A/N:
Thank you to my Beta, Lady Gwynedd.
As promised, Edward is in this chapter. If you know the song, I hope you get a chuckle when Bella sets eyes on Edward.
Again, please let me know what you think. I love getting feedback.
Enjoy,
iv
Chapter 3 – Sexy Boy
Sexy boy, sexy boy...
Où sont tes héros aux corps d'athlètes
Où sont tes idoles mal rasées, bien habillées
Sexy boy, sexy boy...
Dans leurs yeux des dollars
Dans leurs sourires des diamants
Moi aussi un jour je serai beau comme un Dieu
Sexy boy, sexy boy...
Apollon deux mille zéro défaut vingt et un an
C'est l'homme ideal charme au masculin
Sexy boy, sexy boy...
Air – Sexy Boy
Bella woke up from the first restful sleep in months and was surprised to find that it was already after 11:00 am. She rarely slept in that late. She smiled to herself as she buried herself deeper into the covers and thought what this summer would bring her. Bella was on a mission. When she finally hopped out of bed she went straight for her cell phone. Alice had returned her text late last night just like she anticipated to let her know that she and the rest of her friends would be at the river after lunch and to meet up with them then.
Bella was looking forward to see all her friends, but first and foremost she wanted to spend sometime with her little sister Leah and her baby brother Seth. She dug through the things she didn't have time to unpack yesterday and pulled out a Hello Kitty gift bag filled with toys that she picked up at the Sanrio store in New York and a reptilian bucket she specifically went to the zoo for Seth. Eager to see them and clad in her Pajamas, Bella quietly made her way upstairs to surprise them.
She heard Seth's voice coming from the kitchen and tiptoed to the entrance to execute a sneak attack on the little monster, but what she saw completely stopped her in her tracks. Sitting at the kitchen table with Seth on his lap was an unknown figure.
He was beyond striking. He looked ethereal and Bella couldn't help herself to do anything else but gape at the celestial being. Unruly bronze hair, a perfect well defined straight nose, soft full lips and a jaw that helped reduce his boyish looks and confirm that he was a man. The only thing Bella couldn't see was the color of his eyes. Please let him have green eyes, she prayed to herself.
She watched the two of them together unaware of her presence. He was drawing picture for Seth to color.
"Draw me a frog now," Seth's little voice demanded.
"What do you say Seth?" Mr. Angel asked.
"Pleeeaaase, Edward," Seth begged.
That was the Edward from next door that Sue had mentioned to her last night—the same Edward that her dad told her to stay away from. No wonder Sue reacted like she did when she spoke about him. She knew that Bella would be attracted to him.
Bella was completely awe struck when she heard him chuckle. She studied him a while longer than she should have and became nervous at the thought of being caught.
He looked more like a model for one of the greats than an artist himself. Perfection like that only exists in paintings Bella thought before she reprimanded herself for thinking like that.
She was aware that she either had to make her presence known or sneak back downstairs. She decided on the later since she didn't feel presentable for company. Bella started to slowly back away from the entryway to go back to her room to get dressed, but it was too late.
She heard her kid sister shriek, "Bells!" and ran up and hugged her.
Seth and Edward looked up from what they were doing catching Bella off guard by the hug assault from her little sister, but Bella quickly recovered by ignoring them and focusing on her sister.
"Leah!" Bella got down to her level and gave her a hug.
"I missed you so much," Leah told her, "Mommy let us stay up, but we fell asleep."
"I know. I've missed you too."
Bella noticed Leah's attention drift from her to the Hello Kitty bag that she was carrying in her hand.
"Is that for me?" Leah asked sweetly.
"Didn't I promise you I'd bring you back a surprise?" Bella asked.
Leah nodded her head and Bella passed the gift over to her.
"What do you say?" Edward said from behind Bella.
"Thank you," Leah replied and quickly unwrapped the gift.
Bella got up and turned around only to find Edward standing directly in front of her and in her personal space with Seth in his arms. She would have taken a step back but Leah had planted herself on the kitchen floor right behind her.
He smirked at her as he took in her appearance. Bella immediately blushed and reached out for Seth in order to hide herself behind him, but Seth wasn't having any of it and decided to play coy by hiding his face in Edward's shoulder.
She flushed again from being rejected by her little brother and his preference to stay with Edward.
"Maybe later then," she stated. She hated the fact that she had to get reacquainted with her brother every time she came for a visit.
Edward gave her a small sympathetic smile to soften the blow. "I'm Edward by the way,"
Bella nodded awkwardly when she noticed his green eyes, "Bella." She cursed herself for not putting on a bra before she came upstairs and crossed her arms over her chest to cover herself. She was wearing her t-shirt and shorts from last night, but the way Edward's eyes wandered over her body made her feel naked.
Seth was placed on the floor and stood there shyly eyeing the clear plastic bucket of snakes and lizards. Bella decided to try again and crouched down to his level and silently offered the bucket as a peace offering and apology for not being home enough for him to remember her.
Seth bravely stepped forward and took it from her before retreating back to hiding behind Edward's leg causing Bella to sigh.
"What do you say, little buddy?"
"Thank you," he said quietly and took off for the den with his new toys.
"What's with the "pleases" and "thank yous?" she asked trying to draw his attention away from her body to her face.
"Yeah, um," he swept his hand through his messy hair, "Sue lately became very strict with manners a few weeks ago. Leah had a friend over and he went around and helped himself to whatever he wanted if he couldn't find it he demanded it from Sue, to the point that Seth and Leah started adapting his habits." Edward gave Leah a pointed look before he continued, "Anyway to make a long story short, they can do whatever they want as long as they use their manners—Sue's words, not mine."
