Disclaimer: Twilight is not mine at all.
A/N: Hello citizens of IEWIS Land! Ok, I know it's been too long. I gave you the very last EPOV Saturday and then I failed to post on Monday. I'm so terribly sorry! This little thing happened called life. Car got busy and I wasn't even about to post the un-IEWIS worthy material I had written yesterday, so the wait was necessary.
You are all rocking my socks, let me tell you. The love is incredible. I get this a lot now though: "You are breaking my heart! Why would you write something like that? Oh but I love it so much, don't stop!" haha You are fantastic people and I'm sorry I'm sending you all into conflicting ranges of emotions, but you seem to like it enough to keep coming back for more so I'm not too worried.
So here is Chapter 36. It's definitely for fusnies, the beginning of the tour at all that. Yes, we get some relief from the emotional stuff. I needed it too.
So sit back, relax, and (hopefully) have some fun.
Chapter 36 - Us Little Kids
BPOV
We woke up too early the next day. I was not pleased.
"Bellarina... Bellarinia, wake up sister."
I did not open my eyes but I could feel Emmett hovering over me as he actually used a soft voice to try and coax me out of my sleep.
I groaned and turned my face into my pillow. I heard many laughs break out to the right of me, but I wasn't amused by it, I was annoyed.
"Sister it's time to get up for tour! If you don't get up you are getting left behind..." His voice was a little louder now, more excited even.
A flash of something like happiness flew threw me at the mention of tour. I knew I should want to get up and partake in it... I was just still too asleep to care though. The more minutes I could squeeze out of this game the better. This was a game I knew I was going to loose but was not ready to give up on. At least until he pulled out the big guns.
"Ok Bellarina. If you do not get your sleepy little butt up in the next 30 seconds I am going to pin you down and kiss you right here, right now, screw Delaware. Edward's approved it too, so you better make your decision quickly. Wake or kiss." He was laughing now, as were all the others, as I laid there and hated life for a few moments.
About 23 seconds later I finally sat up and glared at my big brother that I did not want to kiss now or ever.
As I glared at him his big goofy grin broke out and he reached out to ruffle my already messy hair with his hand.
"There's my sister! Ready to hit the open road?!"
I slapped his hand away from my head and said, "Don't touch me," then rolled off the couch and looked around miserably.
Everyone else was in the kitchen doing various breakfast things like eating toast, or drinking milk, or laughing at me.
"I told you it was unpleasant." My Edward crookedly grinned at Emmett and then winked at me as he took a bite of toast.
"I really didn't think it would be that bad. Will she ever like me again?" Emmett wore a small smile as he asked the question and I tried to smile back at him to comfort him. I tried to let him know I would probably like him again when the sun was up and it was appropriate to be awake, but putting in the effort to smile just made my face muscles upset so I gave up and let him worry.
"She'll come around eventually. The first time I had to wake up Sleeping Beauty she told me I was 'the worst friend she'd ever had' but that's clearly not true." Rose smiled smugly and brushed the whole thing off with a wave of her hand.
"Well I'm glad I warned her and didn't go straight in for the kiss! I could have lost an eye!" Emmett half laughed.
"Or worse..." Jasper mused, making the others laugh harder.
I was standing in the center of all of their attention and their laughs were waking me bit by bit but I was still wishing for sleep more than anything.
Well, almost anything. I padded over to Edward who was sitting on a bar stool at the kitchen counter and leaned into him as I let my head fall into his chest.
"I do not want to be awake." I whined at him, taking in his sweet scent as he wrapped his arms around me.
I felt the chuckle shake his body and then he softly said, "I know but this is the tour life, my love."
Then I smelt something wonderful and warm and I opened my eyes to see him lifting his piece of toast up to my mouth to share with me.
I opened my mouth and he gave me a bite, which actually helped brighten my attitude. I looked up at him and mumbled, "thank you," through my food, keeping my mouth as shut as possible as I spoke.
He looked absolutely perfect smiling back at me, even though it was some God-awful time in the morning and I knew he hadn't done anything but roll off of the couch where he had been next to me. It almost didn't seem fair to look at him. Especially since I knew what I probably looked like with my curly hair in sleep disarray all around my groggy face.
He brought his hand up to my mouth, wiping away the bits of crumb the toast left there. He leaned down and replaced his thumbs with his lips when he had it all cleared and I smiled under him.
"I don't care what they say," he whispered to me when he pulled away, "I love you in the morning as much as any other time of the day and I cannot wait to wake up next to this everyday."
He chuckled and I smiled widely, now having swallowed my bite of toast.
"Yes, but you still let Emmett take the heat this morning, I see." I gave him an accusing look and he just laughed coolly and continued to speak softy, privately to me.
"Well my Bella, when the time comes for us to wake up next to each other every day I will be free to use more... pleasant methods of waking you. I don't think you would be very angry with me after that. No matter what time it is."
The smoldering in his eyes did it. I was fully awake now! Heck, I was ready to grab him and sprint from the group and go practice these "pleasant" methods right now. Where do we go? Can't they all just get the hint and leave?
But of course Edward is a tease so he just leaned away from me and bit off more of his toast, his emeralds smoldering at me the whole time. Tempting me with what was to come.
He held his breakfast out to me one more time and I angrily took a bite but smiled at him when he just laughed and shook his head at me.
We didn't have much to pack up since we hadn't planned on staying at Mike's when we left for the show the night before. The plan now was to stop by the apartment and pack our bags into the jeep then head off to Phoenix where the first show was. That's part of the reason we had to get up so early, we had an extra stop to make now that we weren't starting from our apartment.
