I know you're all chomping at the bit to find out how Edward handles things with Tanya, so without further ado I give you Chapter 5. We'll chat down below.
Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all of its beautiful characters. This story is loosely based off of plot lines from the original Beverly Hills, 90210 TV series. I have taken many liberties with them. The remainder is my original work.
Previously on "The Little Fish":
A while later I heard a car pull up the drive and then the doorbell rang. I thought maybe Alice was expecting someone else, so I yelled, "Alice, door!" When the bell rang again, I got up to answer it myself. I opened it to the very last person that I expected to see on the other side. Her shiny strawberry-blonde hair was piled up on her head and she had an unsure smile on her porcelain face. When she lifted her sunglasses, her bright blue eyes glistened with tears.
Chapter 5
"Sex, Lies and Volleyball"
"Tanya? W-What are you doing here?" I asked dumbfounded and beyond confused.
Instead of replying, she threw herself at me, and I caught her in an all too familiar embrace. My mind was scrambling to catch up, to understand what was going on.
"Oh, Edward, I just missed you so much. I'm so, so sorry. You have to forgive me or I'll just die without you. Please, baby, tell me everything is going to be okay. That we're okay." Her incoherent begging turned into sobbing as her tears soaked my chest. I could feel her nails digging into the flesh of my back as she clutched to me like her life depended on it. Her body was wracked with sobs as she continued to cry.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down. Everything's alright," I soothed while gently stroking her back in an attempt to help her to get hold of herself. I didn't know what to make of the situation. Her words and presence baffled me. I was just thrown the biggest curve ball and I didn't know what my next play should be.
Tanya began to pepper my chest, neck, and jaw with kisses. I pulled back, uncomfortable with her affection. She peered up at me with wet, uncertain eyes, a million questions floating in them begging me for answers and comfort. A cheerful voice calling out to me startled us both from the moment.
"Who's here?" Alice asked from the stairs as she made her way toward us. I felt Tanya stiffen in my arms as I was stricken back to reality and the gravity of the current situation. Everyone was here… in my house… including Bella.
I swallowed hard as I took a step away from Tanya to regard my sister. As I turned, Tanya slithered a slender arm around my waist and tucked herself firmly into my side. I heard Alice gasp as she took in the distraught girl clinging to me.
"Oh. My. God," Alice stammered with a mixture of anger and confusion clouding her eyes, not that I blamed her; I was feeling a bit put out and shook up myself.
"What… How…" she continued to sputter in shock. Her eyes widened as something dawned on her and she whirled around to glance behind her.
"Oh shit!" she cursed, when she noticed that Rosalie and Bella had followed after her. The girls peered around her tiny form trying to figure out what was going on. By this point, Jasper and Emmett had also made their way over from the living room to the entry way.
"Everything okay, man?" Emmett inquired, keeping a safe distance from the dramatics unfolding in front of him.
"Umm…" was my brilliant reply as I tried to get my brain and mouth to catch up with reality.
"What in the world are you doing here?" Alice finally burst, flying down the stairs after we had exchanged a look in which I tried to convey that I was just as bewildered as her at our unexpected guest. "How did you even get here?"
At her blunt questioning, Tanya began to cry again, ducking her head back into my chest as she mumbled unintelligibly. It was excruciating having the curious eyes of all my new friends focused on the two of us, wondering how it must look to them. I watched as realization dawned on each of my friends' faces, putting two-and-two together in their own minds. My eyes flicked to Bella's for just a moment before she glanced down at the floor. I watched in horror as she backed herself up against the nearest wall in an attempt to become invisible and began to study the tile floor with great interest. I wanted to go to her, comfort her, and tell her it wasn't what it looked like, but I couldn't.
Alice quickly closed the distance between us and got right into Tanya's face. The two of them had never really gotten along well.
"What's going on, Tanya?" she demanded. Tanya straightened up and wiped the tears from her face, but never left my side. She was still hiccupping from her hysterical sobbing fit.
"C-can we talk about this in private?" she whimpered, glancing back and forth between Alice and me. "Please, baby?" she implored when Alice's gaze never softened.
"We have guests right now. We didn't know you were coming," Alice retorted.
Having heard her response, Jasper suggested that he and everyone else could leave and give us space to talk. At his suggestion, Tanya hesitantly glanced around smiling meekly with glassy, ice blue eyes.
"No. I'm sorry, she's right. I didn't mean to intrude. You don't have to leave. I'm Tanya, by the way. Edward's girlfriend." Her voice was suddenly stronger and surer. She had always been good at masking her emotions when she wanted to.
It didn't go unnoticed that she had just introduced herself as my girlfriend leaving no question as to who she was to me. Why hadn't I just broken up with her voicemail? I felt incredibly uncomfortable as worst case scenarios ran through my head, not the least of which was scaring off Bella permanently. The guys and Alice were all aware that I was ready to end things, while Rosalie and Bella probably assumed we were a happy, reunited couple. I couldn't even set them straight until I had a chance to have a certain impending conversation with Tanya.
