I think, in writing this chapter, I've officially decided that this story is going to potentially end up diverging from actual Twilight way more than I ever intended it to. And maybe even combine some elements of multiple books/movies from the saga in one. But that's cool right? Like, that's the fun of an AU? I hope you agree. Anyway, eeeenjoy!
Was it possible to have a two-day hangover? Bella wasn't exactly sure. But judging by the way the idea of consuming anything still sounded nauseating, and she still felt a twinge of occasional throbbing pain on the sides of her forehead, Bella surmised it was.
She was never drinking that much again.
On top of not feeling her best, Bella hated that her memories of the latter part of Saturday night were in and out. She remembered losing at beer bong, being an observer to s'more making around the bonfire, and Charlie calling and her having to leave… at which point she somehow ended up down the street, on the ground, in front of her truck. With Rosalie.
That was the part that was the most fuzzy, and confusing. Other than that moment out front, Bella had no memory of Rosalie at Jessica's party. That was weird, right?
Bella had contemplated this for the better part of the rest of the weekend.
For a moment, she'd considered whether she'd just been too drunk to notice Rosalie's presence inside Jessica's house but was quick to dismiss that thought. There was no way Bella wouldn't have noticed Rosalie; not after she'd ghosted school that past week. Not after leaving her to worry, and with so many unanswered questions. Drunk Bella probably would've spotted Rosalie, walked right up to her, and come at her strong. Maybe it was a good thing that by the time their paths did cross, no matter how long she'd been there, Bella had been too stunned to form more than one coherent sentence. She was sure as hell coherent today, though, as she entered the locker room for third period gym. And she had questions for the blonde.
Alas, she spotted the words "MILE DAY" written in white, block letters on the welcome chalkboard as she walked in. Of fucking course it was mile day – when she already had a headache and was likely still dehydrated. What deranged teacher made their students run the mile on a Monday?
Theirs, apparently.
Knowing what she was in for, Bella started to change into her gym clothes with an automatic pout spread across her face. Right as she was pulling on her shirt, a few lockers down from her own, the door of one slammed shut. Her pout was quick to transform to a look that resembled something close to a deer in the headlights as she looked in the direction of it.
Long, wavy blonde hair covered the face of the culprit who'd caused the noise, the sight of it triggering something with in Bella that caused a flood of memories from Saturday's party to come rushing back.
Like, throwing her phone and Rosalie catching it.
Trying to drive home and Rosalie stopping her.
Throwing up in the bushes and Rosalie witnessing it and staying by her side anyways.
Bella's cheeks burned red with embarrassment. If she hadn't caught Rosalie's attention prior, the blood that had just rushed to her face definitely had it now.
Rosalie's hair whipped over her shoulder as she turned her head. Bella dodged her eyes, opting to focus solely on changing out of her jeans and into her P.E. shorts. A she slid the blue denim down her slender legs, Rosalie's eyes couldn't help but flicker to them. It was instinctive, something her mind didn't catch onto until she was already doing it. Internal panic rose instantly. Outwardly, Rosalie disguised it as annoyance as she averted her golden irises back to her locker and secured it shut.
"I see you're still alive after Saturday," she commented then, catching Bella off guard yet again – and only reinforcing her embarrassment.
Before she could respond though, Rosalie had already stepped over the middle bench that Bella was now sitting on, tying her shoes, and was halfway towards the exit.
Bella slumped her shoulders and sighed.
"Guess that was rhetorical," she muttered, watching her go as she finished up the double knot on her second shoe.
After standing, but before shutting her own locker, Bella eyed her burnt orange JanSport. Inside of it was Rosalie's black leather jacket – the one that had somehow ended up beneath her head while she was sleeping on the ground. At some point, she was going to have to give it back to the blonde.
For a moment, she wondered if there would come a time when Rosalie might mention it. It didn't seem likely, though. Her classmate was of the avoidant type, it seemed – unless Bella needed some sort of saving or assistance. Then she just happened to be there at the right place and right time.
That part still weirded her out, too.
Regardless, Bella thought with a quick shake of her head as she secured her locker's numerical padlock with a click, Rosalie wasn't going to be able to dodge a real conversation with her forever…
…And mid-mile seemed like a great place to start said conversation, right?
