A Beautiful Mess
Chapter Two
Subtitled: And Don't Mind My Nerve
Quotation: All I can say about life is, Oh God, enjoy it!
Bob Newhart (1929 - )
"So what do you say?" Sarah whispered late Tuesday afternoon, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear. "Are you down? Friday?"
Nessie looked up and eyed their history teacher who was still copying their homework onto the board. "I can't, my parents want me right after school. I'm grounded, remember?"
Sarah rolled her eyes. "So? Sneak out. What's the big deal?"
"I can't." Nessie insisted. "They were so pissed. Besides, my Uncle Jasper is home from school this weekend, and my mom wants Edward and me home for dinner."
"Wait, you're really hot uncle? The blonde one? The one in med school?" Sarah's eyes lit up at the thought.
"That's the one, though I wouldn't call him hot." Nessie muttered just as the bell rang.
"Well I would!" Sarah said collecting her books. "Besides , you're adopted. Don't tell me it's never crossed your mind!" she raised her eyebrows suggestively.
"Eww Sarah! That's disgusting, even for you!" Nessie cried, filing out the door only to find a familiar face waiting for her.
"Oh look, it's super brother. " Sarah giggled in Nessie's ear. "Here to save the day from fun, once again!"
Nessie bit back a laugh, noticing how her father looked far from amused. "I'll see you tomorrow, Sarah!" she called as they parted ways.
"Say hi to your uncle for me!" Sarah replied, blissfully ignoring the look of contempt on Edward's face.
Nessie rolled her eyes and dutifully followed her father towards the parking lot. "So, Edward, good day at school?" she placed particular emphasis on his name as they walked towards the car, where her first name privileges promptly ended.
"Titillating as always." Edward replied dryly and opened the car door for her. They both paused to wave at Alice and Bella who were walking towards their own car. Once Nessie had reached school age it was impossible to pretend they were all Esme and Carlisle's adopted children so they went to an old stand-by.
In the old days before Bella or Nessie, Rosalie and Emmett had sometimes posed as a married couple. So for this particular go around in Mobile, Alaska, Edward and Nessie were siblings that they, the Swans, had adopted when Nessie and Edward's parents had died in a car crash. Jasper Hale was Rosalie's brother who was a med student at the University of Alaska. Esme was Emmett's big sister, married to Carlisle, and adoptive parents of Bella and Alice Cullen. Esme and Carlisle had inspired Rosalie and Emmett to adopt in the first place since they had found it to be such a satisfying endeavor.
It was confusing to everyone at first, but Nessie did eventually master it. She, Nessie was sixteen and a sophomore. Her father, Edward, was posing as her seventeen year old brother. Her aunt and uncle were posing as her parents. Her Uncle Jasper was still her Uncle. Her grand-parents were now her aunt and uncle and mother and aunt were her cousins. They had three years left of this particular charade but a month in and she already had a headache.
Nessie sighed and fiddled with the radio. Her father was still quite angry with her and wasn't about to do her any favors in the way of small talk. She saw their familiar red mailbox peaking through the trees up ahead. They were almost home.
Her parents' home, of course, turned into Rosalie and Emmett's as soon as they had guests, which they very rarely did and on the odd occasion Sarah came over, Rosalie actually loved to play mother hen. For his part, Emmett was a police officer at the local precinct, not quite a stretch as he had already gone through the academy several times. He was careful, though, to only work the nightshifts, claiming he wanted to spend his afternoons with his kids while they were still at home. Emmett, of course, found the whole thing hilarious and enjoyed patting Edward on the head and calling him son. Although, even Edward could admit it was useful to have a police officer in the family in case anything strange happened.
Nessie was snapped out of her thoughts as they passed their driveway. "Uh dad? Home's that way." She pointed directly behind her.
For the first time Edward allowed himself a small smile. "We're not going home. We're going to you grand-parents. I have something I need to take care of, so you're going to hang out with them for awhile." He was grinning at this point, anticipating the explosion.
"What?" Nessie cried, slamming back dramatically in her seat. "I don't need a babysitter I'm sixteen!"
"Actually, darling, you're six. And if Saturday has shown your mother and me anything, you do need a babysitter. Or, in this case, six."
Nessie grimaced at the mention of six but swallowed her disdain. There were bigger fish to fry. "Well why can't mom watch me?"
"Because, Renesme, your mother deserves a break sometimes. "
"You don't get to take a break from being a parent." Nessie said sullenly , crossing her arm resentfully.
Edward couldn't help himself and laughed. "You're telling me kid."
