A/N: Song; tied together with a smile - Taylor Swift.
Chapter Twelve – (Simple Days)
EPOV
I haven't been able to stop thinking about Bella since she left; I'm so worried about her. Her living arrangements with her father are obviously not good. When I overheard her and Alice talking and she mentioned he was the one that hit her, I wanted to drive over to her house and beat the shit out of him with a baseball bat, but I knew that wouldn't help Bella at all.
I stayed where I was and listened to the rest of their conversation. I felt bad for doing it, but I wanted to know what was going on. When I finally spoke up and let them know I was present, the panic in Bella's eyes was overwhelming. Her eyes began to water as she begged me not to tell anyone. I crossed the room and held her in my arms and promised her I wouldn't. I've never seen her so broken.
I don't know how a father can treat his own flesh and blood that way. I never got the chance to know my father, but I've only ever heard great things about him and how he used to treat me and my mother. Carlisle is the closest thing I've ever had to a father and he's always been there for me, supporting me and having my back all the time. He would never hit me or the rest of my family, but I guess sometimes you can't control yourself while you're under the influence of alcohol. Though, I know even then Carlisle would never hit any of us.
Spending time with Bella has been great. I look forward to having her by my side at school, now that she's pretty much my girlfriend. I have a quick shower and get dressed before I head downstairs and grab something to eat for breakfast on the way to school. I drive over to Bella's to pick her up like I said I would. I pull up to her house and see her playing with her phone while she waits on her porch steps. She looks up as I get out of the car. She walks over to me eagerly with a huge smile on her face. I take her in my arms and hold her tightly.
"Hey, baby."
She tilts her head back and licks her bottom lip. I smile at her as I lean my head forward and press my lips to hers. We start out slow then eventually end up kissing frantically and have to pull away to catch our breath.
"Hey yourself," she replies with a blush filling her cheeks.
I open the car door for her. She pecks me on the lips before climbing inside. I walk around to the driver's side and climb in. I pull out of her drive way and head towards the school. I rest my hand on her thigh and it doesn't take long for her to wind her hand through mine. She looks over to me and smiles before reaching her other hand out and placing it at the back of my neck and stroking it. It's such a simple gesture, but shows that she's a lot more comfortable around me.
"How was everything after I dropped you off?" I ask her cautiously.
"I'm alright. Nothing happened," she replies quietly. "He wasn't downstairs when I went in though. I think he may have actually made it to his room before passing out for once. I didn't check on him, but his cruiser was gone when I woke up this morning, so…"
"That's good then, if anything else happens –"
"I know, Edward. I'm not an idiot. I'll report it."
"I didn't say you were an idiot. I just hate that he puts you through this."
"I know you do. You're as bad as Alice." she pinches the bridge of her nose. That's something I do when I get frustrated or annoyed. I give her hand a squeeze.
"Just looking out for you, babe."
I glance at her quickly and see her sigh as she leans back into the seat.
"I know. I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"Getting all snappy at you."
"Don't worry about it."
I bring our entwined hands up to my lips and kiss the back of her hand. She smiles at me before leaning over and kissing me on the cheek.
"You better not do that if you want to survive the rest of the trip to school."
She giggles as she leans down into my arm. I press my lips to her forehead and run circles on the back of hand with my thumb. I hear her groan as we pull into the school parking lot. I look over at her and see the annoyed look on her face. I glance around the lot, but can't see anything that would provoke that mood from her.
"I hate school," she mumbles.
I begin to laugh as I realize that's what she's so annoyed about. I get out of the car and walk to her side to get the door for her. She raises her brow at me, and then narrows her eyes.
"What's so funny?" she asks in an annoyed voice.
"I didn't realize you hated school so much."
"That's because you're a newbie and haven't been here long enough to develop the hate for it."
"I'm not that new." She smiles at me as I hold out my hand for her. She takes it, stepping out of the way so I can shut her door. She leans against my car with an amused expression on her face.
"What?" I ask.
"Oh, you're pretty new to me."
I smirk at her and close the distance between us. I can hear her breathing accelerate as I run my hands into the back of her hair and then down her back, pulling her close to me. I lean down and press my lips to hers. I kiss her slowly at first because I know where in public, and I can already feel everyone's eyes on us. But when I'm kissing Bella, she brings out something from inside of me, and when she parts her lips, I don't hesitate to dart my tongue inside her mouth and kiss her more passionately. If they're gonna watch, I might as well put on a show. Her hands go into my hair and pull me closer to her.
We're interrupted by someone clearing their throat. We pull apart to see Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett in front of us. Emmett is waggling his eyebrows, Jasper has a smirk on his face, Alice is beaming and Rosalie has a small smile on her face. Wait, what? Rosalie is smiling at us? That's not normal.
"It's called privacy for a reason, guys," Alice says through a giggle.
