Disclaimer: God knows I don't own Twilight.
Chapter Thirteen
"Set apart this dream, set apart this dream for me."
~Flyleaf
Bella Mercer
Bella woke up to rather loud snoring in her ear on Saturday morning; squinting one eye open, she is only mildly alarmed to discover that sweet little Laila was producing sounds that were reminiscent of a chainsaw. Bella's brain, just waking up, couldn't comprehend the contrast between the angel and the demonic noises coming from said angel's mouth. She rolls over, clutching a pillow to the side of her head and tries to fall back asleep, failing when Laila makes a particularly loud noise.
Bella sighs, sitting up carefully in Laila's comfortable pink and purple bed, where she slept last night after Laila asked her to – apparently, the nightlight, giant panda and Bella's presence kept the nightmares away. A tender feeling sweeps through the teenager as she realizes she doesn't care about how much sleep she's losing, so long as Laila heals from these fresh mental wounds.
Still, Bella is tired and since she won't be going back to sleep, she needs coffee and a lot of it. Today would be busy, too, with Jasper coming over later with his acoustic bass guitar – Bella hoped playing with him would work about because she'd been observant and had an idea.
Pushing those thoughts away, because it was too soon to think about anyway, Bella takes a lingering shower, taking the time to braid her hair afterwards; the weather would be warm and she didn't want her hair sticking to her neck. Late spring in Connecticut got very humid very quickly.
She puts on a pair of low-riding dark denim shorts paired with an oversized t-shirt reading Music is Freedom in scrawling letters. Happily going barefoot, and showing off the pedicure Laila gave her last night – sloppy, uneven and bright pink – she gently wakes Laila up, letting the little girl pick out a clashing outfit of neon green shorts and an orange care-bear shirt.
Nana is already awake and gardening, a set of muffins left out on the counter in the kitchen. After eating, Bella looks at the time on her cell phone, deciding she and Laila have enough time to bake cookies – which is the only thing Bella isn't completely hopeless at making in the kitchen.
Setting Laila up on the counter, Bella moves around the kitchen, Nana's little radio blaring out Oldies tunes.
"Help me crack these eggs," she says, pausing from singing a Supreme's song. Laila's fingers are clumsy at first, but with Bella's help, the cookie dough remains egg-shell-free.
By the time the clumps of cookie dough are set on the baking sheet and in the over, both Bella and Laila have steaks of flour on their faces; neither bother to wash them off and Nana doesn't clue them in when the girls bring her a sample of their hard work.
They stay outside, absorbing the warm sun, with Bella sitting on the top step of the porch and Laila between her legs, leaning on one of Bella's knees while the teenager uses a sharpie to write out song lyrics on the bright cast. Close your eyes little girl, you're a princess now, you own this world, twirling in your twirly dress, you're the loveliest far above the rest.
Jasper is punctual, which Bella finds only mildly annoying because he doesn't even seem to be rushed in the slightest, unlike her, who feels a bit frazzled after running late just a minute. For a moment, she considers how different he looks outside of the uniform; curly blond hair stuck under a hipster brown-knit beanie, a vintage band t-shirt, relaxed dark green and grey plaid cargo shorts and leather flip flops.
Laila giggles at the sight of so many free toes, especially Jasper's, because his are "super plain", according to the young girl.
Bella smirks at Jasper's expression – he almost seems offended.
Jasper takes it in stride, sitting on the lowest porch step with his pristine leather guitar case resting beside him. "Would you like to paint them?" he offers.
Laila's eyes widen. "Oh, yes!"
Jasper smiles lazily, kicking off his shoes. "What color?"
Laila looks up at Bella, as if asking if this is really happening. Bella shrugs. "I have this great sparkly blue that would look fabulous…"
The little girl jumps up and runs upstairs, going straight to Bella's extensive nail polish collection. Last night, when Bella had shown all the bottles to her, she'd been amazed at how many there were – it was Laila's sole mission in life to use every color. Yesterday she used pink and today she would use blue. Maybe Bella would let her use that pretty orange color next…
Meanwhile, downstairs, Bella is holding in her laughter. "You can't get out of it now."
Jasper sighs, faint lazy smile still on his face. "Wouldn't dream of it. I'm comfortable enough in my sexuality that I can let her use me as a doll. Mary Alice might not like it though."
Bella snorts. "From what I can tell, Mary Alice will find it hilarious. How's that going, by the way?"
Jasper scratches his head through his beanie. "You know she actually pulled me aside yesterday after school and told me I was her boyfriend? Didn't even let me ask, didn't let me get a word in, actually. Just said I was and kissed me. And then she turned around and left me standing in the hall," he tells his best friend, his tone slightly amazed.
Bella nods sagely. "Sounds like something she would do."
Jasper shakes his head. "She scares me a little but I like it," he says slyly. "Anyway, weren't we supposed to play music? I didn't just come over here for a manicure."
"Pedicure," Bella corrects absently, reaching for her music journal and flipping to the song she wanted – the very song she just finished writing on Laila's cast and the same song she finished on Wednesday.
