A/N: Sorry it's taken me a few days to write. My son and my husband have been sick at the same time. I think the 23 mo. old took it better than the 34 yr. old!

Ok so I am curious . . .do you guys like Rob? I know we haven't heard too much from him but how about the idea of him? Any thoughts on how lemony you want this to go? Can you tell I am fishing for reviews . . .

Oh as always, I own nothing of consequence but the characters of Beca and maybe a tad of the Rob character. Oh I did find one of my tattered Twilight movie stubs, so I do own that. SM owns everything else.

Chapter 6

BPOV

I survived! I never thought the day would end! The whole day, I felt like everyone was watching me well because of course they were. I am 'the new girl', like the shiny new Wii game that every guy wants to play. But of course none of them actually want me, not in that way. Why would they? I am so boring and average. I just want everyone to leave me alone, so I can try to figure out how I am going to deal with what I may have in store waiting for me at home with Charlie.

As I walked out of the music building I looked up at the gloomy clouds. The weak sunshine was fading behind the gray smudges that were filling the sky. As much as I hated to admit it, I needed clothes and a coat in a bad way. Just then Alice ran up to me with the hugest grin on her face! She was practically jumping.

"So . . .so?! How was the rest of your day? I already heard Rob talked to you again! Oh . . . my . . . god! Do you like him? He is so cute. I mean not as dreamy as my Jasper of course but any girl in the school would absolutely kill to have him! Come on spill it! Oh, and we need to finally discuss shopping because you are going to freeze your butt off, if we don't get you a proper coat. Oh yeah, did you meet Edward too?" Alice's excitement was clear because she was practically skipping next to me as I continued to walk to my VW.

Now that's the word that brought me back from starting to think about my new beloved beat up VW. Just the mention of the name "Edward" and I was suddenly standing still. I hadn't even realized that I was already standing next to my VW at this point.

"What's wrong Bella? Are you ok? My dad's a doctor. Are you sick or something?" Alice took a hold of my upper arm and was intently looking at me. Her spiky black hair surrounding her perfectly made up face. Enough makeup but not too much I noticed. Tasteful.

"Huh? Yeah I am ok." I looked up suddenly and then I noticed the silver Volvo parked next to my VW and the occupant that was getting out of the driver's side. It was Edward, the guy that had freaked me out so much in Biology and definitely played the piano in Choir. His bronze hair was a mess like he had been running his hands through it and he was intently glaring at me, but not in a mean way. No that wasn't right. It was like he was looking for something in my eyes. Did I have something smudged on my face? I absently wiped my eye hoping to get whatever he was staring at. I looked back at Alice as quick as I could. And started to fumble in my bag for my keys. I needed to escape.

I thought back to the choir room an hour ago, when I was frustrated and was searching out a piece to sing for my audition, then Rob had talked to me again and sat so close to me. I have to admit he was really handsome. He had broad shoulders, strong but not beefy strong like Emmett, strong thick eyebrows, strong hands, and those blue eyes . . . I realized that I was nervous, when he started talking to me so I kept trying to ignore him. But then he said something and I responded without thinking. I can't even remember what I had said but whatever I said made Rob laugh. Then the loud clanking of the piano keys saved me and brought me back into the real world and I saw him again. So . . . it was the same Edward. I looked into another pair of eyes. These ones were intense green and they looked upset. Stay normal. Ignore everything. Keep cool. I need to get my shit together and sing. I only get one shot to audition. So it was Alice's cousin that played piano, the same guy that made me feel like jell-o in Biology, and now he just saved me from . . . well nothing. I didn't need saving from Rob right?

Bringing myself back into the real world, as I found my keys, I was jarred back into the present. "Hey Bella? Bella? This is my cousin the one I mentioned at lunch, Edward Masen. Didn't you guys meet in choir?" Alice was looking at me and then glanced back at Edward.

"Yeah." I nodded blankly.

"We . . . uh . . . have Biology together too . . ." Edward stammered. Suddenly finding a nonexistent piece of lint on his shirt and then staring at the ground.

