Chapter Five
Cheese Hats and Funny Feelings
Bella POV
The house was noisy, yet peaceful. Edward's hand was still in mine as Carlise emerged from his office to greet us as the front door closed.
"Hello Edward. Bella." He nodded once to each of us. "You two still enjoying that house?"
I chimed in, before Edward could. "Yes, definitely." I smiled. I didn't want Edward giving any clues away as to the newest destruction to our home. Granted I had gotten my answers about last night, and I indeed felt better. Yet the hole that was now engraved into our wall still seemed wrong to me. It almost seemed like a dark secret hole that held some sort of darkness that even thinking about it brought my mood down. Something about that hole made me feel ashamed for some reason. And there was another feeling that I couldn't pinpoint. It was there. Somewhere in my gut. It was way down there too, in some hollow part that I was now realizing existed. What was this new pit of my inner being that was lingering there? I had to stop this. This was stupid. There was no reason for this unknown feeling to be there.
I could hear the t.v. going on in the living room. I could make out two men giving a play by play of the replay of some part of a game. I instantly perked up and lightly squeezed Edward's hands as I turned to him, hopping lightly on my tip toes. "Hey, I'm gonna go watch the game. Love you." Even though I was extremely capable of getting there in the blink of an eye, I still liked to take my time getting places. I really only did things quickly if it suited me or was necessary for the situation. On my way there I could clearly hear Emmet yelling obsenities at the screen. I laughed to myself skipping my way to the couch.
"It's not like you have a broken leg asshole! Just go for the fucking touchdown! Dammit!" Emmett hollerd as he ran his hand over his head, grabbing the hat off his head and throwing to the ground. Emmett has always in my mind, even as a human, been my big brother. I loved him so much, I don't know what I would do without him. And even though Edward was there for me almost every second during my first few years as a newborn vampire, Emmett also gave me that big brother aspect of things that I loved. He was there for me almost as much as Edward was. So since we had spent so much time together, Emmett's love of football, had rubbed off onto me. Jumping over the back of the couch, I plopped down next to Emmett, smacking him in the back of the head.
"Hey Smella!" he said playfully pushing me over. "What brings you around these here parts?", he questioned me with the dumbest country accents I'd heard in a long time.
"We just came to hang out I assume. I heard the game and rushed over here before I missed anything good. Did I miss anything good?" I asked as I pulled my legs up onto the couch to sit crisscrossed. As I got comfortable, I felt Alice come behind me and give me a hug. "Hey Bella!" she chimed, "What have you been up to?"
There wasn't much that could get past Alice, and I wondered if she knew about last night. If I could blush, I knew I would be a red flag blowing in the wind right now. I tried to smile as if nothing interesting had ever happened. I wasn't stupid though, and I knew Alice had at least a slight idea of what transpired last night. Screw it. "Just being bored. I'm good now though. I forgot that there was a game playing." I smiled a huge grin as Emmett and me exchanged a loud high five. I threw my head back to look at Alice, only this time she was upside down. "Did you and Rose find anything good? And I already know that a skirt was found for me, so hand it over." I cringed, rolling my eyes as I held my hand out over my head. I looked back at the tv with my arm still extended, waiting for Alice. I heard the rush of wind as she ran to her room. Watching the game I immediately perked up as Emmett and I watched as the Packers were kicking the ball for Vikings to recieve. The catcher called a fair catch and there was a break as the teams got their strategy together for the next play.
As we watched some commercial about the new Ford Fusion. I thought to myself how back in the day I had an adversion to anything but my precious old beat up truck. Rest in peace old friend, I thought.
Emmett had switched his ball cap for a big over the top cheese hat. I looked at him with amusement and suddenly punched him in the arm and looked at him with mock anger. "Hey! Where's mine?!"
"Hey now, don't get all crazy on me. I have your hat. I'm not giving it to you though. You're rooting for the wrong team, and I don't think it would be right to keep letting you go down the wrong path." Emmett suddenly got a serious look on his face that for a moment stopped me in my thought process. He grabbed my shoulders roughly and started shaking me. "Look at me Bella!"
"Em, what-"
"Bella please. Come back from the dark side." It suddenly clicked in my head that Emmett was trying to be funny.
"Ha. Ha. Emmett. Just give me my hat!" I threw myself over him as I reached over his side of the couch and felt around on the floor until I felt the styrofoam at my finger tips. I snatched it up and pulled the yellow, foam viking horns onto my head. I sat back and stuck my nose in the air and stuck my tongue out at him.
His face scrunched at me and he started shoving me further away. "Bella, your team stinks! They are one of the lowest teams in the league right now! It would be a miracle if they won this game!"
"The Vikings will prevail! And then you'll be bowing at my feet and begging to be on the dark side. Come on Emmett, join me..." I tried to sound evil and menacing. I laughed heartily and went back to watching the game. The game had come back on and was happy that I hadn't missed anything except the replay of how great the Packers' defense was. Both teams lined up and the seconds passed as the quarterback waited for the ball to be hiked to him. I got a little ansey and I watched the time clock for the play to start tick down to two seconds left. Finally the ball snapped back into the quarterbacks hands and it turned into a flurry of purples and greens. Yellows and golds. The quarterback trotted back a few steps and faked to his right, suddenly shotgunning it slightly to the left, down field to number 28. Adrian Peterson. Rookie of the Year and never seized to amaze me. My anxiousness rose in me at extremely high levels as I started jumping up and down on the couch.
"Go! Go! Go! Go! Oh my god! Go! Wooo!!!!!!!!!!!" I screamed.
