Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight nor any of its characters, settings or plot lines. I am not intending to pass off any part of the Twilight universe as my original work nor am I seeking to profit from this work. It is a fanwork intended only for the free (sometimes sexy) entertainment of other fans.
WARNING: Disturbing thematic elements. Full content at bottom.
AN~Okay, I have some bad news. There are only two more chapters after this. But including this one that's still almost another 27,000 words! More than half a NaNoWriMo novel! I believe I stated at the outset that this was a romantic comedy and as such it follows that pattern to the end which I hope will be satisfying enough for you. This was always just a love story and I intentionally side-lined the supernatural because of it. It's just a boy-meets-girl and the fact that boy is a vampire is relatively incidental in terms of their relationship. That's why Bella's all like, "Oh, you're a blood-thirsty, human-devouring monster? Whatevs. You're still hot. Let's make out some more . . ."
Now, this is my favorite chapter overall. It has my favorite scene in the whole story which is maybe my favorite thing I have ever written. Weird since I've been writing since I was eight. I won't tell you how old I am because I think it would unnerve you, just know it's been some years.
If you don't laugh until you pee your pants reading this, then I have failed and shall seek a new occupation immediately.
And you should cry a little bit as well. This chapter has it all, bitches! /channelingjessica
11
Jessica was right on time. Which meant twenty minutes late for her. But she was extremely punctual in that regard as she was nearly always exactly twenty minutes late. I had moved from the couch in the living room to the stairs to wait for her after Charlie's disapproving glances had become annoying.
"I'm going," I shouted.
I didn't get an answer but I left anyway. Apparently I was getting a good old fashioned silent treatment now. I wasn't aware that that was actually done by anyone but disgruntled wives in bad sitcoms. I wondered if he'd checked on Aro and found out that he was super awesome and was mad that he wasn't a serial killer. Not in the way any human law enforcement would ever know about anyway.
Jessica looked sort of pale and was quiet all the way to Port Angeles. It was unusual but I was so preoccupied with everything that had happened that I didn't mind the chance to think about it all away from my house. Away from Forks. I had called her back last night after I hung up with Aro and filled her in on Charlie finding out. She asked the expected questions but there was an unusual flatness to her tone which had carried over into today.
"Do you want to eat first?" she asked dully as we drove into town.
Whoa. Every other time I'd gone shopping with her she'd shaken her head, exasperated when I suggested we eat beforehand, asking me if I wanted to be all fat and bloated before I tried on pants.
"Uh, sure. That's fine with me."
We went to the tiny pizza place Charlie and I had gone to that time back when Aro and I just started talking. I felt amused and embarrassed remembering how ridiculously I'd been acting that day.
Jessica went to the bathroom. When she came back and sat down at the table I had picked I handed her an empty plastic cup for soda. She took it, turned it over in her hands once and then burst into tears.
"Holy fuck, you're pregnant!"
An old lady at the next table gave us a dirty look but I ignored her. Jessica was nodding miserably.
"We only did it one time. And it wasn't even like I wasn't being careful. I was taking pills. I'm not stupid but I left them in that backpack I loaned you . . ."
"So I got you pregnant? Is that what you're saying?"
"No! I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to sound that way. It was only one day, because I got them out when I was at your house and took the next dose. I thought it wouldn't matter. Apparently it does so keep that in mind with Aro."
She never called him Aro. She had cycled through a series of nicknames before settling on "The Count" or sometimes "Mr. PastyFace" when she was feeling vindictive.
"I don't think that will be a problem," I said. Whoops.
"Why?" she asked, ready for gossip even in the midst of her own tragedy. "Is he sterile or something? I thought that didn't happen until you were older . . ."
"I don't think that ever happens for guys. There was some guy who had a kid when he was ninety-something. I just meant we're not having sex."
"Is he gay?"
"What? No. You and Mike have been together for years and you've only done it once. He's not gay is he?"
"No. But it wasn't even with him so . . ."
"God, Jessica. Really?"
"Are you actually going to judge me for cheating, CheaterFace?"
"I didn't cheat. Nothing happened with Aro and me until Jacob broke up with me."
"Well, it wasn't for lack of trying."
"So who was it?"
"Jack."
"Jack? Jack who? Andrea's boyfriend Jack?" He was the only Jack I knew.
"Yup. Apparently Andrea does not put out despite how slutty she acts." I knew this was information Jessica would have been overjoyed to have at any other time.
"Wow. Well, that's really shitty. Does he know?"
"Nope."
"Are you going to tell him?"
"I don't know."
"Are you going to keep it?"
"I'm not going to have an abortion. I'm not going to judge anyone else but I just couldn't feel right about that, you know?"
"Sure."
Our pizza arrived then and I was surprised when Jessica took a piece and started eating it with carnivorous abandon.
"I totally thought you were going to run off and barf," I said.
"No. I mostly barf at night. It is not like they show in movies. For one thing, you're sick all the time not just in the morning. But eating actually helps. I'm not supposed eat greasy food because it's supposed to make it worse but it's the thing only that actually helps. Everybody says ginger works but I threw up so much after eating ginger cookies I thought my eyes would pop out of my head."
I put down my pizza. That was three too many barfing references for me. We took most of the pizza in a box. I suggested we just go home and hang out at her house but she nixed that.
"No. I have to take you shopping."
"Why? That's silly. You don't feel well and I hate shopping."
"Because Alice Cullen called me and insisted I take you and make you 'buy a pretty dress' and that none of mine would work." I could tell Jessica was annoyed at Alice's supposed slight that none of her clothes were good enough.
So, Alice's "vision" was more her manipulating my life behind the scenes. I was both annoyed and impressed.
