Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
Alice had left once Emmett dropped off Bella's truck. Bella was washing her truck to bide her time until she was sure that Embry would be home from school. It was a Tuesday, so he wouldn't have practice today.
She heard a car coming up the street as she rinsed soap suds off of the hood. She looked up to see Embry's Jeep stop in front of the house. He got out and made his way over to her.
"You shouldn't be washing your truck. You're going to get your bandages wet." he said admonished.
"Shouldn't you still be in school?"
"I ditched my last class. I've been trying to call you all day." he called from the side of the house.
The hose turned off and she set it on the ground with a sigh.
"My phone hasn't rung once." she said, putting her right hand on her hip.
"That's because it's off." he said as he took hold of her left arm.
"No it's not." she said with a shake of her head.
"Where is it?"
"In my room."
"I bet if you go up to check it, it won't be turned on."
"Ow." she said pulling her arm away from him.
"What?"
"You were holding it too tight."
"You need to change the bandage, it's soaking wet." he said as he walked up the walk way.
She followed him inside with a sigh. Something was bothering him, but at least he was trying to be nice to her. She went into the bathroom to get the gauze, dressing, and salve before coming back into the kitchen. He came back downstairs with her phone.
"Check it." he said quietly.
She opened it to find a blank screen. She turned it on with a sigh.
"Alice must have turned it off while I was sleeping. Did Jake tell you what happened?"
"Quil told me. I've been worried sick about you Bell." he said he gently held her hand in his.
He unraveled the bandage and pulled off the dressage carefully.
"Jesus. How did you do this?"
"I acted without thinking, you how much of a klutz I am." she said looking down at the floor in shame.
"This is the worst damage you have ever done." he said running his fingers over the blisters gently.
"That's not true. I broke my arm ice skating last year." she said in argument.
"You had to wear an air cast for two weeks; it was only a hairline fracture. If you had burnt the skin off your fingertips it never would have grown back."
"I didn't know that."
"My mom's a nurse. She should know."
"I still don't think that she should be working two jobs."
"She works two jobs so that she can send me to college."
"You don't have to do this. I can do it." she said, hoping that he would decide to go with his instincts.
"I want to." he said as he squeezed salve onto his fingers.
His touch was gentle as he spread the medicine over her hand. He placed the dressing over the blisters before she noticed that something was missing.
"I forgot the tape."
"Is it in the downstairs bathroom?" he asked getting up.
"In the medicine cabinet."
"I'll get it."
He came back a few seconds later and sat down next to her again.
"Why are you being so nice to me?"
"Would you rather that I be a dick? I thought you might want me to ease up on you." he asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"I didn't say that. It's just that I don't see how you can be so nice now, when the other day you were being so harsh." she said shaking her head in confusion.
"Like I said, I figured you would want me to ease up on you." he said as he wrapped gauze around her hand.
Her phone rang and she inwardly cringed at the interruption. She lifted it off of the table with a sigh. It was Quil, not exactly the person she was expecting to hear from, but it was nice to know that he cared enough to check up on her.
"Hey." she said opening her phone.
"I'm just calling to check up on you. You didn't call me last night like you said you would." he said in disapproval.
"I went to bed as soon as I got home from the hospital. Then I spent most of the morning sleeping. I have blisters spread across my palm. There are three big ones that are ready to pop and then there are four smaller ones. I almost burnt the skin off my fingertips."
"That's bad."
"It hurts."
"Has Jake called you?"
"No. I'm going to call him later."
"That's not like him. Usually he's the first one to call you."
"Things were awkward when I left his house." she said, emphasizing the word awkward.
"Define awkward." Embry said as he taped the gauze down.
"He said something that shocked me. I didn't see it coming."
Embry shook his head before letting out a frustrated sigh. He held onto her hand, fingering the bracelet. She put her free hand on top of his and he turned his hand over under hers. She hung up the phone a few seconds later. He laced his fingers with hers before putting their hands on the table.
"I could kill him for causing this." Embry seethed.
"Jake didn't cause this. This was all me." she said, shaking her head in disagreement.
"He distracted you. He did cause it." he reasoned.
"Embry I don't want you to be mad at him. Jake is not the bad guy here."
"He knows better than to talk to you when you're doing something important." he said pointedly.
"You talk like I can't walk and chew gum at the same time." she said darkly.
"You can't."
"It happened once." she said with a sigh.
"One time is one time too many." he said with a light laugh.
"Please don't be mad at him."
"It's okay for him to be angry with me, but I can't be angry with him?" he accused.
"Why is Jake mad at you? Because of what happened Saturday?"
"Yes."
"I'll talk to him." she said as she picked up her phone.
"Can you hold off on that?" he asked, putting a hand on hers to stop her.
"You want me to wait until after you leave?"
"Please?"
"Okay."
He pulled her from the chair and led her into the living room. He let go of her hand and draped his arm over her shoulders. She laid her head on his shoulder taking in the silence. This was the Embry that she was used to. If she wasn't careful, she would let her guard down. Once that happened, there would be nothing stopping her from thinking about what he had said the other day and if he had been serious.
AN: Sorry this is so short, but sometimes short and sweet works best. Let me know what you guys think.
