CHAPTER 15: Sudden Change in Mood

"Hey, Edward…"

"Yeah?"

I stand there looking at him as he continues to fry the chicken, not once looking at me.

"Umm…thanks."

"Huh?" he finally looks in my direction by the island counter.

"For the flowers," I blush. "It wasn't necessary but…thank you."

"Oh, yeah…" he chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck. He looks slightly embarrassed. "I'm glad you liked them."

"Thanks for the note, too." I sit back down in my chair and play with my hands.

He briefly looks at me again. "I meant every word of it."

I can't help but sigh. "I'm still really confused why you feel like you need to take care of me, or look out for me?"

"We're back to that, huh?" he laughs. "Well…someone has to," he merely shrugs. The look he has on his face and the way seems to think about his words and how he can't look at me directly I can tell he means it, and not in a teasing way. "I know Alice was assigned to look after you while you were here and she does seem like the most likely candidate, but we both know how Alice's work is never ending and how she can get swamped so suddenly. My sister can also sometimes become forgetful of other responsibilities when her brain is preoccupied with getting her designs together. Jane can't really entertain you either because she always needs to be by Aro's side…so that leaves me."

I tilt my head to the side with a raised an eyebrow. "I thought I told you I didn't need a babysitter? You need to learn to give me a little credit for surviving this long." I'm really starting to hate this pitiful role I was playing as if I'm the one person that everyone should be the most concerned about in case I fell off the face of the earth. The way people are going on with my safety makes me feel like I should be wearing elbow pads and a helmet or live the rest of my life in a bubble suit.

Edward strains the pasta in the sink and places it in a bowl. He takes the bowl and the sauce he made for it and puts in front of me with a plate, a fork, a spoon, and just smiles. He leans a little into the table and chuckles. "I know you're not helpless, Bella."

His sudden closeness makes me lean back into my seat. I blush again. "Then why…"

"Because I want to. Is that such a bad thing? I'm sorry I don't have a better…reasoning." He quickly backs away and takes the chicken off the fryer and gets his own plate and places the chicken on it with a little bit of pasta. The garlic bread warming in the oven is finally ready so he sets that on the table as well. "Aren't you going to eat?" he looks at me curiously. "I thought you were hungry?" I nod slowly and serve myself and that was the end of that topic.

'Because I want to,' he says. What kind of answer is that? If one such as me didn't know any better, it would seem like he was taking a liking to me. However, I can't let my imagination blow up in my face. I've done nothing but become a burden to him. I know deep down he probably feels like he owes me for what happened on the boat, which is still such a ridiculous notion to me.

We eat our meals with little to no words between. It's hard coming up with a good topic to talk about with him after what he said. He doesn't seem to mind the silence and he actually looks content, which I thought was strange. I really did love his smirk that's on his face at the moment. Just the smallest expressions from him make my heart melt and my limbs go Jell-O. "What…are you thinking about?" I choke on my breath. I wasn't really planning on asking. I just suddenly blurted it out, which I tend to do when I'm paying attention to what my brain is daydreaming about.

"Huh?" he looks up at me. He smiles and just shakes his head. "Nothing. Are you done eating?" he glances at my empty plate. Well, that was a quick topic of conversation.

"Oh, umm…yes. It was delicious. Thank you." He takes our empty plates and put them in the sink and turns the water on. "No, let me do that," I get up. Since he cooked our meal for us, it was only right that I wash our dishes.

I place my hands under the running water with his and attempt to take one of the plates from him. He gently touches my hand that makes me involuntarily let go of the plate being rinsed. Luckily, he was still holding on to it or I would have dropped it in the sink. I look at him and turn red once again. "Let me," he smiles. "Just go relax. I know you're used to taking care of other people so let someone else take care of you for once."

"Wha…I…." I am quickly lost for words. My mind goes blank. I can do nothing but stare at him in shock.

Edward softly laughs again and continues to wash the dishes. "Like I said, I know you're not helpless, Bella. I've spoken to Jane and she tells me how you practically took care of your mother before she remarried and how you looked after your father when you moved to Forks. I'm sure you did the cooking, the cleaning, and the laundry while you were there." He grins at me knowingly.

I'm amazed Jane told him all these personal things about me! I'm embarrassed and annoyed that he knows such things. "Why were you talking to Jane about me?"

"I was just curious about you. Don't worry, she didn't tell me any embarrassing stories about your childhood or anything," he smirks.

I glare at him. "And why exactly were you curious about me?"

"I was surprised to find out that you were Aro's niece. I sort of pictured you to be Italian or British like he was so I became curious when I saw this American girl from the Northwest. That's why I asked Jane about you and not my sister. I figured she would know more about you. I assume you know about my family as well from Alice, so we're even." He smile grew even wider as he dried the rest of the dishes.

