Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended.
A Jasper For Me beta'd. She's awesome. Thanks to Mojo40 and avidreader69 for prereading the shit outta this thing. I apologize to all three of them for my tendency to ramble.
Chapter Twelve
I could feel Bella's back against mine as the morning light forced me awake. Slowly turning towards her, I watched her chest rise and fall. As fascinating, and a bit creepy, as that was, I couldn't help but think back to last night.
She stirred, slightly angling herself closer to me, and I smiled. Adjusting myself, I ignored my urge to bend her over the bed and glanced at my phone to check the time.
"Bella," I whispered in her ear. "Wake up. We have to leave soon."
She grumbled something along the lines of I'm up, but it was hard to understand her as she pulled the comforter over her head.
Apparently, she wasn't a morning person.
"You know," I started slowly, "I can think of a few ways to help you wake up." Pulling the blanket away from her face, I pushed my body against hers and nuzzled my head in her neck.
"I'm good," she said with a yawn and eyes still closed.
"Yeah, you are good." I smiled against her cheek.
Half a second passed with no response, which was funny considering how responsive she was to my charm last night.
"We can eat breakfast here, or we can pick something up on the way," I said as I stretched my arms above my head. If I wasn't going to get my dick wet, the next best thing was food. Obviously.
"I'm not hungry," she mumbled and crawled out of the bed with one eye open.
"Are you okay?" I asked, replaying last night and recalling that she came. Why was she already in such a pissy mood?
"Definitely," she said coolly before shutting the bathroom door.
Fifteen minutes later when Bella was finished hogging the bathroom, I gathered our two bags and made sure we didn't leave anything behind. I watched, with a smirk, as Bella removed the sheets from the bed and tossed them into a pile on the floor.
"I'm pretty sure Ben's parent's have a maid who does that."
Bella, who didn't find it nearly as funny, growled and snatched her bag from my possession.
Note to self: get the poor girl coffee, asap.
An hour into the drive, fewer words had been exchanged than when we had woken up. Something was bothering her, that much was obvious. But if she wouldn't talk to me, how was I supposed to find out what was wrong?
"This is an awesome song," I said and pointed at the stereo, as if she didn't know where the music was coming from.
Bella sighed, her focus never leaving her invigorating game of Angry Birds. Honestly, I didn't see the appeal of that game. It seemed pointless and a huge waste of time. But for some reason, I knew if I ever actually tried playing, I'd become hooked. That's why I stayed far, far away. From Angry Birds, I mean.
"What's up with you?" I finally asked. "You're killin' me."
"Nothing." Typical female answer. "Sorry if I'm doing a horrible job at entertaining you."
"You're acting weird."
"Are you upset because I'm not joining you in the stimulating conversation about this awesome song?" Bella put her feet up and laughed, her less than white converse marking my dashboard with traces of dirt.
Well, I didn't think it was very fucking funny. I also didn't think it was very polite for her to put her shoes on my dash, but I kept my fucking mouth shut.
When we finally made it to Austin, I watched as Bella carefully entered her grandmother's address into my GPS. She silently put it back in the holder, motioning for me that it was ready.
"You didn't tell me your grandmother lived in a nursing home," I said as I pulled up in front of The Summit. It was definitely in a nicer part of town and must have cost a pretty penny.
"Assisted living," she mumbled. "Thanks for leaving early to give me a ride."
"Yeah, no problem," I said easily as I unbuckled my seat belt and turned the car off.
Bella's eyes went wide. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I have to pee really fucking bad."
"Emmett's place has a bathroom," she said with no emotion.
"That's twenty minutes away," I replied flatly and, to be honest, a little annoyed. "I can't hold it."
The last part wasn't true though; I didn't have to pee that bad. But seeing how worked up she already was from merely mentioning going inside, well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't find it amusing.
"Oh my God, you're like a child. Gas stations have restrooms," she explained, as if I didn't already know this.
"Yeah. They also have used condoms lying around, disease infected toilet seats and a floor that looks as though someone's water broke."