"Why don't we all go sit down and chat," Alice suggested.
We filed into the living room, everyone eerily quiet, evidently trying to process in their own minds the full impact of Tanya's presence. I took the tiniest bit of comfort in the fact that Bella hadn't fled yet even though I hated that she was plunged into this situation. It was almost painful to watch as she made her way over to Jasper, her closest friend in the group, and sidled up next to him. He offered her the comfort that I couldn't as he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her down onto the couch next to him. I was riddled with jealousy at his simple, friendly act. He was studying her face intently, most likely trying to decipher if the attraction I felt for her was indeed reciprocated and whether or not he needed to remove her from this precarious situation.
I muted the forgotten game on the TV and sat on the adjoining love seat with Tanya. She still had herself tightly hugged into my side though my body remained stiff and unyielding, unable to relax. I felt like it would take a crow bar to pry her off. Everyone sat in agonizing silence while I debated how to break the tension. I tried to give myself a little distance from Tanya by leaning forward with my elbows on my knees, but she maintained a tight grip on my bicep.
"So, everyone, this is Tanya. Tan this is everyone…our new friends," I said awkwardly, my voice cracking at her name as I gestured to the group staring at us with matching bewildered expressions.
"This is Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, and Bella," Alice clarified, pointing to each of them, and picking up where I was failing. "They all go to West Beverly with us."
Each of our new friends gave Tanya a small wave and hesitant smile as they were introduced, still unsure of how to proceed.
"Um, Jasper and Emmett took me surfing today for the first time," I mentioned, trying to think of a safe topic of conversation.
"Mmm, did you like it?" she asked as she started to caress my arm. She didn't even wait for my answer before she turned to address the guys, all signs of her previous distress erased from her face.
"Was he good at it? I bet he was good."
"Uh, yeah, he caught on pretty damn quick actually," Emmett replied.
"He's good at everything," Tanya cooed as she eyed Rosalie and Bella, her words thick with innuendo, marking her territory. I swallowed hard at the implication and wracked my brain trying to think of a way steer her away from intimidating the girls. This was something she was notorious for. It had never bothered me before, not at all desiring the extra female attention, but now it was making me feel nauseous.
"I've missed you, baby. You look good," she continued as she began to run one hand up and down my spine, dragging her nails as she went. I was suddenly very aware that I was still shirtless. I sat up abruptly, uncomfortable with her blatant PDA.
"Thanks. Umm, surfing was cool. I actually wiped out pretty bad the first time, but I eventually got the hang of it. When I did get up, it was like nothing I've ever experienced before."
"Sounds amazing! You'll have to take me while I'm here," she suggested with a huge grin. I gave her a forced half-smile, not wanting to confirm any plans until I knew how long she was staying for and we had a chance to really talk.
"Maybe. Um, how long are you here for, exactly?"
She peered at me sheepishly before answering.
"I'm not sure yet."
I was puzzled by her answer, knowing that if this was a legit visit she would know how long she was staying.
"Your parents know that you're here, right?"
She appeared panicked by my question and my gut sank as one of the worst case scenarios that had been previously plaguing me jumped into the forefront of my mind. Had she run away from home? I rubbed my hands over my face in frustration. This could be bad, so very bad. My thoughts were reeling with possibilities and repercussions. Thankfully, Alice directed the conversation back to school and our friends and away from the circumstances of Tanya's visit for the time being.
"So, did Edward tell you that he landed a spot on the school paper here?" Alice asked.
"No, he didn't," she replied. I couldn't tell, but she almost sounded… disappointed?
"Yeah, he's a sports writer again, and Bella here is the editor."
"Hmm…" Tanya pondered for a minute, looking at me with what appeared to be annoyance. "I was kind of hoping you would forget this silly school paper business and just play sports or something… you know, cooler."
"Cooler? You have a problem with my writing? You never said anything before." I was more than a little shocked by her statement.
"It's just that back home everyone knew what a cool guy you were, you know, like the 'it' guy. You're in Beverly Hills now. You don't want people to think you're a geek, do you?"
"What the hell, Tanya?" I yelled, standing abruptly. I couldn't handle sitting next to her for another second, between my own diminished feelings for her and her rude, superficial comment. "How long have you felt this way?"
She jumped up, and immediately began to try and soothe me, rubbing my arms and pleading with me that she was sorry and didn't mean it. Everyone else remained quiet during our confrontation. Embarrassment coursed through me as I looked around at my friends' unsure faces. I couldn't fight with her like this, not in front of them. I took a deep breath and sat down, leaving a little more distance between us this time.