"Yeah…I guess so," I reply quietly. He did have a point. I even knew about his ex-girlfriend, which I didn't want to get into. I make a mental note to myself to find out what exactly Jane told him. I have a feeling he's keeping a few minor details from me to keep me from growing more upset about it.

"Anyway, how are you feeling? Are you lightheaded at all?"

His concern always surprises me and I hadn't really thought about my condition since we got to the villa. "Umm…I'm all right?"

"Are you sure?" he asks. He puts the last plate away and wipes his hands clean with a paper towel. He looks at me again, waiting for a response, after he throws it in the trash under the sink.

"Yeah, pretty sure. Why?"

"You up for a walk?" he smiles his prefect little grin.

"A walk?" I furrow my eyebrows confused.

"On the beach," he answers casually.

I let out a soft, unbelievable chuckle. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah…why not? We talked about it didn't we?"

I shrug my shoulders. "Yeah, but…I didn't think you really meant it. Shouldn't you be practicing your lines or something, Mr. Edward Cullen?" I crossed my arms in front of me with a teasing look on my face.

He catches on and mimics my posture, leaning against the countertop. "You have a really bad habit of repeating yourself…you know that, Miss Isabella Swan?" he slightly smirks.

"Funny," I smile sarcastically. "Just don't want your brain rusting from all these days off you've been having," I shot back. "It never looks good when the lead actor forgets his lines a million times in one scene."

"Well, lucky for me I have excellent memory," he keeps his smirk.

"I guess," I roll my eyes.

"C'mon," he chuckles. "Go get ready. While it's still nice out."

Before I have a chance to reply, my words are drowned out by another voice. "Edward! There you are! Where have you been?" Alice's frantic voice came echoing through the kitchen. We both look at her confused.

"What are you talking about? I've been here the whole time with Bella."

"I've been calling you. Do you not have your phone on?" she gives him an exasperated look.

"I put it on silent. Why?" He takes his phone out of his pocket and looks at it. "Really, Alice? Twenty-four missed calls?" he shakes his head at his sister.

Alice's eyes go wide at her brother. "I need to speak with you urgently," her voice is stern and her lips are barely moving. I've never seen Alice like this. She's usually bubbly and composed. But this time, she looks like she just saw a ghost. "While we were in Florence, Jas and I saw a Mad Hatter walker around. Funny place to see such a character, right?" She gives him some sort of look that I didn't quite get.

But, apparently, Edward got it. His face goes just as pale as his sister's. "What? Tell me you're joking, Alice…"

"If I was, I wouldn't be calling you a million times!" she roll her eyes at him. "And, I wouldn't have rushed back here as quickly as I could. You seriously owe me, Edward."

Edward looks worried about what his sister is telling him. What the heck was a Mad Hatter? Did she mean the character from Alice in Wonderland? Was it her code word for something? I was utterly confused. "Bella, I'm really sorry but we'll have to postpone our little…trip."

"Trip? What trip?" Alice asks curiously, looking at Edward then at me.

"Don't worry about it," he grabs her by the arm. "Please excuse us…" Edward half-smiles at me and then drags his sister to another room. She's quietly explaining something to him as they walk away, Edward shaking his head, while she keeps rolling her eyes. I'm a bit jealous about being left out and not be in on their little secret. Whatever it is, it was something that bothered Edward greatly. I suppose our beach trip will now have to wait since this came up and the actors are due to go back to filming tomorrow.

I walk back up to my room and plop myself on my bed. I turn on the television and let it play on whatever channel it's currently on. It didn't matter what show is on because I'm not paying attention. I just want some kind of sound in the background. I am also dreading calling my parents but it can't be helped. I diale Charlie's number at the station first knowing he would be less hysterical than Renee. It was late in Forks but Charlie tends to pull all-nighters at the station when he was working on a case or helping another sheriff in a different county.

"Chief Swan, how can I help you?"

"Hey, dad…"

"Bells?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"Are you all right? How are you feeling? Are you still at the hospital?"

I smiled at his quick interrogation. "I'm fine, dad. The nurse said all I needed was rest. I'm sorry for worrying you. You know how clumsy I am."

"You know, you had your mother worrying about you the most," he sighs. I can hear him slouch back into his seat from the creaking sound of the chair.

"I know. She always worries about the smallest of things. I'm just glad she didn't have a panic attack and traveled a thousand miles just to see me still alive and kicking."

Charlie chuckles. "Well, I'm sure your mother knows you're sturdier than you look, but you can't blame her for worrying."

"Yeah, I know…so…how are you…doing?" When the subject turns to how we were doing, it always got weird.

"Oh, me? Uhh…I'm…good. Still healthy as a horse. Been pulling a lot of time here in the office lately so I've been spending lots of nights here."