"No Dammit! Get his ass! What the hell!? Get him!!", Emmett yelled.
We each watched with two completely different emotions as Peterson caught the ball at the 60 yard line, and put everything he had in running to make one of the most beautiful touchdowns I'd ever seen. I hadn't seen many really, but damn it was great.
"Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah!" I jumped off the couch onto the floor and started doing some special version of the cabbage patch doll. Emmett threw his cheese hat down and got up fiercly and threw the remote at the t.v. The house got still as the t.v. shattered and suddenly Edward was next to me, looking slightly tense. I quickly took my hat off and set it down on the couch, and I turned to look at him. "Hey babe."
Edward looked at the t.v. curiously and looked at me as if to ask me what happened, but it looked like he knew he was looking at the wrong person, so he looked at Emmett. "What happened?!"
"The Vikings cheated." Emmett mummered sourly.
"Baby." I poked at him.
He threw his arms up in the air and stalked off to some other part of the house. I grinned smugly and turned back towards Edward and moved closer to him, wrapping my arms around his waist. "And where have you been?"
"I hung out with Carlisle and Esme for a little bit, and then Alice wanted to talk to me. Was Jasper in here at all with you two? I haven't seen him.", he asked me as he kissed the top of my head.
It finally donned on me that I was being extremely unsociable when we got here. I had maybe said one complete sentence to Carlisle before I darted off to come watch this game. I hadn't done anything else and realized that I hadn't really seen anyone except Carlisle and Emmett. I know I saw Alice for a moment. Wasn't she supposed to come right back? I shook the thought away and came back to the moment.
"I haven't seen Jasper at all. I feel horribly rude. We got here and I didn't do anything except rush to the couch. I'm sorry. Did I miss anything? What did Alice need?"
"It was nothing. She was wanting my approval on a couple of outfits that she had bought for you. I have to say, she has outdone herself this time. She appealed to how she wants you to dress, to how you like to dress. I think you will like them.", he said as he smiled sweetly at me. I reached up, throwing my arms around his neck, giving him a deep and fullfilling kiss. I loved this man that was always looking out for me. He was kissing me so passionately, I had almost forgotten where we were. As my body was pressed firmly against his, I felt a immediate vibration at my hip. I stopped everything and looked down. I started to go for my jeans pocket, when Edward's hand stopped me.
"Its mine, love.", giving me one of his gorgeous half smiles.
"Well you should answer it then, and tell them they have really, really bad timing.", I purred.
"It's probably nothing." He shrugged as he gently maneuvered his way out of my arms. My eyes narrowed slightly as I looked him.
"Just answer it Edward." I lightly laughed, "Oh, I'm sorry. Is it something I'm not supposed to hear?" I teased.
I noticed him flinch a little and he looked down at the ground. Why-
"Bella! Could you come up here real quick? I want to show you what I got!" Alice called down from her room, interrupting my thoughts. Edward suddenly had a look of relief written all over his face, which suddenly brought back that sinking hollow pit feeling in my stomach. There it was again. Watching that game had made me forget all about it. I looked at him suspiciously, as I turned to go upstairs, my head turning slower than the rest of me. That was impeccable timing. Saved by Alice. I wasn't annoyed. No. The feeling I had was getting slightly stronger now. Something was up with Edward. I knew it. And Alice had chimed in at the perfect time. I know how Alice works. Replaying those last seconds in my head, I know I was fixing to ask him why he was so reluctant on answering his phone in front of me. It was a split second decision that I had made. And in the decision, I knew Alice had seen that I was going to ask that. I wasn't stupid, but I was getting the feeling that both Edward and Alice, weren't giving credit to my intellegence, where credit was due. What were they keeping from me? I thought about my game watching with Emmett. He seemed just as oblivious to anything as I was. I hadn't seen Jasper or Rosalie, so I could'nt know for sure if they knew anything. I wasn't sure about Esme either, and Carlise hadn't seemed like he knew something. I knew for sure, that I had to demand Alice tell me what was going on.
I was already at the top of the stairs, still taking my time, when I heard Edward flip his phone open. I paused momentarily, and I heard him quickly keying on his phone, then snapping it shut. What was with all the text messages? Were him and Alice trading correspondence through text, so that they didn't have to actually talk in person? If they were trying to be secretive, they were really bad about it. I may not be able to read minds, and I definitely can't see the future, but I wasn't dumb, and I could tell when something was up. I wasn't the only bad actor around here. I didn't want to ask Alice what she knew today. Especially with Edward so close by. I know she's been wanting to go to the movies. I'll get her then.
I tapped on her bedroom door, then opened it. I stolled into her room, feeling determined and confident. I was going to get my answers. I looked at her bed and saw a few shirts and two pairs of plaid shorts. I wasn't going to lie, I liked the shorts, and it helped that she didn't try to force some high stiletto shoes my way this time. That made me feel better than she was starting to come around on my idea of fashion. I closed my eyes and focused to get back to the task at hand. Alice stood by her bed, hands clasped together against her chest as she eagerly awaited my approval on the clothes.
"Relax Alice, you did great. Thank you. I love them. Even the shorts." I assured her. The shorts actually gave me the opening I needed. "Hey, you know, I was actually wanting to know if you wanted to go to the movies with me tomorrow. It'll be warm enough outside, even with the clouds, that I can actually wear my shorts tomorrow." I perked up my voice, hoping would grab at the bait.
Alice looked at me conflicted. "Oh yeah? Hey well, I actually can't."
"Oh." I said. Uh huh. The feeling was stronger than ever now, screaming at me full force.