Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or anything familiar. Look for a more detailed disclaimer at the bottom.
Rated: T.
Author: The Nervous Rambler.
Summary: AU. AH. A/B E/J Em/R. 'Why won't you let me help you, Bella?' 'Because you can't help me unless you believe me!'
"Earth to Bella. Come in, Bella. Do you read? Over."
My head whipped up and around as I blinked furiously, trying to shake the thoughts from my head that had me so distracted. "Huh?" I asked, looking at Ben curiously. My eyes then travelled down to the heavy thing in my hands, widening as I looked at my camera for photography class. With a start, I realized that was the class I was in. "What are you doing in my class?"
Ben looked at me like I was crazy, cocking his head to the side. "Dude, I'm not. It's my spare. You wanted to take a picture of me working on the mural here. Any of this ringing a bell?" He asked slowly.
He was standing in front of the back wall of the gym, which was made entirely of big fat bricks and completely white. There was an assortment of art supplies on the pavement by Ben, who was wearing his beanie (though this one was covered in paint splatters) and a big apron (also covered in paint splatters). Ben was an artist and really had the look going for him as well; the torn jeans, wrist bands, lip ring, and converse. Almost stereotypical, but it worked for him. Especially when looking at him how he was now; with a giant paint brush in one hand and a can of spray paint in the other.
And he was right. I did ask him if I could take a picture of him while he was working (Ben made cash by doing murals all over Forks and in Seattle as well). "Right, sorry. Just kind of zoned out there for a second; forgot where I was."
Ben pursed his lips, his eyes full of concern. "You alright? Maybe I should take you to the nurse?" He asked, going to set his stuff down.
"Nah," I quickly shook my head and waved him off. "I'm good, don't worry. Happens all the time." He hesitated before nodding and smiling again. Ben was a good guy; I had been here only a week but already were great friends. He'd come over to my house or I'd be at his a lot. Charlie even thought we were dating for a while until I made it perfectly clear that I wasn't interested in Ben like that. Angela on the other hand… And Ben even might have let it slip that he had eyes for her too.
"Now get back to work; this picture isn't going to take itself." I smirked, holding the camera up to my face. He chuckled before doing as instructed and I took a couple pictures. One of them I had to re-do though, because when I got up close to get a face shot of his concentration; he smirked and stuck his tongue out at me. "Ben!"
"Just for that, we're putting it in the portfolio, Ben." Alice's win chime voice said behind us.
I didn't feel so bad about jumping and squealing like a little girl since Ben did too. He also dropped his paint brush to clutch his heart, looking at me with wide eyes before turning around. "Damn, Alice. You got me good."
"She does that." I muttered, trying to calm myself down as well and fight off a smile.
Rolling her eyes, Alice looked at us sceptically. "Yes, that's the plan. A mass murder of the entire town of Forks via surprise."
Ben laughed again, shaking his head. My own lips pulled up into a smile mirroring Alice's as she beamed at us. Her hair was different today, down instead up up, her bangs off to one side with a yellow headband in it. It really matched her golden eyes that looked darker today for some reason, more of an almost glowing amber. Trippy. Was that real or was it the alcohol? Her shirt was also yellow, her pants skin tight and black, with big yellow heels that made her as tall as me. She looked like a bumble bee today and it made my heart beat a little faster.
"Not again, focus, Bella." Ben said, waving his hand in front of my face.
Scowling, I slapped his hand away. "I am focused. Jeesh."
"You were staring hard enough then." He retorted before his eyebrow rose, realization dawning on his face while Alice looked through all the shots I had taken. Realization about what, I didn't know. He hummed, looking back over to Alice and then to me. "How interesting."
"Care to share?" I asked, sickly sweet.
He chuckled again and shook his head. "Later, when you come over for a Left 4 Dead marathon, hm? Charlie's invited too; my mom is making roast." He said, crouching down to rummage through one of the duffle bags. "And I got your sweater here somewhere…the one with the skull… Eve was tempted to steal it…" He continued murmuring things as he dug around for it, huffing and setting the spray paint down so he could use both hands.
Alice was frowning when I looked back to shrug at her. "What?"
She shook her head, her smile feeble. "Nothing. You could have told me you two were dating."