"Does this have to do with my birthday by any chance?"
"I don't know. She didn't tell me. I'm only your best friend, why should I know anything?"
Holy shit. She was. Jessica Stanley was my best friend. When did that happen?
"I'm sure it wasn't personal. I wasn't told anything either. You know more than me, I didn't even know I needed a pretty dress!"
She glared at me and turned the key in the ignition too far so it made a grinding sound.
"So they didn't like invite you anywhere or anything?" I fished.
"No. She did. I just can't know the location so I don't tell you and it stays a surprise."
"Well, to be fair, you would totally tell me."
"I'm supposed to tell you so you don't show up with the wrong shoes and kill yourself on a set of stairs you didn't know about. They're so weird, it's like they don't even know how to interact with lesser humans."
Not lesser humans, Jess, just any humans.
"Welp, better get this over with then."
She drove a few blocks to a kind of rundown department store. There weren't a lot of choices here. As we got out of the car and crossed the street she said, "I can't believe he's throwing you a party." She sounded extremely bitter.
"You think Aro is behind this?"
"Are you and Alice Cullen suddenly besties?" She asked stopping right in the middle of the intersection.
She was right. Aro had to be behind this. I relaxed a little. I knew he wouldn't do anything that would make me too uncomfortable. I turned my head so she wouldn't see me smiling. Unless he thought it was funny, then he absolutely would. My smile vanished and I looked just as grumpy as Jessica when we went into the store. She perked up a little bit as we got to the dress section. With a kind of impressive speed and skill she pulled an armful of not terrible dresses out of a sea of ugliness. If she weren't knocked up with Jack the Lumberjack's baby and probably trapped in Forks for the next twenty years, I would suggest she become a personal shopper.
Even though we only had seven dresses, it took nearly two hours to get through them with the way she shopped, fiddling with my hair and pulling at certain bits and muttering about hemlines. It was the sixth dress I put on that stopped all of that dead. Even I knew it was right. It had a fitted bodice and a full knee-length skirt. It looked straight from the 50s. I didn't know if I was supposed to drink a cocktail or bake a pie. I would look really good doing either I guessed. It was red. Insanely, jaw-droppingly, boy-stoppingly red. And strapless. Charlie would shit a brick. It wasn't immodest though. He could have no complaints that wouldn't require him to say I looked too sexy.
"I'm going to come over tomorrow and put some frigging makeup on you!" Jessica said, stepping back from me proudly like she'd just finished carving me out of a slab of marble.
"Okay. But I don't even know when I'm going."
"Well, I'm going at seven so I'll be there before that."
"All right."
"Of course, I still don't know where I'm going. Alice is going to call me."
We talked a little more about her pregnancy on the way back. I suggested that adoption was a perfectly respectable option. She didn't say much to that but I hoped she was considering it. And I hoped I wouldn't have to sic my pet vampire on Andrea and her scumbag boyfriend.
The phone was ringing as I came in the door. Charlie was nowhere around. I answered it awkwardly around the dress which was poofy enough to really require more than one hand.
"Bella?"
Oh, goody. Renée. Praying this was a birthday call and not a panicked rant incited by a greatly elaborated story from Charlie about how I was dating the main character from Lolita I tried to begin as casual a conversation as possible.
"Hi, mom. How's Phil?"
"Why didn't you tell me you had a new boyfriend?" she demanded. She sounded more hurt than concerned.
"Okay. Look, it wasn't—it's really complicated. Well, not so much now that Charlie knows but—"
"Now that Charlie knows? So he matters more than me now? Why is he finding out about this before me? What happened to when I knew things first?"
"Because he lives here and knows Aro. I never had a boyfriend before I moved here . . . and I told you about Jacob as soon as something happened."
"So when did things start happening with this Arron person?"
I could lie and say it was recent but that was sure to backfire.
"A few months."
"A few months!?"
"Yeah. And it's Ah-ro. His name is Aro."
"That's a weird name."
"Well he's not American."
"Where's he from?"
"He lives in Italy."
"He's Italian?" Now I heard a little interest in her voice.
"No, he's Greek actually, he just lives in Italy."
"Oh. Greeks are strange, honey. They smell . . . odd."
"Wow. That's really racist of you. And he doesn't smell odd. He smells . . . nice." So, so nice.
"Okay. Well, Charlie wouldn't tell me anything. He just said you had a boyfriend and he was worried and I should talk to you myself."
Great. Well, at least I could start from scratch without having to try to undo some awful thing Charlie had said. I should have known better than to think he's give anything but the bare details. Cop.
"Well, he's a little bit older than me."
"How much older? Like twenty-five?'
Oh, good. She thinks twenty-five is crazy. "He's thirty-nine."
"Twenty years is not 'a little bit', Isabella! No wonder Charlie was worried."
"Why?" I was getting angry now. "Why should it matter how old he is? I'm tired of hearing that. He's sweet and he loves me. I don't see why it's anyone's business in the first place. Jacob was younger than me and no one cared about that." I knew the two year difference between myself and Jacob and the two decades between me and Aro was reaching but it was what came out.
"It's just that older men have . . . different expectations, honey."
"If you're talking about sex you can relax, he hasn't pressured me to sleep with him. He's a perfect gentlemen." Unfortunately.
"Okay, well, it just seems like there can't be much of a future there, I mean, when you're forty he'll be sixty, Bella."
No, he won't. And I'll never be forty. We will be awkwardly different ages forevermore. Hooray. Because me waiting twenty years to change was hardly going to happen. And I didn't care.
"Are you done?" I asked impatiently.
