CHAPTER 26 – Playing God – Bella POV
The fall foliage flew by as Bella took a sharp turn, bringing her closer to Forks High. It had been a few days since her last conversation with Rosalie and she was still reeling from it. 'For me, time spent with you feels like the sands of time aren't frozen.'
Thoughts of the blonde only exacerbated the dull ache in her chest. 'I need you to know that I'm ready to use whatever nanosecond of time you're willing to share with me to prove to you just how important you are to me, Isabella.' How was she even supposed to believe a word that came out of Rosalie's mouth.
Today would be the first day they were supposed to work on their joint project and Bella had no idea what to expect. Bella knew that no matter how hard she wanted to cut Rosalie out of her life after the events that had transpired, she couldn't. Deep down, she knew that a part of her was drawn to the blonde even before they'd interacted. Rosalie had clearly not wanted Bella to be in her life, but at some point, the blonde had decided to open up and let Bella in. 'And then she decided to slam the door in my fucking face.' Everything with the blonde was always so intense, she never knew what to expect.
The more she thought about it, the more Bella realized that most of the Cullen's were that way. She had a feeling Rosalie had warned her family to give her some space. 'Good,' Bella thought. 'I don't even know what I would say to them if they had reached out. I wonder what they had to do to keep Alice from breaking through my window.'
The Triumph smoothly took another turn and Bella noticed the trees were losing more and more of their protective armor. Under her visor, a sardonic smirk slashed across her lips at the thought of what lay ahead of her. Inevitably, her thoughts recounted the fateful night she walked out of the greenhouse.
— Flashback (Minutes after Walking Out) —
"I need you to come get me." Bella croaked into the phone, as she stumbled towards her truck.
"I'll be there in 10mins, alright?" Leah's calm voice inquired on the other end of the line. Can you get to a safe place until then?"
Bella nodded until she remembered her friend couldn't see her. Speed walking to her truck, she hopped in and drove to the edge of the Cullen's property. Tears making it difficult to drive, so she parked. She wasn't sure if she was still within ear shot, but Bella knew she wasn't in a state to drive the short distance home.
True to her word, Leah appeared from the foliage several minutes later. When no visible mode of transportation followed Leah, Bella put two and two together. "Did you…run here? All the way from La Push?" Bella asked, getting out of the truck's cab. "You know what? Don't answer that." Leah shrugged her shoulders.
"Bells, you don't look so good. Let's get you home." Leah's eyes roved over her friend's body. The human girl looked like she could drop at any moment. Her pallor was green, almost like she could be sick at any moment. Bella's eyes couldn't stay focused on any fixed point and her hands were visibly shaking. Leah was glad the girl had been able to make it to the end of the property in one piece and that she hadn't attempted the short drive home alone.
"Get in the truck, Bella."
"I… I... can't." Bella whimpered. "I can't really seem to move my feet."
Leah scooped her up and put her in the passenger seat, before getting into the driver's seat herself. "Charlie is on the reservation this weekend. Annual end of season trip with my dad and Billy, so your house is empty."
Without a word, Leah put them on a course towards the Swan residence. Once they were both safely inside, it was like a spell covered the cabin of the truck in complete silence. Both girls sensed that once the floodgates opened, that there would be no going back.
Leah's grip on the steering wheel tightened as she watched her friend visibly retreat into herself.
— End Flashback —
The bike hummed between her legs as she came out of that memory, and it teased her to open up on the deserted road towards Seattle. She knew Charlie would be disappointed with her if she cut class, and she didn't want to have a whole sit-down lecture. 'If I still feel like crap at the end of the day, then I'll tell him I'm going into the city tonight for dinner.'
Bella wasn't the biggest fan of using fancy footwork when explaining to Charlie what was going on. She'd made a promise to Rosalie (by extension the entire Cullen family), and she intended to keep it. That didn't mean she wasn't going to let her family in to take care of her. She was done trying to carry the weight of everything alone.
