AUTHORS NOTE: I have missed you guys so much!!!! I have some time off from work so I figured what better way to ring the stress away than to write??? This story's plot line and characters still haunt me! So I need to finish this thing. I have about ten chapters lined up. Thank you for all of the reviews and PM's! I read every single one (even the flames and trolls LOL). Your undying support for Miss Nae Malfoy and all of my scatterbrained stories/subplots/plot holes/bloopers/misspellings is unmatched!
I love you guys.
Three hours. All it took was three hours to remind myself why I really never come back in the first place. "Isabella? Isabella!" I could hear Leah's voice reverberating throughout the Swan household- a four bedroom house, with cracks in the paint and garden trinkets older than me.
I clicked the lock of the restroom door just in case she walked by and tried to barge in, just like when we were in school. "Dude- Bella!" I heard her right outside of the door as she jiggled the locked knob, aggressive and burly as always. "We're heading out for a cold one, are you coming or no?" I wanted to snap at her to leave me alone but I took a small breath and reminded myself I wasn't a teenager anymore.
"No thanks!" I yelled through the door, brushing the baby hairs out of my face. Leah and my dad always went out for beer on Friday nights, and my stepbrother Seth was probably with them too. Not my cup of tea. "It's my time of the month." I added for good measure, and when I head Leah mutter "eww" and walk away I smirked. She was a girl, but was she an actual girl?
My stepmom was probably cooking a dessert or something down in the kitchen, not worried about why her husband hadn't even said a single word to his daughter he only sees once or twice a year. "Figures." I muttered to myself, re-applying my winged eyeliner for the third time. Maybe working for a hotel with high end lighting ruined me for regular bulbs, but did all of these damn lights have to be so yellow? "Stupid lights. Stupid dad." The only thing more annoying than hiding away from Leah and her boisterousness was my dad hiding away from me. I showed up to the house around 5 when I knew he'd be home, just to hear my stepmom excuse his absence and ask if I was hungry before roping me into a two hour conversation about recipes and the neighbors.
Was I really here for two more days?
Most of my school friends were either in the big city or moved away even further, this wasn't really a town people stayed in if they could help it. And as for family? He was at the local dive and my half brother wasn't showing up until Sunday morning. I smiled at that thought. Riley always brought a smile to my face with his goofy self and the idea of spending time with my niece as well.
I was almost out of the house when Sue stepped right in front of me, an expectant smile on her face. "Where are you off to?" Her soft face was filled with small wrinkles but the bright twinkle in her hazel eyes was ever present. Before I could respond, she walked off in the direction of the kitchen and beckoned me to follow. I barely contained an eye roll but did as she asked and took a seat at the clunky wooden dinner table. "How was the drive?" She asked with her back to me.
"It was good." I almost ended my response with a question mark. Sue was a lovely woman, she really was. But she wasn't my mom- Rene wasn't even my mom either and she gave birth to me.
"Aren't you hungry? That was a long drive." Again, before I could respond she was piling a small porcelain plate with re-heated cornbread and chili from the night before. "Did you hear Riley's coming on Sunday? How lovely!" I nodded and shoved a piece of cornbread in my mouth so I wouldn't be forced to actually respond to anything. "He's bringing Izadora too! I'm sure you haven't seen her since she was born but she's gotten so big. When do you think you'll be ready to have one of your own?" Sue and her ever-present expectant smile didn't make her statement any less menacing. "You're fast approaching your thirties, you know."
Yes, I fucking knew that.
"One day." I feigned a smile in return. Kids were extra expenses, kids were potentially messy baby daddy situations, kids were just too much to wrap my head around at this moment.
Sue looked slightly unsure of herself, as if she didn't know how to go about her next sentence. "Well, just so you know, Bella- you have the potential to be a good parent. I wouldn't want you to turn your back on having kids just because of a bad mother." The scowl appeared on my face before I could even respond. "I mean- I didn't mean it quite like that. But you know that you always have your dad and I to lean on for guidance and advice. We raised four of you, were kinda experts."
Oh, yes, you'll be the first person I'll turn to if I ever need advice on how to be the most suffocating step mother alive and I'll surely run to my father if I ever need guidance on how to emotionally traumatize my kid.
"Yes thank you." Living in a household with an overly-sensitive Sue and a love struck Charlie taught me how to just shut up and agree sometimes. I lost count of how many family brawls were over Sue and I trying to prove our individual points for hours. Rene was a bitch that deserted me and my dad, but Charlie was the one that turned around and started a brand new family within the year.
So yeah, there's a little trauma there.
I finished up my food and made small talk with Sue as she droned on about my dad, the garden, Seth , Leah their perfect lives, and then finished off with town gossip about everyone in Avila until I contemplated smashing my head into the china cabinet to distract her. Eventually she lost steam and bid me a good night, of course not before she mentioned we would "have some people over" for brunch in the newly done patio out back. Since when did Charlie celebrate his birthday so publicly? Did I even pack something nice enough to see all of Avila PD?
So instead of popping a melatonin and going straight to bed like I wanted, I stayed up for hours trying on different outfit combos before being even slightly satisfied with my options. Usually I could care less how I looked out here, but if everyone was coming then I at least needed to try. Plus, Charlie inviting his cop buddies meant Mike was gonna be there.
There was something very smalltown-ish about stressing on your look when you know you're going to run into the first guy that ever touched your boob.
