Chapter 10: The Game
"How much longer?" I asked, resting my head on the back of the passenger seat of Edward's car.
"Do you have no patience, Bell?" Edward asked me.
"If I can get my answer, then nope." I responded.
"It'll only be ten more minutes. Give us a break, we have to go far enough out that people won't randomly walk in on us playing baseball." Alice told me from the backseat.
"Thanks, Alice." I replied.
"You haven't seen anything, have you, Alice?" Edward asked with a hopeful tone.
"Well, not at this point. But I could be wrong." Alice replied.
"Why does it matter?" I asked.
"Well, it matters because we haven't managed to find one vampire who doesn't want to take you away from me. I would like to go just one week without the prospect of losing you." Edward replied, kissing my cheek.
"I guess we'll see, soon enough." I told him.
"Hey, Edward, remember that time when we made that bet of who could hit farther: you or Emmett?" Alice asked.
"Of course," Edward chuckled, "Emmett was convinced he could win, and he started getting on my nerves, so Jasper and I tricked Emmett into losing. His debt was great."
"How did you y'all get Emmett to lose?" I asked.
"Well, Jasper sent waves of uncertainty and lethargy towards him. Then I read his thoughts to use his memories against him. Needless to say, Emmett got hit with the ball, and never got a chance to hit. I hit it so far I think I made it to Japan." Edward replied.
"What was Emmett's debt?" I asked.
"He had to wear a ballerina outfit to school. Tutu and all. It was absolutely fantastic." Alice told me.
"Emmett could fit into a leotard?" I asked, amazed.
"Well, I had to take it out, a bit." Alice replied.
"How much?" I asked.
"A lot." Edward told me, laughing.
"Yeah, a lot of the girls were staring at his 'special area' because it wasn't well concealed. Poor Emmett. Rose wasn't too happy." Alice reminisced.
"Wow. I would love to have seen that." I told them, giggling.
"We have pictures, remind me when we get back tonight." Alice told me.
"Of course." I replied.
"Okay, Bells, We're here!" Edward said as he stopped the car outside of the woods.
"Gosh, finally." I mumbled to myself. Edward hit my playfully.
Moments later the other Cullen cars pulled up, and my parents got out of Carlisle's car.
"Wow Bella. This will be so much fun!" My mom told me, putting her arms around me. I smiled.
Carlisle led the way through the woods. We actually walked because the woods were so amazingly beautiful. The trees were huge and absolutely lovely. There was a soft path running along the ground and the grass was a fantastic green. I think I heard a creek too. (AN, I used the image of one of the pictures on my Mac's "forest" screensaver. Most of those forests look like those in Twilight.)
"We will just walk to the clearing, and then we can start the game." Carlisle told us all.
"Are we playing like normal baseball, with nine innings?" I asked.
"Of course, Bells." Edward told me.
Suddenly we came upon the clearing. It was magnificent. The woods bordered all edges and the ground smelled of fresh rain.
"Okay guys, get into your teams! Rose, Carlisle, Charlie, Renée, and I on one team. That leaves Edward, Bella, Alice, Jasper, and Esme on the other team. Edward, Alice, go away. We are going to flip a coin to see who bats first, and that won't work with mind-reading and seeing the future." Emmett said.
"Fine!" They both called out as they turned to walk closer to the edge of the woods. I smiled knowing that my power couldn't affect the coin flip. Maybe if we flipped some dirt though.
"Okay, who's going to call it from each side?" Carlisle asked.
"I will!" I told him.
"I guess I will too." Rose said as she walked towards Emmett who smiled.
"EMMETT THINK G-RATED THOUGHTS!" Edward called out, seemingly disturbed.
"Then don't look!" Emmett replied.
"I can't help it. It's not my fault I can read minds." Edward replied.
"Your just jealous because you haven't screwed Bella yet!" Emmett called over, grinning like an idiot.
