I've been looking at the story stats, and the Australians have overtaken the Canadians in views. Come on, Canadians, show them Ozzies how you do things in the Great White North.
I'm not a big fan of this chapter, but it's something right?
XxX
3 months later.
Hi, this is Alice, leave your message after the beep. Unless you're Bella and if you are, stop calling me. Beep.
I sighed and ended the call, sliding my phone back in my pocket.
Three... four? Three long ass months of not seeing or hearing from Alice. I tried to call her thousands of times but she ignored them all. I sent her early Christmas/forgive me presents but she sent them back. I even tried to get Jasper, and the guys in NY to get her to talk to me but that didn't end well. As far as I can tell, I'm not going to see her until something close to a near death accident happens and knowing my luck, it'd be me and I'll die just as she's walking through the door. Dark thought or what?
"Hey outsider! Wanna come out of fairy land and do some fucking work?" Paul shouted through the kitchen window. I picked up the plates of food. "Still hung up on that girl who dumped your ass?" I glared at him.
"Shut the fuck up before I skin you like the dog you are." I spat.
"Aww, did I hit a nerve?" He smirked. I calmly placed the plates back on the counter then reached over and punched him in the face. He cried out and clutched the side of his face. "You fucking dyke!"
"Oh, you did not just fucking call me that." I punched him again.
"That's it." He disappeared for a moment before he reappeared and more or less charged at me. He grabbed the front of my shirt and threw me against the wall. I hit it with a thud and winced, losing a lung full of air. I threw another punch but Paul grabbed my wrist and twisted it, painfully. In an automatic reaction, I raised my knee and connected with his balls. He cursed loudly, dropping my wrist and fell to the ground. I kicked him in the stomach once for good measure.
"Hey, hey, hey! What's going on here?" Billy wheeled out and in between us.
"That bitch punched me." Paul muttered on the floor.
"That homophobic bastard started it." I defended, glaring at the fucker still on the floor.
"I don't care who started it," Billy grabbed Paul's arm and pulled him up off the floor. "Paul, go take a rest at the bar and Bella, go wait in my office." I nodded and walked to his office.
"Looks like the outsider is getting fired." I heard Paul remarked, albeit weakly, behind me.
"Least I didn't get my ass kicked by a girl half my size." I said without turning around. I walked into Billy's office and sat down in the one big ass overstuffed chair. A couple of minutes later, Billy came into the room and sat behind the untidy as hell desk.
"Bella, this is the second time this week I have had to warn you; one more and I'll have to fire you, and I don't want to do that."
"He started it." I'll tell you something, he or she started it, is the most childish defence in the history of man.
"I don't care. I only have two rules in my bar: No fighting and no letting your personal life effect you work, and you've broken both of them, several times." He sighed and rested his hands on his desk. "I'm sorry but I'll have to suspend you for two weeks without pay. Hopefully by then whatever is wrong will be sorted."
"Seriously?" I stared at him, incredulously. "The dickhead calls me a dyke, I punch him and I'm the only one that gets punished?"
"I should be firing you but you do a good job and everyone seems to like you. I am sorry but it's the only loophole I can think of."
I sighed and stood up, taking out my notepad and pen from my back pocket and dropped them on the desk. "Okay, whatever you say, Chief. See you whenever." I waved at Billy and walked out the office into the bar.
"Everybody say bye bye to the outsider, she's been fired." Paul almost sang with delight. I glared at him.
"No I didn't, dickhole, but since I'm on suspension I can do this without getting fired," I stepped in front of him and punched him in the stomach making him hunch over, groaning. "See ya later, Q tip" I smiled at Quil who looked confused and a little shocked. I pulled out my Lucky Strikes from my leather jacket and sighed as I felt the fire in the back of my throat.
I slid in my car and skidded out of the dirt parking lot. I almost crashed into the side of the house as I pulled up – a squirrel tried to cut me off – then walked into the house.
"What are you doin' home so early?" Jasper jumped off the couch. I sighed and dropped my keys in the bowl and sat in the replaced inflatable chair, flicking ash in the ashtray that was wedged in the cup holder.
"I got suspended from work–."
"You got fired?!" Jasper screeched like a banshee. I stubbed out my smoke and leaned back in my chair, it squeaking underneath me.
"No, I got suspended for two weeks because I fought Paul."
"What?! Are you insane? You're lucky you didn't get fired."
"That fucking bastard started it." I insisted, pulling out a cigarette and light it.
"What did he say?" He sat back down on the couch, not before pulling the cigarette from my mouth.
"He made a comment about Alice and then called me a dyke." He nodded in understanding.
"Okay that's reasonable, but you only punched him once, yes?" I looked down. "Right?"
"I... kneed him in the balls and kicked him in the stomach," I picked at my fingernails. "... And may, may, have punched him once more before I left."
"Oh, you're killin' me here! You're goin' to end up fired in no time if you keep actin' like th–." The house phone rang loudly, cutting Jasper off from his bitch rant. He walked to the kitchen and found the phone buried under pile of newspapers and magazines. "Hello?... Hi Rose, how are you?... I'm fine... No, she hasn't."