We resumed our small talk about school, the new house, and the many other differences between California and Minnesota. I tried to stay engaged in the conversation, but my mind kept wandering back to what Tanya had said. I found myself shuffling through our past, trying to determine if she had always been so petty and I had just missed it, too close to the situation to notice the transition. The more I thought about it, the more certain I became that Tanya never had been the girl for me; I had built her up to be someone else entirely in my own head and heart.
"So, Alice, do you have a boyfriend yet?" Tanya inquired, bringing me back to the current topic of conversation.
My sister surreptitiously glanced at Jasper before looking down at her hands with pinked cheeks to reply. "Um, no… no boyfriend."
"Well, do you like someone?"
"Oh, I don't… I mean, we've only been here a couple of weeks. I don't know."
I could tell Tanya's inquisition was making my sister uncomfortable, and I was annoyed that she wouldn't just let it drop. She seemed to be garnering some sort of thrill off of watching Alice squirm. In the past I had always accepted that the two of them had conflicting personalities and would probably never be close friends, but now, watching my always confident sister abruptly transition to meek and shy made me take notice that there may be more going on here. How many times had I heard Tanya make little digs at Alice only for me to brush it off as bickering? Was she that insecure that she had to put down my sister to feel better about herself? Her actions and the next words out of her mouth solidified my thoughts.
"Really? Aww, that's too bad. I wouldn't worry about it too much," Tanya said, scooting closer to me and placing her hand on my knee, blatantly flaunting our relationship in front of her. The crushed look on Alice's face was enough to make my blood boil. I brushed Tanya's hand away and slid to the far end of the love seat, under the guise of sipping my drink.
"Are you two a couple?" she asked, gesturing to Jasper and Bella who both started to laugh.
"In his dreams," Bella choked out through her giggles.
"Yeah, yeah. Bells is too good for me. Besides, I have my eye on another pretty girl," Jasper drawled, winking at Alice. As much as I hated watching him flirt with her, I was thankful in that moment that he had reassured her that she was desired.
"How about you guys?" she continued, pointing to Emmett and Rosalie.
"Oh, no. I don't do boyfriends. It's a personal choice every girl has to make," Rosalie responded with an air of pride over decision. "I just want to date, enjoy life, have fun, and be single until college. You know, figure out what I like and don't like in a man. It's not like I'm going to find the guy I'm going to marry in high school, anyway."
Beside her, Emmett gave me a pointed look, as if to say 'see what I mean,' bringing back to mind our previous conversation about his interest in having more than just a flirtatious friendship with her. I had a feeling there was more to it than just a decision to remain uncommitted in high school. I didn't claim to be an expert on women on any level, but I knew that most were led by their hearts and just wanted to feel loved.
"Hmm, I don't know about that," Tanya replied with a defensive tone in her voice. "But, whatever works for you, I guess. Maybe you just need to meet a guy that has it all, like Eddie here."
"He does have it all, doesn't he—gorgeous, smart, athletic, and looking damn fine without a shirt on. Yeah, I'm pretty sure all the girls at school have noticed. I know I have," Rosalie retorted, proving that she was not threatened by her taunting. Tanya swallowed hard and narrowed her eyes for a moment before she plastered a phony smile on her face.
"Baby, have you been dazzling all the poor girls already? You're too nice for your own good. They're all going to think you're flirting with them. You don't want to lead on some pathetic girl and end up with a crazy stalker," she playfully scolded me. Her words hit me hard because I had flirted, and even though it was probably wrong, I didn't want it be construed as an accident. Before I had a chance to speak up and set her straight, a sweet, soft voice interrupted.
"Um, excuse me. I need to use the restroom," Bella stated politely as she stood to head towards the downstairs powder room. Her shoulders were slightly slouched in defeat and she hung her head, refusing to make eye contact with anyone in the room.
"See what I mean!" Tanya exclaimed as soon as Bella was out of the room.
"What?"
"That girl totally likes you. It's so obvious. How many more of these silly girls do you have following you around already? Don't they know you're way out their league?" She giggled at her own line of questioning, actually giggled, like the situation was somehow funny. I for one couldn't find the humor in it; instead, I glared at her, flabbergasted, while she continued her rampage. "Alice and I used to keep a tally of his groupies. What did you call them? Oh yeah, the Edward Cullen Fan Club."
"Tanya! Stop already. Just stop," I hollered, finally losing my cool.
Behind me I heard a quiet throat clear. I turned to find Bella teetering in the entry way, holding a small purse. She had straightened her shoulders and her facial expression revealed nothing of her thoughts.
"I think I'm just going to take off. I have some other stuff I need to take care of, so…"
"Are you sure you have to go?" Alice asked while standing to give her a parting hug.
"Yeah, sorry. It's later than I realized." She fidgeted with the strap of her purse before resting it on her shoulder. After taking a deep breath to steel herself, she looked at Tanya with a forced smile. "Um, it was nice meeting you, Tanya. I hope you enjoy your visit. I'll see you guys later."
