The Kindness of Semi-Strangers
By Freddie Stardust
Disclaimer: I own nothing – Stephenie Meyer is the genius behind the Twilight series. I make no money from writing this story.
Chapter Eight – Play Ball
The morning of my doom had finally arrived.
After lying in bed for three hours thinking what an idiot I was for not calling Phil at a decent hour to soak up some firsthand knowledge of baseball, I dragged myself to the bathroom and took a quick shower. I pulled the box of baseball clothes out from under my bed and sighed as I pulled each article out.
"I must have a death wish," I muttered as I tugged on my work clothes. I stuffed the baseball clothes into a duffel and grabbed my purse to head to work.
"Morning Bella," Charlie called as I raced downstairs to the kitchen.
"Morning Dad. You working today?"
"Nope. Fishing day."
I grabbed a muffin and a banana before rushing out the door, yelling a goodbye to my dad. Hopping into my truck, I sped off to work, eager for something to take my mind off the upcoming game.
Work was a nightmare. I was so worried about that afternoon that I knocked over an elaborately stacked display of camping chairs while reaching for a can of bug spray, and then I dropped an entire tray of live bait that I was supposed to stock. Mike looked a bit nauseated as he handed me a mop to clean them up. I threw up all over the worms and, to add insult to injury, I had to clean up my own puke.
When my shift ended at 3:00, I shuffled to the bathroom and unpacked the baseball cap, lightweight tank top, jersey, and jeans. I pulled on the jeans and tank top, brushed my hair into a ponytail, shrugged on the jersey, and plopped the baseball cap on my head. Then I made the mistake of looking in the mirror.
"Oh God. This is going to make them think I'm actually athletic," I moaned, jerking the bill of the cap over my eyes. I looked good in baseball gear, but I really didn't want to give a false impression. They were going to treat me like I knew what I was doing, and then I would definitely die.
"Wow Bella, you actually look athletic," Mike marveled when I came out of the bathroom.
"I know. It's awful." I sank into one of the camping chairs I had knocked over earlier.
"What's up? You joining a team or something?" Mike asked casually, though I knew he was itching for some gossip.
"Nah." I wasn't going to give up anything about the Cullens. I didn't even know what kind of baseball we were playing – was there a Vampire Baseball League with special vampire rules or something?
"Okay," Mike said, disappointed. "Just running around in a cap and jersey. I see."
"Yup. Trying out a new look." I pushed myself out of the chair and gathered up the duffel bag and my purse. "See you later Mike."
"Sure, see ya," he responded, scratching his head. The boy was definitely one fry short of a Happy Meal.
I walked out to my car like a death row con walking to the electric chair. The distance from the door of the store to my truck seemed to keep growing, like one of those old scary movies where the hallway keeps stretching and stretching and the music gets more intense and creepy until suddenly…
"Hi."
I nearly jumped right out of my skin. "EDWARD!" I screeched, sliding pathetically down my truck door and onto the ground. "You're going to kill me!"
He rolled his eyes unsympathetically as I clutched at my chest, trying to grip my heart through my shirt to slow it down.
"You should be used to it by now," he said, exasperated, reaching down to pull me gently to my feet. "But sorry anyway."
I glared at him. "Get bent."
Edward chuckled and smoothed the nonexistent wrinkles out of his shirt. He looked like he had been born to play baseball, what with his abnormally flattering baseball getup. I felt like a fish out of water. Hell, I felt like a fish on Jupiter.
"Shall I drive?"
I tossed Edward the keys and walked to the passenger door, which he had already zipped over to and opened for me. There was no way I could drive – I had already been jittery enough before Edward popped up and scared the pee-pee out of me.
The roads we took were pretty busy – lots of people were flocking to the movie theaters on this cloudy Saturday. It looked like it was going to storm, and I pointed this out to Edward, hoping it would make a difference in delaying my dreaded fate.
"We can only play baseball when it's storming," Edward said with a sly grin.
