Chapter Fifteen
Anon (Esme, if you hadn't guessed) POV
"Ow, ow, ow!" Emmett complains.
"Oh hush up," I try to calm him as I dab at his cut.
Bella giggles and Emmett glares at her. Edward smirks at Bella and Bella blushes.
"Shut up, it hurts!" Emmett yells. Edward continues to glare at him, though it isn't much of a glare, as he holds an icepack to his right eye. Edward obviously believes Emmett got his just desserts.
Bella giggles harder and I roll my eyes in agreement. "It's only water, Emmett."
"Oh," he says and the grown man blushes.
Jasper sits beside Bella with a smirk while Bella just keeps giggling, but I have no clue as to what occurred to precipitate this mess.
"Mrs C!" Emmett whines.
I sigh before I pull my 'mom' glare.
I stare at my son and he immediately frowns and whines, "Aw, Ma, come on! It's all Emmett's fault, don't give me that look."
"No!" Emmett retaliates, "It's not all my fault. You're the one who chased me out of the car!"
"I did not chase you," Edward points his icepack at Emmett and I see the bruising that's beginning to form. At least the swelling has come down a bit.
"Put that back on your eye," I chastise.
"Oh boy, wait until Alice sees the two of you!" Jasper teases and both the injured boys' faces pale.
Emmett and Edward both start pleading with Jasper to cover for them. Jasper sits back and soaks up all the power the boys are giving him.
"You two are in the wedding party, you can't exactly hide from Alice forever," Bella points out.
"Oh, it'll be fine," I wave off the teasing twins, "a bit of makeup will cover the bruises."
Both Emmett and Edward looked at each other before they break out laughing incredulously.
"No offense Mrs C, but I'd rather face Alice than wear makeup," Emmett laughs.
I hear a car pull up out the front and I have a feeling that Alice is home. "Ok then," I tell them in a sing-song voice.
The front door opens and closes before we all hear the voice of Alice shout, "I'm home!"
Emmett and Edward's eyes widen – Edward's right not so much because of the swelling.
"Oh shit."
"Emmett!" I reprimand his swearing.
He leaps off the countertop and scrambles over to Bella. Jasper holds in his laughter as Emmett begs, "Make me up, Bells."
Bella points to her purse, which had been sitting on the bench top all morning. "Emmett," she begins, but he cuts her off.
"No time!" he whines as he grabs her jaw in his hand causing her to make a duck like face. Hurriedly he starts wiping her pink lips and rubbing what he finds all over his cut, which is not much at all.
"My 'urse," Bells struggles to tell him. Jasper cackles mirthfully by her side.
Edward shakes his head slowly before he reacts to the situation and grabs Bella's purse. Swinging it at Emmett he shouts, "Get off my Bella's lips!"
I crack a smile at Edward's slip and wonder if anyone else heard it. Jasper is lost to the world as he struggles to breathe through his laughs. Bella is still trying to wrestle Emmett off of her lips and Edward is belting Emmett with the purse. I don't think anyone heard that slip but me.
Emmett finally reacts to the beating. "What are you doing?" he asks Edward.
Bella saves her handbag from Edward's grip, but Edward's still in swinging mode, so he begins slapping Emmett's sides. Emmett slaps him back.
"Jasper, help?" Bella asks and Jasper reacts without further instruction.
Jasper quickly forces the two men, who are still slapping each other, to the ground while Bella digs through her purse.
She pulls a pale nude lipstick, some concealer and powder out of her bag. She kneels by Emmett, punches him in the arm to pay attention and says slowly, "Put this on your lips, lightly though."
I cover my mouth as Emmett begins to slather the lipstick all over his lips.
Bella moves over to cover Edward's bruise with the concealer. When she's done she hands him the powder. I watch curiously as she looks back at Jasper and winks. Jasper can barely contain himself. I am out of the loop with their silent conversation.
"Powder your eye a little, it will make it look more natural. I need to help Emmett," Bella tells Edward. I am confused as she stands instead of moving to help Emmett.
Bella moves to Jasper's side so she can take in the view of the two men. She pats her brother's back as he doubles over in laughter. I assume he too heard the clacking of heels on the hardwood floor. I cover my smile with my hand and watch as Alice enters the kitchen.
"Hey guys, what's," she pauses as she catches sight of the two grown men on the floor who are diligently applying copious amounts of makeup. They look ridiculous, but it covers their injuries. "Uh, what's going on?"
"Alice!" Emmett and Edward scream in alarm.
Jasper sobers slightly and moves to stand next to his fiancée. "Edward and Emmett thought that they'd experiment, darling."
Alice's mouth opens several times trying to find the right words for the situation. Her eyes find mine and they flicker between Edward and Emmett before they shift quickly to Bella. I just wink letting her know that I've got the situation under control. I must remember to tell her about Edward's 'my Bella' slip later on.
Alice just says, "Ok," before she turns to leave the confusing kitchen.
Jasper hovers for a few seconds before he quietly says to Edward and Emmett, "I'll keep her away from you two, but I suggest you come up with a better plan," he smirks, "you both look like clowns."
