[chapter_20]
Between all of Bella's new responsibilities, she has made the time to raise the two tiger monsters gifted as part of the prize packages for the video contest. Contrary to popular belief, raising the tiger monsters is a much bigger undertaking than anyone would first assume. Dawn of Warcraft has gone to great lengths to capture the realism of raising what is essentially a spiritual monster that is an extension of exclusive players. Everything about these monsters must be taken care of, particularly the feeding and watering. Just like any other skill, the overall raising of the tigers is something that levels up with time - the better Swansong can hunt for two hungry mouths, the stronger and faster the tigers grow. And this is all beside the other rearing details, such as training the tigers for specific commands and behaviors that might be useful during battle.
It is, to put it simply, quite time-consuming. Bella isn't surprised at all that it's taken the better part of nearly two months to get the tigers past infancy and to a state of near-adulthood that will, eventually, pay off during gameplay. She definitely doesn't want to gift Masen's tiger until it is mostly trained and she doesn't want to use her own until he can use his. She imagines, to other players, that the two of them with their tiger monsters will be an intimidating sight - Masen will probably derive a deep pleasure from this, since that kind of unspoken intimidation is his niche.
All the same, Bella thinks the tigers are almost ready. Almost.
She yawns and clicks around, dragging her screen camera back and forth for a better view as she runs one tiger through the paces. It's late and she should be sleeping to prepare for the work she needs to get done at the internship tomorrow, but she is stubbornly staying awake until both tigers are on the same skill level.
"Come on, buddy," she says encouragingly, sending another command for the tiger, trying to bump its speed up one more point. "Your friend did this much easier, you know. Oh, my God. I'm talking to the tiger..."
Bella shakes her head. She really is tired, isn't she?
Still, she withholds going to bed until she is satisfied that the tigers have made the right amount of progress. The sooner she can gift these, the better. Hopefully they'll be done soon, if all goes according to plan.
After all, it seems like there will be a perfect opportunity for her to give the white tiger away, along with other prizes from the video contest prize package.
Lee Lee
Omfg
Okay
I'm done being home now
Can I leave
Bell Bell
It's not time yet
Lee Lee
Says you
I signed up to be a mentor
Bell Bell
Oh for the immersion program?
That's cool!
Lee Lee
Yeah so I get to come back earlyish anyway
You know
To shape young minds and become an
icon for the next generation
Bell Bell
Such humble plans
Lee Lee
Well I am a humble soul
Bell Bell
Right okay
Hey humble soul
Did you get your documentary done?
Last we talked you were key smashing
Lee Lee
I got over it lol
But I am happy to report that it's done
It's in PBS hands now
Did I tell you it made Old Quil cry
Bell Bell
No lol
He cried? Why?
Lee Lee
Because I'm that good sis
I'm just that good
Bell Bell
What if he cried because it sucked
Lee Lee
Why so mean to Leah?
Dont make me doubt my shit now
It's too late for me to change anything!
Bell Bell
You know I'm kidding
I'm sure it's great
I cant wait to stream it
Lee Lee
Ugh
Brb just got nauseous at the thought
Bell Bell
People see your stuff all the time
This is the same thing, but better
Chill out
Lee Lee
We stopped saying chill in middle school
Bell Bell
Let me live
Lee Lee
Speaking of living
Bell Bell
Oh boy
Lee Lee
How are you living these days
Shacking up and getting busy
Bell Bell
Honestly I'm mostly feeding fish
and watching Netflix
Lee Lee
Dont lie to me
You Netflix and chilled didnt you
Bell Bell
No!
Lee Lee
Dirty filthy rotten liar lol
Bell Bell
Kissing doesnt count
Does it
Lee Lee
Idk
I'm too ace for this
Ask Rose
Bell Bell
You were the one pressing!
Lee Lee
Because I'm an asshole lol
I dont actually want to know
Bell Bell
Siri set reminder to pinch
my sister when I see her
Lee Lee
Alexa dont let her do that
Bell Bell
Alexa has no authority here
Lee Lee
This is a godless nation
Bella has never been to a LAN party - and neither has most of her generation, she doesn't think because it's just something that missed them. Who needs to game at a single place and use the same LAN connection when there's high-speed internet and Wi-Fi everywhere? So, LAN parties aren't anything Bella has had the pleasure to experience herself, simply because they've mostly fallen out of fashion.
Mostly. Ask the boys at Midnight Sun and they'll contend that LAN parties are very much alive and well, which is why Bella finds herself in the middle of one halfway through the week. Most of the Midnight Sun employees have stayed late for the express purpose of participating in a server-wide challenge to beat the record time of an instance dungeon. Bella is gratified to learn how many of her coworkers are also huge DOW fans - it makes her wonder if Masen found a few of them through the game, or if it's just a happy coincidence. She should ask later.