Unsurprisingly, Charlie had been amazingly supportive when Bella told him that she was going through a rough patch, and she didn't want to give him any more reasons to worry about her. When she'd come down that first morning, there was a list names and phone numbers next to her coffee. The attached note had only a few words: for someone to talk to when talking to your old man isn't enough. She cried the entire way to school. He loved her so fiercely and so quietly, she often didn't know what to do with herself.
Renee offered to come visit her and whisk her away to Portland for the following weekend. Phil's team was going to be in town in a few weeks and Renee wanted to take that time and come visit her. Bella hadn't seen her mother in a few months, and it would be good to get some one-on-one time with her.
Thankfully, Leah had been her constant. The girl would check up on her throughout the day. Whether it was fun memes or videos she thought Bella would enjoy or rubbing Bella's back when she cried so hard, she thought her heart was going to give out.
After that night in the greenhouse, there was a certain tightening of her chest that wouldn't go away when she thought of Rosalie. And Bella still hadn't reached out to Jacob, and she didn't know what she would say to him even if she did. How could he have kept something so vital from her? Yet, Bella missed him. She knew she needed some time before she saw him. Otherwise, Bella was sure she'd try to reintroduce him to mudpies. Aggressively.
As she pulled into the school parking lot, Bella's peripheries caught sight of the red BMW. 'Alright, Bella, you can totally do this. Game face on.' She thought, pulling into the bike area.
No sooner had she shifted the kickstand down when she felt a presence next to her. "Good morning, best friend. I missed you so terribly over the past few days. I hope that you're not terribly cross with me? Jasper told me it might be best if I gave you a moment, but I couldn't bear another second apart." Alice's chime voice announced a mile a minute.
"Good morning, Alice." Bella smiled, placing her helmet on the bars. "You're fine, I'm just a little tired."
"I'm so sorry, Bella." Alice frowned, eyes losing some of their shine. "I wish you weren't in so much pain. There's still so many possibilities to let your relationship develop."
Bella looked deep into molten gold eyes. 'I wonder if their eyes are related to their mood or…something else.' She sighed. "Alice, my relationship, or lack thereof, with Rosalie is no one's responsibility but our own. She made her choices perfectly clear over the past few weeks. Now, it's done, and we can all try to move on."
Across the parking lot, there was a loud crack as a tree fell beside where the Cullen's typically stood before class. Bella was tired. So tired and the day hadn't even started.
Another sigh escaped her lips, she closed her eyes. "Is she going to do that every time? I feel like people are going to start noticing a phenomenon of felled trees soon."
Alice's small smile dimmed as she whispered. "May I hug you?" Holding her arms open in invitation but made no move forward. Allowing Bella to control of their interaction.
Bella peaked one eye open and took the small step forward into Alice's arms, wrapping her own around the pixie's small frame. Just like that, whatever small dam Bella had built to prepare her for the day, cracked, letting a single tear fall. Thankfully, they were in a more secluded corner of the parking lot and Alice came prepared with a small packet of tissues.
"What's the point of having a future-seeing best friend, if she can't help you prepare for it." Alice's whispered, giving Bella a small, watery smile. "I'm not going to ask you how you are because that would be silly. I just want you to know I'm here for you whenever you're ready to talk. I know I am deceptively compact, but just know if you need me to throw her from a very high cliff into a very jagged ravine…"
"Thanks, Ali." Bella said with a choked laugh in return, as she wiped the tears from her face. "I'm good for now, but I promise if I need something, I'll ask."
"Promise?" Alice asked, smile back in place.
"Promise." Bella assured.
As they walked towards school, Bella ventured to ask, "So just how did they keep you in the house?"
Alice's eyes glinted onyx for a brief second. "They used their secret weapon."
"Do I even want to know what a family of gifted vampire's 'secret weapon' is or should I just be a good little human and not ask too many questions." Bella mocked with a raised eyebrow, jostling Alice's marble shoulder. Bella almost cried out at the contact. She hadn't realized how solid her tiny friend was. 'Deceptively compact indeed.'
