Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Nadda, zilch, absolutely nothing. (No I didn't become a millionaire over night) Stephanie Meyers owns everything Twilight.
11. Someone else's shoes.
Epov:
I said goodnight to Bella about an hour ago and still I could not fall a sleep. I really was worried about her, one moment she is completely fine and the next she is laying in bed knocked out by sleeping pills and flu medicine. If I haven't known better I would have said that she became like that after I spoke about how I fell in love with her. She of course, thought that I was talking about some mystery girl. Still it came across as if she was shook up by what I said.
Was she really jealous of this girl? I barely asked myself that question before I realized just how insane it sounded. Bella would never fall for someone like me; at least not while we are trapped like this but that was going to change as soon as we swap back. I have already decided that I was going to throw all caution to the wind and just tell her how I feel. No more hiding behind some facade, it's better to know that I have told her how I felt, than to never tell her and wonder constantly about the what ifs.
This whole swap has opened my eyes to so many things; I never knew that Bella took care of her family. That she was the one that checked that Emmett had everything he needed and reminded him of the things he needed to do. Charlie only sits on his but everyday watching sport on the television. He care's for his children on the money front but does nothing to actually have a relationship with them.
I get that Bella's mom left him and walked out of her children's lives but they need a parent who they can go to for help, who they can talk to and who would actually listen to them. Right that was going to change, if that was the only good thing I had to give Bella then I would give it. It is time that her family sees how much she does around here and that they start appreciating it. It's time that they start to act like a family and not three individuals living under the same roof.
I always lay in my bed looking at Bella's room window and thought that the grass was greener on this side of the fence but I, at least, had a mother who cared about me. My father was a total other matter but I think that I was going to have a nice little talk to him about that, after Bella and I swap back. I always stood back to what other people thought was better for me but it's time that I make my own decisions. It's time that I became my own person and not someone that everyone expects me to become.
Yale is just the start, from now on I make my own decisions and if that is a mistake I would learn from them so that I don't make the same mistakes again. Experiences make you who you are and it is time that I experienced just what life is about. My eyes began to droop as I finally began to fall asleep but before I was engulfed into unconsciousness one last thought ran through my head. I don't know who was more afraid, the new improved Edward Cullen or the world that awaited me.
When I woke up Bella's room was brightly lit, first I thought that someone switched on the room light but as my head cleared I heard birds chirping outside. Birds never chirped this early in the morning, I glanced at the clock on the night stand. Eleven am, I looked at the window and spotted sunlight streaming in through the open window. It was one of the rare sunny days in Forks. I jumped out of bed and grabbed some clothes from the dresser before heading for the bathroom.
I froze when I saw the scene in front of me, both Charlie's and Emmett's wet towels were laying on the floor. There was shaving cream and even some shaved hair in the sink. The toilette seat was up and their dirty clothing was still on the floor were they left them. Did pigs live in this house? I closed the door behind me and quickly stared at the mess again. Well I think it's time they had a wake up call. I closed the toilette seat and placed my clean clothing on it and took a shower.
I placed everything I used back in its place, after I got dressed I hung Bella's towel on the rod to dry and left the bathroom exactly how I found it. There was no indication that I used the bathroom accept for my wet washcloth and a slightly damp towel. I combed my hair and tied it in a loose ponytail before heading to the kitchen. Only to find that it was a total mess; there was a stack of dirty dishes in the sink.
The milk stood open on the counter, the box of open porridge next to it exactly how Emmett left it. There was muddy footprints on the floor where Charlie walked in from the back yard, I grabbed a Granola bar and walked to the laundry room. I loaded the washing machine and walked to the living room where I heard the TV playing. Charlie was sprawled out on the couch watching a basket ball game; he was eating pop corn out of a big bowl in his lap.
"Morning Bells I see you have slept in this morning." I nodded and sat on the only single seat in the room. I spotted Charlie's muddy boots next to the couch that he was sitting on. There were some empty candy wrappers around the seat; the Chief of police sure liked his candy. "Morning dad, I didn't sleep to well last night and only fell asleep late this morning." He only grunted a reply not even paying attention to what I was saying. "Yeah that was after I have drunk a whole bottle of tequila."
Charlie smiled in my direction, "That's good Bells, you always get up so early in the morning." Unbelievable… "Where is Emmett?" I asked since I walked passed his deserted room I knew he wasn't upstairs. "He mentioned something about movies in Port Angeles." Charlie said not taking his eyes of the TV. "Oh Esme was looking for you earlier, she said that you should pay her a visit in the hospital and bring Edward with you." Did Bella get worse after I talked with her last night? No Esme would have taken her to the hospital herself if she got worse.
