I Do Not Own Twilight

The next time Bella and Aro met online it was to be their Italian day. Aro spent a lot of time explaining the way to accent certain syllables in Italian. He also spent a good deal of time helping her correct the lilt in the letter r. This was something which was particularly difficult as she wanted to slip into a more Spanish form of the r.

After this discussion of pronunciation, they began conversing about their families. Aro learned that Bella was a product of divorce and was an only child. She told him about growing up and being the primary parent in the house. He was shocked to learn she had been responsible for cooking, cleaning, and paying bills since she was a small child. He then learned her mother had remarried a younger man named Phil.

"Mi trasferisco tra tre settimane," Bella casually mentioned.

At this news Aro's eyebrows shot up and he slipped into English instead of Italian, "You are moving in three weeks? Why and where?" He didn't know why this upset him so much but he wondered if she would continue to meet with him and he would be disappointed if they didn't continue their lessons. He already knew this new hobby was helping him cope with the loss of his wife. Instead of spending his free time wrapped around Sulpicia he spent it thinking of ways to explain certain things about teaching someone Italian. In his opinion this was better than sitting around moping for his former wife.

Bella, however, laughed lightly at Aro's concern. She scrunched her forehead together in deep concentration trying to find the correct words in Italian. Finally, it seemed she gave up and just answered his question. "Phil is a baseball player and he wanted my mom to go with him to spring training and to follow to away games. Which would mean I would be home alone a good portion of the time. I didn't like this idea but knew my mom wanted to go with him. So, I called my dad and I will move in with him for the first time in my life. I think it will be interesting to live with him although I had never considered it before now.

Aro frowned and wondered if he should ask his next question in English or Italian but before he could answer Bella added, "That is why I signed up to chat with an Italian speaker. They don't have Italian classes at the school I will be moving to. I plan to use this to keep furthering my Italian education even if I can't have a class.

"Sono contento," Aro nodded to her pleased that she would still be chatting with him. "Dove ti trasferisci?

Bella mumbled too low for a human to hear but Aro pick up her words clearly, "Where am I moving to?" She thought a moment, "Mi sto trasferendo a Washington state."

Aro spent time telling her about his family as well. He told her he ran his business with his two brothers. He explained they were not brothers by birth but were brothers because of the business. They had worked together so long they had formed bonds which caused them to function the way brothers around the world did. They were fiercely loyal to one another, they worked together, lived together, and annoyed, fought, and argued with one another.

He also told her about his "ex moglie," Sulpicia. He didn't go into details just that he was recently divorced. This wasn't something he was particularly excited about discussing with anyone. He hadn't even spoken with Caius and Marcus about Sulpicia since everything had happened. While he didn't divulge his feelings, he did find it comforting to get through the first time telling someone about her not being in his life.

He told Bella he had divorced which was emotionally true but since there was no record of his marriage it was something he didn't actually need to do. He simply gave Sulpicia the money he had always set aside for her once she found her mate and told her to take what she wanted and she was gone from his life as if she had never been there to begin with. It was sad to him there wasn't some sort of ending ceremony. After all a marriage started with a wedding so shouldn't it end with a banquet or something. He didn't mention these things to Bella, he would let her assume it had been months or even years in the past instead of a little over a week ago.

After the long discussions about their home lives, they confirmed their next appointment and signed off for the night. Aro was content. He had something to look forward to and would help him move on from the past. Surely, every session wouldn't be so intense as this one had been for him, he thought.

He was correct of course. As soon as he signed on to Polyglot, he could see Bella was up to something. First, she was blushing before they had spoken a word to each other. Second, even though he was only on the screen she clearly was trying to avoid making eye contact was steadily looking to the side of her monitor. Third, her eyes were wide and she had a look of utter embarrassment.

"Cara mi?" He paused waiting to see if she would look at him, "Bella, whatever has you blushing and embarrassed?"

Her eyes widened and she squeaked at the realization she had been caught in her mischief. "I had an idea to help you with the type of English you were interested in learning about." She faltered, hesitating to continue her thoughts. Aro motioned for her to go on. Sighing, "You see I am not exactly from that culture and while I can understand what is being said it doesn't mean I really speak that way. So, I thought I would," she huffed, "have you listen to a type of music which is where they learn to speak that way." She rolled her eyes at her idea and let her head fall into her hands.

"That is a wonderful idea, Cara mia. Why are you so embarrassed?"

She scoffed and brushed her hair back looking up at him, "it's just," she paused again, "the lyrics are just more then I expected they would be."