"Ummm hmmm . . . Well we had better bet going Edward. Emmett will be late. He has football practice or something, so it's just us." Alice started forward to the passenger side of the Volvo. "Oh Bella, I'll call you later. Don't forget about this weekend!"

"Bye." I murmured mostly to myself.

Edward and Alice backed out of their parking spot next to mine and sped away. Wow, he was driving fast. Like he wanted to get away from me. Oh well who cares? Right. I threw my bag into the passenger seat. And I ran my hands over the steering wheel. I still can't believe this baby is mine. Ugh . . . I still need to get Charlie to teach me to drive a stick. Charlie. This was going to be uncomfortable. How am I going to handle him?

I abruptly stopped the VW into its space in front of Charlie's house, my house, home. I had to remind myself because there certainly was no home in Arizona for me anymore. I clearly had burned that bridge.

Charlie's cruiser was here. Strange. I thought he would be home later. I mean he is the police chief and it was only 3pm.

I trudged up the stairs and tripped on the air that I thought would be the top step. Could this day get any better? I opened the door. It was unlocked. "Charlie? Um Dad?" I said into he empty living room.

"In here Bells!" Charlie yelled.

He was in the kitchen and I noticed a heavenly aroma permeated the house. I dropped my backpack by the door and reluctantly walked into the kitchen. The kitchen table was set for 2 and Charlie was bustling around by the stove and sink wearing an apron. I had never seen him in an apron and the whole effect was just hilarious over top of his police uniform.

I sat in one of the kitchen chairs. Clearly Charlie was expecting someone. Maybe he had a date coming over. Ewww! I couldn't think of that. Maybe I should offer to go to visit Alice, if he sad a woman coming over that would be a bit awkward to say the least.

"Ahh? Are you having a date Charlie, uh dad?"

"Yeah yeah . . . um something like that . . . really special. Well not really but a very important dinner. Yup important . . ." Charlie was cutting up and onion and didn't turn around.

"Well, if you . . . um . . . have a ahh friend coming over. I could visit Alice Cullen, she and I have a project we are going to do . . ." I started to get up and then Charlie turned around suddenly with the knife still raised in his hand. Onion tears were streaming down his face.

"No! No! Umm. It's not like that! I just uh . . . wanted to give you a nice welcome home dinner for your first day at school and I uhh . . . know Renee doesn't cook, so I figured you didn't either so I . . . uh wanted to make you dinner. . . Is that ok? I mean if you have to meet a friend . . . you don't have to stay with me."

Charlie turned back around to finish cutting his onion. I smiled to myself. How sweet. He was actually cooking for me. Me? Of all people! Renee never cooked. I had learned to cook Kraft Macaroni and Cheese when I was 7. Beca and I knew how to make it a number of different ways - If you had no milk but had butter - If you only had butter - If you didn't have either but had water and vegetable oil - If you had butter but no milk but had sour cream. We had become Kraft experts at a very young age. And perishable foods had always been scarce in Renee's kitchen.

"Dad that is really nice of you. You didn't have to though! I mean I can fend for myself. Have been for years since Beca has been gone. You must have gotten out of work early huh?" I stammered.

Charlie was still working with the knife. He had a wok out on the stove and was throwing the onions and some other veggies into the hot pan. The yummy aroma engulfed the kitchen. "Well, I took a half day today. It was quiet anyways and I wasn't missing anything at the station. And I ahh . . .wanted to cook dinner for my little girl. I'm . . . um glad you came home." Charlie still wasn't looking at me as he stirred the veggie concoction around the pan.

"Me too . . . dad." I was going to have to get used to saying that. "So what's on the menu?" I asked trying to sound eager for Charlie's sake. I didn't know, if he could even cook. I hoped it would be edible. I could always have some cereal later . . .

"Fish sir fry! Charlie announced proudly. My specialty! I caught it myself!"

"Cool dad."

Dinner was good. I was surprised. We didn't talk too much after that. We had both grabbed for the soy sauce at the same time and after that we were pretty quiet and you could only hear the sound of chewing.

I took my last bite of rice and I looked at Charlie. He was pushing around a snow pea on his plate. "This was really great dad. Thanks. I didn't expect it at all. Renee isn't a kitchen person, so Beca and I learned how to cook."

