A/N: Have we mentioned how much we love our awesome readers? Thanks so much for the wonderful reviews for the recent chapters. This chapter wasn't actually in our originally outline, so we hope you enjoy it regardless.
Huge thanks to our beta MaggieMay14 for tackling this beast. She makes everything work just a little bit better.
We don't own Twilight; but we both think you should go read Thicker than Water by twistedcoincidence.
BPOV
All my life I had heard the saying 'time flies when you're having fun.' Well, that saying is a crock of shit. I would have welcomed time flying because it had to be slower than whatever it really did because it seemed like time just up and disappeared. It evaporated, vaporized, apparated. Poof. Seven and a half weeks of the most incredibly, awesometastic, fantabulous time of my life were gone before I could blink. So yeah, time flies...ha! I wished. If that were the case, I wouldn't be leaving in two days. I'd have at least another week.
I stared around the seemingly empty room that Nettie and I had shared for the past two months and it seemed so barren. Her seven, no… wait, nine mismatched pieces of luggage sat gathered by the foot of her bed. The two matching pieces she arrived with were completely overshadowed by various styles, colors and smells of the other pieces she had acquired from various thrift stores and who knows what other sources throughout our stay.
My favorite though had to be the pink and black puppy carrier she found for Magoo... her invisible dog. I couldn't help but start laughing as I thought about the day she bought it and how that poor street vendor would probably never be the same again. Very few things upset Nettie more than when somebody said Magoo wasn't real. The girl lived and breathed by The Velveteen Rabbit and she had such an epic view of life that you couldn't help but be sucked in by her and her enthusiasm was incredibly contagious. I looked over at the pink leash resting on the oversized pillow in the corner of the room and laughed. She had me believing, that was for sure.
My own two bags were packed and sitting on my bed, ready to go. I hadn't really bought many things while I was here; instead I focused on trying new things and traveling. Don't get me wrong, I did buy a few things to remember my experiences by and I had some gifts for friends back home and of course for Edward, but for the most part, all my souvenirs were on my camera and in my journal.
My journal! That's what I was forgetting. I grabbed it out of my carryon bag and shoved it into the small bag I had borrowed from one of the other students. There were only a few blank pages remaining, waiting for the next crazy adventure we were sure to stumble upon before we left for home. Every square inch of the earlier pages were covered with ramblings, memories and quotes that I would carry in my heart for the rest of my life.
There was no way to quantify all the things I had learned about culture, history and everything else, but the most important thing was that I had come alive. I was more self-assured and self-confident than I had ever been in my life. I had stepped out of the proverbial box and I'd be damned if I was ever going back in without a fight. Ok, so maybe that was a bit hyperbolic, but still... now that I knew what was out there to experience, I couldn't wait to get back home and see what UW and life back home had to offer.
"The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue." Nettie walked in the room with one of her crazy facts and coffee. God bless her, she had coffee. I grabbed one of the Styrofoam cups out of her outstretched hand and breathed in the appealing aroma. I needed the caffeine this morning, that's for sure. There were so many things I wanted to do before I left London and trying to cram them in, in the limited amount of time I had left didn't allow for much sleep. Then again, I could sleep in Forks.
"Is that why you spent three days with the pizza boy?" I asked her jokingly, but I was more than just a little curious. She never did tell me how her night went after I left her kneading dough and that was just wrong. I knew there had to be a story there and part of me was curious to know what happened between them, if anything.
"Bella, you talk in your sleep. A lot. Do you really want to start with me? Cause I probably know more about Edward than you want me too," she threatened with a smile. The girl could evade questioning like no other and I was very impressed and a little envious.
"Duly noted. So, oh sneaky one, what do you have planned for us? All I know is that you said we'd be gone overnight and that there was a chance somebody could end up arrested."
"Just trust me, Bella. Have I ever led you astray?" I stared at her pointedly. "Well… to the point where somebody got hurt? Would you have ever taught an impromptu clogging lesson to a bunch of French nuns if I hadn't convinced you to try? Have some faith cupcake. Gosh." She ended her tirade with a horrendous Napoleon Dynamite impression and that did it. I started laughing and I guffawed and snorted until I couldn't see straight, my belly hurt and tears streamed down my face.
"I'm gonna miss you Nettie."
"Jeez Bella. Holy downer. We have two entire days before we fly out of here. Do you have any idea what can be accomplished in two days...I'm not done yet." She grabbed a small bag she had stuffed under her bed, Magoo's leash and then walked out the door. "Are you coming with me?"