"Why would you need to sit on the seat? I thought you had to pee. And," she pointed at me, "the most germ infected thing in a bathroom is usually the faucet handles or soap dispenser."
"Lucky for me, I don't wash my hands."
"You're gross."
"I'm not gross; I'm joking. But my jokes are less than funny because I can't focus on anything other than the fact that my bladder is about to explode."
Bella sighed and got out of the car. "You're so dramatic. Fine. You're in, you're out, you're gone."
"Thanks so much for granting me permission to use a public restroom."
"It's not a public restroom," she said while shoving her hands deep in the pockets of her cut-off shorts.
As we walked in, we were greeted by some older lady sitting behind a desk with a pen behind her ear and a cup of Campbell's tomato soup in her hand. "Isabella! How are you today?"
"I'm okay." Bella shrugged. "How's Gram?"
"She's with your father right now," the lady said quietly. "He's been here for an hour."
Cringing, I watched as she sipped her soup as if it were a beverage. Soup in a cup always freaked me out. What's the point of drinking your food? It was an odd concept for me to get my head around.
"This is my friend. He just needs to use the restroom," Bella mumbled as she signed in. The receptionist pointed me in the right direction before realizing she had a tomato soup mustache.
I used the bathroom, much to Bella's fucking dismay, and was on my way out when I realized Bella left her bag in my car. So, I did what any normal person would do: I retrieved the bag and flirted with the soup loving receptionist until she told me which room Bella's grandmother was in.
To say Bella wasn't pissed to see me standing in the doorway was like saying I never woke up with morning wood. It just wasn't fucking true.
"What the-" She stopped herself from cursing and narrowed her eyes. "What are you doing?"
I held up her bag and tried to smiled.
"Who's this?" Her father, or so I assumed, asked. He stood from the chair he was sitting in, crossed his arms and began sizing me up.
I was a little taller than he was, but I had to fucking admit, the mustache was a little intimidating. Couple that with the fact Bella had mentioned he used to be Chief of Police, my smile faltered- just a little.
"Charlie, this is my friend Edward. He gave me a ride back from Fredericksburg."
"Oh, he's such a handsome young man!" Bella's grandmother squeaked from her chair. "Tell me, do you play gin rummy?"
"Ah, you must be Bella's grandmother." I smiled and allowed myself to fully step into the room despite Bella's blatant anxiety.
Her grandmother looked over at Charlie and asked who Bella was. When neither Bella nor Charlie answered her, I realized something was up.
"Oh dear, you are mistaken," she explained. "This is Renee, my daughter."
My jaw must have dropped to the floor, because Bella quickly covered for me by saying I must be a few peas short of a casserole. Whatever the fuck that meant.
Bella's non-grandmother just smiled and focused on shuffling the cards in her hand.
"We'll be right back. I bet Edward needs a quick review of how to play gin rummy." Bella shoved past me, then walked back and pulled my arm when I failed to follow her into the hallway.
"Why did you have to come back?" she snapped after quietly shutting the door. "You could have given me my bag some other time!"
Frowning, I said, "I didn't know you were going to get so upset. But I guess I should have figured by the way you've been acting all day long."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"You've been acting like a," I paused to choose my words wisely, "snob."
"A snob? Just because I wasn't all over your dick this morning?" Bella lowered her voice as a nurse walked by. "Look. This is stupid! You can't waltz into my life and," she poked my chest with her finger, "expect to be a part of it, okay?"
"Ow," I deadpanned. It caught me off guard more than anything.
"You can't, okay? It's-" She started to poke my chest a second time until I grabbed her wrist.
"Alzheimer's?" I suddenly asked.
It's not like I knew anything about the disease, so I wasn't really sure why I even asked. Esme's mom suffered from dementia, but I had only met her a few times before she passed away.
Bella started pacing while pulling her lip between her teeth. "She thinks I'm my mother. Not all the time, but..."
"I'm sorry," I said out loud before I could stop myself.
For some reason, this made her stop pacing. I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing, so I said it again.
