IX. Of Meddling, Speculating and Pleading
"If you want to be treated like a mother, act like one." ― Jeannette Walls
I woke up in my bed the next morning, dressed in my pyjamas. That alone was more than suspicious, since everything I remembered from last evening was my falling asleep on Seth Clearwater's shoulder. It was uncomfortable as hell, by the way, while it brought me a terrible pain in the neck, which I would never wish even for my worst enemy. However, Seth was a cutie, who wasn't hard to start to like. Yesterday, he spoke about his mother, sister, school and his friends from La Push. He clearly loved them more than anything in the world.
That was why I felt really bad, when I tried to get him to say something more about the crazy man - Sam. Seth told me, that he was considered to be a leader of their bunch (which they called The Pack). Sam had been dating Seth's sister (Leah) before we moved in, but left her because of Emily. What a huge family drama.
Getting out of the bed, Hayden's voice sounded from behind the door of my room. She asked me about how I was feeling, advising me not to go to school yet. I refused, naturally. Afterwards, she started talking about Seth - how nice and polite boy he was; that without him, I would have spent the night on the bench, because in was him who brought me to my room; and so on. That was the right time for me to open the door.
"You let him enter my room?" I blurted out through the toothbrush that was in my mouth. Hayden narrowed her eyes at me.
"There, good morning to you too, Sunshine. I'm glad you slept well," her words carried a slight hint of irony. "And yes, I let him carry you into your room, because I didn't want you to catch a cold from sleeping on a bench."
"Urgh, Hayden! You are the one who should denounce me for my frivolity, not the other way round. I barely know him, you don't know him at all!"
"Well, it's your point of view," my aunt tilted her head to the side. "Yesterday, the two of us had a little chat. Seth told me you agreed to tutore him Physics."
I stopped brushing my teeth immediately, as the memory hit me hard. Circa three seconds before I fell asleep, Seth asked me if I would be willing to tutor him Physics, for twenty bucks per hour. Of course I murmured a sleepy yes - who am I to reject money?
"Yeah, that's the deal. But it doesn't mean-"
"And you two got rather... close yesterday, don't you think?" She interrupted me in the middle of a good argument.
"What the hell are you suggesting?"
"Watch your mouth, young lady," Hayden frowned at me, so there, I sighed. "Besides, I don't know why you are so upset. I told you I liked Seth - you two have my blessing. Isn't that what all girls of your age want?"
"Hayden!" I exclaimed indignantly. "I'm not planning to date him! He's younger than me!"
"One year. Who cares about one year?" My aunt shrugged her shoulders.
This was my turn to frown at her. "I care! Okay, look. I'm really... excited about how much you like Seth, but I'm not going to date him - that's it. And next time, I'd really appreciate if you wouldn't encroach on my relationships."
With that, I shut the door closed, rushing into the bathroom, to finish my usual morning hygiene stuff. Meanwhile brushing my hair, I noticed a strange reflection in the bottom corner of the mirror. The small window in the bathroom overlooked the driveway, where there appeared a big, beige car. It was a Jeep - the one I remembered from my second day in Forks; the one I suspected from belonging to someone who lived near Alice.
I quickly ran downstairs, in order to find out who was the owner of the surely expensive car. Grabbing a banana and a muffin from the kitchen counter, I realized that there was no living soul in the dining room, except for my aunt, who had been drinking her morning coffee and reading an issue of newspaper, while happily ignoring my presence.
At first, I wanted to ignore her as well, making my way to the door. Hyden ostentatiously cleared her throat the moment I touched the door handle, and when I looked at her, she turned to another page. This was typical. She was way too stubborn to admit she was wrong, while I was too stubborn to apologize for my behaviour. Sometimes, she would eventually start talking to me, sometimes, I would eventually start talking to her. This time, I wasn't in the mood for struggling with her (yeah, I can't believe I said that either), therefore, a tornmented sigh escaped my throat, as I turned around.
"I'm sorry, alright?"
"For?" She pushed, still not looking at me.
"For being rude, for using the word hell and... and for telling you not to encroach on my relationships."
She lifted her eyes from the newspaper and a ghost smile fleshed across her face. "It is all right, Honey. Actually, I realized I owed you an apology as well. I am truly sorry for my talking to Seth about you, in your absence. I just... got carried away, when I saw you in his arms. Nevertheless, if my staying away from your relationships is what you want, then I will never stick my nose into it ever again."
Whoa. That was the longest apology I had ever been given by her. Unfortunately, I had to cut off the great feeling of being apologized to, and made a few steps towards her table. Pulling a chair out for me to sit on, I bit my lower lip hesitantly. My aunt had been looking at me with concern, as I drummed my nails against the desk of the table.
