I do not own Twilight or its characters. Stephenie Meyer does.
CH. 21: Dinner
(EPOV)
We arrived at the Lodge for dinner in the Volvo. Bella refused to let Charlie drive us in the cruiser. She though it was unacceptable for me to ride in the back. Charlie eventually agreed to it. I think he was hoping to see me riding in the back for his own amusement but Bella's glares made him change his mind. He was feeling guilty for pushing Jacob towards her and that she ended up hurt.
As we approached the podium, an older lady greeted the chief warmly.
"Hello, Chief, to what do we owe the pleasure of seeing you tonight?" she smiled charmingly at him.
"Cheryl, I brought Bella and her boyfriend, Edward, out tonight to celebrate her getting into Dartmouth. It's an Ivy league you know." Charlie beamed, his chest puffed out with pride.
"Congratulations, dear." The women smiled at Bella. Such a smart lady. What a shame though she will have to leave the Chief again so soon.
"Thank you," Bella's face was bright pink as she answered politely. She shot me an angry kitten glare when I chuckled lightly at her embarrassment.
"Well, this way, please." She led us across the room to a table by a fireplace. "Is here okay?" Chief looked at the two of us before answering. Bella shrugged and I just nodded my head.
"This is great, thank you." The Chief nodded.
"Your server will be right with you." Cheryl smiled before heading back to her station.
I pulled out Bella's chair for her and waited until she was settled before sitting. I was aware that the Charlie was watching me the entire time. I will have to say this for the boy, he does treat Bella with respect. I watched that Newton boy let a door slam in the Stanley girl's face the other day.
I opened the menu to figure out something that I would have to gag down, but Bella was worth the extra trouble.
"Can I take your drink order?" a giggly girl's voice spoke up. Yummy, he looks delicious. I tried not to cringe looking up. Did this have to happen in front of the Chief, it was bad enough when they did this in front of Bella? A girl home from college was batting her overly mascaraed eyes at me.
"Bella, love, why don't you go first since this is your celebration," I turned to her to avoid the girl.
"Coke, please." Bella had a tiny smirk on her face.
"I will have the same, please." I looked back down at the menu.
"I will have whatever is on tap." Charlie spoke up. The boy is bold enough to call her love in front of me or maybe it was to subtly tell this girl he was taken.
"I will be right back," the girl sounded slightly rejected.
"So what is good here?" I asked looking up from the menu. The décor of the restaurant had an iconic wooden lodge look to it. Complete with a Moose head over the fire. Emmett had wanted to keep some of his kills and mount them, but the women wouldn't allow it.
"Prime rib is good if you like red meat." Charlie answered. I guess I better get a salad too to save the lecture from Bella.
"Sounds good." Not really, but then none of it really did.
"Here you go," the waitress was back with our drinks. She dropped a piece of paper in front of me with my drink. I didn't have to look at it to know it was her phone number. Thankfully Bella didn't see it, but unfortunately Charlie did. He was watching me carefully to see what I did with it.
"Are you ready to order?" she asked. I looked at Bella first.
"I would like a steak tip salad, please. Medium well on the tips." Bella answered. While she was ordering I flicked the offending piece of paper into the fire. Bella and the waitress was none the wiser, but Charlie saw and smirked. Smart boy.
We made small conversation while we waited for our food. When it arrived I managed to choke down some of it. Near the end of our meal Bella glanced at me with one raised eyebrow. Although I couldn't read her mind, I knew what she was asking. I subtly nodded to her.
"I will be right back," Bella started to stand to excuse her self. I stood quickly to help with her chair.
After I sat again Charlie spoke up.
"Are you always that way or it's it for my benefit?" he questioned.
"I was raised to be a gentleman by both my mother and Esme early on." I answered, which was true.
"Sorry, you just don't see that much now a days." Charlie apologized. He sat back in his seat to study me some.
"I understand. I know that I messed up big time in the past. I'm not surprised that you have doubts about me. But please believe me when I say that I love your daughter and I try very hard to treat her with the respect and love that she deserves." I told him smoothly.
