Hey guys I hope you all had a nice weekend! So here's the next chapter and I hope you enjoy it! :)
Chapter 15
BPOV
After all this mess on Saturday night and the exhaustion with the hangover on Sunday I was quite happy and relieved that Monday had come. Monday was just a 'safe' ordinary school day.
I'd woken up without the splitting headache it been torturing me all day yesterday, so I took that as a good sign.
Adrian came and picked me up like every morning and I could tell that something was bothering him but when I asked him about it he reassured me that everything was fine so I dropped it.
School passed in a blur without anything special to happen. After school Alice, Rosalie, Angela and I headed to Port Angeles for a little quality girly time. We did a little shopping and I bought a really cute black dress to wear on my birthday next week. It took me a lot of time to persuade Alice not to throw another party for my birthday. I preferred something quiet with all my close friends. We had enough of partying these past few days.
"But you're turning eighteen this year! Come on Bella let me organize your party! Please!" she'd practically begged me.
"No Alice we just had a party two days ago and it was more than enough! I want something small for my birthday." I tried to reason with her. Rose and Angela knew that this was something between me and Alice and they stayed out of it. Damn, it was actually my decision to make, it was my birthday after all!
"Bella that was just a welcome back party for us and it has nothing to do with your birthday! This party must be epic! We're gonna have a three storied birthday cake and-
"Whoa Alice slow down! We're not having another party! At least not the one you're thinking about. It's my birthday and I'm telling you that I want something small with all my closest friends but we can still have a deal if you want. I'll let you organize it but I'm having the guest list." I cut her off. It was the best compromise I could think of right now.
"Fine but I'm choosing the birthday cake!" she pouted but then she understood that I was the one in charge of my own birthday party.
"Deal?" I said and hold out my hand.
"Deal." She agreed taking my hand in her own.
After the shopping we had dinner at a small Italian restaurant which had been our favorite through the years. I had my favorite mushroom ravioli and enjoyed the time with my best friends. It felt so good to do something normal for once. Alice had been acting like herself for most of the time but as the night was coming to an end and we were driving back to Forks she started fidgeting and looking a little distracted.
We left Rose and Angela to their homes and headed to mine since Alice was sleeping over my place tonight.
The moment we were left alone in the car she turned on the radio and started singing loudly along with it. She tried acting normal and like she was having a great time but I knew better. She was avoiding me like the plague but I played her game.
Wait until we're alone in my room where you'll have no escape I thought as we were getting closer to my house.
We entered the house and found Renee and Charlie lying on the couch watching a hilarious TV program. Emma must've been fast asleep by now.
"Hey girls! How did the shopping spree go?" my mum greeted us from the couch.
"Good. We're exhausted though so we're going straight to my room. Goodnight." I said and dragged Alice to the stairs.
"It's a school night, don't be up until late girls." Charlie reminded us from the living room.
"Yeah sure dad." In truth there was no chance for us to sleep before Alice told me what was happening with her.
I closed and locked the door behind me the moment we entered my room.
"Alright Alice, spill!"
"What? I don't understand what you're talking about Bella." she said avoiding looking me in the eyes.
"Come on, I'm not stupid. I know something's wrong the past couple of days. You're avoiding being alone in the same room with me and I didn't buy a word from what you told me last night. No more excuses Alice I wanna know what's going on."
"Nothing's wrong Bella, I told you I had a project in English to finish." She protested but wait a minute did she just say an English project?
"I thought you said you had a history project…" I trailed of insinuating that she was lying to me. I watched her becoming red from heels to toes. Ha! Busted!
"Yeah history, English… same thing. Anyway I think I need a shower." She hurried to grab her toiletries but I wasn't paying much attention. I was hurt. I went and seat by the window trying to clear my head. At first I thought that she didn't want to discuss whatever was bothering her over the phone and I was expecting for her to tell me as soon as we're alone but now I realized that she didn't want to talk to me about it at all. I was confused and hurt. Why was she keeping secrets from me? Wasn't I her best friend?
She may have noticed my reaction because she came to an abrupt halt on her way to the bathroom.
"Bella? Are you alright?" she asked worried.
"Nothing, it's just… I don't know Alice. Why don't you trust me?"
"What are you talking about of course I trust you Bells, you know that." She came and put her hands around me hugging me tight.