"Hold up, Bells. I'll walk you out," Jasper called after her before turning back to us. "I'm actually gonna head out myself. Had fun today, man. We'll have to do it again."
"Us too," Emmett said as he and Rosalie followed behind them, seeming to almost sigh in relief for the opportunity to escape.
We said our goodbyes to our friends and made tentative plans to hang out again the following day since it seemed likely that we would be entertaining Tanya. I watched from the front door as Jasper and Bella huddled into a hushed conversation out on the driveway. She appeared angry and her fury tugged at my heart in turn making me angrier at Tanya and at myself. He let her rant for a few minutes before he pulled her into a warm hug, and I was once again jealous of their easy rapport. I wanted that familiarity with her, so I vowed to myself then and there that someday I would have it. I would work for it, every day, every damn second if that's what it took. But first I would set things straight with Tanya, embracing this opportunity to move on, to move forward, before things could get any uglier.
I walked back to the living room where Tanya was waiting, oblivious to the fact that her theatrics had just chased four people out of my house. Alice walked up next to me and gave my hand a concerned squeeze, knowing in her way that I could use the extra reassurance right now. I gave her a grateful smile as she headed up to her room before I directed my attention to Tanya. I just wanted this over and done with. I took a deep breath as I walked over and kneeled in front of her. I picked up her hand knowing that a gentle approach would get me much further than if things turned confrontational between us.
"I think we need to talk." She looked at me with wide eyes, and I could see the dread swimming in their icy blue depths. Deep down she was just a scared little girl. Just as I was about to stand and lead her up to my room for some privacy, the front door flew open and my mom appeared with her cell phone pressed to her ear and in a complete state of panic.
"I can't believe this is happening. Okay, I'm at the house now. Let me ask the kids if they've heard from her." Her jaw dropped when she finally noticed who was with me. "Tanya! What on Earth are you doing here? Your parents have been calling frantically, looking for you. They're worried sick… said you were missing. How did you get here? How long have you been here?"
Before Tanya could answer her flurry of questions, she directed her attention back to the phone. "I have her, she's right here. I don't know. Yes, she seems fine. I'm so sorry. Okay, let me get to the bottom of this. I'll call you right back as soon as I find out what's going on."
She ended the call and rushed into the living room, her eyes flashing with concern and anger like I had never known. "Edward, why didn't you tell me that she was coming? We could have figured something out. You can't just run away young lady. Your poor mother is in hysterics."
"You ran away?" I gasped. I knew it. I knew it in my gut, but hearing it confirmed still rattled me. "Geez, Tanya! Something could have happened. You're thousands of miles from home. You're only seventeen. You could have been hurt, or mugged, or kidnapped."
My protective instincts kicked into high gear as I contemplated all the ways this could have gone wrong. Sure, I wanted to end our romantic relationship, but she was still my friend first. I couldn't stomach the thought of something happening to her. I couldn't believe she had made such an irrational decision without telling anyone her plan.
"Baby, I'm fine. I'm right here. Nothing happened," she appeased, not at all remorseful or repentant for what she put her family through, hugging me around the middle and kissing me anywhere she could reach.
My mom cleared her throat to get my attention and crooked an eyebrow at me, probably at the fact that my runaway girlfriend was hanging off of me and now kissing me all over my shirtless chest. I'd venture this was not something most moms were cool with. I placed my hands on Tanya's shoulders and nudged her back a bit, cocking my head towards my mom to help her catch a clue. She grinned at my mom and mouthed a 'sorry.'
"Okay, kids, why don't we go sit down and straighten this out so I can call the Denali's and put their minds at ease. Edward, perhaps you should go find yourself a shirt."
She fired off a quick message on her phone, I assumed to Mrs. Denali, while I fished my previously discarded t-shirt out of my bag. The three of us reconvened in the living room. Tanya and I sharing the sofa this time and my mom sat in the nearest chair.
"So, Tanya, why don't you start at the beginning? How did you get here?"
"Um… I flew." She took a steadying breath before continuing on in a detailed explanation. "I sort of stole my dad's credit card to book the airline ticket. Then I was able to check in online, and I had my driver's license to get through security, so no one really questioned me. I had my friend, Kate, drop me off at the airport early this morning."
"When I got here, I took a cab from the airport. It was kind of expensive, but I just wanted to surprise Edward. I didn't mean any harm, really."
She refocused her attention on me before saying, "I was so afraid you were going to break up with me. I just had this sinking feeling in my gut after our fight. I thought that if we were together, in person, maybe you would remember why we're so perfect together."
She looked so sad and on the verge of breaking down, that for the briefest moment I reconsidered whether I was making the right decision. Then I remembered the feelings that coursed through me every time I was in Bella's presence and I knew deep down inside that there was no going back. I couldn't keep up the charade and pretend to be the selfless boyfriend to Tanya anymore. Someone else had stolen my heart, and I was aching to have a chance with her.