"Did she say what for?" I asked already heading for the door. "She said something about a surprise and needing your help." A surprise at the hospital, well this ought to be good. I walked quickly to the front door of my house and knocked on the door. I waited for about a minute before knocking again and Bella finally opened it. She smiled when she saw me, "Morning, what brings you over so early?" She asked as I closed the door behind me.
"My mother requires our presence at the hospital and I've come to fetch you. How are you feeling?" I asked to the still smiling Bella. "I'm fine; whatever Esme made me drink yesterday knocked everything right out of my system. So shall we go?" She asked happily. "Are you sure you are ok, you seem different this morning." I asked thinking that the only time I saw her so cheery was when Jacob asked her out last year. "Yes Sherlock I'm sure, now come on we better not keep your mother waiting."
She said and grabbed my hand towing me out of the door. "Ok, ok I'm coming. Slow down before I fall and break something." I said and she dropped my hand, "I'm sorry I forgot that you were the clumsy one now." I bumped her shoulder, "Yeah rub it in, that is the one thing I'm not going to miss when we swap back." She stopped in front of the car and looked at me. "Are you saying that you enjoy some things of the swap?"
I shrugged, "If you really think about it I could have done allot worse, I could have ended up in Lauren or Jessica's body's." Her eyes widened and she chuckled softly, "And I could have ended up with Mike or Eric. You know Edward if I had to be stuck in someone's body for the rest of my life I won't really mind so much if it was yours." She threw the car keys at me, "Why don't you drive." She said and a broad smile spread across my face; it felt so long since I have driven my own car.
"Wait, what will Carlisle say when you turn up at the hospital. I thought I was grounded for life." She shook her head, "Strangest thing happened this morning, Carlisle announced at breakfast that I wasn't grounded anymore." She slid into the passenger seat and I got into the car surprised at what she said. "Really? Didn't he say way?" She shook her head; I started the car and wondered what he was up to now.
The drive to the hospital was to short for me to really enjoy driving again but I decided to go for a little spin after we were done at the hospital. We walked to the entrance and asked the receptionist to call Esme for us. As my mother spotted us she smiled brightly, "I'm so glad you came, come on there is something I would like to show you." We looked at each other and shrugged at the same time. We turned and followed her down the corridors to the children's wing at the far end of the hospital.
"I have finally convinced the board to create a play room for the sick children in the hospital that are not bound to their beds." My mother said excitedly as she opened the door of a rather large room. I remembered that my mother tried to convince the board for the past year now that a play room would help children to deal with sickness more efficiently and help them to work with the doctors.
A child that's happy tends to do more things willingly than one that is depressed and in bed the whole time. "That is great mom, but what does that have to do with us?" Bella asked glancing around the room. It was empty and the only furnishings were cloth's covering the walls. "You are going to paint the walls." She said starting to remove the cloth's revealing big Disney characters sketched on the walls.
I spotted Mickey and Mini mouse, Donald and Daisy duck, Pluto, Peter Pan, Simba and Nala, Tinkerbelle and lastly Winnie the Pooh. "This is amazing." Bella said and I nodded, the children would love this. "So would you give them some color?" My mother asked biting her lower lip. "Of course we will, where's the paint?" I said and my mother clapped her hands together excitedly. "In the hallway, I would have loved to stay and help the two of you but I need to work unfortunately. I'll come by later and bring you some lunch."
She gave each of us a kiss on the cheek and walked away. Bella looked at me, "I call dibs on Winnie." She said before running into the hallway to get paint. "Cheater." I accused her playfully as I joined her at the paint buckets. We chatted away as we painted, she was busy with Winnie the Pooh and I chose Mickey. "Hey guys, way do you get to have all the fun?" A chirpy voice that could only be Alice sounded behind us. I turned around and spotted her and Jasper standing in the doorway. "Mom called and said you might need some help." Alice picked Tinkerbelle and Jasper worked on Peter Pan, soon the room was filled with our happy banter as we joked and talked.
"Hey Edward what is that on your face?" I asked standing next to Bella. She turned to face me, "What do you mean, where on my face?" She asked and my hand shot out quickly and I made a black dot on her cheek. "Right there." I said and back of before she could get me back. "Hey that's not funny." She said and came after me with the paint brush in her hand. When I ran past Alice her hand shot out and green paint was spread on my forehead.
Just like that total chaos broke loose, Bella and Jasper ended up fighting against me and Alice. Not long after it was every man for him self, the war was called of when we were all out of breath. By the time my mother returned each one of us had done a character, "Oh this looks great guys and I'm not even going to ask why all of you are covered in paint. Here I brought lunch." She held two pizza boxes in the air. We quickly washed our hands before we ate the pizza in record breaking time.