As of right now, however, she is busy passing off a stack of pizza boxes to Peter and paying the delivery person. That done, she leads Peter around, directing him on which pizzas belong to which cluster of desks, even as she doles out soft drinks from the plastic bag that was delivered along with their order. By the time they are done, teams have been decided based on department, with the exceptions of the founding members of the company, and Bella, who as an intern, is decidedly neutral.
There is a feel of boyish excitement in the air. It's entertaining to see all of these seldom-serious faces becoming competitive with each other, cheerful trash talk being shouted back and forth through mouths half-full of food.
Bella stands away from it all, her elbow leaning on the kitchen bar-top where Masen, Peter, and Emmett have set up their own laptops. Alistair is grumbling about his arm, which has been itchy all day and is right now preventing him from playing with the rest of them. He has, however, made a point of saying that Bella will be playing for him because, "she's my protégé, damnit."
Peter had snorted and claimed being Alistair's so-called protégé is nothing compared to Bella being Masen's in-game spouse. This had, naturally, drawn some attention from the others, who had been confused at the statement.
"But, Masen is Master Culler, and Master Culler is married to Swansong…" Charles had said, a wrinkle in his brow.
Liam had rolled his eyes and called him an idiot.
Peter, of course, had jovially connected the dots. "Bella is Swansong! Aha! What do you think? Surprising, right? Our very own intern is the one and only, the living legend, the best female player on our server, the Swansong!"
Bella had been slightly mortified by the chorus of oohs and ahhs that followed. "I can't believe we know Swansong," the others had said. "Should we call you Swansong now?"
Bella had raised her hands and shook her head, because no, she should absolutely not be called Swansong in real life. She doesn't relish the attention and would have been perfectly happy to not be recognized as Swansong, thank you very much.
But then Alistair had just made it worse and said, "Did you gits forget about her Twitch?"
She'd stood sheepishly while they talked around her, nudging each other with their elbows and muttering with awe.
"I knew she looked familiar!"
"It really is Swanning! I thought I was imagining things."
"Swansong and Swanning are the same person?"
"Well, now that you mention it, the handles are kind of similar…aren't they?"
A laugh. "Hey, hey Bella! Is it a theme or are you just bad at coming up with names?"
"Both," she'd said, pursing her lips and crossing her arms.
Peter had draped a friendly arm over her shoulder. "You guys shouldn't tease her," he'd warned with a gleeful grin. "She could kick your ass with her eyes closed."
Reflecting on it, she doesn't think she'd ever been so glad that Masen can quiet a room with a single well-placed glare, because immediately after that, all the attention had died down as everyone miraculously found something to keep themselves busy. Bella had sent Masen a grateful smile and he had dipped his head to acknowledge it and that had been that.
Now, of course, Bella's previous grace has run out of time. Under Alistair's watchful eye, she logs into her Dawn of Warcraft account under Swansong, locates the correct portion of the map, and transports Swansong to the dungeon to await her turn with Master Culler, Pestulent, and Pythagoras.
"Which group is going first?" Emmett asks the room at large, and there is some jostling and shouting until it is determined that the programmers would be taking the first attempt.
"Do me proud, boys!" Peter calls out, right before shoving half a slice into his mouth.
Bella shifts her eyes to Masen, who is eating his pizza in neat, quick bites, placidly observing the room as the first team starts the dungeon under a ten-minute timer. He meets her eye and shoots her a wink, and Bella ducks her head, hurriedly eating her own slice before it's time for her team to go.
She decides very quickly that while the atmosphere is chaotic, she appreciates it more than she thought she would. She's never really played the same game in a group like this before. Sure, the odd internet café and sitting in front of an Xbox with Seth and the La Push boys is one thing, but this is different. It makes her wonder why LAN parties fell out of style, even if they weren't strictly necessary for sharing bandwidth. Some people still do them, particularly avid gamers, but more often than not it's not a formal thing.
Maybe it should be? Like a company reward or something. Don't other companies do team-building exercises? Why can't a gaming start-up have LAN parties? She resolves to mention it to Masen soon, because surely regular gaming sessions would be more effective than trust-fall exercises.
Smiling to herself, Bella figures now is the perfect opportunity to unload the video contest prizes. Maybe being around Masen so much has made her more strategic, but she figures it wouldn't hurt if her team could use equipment with higher damage points. Scrolling through her inventory, she sends Alistair, Peter, and Emmett their new top-level equipment. She waits, casting a side-long glance as Emmett makes a curious sound at the notification on his screen and Peter makes a meeping sound as opens the notification up.
