Hello again my sweet lovelies!
I love how much y'all are loving Rose! You're gonna love her even more as we go on. She's a riot in some of these chapters.
I will have some pictures on facebook pages(no rules of twilight fan fiction and it all started with twilight) to go along with this chapter, if y'all wanna see what Charleston looks like. It's seriously one of my favorite cities. It holds a special place in my heart.
So, here we go!
Chapter 4 - Pull
BPOV
Touching down in Charleston, I can't help but bounce in my seat.
I'm so excited to be back in my hometown. This is such a historically rich city and I've always felt a special connection to this place.
Getting off the plane, I go to baggage claim and then to the rental car counter to pick up my rental.
It's like the person at the counter knew what I was wanting, because she showed me to a Dodge Challenger. In blue.
Awwww yeah!
I love this car, but just never felt the need to buy one. But I'm slightly tempted to once I slide into the driver seat after I've crammed my bags in the back.
I tear off down the road towards my mom's house after I text her, letting her know I landed.
She let me know she's at the house making dinner for us.
Yay! Mama's home cooking!
Pulling up in front of mama's house, I can't help but feel the hit of nostalgia.
This is where I grew up. It's where I have all my memories from before I went off to L.A.
I grab the suitcase I brought specifically for staying here and walk to the front door, turning the knob and walking in.
"Helllllooo? Mama?" I call as I close the front door and drop off my bags by the stairs then go searching for her.
"In here, sweet pea!" I hear her call from the kitchen and I head that way.
I walk in and see her at the stove and rush over to her.
"Oh, my Bellini! You're home!" She wraps me up in her arms and I instantly feel a little calmer. She pulls back and cups my face. "Let me look at you."
I don't know what she sees but she seems sad. "Oh honey, have you not been sleeping? You just look so tired."
"Way to let me know I look like shit, mama." I roll my eyes. "No, I haven't been sleeping well. I don't have a regular sleep schedule, and I think it's just a 'get sleep when you can' thing lately."
"You know I didn't mean it that way, baby. You just look like you've got a lot weighing on your mind and that you may not be sleeping much. Purple is not a good look under your eyes, sweet pea." she sweeps her fingers under each eye, and I can actually feel the weight under each of them.
"It's a good thing I'm taking this vacation, then. What's for dinner? It smells good." I ask, because my stomach feels like it's about to eat itself since I didn't eat much today before I left on the plane.
"One of your favorites; Low Country Boil. It was supposed to be nice tonight so I figured we could do this and take it out back to the table." The table is something specifically made for a Low Country Boil. It's a high top table, with a hole cut in the middle. You put a trash can where the hole is so as you're eating from around the table, you can just chuck the shells of the shrimp and corn cobs in the trash and keep eating. It's a very informal thing, but a Low Country Boil is more of a social gathering thing in the south. No one's worried about being proper at a table with this.
"YUM! Gah, I miss southern cooking. All these little bitches in L.A. eat like a fucking leaf of kale and they say they're full. I call bullshit on that, though. If they got down here and had all this food shoved in their face, they'd cave like a fat kid with cake."
"Well you definitely need to eat, baby. You're looking way too skinny. You're gonna EAT while you're here. No arguments." She says as she drains the pot and starts for the back door to the deck. I follow along with her and help her get everything out the door.
Phil, mom's boyfriend that she started seeing about a year and a half ago, is out back setting up the table and all. He's a nice guy, and he's good to my mom. I know she's been lonely for a long time after my dad died, and she finally let herself fall in love again.
"You won't hear it from me. I've got a hankering for Fleet Landing. I gotta go there, like, pronto! I really wanna hit the oyster house, too. I'm gonna gain so much weight on this trip, they're not gonna know who I am when I go back to L.A."
Mom, Phil and I stand around the table and eat while we watch a college baseball game on the tv outside. She made a pitcher of Sangria and we spent a good evening together, catching up.
After an amazing meal, some yummy drinks, and a lot of laughs, we all turn in for the night.
Being back in my old room brings back so many memories from school. I look around and see pictures, school accolades, and memories of a happier time in my life. Not that my life was shitty when I first went to L.A., but since the James incident, it's just been a long downhill fall that I'm just now starting to get back up from.