We thanked my mother and started on our next drawing. It was completely dark outside by the time we were finished, Bella said little in the car as both of us were exhausted by the day's work. As we stopped in front of the house Bella spoke for the first time. "I had fun today." I smiled and opened the door. "Yeah me to, I laughed so much my stomach still hurts." She also got out of the car, "Yeah who would have thought that Jasper could plead for mercy better than a little girl."
We both chuckled again, "Well see you tomorrow Bells, you better get yourself cleaned up." She nodded and waved at me before heading to my house. I sighed and headed for her house; I heard the TV blaring in the living room and knew that Charlie hadn't moved from the spot I left him in this morning. There was light coming from underneath Emmett's door so he was back from the movies as well. I decided that I would clean up first before going to talk to him and Charlie.
The bathroom was still in the same condition I left it in this morning. I shook my head and took a shower. I dressed in a pajama pants and a white t-shirt before knocking on Emmett's door. "Hey sis, come on in." He said as he opened the door. He was bare-chested and whore a pair of jeans and a pair of white socks on his feet. His room was a mess, his bed was unmade and there were dirty socks everywhere.
Telling from that smell there was definitely something dieing in here somewhere. "So what can I do for you little sis?" he asked plummeting down on the leather couch in front of his TV where he was busy playing Xbox. "I wanted to talk to you about something." He looked at me and paused the game he was playing. "Oh what do you want to talk about?" At least he had the manners to pause his game.
"You are a great brother Emmett…." He rolled his eyes. "Yes I know Bells and you're a great sister." I ignored that and kept going. "But you are living like a pig." He scowled, "Just look at your room Emmett, dirty socks everywhere and there is definitely something dieing in here." He held up his hands, "We'll I'm a teenage boy what can I say." With that he burped loudly. "Oh and before I forget I used my last pair of clean socks today, I hope you did the washing."
I sighed, "I did do the washing this morning but it looks like all of your socks has accumulated on your floor." He looked around him, "Then why didn't you come and pick them up like you always do?" He asked and I quirked an eyebrow. "I'm not a maid Emmett and it's time that you learnt to clean up after yourself. From now on I'm not picking up after you anymore. I'm not cleaning the bathroom or your mess in the kitchen. Do you think Rose is going to do all the cleaning in your house one day, oh no she'll kick your ass if you left your stinking socks on her floor.
If you want something washed you have to throw it in the laundry bin and I will wash it. If it's not in there it doesn't get washed. If you eat something put the things you used back where you got them and wash the dishes you used. That way the kitchen stay's clean and no one have to clean up after someone else. So come on clean this mess and find out what's dieing before you catch some form of disease." Emmett's mouth opened and closed as if he was a fish on dried land.
I smiled at him and walked out of his room to go talk to Charlie. I found him on the couch; the empty bowl he ate popcorn out of earlier in the day was on the floor next to some more empty candy wrappers. "Hey dad can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked standing a few feet from the TV. "Can't it wait Bells?" He asked not even looking in my direction. "No it's pretty important." He still looked at the TV and didn't reply. I sighed and walked over to the electrical plug.
I pulled out the power cord of the TV, "Bella what the hell, I was watching that." He said angrily, "I know but I want to talk to you." He glared at me, "You could have done that while I was watching TV you know." I walked to the single couch and sat down, "Yes but I want all your attention dad, not just some of it." Even if it was that much. "Then talk Bells, I'm listening." He said grumpily sitting back against the coach and looked at me.
"You are a mess dad, do you know that?" I asked and he frowned. "Now look here missy that is no way to talk to your father…" I interrupted him. "What father dad, you never spend time with us. You don't listen to us when we talk to you. You sit on your butt all day watching TV." He interrupted me, "I work during the week, where do you think the money comes from that pays for everything you have?"
"That's the only parenting you do. Do you think Emmett and I care about your money? We would rather have you, than that form of love. If the officers that work for you got to see you like this I wonder if they would respect you like they do. You stuff yourself full of junk food and are unfit, I have to take care of everything around here because you don't want to or don't care enough to do anything in the first place.
I know you see everything I do and appreciate it. Is it too much if I asked you too take better care of yourself and too spend some time with me and Emmett? The blasted TV will always be here dad, but Emmett and I are off to college next year and then you have nothing. I'm not cleaning up after you anymore, from tomorrow you and I will go jogging in the morning and you should go out more with your friends. Who knows maybe there is some woman out there that you might just fancy.
I love you dad and I don't want you to age into a fat old grumpy coach potato. So think about what I said and try to live again." I stood up, plugged in the TV and walked to my room. I have definitely surprised the men in Bella's life; the only thing now is that I hoped it was for the best and not for the worst. I sat down on the window and listened to the noises of the house.