"But… but I just watched a game yesterday on TV, and when Nats Stadium got a sprinkle, they quit!" I protested in a voice that was an octave or two higher than the voice in which I usually spoke.
"You're grasping at straws, Bella. You're playing, whether you like it or not."
I huffed and puffed and settled back into my seat. Maybe I should just accept that I was going to do this, be optimistic, and try my best.
Ha. Who was I kidding? Bella Swan, being optimistic and not putting up a fight when I was faced with an unfamiliar situation? Please. I was born to struggle in the face of uncertainty and discomfort.
We drove for another fifteen minutes or so, the radio blasting some blues songs from the 1950s. I was enjoying the tunes so much that I didn't realize when the truck puttered to a stop.
"We're here," Edward announced, exiting the car in a flash and opening my door for me before I could hide in the backseat or make a break for the woods.
I gulped, biting my lower lip anxiously. This was it.
"Come on, Bella, it's a game, not a death sentence. You're being a drama queen." Edward steered me through a large clearing in the woods, where I could see the rest of the Cullens gathered in their baseball gear.
Alice was stretching luxuriously; Emmett was whacking the dirt off his cleats; and Jasper was flipping his baseball bat around, looking so confident it was as if he'd invented the damn sport. Rosalie was gazing at me with a perfectly arched eyebrow under her perfectly poised cap, with Esme speaking to her softly at her side.
Carlisle, naturally, looked like the best cut of man-meat in the butcher's shop.
"You're late," Rosalie called as we grew closer. I knew that was for my benefit – she could have whispered it a mile away and Edward would have heard, but why not take advantage of the opportunity to make me even more uncomfortable?
"Not," Edward countered. "We're actually twenty minutes early."
"I'm surprised you even made it, driving that old hunk," Emmett said with a smirk.
"Bite me," I teased, rolling my eyes.
"Maybe for dessert," he shot back.
"All right kids, let's huddle up," Esme called, smiling that smile that all mothers get when they're reminded of how much they love their children. What a woman.
To my enormous surprise, the game went incredibly smoothly – no disasters of epic proportions. We divided into teams, went to our positions (me behind the plate to serve as… referee? Umpire? Grand Poobah?), and played ball.
It was incredible to watch the vampires play. Each time the ball hit a bat, it was like a crack of lightning, which conveniently danced in the hills beyond the clearing. They threw themselves into each other to fight for the ball, which seemed more appropriate for rugby than baseball, but whatever, it was their sport, not mine. Definitely not mine.
Alice was the first to notice when the visitors arrived.
"Stop!" came her crystalline voice. The vampires stood still as statues for a moment, listening or smelling or whatever they did, and then raced toward me. I tried not to yelp as seven deadly creatures came to a skidding halt in front of me, fangs out and bodies turned toward the edge of the woods at the far end of the clearing.
"What's happening?" I whispered to Edward. He clapped a heavy hand over my mouth, hard enough that I felt a tooth shift.
Two men and a woman with wild red hair came striding out of the woods that the Cullens stood facing. Noob to the vampire world though I was, it didn't take me long to discern that these, too, were vampires, and that their intentions weren't as friendly as joining the ball game.
"Greetings, friends," called one of the men in a slightly accented voice. His words were almost musical.
"This territory is claimed," Carlisle replied, speaking at a normal volume. Of course the other vampires could hear him.
"We pose no threat, friend. We come seeking refreshment before we pass through." By now, the threesome were standing in front of us. Damn, those bloodsuckers could move fast. I was so put off that I nearly forgot to breathe.
"My apologies, but we cannot permit hunting. We have a permanent settlement here and wish to maintain healthy relations and a good cover with the people of this town."
The woman with the red hair was staring at me, and I was surprised to find that her eyes were nearly the same color as her locks. Creepy.
"We must feed," she hissed.
"Victoria," the first vampire, who looked as if he were from the Caribbean, warned her.
"Isn't this human your dinner?" the second man asked with a twisted smirk. He looked like a douche, plain and simple.
"Touch her and die," Edward growled, crouching down in front of me and tensing his muscles for battle.
