We want to add someone special to thank, LaPumuckl, thanks for reading over the chapters for us.
Chapter 3
The drive to my house goes by quietly. With neither of us talking, it's silent, but not awkward. When we arrive, we get straight to work; only this time, she seems to be fully awake. At the end of our scheduled time, she packs up her stuff and I walk her to the door. As I open it, I remember the look on my mom's face when I said that I wasn't sure how Bella got home.
"You want to call your driver, or a cab?" I ask pulling at my hair.
"No, thank you. I enjoyed the walk yesterday. So, same time tomorrow?" I give her a nod and she walks away. I head for the kitchen to start working on dinner.
The next two months fly by quickly, and Bella and I stick to the routine we set. I pick her up at school at three and head to my house. We do our work not talking about anything apart from business. She packs up and leaves at six, choosing to walk home. We have also been working one Saturday every month. On Saturdays, we meet at the library and she pays for lunch and any snacks that I want.
"Do you want the holiday off? I mean, when do want to start back up again?" Bella asks biting her lip.
"You start back to school on the sixth, right?" she nods at me.
"Well, we can continue then if you want. I'll see you on the sixth at three."
She bobs her head again, and then reaches into her bag to bring out a gift and two cards.
"This is for you. It's just a small thing, and the cards have gift certificates in it for your family. I wasn't sure what they would like as I've never met them," Bella rambles out. "Have a good Christmas, and I'll see you on the sixth of January." She hurries away and I close the door behind her. I get started on making dinner trying not to think about Bella. Not thinking of Bella, yeah that doesn't work so well. She creeps into my thoughts a lot.
I'm so absorbed in what I'm doing in the kitchen, I don't hear that Emmett's home, until he speaks.
"What's this?" Emmett asks.
I look at him and see he has picked up the gift Bella left for me. "Bella got it for me," I say with a shrug and he grins at me.
"Did you get her something?"
"No," I say with a chuckle, "why would I get her anything? She is just a girl who I'm tutoring." As I say that, my inner thoughts scream at me. "Because she's saving your family."
Emmett puts the gift down and gets to work helping me out. Everyone arrives home, and I'm happy to see my dad for the first time in over two months.
After we all greet him, we settle down for dinner. "When are you opening the gift Bella gave you?" Emmett asks with a mouthful of food.
I lean back to get it and tear it open. I'm rather surprised to see that it's the new CD of the band I was listening to when she was first in my car.
"How did she get that, it's not even on sale yet?" Alice asks in a stunned tone. "How did she know how much you like them?"
I shrug knowing that other than that first day, I haven't played any of their songs during our time together.
"She got you guys this," I say handing the girls card to my mom and the guys card to Emmett.
I watch as they pull out the vouchers. For the women, there is a gift card for two hundred dollars for a local women's store. The men's envelope that Emmett opens was for the same amount, but for a local sporting goods store.
"Edward, can you call her; I would like to thank her," my mom asks me and I pale.
"I don't have her number," I say, and my mom looks at me with the same hurt as the last time. I know I deserve it. It has been two months and she's been walking home and not once have I checked to see if she's okay, or arrived home safely. Hell, I didn't even thank her for the gift when she gave it to me.
"I'll see if I can get a hold of it," I say quickly. After three hours of searching, I don't come up with anyone with the last name Swan.
"Mom, I'm sorry," I say weakly to her the next morning. "I'm not sure why I never asked for her cell number."
Mom taps my shoulder and gives me a weak smile.
~*FB*~
The holiday comes and goes. I have a great time with the family, but I feel a little off the whole time. I find it strange that I'm missing the time I spend tutoring Bella. By the end of the holiday I have decided that I am going to do my best to be nicer to Bella. I vow to myself to try and have a friendship with her.
When the sixth is finally here, I find that I'm outside the school waiting a little early for Bella. I even smile as she approaches me.
"Hey," I say nicely and she gives me a strange look. "What?" I ask.
"Nothing, it's just … I think that's first time I've seen you smile."
I chuckle and grin at her. "That could be true; my family and I want to thank you for the gifts."
"You're welcome," she says, and I open her door for her before walking around and getting in my door.