"Let's just say I had to spend all of yesterday recovery hunting and leave it at that."
"Gotcha." Bella snickered, throwing her other arm around the shorter girl. "Will not be asking any further questions." Bella felt the shiver run through Alice's whole body. "Nope. Not a one."
"It's not funny, Bella!" Alice huffed, stomping her foot. For the first time, Bella wondered how old Alice was. "I would do it all again because I saw how not ok you were, and I just wanted to be there."
That sobered Bella. They stopped outside of Alice's classroom. "I wasn't."
"I know."
Bella coughed into her hand as her vision swam before coming back into focus. 'Not again.'
"I'm not."
"I know." Alice comforted, rubbing Bella's arm. She smiled ruefully up at the brunette before she turned and walked into her class.
— Flashback (Hours After Walk Out) —
"You gonna tell me what happened back there?" Leah gently probed.
They'd made it safely inside the Swan residence before Bella fully retreated into herself. She hadn't moved from her place on the couch for an hour before Leah ventured to engage with her.
Bella started blankly at the blank TV screen without seeing. Her eyes were desolate as they started past the screen. Her vision swam in and out. Bella could feel every molecule flowing through her body. The rushing in her ears. Her body couldn't settle on being too hot or too cold. The air in Bella's lungs was stale and her chest rattled as she took a shake breath.
"She lied to me, Le." Bella murmured. "She lied to me for months."
"What are you talking about, Bells?"
Bella shook her head as tears began to stream down her cheeks. Leah sighed and got up to get ice water for her friend. She'd read somewhere that it was a grounding tool. When she came back and set the glass down next to Bella, Leah opted to try again. "Who lied to you?"
"Rosalie."
"What? What did she lie about?"
Bella's hallow eyes looked right through Leah when she answered. "Everything."
— End Flashback —
Later that day, Bella entered the cafeteria, dreading the next hour of her life. It was an alternate block day, so she wouldn't be seeing Rosalie until class. They were supposed to meet before lunch to work on their project, but Rosalie hadn't returned from her hasty departure.
After the night Rosalie had saved her in Port Angeles, Bella had developed a weird sixth sense about the blonde. Usually, Bella knew if Rosalie was near or was staring at her. 'I wonder if this is a mate thing?' If she focused hard enough in class, she could get these weird fluctuations in emotions coming off the blonde. She knew when Rosalie was upset or annoyed…more so than usual. Lately, a phantom ache had begun to develop within Bella's chest and a bout of syncope, which could leave her momentarily dizzy or lite headed.
Bella knew she had to take it one day at a time. Right now, that meant she just had to get through another lunch hour. 'I just wish she had talked to me about all of this before. I have all these questions and she's the only one I would've wanted to share with.' She couldn't picture what it would be like to sit next to a broodier Rosalie for the next several months.
Jessica's frantic waving brought her out of her mental musings and towards where her friends usually sat. After gathering her food, Bella had just approached the table before a barely contained Jessica sidled up beside her. The girl was clearly worked up over something and Bella knew from experience that it was best to let her friend get it out of her system.
"What's up, Jess?" Bella smiled, nodding at the others seated at the table. "Sadie's got you in another tizzy?"
"First of all, rude. Sadie Hawkins is an institution."
Without looking up from her college brochure, Lauren interjected. "Yeah, so is Alcatraz."
"Second of all," Jessica stressed, turning her back on the seated blonde, towards Bella. "Thank god you're here, Bella!" Gesturing at the rest of the table's occupants. "Maybe you can be the voice of reason."
Bella looked at Lauren unbothered flicking through the brochure, to the boys creating some sort of video game team strategy, her eyes landing on Angela and Ashely exchanging exasperated looks at Jessica's display. "I'm scared to ask."
"Someone has gotten it into her head that now that you're ~single~ we should all go out to find you a date to the dance." Ashley chimed from her seat beside Lauren.