"I wouldn't miss it for the world, Net-a-roni," I answered as I gathered my own things and followed, locking the door behind me. I glanced around it one more time knowing that the next time I was in here, it would only be to gather up my things and catch the bus back to Heathrow.
"Good. Oh and Bella, I'm going to miss you too." Nettie then jumped forward and wrapped her arms around me tightly in a bone crushing hug, catching me completely off guard. She then smacked me in the leg with her bag and in the head with Magoo's leash. I smiled half heartedly at her and when she turned away I was quick to rub the bump that was no doubt forming on my head.
I followed her downstairs, where we met up with Liam and Randall. The four of us had sort of melded into this unofficial foursome. Where one of us went, the other three usually followed or at least we all ended up at the same place eventually. While I'm not sure how or when our group evolved, we were basically inseparable and they were like my family. It was like 'The Bobbsey Twins go to Europe' ...except we weren't two sets of twins or related, but yeah... we did everything together. We all piled into a car that was waiting at the curb and we took off destined for the unknown, at least it was to me. I stared out the window and watched the scenery as we drove, fighting my heavy eyelids for as long as I could until I eventually lost the battle.
I don't know how long I slept, but it couldn't have been that long because even though my eyes were still closed, I could still feel the sun on my face. I pulled the covers up over my shoulder and tried to go back to sleep. Wait, covers? I opened my eyes and sat up I noticed I was holding Liam's jacket in my hands. I looked at him with confusion because I know I was sitting next to Nettie when we left our dorm and she had been the one driving the car, with me in the passenger seat.
"We stopped for Petrol," he started before I looked him and rolled my eyes.
"Gas. Liam. We stopped for gas. You're from Oregon."
"Fine, smartass. We stopped for gas when you were asleep and didn't want to wake you. Nettie was tired of you trying to grope her in your sleep, so I volunteered to take her place." He waggled his eyebrows at me and winked. I laughed uneasily but shrugged it off because I finally felt rested, relaxed and honestly the only thing I truly cared about was getting to wherever it was we were going. I never did like waiting.
"Shut up, Liam. You know Nettie would never refuse me. Would you Nettie? Nettie?" I wiggled around in my seat until I could see behind me where both Nettie and Randall were both sleeping. They looked so cute until she let out this noise that I guessed was a snore, but honestly sounded like - you know, I don't think there was a way to adequately describe what that sounded like. It was a little horrifying truthfully.
"Yeah, you started to wake up right after she made that noise the first time. She and Randall passed out in the backseat together about forty or so minutes ago. I've been the only one awake since then," he said. "As for refusing you Bella, like anybody could ever do that." Suddenly the atmosphere didn't feel so happy-go-lucky, it just felt awkward. Hmmmm, maybe I didn't hear him right or I misinterpreted what he said. When I looked at Liam again, part of me really wanted to ask him what exactly he meant, but then I decided to just let it go because we were all going our separate ways in a couple of days and really, why rock the boat now and potentially ruin what had been a truly wonderful time. So instead I handed him his jacket back, sat up straight in my seat and turned to look back out the window. Yeah, it was best just to let it go.
Eventually, I felt the car start to slow down and we turned on to a long winding gravel path that took us off the main road and into the woods. We drove and drove and drove until the trees finally cleared out and we pulled up in front of this huge massive stone castle. It was huge; like it almost didn't seem real it was so big. There were a few other groups milling around while we unloaded our bags and then Nettie disappeared, I guess to let the powers that be know we had arrived or something. I took the time to look around and that's when I saw it.
Haunted Castle Tours.
Hell to the fuck no!
"Nettie!!!!!" I screamed looking around for the one responsible for all this. No wonder she hightailed it out of there so fast. She knew I didn't like to be frightened. She most definitely knew it and I was sure that was why she didn't tell me what we were doing. "Did you two know what was going on tonight?" I asked Liam and Randall who suddenly found their shoes very interesting. Traitors. I grabbed my bag and went inside looking for my roommate. Lucy had some 'splainin' to do.
I found her by the reception desk and grabbed her braids, pulling her backwards towards the door. "What the hell, Net? Tell me this is not what I think it is. Tell me they have the wrong sign up outside and really we're going to spend the night learning how to crochet and container gardening. Tell me what I want to hear or I swear to God, I'm trading Magoo in for a cat."
"You wouldn't," she hissed in fury.
"Oh you bet I would," I said through gritted teeth.
We stared at each other and I swear to God the western gun fight showdown music started to play in the background. I expected to see tumbleweeds at any minute. Finally, she cracked.
