Happy Thursday everyone!
Hopefully everyone had an excellent week.
Thank you. So terribly much for the reading and the reviewing. The words of encouragement have been really mind blowing.
I don't know.
December 22, 2010
EPOV
Dinner is a hellish affair. Bella sits to my right, in her once usual spot at the dining room table, and no one speaks. Rosalie and Emmett glare. Alice looks uncomfortable. Jasper looks high. I look at my French onion soup Rosalie prepared, diligently ignoring the girl on my right. The sounds of slurping and clinking fill the room.
Christmas is in three days. I hope we alleviate some of the tension before the holiday.
"So," Alice asks with trumped up enthusiasm. "How was everyone's day? Rosalie? What did you do?"
"Oh you know, the usual. Sometimes it just gets so dull I just want to take off for two years and fuck around. But somehow I refrain." Rosalie's words are harsh and her tone cruel. I hate it when Rose gets like this, and I wish she would just straight up say what exactly pissed her off so. Not that It's hard to guess.
I can't help but glance at Bella. Her face is a composed, emotionless mask, but she sets her spoon next to her bowl and puts her shaking hands into her lap.
"Please, Rose," Alice reprimands. "Emmett, what about you?"
"It was good, pixie-dust," says my brother through a spoonful of soup. "I dealt with this old employee who wanted their job back. It was the damndest thing. The dude quits, then comes crawling back with his tail in between his legs thinking that everything can just go back to the way it was before. Crazy right?"
"Em—" Alice tries to stop the conversation, but it interrupted by the overpowering voice of Rosalie.
"That motherfucker must be insane if they think their departure could just go unnoticed like that," says Rosalie, continuing to shoot laser beams of hate at Bella. "What a cock sucking little bitch."
"Where do you think this employee has been all this time?" Emmett muses. I'm surprised that Emmett is playing along with his girlfriend. He's usually so good natured, not vindictive at all. But for once, he is acting just as spiteful as Rosalie.
I find I don't like hate directed towards Bella.
"Dunno… best case jail? Worst case, fucking strangers for money and snorting blow?"
My hand slams down on the table, causing bowls and utensils to clatter and all heads snap in my direction.
"That's fucking enough," I seethe. No one will talk about Bella that way, even if I'm furious with her. "If you have something to say, then fucking say it."
Bella looks at me with wide eyes, and I immediately become fixated on my meal.
"Why the hell are you defending her?" Rosalie screeches at me. I wish I have an answer for her very good question, but I got nothing. "She fucking crushed you! Or did you forget about that the moment you got your dick inside her again?"
I blush like crazy, and now Bella is the one slapping her hand down on the table.
"Don't fucking talk to him like that, Rosalie Lillian," Bella says. "Edward and I still have a lot to talk about, and it is none of your fucking business what we do or do not do. You don't have to forgive me, or consider me a friend again, but I'm not going anywhere so deal with it."
Bella practically sprints out of the dinning room. I fight every natural instinct to rush after her.
"I can't believe you let her move back in, Alice," Rosalie says, still enraged.
"It's pretty fucked up, sis," Emmett agrees. "Poor Edward. She's living in his old room? How is he supposed to feel about that?"
"I asked his permission, thank you very much, Em!" Alice huffs in self-defense. "If he doesn't have a problem with it, then why do you two?"
"Because we're the only ones who have any common sense!" bellows Rosalie. "Bella's a fuck up. A selfish fuck up. Eventually she's going to take off again without a word, and where will we be then? Huh?"
"Bella is my friend. My very best friend. And I know she isn't perfect, but I'll love her forever. She doesn't need my forgiveness, and I'll always be there for her," Alice yells right back. Things are quickly getting out of control, and I don't know how I feel about the words being thrown back and forth across the table.
"That's bullshit, Alice! It's like you are condoning her behavior. Like how I stupidly let her back into my life again when you two started college, even though I knew she was a terrible friend. I should have never talked to her again after she fucked my boyfriend!"
"Rosalie," Alice says in exasperation. "Let that go. You know that Bella didn't sleep with Jake when he was with you, so just shut up about it."
"Whatever," Rosalie scoffs. "The point is, she deserves to be punished after what she did to Edward."