"Then why don't you want to tell me what's going on? I know that you're keeping something from me." I muttered still hurt from her behaviour.
"Oh! Look it's not that I don't trust you, it's that I'm afraid of your reaction." She admitted and sat down on the floor Indian style.
"What?" I wasn't expecting something like that! Why would you be afraid of that? What did you do Alice?" it must have been something very serious if she was afraid to tell me.
"I… um… err…" she opened her mouth and closed it again unable to find the right words.
"Come on Alice, I won't bite."
"Yeah, wait until you find out who he is." She trailed off not meeting my eyes. What? Wait! All this was happening because of a boy?
"Oh my gosh, Alice you met someone! Who is it? Tell me everything!" it was the first time Alice was talking seriously about a guy she'd met, well not talking yet but at least mentioning one. He must be really important to her. For her no one was worthy enough to have her heart and she was looking for her prince charming. What if she'd already found him?
"Well, yeah he's my boyfriend… well kind of…"
"What do you mean kind of? Alice please spill!" I was desperate to know more about that stranger.
But Alice didn't make any effort to continue. She was sitting on the floor playing with a strand of her hair and avoiding my gaze.
"Alice! Stop fidgeting! You can trust me remember?" I was dying to know who he was and becoming a little bit impatient.
"Alright I'll tell you but promise me that you'll remain calm!"
"I promise! Come on I'm dying here!"
"Jasper." She whispered looking down at her feet.
"Jasper? I don't know anyone in town- oh!" I started but then it struck me! "You mean Jasper as in my cousin Jasper?" I wasn't mad just surprised. I didn't know Jasper was her type.
"Yeah… don't be mad at me, please." She gave me her sad puppy dog eyes she knew I couldn't resist. I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing!
"Why would I be mad at you? Alice, he's my cousin not my boyfriend! I wouldn't have a problem if you even dating my brother. Well I think you'll be the one regretting dating Ian!" I teased her and saw relieved that she was starting to relax a little.
"Really?" she looked at me with a slight blush spreading all over her face. "Is it okay with you? I mean dating Jasper?"
"Of course it is you silly! I'm so happy for you!" I went and sat down on the floor facing her. "Now, tell me everything!" I was so curious to know how they'd met! And she did tell me everything about their little romantic date to the lake! I was glad to see her being herself again while she was rambling and giving me all the details about it.
To be honest I had never imagined Jasper to be so sweet and romantic guy. He'd been always spending a lot pf time with Ian and Emmett with whom he was close friend and they had a lot in common so I'd assumed he was just like them. Indeed as far as I knew Jasper was never into serious relationships but maybe that had changed the moment he met Alice. That we'll have to wait and find out soon…
"So what now? Are you guys a couple? I mean you like him and he obviously likes you but he's away in college. How are you going to work it out?" it was something I was dying to ask her for a while now but I had to be patient.
"Yeah, we're together now. I mean I know he's away and I'm not gonna see him for a while but we said we're gonna try. We want things to work for us so will give it a shot and we'll see. C'est la vie ma cherie." She was so happy and enthusiastic I though she would explode with joy!
"I'm so happy for you guys. Really, I mean it, it's so nice to be in love. You found one who's worthy don't you think?" I meant every single word I said to her, I was beyond happy and it didn't matter that he was my cousin. I wondered why she was afraid that I would mind. Actually I was more delighted by that, I want them to be happy together, for as long as it works.
"Definitely! Look, this is a picture I took yesterday before he left. Isn't it cute?" she asked beaming and passed me her i-phone so I could she the picture on the screen. Jasper was holding her chin up to bring her closer and kiss her softly. They were so perfect together.
After that the time had passed and we should go to bed unless we wanted to look like walking corpses tomorrow morning. I was lying on my bed thinking that it was about time something good to happen. I was so sick and tired from all the drama in my life and now I needed to relax and be carefree for a while.
EPOV
Jake had been waiting patiently for me to shower and be presentable and we had almost reached the front door when a grouchy sleepy Emmett appeared at the top of the stairs.
"Where do you two think you're going?" he said coming towards us looking really irritated by something.
"I'm going down to La Push with Jake. Why? What's wrong Em?" he'd been fine yesterday at the party and he was leaving to college later this afternoon.
