21. Romeo is dating
Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.
Dinner was a little longer than five minutes. She had forgotten to cook the rice to go with the casserole. Charlie leant against the door frame and watched her humming tunelessly around the kitchen, while she drained the rice and got out some plates for them both.
"So when do I get to meet him?" he asked suddenly.
Bella nearly dropped the serving spoon. "P-pardon?"
"This boy… whatsisname… Paul?"
Typical; she thought. Charlie never got Edward's name right, but he didn't forget Paul's.
"A-ahh…" she blustered.
"You are still seeing him?" Charlie queried.
She just blushed at the thought that Charlie might have seen way more of him than he wanted, if he had just looked out the window a few minutes ago.
"Uh-huh," said Charlie as if she had actually confirmed something. He stroked his moustache. "I mean you mentioned him a week ago… Jake still hasn't called you and he hasn't been over to see you… so I assume that means that he is still upset with you…and," he paused. "You're happy. You're even singing."
She paused too.
She was happy.
She really was.
"So maybe he could come to dinner… Friday… to the diner with us," Charlie pressed. "Save you cooking. And I could get to meet him… you know… properly."
"I could ask him." She served their dinner and placed it on the table for him.
"Good."
End of discussion.
After dinner, when she had cleaned up everything, Bella headed back up to her bedroom. She called Paul on her cell while she packed her bag for school the next day. It rang for a little while before he answered.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey yourself." And then because she was so keen to get it over and done with, "Charlie wants you to come to dinner with us on Friday… at the diner."
"Does he now?"
Silence.
"Good cover by the way… with the Romeo thing," he added.
"We are studying it for English, so it was kind of familiar."
"Doubly smart then."
"So Friday?" She could hear him breathe out. Did that mean he was nervous about meeting Charlie?
"I'll see you before then, though?" he asked.
"Sure. I do need to do some study, but I will be working Thursday night at newtons." There was a pause. "If I don't see you before then."
"Yeah… okay… Sam's having a party next Saturday night. Maybe you could come to that? Not this weekend; the one after."
"I'd like that." What she really wanted to do, if she was honest with herself, was spend the whole night with him again. Since their initial get together, it had been a series of amazingly heated encounters, but she wanted to sleep the night in his arms. Even if she woke up in a ball of sweat. "You could ask Charlie about it at dinner on Friday, if you wanted."
"Yeah…"
"Okay then…"
"Okay."
"You can call me anytime," she reminded him.
"I know."
"Because we are kind of …dating…" she suggested.
"Yeah," he sounded really pleased with her saying that. "I know."
"Or you could call me 'honey'," she prodded mischievously.
"Never going to happen," he stated.
"Pfft… yeah right… that's what you said when I was stinking up your sheets for you." She cupped her hand over her mouth as she whispered the last bit. It actually made it louder at Paul's end, but she wasn't to know that.
He chuckled. "I'll call you," he promised.
"Good night then," she said.
"Sleep well… honey," he added.
She laughed and cut off the call.
Paul put his phone back in his shorts pocket and turned around to face the wolf pack. Sam had his hands on his hips. Jake was glaring at him. Leah looked amused. Seth just looked like he wanted to laugh. Embry and Quil backed Jake with whatever was going on with him. Jared was shaking his head.
"Are you finished, Honey?" asked Sam sarcastically.
"Yep." He didn't apologise for making everyone wait for him.
"Good. Now if we can get back to what I was saying about patrols…"
"Yeah… Romeo," snarked Jake.
"You sure that's an insult?" suggested Paul.
"What?" from Jake.
"My reading of it, they got married and fucked like bunnies," Paul said evenly.
Jake looked dumbfounded.
"Yeah," put in Seth. "He stole her from her fiancé… Paris… wasn't it? Dumb name for a guy…"
"They got married?" Sam asked despite himself. "When did that happen?"
"They had a secret ceremony," said Leah. "With the nurse and the priest as the only witnesses."
"Oh…" Sam nodded in understanding.
"He was still in her bed when the cock crowed too…" said Embry. "So he stayed all night."
"And he was a good fighter," said Quil. "He survived the brawls with the others… the Capulets… right? And killed their best man."
"And they almost got away with it all," stated Jared. "Except for the lost message from the priest."
"And then they died," said Jake. He couldn't work out how this had gone off the rails quite so dramatically.
Paul shrugged. "Most famous lovers in history."
"So you guys are dating then?" asked Seth.
"Yeah… guess it looks that way," admitted Paul.
"Stinking up your sheets?" asked Leah.
Paul just grinned at her.
"What the fuck!" said Sam, suddenly realising the meeting was truly out of control.
Jake still looked completely flummoxed.
"Sorry Chief," said Paul.
Jake's eyes narrowed. He still hadn't worked out how that was an insult.
FF_2154210_ - 16/07/2011 06:38:00 PM