A/N: It's Monday, twelve thirty in the morning, and I'm still awake. This doesn't bode well….
Oh, I also should have said Carlisle was thirty-six last chapter.
Bella could hardly believe it. She'd just finished the first week of her last semester of college-or at least her Bachelor's degree. This part of her life was almost over, and the next chapter was looming closer.
These last four years had been great. Life continued to surprise her. Like now, for instance. Who could have predicted that she'd ever willingly be hanging out with a frat boy? One who was wheedling her, trying to get her to come to a frat party? She'd managed to avoid it these last four years. Why would she bend now?
"Come on, Bella. Frat boys aren't that bad."
Bella shook her head, laughing at Alice who sat on Jasper's lap. Why she had to be on top of him almost all the time, Bella would never understand. "I think you're biased."
Jasper arched a challenging eyebrow. "What, you think I turn into an obnoxious, sex-crazed ape when I'm around my brothers, or whatever stereotype you've got going in your head?"
"You are a sex-crazed ape, but I like it." Alice pressed a quick smack to the side of his hair.
"Hey."
Bella laughed. "I've never seen you detached from Alice, so who knows what you're like when you're not being supervised."
A knock at the door interrupted their bantering. Bella got up and went to the door. She was still grinning when she opened it, and her grin only widened when she saw who it was. "Carlisle, you're back," she said, throwing her arms around the man for a hug. "I didn't know you were coming."
His chuckle was low and warm near her ear as he hugged her back. "You make it sound like I've been away for a month instead of a week." He let her go and looked over her shoulder when he heard Alice's laughter. "I'm sorry. I should have texted. I'm interrupting something."
"Never." Bella took his hand and led him into the living room of the apartment. "I can finally introduce you to Alice and Jasper. Remember I told you about them?" She sat in the arm chair across from Alice and Jasper on the sofa. Carlisle came to stand behind her, leaning against the back of the chair.
"Sure. Alice and Jasper. Both already entrepreneurs. Her, custom-made jewelry popular on Etsy and at craft fairs on campus, which is where you all met. Him, photography. You did your first wedding at seventeen." He squeezed her shoulders. "All of which makes Bella feel self-conscious because she's had to resort to the old fashioned way of making money: working for someone else, even though I keep telling her it's admirable to have four years of solid work under her belt before she graduates from college."
"Sure. Fine." Bella shook her head and looked to Alice and Jasper. "Guys, this is Carlisle, Edward's brother." She craned her head back. "Edward's not here right now."
"I know. He told me he was busy. We have dinner plans tomorrow," he said, his head tilted down to look at her. They were almost nose to nose. He brought his arm up and dropped a bag onto her lap. "I came here to see you. I found this on my trip."
Bella sat up with a squeak of pleasure as she hurried to get into the bag. As she'd expected, there was a book in there. "Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found," she read aloud, getting more excited by the second. "It's a history of beheading?"
"That's the idea," Carlisle said, his beautiful smile beaming as he looked down at her.
Bella reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing his head down so she could kiss his cheek. "I don't know why you're so good to me."
"Uh. Beheadings? Severed heads?" Alice looked more than a little horrified. "What the hell is going on? If you're a serial killer, I think it's only polite for you to let us know before you end up wearing our skins like a jacket."
"I wouldn't worry too much," Bella said with an air of nonchalance as she flipped through her new book. "You're too small to be anyone's jacket." She peered at them over the top of her book, letting her eyes roam over Alice's boyfriend. "Jasper, on the other hand…"
"Don't kill my boyfriend, or I'll be forced to kill you slowly." Alice shook her head. "Seriously. The book?"
It was Carlisle who answered for her. "You haven't seen Bella's collection of macabre books?" He pointed to a corner of the living room.
Alice wrinkled her nose. And Jasper snickered. He ruffled his girlfriend's hair. "Alice tries to ignore design disasters. If she looks at that shelf for more than five seconds, I get to hear about it all the way home."
In all fairness, the jet black shelf with its weird books and even weirder decorations did look out of place in the otherwise normal-looking, even a little plain apartment. Alice hopped off Jasper's lap and went to peruse the shelves. She whistled. "There is some seriously weird shit in here, girlfriend."
"Death and the Afterlife: A Chronological Journey from Creation to Quantum Resurrection." Jasper made a face at the book. "What the fuck is Quantum Resurrection?"
An hour later, Bella's bookshelf had been well and thoroughly dissected—not unlike some of the subjects of said books. "I have to get going. I have court in the morning and a lot to prepare before then." Carlisle leaned down to kiss Bella's cheek. "I'll see you soon, okay?" He looked to Alice and Jasper. "Nice to meet you."
Bella followed him to the door. She lingered a moment, watching him retreat down the steps before she turned back to her apartment. She gave a yelp when she found Alice leaning against the wall right behind her. "Alice, what the hell?"
"Thatwas Edward's big brother?"
Narrowing her eyes at her friend's tone, Bella pushed past her to go back into the living room. "What about him?"