I don't take my eyes off Rosalie, something is different. Why doesn't she look like a hostile psycho path anymore? I quirk my brow at her and look at her quizzically. Her features turn to shock when she see's that I'm onto her.
"Um, Bella, can I talk to you for a minute?" she asks quietly.
I look down at Bella to find that she's looking at me. I shrug my shoulders and figure it can't be anything bad if Rosalie of all people looks like she feels out of place. Bella looks back to Rosalie and gives her a small smile.
"Yeah, sure," she replies before pecking me on the lips.
Bella walks away from the rest of us with Rosalie close to her side. They go far enough away so we can't hear anything they're saying. I watch Bella closely for any signs of distress or discomfort. I begin to worry when I see tears well up in her eyes as she takes Rosalie's hand. The next emotions I see cover her face are shock, sadness, guilt, and then relief before Rosalie engulfs her in a hug. Bella's lips turn up into a smile as she hugs Rosalie back. I turn to the others and see that Alice has tears in her eyes, and Jasper and Emmet are looking at Rosalie with worried expressions. That's when I realize Rosalie must have told Bella about her past. When they return, Rosalie looks at us with an annoyed expression on her face.
"What? I can be nice when I want to."
"I'll be damned. So you actually have a heart?" I joke with her, knowing she'll just want to change the subject and not want everyone's sympathy.
"Edward!" Bella scolds me before slapping my arm. I look at her in shock before looking back to Rose.
"I take that back. You're turning her against me already. Look at her hitting me and shit."
Rosalie laughs as she takes in Bella's shocked expression.
"Whatever, loser. Bella and I have Trig now, so ciao."
Rosalie winds her arm through Bella's and steers her away from the rest of us.
"Well, that was different," Alice says.
The rest of the day goes by in a blur. Everyone seems to be gossiping about me and Bella being together, but I couldn't give two shits what they think. I meet Bella outside of her gym class, causing her to look mortified. I look at with a confused expression on my face before she finally speaks.
"Oh my god. You didn't watch me, did you? This is so embarrassing!" Her cheeks turn red, causing me to chuckle at her.
"I didn't see anything. I'm just here to pick you up on the way to biology." I smile at her before leaning down and pressing my lips to hers. She smiles against my lips and sighs in relief.
"Good, I don't need you seeing that disaster zone."
I shake my head as I throw my arm over her shoulders, and lead us to biology.
"What did Rose say to you earlier?" I ask her even though I already know.
"She just apologized, and explained a few things, nothing big."
She smiles at me before wrapping her arm around my waist and leaning in closer to me.
Biology is boring as always. We have to work on labs. It's nothing me and Bella can't handle. In fact, we finish first. I help Bella pack up her things when the bell goes off. I carry her bag to the cafeteria with her hand entwined with mine. She makes me give her bag back when we line up to get our lunch. She fills up her tray and I carry it over to our table for her.
Everyone's eyes are on us and I can see that it's making her uncomfortable. She looks up at me and smiles at me sheepishly. I give her my crooked grin back. I look over at our table and see Rosalie standing up with a pissed off look on her face. I know that look anywhere. She's about to lash out. I quickly glance back at Bella before I hear her go off.
"DO YOU PEOPLE NOT KNOW THAT IT'S RUDE TO STARE?"
Bella's eyes go wide before leaning around me and looking at Rose. I look back at her and see that she's smiling at Bella. I put our trays down and pull Bella's chair closer to mine so I can drape my arm over the back of her chair. I glance around the cafeteria and notice that everyone has turned away and are focusing on their food or are in hushed conversations. Probably gossiping about how crazy Rose is.
"Jesus Christ, baby. You're one big firecracker," Emmett says with a huge grin on his face.
"Big? Are you calling me fat?" she asks with an annoyed look on her face.
"Fat? What? How'd you? What?"
Rosalie rolls her eyes before laughing lightly. "I'm only screwing with you, Em, I know you don't think I'm fat."
"Hell fucking no I don't. You're a beautiful, sexy bombshell."
Jasper sighs causing everyone to look at him. He runs his hand down his face.
"What is it, babe?" Alice asks him
"I'm just wondering if Edward and Emmett would burn into flames if they walked into a church with the foul language that comes out of their mouths."
"Hey! I haven't said shit," I say sticking up for myself.
Jasper raises his brow at me which causes me to laugh at my mistake.
"Oh, my bad."
Everyone joins in the laughter.
The rest of the week goes by pretty quickly. I pick Bella up in the mornings and she either walks to class with myself, Alice or Rosalie. Everyone seems to have gotten over or used to the fact that Bella and I are together. They don't stop and stare at us like we're people from the circus anymore. Well, Lauren and Jessica do, but as soon as Rosalie is near them, they practically run in the opposite direction which gives me a laugh. Alice, Bella and Rose have become fairly close. Bella comes over our house after school sometimes and they steal her away from me, dragging her upstairs to their rooms to have their girl talk or whatever.