"Did you get anything nice?" I ask, making small talk.
When she doesn't say anything, I try a different question.
"What did your parents get you?"
She just shakes her head at me.
"Come on, I'm sure they got you some big thing you liked, or did you get something you already had?" I chuckle a little at the end, hoping she knows I'm only joking with her.
"They're dead; my parents are dead," she says quietly.
I feel myself pale, and I look at her seeing she's sitting there, her back ramrod straight, head turned away looking out the window.
"I'm sorry," I say not knowing what else to say. "What happened … when?" I really hope this is not a new thing.
"My mom died during childbirth, and my father just died about four months ago."
I frown remembering when I first met her how sad she looked. Now I know why she looked so tired, and like she was crying all the time.
"Who did you spend the holiday with, another relative?" I ask as I wonder who she's living with now, and hope they're helping her grieve.
"No, it's just me now."
I slam on my brakes and she shoots forward. The seatbelt stops her, pulling her back to her seat. "What?" I half yell, please say this is her idea of a joke, a sick joke at that.
"What?" she says repeating what I just said.
"What do you mean it's just you? You have no other family or staff?" I question, knowing that I made it sound like I was telling her not asking.
She shakes her head. "No, it's just me now. My father was sick before he died, and fired all of our staff."
I swallow as a sinking feeling comes over me. "So, who did you spend the holiday with?"
"No one. I wasn't in mood for it anyway." The tone she uses tells me she's trying to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal. However, the look in her eyes tells me that it was a big deal.
"Bella, why didn't you tell me?" I ask feeling like an even bigger ass than I was already.
"Does it really matter? I mean, you don't like me, I get it. You think because I have money, then my life is perfect, right? Besides, I would rather take your hate-filled words and actions than have your pity."
I can hear the anger in her voice, and I know I deserve it and so much more. "I'm sorry," I say. I know it's a crappy thing to say, but there really isn't much else I can say to her.
She shakes her head looking back out her window. "It's fine; I'm fine!"
I grip my hair, hearing the same words she said to her therapist. I know that it's a lie, she's not okay, she's far from it.
"Do you want to leave today's lesson for another time?" she asks, and I shake my head starting my car.
When we arrive home, I guide her into the kitchen. "What would you like to eat?"
Bella frowns at me, but shakes her head. I sigh as it comes to me that I've never offered her anything, not even when I got myself something. I'm such a douche.
We walk to the living room and start on our work. Not long into the lesson, Bella gets frustrated with the work. I hear her letting out a groan, while covering her face with her hands.
I move closer to her and take her hands gently away from her face. "Bella, you're getting it; you're doing well, very well."
She narrows her eyes at me and removes her hands from my grasp. The rest of the time I try and encourage her more. I know I am confusing her, because I've never given her any words of support or praise. At six o'clock on the dot she packs up her stuff.
I grab my keys to drive her home. "So where do you live?" I ask and she looks at me like I've grown another head for the umpteenth time today.
"It's cold and snowing; I'm driving you home."
"It was snowing like this the last day I was here, too. It has even been raining heavily and that's never made you drive me home."
I swallow hearing confirmation of just how big of an ass I've been to her. "But it's different now—"
Bella cuts me off, as she for the first time, yells at me. "What's different now, huh? Aren't I the same rich bitch I've always been? Oh wait, let me guess, that was when you thought I had a family. I deserved the cold, harsh treatment you gave me then. However, now you find out that I'm an orphan and you have to pity me? Oh, we can't be cruel to her, she's all alone! I don't want your pity, Edward, or your fake kindness. Treat me like you have been or this is done."
Before I can say a word, I see the tears coming down her face. She quickly grabs her bag and opens the front door walking into my mom. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Cullen," Bella says quickly and then runs out the door.
Before my mom can question me, I'm running after Bella. "Bella, wait!" I quickly catch her and I pull her around to face me. I see that she's holding back her tears. "That's not what that was. I had already decided to stop being a prick with you, because you did nothing to me or my family. In fact, because of you and the money you pay me, it's saving my family business. I know I haven't shown it, but I'm a good guy. Please, just let's start over."
She shakes her head at me and pulls away.
