[chapter_25]
"What the fuck is wrong with Peter?" Emmett wonders, peering out the wide back office window facing out to the office proper. He's been standing there, arms crossed and expression befuddled, for the last ten minutes instead of actually discussing whatever it is that brought him into Masen's office in the first place.
Masen hopes it isn't their third-party promotional team, but it probably is. Setting up Menagerie's marketing for release is proving to be twice as complicated as Pagan Immortals, largely because Midnight Sun now has a reputation that requires them to have a certain measure of pomp and circumstance. Masen doesn't mind that part, knowing that a huge part of creating a brand is creating a brand culture - and he's invested in making Midnight Sun's culture is innovative, quick-paced, and future-forward, which means all of their promotional tools need to be in the same gear. But what this means in the practical sense is that Masen is doing a lot of hand-holding via Emmett to make sure that the details are lined up the way they need to be. These days, Emmett doesn't come to him with a lot of non-frustrating news.
Or, as it happens, a whole lot of focus, either.
Not that Masen is any different, considering he is currently also watching the real-life show from the relative peace of his office. He's wheeled his desk chair to be not-quite center to the computer screen, giving him just the right angle to watch as Peter, for what must be the tenth time this week, hastily retreats from K.O., face flushed and stammering. The pattern usually goes something like this: Peter and K.O. will be huddled together as normal, Peter will inevitably make a bald-faced, likely accidental innuendo, K.O. will stare, Peter will realize what he's said, and then lurch away, stumbling over his feet with a nervous laugh and, in a high-pitched tone of poorly-veiled panic, will make a flimsy excuse to disappear himself, all while K.O. watches silently. And then when Peter is gone, K.O. will look down and beetle his brows at his shoes for several moments before getting back to whichever task Peter had interrupted.
The first few times of watching this had been, frankly, baffling to the extreme. But now that Masen has sussed out the pattern, he can't help but be a little annoyed by the distraction of it. He is alone in this, of course, as the people around him, Bella included, are mostly sympathetic to Peter's prolonged bout of gay panic. Masen, on the other hand, thinks it only makes a troublesome amount of sense that Peter's sexual awakening would be just as long-winded as Peter is himself.
At least Peter - and K.O., for that matter - are meeting deadlines. For that reason only, Masen puts up with the distraction and files it under office entertainment for the most part. Had it been disruptive to the company goal in any way, he would have been inclined to intercede somehow. As it is, he resigns himself to patience with the whole thing, figuring it surely won't take much longer for the situation to be sorted.
K.O is the decisive type, after all, and Peter has never been able to brag about any type of stamina before.
"He's being so weird these days. Weirder than normal," Emmett amends, continuing his observation. Now that the show is mostly over, everyone else in the office gets back to work and pointedly ignores Peter, who is standing in front of the open refrigerator, obviously flustered and thankfully silent about it.
"Mm," Masen agrees, because yes, Peter is being more weird than usual.
He's somewhat surprised that Emmett hasn't put two and two together, yet, but of course, Emmett is dealing with his own kind of distraction. It seems Rose Hale has set her mind to shaking up Emmett's entire world, starting with a heavy critique of his investment choices that have kept Emmett in the office after-hours for a full week, speaking with Rose over speakerphone while she pushes him to take calculated stock risks. The constant, if not distant, exposure has at least cured Emmett of his stuttering around the woman, but it has also largely kept Emmett fixated on his own relationship issues. Perhaps it isn't that surprising that he hasn't connected Peter's new behavior to Peter's blooming attraction - now obvious to all, himself included - to K.O., all things considered.
Masen grimaces privately. He's never been in the habit of caring this much about his friend's personal lives. But then, his own personal life has changed too, hasn't it? He is no longer the same Masen Cullen he was a year ago, or even six months ago. It isn't that he cares more about his friends than he did before - it's just that he's taken them into consideration in a different way, now that Bella's own gentleness toward her friends has influenced him.
Still, it's midweek and a business day, and Masen is determined to stay focused. He has his own deadlines to meet, and a lunch formally introducing his parents to his serious girlfriend on the weekend. He doesn't have any time to spare, not for this problem that will resolve itself eventually.
Instead, he aims for redirecting Emmett. "What did the promotional company say this time?"
