Into the Woods
By: Everleigh Allen
Chapter 11
A/N: Chapter 9 and 10 were temporarily the same. I believe I've fixed it even though it didn't give me a new link for chapter 10. Please go back to it if you haven't read it. It's fixed from the main story page. Almost 8k of words out today! Hopefully more tomorrow!
As ever, thank you for reading.
Bella didn't know what to think.
She was trying to be objective and let the story get out since she couldn't do anything about it anyway- but this was her life they were talking about and it hurt to hear.
This was her parents and her Edward.
She was conflicted.
On one hand how could her mother be so… immature?
Arrogant?
Mean?
Not only to herself but to Charlie!
And hearing Edward's point of view of it was heartbreaking to think that so many things transpired after that small moment that would leave ripples of pain to everyone involved.
They refrained from reading them and opted for his memories of other- simpler -things.
She loved to hear him talk about the past seventeen years and of the little glimpses he got from Alice, just to make sure she was okay and safe.
There were also bits and pieces of time when he may or may not have gone to see her in person.
Bella smiled at that.
She wondered if she ever even saw him, too.
Maybe someday she'd ask because she didn't really want to spend a ton of time reading seventeen mundane years of journals to find out.
Bella also wondered if he was still writing about her now that she was back in his life and they were getting to know each other.
Those were the moments Bella really wanted to know about.
His conquests, his kisses, his years and years of searching for his mate.
She tried to put herself in his shoes, but couldn't.
But the more they talked the more she learned that Edward had definite views of relationships and the art of courting. He was adamant that she was it for him, the one he's been searching for but she was brand new in this dating thing- especially dating a vampire.
Bella read enough novels to know vampiric needs- which caused another rush of blood to her face.
She heard his sharp intake of breath and the way eyes roved over her body.
Instantly.
Silently.
Knowingly.
It was intense.
But being around Edward- despite those sudden rushes of intensity- was otherwise easy and comfortable.
Never mind the fact that he was a vampire and she was flashed him with blood filled blushes like a beacon in the dead of night.
He reacted to each and every one.
It wasn't like that with them.
Well, it was, but it really wasn't.
He couldn't fathom hurting her and she couldn't fathom being hurt by him by being the main course.
So, with the ambiance of the slight drizzle outside, they spent the time sitting in his room and on his bed.
"Name five embarrassing things about you," Bella's back was against the headboard, while Edward sat in the opposite direction.
"I'm pretty perfect, actually."
"Being egotistical isn't an embarrassing thing, Edward." She scoffed playfully. Edward just gave her a huge grin. "You have to give me something."
"Well, all vampires sparkle in the sun."
"Really?"
Edward nodded.
"That's still not an embarrassing thing about you but more like all of the vampires everywhere." Bella gestured wildly with her arms to prove her point.
"Would you be embarrassed if you couldn't go out when you wanted to because you're a disco ball in the sun?"
"Probably, yeah."
"So I am claiming it."
Bella rolled her eyes, relenting. "Fine. Four more, John Travolta."
Edward turned his head up toward the ceiling, trying to think of something.
"Does it have to be a vampire thing or a human thing?"
"Either. Just hurry up. You're annoying me profusely with all of this stalling."
"My real mother used to baby me. I was her only child. But at that time, it wasn't socially acceptable for boys to be so coddled. When I was changed at seventeen, I was trying to run away. I was going to get as far away from my mother as possible. I signed up for the military the day that my parents got sick. But I didn't know they were sick until later."
"I'm waiting for the embarrassing part."
"I'm getting to it. So, all week I was taking care of them and I was happy when this girl named Julia finally agreed to a date. Well, we were just walking toward one of the theaters that they had just put in our area and it was the first time the chaperones weren't close by. We had a wonderfully boring and acceptable date, but when I leaned in for a kiss goodnight, she threw up all over my chest. I had to walk several blocks home in her vomit. That was horribly embarrassing. I never saw her again."
"What happened to her?"
"Well, what happened to everyone during that time… the Spanish flu. It pretty much destroyed our city's population. Julia was one of the first to get sick and I'm pretty sure I was destined to get it since my parents succumbed to it as she got sick all over me. It was inevitable.
"So I'll give you that one."
"Turnabout is fair play."
"I've never been on a date before."
"Really?" Edward searched her face as Bella flushed and nodded. "Well, I can't say I'm unhappy about that. The date with Julia was my only date, as well. After that, I was ill and then changed by Carlisle."
"So number three?"
Edward looked away from Bella. She looked in the same direction, right at the stacks of old journals. "When someone has a thought or fantasy I'd write it down in a special explicit journal. Sometimes I also illustrated them."
"No way!" Bella laughed. "The debauchery! I am surprised!"
"That was before they had porn or television, Bella. What else was I to do?"
