Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight…
A/N: Hey, sorry this took so long… been busy… Read. Enjoy. Review.
Bridges
Chapter Nine – Teenage Care Package
Isabella Swan
It was, for once a sunny Thursday afternoon. Carlisle had scheduled a baseball tryout for right after school until three. He couldn't have picked a better day, it was warm and sunny, well as warm and sunny as Forks got in March. I walked over from the history buildings with Lauren, Jessica, and Katie to the baseball diamond over near the gym and to the side of the main offices. We climbed the bleachers and sat at the top, I was glad that I had the alibi of Mike, Tyler, and Ben trying out so that I could be there. That, of course was the reason Jessica, Katie, and Jessica were there, we were supposed to meet Angela and Eric afterwards with the boys to go somewhere. I hadn't really paid attention, knowing that I would have to come up with some excuse not to go so that Carlisle and I could go shopping, in a secure location, for Rosalie's arrival.
I still wasn't exactly sure I wanted her interruption if I was perfectly honest, but I knew Carlisle, and I knew he wanted to help. Thinking of the devil, Carlisle chose that moment to walk out onto the field in his jeans, he had obviously accounted for the dustbowl that was the baseball field. Jessica and the other two seemed surprised he was there, they had obviously been to busy to hear the announcement at the beginning of the week stating that he was the coach. We waved up to us and they all giggled a little, I blushed but was glad I was towards the center of group.
I pulled out my homework so I could get some of it done, and wouldn't have to forgo Carlisle's like I had to the night before. I was looking forward to teasing him just a little bit about the fact that since I wasn't there he had nothing better to do than correct everyone's tests. Proving to his students that he really had no life, I would be kind though, he really was adorable.
"Hey, ladies," said Mike smugly as he, Tyler, Ben, and a boy we didn't know walked out onto the field, stopping in front of the bleachers to speak to us.
"Hey, Mike," Jessica replied happily as the new guy just stared at either me or Katie who sat next to me, "Tyler, Ben, who's this?"
"Emmett," said the new one, now he was definitely eyeing me, and everyone seemed to notice, including Carlisle who was walking over.
"Hey, boys," said Carlisle, he had the facial expression I had come to know as 'I'm trying not to freak out on them' which were common looks we exchanged, "Why don't you start running the bases. Tyler, grab home plate from the bag and start warming up, you pitch right?"
"Right," said Tyler and the boys ran off, except for Emmett.
"Emmett right?" Carlisle said, and I could tell he was trying to avoid looking up at me, "How old are you, I don't have you in class and what position do you usually play?"
"Catcher," replied Emmett in a friendly tone, "And you wouldn't have me in class, I'm only sixteen, sophomore."
I was as surprised as Carlisle looked. Emmett was big and burly, I had easily guessed him for seventeen or eighteen, maybe a junior. He had short dark hair and his smile was a little goofy and childish, but cute. He kind of looked like a full grown baby who's face hadn't quite matured yet. He was just as tall as Carlisle, and in being so he was taller than Mike and Ben. Probably about the size of Tyler but it was hard to say with Tyler being farther away now. Emmett was staring at me, and he gave me a quick wink and blew a kiss to me before he ran off to join Mike and Ben jogging, Carlisle gave us a quick look. Stern, not mean, just stern, it kind of took us by surprise.
"Now, now, ladies," said Carlisle before we went back over to where the team was now starting to gather, all of them running the bases, "Don't distract the boys, they have work to do."
I wondered the whole hour if Carlisle was jealous that Emmett had been trying to flirt with me. I felt a huge amount of guilt on my shoulders. It was harmless really, like I would ever seriously consider another while Carlisle would still have me. Though he did seem to be running all of them into the ground, Emmett was doing quite well actually, and Carlisle looked disappointed that he couldn't "yell" at him. Yelling for Carlisle was never the same as being yelled at by anyone else, this was probably because he didn't really yell. He didn't have to, if he was seriously mad at you when he was talking you knew you must've done something terrible. The only time I had ever seen it in action was when Mike and Eric had decided that they'd use all of first period as naptime.
I waited with the girls outside the gym building for Mike, Tyler, and Ben. I really didn't know why Kate bothered with Ben, he only seemed to have eyes for Angela, which was sad because she in turn liked Eric. Apparently I was supposed to be heading to the beach with them down in La Push, I had to fix that, but how?
Mike, Ben, and Tyler came out with Emmett who had them all laughing hysterically. They got to and joined our group momentarily and I didn't like the set up of the group. The guys meshed into the group. Mike beside Jessica, Tyler beside Lauren, Ben beside Katie, and then Emmett came right up next to me. I shot Jessica a frightened look and she kind of giggled in her little annoying way.
"So, Bella, you going to the beach with everyone?" Emmett asked me, looking me over carefully.
"No, actually," I said as I saw Carlisle come out of the building out of the corner of my eye, "I have like six tons of homework and I want to get it done before my dad has a bunch of people over for the game later."