Emmett, sensing it is the time to be serious, turns around and makes a face. "First," he says importantly. "I want to reiterate that we really need a PR team to handle this sort of thing because being the liaison is getting very old very quickly. Second, they sent in proofs for the email campaign that needs your approval, along with the hashtags and adds they want to use on social media. They also wanted to confirm the multiple channel outreach we're using and double-check that we really don't want to use SEO prior to release."
"SEO will generate itself organically," Masen answers because that's what he wants. Content marketing can be good for other businesses, but not for Midnight Sun - not yet. It's a slippery slope to pay for content strategists to generate interest because all too often that leads to paying for reviews. Other companies in the industry, especially overseas, have already gotten into hot water about that, and Masen would like to avoid that as much as possible. Let SEO happen as a result of public reporting and organic searches. He'd prefer it that way.
"That's what I told them," Emmett agrees, producing a folder to slide across the desk. "But they still asked again."
Masen makes a dismissive noise, opening up the folder and flipping through the proofs the promotional company has made. The designs look good, the copy content is solid and precise, and the channel plans are exactly as previously discussed. For once, Masen has no issues to bring up, so he slides the folder back to Emmet. "Looks good. Tell them to launch."
"Roger that, boss," Emmett says, heading toward the door. He stops, though, right before he leaves, turning back with a quizzical look. "Are we not going to do anything about Peter?"
"No," Masen answers bluntly.
Emmett lifts his brows, but nods anyway, and leaves to pass Masen's instructions along to the promotional company. Masen, for his part, turns back to his computer and the optimization code he and K.O. have been tooling to help drive down the strain on the graphics cards caused by highly-developed MMORPGs, a project that is slow-going and in continual development. When Masen is not working on this, then he is streamlining the coding that comes out of programming and engineering to make it as high-functioning as possible.
Idly, he hopes that this will be the last Peter's problems will be verbalized, and goes about the next few days in the same focused vein. But if Masen thought that intently focusing on business would mean the end of hearing about the new tension between Peter and K.O., then he is sorely mistaken because it takes less than an hour on Friday for Emmett and the others to try to rope Bella into the middle of it all. As his office has been overtaken by an impromptu meeting following Peter's latest display of innuendo-blush-and-retreat, Masen resigns himself to listening with a flat, mildly interested expression. The sooner this inane babble is over with, the sooner he can get back to work.
"Someone should talk to him," Emmett is pontificating. "I have a bet to win and he's dragging his feet."
"Hard pass," Liam says.
"Not in this lifetime or the next," Alistair agrees. "Especially if it means I win the bet."
Emmett flips Alistair off then shoots a look at Masen, and Masen responds with a quick and flat, "No."
Bella frowns at them, seeming to disregard the bet commentary. "Is Peter okay?"
Charles gestures in the direction of the office floor. "You did see that, right?"
Bella purses her lips, looking thoughtful. "Yes. Well, he's clearly dealing with something."
Emmett claps, once. "Right. That's right! He's dealing with something and I am so glad you noticed because you're the exact right person to talk to him about it!"
Bella blinks twice, then huffs. Her hands land on her hips. "You're just saying that because I'm the only girl here!"
"Listen, Bella," Liam tries. "We're men, and we don't really talk about things like this."
"That is a lie," Bella declares. "You talk about these things all the time. I've seen the group chat."
"Which group chat?" Emmett challenges. "Midnight Sunners is for serious stuff. Mostly!"
Bella smiles, a tad too sweet. "I'm talking about the other group chat."
Alistair smirks, elbowing Bella so they can share a conspiratorial look. Emmett misses this exchange and turns to Masen with accusation. "Masen! You can't show her that! You broke the code!"
Masen looks at him, blank-faced. "What code?"
Emmett sputters.
Alistair, meanwhile, has been watching Bella's expression nearly as intently as Masen has, and has surely seen the resolve that has settled on her delicate, freckled features. "Bella," he cautions. "I have to advise against this. You don't need to talk to Peter. Nobody does. We don't really talk about these things seriously."
"Well," she says, her tone chilly. "Maybe that's the problem!"
