Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. I do own a crazy husband. He would disagree with this, but it's true.
A/N: So last chapter my muse was partially absent. The bitch was drinking margaritas with Johnny Depp on an island somewhere, but she's back now. Thank you for reading and thank you, Chylex28 for being you.
Cause I'm dreaming of you tonight
Til tomorrow I'll be holding you tight
And there's nowhere in the world I'd rather be
Than here in my room dreaming about you and me
Wonder if you ever seem and I wonder if you
Know I'm there (Am I there)
If you looked in my eyes would you see what's inside
Would you even care
~Dreaming Of You~ Selena
Surviving High School
"Bella. We've got a problem."
"What do you mean, we've got a problem?" I asked Alice.
"I'll get to that in a minute. Mom and Dad are thrilled you're coming over. They love you!They want you to come over early enough to have dinner with us at six."
"That's fine. I love your mom's cooking! So what's the problem?"
"Apparently,Dad invited Mr. Laurent and his family to dinner tomorrow night."
"Maybe it's a different Mr. Laurent?"
"Nice try. How people do you know with the last name Laurent? Trust me. It's him. Dad is good friends with him."
"And by family you mean..." I trailed off.
"Mr. Laurent, Mrs. Laurent, and Victoria."
"So, I'll be see you after dinner tomorrow?"
"Oh, hell no! If I have to suffer through this dinner with her, then so do you!" Alice yelled at me over the phone.
"But I don't want to!" I whined at her.
"Too fucking bad! You agreed to come to dinner, so now you're stuck."
"Look. Why don't we do this instead? Why don't you come to my house for dinner, and then we'll head to your house for the sleepover," I suggested.
There was silence on the other end, as Alice contemplated my suggestion.
"That could work. Let me talk to Dad and I'll get back to you."
We said our goodbyes, and as I hung up my phone, I heard a noise behind me. Charlie was standing in the kitchen watching me with a wary expression.
"What is that you don't want to do?" he asked me.
"Um, the Cullens have invited me to come over in time for dinner tomorrow night and that's fine. But Alice just told me that Dr. Cullen invited Mr. Laurent and his family over to dinner as well. Seeing as how Victoria and I aren't exactly best friends, I told Alice that I didn't want to eat dinner with them."
"Suck it up, kiddo."
What? Did Charlie just tell me to suck it up? Who's side was he on?
"I'm sorry. Did you just tell me to suck it up?" I asked him.
"Yep. You agreed to have dinner with them, and it would be rude if you suddenly changed your mind because you don't like their dinner guests."
"But..."
"No buts. Besides, Bells. Do you really think this Victoria girl will be stupid enough to do anything with not only her parents around, but the Cullens as well?
Okay. So the man had a point. Chances were pretty slim that she was going to attack me while we were eating dinner, but you never know. She was ruthless. Just then my phone rang and I saw it was Alice calling me back.
"Hey, Alice."
"Dad says I have to stay."
"Mine says I have to go. But he did make a good point. He said that chances are, Victoria will be on her best behavior."
"Your dad's probably right. As long as she is around the adults, she'll behave. It's once we're all alone, that I'm afraid the shit's gonna hit the fan. I asked Mom and Dad if I could invite Jasper as well, and they said yes. Rose will be here also, which means that Emmett will be here too. Not like he'd turn down an opportunity for free food."
Knowing that my protector was going to be there, made going not seem so bad.
"Knowing that Emmett and Rose will be there, makes me feel better. Unless, the bitch has a death wish, she'll be on her best behavior. Besides, Charlie told me it would be rude of me not to show."
"And he's right. Leaving me to deal with her on my own would've been rude."
"You would've been fine," I told her.
We discussed what time I should arrive and then we hung up the phone. I was a bit anxious about this whole dinner deal. I'd had a lot of "family" dinner's lately, and wasn't really looking forward to another one.
I arrived at the Cullen house the next day, a little before six; a bit anxious and worried about the night ahead of me. I pulled Chuck up next to Alice's death trap and slowly climbed out. Poor Chuck. He looked so out of place next to all the fancy cars. I felt bad for him. I grabbed my overnight bag, gave Chuck a loving pat on the hood, and made my way up the walk to the front door. I had just raised my hand to knock, when the door was flung open and I was wrapped up in a hug by Mrs. Cullen.