"I'm really sorry to inform you that you're going anywhere until this place is clean and tidy again. If mum comes through that door this afternoon and see this mess we're both dead man." What? I couldn't believe in my own ears!
"What the hell Emmett? You want us to stay here all Sunday and play happy housewives? Where's Alice? She came up with the whole party thing on the first place!" she should have been here cleaning this mess, not us.
"Alice is nowhere to be seen. She left me a note on my door saying she'll be out for the day along with the list of the things and works we have to do to bring this place back to normal." He informed me waving in front of me a piece of paper I hadn't noticed he was holding.
"Damn! Jake could you wait to finish here first and then we can go?" how difficult would it be to do a little clean up after all?
"Sure, I'll help you so we're done with this sooner." He agreed, poor Jake he'd ended up here doing all the housework.
"Alright Emmett, you won. What's first on the list?"
"Put all the dirty dishes to the dishwasher and take out the garbage." Emmett read on Alice's list. That sounds easy enough.
"Okay, I'm doing it. How difficult could that be?" the moment I entered the kitchen I realized how wrong had I been. The place wasn't as messy as it had been last night but it wasn't in a good state either. Alice must have already collected all the leftovers and plastic cups and other garbage and put them into large rubbish bags which were pilled in the corner of the room. There were four large bags but I decided it was the easiest of all tasks to take them out first.
When I returned to the kitchen I looked around trying to decide from where to start cleaning. Dirty plates, platters and all kind of cutlery were pilled everywhere in the room, so I had to gather them all and start putting them on the dishwasher a boring and tiring task. Maybe I should have chosen to tidy the living room instead.
"Emmett! I'm done from here!" I yelled at the direction of the living room where I thought he was. He came in here and eyed me suspiciously. "How did you do it so quickly?" he raised an eyebrow to me. Was he kidding me it took me twenty minutes to put them all in! He came where I'd been standing and opened the dishwasher.
"Edward! You must wash them a little before you put them in here and then you must start the dishwasher!" he said rolling his eyes like it'd been so obvious!
"What? Then what's the point of putting them there if we have to clean them first? And how on earth does this thing works? There are so many buttons!" I've never used it before! Emmett was looking at me with disbelief! When I didn't say anything he realized I'd been serious.
"Oh! You're serious. Okay I'll take care of the dishes, you go vacuum the living room." he said like it was the most common thing for me to vacuum the house.
"Come on Edward move! I don't have the whole day!" he told me when I made no attempt to move from my spot.
"I don't know how the vacuum cleaner works either! I said like it was just too obvious!
"Really? What on earth do you know then?" said Emmett exasperated.
"Emmett I'm not Gabrielle Solis! I've never done any houseworking in my life!" yeah Esme's a big fan of Desperate Housewives and that Eva Longoria was really hot. Emmett was looking at me with a funny look on his face.
"Yeah that's exactly who you are! She's the only one doing nothing just like you!" oh he'd been watching that too? Ha! Busted!
"Oh really? And then who are you? Bree Va de Kamp? Are you going to wear an apron and start baking pies or something?" I was making fun of him but when I imagined big Emmett wearing a floaty pink apron and baking pies I burst into an uncontrollable laughter!
"Oh yeah that's exactly who I am so I'm gonna take that rolling pin and kick your ass!" oops! I realised that he was kidding soon enough to dodge the rolling pin he'd threw me! He did the same avoiding the frying pan I threw in his direction! And the whole thing continued for a bit more leaving the room in a worse condition than it had been after the party! Now he'd had to do the double work to tidy the mess we'd caused.
"Hey! You two stop right now! What are you doing? I thought you said to clean up the house not to bring it down!" Jake had just entered the kitchen looking around the room that looked like a battle field.
"Both of you out! I'll take care of the kitchen while you, Jake are putting the furniture back on place and Edward you do the vacuum cleaning. Chop-chop!" said Emmett taking the lead. In truth it was about time to get down to work unless we preferred to spend the whole day cleaning.
I followed Jake into the living room. The furniture had been pushed aside leaving a lot of space free for dancing, so now we had to put them back into their places along with the heavy carpet that had been removed as well.
"Jake thank you for helping me." I told him while we were pushing the leather couch back to place. I didn't mean only about helping with the cleaning but helping me as well.
"Don't worry about it. I'm glad that you're coming to your senses at last." He responded catching the double meaning in my words.