"Bella, I'm sorry." I stepped forward and pulled her against me, hoping she wouldn't pull away. A sigh of relief escaped from my mouth as she wrapped her arms around my waist.
"I'm sorry, too," she mumbled into my shirt.
We stood there hugging, for maybe a full minute, when someone cleared their throat.
Bella pulled back, dropping her arms by her side. "Sorry, Dad. Edward didn't know Gram was sick. Is she okay? Is she asking a lot of questions?"
"Oh, she's more than okay. She keeps asking if the handsome young man can come back and play cards with her," Charlie said, making Bella laugh beside me.
"Maybe she really has completely lost her mind," Bella said with a smirk.
Cue awkward silence.
"I'm Edward." I reached out to shake her father's hand. "Nice to meet you."
"Charlie Swan," his mustache replied. Okay, not really. But that thing was intimidating as fuck.
"Well." I looked down at a fidgeting Bella. "I guess I'll head out. Sorry if I caused any trouble in there."
"Don't think you're going to get out of playing cards with her. Gram can be a pushy little thing, right Bells?" Charlie asked with a sigh.
"Um, I'm sure Edward has better things to do."
In truth, I probably could have found something else to do. I could have gone back to Emmett's, smoked a bowl and napped for five hours. But again, in truth, this was the first time I had seen Bella around people who weren't associated with me. I couldn't pass up the chance to see how different she would act.
"Better than playing gin rummy?" I teased, bumping her shoulder.
"Do you even know how to play gin rummy, Edward?"
"No," I admitted. "But I'm sure someone can teach me."
"And you think that someone is going to be me?" Bella playfully teased.
"Who better than you?" I asked with a sly smile. There was too much truth in my words, I had to quickly look away from her.
After playing gin rummy, and losing, for a few hours, Bella and I grabbed a quick bite to eat at Torchy's Taco. She invited her father who, to my delight, politely declined. It wasn't that he intimidated me or anything. I just wasn't ready to be interrogated by someone who owns multiple guns, that's all.
"You have salsa on your lip." Bella giggled, handing me a napkin.
"Bella, you have so much to learn," I scolded. "Never, ever attempt to use a napkin at Torchy's. There's no point."
"You're gross. Wipe your mouth."
Rolling my eyes and wiping my mouth, I said, "Do you want to watch a movie later? Emmett hasn't text that he and Rose are back yet."
Bella cleared her throat and stared down at the guacamole. "Yeah, sure. We can watch a movie."
The ride from Torchy's was more relaxed than the ride to her grandmother's nursing home. I was just glad she seemed to be in a better mood and was looking forward to spending some time alone with her before Em and Rosalie got home.
That plan was shot to hell when we stepped off the elevator onto Emmett's floor. I immediately froze.
"Tanya? What are you doing here?"
"Good to know you're alive. Why haven't you returned any of my calls?" Tanya barely glanced Bella's way before snickering. "Who is this?"
"This is Bella," I said in a duh tone.
"I didn't know you were seeing other people," Tanya said lamely. I knew she fucking worded it that way to make it sound like I was dating her, which I so fucking wasn't.
I laughed because it was funny to me, not because it was true. Bella must have taken it the wrong way because she glared at me. It wasn't our normal, cute banter glare. It was the I'm going to fucking rip your balls into shreds and feed them to my dog glare. And she didn't even own a fucking dog.
"Was there something you needed?" I snapped at Tanya because the thought of my balls being eaten by a dog put me in a bad mood.
Tanya licked her lips and said, "We need to talk."
Pretty sure she purred.
Not hiding the fact that I was annoyed, I turned toward Bella who looked...I don't know. Awkward, hurt. Maybe she was just tired because we did drink a lot over the weekend. Either way, she looked like she was over this and ready to jet.
"Tanya, I'm busy right now. How did you even-"
"Wait, is she your girlfriend?" Tanya's tone suddenly changed to one I knew meant trouble.
"No," I admitted too quickly. "I mean-" shit. What was the protocol for explaining what Bella and I were to someone who didn't know about my inheritance situation? "Kind of."