"Fine. Its fake, Bella." she said with resignation. "All this is put on by a local theater troupe. It's all fake; fake blood, fake ghosts and fake body parts. There are hidden cameras, sound systems and projectors...so yeah, way to kill my buzz there, Princess. Please, please don't tell the boys, kay?"
I felt the grin creep across my face as I thought of Liam and his creepiness in the car. "Baby," I said, "this may be the best idea you've had the entire time. Let's go get them." I hooked my arm through hers and we walked back outside to get our victims.
After we got all settled in our rooms and cleaned up from the trip, we met the boys for dinner in the main dining room. It was set up with various cooking stations set up with different types of food and drink available at each counter. There may have been haggis, though I wasn't positive because I didn't stop and look at it long enough to find out. Whatever it was looked almost gelatinous and while I had tried new things during my stay, I knew my limitations. When I saw Liam put some on his plate, I had to look away.
"Is that what I think it is?" Randall asked me in a whisper over my shoulder.
"I'm pretty sure it is." I said, still not able to look in that direction.
"Do you think he knows?"
"I don't think he does."
Randall chuckled to himself. "Excellent."
Needless to say, one bite of it and Liam ended up pushing his plate to the side and ended up only eating the rolls that were on our table. I did feel bad for him by the end of dinner and by the time we met up with the rest of the visitors, all the awkwardness from earlier in the car had been put aside. Who knows, maybe I misheard him when he made his comment about being unable to refuse me. Whatever, I wasn't going to dwell on it and let it ruin the rest of our trip and the little time the four of us had together.
After dinner, the lights were dimmed and we were broken up into groups and toured the 'haunted' parts of the castle. There was no other word to describe the night but epic. The boys cried as Nettie and I just watched and laughed. I will admit though, that even though I knew it was all staged and not at all real, I did manage to get scared a few times. Of course, Liam and Randall tried to play the macho protectors, but they were the ones that screamed like little girls when a knight, dressed in full armor, busted through the door wielding one of those scary ass giant sword looking things. After the tour, we all gathered back in the room where we ate dinner and all the 'ghosts' came in and introduced themselves.
"Did you know about this," Liam asked me as Nettie and I leaned against the wall and smiled innocently.
"Know what?" I asked grinning.
"You two are heartless, you know."
"We know," Nettie and I answered simultaneously before looking at each other and laughing hysterically.
We ended the night listening to some of the local ghost stories and visiting with each other, reliving some of the crazier adventures of our time together. I couldn't believe it was almost over. I felt my eyes start to fill with tears and I fought them back because I was determined not to cry and waste time feeling sad. There wasn't enough time left of this wonderful trip to spend it crying. So instead, I focused on the time we had left and promised to spend the rest of it living, loving and laughing. God, I almost sounded like I was dying, which I wasn't, but maybe it felt like part of me was.
Later that night, I pulled out my journal and started writing. I wrote and wrote until I had the events of the entire night covered. I even went back and filled in gaps from earlier nights and had pages and pages of quotes that may not mean anything to anybody else, but made me laugh my ass off. Then I went through my memory cards and my camera and wrote down which pictures corresponded with which pages in my journal. I was one crazy organized woman. I looked over and watched Nettie sleep, not because I was creepy like that, but because I wanted her to make that noise again like she did in the car on the way over so I could record it. I tried to describe it, but knew nobody would ever believe me without recorded evidence so I waited. And I waited. Anything to keep from sleeping because that meant I was wasting precious moments. Eventually though, I gave in and put my things away. When I reached for my purse, I noticed the light on my phone was flashing and realized that I had a missed text waiting for me.
It was from Edward. Oh my God. I hadn't emailed or chatted or talked to him all day. We had gone the entire eight weeks and hadn't missed a day and I had to fuck it up now. I didn't even realize it until I saw the message from him.
I missed you today and hope you are having fun wherever you are. Two more days until you are in my arms again. I can't wait to see you. I love you so much. ~EHoly girlfriend fail.
How could I have forgotten to let him know what I was doing today? Well, aside from the fact that I didn't know what we were doing until we were here. Still, I could have at least emailed him. Wow. I really felt bad about that, but you know what? Part of me was proud. I could stand on my own. I did stand on my own. I loved Edward so much, but I didn't need to use him as a crutch. I was going to be able to go away to school and make it on my own. I knew that now. I was Bella. Hear me roar.
As an effort to show I was capable of not relying on Edward, I tossed my phone beside me and curled up on the bed, not responding to his text and knowing full well he would understand.
