hand out to Rose. She gave him a questioning stare and his eyes pleaded with her to just go with him.
"I'm not done eating yet," Rose said softly, still unaware of everything that had transpired over lunch.
Emmett glared at Royce, his hand curling into a fist as he leaned down to kiss Rose. She gave him a quick peck and pulled away, unaware Emmett had obviously wanted something more… something that would have clearly marked his territory. Royce noticed and gave Emmett a challenging smirk.
A hand grabbing my wrist removed my attention from the scene in front of me. Edward led me through the maze of tables, only releasing my wrist once we were safely in the hall.
"Edward?" I asked, breaking the silence between us.
"Yeah?"
"He's really creepy," I told him, glancing over my shoulder to make sure Royce didn't magically appear behind us.
"I know. Rose usually has the best bullshit radar out of us all, yet it appears to be broken as of late."
I thought back to the genuine smile that graced Rose's face when Royce had kissed her hand during Gym, and how she saw him as nothing more than a harmless flirt. I shook my head at the situation. "I couldn't agree more."
~!~DBSYPWTBB~!~
Edward was the first guy out of the locker room after football practice was finished. His eyes widened and he froze mid-step as he saw me casually leaning against the wall. He looked like a kid who got caught being up after his bedtime, reaching into the cookie jar. He could also pass as a lion that got caught by his prey mid-hunt.
I felt a small crease form on my forehead as I took in the sight of Edward holding a set of keys. I knew for a fact Emmett was the one who was driving all of us home from practice.
"Where are you going?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Oh, I drove myself today." He lifted his keys and gave them a little jiggle.
"Oh…well, I'll see you tomorrow then."
I watched his Adams apple bob comically as he swallowed. He stood upright and nodded stiffly. "Tomorrow…right." He raised his hand in a jerky wave and walked away from me at a brisk pace, never looking back.
Awkward.
The awkwardness and strangeness didn't stop at Edward though. The ride home was an interesting experience in itself. Jasper had instructed me to sit in the front seat, leaving me no room for an argument even though Jasper sitting up front when Emmett drove was basically an unwritten rule. Another unwritten rule was that I got dropped off first (that's why Jasper always got the front) so when Emmett bypassed my street and headed in the direction of Jasper's house I could feel my eyebrows pull together.
"Um -" I began twisting in my seat to point to the untraveled street.
"I forgot you were in the car," Emmett said right away, as if he anticipated my observation skills.
"I'm riding shotgun," I said, incredulity laced in my voice.
Emmett mumbled incoherently with some hand gestures and grunts I couldn't understand.
What the heck was wrong with everyone today? I felt as if I fell down the rabbit hole and was living a day in the life of Alice in Wonderland where nothing remotely made any sense. Rose was being, for the lack of a better word, an idiot; Edward drove himself and was acting panicky at the end of the day; Jasper gave me the front seat – though he was such a gentleman, he was very greedy for all the room to extend his long legs, and now Emmett didn't drop me off first despite the fact that Jasper lived closer to him than I did. Hell, Alice and I seemed like the only sane ones at the moment.
After Japer had been dropped off, Emmett started bombarding me with talk about the 80's themed dance that would occur shortly after our football game on Friday. He tried to explain to me all the benefits of attending such a jamboree while I constantly explained how I couldn't dance; nor was I a fan of the 80's. His response was that it was all in the leading, which is the man's job, so I had nothing to worry about… and that the 80's were "the shit". When he dropped me off, he made me promise to keep an open mind and think about it. I rolled my eyes and promised him, crossing my fingers behind my back.
I entered the house to find metallic wrappers littering the floor. Upon closer inspection, I realized they were Hersey's Kisses. Caramel Hersey's Kisses, to be exact. I followed the obvious trail of my very own personal crack into the living room. In the middle of the floor, the chocolate wrapped delights formed a large question mark. A piece of lined paper was located under the cluster that made up the bottom point of the question mark. I took a quick glance around the room before carefully sliding out the lined paper from under its confines. I unfolded it slowly, the crinkling of the paper joining the sound of my pounding heart in the silence filled room. Once I had completely unfolded it, I looked down to see a familiar script scrawled on the paper.