"What?! You two kids were cooking around a hot stove all by yourselves?!" Charlie sounded incredulous and he looked like he was going to bend his fork in half.

"Ummm . . . well it began like that but we both got older and could actually read cookbooks and we ah . . . just kind of taught ourselves. Because ya know what else were we going to do?"

"Yeah . . . I could see that. Thank god you kids weren't hurt or anything. Just to think that if . . ."

"Well Beca and I are just fine . . . say how about we make a deal?"

"What kind of deal?" Charlie looked wary as he looked at me.

"Well . . . if you cook, then I will do clean up and do the dishes and if I cook then you do them. Huh? What do you say?" I looked at him hopefully. We were going to have to live together so I guess setting some ground rules somewhere would be good. Food seemed like a safe place to start with rules.

"Hmm. That could work Bells. Are you sure?"

"Yup, Beca and I did it all the time – it was a compromise we made after we had a food fight once."

Charlie laughed. "Yeah well ok . . . You've got me convinced, if only to save the house from food fights ok." Charlie smiled and his happiness clearly reached his eyes and all the little laugh and crinkle lines around made him look truly content.

"Ok well then get your butt out to the living room. ESPN awaits you dad! I'll finish up in here."

"Bella . . . are you sure because I could . . ."

"Just get in there! The longer you wait the bigger clean up job you will have after I cook for you next time!" I chuckled.

"Point taken."

As I heard Charlie turn on the flat screen. I began the clean up. It wasn't too bad. I actually was amazed that he cooked. And that he had taken time out of his normal routine for me. For me? No one ever took time out to do something special for me. I was just the 'the mistake' after all. Well maybe Charlie didn't think of me the same way Renee did. That might be nice.

As I finished up and started the dishwasher, I looked in on Charlie. He had dozed off with the TV on. I grabbed up my bag by the front door and I ran upstairs to my room, my new sanctuary. It was pretty bare yet. No curtains, just blinds, the old bunk bed and my new desk and computer and an empty bookshelf in the corner that I hadn't noticed before by an old rocking chair.

Hmm. More shopping I thought. As much as I hated clothes shopping, I did need some books and maybe something to hang on the wall. Decorating shopping could be fun. I sat down at my new computer and lovingly slid my hand over the Mac logo on the top. This felt like a dream world compared to my life with Renee and 'the mooch'. I turned on the computer and it hummed to life with a happy musical chime. I started to make a list of everything I was going to have to stock up on clothes, boots, coat, books, some curtains, maybe an iTunes gift card . . . . Just then my iPhone started vibrating and ringing the theme to Harry Potter. So yes, I am a complete geek! J. K. Rowling is one of my favorite authors and I had borrowed all 7 books from the library. Which reminded me, I was going to have to check out the library here. I had heard that Stephenie Meyer had a new cool book out called The Host. I wondered, if there was a good book store anywhere close by?

Beca's face popped onto the screen of my phone. "Hey Beca! What's up?"

"What's up? Nothing for me, same 'ol same 'ol – what is up is with you - so spill it! How was your first day? Any cute guys? Any new friends? How was Charlie? Is our room the same?" Beca sounded like she was going to burst through the phone!

"Geez – that's a lot to answer all at once. Can I breathe first?"

"Well, if you absolutely must but just hurry up Bella!"

I rolled my eyes - typical Beca always gets what she wants when she wants it. "Ok, well Charlie is fine. He actually cooked dinner for me after school! Can believe he cooks?! And he has been totally the exact opposite of Renee. How the hell did those two hook up? I mean they are complete opposites!"

"Well I guess opposites can attract . . ." Beca laughed.

"Oh, and Charlie got me my own actual car a really cool VW beetle! And a laptop. Oh, and he got me some gift cards or something, so I could do some shopping. Can you believe it? It's like fucking Christmas or something! Why would he do all that? What do you think he wants from me?"

"Bella, you are so dense! He just loves you and wants you to feel welcome and at home. I was amazed just like you are now, when he offered to help me through school. But he is really great. He just has a hard time showing his feelings but I guess he doesn't have many expenses, so he likes to spend his extra money on us. Did you know he set up a college account for you?"

