A/N: Ok, so here we go… Read. Enjoy. Review…
Trip Around the Sun
Chapter Four: Dodging the Inevitable
I was running, I wasn't sure what from, but I was running just about as fast as my legs would carry me. I was running through what felt like miles and miles and my lungs were starting to hurt. I was terrified, running as if the whole world depended on me reaching safety. I couldn't stop running, I couldn't give up. I ran into the clearing around the Cullen house hold and burst through the front door, huffing and puffing as I slammed the front door behind me. I was safe, finally, here I was safe.
I leaned back against the door and tried to catch my breath as Carlisle walked over to me. He seemed to materialize out of thin air, and he looked a little confused, but completely gorgeous as he walked towards me. He had one eye brow raised higher than the other and I could feel my heart starting to beat harder in my chest. He put one hand against the wall beside my head and leaned casually to the side as his mouth made contact with my ear. His lips were cool and pleasant as he massaged my ear between them, he was careful and gentle.
"Bella?" He whispered seductively in my ear, "I cannot tell you how happy I am that you're here."
I said nothing, my mouth wouldn't work, not that it could because I couldn't think, I couldn't think at all. I turned and threw my arms around the man's neck, kissing him passionately, and to my surprise, he was kissing me back. I felt his hands grab my hips and his tongue brush mine before he pulled away, kissing down my neck and unzipping the dress that I had apparently been about to wear to the party as he kissed my ear again, sending shivers through my body.
I shot up in bed, and looked over at my alarm clock on my bedside table, it was one – thirty in the morning. I was still breathing heavy like I really had just ran through miles of wooded forest, but I was drenched in cold wet sweat. The t-shirt and shorts that I had been sleeping in were also drenched sticking to my skin. I fell back onto my pillow, praying, berating myself for a dream like that about my friends' dad, but secretly wanting nothing more than to get back into that dream.
When I finally realized that sleep, at least tonight, was not going to come back to me, I got out of bed. I planted my feet on the floor, realizing my hair was all in my face and I brushed it back with my hands to pull it back up into a pony tail. I was just as soaked as the rest of me, it was like I had just gotten out of the shower, only less comfortable. I groaned and flicked on the lights so that I would trip over anything on my way to the bathroom for a shower.
I just stayed up all morning after that, and looked random and assorted things up on my laptop. I checked my Facebook and noticed that mom had sent me a private message earlier in the day, so I replied to that, saying I was fine, felling good, just was having a little problem sleeping. I waited until five watching useless nonsense on my laptop before finally getting bored, going downstairs, and cooking up a breakfast worthy of a king for dad and I to eat together before departing to work and school.
Before I knew it I was pulling into the parking lot at school, and I still could not get that dream out of my head. The way he had kissed me so perfectly, I closed my eyes for a second as I pulled my key out of the ignition in my parking space. I hopped out of the truck and Alice was standing with Jasper nearby waiting for me. They both waved happily at the sight of me.
I looked down at my shoes as Alice came skipping over once again, with Jasper following after more slowly, almost cautiously. He smiled at me and I looked up at them cautiously. If only they knew that I had been fantasizing all morning about their father, they'd be calling me a freak and disowning me in the middle of the parking lot. They would yell for all to hear that Bella Swan was a freak that had eyes for her friends' fathers. I couldn't let that happen, there was no way I was going to be that girl.
I would just have to shake Carlisle out of my head and treat him like the friends I had in Phoenix's fathers. Granted their fathers were gray, short, chubby, and mean instead of blonde, gorgeous, completely ripped, and caring but I could imagine one of them in his place right?
"Good morning, Bella," said Alice happily as Jasper pulled her tight around the waist and kissed her hair, "Have a nice evening?"
"Eh," I said, "Did homework, went to bed."
"Same with us," said Alice as we walked into homeroom, "Hey, Dad's making baked ziti tonight, remember last night you said it was your favorite? Anyways would you want to come over after school again and stay for dinner?"
"No, sorry," I said, almost immediately, there was no way I was going to put myself back into the line of fire so quickly, I had only just recovered from Dr. Cullen and I's first meeting never mind my new resolution, "I've been putting off unpacking my stuff long enough. Dad was starting to get on me about it last night."
"Oh," said Alice, seeming more than a little disappointed, "Ok."
"Sorry," I said, I felt bad about letting her down, but I seriously did not think I would be able to take seeing him, especially with that dream still reeling around in my head.
"It's ok," said Alice before the bell rang, starting school.
I could not focus for the life of me during any of my classes. It was ridiculous, even when I was sitting next to Alice or Jasper in class I was gazing out the window thinking about Carlisle. I was so toast, it was good that the Phoenix high school that I had been going to seemed to be a year ahead in their curriculum compared to Forks. The dream played out in my head again during study when I was supposed to be paying attention to the paper football game that Jasper and I had started to play when we had sat down. He shifted a little next to me as it ended and my attention came back to the game. He gave me a little smirk before flicking the football just perfectly so it hit me square in the forehead. Lucky this was last period, I really needed to get home.