"No. What does he do?"
"He drives me to work and tells me I'm pretty mostly."
"What does he do for work, Bella." She sounded both amused and exasperated.
"He doesn't do anything. He's independently wealthy."
"Family money?"
I knew she was trying to figure out if he was a bratty rich kid.
"No, I think he invented some things when he was younger. He got lucky. His beginnings were definitely humble." Making cave paintings and beating dinosaurs to death with a club. I bit my lip to keep from laughing.
"Well that's good. People who grew up with money are a little weird."
"That is an unfair generalization. Like Greek people being smelly. Maybe it's just Florida that's smelly."
"I've been other places, Bella. Remember when we lived together and I was actually a part of your life?"
I knew she was really agitated because she kept saying my name.
"I know. I'm sorry. I'm a little defensive about Aro, I guess. Everyone has been attacking him and he hasn't done anything to deserve it."
"Well, I want a picture."
"Fine, I'll email you one. I need to go though."
"All right. Your birthday present is in the mail—oh, shi—it'll be in the mail tomorrow. I forgot the box—dammit."
"That's okay. I don't need anything."
"Well, you'll want this if you have a new boyfriend."
"That was the most ominous thing I've ever heard."
"Happy Birthday, sweetie."
"Thanks."
"I want that picture immediately."
"Going right now. You need to let me get off the phone first though."
I went up stairs after another minute and a half of trying to hung up. I laid the dress across my bed and went to my desk.
I realized I hadn't checked my email in a little while when I opened it and found seventy-five new messages waiting. Most were spam but there was a handful from Jacob as well. The last one more than a month ago.
I opened the first one:
Bella. I'm really sorry. I just don't want you to get hurt. I won't call you. If you want to talk you can call me. I'll answer now, I promise.
The next:
I know you're mad and now I know how you felt when I wouldn't answer your calls. I'm sorry.
There were about ten like that, all similar. Then the last one which was heartbreaking and short:
If you really love him, I won't get in the way.
Jake
It was the only one he'd signed. He was saying goodbye. My throat tightened but I didn't cry. I had done enough of that. I couldn't change things and crying wouldn't either.
I opened a new message and then scrolled through all of the pictures I had of Aro. I didn't realize I how many I had taken. To me, he looked perfect in all of them but I was looking with a mother's paranoid eye right now. The one I finally settled on turned out be one with Edward in it. He and Aro were playing chess. I had managed to catch one where they weren't blurry. They played entire games in under a minute. In this one, Edward was leaning on the table, looking morose as usual, his hair a giant mess like he'd put his head out a car window. And Aro was in profile, a very slight smile on his face, one of his pretty, slender hands was hovering over a piece in the center on the board. The important part was that the lighting made him look a lot less pale than he actually was and he looked utterly harmless. Sweet, quiet, artsy, European and definitely not a vampire. I sent the picture with no message and the subject line: Terrifying old man kidnapper.
Hopefully she thought that was funny. A response came back before I could get out of my chair:
He's the one on the right?
I smirked. Yes, Renée, My forty-year-old boyfriend is the forty-year-old man in the picture. Sorry to dash your hopes.
I answered:
Yes. He's the one who is not a seventeen-year-old boy.
Another ding and:
He has long hair.
I sighed and opened a chat window.
BellaS: hey
ReneeD: he has long hair
BellaS: you said that
ReneeD: you didn't say he had long hair
BellaS: why would I? you asked for a picture
ReneeD: well you could have warned me
BellaS: I didn't know it would be traumatic
BellaS: next time I'll warn you about the hair of people you haven't met yet so you're prepared
ReneeD: very funny. he's just not what I expected. he's really skinny and pale
BellaS: were you expecting a fat old man with nasty skin?
ReneeD: I was expecting someone who looks different
ReneeD: his hair is very pretty. . . . . . .
ReneeD: are you sure he's straight?
BellaS: that's the second time I've been asked that today. YES. I'M SURE.
ReneeD: OK. calm down.
ReneeD: well I can see why you like him and charlie hates him . . . . . .
BellaS: oh?
ReneeD: he's mysterious
BellaS: is that why I like him or why dad hates him?
ReneeD: both. be careful okay? he looks like he could be a little TOO charming. that's dangerous.
BellaS: I will keep an eye out. the minute he's too dreamy, he's gone.
I could hear her sigh through the computer screen.
ReneeD: so who was that boy in the picture?
BellaS: edward. he's aro's nephew and no, gross. he's a jerk.
ReneeD: so he has family there?
BellaS: yeah. his sister is married to dr. cullen who works at the hospital.
ReneeD: the cullens are those weird people who moved in last year?
BellaS: last school year. they're not weird.
ReneeD: you said they were before
BellaS: okay fine. I didn't know them then. I shouldn't have said that.
ReneeD: why did you never mention this edward boy? he's your age you must have been in the same grade?
Subtle, Renée. I think she was seriously trying to hook me up with my boyfriend's fake nephew. Only she thought he was a real nephew which was profoundly disturbing. I should tell her about how Edward is possessed by an overpowering desire to murder me . . .
BellaS: because there was nothing to tell. he's hated me from the day they moved here.
ReneeD: oh bella. you're being dramatic. he probably just likes you.
BellaS: stop. I can assure you edward cullen does not like me. we went on a date a long time ago and he was a jerk the whole time.
ReneeD: you went out? doesn't your friend feel weird about that?
BellaS: boyfriend. and no. it was one date. I find it a little weird that you're trying to hook me up with a guy I've told you is a jerk while ignoring my perfectly nice actual boyfriend who has been wonderful all along
ReneeD: I just don't want to see you hurt bella.