"I thought he was a geezer."
Bella rolled her eyes. "No one ever said that. He was sixteen when Edward was born."
"Thirty-seven." Alice tapped her lips. "He looks younger. And he's hot as sin."
"What?" Bella asked, sure she was missing whatever Alice was getting at. It was the truth, of course, but her friend-who'd been trying to set Bella up with a nice frat boy since they met-had that scheming tone in her voice. "Yeah, Carlisle's good looking, but what does that have to do with anything?"
Jasper looked at her, his gaze oddly serious. "He likes you."
Bella gawked at him. She gave a startled laugh even as her heartbeat picked up speed. "You're so full of shit." Both her friends just stared at her. "Come on. He's...Why would you even say that?"
"The way he looks at you," Alice said.
"The way he touches you," Jasper said.
"He brought you a book you loved just because he was thinking of you while he was away," Alice said.
Bella shook her head, dismissing the picture they were seeing. "That's just Carlisle. He's thoughtful like that. I've told you—"
"You've told us a lot about him," Alice finished for her. "You talk about him all the time."
"Because he's my friend!" Bella crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't know why she was blushing, and she didn't like it. "He's Edward's brother so he's here a lot. He's got a good reason to be. They have a close relationship."
"He's here when Edward isn't." Jasper's tone was gentle. "He likes you." He paused a beat. "And you like him."
"No. Not like that," Bella insisted. The heat coming off her cheeks could fry an egg. She'd had the fleeting thought, sure, but surely it hadn't been that obvious. Fuck.
They quizzed her then about the nature of her relationship with Carlisle. When she said them out loud, some of the things they did together, the way they were with each other… Well, Bella could see why it painted a certain picture in their minds.
Bella stared at her friends. "But none of that matters. It doesn't make any sense for him to like me like that. He's...Look, I'm not a kid, but to him, I have to be just a kid. I'm an adult, but he's an adult." She shook her head for the millionth time, wishing like hell she could just laugh at all this.
It was impossible. Alice and Jasper seemed to think that not only was Carlisle crushing on her but that he had been for a long time. They were just seeing what they wanted to see and hearing what they wanted to hear.
Right?
"It makes no sense," Bella repeated.
Alice and Jasper both laughed. Jasper turned to his girlfriend, running the back of his knuckles down her cheek with a smile so beautiful it made Bella's heart ache. He turned to look at Bella. "It's not supposed to make sense, sugar. That's kind of the beautiful thing about it, you know?"
Bella groaned, slumping over in her seat with her hands over her face. "This isn't beautiful." Her head was a mess, her thoughts racing as quickly as her heart. She felt blind and so stupid. Carlisle aside, if nothing else, her own feelings on the matter were obvious now.
But when? When the hell had she fallen? And she was head over heels, tongue-tied and twitterpated. It made her want to giggle, and it made her want to sob, and it made her want to run out the door and find him.
"But he's… He's so sedate. That's not even my type," she muttered, more to talk herself down from the crazy ledge she seemed to be on just then.
"Um, the guy you described to me isn't sedate," Alice said, one eyebrow quirked. "His job is crazy cool, and some of the places he went when he was traveling?" Carlisle had told them some funny stories about a club he'd been to when he was in New Orleans.
"Besides, Bella, don't take this the wrong way, but, most of the time, you're not the wild child you want to be," Jasper said.
"That's true. That's why it never works out with the guys you're attracted to. You can say the mildly bad boys are your type, but that hasn't worked out for you as long as I've known you."
"You've only known me for like five months, Alice."
"I've seen the guys you date, and Edward has told us stories." Alice smirked. "Girlfriend, you like this guy."
Bella opened her mouth to deny it, but she couldn't. "Edward. Fuck. What the hell would he say if he heard you guys talking like this? Oh, hell. What do I do?" she moaned into her hands. "And this is crazy. You're both crazy. He doesn't… He couldn't… I mean, I'm...I'm just…" She crossed her arms over her chest and slumped down in her seat. "I think you guys are full of crap. Even if I do like him, you're wrong if you think he feels the same way about me."
"I think you didn't see the way he looked at you," Alice said.
Was it possible?
She thought of the million different scenes over nearly four years of knowing him. His kindness—how he quietly swept her expensive textbooks in with Edward's when he took them shopping before each semester. The man who'd sat down with her and painstakingly reviewed each and every major until they decided, together, on one that opened doors and still made her happy. All things a loving big brother would do.
Or a partner. A man who knew that loving and caring should go hand-in-hand. Not someone who was all heat and flame like James. That had been exciting and dangerous and ultimately destructive. He was no boy like Jacob—a puppy who was just thrilled he had access to her body.
What could a man like Carlisle do with her body?
Bella shuddered, feeling her nipples tighten with the thought. Oh, hell. "Give me back the fucking wool over my eyes. What am I supposed to do with this?"
Alice brightened. "Now that's the fun part."
A/N: Hehehe.
Happy Monday, my ducks. Have a fabulous week.