"Bella, dear! We're so glad that you could come over!"
I hugged her back, enjoying the sensation of the motherly hug. It was moments like these that made me miss having a mom. She pulled away and leaned down to whisper in my ear.
"Don't worry about Victoria. She'll be on her best behavior, or she'll be out of my house. I don't care if Carlisle is friends with her father or not."
I gave her a smile and then followed her inside. Alice was beside herself that we were having a sleepover. I'm not sure why she was so excited, but that's Alice for you. We had just dropped my bag off in her room, when the doorbell rang.
"Alice! Rose, Emmett, and Jasper are here!" we heard Mrs. Cullen holler.
You would've thought that Alice hadn't seen them in years, with the way she tore down the hall and steps. By the time I reached the foyer, Alice had Rose in a huge hug.
"Hey, Frank!" Emmett hollered at me as I walked in.
"Emmett, dear. Her name is Bella," Mrs. Cullen said in a soft voice, like she was talking to a small child. Or an idiot.
"I know that Mama C.," he said, rolling his eyes.
"Well, then why are you calling her Frank?"
"It's a Facebook thing. You wouldn't understand," he explained.
"I know what Facebook is! Are you calling me old, Emmett McCarty?"
"What? No, no!" he spluttered, while Mrs. Cullen gave him a glare.
It was too much. I couldn't help but bust out laughing, watching Emmett try to save his ass. He flipped me the bird behind Mrs. Cullen's back, but he should have known better.
"Emmett McCarty! I will not tolerate that kind of behavior in my house! If you keep it up, there will be no dinner for you!"
"Mama C.! That's just mean!" he whined at her.
"Then I suggest you be on your best behavior, young man."
Emmett agreed, although I'm sure he had his fingers crossed behind his back the whole time. A few minutes later, Edward came into the foyer and the boys started talking about some game they wanted to watch.
"Hey, Mom. Is it cool if Emmett and Jasper spend the night?" he asked.
"That's fine. But there will be no funny business going on in my house! Is that understood?" she asked them.
"Yes, Ma'am," they agreed.
Yeah right. I had a feeling the minute Mrs. Cullen's back was turned, the couples would be all over each other. And sure enough, the minute she walked into the kitchen, Alice and Jasper were going at it. It was disgusting in a cute kinda way.
"Ahem," I cleared my throat.
They pulled away guiltily and looked at me.
"No offense guys, but I really don't want to watch you two slobber all over each other."
"Sorry, Bella," Alice said, not sounding sorry at all.
The six of us headed toward the den to await the arrival of the Laurent family. Alice, Rose, and I were in mid discussion about a movie we wanted to see, when Mrs. Cullen hollered downstairs.
"Edward! Victoria is here."
I seriously think that we all cringed.
"Okay," he called back up, and then he went back to his conversation with Jasper and Emmett.
I'm sure my mouth was hanging open. I'm not sure what I expected him to do, but for him to do nothing was a bit surprising. Victoria must have been surprised too, because she soon came stomping down the stairs, looking extremely put out.
"Eddie! Why didn't you come up to get me?" she whined, as she made her way over to him.
He gave her an annoyed look. "I was busy. It's not like you don't know where the stairs are. And don't call me Eddie. You know I hate it," he told her, then excused himself to head upstairs.
Holy shit! I think Edward just grew a backbone. I think we were all a bit stunned. I know I was, and judging by the look on Alice's face, she was too. Victoria was furious, and sat down on one of the recliners with a huff. I was huddled at the end of the couch near Alice, and was fairly confident that Bitchtoria hadn't seen me yet.
"I heard something interesting about you Rosalie," she began.
"Oh yeah? What's that?" Rose asked.
"I heard that you're running for Homecoming Queen. But that can't possibly be true, because we all know that I'm always Homecoming Queen."
Rose turned and looked at Victoria.
"You heard right," she said, coolly.