About 20 minutes later the kitchen was cleaned up and it was the inevitable time of departure. The excitement of tour was setting in as we headed towards the door. This was something I've always thought I would enjoy doing. I was about to be traveling across the country and listening to live music almost every night! Waking up too early seemed like something I could bear for a little while once that thought set in.
We had all been completely ready to go as we walked towards the door. Literally walk-out-the-door-drive-away ready, but suddenly we weren't.
Turning to say goodbye to Angela, Jess, Mike and Tyler was like hitting a wall.
We were suddenly faced with four very solemn faces. Four faces that we had loved and laughed with many times, and that had reassured us and connected to us. Four real people that were in a sense being left behind.
"Have fun on tour guys," Jess said quietly as she reached out to Alice for a hug. Her eyes were liquidy and her voice was shaky.
Many more things of that nature were uttered between us as we all made the rounds and said our goodbyes individually.
"Tell your boyfriend in Phoenix I said hi," Tyler laughed as he hugged me. "Or better yet just have Edward tell him hi for me. I'm sure he'll make sure to get the message across."
We both laughed at the old joke and Edward just scoffed through a smile during his hug with Jess.
After most of the hugging was over everyone separated except for 2 of us. Mike and Emmett were still clinging to each other for a few extra seconds.
When Mike pulled away Emmett patted him on the back and stepped back into our group.
"I'm coming back, Mikey, remember? We'll still hang out." Emmett reminded Mike in a happy voice.
"I know, it's the fact that the band won't be back, the group won't be back." Mike said with a shake of his head.
"Yeah, you guys became like extended family to us." Angela said with a smile. "The four of us have known each other our whole lives and we've never kept a group of friends around us like this."
"You have to know how cool it was for you to let us into your little world like you did." Tyler said with a smile. It was full of so many things. Pride, sadness, gratefulness, goodbye.
"No way, you guys let us into your venue and your scene. We owe you!" Emmett said with a point towards them.
"That's true," Tyler nodded with confidence."But that's not like what you guys have here. I can't explain it. I can only thank you for letting us be a part of you." He gestured at all of us standing in a broken line in front of them and I realized what they were saying. They were the only ones to break the barrier and become attached to whatever it was we had. Our "world". If we were family they were indeed extended family, the people who accepted us for who we were and fit in with the life we formed around ourselves.
We walked out with promises of keeping in touch and visits and such. I knew that driving away from them would not be the hardest thing in our future, but it didn't stop the small pain that did build up.
Alice waved goodbye to the second part of our LA lives that we left behind and the jeep roared down the road towards the apartment.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Leaving the apartment wasn't very sad at all because we were all coming back to get our stuff after spending some time in Forks after the tour. It wasn't a goodbye so much as it was a "see ya later." That I could handle.
Edward and I were the first to make it down to the parking garage because I packed considerably less than Alice and Rose. We threw our longboards into the back and then leaned against the side of the jeep to wait for the others. Edward was right next to me on my left side and I grabbed his hand then let some of the tiredness take me over as I closed my eyes and leaned my head back.
"Rose and Emmett are engaged." He broke the small silence with that surprising sentence and my head and eyes snapped up and open.
"Come again?" I asked in disbelief, pretty sure he was just trying to keep me from becoming too sleepy.
"Rosalie and Emmett are engaged." He looked at me and smiled when he said it this time, and I knew it was true. I would be able to tell if he was playing around.
"How come I didn't know?" I asked while more confusion clouded my face.
"Rose only told Jasper and I last night. She doesn't want the group to know yet."
"But you are telling me anyway?" I asked suspiciously, not sure why they would keep such good news from all of us.
"Alright, she doesn't want Alice to know yet." He said with a humorous smile.
"Oh. That makes more sense actually. It would ruin the tour." I nodded and understood. Alice is going to snap into wedding mode the second she hears this news.
Then I thought about it for a good second, after the shock of him just blurting it out wore off. They were engaged. To be married. Rose and Emmett.
"Wow. That was quick." I said out loud suddenly as my thoughts caught up with me.
"Yes. But it's right, don't you think? For them to be together." Edward looked at me curiously but there was something deeper in his look that I didn't quite get. It was something that made me feel bad though. What is it?
"Of course I think it's right. Look at them! Who else could handle Tough as Nails Barbie or Doesn't Have a Filter Emmett?" I made him laugh lightly at my exaggerations of them and it made me feel a little better. "I just didn't expect it this soon I guess. Someday, sure. But not this soon." I shrugged and went back to leaning against the jeep.
His right hand was in my left and as I closed my eyes for the second time I felt him move his hand in mine just slightly. His thumb started rubbing small gentle circles on the top of my ring finger. The one I would wear an engagement ring on, someday. I'm not sure if he was aware he was doing it or not. There are always little things he does like this. With Edward they can either be very intentional devises he uses to provoke thoughts in me, or just small gestures his subconscious provides due to his own deep thoughts.
"You are happy for them though." He stated it because he knew I was. How could I not be? But he seemed to need confirmation from me for some reason.
As I turned to face him he remained looking straight ahead with no emotion on his face. It was as if he was scared to let anything show in fear of it showing too much.
"Edward, how could I not be happy for them? Rose is one of my very best friends and Emmett is my big brother." I was speaking softly, all the while letting most of my mind wander around and try to figure out what was wrong with him.
Then I got it. Just as he could always read every emotion in my face I could always read the lack of emotion in his.
I smiled to myself and leaned in closer to him. I reached up and turned his stone face to mine, begging with my eyes for him to crack a smile before I spoke. I got more than I begged for and he leaned in and kissed me softly, smiling smally just before our lips touched.
