"It's great to see you again, Bells," Jasper said as he gave her a quick hug after walking into the house. He released her from his embrace and turned to the dark haired girl at his side. "Bella, this is my fiancee, Alice. Alice, this is Bella. Her mom and my mom are best friends, and Bella's staying with my family because her parents are in Africa."
"Oh, you didn't want to go to Africa with them?" Alice asked with a grin.
Bella made a face. "No thanks," she replied with a smile.
"I don't blame you," Alice smiled as Esme walked into the front foyer.
"Hello, you two," she smiled as she gave them each a quick hug.
"Hey, mom," Jasper smiled as Esme ran her hand over the top of Jasper's head.
"I see you got a haircut," she commented.
"I had to drag him to the barber," Alice put in before turning to Bella. "I've been trying to get him to get a haircut for weeks now," she commented with a sigh.
Bella smiled as Jasper made faces at his mother and future wife before turning to Bella as well. "They're always picking on me," he said with a pout.
"Oh, quit acting like such a big baby," Alice grinned.
"Well, I'm going to go and check on the food," Esme said. "It should be ready soon."
"I'll help," Alice volunteered as she followed Esme into the kitchen.
"So, is Jake here yet?" Jasper asked Bella as they walked into the living room.
"No, not yet," she replied shaking her head as she sat down on the couch as Bree looked up from the television and saw Jasper. She jumped up and ran over and gave him a hug.
"Where's Alice?" Bree asked.
"She's in the kitchen," Jasper smiled as Bree released him from her embrace and scurried off to the kitchen.
"I take it she likes Alice," Bella commented as Jasper sat down at the opposite end of the couch.
"Oh, she loves Alice," Jasper said shaking his head. "But then again, there aren't many people that kid doesn't like," he added.
"True," Bella smiled as Edward walked into the living room.
"Hey, Jazz," he said as he sat down on the recliner across from the couch.
"What's up?" Jasper asked.
Edward shrugged. "Not much," he replied. "Working."
"Cool, when do you start school?" Jasper asked.
"Not sure, early next month," Edward shrugged. "Summer's going by way too fast."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Jasper nodded. "I don't see how Jacob can stand taking summer courses. I had to take a break before I went back."
"But aren't you almost finished with college?" Bella asked.
"Yeah," Jasper nodded. "This will be my last semester. Then I'll be ready to go out into the workforce," he said making a face.
"But don't you already have a job?" Bella asked raising an eyebrow.
"Well, yeah," he nodded.
"Then you're already in the workforce," she grinned.
"Smartass," Jasper grinned rolling his eyes.
Jacob arrived a few minutes later - just as Esme was announcing that dinner was ready. Bella stood and followed everyone to the dining room. She took a deep breath and inhaled the scent of the food. She hadn't eaten all day. She has spent part of the morning throwing up in the bathroom and hoping that no one would catch her, and she was just now realizing how hungry she truly was. She just hoped that she would be able to keep the food down.
She knew morning sickness came along with the territory of being pregnant, but she had been getting sick more frequently. At first it had only been every few days, but this morning she had actually got sick twice. She hoped that this wasn't going to be an every day occurrence because it was going to be pretty tough to hide.
Bella sat down at the table at the kitchen table amongst the Cullen family. Jacob was seated to her right with Riley on the other side of him. Jessica was on Bella's left with Vicky on the other side of her. Across the table were Jasper, Alice, Edward, and Bree with Esme and Carlisle seated at each end of the table.
Bella always felt awkward when it was dinnertime at the Cullens' house. She always felt somewhat out of place when they sat down for dinner together and took each other's hand and said grace before every meal. Bella had never done anything like that with her family. Her parents usually never got home until eight o'clock at the earliest - leaving Bella to fend for herself. Most of the time she cooked her own dinner and spent her evenings doing homework and talking with friends or going out with James.
The Cullens were so different. They actually acted like a family. They knew what was going on in each other's life for the most part. Esme and Carlisle would never leave their children to fend for themselves every day and night. And Bella was certain that if Esme were her mother, she'd know about all of her boyfriends and want to know where they were going and what they were doing. Esme would most definitely know if her daughter was pregnant.
