Ch13 The Jokes Begin
Bella's POV.
Edward drove us back to his place, after I convinced him that I didn't want to talk about this anymore. The ride back was really uncomfortable and very quiet. I didn't want to say anything because I was sure I would start crying again, I can't believe I cried like that. I got all upset and for what? He called me his girlfriend, that's what I wanted; wasn't it? No, at the time I wanted more than that, I wanted him to call me his and for him to kiss me. It was stupid to think that something so romantic would ever happen to me but it was Edward and I felt like I was in a fairytale. The meadow he took me to was beyond beautiful and you could hear a gentle stream somewhere in the distance. Everything seemed so magical and I just got lost in the moment. I shouldn't have reacted that way but at the time, I couldn't stop myself. So, here I am; sitting on my spare bed, in my spare room, thinking about how stupid I was and how much he must hate me right now. Last night was probably one of the worst nights of his life, its all my fault.
"Hey, can I come in?" I heard Alice call from the hall.
"Yeah, sure Alice." I called back and she slowly walked in the room, she was smiling but it wasn't as bright as usual.
"The guys at the hospital are doing well." Alice started simply but when she came to sit next to me on the bed, everything changed, she started talking fast and rambling. "So, Jacob told me about the fight and Tanya told me about hers, they both had similar things going on and everything seemed to come down to you. Isn't that just so weird? I mean, two fights, one night and both about the same person … odd, right? Anyway, so I saw you ran off with my brother before all the fights started. So, where did he take you, was it fun? Are you two dating now? Can Rose and I take you shopping for a week long trip? Jasper said he won't go with us this time and Emmett has this job thing. Rose said she'll do your hair up nice for your first date with Edward. … When do you think that will be?"
"ALICE, … Alice stop!" I said suddenly overwhelmed.
She took a deep breath and looked me square in the eyes. "Are you, Bella Swan dating my brother, Edward Cullen?" Alice asked in the most serious tone she has ever used around me.
"Umm, well …. I don't know Alice." I said hesitantly, I wasn't sure how Alice or the others would react but also I honestly wasn't sure anymore; we didn't really make that clear last night.
"Do you like him or not Bella?" Alice demanded now.
I sighed and took a deep breath. "Alice, I love him." I told her and it felt nice to finally say that out load, it felt great actually.
She squealed. "AWWW, YAY! I'm so happy for you!" Alice said as she hugged or rather squeezed the hell out of me.
"Al, … Al, Can't … breath." I barely got the words out.
"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad!" Alice said as she let me go and honestly, I was just mostly teasing her; mostly.
"But really, I don't know if we are or not." I told her. "We were talking about it last night but never really made that clear and then of course I had to go and ruin everything. He probably hates me now, Alice and I don't know what to do anymore."
"Well, I don't care what you THINK you did, if he doesn't date you then I'm going to run his ass over with my car." Alice said sternly and I suddenly felt fearful of how true she was being.
"Alice, you can't do that." I said a little shocked.
"Watch me, … well anyway, he loves you so of course he will date you Bella." Alice said with a smile and she got up to leave the room again but stopped by the door. "Oh, by the way, Mom is cooking breakfast. Think you'll be coming this time?"
"Yeah, I'll be right down, Alice." I said with a smile, then as she started to leave, I remembered something she said. "Hey, Wait! Alice, I'm not going on a week long trip with you! Its not going to happen so just forget it, alright! NO, not happening!"
I could hear her giggling as she rushed down the hall and bounced back down the stairs. She thought she could rope me into going with them if she snuck it in with everything else, forget that. I wasn't going, not to another trip like that. I figured now was as good as time as any, to go and get ready for the day. I grabbed my things and heading to the bathroom. It didn't take me too long to shower and dress before I was leaving my spare bedroom. I started walking towards the stairs when something grabbed my arm and suddenly spun me around, my head went spinning and my balance failed. I stumbled and thought I was going to hit something but strong arms wrapped around me and held me up, I was stable again. Of course, it was Edward standing in front of me, smiling.
"Sorry about that." He whispered with his wide grin still in place. "I didn't mean to trip you up like that and all."
I couldn't help but smile back up at him. "Umm, hi." I said, still a little dizzy from the spinning and everything. "Its alright, I probably would have tripped on my way down at some point."
He laughed softly. "Probably, … are you still mad at me?" Edward asked and I watched as his smile fell ever so slightly.
"Why, … why would I be mad at you?" I asked confused. "Its not your fault that I trip over everything, Edward. Its what I do."
"I meant for last night." Edward said simply. "I didn't mean to ruin the whole night and make you so upset. If you're mad then I can understand that but if not, then can we tell everyone about us?"
My head must have been still spinning, cause I'm pretty sure he was trying to blame himself for what happened last night. "Edward don't be ridiculous, you didn't do anything wrong. I over reacted to nothing so its ok, really. … And, umm what exactly are we going to tell everyone about us? … Are we dating now or not?"
"Um, well … only if you want to date me, Bella?" Edward said as he suddenly let go of the grasp he had on me.
"Of course, I want to date you." I told him honestly. "What happened last night wasn't your fault, Edward. It was my fault for getting so, … so carried away. Really, everything is fine now."
"Really? … Are you sure, Bella?" Edward asked again but this time he was smiling again so I was happy. "You still want to be my girlfriend and everything, you aren't mad at me? Really?"
I smiled at his childlike disbelief. "Yes, really. I'd be happy to be your girlfriend, Edward. I would also be happy to tell anyone that you want to know. So, lets start with your family at breakfast."