He turned onto a gravel lane that wound through the trees. They sat in steely silence while Edward tried not to be amused at his daughters fuming thoughts. His kid was smart, but she was definitely not an adult yet. His amusement, stopped short, however at one particularly colorful expletive.
"Hey! You watch your language!" he warned.
Nessie turned to him and smiled sweetly. "I didn't say anything."
"You didn't have to." Edward reminded her, suddenly furious at her serene face. He was about to argue further but they had arrived at the stately Georgian. Of all of their homes, this had to be one of his all time favorites. The ivy climbed up the west wing and the brick was warm, even inviting. He'd forgotten long ago what it was like to be warm but staring at the house made him feel as though he might remember. He was brought out of his thoughts rather abruptly as the passenger side door slammed shut.
He brought his fingers to the bridge of his nose. "Nessie…"He sighed, though he knew it was a lost cause.
"Whatever, dad. If it breaks I'll buy you a new one."
The door opened just as they reached it, but Nessie stormed past Esme without so much as a hello. Edward looked at his mother helplessly.
"She's not very happy with me." He said and handed Nessie's backpack to her with a sigh.
"No kidding." She said eyebrows raised. She could still here Nessie stomping at the other end of the house.
Behind him a blue SLK Mercedes pulled up. Alice and Bella got out.
"Hey Edward! " Alice called and stood on her tip-toes to kiss him on the cheek. "Mom." She added and skipped through the door. "Later Bells!" she called, following her niece into the kitchen.
Edward turned to Bella, his anxiety slowly evaporating. He smiled warmly at her. "Hey Bella. I missed you." He kissed the top of her head.
"I saw you two hours ago in Chemistry." She said rolling her eyes, but secretly pleased. "All set?" She asked Esme.
Esme smiled warmly. "Don't worry, we've got everything under control. Go, enjoy yourselves. Rosalie and I will call into school for you two tomorrow. Flu sound alright? "
Edward laughed. "Flu is fine. Thanks mom. I mean it. We really needed this."
Esme smiled. "Glad we could help. " she saw Bella's worried face. "Don't worry about it! She's going to be fine! It's not like she's the first teenager I've ever watched! GO!" she urged.
Bella smiled in response and followed her husband to the car. "See you in couple of days!" she called.
Nessie tapped her foot impatiently, trying to devise ways she could sneak back to her house and rescue her cell phone from the depths of her mother's dresser drawer. If she was going to be on lock-down the least she could do was have some contact with the outside world. Even prisoners got to write letters.
"Oh come on kido, why the face?" Her Uncle Jasper asked, taking the seat across from her. He drummed his fingers lazily on the kitchen table.
"Well let's see. My parents are off on some kick ass vacation. My best friend is going out with everyone who's everyone. And I'm stuck here where the youngest person is ninety-three." Nessie said huffily, trying not to succumb to her uncle's gentle smile. She'd always had a soft spot for her Uncle Jasper. He'd always given her a wider berth then the rest of her family.
"Hey!" Alice called from the next room. "I'm ninety-one!"
Jasper smiled a slow and lazy smile. "See she's ninety-one. Besides I'd hardly call a bed and breakfast outside of Anchorage 'kickass'."
Behind him Emmett snorted as he got the supplies out the fridge for Nessie's dinner. "Especially if you're the third wheel." He muttered suggestively.
Rosalie smacked him on the head as she entered the room. "Let's keep the sexual innuendo to a bare minimum around the kid, alright?" she said, exasperated, and shooed him out of the kitchen.
"Here, here!" Nessie called, grimacing at the thought of her parents at a romantic hideaway. She shook her head in disgust.
"As for the last bit, there's got to be something fun you want to do." Jasper said, trying to ignore his siblings as much as possible. Of course in eighty years his success had been negligible. "I mean I might be a hundred and sixty eight but I still know how to have a good time."
She eyed him skeptically from under her long, dark lashes.
The blood was pounding in her ears. Nessie felt so alive she never wanted the moment to stop. "This is unbelievable!" Nessie screamed as the odometer inched towards one fifty.
"Yeah well don't tell your father! He'll kill us!" Jasper cried back, handling the green Porsche convertible with incredible ease considering the speed. He steered with his left hand and his right played with the radio stations.
"Don't worry. He won't find out." Alice said serenely from the backseat, as she filed her nails.
Next to them Rosalie's red Jag nosed ahead, while Emmett taunted them from the passenger side.
"What are you going to do Emmett?" Jasper called. "Arrest us for speeding?" and he pushed the accelerator as far as it would go. They pulled slightly ahead of Rosalie. At that moment both Jasper and Rosalie's phone rang. Jasper glanced at the screen and held his up.