Bella departs in a flurry of the most annoyance Masen has ever witnessed from her. It's a mild sort of annoyance, the type one might get from being fed up with pestering, but still - to see it from his Bella is somewhat surprising. He stares after her, briefly wondering if she will follow through and talk to Peter, but she bypasses Peter completely and leaves the building from the lobby, likely seeking air.
Masen frowns. He has, by now, a key insight into how Bella's mind works, and he easily deduces that her mood is not only because of this tiny incident. Something else is bothering her to the point of interfering with her temperament, and Masen can't let that stand. He's her boyfriend and he has made a promise to himself - and to her, even if silently - to support her in all things.
"Mase, shouldn't you...?" Emmett trails off, seeing Masen already in motion, following the path Bella has taken. "Well, alright then," he hears Emmett say behind him. "Back to work, I guess, fellas..."
He finds Bella outside, arms crossed as she paces the same length of the sidewalk curve, balancing on the edge one foot in front of the other. Her cheeks are flushed from the wind, getting chillier by the day, and her expression is set into a troubled moue, her bottom lip poked out and red from her teeth. He makes a point to stand in her path, hands in his pockets, and she comes to a stop when she meets his obstacle.
Comforting another person isn't a skill Masen has ever bothered to cultivate. Even with his family, he tends to be the rational voice of reason undercutting emotional exchanges, which doesn't put him in the position to do anything else but offer actionable suggestions on how to deal with an issue. He has found, with Bella, that remaining distanced from emotional distress is something that does not work, largely because he wants to help with her emotional needs. This has led to Masen floundering on more than one occasion, although he feels some pride in the fact that he can, at the very least, know how to comfort her tears, as it seems to be an instinctual response.
Moodiness, however, is another issue entirely. Granted he has only known her for just half a year, but in all that time he has always known her to be level-headed. She balances stress and time commitments well. She has a long fuse and allows others to try her patience out of politeness. The most open she is with anyone are her friends and, he likes to think, himself. He will not fool himself into thinking he knows all her moods or that she has not been upset in the time he has known her - but even still, this is the first time he has personally seen her so upset.
And he wonders at the reason.
The toes of her shoes nearly bump his when she comes to a stop. She looks up at him, tension in her brow.
"Peter just needs time," Masen tells her. "You don't need to talk to him."
"I know that," she says on a sigh. "He's not nearly as helpless as the others think."
Masen knows that. Peter is often annoying and loud, but he still has a keen mind and more sensibility than most people would assume. Sexual identity crisis aside, Masen doesn't foresee any issues about Peter that are any true cause of concern. He is colder than his friends, in this way, because he is not as driven as they are to resolve Peter's issues for him. Masen sees no reason to intercede; Peter will figure this out. He's gratified to know Bella, who can be very sweet, agrees with him.
"You are upset," he observes, pressing forward.
"Not about Peter," she tells him.
Yes, he's gathered that by this point.
He lifts his brows, a silent prod for more information.
Bella pushes her plush lips into a pout and looks away, up at the sky. "It's my guild," she says after a beat, letting out a humorless laugh. "I feel silly being upset by it still, but - well, you remember Cherry Lane? And the video that Queen V and Relentless submitted to the video contest? It turns out their little group is going to be joining Illuminating Lotus in a few days. And the trouble is already brewing."
By trouble, he surmises she means gossip. The internet may have a short attention span, but its memory is long, and he doubts anyone has forgotten the debacle with the video contest entry, which had fueled gossip on the DOW forum for weeks. His own surprise at this news must be poorly concealed on his face - or Bella has gotten very good at reading him - because her expression twists into a grimace.
"It's a small world, right?" she asks facetiously, shaking her head. "That's what I thought, too, but Janeway cleared that right up. Lately, Illuminating Lotus has swung up the guild ranks, meaning we've got an influx of new members. It makes sense that a popular guild would draw popular players, but according to Janeway, Relentless chose my guild specifically - and gossip about that is already getting out of control."
Masen can imagine. An ex in-game spouse joining the same guild, apparently on purpose? Any gossip mill would happily eat up that kind of fodder, and the DOW public chat is teeming with drama-seeking chatterboxes. Masen doesn't care about gossip himself, as it can be useful when used correctly, but he knows that Bella is different. He can easily see the lingering hurt she must be feeling over that insipid video just as clearly as he can see how stressing this news is to her - he dislikes both on principle.