"I think losing Edward is punishment enough," says Alice quietly. I stare at my twin, desperately attempting to read her thoughts, but I can't tell what exactly she means by this statement. "It would be one thing if you were upset with Bella leaving you, but Edward is a big boy, he can handle himself. He doesn't need you to defend him."
"I'm right here, you know," I say in irritation. I may be quiet, but I still don't like them talking about me like I'm not here.
"That's why I'm mad," Emmett puts in. "She was like my little sister, and she just took off. That's not cool. Plus, she hurt my little brother, and that's really not cool."
"Listen, guys," I say, trying to calm everyone down. "Just keep out of my business with Bella. You have every right to be angry with her, but she is back now. She lives here. You need to be polite. Or at least not openly adversarial."
Emmett pouts, Rose growls.
"Seriously, back off," I say with authority as I rise from the table. "I know what I'm doing with Bella."
"Really?" Rose asks, looking amused. I ignore her, trying to convince myself of the validity of my own words.
January 19, 2005
EPOV
"What are you doing this weekend?" I demand the moment Bella sets her bag down on our typical table in the stacks.
"Well hello to you too, ginger," Bella chuckles as I scowl at her. I hate my latest nickname. Shortly after Christmas break, Bella and I got into a huge argument over my hair color. She claims I'm a ginger, I deny her accusation adamantly pointing out that the odd shade is more brown then anything. Bella thinks my discomfort is amusing, and a new name was born. I miss Adonis. It's far more complimentary.
"Don't call me ginger," I insist.
"Ginger, ginger, ginger, ginger," she sings, sticking her hands in my hair and moving it in time with her stupid song. I try to be indignant, but I like the way she is touching me too much to mind.
"Seriously, Bella," I say when she removes her hands from my hair and takes her seat next to mine. "What are you doing this weekend?"
It has been almost four months since Bella's mouth was on mine, and she announced that we were friends. I struggle daily to respect her wishes, and keep our friendship platonic, but it was damn difficult.
She touches me too often and with too much familiarity. When she laughs, she touches my arm or places a hand on my leg. When we study late, she lays her head on my shoulder.
Our time together is still limited to class, the library, or the occasional meal. I desperately want to see her outside of school.
Plus, I've been spending more time with Alice's friend Kate. She is pretty, blond, and smart. She's a Biology major from Alaska. But I need to know there is nothing between Bella and I for sure before I ask out another girl.
"Dunno. If I had to guess, I would probably say that I'm going to go to a party at Jake's," she says, flipping through the latest novel she was assigned to read for her latest Lit class.
"Do you ever get bored of doing the same old thing?" I ask. Occasionally, I will go to a party if Alice, Jasper, and Emmett force me. I don't really like them much. Too many strangers make me uncomfortable, and girls tend to throw themselves at me. Luckily, my friend Ben has the same view of the party scene, and I am able to have a social life without going out every weekend.
"Every night is different, silly," Bella says with an eye roll. "There are always new adventures to be had."
"What about an adventure at a different party?" I ask.
"You going to a party, Edward?" she asks, feigning surprise. "But who will look after the library while you're away?'
"Cute," I reply, shoving her playfully as she laughs at me. I consider pointing out that she comes here almost as often as I do, but I let it slide. "My brother is having a party tomorrow night at his house."
"Emmett?"
"Yup, my one and only annoying big brother."
"So, the brother that lives with and is dating Rosalie Hale?" Bella demands, looking at me like I'm an idiot. Which I am. I totally forgot about Bella's history with Emmett's bitchy blond girlfriend. Although I don't know the whole story, it's clear that the two were once best friends before they got in some sort of fight over Jacob Black.
I really hate Jacob Black.
"That's the one," I reply, upset because I know there is no way I will get her there now. Bella hates the drama.
"You're aware that my life will probably end if I go to this shindig with you, right?"
For someone who hates dramatics, Bella is sure into hyperbole.
"Rosalie Hale will probably slaughter me the moment I step foot into her house. That bitch hates me and can hold one hell of a grudge," Bella says, shaking her head.
"So what did you do?"
"What makes you think I did something?" Bella asks, apparently aghast at my assumption. I give her a pointed look. She laughs before continuing. "Okay, stop looking at me. You're right, I did do something. But mostly it was just a big misunderstanding."
"How so?"
"Well, she walked in on me naked in Jake's bed and she assumed the worst."
I know Bella has been with a boy or two, but hearing her discuss her sexual past so blatantly makes me a bit ill.
