Disclaimer: All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.
The next few weeks were very tense between me and Charlie. It was hard to be in the same room with each other so I began to spend most of my time at Edward's house. It was like having a second family. Edward would play the piano for me. I never knew he could play but when Esme mentioned he did, I wouldn't let him go a day without playing for me.
The school year was over and now it was perfect. I would wake up and drive over to Edward's house where we would take walks in the forest and then we would spend the afternoons with the rest of his family. Carlisle did a great job of covering up what was going on. He never mentioned anything to Edward or the rest of the family and for that I was eternally grateful.
Edward and I were lying in our meadow asking each other really random questions. "If you could be any of kind of animal what would you be?" Edward asked.
I knew the answer right away because I used to think about it when I was stuck in hospital beds. "I would be a bird so I could fly away. And I would have to worry about anything and I could be free." I had a smile tugging at the corner of my lips. "What would you be?"
"I would be a bird so I could be with you." He said it like I'd asked a stupid question and that I should have known the answer. I reached over and kissed him. He was absolutely perfect. "And we could fly to some remote place so it could be just us and nobody would interrupt."
"That would be nice. To get away," I clarified.
"Are you okay? You have seemed kind of tense lately." Edward had of course noticed that I was acting strange but he never wanted to ask.
"I know and I'm sorry."
"You don't have to apologize. You can be upset for whatever reason you want but I just thought that maybe you would want to talk to me about it." He looked at me with those deep green eyes.
I sighed while I dropped my eyes to the ground. "Do you ever get scared?"
"That depends on what I'm scared of." He didn't understand what I was getting at.
"I've never felt this way about someone before. It's just so strong and I don't know what I would do without you." I looked up to meet his eyes.
"I'm not going anywhere." We both sat up while he cradled my head against the crook of his neck.
"I know that but what if I were to go somewhere? What if I had to go?"
"Bella? Are you leaving? Are you going back to Phoenix?" He looked so upset about this. He just didn't get it but I knew he wouldn't.
"No I'm not going anywhere. I was just wondering if you felt scared if for some reason we couldn't be together anymore." I pulled back a little so I could look into his eyes.
"I don't know what I would do but I haven't given it much thought. I've never felt this way about anyone else either. What brought all of this on?" He looked really serious when he asked me.
"It was a dream I had last night. I got into a car accident and I didn't make it. I was just curious about how you felt." Edward looked disturbed by my dream.
"Bella you're not going anywhere and neither am I. It was just a dream."
I decided that lying was my best option at this point. "I know. It was just a dream," I clarified.
Edward and I spent the rest of the time watching the birds circle the meadow and get water from the stream. I laid on my side with my head on his chest while his arms wrapped themselves around me. We didn't stir for what seemed like hours until our stomachs started to growl.
"I guess it's time for lunch." He got up and stuck his hand out for me. When I stood up I thought my knees were going to give out. I'd been getting so much weaker but I didn't want to give it away so I disguised my weakness.
"Bet you 5 bucks you couldn't give me a piggy back ride all the way home." He laughed and then turned around and scooped me up on his back. I teased him the whole way home. I began to kiss along his shoulders and then onto his exposed neck. When I got to the spot behind his earlobe I began to suck a little bit on the skin. By this time we were back at the house.
"You really shouldn't do that you know." He had a devious smile.
"Why?" When I asked he dove at me and knocked me into the couch while ticking and kissing along me neck. "Edward stop. Stop." But I couldn't stop laughing long enough to form a sentence.
"Uh hum." Edward stopped and we both looked up to find Carlisle staring at the two of us.
"Sorry." I mumbled.
"Just don't let Esme catch you." He said as he walked into the kitchen. I felt absolutely horrible. Here I was slowing getting sicker and sicker while I was leading Edward on. God! What did Carlisle think of me? He probably thought I was some kind of tease.
"Bella, don't be so embarrassed. My dad doesn't really care. Shall we go get something to eat?" I got off the couch with Edward and walked into the kitchen. I'm sure Carlisle cared a lot about what I was doing.
Edward and I went into the kitchen and Carlisle was there fixing himself a sandwich. "Would you two like to join me? I can make some more sandwiches."
"Sure. Let me go see if anybody else wants one too." Edward left me in the kitchen all alone with Carlisle.
"You need to tell him you know. It's not fair to him. He's fallen so hard for you. I don't want to see him get his heart broken." He looked like such a parent when he said that and not a doctor. Trust me when I say I can tell the difference.
"You must think I'm being selfish." He looked at me with an expression only a parent gives a child when the child isn't being honest.
"I know I'm being selfish. I just don't want to ruin what we have. Do you remember what I said about not wanting to die alone?" Carlisle furrowed his eyebrows as he remembered.
"Well I don't want to be alone. Dying isn't just the final few seconds or minutes. It's a process and no one wants to go through it alone." I looked down at the table not sure of why I just told Edward's dad all of this.
"You don't have to do this alone. Telling him doesn't make you alone." I couldn't believe what he said.
Edward came downstairs with all of his siblings on his tail.
"Good thing I made a lot of sandwiches." Carlisle put the platter of sandwiches in the middle of the table and then left all the kids alone while Edward and I got plates for everybody.