I don't think I've ever been this happy before. Bella has brought something out from inside of me. Every time I see her or look into her eyes, this feeling erupts inside of me. I've never been this close to anyone before in my life. Every day with her just keeps getting better. The way her hair flows all around us when we're kissing and the way she whispers when she's shy drive me insane with happiness. She always manages to touch every single place in my heart. I could stay stuck in those moments with her forever.
On Friday, I suggest we go back to her place instead of mine this time. She agrees with a smile and a peck on my lips. We walk to the car and I open the door for her. I get in the driver's side and take off to her house. She turns the radio on and fiddles with the station until she finds something she's happy with. It's already halfway through the song but she closes her eyes and begins singing along to it anyway.
"Hold on baby, you're losing it.
The water's high, you're jumping into it
and letting go, and no one knows.
That you cry but you don't tell anyone,
that you might not be the golden one.
And you're tied together with a smile,
but you're coming undone,"
The song continues with that same chorus, the notes getting higher and longer. Bella holds every single one of them. I've never heard anyone sing like she does. She has one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard. When the song ends, she looks over at me and smiles sheepishly. I smile back at her and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.
"You have such a beautiful voice, babe."
She looks at me with shock on her face then quirks her brow at me.
"You can't honestly think you don't have a good voice?" I ask her incredulously.
She shrugs before playing with the hem of her shirt.
"I've never had compliments on it before. My mom used to tell me I had a great voice when I was little, but I just thought she was only saying that because she was my mother…"
"I'm sure she was telling the truth, look at you now."
She smiles sadly to herself and I realize she never talks about her mother. I entwine my hand with hers and squeeze it.
"You don't talk about your mom much."
"There's nothing to say."
"What does that mean?"
She looks over at me and I can see the pain in her eyes again. I pull into her driveway and turn off the ignition when she looks away from me.
"Nothing, it doesn't matter," she whispers quietly.
I turn around in my seat and take her face in my hands, forcing her to look at me. I can see her holding back the tears and pull her close to me.
"I'm sorry; you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
I kiss her forehead before getting out of the car. She meets me at the front of the car and walks into my arms and holds onto me tightly.
"I haven't seen her since I was thirteen," she whispers.
I pull her closer to me and walk us up to her front door. She fumbles through her bag, trying to find her keys. When she opens the door, she walks straight to the kitchen and pulls out two glasses and then the Apple Juice from her fridge and pours it into the glasses. I watch her intently as she works around the kitchen, obviously getting dinner ready.
"Why do you cook so early?" I ask her.
"To get it out of the way. I heat it up for Charlie and place it on the bench when I hear him pull into the driveway. Then I go upstairs."
"So you don't see him at all?"
"I try not to."
She sighs and walks over to me. I wrap my arms around her as she wraps her arms around my neck and leans down, pressing her lips to mine. I place my hands in the back pockets of her jeans, squeezing her ass softly as I pull her closer to me. I feel her lips form into a smile before I stand up and begin to deepen the kiss. Well, the ass squeezing she likes. I chuckle to myself as we end the kiss.
"Okay, I should probably finish off this dinner," she says as she pulls away from me.
When she turns around, slap her bum as she walks away causing her to squeal and laugh at the same time. She pulls out a package out of the freezer and I see that it's lasagna.
"You need me to help with anything?" I ask her.
"No. You're already too much of a distraction."
"Too hot to handle, am I?"
"Yes," she answers with a laugh.
"So, Jazz and Rose's party is tomorrow night. You know what you're gonna wear yet?" I ask her to change the subject.
"Um, Alice and Rose have something for me, but they haven't told me what it is. I don't know why."
"Because they're evil, that's why."
She laughs at that statement as she put on the oven mitts and pulls out the lasagna and places it on a plate. She then places foil over the top and put it in the fridge.
"Do you need me to come pick you up?" I ask her.
"Alice was going to fill you in tonight, but I might as well just tell you. Her and Rose are coming over here during the day and we're getting ready together, then you're coming to pick us up."
"What about Jazz? Is he coming?"
"Yeah and Emmett, considering we're taking his jeep."
I laugh at my typical sister's planning. "So we're all coming to pick you girls up?"
"Yep."
The time flies by and before I know it, it's six o'clock. Bella walks me to the door, and leans up on her tiptoes and kisses me goodbye. I walk to my car and see her leaning in the door way. I wave to her before pulling out of the drive way, and see her blow me a kiss as I drive away from her house.
Tomorrow is going to be an amazing night.
A bit of nice, relaxing simple days together. Bella and Rosalie's conversation will be in the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Hit me up a review and let me know what your thoughts, xo Big thanks to Jenn for Beta'ing this story for me.
-natalee-x