Chapter 15
Bella's POV
"Bella," Tristan whispering voice urged me from my sleep. "You need to take a shower before you go to bed." I groaned and heard his light, soft laughter. I could feel that I was in his arms and he was sitting down. I opened my eyes and saw that we were in his room and sitting on his bed.
I must have fallen asleep down at the pool.
"I'm up," I said half asleep.
"I'm going to go take a shower in the other bathroom," Tristan informed me and placed a kiss on my forehead before getting up placing me on my feet. He and I walked to the closet to get pajamas. I grabbed my toiletry bag and usual shorts and tank top.
"I'll be back," Tristan walked out of the closet, ruffling my hair when walking by. I was too tired to care at this point.
I went to his bathroom and closed the door behind me. I took a hot shower, going through the routine rather quickly so I could sleep sooner. I got out, dried myself off, put on my pj's and brushed my teeth.
I opened the bathroom door, releasing all of the built up steam. I could hear Tristan walking down the hall and returned to the closet to put away my dirty clothes in my suitcase; I could wash once I got home.
"What do you want me to do with this?" I asked Tristan holding up my bathing suit.
"Here, I'll hang it up outside with mine," Tristan held out and expectant hand and I gave him the pile of wet blue fabric. He left the room once again and took this time to climb into his bed.
And with the lights on, I fell asleep.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Sunshine was streaming through the curtains when I woke up. I pushed the hair that had fallen into my face off and rubbed my eyes to wake up. I looked around… no Tristan.
I got up and changed in the closet to a pair of shorts and a patterned sleeveless top. After brushing my teeth, I descended down the stairs to find everybody else already up and eating breakfast… how embarrassing.
"Morning Bella," Alice greeted me, she was sitting at the table in the kitchen nook. I gave her a quick smile and went over to Tristan, who was currently flipping pancakes. I wrapped my arms around him from behind and reached up on my tippy toes to place a kiss on his cheek.
"You finally woke up?" he chuckled, pouring more batter onto the flat pan.
"Why didn't you wake me up sooner? Everybody else is down here and I'm sleeping!" I accused him. I felt him laugh in my arms.
"You were tired." He answered simply and twisted around to face me.
"Want some breakfast?" he suggested, a smile playing on his lips. I nodded and buried my head into his chest. His hands rubbed my back and I released him to go sit down at the table next to Alice.
"What's on the Agenda today?" I asked Alice, she was currently reading the newspaper.
"Shopping."
Her answer was so blunt and serious. Alice didn't even look up to speak to me… this was going to be a… scary day.
"Okay," I mumbled, unsure how to answer to that. Tristan interrupted my thoughts on what to say to Alice,
"We have pancakes, eggs and bacon!" he announced and placed a plate in front of me, full of food. I gave him an incredulous look,
"Do you actually think I can eat all of this?" To my surprise, he shook his head as a no.
"Emmet loves leftovers," Tristan laughed. Emmet grinned at me and gave me a thumbs up from across the table, a half eaten plate of food in front of him. I rolled my eyes and dug into my own breakfast.
"How is it?" Tristan asked me, eyes eager. The breakfast was amazing… the pancakes were soft, eggs perfect, and bacon was… well bacon. I swallowed.
"Great, of course; What were you expecting?" Tristan shrugged.
After breakfast, we piled into two cars. Jasper drove the Lexus SUV that we used at the airport and Tristan drove his parent's BMX X5. Edward and Alice were going to drive with Jasper.
"Shotgun!" Emmet called from behind me on our way to the garage on the bottom floor. He sprinted past me in the hallway. He was waiting by the passenger door when Tristan, Rosalie and I got to the car.
"Ha ha, I win!" Emmet laughed like a little kid… a freakishly large little kid. He clapped his hands… Alice was rubbing off on him.
"Congratulations, Emmet." Rosalie said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Rosalie and I took the backseat and rolled down the windows as soon as we were out of the garage.
"Where to?" Tristan asked Rosalie, looking at her in the mirror.
"Fashion Valley," Rosalie stated, looking back out the window.
"Should have known…" Tristan breathed. That was suspicious to me… but I ignored it and enjoyed the cool, clear air that was whipping around my face.
"Remember… we're getting you a new bikini!" Rosalie reminded me in a whisper, a wide smile on her face. I tried to smile back at her but I must have looked unconvincing because she just snorted at me.
Tristan's POV
This was more than annoying.
I looked at my face in the mirror; the light blue bruise that was framing my light blue-gray eye was faded. But not enough to not be noticeable. I groaned quietly and brushed my teeth with extra minty toothpaste, taking the frustrations I was feeling out on my teeth. After wiping my mouth I went back to my bedroom.