Now that I've kissed the ground you walk on, will you go to the dance with me?
Well, I couldn't exactly say no to that. Plus there was even cheesy little yes and no boxes waiting to be check marked. I tried to fight the smile of sheer joy from appearing on my face, but it was a battle I lost quickly. It was so corny but absolutely adorable at the same time.
"So, what do you think?"
I think I screamed bloody murder as I jumped, both feet getting some good airtime. As soon as I landed, I spun my hand wildly in the direction I knew an admittedly handsome, green-eyed gentleman resided. I slapped him hard on the shoulder – I had learned my lesson about trying to punch boys. The smack echoed loudly in the room but the feeling of my heart trying to leap from my chest prevented me from feeling bad.
Edward's green eyes twinkled as he raised his hand to his shoulder, choking on his own laughter.
"I see you… enjoyed partaking in… a B and E… from time to time," I huffed out in multiple breaths.
Edward smirked and let a few sniggers loose. "Bacon and eggs? I love bacon and eggs."
I slapped him again – lighter this time. "Breaking and entering, you nitwit."
Edward tried to sober himself but failed miserably. "I know. I know!"
I sat on the couch as I waited for Edward and his chuckle/giggle-fest to come to an end. It took much longer than I anticipated, but I confess there was some slight amusement simmering under the surface that was inching its way out. Edward finally collapsed beside me with a deep breath.
"Are you waiting for a pen or something?" he asked, gesturing to the note in my hand that was reminiscent of a third grader's love note.
I stuck my tongue out at him as I went to retrieve my backpack I had flung to the floor in the fit of "joy" that was my near death experience that Edward has so kindly provided. I took a pen from my pencil case and scrutinized Edward.
"Before I answer I need to know one little thing: how did you get in here?"
"Charlie. I talked to him on your birthday and he said if he managed to get the afternoon shift then I could go through with this amazing plan of mine." He motioned towards the chocolate littering the floor.
I regarded him for a few more seconds before letting the pen descend on the paper. I checked off one of the boxes and added some words of my own before handing it to Edward without a word. A lopsided grin appeared on his face as he slowly shook his head.
"You're a demanding little one," he commented.
I held out my hand. "Fine. Give me the paper back."
Edward clutched the paper to his chest and screwed his face up in mock horror. "No! You already checked yes! You can't change your answer." Before I could open my mouth to protest, he continued. "And I agree not to scare you anymore. And be super duper nice. And I reluctantly agree not to make you dance to 'horrible' music for the entire evening."
I retracted my hand. "Fine."
"It's pay at the door so you or we can back out if you or we choose," Edward informed me, glancing sideways at me.
"I guess we'll just have wait and see then."
~!~ DBSYPWTBB~!~
Friday was our last home game of the regular season, and it was surprisingly the first game we had to play in more than a light rain shower. The rain was currently hammering from the sky in fat drops that crashed against the metal bleachers loudly, along with making the ground a slippery and muddy playground.
I made my first appearance on the field during the second quarter. Tyler had just gotten a lucky touchdown. The opponent - who would have easily tackled him - slipped due to the mud, regardless of the cleats he wore on his feet to prevent such things from occurring. Tyler managed to slip past him to make a break for the end zone.
Edward took a knee on the ground, adding to his already mud stained pants. He easily caught the slippery ball as it was snapped back to him. I kicked the ball and watched as it sailed end over end in the air, over the heads of all the players on the field, and made its way through the posts. What I didn't realize until it was too late - because I had been watching the ball instead of the field – was my imminent doom. A guy in a rain-soaked, mud caked, baby blue jersey was charging towards me. He was the bull and I was the matador's red cape clad in a green jersey. ¡Olé!
I could see the look of helplessness on Edward's face as he tried to push himself up too fast and lost his footing on the slippery earth.
I felt like Harry Potter in the seventh book, marching into the Forbidden Forest and to his death, only I knew I wasn't going to die. It was more that I was relating our situations by accepting our upcoming fates. He knew he was going to die and didn't fight it, and I knew I was going to get hit so I wasn't going to run away from it and try to avoid it – it would probably hurt more if I did. So, for the briefest moment I felt like Harry Potter, only not as heroic… and I was a girl… and I didn't have a scar on my forehead… and before I could think of another point as to why I wasn't like my homeboy Harry, I was airborne.