"Hey, lets not leave that up to me. I'd like to tell the world." Edward joked with a soft chuckle before leading me down the stairs, hand in hand we walked into the dining room.
Everyone was sitting around the table, waiting for Edward and I to join them. As we walked in, Emmett and Jasper were talking about some sports game while Rose and Alice were talking about that stupid trip that I would not be going on with them. Esme just walked in with the first huge tray of food, everything smelled delicious as always but everything stopped when we walked in. The conversations turned silent and everyone's eyes were now on our hands as we both walking in the door way. No one said anything or even looked anywhere but our hands, I looked up at Edward but he just smiled and lead me to my chair. The whole time he never let go of my hand and somehow that kept me sane, I wanted someone to say something, anything at this point.
"SO, … is it super glued to you or did she loose a dare?" Emmett said teasing Edward, probably to break the tension.
"Emmett!" Esme chided him while Edward glared at him. "That was not very nice, … now tell your brother you're sorry."
"What? … I thought it was funny." Emmett said acting all innocent and all, Esme wasn't buying that though. "OK, OK. … Alright, Sorry Edward I didn't mean to make it sound like Bella was forced to hold your hand. I'm sure there is some sort of explanation for his … odd behavior."
This caused an up roar around the table. Everyone else started laughing. Emmett's booming chuckles came first and raised into full on laughs. Alice was snickering at first but soon she was gasping for breath because she was laughing so hard. Jasper, at least, tried to control himself at first and was doing well until Alice was in tears from crying so much, he lost it then. Rose looked around and rolled her eyes at first but soon even she gave a little giggle at the jokes. Esme did not find it very funny and Edward and her were both fuming at Emmett now. My face, however could not have been redder at the time. I thought I was going to run screaming from the room but then Edward's hand gently squeezed mine and I saw him take a deep breath, like he was going to speak.
"ALRIGHT, that's enough!" Edward fumed at them all. "Bella and I are dating now and if any of you have a problem with that, then TOO BAD! We have both put up with all of you and I would think that you could give us the same consideration."
"Well, I for one, couldn't be more happy for you both!" Esme said as she smiled at Edward and I then glared at the others.
"Oh, come on Bro. You know I was only kidding." Emmett said as he tried to wipe away his tears. "You know, I'm happy for you and all but how many chances would I get to use that joke? I had to take it while it was there in front of me. I love a good joke!"
"Just make sure, you treat our little Bella right!" Jasper said as he cleared his throat and calmed his laughter down.
"Yeah, … I mean, it was only a matter of time guys." Alice said as she calmed down. "Besides, Edward would never do anything to forces anyone to do anything they didn't want."
"Umm, … OK. Esme can we all just eat now?" I asked desperately trying to get out of this awkward mess and get the attention off of me and Edward, I was feeling really embarrassed.
"Of course, Bella dear." Esme said as she went to get the rest of the food, it wasn't long before everyone was eating.
Everyone stopped talking and joking about Edward and I, we all just ate our breakfast and talked quietly about other things. Alice and Rose, mostly Alice, tried to beg me to go on that shopping trip with them but I really didn't want to go. It was going to be a week long trip and I just didn't feel like shopping that long, especially since I just got together with Edward and everything is still so new. Everything is still so confusing and difficult right now, but Alice said that if I went then her and Rose could give me a few tips. I still didn't want to go but Alice pulled out her sad puppy face and well, when Edward said that it could be fun, I had no choice. So, Alice was happy and plans were being made. Alice, Rose and I were all going to take this week and go for a very long shopping trip, hit as many malls and little shops as we could and talk all about dating and boys and anything else to torture me. Emmett and Jasper soon started talking about going on a long hunting trip, since us girls wouldn't be around but Edward didn't want to go with them. He decided that he wanted to stay around the house to just hangout and relax until everyone got back from their trips.
"Then its all settled. The girls will leave out first thing tomorrow morning and so will Emmett and Jasper." Alice said after we all got done eating and helped Esme clean up a little.
"This will be perfect!" Emmett said as he lead the way out of the room and into the living room. "Edward, you sure you won't get lonely with no one around to play with?"
"Yes, Emmett. I'm sure I'll be fine." Edward said back.
Emmett was probably trying to set Edward up for some sort of joke. He was always trying things like that on people and judging from how disappointed he looked at Edward's answer, I was right. Edward just chuckled and replied that he was able to read Emmett's mind by now, it was a brother thing over the years. After a moment or so, the boys got all excited and rushed off to get everything ready for their hunting trip. Alice and Rose decided that I was needed to pack for our trip so that left Edward and I, alone in the living room. He smiled up at me from his spot on the couch, everything had happened so fast that I had barely made it into the room. I was walking past one of the many chairs when Edward reached out and took my hand to pull me down to sit beside him. He made sure to pull me down as close to him as possible and then wrapped his arm around me so I was now leaning against him. I was giggling the whole time and when we were both settled he reached out for the remote but instead of finding something he wanted to watch, Edward handed the controller to me.
"Watch anything you'd like, Bella." Edward said simply.
"Its you're house, you know." I said confused. "You can watch whatever, you'd like. I don't really mind anything."
"Oh I know, but I gave it to you." Edward answered with a smile. "Besides, I'll mostly be watching your reactions anyway."
I blushed again but quickly turned the TV on to find something, anything to set my attention anywhere else. I didn't know why my reactions were so fascinating to him but I always caught him watching me more than he ever really watched the TV. I found some, early morning cartoons, from back when they were still good and all. Cartoons today just aren't the same and it really sucks. Edward and I mostly just stayed there, watching TV and talking simply about nothing that really matter but it was nice all the same.