Masen isn't sure what words he can offer, if any, to comfort her - so he bypasses words altogether, gently gathering Bella into his arms until she is tucked snugly beneath his chin, her arms clutching onto the back of his shirt. She presses her forehead into his collarbone, her warm breath washing through starched cotton to sear him right to the bone.
"I hate gossip," she mutters.
"Mm."
He knows this is not the end of it, but for now, there is nothing more to do. He's certain his instinct to recommend she drop out of the guild herself would be poorly received by Bella, who has a subtle stubborn streak a mile or two wide. She will stay until she wants to leave, and that's the end of it. And it's not really his place to guide her in a direction he thinks is most favorable.
He will just support her in all things, even this.
Alistair the Recluse ʘratherbealone
i don't want and i don't need to know any of this about my friends. please. #spareme
L Clearwater ʘClearlyFlimingThis
Is that tea I smell? Spill it! ʘratherbealone
Alistair the Recluse ʘratherbealone
let's just say my walls are, unfortunately, rather thin and someone is, also unfortunately, rather loud
L Clearwater ʘClearlyFlimingThis
Nevermind, I don't want to know. Now you #spare me
Bella really wishes Janeway wasn't bombarding her with news, but at the same time, she'd rather know than not know what's coming next. It's worth the anxiety now to be prepared for the inevitable when it happens. The only thing is, Bella can already kind of see where the inevitable is going to lead and she really hopes she's wrong because she knows herself well enough that she'll give up ground rather than drag herself headfirst into a confrontation - and unfortunately, this time, that would mean giving up a place she has worked hard to achieve.
Maybe outside of the game, it would be different. Maybe outside of the game, she would dredge up some gumption to fight tooth and nail for something that is hers, but as it is, no matter how much she loves the game and the guild, she only really has so much energy in a day. Right now all of her energy is dedicated to the internship-that-didn't-end and getting through this first semester of her junior year, which is proving to be more of a challenge than she first thought - more of a workload than she first thought. She's lucky she has any time to game; she doesn't really have the energy to be over-concerned with whatever drama is brewing up with the guild and the game chat room.
She tells all of this to Janeway, who returns with more gossip. Of course.
》Swansong: run that by me again
《 Janeway: i said Relentless bought his way in
《 Janeway: it's all over the public chat
《 Janeway: i mean, apparently he's super rich IRL
《 Janeway: but why did it have to be our guild? ugh
Bella leans back, frowning at her computer screen. Swansong is shifting from toe-to-toe in the idle stance of an avatar that isn't being put into play and Bella studies the movement for a moment more than she really needs to. Because Janeway has a point - of all the guilds around, why Illuminating Lotus? Why buy into Swansong's guild?
She feels awfully and completely self-centered for even entertaining the thought. It's not about her. Knowing Relentless, he smells an opportunity and he's waiting to stike - there's certainly another contest up on the forum, a battle competition that she would participate in any other time, except right now she's too busy for it. The battle competition requires a rotating roster of other players, at least three each battle, and the best way to have access to players who are willing to play that role is to be part of the guild. Illuminating Lotus is one of the top guilds on the NorCal server. It makes sense to join, especially if that's Relentless' aim.
And it's not as if Queen V or any of her casual gamer friends, like Cherry Lane, are really up to the task. Relentless presumably still has standards about who he'll partner with for competitions.
》Swansong: good for him then
《 Janeway: omg of course you're going to be like that
》Swansong: like what
《 Janeway: taking the moral high ground or wtvr!
《 Janeway: do you ever get tired of being so good?
Bella doesn't think she's particularly good. She's average in just about everything, with a few notable exceptions. Pride has never been her downfall; she knows where she shines and where she could use some buffing. Hubris will not strike her down.
》Swansong: I just don't have the time to worry about it now
Except that she is worrying, a little. This news strikes her as an ominous turn, which is silly because there's no reason to feel that way. With the exception of that video, she and Relentless parted on good, if not neutral, terms; she and Queen V have never even interacted directly; and as far as she knows, Cherry Lane is over what happened in the canyon. There shouldn't be any problems - and yet...
She's overthinking it.
》Swansong: it is what it is, you know?
《 Janeway: you're so damn zen
《 Janeway: teach me your ways
》Swansong: okay
》Swansong: step one
》Swansong: be very busy
《 Janeway: i'm busy!