The thought surfaced and swirled around Bella's mind as Rosalie inched up on lapping her for the first time. When she eventually passed, Bella gaped.
Was she really that slow?
Whether it was adrenaline or pure insanity, Bella wasn't exactly sure, but something that never existed within her before pushed her to run faster.
And faster and faster.
So fast, in fact, her upper body got ahead of her feet and before she knew it, her right toe had gotten caught on her back heel. Bella tumbled to the ground, the palms of her hands absorbing the majority of the blow, along with her kneecaps.
Several paces in front of her, Rosalie rolled her eyes at the mere sound of Bella's fall and resisted the urge to toss her head back – until the metallic scent hit her nostrils. She should've kept on running, but her instincts forced her to stop. And turn around.
"Ow, shit!" Bella half rolled, half crawled from where she was in the center of the track to the turf. While tiny beads of blood had begun to pool on her hands and knees, the last thing she needed was someone trampling her in addition to skinning herself on the rough terrain. God, she was such an embarrassment.
Tears burned in her eyes, but not because of the pain, though her head was now throbbing as well. They were tears of humiliation.
"Are you okay?" A fellow student whose name she couldn't remember briefly stopped to check in on her.
Bella was quick to wave a hand in the air despite barely managing to choke out the single word, "Totally."
"I've got her," an approaching voice announced.
Rosalie. Bella knew the sound of her voice by now.
She couldn't bring herself to lift her eyes and look at her, so she didn't catch the way Rosalie's fists were clenched, or the way she seemed to be internally struggling with something no human could possibly put a name to.
If Rosalie was being honest with herself, she couldn't fully explain herself, or what she was feeling, either. While she'd never tasted human blood before, she'd also never craved it so much – until now. Until meeting Bella in general, essentially (though the literal open wounds didn't help). More than that though, while deep down she knew the ultimate, timely reason thanks to Alice's aggravating visions, she struggled to pinpoint just what it was about the brunette she felt so drawn to; so drawn to protect. And how could one simply chalk it up to "falling in love" when they'd never experienced such a thing before? When she barely even knew the other girl yet? It was impossible… or so it seemed.
The tears that brimmed in Bella's brown eyes stole Rosalie back from her unhelpful thoughts. She hated the sight of them even more than she hated the burning sensation in the back of her throat that almost never relented when she was around her. It took even more strength than usual to be near her now, Rosalie noticed, opting to hold her breath as she sunk down to Bella's level.
"Are you always this reckless?" Rosalie questioned, glancing over her wounds. She didn't seem seriously injured in any way, which was good. Just a bit at a loss for words, which wasn't necessarily abnormal.
"Basically, yeah," Bella admitted.
It wasn't exactly the answer Rosalie had been expecting. Her lips twitched unconsciously at it. An almost smile.
"You didn't have to stop, you were like, about to hit a new class record," Bella continued, wiping her bloody palms on her shorts. Rosalie's gaze flickered to them before refocusing on her face. Off her silence, Bella added, "I'm fine, really. It's just a few scrapes."
"Ha." Rosalie suppressed her urge to say or react any further than that.
Just a few scrapes.
More like a death wish.
Belatedly, the thought gave Rosalie pause. To an extent, them interacting alone was a death wish for herself. In that same beat, Rosalie automatically decided: she didn't care.
"So, does this mean you're done avoiding me?" Bella asked then, distracting Rosalie from her thoughts once again. "Cause I have questions. And your jacket, in my locker."
As Bella started to stand, so did Rosalie.
"Thanks, by the way," she added, Rosalie acknowledging her gratitude with a short nod.
Bella sucked in a deep breath then. Cue nervous ramble.
"I was gonna wash it – your jacket – but there was no tag and no directions, and I didn't want to ruin it, so it's kind of still go some dirt on—"
"Just keep it."
It was Bella's turn to pause this time. "What?"
"I have… other leather jackets," Rosalie told her, fully aware of the way the other girl was now staring at her, perplexed.
There was no way, no matter how many times anyone washed the jacket, that Bella's scent on it would fade. It was simply safer this way – for Bella to keep it. But that wasn't something she needed to know.
"I…" Bella started, then stopped. She honestly didn't know what to say.