Bella was able to picture the incident in her head and her reaction was true to her character, Sue would give the world to those she loved, but she wouldn't be walked upon by anyone.
"That sounds like her," she replied quietly as she stepped around Leah to get behind the kitchen counter to somewhat shield herself and reclaim some of her personal space. She stood there awkwardly thinking what she wanted to eat and blushed furiously when she noticed Edward standing on the other side of the counter grinning.
"Where's Sue?"
"Went grocery shopping. She'll be back in a bit."
"Oh," Bella's face fell a little, "she could have woken me up, I would have watched them," she said to herself. "No offense to you of course," she quickly added, remembering that Edward was there. She picked through the fruit bowl on the counter and decided on an orange.
"None taken, besides she doesn't want to trouble you in playing a "surrogate" during your last summer of freedom," he smirked using air quotes.
"Sue's words again?" she asked sadly.
Edward nodded in reply. Bella was a disappointed with her stepmother for picking Edward over her to watch the kids, but after Seth's reaction to her, maybe Edward did make the better babysitter.
"I wouldn't take it personally, Bella," he said reading her like an open book, "I offered to watch them when ever she needed to run errands.
Bella looked up from peeling her orange. Edward had moved around the counter and was close to her again, was eyeing her shamelessly. Her nervousness caused her to tear the peel of the orange too forcefully and she got a squirt of the rind into her eye.
"Shit, ow," Bella cried out. She tossed the orange on the counter raised her hand to rub her eye, but Edward grabbed it. It caught her off guard.
"Don't rub it. Let it tear. Here," Edward got some paper towel and ran it under cold water before applying it to her eye.
"You need to put a dollar into the swear jar," Leah chirped from behind them.
"Why don't we let this one slide? I'm sure Bella doesn't know that rule yet," Edward still held the paper towel over her eye.
In a span of five minutes, Bella felt out of sorts and out of place. She felt like an intruder. This was not the way she expected her first day to be like; Seth was shy of her, there were a slew of new house rules she wasn't aware of, there was a babysitter that was preferred by her siblings and stepmother over her, and an attack from an orange left her with a pathetic injury that was now being tended to by an angelic college boy from next door.
To make matters worse, the way he hovered over her and held the wet paper towel to her eye made her feel like a little kid. And she wanted to feel anything but because of the way he had said her name, twice. Bella needed to get out of there before things got worse and embarrassed herself even further.
"I think its fine now," she said stepping away and quickly turning around.
"Let me take a look at it."
"No, its fine, I should go get ready," she said hurriedly and rushed down stairs flustered from the situation.
"I'll see you around Bella," Edward called out behind her. She detected a laugh in his voice more than likely caused by him knowing that he got to her.
"Yeah, sure."
When she got to her room she threw herself on the bed and chastised herself for letting Edward get to her. She knew how to handle these types of situations and she was never really frazzled by them until now. But the moment she laid eyes on him, it threw her for a loop and all that she knew about conversing with the opposite sex went out the window. She turned into a shy, nervous, blushing girl versus the sweet, confident, funny girl that she was always looked at and complimented by friends in New York—even here for that matter.
To put the encounter with Edward behind her, she decided to get out of the house and find something else to do before she met up with Alice.
She quickly dressed into her Midland appointed attire of a tank top, shorts and flip-flops. It was a little less than what she wore this morning, but she felt more put together.
Bella would have snuck out the back door to avoid bumping into Edward—it would be too much too soon to see him, but she knew she needed to tell Sue where she was going. So, instead, Bella put on a brave face and went up stairs hoping that she could write a quick note and leave the house undetected.
When she got to the kitchen, Edward had already left and Sue was putting groceries away.
"Sleep well?" Sue asked.
"Yeah," Bella mumbled her reply.
"That was nice of you," she pointed over to the kitchen table where Leah and Seth were playing with their new toys. "It will give me a chance to get some things done around the house."
Bella felt guilty for not thinking that Sue might need help around the house. She did clean up after herself, but now that Sue was pregnant she could probably use the extra help.
"I could help, I don't have any set plans for today," Bella willingly volunteered.
"Bella," she gave her a pointed look, "you know how I am when it comes to cleaning. I can't trust anyone to get the job done properly unless I do it. Go have fun. It's summer. You're almost eighteen, so enjoy it."
Bella nodded.
Sue grinned, "By the way how's your eye?"
Bella looked up at her startled she knew. And judging by the look that she gave her, Sue knew what she thought of Edward.
"It's fine. I'm going to get going now."
She was about to leave the kitchen when Sue stopped her.
"Don't forget your breakfast."
"Breakfast?"
Sue pointed to the kitchen counter and sitting on the middle of it was a peeled orange wrapped in plastic wrap.
"Edward saved it for you."
Bella felt Sue's eyes on her, waiting for some sort of response, but she knew better than to give her one. Although the incident of Edward tending to her eye made her feel childish, this made her feel even more self-conscious. She didn't know whether or not to take it as an insult or a kind gesture. In any case, Bella took the orange. She didn't want Sue to question her.
"I'll see you later," Bella called out, rushing out the kitchen door.
"Have a good day, Bells!" Sue laughed.
A/N:
Please leave a review. I'll send out a little teaser tomorrow if you do.
Next chapter, Edward makes Bella feel ridiculous again.