A/N: Okay, stepping away from Emily for a second. Here's chapter 18, enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of its characters; Stephanie Meyer does.

Chapter Eighteen

BPOV

By the time it's Monday again, I'm exhausted - both physically and mentally. The entire weekend starting with my date with Alice on Friday night was packed, and as I wait on my porch for Alice to arrive I feel like just putting my head down for a second and drifting for a little while.

Soon the sound of Alice's car coming down the road appears, getting louder and louder until she stops at the end of my driveway.

I yawn and rub my eyes a bit as I make my way over, dropping myself heavily onto the seat when I've opened the door.

"Aww, is my poor baby tired?" Alice coos, leaning over to kiss my lips gently.

"Mhmm," I reply softly with a pout. I shut the door and she starts driving to school, going faster than usual. When we get there, the parking lot is still just filling up and we have almost fifteen minutes before we have to get to homeroom.

"Come on," Alice says to me, grabbing her backpack and climbing out of the car.

I climb out with a whine and follow Alice to the picnic tables on the grass that no one ever uses because it's almost always raining. Alice sets her bag down on top of the table and sits on the end of the bench, patting her lap in welcome.

I quickly dump my bag next to hers and lay down on the bench, my knees bent and my head resting on her small lap. She runs her fingers through my hair and scratches gently, making me close my eyes and start purring softly. Her giggle sounds far away through the haze of pleasure that seems to be cutting off all my senses except to feel and smell Alice.

We sit like this for a while until eventually, we hear someone walking up to us.

"Hey there lovebirds," Angela says, putting her bag on the table and sitting on the bench on the opposite side of the table.

"Hi Angela," Alice says in her usual chipper tone. Must be great to not need sleep.

When I don't say good morning, Angela pokes my upraised knee, throwing me off balance on the narrow bench and almost making me fall off. I glare at her lazily before closing my eyes again and turning my face into Alice's stomach and inhaling deep slow breaths.

"Don't mind her," Alice says, her hands still moving through my hair. "She's just been very busy this weekend, that's all."

"Oh, did you two…" she trails off suggestively.

"Don't be a perv Ange," I mutter against Alice's stomach making her squirm.

"What? I'm just asking. You don't have to tell me the details." I would roll my eyes, but it seems like way too much work. Why the heck am I so tired?

The bell rings eventually, and we have to get up. I whine and grumble when Alice gently raises my head off her lap and she kisses me lovingly, telling me that I'd see her again during lunch. I pout anyway and continue to do so until my Spanish class with Jasper where he uses his gift on me to get rid of some of the fatigue and also lighten my mood.

All throughout lunch, I barely let go of Alice, always maintaining contact with her in some form. We sit at the Cullens' table today and none of her siblings seem to be bothered by our increased touchy-feely behaviour. I wonder briefly if we're making it obvious that we practically had sex on Friday. Well, as close as I've ever gotten anyway.

Alice invites me over after school, but I'm too exhausted so I decline in favor of catching some sleep at home. She agrees after making me promise to come tomorrow and then drives me home, only leaving after I'm tucked in and already nodding off.

By the time I wake up, Charlie's home and I can hear him playing music downstairs. I trudge down sleepily, rubbing my face as I try to wake up and make my way to the kitchen where I can hear the music coming from.

When I walk in, I see him wearing mom's apron and singing along to Elton John's song Don't Go Breaking My Heart. It was mom's favorite and she sang it all the time when she was busy around the house.

"Hey dad," I say from the doorway, smiling while I watch him dishing what looks like pasta and some of Billy's fish fry.

"Oh hi Bells. I got home and found you knocked out so I figured I'd go ahead and cook today. You look pretty exhausted kid, you alright?"

I shrug and take a seat at the table. "So what's all this?"

"Your mothers' favorite meal. Or my attempt at making it anyway," he says with a nervous chuckle. "I'm not entirely sure it's edible."

Suddenly, it clicks. The apron, the song, the food…mom's birthday. Tears form in my eyes and as soon as Charlie notices, he puts the pot down and pulls me into a firm but gentle hug. A sob breaks out of me suddenly and he gently strokes my hair and shushes me until I finally quiet down again.

"Come on, let's not let this good food go to waste, hmm?" I nod silently, wiping the remaining tears from my cheeks. The food is horrible, but I eat it all anyway. By the look on Charlie's face he doesn't seem too fond of it either, but he follows my example and finishes what's on his plate.

"Next year, I'm cooking," I say with a joking scowl on my face.

"No problem kid, I have no problem with that." He opens the fridge and grabs his second and last beer of the week, pausing to send a mock glare at me while I hold up two fingers to tell him that he's used up his allowance.

"And it's only Monday," I say with a grin. His face pales slightly and he puts it back in the fridge.

"I'll save it for a rainy day then," he says with a sigh, grabbing a bottle of water instead. "Goodnight kid."

"Later dad," I say, hugging him briefly before taking care of the dishes.

I have trouble falling asleep, probably because I slept all day, so I end up texting Alice to ask her to come over. Before I hit send, there's a light tapping on my window. I get up to open it and see Alice balanced precariously on the branch outside my window. I open it and let her in.

"I saw that you were gonna need the company tonight," she explains while unwrapping her scarf and tossing it on the back of my desk chair.

"Thank you," I say, pulling her into my arms and kissing the top of her hair.

We snuggle on my bed for a long time, just talking about random things until finally I start to feel tired and fall asleep in her cool comforting arms.

A/N: Slightly more depth will also be given to what happened to Bella's mom. I don't like adding tons of details into things like that because I'm trying to keep my story light but at the same time, the characters need depth.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed :) R&R