If you're thinking airborne like, weeee! I'm flying high in the sky! This is oodles of fun! Let's do it again, then you are sadly mistaken. I'm talking airborne like, I SHOULD HAVE HIT THE GROUND BY NOW! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON! And with that kind of airborne, you have a great chance of being body slammed by a 250lb teenage brick shit house which results in having your head whack the ground with a deafening thud and squelch from the mud before the rest of your body follows… much like what happened to me. Not to mention, on top of whacking your head painfully on the ground so hard you think you may literally be seeing stars and Tweety bird, you get flattened – not like a pancake, but a crepe since they're thinner – and get head butted since the guy has no control of his body anymore.
I could hear a mixture of cheers and gasps as the clash of equipment and the sound of us – namely me – hitting the ground could be heard over the roaring rain. The guy that tackled me pushed himself off the ground and I could hear the sound of my teammates yelling some explicit word choices at him. I was slower to get up, pushing myself to my knees for a few long seconds. My head was still ringing and rattling inside my helmet when I stood up. I staggered a few steps. I concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, determined not to show evidence that I hadn't completely shaken off the hit yet.
Emmett caught up to me and gave me a few pats on the back before wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I glanced up to see his worried blue eyes looking back at me through the bars of the helmet. "You okay?" His eyes and tone of voice told me he already knew I wasn't.
I settled for a shrug. "I will be." Or so I thought, anyways.
Edward jogged up and flanked my other side. He didn't ask me anything but I saw the look he and Emmett shared, evident concern marring his features. We parted ways, Emmett and Edward making their way to the sidelines while I made my way to go kickoff. My kick was dreadful - horrendous, if I may. A lot of things weren't going right for either team so my poor performance didn't raise much suspicion.
Edward and Emmett appeared to have recruited Jasper as they all hovered over me as I sat on the team bench.
My head was throbbing and I could feel myself starting to get cranky. "I'm fine!" I snapped, standing up a little too fast and moved to stand next to Ben. Standing was making everything worse but it wasn't like I was going to tell them that.
We ended up intercepting the ball, so my three protective momma bears that played offence were forced to pass the torch of scrutinizing me to Ben. Ben engaged me in casual conversation that in theory I was thankful for. In reality, my head hurt too much to try and process the words coming from his mouth so I just smiled and nodded. I felt as though I was being repeatedly beaten by a toddler throwing a tantrum who was wielding a lead baseball bat. Eventually the pain became too great and I knew I had to sit down. I stumbled over the first step I took. Ben's strong hand gripped my arm and helped me regain my equilibrium.
"I just slipped," I explained. Ben raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything.
I was only a few small steps away from the bench when Mr. Wilson called me over. Every step I took towards him made a rave capable of being an epileptic's worst nightmare join the baseball bat that was assaulting my tender head. Mr. Wilson started talking but he sounded like the teacher from Charlie Brown. Wah waaah wha wha waaah wah wah wah wah waaah…
As if knowing I wasn't listening, Mr. Wilson waved his hand in front of my face. "Bella?"
Hello hearing. Thanks for returning to this world.
I turned my head quickly and instantaneously felt dizziness and nausea wash over me. I managed to force the nausea away but the dizziness was a persistent little bugger.
Mr. Wilson brought his face level with mine. He breathed a curse as he regarded my face. "CHENEY!" he bellowed.
I didn't hear what was said after that, nor did I really care. Before I could really comprehend what happened, I was sitting on the bench away from most of my teammates.
Ben squatted in front of me. "What's wrong?"
"My head." I could barely hear my own voice. Ben ran off, leaving me alone on the bench.
The dizziness got worse and I suddenly felt exceedingly tired. I had been holding my helmet in my hands but I put it on the bench beside me so I could comfortably curl myself into a ball, resting my head on my knees.
A dark figure loomed over me. I glanced up to see Pierre, and he sat down next to me, not saying a word. The pain became too much and my eyes blurred. I tried to discreetly wipe my eyelids on my pants, trying to get rid of the proof of my weakness.