"HEY LET'S KEEP MY LOVE LIFE OUT OF THIS!" I told them.
"SHUT UP EMMETT! Not every relationship is about sex." Edward replied.
"Calm down, idiots! I want to play baseball. Emmett, flip the damn quarter before I hurt you." Alice called to Emmett as she hit Edward in the head.
"Fine." Emmett replied, flipping the coin.
"Heads!" I called out.
"Tails!" Rose called at the same time. It landed on heads.
"Bella, do you want to bat or field first?" Emmett asked.
"Um…We'll bat." I told him.
"Okay." He said, as they got to their bases, which were really far apart.
Emmett stood in the outfield, Carlisle between first and second, Rosalie pitched, my dad was catcher, and my mom took the space between second and third base. Alice was first to bat.
Rose pitched it fast to Alice, but Alice managed to hit the ball, and the sound when the bat hit the ball was so loud, it was like lightening hitting the feet from us. The ball flew into the woods.
"Home run." I said.
"Wait," Esme told me, I realized Emmett was missing and seconds later he emerged from the woods with the ball in his hand, "out!"
Edward was up next. This time Edward managed to get a run. After him I batted. I got a single. It would have been easier if I were less inept, but I still suck at sports. Edward still gave me a high-five anyway.
We were at the bottom of the fifth inning with my team winning by 3 runs and I was playing between first and second base with Edward in the outfield and Alice pitching when she suddenly froze and dropped the ball.
"What did you see?" Jasper and I asked.
"It must have been bad, she's worried." Jasper said as he pulled Alice into a hug.
"There is a family of vampires coming." Alice explained.
"How many?" Carlisle asked.
"Two parental figures, and three teens close to our age." Alice explained.
"Are they like us in our hunting patterns?" Carlisle asked.
"Yes." Alice replied.
"Okay good. The next thing we need is people dying." Charlie said.
"But what is so bad then?" I asked.
"Bella, we haven't managed to find a vampire who doesn't want to take you from Edward, remember?" Rosalie said.
"But this time it won't be Bella the vampires want." Alice said, looking at Edward.
"That will never happen." Edward said, through clenched teeth.
My non-beating heart dropped. "Alice, what did you see?" I asked.
"I saw the girl vampire kissing Edward." She replied feebly.
"Of course." I said, as I turned toward the edge of the woods, preparing to go home.
"Bells, wait. That will never happen, I could never love anyone more than I love you." Edward told me, taking my hand.
"But Alice saw it, and you would never catch me betting against Alice." I replied.
"Bell, it could have been a misunderstanding. Did you see anymore, Alice?" Carlisle said.
"No, it faded out before I got a chance to see any more." Alice replied.
"How much longer?" I asked.
"Huh?" Alice asked me.
"How much longer until they get here?" I replied, my heart slowly breaking.
"They will be here within a few hours." Alice told me, looking down.
"Bella and I will go. The girl you saw kiss me will not see me, and once they leave, Bella and I will return." Edward said.
"No, Edward, this girl could be perfect for you. I don't want to stand in your way. You could be so much happier. I would just be acting selfish to keep you with me. You should stay." I told him.
"Bella, how many time do I have to tell you? I love you and only you. No other girl could ever hold one-tenth, no one-hundredth of the love that I feel for you. Never underestimate that. I will not let that girl take me from you." Edward replied.
"Just stay, it could be a misunderstanding." Jasper told us, putting his arm around me.
I looked around at everyone, then took a deep breath and said, "Okay, I guess."
"Come on, let's finish the game." Alice said.
My team ended up winning, which was a plus, but I was still so worried about the family that was coming to visit us. I wasn't sure about what to do either. Edward and I stayed in his room for the rest of the afternoon, and then the doorbell rang.
"Bella, don't worry, everything will be okay." He told me, kissing my lips.
"We'll see." I said, as I headed downstairs to meet five new pairs of topaz eyes looking at me.