Disclaimer: Don't own anything.
Note: Rated M for mature themes. This is a dark story.
I'm just putting the bases, here, so yes, it is short.
I
The first time I met Edward, I thought he was just plain stupid.
A mere boy creating trouble to gain attention. I also assumed I had seen the last of those green eyes.
I didn't knew then that I was, oh - so very wrong. That he would soon become the most important person in my life. Because that first meeting, I had him all wrong.
He was so much more. Deep, restless, passionate. And beautiful. Really. Not his face or his body, even though he definitely was too, but inside his mind. He had a magnificent soul. He made me feel whole.
Today I'm glad I can say, I was part of the few who ever saw that side of him.
"So, Bella... Prepared for tomorrow?"
The brown-haired girl's head shot up. She looked at the man sitting in front of her in the small dinner.
"Yeah… I think so."
She smiled.
"Thanks again for the truck, Dad."
Charlie nodded, and resumed watching the small telly.
Bella went back to the book in her laps. She knew it wasn't really courteous to read while eating, but she had finished. And if her father happened to be acquainted with everybody here, it wasn't her case. She had barely spoken with the waitress. In fact, she hadn't really interacted with anyone. Except maybe two sentences with Charlie, but it didn't really count. He wasn't the type to talk much. Moreover, he was her father, even she's been living under his roof for less than a day.
Even though she was born at Forks, Bella didn't know much about this place. The small, rainy city never called to her, and before her mother remarried, she never thought some day she could or ever would want to live here. She was used to Phoenix, where the weather was so much better, and Charlie would meet her there for a few weeks during holidays. Actually, she hadn't come to Forks in many years, not the city had changed that much in the main time. Yet here she was, in some area where the sun almost never shone. Before coming here, she didn't even owned a coat, for crying out loud!
Bella never thought anything about the fact that it was mostly her who nurtured her mother. Renée always was a bit strange, and truthfully, Bella was glad someone would be there to take care of her eccentric mom. To say the truth, she knew that her parents were maybe a bit too young to have her, yet Renée loved her so much, it was enough. She often said that her daughter was her own landmark and without her all these years, she would have gone completely crazy. And even if Bella would be more often playing the parent than the child, it didn't matter. It was who she was, someone who took care of others, tried to heal them, to make them live a decent life.
That was why she was currently sitting in that booth, with a father she nearly didn't know, being the latest piece of gossip, in a place she had no memory of. All because she wanted to give some space to her newly-weeded mom.
Bella turned another page, the antique copy making a small rustle sound. She had read it so many times that the book was in a really bad shape. But it didn't matter, she would never trade it for anything. It was her copy, that Renée bought her several years ago, with her notes and her half-torn pages. And anyway, she loved the story so much, that it didn't matter.
She had reached one of her favourite passage, when most of the people started shouting encouragements to the team who was winning. She cringed and looked at her father.
"I'm going to read outside."
Not waiting for an answer, she went outside, to sit down on the fringes and opened again her book, hoping for some peace. Catherine was just saying…
Tyres squealed down the street, a group of four guys jumping down a pretty big car, laughing and smoking. Two of them, a big bulky one and another bronze-haired one weren't walking straight. They most definitely were drunk.
Suddenly, Bella wished she stayed inside. Because anyway, they were making as much noises as there already was in the inn. Plus, they didn't looked very nice, more like the kind of teenagers who caused trouble wherever they went.
They came in front of the door, obviously arguing with each other.
"I think we should have gone to Rose's. At least there would be something to smoke, there."
The lanky blonde shook his head at the large one.
"Shut up, Emmet. You don't even know how to smoke properly, you just want to fuck her."
They weren't looking at her, as if they didn't see her, and for that Bella was glad. It would be just her luck to be harassed by some strange teens in small Forks.
Just as the thought crossed her mind, she realised she was wrong. The bronze-haired one was examining her, grinning.
He stepped in front of her while the others went inside. Bella looked at him, from his mop of untidy hair to his lanky built. He was thin, really thin. And handsome. Really handsome.
He left his hands in his pockets and arched an eyebrow at her.
"You're the new girl, aren't you? Chief Swan's daughter."
His voice was beautiful too, and Bella starred at him a minute, before blushing a deep red. He smirked at her, obviously enjoying her discomfort.
"I…"
She stopped mid-sentence as he lighted a smoke.
"You know smoking isn't healthy, right?"
He gave her an incredulous look, his green eyes boring into hers, as if he was trying to read her soul and couldn't manage to do it. Then, his gaze went to the copy in her hands.
"Wuthering Heights. Nice book."
She flipped the pages, shutting her book and gripping it her chest.
He chuckled a bit as she flushed again.
Stupid blush who couldn't not appear.
It wasn't the fact that he was really good-looking or had a nice voice who gave her chills that embarrassed her. It was the way he was looking at her. She didn't know what to make of it, and she was certain she should be upset about it.
He smirked at her, presented her his cigarettes packet.
"Want one?"
She narrowed her eyes.
"I don't smoke. It's stupid, don't you think so?"
He shrugged.
"Your bad."
Bella bite her lip.
"What do you want, exactly?"
He shrugged again but didn't answer, lighting a second cigarette as soon as the first one was finished. She turned around, trying to see if Charlie was ready to go home. It was unnerving to have someone who looked like a drug-addict staring at her like she was some mystery he had to solve.
The doors opened again, violently, and she saw her father coming out.
His front furrowed and he shot a death glare to the boy.
"What the hell do you think you're doing? Go away, boy!"
He took two steps back as his three friends came out, carrying take-out bags.
"Edward, man, time to go."
He threw his smoke on the ground, smirked a last time at Bella, before jumping back into the car, pushing another guy while doing so.
"Fuck, Edward! You're not that light, mate!"
"Shut up."
Charlie turned to watch Bella.
"You okay, Bells?"
She got up.
"I'm fine. They were just trying to show off, I suppose."
"Yeah, you do not want to hang around these. They're the bad kind of crowd."
She nodded.
"I noticed. They looked drunk, and searching for trouble."
He shook his head.
"They didn't looked like, they were. They're just a bunch of stoners."
He went to his cruiser, opening the car door. He twisted to look at her, worried when she didn't come along.
"You sure, you're okay?"
She looked at the end of the street. Their car was speeding down the road, not really drove properly.
"I'm fine, really."
She offered him a small smile, getting into the passenger seat.
It was only once they were nowhere to be seen anymore that Bella realised she was still clutching tightly her decrepit copy against her.