"We'll talk later. I promise," I responded solemnly. As aggravated as I was with her and the entire situation, I still didn't relish the thought of hurting her—possibly even breaking her heart.
"Edward, you were unaware of Tanya's plans then?" my mom inquired.
"He didn't know anything, Mrs. Cullen," Tanya replied for me, at least taking full ownership for her stunt.
"Okay. Do you have a return flight?"
"No, ma'am. I didn't know… I mean I hate it… I was wondering…" she stammered, the confident manipulator from earlier long gone.
"What, Tanya? You're not making any sense."
"I was kind of hoping to stay here. For good."
My eyes probably looked like saucers at her statement, and I know my mouth was opening and closing like a fish as I tried to compose a response. My mom sat across from me mirroring my expression at Tanya's outrageous assumption. She continued on before either of us was able to find our voices.
"It's just that I hate it there without you. I always wanted out of that podunk town anyway. You live in frickin' Beverly Hills now. My neighbor is old Mrs. Zuckerman and her eight cats! Yours are celebrities and multi-millionaires! I want that. I want to be here. Can't I stay with you? Please!"
"What about your parents? Your sister? You can't just run away from your family, Tanya," my mom reasoned.
"My parents love you. They know you'll take care of me. Please let me stay, Mrs. Cullen. Please!"
"I'm sorry, dear. We do care about you and your well-being, but I just don't think that's an option. Your parents would miss you terribly, and I don't think it would be good for my son to live under the same roof as his girlfriend. As his mother, I can't and won't go along with that."
Mom stood up, signifying that this discussion was over with no room for argument. "Now, I'm going to go call your parents and hash this out. I'll let you know what we work out. For tonight, I'm afraid you'll have to sleep on the couch. I haven't had a chance to get the spare bedroom set up yet."
"I'll take the couch," I threw out there. "She can have my bed tonight." Tanya beamed at my offer, and my mom nodded at the polite suggestion.
"Okay, Edward, why don't you take Tanya's things upstairs and help her get settled in. I'll be in the study. I'll come get you for dinner. I believe you two have a lot to talk about anyway."
Not ten minutes later I was in my room changing the sheets on my bed for Tanya when she walked up behind me and wrapped her long, sinuous arms around me.
"I've missed you so much. I missed your smell, your voice… your body," she said in her best seductive tone as she dropped kisses on the back of my neck.
"Tanya…" I started as I spun around, determined to finally have the dreaded conversation with her.
"Haven't you missed me at all?"
"Of course I've missed you, but… we need to talk."
"I don't want to talk. I just want to feel."
Before I could even blink, her mouth was on mine. She thrust her tongue in my mouth and clawed at my scalp with her long nails. She tasted exactly same as I remembered, and for a moment I was lost in a familiar haze of lust. As I grabbed her hips, pulling her closer to me, I felt a niggling in the deepest reaches of my mind that this was wrong and not what I really wanted. But we were kissing and groping and I hadn't experienced the rush of pure lust in so long that I was hard-pressed to recall the reason I needed to stop. That was until she spoke up again.
"God, baby, I want you. I want to be with you so bad."
"W-what?"
"Take me."
"Whoa, hold up. Are you saying what I think your saying?"
"Yes. I've been thinking, and I think we should just do it. I want to. With you." I was stunned and instantly sobered by her request.
"I can't. Stop. We need to stop." I demanded trying to wriggle from her grasp.
"Don't stop. We should be together. It's okay. We both want this." Her voice and hands both grew more urgent as I began to pull away.
"No, I don't." I put my hands on her shoulders and pushed her back enough to look her in the eye. "I don't want this."
"It's sex, Edward. Every guy wants it."
"I don't. Not like this. Not now."
"What do you mean? What do you want?"
"To talk."
"You really do want to break up? That's it, isn't it?" She was starting to panic; I could hear it in her voice, see it on her face.
"Please sit down. Let's talk, calmly."
"Oh god! Did you meet someone? Are you already screwing someone? Did you cheat on me? Who is she? Was it that Rosalie skank? I saw how she was looking at you. She may be hot, but she's obviously a slut if she's flirting with all these guys and refuses to be in a committed relationship."
"Stop! It's not Rosalie," I yelled.
"Shit! You did meet someone…"
"I… Damn it. This isn't going at all how I wanted." I took a steadying breath and swallowed down my frustration before I started again.
"Listen, yes, I met someone that I may be interested in pursuing. But come on, Tanya, you know me. I would never cheat on you. You may not understand this right now, but you do mean a lot to me. I've been struggling with how to do this. I don't want to hurt you. I really don't."
I glanced around the room while I took a moment to compose my thoughts. "Can you please just give me a minute to get this all out? Then I will tell you anything, answer any questions. I promise."