"Except last Fall," he frowned slightly.
"Yes, I messed up that day. I never meant to hurt her like I did. I thought trying a long distance relationship would hurt her more if it didn't work out. I didn't realize until she was gone how much she truly meant to me and I will be forever grateful that she gave me a second chance. I'm not going to blow it again." I told him.
"I promised Bells to give you another chance. I'm, but if you ever hurt her like that again, I will end you." Charlie gave me a point look. I have a gun and know how to make you disappear permanently.
"I understand that, Chief. You will have plenty of help too, including some of my own family. But I swear that I rather inflict harm on myself that to ever do that to Bella again."
"We will see." He nodded glancing towards the bathrooms. Bella was waiting from a signal from Alice so I knew I had more time.
"Sir, I have been meaning to talk to you about Bella." I saw his gaze drifted back to me looking stern.
"You see, next year when we go off to college we have talked about saving money and living together. However, I believe that if we lived together we should be married too."
"You're too young." Charlie stated quickly his face turning slightly red. I won't let them make the same mistake Renée and I did.
"To some, maybe, but I know that Bella is it for me. I don't want to do any dishonor to her by living together with out a commitment in place." I stated.
"Is my daughter pregnant?" he hissed quietly. Wait until I get this boy alone.
"No, sir, we have not taken that step in our relationship yet. I was raised with the belief to wait for marriage." I answered. So, what? He's saying he's marrying her just so they can have sex.
"Does Bella know you're planning on asking her?" Charlie asked.
"We have talked about it. She has expressed some reservations about it, since she's afraid of upsetting you and Renée. Which is why I wanted to ask you for your blessing."
"Blessing… so you don't want my permission?" Charlie raised an eyebrow still interrogating me.
"Yes, your blessing, Chief. I believe that Bella shouldn't feel that she needs permission to marry me, that she's capable of making her own decisions. But I also know she respects yours and Renée's opinions."
He nodded thoughtfully stroking his chin in thought.
"I still think you're young and could wait longer. If you were to have children it would make going to college harder." I remember how upset Renée was, having to drop out of college.
"I can't have children. The illness I had when I was young has destroyed any change of that. Bella already knows this." I explained. Charlie looked slightly uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know. This the same illness took your parents?" he asked.
"Yes, sir." I nodded.
"Have you thought about what if Bella wanted children one day?" Of course I had, but she insisted she would be fine. I just hope she didn't regret that decision.
"We can always adopt or there are other possibilities with medical advances, however it's safe to say we won't have a baby before we are ready."
"There is another reason I was thinking sooner than later. I just didn't want to step on any toes. I just want the best for Bella." I hoped he wasn't going to be offended by my reasoning.
"And that is?" Charlie prompted warily.
"When my parents past away they left me with a sizable trust fund. I know that some of the reasons Bella has shied away from bigger schools, Dartmouth included, was the cost. She didn't want you or Renée to worry about the expense. She knows you both would, but she doesn't want to cause you financial strain. If we were married I would be able to help her out. I would offer now, but she would never take the help. But if she was my wife, what is mine would be hers, so I would hope she would take it." I prayed I didn't offend him that I was saying I could provide better. I knew he was thinking about taking out a mortgage on the house or dipping into his retirement fund.
"Even if I was to agree, Renée might be a tougher sell." Charlie looked a bit resigned. "I appreciate what you want to do for her. I wish her mother and I could offer her that."
"I'm sorry, sir, I wasn't trying to imply that you couldn't." I apologized and he waved his hand.
"I know, but you're right too. I want the best for Bells and I appreciate what you want to do for her." He sighed again heavily. I hope I don't regret this. "You have my blessing. I know enough that it's Bella's decision. Don't make me regret this, you hear?"
"I do," I nodded smiling at him. This was going to make Bella very happy to hear.