"Holy shit, holy shit," Peter breathes, rubbing his greasing hands on his shirt. "Is this what I think it is? Oh, it is. Oh man, I've been looking for this! Bella! How?"
"Contest prizes," she answers simply.
Emmett whistles lowly. "Some damn prizes."
Bella smiles, then looks to Alistair. "Yours has been sent to your account, too."
Alistair's normally sour expression softens. "Well then, now I really can't wait to get this stupid thing off my arm," he says, shooting a narrow-eyed look at his cast, which is now a little worse for wear.
"Hey, Masen, aren't you jealous?" Peter goads, leaning around Emmett to wiggle his brows teasingly. "Your wife gave us presents but you didn't get anything."
Masen lifts a brow and Bella laughs when Peter wilts under the stare. She says, "Actually, I'm sending his over right now."
Both Emmett and Peter crowd around Masen's computer when it dings. A moment passes, and then immediately Peter is whooping in delight and Emmett is saying an appreciative damn and Masen is raising his head to give her a smile that makes heat creep up her cheeks.
"A white tiger! A freakin' white tiger! Masen, my man, do you see this?"
"Mm."
"Is it battle-ready?" Emmett asks eagerly.
Bella's lips turn upward. "Should be. I did my best," she says, and on her screen a private chat dialogue opens up.
《 Master Culler: thank you
》Swansong: it's your part of the prize, no need to thank me
《 Master Culler: all the same, it's greatly appreciated
Bella bites her lip to smother the silly grin she's sure is going to explode across her face. She pulls up her own tiger, this one orange and blacked striped, to prowl around Swansong.
Alistair clicks his tongue, head tilted to her screen. "What's a Night Elf that can shift into a cat going to do with a tiger?"
"You'll see," Bella says coolly and Alistair snorts.
Peter, meanwhile, has grown antsy waiting for their turn. Their group has been elected to go last, so there is plenty of time to kill. Of course, Peter's short attention span means that he is no longer entertained with his new equipment by the time the second team is going. "Come on, come on," he says, bouncing on his toes. "I'm ready to set some records, bitches!"
Emmett raps the back of his head. "Hey, hey! Not that word in my house, bro."
"It's my house too!"
"It's still derogatory," Alistair says flatly.
"Women can say it to each other," Peter points out. "Is it derogatory then?"
Emmett considers this. "Maybe. But they're, like, reclaiming it. Right, Bella?" he checks.
"Oh! Um…" Bella scrunches her nose in thought. Is bitch derogatory when women say it? Yes and no, because honestly Leah and Rose throw the word around all the time without a thought and Bella hasn't ever taken any offense to it. Of course, just because she isn't offended by it doesn't mean it isn't offensive, and she can imagine that if someone who wasn't her friend called her a bitch she wouldn't take kindly to it. Emmett and Peter are still looking at her for an answer, and even Masen has tilted his head in curiosity. "Kind of?" she says, settling on an opinion. "But it also depends on, like, the context."
"Fine," Peter says. "Biotches, then. Happy?"
"A fair compromise, I think," Alistair says.
"Even if you do sound like some leet-speak douche circa 2004," Emmett adds.
"I can't believe I'm being censored in my own home!" Peter whines. "This is just sad."
"Your life is just sad," Emmett says.
Peter flips him off with both hands.
"Maybe if you weren't being problematic, you wouldn't be censored," Alistair mutters.
"I heard that!" Peter says loudly. "And fuck you too, Al. Maybe you're problematic!"
Alistair sneers. "How am I problematic?"
"How aren't you problematic?" Peter shoots back.
Alistair pushes off the counter, his pale eyes cold. "Come over here and say that to my face."
Peter snorts. "You wouldn't be able to take me, Gimpy."
Bella does a poor job of concealing her laughter now, especially when Emmett mutters something under his breath that has Peter turning his nose up and claiming, "Beat my ass? You're not even fit to kiss my ass!"
"Just you wait, you knucklehead," Emmett says darkly, cracking his knuckles. It might have been a menacing gesture had Emmett not been such an overgrown teddy bear, but as it is, even though Emmett is taller and broader than the others, all it does is make Peter chortle.
"Knucklehead?" Peter echoes mockingly. "Oho! Listen, the nineties called and they want their tired slang back!"
"Alright, that's it!" Emmett declares, standing up from the round stool at the counter. "Sorry, everyone, I just need to kill Pete real quick-"
Masen pointedly clears his throat, and they all fall silent, mock glaring at each other even as they calm down. Bella looks on in amazement. She doesn't know how Masen can possibly keep a straight face or be so calm in the face of such chaos, and it's unfathomable that a single noise from him can still the waters so quickly. It is, however, hopelessly attractive, that ease of control, that steadfast veneer.