《 Janeway: well. i'm a busy body.
《 Janeway: it's basically the same thing
》Swansong: LOL
The conversation tapers off from gossip after that, thankfully, with Janeway drilling her about the new patch that has been applied to the game and all the deliciously cool updates that have come from it. Apparently Janeway wants help completing a new quest that popped up on her level, and Bella agrees to schedule a game date, figuring she can use the new quest in her next Twitch stream.
She puts the guild and it's new members out of her mind. There's nothing she can do about that. No sense worrying about something that hasn't - and probably won't - happen.
Piping Hot Tea (Group Chat)
Paparazzi
Good luck with the inlaws sis!
Sleep Talker
they aren't my inlaws
Paparazzi
oh bless
she really believes that
Thorny
it's like watching the first
5 minutes of Bambi
Sleep Talker
can you use a different comparison
Thorny
why, because Bambi's mom died?
and it's sad because Masen's actual
mom is acutally dead?
Sleep Talker
yes, that would be why
Short Cake
Oh okay!
what about the first 5 minutes of
Legally Blonde?
Thorny
before Warner showed his ass?
Sleep Talker
that's not a good comparison either!
Paparazzi
amateurs
sis
it's going to be like the first
15 minutes of the Princess Diaries
and that one has a happy ending
Thorny
uh wtf they all have happy endings
Paparazzi
what part of Bambi was happy to you!?
Thorny
all of it?
all of it!
Short Cake
Legally Blonde was happy!
Sleep Talker
yeah
but happy with Angst
Princess Diaries had Angst too
why are movies like this?
Short Cake
oh i guess that's true
that's why the second LB
was better
Paparazzi
hold the fuck up
what
no it wasn't
Short Cake
Yes it was!
Bruiser got a boyfriend!
Paparazzi
the first one was the best
Paula punched her dick for brains ex!
sequels always suck
ask anyone
Thorny
i see your claim
and I raise you the second
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
totally better than the first
Paparazzi
no it wasn't!
Sleep Talker
what is happening
Short Cake
i think they forgot about you
Leah just threw a pillow at
Rose's head
oh, there goes the laundry basket
i just folded those
:(
Sleep Talker
should I come back?
i can come back
Short Cake
you're fine!
you'll be okay!
just trust Masen
and good luck!
Sleep Talker
thank you
also
the second Bambi was better
than the first
Short Cake
fighting words!
Sleep Talker
lol
Masen opts to take the company car to the lunch with his parents - due both to the weather forecast and the promise of a quick escape, should it be necessary. He doesn't think it will be, but he's forced to reassess when he gets a glimpse of how nervous Bella seems to be. She's dressed with a certain amount of care, still casual but obviously trying to present herself in a specific way, pairing high-waisted skinny jeans with a slouching cream sweater tucked into the front waistband and flat leather boots, scuffed on one toe from where she walked into the curb trying to get into the car when he picked her up at the west campus gates. Her only accessories are his bracelet and a nervous smile stained with a subtle hint of color. Her hair is as wavy as ever, but the frizz has been tamed and the scent of argan oil is just barely noticeable.
He holds her hand over the center console, fingers weaved together. "We can cancel," he offers as the car idles at a stoplight.
Her hand squeezes his. "No," she says, shaking her head with a determined frown. "There's nothing to worry about. I'm just being silly. I've already met your mom. She's nice."
"Mm."
Anne Cullen is nice, which she proves by immediately drawing Bella into a hug as soon as they amble inside of the Italian restaurant just after one. Anne greets Bella with such effusiveness that Masen casts a side-eye to his father, who is watching the scene with an indulgent sort of smile. Noticing Masen's questioning gaze, Thomas leans closer and says, "Your mother is very excited. It's not that we worried you would be lonely, son, but..."
But that had been exactly what his parents had worried about - and of course, they would, given Masen's general lack of enthusiasm for getting close to other people, let alone having intimate, non-familial relationships. Truth be told, if it weren't for Bella and the specific set of characteristics that draw him to her, he likely would have remained alone, celibate, and unromantic and perfectly happy for it. But Bella breaks all kinds of barriers, not just in her enthusiastic creativity, but also within him.
