Sunset Chapter 13: Relationships (Balancing)
"Billy!" Charlie called out as soon as he got out of the car. Both men greeted each other as they made their way towards the front door.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't see you behind the wheel, Jake," he said disapprovingly.
"We get permits early on the rez," Jacob said, pushing as much sincerity into his voice as he could.
"Sure, you do," Charlie laughed.
"I have to get around somehow." I recognized Billy's resonant voice easily, despite it being a bit since I saw him.
"Billy, Jake!" I yelled, keeping myself from running out into the rain. "Get your butts in here before you drown."
"You heard her," Billy smacked Jacob's arm and motioned towards the house. "You want your old man to die before dinner?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm going." His son muttered as all the men made their way inside.
"This is a surprise," Charlie said.
"It's been too long," Billy agreed. "I hope it's not a bad time." His dark eyes flashed up to Bella again, their expression unreadable.
"No, it's great. I hope you can stay for the game."
"Game? Which one?" I asked. I loved the comradery that came with watching a game with others. Everyone ignored me.
Jacob grinned. "I think that's the plan - our TV broke last week."
Billy made a face at his son. "And, of course, Jacob was anxious to see your girls again," he added. Jake and I smiled at each other before his eyes flashed towards Bella who was starting to fidget nervously. I winked at him, head tilting towards Bella, and wiggled my eyebrows. Jacob scowled and ducked his head while I fought back a surge of laughter.
Now I might be a bit of a bad person, playing on Jacob's crush despite knowing he had no chance, but I wasn't going to be too malicious about it. Just normal brother-sister banter between two people who aren't really related was expected. I knew that I would get shit the minute Jacob found out about my crushes, so I was going to take advantage of my one-up while I had it.
"Are you hungry?" Bella asked, turning toward the kitchen, eager to escape Billy.
"Naw, we ate just before we came," Jacob answered.
"How about you, Charlie?" She called over her shoulder as she fled. Jacob moved to follow her.
"Sure," Dad replied as the three of us left moved towards the living room.
We watched the screen, falling back into a nice rhythm as Bella and Jacob chatted in the kitchen. It wasn't too long before the two brought out the food and the game finally started.
/…/
A few hours later, we had cleaned up and Jacob was ready to wheel Billy back to the car.
"Are you and your friends coming back to the beach soon?" Jacob asked as he pushed his father over the lip of the threshold.
"I'm not sure," Bella hedged.
"If it's nice again soon, we could plan another trip," I ventured, excited at the thought. I ignored the kick at my foot from Bella.
"That was fun, Charlie," Billy said.
"Come up for the next game," Charlie encouraged.
"Sure, sure," Billy said. "We'll be here. Have a good night. It was good to see you Emma, come by the house anytime." I nodded. His eyes shifted to Bella's, and his smile disappeared. "You take care, Bella," he added seriously.
"Thanks," She muttered, looking away.
Jacob grimaced but quickly hid it while I did my best to remain stone-faced. Dad didn't seem to notice anything and if he did, he brushed it off. We gave off one more round of good-byes before the Blacks finally headed out.
"Good Night, Dad. Love you," I hugged him before making my way up the stairs to bed as his embarrassed you too reached me.
"Wait, Bella," he said. Bella stopped at the base of the stairs. I continued to my room and went to bed, tired after my long day.
The next morning, Bella was whistling as she came into the kitchen. It was kind of nice, seeing how… bland, for a lack of a better word, she normally liked to be. Dad, of course, noticed.
"You're cheerful this morning," he commented over breakfast.
She shrugged. "It's Friday."
"Frrrrrriiiiidddddaaaayyyy!" I pulled out the word as long as I could in happiness, ready for the week to end.
Once again, Bella rode with Edward and I drove the truck. Just like yesterday, Alice, Jasper, and I played 20 questions though we also made plans for the weekend. Well, less of a plan and more of a "lets hang out and see what we feel like." I liked the go-with-the-flow attitude we had right now. I would be too annoyed with someone like Edward who wanted to plan and control everything. I know both of them would have their own hang-ups, of course, but I was thankful they didn't want to control me in that way.
Emmett seemed to be happy for us, though he never directly said so. He also seemed to cut himself off multiple times, like he would remember he wasn't supposed to tell me something. Rosalie, on the other hand, would glare at me any time I looked at her. She didn't go out of her way to be mean, but she wasn't kind either. More of a neutral "don't talk to me or bother me" vibe. I happily left her alone.
Alice texted me after lunch to let me know that she and Edward were leaving early and that I would be taking Bella home. I set a confirmation back and wished her a fun trip. After a moment, I wished her luck on finding a lion or something. I wasn't sure what her favorite was, I would have to ask later when she came back.