"One more thing about Jacob." He started and I scowled. Boy didn't let me finish. "Look, I know you're protective of Bells. I have seen the way you treat her. I know that Jacob isn't your favorite person, especially after what he did. Jacob has crossed the line, but I hope you don't go looking for a fight. That would just hurt Bells, even if she's mad at him right now." He advised.
I nodded as if I was in agreement, although I wasn't going to make any real promises.
"I'm not going to go looking for a fight. I can promise you that." I looked up to see Bella headed back our way. I caught her eye and smiled at her. She smiled back looking happy. Then she tripped over…nothing. I choked back a chuckle and I could hear Charlie laughing under his breath too. Bella glared at us and huffed in annoyance. She quickened her pace and flipped her hair over her shoulder. A waiter passing by got distracted by her and nearly walked into a column with a full tray of food.
Instead of straightened his mess his eyes lingered on Bella's butt. He glanced up when he felt the penetrating glares from both Charlie and me. He flushed and quickly got back to work.
"Can't take you anywhere." Charlie snickered as Bella reached the table. Edward is going to have his hands full when they go to college. It's a good thing he's so protective of her. His brothers look like they will help out too.
"I only slightly tripped, thank you very much. I didn't fall," Bella was still red in the face.
"Maybe but you did make that waiter walk into a column because he was so busy watching you." Charlie smirked. Bella looked around but didn't see anything since the waiter had already served his table and was on his way back to the kitchen.
"You're exaggerating." Bella rolled her eyes. At that exact moment the boy looked over. He blushed and walked into the outdoor with a loud smack. Both Charlie and I laughed again.
"You can't pin that on me. You two were glaring at the poor boy." Bella scoffed.
Charlie just shook his head in amusement. She really doesn't realize that she picks them up left and right. When she first got here it was Fig, Poodle and Crash calling the house all the time hoping to talk to her. Hell, Crash even showed up on Prom night thinking he was her date. Then Edwin here and Jacob too. I guess Edwin's the better out of those choices.
I choked back a laugh at Charlie's nicknames for a few of Bella admires. Ones she was oblivious of having. Although I guess Charlie ran a bunch of interference with the phone calls. The boys must think Bella has the cleanest hair in Forks with how many times Charlie told them she was washing it.
Bella looked at me strangely and I just shrugged innocently.
"I'm not the one who got a phone number and then tossed it into the fire when they thought no one was looking?" Bella grinned smugly. I was surprised that she caught that.
"I think you were seeing things, Bells." Charlie chuckled, surprising her and me both for defending me.
BS&EC
Later that night I arrived back at her house. I jumped up to the ledge and sat on it with my eyes closed. I knocked on the frame.
"What are you doing?" I heard Bella mumbled from inside the room, she sounded preoccupied.
"Just checking if it was safe. I wouldn't want to surprise you like earlier," I told her playfully. She had surprised me earlier when she entered her room and started changing without realizing I was there. Not that I minded at all, but I knew she would have been mortified if I had let her continue without warning. Of course, I might have peeked when she made me turn my head, but she's irresistible. She was still silent and I frowned not getting the reaction I was hoping for.
"Bella?"
"What? Sorry, it's safe." She sighed sounding unhappy. I opened my eyes and found her on her bed glaring at the text book in front of her. She was changed for bed and was lying on her stomach with her feet dangling in the air. I moved to her bed and sat down next to her. She hadn't looked up, I frowned in irritation.
"What has you so absorbed you can't even give me a proper hello?" I pouted. She glanced up sheepishly.
"Sorry…Hello," she sat up slightly and kissed me. I returned the kiss, smiling before pulling away.
"Much better," I smirked kissing her forehead.
"I'm sorry," she sighed again. "I'm trying to study so I can pass. I don't see when I'm ever going to need this."
"Sure you're, every time you repeat high school in the coming years. And just as you learn it, they will change the method." I teased. She scowled not looking amused at all.
"Would you like me to bribe your teacher to give you a good grade?" I whispered in her ear.