Bella was still asleep, her long, wavy, brown hair sprawled out on my pillow. She looked so peaceful, her full pale pink lips in a slight smile. I loved her. I needed her. And I was going to fight for her.
I looked down at my arms to examine them, there were a few light scratches on my arms, one or two bruises but nothing too bad. She wouldn't notice; she wouldn't ask any questions.
I scowled at the thought of last night; I wasn't sure how I felt about Edward's presence here. I hated him being around, but I also would rather have him here to keep an eye on him. But last night I was keeping more than an eye on him.
I just saw Rosalie get out by Emmet and Alice. I was the only one left… this was going to be impossible. Something snapped from behind me, I whipped my head around, scouring the surrounding area, looking for any kind of movement.
Something dark moved, I crouched down, going towards it. I followed the shadow all the way out towards the beach and then suddenly, Edward and I were facing each other right by the water. Edward stood in front of me, smirking. He quickly shot at me once, my vest ringing out. I lunged at him, blocking his gun with my hand so he couldn't shoot me anymore. We landed in the wet sand with a thump and began wrestling for control.
"How in the hell do you count for two players?" Edward snarled.
"Could you be anymore immature?" I growled back, my face fierce.
"Ooh, you're a big ivy-leaguer now, aren't you," he snickered. I found a laser gun with my hand that was on the ground and shot at him once.
"You're little crush on Bella's getting old," I snarled. Edward fought back even harder.
"Intimidated?" He taunted.
"By who? I hope you aren't actually referring to yourself." I put him into a head lock and received a punch in the stomach. I quickly returned the blow and the wrestling quickly turned into a fist fight.
"You're moving clear across the country; don't expect everything to be the same when you get back." Edward warned in a cool voice. This made me even angrier. I swung hard right at his jaw.
"I'm not. While I'm gone she'll realize what a dick you are and love me even more…" Edward growled, taking an opening in my defense and punching me right in the eye. I threw some more hits at him.
"Hope you like that bruise," he sneered at me.
"Hope you like being alone," I shot back at him. We continued going at it for only a couple more seconds, Emmet interrupted us.
"What the fuck is going on?!" he bellowed and immediately pulled up apart, shoving us roughly in different directions. Edward and I still had our eyes locked on each other, glowering. Emmet looking back and forth between us, assessing the situation. Alice came rushing through the trees, stunned.
"What the hell are you guys doing?" she questioned. Her voice was low, dark and menacing. I wiped a bit of blood off of my lip with the back of my hand, eyes still on Edward's.
"Nothing," I stated coolly.
"You guys better figure this out because you two aren't ruining Bella's trip," Alice forced me to release my gaze. Bella would be disappointed, so disappointed if she knew what just happened. I looked down at the ground, ashamed… but still furious.
"Bella's fine, she'll just be hurt if she finds out," Edward answered. I looked up at him and nodded once. And with that, the pact was made. Bella's would never find out about this.
"Let's back then, you better have a good excuse," Emmet scowled at both of us and we followed him back out to the beach. Alice turned around and shot me with her gun a couple of times, my vest turned red.
"It wouldn't be convincing is you managed to beat all three of us," she smiled at me apologetically and I nodded in agreement.
"You better be a good actor, Ashburn," Edward grumbled beside me once the house was in view.
"Who starred as 'Prince Charming' last year for the school play? Oh yeah… me," I scoffed. Edward rolled his eyes beside me. Once we got through the gate an in the light I saw Bella's brown eyes widen.
"Oh my god!" she got out of her chair and rushed over to me frantically. A small smile began to curl up on my lips… take that Edward.
"Accident, Bella," I reassured her smoothly. She didn't take the bait.
"What happened?!" she demanded. I shrugged nonchalantly.
"Oh, we just into a tangle and Edward accidentally hit me with his gun. That's all." I smiled over at Edward, though my eyes were still severe. Edward smiled back at me for Bella's sake. I saw her calm when she realized that Edward and I were 'on good terms with each other'.
"Oh, okay" she stuttered a bit, which was endearingly cute. Emmet started drinking Bella's soda, which distracted her. I used this moment to start taking off my red vest, Bella looked back at me.
"Who's up for a swim?"
Softly, I felt the slightly swollen skin beneath by eye.
The war had been initiated. Winner takes all; winner takes my everything.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Now I was driving the X5 to Fashion Valley aka 'Girl Central' as my middle school friends and I used to call it. I swear, no matter who comes here or when; they have to go to Fashion Valley for shopping. It's like a disease or something.