"Sorry, Bella," He said as we grabbed our bags and headed out to the school yard.
"You sure you don't just want to come over and hang out?" Alice asked and I shook my head as we approached our cars.
"Sorry, maybe some other time?" I said, adding mentally, like maybe when your dad's on a medical conference or something.
"Yeah," said Alice, nodding as I opened the driver's door to my truck, "Definitely."
"All right," I said, hopping in and turning the key to start the engine, "See you guys tomorrow."
I drove carefully through the light mist that the dull gray sky had produced for us today, and headed home. I pulled into the driveway and, surprisingly Charlie's cruiser was in the driveway. I had read his schedule while I was up this morning, and the times came back to my head, the police staff in Forks got the weekends plus one week day off. Guess it made sense, and at least I wouldn't be completely alone in the house while I unpacked.
"Hey, kiddo," He said as I walked in the house and I gave him a weak smile.
"Hey, Dad," I said as I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and walked back into the living room to talk to him.
"Not over the Cullens' house today?" He asked curiously and I shook my head.
"I figured I'd better unpack," I said, repeating my lame excuse to my father.
"Oh," He said, surprised, "You know, don't believe what you hear about that family. They're good people, Carlisle's an amazing doctor. Then, on top of it all he keeps those kids of his right in line. I never hear a peep from that family. People around town gossip like old ladies, but still it's the gossipers' kids I'm picking up and driving home every night."
"Yeah," I said, needing to get away if dad was going to keep throwing Carlisle's name around like that, even just hearing his name knocked the wind out of me, "They're good people."
I dismissed myself from the room and tried to take the stairs up to my bedroom at a run. This was a big mistake, and I tripped over my own feet and fell right up the stairs, only to slip back down to land on my but in the entry way. I must have made a loud racket because dad came running in to see me sitting on the floor at the foot of the stairs.
"Ouch," I said, my hand flying to my hip to rub away the sting.
"You ok, Bells?" He asked concernedly as he knelt down next to me and helped me up.
"Yeah," I said, "I'll be fine. My coordination is little to be admired."
"You sure you're ok, Bells?" He said as I staggered over to hold onto the railing, my knee was killing me, "You know the hospital's only a few minutes' drive."
"Dad, I'm fine," I said as I let go of the railing and I would have fell to the ground as my knee folded beneath me if Charlie hadn't caught me.
"C'mon we're going to the hospital," He said and he helped me out the door and into the cruiser.
So, a few minutes later I sat on the edge of a bed in the ER, Charlie had pulled up a chair next to it and we were waiting for the doctor. Well, I wasn't really waiting, more like I was praying that Carlisle wouldn't be my doctor. Though, with my luck it was already decided that eh would be, and I was just waiting for him to walk in the door and up to my bedside. Which he did, almost momentarily, and instantaneously my heart started to pound, I just hoped he wouldn't have to check it.
"Hello, Bella," said Carlisle smiling kindly at me, his honey eyes sparkling, "For what do we owe the pleasure?"
He looked down to read my chart as Charlie's pager went off and he piped up.
"Sorry, Doc," said Charlie before looking down at me, "I'm sorry, they need me at work, call me when you're done here, and I'll come pick you up."
"Actually, Charlie," said Carlisle politely, "I can give her a ride home, my shift's almost done. Just wait for me to check out Bella's knee and I'll get you to sign consent forms and you can be out of here before we even take her to x-ray to confirm."
"Thanks, doc," said Charlie and Carlisle smiled as he took my knee in his hand, gentle feeling around the knee cap, I winced slightly.
"Looks like it's just a minor bruise," he said with a smile, his honey voice making my heart pound even harder, "A week on crutches with a brace and you'll be as good as new. Charlie, if you could just sign the consent form for the x-ray to be sure, you can be on your way, just pick her up some Tylenol on your way home."
"Thank-you, doc," said Charlie again as he took Carlisle's clipboard and signed the form on it before walking out, leaving me alone, heart thundering with the heartthrob himself.
"Here, Bella," He said as he pulled a wheel chair up to the side of the bed, "Easier to get you up to x-ray this way. I figure you wouldn't want to take the whole bed."
"Yeah," I said as he helped me into the wheel chair.
"May I ask how exactly you managed a bruise at that location on your knee cap?" He asked politely as he wheeled me onto the elevator.
"Never underestimate the bruising abilities of the uncoordinated," I replied as he chuckled, "I fell down the stairs."
"I'm sensing stairs are a difficult task for you," He replied, making reference to the day before when he had had to catch me before I hit the landing at the end of the stairs in his home.
"And just see what happens when you're not there to catch me?" I said, instantly shocked by my own words, but he just smiled down at me.
"Promise I'll be there in the future," He said with a little wink and my heart violently skipped a beat.
"You ok?" He asked, as he wheeled me off the elevator, probably catching the expression on my face as my heart started to pound on again, "Well other than the knee?"
"Yeah I'm good," I said and he continued wheeling be down the hall to the x-ray room as I desperately tried to remind myself of my resolution from earlier.