Feeling Rosalie's eyes zeroing in on her. 'Ah, good to know you're back.' "Oh really?" Bella answered, lifting an eyebrow. "I honestly have no comeback for that. Sounds fun, but I think I'll be along more for the friendship than the mission."
"Yeah, friendship is cool and all, but have you ever seen a Fire Sign slowly lose touch with reality, gradually begin to implode, deny it over the course of months until they go SuperNova and destroy everything in their path including themselves?" Lauren pondered, eyes shining wickedly. "Me either."
"You're evil." Bella couldn't stop the snort that escaped from her throat.
"What makes you think she's a fire sign?" Angela asked, looking confused.
"It's a feeling. She gives me like a Taurus Sun, but like maybe a Libra moon but definitely an Aries rising. Maybe Leo moon? Where was she born, again?"
"Lauren, I understood about 10% of what you just said. At best." Bella admitted, scanning the cafeteria in hopes of finding her tiny best friend and escaping this conversation. Before she could let her thoughts sink too far, she spotted Alice. Thankfully, the vampire had chosen a table far from the Cullen's. "Jess, love where your head is at, but let's go back to the drawing board and circle back. I'll catch the rest of you awesome nerds later, I promised short stack that I would sit with her today."
When she approached the table, Bella's eyes almost weld at how thoughtful Alice was. Alice had arranged the chairs so that Bella's back would be towards her family's usual table. She noticed that Alice was giving her a particular look as Bella sat down. "What?"
"Your friend is astonishingly good. How did she know all of that about Rosalie?"
Settling into her chair across from Alice, Bella smirked, "Never mind that, what's got you so excited, Ali?"
"I'm coming with you to Seattle this weekend," announced the tiny vampire.
"You're coming with me to Seattle?"
"I'm coming with you to Seattle." Then, in a quieter voice. "If you'll have me."
Bella crooked her finger at Alice across the table to signal her to lean in. Bella mirrored her, until they were almost nose to nose. "Deal." Bella smirked. "As long as Charlie won't end up in the hospital with a heart attack because of whatever it is we get up to and I won't end up in jail, then I'm totally in."
She opened her bottle of water to take a sip when she felt eyes on her from behind again. The eyes felt like lasers, and she almost checked the back of her leather jacket to see if it was singed. 'She doesn't own me. If I want to spend the weekend with my vampire best friend doing questionably legal things, then I will.'
Alice's eyes drifted over Bella's shoulder and slightly narrow. "What?" Bella inquired.
"Nothing." Alice's topaz eyes snapping back towards Bella. The human leveled her with a steady look. "Rosalie shared some very pressing news with the family this past weekend that she should've shared much sooner. Now, there seems to be a small disagreement in the family, but it's fine. We're handling it."
"Right," Bella pronounced. "Gotcha. However, there's one problem."
"What's that?" The pixie vampire asked, confusion crossing her delicate face.
"My bike doesn't really have a side car, so you would have to ride behind me for the three-hour trip. Six if we count the return time." Something shattered behind her, but Bella didn't twitch.
Alice held her gaze steadily as the cafeteria door behind Bella opened and let a gust of windy rain in as someone hastily exited. "She doesn't deserve you, you know?" She sighed.
Bella's felt her mouth stretch into the first real smile in several days.
"I know."
— Flashback Morning After —
"I'm going to kill her."
"I appreciate the sentiment, Le, but please don't."
"Fine, then I'm going to kill him."
"You're not going to do that either."
"You're just going to let them both get away with this?"
"I'm not letting anyone get away with anything. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you also know about some of this?"
"…"
"Exactly."
Leah looked sheepish as she scratched at the back of her neck. "I'm really sorry, Bells. I did know about the mate thing, but it would've broken the treaty for me to tell you. I suspect it was the same for Jake. Plus, plus he's sort of caught in the middle between the two of you. It's something that the person involved is responsible for sharing otherwise, it could be seen as a sign of encroachment."
"I know." Bella sighed, flipping over another pancake. She had been doing that a lot, sighing.
