A/N: A quick thank you to everyone who added this story to their alerts and/or added it to their favorite list. It truly means a lot to me.
Chapter 15-
Bella's POV-
"I call bullshit!" I mumbled through my giggles, waving a hand in air, desperate to get my next breath so hard that I was laughing. Seriously, tears were trailing down my eyes. I had not laughed this hard in ages!
"I am telling you." He rolled his eyes dramatically. "Flour is the best thing to use on your skin. It will make it glow."
Sure, he said this while throwing a whole big bowl filled with flour in my direction, ruining my hair, face and clothes in the process. If it was 'that good' for my skin, why was my 'my eyes are up here- printed across my girls'- t-shirt getting ruined in the attempt. I mean, I liked that t-shirt! It was pretty cool, especially when some boy stared hard in order to read the caption and then realized the error in their ways.
But no, Jake had to start this ridiculous play of throwing flour at me.
What fun was it, I had not a clue!
We had patiently and in a no- fun way been making cookies- just the way it was supposed to be, before Jake decided that flour would look better in my hair than in the cookies.
Alright then!
"You will thank me one day; when you are in your sixties and people will compliment you for looking like you are thirty, you will remember me that day." He ruefully sighed, pretending to be all wounded and upset.
Such an actor the man was!
"Oh, shut up!" I could not control my laughter. "You are so full of shit, Black."
He really was!
He waved me off, a smirk on his face. "The 'geniuses' are always termed as crazy, the world simply unable to understand their excellence."
"Oh. Really?" I questioned him; sarcasm thick in my tone.
See, what I was talking about?
So full of shit the man was!
"Yeah." He let out a grunt, pretending as if I had actually asked him a question, and not commented on how stupid his statement was, which as a matter of fact, I truly had.
I rolled my eyes at his antics, another mouthful of flour coming flying in my direction- the culprit smirking widely in ultimate joy and satisfaction, taking me aback by surprise and disbelief.
"You are so dead, Jacob Black!" I growled out in anger, giving back as good as I got….maybe…probably….a bit too aggressively.
Yeah, dumping an entire store-bought bag of flour- filled to the brim- on someone's head can be a bit excessive, even when you consider it as revenge….
Eh. Jake deserved it.
Totally did.
"Did you just empty the entire bag on my head?" Jake questioned, howling in laughter, his eyes wide as he waited for me to respond.
I shrugged him off. He should have thought of the consequences before he decided to piss me off. No use crying over spilt milk and all of that!
Apparently though, my shrug was enough material for him to guffaw over for ages- as that is exactly what he did. He laughed- and laughed- and laughed- and….
"Wow, Jake." I rolled my eyes at him, annoyance thick in my tone. "I don't feel offended at all. Must be some miracle."
He smiled, shaking his head at me, the laughs finally dimming a bit. Still on his face, but somehow softer and more adoration filled, his gorgeous eyes boring into my plain ones.
"Not laughing at you, honey."
I pouted, slightly and surprisingly glad at the realization that he had just called me 'honey'.
I liked it.
Scarily, a lot.
"I am just laughing at the fact that dad is going to be so pissed. We had gone grocery shopping yesterday. Not to forget this entire mess that we have made. He is so going to have a coronary on seeing this sight!"
He was laughing.
He was still laughing, holding his stomach and all of that.
"Only you, Jake." I giggled, unable to control my laughter any longer. The more I looked at his happy face, the more I became happier. "Only you could laugh as much on a statement like that!"
He waved me off. "It is the truth. Dad is going to be no happy camper on seeing this."
I nodded my head at that, looking at the plenty of mess that we had made.
There was flour everywhere- the floor, the cabinets, over the fan (I have no clue of how it reached there), on our clothes, in our hair- everywhere but in the cookie dough, that is.
Yeah, Billy would be so pissed.
"Are there any chances of us running away before he finds us like this?" I questioned, whispering in his ear, so under the wraps that the matter was supposed to be kept.
He shrugged at me, a smirk on his face. "We could try, blaming it on the cat."
"You don't own a cat, Jake."
Smartass.
"Eh." He waved a hand in air, his grin wide. "He doesn't need to know that. The cat too ran away after causing this mess, for all we know and care."
I could not control myself then; I started laughing, again. Jake too joining me midway, the sounds of our laughter bouncing through these thin walls, so very fulfilled in its approach.
I don't even know what was this funny, capable enough of making us join the loony bin with this intensity.
It was just…. I was happy….so, so happy.
Jake was so stupid- his talks par ridiculous, but the smile on his face was genuine and worthy of being mirrored.
It gave me positivity.
It made me happy.