He went to lean away but I grabbed his face with both of my hands and held him inches away from me.
"You are ridiculous, do you know that?" I asked with a smile of my own.
His smile faded and the stone man was back. "That's not a very appropriate thing to say to someone who has just kissed you, love."
I giggled softly and then continued, keeping his face close to mine.
"Edward I love that Rosalie and Emmett are getting married, I just didn't expect you to blurt it out to me in the middle of the parking garage." I paused and a little bit of life seeped back into his eyes as he listened and smiled again.
"But even if I did not love the idea of them getting married, it would not effect how I feel about our relationship." I looked at him sternly then, making sure he understood what I was saying. More of the bright green that I loved took over the dullness that he had placed in front of it.
"I clearly don't know what goes on in the others' relationships privately or intimately so I wasn't aware that Rose and Em were ready to make this commitment. I knew that they would make it someday, sure, but how was I to know that the man who invented Naked Five O'Clock just a few days ago would be ready to pop the question?"
We both laughed now and he brought his own hands up and wrapped them around mine that were still on his face. His features waere back to normal and my Edward was smiling back at me, finally understanding where I was going with this.
"The one thing I do know is what goes on here, between you and I. So you have to promise me that no matter what opinions I have about other people and their relationships or decisions you will not let it infect your mind with doubts about things we discuss. For us. Do you understand?"
He was smirking at my commanding tone now, but he nodded his head like a good boy and I rewarded him with a kiss.
"I'm sorry Isabella. I did not doubt you, or anything you have every said to me. Just your reaction to the threat of what normal people should feel like." He smirked again as he brought up my old fear of not being normal when it came to our feelings and I threw him a play full glare.
"Yeah, I got over that normal crap a while ago. I'd rather be crazy with you than normal with a thousand other guys."
He laughed freely then and I loved it. Edward is a very happy person normally but it's not too often he laughs with such abandon. It was like winning a prize every time I was the one that got it out of him. It was his purest form of joy.
"Well I am crazy for you my Bella, so normal is out the window."
He kissed me again and came around to the front of me as he pressed me against the jeep this time, deepening the kiss with every second that passed. He brought one hand up to tangle in my hair and the other to my side where he moved it up and down very slowly, teasingly. My hands actually left their usual spot in his wild hair and drifted down to his sides, gliding under the hem of his shirt to his smooth skin. He moaned into my mouth at the sensation of my hands on him, no fabric between the two, and I smiled under his lips.
Edward felt me smile and I knew he was instantly determined not to "loose". He moved his mouth from mine but never took it from my skin as he worked his way down my jaw and to my neck. My fingers dug into his sides at the sensation and I felt his mouth twist up in a smile against my throat in small victory at my reaction. But that wasn't enough for him, which was just fine with me.
More. More. More. That all I could think when he did this to me now.
He moved in conflicting directions then, his hand going down under my shirt to the flesh on my side, and his mouth up, finding it's way to the space just below my ear. That was it. Amazingly he had never hit that spot before in our hours and hours of this, almost like he was saving it for the most opportune moment.
"Edward..." I breathed out, barely audible, entirely pleased with what he was doing.
He kept his hands where they were but lifted his mouth off of my skin long enough for one victorious chuckle.
I missed the connection to him so I twisted my head down to press his lips against mine. I could feel the smug smile remaining there, reveling in the effect he had on me. I worked with the movement of my mouth to rid him of it but he was barely responding, not through taunting me with his stubborn smile.
I got a tad bit annoyed then.
"I'm glad you're so pleased with yourself Edward Cullen, but you should really be kissing me when I want you to," I said it breathlessly against his lips but he just chuckled at me, coaxing me to try harder.
I scoffed inwardly then and did everything I could to get him to kiss me back the way he had been before. I moved my own mouth off his and down to his neck as I trailed my hand very lightly up his side, under his shirt. I felt him tense underneath me then, and his hand in my hair tightened it's grip as he took in a sharp breath. It was my turn to let him feel my smile.
"Touche," he said softly as he relaxed and then pulled my head up level with his to crash his lips on mine, attacking me with passion.
I was pleased with myself, I'm not going to lie. I was extremely pleased I could get him to react in that way. I never would have imagined I could, ever. I would have imagined someone like Rose being able to do that to someone like Edward. They were on the same level. But me? This was a feat to be proud of. Alice was in that league too, I thought. All of them. God knows what Alice's little pout alone can do...
I pulled away suddenly as a thought occurred to me.
"Wait, so we have to keep the engagement a secret from Alice? That doesn't seem safe." I looked at him as I wrinkled my nose in worry and stared at his surprised expression.
He panted lightly for a few seconds and just stared at me with wide, swimming, irresistible, surprised eyes.
"I was just kissing you... like that, and you are thinking about Alice?" All signs of his former victory fled his face as he stared at me in question, still only inches from me.
I couldn't help but laugh at his cute reaction to my distraction from him. I brought up one of my hands to my mouth in an attempt to hide the laugh even though it didn't help because he was still staring at me, still pinning me to the jeep even.
"No, I wasn't thinking of Alice. I..." I lost myself to a fit of giggles again as his face twisted into annoyance. I noted that he did not move back from me even an inch though. "I'm sorry. It was just something that popped into my mind."
"During that?" He asked again with a shocked tone and a short breath.
"Um, yeah, I guess." I shrugged and smiled innocently. His body went limp against mine in defeat, no longer pinning me against the jeep.
Well we can't have that!
"Not the whole time though! I'm sorry Edward, I'm not sure how it happened, really. The thought just hit me suddenly. The rest of the time I was thinking about... well I guess I wasn't really thinking because I never really can think when you are that close to me." I grabbed his hand and entwined us together after I spilled the truth out to him, trying really hard not to laugh again at his defeated demeanor.
