A/N: Thanks to those of you who reviewed! Your kind words really do make me write faster.
To 316: Don't worry! There will be tons of drama, I actually thought of all the drama before I thought of the whole spin the bottle thing haha. It wouldn't be ExB w/o the drama!
To kools0808: Yeah, they are a bit young, but I really wanted to create that whole love at first sight thing, ya know?
Disclaimer: Dang, I totally forgot the disclaimer in the first two chapters. But I don't own the characters that inhabit those either, unfortunately. L
SO, after chapter two, I decided to make a little rhyme for every chapter! Haha.
Golly gee! Here's chapter three! (lame I know, but all I could think of)
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Last time on Spin the bottle:
"He left!" she wailed.
"Who mom?"
"Ch-Charlie!" she sobbed.
I could feel my world crashing down around me. Two people very close to my heart had left, and I might not ever see them again.
Chapter 3: Bereft
"What do you mean he left? He's probably out fishing. He'll be back later. He will," I pleaded fruitlessly.
"No honey, you don't understand. When you were at Rachel's house last night, he came home drunk. He came upstairs, where I was sleeping, and packed his stuff. When I asked him what he was doing, he said, 'I hate you, I hate our family, and I hate NYC. I'm leaving.' Then he just left…" she sobbed.
I was sitting on the floor, just holding her like she always did for me when I was upset or hurt. "Where were you this morning, then?"
"I wasn't even here last night, actually. I was at Susie's house, you know the one across the street, and she was helping me call all the motels and apartment buildings in town. We even called all his friends and co-workers to try and find him. I know he may not love me anymore, but he was drunk. He could've said things he didn't mean to say." By now, my shoulder was completely soaked through with tears.
She cried for the next half hour or so. As soon as she stopped bawling for a second, she would force more tears out, or so it seemed. During that time, I let my mind wander.
Is my mother going to find Charlie so they can be officially divorced? And if they do get divorced, whose care what I be put under? I hoped it was Renee's, because I do not want to live with someone who hates me. But what if the courts ruled in his favor? What would I do then? What if I never saw Renee again?
But the most important question: where was Charlie?
After she was done crying, Renee said she wanted to go talk to Susie again, because Susie's husband walked out on her too, and would understand exactly what she was going through. She grabbed her purse and walked outside. I didn't get why she would want to talk about it, when that would only make her more upset.
I tried calling my dad's cell phone, but he had left it here. There was only one other person I wanted to talk to, so I dialed again.
"Bella?" He picked up on the first ring.
"Hi, Edward…" I replied sadly.
"Are you okay? What's wrong?" he asked.
"Well, a lot of things, actually. First, the person I need to talk to right now is about to fly out of state. Then, I come home and find my mother sobbing because Charlie left, and she would rather talk to some skank in her gardening club who didn't even know Charlie, instead of her own daughter!" At this point, I was in tears. "And I can't talk to Rachel about it, because it'll bring back memories of her parents' divorce!"
"I'm…so sorry, Bella. If I wasn't at the airport right now, I'd be over there faster than you can blink. You don't deserve all this, you deserve something ten times better, someone ten times better…someone better than me who could be there right now…" Great, now I made him upset.
"Edward… You're perfect. I wanted to talk to you, not some random guy that I know doesn't care about me…" I trailed off sadly. "I miss you already, and it hasn't even been an hour yet!" I groaned frustrated.
"I missed you the moment I said goodbye," he admitted.
"Don't be sad, we'll see each other again, I know we will," I promised.
"You can't be sure. We live on opposite ends of the country…"
"No! Don't say things like that…unless you don't want to see me again…" I trailed off. What if he didn't want to see me?
"What are you talking about? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Of course I want to see you again! I just don't know if I can. If I could, I would bring you with me." He paused, and I could hear rustling and bustling on the other end. "I'm really sorry, Bella, but my plane is boarding. I'll call you later, I promise," he said with conviction.
"Bye, Edward. I'll really miss you," I said, knowing that I'd probably never see him again. But… "Promise me you'll come to Rachel's house this summer, okay?"
"I promise. Bye, Bella."
"Bye."
I hung up the phone and started crying. Edward was the first person, let alone a guy, that paid so much attention to me and actually cared more about what I was saying more than that I was talking to him. He obviously really liked me, and I liked him too. How come he had to go back home? And, on top of all that, my dad left, and my own mother didn't want to talk to me about it. Today was a great day. And it's only one in the afternoon! All's that would be left would be if Brian showed up and started hitting on me again.
The doorbell rang, and I immediately knew it wasn't my mother, because she would've just let herself in. I walked over to the door and looked through the peephole. Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear. Brian Newton was standing on my front door.
I opened the door and said, "Um, hi Brian…" It sounded like a question. I forcefully plastered a smile on my face to stay polite.
"Hey Bella…So, I saw that Edward left a little while ago, and your mother just left too, so do you wanna hang out with me for the rest of today? Maybe we could eat here, go catch a movie or something…" he trailed off suggestively, and wagged his eyebrows. Ew, I think I just barfed a little bit in my mouth.
"Goodbye, Brian." I slammed the door in his face. After such a bad day, I didn't need his crap too.
"Hey, do you at least have my baseball? I've been looking for it everywhere! It's my only one!" I heard him shout from the other side of the door.
