Chapter 14: Dinner Tensions
Bella stood up off the bed and stuck out her hand awkwardly.
"Hello Mr. Cullen. I'm Isabella Swan." She said lamely and shrivelled up inside when he glanced at her hand with a raised eyebrow.
"I suppose you have me at a disadvantage since I have no idea who you are and why you're in my home." Carlisle said in a bored voice.
"See?" Bella turned to Jasper and Emmett with her hand pointing at Carlisle.
"This is how normal people react to a random person in their house. Both you guys and your mom are just abnormal people." Bella threw her hands up in the air in exasperation.
"Trust me, Mr. Cullen. I've been asking myself and your sons the same question. What the hell am I doing here. I have no clue. I'm just here as an unwilling prisoner." Bella exclaimed loudly and Edward appeared behind his father.
"You're here as my guest." He said and shot a glare towards his father.
"Guest or not, I would like to know why she's here and Tanya isn't. I also would like to know why she's wearing your clothes." Carlisle said with his eyebrows raised and Bella blushed and frowned.
"It was my fault. I scared little B over here and she spilled water all over herself." Emmett said quickly and Bella shot him a grateful look.
"Hm. Clumsy and unprepared." Carlisle gave Bella one last glance before leaving the room.
Bella blushed and Edward growled under his breath. Even Jasper and Emmett moved to flank Bella and they had apologetic looks on their faces.
"He's a little rude to new people. Don't worry I'm sure he'll warm right up to you." Jasper patted Bella on the back and left the room.
Emmett gave her a pat on the back as well and he too walked out of the room.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't know he was coming home for dinner. He usually doesn't. This is a very rare occurrence." Edward said with a slight tinge on his cheeks.
"It's fine. I'm a big girl. A little mumble here and there won't hurt me." Bella insisted and urged him out of the room.
They walked down the stairs and Esme greeted them with a strained smile.
"Dinner's on the table." She said.
They all sat down at the table feeling the tension in the air. Edward pulled the chair out for Bella and seated her next to Emmett. He sat next to her and Jasper sat on the other side of the table with Esme. Carlisle seated himself at the head of the table and they all started to eat. Bella picked at her food, but she forced herself to put a couple of bites into her mouth and quietly complimented Esme on her cooking. Throughout the whole meal, she felt the awkward silence and she felt Carlisle's curious stare on her.
"So Edward. What brings you here? With Bella no less." Carlisle's voice interrupted the silence and Bella's head shot up and looked at Edward uneasily.
Edward's mouth tightened into a thin line and he looked up towards his father.
"Bella's here as a guest and as my friend." He said stiffly.
Bella saw Emmett and Jasper exchange glances and Emmett cleared his throat.
"Not now Emmett. Does Tanya know about this?" Carlisle asked, waving Emmett away.
Edward stayed silent and Carlisle's lip curled up.
"Edward you know you have responsibilities. You shouldn't be spending your time frolicking with some girl and not your fiancée." Carlisle said and Esme gave a little huff of disapproval.
"Really Carlisle. At the dinner table? Can you at least let us finish our dinner in peace?" Esme glared Carlisle and he put his hands up in surrender.
"I'm only stating the facts here. Edward's due to get married soon and all of a sudden he's taking another girl home?" Carlisle stated and put his elbows on the table and clasped his hands together, giving Edward a disapproving look.
"With all due respect sir…" Bella tried to say but Carlisle shot her a sneer.
"I wasn't speaking to you. I was speaking to my son who has yet to explain to me why he's disrespecting his fiancée." Carlisle said without taking his eyes off of Edward.
Edward's fists clenched and Bella fell silent, appalled at Carlisle's attitude.
"Carlisle! Bella is a guest here whether you like it or not. You would do us all a favour if you would just stop talking for the duration of her stay." Esme scolded and Carlisle shrugged his shoulders and resumed eating as if nothing happened.
"Maybe I should just go.." Bella whispered to Edward and he shook his head lightly.
"Maybe you should and stop creating chaos in Edward's life." Carlisle chimed in and Esme stood up with her hands on her hips.
"Carlisle Cullen. If you can't be nice you can leave this dinner table and we can continue this night without you. I'm sure everybody would feel more comfortable that way." Esme said with sparks shooting from her eyes.
"Well then I suppose this is my cue to leave. Have a good night everybody." Carlisle stood from the dinner table and Bella kept her eyes lowered to her plate.
"Edward, I expect you to come see me tomorrow morning at the office. 8 o'clock sharp." he said and Edward clenched his jaw, but he nodded nonetheless.
The room was silent as Carlisle strolled out of the kitchen and it seemed like everybody let out a sharp intake of breath when he left the room.
"Well that was awfully uncomfortable." Emmett cheerfully said and started shovelling food into his mouth.
Jasper gave a faint laugh and he too started back on his food. Bella continued to push her food around and Edward sat beside her, ramrod straight and uncomfortable. Esme reached over the table as if to comfort Edward, but he tucked his hands out of sight and Esme gave a little sigh of despair. All that could be heard was Emmett's wolfing down of his food and Edward quietly excused himself from the table. Esme got up as if to follow him, but Bella stood up instead and followed Edward up the stairs. Bella peered into his room and saw him laying on his bed with his hands covering his eyes. Closing the door gently behind her, she sat on the bed, across from him.
"I just don't understand why he can't support my decisions and understand where I'm coming from. I'm only doing this whole business thing just to get his attention and to make him proud of me, but it's like he wouldn't even care anyways." Edward grumbled.
"Well to be fair, I think you caught his attention tonight, bringing me here." Bella reasoned.
"Well it certainly didn't make him proud." Edward said, still not removing his arm from his eyes.
"Well he thinks I'm so man eater and that I'm going to take you away from Tanya." Bella joked.
"Well you are." Edward shot back and pulled Bella into his arms so that they were laying side by side with Edward's arms around her.
He nuzzled her neck with his face and burrowed himself within her hair.
"Edward! What if your father walks in? He already has the wrong idea of us. I don't want him to be even more mistaken." Bella scolded him and tried to scoot out of his grasp, but Edward held on, unwilling to let Bella leave.
"Who cares? I'm really considering breaking off that engagement with Tanya." Edward's voice was muffled from being burrowed in Bella's hair.
"You are?" Bella paused her movements and tried to look at Edward.
Edward nodded and Bella lay there in silence.
"Edward?" Bella whispered.
Edward lifted his head from his spot to look at Bella.
"Nevermind." Bella hastily mumbled and squeezed her eyes shut.
"Hey Bella?" Edward said, making Bella open her eyes and look at Edward.
"If I break things off with Tanya, would we be able to be together?" Edward asked in a soft voice.
Bella averted her eyes and remained silent for awhile before glancing back at Edward.
"Yeah. I think we might have a shot of making it." Bella finally said and Edward broke into a huge smile.
He wrapped Bella more tightly in his embrace and Bella tried to get out again.
"You haven't broken up with her yet…we really shouldn't…" Bella tried to say.
"Just for tonight. Just let me hold you like this." Edward interrupted her and Bella fell silent.
She felt Edward's heartbeat settle and his breathing become slow and steady. Listening to his breathing, she felt her eyelids slowly droop. Soon, she too fell asleep. They didn't notice the door opening a bit and Carlisle peering in with a scowl on his face. He went back to his office and pulled out his phone.
"Tanya? It's Carlisle. There's something you should know."
Carlisle is so mean! And such a shit disturber. But don't worry. I think Edward might fight for himself this time. Hope you guys liked it!
xoxo,
cookiemander