Chapter 14:
"But,"
My relief vanished and was replaced with anxiety, unsure of the absurd condition Edward was surely planning to make.
"You should get some breakfast first, you haven't had anything to eat yet." He paused for a moment and sat up straight. I exhaled deeply, relieved.
"Alice. Would you mind getting Bella some food?" Alice's eyes, which had been trained on the glossy wood floor, kick started back to life as she stood.
"But of course." She chirped as she turned to leave.
"No." I called after her. Her spiky black head popped back around the doorframe.
"Bella, Edward's right, you should eat something."
"No, I mean…I know. It's just…Edward said I can walk. I want to come with you."
"Oh." Her eyes popped in surprise. Edward's shoulders bounced under the weight of his heavy chuckling.
"What? You couldn't see that one coming Al?" Alice narrowed her eyes at him. It almost made me laugh how normal they looked in that moment.
"I'll go get some crutches." Alice hissed through her teeth. Once she was out of sight I could just hear her mumble, "You know I really hate it when you call me Al."
"I know." Edward whispered back, just as quietly. Everything was still for a short moment, then Edward looked over at me and his content smile faded into that hard mask of no obvious emotion. Out of all the looks Edward had ever given me, this was the one I had grown to hate the most. Mainly because it left me struggling for what to do next. I could never find the right response, it left me with no choice but to stare back awkwardly with an equally blank expression. After another long moment his eyes grew solemn, welling up to twice their usual size. His inner turmoil seemed to brim up around his bottom lashes. It darkened the color of his eyes, they seemed to turn almost a shade of black, tinted with a blazing gold. It physically hurt to see him like this. Although, I don't think anyone could look more beautiful, I also don't think anyone could look more helpless. It made me want to cry out, to lung forward and wrap him protectively in my arms.
"Bella, I just hope that you can come to forgive me." His voice was weak, tortured. I didn't understand.
"What…" I started to ask, but Alice had returned, carting a pair of shiny new crutches.
"Come on Bella, lets get you something to eat. It'll feel good to finally stretch your legs." Chimed Alice as she lifted me from the silky sheets. I tossed Edward a nervous glance as Alice tucked a crutch under each of my arms and placed a hand on my back, ready to catch me if I fell.
"I'm going to go out for a quick snack." Edward said to Alice. Redirecting his attention back to me he said, "I'll be back soon, I won't go far." I wanted to say something to him, but I didn't know what, he was still wearing his mask. His hands were balled into white knuckled fists on the armrests, digging his nails deep into the wood which looked dangerously close to splintering. When I looked back up into Edward's eyes he was looking at Alice, pain had taken them back over. He was pleading with her, silently.
"Come on Bella, you must be starving." Urged Alice.
We started off down the hallway to the stairs. Our progress was slow. It irritated Alice, twice she asked me if I wanted her to carry me instead. I just told her no, that I needed to do this. We were halfway to the stairs when I just couldn't resist the urge to ask her,
"Is Edward always this tense? Or do I just bring it out in him?" She chuckled lightly.
"No, that's just you, I'm afraid. You see, he's never run in to someone like you before."
"Someone with a pulse?" I asked, sarcastically. Alice giggled.
"No. Someone that's so complex. He's completely out of his element when he's with you, it's really frustrating for him. He likes it, but at the same time he hates it. You continue to confuse and surprise him and he's just not used to that, it's really difficult for him to handle."
We had come to the top of the stairs now and I had a very terrifying realization, crutches plus stairs times accident prone equals disaster. Always.
"Maybe I should…" Alice offered, gesturing towards the stairs.
"Yeah," I agreed. "That would probably be best." Alice swooped me up into her arms and trotted down each step with an agility that tight rope walkers would trade their souls for. When we got to the bottom she sat me down on the last step and swept back up to the top so fast she was a mere blur to my human eyes. She grabbed the crutches in her hands and tucked them into her stomach, leaping into the air. She somersaulted at the peak of her jump and landed square on her feet inches from me. She offered me her hand and helped pull me to my feet, replacing the crutches under my shoulders once I was upright.
"This way to the kitchen." Alice was ecstatic, she began walking ahead of me twirling around with her arms in the air, like the prima ballerina of the Russian Ballet. It was outrageous how graceful she was, how effortlessly she put me to shame. She led me through the large foyer where Edward and Jasper had attacked me that first night, the Cullen's fierce roars and howls still echoed off the beige walls, the memory made me shudder. We passed through the empty doorway that I had broken my ankle on and rounded a corner into the kitchen.
It was the exact opposite of the rest of the house. The counters were shiny slabs of black marble on top of honey colored wooden bases, that were full of cabinets. The floor was a black linoleum. Strangely there were cooking utensils strewn about the kitchen, I guess they needed to stock up for "the human". Esme was at the stove cooking she looked up and gave me a nervous smile.
"I heard you were coming down to get breakfast, I thought I might…"
"Thank you Esme, but I think we can take it from here." Alice said, winking at her mother. Esme gave her a firm smile and awkwardly slipped out of another doorway, identical to the one Alice and I had just come in through, one the other side of the kitchen.
"Let's see…" Alice began wandering over to the sizzling pan on the stove, "What have we here?" She stopped and took a deep sniff of the steaming atmosphere. She made a face, like the smell made her sick.
"Can Esme not cook?" I asked.
"Not for me." Alice giggled, pinching her nose. "But for you, it'll have to do." She winked, picking up a wooden spoon to stir the meat and eggs as they bubbled in the boiling grease. I smiled at her and made my way to the closest counter and leaned my weight onto it. Alice shook her head at me and laughed. She came back around the counter and lifted me, placing me on top of the cool stone.
"You know, if my mother were here she'd push me off and tell me that people eat where my butt has been and that's gross." I said, mimicking my mother's voice when she pretended to be stern. Alice laughed, dropping those silver bells onto the linoleum floor and rolling them into the next room. When the gentle tinkling receded she said,
"Well I'm not your mother, and you're the only one eating anything out of this kitchen, so feel free to sit on whatever you'd like." I smiled, I loved talking to Alice, it was always so easy.
"So what did Edward mean, 'What, you couldn't see that one coming Al'?" I asked, tilting my head down and shaking my falsely flexed arms out in front of me and deepening my voice to imitate Edward's joking tone from earlier.
Alice rolled her eyes, "I really hate being called Al."
I laughed, "I can tell." She smiled. Another thing I loved about Alice was that she was always honest with me. Everyone else here, especially Edward, was always hesitant to tell me anything, but Alice always told me the truth.
"I have a gift." She started. I just stared at her intently. My expression probably betraying every ounce of my genuine curiosity. "You see, I can see the future."