We were driving around to the parking garage when I heard Rosalie squealing from the back seat.
"Yes! Neiman Marcus!" I looked in the rear view mirror to see a very frightened Bella. I chuckled to myself. I parked the car in a good spot, a short walk to the entrance. But obviously, not fast enough for Rosalie because she was out of the car before I cut the engine.
She ran around the car to get Bella.
"Save me!" Bella whispered in a high voice right before Rosalie opened her door and pulled her from her seat.
"Come on, Bella!" She shouted and pulled her along nearly sprinting. Bella tried to follow, but was stumbling every couple of steps. I hoped she wouldn't fall.
"So what are we supposed to do for the rest of the day?" Emmet chuckled to me as we walked to the entrance together, following the girls.
"Uh… buy them stuff. That's what my mom always taught me to do," I smiled back at him, stuffing my hands into my pockets.
"Amen!" Emmet agreed boisterously. "We might be broke by the end of the week… but we'll still have our girls."
"You might, but Bella hates it when I buy her things," I grumbled, truly unhappy now. I didn't understand why she complained about that stuff… it was gifts.
"Weird," Emmet agreed playfully. I rolled my eyes and we entered Neiman Marcus. We scanned the store for Bella and Rosalie and we found them in the Chanel section with Alice. Jasper and Edward came over to stand with us while we watched the girls in amazement.
Alice and Rosalie were riffling through the racks of clothing like crazy, occasionally pulling a shirt or dress out. They were going insanely fast, like they had a time limit. Then there was Bella who was sitting down on a nearby bench with hangers of clothes sitting on her lap. When Alice and Rosalie had too much in their hands they went and dropped it all on Bella.
"Does anybody have a camera?" Jasper whispered quietly. It was like they were wild animals and at anytime they could attack us. Silently, I handed him my cell phone which doubled as a camcorder. It was a great one… but it would have to work.
Jasper put my phone on camera mode and slowly held it up, getting a good shot of Alice and Rosalie. And like an alarm went off in her head, Alice immediately turned on Jasper, who froze in his tracks.
"Think twice, Jazz. Think twice." The way she repeated her words made it sound more and more deadly. Jasper closed my phone, gulping, and handed it back to me. I shoved my phone back into my pocket and Alice turned back to her shopping with just as much enthusiasm.
"You lucky man, Jasper," Edward teased. Jasper growled.
"Shut up."
Bella's POV
I was trying to stifle my giggles as Alice scared the boys shit-less. At least I knew better to not disrupt or mock Rosalie and Alice while they were shopping. To them, this was business.
Tristan shot me a glance. I nodded my head once in the general area of the doors. He raised his eye brows to make sure I was serious. I nodded and gave him a small smile.
"Bella?" he called cautiously. He eyed Rosalie and Alice for their reactions; they did nothing but look at him for a split second. He continued.
"The guys and I are going to go get some shopping of our own done, okay?" he spoke each word clearly, making sure that Rosalie and Alice heard.
"Okay, I'll call you when we're finished," I replied sweetly back. Tristan came over and gave me a peck on the lips before ushering the boys out of the store. Once they exited the store to the rest of the mall, I turned my gaze back to Rosalie and Alice.
Alice was looking at me with a super short black mini dress in her hand…RESCUE ME!
6 TORTUROUS, AGONIZING, PAINFUL, EMOTIONALLY SCARRING hours later…
I swear, we skipped more than half of the stores in the mall and yet, we were here for a good 6 or 7 hours. I lost count. I was so tired, that in between stores, Rosalie carried me.
"Man up, Bella! Only one more store left, Saks Fifth Avenue!" Alice commanded, she held up fist in the air. I internally groaned, too afraid of the consequences if I let it out.
My cell phone began to ring,
"Kiss me out of the bearded barley
Nightly, beside the green, green grass
Swing, swing, swing the spinning step
I'll wear those shoes and You will wear that dress…"
It was 'Kiss Me' by New Found Glory. I picked it up quickly, knowing that it was Tristan.
"Hello?" I sighed.
"What store are you in?" Tristan asked.
"Saks Fifth Avenue," I groaned, I was out of earshot now so I was safe.
"Okay, we're coming right now."
"Good, see you in a sec," I answered, smiling. I was excited that somebody was coming to join me, even if it was just sitting next to me for another hour.
"Bye." I closed my phone and went to go find a bench to sit in and wait.
"We're not finished yet!" I heard Alice raise her voice in a defensive tone.