You and everyone else. You're all so thoughtful suddenly.
BellaS: well I'm fine. we're fine.
It took another ten minutes to get away from the chat. Ten minutes in which I was forced to tell her where we met, what his last name was, how long he waited to kiss me and if I thought he was wife-shopping.
It was about then that Charlie came home. I went downstairs cautiously. I wanted to not be fighting on my birthday and now was the time to make up.
We met in the kitchen and then stood there without saying anything for a long time. I didn't know what he was thinking but I was trying to come up with some way to say, "Sorry I was just a giant asshole to you after you discovered I was secretly making out with the dude you thought was your new besty." Maybe I should just say that . . .
"Look, Bella, I'm sorry about yesterday. That wasn't an easy thing to find out. I may have overreacted a little bit. I still don't like it, but I'm willing to accept it until I have reason to feel otherwise."
I hugged him. He was definitely caught off guard and patted me on the back the way you do with a dog at someone's house when you're trying to convince it not to jump in your lap. Only minus the revulsion.
"He's really great. You'll see."
"I'm not sure if I'm hoping you're right here. I don't want to see you get hurt but I'd also kind of like a reason to punch him in the face."
Oh God, I hope he never actually tries that.
"Anyway, Alice Cullen came by earlier."
"Oh yeah?" That's weird, she knew I was shopping.
"Yeah, I guess there's some kind of birthday event happening for you tomorrow?"
"I only found out today. I guess Ar—the Cullens have been planning something."
"Right. Well she invited me but I wanted to make sure you were okay with me being there."
"Yeah. Of course."
"Okay. Well, I'm not supposed to tell you anything else about it except that your ride will be here at seven fifteen."
"All right. I guess I should say that now that you know about Aro and since I don't care what everyone else thinks, he'll be there, I mean, we'll be there . . . together."
"I assumed. I said I'd accept it for now, Bella. I keep my promises."
"I'm glad you're coming."
"Yeah well, I love parties," he said with the kind of perfectly dull sarcasm that can be easily mistaken for sincerity.
Which reminded me of myself and made me realize just how much alike we were.
Which made me I realize how much I would miss him.
Charlie Swan.
Chief of Police of Forks, Washington.
My mother's first love.
My dad.
Jessica was early the next day, catching me in my pajamas. When I expressed my shock she said that she needed to get out of her house because she'd been barfing all day and thought her mom was starting to catch on.
"Charlie's gone, right?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Wonderful. I'll be in your bathroom."
Oh good, I hope she has puke breath when she's breathing in my face forcing makeup on me.
"Jess, you need anything?" I asked after twenty minutes of her not leaving the bathroom. I felt a little guilty now for thinking only about how her condition would effect me.
"Water."
I tapped on the door a minute later with the largest glass I could find full of water. She answered, looking distinctly roughed up.
"Can't they like, give you something for the nausea?"
I squinted at the smell coming from the bathroom. It didn't smell like barf. It smelled like straight bile which I knew from the one time I had food poisoning. It's not a smell you forget and you only start throwing up bile after everything else in your stomach is gone. She really had been puking all day.
"Sure, if I had my own health insurance or could afford the pills myself. I'm going to the free clinic for my prenatal check ups."
"How much are the pills?"
"I don't know. I never took the prescription in."
"Let me buy them. Unless they're like, eighty-billion dollars a month. And you should go to a real baby doctor."
She dashed into the other room and I thought she was going to throw up in there. I was about to tell her she went the wrong way when she reappeared with a crumpled piece of paper in her hands.
"This is the prescription. Can you go get it right now?"
"Oh, um, yeah."
The look on her face was too sad to refuse. I had never seen a person so desperate.
"Do you want to go?"
"No. The car makes me sick. Take my keys."
She handed me a key chain which was as long as my forearm with the numerous items hanging from it. Easy to find I guess.
"Okay. I'll be right back."
"Thanks, Bella. You're a good friend." And then she disappeared into the bathroom again.
Was I? I didn't feel like I was. I hadn't been a good friend to Jacob. But that was complicated. I grabbed my coat and went outside. It was just starting to rain when I parked in front of Chinook Pharmacy & Variety after circling the block exactly seventeen times looking for a spot.
Now it was time to have an uncomfortable conversation with whatever nerd was rattling pills in there today. I'm sure not all pharmacy technicians are nerds, but the ones here were straight up cliches of D&D-playing, mouth-breathing, socially-handicapped idiots.
The kid behind the counter looked at the heavily creased piece of paper I gave him.
"This was written three weeks ago."
"So?"
"So I have to call the doctor."
"Why?"
"Because . . . I do."
"Well. Now that that is cleared up, I need you to fill that right away so I can take that medication to my friend who is currently in my bathroom being held hostage by her own vomit. Thanks."
"Okay. I just need to call the doctor first."
I waited while he dialed a number painfully slow and then we both waited while he listened to the phone ring and ring and ring.
"They're not answering," he said totally unnecessarily.
"Okay. Well, I really don't think it's that big of a deal. It's just nausea medication. I'm not trying to buy whatever it is people make crack out of."
"That's meth you're thinking about. You make crack out of—"
"I don't care how you make crack!" I shouted and several people turned to look at me.
Then, blessedly, a person in a white coat appeared. He took the prescription and read it then handed it back.
"Fill it," he said.
"But—"
"Jeff, that's Chief Swan's daughter. I'm pretty certain she's trustworthy. And she's right, you can't make crack out of that stuff."
"Thanks," I said with an embarrassed smile.
"Are you billing insurance for this?" Jeff asked.
"Nope."
"Okay. That'll be a few minutes."