He grants his parents leeway for this, understanding that much of their happiness is bound in relief as well. Carlisle they never worried about. Masen, on the other hand, gave them more cause to worry than he ever intended, likely as part and parcel of being an adopted child.
At least they can rest assured in this - after all, Masen is fully committed to this relationship and he senses Bella is, as well. This is the only meeting of the parents that he will endure, aside from meeting Bella's, that is, whenever the time comes.
Masen manages to extract Bella from Anne's gentle-mannered clutches as they are being led to their seats. Anne waits for only a beat after they are seated before continuing her questioning, which is more or less a quest for information on what Bella plans to do with her degree, if Bella thinks what she learned from Anne's class will help, why Bella chose to take Anne's class as an elective, a story from Bella's childhood that ties into one of Bella's assignments that Anne was apparently so impressed by she actually remembered, just shy of three months later. It actually takes Masen several moments to track that his mother is effortlessly teasing Bella's entire life story out of her while also putting Bella at ease.
It's a masterful manipulation of conversation. Masen immediately wants to learn this skill and settles in to observe, understanding that his mother's earnestness is genuine but her people skills are unrivaled by anyone he has ever met. He would do well to emulate her in this.
Thomas occasionally tosses in his own commentary and questions, which Bella answers with that dazzling smile of hers, her green eyes dancing as she relaxes into the atmosphere. She sends him a few sheepish glances after they have placed their orders, a silent message of I can't believe I was nervous about this. Masen lifts his brows and tilts a smirk in her direction in response.
"So, how did you two meet?" Anne finally gets around to asking after they've been served.
Her question interrupts Bella, who has been inhaling the scent of her mushroom-spinach ravioli with a pleased smile as she unrolls her cutlery from a napkin; the question makes Bella fumble, her fork clanging against the table. Bella blushes fiercely.
"Was it on campus?" Anne wonders.
"Anne," Thomas says.
Anne waves him off. "Oh, hush. You know Masen never tells us anything." Anne turns back to Bella, delicately cutting into pan-seared lemon chicken, an expression of polite inquiry on her face. "So? Was it on campus? You're a junior now, aren't you? In the same department?"
"Online," Bella blurts out, and then promptly looks mortified. She ducks her head, face as red as he's ever seen it. "I mean - we met online by gaming, not on, like, a dating app. We met gaming online."
Masen makes a thoughtful noise, considering.
Bella looks at him. "What do you mean, hmm?" she whispers.
Masen rolls his shoulders once, then examines the best way to tackle the truly gargantuan meatballs on his plate. "We didn't meet online."
Bella frowns at him. "What? Yes, we did. That's where we met - in the game."
"I first saw you at the internet cafe," he informs her.
"That doesn't count."
"No?"
"No," Bella says emphatically, a smile now tugging at the corner of her mouth. She's exasperated with him, which is exactly what he wanted. She's forgotten her embarrassment. "No, it doesn't count because there wasn't a verbal exchange."
Masen lifts a brow. "Then our meeting online doesn't count either," he points out. "No verbal exchange."
Bella stares at him in dismay. "What are you talking about? Chatting counts as a verbal exchange."
"Does it?"
Bella huffs at him. "Masen Cullen, I know you're messing with me now. If you didn't think that text didn't count as a verbal exchange, then you wouldn't be able to use the group chats as leverage to make Peter meet deadlines."
"Mm."
"You're very funny," she tells him.
His parents, meanwhile, have begun to openly smile at the exchange, his mother even laughing politely into her napkin. Masen is marginally pleased, largely because it means that his Bella has finally relaxed, the tightness in her shoulders loosening, her hold on her cutlery less tense. Masen spares a private smile for himself, aimed mostly at his plate, and takes his first bite.
It's good. Savory, heavy on tomato and garlic and basil, the pasta pleasantly taut. He swallows, and goes to take another bite, and then frowns. His mouth itches.
Actually, his mouth itches quite a bit. And his throat. And his tongue.
Masen clears his throat, puts his silverware down, and reaches for his glass of water. The sip does nothing at all to wash the irritation away and, as he feels the tell-tale throb of his skin and the catch in his throat, he knows with absolute dread that he is - inexplicably - having an allergic reaction to his food. These are meatballs, which means there shouldn't be any shellfish - and yet.