"We know, we're just going to wait for you here." Jasper answered in a calming voice. There was silence for a moment.
"Okay then!" Alice's voice returned to joyful.
"Bella?" I heard Emmet call; they probably couldn't see me because I was sitting down so I stood up. I looked around and saw the guys walking towards me.
"How's it going, Bells?" Emmet smiled, full of energy. I scowled at that. I was exhausted.
"Need sleep," I grumbled.
"We came to break you out," Jasper grinned mischievously. I could feel my eyes brightened, hope! They all laughed at my expression.
"Come on," Tristan helped me up and wrapped a supportive arm around my waist so I could walk on my own. We were about halfway to the exit when Alice ran in front of us, cutting us off.
"Where do you thing you're going?" she sounded like a protective mother on TV, I didn't know the real thing. I was panicky, but Tristan merely smiled. He took a step forward and motioned for her to come near him.
(AND THEN HE PULLED A TAZER OUT OF HIS POCKET AND TAZERED HER UNCONCIOUS!
…not)
He whispered something into her ear, something that made her smile. Scary stuff. Alice nodded to him three times and then let us pass, observing me closely. Once we got outdoors and out of sight I stopped moving.
"What did you do?" I shot Tristan an accusing look. Tristan shrugged.
"I told her that we're going shopping." I looked at him disbelievingly.
"Why… why would you subject me to more of this? Why?!" My hands were in front of my face, shaking violently. Tristan put his hands around them and kissed them.
"Don't worry… it's not shopping exactly; more along the lines of picking something up." I calmed down, but still was stressed in the extreme. Tristan continued walking, supporting most of my weight with one of his arms. We walked to the middle of the mall, near the way we came in.
When he turned to enter the store, I immediately stopped walking.
"No way." I put my foot down… not literally, though.
"Nothing gold or diamonds," he assured me with persuading blue eyes. I sighed heavily, not able to resist them and cautiously let him open the door for me to go inside.
"Welcome to Tiffany's. Can I help you find anything?" An older lady asked us right when we got inside.
"Yes, I actually ordered something online and am here to pick it up," Tristan answered with perfect politeness. The older lady smiled.
"Sure, I just need to find it on the computer and have you fill out some forms," she led us to more of the back of the store and had us sit down in some cushy chairs. She walked behind the jewelry case and typed something into the computer before turning to us.
"Last name, please?"
"Ashburn," Tristan replied, speaking clearing and winking at me. The lady typed it into the computer and clicked on something.
"Tristan, correct?" Tristan nodded to her once.
"I'll be right back with it and some papers we would like you to fill out." She went through a light colored solid wood door.
"I can't believe you did this…" I hissed through clenched teeth. Tristan rubbed my back with one of his hands.
"Oh, come on, Bella," he smiled at me, blue eyes shining in the light that was coming from the window. I just breathed deeply once and pursed my lips, pulling them up to the right side of my face.
"You're kind of cute when you pout like that?" Tristan teased me, touching his finger to the tip of my nose.
"I'm cute?" I questioned. Cute was for toddlers, kids that could still pull off the pig tail look. Tristan cleared his throat.
"Sorry, what I meant to say was that you're scorching hot," he amended, resisting the urge to laugh out loud.
"Better," I approved and the old lady came out from the back of the store with a few papers and a 'tiffany blue' box in hand. She set it down on the glass jewelry case in front of us, putting a pen on the glass.
"When you fill out these papers it assures that if you lose your piece of jewelry and somebody returns it to any Tiffany store location, we will make sure that it gets back to you," she explained. Tristan already was filling out the paperwork, finished with the first page.
I sat there patiently, unsure if I even wanted to see what he bought me this time. Once he was done, the lady collected the papers from him and Tristan picked up the box from the counter.
"Thank you, have a good night," she walked us to the door.
"You too," Tristan smiled and nodded to her, I gave her a small wave goodbye.
Wordlessly, Tristan and I walked hand in hand back over to Saks Fifth Avenue. Except he stopped and sat down on the edge of a fountain… kind of like the one we had back at Bridgeton. I sat down next to him.
"Want to see it, now?" he teased me with a smile. Reluctantly, I nodded assuredly. Tristan opened the box and turned it around so I could see it. Inside was a silver chain-link bracelet. On the bracelet was a padlock style heart shaped charm. Engraved on the flat surface was 'Semper Amemus'. I didn't know what it meant…
"It's Latin for 'love always'." Tristan said in a quiet voice, I looked up at him and wiped a tear and was on the edge of my eye.