I took a moment, just a moment, to analyze the situation. It seemed as if we were about to have a little vampire war, thanks to me, a mere mortal, participating in what would have otherwise been a friendly baseball game amongst vampire siblings. Way to go, Bella. Way to cause a vampire battle.
Jasper was angry and anxious to fight; I could only tell because his emotions were starting to rub off on me, and I foolishly thought for a split second that I could actually take on the redhead.
Right. Go for it, you idiot. See how close you get before your head's lying in a bloody mess on the ground. Who do you think you are – Buffy?
And that was my last thought before everything went dark.
When I finally managed to crack open an eyelid, everything I could see was covered in fuzzy white stars.
"Camping?" I mumbled stupidly.
There was a quiet laugh to my right. "You're awake."
I popped open another eyelid. There was an irritating, low ringing in my ears. "Answer the phone, I don't have voicemail."
When my eyes focused a bit more, I saw I was in the Cullen McMansion. I was on a couch, and Carlisle sat in a chair beside me. Though my vision was blurry, I could see that his clothes were stained red.
"That's your concussion, not a phone." He began massaging my head, and to my absolute, addle-brained horror, I involuntarily moaned a bit.
"What happened?" I croaked, hoping to stop the moaning.
Carlisle continued to feel my head, seemingly found what he was looking for, and began parting my hair to take a closer look. "The visiting vampires attacked us. You got knocked in the head with a rock that the redhead threw to distract us."
"Bitch," I slurred.
"They're dead. All three." Carlisle grinned at me. "We avenged your honor."
I tried to process that information, failed, and filed it away in my brain to ponder when I hadn't been smacked in the head. "What's wrong with my head?"
Carlisle pursed his lips, concentrating on his work, and then sat back to rummage for something in a bag at his feet. "Victoria managed to crack you open in nearly the same spot where you had stitches before. There's a little bit of blood, but nothing to…"
I didn't hear the rest of what he said before I smelled the blood, threw up, and passed out once more.
I blinked back into consciousness after what felt like an eternity. "Well, that was mortifying."
Carlisle laughed heartily. "You're incredibly sensitive to blood."
He had changed out of his bloodstained clothes and, judging from the slight throbbing in my head, had stitched up my wound. The ringing in my ears was gone, though, and there was an icepack on my head.
"How long have I been out?" I asked, struggling to sit up a bit.
Carlisle was next to me in a flash, helping me get upright on the couch. "An hour and a half. Edward called Charlie to let him know you were staying for dinner."
I made a note to thank Edward later. In fact, I made a note to thank all of the Cullens later.
"I really appreciate you taking care of me," I said sheepishly. "I hate to always be the damsel in distress."
Carlisle shrugged. "I like to take care of you. You're beautiful when you sleep."
And just like that, I was in my own, personal movie – The Bella Chronicles: Return of the Blush.
"Where is everyone?" I asked, trying to deflect the embarrassment I felt.
"Feeding. The battle made everyone a bit… hungry."
"Aren't you hungry, too?"
Carlisle shook his head. "I've built up a great deal of self-control in my many years." He leaned in toward me, his beautiful face a mere inch from mine. "Which is why I've been able to resist ripping off your clothes and fucking you within an inch of your life."
I suddenly felt as if every joint in my body had turned to mush, and it seemed like my heart would explode if it beat any faster. It even hurt to breathe, I was so turned on.
"You're blushing," Carlisle growled in a low voice. "And not just in your face."
I wanted to say something, anything, that might come off as calm, collected, and sex-goddess-y, but all I could manage was a very high-pitched, strangled, "Eep." My whole body was throbbing.
In an incredible display of athleticism and flexibility, Carlisle crawled onto the couch on top of me, somehow managing not to touch me at all but lining his body up within inches of mine. I decided in that moment that I would take up yoga.
"But I'm not so sure I'll be able to resist anymore."
This is it, kid! All your deepest, darkest fantasies are about to come to life! SHIT YEAH!
"Carlisle?"
