Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight. I'm just the uninvited guest swimming around in her pool.
I think I'm spoiling you with two updates a day...you can spoil me with reviews if you want. :)
The Path We Chose
Chapter 6: What We Carry
We both heard it. My dad's car out front. Edward had just told me, "Always." As in he would always be with me, and I had to scoot away from him and turn on the TV because my dad was home. In he walked before I even had time to flip the channel, so we were caught at 11:36 watching an infomercial for some weird egg-cooker that nobody could possibly want or need if they had any pans. Yeah, that's not suspicious at all. At least I have my clothes on, I reminded myself.
"Dad," I said. "This is Edward Cullen." Edward stood up to shake my dad's hand.
"Edward, how are you? I've heard a lot about you and your, uh, marriage project." He didn't hear Edward say it was nice to meet him, because my dad interrupted to ask what us kids were watching.
"Um, we were just making fun of this. I mean, who would buy one of these?" I said shutting it off. Out of sight, out of mind, maybe?
"Well, it's almost midnight now, Bella…" My dad said.
"Oh, I should go. It was nice meeting you Chief Swan."
My dad sort of grunted at him and gave him a nod.
I walked Edward to the door with my dad watching, so all I could do was stand on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, but I did get to whisper, "Always," bringing a smile to his face.
"So, your husband is your boyfriend, now?" My dad said once the door was shut. And then he laughed.
"Yes, he is," I said, and somehow, that stopped my dad's laughter right in it's tracks.
"Bella," he said, "Let's sit down."
I sat down, he went to the kitchen for a beer. I heard him clear his throat as he relaxed into his recliner. "Bella." He wasn't looking at me. He was looking past me, at the wall.
"Yeah, Dad?"
"Are you two, uh, you know, being careful?"
"Dad!" His eyes met mine and now it was my turn to look away.
"Answer the question and then I'll let you go." He tugged at his mustache then took a sip of his beer.
"There is no reason for us to be careful right now."
"Atta girl," he said. "Goodnight." I was certainly relieved by that dismissal. I kissed his cheek because, even though he had just made me incredibly uncomfortable, his sentiment was touching. He patted my arm and gave me a half-smile.
I readied myself for bed, climbed in and just opened my book when my phone rang. It was Edward. Instead of saying, hello, he said, "I just wanted to say goodnight."I laughed.
"Goodnight, Edward."
"Goodnight, Isabella." And then we played that game where one tells the other to hang up first. I think every couple has to play that game at some point in their relationship. It's like a relationship rite of passage. Finally we decided to both hang up at the same time, but I only pretended to, and then I was lonely in the silence because he was gone.
At lunch on Monday, something was very different. Alice was sitting on Jasper which was as normal as ever, but Rosalie and Emmett were sitting far apart from each other. Emmett smiled at me but Rosalie wouldn't even look my direction. I frowned at Alice and she shrugged. Rosalie actually spoke to me a few minutes later.
Edward had just taken a bite of my pizza because I made him. I couldn't understand how he didn't like pepperoni. I held it up to his closed lips. "Take a bite," I said.
He shook his head. "Take off the pepperoni and I will."
"Come on. Maybe it's just been a long time since you tried it. You're going to like it. Just bite. If you don't like it, you can spit it out."
He took a bite and made a disgusted face but swallowed it anyway. I kissed his lips, tasted the spice there with my tongue and kissed again. "Sorry, I really thought you would like it."
"I liked that," he said and kissed me again.
"Bella." Rosalie was leaning over the table looking right at me. "We all know Edward is yours. You don't have to put him on display like this. You don't have to control him. He's his own person." Emmett tapped her shoulder but she shrugged him off.
"I-I--" I had no idea what to say. I glanced over at Alice and Jasper. Alice's eyes were averted--everywhere but on us. Jasper was looking at Rosalie. I pulled my hands from Edward's but he took them back.
"Rosalie," he said.
"No, Edward. She's just like the rest of them. Can't you tell? She wants everyone to know you're with her." She pointed at me with her long fingernail. "She has you wrapped around her finger and she knows it."
I was gaping at her. What did she just say? I was like the rest of who? Edward stood up. The whole table slid against the linoleum when he did. I felt eyes on us from all around the cafeteria.
"Rosalie. Bella is different. Don't talk about her like that to me! Don't you ever do that. I don't care who the fuck knows I'm with her because I am, with, her." Edward pulled me up. "Come on, Bella."
"Wait..." Rosalie said. "...I'm s--"
"No," Edward cut her off. "We'll talk about this later. There are some things you just don't know. And some things that are none of your business." He took our trays, tossed the rest of our food and stormed toward the exit, me in tow. I glanced back over my shoulder. Alice was still seated at the table while Jasper was standing, talking to Emmett and Rosalie. Emmett had his arm over Rosalie's shoulder and she didn't make any move to try to get away.