The girls had fallen asleep talking well into the night. Bella's dreams had been restless, filled with beseeching golden eyes and the smell of lavender. Leah had listened intently to the brunette's story and patiently held her through all the rough parts. Bella was grateful to have someone that she could talk to about all of this.
They were in the kitchen now and Bella was making a large breakfast for the wolf before Leah. Jacob had once shared with her how much food a growing wolf actually needed, and Bella was floored. Since then, she always made sure to keep dry pancake mix on hand and buy more bacon. It wasn't much, but she never wanted them to go hungry in her home."
"And I promise, I had no idea what Malibu Buffy's powers were."
"I had a feeling." Bella sighed, setting the high stack down in front of her friend before taking her own seat across from the girl. "Rosalie doesn't really do the whole opening up thing to people."
"What are you going to do?" Leah asked, before wincing. "Sorry, bad question. It literally just happened."
"No, it's ok." Bella earnestly replied. She stabbed at the pancakes in front of her more out of frustration than sadness. "Honestly? I don't know."
"When I look back on everything we've been through, I can't trust myself when I try to separate what was me and what was…her power."
"Listen, I'm not the biggest fan of hers right now, but she doesn't strike me as the type to 'pretend' when she's not interested." Leah admitted.
"I don't know." Bella groaned, shaking her head as she let it drop to her chest.
After a few moments of quiet eating, Bella chanced a look up at her friend. 'Now's a good time as any, I guess.' "Le?"
"Yeah," the girl said around a mouthful of bacon.
Bella waited until Leah caught her eye. "What do you know about mates?"
"Oh."
"Oh?"
Leah smiled ruefully. "I was hoping you wouldn't ask me that question."
"Why not?"
"Because I (and the rest of the wolves) am not the best person to answer that question. Only the Cullen's can answer that."
Bella sighed and continued eating. "Oh."
"I'm sorry, Bells." Leah apologized. She hated seeing her friend so dejected. "Wait, I might be able to tell you about mates, but I can tell you about something better."
"Oh?" Bella questioned. "And what is that?"
"Imprints."
"What's an imprint?"
"I'm glad you asked, my fair skinned friend." Leah joked, before a serious look came over her face. "An imprint is a being chosen by Mother Earth to be your soulmate. As cliché as 'gravity shifts' can be, that's exactly what it feels like to us when our eyes lock. For us, soulmates don't have to be your romantic soulmate (though they often are). That being becomes your whole world. You would do anything to make sure that they're safe, healthy, and happy."
"You hope beyond all hope that you're the one to bring them that ultimate happiness, but you're also content to be their greatest confidant. It doesn't happen until after you've completed your first shift, as that's the sign to the universe that you are ready to take the next step on your journey. So, the universe sends you a partner. What you both make of the journey is squarely up to you both."
"Being away from them or any serious discord between the imprints can cause serious damage. You're meant to protect each other and to be equals, so you need to have a foundation of security and trust for the relationship to flourish."
"That's beautiful, Leah." Bella says with tears in her eyes.
"Do you remember the day I met Angela for the first time? Down on the beach?"
"The day you shattered a glass bottle between your hands, and we almost had to take you to the ER for stitches?" Bella recalled, a confused look on her face. "Yeah, I remember, but what does that have to do with…oh. Holy shit! Angela is your imprint?! Dude, that's fucking cool as hell! Have you told her? Oh my god, is that what you were going to tell her?!"
Leah smiled at the mention of her imprint. "Yup." Popping the 'p'.
Suddenly, Leah had an armful of Bella. Bella pulled back to look Leah in the eyes. "I'm so so so happy for you, Le. You've found a good one."
"I know." Leah replied, eyes shining.
"Don't mess it up." Bella smirked. "I don't want to have to beat you up."
Leah snorted. "I won't, I promise."
"I'll hold you to that." Bella smirk dropping as she released her hold on Leah. "I'm sorry." She turned and walked into the living room.
"Why are you sorry, Bells?" Leah questioned, confused at the sadness behind her best friend's eyes. Dutifully, she followed behind the girl to sit on Charlie's recliner.