He sighed and smiled at me, believing me and apparently deeming my answer forgiveness wothy.
"I know the feeling." He leaned into me slowly, and I was losing the ability to breath and think just as slowly as he moved until he got within inches of me again.
Then the smoldering was back on. I was almost surprised with the speed it swept back over him as he attacked me again, against the jeep.
"What are you thinking now?" He asked a few minutes later with an unusually deep, husky voice as his lips continued to move against my own.
"Nothing." I said quickly so as not to waste time speaking.
He chuckled and continued kissing me in a very passionate manner, his hands wandering up and down my sides again.
Far too soon the elevator on the other side of the parking garage dinged loudly, giving us fair warning of our privacy being interrupted.
I groaned as he pulled away and a smirk danced across his face. At least he was pleased with himself again. He leaned in once more a pecked me on the lips before whispering, "And yes, we do need to keep the engagement a secret from Alice."
I nodded that I understood and soon Alice herself was bouncing over to us, singing and dancing the whole time.
Within minutes we were piled in the jeep with Emmett yelling, "TOUR ROAD TRIP! NEW YORK AND OTHER VARIOUS STOPS ON THE WAY, OR BUST!" then laughing at himself wildly as we pulled out into the streets of Hollywood and on to our first destination.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The first few shows went well. We made to through Phoenix the first night only to find out that the show had been cancelled, the venue shut down.
"Sorry guys," the promoter of the show had said over the phone after we arrived to the vacant venue and called him in question. "I guess we forgot to call you."
We had a good laugh about it and headed over to my parent's house early. It was nice that we were going to be able to stay there for a night. My mom was thrilled at least.
"All my kids are back! I love it!" She beamed as we walked through our front door and announced our arrival.
"Yeah, the Jonas Brothers got cancelled on," Rosalie teased as she nodded towards the boys then hugged my mother first.
The boys scoffed and the rest of us laughed as Charlie came out to say hi to everyone as well. I notice Edward pull Charlie into him for a moment after they shook hands in greeting and say something quitely to him as the others conversed with my mother. I watched Charlie nod back at him and then a smile spread across both of their faces as they broke apart.
I was going to question Edward as he turned back to me but I was interrupeted by, "Where's the food mom?!"
I turned my attention to Emmett as smiled and suddenly started pulling my mother behind him into the kitchen.
We decided to order pizza and we sat around the dining room with my parents just laughing and talking for most of the night until we dispersed and the boys went to watch a game in the living room while we helped my mom clean up in the kitchen.
It was an all around peaceful night, and we were off again at a decent time the next mornin and headed off to New Mexico. Roswell, the destination of the next show, was about 9 hours away from Phoenix. It wasn't a very long trip so we entertained ourselves with light things like sing a longs and games. Eventually the music got turned down and we settled into a nice game of "Would You Rather."
"Would you rather have a centaur as a pet or a dragon?"
I smiled at Jasper's question and thought about it really hard for the minute we were allotted to think.
The alarm went off on Rose's phone after a considerable amount of silence over took the car and Jasper said, "Ok thinking time is up. Rose, you're first this time."
" A centaur for sure. They are half man." She smiled perfectly and everyone nodded at her answer, understanding her "half man" reasoning..
"Edward."
"Centaur. They are supposed to be very intelligent, aren't they?" Jasper and I both nodded and he smiled. "That would be helpful in a pet."
"Alice?" Jasper turned to her and smiled.
"Hmm. I still don't know. Can you come back to me?"
He nodded and moved on. "Emmett?"
"Centaur of course! They are fighters and I like that. Imagine wrestling something that has arms, legs, and hooves. You beat that and you are pretty f'kin awesome!!"
"Cussin' Day!" we all cheered after his sentence. It really ment nothing to us, no one but Emmett would continue to use his faux cuss, but it had become habit for all of us to cheer about it after Emmettt started it that first night on the beach and it actually became amusing.
"That leaves Bella."
"Dragon, clearly. They fly and are more pet like." I shrugged and Jasper nodded at me.
"Same for me, dragon." he said confidentially. "Alice we need your answer now."
"No way! You guys are crazy! You can't choose dragon!" Emmett suddenly yelled from the driver's seat as Alice was about to speak.
"Oh because centaur is so very logical," I mocked from the back of the car.
"It's better than dragon!"
"No way Em. If you start out with a baby dragon you have something cute and little to take care of, like a puppy." I smiled at that thought and Edward looked at me with a smile. He looked like half of him thought I was cute for my answer and the other half was calculating just how crazy I was.
"You can get a baby centaur." Rosalie said suddenly, defending Emmett since it was her choice too.
"Yeah, but that's going to suck!" I said loudly. "That's not like having a pet, that's like having a baby. No way." I folded my arms and shook my head. Baby dragon would be so much cuter, hands down.
Alice and Jasper were sitting in the middle of the jeep and her little head was turning back and forth between the other 5 of us as we debated. She seemed to be taking every point we made into consideration for her own decision.
"A baby? It has horse legs." Edward informed me with amusement and doubt. "I'm not sure if you had some odd reproduction lessons when you were young, but a baby centaur would most likely not be much like baby human."
"It doesn't matter what you say Bellarina, it's still better than a dragon." Emmett shook his head and kept his eyes on the road.
"Not a baby dragon Emmett. What's the problem with raising a baby dragon?" I asked the group.
"When it grows up IT WILL EAT YOU!" Emmett boomed out half laughing. "There's your problem right there!"