I was the one to break the lingering silence. "I guess everyone was right. I'm just a weak girl trying to play with the big boys." I could still feel the tears swimming in my eyes from my confession and the unyielding pain.
"Don't say that." His deep voice was softer than I had ever heard it before.
"Why not? It's true. You guys get tackled all the time and are fine, but one of the few times I get tackled -" I gestured to myself, unable to form the words.
"Bella, when you went down, we were all worried. Every one of us. We were surprised you even got up. Hell, only a few guys would probably get up after a tackle like that. So, you may think you're proving your weakness right now, but you're actually proving how much you deserve to be here."
I gave him a watery smile as Ben returned with Mr. Wilson in tow. Ben handed me an icepack while Mr. Wilson put himself at eye-level with me. "There's only a minute 'till halftime. Can you make it until then?"
I nodded my head the slightest amount and made a move to wipe the wet tracks under my eyes that were from a mixture of rain and tears. I saw Mr. Wilson's face soften the slightest amount as he turned and walked back to where he was needed.
At halftime I stood from the bench so I could walk with the team back to the locker room. However, my body seemed to run out of steam. Ben caught me as my legs started giving out, causing me to buckle a few steps backwards. I refused Jasper, Edward, Emmett, Ben, and Pierre's idea of carrying me or having one of them help me walk. Emmett quickly came up with the idea of giving me a piggyback ride. It wouldn't look that suspicious and it would be a lot quicker than me trying to walk on my own.
"Bella, hold on tighter," Emmett told me as he served as my mode of transportation.
"I'm holding on as tight as I can!"
Emmett only let me slide off his back when we were inside the safety of the locker room. After Mr. Wilson's comments, observations and tips - of which I didn't listen to a single word of - he made one of the rookies stay in the change room with me. There was an awkward silence between us that lasted many minutes. I was beginning to doze off, the icepack still held to my head, when the locker room door squeaked open.
A familiar figure filled the doorway before making its way over to me. He was dressed in jeans and a windbreaker instead of his usual scrubs and lab coat.
"Why are you here?" I asked, confused by his appearance.
Carlisle chuckled softly. "I will have you know I don't work all the time. I do get to see my son's games every once in a while."
I shook my head, immediately regretting it. "No no. I mean here… in the locker room. While your son is playing… outside."
"Well, I'm a doctor and you're injured. I think those essentially go hand in hand."
Carlisle stood in front of me. I winced as he poked and prodded my head with his capable hands. "May I see your helmet, Bella?" He hummed and hawed as he fiddled around with it after I passed it to him. "Could you put it on for me?"
I grimaced as I clumsily followed Carlisle's request. He fiddled around a bit more, checking how much extra room I had when my head was turned several ways. "When you hit the ground, did it feel like your head hit the ground first?" he asked, helping me take off the helmet.
"Yeah. Plus the guy practically head-butted me so I doubt that helped the situation."
Carlisle flashed a grin identical to his son's. "No. That wouldn't exactly help." He did some more informal assessments, like making me squeeze his hand as hard as I possibly could – apparently I needed to work on my arm strength, as he didn't even flinch. Carlisle also took a mini flashlight thingy from his key ring and flashed it in each of my eyes a few times.
"From how you landed and how much extra room you have in your helmet because it's too big - not to mention how wore down the padding in it is - I believe you have a concussion. I have more valid reasons to believe this from some of the tests I did but if you go change out of your equipment I'll drive you to the hospital for a formal check."
~!~DBSYPWTBB~!~
"Is there any way I don't have to stay at the hospital?"
Carlisle let out a sigh. "I would if I could. You told me Charlie won't be home because he's working the night shift, and you can't be home alone."
"What if I stay with her until Charlie gets home from work?" Edward proposed. That was how long Carlisle and I had been discussing going home vs. spending a single night at the hospital - the game was already finished. Well, we weren't disagreeing for that long since there was a bit of wait time before I was able to get in, regardless that I was with Carlisle. Oh, and Edward had informed me we won the game.
After much pondering, Carlisle agreed to Edward's plan, giving him strict instructions that I decided I didn't need to listen to. We were going to be throwing our awesome two person festivity - that would be more like babysitting on Edward's part - at my house but I agreed to go with Edward to his house first so he could shower. Carlisle was staying at the hospital for a while longer. Why, I didn't understand. He was off the clock but I guess he could have been on-call or something.
