Aloha amigos! Wei ghets?
Yeah. Three languages. I'm just uber intelligent like that. ;)
Chapter Ten. I'm sort of going round in circles at the moment. I'm so sorry for my lack of updates. I've been in l'opital. No excuses though!
I've got the last two chapters figured out, but it looks like there'll only be fifteen/sixteen chapters in this story.
Chapter Ten
I woke up again to Edward sitting on the end of my bed, this time cross legged and facing me. He seemed to always know when I was going to wake up. Or maybe he was in here all night…
"Good morning." Edward whispered softly. I thanked him silently with a half smile, half grimace, glad he remembered that a lot of noise first thing in the morning would piss me off, and I'd probably be in a mood all day. And I'd probably throw things at him.
Heavy things.
I smiled at him as I sat up properly, rubbing my eyes. "Morning." I replied, a little louder than he had been, telling him that he didn't have to be so quiet. I noticed that Edward, like always, looked amazing. Wearing another of his 'trademark' button down shirts with a pair of jeans told me that we would be doing something casual today.
Stretching and yawning, I climbed out of bed and shuffled my way over to the walk in closet, with Edward trailing behind. We both stood in the room full of clothes, and I had absolutely no idea what to wear.
"Why did you buy me all of these ridiculously Alice-like items of clothing?" I asked him, sorting through each pile and coat hanger, looking for something half decent to wear.
"I didn't know what you'd want. You could've changed a lot in four years. I kind of thought that if you were spending that time with Alice, maybe she would have persuaded to join the dark side and start wearing miniskirts and halter tops. But I guess you haven't changed." I turned round just in time to see his small smile. Edward quickly joined my hunt, and after a few minutes, managed to pick out a pair of black leggings, some jean shorts and a chocolate coloured off the shoulder shirt. At least it wasn't a pair of gold hot pants and a bikini top. I quickly sorted out the underwear myself, expecting him to pull out a pair of socks and 'forget' a bra and pants.
I thanked him and we exited the room and returned to the bedroom.
"Do you want me to leave while you get changed?" Edward asked.
I wouldn't have thought it a big deal if I wasn't engaged to Jacob.
"How about you just turn around?" Edward nodded and faced the door, while I turned my back to him. I was pulling my clothes on when I started talking to him.
"So, is this whole sitting on my bed first thing in the morning going to be a regular occurrence?" I had donned the underwear, leggings and shorts by this point.
He laughed a little. "That doesn't bother you, does it? You know I used to like to watch you sleep. I still do. And listening to you talk."
I turned back around, now fully clothed.
"You can turn around now." I told him, and when he did, I saw that he was grinning crookedly, but only for a few seconds before his forehead sagged. "You don't talk in your sleep anymore…" He stated sadly.
I shook my head. I knew I didn't. Jacob told me that I had stopped a while ago. I blamed it on stress, and honestly, I was thankful of my lack of speech during sleep.
Edward continued speaking. "I just wanted to watch you." He blushed a little, but I was thinking about whether he did spend all night watching me.
Edward must have understood what I was thinking, because he hurried to explain, stumbling over his words.
"Oh no, I don't watch you all through the night! When I woke up I decided to see f you were up, and since you were still asleep and I didn't want to wake you, I just stayed in there. It was only about eight minutes, honestly." Now Edward was blushing like mad. I giggled a little, in awe at the sight of Edward blushing.
Edward interrupted the little giggles bursting through my lips by holding his hand out to me. I took it timidly and he dragged me downstairs. As soon as we got to the hall way at the bottom of the staircase, my stomach growled. I blushed in embarrassment.
Edward just chuckled at me.
"Breakfast time!"
- - - -
Instead of eating in, Edward and I had walked a few blocks from his mansion to a beautiful little café. I didn't like calling it a café though, because it didn't seem like a grand enough word. The building was white brick, with stunning bay windows that had intricate designs around the glass. The tabletops were made of white marble, and the chairs were made with white latticed metal. Green leafy plants stood in corners and potted sunflowers dotted the place. The entryway even had white stone columns. I think I drooled a little.
We had ordered croissants, pancakes, waffles and rolls. It was heavenly. They even provided you with small packages of butter.
Stupid rich boy.
We had just finished breakfast, and Edward was taking me somewhere else by foot. I had learned my lesson of asking him where we were going, so I just followed like a good little person and hoped that wherever we were headed wasn't very far.
In a matter of minutes, we were walking into a rundown part of Chicago. I kept looking up at Edward, worried that one of the hobos might mug us or one of the rough looking guys walking down the street and lurking in the alleyways might walk up to us and try and knife me. But Edward just smiled reassuringly at me, but it only put my nerves at ease somewhat.
We soon turned into a narrow street, where most of the windows were either boarded up with cardboard or had just been smashed and left, glass all over the path. He led me to the end of the round, where it turned off into a gravely path.
As soon as we had walked up the path of gravel for a few seconds, I stopped and gasped.
"A carnival!"
There were broken down roller coasters, with the carts, that had all had the paint, which I believe was green at one point, scratched off, scattered along the floor, with only one or two connected to the actual railway track. And that was only part of the track that didn't have a gaping hole in it or broke off.
Stalls stood around the main rides, signs missing letters, and even hanging askew. Crooked dealers stood behind them, trying to lure the gullible in with no hope of winning a prize.
Haunted houses with boarded up windows, dodgem cars laying in the field nearby. Beer bottles, packaging and cigarette butts littered the floor.