"Please, I can't lose this job. I—my family—really needs this money," I plead with her, "and I can't be that prick again."
"I'll give you the remaining money so you don't have to worry about anything." She goes to walk away and again and I catch her.
"That's not what I want."
She gives me a disbelieving look and I sigh. "Listen, I want to help you. The truth is I missed working with you over the holiday. For the record, I was being nice to you before you told me. How about this, I won't give you pity. But I can't go back to being an ass. I'll just be me when I am around you; the real me who you saw some of earlier. I won't go out of my way to be overly nice to you, but I will treat you with the manners with which I was raised."
She sighs, but nods at me in what I assume is acceptance.
"Now … where do you live?"
I'm so happy when she walks with me to my car and tells me where she lives. It takes me a little over twenty minutes to drive there and I look at her. "You walked that every day?"
She bites her lip nodding at me.
"Why? I mean, it must have taken you well over an hour to walk all this way?"
"There's nothing here waiting for me. Just a big empty house that makes me feel even more alone."
I look out the window and see that her house looks closer to a hotel than a home. "Why don't you sell it and just move?"
She chuckles darkly at me. "Because I have school, and my dad left me his company. A company I'm ashamed to say I know nothing about. Now, I have to make all these choices. The choices I make can hurt or help other people so greatly. I have no idea if I can make those choices or how to make them. I know you need help, but I am, the company and I, are dropping our contracts. Then, I don't trust some of the staff. They speak to me so rudely. I'm not sure if I should or even can fire them."
I sigh and rub my face, listening to just a few of the pressures she's under. It saddens me, because I'm sure I haven't helped.
"I can help; I will help you get this, and you will be downright great at it when I'm done."
She chuckles shaking her head. "That's it; I think I'm not getting it because it's not me. It's not something I've ever even wanted."
"What did you want to do?"
"I really always wanted to be a nurse." I tilt my head looking at her. "I know, it's odd, but I have my reasons. First, I was accident prone as a child, and the nurses were always so sweet to me. However, when my dad was sick, he had this nurse that came in and looked after him. She was sweet to him and very nice to me. She helped me understand what was happening to him. She helped me understand why there were days he didn't know who I was. She was there when I was heartbroken when Mike dumped me after I slept with him. She even helped me arrange everything after my father passed away. I miss her, but I know she is out doing what she does best."
I clear my throat going back over the hurt in her voice. As I think over her words, I wonder if the Mike she's talking about is the asshole who talked to her that day I picked her up.
"Mike, as in the, "staff give us a moment," guy?" I say mimicking the tone he used when he spoke.
"Yeah, that Mike. He's a player and goes from girl to girl. I thought he would be different with me, and he would be discreet about what was going on in my family life. He was pissed, because unlike the other girls, I didn't hound him, wanting more than he wanted to offer."
I look at her and make a sour face and she chuckles at me. "I liked him in the beginning, but I had other things that needed my attention. My dad was sick and then he died. I guess all of that changed me and my priorities."
I nod at her.
"I better let you get home for your family dinner," she says opening the car door. I open my door and jump out stopping her.
"Would you like to join us for dinner; I mean, come back and meet the family?"
She shakes her head at me. "No thanks; it's just a little soon."
I give her a curt nod letting her go. I watch her walk in the house taking another look at the house from the outside. Not only is it huge, but it looks so cold.
I drive home with a little smile on my face. When I get back home, my mom is busy with dinner and she looks up at me.
"Is she okay? Please tell me she's not alone and that I heard her wrong."
I shake my head and sigh.
"Oh, Edward, that poor girl, she's so young."
I let out a sigh and pull my hair. "I know and I feel like a jerk. She was right to call me out on my behavior."
My mom pats my hand which is still pulling my hair. "Son, just show her the man you are." She releases my hand and lets out a sigh. "We have our three-month meeting tomorrow at one. Do you think you'll be able to come along?" The worry in her voice tells me she's seeing the viper bitch, herself.
"Yes, I'll go with you."
She gives me a little nod, but the worry is clearly still there.
The rest of the night, I get all of our notes and papers ready to take with us.
A/N: So Edward got his head out of his bottom. Love how Bella stood up to him about it all. What are your thoughts?