Chapter 11
"Where are you, Paul?" Bella muttered and looked at her phone. It was 15 minutes past their meeting time, and Paul was never late.
He was probably caught up with some wolf stuff. She hadn't heard from him since he left this morning which was not like him. They usually texted throughout the day, and only when he was in wolf form she knew not to expect texts from him.
Worry rushed over Bella. She was so scared for Paul that it was terrifying to think of him fighting against blood-lusting vampires.
It couldn't be because … No. Paul had promised he would tell her right away. He would have told her if he'd imprinted. He'd promised.
Bella was standing in front of the movie theatre. She had bought the tickets and was waiting for Paul to come and buy them popcorn and sodas. The movie would start in less than 20 minutes.
"Hey, beautiful! Why are you here all alone?" Bella heard someone saying and looked up from her phone. It was a young man with three others.
"I'm not alone. I'm waiting for someone," Bella said and turned, so her back was towards the men.
"I wouldn't let you wait for me. You are too gorgeous to be waiting for anybody. Come with us. We can show you some good time."
The man was standing behind her and peeking over her shoulder to see what she was doing, poking his nose into her hair. She was startled and moved away from the man.
He moved with her and placed his hand on the small of her back.
"Please, don't touch me and leave me alone."
"Hey babe, don't be..."
"You heard the lady. Leave her alone!" someone said, and when Bella turned her head, she saw Edward.
"Edward, what are you doing here?"
"Hey fuck off, dude. She's with us."
"I don't think so. Leave, NOW!"
First, the guy was going to say something to Edward, but he saw something on his face that closed his mouth, and he pulled his friends with him and left.
"What are you doing here?" Bella asked again.
"I was coming to see you since you don't want to hang out with me anymore, and I saw you standing here when I was driving past."
"Oh. I'm waiting for Paul. He should be here any minute now."
"Do you mind if I wait with you if those despicable human beings decide to come back?"
Edward got the point; she felt better not waiting for Paul alone, although she knew Paul wouldn't be happy to see Edward with her.
"I wonder where he is; he's never late," Bella said more to herself than to Edward.
"Maybe he's running after my kind," Edward smirked.
"Ha-ha, not funny." It really wasn't.
Bella glanced at her phone again. It was less than 10 minutes before the movie would start.
"I can come with you to see the movie," Edward suggested.
Bella didn't know what to say to that. She didn't want to be rude to Edward; he had never been anything but kind and polite to her.
"You got the tickets. It would be a shame to waste them. That is a great movie," Edward prompted.
Bella had tickets for the movie called The Red Violin. She'd seen it for the first time when she was about 15 years old, and she had loved it deeply then and had wanted to see it again for ages now. It was the last day it would be showing in Port Angeles. She really, really wanted to see it.
"Okay, let's go to see the movie," Bella sighed. "I'll text Paul and let him know. I'm sure he has a good reason not to show up." She hoped Paul was okay.
They went inside. Bella didn't suggest they get popcorns or sodas; she would feel weird to be the only one eating them. She kept stealing sideways glances at Edward, not daring to stare at him. This was the first time she saw him after hearing he was a vampire.
"What are you looking at?" Edward asked, sounding amused.
"Well, you know I haven't seen you since … um … I've heard what you are. Just curious is all."
"So, look. I don't mind," Edward said. He turned to face her.
And she did. His skin was so pale it had a greenish hue that made him look like he was sick, and when she looked closer, she could see how his face was free of any normal impurity; it was flawless and unnatural. She resisted the urge to poke his cheek to test if it was like stone.
He was looking at her intently with his light golden eyes. It made her feel a bit uncomfortable. She remembered how Paul had told her that they weren't red because they drank animal blood. It made her shudder. She blinked and looked away.
"Seen enough?" Edward chuckled.
"Yeah, thanks. Let's go; the movie starts," Bella said, trying to shake the discomfort she felt. Mixed with the anxiety of not knowing where Paul was, she felt like running away. But she decided to concentrate on the movie and try to enjoy it.
