When Bella got home later that day, Anthony was relieved to see her.
"Mom" he said. "I thought you were never going to show."
Bella frowned, placing little Ed in his basket in the hallway.
"Why? What's going on?" she asked.
She had planned to tell Anthony about her latest run in with Dimitri, but felt like now was hardly the time. Bella wasn't used to seeing Anthony like this. He seemed nervous, pacing the livingroom back and forth as if he was thinking of what to do.
"Don't freak out or anything" he said looking at her catiously.
Bella sat down on the sofa. What was going on?
"I promise, now tell me" she ordered softly.
Anthony stopped pacing and looked at his mother.
"I have a date."
Bella nearly felt her jaw drop. Quickly a huge smile spread across her face. Anthony smiled too, but then laughed clearly embarassed.
"Stop it!" he called out right before Bella got up from the sofa and practically threw herself at him, holding him so tight he couldn't move his arms.
"You promised not to freak out" he reminded her.
Bella pulled back as she squealed.
"This is so fun!" she said happily.
Anthony smiled.
"Done?" he asked.
Bella nodded eagerly.
"Yes, now what's the problem?" she asked. "And who's the girl? Sometimes those are the same things, you know" she added, eager to offer motherly advice.
Anthony laughed.
"Her name's Jenny and I have no idea what to wear, how to act or... Basically I don't know anything" he said looking quite helpless.
So Bella took her son upstairs where they went through his closet. While they debated on what he should wear she inquired about this Jenny.
"We met at Biology" Anthony said, and Bella's heart nearly stopped.
"That's how I met your dad!" she couldn't contain her excitement.
Anthony looked surprised.
"Really? You never told me that."
"I'll tell you everything another time, but right now..." Bella gestured impatiently for him to carry on.
"She's the prettiest girl I've seen. She's funny and smart. You'd like her. I don't know where I drew courage from or anything, but all of a sudden I had asked her out and she had said yes."
"Of course she did" Bella cooed happily while picking out a darkblue button-down shirt and pants to match.
As Anthony went to change, Bella sat down on his bed, waiting and smiling to herself. When Anthony got out and did the expected turn around, Bella felt in awe. It was more apparent than ever how much he looked like Edward the older he got. There was barely any of her in him. Everything from the hair, to the skin, to the eyes, to his height, to the way he carried himself: it was all Edward.
"You look like a heartbreaker" Bella said smiling.
"Thanks" he said and sat down beside her. Suddenly he looked sad.
"What's wrong?" Bella asked concerned.
Anthony didn't answer, but instead took a deep breath as if he was trying to fight something off.
"I wish Charlie was here right now" he said quietly as he looked down on the floor.
Bella put her arm around his shoulders and held him tight.
"Me too" she said.
And then Bella held her son close as he quietly let his tears fall. Charlie had been Anthony's father figure. They used to go on fishing trips and they had always been real close. Bella knew Anthony would never stop blaming himself for his death. He took a deep breath before he spoke again.
"I don't know if this is something I can do. A potential relationship. I mean..." he trailed off. "I am what I am" he concluded.
Bella felt her heart breaking. This would be his lifelong conflict. A conflict she would solve in an instant if she could.
"What's standing in your way?" she asked him instead.
Anthony thought about it.
"It's a secret. I would always have to keep it a secret that I'm not like everyone else."
Bella nodded, realizing that would be a heavy burden, but then again...
"Maybe it doesn't have to be a secret" she suggested.
"To tell someone I'm only half-human, that I'm actually half-vampire..." he trailed off again, then laughing humorlessly. "Well, I could be turned in to a psych ward for claiming something like that."
"Or you meet someone great, someone who understands that you're different and won't turn you into a psych ward" Bella suggested slightly more positive than her son.
She sighed.
"Look, all I know is this. I met someone I knew from the first time I saw him that he was unlike everyone else I had ever met before, that he was different than everyone else. When I found out that he really was different, that he was a vampire" Bella stopped here and thought back on the defining moment. "It didn't stop me from loving him."
She looked at her son.
"If someone truly loves you it won't matter" she said speaking directly from her heart.
Anthony nodded still with tears in his eyes as he took another deep breath. It was a heavy conversation concerning something he had thought much about and why he had waited to talk to his mother until now, he didn't know, but it felt better having voiced his concerns.
"You live your life the way you want to live it" Bella carried on her speech. "Normal is boring" she threw out there just for the sake of it which made Anthony smile. "You're not that different from everyone else you know. You're just smarter, stronger, more handsome.." Anthony resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his mother's silly comment. "So maybe you go out hunting every now and then, but isn't that considered manly?" Bella mused aloud.
"You're such a goofball" he told his mother.
Bella smiled.
"Would you have wanted Charlie to give you advice? A man to man talk?" Bella guessed, thinking of how he missed Charlie especially at this moment.
Anthony nodded.
"Something like that" he said looking sad again, tears coming to his eyes.
It had an contagious effect and Bella felt her eyes welling up too. Charlie had always been such great support. He had never known why Anthony was different and had never cared to know why because it wouldn't have made any difference to him, he wouldn't have loved his grandson less if he had known. That kind of approach had strengthened her son. Now with Charlie gone... Bella watched her son with his head hung low and felt awful for his loss.
She took a deep breath, and then in her best imitation of Charlie, she spoke.
"It doesn't matter who you are or what you are, just treat her right son" she said.
Anthony, realizing what his mother was doing, felt a smile tugging on the corners of his lips, until he found himself downright laughing. He wiped away his tears and Bella laughed along with her son before composing herself.
"Just go along with it. Don't think, just do. Don't complicate things" Bella continued in a dark manly voice.
"He doesn't sound anything like that" Anthony remarked, now smiling widely.
"I know" she agreed.
They laughed together and Bella once again held her son close and told him he was the greatest and that any girl would be lucky to have him. As he put on his jacket getting ready to leave, she sighed to herself.
The contrasts.
Just a few hours ago she had been at her father's grave while speaking to the Volturi, only to come home to her son who in some ways was just like any other teenager who worried about girls and dates. It struck her that her little boy was growing up and she felt quite overcome by the revelation. When Anthony went to the kitchen to retrieve a flower he'd gotten for Jenny, she sighed again but this time with a smile on her face. He really was growing up.
Anthony was about to walk out the door when she stopped him.
"One last piece of advice" she said.
Anthony paid attention.
"Don't read her thoughts" Bella said.
He smiled.
"I will try not to" he said looking slightly mischievous or maybe she imagined it.
She looked at him more sternly.
"I promise" he added seriously and then after one quick embrace he was out the door.