"Lovely."
I wandered around the store, impulse shopping. The "variety" part of the store included such amazing items as camouflage hats and cans of house paint. I picked up one labeled "Salmon Blush" and was tempted to pry the lid off to see what that color looked like but decided it wouldn't be a very nice time to spend the afternoon in the shower trying to scrub off what was undoubtedly a terrifying shade of peach and wisely replaced it. Jeff with was probably done by now. I'd been wandering for twenty minutes.
I went back to the counter and set down my armful of treasures to ring up along with the pills. Jeff eyed my purchases more judgmentally than I thought someone wearing a tie over a polo shirt should.
"Okay, that comes to one-ninety-seven."
"One-ninety-seven what?"
"Dollars."
"Are you kidding me?"
"No. The pills are a hundred and seventy dollars. And your other . . . stuff," he looked again at my collection of candy, ugly Forks souvenirs and two bottles of nail polish, "was—"
"Okay. I can add. Fine. Here." I handed him my bank card, hoping I had enough in there.
"Declined," he said two minutes later with a saccharine smile that made me pretty sure he was into seeing people in pain.
"Okay. Just the pills then."
"Still no. Do you want to try another card?"
"I'm wearing pajama pants in public, do I look like I have another card?" I snapped. "I need to use your phone."
"We don't usually let people—"
This guy would be the first person I'd eat if I changed here.
"Please?" I was too tired to fight. Bizarrely, this worked and I started to regret my shortness with Jeff until he chirped that politeness goes a long way while handing me the receiver. He asked me for the number, his fingers hovering over the keypad. I hopped up so I could sit on the counter and batted his hand away. He huffed but stepped back, probably afraid to sass me now that I had breached the safety of his ivory tower.
Aro answered on the second ring.
"Bella?"
"How did you know it was me?"
"You're the only person in Forks with this number."
"Oh." I was smiling goofily now, almost forgetting my purpose for calling until Jeff cleared his throat obviously behind me.
"Are you okay?"
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I just need some money."
He chuckled. "Okay. And where exactly are you?"
"You don't care why I'm calling you up demanding money?"
"Not really. I'm fairly certain you are not a gold digger. Although, I should confess that if you are, I don't have a lot in my American bank accounts so if this is going to be more than a few million dollars I'm afraid you will have to call one of your other rich, handsome boyfriends."
"Why do you think I'm not a gold digger?"
"Because you would have had an eighty thousand dollar ring on your finger a month and a half ago if you were."
"They make rings that cost eighty thousand dollars!? Who the hell is buying those!?"
"You're cute."
Finally, after a lot of unnecessary throat clearing by Jeff, I gave him my location and hung up, still smiling hugely. I stayed on the counter, swinging my feet until Jeff finally shooed me down after five minutes of glaring proved ineffective which was right about when Aro arrived so it looked like I was just jumping down to greet him. Or fall into him. If he hadn't been there I would have tripped for sure. Jeff had already bagged all of my things so I didn't get the same treatment of my items from him as from Jeff.
When we went back outside he said, "So. Happy Birthday. Hope you like your present."
"What present?"
"Whatever is in that bag that's so important you needed me to come and buy it for you."
"Oh. Yeah, mostly it's Jessica's medication." I shook the pill bottle in my hand and then slipped it into my coat pocket. I was not going to risk losing a two hundred dollar bottle of pills.
"I see. Is she ill?"
"Sort of. She's knocked up. These are for nausea. Not sure why they're so expensive."
"She doesn't have insurance?"
"I think she's on her parents' insurance . . ."
"Ah. And they do not know of this apparently unplanned miracle of life?"
"No."
"A classic American tale."
"What? People don't get knocked up in other places?"
"No, it's not that it's just Americans teenagers are just sort of known for it. Abysmal birth control education here . . ."
"You get stranger all the time."
"Thank you."
"You're taking that as a compliment?"
"Did you mean it as an insult?"
"No."
"Okay then, shall we take Jessica her pills?"
"Oh, you don't need to take me, I have her car." I held up her massive key chain.
"Are you telling me I cannot come over?"
"I didn't say that. You can come back with me if you want."
"I do want. I haven't seen you since Saturday."
And there in front of the least sexy business in town, we had our first truly public kiss.
"Now that I'm allowed to do that in the open, it's probably a good thing we're going in separate cars," he said.
"Yup," I agreed and forced myself to drop my arms from around his neck and back away.
"See you soon," we said in unison.
Gross. It was a good thing we had an entire bottle of nausea medication because we were probably going to need to hand it out at my birthday party.
I tried to not drive off the road on the way back to my house because of watching his car in my rear-view mirror and I succeeded barely. We didn't say anything as we got out of our cars and walked into the house but as soon as the front door closed it was kind of a mutual attack of kissing and minor groping until I heard a small moan and remembered that I had gone out for a very specific purpose. I shook my head to clear it of the Aro kissing fog and hurried up to the bathroom.
She looked worse. Her face was sweaty and she was sitting with her back against the tub and her eyes closed.
"Hey, Jess. I've got your pills. They were crazy expensive so don't drop any."
"Okay. Thanks. I'll pay you back," she said without moving or opening her eyes.
"That's okay. Aro paid for them anyway."
"Why was he there?"
"Um. He's here actually. My card got declined so I had to call him to come and bail me out."
"He's here!?" She sat up straight.
"Yeah. Is that bad?"
"Well, I don't usually like to look like this when I meet people."
Normally I would say she was overreacting but she did look terrible. She tried to stand and slipped uselessly back to the floor again. Aro appeared next to me.
"Hello, Jessica," he said kindly.