"Holy fuck, Edward. Look at that look you are giving me! You assume the worst too!" Bella yells, slapping a palm down on the table.
"Assuming makes an ass out of you and me," I say in the worst defense ever.
But Bella laughs and punches me lightly in the shoulder. "You're the biggest dork I know. For your information, there was a perfectly good reason I was naked. I had just gotten out of the shower, and my clothes were in the dryer because Jake had pushed me into Boulder Creek so I was waiting for them to dry."
Rosalie's assumption doesn't seem that outrageous.
"Jake and I hadn't fucked since before he started dating Rose," Bella continues. I snap the pencil I'm holding underneath the table at her words, but thankfully Bella doesn't seem to notice. "He wasn't even in the room when she walked in. And yes, it looked bad. But come on! I was her best friend! She knew I was half living with Jake, half living out of my truck at the time. She should have believed me when I explained. But no. She just believes what she wants to believe, dumps Jake, and stops speaking to me. Though, I did start sleeping with him again after that. But there was zero cheating!"
There is so much about Bella's rant I have a problem with, I don't even know where to begin.
"Wait. Why were you living with Jake?" I ask, confused.
All the color drains form Bella's cheeks, and her eyes go wide.
"No reason," she says, trying to sound casual and failing miserably. "Hey, have you done the bio homework yet? I fucking hate meiosis or mitosis or whatever the fuck we're studying."
"Isabella," I say sternly. "Why were you living at Jake's in high school?"
"I had nowhere else to go," she replies, shrugging.
"Where was your mom?"
"Dunno, Eddie," she said, angry with me all of a sudden. "Dropping acid at some hippy dippy commune and forgetting my existence? Fucking the president of the United States? Saving little AIDS babies in Africa? Who the fuck knows? She definitely wasn't here."
"So she just… left?" I ask, struggling to comprehend.
"Yup. Came home one day from school junior year to find an empty house and 200 bucks in cash."
I gape at her in shock. Bella's inability to trust suddenly makes much more sense. This beautiful, intelligent, strong girl has mommy issues and daddy issues. She drinks too much and smokes too often. She is creative, funny, and has never before really been loved.
I should run for the high heavens, but if anything these revelations only draw me in further.
Not knowing what to say, I grab Bella's hand and tug on it until she finally rises. I pull her into my lap. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I give her one hell of a hug. For a drawn out moment, she is tense under my hands. But when I don't let go, she gradually relaxes against me.
"Your mom is a big, fat, stupid bitch," I whisper in her ear as I cradle her to my chest. Bella lets out a half sob, half snort.
"You're so good at that," she says, hugging me tighter for a moment before pulling away so she can look at my face. There's a smile in her big brown eyes that wasn't present before my awesome hug.
"Good at what? Hugs?" I venture.
"Yes," she says with a laugh. "But also knowing just what to say to make me feel better. I don't talk about my mom much. Jake and his dad are really the only ones who know the details. Know that I'm unlovable."
My face falls at her words, and I glare at her.
"Kidding! Shit, lighten up," Bella says, shoving me in the shoulder as she unfortunately removes herself from my lap. Her voice is light, but I fear that is just how she sees herself. I have to bite the side of my mouth to keep form confessing my own love for her.
"So are you coming with me tomorrow night?" I ask.
"To Rosalie's party? Are you fucking serious?" she shrieks, eyes bulging out of her skull.
"Live dangerously."
"Where does your brother live?" Ben asks me Friday night as we drink pre party rum and cokes in my dorm room.
"On The Hill," I say, referring to the neighborhood just west of campus where many college kids live. The area is loud, the party neighborhood, and home to all the frat and sorority houses. Needless to say, it's not my favorite part of Boulder.
"Oh good," says Angela, talking a long drink. "We can walk."
"Hey, man," Jasper drawls, reaching an arm around my sister who is perched on his lap. "Pass the bottle."
I do as he ask, eyes darting towards the door every three seconds as I wait impatiently for Bella to appear. She is forty-five minutes late, and I fear that she's going to bail on me. Flipping open my phone, I send her a text.
Where you at, gurl?
Her reply is instant.
Outslide keyz gog. Get me?
"'Cuse me," I say, waving off the happy couples hanging out in my room. I half run down a flight of stairs to get to Bella quickly. Though she is obviously already wasted, I understand what see means in her texts.