"I'd probably like to sneak a peek at those journals someday."
"Perhaps someday in the future we could try some of them out. Their purpose seemed to be quite effective at the time."
Bella just stared at Edward, heat permeated over her entire body.
Edward chuckled darkly.
"So," Bella cleared her throat. "Self-love is an obvious yes; what about actual sex with someone?"
"I guess that could be my number four. I have not had intercourse."
"No? No takers?"
"Obviously, there were offers of intimacy Bella," he chided, "but I didn't take them up on it."
"Yeah who wouldn't… offer?" Bella scoffed but irrational jealousy instantly coursed through her.
Edward noticed and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "So what about you?" He asked, looking down.
"No offers, no takers." She said simply but with flush of embarrassment.
"That's good."
"Yeah?"
Their eyes met at the same time, both smiling a little coyly while both imaginations flared.
"Yeah."
When Edward leaned forward to give Bella a kiss on her lips, Bella leaned forward to take it.
"What do you want to do today?" He asked the next morning after they had spent the night before talking, laughing, and kissing.
Then Edward watched Bella sleep.
"I don't know, she said with a smile. Bella was fixing her hair after her shower.
In Edward's shower!
"Come on, I want to show you something."
He grabbed her hand, "No voices," she sighed.
"They left to their other homes to give us privacy in getting to know each other."
"Other homes? Do you have another house?"
"Of course!" He scoffed. "This house is the main house for us as a family, but vampires are very solitary creatures and sometimes you just want to get away- mostly for sexual purposes and the like."
Bella gasped, looking at Edward wide eyed. "I thought you didn't-"
He put a finger over her lips, "The others are all mated and intimate… often."
"So will we, um, be?"
"Well, Bella," he laughed, "I think we should at least go on a first date."
"You're asking me out on a date, Edward?"
"I will be…" he got very close to her, his arms circling around her torso and pulled her in close. "Soon."
With a soft kiss to her lips, he led her out the door and out of the house. Bella felt nervous excitement getting into Edward's car, eager to see where he was taking her.
oOo
"We are taking Emmett's jeep." Edward was grinning ear to ear, making Bella smile, as well.
Never had she smiled so much in her life.
"Why?"
"Because I am taking you to one of my most favorite places on Earth."
"Have you even been to every place on Earth?"
Edward rolled his eyes, "I did say one of."
"I'm just teasing you. I am excited to go!"
"So, get in pretty girl."
Bella squealed and got into the passenger side of the jeep and buckled herself in.
They spent the car ride in comfortable silence until Bella's phone chimed.
She took it out and frowned.
Edward looked at Bella from the side of his eye, "What is it?"
"My mom," She said in a low voice.
"Mm," Edward sighed. "Parental relationships are difficult to maneuver through sometimes."
"They are."
"Hopefully she's trying her best." Edward said and Bella looked up from her phone to look at him. "Sorry. I miss my mother sometimes. Usually, I just wish I was kinder to her."
"I'm sorry,"
"It's okay. It was a long time ago. I was just thinking about things last night as you were sleeping and I'm not one to tell you what to do.
"Thank you."
You're welcome."
"Tell me about her?"
Edward was quiet for several moments as they drove along. "I remember a time when my mother was having tea with the ladies in the neighborhood. I kept trying to climb the trees, which was too dangerous for her liking." He snickered. "So in a moment of frustration, she had me sit in the grass. I was upset. I was screaming and crying and carrying on and she was getting more and more upset and embarrassed. When I wouldn't stop she can over to me to reprimand me and noticed I was covered in red ants. Of course, she felt horrible and started swatting the ants and we went straight home for a bath. She left her friends sitting there. She didn't care what they thought of her or that their hostess abandoned them with their tea."
"So-"
"So, I've had eighteen years to think about my actions and my role in that scenario with Renee. What if I didn't go in after her? What if I let Charlie go in? What if he saved her instead? Because he was coming for her, just in tediously slow human speed. What if he jumped in and got her from the depths and brought her to the surface? I want to thing that she wouldn't have left him, their marriage and kept you away. Maybe she was testing him. Maybe she was searching for him, too."
Bella wiped a tear. "We can't know that. That's not what happened and she made those choices, Edward. Charlie could've saved her but maybe she'd still leave down the road."
"I agree. I just think we carry so much anger towards our parents when maybe they are just doing the best they know how at the time."
"I hear what you're saying. Life's too short and I shouldn't hold grudges."
"If anyone, maybe you should be mad at Alice and I. Vampires are insanely irrational," He scoffed. "I just saw you in potential danger and reacted poorly. I didn't even know if she was holding her breath, or if she just wanted the quiet that the water offers." He almost whispered.
"Maybe she just wanted attention? Maybe she did this to get away from Charlie?"