"Hey Rose." I shouted. I grabbed the remote and turned the channel to Wladimir Klischko fighting Mariusz Wach. Round three and Klischko was beating the crap out of the Polish.
"Bella says hi. Uhh, have you heard anythin' from... no?" I heard him sigh. "Okay. Why the call? I'm sure it's not only to talk to your favourite person in the world." Jasper gasped and started squealing. I looked at him bemused. "Oh my lord, when's the date?... I can't wait, we're comin' up this week. I'll see you soon." He put the phone on top of the pile then bounced his way over to me, squealing. Now he chooses the time to be gay?
"Was that some dolphin emergency? Did Flipper die?" I got up and went to the kitchen.
"No, stop bein' so sarcastic. Rose and Emmett are engaged!" He clapped his hands together. I raised an eyebrow.
"Want to try that again a little more manly?"
"Didn't you hear me? Rose and Emmett are gettin' married, aren't you excited?"
"I already knew." I poured a bowl of Fruitloops and turned on the coffee machine.
"What? How? When?" Jasper deflated a bit and leaned against the counter.
"Alice told me in Vegas. Em asked her for advice on how to go about it." I shrugged.
"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't she tell me?"
"I was sworn to secrecy, and I asked if anything was happening in New York." I grabbed a mug and filled it with coffee. "So, what was that about going to New York this week? Do you have the money to fly us there on the day?"
"I'm not payin' for the both of us; I paid for Vegas. If I spend more money on that card, it'll melt." Saying it like it was the most obvious thing is the world, he reached under the pile and flipped through a Cosmo, "We'll pay for the flights out of our bank accounts, simple."
"Sure, I just won't eat for a month." I sat back in my chair and replaced the ashtray for the mug, and wedged it into the cup holder.
"How much do you think these tickets will cost?" He followed me with a mug of his own.
"Take into account that I don't eat that much, whatever the ticket costs could feed me for a month, hell probably two months." I started eating the Fruitloops.
"You need to eat more and drink less." He sighed.
"What the hell am I doing right this second?" I leaned forward and placed my bowl on the table and grabbed the laptop "Cattle class okay with you?" Jasper glared at me. I chuckled. "You're such a snob Jasper. You're a Texan, shouldn't you be fine on horseback with loads of natives on your ass, and not in the good way?"
"I grew up in New York."
"Bullshit," I told him. "You grew up in The lone star state until you were 14, that's plenty of time for you to love the simpler things in life. You should choose gravy and biscuits over lobster and some posh herb that I've never heard of, and Levis over ball busting Calvin Klein skinnys."
"I do choose Levis and I've got my cowboy boots if you can remember." He reminded me.
"When was the last time you wore them?" I clicked onto the website that showed up and typed in the information. There was silence for a few moments, making me look up from the laptop screen and saw Jasper looking down. "What?"
"I wore them last night... for Embry." He barely whispered out the last bit and I saw a light pink colour his cheeks. I laughed out loud.
"You kinky, kinky fucker! Were you the strong, silent stable boy who corrupted the Master of the houses' son?" I put on a southern accent, which I think was pretty good. Jasper kept silent. "Holy shit, am I right? Fuck Whitlock... Never knew you had it in you." I clicked confirm then turned off the laptop, getting out of my chair and patted Jasper's shoulder. "I'm proud of you. Everything's sorted: flights Sunday at seven in the morning at Sea Tac, business class for your majesty and all for $895 for the both of us. Happy?"
"Very, but did you have to get one so early in the mornin'?"
"Its cheaper." I grabbed my keys and opened the door. "I'm going to The Dive, wanna join me?"
"No," He shook his head. "Please don't get drunk or... other." I rolled my eyes.
"I know, I know. I promise not to do either. See ya." I shouted when the door slammed shut. I jogged to my car and quickly drove down the road. I drove around the back of the bar and parked up, sliding out of the car and walked through the front door.
"There's my favourite customer! How are you doing, love?" Fred's voice shouted at me from across the bar. I grinned and seated myself at the bar, my Corona already waiting for me.
"Same old, same old. A friend of mine is getting engaged though so I'll have to flight out there to congratulate them "
"That's great but whatever happened to calling them in congratulations?"
"We had this stupid agreement that whenever one of us is getting married the rest fly over or drive over or whatever and help them plan the thing."
"Were you drunk when you agreed? I've got to tell you, people don't follow through with drunken agreements. If they did, I'd be married for three years now." He chuckled.
"What?"
"My high school friend and I agreed, very drunkenly, that when we hit 25 and neither of us were in a relationship or married, we'd marry each other." He shook his head at himself. "That was a weird night."
"And when you both turned 25 what happened?" I peeled at the beer label and rolled it into a joint.
"We met up, we laughed at ourselves and then we... spent some time together."
"AKA you fucked her?" I grinned. He grinned back. "Well done." I drank half my beer.