The TV was silenced suddenly and I could here noises from Emmett's room as if he was moving heavy furniture around. There was some mumbling coming from downstairs. I spotted Bella's Ipod and listened to her music for awhile when there was a sudden knock on my door. "Come in" I shouted as I turned of the music, Emmett and Charlie walked in. Emmett was carrying a try with a steaming cup on it.
"We have come too apologize, Bells. We took you for granted and got lazy, we treated you like a maid and we are truly sorry about that. Could you find it in your heart to forgive us?" Charlie said and I smiled at them, I stood up and gave Charlie a quick peck on the cheek. It was really quick since I still thought kissing another male was wrong. Emmett placed the try on my desk and pulled me in for a hug. I fought of the urge to push him away. For the first time I understood what everyone meant by saying that he gave you a bear crushing hug. It felt like all of the oxygen was being pressed out of my lungs.
"I need to breathe Emmett." I said and he released me finally. "Oh sorry, Bells." Charlie held the try with the hot chocolate towards me and I took a cup gratefully. "All of my dirty clothes are in the laundry basket so would you please wash it for me, I really do need clean socks." Emmett asked making a puppy face at me. "Sure Emmett, did you find what was dieing in your room?" I asked sitting down on the window sill again. "Yes it was an old pizza slice under my bed and I have cleaned the bathroom as well." I smiled at him.
"I have to go to the shop quickly; it seems our milk is sour." Charlie said heading to the door. "Yeah because you don't place it in the freezer when you're done, remember dad, tomorrow morning we go jogging." I reminded him and he mumbled something as he walked down the stairs. "Ok since this family meeting is over I'm going to go play Xbox again. Goodnight Bells." He said and walked out the door without waiting for a reply.
I finished my hot chocolate and went down stairs to put a load of washing in the washing machine. As I passed the bathroom I glanced in, the sink was clean and their towels hang on the rods to dry but the toilette seat was still up. Well men will always be men I guess. I thought to myself as I placed it back down. The kitchen was clean and the living room seemed tidier than usual. Now the question was how long was it going to stay this way?
I did the washing and finally headed up stairs to call it a night. As I entered Bella's cell phones message alert went of. "Message from the dark side there is." Yoda informed me, only Bella will have something like that as her message tone. I picked up the phone and glanced at my room window, it was dark over there but I knew she could see me so I waved in that direction and climbed into bed turning of the light before reading the message.
Hey, did all of that paint come out of my hair? Typical woman only worries about her looks. Yeah it did, was that the only reason why you messaged me? I didn't have to wait long for her reply and then I had to read it a couple of times before I grasped what it said.
No I actually just looked for a reason to message you…I really just wanted to talk to you. Did she hit her head or something? It probably was because we were in this situation and I was the only one she could talk to. What did you want to talk about? Or do you just want to talk to me because anyone else would think something is up if you messaged them from my phone? As I pressed send there was that little spark of hope in side of me, maybe she actually wanted talk to me but being Bella that was hard to believe.
I must have known you'll say something like that, never mind just forget it. I felt my stomach fall as I read the message, now I screwed everything up again. Great why must I always have to think so much? I'm sorry Bella, forgive my word vomit and tell me what you want to talk about….Please. I waited for her reply, Edward you and your big mouth screwed up everything. Why can't you just…My thoughts was interrupted by Yoda again.
Your not forgiven but I just wanted to know…can we still be friends after this whole thing is sorted out. I smiled and that little flame of hope started to burn again. She actually wanted to be friends with me. Of course we can, why would you think that I wouldn't want to be friends with you? That way I can win your hart easier stupid I added in my head.
Even if you and the girl of your dreams are together, you'll still make some time for your friends as well? Was she worried about me not going to spend some time with her if I'm with another girl? Bella I would always have time for you no matter what? No girl would ever stand in the way of that. Plus the fact that you are the girl of my dreams plays a very big part in that.
Thanks that was all I wanted too know; sleep well, Edward. Xxooxx. I stared at the x's and o's at the end of the message, those resemble hugs and kisses. Does that mean she really cares about me or does she attach those to all her messages she sends her friends? Ok Bells good night. I replied afraid that I might make a fool of myself if I attached hugs and kisses as well.
I thought about that saying that before you criticized someone you have to walk a mile in that person's shoes. Right …then you can criticize the person from a mile away and run away with their shoes. No to really understand a person you have to swap body's with them and actually live their lives and still then you only get to understand bit's and pieces about them.
The only thing you realize then is that you rather live your own screwed up life than someone else's because looking back to your life you might just see that the grass was pretty green on your side of the fence after all.
A/n Ok this was written over a two day time period, I was just to tired to finish it yesterday and couldn't even think straight anymore. Edward had a big revelation and made some big changes in the Swan household. Bella is finally trying to be a friend to Edward as well. That's all from me on this chapter.
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