Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
I waited in the hallway as Alice talked to Jake. Plans were made as to what to do next. While the group of wanna be paranormal sleuths readily accepted the fact that I could talk to spirits without a bat of an eye, they had hard time understanding my reluctance to be forthcoming about it to the public. Then again they had never been committed by a judge who worried for their mental stability.
"Man, if I were you, I would be on TV," James commented with a grin that almost made him handsome. "I would be rolling in fat stacks from all the money people would pay me to talk to their dead Nanas."
"That's an idea, James," I mused with a laugh as I turned to leave with Edward. I could feel Alice's eyes boring into me as I stood, waiting for the others to leave with me.
"Try not to let her bother you," James said in a low whisper as he looked from the girl to me. "She's used to being the resident expert and now with you here she's not."
"I think it's funny as fuck," Vickie announced as she joined in our conversation. She narrowed her eyes, glaring right back to the small girl who was willing me dead with her eyes.
"Awe, Bella," Edward teased as I felt his hand ghost over mine before interlocking his fingers with mine. "Wednesday is jealous of you."
"Fantastic," I murmured before telling the others good bye as I left them behind. We were silent as we made our way down the empty halls of the school until finally reaching an exit to escape.
We had barely made it past the high school towards my home when Edward finally spoke.
"You really think that this is going work?"
It was the million dollar question that haunted me more that afternoon than the ghost at my side.
"I don't know, but I have to try," I stated with a firm nod of my head, not caring who might see me interact with him.
"But what if I don't want you to?" he asked, catching me off guard as I tripped over a crack in the sidewalk beneath me. I wasn't expecting that answer from him since he was the one who approached me to help him. It went against everything we had worked towards for him to even suggest giving up now.
"What?"I gasped as Edward steadied me on my feet.
"I just don't like the idea of you getting hurt and that freak-o saw you dying and…" he rambled on as I felt his hands upon me. They roamed over my arm before grasping my hand with his.
"Don't tell me you bought into the bullshit she was trying to pull," I snorted out loud as I turned down the street towards my house.
"I'm not buying anything, bird girl, I just can't lose you," he grouched with a scowl that made me snicker. Only Edward would take the word of a want to be psychic as the gospel.
"I mean, I did make a promise to keep you safe," he clarified with a frown.
"And I promised to get you home, so let me," I cut him off as we approached my house. Dad's car was gone, so I was alone, or at least as a lone as I could be with Edward there.
"What's the deal with the name bird girl?" I asked out of curiosity. He had called me that countless times since we had met, yet he never explained it. I looked over at his pale face as we crossed the yard to my front door to find him grinning at me in an embarrassed manner.
"I, uh, always called Charlie bird man so… Yeah, you're, uh, bird girl," he commented with a shrug that looked far from casual like what he had clearly hoped. It was endearing in an odd manner that left me smiling at his ridiculousness while pulling out my keys to the front door.
"Why is the door unlocked?" he asked in a rush of words as he let go of my hand. The worried look on his pale face was almost comical as he turned to face me while preventing me from entering the house.
"Don't go in until I give you the signal," he ordered in a barking tone before disappearing into the air surrounding me.
"Sure," I whispered with a laugh as I opened the door and walked inside, ignoring his demands.
"Damn it, Bella!" I could hear him yell from upstairs as Bernice walked by mumbling to herself.
"Good afternoon, Bernice, long time no see," I greeted her as Edward appeared in the room with a scowl.
"There's no one here," he announced as I rolled my eyes at his dramatics.
"Yeah, I know," I sighed as I left him to find a snack in the kitchen. Dad always had cookies of some sort hidden in the cupboards.
"You need to call your dad," he demanded as I pulled out a bag of chips since the cookies were nowhere to be found.
"Why?" I asked before silencing him with a loud crunch of the chips.
"Because there is no way he left that door unlocked with you on your way home alone," Edward whined as I rolled my eyes.
"This is a small town, Edward," I sighed in an exasperated manner that earned a low growl from the ghost boy at my side.
"This is a town of over forty thousand people, which for one, is not all that small, and two, already has one unsolved murder on its hands according to you. Do you really want to bump that total up to two?" he demanded as I shook my head at him. He was kinda adorable when he was freaking out like this.
"You're really taking this Wednesday Adam thing seriously, huh?" I asked him, trying my best not to mock him as I did.
"And for a person who hangs out with a ghost I am shocked that you are not," he shot back with a scowl that made me laugh. "I'm serious, Bella. I can't protect you when you refuse to watch out for yourself."
"Would you feel better if I went to talk to Madame Tanya?" I asked with a grin in hopes to ease his pointless fears, but I knew it didn't.
"No," he stated firmly. "I would feel better if you just stopped all of this."
"Too late for that," I snickered as I pulled open the last cupboard door to find the Oreo cookies that Dad had hidden yesterday.
"Too late for what?"
Dad's sudden appearance in the door way to the front room caused me to swallow a scream that still echoed in the air surrounding us while showering the counter top with cookies.
"Too late for your cookies," I gasped for air while trying to act cool.
"If you say so," he chuckled as he walked away from me. "Don't fill up on junk food. We are going to the diner soon."
"You should have told me that he was here," I hissed at Edward who was still laughing at the high pitched squeal that escaped my lips when Dad came in.
"Where is the fun in that?" he laughed as I stuffed a cookie in my mouth.
"Fun my ass," I mumbled as Edward grinned at me like the asshole he was. I would never tell him how cute he was when he behaved like this since it would only encourage him.
"Vickie thinks you have a great ass and I gotta say, I agree with her," he smirked as he moved making a production looking at my rear. "I mean normally, as you know, I am all about the tits, but you gotta give credit where credit is due."
"You're a dick," I mumbled as I took a playful swing at him while he howled in laughter.
"Charlie, get in here! Your daughter can't keep her hands off me!" Edward bellowed as I swatted at his solid form in between his fits of laughter.
"Hey?" Dad called out to me, causing me to jump with fright since my first reaction was that he had somehow heard the boy's teasing yelps of pain.
"You think he heard me?" he asked with a snort while I wondered if the boy had read my mind.
"You're so full of yourself," I mocked while Edward continued to laugh at me.
"Bella?" Dad yelled again with an irritated sigh.
"What?" I yelled back as Edward snickered at me. He seemed to enjoy whenever Dad bitched at me, while I found nothing funny about it.
"Don't leave the door unlocked. It's not safe."
AN:
Thanks for reading! Hope you don't mind the small update. I have more time on my hands since quitting my job.
Xoxo
Mamasutra