The whole car was laughing now, but not done debating.
"Not if you raise it correctly." Jasper defended sternly when the laughter quickly died down.
"Yeah, haven't you ever seen The Lion King?" I added from the back. "If you raise it right, it will be on your side. Hence, no eating." I smiled happily at my excellent point.
"Oh right, the cartoon character's life decisions are excellent things to measure your own decisions against." Rose said sarcastically.
"Rose, we are speaking of owning a dragon." Jasper spoke to her like he was communicating with a small child. "I'm pretty sure in this conversation the catoon characters are just as valid as the mythical creatures we are arguing over."
Rosalie rolled her eyes but most of us agreed that was a valid statement.
"Centaurs are part human, you can reason with them, you can talk with them." Edward voiced suddenly. "The dragon is all monster, it could loose control and hurt you."
"Not if it grew to love you enough." I looked at him in the eye when I said it. "If it loved you enough it would resist it's natural instincts for you." It was silent for a second as he smiled at me sweetly, probably at what he considered my naivety.
The serene moment was broken by Emmett making a very loud gagging sound.
"Not if it grew to love you enough," he mocked me in an extremely high pitched tone and then scoffed. "This isn't a freaking romantic fantasy here sister, it's a dragon! It acts on instinct. If it wants to eat it will eat. What it wants when it wants, no matter what."
"No Emmett, that just sounds like you," Jasper injected suddenly with a snicker.
I laughed from the back seat at Jasper's retort and Emmett just reached behind him to punch his brother in the leg, but Jasper dodged it.
"Both of them pose risks, actually." Jasper said calmly after the fist stopped swinging. "With a centaur you risk resentment and hostility at being in captivity." Emmett grunted in response and Rose nodded once.
"That's true." Edward agreed. "It won't eat you though."
He poked me in the side to tease me further and I grabbed his finger to stop it from poking me again. He just spread his hand out to take mine in his and I smiled despite him diapproving of my pet dragon.
Jasper continued his argument now that we had them agreeing with one of our anti-centaur points.
"Even though it may not eat you it could still do some damage."
"That's what she said!" Emmett laughed out suddenly from the front of the jeep.
"Emmett!" Rosalie said as she smacked his arm.
We were consumed in laughter at his sudden joke but calmed down after a minute, shaking our heads at Emmett's mind.
We entered New Mexico then and the welcome sign at the state line said: "New Mexico: Welcome to the Land of Enchantment"
"The land of enchantment? I pretty much still just see rocks." Rosalie said as she looked around dramatically at the desert that continued to surround us, just like all of Arizona.
"Yeah, that doesn't seem correct." Edward added with a chuckle as we all continued to stare at the almost bare land around us.
"Well if my dragon was frollicing around the desert you would all be more enchanted, I'll tell you that!" I said as I turned my voice towards Emmett, not letting it go.
"Oh yeah, and lets see how enchanted you are when my centaur army shoots down your dragon for flying over the countryside and burning down the entire village!" He yelled back.
"You guys that's ridiculous." Jasper cut in calmly."Centaurs would never form an army, nor would they shoot down a dragon that wasn't threatening them directly."
I ignored him to keep yelling at the front of the car towards my big dumb anti-dragon brother.
"That will be a lot better than when your own centaurs turn on you and perform mutiny!"
"That's pirates," Rosalie corrected me with a tone I didn't appreciate.
"I'm pretty sure mutiny stands for any organized group that turns on it's leader." Jasper corrected again and was ignored, again.
"What happens when your big dumb dragon swings it's big dumb tail and takes you out with one of it's spikes?" Emmett asked smugly.
"Then I intervene and avenge her honour!" Edward said proudly from beside me.
"You can't kill my dragon!" I said sternly as I swatted his arm.
"But he killed you first!" Edward said defensively.
"Oh no, that's just the evil centaurs brainwashing you into thinking you need to kill the dragon!" I pointed my finger accusingly at him and his eyes widened.
"What?" Edward laughed and scoffed at me.
At the same time Rosalie yelled, "That's right! Our side has magical powers! Not only are they hott, they are powerful!"
"Centaurs don't have magical powers exactly-" Jasper tried to explain but got cut off by an angry Emmett.
"You think the centaurs are hott?!" He turned a glare to Rosalie.
"Well yeah. Half man, half beast. Who wouldn't go for it?" She smirked, I cringed, and Alice squealed, "Ewe!"
"Would you leave me for a centaur?" Emmett demanded suddenly with a frown.
"I don't know I haven't met any yet." She smirked and teased him.
"That's it, the centaurs are going down right after the dragons!" Emmett yelled as he slapped the steering wheel.
"Oh no you don't! What if I loved him? Would you take that away from me?" Rosalie asked loudly with a raised eyebrow at her, I guess, finance.
"I'll fight for what's mine!" Emmett boomed back.
"See! It's a boy thing!" I intervened. "They don't care what you love, they will kill it to feel better about themselves!" I looked accusingly at Edward and he held his hands up defensively.
"IT KILLED YOU BELLA! Of course I have to do something about that!"
"YEAH! A stupid horse man can't please you like I can Rosie! If I get rid of them all then I can protect you!"
"NO!" I shouted at Edward.
"No!" Rosalie echoed me to Emmett.
"You guys, I'm fairly sure neither of you could kill either a dragon or a centaur yourself anyway. They are both very strong creatures..."
Jasper's cool voice was cut off by Rose, Edward and I saying, "Shut up Jasper!" in unison and Emmett throwing a water bottle at him.
It was silent after that for a moment, all of us brooding over our mythical loves or foes, depending on which sex you were.
Jasper broke the silence.