The next morning, we got back in our car and headed back to school. We had one last day. Twenty-four more hours together. I knew the boys still had to pack and there were a few more things I wanted to see so it was going to be a pretty busy day and that was more than fine by me. Keeping busy meant that we didn't have time for long drawn out goodbyes before we were all on our way home. See. I told you Nettie was brilliant.
EPOV
"You're not taking your Xbox with you to college are you?" asked Alice as she walked into my room and began looking around at the boxes I was trying desperately to pack. I had decided that it would be smart to try and pack as much stuff as I could before Bella got home so we could spend more time together, hopefully having sex, but I would settle for just watching her pack shit away or showing me slideshows of her trip. As long as I was with her, I would be more than happy.
"It's my Xbox Alice. So yeah, it's coming to school with me," I said with a sigh as my next comment was interrupted by Emmett barreling into my room.
"Hell yes it's coming with him. We're gonna be roommates and I need to do something while he studies," Emmett said with a laugh as he flopped down onto my bed and let out a small groan. "Eww, this wasn't where you and Bella had sex was it?" he questioned as Alice's eyes grew wide and I shooed her out of the room before shutting the door behind her.
"Do you have any tact or verbal filter?"
"Nope, not really. Is that going to be a problem all of a sudden cause you haven't cared for the past like fifteen years man," Emmett questioned as he sat up and patted the bed again. "This isn't where the magic happened right?"
"No alright. I didn't have sex with Bella in my bed. For the record, that was almost eight weeks ago, my sheets have been washed several times since then asshole," I replied tensely as I grabbed a few books about the history of movie making off of my shelf and shoved them into the nearest open box. I was a film buff, a connoisseur of sorts, and was beyond excited to finally do something more than film shit for Forks High School's video yearbook.
"So where did you do it? Her parents place? Their bed?" he questioned nosily as I just pretended that I hadn't heard anything he said. "Come on dude, I told you everything about that chick I banged at the party in the spring at UW. Hell, you know about every single chick I ever fucked actually."
"Yeah, and I'm not happy about that dude. It's not my fault you have a tendency to over share. I won't be telling you anything. By the way, what the hell are you doing here?"
"Oh yeah. I almost forgot. Some of the guys from school are getting together at the Diner because Mark is leaving tomorrow for California, lucky bastard. So you gonna come?" I looked at Emmett and decided that the packing could wait for a little bit longer, so I nodded my head slowly. "Good. Now come on, let's go. There may or may not be rumors about getting Mark wasted before he has to fly in the morning." Emmett enthusiastically jumped up from my bed and moved towards the door, waiting for me to follow.
As I headed down the stairs, I ran into my mom who was coming back from grocery shopping and let her know where I was going. She was excited of course, because if I wasn't at work, I was usually moping around in my room wishing Bella would call or email me. Sometimes I was even just spending time bothering Alice and Jasper, simply because they reminded me so much of Bella and myself as children, that it made me feel a little less lonely.
We drove in my car down to the diner and Emmett was literally bursting with excitement as we walked towards the front door. However, that good mood soured the moment the door opened and out walked Jessica and Lauren, looking as smug and whorish as ever.
"Hey Edward," said Jessica with way too much exuberance. She eyed me up and down slowly, clearly taking in the tan and more defined muscles that had formed over the summer from working outside. "You look good. Bella's absence is agreeing with you."
"I wish I could say the same about you Jessica. Now if you could excuse us, Emmett and I are meeting with some of the guys from school," I replied caustically as Jessica became emboldened by my uninterested response. Apparently to this girl no meant yes.
"We hear there's going to be a party tonight for Mark's farewell. Perhaps we can connect before Bella gets home. Without her here I'm sure you're more willing and able to talk to me right?" Emmett laughed loudly beside me as Lauren looked up at him in frustration for laughing at her best friend.
"We both know the last thing you want to do is talk to me Jess."
"You're right."
"I'm dating Bella now, so trust me when I say that it won't ever happen between us."
"You're dating her? That's laughable," Lauren added as I looked over at her and rolled my eyes. Who the hell was she to say anything about my relationship with Bella? "Did you guys finally man up after she had left? If so, that's kinda pathetic Edward. Although it's a good sign for you Jess, because maybe Edward will realize he likes you the moment you move away for school."
Jessica narrowed her eyes at Lauren as I started laughing harder than ever before. "Yeah, don't hold your breath. That won't happen, ever." Some of our other friends began arriving and Lauren wandered off to say farewell to Mark as Jessica stood still and stared at me with conviction.
