Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or anything Twilight related

Now on with the story!

Runaway Love

Chapter 21

I stumbled down the stairs into the living room where everyone was situated, everyone except Phil that is who had to go practice that morning and would be gone for most of the day apparently some scouts were coming to his next game and he needed to try and be as good as possible because they could help him get into the major leagues.

They had solemn expressions on their faces and I knew it was my fault, I would be flying back to Forks in a few days and I was honestly dreading it. I also wasn't ready to go yet, there was still a mystery I was working hard to try and solve. The person who was sending me flowers, I had thought it was Travis or Jasper, so I confronted Travis and when I spoke to Jasper a couple of weeks ago he made no indication that he knew about the flowers.

I couldn't possibly think who would be sending them to me; it was three weeks ago when I got the first one and since then I had received another five. It was odd the messages on them made no sense except the first one: I'm sorry.

On my way to the living room I had peered into the kitchen and saw the sixth one with another message on it. I was worried, Jane was too but Alec was pissed and/or jealous, I had finally broken down and asked Jane about whether he actually had a girlfriend and was relieved to find I had not indeed been the other woman and that he did not have a girlfriend. I didn't know exactly what we were as he'd never come straight out and classed us as something but he takes me out on dates but he doesn't actually say it's a date. It's so confusing and I decided if he doesn't come straight out and ask me to be his girlfriend then when I got back to Forks, I'd move on because I was tired of being pushed around by guys.

The notes where also very strange a couple of days after the first one arrived the second one was there. They usually had four words on them except for today's one which only had three and so far all of them have been linked to forgiveness, receiving something and beauty it seemed although it was extremely odd as the only person who would really be looking for my forgiveness is Travis and I've already given it.

I had collected the notes and was looking over them everyday to se if there were any clues but nothing stood out to me, it was also really weird because for each word they used a capital letter and they were all spaced out, the first letter of each word was highlighted in blue whereas the rest of the word was in red, I tried making words out of the letters on each note but none of them made sense. What was really odd about them was the fact that the person never actually used the word forgiveness in the note or beauty but they used other words.

The second note had the words Shamefaced, Bewitching, For and Atonement

The third had the words Opprobrious, Enchanting, Receive and Leniency

The fourth had the words Remission, Lovely, Obtain and Indulgence

The fifth had the words Remorseful, Lustrous, Minus and Compassion

Today's one had Yield, Admirable and Excuse

The morning was a lazy one everyone was quiet and I couldn't stop this feeling of doom from hanging over me like a black cloud and it was making me downright miserable. I was really desperate for something to do seeing as Alec had gone out with friend and Renee had gone out with Nessie.

"Jane, do you want to give me a makeover or something, please? I'm desperate" I added when she shot me a shocked glance.

"I've got a better idea" she said slyly smiling at me "Do you remember when you first came and I asked you if you wanted to do something to, like, mark it or something?" she asked me. I nodded my head in confirmation and she continued "Well, how about today we go to the piercing and tattoo parlour and go and get something done?" she asked.

I contemplated this, biting my lip and wondered what Jasper would say if I came back with a tattoo or a piercing before shaking my head to rid myself of those thoughts, it was horrible how much power he still had over me.

"Ok" I responded nervously.

"Great" Jane squealed. "How about we do something matching like matching tattoos or matching piercings? What d'ya say?" she asked.

"Sure" I smiled getting into the idea. We went upstairs where Jane had me change into shorts and a tank and after a quick fight I managed to get her to let me wear my converse. Jane spent the whole drive to the parlour glaring at them periodically.

We arrived there soon enough and whilst Jane drove all I could think about was whether I should get my belly button pierced or a tattoo. I heard that there were tattoos that you can get where they last for a year or more but eventually faded, I preferred the idea of that than to an actual permanent one plus if I changed my mind I'd know that I wouldn't have to get it removed by a laser.

We parked and walked round and through the doorway of the parlour, a small fan was blowing in the corner of the room and the radio played in the background. A man with tattoos covering his arm and a few piercings came up to us.

"Good afternoon ladies. My name is Mark, what can I do for you today?" he asked smiling pleasantly. Despite his hard demeanour he seemed like quite a nice person.

"Hi, I'm Jane and this is Bella, we wanted to do something to mark her stay today, something memorable that we can get done together. Any ideas?" she inquired tilting her head to the side.

"That's nice, let's see, girls usually tend to get either matching tattoos or belly button piercings" he answered. Jane nodded her head contemplating.

"Do you have any of those temporary tattoos where the ink only lasts a year or so?" I asked nervously. He grinned at me revealing sparkling white teeth and I couldn't help but smile back at him.

"As a matter of fact we do, so what were you girls thinking of having?" he asked. Jane looked at me surprised before answering him.

"Umm...what about belly button piercings then we can get the tattoo" Jane said although it sounded as she were asking.

"Yeah, sure" I answered. She smiled back at me and the man led us to an inner room, he began setting up equipment and handed us a price guide.

"Individually it would be $35 a piece but since both of you are getting them done then I'll only charge you $50 in total." Jane pulled out her purse and handed him the money before I could stop her.