"Bella,"
"Yeah," I smiled, looking away from him, suddenly feeling all the shyness in this world hitting me hard from every direction.
"This was fun."
And with that, he winked at me, leaving me and the room alone, my eyes wide and almost reaching the hairline.
Who the fuck taught him to wink like that?
Damn, was it seductive….
Almost criminal.
By the time I recovered, a few deep breaths taken as I calmed myself down, Billy had joined Jake in the living room, somehow already aware of the mess that we had just created. Probably his fatherly instinct or something! He did not look any angry though, so that is something.
Instead, he looked pleased enough to order pizza for us, only stating once that the kitchen needed to be cleaned before I left for home today- who out of us did the cleaning of no importance to him, and that Jake would have to replace that bag of flour at the earliest, or he wouldn't be at the receiving end of dinner tomorrow night.
Which sort of seemed fair enough considering the fact that Jake had started the flour fight, even if Jake grumbled to the moon in protest.
We soon settled for dinner, with me shyly denying the invitation at first- finally accepting when Billy called Charlie in front of me and put the phone on speaker, the two of them gossiping like old ladies about how this was my home too, and so my hesitance was completely unwarranted and not at all needed. Anyhow, dinner was the usual affair, with Billy and I teasing Jake to no extent. It was fun to tease him, he grumbled without a second's stop, the more he did so, the more amusing that it became.
Finally, after what seemed to be a billion pizzas but was probably only two big ones, the three of us retired to the couch, the conversation now revolving around Billy's new physical therapist. He needed regular physical therapy to keep his muscles strong and his arms capable enough to take the weight of his entire body- and so far, he had been visiting the one we had in Forks, but sadly, there hadn't been much improvement since. At least not as much as he had expected. This one though, seemed promising.
"Dad, you sure that Dr. Ray will be able to help us out?" Jake asked, a frown on his face, filling his mouth full with chocolate chip ice-cream- our original dessert- cookies- obviously not made. "I mean, I don't want you to build your hopes up and then come crashing down."
He looked truly worried, and I resisted the heavy urge to squeeze his hand comfortingly and lovingly.
He was just a friend; it was so not my place.
And I was almost sad about that fact, for some unknown reason.
Strange, I tell you!
"I have hopes." Billy sighed, shaking his head briefly. "I know I will never be able to walk again, but I do wish for a little more mobility and relief from this feeling of helplessness. But it is of no use. I will never be able to visit him as often as he deems necessary, reducing the chances of progress considerably."
"Why?" I frowned in question- and sheer disbelief.
What did he even mean by that?
What was more important than his health?
What could be more important that his visit to the doctor?
He let out an audible sigh. "His clinic is in Port Angeles, and while I look the other way when it comes to my fifteen-year-old driving my car in Forks, I certainly cannot agree to even the idea that Jake will drive me till there. I know that Charlie will volunteer, but I cannot ask that of him. He has his own work and life. He is certainly not free to drive me around at any random time on a weekday."
"Oh, come on, now, dad." Jake protested loudly before I could. "We will find a way out. I know I cannot drive you till there, but there has to be some solution…."
"I could help out." I offered, not an inch of hesitance in my tone, the thought popping into my head almost instantly.
Billy was like a second parent to me; of course, I would help him out however I could.
"I can drive. And I generally finish my homework before I reach home from school. It would be no inconvenience to me, believe me."
The two of them continued to stare at me for a while, making me feel all the more nervous, a smile finally breaking onto Billy's face.
"You would really do that for me?"
"Of course, I would." I rolled my eyes at the man.
Did he think so less of me?
Okay, I know that I hadn't been the friendliest of them these past few years, but I was still the same Bella that he had seen growing up.
I hadn't had an unwanted personality transplant by any chance.
Billy grinned back at me. "I will call Dr. Ray and set the appointment, for any day in the evening this week. The two of you can come back here post school so that no time is wasted in the commuting. I will talk to Sue."
I let out a laugh.
He seemed so very excited and impatient.
It was…surprising- and beautiful a sight to witness.
He began to roll himself out of the room and towards his bedroom, sparing one last glance at the two of us, "Oh, Jake, that point of completing your homework goes for you, as well. Whichever day the appointment is, if Bella can complete her homework in school, so can you. I don't want your teachers complaining that you didn't finish your homework."
"Wait." Jake grumbled in realization. "I have to come with you for every appointment of yours? I thought Bella would be enough; it is just so boring, no offense, Bell."
None taken.
I shrugged at him.
"Of course," Billy smiled in that all-knowing way that only fathers can. "The two of you are coming with me for every appointment of mine, so be prepared to spend hours in each other's company at least thrice a week."
Oh.
Okay then.