I see the pictures of me and Alice, my childhood best friend. We've kept up with each other on facebook, especially after everything that happened. It wasn't all the time that I got to talk to her, but she was a sounding board for me when I couldn't exactly talk to my mom. She's the one person that I could trust to have my back when everyone else in the world thought I was this crazy psycho set on ruining a 'nice guy's reputation'. Next to my mom and Rose, I could always talk to Alice.
I need to see if she's around town while I'm here so I can catch up with her.
I also see pictures of me and Edward.
Hmmmm… there's a memory of a time that was definitely happier. Well, until I went and ruined it by leaving for L.A….
Edward and I dated through high school and into college. He decided to enlist in the Coast Guard when we graduated high school. I told him I'd still be here when he came back. I went to the College of Charleston while he went off to do his basic training. Once he got through training, he got stationed in North Carolina. He said his next post he'd try to be back down here so he could be with me.
Then, towards the end of my sophomore year is when I went on that damn singing show and ended up in L.A.
Edward was happy for me, to an extent. We both thought we'd stay around here and get married. But we had a huge fight when I told him I was heading to L.A. to try to make a go of it with my singing career. We both said some things we probably shouldn't have. Things we didn't mean. I thought he would have been more supportive when he was the one that always helped me with my singing. Always practiced with me, sang duets with me.
He decided if I was gonna go off and see the world, he was going to, too.
So, that was it for the two of us. I haven't seen him since I left for L.A. six years ago.
I shake off that melancholy memory and get ready for bed.
I spend the next few days hanging out with my mom, running around town to some of my favorite spots. The old market, the battery, a little trip over to Edisto, the aquarium, etc. There's so much around Charleston to do that it's hard to decide sometimes. But, it's never dull, and there's so much history here in this city that you don't have to look far for it. It's everywhere you turn. That's one of the things I love about this place.
Rose called and said the Disney people had a preliminary rundown of their project they wanted me for. She told me Jasper was traveling this way for a client and said he could hop over to Charleston for a day or two and drop it off to me. Which I told her was fine. I could show Jasper some of the spots around here that held my heart.
He was coming in on Friday afternoon and decided to leave on Sunday.
I called Alice and found a time we could meet and catch up with each other.
There was a restaurant/bar downtown on King Street called Prohibition that was amazing. Alice said it was a regular spot for her to go hang out, so we were gonna meet up there on Friday night.
I told Jasper to come meet us when he got in and after he was settled in his hotel room.
Once I got there, I made my way inside and looked around for Alice and her short ass self.
"BELLA!" I heard her screech from across the room and saw her waving her hands madly.
I made my way over to her quickly and was engulfed in a fierce hug from her.
"Oh my God! I can't believe you're here! I've missed you so much!" she rambled on, and I kinda got misty eyed at actually having her here in front of me and not over facebook or a phone call.
"Gah, Alice, I've missed you, too. You don't even know." I told her as I pulled back to get a good look at her.
She'd let her short hair grow out with her natural waves in it. She was still short as could be at five foot nothing. Her hazel eyes were still so striking against her pretty ivory skin that had a slight glow to it.
"You look great, Ali. I love the long hair on you. I can't even remember a time I'd seen you with anything other than the short hair." I laughed and we sat down in the booth.
"I know! I wanted to turn over a new leaf, so I've been growing it out over the last couple years. How've you been, Bells? Really? I know shit's been hard." She asked, concern swimming deep in her hazel eyes.
I sighed and started playing with the napkin in front of me. "Well, honestly, it's been pretty rough. But, it's slowly getting a little better as time goes on. With everything that happened… I'm not the same person I was when I left here. It's… hard to explain. I mean, you've seen it all through the media and facebook and such. I'm just glad I've got some small semblance of normalcy back after it all. I'm heading off for a little European vacation next week. So hopefully that'll get me back in a better frame of mind. I haven't actually had a break from Hollywood except for when I'd come home for holidays with my mom, for a couple days. This is something I needed to do."
"Well that's definitely something you needed for your own mindset. I know you've been trying to get back to normal, but what's your new normal? You're not singing as a career anymore, so what's on tap for Bella Swan?" She asks as she flags down the waiter so we can order some drinks and food.
Thank goodness I'm situated where I can see the bar where they're making drinks. It still makes me leery not seeing my drinks made at a restaurant or by anyone I don't trust.