I push open the door, looking around frantically for a sign of her.
"Yoo hoooooo." My head snaps down to see Bella sitting with her back against the side of the building. "Down here, pretty boy!"
I laugh, offering her a hand. She giggles, falling forward into me as she stood.
"You found me!" With a hand on either side of my face, she pulls my face close to hers. Her pupils are as wide as her smile. If I hadn't already had several drinks, I would probably be concerned. "Oh, I'm glad it's you. Wonderful, wonderful, Edward. Why are you so wonderful to me?" She is talking super fast, and I have a hard time following.
"Because I like you, Isabella. Very much," I reply, steadying her with my hands on her hips.
"No. You. Do. Not," she declares, smacking her forehead into my chest to punctuate each word. "Renee. The woman. Who pushed me out of her vagina. Does. Not. Even. Like. ME."
"I thought we established that she was a big, fat, stupid bitch. Her opinion's invalid. Hey, where've you been?"
"Dinner," she replies, playing with the buttons on my coat.
"With who?" I ask, immediately jealous of anyone who gets to spend time with her other then myself.
"The big, fat, stupid, bitch."
"She is back?" I ask, surprised. I didn't know she came back.
"I DO NOT WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT." She glares at me with the punching face, so I cover her fists with my much larger hands. The door behind us flies open, and our friends come bursting out, laughing and hanging all over each other.
"Let's get to goin, ya'll," Jasper declares, arm raised as he leads the charge to Emmett house.
I keep an arm around Bella's shoulders as we follow the rest of the group.
"Bella? Are you cold? You're shivering," I say, laughing down at her as she shakes in my arms.
"Not cold. You give me the shivers when you touch me. How do you do that? Hey! A big, dark, tree. Come on!" Bella drags me over to said big, dark, tree, and we sit on a root. She starts rifling thought the bag at her hip, periodically handing me shit as she disregards it. By the time she finds the small silver box she searched for, I am holding a hair brush, a beer, her cell phone, and a pair of fake vampire teeth. I pop them in my mouth, and nibble on her neck as she giggles.
"Focus, Adonis." She opens the narrow case and thrusts it under my nose. "Get a whiff of these warlocks."
I inhale, instantly recognizing pungent odor of weed. It's a scent I have come to equate with Boulder. This town is like the pot capital of America. Though I recognize the smell, that is the extension of my marijuana knowledge. I am a nerd. A straight laced kid who had their first sip of alcohol the summer before I came to college. And even then, that was mostly because Esme gently encouraged me to attend a party in Forks with my siblings. She said that she was sure I would get alcohol poisoning and die if I got drunk for the first time in college. Little did she know, I accidently lost my virginity to my scary girlfriend I didn't even like that night.
"Northern Lights," she say, looking at the joint fondly. "An indica, sativa hybrid. High quality shit right here. Purchased special for Jake's birthday. So divine."
I watch in fascination as she puts the joint between her lips, flicks open her zippo. The flame illuminates her face, and she inhales deeply. The end glows red, and she extinguished the lighter, blowing out a big breath of smoke in my general direction.
"Ahhh…" she sighs, leaning back against the tree. She holds out her hand, and we both watch as the tremors gradually subsided. "There. Easy rollin."
She absently hands me the joint, and I hesitate before taking it between my thumb and pointer finger. I stare at it for a moment, not knowing what I want to do.
"Edward? You ok, buddy? Have you never smoked pot before? THAT IS SO ADORABLE! You are just too cute with your reading and your glasses and your studiousness. You're the hottest nerd I know." She is still talking super fast. Her behavior is a little alarming.
"I'm not a nerd," I defend.
"Yes, you are. Don't worry. I like you that way. Edward Cullen is pure. No drugs, no sex. It's refreshing. I don't know anyone like you. Aren't you glad I stumbled into your dorm room all those months ago? I am. Hey, the first time I smoked pot I was 13 and it was with Jake. Come to think of it, the first time I had sex I was also 13 and it was also with Jake. He's mad at me that I didn't invite him tonight and he really doesn't like you at all. But I do. And that's what matters. Hey! If you're not gonna puff it, pass it!"
I blink at Bella in shock, concerned. Never before have I heard her speak so much. Though I want to know everything about Bella, most of what she just said is downright disturbing.