Aro was very confused at this point, "Explain. They are more what?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes then reaching over and hitting a button a woman's voice came through her speaker with a fake valley girl accent, "Oh, my, God, Becky, look at her butt…" This continued and a beat started in the background of the woman's monologue on why this person's butt was too large. Finally, a man started shouting some lyrics or some type of poetry.

Aro's eyes got wide as he listened to words float through the speakers like, "when a girl walks in with an itty-bitty waist and a round thing in your face you get sprung" and "I want 'em real thick and juicy so find that juicy double Mix-a-lot's in trouble begging' for a piece of that bubble."

Half way though the song Aro sat gaping at the things he heard. As soon as he realized his mouth was hanging open, he quickly schooled his face into the mask of impassivity he wore when listening to a complaint. He could hardly bring himself to glance at Bella who was sitting with her face in her hands. The only time she happened to look up Aro noticed that she was blushing scarlet from the top of her head, all the way down her neck and past the edge of her v neck. Aro briefly wondered how far down her blush went but brushed the thought off as he was a gentleman.

Once the song was over Bella looked up quickly and, in a rush, spouted, "I'm sorry that was a really bad idea. I just thought it would be a place to start."

Putting his hand up to stop her apology Aro smirked. "Bella, you seem to be under the impression I cannot handle hearing about someone's desires." Internally, Aro was appalled by what he heard, however, he didn't want to embarrass this innocent young woman further so he decided to act indifferent. "I have enjoyed all types of music and even Mozart had a dirty side. After all he wrote, Leck Mick Im Arsch."

"I do wonder," he went on, "if this is the type of music most teenagers listen to. I think I can safely assume it is not something you partake in often."

Bella swallowed and nodded, "I don't listen to rap. But this song wouldn't be something most of my friends would listen to regularly either. It is older so something our parents would have listened to. The rap today is a lot faster, more violent, and more explicit."

Aro thought momentarily, "Why do you suppose the music has gotten more explicit? If you had to guess." Aro was very interested in what she would say. How would an American teenager interpret the music around them.

Bella thought for a moment, "Well I think all music is written to push some type of limit or boundary. The classical artists were pushing to make their music more beautiful than the master before them. Beethoven tried to compose something more beautiful than Mozart. Once beauty was exhausted composers moved to shock people like Shostakovich his work was beautiful but completely unexpected. Musicians were always trying to outdo everyone so when the 1900's rolled around Jazz was complex but free moving. Then they had to add lyrics to those jazz melodies and the next step was light pop. Then harder music which was rock'n'roll. Once rock happened music had to become more vulgar in order to push any boundaries. Then instead of singing it became more rhythmic and rap became mainstream. It will continue to get more violent and vulgar until an entirely new style of music is developed in order to reset the way the boundaries are pushed." Bella shrugged her shoulders. "That's what I think anyway."

Nodding Aro hummed low in his throat taking in what she said. "Since the awkwardness is broken may I ask another question." Bella agreed. "Who or what is Sir Mix-a-Lot and what is a booty?"

Bella's face fell back into her hands and he could see the blush on the sliver of forehead he could see. "Sir Mix-a-Lot is the singer. The song was Baby Got Back. A booty is another word for a" she exhaled and looked up slightly, "it's a person's backside."

"So, in America is have a large derriere considered attractive?"

Pushing her hair out of her face and looking miserable Bella answered, "I have no idea but I don't have much junk in my trunk anyway." She shook her head at herself still totally mortified. What made this conversation so bad was Bella knew Aro was a gentleman. She felt he was a man of good upbringing. Totally from a different social class then she was from and she was discussing "booties," with him. She cringed and wondered why this very handsome, very wealthy man cared to speak with American teenagers even if they did work for him. Surely, he would be able to find a teenager to speak on his level with.

"Junk in the trunk? Bella, are you trying to say you don't got back?" Aro raised his eyebrows proud of the new language skills he was picking up.

Bella nodded and frowned, "I don't got back."

Aro smiled at the girl before him, "I wouldn't worry about what is in your trunk. Besides I'm sure you have plenty of boyfriends chasing after you."

Laughing at this Bella was confident she had no one chasing after her, "Oh you would be surprised. I have never been asked on a date or even had anyone show interest. I'm rather plain. I could use some more junk I guess."

Without thinking and looking deeply into Bella's eyes with all sincerity Aro said, "Well I think you are enchanting." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he realized he should not have said them. He didn't want to backtrack so he tacked on, "some young man will be very lucky to date you someday." Secretly, however, Aro didn't like the idea of her being pursued by some boy who might think of her in anyway like the song she played suggested teenage boys might.