"I've actually been a silent co-owner of a club in west L.A. and I've been singing every so often there when I feel like it. I've been doing things here and there around L.A. but I've got a few things that could be coming down the pipes soon. Actually, Jasper, my agent's brother, is dropping off some info for something I've been asked to work on. I'll see what it shapes up to be. What have you been up to since I last saw you? I'm sorry we didn't get to meet up at Christmas when I was here." I told her as the waiter dropped off our drinks and we took sips of them.
YUUUUUM! Chocolate martini!
"Oh, Bells, that's no big deal. We just missed each other by a half a day. You were heading out when I was coming back in to town. I understood. But it's been great since I finished with fashion school. I've slowly been getting some of my clothes in some of the stores around town. You saw the few stores I'm in on facebook, right?" I nod, because she posted several things over the last six months of stores, a lot of them here on King Street, sporting her designs and they're beautiful. "Well, AliCat has seemed to catch on in the Charleston area. So, who knows? Maybe one day I'll make it to fashion week!"
This is great news. She's always been sketching this top or this skirt or something when we were growing up. I always knew she'd get into fashion. She's always been so bubbly and optimistic, and I wish I still had some of that in me.
"That is fantastic, Ali! I'm so happy for you! I need to go shopping and find some of your stuff around here! I haven't done a shopping day yet." I tell her as the waitress brings our food by and we dig in.
"Well, just call me whenever you want to come by and check things out!" she says as she shoves a fried pickle in her mouth.
These are the times I miss. Us just hanging out, eating good food, talking, enjoying some good music.
"I will definitely call you in the next few days. You know I'll always support you and your line. I can't wait."
My phone vibrates in my pocket and I pull it out and see that Jasper has texted me.
Bells! Which one is it? Do you know how many restaurants are on this street?-J
I just laugh and text him back.
Yes I do. It's called Prohibition. There's parking on the street and there's a small parking lot just down from it.-B
"Jasper should be in here soon. Let me get him a drink ordered." I flagged down the waiter and ordered Jazz a bourbon.
I watch as Alice's eyes dart around, not making any sort of eye contact with me.
I narrow my eyes a little and wonder what she's up to. I know that look.
"Bells!" I hear from my left and see Jasper walking our way.
I jump up to greet him, giving him a quick hug.
"I'm so glad you made it! You didn't get too lost, did you?" I joke, because Jasper is that guy that always gets lost.
"Hey, I'm not that bad. I only got turned around twice. And that was only because the damn one way streets around here." he defends as he turns to the table and stops dead in his tracks.
He's staring at Alice like a deer in headlights. Alice looks like she's about to fall out of her seat.
"Holy shit-sicle… Bella, please tell me he's single…" Alice says in a dazed voice.
I kind of just laugh because Alice loves her a blonde haired, blue eyed boy, as I've been subjected to in the past.
I didn't even think about it when I told Jasper to meet us. I just wanted the damn papers for the Disney project.
"Uh, Jasper Hale, Alice Cullen. She's been my best friend since before I can remember. Ali, Jasper is Rose's brother and an agent in L.A. with her. He was in Eclipse with me, too." I introduce them as Alice shakes herself out of her daze and reaches out a hand to shake his. Jasper joins us in the booth and thanks me for the drink in front of him. He hands me the packet from Disney and I thank him, telling him I'll look at it when I've got some quiet time.
We fall into conversation and are having a good time. Alice and Jasper are very cozy and comfortable talking to each other. Alice is making googly eyes at Jasper, and Jasper can't stop smiling at her. I would've never thought they'd be attracted to each other. Alice is a 'go all the time' type of person, hyper as she can be, the majority of the time. Jasper is very chill, loves to hang around and pick at his guitar. Very NOT hyper type. But, you know what they say, opposites attract.
Alice's phone chirps from beside her and she jumps to grab it.
"Jeez, Ali, is that Brad Pitt on the phone." I tease as she texts back whoever it was.
She laughs and says, "Uh, no. Ummm… Bella, don't be mad…" She's a little on edge. "But, uhhh…"
"Alice…what the fuck?" I hear and automatically sit ramrod straight.
God damn it…
A/N: So... I'm just... gonna go hide...
Hope y'all are still with me.
Leave me some love!