"Thank you." I closed the gap between us in a hug; Tristan wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me tight.
"Anything for you, Bella." He whispered into my hair, his cheek resting on the top of my head. We stayed there, comfortably, for a while but we knew that if we didn't get back soon Alice and Rosalie would use that as a reason to shop for longer.
"Can I put it on?" I asked timidly. Tristan laughed and shook his head at me, playfully.
"No, you cannot wear it, Bella!" he answered sarcastically while gently taking the bracelet out of the box. He clasped it around my wrist by pulling the little toggle through the metal circle. I admired it on my wrist and then looked up at him, he was staring at me with his piercing blue eyes.
He leaned over and gave me a sweet small kiss. Whispering on my lips,
"I will always love you, Bella. Forever."
When we got back to Saks, everybody was at the counter paying for their things.
"You girls are crazy!" Emmet indicted. He was currently holding five bags in each hand. Jasper was holding up all seven dress bags and Edward was trying to pick up another bag with his already full hand. Alice and Rosalie each had their hands full.
"Thank God! My pinky finger is cramping up," Emmet roared, dropping all of the bags in his right hand and stretch his fingers. I picked up the five bags, putting three in my right and two in my left hand.
Tristan went over to Alice and Rosalie and grabbed three from each of them. After Emmet took some more bags for Edward, we set out for the car.
"Stay here, I'll go get the car and drive it around," Tristan instructed us and Rosalie, Emmet and I collapsed onto the bench.
"This is your punishment, Rose… punishment!" Emmet wheezed, out of breath. Rosalie shot him a death glare.
"Shut your freaking gob, Emmet." Rosalie answered quoting the movie, Juno. I cracked a smile. After a few more minutes, Tristan came around with the silver X5. He got out of the car and opened the back for us to pile everything in.
"Shotgun," I called, not at all energetic. Emmet just continued to load up the car… not at all affected.
Once the car was filed I climbed into the passenger seat, buckling my seatbelt. Tristan drove out of the mall in peaceful quiet.
"Okay, if we don't turn on the radio, I'm going to fall asleep," he complained and turned on the radio. A familiar beat rang through the car and automatically I found myself bopping my head along to it, singing the words under my breath.
"I'm bouncing off the walls again
I'm looking like a fool again
I threw away my reputation
One more song for the radio station
I'm bouncing off the walls again
I'm looking like a fool again
Waking up on the bathroom floor
Pull myself together just to fall once more…"
"Sugarcult is legit," Emmet announced after the song was finished. Too tired to say anything, I just gave him the thumbs up. Another song played through the speakers, but I wasn't paying attention anymore. I was just trying to keep my eyes open. The gentle movement of the car was too much for my system to handle at this point.
"What's that, Bella?" Rosalie asked me from the backseat. She had her eyes on my wrist that held my new bracelet.
"A present Tristan gave me," I gave Tristan a warm smile. He smiled, eyes still on the road.
"Ooh, let me see…" Rosalie reached a hand over to me and examined it. Her eyes went wide.
"Is this a Tiffany's?!" I nodded meekly at her, a small smile on my lips.
"Nice one, Tristan," she complimented and then abruptly smacked Emmet on the arm, hard.
"What?!" he screeched.
"Why don't you do nice things like this?" she questioned angrily.
"Because I don't know what I could give you that would be equal in the love you gift me with everyday?" It sounded more like a question. Especially with the way his voice was a notch higher than it normally was and how he was cowering in his seat.
"If that was sincere, I would have accepted it," Rosalie informed him then smacked him again on the arm.
Once we got back to the house, which didn't take long, we unloaded all of the bags into the house. We didn't bother bringing them up to the main floor. We could do that later.
Once we got up the stairs to the main floor, laid down on the sofa. Rosalie reclined in a chair and Emmet just sprawled out on the thick carpet. Tristan sat in front of the sofa I was in and we just sat there.
Jasper, Alice and Edward arrived shortly after us and followed suit. We just laid there in wordlessly for about ten minutes when my stomach growled loudly. Exhaustion had not affected my blush response… I turned bright red.
"Order in pizza for dinner?" Tristan suggested. And in a simultaneous chorus everybody replied,
"Amen."
I have decided... I am no longer going to write and just read reviews from you guys.
Okay, okay, so I won't actually do that... but it is tempting.
I can't believe how many reviews I got for that last chapter.
Nearly doubling my recent 'best chapter'
Thank you so much!!!!
Please review some more for me to tell me what you thought about Edward and Tristan's little 'tangle'!
Also, picture of bracelet on profile... new poll!