Victoria flipped her red hair over her shoulder and examined her nails.
"You don't actually think you're going to win, do you?"
"I have no doubt that I will. In case you haven't noticed Victoria, you're not as popular as you think you are."
"What the fuck are you playing at Rosalie? Do you really think you can take the title away from me? Well, you can't. No one will vote for you," she sneered.
"I will," I chimed in, immediately regretting it, as Victoria's gaze zoomed in on me.
"What are you doing here?" she hissed at me.
Alice immediately jumped to my defense. "I invited her. Not that it's any of your business, but she's my friend. If you have a problem with that, feel free to leave."
"God, you're all so pathetic. You do realize that you're committing social suicide by slumming it with Swan," Victoria said.
"None of us are 'slumming' it, as you put it" Jasper said from his spot on the couch. I noticed that Emmett's hands were fisted, and Rose looked like she was about to tear each red strand out of Victoria's head.
"Puh-lease! Have you looked at her? She's a pathetic nobody!"
I couldn't believe that she was having a go at me with Rose and Emmett in the room. Did she have a death wish?
"Bella isn't pathetic and she isn't a nobody," a quiet, yet deadly voice said from near the stairs.
We all swung our heads toward the steps and saw Edward standing there, looking extremely pissed off.
"Eddie...I, uh, didn't see you there," Victoria said, scrambling to cover her ass.
"Obviously," he said, coldly. "Looks like everyone was right about you, but I was just too stupid to listen."
"What are you talking about, Eddie?"
Before Edward could respond to her, Mrs. Cullen called us for dinner. Edward turned and started up the stairs first, with the rest of us following, leaving Victoria for last.
"Well this should be interesting," I whispered to Rose and Alice, as we made our way upstairs.
Edward led us into the formal dining room and Mrs. Cullen showed us all to our seats around the huge table. I ended up sitting with Edward to the right of me, and Emmett to the left. Victoria had been placed across the table toward the end, next to her parents. Thank you, Mrs. Cullen.
Dinner was soon served and small talk dominated the table. I didn't have much time to chat, because I was too busy trying to keep Emmett in line. I didn't know how Rose did it. He was like a toddler. He would shovel food in his mouth, then start waving his hands around, all while talking and spilling food on himself. I finally grabbed his napkin and attempted to tie the ends of it around his neck so that he had a bib. Unfortunately, Emmett's neck was too thick, so I ended up just tucking his napkin into his collar. The whole table was quietly watching me, and soon they were all snickering.
"Thanks, Frank!"
I shook my head. I should have known better than to use that status.
"Bella, how is school going?" Mr. Laurent asked me, halfway through dinner.
I saw everyone turn to look at me, and felt a blush creeping up on my face.
"It's fine."
I mean, really. What did he want me to say? School would be great if your bitch of a daughter would leave me the fuck alone.
"Oh yes, Vickie was quite concerned about you," Mrs. Laurent chimed in.
Emmett starting choking on whatever it was he had shoved into his mouth. I quickly smacked him on the back a few times.
"Really?" I asked, sounding surprised.
"I didn't realize that Bella and Victoria were friends," Mrs. Cullen commented.
"Neither was I," I mumbled under my breath.
Emmett gave a quiet snicker beside me.
"Oh, yes. Vickie was very distraught after Bella's cliff diving incident. When she heard about it, she went straight to Dale and let him know how concerned she was for Bella."
"Huh. She never mentioned a word to me," I told Mrs. Laurent. It was taking everything I had, not to call the bitch flat out on her shit. Rose, on the other hand, had no problem doing it.
Rose looked over at the Laurents. "Victoria's never been concerned about Bella before," she said, in a sweet voice.
It's a good thing looks couldn't kill, or Rose would be laying dead on the floor due to Victoria's death stare.
"I've always been concerned about Isabella. We're friends. You don't know what you're talking about, Rosalie."
This time, I was the one who almost choked on my food. Edward tapped me on my back gently and handed me my water.
"First off, if you were really her friend, you'd know that she goes by Bella. Not Isabella. And the only thing that you've been concerned about was that she was going to steal Edward away. Lord knows, I had to listen to you complain about it enough."