She'd mellowed minutely from her outburst and gave me a nod to continue, so I did. I told her that I cared about her as friend, but not romantically. I explained my realization that I was never really emotionally invested in the relationship the way that she deserved, and how I thought our relationship may have developed out of convenience rather than feelings of attraction and adoration. She was quiet until I finished my spiel. When she looked up at me, I didn't see the expected hurt or sadness in her eyes, I saw anger.
"Fuck you, Edward Cullen!"
"I'm just trying to be honest with you."
"Honest! You want honest. We were good together. You and I were the king and queen of Lincoln High. You needed me just as much as I needed you. After all those pathetic girls that I kept away from you. You should be grateful to me."
Her chest was heaving with exertion, and the old saying 'if looks could kill' flitted through my mind.
"Knock, knock," my mom said as she opened the door to my room interrupting our argument. She glanced back and forth between the two of us, taking in our defensive stances.
"I just wanted to let you know that I spoke to your parents and Carlisle. Your parents are very angry, understandably so. They don't want you to miss any school over this stunt. They wanted us to put you on the first flight out tomorrow. Carlisle and I convinced them to allow you to stay for the weekend, giving everyone some time to cool off. You leave first thing Monday morning instead. Your dad already booked the ticket. Carlisle will take you to the airport on his way to work. I suggest you make the most of tomorrow, because I think it will be quite some time before you're permitted to visit again."
"Thank you, Mrs. Cullen. But it doesn't sound like I will be visiting anymore. Your perfect son here just broke up with me."
"I'm sorry to hear that, dear," my mom said, not really looking sorry at all, "but I know my son, and I'm certain he didn't make this decision lightly. Will you be okay here until Monday?"
"She'll be fine. We'll be fine."
Tanya gaped at my statement.
"You said you wanted to see the sights, right? We've been friends since we were kids, Tanya. I think we can handle a day of sightseeing together. I can invite some friends to come along if it takes the pressure off."
"Yeah. I guess that would be okay. Whatever."
That's how I found myself being dragged down Rodeo Drive behind Tanya, Rosalie, and Alice, while they engaged in some window shopping on one of the most renowned streets of Beverly Hills. Alice was less than enthused about having to spend the day with Tanya, especially after the two of us had officially split, but I swayed her with the promise of shopping—epic shopping. And shop they did. We started out at the mall a block over on Beverly Drive and ended up here. I essentially served as their bag boy for the morning, running purchases back to the car and holding their loot while they continued to browse. Of course the guys had declined the invite to keep me company during this torture, offering to meet up with us later in the day at the beach instead. Not that I blamed them. I would have done just about anything to get out of it myself, but I wasn't about to pawn Tanya completely off on my sister.
Tanya hadn't spoken to me anymore last night after our confrontation. She kicked me out of my own room and sulked for the rest of the evening instead. However, she had managed to be civil to me so far today. She had taken every opportunity to flirt with any guy that looked her way, in what I assumed was an attempt to make me jealous. Of course, with three gorgeous girls strutting down the street together, guys were destined to notice. I tried to give them space and chose to ignore her resentful efforts. She owed me nothing, and as much as I would miss her friendship, I very much doubted I would be seeing her again after her departure tomorrow.
We had lunch on the patio at Barney's at the girls' insistence, and as cliché as it seemed to me, I wasn't going to argue if it made them happy. After we were fed and the girls' declared themselves officially shopped out, we headed back to our house to drop off their purchases and change before we headed off to the legendary Venice beach.
This beach was a cultural experience. Unlike my previous two experiences of the rather private expanse of beach behind the McCarty home where we had the bonfire and the deserted beach in the early morning when we went surfing the day before, Venice beach was packed. There were street performers, artists, body builders, families with tents and umbrellas, skateboarders, beautiful people showing off for each other, more tattoos on display than I had ever seen in my life, guys playing football, kids playing volleyball, just people everywhere. This beach screamed Los Angeles. It embodied everything the area stood for.
We navigated our way through the sea of people and found a spot to spread out our beach towels. Emmett and Jasper showed up about twenty minutes after the rest of us, and I met up with them in the parking lot to help direct them back to the small plot where we had staked our claim on the golden sand. It was a warm day, and by the time we made it back to the girls they were each stretched out on their respective towels in their tiny bikinis. Even if I had to pretend to ignore what a beautiful woman my sister was becoming, I couldn't deny that the three of them truly were the epitome of beauty, basking in the heat of the afternoon sun. Of course both of the knuckle heads tagging along with me had to go and vocalize my exact thoughts, both embarrassing and flattering the girls. Tanya winked at each of them, and I did my best to brush it off without comment or acknowledgement, but I noticed Alice looked a bit irritated by her flirting with Jasper.