"Hi. It's really nice to meet you," she said but it sounded more like, "When I'm better, I'm going to find a way to have the part of your brain removed that remembers seeing me this way . . ."
"Let me," he said and before I could stop him he'd stepped forward to help her stand. I couldn't very well shout no so I just had to watch while he suddenly absorbed every one of Jessica's thoughts. He looked at me with a very serious face for before saying, "She should see Carlisle."
"Your hands are really cold," Jessica said and her voice sounded extremely wobbly.
"And you have a very high fever, my dear. Can you walk?"
She tried and failed fairly spectacularly. Aro lifted her gracefully and we were going down the stairs a moment later. He placed her carefully in the backseat of his car then closed the door and turned to me.
"Your friend is very sick. She's been lying to you about what's going on with her," he said gravely and my fear of Jessica being mad at me for letting Aro see her like this turned to fear for her.
"What's wrong with her?" I couldn't keep the tremor out of my voice.
His face softened and he kissed my forehead. "Nothing which can't be fixed. She'll be okay. I didn't mean to scare you. Come on, we should get her to the hospital."
"Do we have to take her there? I mean, she doesn't want her parents to know . . . I thought you said we were taking her to Dr. Cullen."
"She needs some help beyond just her pregnancy. And he works at the hospital, sweetie."
"I thought you said she was lying about being—"
"Not about that. It's—we should just go. We can talk later."
I started to get in the passenger side and then climbed in the back instead and carefully laid Jessica's head in my lap, pulling her sweaty hair back from her face. Aro was right, she was hotter than I'd ever felt any person.
I kept my eyes on him as were drove. A few times he looked back and smiled reassuringly. It wasn't far away. Aro told me to stay when we got there and he went inside and came back with two people in scrubs who had a wheeled gurney. They lifted her from my lap to the gurney. I looked down at the pajamas I was still wearing and saw a nice damp sweat spot on my leg from her neck. Cool. I'll tell her all about this later and she'll feel better about looking bad in front of those guys wheeling her inside, one of which I was sure she would think was hot.
Aro opened the door next to me. He leaned down to speak to me. "I'm going to park the car. Do you want to go in with her now or ride along?"
I didn't think I could walk just yet. "I'll ride."
He closed my door and got back in the front. It took ten minutes to find parking and by then it was raining pretty hard. He held my hand as we dashed across the pavement. It was practical as well as sweet. When we reached the overhang of the emergency entrance we slowed to a walk. He was going toward the door but I stopped him. I was wearing sweaty and now rain-soaked pajamas and a really ugly coat and my hair was a wet, clumpy mess but still, I knew this was the time. It was the moment I had been waiting for that I wasn't sure I'd know when it came. But I did.
"Wait."
He turned back to me, a little confused.
"Aro, I love you."
He smiled. "That was unexpected."
"Really? Because you've spent the last hour being completely amazing."
"Just the last hour?"
"No. Pretty much every hour since we met."
He kissed me, like you would expect, but it wasn't some dreamy soft-focus perfume ad kiss because my hair was still wet and my clothes were still gross and it was still raining and Jessica was still sick and I was freezing but that made it all real. It was real. I wasn't living in some weird fantasy. It was real and messy and slightly embarrassing and it was still wonderful anyway.
He started to pull me inside again but I didn't move. He hadn't said it back. It was too soon. He felt me hesitate and smiled again when he saw the confused and disappointed look on my face.
"Isabella, it isn't like that," he said gently. "You got your perfect moment, I should get mine as well. Then we'll have two."
Oh. It had never occurred to me that he was also just waiting for the exact right time to say it or that any one moment in the thousands of years he'd been alive already would matter at all. And not just a moment, but a moment with me.
And now I was about four hundred times more in love with him so hopefully that was his goal.
I allowed myself to be dragged inside where he stopped me in the corner of the waiting room before we approached the desk.
"I'm quite certain a doctor is going to come out here looking for you very soon so there are some things you need to know because it would creepy for me to know them and not you as you are her friend and I am a strange, older male."
"I don't think it's right for you to tell me things she didn't want me to know," I hesitated.
"She did want you to know. She just didn't feel safe telling you."
"How am I going to explain to her how I know though?"
"Hopefully you won't have to. You'll only be confirming things they already suspect I think at this point."
I swallowed. "Okay."
"Did you have any idea of the depth of her eating disorder?"
"I didn't know at all," I said.
"Well, she hid it very well. All you need to say is that you noticed it during your junior year at high school and that you have seen empty boxes of laxatives in her room."
"What?"
"It's quite common. And very dangerous, which is why you need to know about it so you can tell them and she can get the appropriate treatment quickly."
"Um, okay. All right. Is that all?"
"No. But this part is trickier. She told you Andrea's boyfriend was the father of her child?"
"You know she did." I took a breath. "So who is it actually?"
"It's who she said it was it just didn't happen like she said. That boy raped her. She's talked herself out of it because she knows him and he wasn't violent with her but she clearly said no. It's also very common."
"It's weird how much you know about teenagers."
"Not as weird as how much I know about giving birth."
"That's—um, yeah, okay. How does this help her though? I can't tell them that because there's no way I could know it."
"All you need to tell them is his name."
"So he's . . ."
"He has a reputation," Aro said delicately.
"And you know this from reading the minds of the whole town?"
"Just Carlisle. He works here, remember?"
Right. Okay.
Aro sat down and let me go to the window alone.
"Hi, I just brought my friend Jessica in."
"Last name?"
"Swan."
"Her last name," the woman said but she wasn't being mean even though I could tell she thought I was an idiot.
"Oh. Stanley."