Oh, how I missed this.
This was the kind of carnival of my youth. A proper carnival. The kind that Esme and Carlisle once took me and Edward to when we were teenagers. We'd all drive down to Seattle and spend the day there. It'd usually be raining and half the rides had been shut down for safety precautions, but Edward and I made the most of it.
I looked up and saw Edward smiling softly down at me, at which I returned.
- - - -
You'd expect that not a lot of people would come to this sort of place, seeing as it looks as if you could catch some sort of STD just from looking at it, but there were quite a few people wandering around. Men, women, couples, toddlers - although I wonder what kind of parents would actually bring them here - children, teenagers, elderly, the lot.
I could also see quite a few drug dealers around. But that just enhanced the whole experience of a real carnival.
Although, seeing a man pee only a few feet away from me made my nose scrunch a little.
Edward noticed my expression, and decided to speak up.
"This is the only carnival in Chicago. The carnies know that, so why should they fix it up? Either way, they're getting business. And the people will take whatever they can get."
"Have you been here before?"
Edward shook his head. "I haven't been here, but I'd heard about it from people."
"The people you met after you left Forks?" I asked sceptically.
Edward looked a little uncomfortable, but eventually told me yes.
We were sitting on a bench now, the stuffed dog in my left hand, while my right hand was resting in my lap. We'd gone on the teacups, but the ride was so jerky that when we finally got off, Edward stood hunched over, hands on his knees, wheezing and complaining. Then he had grabbed my hand and dragged me to the ball games. He only managed to knock two of the three bottles down, even though he had gotten some good shots in. Like I said, the games were rigged. At least we were given a consolation prize: an overstuffed lopsided dog/horse, but it was cute all the same.
"And what was it that made you leave Forks that you are so uncomfortable to talk about?" I could see Edward about to say that he couldn't tell me, but I held my hand up to silence him. "You're going to have to tell me at some point."
Those words seemed to make Edward smile for a reason that I couldn't fathom. You're going to have to tell me at some point. Edward doesn't think that I'm saying that I'm going to stay with him, does he?
But Edward's smile dropped as he likely remembered my end statement.
"Bella," he whispered, "I wish I could tell you. And I will. It's just not the right time at the moment." I just sighed and rolled my eyes. I hadn't expected anything different.
We were both quiet for a few minutes, lost in our thoughts.
"Edward, why are you taking me to all these places? Not that I'm not enjoying it," I grinned up at him, "But… I don't know. I would've thought you'd have kept me at your house."
He smiled softly at me. "I wanted you to experience all the things I used to do with you before I had to leave. Those times were always the best times of my life. I wanted to… remind you of how happy we were together. Maybe then…" He broke off and paused for a second and shook his head, looking like he was in thought. "You remember our meadow?"
I suddenly felt a little tired. Thinking about what we used to do, and the meadow, no, our meadow especially, made me feel emotional and physically drained. But I acknowledged him nevertheless by nodding yes.
"Do you know how badly I want to go there again with you? It was always so peaceful, like nothing could disturb us when we were there. Even for just a couple of hours." Edward sighed and shook his head, looking like he was trying to clear his thoughts. "But anyway, since I couldn't take you there, I took you to the park. It didn't have the same significance, I guess, but it always reminded me of the meadow…"
Edward's cell phone ringing interrupted him, an annoying buzzing noise filling the air. His hand quickly dove into his pocket and plucked the device out. When he glanced at the screen though, his eyebrows furrowed.
"Hello…?" Edward asked hesitantly once he had lifted the cell hone to his ear. I raised my eyebrow at him.
"Who is this?" He asked impatiently.
"Phil? I don't know a Phil… Bella? Why do you need to speak with Bella? How did you get this number?" He was angry now, raising his voice to the man on the phone. Edward pulled the phone away from his ear, and I could hear the voice of the man on the other end, shouting back.
"It's for you Bella." Edward told me, still somewhat confused, and passed the phone over to me.
I put the phone to my ear. "Hello?" I asked, confused as to why someone was calling me, and how they got hold of Edward's number.
"Bella," the voice croaked, "it's Phil."
I listened, silently and confused, to the man talk. When he was finished, I closed the phone and handed it back to Edward, my movements automatic and stiff.
"Bella?" Edward asked quietly.
"That was Phil." I said monotonously.
"Phil?" Edward questioned.
"Phil… he's my mother's husband."
"Renee got remarried?"
"Yes."
"Bella, is something wrong? You look really pale. What did Phil say?" Edward asked, panicked, touching my face.
"Yes."
"Bella! Fuck, Bella, you're scaring me. Please talk to me!" He begged, his cheeks pink.
"Phil… he… he told me."
"Told you what?!"
"He told me… Renee's had an accident."
- - - -
Sorry I'm not getting the Chapters out that fast, but its just like I said, I'm struggling with this story, and when I do that, I'll start writing new chapters for my other stories. And I'm also getting a lot of ideas lately for mostly one-shots which I may put up.
I'm taking the next few chapters in a new direction from my original plot, mostly because lack of ideas, but I'm keeping the ending the same as I planned. (;
For one chapter, I'm thinking a lemon is needed. Or at least an acknowledgement of it. I'm not sure my lemon skills are up to scratch though. I wrote one in The Return Home, but I don't know if it's good enough. What do you guys think? R & R.
Anyway, I'll hopefully post soon. Sayonara! Oh, and God! Thank you so much for all the reviews, adds and alerts on all my stories. You guys are fabulous!
- Ro x