Bella studies the sharp angles of his profile, tracing down the bridge of his nose and the jut of his chin, basking in that solid solemn countenance until Alistair nudges the hand on her mouse. She jerks her eyes away and when she looks at Alistair, he appears devilishly amused at her preoccupation. Bella bites her lip, bashful at being caught.
Soon enough it's their turn to complete the instance dungeon. Of the three groups that have gone before, only group two - the engineering team - have managed to shave time off the dungeon record by a ten-second margin, which is nothing to sneeze at. Bella's group shares the same goal, but she thinks the dungeon itself is challenging. Not to mention the personalities involved.
"Hey!" Peter yelps beside her, Pestulent jolting on the screen as Pythagoras uses him as target practice . "You can't do that!"
Emmett chortles. "What? It's friendly fire."
"Friendly fire my ass!" Peter shouts.
Wordlessly, Masen restores Peter's health points, shooting Emmett a look that has him rolling his eyes and playing nice.
"What do we know about this dungeon?" Alistair asks.
Without much thought, Bella is the one who answers, even as she double-checks her inventory and the game map. "This is the Wizeowle dungeon, so we're in Jabba Desert where we're mainly going to want to avoid the Tremor-knockoff sand serpents. The objective is to find an underground library that has been partially buried by sand, retrieve the Forgotten Books, which are guarded by an assortment of booby-traps and corpses that have been animated by the Wizeowle, an overgrown owl with a serpent neck who can and will try to eat us whole," she explains. "The trouble with this dungeon is the booby-traps are randomized, so no single try is exactly like another, which means those traps are impossible to avoid. The animated corpses are also programmed by strength, so if there are strong fighters in the party, then the corpses are calibrated to match them. And then the Wizeowle has this shriek attack that paralyzes players after a while, so we also need to be fast and…."
Bella trails off, realizing that not only her group is looking at her, but also a few of the others who have drifted from their own groups to watch her group play.
"Sorry," she says, cheeks burning red. She hadn't even realized she'd slipped into the mentoring tone she uses as Swanning, which when realizes can be presumptuous and patronizing to those who have not explicitly asked for advice. It's a mortifying gaffe. "It's just...habit."
"Mm." Masen lets his eyes drift over her, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Helpful."
"Mase, my dude, my master of the understatement, that was way more than just helpful," Peter crows. "Did you all hear that? We have two master tacticians on our team!"
"This isn't fair!" someone calls from the back, laughing.
"Next time, you guys aren't allowed to stack the deck so heavily," Charles chimes in. "Liam and I get Bella next."
"What, you don't want Boss-man?" Peter queries jokingly.
Liam shakes his head. "You can keep him!"
Bella giggles, shrugging her shoulders at Masen's mildly bemused expression. Fortunately, that sense of levity continues through the instance dungeon. Bella thought she might have felt nervous playing live in front of so many people crowded around the table, but she falls into the same comfort as any of her Twitch streams. It's kind of the same, isn't it? She might be playing with a group, but there is the occasional question that she answers without a thought and apparently a few of these boys know her as Swanning, anyway. She plays with as much ease as normal, right at Master Culler's flank, trading offense and defense with him; she slinks around in her cat shift, blending into the shadows as she sends her tiger out to retrieve the Forgotten Books; she twists around the barrage Pestulent and Pythagoras unleash on the animated corpses and she helps Master Culler land the final blow on Wizeowle. Her fingers don't stop moving for a second, her eyes locked on the screen. As they near the end of the dungeon, someone starts yelling out a count down to how many seconds they have to spare to beat the record.
Bella's group emerges from the sandy rubbles of Wizeowle's lair with sixteen seconds shaved off the all-time record. She lets out an enthusiastic yes, high-fives Peter and Emmett and Alistair, and grins widely at Masen when he places a hand on the small of her back.
So far as LAN parties and work functions go, Bella doesn't think any can beat this sense of elation and camaraderie. This is, she thinks, a memory she can cherish.
Bella
Hey Ali
I saw your tumblr update
Are you okay?
Bella
Hey Ali
You know you don't have to
worry about reaching out
Right?
I'm here when you're ready
Alice
Hey Bells…
Bella
Hi!
How are you?
Alice
Better
Bella
That's good
Alice
Yeah…
Bells
Can we meet up soon?
I need to apologize in person
for being such a brat
You didn't deserve any of that
Those were my own issues
Bella
Are you free this weekend?