The movie was as good as she remembered, but she struggled to keep her focus on it. She kept glancing at her phone, hoping Paul would have tried to contact her, but nothing. Please let him be okay. She really started to regret coming to see the movie with Edward. He was radiating cold from his frozen body, and she missed having Paul's warm arms around her. She knew she had fucked up; Paul would be furious when he heard about this. What the hell had she been thinking?
When the movie ended, she bolted up from her seat and moved to leave. "Thanks, Edward. It was kind of you to accompany me to see the movie. But I have to rush now."
"Isabella..." Edward followed her out of the theatre, and just when they left the building, Bella saw two of Edward's family members outside the theatre. She couldn't remember their names.
"What are you two doing here?" Edward asked, clearly very annoyed.
"Hi Edward, we saw your car and wanted to come to see who you are with. Hi Bella, I'm Rosalie, you probably don't remember me, we met you in New York after one of your concerts. And this is Emmett, my husband."
"Oh, hi Rosalie and Emmett, of course, I remember you," Bella said. She was too restless to stay for a chat. "I'm sorry, but I need to go. Edward, it was nice to see you," she uttered the formalities and started to head for home.
"Can I walk you to your door?" Edward asked, starting to walk with her.
"No need, Edward. My home is just the end of this road. Thanks again. Good to see you, Rosalie, Emmett," Bella said and left the three vampires.
She heard them starting to speak all at once. Edward was clearly pissed that Rosalie and Emmett had shown up. Bella couldn't explain why, but she was happy they had done just that.
Oh, Paul was going to be so mad at her. Now that she was away from Edward, she realized that she was actually scared of him. She glanced back and didn't see any of the vampires anymore. She ran the rest of the way home.
"Oh my God, Paul, where are you?!" She said out loud when she opened the door to her apartment.
She was so cold. She shivered, and it felt like nothing helped; it was a bone-deep feeling. She tried not to panic. She tried again to call Paul, but he didn't answer.
Bella didn't feel like staying in her apartment alone. She would drive to Forks and go home. Her mother wasn't home, but it was better to be with Ben and Holly than stay here. She needed to have other people around her. She texted Paul and told him her plans. She quickly packed what she needed to stay overnight, put her violin in its box, and left.
She threw her bag into the back seat of her car and placed the violin next to it. She sat behind the wheel to start the car, but her hands were shaking when she tried to put the key into the ignition switch, and she struggled to get it in. "Shit," she muttered.
"Okay, take it easy," she talked to herself, trying to calm down.
She pressed her forehead against the wheel and closed her eyes. She took a few long breaths, started the car, and pulled from the parking lot. She kept glancing at her reverse mirror, but no cars followed her.
"You stupid woman. Like vampire would need a car to follow you," she continued to talk to herself. Not the smartest thing to think about now, she looked anxiously around and imagined Edward jumping from the shadows. She drove through the city and finally turned to the 101, heading for Forks. It would take 50 minutes for her to drive home. She put on the music that usually helped her relax, but it didn't help her one bit now.
Where was Paul? It was almost 12 hours since she last heard from him. Surely Sam or Jared had called her if he had been hurt.
She was able to relax a bit during the drive, and when she parked her car in front of her childhood home, she had been able to shake off the fear of Edward. She took her phone and called Sam. He didn't answer. She tried Jared, but no luck. It was pretty late, so she didn't try again.
Paul's phone was now switched off. Maybe his battery has died. She was starting to feel a bit pissed. She tried not to think about what they had feared the most. He had promised to tell her if that happened. It could not be that, could it? Sighing loudly, she got up from the car, took her bag and the violin, and locked the doors.
When Bella opened the front door, she found the house totally dark and quiet as she expected it to be at this time of the hour. It was almost midnight. But then Ben showed up and ran to her.
"Bell-Bell, you came! You came!"
Bella scooped her little brother into her arms and swirled them around. She gave him a big kiss on his cheek. The one that made him always giggle.
"I came to see my favorite person. But how come you are still awake?"
"I heard car. Where is Pal?"
"Paul is working," Bella told him, unsure if she hoped she was right. If Paul had been caught up with vampires for the whole day, it couldn't be good. But the alternative wasn't much better.