I could've sworn that Victoria's eyes glowed red with anger.
"You fucking bitch!" Victoria yelled, as she shoved away from the table and headed toward Rose.
Mrs. Cullen shot out of her seat and told Victoria in no uncertain terms, "I will not tolerate that kind of language in my house!" She then looked at Mr. and Mrs. Laurent. "If your daughter insists on using such language and behaving like this, you're going to have to leave."
It was clear that Mr. and Mrs. Laurent were embarrassed about Victoria's outburst. They excused themselves from the table to have a little chat with Victoria. Meanwhile, Rose was looking quite pleased with herself. I gave her a thumbs up when Dr. and Mrs. Cullen weren't looking. She gave me a wink in return. Edward, who was sitting beside me, looked to be fuming.
"Wow. She really is a bitch" he said quietly.
"No shit. I've been trying to tell you that for quite some time."
"I realize that now. I really can't begin to tell you how sorry I am that I didn't believe you."
Just then Emmett leaned over.
"What are you two whispering about?" he asked us.
"Nothing," Edward said at the same time I said, "He was apologizing for not believing me, when I told him what a bitch she was."
Emmett gave Edward a dark look. "You need to stop being such a tool. I've told you from day one that Victoria was nothing but a first class bitch. The fact that you chose to believe Bitchtoria over Bella has me more than a little pissed off at you."
Edward leaned across me to talk to Emmett. "Look, I've already apologized to Bella for that. So back off!"
"Yeah, I heard all about your craptastic apology. I hope you get your head out of your ass soon, and break up with that spawn of Satan. I'm not sure how much longer I can stomach her, and I refuse to sit back and let her make Bella's life miserable."
"We're on a break right now."
"I'm not talking about a break, douche. I'm talking about getting rid of her, once and for all. You can do so much better! Hell, I know of at least one girl who'd love to go out with you."
I was getting a bit uncomfortable, sandwiched between the two while they argued, and then I blushed bright red when Emmett said he knew of one girl who'd love to be Edward's girlfriend. I opened my mouth to say something, but Edward started talking again.
"Not that it's any of your business, but I was planning on breaking up with Victoria this weekend," he hissed.
"Good," was Emmett's response.
My head was spinning over what I was hearing. He was going to break up with her. My inner voice was doing a victory dance. I tried to calm myself down. Just because he said he was going to break up with her, didn't mean he was going to. And if he did, it certainly didn't mean that he was going to date me.
"Everything okay over here?" Dr. Cullen asked from behind us.
"Yep," the boys replied. I just nodded my head.
The Laurent family had come back to the table and Victoria gave the Cullens a half-assed apology, that I doubt they bought. The rest of dinner was tense and awkward. I kept replaying in my head what Edward had said. Was he breaking up with her because of me? Or because of what she was? What if he was really in love with her? What if I was ruining his one chance at true love? God, I hoped not.
"Edward," I said, softly.
He leaned down. "Yeah?"
"Can I talk to you later?" I asked, hesitatingly.
"Sure. After dinner?"
I nodded. I had to know the reasoning behind his breaking up with her. This is what I had wanted, but I felt extremely guilty. I hoped that he was going to do for the right reasons, for himself. Not out of guilt.
I was so thankful when dinner ended and the Laurents left. Dr. and Mrs. Cullen informed us that they were going to a neighbor's house for a bridge game, and that they'd be back by ten.
"I expect you all to behave. No funny business. We're trusting you," Dr. Hot told us, as they were getting ready to leave.
We all promised that we'd be on our best behavior. Of course, the minute they were out the door, Alice grabbed Jasper and hauled him off to her room. Rose grabbed Emmett and headed toward one of the guest rooms, leaving Edward and I to stare at each other.
"Uh...want to head to the den and maybe watch a movie with the sound turned way up?" he asked me.
"Sounds good to me," I said, and we hurried downstairs.
I settled onto one of the plush couches while Edward scoured for a movie to watch.
"Harry Potter, okay?" he asked.
"Awesome! I love Harry Potter!"