Bella looked at the end of the table and caught Esme's eye for just a second. Esme gave her a soft smile before she continued passing the food around the table. For a short moment, Bella wished that Esme were her mother. Not that Bella didn't love her mother. That wasn't the case by any means. Her mother was a great woman, and Bella knew that she loved her. She just wished that her mom were more like Esme.
"So, any luck finding a job, Bells?" Jacob asked interrupting Bella's thoughts.
"Huh?" Bella said shaking her head and glancing to her right. "No, not yet," she replied quickly as she took a bite of her mashed potatoes.
"Is Starbucks hiring, Edward?" Carlisle asked from his seat at the end of the table.
Edward took a drink of his ice tea and cleared his throat. "I'm not sure," he replied. "I can check the next time I work," he said looking across the table at Bella. "I'll let you know," he said with a half smile.
"Thanks," Bella replied with a smile, but deep down she figured that even if they were hiring Edward wouldn't want her to work there.
After dinner, everyone began to migrate his or her different way. Bella followed Jasper, Jacob, Edward, Jessica and Alice outside. The guys decided to play a game of basketball.
"Bells, you wanna play?" Jacob asked as he dribbled the ball.
"Um," Bella bit her lip. She has always been up for a game of basketball before, and she didn't want anyone to wonder why she didn't want to play, but on the other hand, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to do all that running and jumping without getting sick. 'What the hell?' she thought. She figured that things would be okay, and if she felt like she was going to be sick, she'd just tell them that she wasn't feeling so great and quit. "Sure," she smiled as she stood up and dusted off the back her shorts and walked over to the driveway to join Jacob, Edward, and Jasper.
"Okay, me and Bells against you two," Jacob said as he continued to dribble the ball.
Once the game started, Bella pushed all thoughts of pregnancy from her mind and just let loose. She had missed doing stuff like this. The last few weeks her mind had been so clouded by what to do about her pregnancy she had nearly forgotten what it was like to be a teenager.
As Bella was going to block Edward from making a basket, she tripped over his feet and flew forward and landed on her side. Edward immediately stopped in the middle of throwing the ball and hurried over to her side.
"Shit, I'm sorry," he said quickly as she sat up slowly. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I think so," she groaned looking at her elbow, which had been scraped against the pavement and was now bleeding. "That's gross," she commented as Jacob stooped down beside them and Jasper stood behind him.
"Ouch, that had to hurt," Jacob commented with a grin.
"No shit, Sherlock," Bella grinned as she glanced down at her knee, which was also bleeding. She cringed. "I think that skirts and dresses are going to be out of the question for me for the next few weeks," she commented as she tried to get up, but Jacob pushed her back down to sit on the hot pavement.
"Just wait here, Bells," Jasper said as he called over his shoulder to Jessica. "Jess, can you run in and get the first aid kit?"
"Yeah, sure," she nodded as she started towards the house.
"Guys, really I'm okay," Bella said swatting Jacob's hand away and pushing her way up.
Edward offered his hand to her since it was obvious that she wasn't going to wait to be doctored up. She took his hand reluctantly and stood up shakily. Jasper caught her by her shoulder to steady her.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Jasper asked, obviously playing his big brother role and making sure she was okay.
"I'm fine," Bella snapped as she pulled away from everyone's grasp. "I'm going inside to clean up," she called over her shoulder as she walked into the house.
Bella felt like slapping everyone for overreacting over something so stupid. Hadn't they ever seen a person fall before? Bella was just glad that they didn't know she was pregnant. She couldn't even imagine how they would have been reacting if they knew. Bella shook her head as she limped up the stairs and down the hallway. She sighed as she went into her room and into the bathroom. She didn't bother to shut either door to the bathroom before she took the peroxide out of the cabinet and some cotton balls from underneath.
After dabbing some peroxide on the cotton ball, she brought it to her elbow and winced when she felt it sting her skin.
"Need some help?" she heard from the bathroom door. She glanced and saw Edward standing at the doorway.
"No, I'm fine," she said as she continued to clean her wounds.
"I'm really sorry, Bella," Edward said. "I didn't mean to knock you over."