"Maybe. But she's been searching her whole life, for something. What if he was right there and I irrevocably destroyed that? She had no plan of leaving your father before all of this. She had no plan of ending her life, or yours for that matter. Maybe I scared her and she ran."
"Maybe she was running to save me... I don't know." Bella looked out the window for several minutes before she asked, "You feel bad about what you did? Even if you did save us from drowning?"
"Every day."
A tear trickled down from her face.
"Can you ever forgive me?"
"It's not my forgiveness to give, Edward." Bella said, though he really gave her something to think about.
What if Edward and Alice didn't interfere? Charlie was shocked Renee had left him and it wasn't until recently that he was interested in dating.
Well, that she knew of.
What if it was that fear that kept her away from Charlie all this time?
What if she wanted to go back but couldn't?
They were not questions she could answer.
They were not her questions.
"Renee needs to face those fears and come back to Forks." Bella decided.
Edward's hands clutched the steering wheel for a second, but loosened them. "That deviated quickly from what I was talking about, Bella. Please explain."
"If we are ever going to have something together, everything needs to be out in the open. We all need to sit it out and talk about it together instead of hypothesizing and analyzing it all to death."
"I am willing to do that."
"You're going to scare the crap out of her!" Bella laughed.
"Best leave the part that I am here out of the picture, then."
"Oh, no. Mr. Angel of death. You are so in the picture." Bella snickered. "I can't wait to see her face."
"You are a bad girl, Bella Swan."
The energy shifted instantly.
"Do you like bad girls, Edward?" Bella turned in her seat, flirting and teasing him. She liked to see that she was having an effect on him.
Edward moved in his seat a bit, uncomfortable yet turned on, "Oh, Bella. You have it wrong. I am not the angel of death, you are. Because you'll be the death of me."
"I can't be. You're already dead!"
Edward turned and gave a playful glare at the girl beside him, "Touché." He then grinned widely, enjoying the blush covering her face. He really enjoyed how responsive she was to him.
"You suck at driving, Edward. Maybe I should take over."
"I am excellent at multi-tasking."
"Said no man ever," Bella snorted. "Seriously? You're not even watching the road!"
Edward just raised his eyebrow, and adjusted the steering wheel a bit for a turn.
"Who says I'm not?"
"Whatever. Tell me about this mate business."
"What do you want to know?"
"How does it work? How do you know?"
Edward sat for several minutes contemplating his answer.
"There are countless ways of a person who thinks that another person is the one they are supposed to be with. But I think with us, being supernatural beings, there is something more.
There's a reason I can't read you mind. Is it to keep my interest? Is it to protect you? I couldn't know. Is it the way your blood screams at me one moment or sings to me the next? It's a balancing act at best. But there's more. It's deeper and I know you feel the connection, even if it's minutely. It could be a surge of a feeling, electricity- which is what it is to me."
"We have a spark."
"Yes," Edward laughed. "But more than that." He flicked the blinker before he turned onto the freeway.
"Which is what?'
"Okay, imagine me with someone else?"
Bella thought of Edward with Leah from the reservation and instantly felt red hot anger.
"That- that right there." He laughed, shaking his head a bit, but careful with the driving. "Okay, now think of me being in pain."
Bella took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her head was tilted backward as she imagined Edward on the ground writhing in pain.
Her chest hurt. Literally hurt. "My heart hurts."
"Now amplify that by a thousand and you can try to understand the outrageous ways in which we think. It takes a huge level of control to maintain a rational mindset. The animal blood helps keep us sane."
Edward pulled off the 101, turning off on a bit of the shoulder and turned the car off.
"Animal blood is different than other blood?"
"As much of a difference between meat and vegetables."
"So, do you enjoy a good human from time to time or are you strictly a vegetarian vampire?"
Edward eyed Bella curiously, gauging her reaction. He wasn't sure what or how much to say since they were still in the getting- to- know-you stage and he should have scared her off by now, but somehow she remained there, open, and in relatively good humor, based on everything she's been through the past few weeks since she arrived in Forks.
"I have enjoyed many bad humans, humans that were up to no good, and I like to feel like their deaths were for the greater good."
"So you drank bad humans."
Edward scoffed, shaking his head, "Yes."
"But you're not going to enjoy me?"
"Oh… I plan on enjoying you, very much. But not yet."
"But you said my blood sings to you."
"And screams, yes, but I choose to enjoy the bouquet of flavors rather than pop the cork and drink it down. Once it's gone, it's gone."
"Huh. So… where's my cork exactly?"
Edward's eyes widened before catching Bella's serious face with her lip curled in jest.
"Let's go before you make me say something that I'll probably regret."
Bella giggled as she opened the door, were mere feet from the tree line.
"Where are you taking me?"
Edward shut his door and moved to open the back. He grabbed up a backpack and a blanket before closing the door.
"Into the woods."