He pulled on some gloves and looked at us glancing between us to see who would go first. Bravely Jane stepped forward and sat down where he pointed her too. She lay back slightly and lifted her shirt, then we wiped something on and around her belly button before he began talking to her softly telling her when he'd pierce it.

"Okay, ready, now" and I saw his hand as it went down, Jane's hand balled into a fist quickly before she released it and stood up.

"Your turn Bella" she said to me. I stepped forward nervously and sat where Jane had previously occupied. "I'll be right here holding your hand, it hardly hurts okay?" she said. I nodded my head in response, but I knew I was tensing.

"You need to relax" Mark said to me. "Or else it will hurt a great deal" I nodded my head and began breathing in and out slowly and evenly. Jane squeezed my hand comfortingly.

"Ready" Mark said to me. I nodded my head, words seemed to have failed me. "Okay I'm just going to rub around your belly button with antiseptic wipes, lean back a little, yes like that, okay, ready, set" I closed my eyes in preparation of the pain I knew would feel me. "Now" and he squeezed the tool and pierced my stomach. I gasped in response to the pain and felt my eyes welling up with tears but Jane was right it was quick and soon enough I was standing up next to her.

"Right, belly buttons are easily infected so stay away from chlorine and things like that. Clean your belly button twice a day in the morning or night or whatever with boiling salt water, if you can get sea salt even better. After 3 weeks you can stop cleaning it if you wanted to but I generally advise you do keep cleaning it. You are also supposed to keep it in for 3 months but keep it in for longer as there is no guarantee that it will be completely healed. That's all I guess" Mark finished with a final nod of his head.

"Okay, thank you" Jane beamed at him.

"Thank you" I whispered shyly as well.

"Your welcome ladies, now about those tattoos, have you got any idea what you would like to get?" he asked, cleaning and sterilizing the equipment.

"Not at the moment" Jane answered glancing at me.

"Okay, take a seat out there, where my colleague John is finishing up some tattoos and he'll take care of you, okay" he said pointing us in the right direction.

We sat down and watched as people had tattoos done, it looked painful, some people had their eyes screwed up tightly and were holding the hand of someone, one girl had tears streaming down her face and her mascara had run because of it. It was really putting me off getting the tattoo. We flipped through some books but couldn't seem to find something that really meant something. John soon came over and I glanced up noticing that almost an hour had passed that we sat there.

"Afternoon ladies, what would you like done today?" he asked pleasantly enough, like Mark he was also covered in tattoos. I bit my lip and glanced at Jane.

"We're honestly not sure at the moment" Jane answered.

"Well that's alright, there's no pressure for you to get one done today, you could always come back some other time" he suggested.

"Yeah, thanks. See you in a couple of days John" Jane said.

"Bye" I said as well.

We walked out the store and to the car, my belly button was quite sore and I had to lift my tank up above it so that it didn't press against it, it seemed as though Jane had the same idea considering that she had tied hers into a knot in the front.

We began the drive home in silence, I was planning on surprising Charlie with my trip home and I wanted to make him a really good meal because who knew what he had been eating since I left, I mean Charlotte must have been taking good care of him but still.

Charlotte...

I still felt extremely guilty when I thought about her, I mean it wasn't her fault that her son decided to kiss Alice whilst I was up there, she may not have even realised he had come home and she was only trying to be nice to me and then I had to get all crazy on her and run into the rain. I'm surprised that I didn't end up with pneumonia the amount of time that I spent in the rain that day, it was nuts.

I'd make it up to her though, one way or another but I needed to focus on the presence and I'd deal with everything when I got back to Forks, I felt my mind start to wonder as I thought about everything that could happen. I could go back and maybe be on fast track and able to graduate earlier, with Jasper.

We got home soon enough and found the house was still empty Jane suggested going down to the beach but for some reason I felt extremely tired. She offered to stay with me but I could see how much she wanted to go and eventually she agreed and called Demetri to come pick her up. He was a nice guy and was extremely good for her. When he's with her she literally glows and I wished I could have that with Jasper but the chances of that happening were becoming slimmer and slimmer.

I walked up the stairs after saying goodbye to Jane and Demetri and opened my suitcase to continue packing, I'd left out some underwear and my toiletries of course, but within an hour I'd managed to finish the majority of my packing. I sat back exhausted and stared at the walls of my childhood home, in about 2-3 weeks, Renee, Phil and Nessie will be going back to Florida and their house there because Phil needed to play in one of the leagues. Alec and Jane will also be gone, as will Demetri.

It was sad to think of the house so empty without the sound of laughter echoing off the walls and for some strange reason I began to cry, I cried and cried and cried until I felt hollow and empty inside. I soon realised warm arms wrapping around me and lifting me up but by the end I was too far gone, the tears continued falling but gradually began to slow and clutched the shirt of the persons t-shirt and held it to me in a death grip, I felt as though my entire being would just fly away if I let go.

Eventually I could feel the feeling of sleeping eating away at me until it consumed me and I was drifting, floating off into unconsciousness, my last coherent thought being seven words.

I wish it was Jasper holding me...

And that's a wrap, what do you think Bella should get for her tattoo tell me in your reviews or inbox me. Feedback is always appreciated and next chapter it's back to Forks so be prepared.

~The Sunny Days~