"Yeah I'm glad too I've made many mistakes all these years." We were talking causally about everything and he was filling me in about everything I'd missed all these years (without purposely mentioning Bella).
"How on earth do you know how to clean the house and I don't have a damn clue how all these things work?" I complained as he was trying to explain how the vacuum cleaner works.
"After my mum died I grew up mostly with my dad man. I had to help him around the house." he reminded me and I mentally kicked myself for being such a jerk. Of course I knew that Jakes mum had died in a car crash when we were little. Esme and Renee had taken care of him until the big mess and then the funeral were over. Rebecca and Rachel, Jakes older sisters, had left for college five years later so he must've been helping Billy all these years. I'd never thought how difficult must have been for Jake.
I was lost in my thought for a while and Jake had noticed my expression.
"Hey, it's okay. Besides Billy has Sue now."
He told me sounding quite happy and relieved by that fact.
"Wait correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Sue Harry Clearwater's wife?" I hadn't been to the reservation very often but I knew most of the people leaving there.
"Yeah that's Sue but what you don't know is that Harry passed away three years ago because of heart attack." He said with a sad look on his face.
"Oh man. I've lost many things. No one told me about it, I'm sorry to hear that. So are Sue and Billy together now?"
"I wouldn't say it that way. They came closer after Harry's death my dad had already experience a loss like that so he could help Sue deal with it. A year ago or so they came even closer if you know what I mean. Not that they're openly dating or they're getting married or something. It's deeper than that. They just keep company to each other something that helps them both heal." Jake wasn't seem to mind that his dad had another woman in his life. I knew that many years had passed since his mother death but I didn't know how easy it would be for me if I was wearing his shoes. But I guess Jake was more mature than me in many different ways.
"And you're okay with that." It wasn't a question just a statement.
"Sure. Sue doesn't replace my mum and I know that. She just helps with the house and my dad has a good friend to talk to." He said shrugging his shoulders.
"What about Sue's kids? I think she has a daughter our age and a younger son right?" at that comment Jake's face fell. What did I say?
"Yeah Leah and Seth. Seth's okay with that, he likes Billy and Leah's just another angry teenage girl. After all she's been through a lot the past couple of years." He trailed off. At the mention of Leah's name a pained expression crossed his face. Huh-uh I knew that felling so good. Damn! Something clicked inside my head and I had my answer.
"So it's Leah right?" I knew I'd made a good guess but I needed him to tell me. He just nodded yes.
"Jake what's wrong about it? You like her right? I mean a lot?" I was trying to figure out why he had that pained look. He nodded again avoiding my gaze. "You said Billy and Sue aren't going to get married so it's not that you'll be family or anything like that. Why don't you speak to her? Is there anyone else?" I made one more effort to understand the situation.
"No it's not that simple." He said with a sight.
"Look let's just do the rest of the cleaning so we can go upstairs and to talk." he agreed and we got back to work. One hour and forty minutes later we were both lying on the couch of a very clean living room. With Jake's help we'd done a really good job and the house looked like no party had been hosted in it.
"Nice work guys!" said Emmett looking around the room. He'd finished with the kitchen and the backyard and he had sat on the armchair looking exhausted. Poor Emmett he had to fly back to college in four hours and it was a very long flight.
After a while Emmett went to get some rest before the flight and we went upstairs to my room to talk. Jake sat on my desk chair and I crashed on my bed.
"So do you want to talk about it?" I asked after several minutes had passed.
"I'm so confused Edward. I don't know what to do. But I think it's better if I start this from the beginning. I liked Leah since we were in elementary school. She'd been always very beautiful but it wasn't possible to be with her. You see Leah had been always been with Sam. He's two years older and they'd been together since always. They were really close and everyone thought they'll be together forever, they saw them like the dream couple and everything. I'd never thought about talking to her about my feelings, I couldn't compete what they had back then. In her eyes I was seeing only love for him." he paused for a minute like what was coming made it harder for him to talk.
"That lasted until Sam met Emily." He saw my questioning look so he continued.