"Okay. The doctor wants to talk to you. He'll come out." She eyed Aro suspiciously. "Who is he?"
"Oh that's just my stalker. He's harmless."
But making a joke like that about someone as out-of-place as Aro during a situation like this involving a young girl was probably not the wisest. She glared at both of us and disappeared out the back of her booth.
"Trying to get me arrested, my love?" he asked, amused, when I sat down next to him.
"Sorry. I'm not very good with people."
"Well, try not to suggest to the doctor that I brought you both here in the trunk of my car, okay?"
He laced his fingers through mine and we waited. I was relieved to see Dr. Cullen when the doors finally did open. Now Aro could tell him. But he addressed me, casting a subtle glance at the woman at the desk.
"Hello, Bella. Not a very nice birthday surprise."
"No. Is she okay?"
"She will be. I have some questions for you." He was holding a clipboard and a pen. A very thick file was already attached to it. I felt a little sick. There was a lot more paperwork there than there should have been for one visit. "Have you noticed anything strange about her eating habits lately?"
"Um. Yeah. Well, actually it's been since high school. She—" and then I realized I did know things about her eating habits that maybe should have told me what Aro just did long ago. I felt guilty tears rising and swallowed them. "She cuts her food up into these little pieces and then she doesn't eat all of it and she drinks a lot of water while she's eating. Mostly water, actually."
"Okay." He scribbled. "Anything else?"
I looked at Aro. "I found all of these empty laxative packages in her room one time."
"How many?"
"Five?" I realized that wasn't supposed to sound like a question but Aro just smiled at me and squeezed my hand.
"Okay. And you know why she's here I assume?"
"Yes."
"Why is that?"
"Don't you already know?"
"I can't volunteer that information to a non-family member," he said softly.
I slapped my hand over my face. I felt Aro's hand tighten on my other one a little bit.
"She's pregnant. And sick somehow. She said she's been throwing up a lot."
"Okay. And where has she been receiving prenatal care?"
"At the free clinic in Port Angeles. Oh, here—" I handed him the pill bottle which was still in my coat pocket but much wetter than it was a half hour ago. "That's probably got her doctor on it."
He examined the bottle. "Yes. That's very helpful. Thank you, Bella. I have one more question for you."
I squeezed Aro's hand now. "Okay."
"Do you you know who the father of Jessica's baby is?"
"Yes. It's Jack Fletcher."
If he knew information about Jack like Aro said he did, he did not betray it. "Okay, Bella. That's all I need to know now. Jessica is going to be okay. You can come see her tomorrow. I think you should go enjoy the rest of your birthday." I felt a strong desire to hug him. He was so nice, comforting. And pretty. Pretty people were nice to hug.
Aro rose as he left and whispered something. Dr. Cullen nodded and vanished.
"Why did you need me if you could just tell him?"
"I wasn't certain Carlisle would be her doctor."
"Oh, right. Well what did you tell him?"
"Things she didn't want you to know."
"You know Jessica better than me."
"I know her better than her own mother. Who does not actually know her very well."
"That's also a common problem."
"Well, you have about two hours to go home and put on that pretty dress I saw in your room. And you should probably dry your hair. It's a little seaweedy," he said, lifting one of the strands.
"I don't know. I'm not sure I feel much like a party now."
"Well, if I know Jessica, I can tell you that if you cancelled the impressive things I have planned for you, she'd never forgive you. You need some things to tell her when you come visit tomorrow."
"You're right, she'd be pissed."
It had stopped raining but we held hands across the parking lot again anyway, this time for less practical and more disgusting reasons.
"So, explain to me how you didn't have enough money for a purchase of less than two hundred dollars when all you do is work and spend time me?"
"I like books . . ."
"That's a lot of books."
" . . . and candy."
"Are you saying you spend all of your money on books and candy?"
"Uh huh."
"That's adorably irresponsible of you."
"At least after I'm a vampire, I'll only be buying books . . ."
"You can buy more books after you've read all the ones we already own."
I gaped at him like he'd just said he was going to have my puppy put to sleep.
"Stop. You know you're going to get away with whatever you want. All I'm doing right now is enjoying the imaginary control I have over my life before you finally realize the full destructive power of your influence on me whereupon I will truly begin my existence as your defenseless slave."
"I told my mom that if you got too dreamy, I would get rid of you immediately so I think we have to break up now."
"You spoke with your mother about me?"
"Yup. She called yesterday."
"How did that go?"
"Okay. I sent her a picture and after she had a heart attack about your hair and asked if you were gay, she started trying to hook me up with Edward."
"Edward?"
"Oh, yeah, he was in the picture. It was one of you guys playing chess. You looked . . . normal in it."
"And why did you make a promise to dispose of me if I became too dreamy?"
"Because she said that you looked too charming and that was dangerous."
"Hmmm, she's right."
"She also said Greek people smell funny."
"She's right about that as well although I wouldn't have expected someone without vampire senses to notice such a thing."
"You're not offended by her stereotyping?"
"Not really, my bloodline ended with me so I have no relation to anyone in that country. I have no country."
I hadn't thought much about his mortal life. He'd said vampires usually forget their human lives almost entirely having only vague recollections if any. But he was old enough to have had a whole life as a mortal. With a family.
"So you didn't like have any children when you were human?"
He stopped walking.
"I'm not sure. I have a memory, that I can't even say is real for certain of a small girl with dark hair. She hugged me and I handed her a piece of fruit and she ran off with it. I think we were outside. I can't say whose child she was."
I hugged him impulsively as tightly as I could and he laughed and patted my back.