Alice
Yes
Absolutely
Bella
Then I'll see you at our place
You know the one?
Alice
I'll be there
Just tell me when
Bella
:)
Alice
:)
Thursday finds Bella in a tizzy of nerves. The whole day she is jumpy, strung on edge in a way that is very much not like herself. She pops up and down from her new desk, a nimble white contraption that can go from standing to sitting and that had been installed overnight, a sort of surprise when she came into the office. One of the boys had even tied a ribbon onto the chair.
Bella had not cried about it, but it was a near thing. Not one to be close to tears so quickly, she knows the reason for the jitter in her limbs and the height of her emotions is some kind of delayed-stress response to the whole thing with Alice. Because Alice had finally reached back, had finally met Bella halfway. Hopefully that means Alice is doing better than before. She takes it as an encouraging sign that Alice wants to meet up and talk about it face-to-face. Although Bella is a creature of her times and, like the rest of her generation, finds texting more convenient, there are some things that just can't be done over a virtual space. Soulful apologies between life-long friends are just one of those things that have to be done in person.
Bella is eager for the resolution. It's been so shockingly difficult these past three weeks to be out of contact with Alice, who she is much closer to than Rose. Bella hadn't even realized how important Alice has become to her until she realized she associated so many things with her friend - from giving Esme clumsy fashion advice to avoiding the fruity frozen yogurts Alice prefers. It hasn't been quite like missing a limb, which is what Bella feels when she and Leah have a rare fight, but it's close.
This weekend she might get her friend back - and more importantly, she might finally come to understand what exactly happened to cause her friend to spiral so quickly. Bella has an itch to fix the problem, to prevent it from happening again. She wants the weekend to be now and that's why she's been fumbling the entire day.
Masen has been kind enough to quietly observe this, but the others had taken to teasing her. She takes it good-naturedly because she knows these guys by now and she understands that teasing is simply what most twenty-somethings do.
Still, when the day comes to a close and the last of them filter out of the office, Bella can't help but be a little relieved. Just a little.
While Alistair immediately goes upstairs for "a sodding nap", Peter cites his hungry stomach and wheels off to that food truck he's always loitering at. Emmett lingers in the office, shooting a glance at where Masen has been talking on the phone for half-an-hour their main investor, then sidles up close to Bella. She takes in his inexplicably nervous expression with mild curiosity. Emmett hasn't ever been nervous around Bella; out of all of them, he treats her the most like Seth, which is to say he treats her like a little sister, one who is kind of chill but also a girl who he can't relate totally with. That Emmett is decidedly un-Emmett at the moment is cause for some bemusement.
"So, Bella," Emmett starts with faux ease. "I've been meaning to talk to you."
Her brows lift. "You have? What about?"
Entertainingly, Emmett turns his face away, making a show of looking at everything but her. "I. Uh. Well." Emmett coughs. "It's about - see, the thing is - uh…"
Bella, who has spent the last while weaving through the computer clusters to gather stray snack wrappers and the like from desks, stops completely to give Emmett her full attention.
"Emmett, what is it?" When Emmett simply turns red in the face, Bella squints in thought and tries to venture a guess. "Did you…need me to buy something? I can be discreet. Or, is it something else, like-"
"Rose Hale!" Emmett bursts out. If it had been Peter, he might have clapped his hand over his mouth afterward, but because this is Emmett, he turns beet-red and wide-eyed and very much looks like he would prefer the ground to swallow him whole.
Bella blinks. "I…what? What about Rose?"
Emmett finally looks at her, head tilted down bashfully, which shouldn't have worked on a man with such a large frame but - again, Emmett truly is a teddy bear, isn't he? "Rose H-Hale," he says again. "She's, uh, I mean, I noticed that you were, or you have been, you know, on her Instagram and I thought, maybe, you might introduce me? To her."
Emmett wants to meet Rose?
Bella purses her lips, thoughts speeding through her mind. Emmett follows Rose's Instagram, which isn't anything strange since a significant amount of people follow Rose - at last check, she had more than 2 million followers. That Emmett wants to meet Rose also isn't surprising, and neither is the fact that he recognized Bella from Rose's feed, because it's true that she is in the background often enough. None of this strikes Bella as odd. It's not even the first time she's been approached by someone so they could meet Rose.
And yet - something about this is jogging a memory. Maybe it's his demeanor or the way he says Rose's name, but Bella has a strong, striking sense of familiarity. It takes a moment and then it clicks.
"Oh…Hey, I've met you before, haven't I? Kind of." Bella smiles at Emmett's blank stare. "You're Library Guy!"
"Library Guy?" Emmett echoes.