Apparently, I hesitate too long, because Bella huffs in frustration and plucks the joint from my hand.
"Watch me," she whispers, staring at me intently. She takes a large hit, looks toward the starry sky, and puffs out three large smoke rings before deteriorating into a laughing fit.
"Impressive. Where did you learn that?" The movement of her neck as she smokes is entrancing.
"Practice." She puts out the half gone joint, placing it back in the case, and stands abruptly. "Come on, ginger, we have a party to attend."
I stagger to my feet, and we make our way to Emmett's.
"I can't believe you brought her," my brother says with a chuckle as he claps me on the back. "I can't believe she agree to come. This has the potential to be a great drinking game."
Jasper, Emmett, and I loiter by the bar in the living room, looking on in sick fascination as Bella and Rosalie face off. They are standing about eight feet apart, silently glaring at each other as the party rages on around them
"Here is the game." Emmett is always inventing games. It is great, though he wins much more often then I do. "Every two minutes that passes in silence, we drink. Every time Rose snarls, we drink. Every time Bella sways, we drink. Every time Rose says bitch, we drink. Every time Bella says cocksucker, we drink. If it gets physical, we drink twice. If they make up, we drink twice."
Twenty minutes and six shots later, Bella and Rosalie agree to part amicably and avoid each other for the rest of the evening. Things get hazy, and I lose track of Bella when Emmett enlists me to be his beer pong partner. Surprisingly, we win three times before Rosalie and Alice end our winning streak. It is probably shameful to lose to our sister and his girlfriend, but Rosalie is very provocative. It was distracting. Equally distracting is Emmett covering my eyes every time Rosalie moves.
Though I typically enjoy parties at my brothers, tonight is particularly good because I don't wondering what Bella is doing and who she is with.
These people genuinely like me. They think I'm cool, even if I don't drink very often, don't smoke, and like the peace of the library. I like the college version of myself, and other people like it too.
Even Bella. She says so herself.
As a dance party heats up in the living room, I am inspired to locate Bella when a scantily clad red head grinds her chest into my side.
I look in the three upstairs bedrooms, the two bathrooms, and circle the house outside before I get concerned. I trudge down the steps to the basement, dread and trepidation coiling in my stomach.
Turning the corner at the bottom of the stairs, I almost puke up all the alcohol in my system at the sight before me.
Bella is slumped against the back of an old couch, head lolling to one side, with her eyes half closed. Her arms lay motionless at her sides, and she is missing a shoe. Next to her is some guy in a leather jacket, his blond head attached Bella's neck and a beefy hand roughly paws at her chest.
Bella, with the muscle strength of a 2 month old, lifts her head for a moment, looking at me. "Edward," she moans, with a goofy smile before her head flops to the side again. Blinded by an alcohol-induced rage, I cross the room in less then a second and haul the fucking rapist off my girl.
"What the fuck!" he screams, whipping around to face me after he regains his balance. "Don't be a cock blocker, you little bitch. Get the fuck out of here."
"She's passed out, asshole! Leave her the fuck alone!" I roar back. Shy, nerdy, easygoing Edward has disappeared the moment I saw his hands all over her.
"Yeah, on my coke! She owes me. Now get the fuck out of here. I don't give a fuck if the little whore is passed out or not. It's all the same to me."
Without thinking, I pull my fist back and hit him square in the nose. We both howl in pain. Never before have I punched someone, and it hurts like a bitch. I cradle my wounded hand, my reflexes slowed down by the booze, and watch in horror as he straightens in front of me. His right hook seems to come at me in slow motion, and connects with my cheek.
I'm down like a sack of potatoes.
I shutter to think how much it will hurt in the morning, when the blessed, alcohol induced numbness wears off. The smug fucker looms over me, and a few drops of blood from his nose splatters on my forehead. I'm sure he's about to kick my face in, when he's suddenly ripped from my line of sight.
"YOU FUCKING HIT MY LITTLE BROTHER IN MY HOUSE, MOTHERFUCKER!" Emmett bellows, easily restraining the much smaller blond by the neck. "I OUGHT TO FUCKING KILL YOU!"
I sit up and scoot to Bella who has fallen into a horizontal position on the couch. I faintly register Emmett's continued bellows, and Jasper's soothing tone, but mostly I just focus on Bella.