Ben and I groaned at the same time and Alice looked at us curiously. "We're not. Not even close. Ben and I just have a lot in common; we like to hang out. He's actually into Angela." I whispered extremely loud, enough for him to hear us and glare at me. "She won't tell; Alice is excellent at keeping secrets."
Said girl stiffened, her eyes shooting to mine with an apprehensive look. "What do you mean? What secret?"
I held up my hands in front of me, stepping back. "Calm down, man. It was a joke. No need to get testy." I said quickly. Holy.
Her brows furrowed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be…testy."
Before I could reply, a sweater was tossed in my face and I started the task of trying to find my way out of it. "Don't worry, Bella has a habit of making people testy." Ben said and I could hear the grin in his voice.
"You're lucky I'm lost or I would kick your ass, Ben." I threatened, trying to pull the sweater off my face. "'Kay, seriously. I need help."
Even her damn giggles sounded like bells and chimes. Soon Alice's cool, little fingers were gently pulling the sweater off of me and fixing my hair. She adjusted my beanie, a sweet smile playing at her lips. "Silly, Bella."
I cleared my throat, looking away quickly. "Er, thanks." My eyes found Ben's. "And you, you little stinker, just for that we're going to be playing expert."
His face fell as a pout began to grow. "Come on, I'm sorry, okay?" Ben wasn't good enough to play expert like I was; hunters always got him and the computer players wouldn't help him. Neither would I. So he always ended up dead and watching me play forever. "It's no fun." He huffed.
Alice just shook her head. "I'll never understand the fascination of video games. You two are worse than Emmett."
"That's your biggest brother, right?" I asked curiously, shoving my hands into my pockets.
"Yes, and you would know that if you just agreed to have lunch with us one of these days. I promise Rosalie won't bite you." She said, a small smile. I had finally agreed to sit with them but when I was following Alice over there the other day, I caught Rosalie's glare, and had been putting it off ever since then.
My brows furrowed. "Or maybe we could just invite Emmett over as well?" I asked Ben who faltered.
"A… A Cullen. At my house? Do you guys even go to other people's houses? It's unheard of! Someone tell the others of this scandalous event!" He said, mocking Lauren and just about everyone else and their fascination with the Cullens. "Yeah, sure, if he wants. Tell him to bring snacks though."
Alice was hiding behind her hand as she giggled furiously. "You even did Lauren's hand wave while you spoke." She said, laughing harder as I chuckled. Ben just grinned, turning back to his mural. "I'll give Emmett the message and your number, Bella. He'll text you if he's going."
"What about you? Do you want to come?" I asked, trying to keep the hope from my voice.
She frowned though, so I already knew the answer. "No, I can't. I've got plans with Esme and Jasper. Sorry."
I shrugged it off, fiddling with the camera strapped around my neck. "No worries. We really should take some more pictures though, we're running behind."
XXxxXXxxXX
Ben's mom made a freaking awesome roast. Just saying. I could be biased though. Renee never cooked, well, never cooked well. Anything she ever made, always ended up burning. How does one even burn soup? All you have to do is heat it up! Anyways, Charlie wasn't much of a cook either. He liked to fish, yes, quite a bit, and then get Billy to fry that up with something for him to bring home during the weekends, but Charlie didn't cook. During the week, we had a lot of take out. I couldn't cook either. I wasn't bad at it or anything, because I made wicked grilled cheese sandwiches, but I couldn't actually cook meals. Never learned how. Back at the hospital, or asylum if we're being perfectly honest, patients weren't allowed to do that kind of thing. Stoves are dangerous, and patients were not to touch them. That was a golden rule. A golden, nonsense rule. Who leaves stoves just laying around in the open? It's not like we were allowed to wander into the kitchens.
Back to my point though. Freaking awesome roast. I savoured every bite and took two helpings, much to the amusement of Ben's little sister, Eve. Eve, who looked almost nothing like Ben. They shared the same eyes, and that was about it. Eve had her mother's hair, very long and so blonde it looked white. It was adorable. She looked like a little elf when she tucked it behind her ears. And she was such a cute little munch kin who liked to push Ben's buttons, but he still adored her. Everyone did. She was a diabolical little five year old, but she had the most innocent face and polite manners that you couldn't not love her.
"You should take some roast home for Chief Swan, Bella." Ben's mom said, standing and started collecting dishes while Ben's dad wandered off to the living room. Psshaw. Men.