Bella nods. "Uh-huh. There's been this guy on campus for, I don't know, the last year or so who always managed to find Rose at the library. I think I can remember you trying to talk to her about…differentials. Peter was there too…"
Emmett grimaces. "That does sound like me."
Bella agrees.
Emmett rallies quickly. "So, she already knows me!"
A sense of disbelief washes over her. "Well, I wouldn't say that…" she hedges, but Emmett doesn't seem to hear her or maybe he's simply stopped listening.
"I'm Library Guy," he says proudly, a wide grin spreading across his face, his cheeks dimpling. "I'm Rose Hale's Library Guy. I can be that. I can do that. Oh, man, this is great!"
Bella honestly fails to see how any of that is great, but she tries to be supportive. He doesn't need to know that Rose thinks of Library Guy as an annoying fly she has to swat away. To tell him that would be mean and Bella tries to never be mean.
"Did you want me to introduce you when she's back in town?" she offers, because Rose might agree if she knows someone else would be paying the tab, or if she got a high level of entertainment value out of it. Knowing Emmett, he's guaranteed to provide both.
"Nah. I'm Library Guy," he boasts proudly. "I think I'm good! But I'll keep your offer in mind, just in case my own manly wiles aren't enough!"
Bella does not respond, even though the urge is there. She lets it go. It's a rare thing to see Emmett so effusive. He's an upbeat guy in general, but he doesn't typically radiate the same kind of happy-go-lucky that Peter does, and seeing him so cheered by the knowledge that Rose has a not-so-affectionate name for him is endearing. She supposes he's just happy to be known by her.
Actually, Bella can relate, having been in the same place before Masen knew she - or Swansong - existed. She does, however, resolve to snoop through the comments on Rose's Instagram later to see if she can find him. She's curious about the kind of comments a guy like Emmett would leave.
Emmett bounds off, taking the stairs two at a time, and Bella goes back to cleaning up the office. Masen is still busy and she doesn't want to leave without saying good-bye. Esme will be home this evening, so the fish don't exactly need Bella's attention, either. She has some time to waste before she needs to leave. With that thought in mind, Bella bustles around the office to do some basic housekeeping, hunting down a can of air to clean out a few messy keyboards, and spritzing everything down with disinfectants. Recalling that the refrigerator is currently weighed down with week-old take-out that is surely on the verge of spoiling, Bella meanders to the kitchen, turning over a design idea in her head as she cleans out the fridge.
She is admittedly paying less attention than usual, which is why she doesn't notice the trash can is full until it's almost spilling over. Bella hastily ties up the trash and tries to lift the bag from the can, but the bag is too full and it's actually heavier than she thought and the can is clinging to the bag. By the time gravity starts to work, it's a quick slip-shod surprise that has the now-empty trash can banging down on her foot.
Bella yelps, hopping onto one foot as she drops the trash bag. She's shuffling around on one foot in the kitchen, trying to put everything back in order now that it's been cleaned out, and that's how Masen finds her.
"Bella? Are you okay? I heard…" Masen trails off. She can almost feel the weight of his stare as his eyes settle on her foot, the corners of his mouth turning down at the corners. "You're hurt."
"It's nothing," she says, wincing as she tries to put weight on her foot. "Just a stubbed toe. Or three."
"Here, let me," Masen says, and then before she quite knows what's happening, Masen's hands are on her waist and he easily lifts her onto the counter.
Heart pounding, Bella lets out a little gasp. Masen is stronger than he looks, isn't he? And broader. She always forgets how broad his shoulders are, but now that she's eye-level with them she can't help but focus on the way his shoulders fill out his crisp shirt.
Masen moves away to rummage through the freezer and returns with an ice pack, which he wraps up in a paper towel. When he goes to take the canvas shoe off her foot, she flinches back. "Oh, you don't have to. It's okay, it doesn't even really hurt" she says quickly.
"Want to," Masen says simply, pulling off her shoe. His hand is gentle as he holds her foot, his thumb rubbing against the delicate jut of her ankle bone as he places the ice directly on her reddened toes.
"Masen," she murmurs. She doesn't know what else to say. Her heart feels like its trembling between her ribs.
His grey-green eyes rise swiftly, pinning her into place. There is a furrow in his brow, a new kind of tension in his jaw. He looks worried, she realizes. Worried for her, even over such a minor injury. It's not like she's bleeding or anything is broken, but he doesn't seem to care about those details. She is hurt, so he is fixing it.
Her heart leaps right into her throat as she stares at him, acutely aware of how close their bodies are. He's right between her knees, not directly facing her, but still close enough that his heat is seeping into her skin.