Emmett asked if we wanted to get a beach volleyball game going, and at first the girls declined, electing instead to rest and read their gossip rags and girly magazines. Emmett put our dibs in on the next available court and less than thirty minutes later the three of us were playing against another group of guys. Shirts came off and egos flared as we played a little three-on-three. We were each competitive in our own right, but I had never heard shit talkin' like the taunts Emmett was throwing down. Some of the lines he was tossing out there like 'Better kiss your mama at the bus stop, cause we're takin' you to school!' and 'Move it princess, you're gonna be late for the ball' were so ridiculous that Jasper and I laughed so hard that we missed our returns, allowing our opponents to score off of us. In the end, we ended up losing by a pretty wide margin.
By the time we started a second game, a small group of spectators had gathered. The girls had also made their way over to us and took up leading the crowd in cheers and heckling. When it was my turn to serve I was surprised to hear Tanya's voice hollering her approval over the cries of the crowd. I glanced over at her, hopeful that this meant we could work at remaining friends, but was greeted instead by a cheeky wink and flirtatious air kiss. I shook my head in disappointment, realizing that it wasn't about supporting a friend but an attempt to stake a claim on me in front of the other girls that had gathered near the sidelines. Her smile fell when I didn't return the affection and her face quickly clouded over with the same look of anger that I was growing accustomed to this weekend.
The game continued with all of us expending more effort showing off for the crowd than with our heads in the game. We won the second game, and rather than playing a traditional third to declare a winner we called it fair and ended with a happy win-win.
"I'm thirsty after that. I'm gonna head across the street to grab a soda, anyone want anything?" I asked.
"I'll come with," Alice offered.
We took drink orders from everyone and headed into a small market. We loaded up on waters, sodas and some snacks. Alice and I happily chatted about the craziness that was Venice Beach as we made our way back to our friends. I was busy watching my steps as I navigated around the maze of blankets, towels, umbrellas, and tents so I didn't notice what was going on back at our plot until I heard Alice curse next to me.
"What the fuck!"
"What… what's wrong?" I asked a little panicked by her outburst. She looked at me with wide eyes, before nodding her head towards our towels. I looked up to find Tanya and Jasper in a very compromising position and Emmett and Rosalie nowhere in sight. My sister looked crushed, and pure brotherly instinct took over as I made a beeline to them.
Tanya had one hand in the back of Jasper's board shorts and the other in his hair as she pulled his face to hers for a kiss. I was appalled that she would stoop so low as to make a play at one of my friends out of sheer revenge, while simultaneously getting another jab in at my sister. I was even more disgusted with Jasper. He knew how wary I was because of his history with girls, yet he'd insisted Alice was different, but it only took a day for him to destroy the understanding we'd come to. The asshole was going down.
Without another thought, I shoved them apart and began shouting expletives. Jasper yelled back that I was being ridiculous and needed to calm down. That only served to fuel my fire as pulled my fist back and let it fly right into his jaw.
"Oh, is that how it's gonna be? You're gonna fucking hit me after your whore of a girlfriend throws herself at me?"
"You son of a bitch! I can't believe you… after we talked. How could you?"
"Me! What about all the shit you're putting Bella through?"
"This isn't about her. This is about Alice! What the fuck, man?"
"You need to calm the hell down. You don't know what you're talking about."
"Fuck calm!" I launched at him again, but this time he was prepared, and after expertly deflecting my swing, he landed his own fist on my face causing my lip to split open and bleed.
"Now you listen to me! I didn't do anything. That girl, Tanya, is toxic. She came onto me seconds before you walked up. She tried to kiss me. I was trying to push her away when you barged in and tried to knock me the fuck out. That's the truth. I like Alice. It's only, Alice!"
I was stunned into silence. My sister slowly approached from behind me, her eyes welling with tears and her lip trembling. She dabbed at my lip with one of the napkins she'd grabbed at the market.
"Are you okay?" she questioned, her voice shaking with emotion. I felt horrible that I had scared her, but with the thought that Jasper may be setting her up for a repeat heartbreak after everything she had dealt with before, I reacted on instinct, taking out frustrations I wished I had taken out on someone else.
"I'll be fine," I answered.
She walked over to Jasper and without saying anything rose up on the tips of her toes and placed a chaste kiss on his jaw where I had struck. I saw a single fat tear roll down her cheek as he grinned back at her and swept her up in a hug.
I decided the least I could do to repent for my actions was give them a private moment, so I turned back to Tanya. Rather, I glared at her. I didn't even know what to say.
"Why? Why would you do that?"
She chose to ignore my question and asked one of her one.
"So, Bella, huh? The newspaper girl? Really?"
"Yeah, Bella, and she's twice the person you'll ever be. I can't believe you. I can't believe I fell for you… for this. Who are you?"
"Did you fuck her?"