Before I could blink, Dr. Sexypants had removed himself from the couch and was on the other side of the room behind a desk. Moments later, there was a knock at the door.
"Come in, Emmett."
Emmett pushed the door open and came to stand beside me. His eyes were a beautiful golden honey color.
"You okay, champ?"
I managed a grin, willing my heart to quit the 5K it was running. "Never been better. Thanks for sticking up for me."
Emmett bumped my fist with his own, cracking all my knuckles. "No outsider vamp is gonna mess with my girl Bella." He turned to Carlisle. "I'll take Bella home if you want to go hunt, Pops."
Carlisle nodded at his son. "Thanks, Emmett." He walked back to the couch and handed me a packet of pills. "Take these if you have any pain in your head. I'll get those stitches out in a few days."
I nodded as gently as I could, taking the pills and then using Emmett's outstretched hand to pull myself up. Carlisle put his hand on the small of my back to help me up, or perhaps to cop one last feel. Either way, I was as happy as a pig in shit.
"Thanks, Carlisle."
"Any time."
Emmett helped me downstairs and into his Jeep, which he maneuvered as carefully as he could back to Charlie's house, talking my ear off about the battle that had occurred as I lay ungracefully sprawled on the ground nearby, unconscious. He told me that Edward hadn't left my side during the whole ordeal, which gave me an unusual warm-and-fuzzy feeling.
The burly vamp walked me up the front steps before hopping back in his Jeep, waving, and tearing off at warp speed. I braced myself, swallowing down memories of those heated moments with Carlisle in his study, and walked in.
"Hey Bells," Charlie called as I entered the family room, still covered in dirt and pressing an icepack to my forehead.
"Hi Dad," I said, gingerly lowering myself onto the couch.
"That bad?" he asked, giving me a quick look to evaluate the extent of my injuries.
"You have no idea."
Charlie chuckled. "I'm glad Dr. Cullen always manages to fix you up when you bust up your butt."
My breath caught as I thought of how much I'd love for Carlisle to put those cold hands all over my busted butt, and I launched into a coughing fit.
Charlie jumped up to get me a bottle of water, which I gratefully sipped as my attack subsided.
"Maybe you should get to bed," he suggested, and I agreed heartily. I climbed up the steps, a daunting task with a concussion, and washed up quickly before shuffling into my bedroom. Edward was already sprawled out on my bed, whose sheets he had been kind enough to pull back for me.
I shucked my jersey and shoes and climbed into bed, snuggling up against the vampire's icy skin.
"Thank you Edward," I whispered drowsily.
He pulled me gently into the curve of his body and held his hand on my injured scalp in place of the icepack. "That's what friends are for, silly," he said affectionately.
I giggled. "Ferris Bueller, you're my hero."
I could almost hear Edward's eyes rolling. "You're cute when you have a concussion. Get some sleep, Bella."
The words were barely out of his mouth before I fell into a coma-like rest.
The rest of July passed quickly, and then, before I knew it, August was also gone. I had earned quite a few bucks at the Newtons' store, and I had been checking the ads in the paper and on Craigslist to find a couple of junk bikes for me and Jake to fix up.
School had just started, and my birthday was mere days away. I was happily preparing for the Loss of My V-Card, though I'd be an enormous Liar-Liar-Pants-on-Fire if I said I wasn't scared as shit.
How did you have sex with a vampire?
Did they even do it the same way as humans?
Hell, how did humans do it?
I determined that being a virgin was definitely to my detriment in this scenario. Nothing wrong with being a virgin, of course, and you should definitely trust and like and ideally love the person you're going to, er, do it with, but I somehow didn't see myself as the type of person who felt obligated to wait until marriage.
All right. I needed some knowledge about sex, stat. It was time to start watching some porn.
I glanced at my computer and then looked away quickly, blushing. Then I realized it was an inanimate object that couldn't judge me and my porn-watching.
I shuffled over to grab my laptop and carry it over to my bed, shutting and locking my door in the process. Charlie was at work, but I still didn't want to risk anyone walking in on me ogling some porno on my computer.