"Hayden, have you seen Emily this morning?"
"No, I haven't. She left a note about leaving waffles in the fridge for breakfast. You know how much I love waffles; for that, I didn't ask, just accepted the facts," the blonde narrowed her eyes at me. "Why do you ask?"
I exhaled all the unnecessary air from my lungs, encouraging myself to talk. "Yesterday, when I got back from the hospital, there was a little... misunderstanding between me and Emily's husband, Sam."
"Really?" Hayden wondered. "What kind of misunderstanding?"
And that was exactly the question I didn't want her to ask. "It wasn't a big deal, he just... started talking crap, accusing me of colluding with some people I don't know. He spoke about our taking advantage of Emily's hospitality and all the time, he looked like he'd explode in anger," I grimaced over the memory of Sam's fuming face, looking up at my aunt's now regularly worried expression. "Afterwards, I was a bit... scared, for that, I ran out, to order my thoughts on a walk. But Seth appeared, we started chatting and... you know the rest."
"Oh, Sweetheart," she covered my hand with hers, squeezing it supportively. "I'm so sorry you had to go through it alone. I-I thought that staying in this particular B&B was a good idea - Emily seemed so nice on the phone. When I had booked our rooms, I hadn't known Emily wasn't the owner. And when we met the boor - Sam - it was too late for us to move to the Inn in the town centre."
"So... you're not angry at me?" I asked, unsure.
Hayden smiled gently. "No, Honey. I'm angry at myself for letting the boor say those things to you. Besides that, I stopped liking him the moment he kicked us out of the dining room, the day before yesterday."
I heaved a sigh of relief, shifting on my chair.
"We have to move out immediately," Hayden pouched her lips finically. "I was planning to call the real estate agent today anyways, to ask him about our house. It's been two days; they got enough time to fix the floors or... whatever, right?"
"Right. If he will try to make any excuses, tell him to do the fix out on his own," I adviced her, after which she laughed warm-heartedly.
"Indeed I will!"
Unfortunately, I hadn't gotten another opportunity to comment it, since the doorbell rang. I had completely forgotten about the Jeep on the driveway, therefore, I almost jumped in surprise when the sound of the ring pierced the dining room. I jumped up onto my feet, sending Hayden a quick, questioning glance.
"What are you waiting for? Go ahead, don't let your friend wait!" She exclaimed. "Have a nice day, Honey, and do me a favor - avoid any other elm trees."
***
"Morning, Bubble," Emmett Cullen's huge grin appeared right in front of my eyes, once I opened the door. I lifted my eyebrows at the nickname he decided to give me.
"Hiya, Hulk," I lifted my chin defiantly, folding my arms over my chest.
"Hulk? Come on, I'm not green!" He protested, apparently amused.
"And I'm not a ball. See? Now, we're even," I nearly stuck my tongue out at him. "Anyways, what are ya doing here?"
"Picking you up. We figured you might need a lift to school, due to what happened the day before yesterday," Emmett's eyes held some kind of conspiracy right then. "Besides that, Jasper wouldn't stop marching across the living room, speculating about how you're doing, without your car."
I blinked couple of times, surprised with his honesty. "J-Jasper has been talking about me?"
"Hell, yeah... Since the visit at hospital, he's literally unstoppable. It's annoying, really."
A furtive smile engraved into my lips, as I patted Emmett's shoulder eagerly. Not that I didn't have to step on my tiptoes, to achieve what I wanted. In fact, if there was something annoying, it was Hulk's excessive height.
"Well, it seems that my allergy to roses marked him for ever," I leaned to right side, in order to look at the Jeep that had been standing on the driveway. I was just about to start walking in the direction of the car, when a memory of Emmett's highly impolite girlfriend came to my mind.
"Emmett, can I have a question?"
The young man grinned at me once again. "Sure thing, Bubble, just keep in mind that I have a girlfriend."
"I've managed to notice, asshole. She's a memorable... woman, that's the truth." The following grimace of mine apparently wasn't acid enough, because Emmett started laughing. "If she's in the car, I'd rather get to school walking."
"Don't worry, Rose went with Alice."
"Good," breathing out in relief, I straightened my back. "Gosh, let's go! Can't wait to be given a lift in a Jeep! Can I drive?"
Emmett's grin finally disappeared, because of me. Twice a hurray! "Huh... no."
"Please, Em! Only a few miles... please, please, please!" I pleaded childishly, creating the best puppy dog eyes I was capable of. After some time, Hulk surrendered, handing the keys to me. I took them from him, jumped up in happiness, clapped my hands, and ran towards the car.
"Yay! Thank you so much, you're the best!"
"Yeah... just don't scrape the bumper while reversing!"