I felt myself dozing off on the car ride, not even caring if I drooled on the interior of Edward's car. I could feel Edward trying to shake me awake but I didn't want to open my eyes.
"C'mon, Bella. You're not allowed to fall asleep on me," Edward told me once we pulled into his driveway.
I managed to crack open one eye. "But I'm tired."
"I know, Bella. You have to fight the feeling." Edward came around the car and opened my door. He unbuckled my seatbelt and put a supporting arm around my waist as he pulled me from the car.
We got into the house safely, despite my swaying body and fluttering eyelids. Edward led me to the living room where I sat down hard on the couch and put my head between my knees.
"Promise me you won't sleep, Bella," Edward said, standing in front of the couch.
"I promise," I mumbled. Edward seemed to hear me because he left with the promise he wouldn't be long.
I tried sitting for as long as I could but my head quickly diminished the time, making me feel as though it was too heavy for the world and positively too heavy to be supported by just my neck. I shifted my position on the couch so my head was now resting on the headrest and my body was curled into a ball. I let my body relax as much as I could and let my eyelids slowly fall.
~!~DBSYPWTBB~!~
"Hey, you promised me you wouldn't sleep." Edward's smooth but accusing voice floated through the fog in my head.
"I'm not sleeping," I objected, my eyes still closed.
"Oh, really?"
"I'm just resting my eyes." I managed to pry my eyes open and Edward's fuzzy figure swam into view. Even though my vision was blurry, I could see Edward's hair was still wet and stood at strange angles as if he had just run his hand through it. The long sleeved shirt he had on clung to him, no doubt due to water droplets that still lingered on his torso. I breathed and the wonderful scent of freshly showered Edward bombarded my nostrils. I could smell a hint of the soap he always used. I still had not discovered what scent the wonderful aroma originated from.
"You smell nice," I murmured.
"I just showered."
"No, you always smell good," I admitted, looking away from him.
He reappeared in my view as he shifted a bit to the left. "What do I usually smell like?"
I shrugged. "Good smelly stuff."
Edward chuckled. "How hard did you hit your head?" He didn't wait for an answer. He grabbed my hands softly in his larger ones and gently helped me rise from the couch.
He kept a firm hold on me as he led me outside and to the passenger side of his shiny, silver Volvo. The car ride didn't help even though Edward was driving carefully. Every turn, every stop, hell even the car accelerating made me want to curl in a corner and shut out the rest of the world. Edward glanced at me more than he was watching the road – I was concussed, not an idiot - I noticed things. Every time he looked I tried to reassure him with a smile that I was almost positive never got past a grimace.
As soon as I got out of the car and stood, a wave of nausea washed over my entire body. I broke from the hold Edward had on my arm and moved to kneel on the front lawn. Edward was patient and waited with me in the pounding rain that was threatening to turn into a storm.
Once the feeling had passed, I let Edward lead me into the house. I slid onto the couch and hummed in content for having some comfort for my head. I looked up only to meet Edward's questioning glance.
"This couch is comfy as hell," I explained.
"Well, I would imagine hell to be quite uncomfortable," Edward stated. He moved his hand to cradle the side of my face that wasn't pressed against the couch. "How are you doing?"
As if hearing his question, the rave and the Babe Ruth wannabe in my head increased their ministrations.
"It hurts," I whimpered.
"I know, sweetie. I know. You're okay. You're going to be fine," he told me as he tenderly stroked my hair. He pulled the old, white and green afghan off the back of the couch, draping it over me in attempt to maximize what little comfort I could obtain. He leaned down to place a kiss on my pounding head before making his way to the kitchen. He returned with an icepack and sat down on the couch with me. There were a few awkward minutes as we tried to position ourselves comfortably. Try as I might, I couldn't manage to comfortably lie down on the couch and hold the icepack to my head. We ended up with my head on one of the couch's throw pillows on Edward's lap while he remained sitting, being the one holding the icepack to my head.
The ice reduced the lead baseball bat feeling to one in which a persistent child was jumping on a saggy balloon they were determined to pop… but the sad reality they didn't know was the balloon would never pop. The rave was still partying hard with their glow sticks.