"Emily is Leah's first cousin. She doesn't live in the reservation but they grew up together they were like sisters, like Bella and Alice. One day Emily came to spend the weekend with Leah and unfortunately to meat Sam. That did it. I don't know how to call it but I think you can say it was love at first sight. Or maybe something stronger than that. I've seen how they look at each other. It's like a bigger force brought them together, like it's not gravity that holds them but the love they have for each other. At first I was really mad with Sam for hurting her like that but when I saw them I realised it was impossible to keep them apart. After that Leah was never the same. I still blame Sam for that but now the only thing that matters is to help Leah heal but I don't know how."
He stopped talking and buried his face in his hands. And I thought I had it worse. We were both in a shitty situation and we didn't know who to find a solution to our problems.
"Why don't you talk to her. You're not like Sam I can even tell that you truly love her." He hadn't done anything to hurt her like I'd done to Bella so there was a good chance for him.
"I told you before. It's not that simple. After what happened with Sam Leah trusts no one and she hates men with everything she has. When she was with him she used to be really sweet and funny and she smiled a lot. Now she's rather grouchy and bad tempered and she hardly speaks to anyone. She spends most of her days locked in her room or up to the hills gazing the sea. She's not the girl I used to love she has a lot of anger and pain inside of her but now I think I love her even more because I want to be the one to heal her. I want her to trust me but I'm so confused. I have not a damn idea of what to do to help her.
He finished with his peach and sighted falling back to the chair looking at the ceiling.
I didn't know what to say. I'd never imagined love could be so hard but I suppose that was because I'd never known the true meaning of love.
"That's why you hated me so much when I hurt Bella… again. It's like what Sam did to Leah." It wasn't a question.
"Yeah in a way. There were other things to but what you did remind me of him and I didn't want Bella to become like Leah." Now I understood how difficult must have been for him.
"Jake I can help you with Leah. You did so much for me now it's my turn to help you. We'll figure something out you'll see." I tried to cheer him up a bit. I meant what I said though. I wanted to help him and I wanted to help Leah too.
"Thanks man, but that's not an easy task. She'll throw you a punch or something if you go anywhere near her." He half joked trying to lighten up the mood. "Anyway it's getting late I have to go, are you coming?" he said and got up fro the chair.
"No, sorry Jake but I got a really big math test on Tuesday and I have to do some studying. Maybe I can come on Tuesday afternoon and meet your gang and Leah then." I had forgotten all about the test but since I decided to be a better me I had to take care of my homework as well.
"Sure it's fine. Well I'll see you then." He said and walked to the door.
"Thanks again for everything Jake." I was really grateful for his help.
"Don't mention it. Bye Ed." He said and closed the door behind him.
The rest of Sunday passed really fast. Esme and Carlisle had come back on time to say goodbye to Emmett as well as Alice who never told me where she'd been all day. She was just avoiding answering and changing the subject every time Emmett or I asked.
Monday had been the same, a really boring gray day. I've seen Bella a couple of times at school but didn't talk to her at all and spent the rest of the day studying in my room.
Fortunately I did well on the test and I was in a good mood for the rest of the day. I was on my room packing some clothes in a bag. I'd talked to Jake earlier and agreed to stay at the reservation for a couple of days so I could meet his gang and Leah. We both had to go to school to and that's why I was taking my Volvo so I could drive to school every morning. There was only the problem that I didn't know how to get there so he was coming with his car to lead the way.
I was coming down the stairs, the bag with my clothes hanging in my arm. Jake was about to be there at any minute. The moment I opened the door to wait for him outside I saw a really devastated Bella ready to knock the door! At first I was shocked to find her here but then I noticed that her eyes were red and bloodshot. Her cheeks were wet and it was obvious that she had been crying.
I reached for her but I what was I supposed to do?Who had done this to her?
"Bella? What happened? Are you hurt?" what had happened to her? And then she opened her mouth to answer, her voice only a whisper.
"Adrian."
That moment everything changed in me.I had decided to be polite and friendly with him again even though he had the girl I liked more that anything, but right now seeing Bella like that I would have beaten the hell out of him with pleasure!What the hell had happened?
Sooo another clifhanger! Please don't be too mad at me! It was just the lull before the storm ;)
What do you think about Jake's love story? He's been hurt too so Edward has to help him find a solution!
And what about Adrian and Bella? What do you think happened between them that made Bella so upset?
If you want a sneak peek from the next chapter all you have to do is to leave me a review! ;)
Next update in a week, Sunday 17th of July!