Masen coughs into his fist, turning his head away, and brings the attention of the entire table onto him.
Thomas, sitting closer and having been the front-row witness of many of Masen's food allergy reactions, is the first one to notice. "Son," Thomas says urgently, leaning around the table corner. "Do you have your pen?"
Masen nods, patting at his pocket where he usually keeps his Epi-Pen, but his pocket is empty. It shouldn't be. He always makes sure to have one on him whenever he leaves home, especially if he's going to be eating in a restaurant where possible cross-contamination may happen, which is what he suspects caused this allergic reaction. But his pocket is empty. He remembers putting the pen in his pocket, but it must have fallen out, maybe in the car.
Is there time to send someone out to get the pen? No. He can feel his throat closing up. It's becoming more difficult to breathe. There isn't time. And it might not be easy to find, or maybe it's damaged, or -
Masen coughs, and tries to say, Call 911, but the words don't come out.
Fortunately, both Thomas and Anne are already pulling their phones out, Anne coming around to circle the table. There are eyes from other restaurant patrons on them and at least two waiters are hovering anxiously around. Thomas is on the phone, his call connecting first.
It's all happening slowly, but quickly all the same. Masen turns his head toward Bella and finds her rummaging around in the little purse she's been carrying around today, her hasty movements causing a few personal feminine items to drop onto the table. Bella doesn't seem to care, as she lets out a quiet sigh of victory and from her purse emerges a familiar green Epi-Pen.
Masen stares and coughs, his brain moving more slowly than usual as he watches Bella read the label and struggle with the cap and then, with a determined frown, stab the pen right through his slacks so that the compressed needle pierces his flesh -
Masen coughs for several more minutes, but he can breathe more easily now. He draws in heavy breaths, relishing the air in his lungs, and finds he can't manage to tear his eyes off of Bella, or the fine tremor in her hands or the tears that glisten, unshed, in her eyes, or the way she offers him a tremulous smile. At some point, Anne has come around his chair, holding onto his shoulders in comfort, and off to the side he can hear Thomas alternate between updating emergency services about the situation and also berating the restaurant staff about the obvious cross-contamination in their kitchen - the words health code violation and lawsuit are thrown around, probably not quite as carelessly as bystanders would assume.
When Masen feels better able to speak, even with his throat still raw and fatigue setting in, he manages to push a question from his mouth. "Why?" he asks Bella.
She blinks at him twice, a little blankly before the question registers. She's clearly shaken as she looks down at the Epi-Pen, now empty, in her hand. "Oh," she says, her brow knit delicately together. "It's one of the spares from that drawer in your kitchen."
"When?"
"When did I start carrying it?" she clarifies, and when he nods, she answers with a blush. "I've had it for a while. I, uh, didn't use to wear purses before we met. Now I do."
He thought one might have been missing. Warmth not associated with his allergic reaction spreads through him - to think that his Bella had gone so far as to change one of her personal preferences just to make sure she had something he might need in case of emergency. Masen is robbed of all thought except for a thrumming appreciation for the thoughtfulness and gentleness of this girl.
Anne is similarly moved, if not more demonstrative. She rushes to pull Bella into another hug. "Oh, you darling girl," Anne gushes. "Thank you."
Bella looks at Masen with wide eyes over Anne's shoulder and Masen coughs into his fist to hide a smile of his own.
That's the last bit of piece for a while, of course. Masen is ushered to an ambulance to be checked out by EMTs, who insist he has to go to the emergency room to be checked out by a doctor. Masen, having been through this several times before, is resigned to the trip. His parents, of course, insist on following the ambulance, and Bella volunteers to ride with Masen. She held his hand through the entire EMT examination and doesn't seem keen to let go anytime soon.
Because he is admitted for anaphylactic shock, the next few hours are a blur of test results and observation. The ER doctor determines he'd only had a mild allergic reaction and, after another dose of epinephrine, Masen is allowed to return home. By the time he puts his street clothes back on, it's already getting dark and the lunch with his parents has turned into a day-long traumatic event; his eyes linger on the way Bella fidgets in the waiting room, biting her lip even as she talks quietly with his parents. As soon as he communicates he's ready to go, they all shoot onto their feet, anxious.
"I'm fine," he says, gaze straying again and again to Bella.