"Is that all you care about anymore—sex?" She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed at my question, but didn't reply so I continued on. "No I haven't fucked her, because I don't cheat and because she's too good for that. But someday—if she still wants me after all of this—I hope to lavish her body with unspeakable affection and make love to her in ways that you can only dream about. And you will never have that."
"Never have that? I don't want that. And by the way, I fucked Jared the night you left. So there, asshole!"
"You think I care. I don't give a shit who you fuck. If you want to give it away to a prick like Jared, then by all means give it away. You're not the person I thought you were. I don't know who you are, but I feel sorry for you."
Tanya didn't speak to me for the rest of the day, and I was okay with that. Part of me was sickened that things had ended on such a bad note, but mostly I just felt relief. Somewhere along the road she had changed from the sweet little girl I used to push on the swings and chase around the playground to a heartless bitch. I didn't know how to reconcile the two versions of her. All I could do was hope that someday my friend would resurface from within, before she did too much damage to herself.
She had a 6:30 a.m. flight the next morning, and my dad left to take her to the airport at 5:00 a.m. I never saw her before she left. She could have sought me out to say goodbye if she wanted to, but she clearly chose otherwise.
Alice was still upset with me for my violent reaction yesterday, and the car ride to school was plagued with tension and silence. I knew I needed to find Jasper and apologize promptly to end this standoff. Even after hearing the truth behind the compromising situation, I was still feeling a bit leery of him and protective of Alice.
When we got to school, Bella was waiting out front in her usual spot with Angela and Ben. She gave us an unsure smile as we approached. Alice instantly snapped out of her funk and bounced ahead to give both girls her customary good morning hug. Bella shot me a hesitant smile and a shy 'hi' in greeting.
"Dude, heard you and Jasper got into a bit of a scuffle yesterday," Ben taunted.
"Uh, yeah. It's kind of a long story. Everything's cool, though. I think," I replied, running a hand through my hair out of nerves at this particular topic being broached first thing in the morning.
"Oh, everything better be cool. Edward's gonna make nice, or I'm gonna kick his ass," my sister stated with a threatening pinch to my arm.
"Looks like you caught the bad end of the deal," Ben said gesturing to my now fat lip.
"Yeah, it was just a big misunderstanding," I explained away.
"Are you okay?" Bella asked with concern after our friends had gone back to talking amongst themselves.
"I'm fine. It's a just a fat lip. I'll live," I replied with a smirk in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"I'm glad, but I actually meant about Tanya. You two broke up?" She looked embarrassed before she added, "Um, Alice told me on the phone last night."
"Yeah, we did, and she left this morning. Honestly, I'm just relieved it's over."
She nodded but didn't say anything as she chewed her lip, a nervous habit that I was becoming familiar with the more time I spent with her. I realized just how tired I was of seeing her so unsure, sad, or uncomfortable. It was about time for her to just be happy, and I was finally in a position to try and do something about it. I knew there were probably a hundred things I could and should say to her, things I needed to apologize for. Instead I decided to let my actions speak for me.
I closed the distance between us and pulled her into a gentle hug. She was caught off guard at first and tensed in my arms. I held onto her for a long moment waiting for her to relax into the embrace, and then she did and it was perfection. She was warm and soft, delicate and small, and fit against my body like she was cast from my exact complimenting mold. Not wanting to push my luck, I gave her a final tight squeeze before I pulled back and gave her an encouraging smile.
"May I walk you to class, belle Bella?"
A/N: So there you have it. The wicked witch is dead! Well not really, but she is on a flight back to where she came from. Next up we'll hear from Bella and find out how she's fairing after all of this. Hope this chapter lived up to your expectations. I think it's about time for our dear Edward to start redeeming himself.
The response to chapter 4 was just astounding. I get a silly grin from every single story alert and review that pops up in my inbox. Thank you all for the love your showing this story! I'm so happy we can experience this together. To answer some questions, yes I do have some experience on a surf board, but that was when I was much younger and much, much braver. On a particularly hot day, you may still catch me on a boogie board, but typically I stick to the sand now. Yes, I am a California girl, but I live in NorCal. I did go to school down in SoCal though, so I am pretty familiar with the area. I think that about covers it.
Big thank you to my beta, Hibbleton78, and pre-reader, Holly1980, for turning this chapter around swiftly and lending their advice and support. Love you!
Thanks to Sunfeathers for rec'ing "The Little Fish" on her blog this week. I grinned and blushed like an idiot. Thanks, sweetie!
In other news, I will be contributing an outtake to Fandom for Preemies. You can find out more about this cause on their blog fandomforpreemies (dot) blogspot (dot) com. For a minimum $5 donation to the March of Dimes you will receive a compilation from over 100 Twific authors. A great deal for a worthy cause! I'll post more information on my profile.
Let me know what you thought!
Do you still want to maim Edward? Singing songs of celebration over the swift departure of Tanya?
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