"Do you think she's just sitting around in Europe missing you? She's probably partying, drinking and enjoying herself every night with her friends. I'm sure there are even some guy friends," Jessica added as I groaned at her insinuations that Bella wasn't being honest with me about what she was doing in England. I knew that she told me everything that was going on. She always did. "You'll regret not being with me."
"No dude ever regrets not getting crabs," added Emmett with a quiet cough as I laughed again and Jessica stormed off in frustration.
"Just for the record, I'm not hitting that party tonight. Jess will probably slip a roofie into my drink or some shit like that," I explained to Emmett as he nodded his head in agreement. "Anyways, Bella and I are supposed to talk tonight on the phone. It's our last call before she flies home in a few days and I'm a wee bit eager to talk to her."
"Dude, I might even stay home tonight and start packing. I'm kinda scared of the shit that might go down at that party, and not in a good way," Emmett chuckled as we walked into the diner followed by some of our closest friends from school.
We spent the next few hours sitting around the diner, reminiscing and shooting the shit about nothing in particular. Emmett was all talk about the all the girls he planned to get with once we were at UW, but I just shook my head at him in disbelief. I'm sure he didn't realize that I had noticed, but he actually hadn't been with another girl since that chick he slept with at the party at UW late in the spring. I had been tempted over and over again to ask him about it, but I didn't want him to go into all the particulars of their one night stand, so I shut up.
Of course with my overactive imagination, I couldn't help but think that she had either ruined him for all other women or scarred him in some way. Maybe she was into some kinky shit that Emmett wasn't telling me about because he was embarrassed. As I watched Emmett explain to our friends the time he snorted milk out his nose all over the librarian on a dare, I realized that embarrassment aside, he would have told me.
After we spilt the bill between the eight of us, I drove Emmett back to his house and then went home, surprised by how late it was. Bella hadn't called or texted me yet, and needless to say when I got in the front door, it was the first thing I asked my mother.
"Sorry hon, she hasn't called yet. Did you eat or do you need me to make you something for dinner? We had liver." I turned my nose down at her mention of liver for dinner since it was something I seriously hated.
"Nah, I'm fine. We ate a bit at the diner and I'm not feeling overly hungry anyways," I replied, trying to sound as sweet and casual as possible. "I think I'm just gonna go upstairs and try to get a bit more packing done since Emmett interrupted it earlier."
"Okay hon. If you get hungry, let me know. I'm leaving at seven to meet Renee for our weekly book club. We've been reading 'The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood'." I looked at my mother like a deer caught in the headlights because I had no idea how all those words fit together. They didn't make sense.
"Thanks," I said with a quick wave as I headed up the stairs to my room. I turned on my iPod onto one of the playlists I had made for Bella and sat down on the floor, opening a box and sorting through its contents before getting up and walking around the room, adding more. I didn't want to pack everything to take with me, since I would be coming home every now and again and I wanted the room to still feel like mine.
Before I got too far into my packing, I decided to send Bella a quick message to let her know I was thinking about her.
I missed you today and hope you are having fun wherever you are. Two more days until you are in my arms again. I can't wait to see you. I love you so much. ~E
A few hours later, my room still felt like home, but was a hell of a lot less cluttered. I even managed to gather a bag of clothes to give away to charity and another bag of garbage, which would impress my mother when she got home. When I looked over at the clock, I was surprised to see it was already nine o'clock at night. This meant it was five in the morning in London. Hmm…
I grabbed my cell phone and looked at it again. Nope, no calls or texts from Bella. I then jumped on my laptop and checked my email. There was nothing there either. My mind began recalling the ideas Jessica had put in my head earlier in the day about Bella not missing me as much as I missed her. I tried not to let the thoughts consume my mind and packed some more, hoping that I would get some sort of contact from Bella before I went to bed, but nothing came.
It was the most restless night's sleep I had since Bella left for Europe eight weeks ago.
A/N: Have you guys been over to P.I.C's Fan Fic Corner lately? picffcorner (dot) blogspot (dot) com is the link and they have revamped the site and have some really great interviews and recommendations this week including WriteonTime, Gondolier and 22blue, with a whole bunch more wonderful authors to be featured soon.
If you haven't had a chance yet, head on over to the indie twific awards where our friend, flightlessbird11, has been nominated for best complete AH, for her story 'Someone to Watch Over Me' Go Vote Ladies! theindietwificawards(dot)com . Voting for the final round opens tomorrow!