"After lunch, who's up for a game of football outside?" Emmett asked. Everyone seemed to be excited. I was really tired but I didn't want to sit out. I've never been able to play a sport before.
"Bella? You game?" Emmett asked me.
I looked up at his eager eyes with his dimples showing on both sides. "I'm game." How could I deny him this opportunity to deplore how weak and uncoordinated I was?
We all split up into teams. It was me, Edward, and Alice on one team and the other was Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper. Football was so much fun and I wasn't half bad when I watched where I was running. During the next play Emmett threw the ball in the wrong direction and I ended up catching it.
"RUN BELLA!" I turned and ran in the direction of our goal when I came crashing to the ground. It felt like there was a monster truck pinning me to the ground but I realized it was just Emmett.
"EMMETT get off of her! Bella are you okay?" Edward's voice was right behind me filled with panic. I turned around with a huge grin on my face.
"That was awesome!" No one has ever been that rough with me before and it felt so amazing to be like a normal person.
"Sweetheart you have a cut on your head and you're bleeding." Edward was kneeling by my side keeping me from moving.
"What?" I reached up and sure enough there was a big cut on my head that hurt really badly.
"Come on let's get you to Carlisle." Carlisle?! Oh no. This was not going to be good. Edward led me into the house. "Carlisle?!" He led me up into Carlisle's office and knocked on the door. Carlisle answered the door.
"Oh my gosh! Bella? What happened?" He led me into the seat opposite his desk and shined a bright light onto my head. He took a good look at it and then sighed.
Edward explained what happened because I knew I was going to be in too much trouble to even respond. "We were playing football outside and Emmett tackled her. That's when she got this cut."
"You were playing football?!" He sounded just like my father and I wanted to start crying.
"Dad calm down. It was an accident. Does she need stitches?"
"Yes, she does. Edward go downstairs and grab me my bag." Edward kissed the top of my head and then walked out of the room.
"You were playing football? What the hell were you thinking Bella? Do you have any idea what you've done? Not only do you need stitches but your immune system is breaking down as we speak. You could get a very bad infection that will only speed up the process. Is that what you want?" I couldn't even speak. Tears were falling over the brims of my eyes.
"I just wanted to know what it was like to play a sport" I whispered. Edward walked back into the room and saw that I was crying.
"Bella? Are you in pain? Carlisle isn't there anything you can give her?" Edward knelt down beside me and took my hand in his. I looked into his eyes and that's when I saw it. I saw the love he had for me in his eyes and I thought I was going to start crying even more.
"Don't worry I'm almost done. Take two Tylenol for the pain and put this cream on to prevent infection and bacteria on the cut." I took the cream from him and walked out of his office.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Edward I'm fine. I just want to go home. Can you drive me?"
"Sure. Go wait by the car I have to go find my keys." I walked outside and waited by his car while the rest of his family was still outside hanging around.
"Bella. Are you okay? Did you get stitches?" Rosalie asked.
"Yeah, just five though." Emmett was walking over to me with a huge grin on his face.
"That's nothing. Jasper and I got into a fight once and he broke my left arm. My dad flipped out."
"That was a sick catch though," Jasper said. "Have you ever played football before?"
"No, never. I've never played a sport before. I've always been more of an indoor person."
"Bella are you ready to go?" Edward was walking down the sidewalk towards his car.
"Bye guys. I'll see you around."
The drive home was quiet. Edward was still beating himself up for what happened.
"I'm sorry about what happened. I should have been watching out for you better." He kept reproving himself for my fall. He thought that's why I was upset but he was no where close.
"Playing football with your family was one of the most fun things I've ever done. So stop beating yourself up."
Edward had finally pulled up into my driveway. "I'll drive to your house tomorrow. I've got some errands in the morning tomorrow and then I'll be over." I meant to give him a quick peck goodbye but he wanted more. His lips locked on mine and when he finally let me go I was light headed.
I opened the door and began to walk upstairs hoping my dad wouldn't see me but it was too late. "Bells? You're home early. I was thinking about ordering pizza and letting you have the night off…" his sentence began to trail when he noticed the huge cut on my head. "Oh my god Bella! What happened?" He was in no mood to be calmed.
"I was playing football with Edward's family and I fell and hit my head. It's really no big deal. Dr. Cullen took a look at me and stitched me up. He gave me antibacterial cream for it and said he would see me at the hospital tomorrow to give me some shots so the cut doesn't become infected." All I could do was look at the floor as I said this.
"You were playing football?!" He sounded the same as Carlisle. "Do you realize how dangerous that was? I know I'm letting you refuse treatment but you need to take care of what's left of you! How could you be so stupid?!"
I started to cry. No, not just cry. I was sobbing unbelievably. I couldn't stop. Charlie stopped yelling and started apologizing. He hugged me and kept apologizing. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. Forgive me?" I just nodded.
I eventually cried myself to sleep. I woke up and was really groggy. I had no emotion. It was like I lacked life. I realized I was killing everyone around me. My dad was losing it, Carlisle was losing it, and when I told Edward he was going to lose it too.
Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! I should be updating soon. I really appreciate all of the reviews guys. They really help keeping me motivated to write more. Thank you so much!