Why would she want to keep Rosalie's jacket? It wasn't even her style. And why would Rosalie want to give it to her? They weren't even friends.
Or… were they?
Instead of questioning the blonde further, Bella took a few slow steps back towards the track, waiting to see if Rosalie might follow her lead.
She did.
"Okay," Bella finally relented, a slight curiosity to her tone.
Opposed to resuming running, they both simply walked side by side, as if taking the other's lead. Bella was silently grateful for that; she wasn't sure her knees could take any more direct impact after that fall without fully giving out for good.
As they fell into a mutually contented silence, Bella stole a few quick glances out of the corner of her eye at Rosalie. She was almost fascinated with the fact that she couldn't figure her out. And, how on earth was it possible for someone to make P.E. clothes look so… good, she wondered, her mind immediately wandering to places it shouldn't. Like, maybe what she'd look like without them.
Bella briefly squeezed her eyes shut and mentally kicked herself before reeling her thoughts back in and refocusing them. Thoughts like that were a waste of space; there was no way a girl like Rosalie would ever be interested in her.
Breaking the natural silence between them, Bella sighed before repeating her earlier statement. "I have questions. About the other day." Even if she didn't have any sort of romantic chance with the blonde, she still felt like she was owed answers for her incongruent behaviors.
"Not here," Rosalie said, her response quick and direct. It was a feeble attempt at diversion.
Bella nodded slowly. "Okay… then, tonight." She paused briefly before going out on a wild limb and taking a leap by adding, "Over dinner."
Rosalie stiffened immediately while Bella recoiled, wanting to crawl under a rock.
Yeah, she definitely didn't have a chance.
She almost cringed as she offered something that sounded more casual instead. "Brunch?"
Rosalie's lips twitched again, this time with uncertainty. She didn't know how to do this; how to hang out with a human. Up until this moment, she'd also forgotten how much of their lives revolved around food. The smarter part of her conscious was telling her to abort the idea of hanging out with Bella in its entirety; it was dangerous, for starters. But even the smartest of vampires had their weaknesses.
"I don't have any answers for you," Rosalie resulted to saying, despite said impeding weakness. She stopped walking then, turning to face Bella so she knew she was serious.
Bella stopped as well, frowning as she retorted, "But y—you don't even know what I'm going to ask."
"It's not hard to guess," Rosalie countered.
The look on Bella's face moved from confusion to… repulsion? Upset? Disgust? Perhaps Rosalie was using too harsh of words to describe it, but she didn't like the way it made her feel inside.
"I don't get it." Bella resumed walking then, her eyes finding the track. It was like she was trying to put the pieces of a virtually impossible puzzle together as she spoke. "I've tried really hard to be nice to you, to be your friend, or I—I don't know, something. And I – I feel like one second you maybe want the same but the next, you're giving me total whiplash."
Rosalie didn't have an excuse, or one she could offer Bella, at least. But she did have a half-ass apology she could offer, so she did. "I don't mean to give you whiplash." Rosalie frowned, her words honest. There were just so many layers – layers she couldn't divulge without putting both of them, both of their lives, in jeopardy. "The truth is we shouldn't be friends, or anything to one another. We're better off that way."
The blonde started to pick up the pace then, which only made the brunette do the same. "Well, what if I don't want to be better off?" Bella challenged.
God, she was relentless.
Rosalie came to another full stop then, partially because she didn't need nor want Bella getting hurt again… Partially, because deep down, that was the exact answer she'd wanted to hear. It filled her with a conflicting sense of both hope and dread. Hope winning, Rosalie spun back around to face Bella, nearly causing the poor brunette to body slam into her as she too stopped in her tracks. "Fine," she uttered through gritted teeth.
"Fine?" Bella questioned.
"Tonight then." Rosalie echoed Bella's previous words, with a slight adjustment. "After dinner. I'll pick you up at eight."
Bella nodded tightly, aiming to match Rosalie's expression despite the encroaching smile that threatened to curve the corners of her mouth upwards. Rosalie saw right through her attempted masking.
"Okay. Eight." Bella said after a moment, running a hand through her somewhat disheveled hair. "I'll be ready."
Of that much, however, Rosalie wasn't so sure she could say the same.