Edward had tossed on the television and was now channel surfing.
"I'm sorry about the dance," I apologized for at least the fifth time tonight.
Edward tilted his head down to look at me. "I swear if you apologize one more time I'm going to duct tape you to a tree in the forest."
I frowned. "That's harsh."
I caught a grin as Edward returned his attention to the television screen. "Only slightly."
Hours later, there was a knock on the door. No good shows were on anymore and Edward had changed the icepack nearly a half a dozen times already. Edward slid out from under me so he could go get the door. When he returned, Emmett, Rose, Japer and Alice were in tow. Edward didn't return to his spot on the couch, but sat on the floor directly in front of me instead.
Edward filled them all in on what had happened between the end of the game and now, including Edward's plan to watch me until Charlie got home from work. In return, Edward and I were informed of how the dance went.
"What do you guys want to do?" Rose asked once all the talk of drama surrounding the dance seized.
"Play nap time," I mumbled, shoving myself further into the couch.
"Oh, you need that after playing 'Doctor' with Edward earlier?" Emmett commented with a wicked smile.
I couldn't even come up with a witty retort; it hurt too much to think.
The shrill ring of the phone filled the air. Alice hurried into the kitchen to get it before it could ring for a second time. God bless her. It was only when she returned ten minutes later that I realized she had been gone for that long.
"How awesome am I?" She asked, clearly rhetorically.
Emmett answered anyway. "I don't know. Do share."
Alice clapped and looked liked she was restraining herself from doing a twirl. "I just made Charlie agree to a six person slumber party."
"How did you manage that?" I asked, amazed.
Alice skipped her way back to her seat next to Jasper, who welcomed her with open arms. "I told him that there would be more people to prevent you from sleeping and that Rose and I would have no idea what we would be doing. So he's letting the guys stay as long as there is separation of the genders."
Well... imagine that.
Though the only thing on was infomercials, we didn't turn the television off. They were to serve as background noise. Admittedly, infomercials were usually intriguing and exciting to watch, but all I wanted to do was sleep. Hell, I wasn't even participating in the conversation flowing around the room.
"I'm so sorry," I apologized.
The conversation paused briefly. "What for?" Edward asked.
"I'm such bad company," I explained.
Jasper laughed quietly. "Bella, you have a concussion. I think we can cut you some slack here."
I took the time to look around the room at my friends. I could tell Rose and Alice were already dozing off. Alice had her eyes shut with her head resting on Jasper while Rose was curled into a ball between Emmett and Edward on the floor. I told them to go to my room and sleep. We, and by we I mean Edward, determined it would be better if I stayed on the couch instead of going to my room with Rose and Alice. That way the guys, who were going to sleep in the living room, would be close enough to tend to me and not have to worry about accidentally waking up Rose and/or Alice along with me.
The girls had long since gone to my room when Edward saw my desperate fight with my eyelids. "Bella, you can sleep for a few hours. One of us will wake you up when we need to."
I didn't need to be told twice.
I felt myself being shaken awake far too soon for my liking. I peered through half open lids to find Emmett crouched beside me on the floor next to the couch. Apparently he had the first shift of shining the flashlight in my eyes, the brightness amplified by the darkness of the room.
"I don't even remember what I'm supposed to be looking for here," Emmett mumbled loud enough for me to hear though I was sure letting me hear wasn't his intention.
"So you're just shining a bright light in my eyes for no reason?"
He shut the flashlight off. "Pretty much."
"You're a jackass," I mumbled though my sleep induced haze, unaware if Emmett could actually understand what I had said. Emmett wasn't really a jackass - I just said that because my head now felt like it had front row seat to see Mike Tyson playing the cymbals. And I was really cranky.
"Aww I love you too!" Emmett exclaimed, placing a loud kiss on my cheek with a fake mwah.
"Just wake Edward up."
All I can remember after that was spending the rest of the night restless as I was constantly woken up by cell phone alarms and the bright light of the flashlight, never truly allowed to surrender to the dark abyss I longed to visit.
SNEAK PEEK-Chapter Nine
"Mom… MOM! You have to calm down and tell me what's wrong!"
"P-Phil's dead."
