Visitors
I wake up in such a good mood that I make pancakes for everyone and clean the kitchen afterwards, but that's where my activities end. Mum thanks me for my efforts, and then promptly tells me that I need to sit and rest.
Angela arrives just after lunch and I'm thankful for the interruption to my mundane existence. That is until I see the homework she has for me.
"I hope you don't mind, but I went around to your teachers yesterday and asked if there was anything you needed over the weekend."
"No, I don't mind at all," I reply sarcastically. "This is exactly how I imagined spending my weekend."
She laughs. "I know you would have been more mad if you had to ask for extensions and been inundated with more work in coming weeks."
"True." I give in and grab the paperwork off her, place it on my study desk, and sit down heavily on my bed.
Angela sits in the chair by my desk and starts spinning around in it.
"So you said something about school changing?" I ask, curious.
She stops suddenly and leans toward me. "Yes! Oh my God!" She gets up and sits in the middle of my bed and crosses her legs. "Well, first off, when I told Edward about what happened he ran out of his class, like, so fast!.. You don't mind do you?" she asks, thinking for a minute that she might have done wrong. "You aren't mad at me for telling Edward what happened?" I assure her that I'm not, and she continues at almost chipmunk speed.
"Anyway, it was like any other day, well, except for the bleeding and you in hospital and all that, until after my class when I'm walking to my next class and Jasper comes up to me and asks what happened. He's super freaked out and calls Edward, but it goes to voicemail. Anyway, he walks me to class and then after that class I bump into him again and he grabs me by the hand and pulls me into one of the empty English block rooms. He explains that he's on the phone to Edward and puts Edward on speaker and tells Edward to repeat what he just said. So he tells us that you're okay and then tells us that it's a girl. He sounded so relieved and like, almost excited. Oh my God, Izzy, it was super cute."
I am looking at her like she's lost her mind, because this is not Angela in front of me. It is some kind of super girly clone.
"Anyway, so Jasper like hugs me in excitement and lifts me off the ground, and then, well, and then he kissed me."
Oh I see, this is giddy Angela.
"He kissed you?" I balk.
"Yep. He apologised after, and put me down. He kind of looked embarrassed, but then yesterday he was super nice to me and he and Edward asked me to sit with them during lunch and it was so strange because they weren't sitting where they normally sit and there was only like five or six of them sitting there."
She's flushed and out of breath. I wait for her to catch it and then she surprises me when she speaks again, but at a normal pace.
"Edward is different to how I imagined him. So is Jasper. You know I always thought they were kinda mean, because they are part of that whole popular group and stuff. But they were so nice to me. They talked about you and the baby and they weren't being disrespectful, like I thought they would be."
"What did they say about me and the baby?" I ask.
"Oh, Edward was telling Jasper what his mum said. You know, about you needing to rest lots and that you need weekly check-ups. He also said he wants to go to more scans if you'll let him, because seeing the baby was kinda cool."
I nod and contemplate her words. I don't know if I should be feeling this way, but I feel kind of excited that Edward is on board, but I know we still have a lot to discuss, like can we really give our baby the best life possible, or is she better off with two people that know who they are and where they're going in life. People that can offer her a more stable environment.
"Jasper is sooo nice …" she peters off and slips into a daze.
I click my fingers in her face. "Earth to Angela!"
"Mmhmm?"
"You are crushing on Jasper Hale!" I point out.
She lays on my bed and sighs. "I've got it bad, Izzy!"
I laugh and lay down next to her. "You and me, both."
She turns her head to me in a shot. "You're still crushing on Edward? I knew it!"
"Yeah, well, there's more to us than a high school crush; there's this." I point down to my belly. "If I had Facebook my relationship status would be 'super complicated.'"
"Have you guys talked about what you're going to do? You know, with the adoption and all?"
I sigh heavily and look at my ceiling. "Not yet. It's strange. We've talked for a while these past couple of nights, but we seem to just be going over other things instead."
"Like what?" Angela props herself up onto her elbow and turns to me.
I glance sideways at her. "Mostly how we've gotten to this point. We each made a pros and cons list about each other and it was kind of a relief to tell him he's an asshole without him walking out on me or hanging up on me. It's been very civil. It's been nice."
"You had a civil conversation about how he's an asshole?" she questions unbelievably.
"And how I'm self-centred," I add.
"I wouldn't say you're self-centred. Maybe –"
"Aloof?"
She seems to think about it for a moment and then continues. "Well, I was going to say distant, but I guess aloof is another way of saying it."
"Distant? Really?"
"Well, I've known you for over three years and we've barely talked, until recently, obviously. Up until now, you've been pretty good at shutting the rest of the world out. At first I just thought it was because of Alice, you know, but then it became apparent that that's just who you are. You don't like to get involved with people socially, and I don't think anyone could blame you for that, especially at our school."
I look back at my ceiling to reflect on Angela's words and match them up with those on my cons list, courtesy of Edward, and comments my parents have been making over the past couple of years.