Emmett and Edward scurry off of the ground and begin to wipe at their faces. Emmett effectively removes most of his with his tongue. Edward is struggling though and I watch as Bella realises this too and moves to help him wipe it off with a towel.
Tenderly she holds his chin with her fingertips and dabs at the mess he had made. She accidently nudges his swollen eye and he flinches back. I watch as she moves onto her tippy toes and leans in to kiss his bruise. She pauses halfway there and realises what she's about to do. I groan when she puts space between herself and Edward.
"Esme?" she asks me.
"Hm? Oh, will you kids please tell me... how all this happened?" I ask, changing my question half way through, wanting to remain a seemingly oblivious fly on the wall to their developing relationship a little longer.
Emmett starts, "Mrs C, did you know that Edward and Bella are..."
"Emmett said some mean stuff about Bella!" Edward shouts, interrupting Emmett outing them. I shoot Edward an exasperated look, which he misreads as a reprimand. Bella rubs his shoulder soothingly and I rein in my impatient self.
I turn to face Emmett and try to look as confused and out of the loop as possible, but I don't know if it's effective. How can it be when Edward and Bella's relationship is practically being painted on the wall in red?
"Alright boys," Bella steps between the two and takes control, "how about we let me tell this story?"
"Deal!" Edward screams, but Emmett seems hesitant.
"Alright Bella," he says, "but we're going to have a little chat later on, ok?"
Bella nods and launches into a story about Emmett and Edward whispering about something in the car. I deduce that that something that she rolled her eyes at is her and Edward's affair.
"I had hardly stopped the car before Edward tackled Emmett, Jasper's lucky he wasn't used as a sparring mat," she concludes.
Edward and Emmett seem content with Bella's version of events.
Silence falls over the kitchen and I assume they're either waiting for permission to leave, or their punishment.
"Alright," I say, "no more fighting, ok?"
"You won't tell Alice?" Emmett looks at me hopefully and I shake my head.
"I won't," I promise. I wouldn't be surprised if Alice knows by tonight though.
I wave them away and they hurry out of the kitchen. I hear Edward's voice telling Emmett that he's, "being too handsy with Bella," and that "she's not going to tell you anything, you oaf!"
I round the kitchen bench and absentmindedly start cleaning as I ponder the display to which I've just been treated.
It was cute.
I roll my eyes at myself and check myself before I start squealing and happy dancing around my kitchen. Of course Alice and I have been curious and trying to force Bella and Edward together for almost two weeks now, but just now had been the first sign of a crack in their facade.
I mean, could they be more obvious?
The sly looks, the care Bella exhibited with Edward as opposed to the 'fend for yourself' attitude she gave Emmett. The my Bella!
It's all just a little bit cute, don't you think?
But why hide it? Maybe they don't see how they are around each other? Or they're denying their true feelings. Perhaps they're messing with me. They know they're in love and Edward just knows that this type of thing would get under my skin.
I shake my head. They don't know. Edward and Bella are two oblivious and stubborn people.
"What's got you grinning like that?" Alice asks as she enters and plops herself down on a bar stool.
"You should have seen what I just witnessed!" I gossip like a schoolgirl.
Alice narrows her eyes. "It wasn't Edward and Emmett putting that makeup over their bruises, was it? I'm not stupid. Edward's eye is practically swollen shut! I can't believe they'd get in a fight, the wedding is in two days," she rants.
"It's way better," I tell her. I tell her about all that I witnessed just now. She sits on the edge of her seat hanging on every word.
I finish and I wait for what she will say. She has been my accomplice, my side kick from day one of this matchmaking mission. I anxiously wait as she lets all the information sink in.
Finally she speaks, "I wonder what they'll be like tomorrow."
I frown, as her words were so anticlimactic after everything I just spilled. "What's tomorrow?"
"It's wedding eve," she replies. I look at her imploringly, "The bride and groom cannot see each other on the night before their wedding. Jasper and I part ways after lunch."
"I still don't see what this has to do with Bella and Edward," I admit, entirely confused.
"Well, the bridal party is expected to spend this time together so the bride does not crack."
"So, we're keeping them apart, didn't we try this before, and did it not work?"
She nods slowly, "Yess," she drags the word out, "but their reunion will be at a highly emotional wedding ceremony," she giggles.
"Anticipating a love(-)filled moment?" I ask, wondering if she's expecting for the two to see each other across the altar and suddenly confess their love for each other in front of Alice's wedding guests.
"Perhaps," Alice answers. "Am I asking too much?"
"Are you going to taunt them?" I ask her. I can't see through her logic. I don't know how much farther we can push. We've done so much already and they have hardly cracked.
She taps her lips thoughtfully. "Maybe, I'm going to assess this one as it comes." Maybe if we come clean they will too. I don't know if teasing them is the way to go. I look at her disapprovingly. Alice responds defensively, "What! Oh, come on, don't give me that look. Besides, we need them to come clean, before they do something to totally ruin my wedding."