Edward pushed his hands deep into his pockets. He felt really bad about knocking Bella over even though he knew it wasn't entirely his fault. He was just worried that she was hurt more than she was letting on. He wondered why he even let her play basketball with them. He should have refused, but he knew that people would have gotten suspicious. Bella didn't even know that he knew she was pregnant.
"I know," Bella nodded as she caught a huge whiff of the peroxide. The smell made her insides churn. She took a deep breath and hoped that she wouldn't be sick - especially not when Edward was apologizing to her.
"It was just an accident," Bella said fighting to suppress the gurgling in the pit of her stomach. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 'Please just go away, Edward.' She thought.
Edward noticed Bella's face grow pale, and she made a face.
"Are you okay?" Edward asked stepping closer to her.
She opened her eyes and shook her head quickly before rushing over to the toilet and emptying her dinner from her stomach. She tried to sit up, but she felt her stomach begin to lurch again. She felt her eyes burn as she the second wave of nausea hit her. She nearly jumped when she felt her hair being pulled back away from her face while a hand gently rubbed her back.
"Go on, get it all out," Edward said soothingly.
After Bella was sure that she was finished, she sat up slowly and flushed the toilet. Edward flipped the lid down and helped Bella get up and sit on the toilet. Edward took a small cup off of the counter and filled it with water and handed it to Bella.
"Thank you," she whispered.
Edward sat leaned against the counter and watched as Bella slowly sipped the water. Her face was flushed, and in all honesty, she looked like a she'd just been in a train wreck. When he looked down at her knee, he noticed that it had begun bleeding again from her kneeling on it on the floor.
Edward picked up the bottle of peroxide and some cotton balls and kneeled down on the floor in front of her.
"What are you doing?" she asked as he dabbed some peroxide on a cotton ball.
"I'm getting you cleaned up," he replied without looking up.
Bella bit her lip as he pressed the cotton ball to her skin. She winced because it stung, but her mind was more focused on Edward. She wondered why he was acting so strangely. She didn't know why it just now struck her as strange that he had been the first one to rush to her aid when she fell. She didn't think he cared about her, so why was he suddenly so concerned?
She watched as he stood up and took a package of band-aids out of the cabinet. After bandaging up her knee, he started in on her elbow. Bella remained quiet as he did so. She rather enjoyed seeing this side of Edward. After placing a band aid on her elbow Edward gathered up the trash and threw it in the wastebasket beside the toilet and stood up.
"There, you're all fixed up," he declared as he put away the peroxide and washed his hands.
"Thanks," Bella smiled as Jacob appeared at the bathroom door on Bella's side of the room.
"Everything okay?" he asked poking his head inside.
"Yeah," Bella nodded hoping that Edward wouldn't mention anything about her throwing up.
"Well, mom is sending dad and Vicky into town to get some ice cream," Jacob commented. "You guys want anything?"
"Um, just get me a sundae," Edward shrugged as he ran her fingers through his hair.
"Want anything, Bells?" Jacob asked turning to her.
"No, I'm fine," Bella replied.
"Suit yourself," Jacob grinned before walking away.
After Bella was sure Jacob was gone, she stood up slowly and turned to Edward. "Thanks for not mentioning anything about me being sick," she said.
"Yeah, no problem," Edward replied.
"I just don't feel like having everyone asking me if I'm okay, ya know?" she continued as she tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear.
"Yeah, I know. The family can be a little much sometimes," Edward nodded.
"Yeah, well, I think I'm going to go lay down for little while," Bella said. "But thanks again."
"Yeah, no problem," Edward smiled as she walked into her room. Edward watched after her for a moment. He still couldn't believe that she was really pregnant. He had been hoping all afternoon that he had misunderstood what she was saying to Angela on the phone, but as the day wore on, and after witnessing her throwing up a lung, he knew he hadn't misunderstood. He wondered how she could keep something like that inside. He wasn't close to Bella by any means, but he couldn't help but feel like he should do something to help her. He couldn't just let her go through this alone. He just didn't know how to help.
Edward took one last look at her figure lying on the bed before turning and exiting to the hallway through his room. He had to talk to someone ...