"It's funny, you know, all this time I thought the world had no place for me, when I was the one holding the world at arm's length. Then I stupidly decide one day to finally do something out of the ordinary and now the world has put me in a spin," I muse.
"Well, that spin has given you the most amazing friend ever," Angela teases.
I look to her and smile. "So true," I agree.
We spend the next couple of hours talking about the latest gossip at school and listening to music, before Angela tells me she needs to get home. I say goodbye to her and then get stuck into my homework.
After dinner I make my way back to my room and finish off my English assignment before deciding to get ready for bed. I am showered and snuggled up in my bed with my iPod on and reading a book when I hear my phone vibrate. A text message from Edward pops up on screen and my curiosity is peaked instantly.
Look out your window.
I open my curtains and jump back in fright. There, sitting high up in the tree just outside my window is a sheepish grin belonging to one Edward Cullen. I open my window and stick my head out.
"What the fuck are you doing?" I whisper harshly.
He looks at me like I've lost my mind. "What's it look like? I'm climbing into your window!"
"And how are you going to do that?" I ask adamantly. There's at least a metre gap between the tree and my window.
"Stand back," he orders.
"Are you trying to kill yourself?"
"Stand back!" He moves his hands, motioning me to move.
I stand to the side and close my eyes tightly, waiting to hear the thump of his body as it hits the ground. It's not just a thump I hear though, it's a loud grunt followed by a swear word. I open my eyes and see he is half in and half out the window. He's looking at me with a grimace and he scrambles until his whole body falls, with a thud, onto my bedroom floor.
"Wow, that was a lot harder than it looked," he says as he gets up and readjusts his clothing.
"Have you lost your mind?" I ask in disbelief. He shrugs in reply and I shake my head at him. "Why didn't you just knock on the front door?"
"It's late, I didn't want to get you in trouble," he explains as though this should be common knowledge.
I put my hand on my belly. "I hardly think I could possibly get into any more trouble," I point out.
He nods in agreement. "This is true." He looks around my room until his eyes land on my iPod dock. "What you playing?" he asks and walks up to take a look at it.
"Music," I reply offhandedly and pull his hand away from the buttons. "What are you – have you been drinking?" I get a whiff of beer and take a step back.
He throws himself onto my bed and looks up at my ceiling.
"A little."
I don't know what to say or what to feel, but 'you're and idiot' and angry are at the top of the list.
"I wanted to talk to you face to face, but I don't want to be angry, because you always have this knack for making me angry, you know? I don't like being angry, Bella," he rambles.
I sit next to him gingerly and he grabs my arm and pulls gently, pulling me down next to him. I keep my arms at my side and look at my ceiling.
"So you drank so you wouldn't be angry?"
"Yeah, I did. But not much. I'm not drunk. I promise. Tipsy, perhaps, but not drunk."
"Okay," I say cautiously.
"You think I'm stupid," he states.
"A little bit," I admit.
He laughs and turns his head toward me, I look at him in return.
"Blunt. You should move that over to the pros column," he smiles, before looking back at the ceiling.
"So are we talking?" I ask.
"You first."
I sigh and decide that if he wants to be stupid and jump through windows drunk then I'll take every opportunity to make him wish he hadn't. Time for some hard questions. First, though, there was one that had been on my mind for months.
"Why do you call me Bella?"
There's a moment of contemplation before he speaks. "Alice was cool. Seriously, she was one of the coolest girls I've ever met. When she and Jasper first started dating we were out one night, her, Jasper, me, and a few other people. I mentioned to her that I thought you were cute and she said to me "keep on dreaming, Edward, my Bella's much too smart to fall for your charms.""
He chuckles and continues. "Every time she spoke of you she'd call you Bella or 'my Bella' and I loved the way it sounded. It suits you."
I can almost see and hear her saying this to him and it makes my heart ache. "I miss her," I whisper, before hot tears spill over.
"Oh shit, I'm sorry."
I look over to see Edward has propped himself up and is looking down at me. I shake my head, but I'm too choked up to speak. He slips an arm under me and folds me into him. My head rests in the crevice of his arm and torso, one hand rests on my arm, while the other holds my hand to his chest. He rubs my arm now and then, but otherwise holds me silently while I cry. The warmth of his arm around me, and the beating of his heart under my palm is enough to lull me to sleep, but not before I feel him kiss the top of my head, leaving his lips there for a few moments, before laying his head back down with a sigh.
I'm trying really hard to not let this story drag on, but these two keep coming up with ideas in my head (like jumping through windows drunk). I'm thinking they need to get to know each other before they answer the tough questions. Plus Bella's pregnancy hormones are sure to get in the way of progress now and then, not to mention Edward's 17yo mindset on how the world works.
Anywho, thanks for reading. The beautiful reviews you guys send are like super fuel. My hands fly over the keyboard because of you, so truly, thank you for being such kind people x