"What?! Are you kidding?"

"No . . . he said once that he knew Renee never would help us with school and since he couldn't get custody of us he just figured, that he would help us when he could and now he can. But it isn't the material things or the money Bella. It's not like he is rich or anything. He is just a penny pincher. I think that he just loves us and doesn't know any other way to show it yet. He is just so thrilled that he gets to spend time with you. Even if he couldn't get you all the cool stuff to help you with school, I know that he is just bursting with happiness to be with you. He missed us a lot, while we were growing up. And now you gave him the greatest gift he could ever have hoped for . . . time with you. At least he gets time with one of us."

I finished up my conversation with Beca. Telling her all about Alice and our impending shopping trip. I strategically skipped over what happened in Biology and Choir just telling her how my audition went. I was absolutely down to my last nerve, when Miss Ashby called me into the office. I had hastily picked a piece to sing but Miss Ashby preferred that I do sight reading, so I did and it went great. She said that she had some songs for the whole choir that included a solo that would be perfect for me and she had some ideas on another solo just for me and maybe a duet too. I stopped paying attention to Miss Ashby after that. I was so stoked that she actually thought I had some talent. I thought I had messed up the whole audition!

After relaying all this to Beca and completely skipping over the Rob and Edward thing, Beca said she had to go. She was working on a freelance project or something.

As soon as Beca and I hung up, my iPhone started vibrating again and ringing Harry Potter music. I glanced down at it and a picture of Alice popped up with her name and number. How the hell did she load not only her contact info in my phone but her picture too? Damn pixie! I just realized that's what she seemed like, magical.

"Hey Alice! What's going on?" I tried to sound as energetic as I could but I only ended up stifling a yawn.

"Well nothing much, just getting ready for bed. Edward is of course in front of his piano. It is like is he possessed or something. Sometimes he just gets in a music mood and he forgets the outside world completely! He is nuts but I love him like he's my brother! So about shopping . . ."

I quickly interrupted Alice, which I didn't think I would be able to do since she was talking so fast. "Yeah, I was thinking about that. I started a list and I realized that I need to do some decorating shopping as well as the clothes thing. Maybe we could stop by a Target or a Crate and Barrel for a few essentials to make it look like someone actually lives in my room." I was surprisingly starting to get excited about shopping. Well maybe not the clothes but I loved Crate and Barrel, who wouldn't?

Alice and I continued to discuss the basics but still insisted that she needed to inspect my wardrobe. She decided that she would come over and do the inspection on Thursday. Then I was supposed to check with Charlie to see if I could spend the night at the Cullen's on Friday, so Alice and I could set up our plan of attack for the Saturday shopping extravaganza. Alice mentioned that she'd invite Rosalie as well. Alice said that she may need reinforcements or something.

As I hung up, I realized how exhausted I really was. I was completely worn out, emotionally with the whole Charlie thing and just physically with the whole school anxiety thing and my audition. I slipped into my favorite pair of old sweats and a holey t-shirt and crawled into the bottom bunk.

That night in my dreams I was haunted by two sets of eyes, one set a striking welcoming blue and another angry set of emerald green. And then I felt so safe. I realized that a pair of strong arms were holding me. It just felt like the perfect place to be. Like I fit in these arms. As I looked up to see who these heavenly arms belonged to, I felt a shiver run down my spine and a warm sensation flowing across my abdomen and then lower over my hips and thighs. My breasts were almost touching his chest. I could feel my nipples harden as they grazed his broad chest. I kept trying to look up into those eyes. Who was this making me feel so strange, safe, and loved? I reached my arm up to brush the hair out of his eyes . . . and then . . .

A/N: Oh I am so evil! But you got a longer chapter out of me today. If I have some time tonight, maybe I can crank out the next chapter for you. Please review. Is my dialogue structure easier to read now? Oh and Bella actually does like to do some shopping, even if it isn't for clothes! I just couldn't make Alice to be an evil pixie shopper.

© Neonapple

Melting Heart

Edited: 03/08/09

Chapter 6