"Kind of? Since when do you-" Tanya began but stopped herself. "Look, I just want to talk. I can come by...later, if that works."
I had to hand it to the girl, she didn't give up easily.
"God, Edward." Bella suddenly found her voice. "I'm going home. Have fun getting your dick sucked. I'll see you later this week, okay?"
Tanya scoffed but couldn't stop herself from smirking. "Excuse me, I do not do that."
"Yeah, okay. I bet your tits are real too, huh?" Bella laughed. I had to fucking admit, it was pretty funny watching the two of them get feisty with each other.
Tanya, momentarily caught off guard because no one ever spoke to her like that, placed a hand on her hip. "Who the fuck are you again?"
"Don't worry. I'm no one," Bella said while she grabbed her bag from my hand, tossed it over her shoulder and practically ran towards the elevator.
I was furious.
I'm no one.
That wasn't the Bella I knew. The Bella I knew was too stubborn for her own good and lived for snark competitions.
"Tanya, go home," I said loudly as I watched my snarky-less Bella disappear into the elevator.
"Ed-ward." Tanya stomped her foot.
"I can't even begin to explain how fucking annoying you are."
The look on her face was priceless. "You didn't think I was annoying when I-"
Rolling my eyes, I said, "I'm gonna go make sure that girl you just pissed off doesn't hate me, okay? Good seeing you, Tanya."
The elevator was taking too long, and Tanya was still going on and on about not being appreciated. Patience was never my thing; so I ran to the end of the hall and decided to take the stairs two at a time.
I was literally chasing after a girl; flying down three flights of stairs. I pushed through the doors, not apologizing to the older couple I practically ran over.
"Bella!" I called out as I followed her retreating form down the sidewalk. "Hey! Can you hold up for a second?"
"Dude, it's cool," Bella said, still two steps ahead of me, not bothering to face me.
"I thought we were gonna hang out. Where are you going?" I asked, catching my breath as she finally slowed to a complete stop.
She shrugged. "I'm not into the whole threesome thing. I'm going home."
"Tanya isn't staying. She's a pain in my fucking ass and can't take a hint."
"That's funny. What hint is she supposed to take when you're obviously fucking her?"
"Whoa, hey." I pulled Bella's arm and made her face me instead of the streetlight that suddenly occupied her attention. "Are you jealous?"
"Of her?" Bella scoffed. "No, I'm not. I just don't want to be around when the girls you're sleeping with get jealous because of me. It's really awkward, if you haven't noticed."
About two things I was absolutely positive. First, Bella was definitely jealous. Second, Tanya showing up was definitely fucking awkward.
"I honestly don't even know how she found out I was staying here." I felt the odd need to reassure her, so I added, "She's never been to Emmett's apartment before."
"Why does that not surprise me? Kind of hard to pull off the fuck and duck in your own place, huh?"
About two more things I was absolutely positive. First, I was an asshole. Second, I was an asshole.
"What the hell is this about? I thought we had a good time this weekend." I dropped my hand from her arm. "Why are you getting all Bitchy Bella on me now?"
She laughed as she took a step back. "We did have a good time. Now it's back to reality; back to Bitchy Bella and Egotistical Edward."
I winced. "Are you PMSing or something?"
"God, no! This has nothing to do with my hormones, you ass, and everything to do with being treated like I'm another one of your whores."
"You're not one of my whores, Bella. I mean, I don't have whores, but if I did, you wouldn't be one of them."
Even I knew there was an entirely different way I could have phrased that sentence.
"I obviously know I am not a whore, but that's what everyone else thinks."
"Everyone else? Like who, Tanya?" I asked as I pointed back toward Emmett's apartment. "The biggest whore in a fifty mile radius? Who gives a shit what she thinks. One time she walked out of the bathroom with her dress tucked in her underwear, and I'm pretty sure she did it on purpose."
Not sure why I thought that would make Bella laugh. Boy, was I wrong.
"I don't really care," she said icily.
"You obviously do."