*
Breakfast the next morning was quiet besides Sue dragging us into tense conversation but that wasn't anything extremely new. Charlie chewed his eggs and sipped his black coffee without really even looking in my direction so I did the same. Why did u come to this shithole again? For who's birthday again? Was I always so self-sabotaging or was this more of a recent thing? "...and the caterers will be here in an hour! Honey, do you have your khakis pressed yet?" Sue was absolutely humming. "And I thought a private dinner with just us and the kids would be splendid- how does that sound Bella?" I nodded with a smile.
Sure, if Leah and I don't kill one another before the hor'dueves are served.
"Oh good! The brunch is only for a few hours, just long enough to let everyone give Dad his birthday wishes. Mayor Dan is even coming to give his support-" My dad clearing his throat hushed Sue so abruptly that I looked up to see why. With another smile, she dug into her eggs. "Charlie, you're so coy! Anyway, I'm off to my hair appointment! I'll be back soon." She kissed my dad's cheek and was off without another word, leaving the two of us alone. A hot fever came up my neck and I had thirty different things on the tip of my tongue to say but nothing came out.
At one point I even stopped eating, scraping up some kind of courage to get some words out. How many times get I envisioned this very scenario? Us two alone, with no one chirping in either of our ears; should I bring up of our deeper issues or do I keep it light? Say something, say anything. I opened my mouth, ready and willing to blurt out the first thing that came to mind, when Charlie abruptly pushed himself from the table and slid his dishware into the sink. I blinked back burning tears and shut my mouth. His footsteps stopped near the doorway and the smallest part of me prayed he would turn around and pat my head or ruffle my hair, but within seconds his steps continued down the hallway.
Fuck this stupid house, fuck this stupid town, and fuck this stupid hurt I couldn't shake for the last fifteen years.
A sharp rap at the door brought me back down to Earth as I wiped my face and opened the large wooden door without even looking to see who it was. "Hi! We're from Eve's Eatery! Where would you like us to set up?" I was stumped for a second before guiding them to where I could only assume Sue planned for them to be. "We'll actually need approximately 50 feet of clean and clear area, also we only set and up serve in one round so we will need to know the exact way you'd like that." Eve, or I assumed that was her name, spoke like a fucking Adderal pill and I tried to think up a response. So instead I called Sue herself and pointed to where the caterers could start unloading their dishes for now.
When Sue answered in her light-hearted tone I could hardly be mad. "It's Bella! Your catering people are here and don't know where you want everything-"
"Those damn people! Have them go to back patio, we'll actually..." She prattled on and the doorbell rang this time so I swung it open for the caterer and turned back around to sort out Eve's Eatery before they gave me a splitting migraine.
"Same old charming Bella." Mike's voice stopped me in my tracks and Sue's voice was completely drowned out. Did he really have to see me after all this time like this? In tattered old pajamas and ratted hair?
I turned around slowly with a tight-lipped smile and hung up on Sue with a quickness. "Mike!" I approached him warily, the way you would approach an expensive piece of glass in a china shop. "How are you?" I crossed my arms over my bra less chest, remembering open areas weren't safe around this stud. "I wasn't um, expecting you." I gestured to my hobo garb.
His boyish smile gave me stupid butterflies as he stepped thru the doorway. "Sue told my mom you were home for the weekend, and I know I would have seen you later for lunch but..." he twirled around and grabbed something off the porch's step before turning back to me, "I just wanted to see you before then." He pulled a small clear container out of a boutique bag and nervously popped it open. "I didn't get it right for senior prom, so I was kinda hoping... um," he put a hand out asking for mine and even though I was reluctant as hell I still gave it to him, "would you be my date tonight?" He had a sweet smelling yellow rose corsage in one hand and mine in the other.
What the actual fuck? Was Mike really asking me on a date to my own parent's backyard, and what the hell was the corsage for? "Uh- what?" Probably the stupidest response on the planet but how the hell else was I suppose to respond? Mike was my only real ex, and we were kids at that, he grabbed my boob freshmen year and stood me up for Prom. We hardly had a Nicholas Sparks romance to tell.
He visibly swallowed and the boyish smile was gone, replaced instead by a weird grimace. "Yeah I know this probably looks so dumb. Um, well, my mom never shuts up about how I let you get away and Sue's been telling her how you've been single forever and so have I... so I thought-" I couldn't help but laugh in embarrassment, but he took it the wrong way and turned a lovely shade of red. "Okay this was stupid, I'll go."
"No!" I blurted. "I mean, I think this is sweet." I recovered quickly, not wanting to ruin the first romantic gesture in a long time that I'd receive. "Yes I'll be your date." The words came out kind of oddly, seeing as this was my high school fantasy come to life but now it felt so... odd. Yes Mike was boyishly handsome and that really had always been my type, but then there was Edward... and I couldn't ever imagine him bringing me a cheap corsage to take me on a bbq date. Jesus, was Edward Cullen ruining men for me now?
"Okay, cool. See you at two then." And there his boyish grin re-appeared after a swift kiss on the cheek until he off to his brightly painted muscle car. I could do worse I guess. But could I do better?
The question plagued me for the rest of the morning, even as I finished my makeup and slipped on my flowy romper. It wasn't like Edward would ever take me serious as a woman. I was some random girl that his son got attached to, no more than an overly friendly nanny- and yet we might have shared a kiss or two, but it probably didn't mean a thing to a man like him. I felt more like a novelty than anything when it came to him. A free novelty at that.