"Me, too," he said and we shared a smile.
After putting in the movie, Edward sat down at the end of the couch. All I could think about, was the last time we were down here by ourselves. I wondered if he was remembering what happened last time. It was right here that we almost kissed. Thinking about it brought a light blush to my face. I did my best to get my mind off of it and focus on the movie.
"What was it you wanted to talk about?" he asked me once the movie had started.
I took a deep breath to calm my nerves.
"It's about what you said to Emmett. You told him you were breaking up with Victoria."
"Uh...yeah," he said, rubbing his hand through his hair.
"Are you really breaking up with her, or were you just telling him that to get him to back off?"
He sat there staring at the TV, not saying anything. I sat there playing with the ends of my hair while I waited for him to comment.
"Yes, I'm breaking up with her."
"Why?"
He turned to look at me from his end of the couch.
"I figured you'd be thrilled to hear that I'm breaking up with her," he commented dryly before continuing. "Things have been strained between Victoria and I for some time. Even before all this drama started. And after hearing her talk about you as if you're nothing, well...that really sealed the deal for me. I mean, if she's talking shit like that about you when I'm not around, it makes me wonder who else she talks about when I'm not around."
"Oh." I couldn't think of anything else to say.
We were silent for a few minutes, both thinking about what he had said.
"So...uh...when are you telling her it's over?" I asked, hoping I wasn't overstepping my boundaries.
"Probably tomorrow. Best to get it done and over with. No need to drag out an unpleasant experience. And I can guarantee it's not gonna be pretty. Mom was super pissed at Victoria earlier."
"Yeah. Your mom's not a big fan of hers. Then again, no one really is."
"I see that now. Alice hated her from the start and that should have clued me in. Alice and I have always been close, but the minute Victoria came into our lives, there's been a lot more tension between us. Alice did her best to get along with Victoria, but there were times when I could tell it was taking everything in Alice not to strangle her."
"So why stay with Victoria then?"
"Habit, I guess. I was comfortable being in a relationship. Victoria was one of the first people I met when we moved here and I let myself get sucked into her crowd. It just made sense for me to date her. She's a cheerleader and I'm a football player."
He frowned after he said that. "Anyway, it'll be nice to be single for a while. No one demanding all my time."
"That's probably for the best. I'm sure there will be plenty of backlash from Victoria for a while."
"Yeah. Not looking forward to that."
A slightly awkward silence fell between us as we both turned our attention back to the movie. I excused myself to use the bathroom and wished I hadn't, once I got up the stairs. I could hear moaning coming from Alice's room. Ugh! I shuddered. I quickly used the bathroom, then literally ran down the stairs to the den. Of course, I managed to trip in my haste and ended up tumbling down them instead.
"Oooof!"
"Bella! Holy shit! Are you okay?" Edward asked, as he ran over to me.
He helped me sit up and starting running his hands over me. It was all I could do not to swoon. Not sure if that was due to his running his hands over me, or my aching head.
"I'm okay. I think," I said, as I touched my head with my hand.
Edward brushed my hand away and gently probed the knot that was forming on my temple.
"Ow!"
"Sorry. Do you hurt anywhere else?"
"No. Just my head and my pride. Though I should be used to that by now."
He let out a sigh and sat on the step next to me.
"I thought you were done with Stair Olympic tryouts," he said smiling.
"Just preparing for next year."
"So what had you flying down the stairs in a hurry?"
"Moaning from your sister's room."
The look on his face was one of complete horror.
"I didn't need to know that! Why would you tell me that?"
"Hey, you asked," I replied. "Besides, I shouldn't have to be the only one that has to suffer."
After one last shudder, he carefully pulled me up and walked me to the couch.
"I'd offer to get you some aspirin, but there's no way in hell I'm going up there right now."
"I'll be fine," I told him, as I sat down.
Instead of sitting down at the other end of the couch, where he had been previously, he sat down next to me.
"Bella?"
I turned to look at him. He looked nervous and worried.
"Do you think you'll ever forgive me?"