Her glazed eyes follow my movement as I get even closer. I place a palm over her cheek. She copies my gesture, her fingers weakly tracing my throbbing cheekbone.
"See, Adonis?" she says as her hand once again falling limply to the couch. "Unlovable."
I close my eyes and rest my forehead against hers. "Not true," I implore, knowing that she is already asleep. "I love you, Isabella Swan."
I don't know how long I sit like that, but eventually Rosalie interrupts my brooding.
"Edward," my brother's girlfriend says in a shockingly compassionate tone. "She can stay here tonight. Our roommate, Garrett, is never around. I'll take her up to his room."
"No," I say, waving Rosalie off and rising from the floor. "I'll take her up. Do you mind if I stay with her?"
"Not at all."
A few minutes later, Bella and I are settled in a foreign bed. Leaning heavily on me, Bella has managed to walk up two flights of stairs before flopping down on the bed. I remove her one shoe, feathered earrings, chunky silver necklaces, and sweater, leaving her in black tights and a long denim button up. By her head on the floor, I place an empty plastic trashcan and fill a glass of water that I set on the nightstand. She seems to sleep peacefully, but I become obsessed with her breathing. I don't know anything about cocaine, and I worry that if I fall asleep, her heart will just stop. I lay my head on her shoulder and place a hand over her chest, relieved that her heartbeat is steady, but not flying.
After about half an hour, the sleep talking starts. Most of what she mumbles is incoherent. I catch a few words here and there like "cheesy puffy", "big, fat, stupid," and "rose muncher". When her statements gain clarity, I listen with rapt attention.
"Edward in the mountains," she says so clear, for a moment I thought she has woken up. She follow this up with a "love… too".
I spend the next few hours all up in my head, silently freaking out about all I have learned today.
Bella's mom is back.
She lost her virginity at age 13 to Jake.
She is a pot connoisseur - except I pretty much already knew that.
Cocaine is something she doesn't mind doing, apparently.
Punching someone hurts.
Getting punched by someone hurts.
Bella may have heard me tell her I love her, and she may love me back.
I have no fucking clue what I'm doing.
The sun stretches across the plains in the east when I finally relax enough to succumb to sleep.
"Where the fuck is she, Rosalie?" an angry voice booms from below, shocking me out of sleep. I open my eyes to see Bella sleepily staring back at me, and it takes me a minute to remember how I got there and why my face hurts so much.
"Jake, calm the fuck down. She's asleep upstairs—"
Ominous, heavy thudding sounds below us as someone big ascends the stairs.
Bella reaches out and tentatively traces her fingers over my cheek. I only wince a little, and anger flashes in her eyes.
"Shit," Bella mutters as the memories flooded back, I assume.
I don't know what to say to her, and I really want to go back to bed, but both all options are abruptly taken away from me when the bedroom door slams open.
"YOU!" yells the massive Jacob Black. He pointed at me menacingly. "What the fuck did you let happen to her?"
I sit up and stare at him in confusion.
"Jake, please calm down," Bella pleads next to me.
Instead, Jacob goes a different route, letting out an enraged wail, and punching me in the bad eye, basically the same spot the coke fiend hit. I see stars, fall backward back into bed, and immediately pass out.
The sun is high in the sky, and I'm looking at lions doing it on the TV when I open my eyes.
"Sorry, man," says my brother from his position on the floor by my head. He has a huge bowl of cereal in his hands and shoves it into his mouth rapidly, his eyes never leaving his show. "Garrett came home and freaked about you bleeding all over his sheets, had to relocate you."
"Emmett," I say, my voice surprisingly calm given the circumstances. "What the fuck?"
"Now what exactly are you 'what the fucking' about?" he asks, still fixated on the large screen across the room. "That crazy girlfriend of yours? The cocaine use in my house? You punching a coke fiend? Getting punched by two different dudes in the same eye in less then six hours?"
"No. Actually, I was referring to the big cats having sex on TV."
"Oh," Emmett says with a chuckle. "It's Animal Planet. Best channel ever."
We watch in silence, and I learn that when a female lion is in heat, they mate constantly for two weeks. I expect Emmett to make some jokes about giving the pussycat's a run for their money, but he remains unusually quite. Occasionally, Emmett blindly sticks his spoon behind him, shoving cereal into my mouth.