"I shouldn't have called you yesterday." Bella quietly spoke from her reclined place on the couch.
"First of all, don't be dumb." Leah said, shaking her head and leaning forward. "Second of all, I love you, you idiot. You called me in a crisis, and I answered. After we got you home and you got into the shower, I called Angela and explained that we needed to reschedule for tonight."
"Oh."
"Yeah, 'oh.'" She said, giving Bella a particular look. Leah noticed her friend's eyes were closed. "I hate to be that guy, but I would be an asshat not to point out the similarities between this and what's going on with you and Malibu Buffy."
Bella sighed. "I know."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"I don't want this conversation to be about me anymore. You just shared something incredible, and I want you to have that without it being marred by my own bullshit."
"Oh, you don't worry. We're going to have plenty of time to talk about my incredibly intelligent and gorgeous imprint." Leah promised, leaning back to get comfortable. "Now, talk to me."
"I don't know, Le." Bella said, sitting up. "I know you said that you're not the authority on vampire mates, but hearing you describe what an imprint is…"
Leah remained silent because she could see her friend wasn't finished processing her thoughts.
"It just made me think," Bella continued. "If being mates is anything like being imprints, then how could Rosalie stand to keep me so far apart and to cause the both of us such pain."
"I don't know either." Leah admitted, letting herself fall back on the soft chair with a sigh of her own. "She must be either really stubborn or really stupid. Something tells me it's a bit of both."
"I do know one thing for sure, though."
"What's that?"
Bella eyes had fire in them when they met Leah's across the table. "I'm done being lied to."
— End Flashback —
Bella banged her head on the library desk, repeatedly. "You can't be serious, Aristotle. That's your concept of Free Will? You think people are choosing the horrors going on outside?!"
Somehow, Bella had convinced the librarian to allow them the quiet study room to themselves after school. Now, they were both sequestered there trying to make headway on their assignment. Never was she ever more grateful for those abilities because she didn't want a witness to her strangling Rosalie.
"No," Rosalie contended. "I said: individuals make choices. That doesn't mean that those choices don't have serious consequences."
"Rosalie, that literally doesn't make sense." Bella responded, picking her head up off of the table to look incredulously at the blonde. "Are you saying that individuals chose fate? Please catch my human brain up to your vampire brain."
"I'm saying," Rosalie rubbed her temple. "That they are illusions of each other. They are one and the same."
"Then, why would we categorize them as different things?" Bella countered, "I can't believe what I'm hearing you say, right now."
Rosalie bristled, glaring at Bella through her curtain of blonde hair. Bella could see that she was doing her best not to lose her temper. Rising from her chair, Rosalie made her way around the library table with her notebook to sit right beside Bella. The brunette's breath caught at Rosalie's closeness.
Besides their shared class, this was the closest that either of them had willingly been with each other in a while. Bella's brain got wrapped up in Rosalie's intoxicating smell of lavender and sunshine that she almost missed what the vampire said. 'Dude, how are you still this gay for her?'
"Let me try this a different way. Sometimes drawing a figure can help."
'I'd like to draw your figure.' Bella retorted, a small smirk coming over her lips. 'Hey brain, remember how we're supposed to not like blonde vampires with names starting with Rosalie and ending with Hale? Yeah, me too.'
Pen to paper, Rosalie drew two dots and pointed to them. "You have point a & point b. The distance between those points is c. In this scenario, you are walking in a straight line from a (past/present) to b (Future/Destination), then c has to be the vehicle to the location, which is free-will and pre-destination). Anything that comes before the destination is inherently pre-destination. You must make choices to move forward in life. Even the decision to be inert, is a decision and choice." Breathless by the end of her rant, Rosalie face inches from Bella's.
'God, she's so brilliant. I could listen to her talk about this stuff for hours.'