"Glad I have your approval." He sighed. "Bloody customers. Why do they come to me?"
"Because this is your bar and you sell beer? Because you're the bartender?"
"Ugh, why do you have to be right?" He wandered to the end of the bar and paid attention to the other customers. I finished more of my beer and relaxed in my chair.
"Can you get me another one of these?" I shook my bottle. Fred nodded at me, looking worried and brought me another beer. "Thanks, Freddie." Four more beers later and I was ready to leave. "Okay, I'm going home, see you whenever, Freddie."
"Wait, wait a second Bella. Should you be driving? You've had a bit and a half." I snorted.
"I've driven home drunker than this and I'm still standing. See ya." I pushed the door opened and walked to my car. Once again I almost crashed into a tree when I parked in front of the house, I bet you it was the same squirrel, and stumbled through the door.
"Honey, I'm home." I shouted.
"My lord, how drunk are you?" Jasper jumped up off the couch.
"I'm not drunk. I drove here and didn't crash."
"You drove?! Are you insane? You could have been pulled over by cops."
"Yes I did, yes I am and nope, I didn't." I kissed his cheek. "I'm going to bed, wake me up when we have to leave for the airport." I walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge, taking out a bottle of Corona. "Night, homo."
At then end of the week, Jasper woke me up at four in the fucking morning because it takes three hours to get to the fucking airport then the airport telling you you should be there two hours earlier because... a stupid fucking reason. We picked up our tickets then went through those security questions before finally after way too fucking long, Jasper dragged me on the plane where I almost immediately fell back asleep when I sat in my chair. So much fun to go through all that crap with lack of sleep.
Something kept poking me in the ribs and I pushed whatever it was, only for it to start again a few seconds later. I cracked an eye open and glared at Jasper.
"What?" I growled. Jasper smiled at me, cheery as a fucking cartoon.
"We've landed, Miss happy. Want to wipe that look off your face and get off the plane?" How can he be so happy? I groaned.
"Fine." I unbuckled my belt and stood up, stretching my legs out and arched my back, hearing the crack and sighed in relief. "Come on homo, lets go see the blushing bride to be."
I've forgotten how busy New York is. Eight out of ten cars a taxi, side walks crowded as fuck with tourists, home-growns, or suits going to meetings or their mistress' houses. We took the subway to Hudson square and walked to Rose and Em's apartment, getting buzzed in and walked up the seven flights of stairs. Before I knocked on their door, I put Jasper in front of me as a shield since as soon as that door is open Rose is going to attack first in line. And also, if I'm first in line she might go through with her threat and try to kill me. She's been dreaming and planning her wedding since she was three, like every other girl, me being the obvious exception yet again.
Just as I said, when the door opened Rose jumped at Jasper and squeezed the life out of him with a hug. I patted her arm as I passed by and into the apartment. Em was sitting on the couch playing Call of duty: Black Ops. Hardcore or what?
"Hey Em, you dying?" I sat down next to him and grabbed his open beer. Not my brand but I make exceptions.
"If you must know, I'm killing them all." He sounded like a proud child. He paused his game and grinned at me.
"So... you're getting married. How long have you had to deal with that," I nodded my head in the direction where Rose and Jasper were pulled up at the dining table, wedding magazines covering half the surface.
"Since I popped the question."
"Poor bastard." I offered him his beer which he took gladly. "What's the date?"
"I don't know." He shrugged. "That's all Rose's department. All I know is that I should wear my best suit and be there on time."
"That's all you need to know. If she asks for your opinion on something just say 'whatever you want, sweetheart'. That might save you a lot of trouble." I picked up his controller and resumed his game.
"I'll remember that." He watched me get killed in under thirty seconds. "Wow, you suck."
"I'm better at Grand theft auto and Prince of Persia, you know that." I restarted the game and died in two minutes. "Oh, fuck this game." I threw the controller in his lap and walked to the headquarters/dining table. "How's it going over here?"
"Bella, great you're here. What do you think, this centre piece or this one? Personally, I like the second one, it pops and goes with the wedding style, but then this one is more classical and elegant." I'm sure I looked like a deer caught in headlights.
"Uhh, well I think... you... the second..." I slowly walked backwards. I turned around and jumped over the couch. "What the fuck, it's barely been a day."
"I should've warned you. I haven't gone near that table since yesterday."
"Thanks for the heads up." I dead panned. I grabbed his beer. The front door opened and Peter sauntered into the room.
"Hello everybody, look who I found." Alice walked in with a tall, skinny strawberry blonde following. What the fuck?
"Hey, Pete." Jasper removed himself from the wedding mission and hugged Peter then Alice. "Whose this lovely lookin' lady?"
"This is Tanya, my girlfriend." Alice smiled, her eyes flickered around the room, surprise seeing me, then went back to Tanya.
Oh, for fucks sake.
XxX
I think I'm gonna go out for a pint. You guys enjoy the rest of your night, or afternoon, depending where you live.
Review, and follow, and alert, and just send the love.