"Alice, you never got to answer. You have clearly heard agruments from either side... though I'm not clear exactly what those sides are at the moment..." We all looked around nonchalantly with arms still folded and chins still raised as we continued our silence and ignored Jasper's words about us. "So what will it be for you? Centaur or dragon?"
She was silent for another moment and then she simply asked, "Do dragons only come in green, or could I get a red one?"
We all lost it then, the tension over our mythical creature fight was gone. Of course Alice would base her answer on color preference and nothing else. Of course.
We got to a tiny town outside right of Roswell and decided to stay there for the night. Rosalie's parents had decided to pitch in for some motels along the way, to keep their daughter from sleeping on the side of the road in a jeep. Originally the boys weren't too pleased with the generosity. They said it took away from the "tour essence". We came to a compromise by promising we would only stay in cheap motels, nothing fancy, and we would only get one room to cram in, therefore keeping some of the "roughing it" ambiance they were so concerned about.
We pulled in to a little motel called the Super 3 1/2 or something like that, and Emmett and Rosalie decided to go in and pay for a room by themselves so as not to parade around the fact that there were 6 of us.
They came back out a few minutes later, both of them looking annoyed.
"The broad in the lobby didn't believe there was only 2 of us." Emmett said as he got back in the driver's seat.
"She saw the jeep." Rose explained to us. "We told her you were all on your own for the night, deciding amongst yourselves what to do and that we had already decided to get a room for us, but she wasn't having it."
"Why does it matter to her anyway?" Alice asked sounding annoyed.
"At least there are more places to stay," Edward said as he pointed across the street and down a little. "Right there, there's the Crash Inn." He chuckled a bit as we drove over to the motel and marveled at it's cheesiness.
It was full blown cliche Roswell with it's name alluding to the UFO crash incident and signs in the window of the office that said "Come crash with us" and "Aliens Welcome".
"I bet we can't get in this one either." I said with a huff.
"Why not?" Alice asked.
"I bet the lady from the other motel has already called the front desk of this one and has warned them about the 6 hustlers in the big red jeep." I laughed a little but I wasn't entirely joking.
Edward, Rose and I decided to go in this time. That way it made more sense for us to need a room with 2 beds and a roll away, and also because Emmett had apparently gotten a bit worked up with the last woman when he was denied a room.
We walked into the lobby and there was only one girl at the front desk, she looked about our age. She was on the phone.
"Ok. Thank you Mrs. Cope...Mmmhmm. Thank you..." she hung up the phone abrubtly and looked at us with a smirk.
"No way." I said as she looked at the 3 of us.
"What?" Edward asked innocently, confused.
"That was her, wasn't it? The lady from across the street?" Rose asked the girl behind the desk and she just shook her head.
"I knew it!" I turned to Edward and smiled in satisfaction. "You small towners are so predictable." I smirked at him and he looked like he was going to argue but then he deflated.
"I suppose this would happen in Forks, too." He shook his head to himself.
"So what happens now?" Rosalie asked the girl, Samantha is what her name tag said.
"Well I don't really care what Mrs. Cope says, everyone knows she's a little..." She held her pointer finger up to her head and twirled it around in the classic "crazy" motion. "Not to mention paranoid. The 3 of you can do whatever you want. If there are more of you then I don't need to know about it. Just know that if the owners come by tonight and find out there are more of you in that room than there should be you could get kicked out. They aren't expected to come by tonight though." She smiled sweetly at us and we all kind of looked at each other and shrugged.
"Sounds good to me." Rosalie said and she handed the credit card to Samantha to purchase our 3 person room.
We got all of our bags into our tiny room and claimed our beds. Alice and Jazz were on the roll away since Alice was so tiny and it was the smallest bed.
"So if the owners come by we get thrown out?" She asked nervously as she sat cross legged on the bed and clutched onto a pillow.
"Yeah but she said they weren't supposed to come by tonight, right?" Emmett replied and asked the 3 of us that had gone in.
"That's right." Rosalie said. "Even if they do, what's the worst that could happen? We get kicked out of the alien hotel and have to sleep on the Jonas Brother's tour bus?"
Alice joined Rose and I in laughter, though hers sounded nervous, and the boys just rolled their eyes at Rose's annoying nick name for them.
"What if that woman at the other motel calls the owners and warns them about us?" Alice looked around the room at each of us as she asked the question. "What do we do?"
Her little face was so worried and I was so surprised that Alice was nervous. She was always so bold. I suppose it was the fact that we were breaking some rules or something.
"Half of us will hide in the bathroom," Emmett laughed quickly, practically disragarding her worry.
Suddenly there was a knock on our door and Alice shrieked loudly then jumped up to a standing position on the bed, still clutching the pillow.
We all just stared at the door, not knowing if we really should hide half of us in the bathroom or not.
"Answer it!" Alice commanded in a whisper as she pushed Emmett's shoulder.
"Um, no! I'm pretty sure they know a girl is in here after your shriek. I don't want them to hear that and then see me asnswer the door!"
Rosalie sighed and then walked over and turned the door knob as all of us stiffened. What was our problem? It's not like we were going to go to jail for over stuffing a motel room.
Rose opened the door slightly then her whole posture relaxed and she let the door swing open, causing Alice to fall to the bed in a sitting positon as if she was going to get in trouble for standing on it.
"Hey guys." Samantha gave a little wave from the other side of the door and we all relaxed instantly.
"What's up?" Rose asked with a smile.
"Well I'm off for the night but I wanted to stop by and let you know I spoke to the owner of the motel. It seems Cope couldn't keep her big mouth shut and she called him. He called the front desk to let me know that if you stopped by here I should give you a room with no trouble at all..." she smiled at us and Alice finally let go of her death grip on the pillow.
