Author's note:
Another light hearted chapter, I think we needed a few of those though. We will be getting into something darker next chapter. Enjoy.
Chapter 10- A Day Out
The next morning I was in my room reading a book Alice had packed for me when I over heard Esme and Rosalie talking with each other in the new office. I couldn't make out what they were saying due to their low whisper, so I moved from my bed to the floor and put my ear to it.
"I think you should go with her." Esme said.
"I don't know if she can handle going into town. Why can't you just go get the things you need?" Rosalie protested.
"I could, but keeping her here will never help her, she needs guidance on how to be in control, she just fed not more than twelve hours ago, she will be fine with you." She said confidently.
"What do you mean with me? She isn't my pet Esme, we don't even really like each other." She exclaimed.
"You and I both know that she responds to you. You have a way with her that Alice and I don't."
"ok, fine, but if she murder's the town, don't blame me."
"Here is a list of what I need. Why don't you ask her to go yourself."Esme suggested.
I heard Rosalie's footsteps as she walked out of the office and into the living room. I quickly moved back to the bed and put in my headphones. My music was still going, thankfully. I heard her steps get closer to my door and my anxiety rose. I felt stupid for being anxious over Rosalie Hale. It was like I wanted the popular girl to think I was cool. I readjusted my legs a few times to try to look casual. I stopped fidgeting when I heard a soft knock at my door.
"Yes?" My voice cracked. Stupid.
"Its Rosalie, Can I come in?" She was being awfully polite I thought, and then it occurred to me that she had never come to see me in my room.
"Sh-sure." I couldn't stop being weird.
The opened the door to stay standing in the doorway. She took a look around my room, finally landing her eyes on me. She seemed surprised, I wonder why.
"So, Esme needs some things from town, she thinks it might be a good opportunity to see how you do with humans, so…want to try the control thing again?" She said as though she was trying to be unenthused.
"Yeah, sounds good. I'll get ready."
"Well, that was easy." She said and turned to walk to her room. I heard her mumble after she was out of sight "Maybe she is right."
It took me a grand total of two minutes to get ready; I got out of bed, put on shoes and brushed my teeth. No body likes the smell of rotting blood on the breath. I was ready when I noticed that I hadn't actually taken a shower in a long time. I must have smelled pretty bad. I inspected my armpits and confirmed my theory. I panicked for a second; I couldn't have my slightly less than enemy counter part smelling me.
I hurriedly took off my clothes and took the faster shower I have ever performed. I used vampire speed to wash and within another two minutes I was putting my clothes back on. I had just worn the clothes for a few hours and they seemed to smell ok. When I was done I made my way downstairs to find no one. I stepped outside to see Rosalie already in the Range rover waiting. I jumped all of the steps seeming a little too cheery for my own taste.
I realized how stupid I looked about mid jump, therefore I attempted to land casually and gracefully transition into a calm and collected walk. What this actually resulted in was myself landing less than gracefully, stumbling over my footing and partially falling into the bush at the bottom of the steps. I was one slick vampire.
I pretended to act like nothing happened. My hope was that she didn't notice, but my hopes were unfounded. I looked to see her with her head tilted and her brow furrowed. She was definitely trying to figure out how I was still a mess after having vampire reflexes. There was no coming back from my stunt so I did the next best thing. When I opened the car door I owned it.
"Did you see that stair try to trip me?" I said in a way that could only be taken as a joke.
She cocked one eyebrow in silence. I was pretty sure she didn't find me funny, but then she smirked. It was small, but I am almost positive it happened. Just like that we were on our way.
I only took us two hours to get to the small town on the water that had what we needed for Esme. Our drive was mostly us listening to music and enjoying the scenery. Once we were there we found a little parking lot on the outskirts of the "downtown" to park. From there we would walk. We got out of the car and proceeded with our mission.
"If you feel strained in your control, just give me a sign, ok?" She whispered towards my ear. I nodded my head.
"I think I am ok, what I did…I don't ever want that to happen again." I said ashamed.
"Good, then make sure it doesn't."
We stopped first at the local hardware store for some tools. The man behind the counter was too old to be flirting with Rosalie, but that didn't stop him. I wondered if she even noticed when men did it anymore. He asked us "pretty little things" if we needed help carrying the tools. I had never been talked to like that so I didn't even know how to respond. Rosalie told him no and grabbed everything herself. I think she made it a point to show others she was capable.
We made a trip back to the car, we could have carried everything, but that wouldn't have looked right to being carrying all those tools plus whatever else we needed all over town. On our way back into town I decided to break the silence.