"You smell funny," Ben said, wrinkling his nose.
"Funny how?" Bella asked, nuzzling her brother's cheek.
"Like sugar and something really bad. Yucky smell," Ben said.
Bella gasped. Surely Ben couldn't smell a vampire? Paul had told her how they smelled to the wolves, sugary bleach, and rotten corpse combined. For her, Edward had never smelled anything but good, fresh even. Like fresh laundry.
"Oh, I need a shower then. But first, let me put you back to bed."
"Bella, this is a strange time to show up," Holly said, yawning when she came to see what was going on.
"Yeah, I'm sorry to come this late and wake you up. I just realized how much I missed my Ben-Ben and had to come. Come on, little man. I tuck you in and then wash away my bad smell. Good night Holly and sorry again for coming unnoticed this late."
"No worries, Bella. I'm glad to see you. I'll make us a big breakfast in the morning, and we can have a good chat then. Your mother comes home on Friday night."
Bella carried Benjamin to his room and tucked him into his bed. She declined to play to him.
"It is too late for that. I promise to play you tomorrow, okay. Go to sleep, little man."
"Okay. Night, night, Bell-Bell," Benjamin said and turned to face the wall and was in sleep before Bella could blink. Ben had always fallen asleep instantly when he was ready to sleep. It was amazing really, and something Bella envied.
She kissed Ben's template and left the room, closing the door behind her.
She went downstairs to collect her bag and headed for her room. She undressed and threw all her clothes into a hamper. She was still a bit shaken about Ben smelling something bad on her. Could he really smell Edward? He did sense that Paul was different; maybe he sensed vampires too.
She decided against running a bath and hopped into a shower instead. She was exhausted and worried. She hoped she could sleep, but she knew that worrying about Paul would keep her from a good night's sleep.
In the end, Bella managed to sleep a couple of hours. She woke up with a headache and was starving; she had barely eaten yesterday. She got up from the bed and wrapped her long warm cardigan around her. She grabbed her phone from her nightstand. Its battery had died during the hours she was sleeping. She needed to find a charger since she had forgotten to pack one.
She headed for the kitchen and heard and smelled Holly making them breakfast. Her stomach rumbled, and her mouth watered. Despite feeling anxious about Paul, she could eat a horse.
Ben was playing with the Legos on the breakfast table. There was part of Hogwarts castle and Star Wars aircraft on the table, and someone was getting trashed by a basilisk. She would build something with Ben today. It always helped her destress.
"Good morning," she said and went to Ben and kissed his cheek.
"Is Pal okay?" Ben asked.
"Yes, why do you ask?" Bella asked her brother.
Ben just shrugged and continued to play.
She found a charger and plugged in her phone. She waited anxiously for it to open to see if she'd gotten any messages, but there was only one for Edward. She deleted it before reading it.
Holly asked them to sit down by the table and start with breakfast. She didn't need to ask twice.
It was past 11 when they finally had finished with their huge breakfast. Bella thanked Holly, and after promising Ben, they would start their Lego marathon this afternoon, she retreated to her room and tried to call Sam and Jared again and then Kim. No one answered. She didn't have a number for Johana; she would otherwise try to call her too.
What the hell should she do now? She just couldn't sit and wait that someone would be kind enough to tell her what was going on. She decided to drive to La Push.
First, she drove to Paul's house but found the house empty, so she continued to Sam's house. She pulled onto the driveway and got out of the car. It was very quiet, and it seemed that the pack wasn't at Sam's place. She walked to the door and knocked. She waited and knocked again. Just as she was giving up, the door opened. It was that horrible Milly-girl.
"What are YOU doing here?" she sneered at her.
"Have you seen Paul? Do you know where everybody is? I've tried to call, but no one answers," Bella asked. She sounded as desperate as she felt.
"I'm here with Emily. Others are either working or patrolling. Paul is with Rachel Black."
"Why is he with Jacob's sister?" Bella asked, dread spreading all over her body.
"Why do you think?" Milly asked with a satisfied smile on her face.
AN:
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