"So you have no worries for the night, I just wanted you to know before I left. Also, there's a pool around that building if you want to use it. Goodnight."
We said goodnight and thanked her by yelling over each other as Rosalie shut the door. I heard it click shut and braced myself for what I knew was coming.
"There's a pool!" Emmett's grin was a big as ever as he raised his arms in victory.
It took the boys a while to get their pool time because the cat was almost let out of the bag.
"Rosie come swimming with me please?" Emmett was on his knees in front of Rose, begging her to come to the pool with him and the boys.
"I don't want to Em. I don't even have a bathing suit with me." She smiled apologetically at him.
"Neither do we!" Emmett said, almost happily.
"Right, but unlike you I'm not thrilled by the idea of swimming in my underwear." She gave him an annoyed smirk now and pulled away.
"Rosalie..." He whined, still on the floor.
"Drop it Emmett! Go have fun with your brothers and leave me be with the girls," she sat on the bed in between Alice and I and we all smiled at him.
"You guys aren't any fun! I can't believe you don't like swimming." Emmett looked hurt as he stared at both Rose and I together and then his play full glare set on Rose. "How did you ever get me to propo-"
The whole room tensed at his words. I felt Rose stiffen next to me and I saw Edward stop moiving completely as Jasper threw a pair of socks at Emmett to interrupt his sentence. Emmett's eyes snapped open at his realization of his slip up.
"What did you just say?" Alice demanded in her sweet little voice as all her attention turned to Emmett. "Were you about to say proposed? You proposed to her?!"
She was standing on the bed again, hovering over Emmett who had stood up in the midst of his shock, her bright eyes dancing to the rhythm of the wedding bells already going off in her head.
"Um, no." Emmett said, his face suddenly turning into an unconvincing "are you crazy" look.
"Yes you did." Alice said firmly back.
"No he didn't." Rosalie said quickly with a pointed look at Emmett and then a sincere smile at Alice.
Alice was actually starting to bounce on the bed now slightly, but stopped when she got denial from both of them.
"Uh-huh! Bella you heard what he was going to say, it sounded like 'proposed' didn't it?" She looked at me and my mouth dried up. I'm a horrible liar.
"I wasn't listening, sorry." I shrugged and smiled at Alice who just looked like she would be shooting lasers at me with her eyes if she could.
"Fine. Lie to me Bella, that's just fine." She turned towards the boys. "Edward? Didn't you hear it?"
Edward looked a little off guard for a second but didn't falter. "No Alice, I did not." He smiled the crooked smile at her and she did not seem to think it was as dazzling as it was meant to be.
"Jazzy, you will back me up. Since Deaf and Deafer over here aren't going to help me..." She gestured towards Edward and I who just smirked at each other.
"Nope, I didn't hear it, sorry Alice." He cringed under her glare but smiled smally to try and keep the mood light.
"Honestly Alice, you heard wrong so sit down and stop making a big deal out of nothing." Rosalie was a little stern now, clearly getting nervous by the crazy look in Alice's eye at the mere possibility of a wedding.
"Yeah Alice, it's not a big deal." Emmett said, his eyes going back to their normal size as our little friend sat down in defeat. We were almost out of the clear but Emmett didn't really understand when to stop. "I was going to say 'How did you ever get me to pro...pa...gate you?'"
He smiled widely and Rosalie's eyes closed slowly at his lame cover up. Jasper's head dropped in shame at his brother and Edward mothed "propagate you?" at me with a disbelieving look, making me giggle.
"That doesn't even make sense, man." Jasper said quitely to the floor with a laugh.
"Well I'm Emmett! I don't have to make sense, right?!" He was desperate now, trying to get Alice's little glare off of him and save all of us from turning this into the Wedding Tour of the century.
Alice's eyes darted back and forth from Emmett to Rosalie for a few minutes until she decided to drop it for good. "Whatever," she finally mumbled and then smiled. "I can start planning it in my head without the official word from you guys, so it doesn't really matter if you are lying anyway."
Everyone laughed nervously then and the boys left to swim, glad to leave the cenversation behind them.
"Actually I think I'm going to go." Alice announced after we laid around for a few minutes and found there was absolutley nothing on TV.
She changed quickly, having been the only one of us to actually pack a bathing suit. Actually, she probably packed at least 5 knowing Alice. Then she flitted out the door and I wasted no time turning and confronting Rose.
"So, you are really engaged, huh?"
She looked shocked, on guard again for a brief moment, but then she settled down.
"Did Edward tell you?" She asked knowingly.
I nodded. "He said the only person we can't tell is Alice. For the obvious reasons."
We laughed as I gestured to where she has just been bouncing on the bed minutes ago and Roslie sighed as she shook her head.
"Are you excited?" I asked with my own excitement apparent in my voice.
"Of course! It's surreal almost though, you know? It seems like it happened so fast." She shook her head but kept the smile on her face.
"I'm so happy for you Rosalie. Do you have a date set yet?" It was almost weird for me to be asking these questions. Rosalie was the first of my friends to get engaged, I'd never gone through the motions of this conversation before. Luckily they all seemed to come naturally.
"Yes, we are thinking May of next year. That way we have time to get settled into whatever kind of life we will have after tour before we tie the knot."
"That makes sense." I said as I nodded my head. "That so great! We will have an excuse to come to LA next May at least!" I felt my face brighten at that thought. No matter what we would have to return and be together for this event. It was nice to have that reassurance.
"You always have an excuse to visit LA, Bell!" She said sternly as she pointed at herself.