Alice enters the living room to see Emmett feeding me. It's a difficult process because Emmett is flying blind. I have my tongue out, trying to direct the spoon to my mouth and mumbling directions to him incomprehensibly. The emergence of my twin shocks us, and Frosted Flakes end up on the couch.
"This," Alice says as she gestures between Emmett and myself, "is why I had to follow you two to Colorado. You're incapable of doing anything. Idiots!"
"Calm down, tink," Emmett says as Alice disappears into the kitchen. "I took great care of him while you were away. I fed him."
"I was gone fifteen minutes and he has cereal all over him," Alice rants as she returns.
"Can we not talk about me like I'm an invalid?" I plead, but no one pays any attention to me.
She sits on the couch, carefully placing my head in her lap. She puts an ice pack wrapped in a dishcloth cautiously on my cheek. The coke fiend did some damage, and Jacob opened a cut. Once she gets me settled, she forces three pills in my mouth, followed by a long straw inserted in a water bottle. "There you go, little twin. You should be good as new in no time."
I close my eyes as Alice rubs soothing circles on my shoulder. Thank God for my twin and her mothering.
"Poor Edward. If I were paying more attention, I would have figured out how to stop that. What exactly happened last night?" she asks.
"Bella was basically passed out," I say, all the anger I feel last night returning. "High, drunk, and on cocaine. That blond motherfucker was all over her."
"Aw. You are like a knight in shinning armor," replies Alice.
"Cocaine?" Emmett asks in disbelief, even though he already knows all this. "Shit, that's hard core. And scary."
"Yup," I agree. "Who was the guy?"
"This kid, James. Creepy motherfucker. He's a friend of Rosalie's friend Victoria. And he will never be welcomed back in our house again," Emmett assures me.
"I don't know what would have happened if I didn't show up," I say with a groan. "I can't even think about it."
"But you were there," Alice reminds me. I really don't want to talk about it anymore.
"What happened this morning, after… you know," I murmur, unwilling to say it because it's damn embarrassing.
"After Rose's pissy ex boyfriend sucker punched your lights out?" Emmett says, his voice fluctuating between irritated and amused.
"Yes Emmett, that is the event I'm referring too. Where's Bella?"
"She left with Black after we kicked him out. She was all apologies and fucking furious with him. She kissed your cold, clammy lips before she stored out of here with Black in tow," Emmett explains.
"Why did he punch me? How did he even know where we were?" I ask.
"That was my fault," Rosalie says quietly as she enters the room and slowing sits in a nearby armchair. "I called Jake."
"What?" my siblings and I all snap at the same time.
"I'm sorry okay!" she says, going on the defensive. "I obviously didn't know he was going to punch you like that. It's just that… I know Bella. She has been pulling shit like she pulled last night since we were in middle school, and Jake is usually around to save the day. I know Bella and I aren't friends anymore, but I still care about the stupid bitch. I thought I was helping."
I am in so totally over my head with Bella, it is ridiculous.
"It's okay, Rose," I say. "No problem."
"I thought Rosalie was going to attack him. It was a very tense morning. And a very tense last night. Hey, I'm glad you woke up," Alice says.
"Thank you, big twin."
"You're welcome, little twin," she reply, leaning down to kiss my forehead.
"On the plus side, you look badass," Emmett says, feeding me another spoonful of muchy cereal. "You should see your face. Who would have thought, this time last year, that our geeky, straight laced little brother would get in two brawls in one night. IT'S SO AWESOME."
"Emmett," Alice squeals, slapping him on the backside of the head. "He looks like shit."
"Don't worry," I say, patting her arm. "I'm not planning on making a habit of it."
"Dude, is Bella normally that out of control?" Emmett asks.
"No," I say vehemently before I have a chance to think about it. "I don't know. I have never been to a party in Boulder with her before. We normally just hang out in the library. I knew she smoked a lot of pot, but that's it."
I had a whole slew of revelations regarding past and present Bella last night. She is so complicated and sad. Bella Swan is drowning, and it breaks my heart.
"Holy fuck," Emmett says. "Edward's life is more interesting than mine. When did that happen?"
Alice laughs. "Emmett, that's all Bella Swan, not Edward."
My sister is right. Despite all the crazy, the punching, the drugs, my life is infinitely more satisfying then it ever was before. That doesn't change the fact that I'm livid with the same girl who makes my life so damn interesting.
SO. What did you think? Shit got real this chappie, huh?