"Esme!"
"Carlisle!" Rosalie called back.
"Busted." Nessie said simply.
When they had arrived back, Nessie's curls were still completely wind blown and her cheeks were raw. She eyed Rosalie's perfect hair jealously.
Esme met them at the door to the garage shaking her head from the steps above them, her hands clasped in her apron. She smelt faintly of oregeno. "Nessie, go wash up for dinner, please." She moved to the side to allow Nessie to pass.
"Sorry." Nessie mouthed to the others as she walked into the house.
Esme turned back the remaining four. "What were you thinking?" she sighed. "Edward is going to kill you."
"We just wanted to show her a good time. Prove she didn't have to go to a party to have fun." Jasper said.
"No she just has to drive at impossibly high speeds that she can't possibly replicate safely. She is still half human you know." She eyed her children sternly and everyone had the good grace to look contrite. "Besides you seem to have forgotten while you were trying to prove how hip you are, that we're trying to make her less wild, not widen her range of options."
"Sorry mom." Jasper and Emmett muttered.
"But nothing was going to happen! I saw!" Alice insisted.
"Yes, you saw the four of you." Carlisle said mildly, coming up behind his wife. "You can't see Nessie, and you know that. Rosalie, I'm especially surprised at you. Suppose someone had seen you? You're her mother after all. Do you want child services showing up and then we'll have to explain why you were drag racing with your child? That will be especially difficult considering your husband, the patrol officer, was sitting right next to you."
No one argued and all muttered an apology but as they followed Carlisle and Esme into the house, Emmett and Jasper shared a secret and not at all apologetic high five.
After dinner Nessie excused herself to do some homework in Jasper's study, which he had graciously offered. When she was safely in the sound proofed room, a feature Jasper had insisted upon after eighty years without a moment of solitude, the rest of the family fanned out in the living room. Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie played poker and Alice flipped lazily through fashion magazines with Esme. Carlisle had some patient histories on his lap.
"She's not happy." Jasper sighed. He couldn't hear Nessie, but he could feel her, which was their current safe guard against her sneaking out into the night. He anted up.
"She hasn't been happy in awhile." Emmett said, remembering her drunken dance at the party a few nights earlier.
"Is it hormones?" Rosalie asked Carlisle turning fully to face him.
Carlisle put down his files. "I think it's probably just normal teenage stuff. We were all their at some point or another. Add the secrecy of our lives and they fact that she knows she can't form any significant bonds since we'll have to move in three years anyway; it's no wonder she's acting out. Though I admit she is very angry."
"Well maybe it will help when Jacob comes back. They've always been so close." Alice said always trying to find the bright side.
Esme shifted her weight uncomfortable. "Who knows? When he left she was eleven. A lots changed since then."
Jasper was staring down the hall towards his study. After a short burst of excitement he felt anxiety again. She must have figured out the answer to a question. He sent her calming waves. "Actually, I think everything's changed since then."
The smells, the feel of leaves crunching beneath his paws, the cool, night breeze ruffling his fur, Jacob felt more then alive. He felt intrinsic as though he were an essential part of his surroundings. Around him he could hear his pack's thoughts. The newest members had made so much progress and soon he could return to the Cullens. He thought of Nessie's sweet little curls, and the tea parties he'd helped her host. His heart soared at the thought of his sweet little Nessie. For a moment he let himself get lost in the thoughts of all the places he could take her. It was too cold in Alaska for a beach, but maybe there was a local pool? Maybe she was too old of bed time stories? He smiled as well as he could in wolf form. She was just such a sweet kid.
Nessie was very careful to keep her feelings as neutral as possible. After realizing that Jasper had left his lap top she'd only let herself feel one sharp eruption of excitement and then she'd shut herself down as well as she could. She gingerly opened the lid of the computer and opened the browser. She signed into her e-mail account and typed in Sarah's e-mail address.
I'll be there Friday night. Meet me at the stop sign a mile before my driveway at 10:30. I'll be there.
She pressed send, cleared the browser history and carefully closed the lid. Leaning back in her uncle's desk chair she let the cool breeze waft in and ruffle her hair. She grinned. She felt more then alive. She was finally part of something. This weekend was going to be sweet.
A/N – Well we did get to briefly see Jacob this chapter. And boy is he in for a shock. I'm sorry if it was bit fluffy but it should pick up soon. Please review and let me know if you liked it, or hated it, or have ideas or questions!
Till next time…