"You didn't ask for help," he says, looking back down at her foot and readjusting the ice. He seems content to stand and play at being an ice-pack, seemingly in no rush to do anything except this.
"I didn't want to bother you," Bella tells him quietly, her eyes zeroed in on his tender hold. "You were on an important phone call. It was just that stupid trash can…"
"Silly."
Bella starts, blinking rapidly. "Huh?"
"You're being silly," Masen clarifies. There's a secret hidden in the quirk of his lips, the warmth in his eyes, a warmth she knows is only shared with her. "You're the only one in the world who is allowed to bother me."
"Oh," she breathes. A flush crawls up her cheeks because she can't believe he said that. The implication makes her heart tremor again. She is the only one who is allowed to bother him, who is allowed to interrupt him when he's busy, and that, she thinks, means something very significant.
There are unspoken words there, ones she can hear even though he does not speak them.
So. Oh, indeed.
"Actually," he continues, his voice dropping as he shifts, turns toward her so her knees are on either side of his hip bones, the ice dropping from his hand so his palm can stroke up the length of her calf. His hand settles there, stroking the knob of her knee. "I like it when you bother me."
Bella's breath feels heavy. Her mind has fixated on the way his hand feels against her bare skin. She's wearing linen shorts that, when standing, have a modest hem - but right now, sitting on the counter with Masen between her spread legs, their length feels utterly indecent. She feels exposed. Has her knee always been so sensitive? He has a few callouses on his hands, mostly at the tips of his fingers, and they scratch wonderfully against her skin.
She raises her eyes slowly, looking at him beneath her lashes, fighting the warring desires to hide her face bashfully and to clutch at him desperately. She wants that hand to stay there, or maybe to travel to other places. He likes to place his hand on the small of her back, his arm around her shoulders or her waist, a palm against her cheek - but what would that touch feel like if it lingered, if it landed on less innocent places? For the first time in her life, Bella wants to know. Her curiosity is insatiable and it makes her mouth drop open, eyes fluttering.
She doesn't know what to do, or how to ask for what she wants, so she looks at Masen and hopes that he can understand, that he can know what it is she's yearning for.
Masen does.
The hand on her knee strokes higher, following the line of her thigh until it almost, but not quite, breaches the hemline of her shorts. His other hand reaches up, cupping beneath her chin to tilt her face up. His intense gaze flickers around her face, between her eyes and her mouth, focusing on the lip she has drawn into her mouth.
Masen leans forward, just a breath away, and pauses. He stares earnestly, a quiet question of can I and will you let me that Bella answers by tilting forward to brush her mouth against his. She barely pulls back before Masen has captured her lips again - and it feels like he is trying to drink her in, sipping at her lips, licking into her mouth until she gasps and shivers and clenches her fists into his once-pristine shirt.
Bella wiggles closer, heart galloping, even as Masen's touch shifts again, both hands sliding across her body to circle her waist and tug her closer. He is leaning hard into the counter and only by the virtue of his hand supporting her spine does she not bend backward. It's as if he can't get close enough, like he could never be close enough, like he wants to crawl into her skin as much as she wants to crawl into his.
The angle of the kissing shifts, his mouth slanting messily over hers. She flattens her palms against his chest, feeling the pounding behind his sternum, pushing her touch up to learn the shape of his shoulders by feel. Her arms cross around the back of his neck, pulling him in deeper, her knees squeezing around his hips as she squirms at the heat gathering beneath her naval.
Masen's teeth close around her bottom lip, tongue lashing at the bite before he pulls away, just enough so they can breathe. Bella is panting, turning her cheek to rest against his, but Masen, it seems, is not done yet. His heavy breath follows his lips as they skim down her jaw to her neck, where he mouths at her pulse. Bella whines, gasps, lets out a tiny sound when the kisses at her neck shift from soft to something heated, something dark like possession but just as sweet as worship. He draws her flesh into his mouth, sucking and nipping and laving at her skin to soothe the ache he leaves behind, all the while his hands have skirted down her spine to rest just over her rump. This touch holds her in place, pulls her closer, which Bella doesn't even think is possible because she's clutching at his nape, holding him close to her neck, her fingers digging into the copper-bronze of his hair -
And then there is a clatter upstairs and a banging of a fist on wood and a voice that sounds like Alistair telling Emmett to shut your idiot face so I can sleep, you arsehole!
Bella and Masen don't exactly spring apart, but they definitely do separate. Between the two of them, Bella is more skittish, flushing up to the roots of her hair, struggling to make eye contact; Masen, on the other hand, has turned his head up to level perfectly blank stare at the ceiling, frowning minutely up at the second floor.