After my last class, I managed to find Bella making her way out of the building to the parking lot.
"Well, well, well, do mine eyes doth deceive me? I finally get to have my sister back. But alas, the cold heart burns for –"
"Do you ever shut up," Bella cut me off, pushing her hand into my face.
"I'm sorry, my model doesn't come with that programing. And ew, your hand tastes like dirt." I exaggeratedly spat into the air.
"Well, your face feels like face."
"What the hell does that mean?" I laughed.
"It means shut up, doofus." She groaned, rolling her eyes. "Where did you park?"
"Left side, over there," I gestured toward the spot and we corrected our route.
"So," I asked as we climbed into the car, "Any plans this weekend?"
Bella put us in reverse and, thankfully slowly, pulled out of the spot.
"I'm going to be out tomorrow." She started but made no move to continue. I hummed.
"With Edward?" I hinted. Bella's face exploded with red. "If you're going on a date, you don't have to hide it. I won't tease… much."
"Emma, please." She whined. "It – It's not a date. We're just… hanging out."
"Yeah okay, and I'll pretend I believe that. The dude drives you to school every morning, Bella. He walks you to all your classes and eats lunch with you every day."
"It's not a date." She insisted.
"Well do you want it to be? Because I think he would if you asked. And!" I added as I saw her go to deny it, "I know for certain because he told me so."
I was glad no one else was on the road and it was a straight shot because otherwise Bella might have hit someone with how she jerked the wheel.
"Shit, Bella, what the –!"
"When, how, what? Tell me exactly what he said. Everything, Emma."
"Okay, Okay! Just watch the road!" I exclaimed. I was never telling her things while she drove ever again. Finally seeming to pay attention to the road, she motioned me to continue.
"Remember how the first day he offered to drive you to school? I let him into the house, and we had a talk in the kitchen before you came down. He didn't directly say anything, but he pretty much said that he liked you and wanted to be with you." I, of course, left out the part about my love life because this was really not the time for that. I had too many car-related incidents or almost incidents in the last few minutes (and months) to chance it. In addition, I was a coward with no courage to out myself right now.
Bella seemed to go silent for the rest of the ride, thinking over what I had told her. I could hear her muttering under her breath the entire time, even when we went into the house.
"Are you going to the dance?" She finally spoke right before I closed the door to my room. The question surprised me.
"I thought about it, but probably not. I have my own plans for tomorrow." Bella nodded but looked too deep in thought to really care as she shut the door to her own room. Thanks Bella-bear. Really feeling the love.
A few minutes later, I heard her make her way back downstairs. I rolled my eyes and continued to work on my homework.
Jasper sent me a video about half an hour later, which I replied to by pushing away all my work and immediately watching it. I was extremely annoyed by my essay and just needed a break. Jasper, probably through Alice's help, seemed to have sent the perfect video.
The video was angled from above on a staircase, the living room below it. In it, Emmett was playing some shooter video game and seemed to be angry. After a few second, he was shot again in-game and died. Emmett, it seemed, was at the end of his rope and jumped up from the couch, screaming about how unfair it was and a bunch of other stuff I couldn't make out beyond Jasper's muffled laughter. I wasn't doing any better, having to pause the video so I could stop laughing and listen.
As soon as I continued to play it, however, I almost had to immediately stop it again. Emmett, in a fit of rage, had punched the TV straight through. Jasper's laughter exploded alongside mine as I could hear a woman's horrified gasp from the doorway leading into another room. Emmett quickly threw himself around and spotted Jasper on the stairs before rushing for him with a yell.
With a curse, the video was abruptly thrown around as Jasper ran away. The woman from before yelled out both boy's names and was hardly heard over Jasper's laughter and Emmett's screeching. The video then cuts off.
Emma: God, I needed that. I hope you aren't in too much trouble.
Jasper: No, we do this kind of stuff all the time. Emmett got a lecture about the computer. And the door.
Emma: The door?
Jasper: He ripped it off trying to get to me. Esme was not impressed.
Emma: I wouldn't be either.
Emma: Hey, do you have a moment?
Jasper: Sure.
Emma: Can you help me with HW?
Jasper: Can I call? That might be better than typing.
My heart pounded as I typed an affirmative. We had been texting for a while but none of us had ever called one another. I know it wasn't that different from talking in person or texting, but it felt like it was supposed to be.
The phone rang, Jasper staring up at me. It occurred to me that I needed to ask him if I could call him Jazz. I could only do that if I talked to him. I took a deep breath and answered the phone.
"Hi." My voice sounded weak, even to me.