"Do you get that all the time?" I asked.
"Get what?"
"Men treating you like some helpless blonde bimbo or like a piece of meat?" I clarified.
"Ever since I can remember. Men are pigs. Most men that is." She shrugged.
"Doesn't that drive you crazy? People never seeing past your …goods?" I struggled to find a way to put that last part. She stopped walking and stared at me.
"My…goods?" She question.
"You know, your physical appearance, the stuff pigs look for. Your …goods."
She looked at me as if I had surprised her. Then she kept walking.
"Yes, its one of the things that bother me most about people, actually. I can't say that I haven't used it a time or two to my advantage, but it can be lonely. People hardly ever care about what's going on in my head."
I walked quietly for a moment looking down at my steps as we made our way to our next shop. I wasn't sure what to say. I sort of understood what it felt like to be lonely. I mean, I doubt I ever was that way because of my beauty, but I had always been an outsider. We were both from drastically different walks of life, but I felt like we might have had a little in common.
"What does go on in your head?" I asked a question that would be impossible to answer simply.
"Well, a lot of things I guess. No one has ever asked, forgive me for not knowing how to answer that." She paused to think. "I suppose I think about everything, all of the time. I feel like I consistently have at least ten things on my mind. I think about my family, my projects, my past, my future, everything people are saying around me, how I look, how I should watch what I say, but also how I have just sounded when I didn't watch what I said. It's exhausting." She sighed.
"My mind is like that too. I am always thinking, driving myself crazy." I said
We walked slowly, almost like we were strolling. It was surprisingly comfortable. At least in comparison to how my other encounters had been with her. Rosalie seemed to be deep in thought, she scrunched her face up in a way that made me think she was asking herself questions in her thoughts.
"For how much I have heard everyone obsess over you, I don't actually know much about you. Where did you grow up?" Rosalie questioned.
I was a bit taken back by Rosalie actually asking me a question, but I was excited she wanted to get to know me at all.
"Well, I was born in Forks actually. My Dad doesn't really like change and my mom is a total free spirit. So my mom took me when I was just a toddler and we moved. Several times, but only ever to warm sunny places. My mom is sort of a vacation destination junkie. The last place we ended up was Phoenix; I did my last year of middle school and the first two years of high school there." I said cheerfully. It made me happy to think about Renee.
"So you are more like your father then." She didn't so much question as she did state the obvious. After a second I realized that I should be slightly offended by her meaning.
"What do you mean?" I questioned
"Well, you don't really seem like a free spirit. Maybe it's just from the small snips of time I have spent around you, but you seem content just doing the mundane. I mean, the adventurous things you have done have been from other people suggesting you do them. Like coming to Alaska." She put out her hand as if to showcase the town.
"I can be a free spirit! I ran off by myself and you had to find me. I went to the ballet studio to face a vampire." I said defensively.
"No, what that means is that you are impulsive, and courageous…maybe even a little stupid." She said point blank. She then turned to me and observed my fallen face. "I am kidding about the last part, Bella." She said teasingly, as if to cheer me up. I perked up a little realizing that she was trying to banter.
"At least I can do everyday things without worrying about getting dirty or breaking a nail." I teased back.
She seemed amused that I was bold enough to tease her back.
"I think you are actually talking about Alice." She said. She rolled her eyes. "She gets so mad at me when I use the clothes she gets me to work on the cars in.
"I forgot you know how to do that. Where did you learn that?" I asked.
"Well, the first time I learned anything was when my dad taught me. I didn't have a brother so he taught me. He used to do all the work on his cars. I eventually went to school for Diesel Mechanics. That was pretty hard because I was doing this in the fifties and it wasn't exactly something women did. The men didn't take me seriously, until I was smarter and faster than them of course. I went back for automotive engineering in the early nineties. I got a bachelor and then a masters degree. The last thing I did for education with cars was Auto restoration, which was just for fun really." She said as if that was nothing.
"Oh. Well, if that's all you have then I might just have to get my oil changed at Jiffy Lube." I teased rolling my eyes.
"That's all I know, about cars. I have a few other degrees. Nothing like Carlisle or Edward, though I'm not sure anyone can top Carlisle. He has been getting degrees since the foundation of most of the universities around."
"I had no idea they both had so much education, I guess I figured that Carlisle worked and Edward just redid high school." I said shocked that Edward and I had never talked about it.
"No, he usually tries to get in college degree every few years. He mostly studies the arts, literature, and history. It's a good thing he doesn't need a job." She teased giving me a wink.