I laughed and nodded my head. "I know Rose, but I have no idea what life is going to be like in Forks after tour either, you know? Eerything is so uncertain for Carlisle and Esme. And for me..." I trailed off as I thought about it. I was still so unclear about what my life was going to become in so many ways.
"Yes, but Edward will be with you so you will be fine."
I looked at Rose and smiled brightly. She had said the magic words. "Yes he will. I still don't believe it most days, actually. I was so sure for so long that I would never have his love, not in the way I desired it."
"Well you don't have to worry anymore, that's for sure." She laughed lightly and rolled her eyes. "It's almost annoying the way he looks at you Bella. It's like that's what he wants to spend the rest of his life doing. Well, at least until he kisses you... then I think his desires change..."
We giggled like girls should after a comment like that and I sighed then it was silent for a moment.
"If he proposed to you what would you say?" She asked me suddenly and seriously.
I looked her straight in the eye and searched for a second before I answered. "Why are you asking me this?"
"Because Bella, I don't think you see him or yourself very clearly. You two fell hard and fast for each other, which is dangerous enough as it is. But to make things even more interesting you both denied it for so long and let it build up inside of yourselves until you both nearly exploded from it!"
We laughed then at her accuracy. I really did feel like I was going to explode some days from the extreme amount of emotions I felt for Edward before I was allowed to act on them. It had been torture at times.
"So I was just wondering if he took that step and asked you, like right now, what wold you say? Pretend he just jumped out of the pool, ran over here, flew through the door and popped down on one knee in front of this moldy old bed, still dripping wet and said, 'Isabella Marie Swan, my love! My life! What would I do without you? Please say you'll be my wife for the rest of time!'"
I as laughing very hard because Rose had actually dropped to her knee and took my hand in hers, then proceeded to speak to me in a deep and smoothe voice, nothing like Edward's but rather comedic to be hearing from her mouth.
"Yes! Yes! With all my heart yes!" I bounced up and down on the bed in a fit of laughter, not just at the image of Rosalie propsing to me, but in the joy I felt of the thought of it actually being Edward.
"Really?" she asked seriously as she lowered her head and looked up at me through her brow. "That would be your answer if it was Edward asking right now instead of me?"
"Yes." I said seriously with a nod of my head.
And I knew it was absolutley true. I've clearly known for a long time that I wanted to marry Edward someday, but I'd never thought of what it would be like if he actually asked me, and soon. We always only talked about it happening someday. I guess our comments about it every so often were indeed different from him "asking me properly" as he had once put it.
I knew from the image she painted in my head and the way the thought of that image of him on his knee in front of me made my heart race that I would say yes before he even got the words out.
"Oh that's so exciting Bella! I have no idea when he's going to do it or anything, but I'm still excited for you. It's seriously the best feeling in the entire world!"
We shrieked like girls are supposed to after a conversation like that but we got interrupted when the door to the room opened and Alice came running in.
She paused and took in the scene before her: Rose was still on one knee in front of me, holding my hand and both of us smiling like idiots.
"Ok, what is going on here? Is this like Secret Propsal Day or something?" Alice had her hands behind her back and she looking at us accusingly with narrowed eyes.
"Oh no, Bella and I were just rehearsing what she will say when Edward pops the question." Rose said coolly as she got up and threw me a wink.
"Oh." Alice said with a smile, but I still saw suspicion in her eyes. Suddenly her face brightened though, and she smiled wickedly. "So guess what I found out when I got over to the pool?"
We both looked at her curiously as her smile spread.
We shrieked for the second time that night as she pulled her arms out from behind her back and dopped 3 pairs of boxers at our feet.
"The boys do have Naked Five O'Clock!" She clapped her hands and jumped up and down with glee.
"Seriously?" I said as I stared at the small pile of boy clothes in front of me. "In the pool? I didn't know Naked Five could carry over into pool time."
I shook my head and Rose checked the clock. "Technically it's only one, but who would have guessed they like Naked Pool Time?" She lifted up what had to be Emmett's boxers and I laughed at the teddy bear patterned boxers in her hands.
"Did they see you take these?" Rosalie asked with an evil smile.
"Nope," Alice said with a smile of her own.
"Well then. Coming back to the hotel room should be fun for our naked boys, shouldn't it?" Rosalie said with a laugh.
We all burst into giggles then and rolled on the bed at the thought of them walking the halls of the Crash Inn in all their Cullen glory.
"We are such little kids you guys." I giggled as I traied to control my laughing fit.
"I don't know Bella, the mythical creature debate was a little junior hight geek convention-ish, yes. But catching a Cullen in the nude..." She wiggled her eyes suggestively and we burst into girly giggles again then anxiously awaited our boy's reutrn, not sure how they would handle their lack of clothing.
Yes or no? Hit or miss? I know it's a bit "fluffy" but I wanted to have some fun for a bit. I still need to know my dears :)
The end is near, as you all know. I am having a hard time thinking that I'm done with IEWIS Land though. I was originally going to do an epilogue, but now I'm thinking sequel instead. I don't know, I have to think some more. I have to make sure I have another story to tell with these characters. I can't seem to let them go though. Them or the Maroon Hoodie Army or any of you actually :)
OH! I got my maroon zip up! YES! I got it on Sunday and I have been proudly sporting it whenever possible. Let me know if you make progress with finding one!
Write to me all the lovely things you think and feel! We only have a few more chapters left to do this fun thing where you review and I read it and become happy! haha Seriously, even if I don't respond to something you write I love everything I receive and I try to respond as often as possible.
No pin updates on the site, but there should be more in a few days. Keep sending me ideas though!
LOVE YOUS!!