His lips are very red right now. Her own lips are tingling, pulsing with a faint rawness that is matched by the tender throb on the side of her neck. She reaches up without thinking, her fingertips skimming over her damp skin, pressing down curiously - and she releases a little meep when it connects that Masen Cullen has just given her a hickey.
Masen looks at her, head tilted, a smirk creeping across his face. He looks smug in a way that is both horribly attractive and horribly annoying.
He actually gave her a hickey. In a very visible place. In the middle of summer, where there is no convenient way to hide it.
On purpose? She wouldn't put it past him. He's a ridiculous man, sometimes, using that cerebral, calculating intelligence for the most minor of whims. Minor to her, at least. Who knows what's going on in that head of his.
She narrows her eyes at him, drops her hand, and pokes him right in the chest. Hard.
Masen's smirk widens. "Maybe you should bother me more," he suggests.
Her face feels impossibly hot. "Masen," she complains.
"Mm."
"I'll get you back for this," she threatens.
His smirk is now a smile, a tender sort of thing that makes her blush for entirely different reasons. He leans forward, pressing the sweetest kiss on her cheek. "I look forward to it," he murmurs, lips just at the corner of her mouth.
Bella feels dizzy. And hot. And thirsty. Very thirsty.
"W-water," she croaks out.
Masen hums and pulls away, crossing to the newly-reorganized refrigerator to pull out a bottle of water, which he opens and gives to her with a wry look. Bella averts her eyes and guzzles down half the body, trying to locate some sense of normalcy while her mind is spinning spinning spinning. She's still trying to gather herself when Masen, now leaning on the counter beside idly playing with the ice pack that had fallen on the floor, brings up the a topic she hasn't quite been able to forget - with the exception, of course, of when his tongue had been in her mouth.
"Saw you on your phone earlier. Good news?" he wonders. "You looked happy."
"Alice texted me," Bella says after a moment. "She wants to apologize in person. We're meeting tomorrow night."
"Mm."
"It's good timing," she continues, turning the water bottle around and around in her hand. "I mean, it would be nice to make up before we all have to move back into the dorm, and Leah is coming back next week. I can't stay with Esme forever, either. Kebi is supposed to come back soon I think."
"I see."
Bella casts him a side-long glance, trying to place that subtle tone in his voice. "You…aren't happy?"
Masen shakes his head. "It isn't that. I'm not unhappy. It's good that you're about to find a resolution, but I will miss you."
Warmth blossoms between her ribs and Bella offers a tiny, sweet smile. "You know the fall semester is coming up."
Masen nods gravely. "Such is the difficulty in dating a college girl," he says with deadpan, facetious humor.
Bella laughs, throwing her head back, and that is how Peter finds them - laughing together in the kitchen, Bella still seated on the counter - when he comes back. Peter comes to a dead stop in the lobby space, staring at them with a scandalized sort of horror. He brings up his hand, pointing at them with wide eyes.
"Masen doesn't laugh!" Peter yelps. "Bella! Get away from him! Masen doesn't do laughter, so this is some kind of pod person!"
Masen snorts and Bella can only laugh harder.
"Emmett! Alistair!" Peter yells in alarm. He dashes for the stairwell, leaning on the railing as he continues shouting. "Help! There's - we have - something is wrong with Masen! A-and Bella! They've been possessed!"
No response comes from upstairs.
Peter stomps his foot. "Hey, assholes! Don't ignore me! We have a thing happening! Do you hear me? Hey!"
Bella laughs until her stomach aches.
A/N: To the Facebook peeps - was I right or what? Icing injuries can be sexy! Also, you guys, Emmett. Need I say more?
Anyway there's a thing to explain! Leah is coming back to campus earlier because she signed up the be a mentor in Stanford's Native Immersion Program, which part of a cultural program that helps freshmen and transfer students transition into the college with a cultural-community support system; the immersion program is time-honored and generally scheduled right before the fall semester begins and is, interestingly, still tentatively scheduled to continue this year among COVID-19.
Just for a survey, where do you fall on the bitch thing? Is it derogatory always, or only from cis males? I'm not sure what my opinion is. Just like any other word, this one depends on the context in which it's used - because being called a bitch can still be an insult when spoken in anger, but it can also be used in a friendly manner or even with sarcasm.
As always, be brutally honest. I can take it. Stay safe, stay inside (if you can), stay healthy - and put pressure on assholes who don't wear masks even though they definitely should because it's the literal least anyone could ever do, ever, and also keep pushing for reform and investigations for victims of gross and wrongful police brutality. Also, finger-snaps for San Francisco, who are now going to employ unarmed first responders to non-violent 911 calls (you can learn more about this story at LATimes).
~Rae