"What did she mean?" I asked Edward in the empty hallway--we were early, no one else was there. He put both of his hands on my face. "Don't listen to her, Bella. She doesn't trust you. But I do. Okay? I trust you."
I looked up at him and frowned. Had I given him any reason not to? "Why doesn't Rosalie trust me?"
"She just…she doesn't trust anyone. It has nothing to do with you. It's not you. I promise. Forget about it. She won't talk to you like that again." He kissed me and I let that stop my questions. Even though I wasn't satisfied with the answer, I shut up about it. I planned on asking Alice about it in Health, anyway.
As soon as Mrs. Hines was distracted by her computer screen, which was right after she gave us our classroom assignment, I went to Alice's desk and knelt down beside her. "What's up with Rosalie?"
"Don't worry about her," she said. "She's just being Rosalie."
"Alice. I don't know what that means because I don't know Rosalie at all. She won't even talk to me unless I do something to get on her nerves. She's not that way with you. What does she have against me? Does she have a thing for Edward? Because I thought she and Emmett were--"
Alice laughed. "You are way off, Bella. She thinks of Edward as a brother. They've known each other since they were little. She's just protective, that's all. Don't worry, she'll love you soon enough. You're easy to love." She put her arm around me and gave me a half-hug. I looked over at Jasper who was now sitting next to Alice. Somehow he had convinced Mrs. Hines to let them switch marriage partners. She had seemed so adamant about us not trading partners mid-marriage, but he changed her mind. I figured he must have touched her or something--gave her those warm-fuzzies of his. Jasper was looking back at me; he had obviously heard my conversation with Alice.
"What do you think, Jasper?"
"Me? I think Rosalie is uptight. You're not. Rosalie will come around--just give her time. You two will get along soon enough, just like Alice said." He kissed her cheek like that proved Alice was right. Was I honestly not going to get any information from my friends? Maybe their loyalty lay with Rosalie. It made sense--they'd known her longer. Or maybe there really was nothing more to it. She was just uptight and protective. I had dealt with her this long, I could certainly deal with her until she "warmed" up to me. Whenever that would be.
I returned to my seat next to Edward and told him I wasn't anymore enlightened on Rosalie than I had been before. He took my hand. "You don't stop, do you? I told you. It's Rosalie's problem. Not yours. Don't even worry yourself." I gave up. For now.
We had a new distraction anyway--a new show to watch. The Fly and Jess-ica show. Mike was now blatantly flirting with Jessica and she was playing aloof--that is until Mike seemed to stop. Then she would pull him back in with a wink or an arm rub and the whole ritual would start over again. Edward and I started taking guesses on how many minutes would pass before Jessica's ego needed a stroke again.
We were supposed to be budgeting our money to pay for baby Alec's (that was the name I drew from the hat) formula, diapers, and doctor check ups. Since we had insurance (a plan also drawn from the same hat) we only had to worry about a co-pay. Also, we had chosen the smaller home purchase, so my fake self still hadn't had to give up manicures or therapy, yet.
Instead of writing down dollars and cents, I wrote down, 4. As in four minutes. Edward wrote 10. Three minutes later I saw Jessica kick Mike's chair. I poked Edward and pointed. He shook his head, "That's not flirting."
I kicked his chair and smiled at him to show him that it was, indeed, flirting.
"Okay, you win." he said, looking quickly away because we both knew we couldn't even pretend to flirt. It was hard enough keeping our hands off each other as it was. Although, technically, our hands weren't off each other. Under the desks our fingers were playing together, but we couldn't help that.
"How long until she ignores him again?" I asked.
We both looked at them. They were still smiling at each other, lips moving in whispers. Mike reached up to move a curl off her face.
Edward wrote, 7. I wrote, 20.
"Class will be over before then," he said.
"I think they'll flirt themselves right out of class." But less than five minutes later, Jessica's curly head was facing away from Mike, while she wrote on her own paper. Edward laughed and I shot him a teasing grimace.
Alice leaned back in her chair. "I want you to come over today, Bella."
I looked at Edward.
"Do you need permission?" Alice asked.
"No," I said, "I'll come over."
I looked at Edward again, not because I needed permission but because I needed to overcome my own Edward-separation anxiety.
Alice was a younger version of her mom. Mrs. Brandon was just slightly taller, and her dark hair, still short, wasn't wispy at the ends like Alice's. Other than that, she still had the same pale skin, dark eyes, and red, smiling lips. She didn't shake my hand when we met. She hugged me.
"Don't try to steal my friend," Alice said and led me away to her room. Her room looked like it hadn't had an update since grade school. Her walls were pink and so was her comforter. She had little porcelain fairies lined up along her dresser, a framed photo behind them. I picked it up.
"Is this you?"
"Yeah, that's me and my dad,."
"You were so cute." She was sitting in a stroller, smiling huge, wearing Minnie Mouse ears on her head. Her dad stood behind her, the Disneyland castle glowing in the background. "I've never been there."
"You're kidding me. But Arizona is so close to California."