"But by that logic, that would mean that neither can truly exist. They negate themselves. You can't truly ever know which is which and it comes onto the decision maker to put meaning to the situation. For example, is someone wanted to do something dumb, but not want to live with the guilt, then they could use 'fate' as an absolution for their idiocy. Conversely, if someone wants to take responsibility for an action that had serious moral consequences, then they could claim the actions they took were freely chosen. There's no litmus."
"That's positively absurd!" retorted Rosalie.
Bella stood up, abruptly, hands on her hips. "Yeah?! Well, you know what?!"
Golden eyes darkened as Rosalie stood up into Bella's personal space. "What?!"
"You're old."
Rosalie's mouth dropped in shock. "I'm… what in the bloody hell does that have to do with anything, you stampcrab!" Bella had the distinct impression that if Rosalie were human, she would be a neon red hue right now.
She let a small smile form on her face, unable to maintain the façade (no matter how much she liked riling the blonde up.). "Did you just call me a 'stampcrab'? What even is that Rose?"
Taking a step back, Rosalie's eyes softened at the use of her nickname. "You called me 'Rose'."
"Don't get too excited." Bella joked, sitting back down at the table. She needed to give herself some space from the blonde. "I still think your crackpot theory on free will is complete pants."
"Pants?" Rosalie mused, quirking her lip as she walked back to her original chair across from Bella. "Now who's old."
When Rosalie went to sit down, Bella noticed she was moving a little stiffly. Rosalie's gorgeous face pinched for a moment and the vampire gently held her collarbone, almost as if hugging herself.
'I wonder if she's been feeling the same as I have.' Leah's words came to her. 'Being away from them or any serious discord between the imprints can cause serious damage.'Should I ask her if she's ok? Do I care? Yes, you idiot, you care.'
Stopping her mental civil war, Bella chanced a look at the blonde. Rosalie was as gorgeous as ever, but there was something lacking about her that Bella couldn't place. Her skin was still ivory pale, and as far as Bella could see there wasn't any physical injuries. Her beautiful platinum hair had been gathered in an artful bun that she'd abandoned when they'd sat down in the library.
'It's her eyes.'
"You alright there, Rosalie? You're looking a little stiff."
"If this is going to turn into an extended joke about my age, Isabella. I'm not in the mood." Rosalie responded without looking up from her notebook.
"No, I'm being serious." Bella said, tapping Rosalie's notebook to get her to look up. "I know we're not friends or whatever, but that doesn't mean I wish you harm or anything. Besides, Alice mentioned y'all had this big talk as a family and I wanted to make sure you didn't have like a weird strain of vampire cancer or anything."
Momentarily, Rosalie looked amused, but Bella could see her eyes slightly steel over at the mention of Alice. "Alice needs to learn to keep her mouth shut. But it's very kind of you to show concern for me, Bella, but I can assure you that I'm fine."
A bang sounded in the hallway made both occupants jump. The librarian was packing up and sending them not so subtle signals to wrap up. Bella's eyes caught sight of a crack forming at the base of Rosalie's left shoulder where her neck and shoulder met. Subconsciously, Bella reached out her hand, but caught herself at the last moment. Rosalie noticed her action and her face puckered adorably.
"Is there something on my…" Rosalie started as her fingers grazed over the cracks. "I'm sorry, I have to go." Before leaving in a rushed whirlwind. Bella sighed deeply.
A/N: I love that Rosalie enrages all of y'all. Remember that she's a complex PTSD survivor who was frozen in time at the ninth of her trauma when she had accepted (Arguably even welcomed) death. Not only that, but her trauma comes from the fact that every single choice was taken away from her. In her human life, it was her parents/Royce making decisions for her. In becoming a vampire, she had no choice. After she was turned, the 'power' that she was given was taking away other people's choices. Now, she's met this wonderful person who cares for her so unconditionally and is immune to her powers. That scares her more than anything in the world. She just...doesn't know how to live with all of her big emotions Yet.
In the next chapter, y'all will get to see things starting to click for her. Please be soft with her, she's had a really rough century and her mate makes her want to jump out of an airplane to escape having to unpack her emotions.