"No, I think you bribed the people at Dartmouth enough." She huffed.
"I didn't bribe them," I promised kissing her shoulder. She squirmed slightly.
"Then how did I get in, so late in the year?" she inquired.
"By your own merit. I only paid the late application fee." She looked at me to see if I was telling the truth.
"Fine, I believe you," she looked back at the book and tilted her head in a few directions like it would help.
"How about getting the best tutor?" I suggested. I don't know why she didn't just ask for my help.
"I'll ask Jasper tomorrow," a tiny smirk appeared on her face.
"I meant me." I grumbled playfully. I hid my own smile pleased to see her mood changing for the better.
"But I thought you suggested the best?" her wide innocent eyes were betrayed by her smirk. I rolled her on to her back with a tiny growl and hovered over her.
"I thought I was good at everything," I teased touching our noses together. Her heart sped up in excitement.
"Including distracting me. We would never get any studying done." Bella's voice was more breathy as she looked up at me with hood eyes. My own eyes fell to her lip she had between her teeth, her chest heaved and I realized she wasn't wearing a bra.
Just before we got carried away Charlie snored heavily from the other room. I rolled off her gently and sat up.
"Perhaps you're right. I'm sure he would be willing to help you or any of the others with the exception of Emmett. He rarely can focus long enough on his own." I ran a hand through my hair.
Bella sat up, her face still a bit pink as she nodded.
"I think it's best you take a break tonight before you stress out too much." I closed her book and brought it to her desk before she could argue.
"Did Alice return all my stuff? I feel like some stuff is missing?" Bella asked now leaning against the headrest.
"I have some of it there," I pointed to a bag by the window that I dropped coming in. "Apparently another vampire did a trial run and collected a couple of your things. Alice removed anything she knew you wouldn't want to lose." I sat next to her wrapping an arm around her.
"Wait, when did this happen? Why didn't you say anything before?" She frowned.
"I found out after going home tonight. Alice barley got the vision in time. We were at dinner with your father when it happened." I was honest. "Alice was nervous to call me at dinner in case I reacted poorly. Plus Jasper thought it might work to our advantage if they did have your scent so we could lure them to where we wanted them rather to the town."
Bella nodded thoughtfully taking it all in. It amazed me that a ton of vampires sent out to track her down didn't freak her out more than it did. It had me on edge. Regardless, she will be nowhere near the fight when it happens.
"But wouldn't she be suspicious of the first vampire she sent being destroyed." Bella questioned.
"Alice saw that too. This second vampire was sent to see if he could find the first. He was also supposed to get your things if needed. Alice saw he would get our scent plus the wolf scent around the area he was destroyed so it wasn't clear what happened to the first vampire."
"Oh, does she know when yet?" Bella leaned into me.
"No, Victoria has been very good at changing her mind frequently." I sighed.
"I will be so glad when this is all over," Bella shifted to get under the covers.
"It will be soon. And then we can announce our engagement and get married and start our lives together." I kissed her lips lightly.
"That is something to look forward too." Bella smiled warmly. I had already told her that Charlie gave me his blessing.
"What did you and Charlie find so funny near the end of dinner?" she asked.
"Charlie was commenting in his head about the boys you attract without realizing it. I was laughing at the nicknames he gave a particular three." I chuckled again.
"What was he thinking?" Bella looked slightly amused by my demeanor.
"That would be Fig, Crash, and Poodle." I snickered. Bella looked confused as she mouthed the names silently.
"Okay, I pretty much figured out Fig and Crash. But who is Poodle?"
"Took me a moment. Eric is Poodle because his last name is Yorkie. Yorkie is a dog and so is a Poodle." I explained.
"That is just mean." Bella shook her head trying not to laugh. "Eric hasn't been that bad. He asked me out once. Besides he seems happy with Katie." Apparently she didn't know about the few times Eric called her.
"True." I shrugged. Eric was the least annoying out of the three. "I will never forget that the three of them asked you to the girls' choice dance." I laughed at the memory.