Jasper furrows his brows. "There's more than one word for it?"
Bella hands him the notebook, flipped to the page that showed all the parts of music she wrote; the beat was a little flat in her mind and she was hoping Jasper could help her with it. "No, genius. A manicure is for the hands, a pedicure is for the feet."
Jasper squints a little, shaking his head, before looking down at the messy journal Bella just gave him. "Girls are so complicated," he mutters.
Bella doesn't get a chance to respond because Laila comes bouncing back with the sparkly blue nail polish. She wastes no time in attacking poor Jasper's toes with the brush; by the time Jasper has memorized the notes he's supposed to play, his toe nails are drying and Laila is grinning happily.
For the better part of the hour, Bella and Jasper spend time synchronizing their playing, the strums of guitar strings filling the air. During this time, Emmett's Range Rover jerks to a halt outside of Edward's house.
Edward had been watching from his window as Bella and Jasper played together, something he wanted to do, something he should do. They were clearly playing something she wrote because Edward could detect the familiar melody. When he sees Emmett arrive, he rushes downstairs, almost tripping on the last step.
"Shh!" Edward says before Emmett can open his loud, obnoxious mouth and interrupt Bella's music. "Shh, just listen!"
They do, Emmett's face lighting up in recognition, a knowing smirk crossing his face – Edward had a crush, apparently.
That was good. He needed to get out more anyway.
Edward and Emmett look up when the sound of guitars stop, watching as Jasper and Bella stand up and move towards the shed in the back of Ester's yard; a few moments later, Jasper comes towards the front of the house lugging various gardening tools with Bella behind him, dragging a sturdy rope behind her.
And then, much to Edward's pleasant shock, Bella drops the rope at the foot of a large tree in Ester's yard, and jogs towards Edward's house. He struggles with keeping his eyes off her legs and the exposed skin of her collarbone.
Stopping in front of the boys, Bella smiles easily, a determined glint in her eye. "I'd like to buy your spare tire," she tells Emmett.
Emmett doesn't answer for a moment, his brows furrowing. "You…what?"
"Your spare," she says again, gesturing to the wheel suspended underneath Emmett's Range Rover. "I want to buy it for a tire swing."
Emmett scratches his head. "A tire swing," he repeats. "Isn't it a little big?"
Bella shakes her head, leaning her weight on one leg. "Not at all. It's just a donut spare, right? It's perfect for what I have in mind. So, how much? Fifty? A hundred? Jasper offered to haggle for me."
Edward laughs at Emmett's bewildered expression; whatever he thought Bella was coming over here for was obviously incorrect. "Give him a second, his brain is melting."
Emmett shoves Edward halfheartedly. "Shut up. My brain is like metal. Metal doesn't melt."
"Actually-"
Emmett ignores Edward. "I guess a hundred would be okay. It's just the cheap spare."
Bella nods. "Alright. Help me set it up and I'll throw in an extra twenty."
Emmett and Edward agree, removing the spare from underneath the Range Rover while Bella yells towards her house, "I told you I don't need help to haggle, Jasper!"
Edward snorts at Jasper's reply: "You probably paid to much because of your arrogance!"
And then Laila's innocent question: "What's arrogance?"
With Edward's help, Emmett rolls the tire to the base of the tree and all four teenagers stand around the rubber object, staring between the tire and the rope.
Finally, after a long moment, Jasper breaks the silence. "I thought you said you knew how to do this."
Bella sighs, wrinkling her nose, which Edward finds adorable. "In theory."
"What if we put the rope through that and then-"
"No, the rope should be on the tree first-"
"Then we should throw it-"
"Throw it? We're not on Game of Thrones!"
"Wait!" Edward says, pulling out his cell phone. "Wait. I'll just Google it."
Edward decides, after Laila is finally using the tire swing, that Bella's smile was worth all the bickering and Emmett's questionable comments.
He wonders what else her smile is worth.
A/N: UPDATE ONE OF TWO.
Well lovelies, I'm back – finals went great, my GPA is kicking ass and I've just started the technical "sophomore" year 6 months after my very first college class. Worry not, all this means is that I'm really tired and really busy – I should only miss updates on mid-terms and finals weeks!
Shout out to the first ten reviews of the last chapter:
CdrIvanova – Edward is a very dynamic character in this story! I usually make him more static, but I like this dynamic too!
Flavia Ribeiro – Shy boys are the best ;)
LunaDiSangue85 – That's right! Edward is growing his balls!
Debslmac -
Dinotopian – Thank you!
Valentine Rain – Superauthor! Do I get a costume? Lol
ParasiteGoddess – I think Edward has a plan!
Cessperez – Bella, matchmaker! Lol we don't see that one too often!
Sassy Mami – Jasper is pretty cute, huh? If I wasn't so in love with cannon pairings, I would make Jasper get with Bella….*le sigh* I'll just have to make a Jaspery Edward one day….
Super special shout out to the first review of the last chapter, Cutebluepandas – Love your name! Love that you love the story!
As always, be brutally honest. I can take it.
~cupcakeriot