Prompt: Deadline
oOo
Bella was lying in bed, but despite the fact that she was deadly tired, she could not sleep. She couldn't stop thinking about Edward. Of the way his head had felt in her lap, his strong arm wrapped around her leg. She should be disgusted by his behaviour, but her only emotion was… concern.
In a combined effort, Jasper and Emmett McCarty had carried Edward to the sofa in the living room. Rosalie wouldn't stop apologizing, but both Jasper and Bella had been gracious about it, saying that something like that had happened to everyone at some point, and that it was quite understandable for Edward to be distressed since his dog had died that day.
They had wished the McCartys a good night and had left.
What Bella couldn't stop thinking about was the remark she had overheard from Rosalie when she was draping a blanket over her brother's sleeping form. It had been low and certainly was not meant for anybody's ears but her husband's – maybe not even for his. Perhaps she had only been talking to herself, but Bella's overtired mind kept repeating the words over and over as she lay in the dark.
"I thought he was getting better."
.
It was dawning by the time she fell into a fitful sleep, which was ended all too soon by the beeping of her alarm. Like every Sunday, her parents were expecting her for lunch, and Bella had promised to bring dessert. Having taken a shower, she set to work, drinking several cups of coffee in between. She was just taking the apple crumble from the oven when her phone rang, displaying her friend Alice's face.
"Bella," she gasped instead of a greeting. "Jazzy told me what happened last night. Oh God, how awful! I'm so sorry I wasn't there!"
"It's okay," Bella sighed. She had actually managed not to think about last night for at least ten minutes. "He was just really drunk. I'm sure he didn't mean any harm."
"Are you really all right? Should I come over later? I mean, we still have to unload the van, but later…"
"I'm really all right." Bella smiled. Alice was one of the most caring people she knew. "Listen, I need to get going, my parents are expecting me, but I'll call you when I'm back, okay?"
"Would you like to drop by?"
"I can't, actually. I have a deadline for a paper I need to finish. But I promise to call, okay?"
"Okay." She could actually hear the pout in Alice's voice.
.
Her mum remarked on the shadows under Bella's eyes and told her that she should eat more. Her dad hugged her close, smiling under his moustache, and slipped her a fifty-pound note. Her sister, with her characteristic crudeness, enquired whether Bella had been meeting any men lately, while stuffing her face with roast beef.
If they weren't so alike physically, Bella would never believe that Jackie was her relation. At twenty-one, she was three years younger than Bella, and totally different. Where Bella had always been quiet but self-confident, Jackie was extroverted and prone to drama. Where Bella took after their father, Jackie was the spitting image of their mum.
"Everything okay, pumpkin?" Charles, her dad, asked as they were talking a walk after lunch. She nodded and yawned, explaining that her workload had increased with the beginning of the autumn semester, which he accepted – and which, actually, was the truth.
She wouldn't tell him about the beautiful, distraught man who had drunkenly begged her not to go last night.
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A/N:
Thank you for all your lovely reviews. The response makes me really, really happy, and I am open for your ideas and suggestions.
LOL: I watched Robert Pattinson giving an interview just now. He was asked about the one film that always makes him cry, and he said Marley and Me. He wouldn't stop going on about it, how horrible it was when the dog died…