"It's quite all right. It's much more likely the girl was a cousin or one of my si—someone else's child," he said lightly but it sounded a little forced. He took my hand again and we were quiet the rest of the way to the car.
He stared at me for a long moment, smiling strangely once we were seated.
"What? Do you have more compliments about my hair?"
"No. You look lovely. As usual."
"Liar."
"I was just thinking that it's very sweet how nervous you were about our first date."
Ug. I was so worried about Jessica I hadn't even remembered that he was going to see everything I had ever said about him to her.
"So?" I said defensively.
"Aw. You don't need to be like that. I said it was sweet."
"You're making fun of me."
"Not really. I'm just glad it wasn't just me."
"Oh? Did you and Dr. Cullen have a slumber party about it?" I was feeling very grumpy suddenly.
"No. We don't sleep."
"Well you don't sleep at slumber parties. Seems like you should know that since you know everything else!"
"It's just a good thing you went to Jessica's that day is all. Not only because of how pretty you looked the next day."
"Thanks," I mumbled reluctantly. "Why is it a good thing?"
"Because she was intending to kill herself that afternoon until she heard from you. I think it's fairly safe to say your renewed friendship saved her life. Perhaps literally today."
Then he drove and let me cry quietly without interrupting me or telling me I shouldn't. I noticed it took a little longer than it should have to get to my house and I had mostly contained myself when we finally parked next to Charlie's cruiser.
"Go take a shower. I will be back soon and I expect you to look stunning and not smell like that terrifying pharmacy I rescued you from earlier. It's the least you can do to repay me for how wonderful I am."
"You are wonderful. I—" I cut myself off quickly. I was going to say it again but I didn't want to say it too much and be annoying. Especially since he hadn't even said it once.
He kissed me and I got out. Luckily it wasn't raining anymore. I wasn't even at the porch when the door opened. Charlie appeared and then rushed onto the steps at my appearance. He looked past me at Aro who waved mildly before driving away. I realized that it sort of looked like Aro had just dumped me. Well, he was going to disappointed then.
"Hey, Bells. What's going on?"
"We just got back from taking Jessica to the hospital."
"Oh, that's her car, of course."
Jess' little white two-door was still parked in front of the house. Mostly on the lawn actually I noticed. I had left it there when Aro followed me home. Guess I was a little preoccupied.
"Well, what was he doing here?"
"He doesn't have a name now? I called him to help me. And it's a good thing I did too because I wouldn't have known she needed to go to the hospital."
"And how did he know?"
Hmmm, what could I say here that wouldn't expose him as a mind-reading vampire or confirm to Charlie that he was more of an adult than I was . . .
"He worked as a nurse while he was in college."
"A nurse?"
"Yes, dad, a nurse. It's a title, not a gender assignment. I'm pretty sure he saved her life."
"What's wrong with her?"
"A lot of things apparently. She was throwing up and all sweaty. I'm going to see her tomorrow."
"Okay. Well, is the party cancelled?"
"No. Dr. Cullen said she'll be okay."
"Okay. I guess you'd better change then . . ." he said, checking out my damp and inappropriate outfit.
"Yeah. Are you still going?"
"I guess I don't have any excuse not to."
"That's really sweet of you."
"Happy Birthday."
"I love you, dad."
I left him standing, a little surprised, at the bottom of the stairs. Apparently I fucking love everybody today.
Except Jack Fletcher. I might stab that guy.
Writing that messenger conversation with the fucked up ellipses and crap grammar was incredibly painful. I was going to come up with more clever screen names until I realized that the initials of their last names combined with the colon made these awesome and completely appropriate emoticons. Because you know that when Renee found out her daughter was dating a guy who was older than she was her face did this: D: exactly. Also, Bella does not refer to her mom as "Renee" in the books, of course. I did it in mine because it sounds really awkward when there's dialogue involving all of them if she's calling mom "mom" and her dad "Charlie."
There is an exchange about slumber parties in here which contradicts an earlier conversation. Here it is suggested that Aro doesn't understand the function of a slumber party but in an earlier chapter he clearly does and makes a joke about it. I'm going to admit to being a lazy writer here and leaving it in because it would have been difficult (and probably felt forced) if I have written something new to fill that gap. Also, and maybe I haven't highlighted this enough in this story, Aro is completely fucking insane and He has so much going on in his head that I would think his memory recall of superfluous types of information like this would be sketchy.
Aro hints about Didyme for the first time in this chapter saying that the girl in his memory could have been hers. It is unlikely that she had any children either as she was turned as she "had just reached adulthood" according to SM, which was at least a decade after Aro turned. It's most likely that the child in his memory was Didyme herself.
So, I like to keep things very real. That was difficult in this chapter as I have never had an eating disorder myself. Everything I know is from years of reading blogs and watching documentaries and talking to people who have had them. If I've said something inaccurate I just hope it wasn't also offensive.
The perfume ad thing I used in the "I love you" part is a reference to a Reddit comment where someone said that the BD2 love scene looked like a perfume ad. I don't know if it's appropriate to credit them by using their name on a third party site, but they have all the credit I can give.
The pharmacy scene, I can tell you now, is my favorite.
Also my husband just informed me he had a dream in which I made him make-out with the Aro from this story. So that's bizarre and hilarious. Guess he has a crush on Aro too after reading this. Hah!
"He drives me to work and tells me I'm pretty mostly." Teehee.
CONTENT GUIDE: Discussion of laxative abuse related to an eating disorder. Mention of acquaintance rape.
Gorron: Thank you. I have a very untidy house is the answer to that riddle. Because on my death bed, I will never regret not cleaning my house more but I would would sorely regret never having finished this story.