"Hey, Darlin', I heard you needed some help? How much have you gotten done?"
"Uh, I think question four?" I pulled my papers back towards me, a rush of relief going through my body. I was thankful to Jasper for getting straight into it and knocking me out of my head instead of trying to slowly move to the issue. This was just like any other call, like any other talk with him.
"Yeah, question four, part B."
"Alright, that one can be tricky, but we can work it out. Let me go find my answers." I smiled.
"Jasper? Thank you."
"It's my pleasure."
/…/
"You know, Dad..." Bella began, breaking the silence at dinner.
"What's that, Bell?"
"I think you're right about Seattle. I think I'll wait until Jessica or someone else can go with me."
"Oh," he said, surprised. "Oh, okay. So, do you want me to stay home?"
"No, Dad, don't change your plans. I've got a million things to do... homework, laundry... I need to go to the library and the grocery store. I'll be in and out all day... you go and have fun."
"Are you sure? I know Emma will be here, but I wouldn't mind if you girls wanted me to stay."
"We'll be fine Dad, you go have fun fishing." I reassured him. "I'm going to be with friends all day. We don't really know what we're doing yet so we might just stay here, or we might go somewhere."
Dad nodded, probably glad I was going to be with people.
"Let me know if you guys decide to leave Forks okay? I want to make sure you're safe."
"Of course, I'll let you know as soon as I do."
"See, it's okay. Besides, the freezer is getting dangerously low on fish - we're down to a two, maybe three years' supply." Bella added.
"You're both sure easy to live with." He smiled.
"I could say the same thing about you," Bella laughed. The sound of my laughter was off, but Dad didn't seem to notice. I sent her a look, glad that I at least would be aware of where she was off too. I trusted Edward that he wouldn't kill Bella but that didn't mean I wasn't going to take any precautions. Still, I said nothing to Bella's relief.
/…/
The next day I woke up to Bella slamming the door as she left, turning to check the time. I groaned and wondered why the heck Bella and Edward had to go so early. Checking my phone, I saw I had a text from Alice and hoped it told me where we were going.
Alice: Go back to bed. We'll see you in a couple of hours.
"Thank you, Alice, my goddess" I yelled out, throwing myself back on the bed. This week had sucked out my energy for no real reason, but I was grateful for the sleep either way. With that, I went back to bed.
A few hours later, I woke up on my own, feeling a lot better than before. It took a while before I decided on what to wear since I had no clue what we were doing but I eventually chose something at random – Black leggings and a light blue Mickey Mouse t-shirt. I was still missing something and searched all over my room until –
"Ha! Found you." I cried out, pulling on my green, yellow, and while striped fuzzy socks. They didn't really match but I was cold. Besides, I might have to change anyway if my outfit didn't match the occasion. After pulling them on, I made my way downstairs and ate a bowl of cereal.
The minute I finished washing up, the doorbell rang. I ran to the door skidding in my socks on the wood and having to grab the handle to keep me from falling. I pulled myself up and brushed my hair down once before opening the door.
On the other side was Jasper and Alice, who look vaguely amused. I felt myself blush, realizing they would probably hear all that.
"Hi! Welcome, please, come in." I said, waving them into the house. "I'd offer something to eat or drink normally."
"We'll pass, thank you." Alice said. At that point, I realize they both had their hands full and were dumping the bags on the living room table. Both were also dressed more casually like me, Jasper in jeans and Alice in shorts.
"So, what's with all the stuff?" I started digging through it. I pulled out a bag of gummy bears from one of them.
"Well, last time I was here I said that I would bring movies from my house. I tried to pick out ones I thought you would like. Since you didn't know the choices, I couldn't see what you would pick."
"And I thought you might want some snacks, so I went and picked some up." Jasper added. "Wasn't sure what you wanted so I got a bit of everything."
"A bit of everything, he says," I laughed in disbelief. "I'm surprised you didn't buy out the whole store. I mean there's everything I could think of here."
"I also wanted to use it as an apology?" Jasper said as we finally all sat on the couch. I sat between the two even though I would have been fine on the end.
"Apology?" I asked as I started to look through the movies. "You haven't done anything?"
"We wanted to take you out on a proper date but with all of the sun…" Alice pointed to the sky, "It would have been too hard and dangerous."
"Aw, there's no need to apologize," I promised, taking one hand each. "I understand completely and would rather wait until it's safer. We can go wherever another time. For now – movies." I smiled and shuffled through the movies, considering the issue done.
Over my head, Alice and Jasper shared a look of fondness and if I dared, love. I didn't know if I was that far gone that I would call myself in love, but I did know I felt something. I hoped it would one day grow into to love if I let it. I think I would like that.