"Well Tyler never would've gotten his chance if you didn't block me in." she pouted. "You don't know how lucky you're."
"I was very lucky that you said yes to me about Seattle." I gave her a cheeky smile.
"I wasn't talking about that." Bella scoffed. "I was talking about how I decided not to ram that stupid shiny Volvo of yours for blocking me purposely in. Don't deny it either, I saw the look on your face when you did it." My mouth dropped open in surprise.
"You wouldn't have. You might have gotten rust on my car. Do you know how expensive that car is?" I pretended to be horrified.
"Please the truck is worth more," she smirked.
"Is not," I scowled. She had to be kidding.
"According to your sisters, if we fixed it up some, I could sell it to an antique dealer. Alice says I could get more for than what you paid for the Volvo. Alice isn't usually wrong." She looked triumphant. I decided to change the subject.
"Speaking of cars, may I buy you one for a graduation present?" I asked.
"No, because I don't need a drug lord's car. If I want a new car, your sisters will help me with the truck and then I can get my own car." I frowned realizing I have been ratted out.
"I only want to keep you safe." I tried to dazzle her.
"I know. But seriously, that car is over the top. I will be safe in the truck or the Volvo until I'm changed." Bella kissed my cheek. At least she wasn't mad. My own irritation melted away. "Besides I like the fact I have this project with your sisters. I feel like Rose is finally accepting me and I don't want to mess that up." I nodded in understanding I was glad that Rose was trying now too.
"Can I buy you a car as a wedding present? You can always use the money from your sale to something else," I persisted. She opened her mouth, but closed it after a moment.
"I will make you a deal. You can get me a new car, but I want to be able to have a say in what I get. I'm not a sports car type of person, plus no tank-proof cars." She countered.
"Okay, but the car has to be newer this time. At least within this century." I smirked.
"Stop hating on the truck," she stuck her tongue out at me. I chuckled at her response.
Her ring was sparkling against her chest. I picked it up and played with it.
"Did you know that Alice already has my wedding dress?" Bella leaned into me, placing her head on my shoulder.
"No, I didn't. She has kept that from me." I admitted honestly.
"Well, I can't wear off the rack. She has had it or she ordered it the day after you took me to the meadow the first time." The pixie was getting better at hiding things from me.
"Huh. I had no idea. I know she started planning a wedding already though." I admitted. Bella sighed softly. I couldn't tell if she was upset or not.
"Bella, this is our wedding. You're the bride don't let her try to take control from you." I frowned. I wanted Bella to have what she wanted and not just give in to Alice.
"She asked if she could help. To tell the truth, I'm glad she wants to help. I have no idea what I'm doing and she will be in her element. She did promise to keep it small. I have Rose as a witness and she does seem genuine to keep with what I want, not what she thinks I should have." Bella smiled up at me.
"As long as you're happy. If she starts to go overboard let me know." I smiled back.
"I will." Bella promised.
"Would you like me to sing to you tonight?" I turned off her light on her nightstand.
"That will be great." Bella curled into me resting her head on my chest.
A/N: How did Charlie's and Edward's talk go? I think it went rather well. Bella and the girls will still fix up the truck no worries. Just because Bella agreed to let Edward get her a car doesn't mean he won.
In case of any confusion:
Fig: Mike Newton (after the Fig Newton cookies)
Crash: Tyler Crowley (From crashing his van)
Poodle: Eric Yorkie (as explained above)
I know some thought it would be Jacob but Charlie gave the nicknames and he isn't aware of the wolves.
Thank You For All Reviews!
BS&EC
BS&EC
BS&EC
Preview Alert!
BS&EC
BS&EC
BS&EC
Preview:
I entered the house after Emmett and Jasper dropped me off. I ran upstairs to put my stuff away before I started dinner. Movement caught my eyes as I entered my room and I let out a screech dropping my bags in the doorway. I saw quick flash and Edward entered my bedroom landing in a defensive crouch. He scanned the room and then glanced at me quickly.