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Chapter 22

Surprise Visit

Bella

I just pulled into the parking lot in my red Chevy.

Emmett was not there because they all went hunting together once again.

Mike also just pulled into the parking lot and saw that I was alone.

"Hi, Bella!", he called out and waved as he walked towards me.

"Hi, Mike."

"Listen, I wanted to ask you, are you going to the prom with this Cullen guy?", he asked, stuttering a bit.

Oh my God, did he never give up?

"I don't like going to proms. But if I go, I go with him," I explained patiently.

He shook his head.

"I don't like this guy. He's way too old. Why don't you pick someone your own age?"

Someone like you, I thought his sentence further.

"Mike, he's only two years older."

"I just don't think it's good ... You know ... so I heard from Ben, he heard in politics that you and he ..."

I interrupted him before he could finish his sentence.

"What's it to you, Mike!?" I screamed and ran away.

This Mike really annoyed me, what was he thinking.

I looked down at the floor as I almost collided with Angela.

"Oh ... sorry, Ang."

"That's all right, nothing happened. But why are you storming through the corridors so angrily anyway? Did something happen?", she asked worriedly.

"Mike is getting really annoying. And Jess, too. You know, Angela, I think you're the only one here I'm going to miss after school," I told her.

She blushed because she was as shy as me and not used to compliments.

"Thanks, Bella, I'll miss you too," she said and then walked me to building three because she had class there too.

"I'll see you in math then," she said cheerfully and went up one floor.

I walked into the English classroom and reluctantly sat down in my seat next to Jessica.

There was even more whispering today than on Monday, which was certainly due to the rumor that Mike had also heard from Ben. Why did Emmett have to ask this question in the classroom?

For once, Jessica kept her mouth shut.

She was probably too shocked by the new rumor to ask me about it.

I was glad when school was finally over and drove home exhausted.

When I went to unlock the door, I noticed it was open.

A burglar? Charlie's car wasn't there yet, and I was sure I had locked up today. And if a vampire wanted to get into my house, he didn't have to go through the door.

I slowly opened the door and went inside.

"BELLA!", I heard my mother's voice and already she was hugging me.

"Hi, Mom, what are you doing here?", I asked in amazement.

Not that I wasn't happy about it, but it wasn't really her thing to just come to Forks like that.

"Can't I even visit my little daughter?", she asked, somewhat offended.

"No, Mom, of course I'm glad you're here. Do you want something to drink?"

I went with her to the kitchen and gave her a glass of orange juice.

She sat down at the kitchen table.

"So, how's Phil doing?", I asked politely.

"Great ... his team is getting better and better," she chatted and began to talk about her life.

At some point, she probably remembered why she had come.

"So, enough chatter about your old mother. There's another reason I'm here," she confessed.

As I thought.

I also grabbed a glass of juice and sat with her.

"And that would be?"

"So, Charlie called me. He said you have a new boyfriend?", she asked.

"And what does that have to do with you? I thought Dad liked him to some extent ..." I didn't understand why she had come to Forks for that.

"Well, Charlie said he heard from Mrs. Newton at the sporting goods store that her son had heard that you were ... well ... intimate with your boyfriend," she said, a little embarrassed.

Please don't! I hated small towns! At least it was Mom and not Dad.

I was still silent and blushing.

"So it's true?" she continued to probe.

I nodded sheepishly.

"Oh God, but you're still so young! You were using contraception, weren't you, honey?!"

"I'm eighteen and not twelve anymore. And yes, of course we have! I'm on the pill," I said, annoyed. And besides, my boyfriend was a vampire, that was contraception enough.

Now her look was not so worried, and she hugged me.

"How was it?", she asked curiously.

Of course she would ask something like that. She was also more my best friend than my mother.

"Good," I said shortly. Incredible, earth-shattering, heavenly would probably have described it better.

"What do you mean by 'good'? Did it hurt you?", she asked further.

"Better said, it was perfect ... with candles and rose petals and all. And no ... it didn't hurt. Emmett was really careful," I told her as I blushed again.

"That's good, then," she said with satisfaction, taking a sip of OJ.

Then something must have occurred to her.

"Tell me, Bella, how big are Emmett's hands?", she asked me.

What kind of question was that? I no longer understood anything.

"What do you mean by that?", I asked uncertainly.

She looked at me with that 'you know' look.

I just frowned questioningly.

"Mom, I don't know what that question is about?", I said annoyed.

"You know. The bigger the hands, the bigger the ... do you know what," she explained.

Oh ... now I understood. Had my mother just asked me about the size of Emmett's ... Oh God!

"MOM!" I said reproachfully when I understood what she was getting at.

"Don't be like that, you can tell me," she continued to probe.

I rolled my eyes.

"Big ...", I said curtly. That should really do it.

My cheeks were already glowing again.

"Big is a broad term. How big?"

My God, didn't my mother know shame?

"God gave him a rich gift," I repeated the words Alice once said to me when we got on the subject.

"Oh ...!"

And with that, the conversation ended, and Charlie just came home.

I cooked for us raviolis with pesto sauce for us and then my mom flew home again that evening.

As Charlie walked them to the cab, I could still hear them talking to each other.

"And ... everything settled?", Charlie asked.

He seemed as uncomfortable with the subject as I was.

"Yeah yeah, don't worry about her," she said simply and got into the cab. "Bye, Charlie."

"Bye, Renée."

It was completely nonsensical to take a plane here to Forks - for half a day! - but I was glad that I didn't have to have this conversation with Charlie.