So, what to do…what to do. I could clean the house. No matter how bad my day was, my mom's was at least ten times worse and she would appreciate a clean house. After that I could make dinner for her, then bake cookies and bring some over to Rachel's to at least get out of the house for a little bit. Look's like I had quite a busy day ahead of me. I better get started.
~*~*~
Cleaning didn't help keep my mind off my troubles, but it did help me not just mope around the house all day, which I would've done if I hadn't made a schedule. After I was done polishing the floor in the kitchen, the house was completely spotless, and it was only four. Ugh! At least another hour until I can make dinner without it feeling really early. Hmm… I could text Edward, or mail an anonymous love note to Brian. Or I could do both. I grabbed my phone.
To: Edward
From: Bella
Did you take Brian's baseball? Cuz he came over, well he hit on me first, and then asked if I knew where his baseball was… jw. I'm gonna go mail him a love note from Rachel, so don't tell her if you talk to her, ok?
If he was still on the plane, he probably wouldn't have his cell phone on, so I didn't expect a text anytime soon. So, I set to work on my love note…or rather, Rachel's love note. Wink, wink.
My dearest Brian,
I am secretly in love with you. You are like the hottest guy in junior high. I can't get enough of you. When I'm at home, I hump my armchair and pretend it's you. You feel soooo good, babe. Your blond hair is so greasy I just want to fry french fries in it. Ooh! Do you wanna come over and make them with me? Then we can make pancakes and have a whip cream fight…yum.
Your acne looks like pepperoni pizza, and now that sounds good. You make me so hungry! And your eyes, I just want to swim in mud now. Come with me??
I love the way you act at school, always acting cool and acting like you smoke pot, you are a good influence on the sixth graders to say 'no' and all that jazz. You are such a sexy pig, and sexy pigs roll around in mud…ooh sexy.
Your not so secret admirer,
Rachel Cullen
Unfortunately, his house was right next door to mine, so all's I had to do was walk down to the end of the driveway and put the letter in the mailbox next to mine. I made sure to put on red lipstick so I could kiss the seal and make him eager to open it, he's so predictable. As I'm walking back up to the house, my phone vibrates in my pocket.
I flip it open and it reads:
What makes you think that I would've taken it? I wonder if you need your head checked. So does Rachel know about this love note?
I reply back:
Nope. And don't you dare tell her. I'm gonna go make lasagna for dinner. Call me later. Bye.
I close my phone and go into the kitchen and retrieve the ingredients for lasagna, well not exactly homemade lasagna, but close enough. I have spaghetti sauce in the cupboard that I'll just add some ingredients to. Mixing all the sauces and noodles and stuff takes about a half hour, and then it needs to cook for forty five minutes. So after I'm done with making it, I put it in the oven and head over to Susie's house to warn my mom.
As I make my way out the door, I finally notice that my mom's car isn't in the driveway. I check the garage. Nothing. Well, maybe she and Susie went somewhere. No big deal, but I better check to see if Susie is home to make sure.
I walk across the street and knock on the door. At first I hear dogs barking, and then someone yelling 'shut up you stupid mutt!' This is why I didn't exactly care for Susie, she was loud, obnoxious, and completely disrespectful to both people and animals. No wonder she wasn't married and had no kids.
She opened the door. She was an other woman around sixty years old. Her grey hair and wrinkled skin made her look a little older though. The only 'physical' activity she did was the gardening club, but I don't even think that counted. I wondered why my mom hung out with such a woman, they were complete opposites. Renee was happy, exuberant, and acted like a college kid, while Susie was the old lady telling, or more like screeching, at the kids to stay off her lawn.
"What do you want, kid?" Her voice was raspy and lifeless, and sounded tired.
"Is my mom here?"
"No. Why would she be? We hate each other." She looked at me like I was an imbecile and that was the easiest concept in the world. "No one ever comes over, why would she be any different?"
"Well was she here this morning or last night?"
"No…" She looked suspicious like she was accusing me of something. "Okay, kid, what are you selling?"
"Nothing."
"Then what do you want?" she asked, clearly irritated.
"My mom. She said my dad left us last night, and she came over here to talk to you because you would understand. And then she said you guys called everywhere looking for him."
"The last time she was over here was five years ago." Where would she have gone? "I'm sorry about your dad, kiddo."
"That's okay…I better go finish making dinner. Would you like to join me?" I asked, hoping she would say no.
"Sorry, I have to clean. Bye." She slammed the door in my face like I had done to Brian earlier. I could hear her yelling at the dogs from the other side.
"Thanks!"
I heard a muffled 'you're welcome' and then headed back home. On the way, I took out my cell phone and called my mom.
"Hello?" There was loud music in the background. She was clearly not moping around after Charlie.
"Mom, where are you?" I asked suspiciously.
"Um, I'm at a restaurant with Susie. You want take-out?"
"No, I'm okay. I made lasagna. Mom, I went over to Susie's. She's at home," I said each sentence loudly, mainly because I was angry, but also because I didn't want to have to repeat myself.
"Oh gosh, did I say Susie? I meant Lucy. She's new at the office. Oh, I gotta go honey. See you later!" With that she hung up, and I became slightly afraid.
What was my mother hiding from me?
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A/N: Sorry, I needed some comic relief in the middle there. Haha, Brian is so fun to mess with. But more importantly…what is Renee hiding??
Next chapter will be up by tomorrow night!
P.S. Isn't American Idol great this season??? I LOVE DAVID OSMOND!!!
Review please!