Truth was, I'd already partially forgiven him. But he didn't need to know that. I wasn't one of those people who could stay mad for long. Unless it was at Renee. I know, I know. I'm a pushover.
"Of course. Someday I will forgive you. You'll have to gain my trust again before that can happen though," I told him.
He nodded. "I understand. Do you think after I break up with Victoria and things die down a bit, that we can start over?"
I shrugged. "Let's take things as they come. One day at a time and all that. Let's start off getting to know each other and then go from there."
"I'd like that a lot," he said softly.
By the time the movie was over, the couples had come back downstairs. They all tried to act nonchalant about things, but the shit eating grin on Emmett's face kinda gave things away.
"Hey, hey Frank! What have you two been up to?" Emmett asked me.
"Making out. How 'bout you?" I quipped.
Emmett's mouth fell open and his eyes darted back and forth between me and Edward. My hair was a bit tousled from my trip down the stairs and Edward's was mussed from his fingers running through it. Considering how close we were sitting next to each other, I could see how Emmett would believe me.
Emmett's face suddenly morphed from shock to anger. He stomped over to Edward and got in his face.
"You'd better not be fucking around with my little sister!" he warned Edward. "You haven't even dumped Victoria yet!"
Well, crap. I didn't think that Emmett would get angry over my little joke. Before Edward could say anything, I jumped in and placed a calming hand on Emmett's arm.
"Calm down, big bro. I was joking. Edward and I have been talking. That's all."
"How did you get that bruise on your head?" Alice asked me as they came further into the room.
I looked at her and Jasper. They both looked a bit flushed. "I was unfortunate enough to overhear some lovely sounds coming from your room. I was terrified! In my haste to get away, I managed to trip down the steps. You know what they say. If you roll down the steps, you get to the bottom quicker."
I looked at Alice and Jasper as I said this, and saw them both turning a nice shade of red. It was nice not to be the one blushing.
"Um, yeah. Sorry about that," Jasper drawled.
"The two of you need to learn a silencing spell," I told them.
"I couldn't even get Bella anything for her headache, for fear of what I might hear," Edward chimed in.
"All right, all right! We get it. From now on, we'll be more quiet," Alice said.
Edward and I both shuddered at the thought of there being more times. There were somethings you just didn't need to know.
"So what were you two talking about?" Alice asked me, sitting down on the floor.
"I'm breaking up with Victoria tomorrow."
"About fucking time!" Rose spat. "If you didn't do it soon, I was going to beat the shit out of you. For a smart guy, you're really stupid sometimes."
"I'm beginning to see that. I guess it took hearing her talk shit about Bella when she didn't think I was around, to really make me see it."
"Please. That was tame compared to some of the shit she goes off about," Rose told him.
After a while, we got tired of talking about Bitchtoria and her escapades and decided to have a Die Hard marathon. Nothing like some Bruce Willis to make a girl happy. I was curled up on my end of the couch, with Edward next to me, while the other couples cuddled together. Every so often you could hear the sounds of kissing, but thankfully it was kept PG. At some point, we all must have dozed off, because I woke up to find Edward's head on my shoulder, his soft snoring in my ear. He looked so beautiful when he slept. My finger itched to run through his hair, to tug on those beautiful bronze locks. It would be so easy to lean down and place my lips upon his, but I quickly shook off that thought. The man wasn't even single yet. Plus, he needed to do some groveling before my lips came in contact with his. I was so lost in my own ramblings, that I was startled by someone saying my name.
"Bella," Edward breathed softly, snuggling up closer to me. He wrapped his arm around my waist and buried his face in my neck. I froze. This must be a dream. I pinched myself hard enough to hurt and when I looked over, he was still there, sleeping against me. I gently nudged him to see if he would wake, but all that did was make him hold me tighter. Not that I was complaining. Realizing that he wasn't going to be moving anytime soon, I let myself enjoy it. Tomorrow was going to bring lots of drama and heartache, and I just wanted to forget it all. What better way to do that, than to sleep with Edward curled around me? And what better excuse to do so, than that we were "unconscious" and had no control over the situation?
A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing. Reviews are almost as good as snuggling with Edward. Almost.