"Oh, I see…"

"So…how's Italy? Your uncle been taking good care of you…besides the ya know…accident?"

"Yeah! Oh, Yeah," I nod as if he can actually see me reassuring him. "Things are good here. Alice is here, too, so I have a friend."

"Alice? The girl you met in LA?"

"Yeah. Turns out Aro hired her to take care of the clothing and makeup for the actors."

"That's nice. So, how are the actors? You meet any of them yet? Are they nice or drama queens?"

"Dad…" I roll my eyes into the phone.

"What?"

"They're…cool," I answer quietly. I really didn't want to elaborate too much on the fact that I was terribly infatuated with the lead actor who happens to be Alice's brother.

"Listen, Bells, I gotta let you go. I'm getting a dispatch call I need to answer."

"Sure. Just wanted to let you know I was okay."

"Glad you called, baby. I'll talk to you soon."

"Bye…"

Well, that wasn't so bad. The conversation with Charlie didn't go as bad as I thought it would. At least we were able to talk about something even though it was very brief. Next up is my mother, Renee. I really didn't want to call her this late knowing that she's a heavy sleeper and Phil usually got up early and I prefer not to wake him in the process either. My brain was good about coming up with a few more excuses why I shouldn't call yet, but if I prolong it any longer she probably would race here out of worry.

I take a deep breath and dial their number in Florida. When she answers she sounds worried, shocked, happy, relieved, and then concerned—all in that order. I tell her the same things I told Charlie about getting plenty of rest and how I have plenty of other people to look out for me, which is the truth. After I answer her endless list of questions about my health, Italy, and things I'd been up to, she finally sounds more relaxed about the whole situation. When she asks me about meeting any cute boys, I steer the topic away and tell her I was tired and that the meds I took are finally kicking it. A total lie, of course, and she knows that, but lets the conversation end anyway. Thank goodness she never pries too deeply into my love life.

The sun has already set behind the mountains and the house still seems quiet and empty. I didn't really know if it was since my room is away from the other quarters. I suddenly feel alone. After Edward disappeared with Alice, I never heard from the two again. I keep wondering what they were up to…what Edward was up to. I begin to feel sorely disappointed that we didn't go for that walk, not just because I want to spend more time with him, but also because I was now bored out of my mind!

And so, I did the next best thing I could think of. I call Jacob. I'm sure Charlie told his dad about my near death experience which should have trickled down to his ears. I wait and wait for him to pick up his phone but all I get is his voicemail, which is unlike him. Jacob is a night owl and we used to spend hours all night on the phone talking to each other and the one who paid for it in the morning was usually me. I hang up and call back in case he was in the bathroom or something—but again…it goes to voicemail. I frown.

"Hey, Jake…it's me, Bella. Umm…I just wanted to hear your voice since it's been forever. Try to call me back, kay? …Bye."

Billy is also most likely asleep so calling his house phone is out of the question. I start to wonder if he's busy with that Renesmee girl he told me about before. There is a chance Jacob was spending time with her so his phone is on silent. It would still be Saturday there since we're a few hours ahead. I'm happy for him but also bummed if she's the reason why he wasn't picking up my calls. Knowing Jacob, he'd probably call me as soon as he got the chance. I sigh again trying to figure out what to do next. There is no point in getting cabin fever in my room so head back downstairs to see if anyone else is around. If Edward or Alice are busy after their talk, I didn't want to disturb them.

I was rounding the corner back to the kitchen for a glass of water when Edward, who wasn't paying attention, almost bumps into me. Normally, it was the other way around. "Oh, Bella! Sorry. I was making sure I didn't forget my wallet so I didn't see you."

"Oh, why…are you…going out?" He has changed his clothes and had his sunglasses on his head. Edward also looks a little more dressed up than usual.

"Uhh, yeah," he rubs the back of his neck. What was he nervous about? "There's something I need to take care of so I'm sorry again about cancelling." He looks down at his feet as if there's something else he wants to tell me but doesn't.

"It's okay," I half-smile. "It wasn't a definite plan or anything." My smile falters so I try to pretend to cough to hide my disappointment. "I'm kind of thirsty so I'm just going to get some water."

"Oh, yeah…of course," he moves out of my way. "Remember what the doctor said, don't overexert yourself. Anyway…I'll see you later."

"Hey, Edward?" He quickly spins back around.

"Do you know where Alice is?"

"I think she left again to go see Jasper."

"Oh, okay. Thanks." Even my closest friend here isn't around. He gives me a brief smile and leaves in a rush. He seems different after he had that private talk with Alice. I also notice Edward can barely look at me in the eyes. Did it have to do with that Mad Hatter business? Whatever that was.

I suppose my perfect day had to come to an end sooner or later.

Author's Note: The Mad Hatter nonsense will soon be revealed so stay tuned! Don't forget to review!