I can't explain why it happened, but I felt weird when she winked at me. It's like something deep inside me got excited. I felt stupid about it. I tried not to show my confusion over what had just happened inside me.
"Are you ok?" She asked.
Dammit, I had to get better at hiding my emotions.
"Erm…yeah. Its nothing." I said
"Ok well we are here. Esme needs some more fabrics and sewing supplies." She said as she pointed to the door of the shop called "Sew Fabulous."
When we walked in the fragrance hit me in the way that fresh baked cookies do in a small house. I closed my eyes and let the smell infiltrate my lungs. It was the lady behind the counter. I didn't go crazy, but my vampire had an Itch that needed scratching.
"I smell it too, are you going to be ok?" Rosalie whispered too low for anyone to hear.
"I think so. I'm still in control." I said slowly. I opened my eyes and we moved forward.
"Well, hello there! Welcome to Sew Fabulous!" The woman behind the counter raised her arms dramatically to welcome us. I heard Rosalie give a low groan. I giggled at that a little.
After that Rosalie asked for the stuff we needed. The enthusiastic woman was more than happy to help. I could tell that Rosalie was taken back by the enthusiasm this woman had about sewing supplies. I'm not sure that Rosalie is used to such peppy people, Alice is one thing but this lady was a one-woman parade. After she got the things we needed she paid and we quickly left. Not before the woman wished us a sew-premely good day.
"You did good in there." She said after we had exited the store.
"Thanks, I told you I don't want to ever do that again." I paused while we walked. "How long did it take you to control it?"
"Well, I probably could have a lot quicker, but I didn't want to try. I used my bloodlust, as an excuse to eliminate some people I felt should no longer be among the living. So it took about two years."
"You were killing by choice?" I questioned. I couldn't see Rosalie doing that. She could be a bitch, but I didn't see her seeking out victims.
"It's a long story, but I wasn't killing the innocent. I'd rather not talk about it." She said. We walked quietly back to the car.
After we dropped off the supplies at the car I was sure we were going home. I started to get into the passenger's seat when she spoke up.
"Did you want to see the water?" She said in a way that made me think she wanted more time to walk.
"Sure, lead the way." I said, feeling good that she was up for spending more time with me. This was progress. We were coming a long way from her wanting to smash my face in.
"You know, I never really saw you and Edward fitting together." She said out of nowhere while we walked.
"I guess he didn't either." I said sadly.
"It's not because of you, and though I do get annoyed with him, I love him still. It's that you are kind of witty. I don't think I have ever heard Edward tell a joke or be humorous. He is the quiet tortured artist type, and you are not like that at all. I mean, what did you two talk about mostly?" She said charismatically.
I thought for a moment. I wasn't sure what we talked about. I guess we mostly talked about him, his past, his struggles, and his family. I didn't get to talk much, he didn't ask about my childhood or family that often. Not because he wasn't interested, but I just always let him take the lead in everything.
"I guess we mostly talked about him. The stuff he liked, music, books, his struggles, his past. Stuff like that." I said honestly. "What do you and Emmett talk about?" I was feeling a bit defensive.
"We don't really talk that much. We mostly have sex and talk when there are issues. We don't have deep talks or do many things together aside from …"
"Sex." I said finishing her sentence.
"Yeah. It's not bad though, I'm sort of used to the way things are with us. It's been over seventy years, how much do we really have to talk about?"
"I guess you are right." I said.
We reached the water and it was beautiful. I could see mountains filled with snow all around in the distance. The water was a deep sapphire blue. The sight made my day, no, it made my year. It had been a very relaxing day; I thought less about my past when I was there. Though Rosalie didn't know it, she made me believe my future wouldn't be so bad. She had a natural way of calming me down. Her presence had become something of an antidote to my numbness. I wasn't better, but I was starting to get there.
I looked over to see her leaning against the railing of the port. She watched the scenery like it was her first time seeing it. The wind blew a small strand of hair across her face. I had a strange urge to help her tuck it behind her delicate ear. Uh, well this was awkward. Did I just call Rosalie Hale's ear delicate? I fidgeted self-consciously, almost guilty for what I had just thought about my newfound friend. I was just hoping that she didn't notice my awkward movements from across the way. I decided to speak, trying not to think about that hair waving in the wind anymore.
"Thank you, Rose, for today. You have actually been really nice and I like this side of you." I said a bit bashfully. She turned to look at me as I spoke. That same strange sensation I had before rose in me again. Maybe it was because I wanted her to approve of me.
"It has been nice. You're welcome." She said it looked like she was going to continue before she stopped herself. She looked down at the water. We stayed there until the sun had set, after we made our way back to the car.