"The only thing that's obvious here is the fact you're fucking a prostitute."
"Bell, you aren't a prostitute," I said jokingly, which pissed her off even more because she turned to walk away.
"Unbelievable," she muttered before I grabbed her shoulder, turning her around.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I said, "Not that I owe you an explanation, but I haven't done anything with anyone else since you agreed to help me out."
"Oh, how super nice of you, Edward. That was very considerate of you to refrain from fucking anyone else," Bella said sarcastically.
I took my hand and rubbed her arm; I'm not even sure why. Maybe to comfort her or to just let her know I was sorry she felt this way. I didn't want her to feel this way.
This way, I thought to myself. This is why I refrain from being in relationships, real or not. The miscommunications and jealousy and being forced to use napkins. There were so many rules and expectations; so many things to do and not do, and I could never figure out the right thing to say.
"If you're allowed to get mad about Tanya, am I allowed to be pissed over Grease Monkey?"
"I don't sleep with Jake. So no, you're not allowed," she said quietly and jutted her chin out.
"He eye fucks you. That's gotta count for something."
Finally, she laughed, which must have triggered something because she asked why we were standing in the street yelling at each other.
"No fucking clue. It reeks of bad romantic comedy," I said as I dropped my hand from her arm.
"For once, you're completely right."
"So, are we okay?" I asked with hope or something that resembled hope. I wasn't even exactly sure what I was asking, but I needed to hear her say it.
Bella pushed the hair out of her eyes and said, "You should go back upstairs and try to console your friend. She looked pretty upset."
It wasn't lost on me that she ignored my question.
"I don't care about Tanya," I admitted.
"Okay."
"Do you still want to watch a movie?"
"Not really," she shrugged. "I'm exhausted and should go home. Thanks for letting me hitch a ride and for leaving early. I know you probably wanted to hang out with everyone a little longer."
I shook my head in disagreement, but for some reason, I couldn't look her in the eyes. "No. I wanted to hang out with you."
She shrugged. "Yeah, well."
I quickly realized she would need a ride home and was thankful she had a piece of shit for transportation. "Come on, I'll give you a ride."
Bella agreed, and I grabbed the bag from her hands without protest.
I didn't know if Tanya left Emmett's because I never actually saw her walk out of the building. I couldn't bring myself to care. All I could focus on was Bella.
The ride was silent, save for the sound of Bella's foot tapping on the floor mat. The fifteen minute ride seemed to take only two minutes.
"I'll see you," she said as soon as I was in front of her place. I hadn't even parked the fucking car yet, and she was already trying to open the door.
"Bella." I reached over her with my arm and shut the car door. "You didn't answer me earlier. Are we okay?"
"We are fine, Edward. Why wouldn't we be?"
"Should we...I don't know, talk about what happened last night?"
Bella crossed her arms. "What's there to talk about?"
"Um." Yeah, she had me there; I had no fucking clue. All I knew was that I had the urge to keep her in the car as long as possible.
"We were drunk. We were sleeping in the same bed. There's not much else to it," she said easily.
It hurt a little, I have to admit. Wasn't I supposed to be the one to tell her there wasn't much else to it?
"Should we kiss?" I asked quickly. "In front of Carlisle and Esme. Just in case they get suspicious or something."
Even after I said it, I knew it sounded fucking lame. I wasn't even sure what I was trying to attempt at this point, but I hoped to God, or someone, I figured it out soon.
"Sure, whatever. I'm really tired, so I'm going to get out of the car now. If that's okay with you?"
My fingers tapped on the steering wheel, trying to stay occupied.
"Yeah." I cleared my throat. "Get some rest."
"Nothing's changed, okay?" Bella stared at me for a second. "Don't get all awkward on me now; we have a plan. Let's stick to it."
I laughed and nodded. "Right. Text me tomorrow."
It was her turn to laugh. "Right. Bye."
Once Bella was inside her building, I let my head drop to the steering wheel and asked myself the same question over and over again: what the fuck did I do?
A/N: Thanks for reading!