"Let me take you home, then," Thomas offers. "You too, Bella."
Masen agrees, but Bella, with a raspberry blush, says that she would rather go home later, after she's sure Masen is okay. She fiddles with her bracelet when she says it, looking up at him beneath her lashes, and he's helpless to do anything but agree with her. He'll send Alistair to get the company car later. It's fine. It's even fine that Anne is looking at Bella with stars in her eyes and Thomas has a quietly pleased expression now that things have been resolved.
His parents like his Bella.
Even with an allergic reaction mucking up the works, the day itself is good. Better than he anticipated.
After his parents drop them off, Bella helps Masen upstairs to the loft and spends the next fifteen minutes fussing over him until he changes into sweatpants and settled onto the couch and she's satisfied that he's had enough water. Masen allows her to direct him, wordlessly accepting her care, understanding that this is how she's deciding to cope with the event.
When she seems satisfied that he's okay - and after he's watched her take another Epi-Pen from his kitchen drawer to replace the one she just used, her brows raised pointedly at him as she does so - Bella settles onto the couch next to him. He's sitting with his back wedged into the corner, which gives her just enough room to tuck herself under his arm and squeeze her arms around his middle, her head on his chest.
They sit for a while and simply breathe. Masen takes one of her hands, pressing a kiss to the knuckles before slotting their fingers together. He closes his eyes, head leaning on the back of the couch, and takes stock of how his body feels. Mostly good, nothing a nap won't fix. Bella had been remarkably fast with the Epi-Pen. She'd almost certainly saved his life.
"Your parents are nice," she says after a long stretch of silence.
"Mm."
"Can I ask...?"
"Mm?"
Her voice is barely audible when she does speak, her green eyes watching him so carefully, like he might disappear if she even thinks of blinking. "Is it always so scary?"
Masen feels his entire self soften. He shifts, tenderly tucking her hair behind her ear. "I wasn't afraid today," he declares honestly, his own voice only just above a whisper.
He hopes she can hear the words that he leaves unspoken - that when he is with her, and that when she is with him, there is no reason to be afraid.
The way she smiles, just the slightest curve of her plush lips, makes him think she understands what he means.
A/N: Okay, folks. So, this is the full Chapter 25. Updates are going to be sporadic at best and probably on a hiatus until my workload calms down - my projects at work are demanding and I just don't have the time. To be clear, I am NOT abandoning this story and it WILL be completed. I'm hoping I'll be able to get back to weekly updates sometime in September. You may want to check back in around mid-September to see if there are any new updates.
Too bad adults need money, huh?
Anyway!
For some technical bits, SEO stands for search engine optimization and is basically how content on websites pander to the algorithms on your common search engines, particularly Google and Bing. SEO works by tagging keywords; if you repeat the keyword enough times, then the relevance of the content will be increased, meaning the website can generate more organic clicks from being higher on search engine results. There are entire companies that cater to creating SEO content for websites to drive sales; when Masen is talking about organic searches, he's talking about specifically not paying a content mill to generate interest because he wants to build brand reputation through public reporting, first. Both ways are valid, although you have better luck with Door #2 if your product is unique.
Even if you use an Epi-Pen or other allergy medication for an allergic reaction, it's strongly recommended that you go to an ER for observation and further treatment. Allergies are weird and popular media representation (looking at you, Hitch) for an allergic reaction is grossly incorrect. Also, to bypass anyone looking for drama where there is none, no, Denali or Grandfather Cullen did not find a way to put shellfish in Masen's meatballs; restaurants are guilty of cross-contamination often enough that it's a true game of Russian Roulette for people with food allergies. Always be prepared, kids.
I'm sure you can guess what I have to say about the state of America over the last two weeks. To sum it up, I'm deeply saddened, outraged, and disgusted; what happened in Wisconsin (both times) is beyond words and only reinforces the point of the protestors. Don't even talk to me about the actual politics happening on a certain side of the aisle - I'm too pissed for words, other than vote wisely and vote early. Also, spare a thought for Chadwick Boseman, who went out when he was shining the brightest and stood for all the right reasons.
As always, be brutally honest. I can take it. Stay safe, stay smart, and stay healthy. And get your damn flu shots - sooner rather than later.
~Rae