"Oh," said Emmett, and he looked disappointed.
"Yeah, sorry," I said and Jessica didn't really looked surprised as the whole rest of the group looked a little sad.
"Bella," she said, "I still have to check for my sweatshirt out of your truck…"
"Oh, right," I said, not quite remembering what sweatshirt she was talking about, when did we ever bring my old truck anywhere? Not that I did go with them a lot.
"Ok, don't blame you for ducking out," She said as we reached the truck and opened the door, "That kid is kinda creepin' on you."
"Yeah," I said, noting Jessica's judge mental tactics, Emmett wasn't all the creepy, he just liked me, and he probably didn't realize I was taken.
"So is he going to have to worry about your boyfriend from Phoenix coming up?"
"No, Steve's kind of a pacifist," I said trying to keep from chuckling.
"Oh. Ok," said Jessica and then she went skipping back off to join the others exclaiming that she must've left her sweatshirt someplace else.
I hopped into my truck and took a left out onto the road, only to loop back and head to Carlisle's through the woods as fast as my little truck would carry me. I pulled into the driveway and saw Carlisle standing there, casually leaning against his car. He sun was bright and it reflected off the car and his blonde hair. I half wondered how long he had been in that pose waiting for me to pull in. He smiled at my car, and I guess me by association, and pointed to the garage. I pulled right in and walked out as he pushed the button on the side to make the door come down again.
I walked over to him while he was standing next to the garage door and pushed him up against it for a kiss. His lips were less gentle than usual, but I was used to it, he always seemed more needy after six hours of only being able to see me. The kiss transformed quickly and he was back to his old self again, his lips carefully caressing mine.
"So I win?" He said smugly as we walked across the driveway and over to his car.
"Win what?"
"Emmett," he replied and I immediately knew what he meant.
"Carlisle," I said as we slid into the driver and passenger seats respectively, "You have no competition."
"Well thanks, Bell," He said with a smug little smile.
He chuckled as we sped off away from town towards a little shopping village that neither of us had ever heard of. This was so no one who knew us, or of us would know anything about us and we could shop freely, with kissing. Carlisle reached for my hand as we hit the very empty highway, kissed the back of my hand and then held it the remainder of our car ride.
It took a little while to get to the plaza, but Carlisle parked as close to the shops as possible. This was pretty close, considering not many people wanted to forfeit a sunny day in this portion of Washington to go shopping. I was slightly preoccupied with the shopping list of things to get, paint, bed clothes, etc, etc, that I didn't notice we had stopped right away. I looked up when I noticed we were no longer moving and Carlisle was holding open my car door for me, I smiled.
"See it's stuff like this that get you points," I said as he offered me his hand and helped me up as he chuckled.
"Yeah, Yeah," He said, going along with my sarcasm as he pressed his lips lightly to mine and closed my car door behind me, "Let's go get what we need and get out of here."
He took my hand and we headed towards the bedding store, first one on the block, and we made trips to the art store, the hardware store, and a quick stop for ice cream before we were back in the car two hours later. We had just about everything a teenage girl forced into living in a town like Forks would need. We had grabbed lavender paint at the hardware store so we could brighten up Carlisle's guest room a little before she came. Her comforter was going to match her walls and her desk was all ready to be put together, plus a few things I thought would be fun to decorate her room with.
"You're a good Uncle," I said as he took my hand again and rested our hands on the arm rest.
"What? All this stuff? She's going to be forced into living in a dreary little crazy town like Forks. Where, just about everyone from any bigger of a town would blow their brains out, it's the least I could do," He said, not taking his eyes off the road as he got off on Forks' exit, "You were fabulous though, as always. I would have never been able to pick out all this girly stuff. Thanks, I'm sure you would have so much rather us cuddling in front of the fire."
"Yeah," I said truthfully and he smiled, "But this was fun. And now, since we were quick we have time to paint before I have to go home."
"I can paint it, Bella, we can do something else."
"C'mon painting was the one thing I was looking forward to, granted I'm not very good with a paint brush, but it's more fun than shopping."
"Wow, a girl that doesn't enjoy shopping, you are the perfect person for me," He said with a mischievous smile and I smiled back at him as he kissed my cheek and pulled into his driveway.
We walked into the house, both of each of our arms filled with supplies. Carlisle had insisted upon carrying the gallons of paint and the heavier essentials, which made me smile and feel special on the inside while my outside was teasing him about babying me.
"And what's so wrong to taking care of you the way I should?" He asked as we climbed the stairs and Carlisle opened the door to Rosalie's to be room.
The walls were white and plain, the bed matched the walls, and the whole place looked like a dreary black hole, only white. I immediately agreed with Carlisle, this place needed all this stuff. Anyone would go mad if they were both forced to live here and forced to stay in this ridiculously boring room.
"You see what I mean?" He said, reading my mind as he set the paint down, "Where would you like to start?"