I grabbed Eve's plate and stacked it on mine and Ben's, bringing them to the kitchen behind her. "I'd be more than happy to take some home, but I can't promise Charlie will get any." I laughed. These would make killer sandwiches later on. Little bit of mayo, and a tad of pepper… Yum.
She just laughed and shooed me from the kitchen, saying that guests don't do the dishes, even when I protested. "I'll put the container of roast in the fridge and you can grab it before you leave, alright?" She called after me.
"Thanks.!" I called back, narrowly missing stepping on Eve who was skipping by. "Where are you off to, elf?" I asked.
Eve grinned wickedly at me. "I'm going to go look for Alice in here." She said, holding up one of Ben's year books. "Ben told me to tell you that." She said, and skipped back off.
"Eve's about to become an only child." I muttered, glaring as I made my way down the hall towards Ben's room. He was laughing, sprawled out on his bed. "You little son of a-"
"Uh, uh, uh, Bella. These walls are mighty thin. Wouldn't want Eve to hear that foul language, would you?" He said and I growled, making him laugh harder. "Don't worry; your secret is safe with me."
"There is no secret! You're just making stuff up, you crazy little… crazy."
He lifted an eyebrow. "Says the girl with the mental health hospital band still on her wrist." He shot back with a smirk. He knew I wasn't sensitive about it. Well, not overly sensitive. He never pushed the jokes farther than that really. Keeping them funny instead of rude. "I'm not judging you, man. You've got good taste." He grinned. "And she seems to like you – you're the first one any of them has taken an interest in and spoken more than two words to."
"Can we drop this?" I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "Have you seen my water bottle?"
He pursed his lips, looking around his room. "We just beat the first campaign and you took a swig… ah, and set it there." He pointed to his dresser and the bottle on the corner of it. "You sure drink a lot of water; like it's going out of style,"
Shrugging, I took a large gulp. "Maybe it is." I grinned back.
"Ben! Bella! You got a guest!" Ben's dad hollered.
Ben and I looked at each other with confused faces before stepping into the hall. Ben snorted, looking over at me as we walked to the front door. "You think that's Emmett?"
I shrugged again. "He said he might stop by."
He was right, it was Emmett. The largest Cullen. The massive, bear of a boy was standing in the front door, towering over Ben's dad who was pretty tall guy. Emmett's hair was pretty dark, not nearly as dark as Alice's, but close, and slicked back, with a few rebellious curls sticking up. That, with the dimples he got as he grinned, gave his a very boy-ish look. His eyes were just as golden as the rest of their family's, and his skin just as pale. His arms looked more like tree trunks, the sweater he was wearing was straining over them, and threatening to rip.
As good as his word, Emmett had a big bag of munchies and snacks in each hand. He grinned at us when he saw us, holding them up like they weighed nothing. Probably did, to him. "Sorry I missed supper, got stuck in traffic." He laughed, a deep booming voice.
Ben shrugged. "No worries, come on, the room's this way." He beckoned, turning and heading back to his room.
Emmett paused when he reached me, switching one the bags to his other hand to shake mine. "Alice has said a lot about you, Bella."
"Whatever It was, I didn't do it and no one can prove it." I replied with a smirk. Emmett let out another booming laugh. I shook my head, turning for Ben's room. "Let's go kill some zombies, shall we?"
"We shall." He agreed.
Later that night, we figured out Emmett was a freaking pro at all the games we played. Not to brag or anything, but Ben and I were kind of amazing at them two. So it was a relief, because the two of us were worried we'd have to play on the easier levels and go slow for Emmett. So not the case. And he was a fun guy, too. He made jokes nearly every time he opened his mouth, making Ben and I laugh until we couldn't breathe often and we'd end up dying in the game because we were so distracted. Emmet wrinkled his nose and gave me a funny look every time I took another swig of my drink, just like Alice did, and I wondered if she somehow figured out what was in there and told Emmett. He didn't comment on it though, nor did he eat any of the snacks he brought over with him, which was odd because he had said he missed dinner 'cause of traffic.
Ben didn't seem to notice.
The more time I spent around them, the more I realized that the Cullens were… different.
XXxxXXxxXX
I was going to make this longer, I swear, but it's already been so long since I updated. I apologize, guys, I've been busy with other stuff. I'll try to be quicker next time.
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The Nervous Rambler