"Yeah, but my mom isn't into Amusement parks. She hates crowds, which is ironic since Phil plays ball. I think it's more the lines that get to her. Even at the local fairs she would never want to stand in line."
Alice took the photo from me and looked at it for a minute.
"Where's your dad?"
She put the frame down. "He died when I was six. Two years after that." She pointed to the picture.
"Alice--"
"No, don't worry about it, Bella. I barely knew him. I mean, I don't know if that's better or not, but that's how it is. He was in a car accident on his way home from a company Christmas party. My mom hadn't gone with him. He was with someone else." She sat down on her pink bed and picked up a pillow--played with the ends of it. "He wasn't the most innocent guy. The lady that was with him…she had a concussion, that's all. And she didn't say anything about what happened. But she had to know something, you know? There was no other car involved. Something must have happened to make him run off the road and flip his truck."
"I'm sorry. I had no idea."
"Well, it's not like it comes up in conversation. It's okay. My mom's probably better off without him anyway. Maybe we both are…who knows."
"Maybe we should introduce your mom to my dad."
She laughed. "They already know each other. Your dad is kind of famous around here, you know?"
"Right. Small town."
We sat in silence for a little while. I was the first one to break it. "So, was there anything else you wanted to talk about?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why did you invite me over?"
"Because were friends, goof ball. That's what friends do. Besides, I felt bad about what Rosalie put you through. I don't want you to feel excluded or unwanted or whatever."
"So, this was a pity invite?" I teased her.
"Yes. I pity you so bad. You have to deal with that ass, Edward Cullen everyday. Not only that, but you have to look at him, too. And kiss him. Poor you!"
Two weeks into the Fly and Jessica show, no matter how ridiculously they behaved, it got old. They were no longer interesting enough to distract Edward and me from one another. We made a mistake. We broke our unspoken rule. We made eye contact. With each other. It wasn't the kind of eye contact where you're assessing how your last statement may have been received. Neither of us had even spoken. It was the kind where your eyes accidentally meet at the same time and then they lock. Edward and I locking eyes in the back of Health class at school, while fingers fingered under the desks? Not a good idea. My lips, I could feel them throbbing for his. I laid the side of my face down on my desk. Maybe some distance would help. I was looking at the wall, but I wasn't seeing it. I was seeing all the kisses shared between Edward and me from the very beginning. And then his face was on his desk, eyes inline with mine again. Our fingers weren't playing under the desks anymore, our hands were just holding. I inched my face just a little bit closer to his and then he inched his just a little bit closer to mine and when all that was between us was the crack where our desks met, we could no longer hold back. We were kissing, heads on desks, in Health class. His hand let go of mine and held my neck and my face. My hand let go of his and pulled on his shoulder. Our breathing picked up and we parted at the same time.
I scanned the room. First, Mrs. Hines--she was clicking away at the laptop on her desk, updating her blog, or surfing the net, no doubt. Then, the rest of the class--no one seemed to be aware of us. Except Alice. She was looking back in her seat, with a hand over her mouth trying to suppress her laughter. Jasper faced her, his eyebrows raising in question. I hid my face in my hands. Luckily it was only Alice who had noticed, though.
"This is dangerous," Edward whispered, his breath on my cheek.
Why couldn't I just crawl into his lap right then? Why did it have to matter that we were in class, in school, surrounded by people? But it did.
The bell rang and neither I nor Edward moved. Alice stood and turned to us and this time didn't even try to suppress her laughter. Jasper kept asking her what was funny but she couldn't calm herself enough to answer him. That was frustrating for me, too, because I was curious about how much she had seen. Had she just seen the kiss or had she witnessed our struggle before the kiss, as well?
"Don't worry about it, J," Edward said, which only made Alice laugh harder. "Come on." Edward tugged at my sleeve.
He walked me to gym. We weren't touching. Just outside the double doors, I gestured with my finger for him to bring his face closer. I whispered in his ear, "I want you to come over tonight." He pulled back to look at my face. "I'm ready for you," I said, and it wasn't a whisper. My heart was pounding against my chest. I took a deep breath.
"Bella."
"I am."
"Bella, you can't say something like that when I have another class after this."
"Too late, I already said it. Come over at 10:00. Chief Swan is working the late shift. He won't be home until morning." I reached up to kiss him, but he only pecked my cheek. "What?"
"I can't," he said. "Not now. Not after that. It's too much. I'll kiss you tonight. You don't even know what you've done to me, Bella."
He was right. I didn't know. I had no experience but I was pretty sure what ever it was I had done to him…he had liked it.
Sooo, what do you think? Interesting? Needs improvement? Let me know with a review, please.
Tonight, I made a huge mess on my kitchen floor because I'm such a klutz, and I realized--as my husband made fun of me--that's one thing I have in common with Bella.
(I didn't tell him that Edward would have cleaned the mess up for Bella.) J/K Do you have anything in common with Bella or any of the other characters??