And on that note, I jumped up, locked the window, and shut my blinds and curtains.
Finally, it was time. I had a quick little debate with myself in my mind about the necessity of what I was about to do ("You'll seem like an idiot if you try pulling some porn move that you've never tried before!" "But I'll seem more like an idiot if I don't know what parts go where!" "You're a moron." "You're a moron!"), and the devil on my shoulder won the round.
"Here we go." I sat with my hands poised over the keyboard, but nothing happened. "Anddddd let's do it." Still nothing.
"Watch your porn dammit!" I hissed at myself. And then I burst into hysterical laughter, wheezing a bit until I calmed down.
"Okay. For real now." And I began my quest for Sexual Knowledge.
It took 3.2 seconds for Google to find what I was looking for, 5.6 minutes to calm myself down again, and 1.5 hours to learn that people are into some kinky shit.
While most of the things I saw were definitely not within my ability to perform, one thing I noticed was that everyone seemed to like talking dirty.
How hard could that be?
As it turned out, very hard.
I sat on my bed for a minute, giggling maniacally as I tried to force some dirty talk out of my (mostly) squeaky clean mouth.
"Oh yeah baby," I began, my voice cracking a bit. I cleared my throat, bit my lip, and continued.
"Oh, I love how you feel inside m…" And that was as far as I got before I got another case of the giggles.
I slammed my laptop shut, rolling my eyes. I just had to hope that when the time came, I would know what to do while I was in the moment.
And that moment was coming very, very soon.
A/N: Once again, I suck at updating. Yup. Throw some rotten fruit and veggies at me, because I'm lame. I really am. I feel like I haven't slowed down in months. But I'm so glad I had the time to sit down and write this chapter, because it felt gooooood. And holy mackerel that Dr. Carlisle is a hottie! I think I need to take up yoga classes with Bella in case the PhD of Sexy comes knocking at my door.
A note (obviously, since this is the author's note section. [facepalm] Duh.): I dealt with those pesky nomad vampires a lot faster than the amazing Ms. Meyer did. I knew I needed to deal with them, but I didn't want them eff-ing up my Bella/Carlisle lovefest. I claim artistic license. Or impatience. Whatever.
And now, an acrostic (and shameless) plea for reviews:
Let's take a moment to soak
Up the sexiness that is
Carlisle;
Katie works on reviews, so
You guys would be amazing if you leave one!
But I also enjoy
Every add to a favorites
List, so keep those coming so that our
Lovely young heroine can get a piece of the hot doc's
Ass!
My sincerest thanks to you guys for putting up with my slow-to-update butt; I love you guys so much, and I'm going to try my best to get the next chapter out. I've written a bit of it, and I'm afraid I'll have to censor some of it, but I'll be happy to email an uncensored version to anyone who wants the whole thing – or maybe I'll post it on AFF. Maybe both!
My thanks to those of you who favorite/alert me or my story – you guys are freaking fabulous! Those emails make me giggle maniacally like Bella trying to talk dirty. And a big old thank you to those of you who review, namely:
aerobee82, xitwa74 (You made me smile so big! Thanks!), The-Major's-Sargent, Jasper'sBaltimoreBabe (I love Jasper/Bella), beecee91, WannabeWolfe (I really work hard to keep it fresh – thanks for noticing!), MissDevil666, gigyluv1992, xxbabyxox, imortalglee, Babe Pryor, seza3175, Zoya Zalan, whitegurl2013, gottaloveva, Tyalieva (Je suis d'accord avec vous! Merci pour vos gentils mots), victoria79, slcottin, Misty H, and Babysis64.
You guys ROCK. I love you. Seriously. Let's all have babies together.
Coming up next: Bella loses it. In more than one way. But definitely in the way we've been awaiting for EIGHT DARN CHAPTERS. I love some good old-fashioned anticipation. Maybe too much… But I digress. We'll have a lot of fun in chapter 9. It's more than likely to be not much use to the larger plot, but it's about time I threw in a chapter of pure fluff.