I Want To Save You: Ch 14

Chapter Fourteen

"And then Garrett said that I should maybe go to the place where Edward crashed, and I was like 'no way,' and then he was like, 'yeah you should, it could help you get over your guilt.' I dunno though," Alice rambled about her appointment with Garrett down at the Community Center. "Then we went and made hot chocolate, and Garrett was like, 'I don't think you should put so many marshmallows in the cup before you put it in the microwave. It might explode'. But I told him he didn't know what he was talking about, and guess what? I exploded the marshmallows in the microwave. I tried to clean it up, but Garrett told me to run, so I did."

Everyone was sitting around the coffee table playing Monopoly World Edition. The cool one with the credit cards instead of the paper money. Alice had been seeing Garrett Damon every other day for about a week now and he was all she ever talked about. She and Bella were talking again, so things were smoother when Bella came over after school. That also meant that Rose and Emmett were practically living at my house again.

We had a three day weekend, so my parents decided to take off to Alaska to visit the Triple D's and my aunt and uncle. Alice refused to go because she'd miss not one, but two meetings with Garrett, and I wanted to stay because my girlfriend was here.

Bella and I went to dinner Wednesday night while everyone else went to the football game at the high school. For our first date, we kept it particularly low key, choosing to go to a chain food burger joint and then to the drive in. I had to drive my father's car because the insurance hadn't come back on mine yet. We couldn't remember the beginning, middle or the end of the movie we watched because we couldn't figure out how to get my dad's radio to work. Instead we sat in the back seat and made out like, well, teenagers.

My parents gave us permission to have friends over, trusting that we'd be safe and responsible, so long as everyone's parents were okay with it. Rose, Emmett and Jasper were always allowed over for unsupervised sleepovers, and we thought Renee was going to start up a fight, but instead she just gave Bella what I'm guessing was a sex talk and a birth control tonic. Neither of those were necessary. We'd only been dating for three weeks and that was a huge step that neither of us were ready to take. Besides, my arm was still in a cast for another handful of weeks and it already got in the way.

"And then, we went to this small room and I thought he was going to treat me like a patient. You know, like in movies where psychiatrists make their patient lie down on a chair and talk about their feelings," Alice continued, before the entire game board and all of its pieces went flying across the room.

Aside from the shock, I watched Jasper stand up, his nostrils flared in anger. "HE'S NOT EVEN A DAMN DOCTOR ALICE!" he yelled, his southern accent coming out even more with his hostility.

"Yeah, but he's working on it. He's going to the university and he is graduating next year, so he's, like, almost a doctor," Alice defended proudly.

Jasper just stared down at her for a couple of seconds, probably wondering the same thing I'm sure the rest of us, besides Alice, were. Did she not see that he was pissed as hell?He grabbed his empty soda can and stormed into the kitchen, the heavy door swinging three times with force.

"Hmm... who wants to play Uno?" Alice asked, pulling the game out of the cabinet under the coffee table and smiling. "Garrett and I played it the other day and I think he let me win."

Everyone just smiled and I could tell that we were all getting a little uncomfortable. After a few minutes, I realized that Jasper hadn't returned, so I excused myself using the excuse that Bella needed another soda. She seemed to know what I was up to and went along with it, handing me her still full can as if it were empty. Jasper was sitting at the kitchen table, pulling the end of his short ponytail in frustration. I sat across from him and waited for him to calm down, but he didn't.

"What the fuck, dude? How in the hell did you put up with Bella talking about that quack twenty- four-seven when she was seeing him?" he demanded, standing up and pacing.

"I... Bella never talked about Garrett with me. She just told me that she was seeing a grief counselor and that the two of them were meeting at the community center," I replied, shrugging my shoulders, not seeing the point of his question.

"Did he ever make her hot chocolate? Did he take her to a fucking small ass room where they talked? This is bullshit! I'm so sick of hearing about what he did to make her feel better!" Jasper yelled, slamming his hands on the table and making me jump.

The kitchen door swung open and Alice danced in completely oblivious. "Jasper, come on. You can be on my team." It was then that she noticed there was some tension. "What's wrong?"

"I um... I'm going to get back to Bella with this soda." I grabbed a Coke out of the case on the counter and made my exit just as Jasper started to let his frustration out on my little sister.

"You want to know what's wrong? You couldn't come to me and tell me about your issues, but you'll go talk to a goddamn strange-" I probably should have stayed and made sure that everything would be okay, but I knew that Jasper was all smoke and no fire. He'd say his peace and Alice would say hers, and the two of them would be making out and hooking up tonight. It's happened more than once.

Bella was still sitting on the floor putting the pieces to the Monopoly game back in its box, while Emmett and Rose looked over the movies they'd picked up from the rental store on their way over. I picked up stray pieces of the game and helped Bella put them back in the cabinet, before pulling her over to the recliner.

"Are they okay in there?" she whispered, pointing her chin towards the door that lead to the kitchen.

"They will be. Jasper's just having some issues with Alice being so cozy with Garrett. He asked me if I had an issue with the way you talked about your meetings, and I told him that you never talked to me about them. Why is that?" I asked, playing with a loose curl that had fallen out of her clip.

"Um... well, to tell you the truth, I wasn't as close to Garrett as Alice seems to be," Bella shrugged. "I mean, he's a friend now, but the way she talked about him is how I talk about you when I'm on the phone with Angie and stuff from back home. Do you think it's possible that Alice has a crush on Garrett?"

"No. I mean, she and Jasper have been together forever," I scoffed and then backtracked. "I dunno though. Maybe. I mean, she talks about Garrett constantly, even to my mom and dad. I just thought it was because he was helping her, but I guess it could mean more to her."

Bella opened her mouth to say something, but the door to the kitchen flew open with a bang, scaring the shit out of all of us. Jasper's face was beet red and his hands were in tight fists as he walked across the room and picked up his bag. Alice stood in the doorway holding the kitchen door open as we watched him leave the house, slamming the front door so hard that a picture fell in the hallway.

"What in the hell was that?" Rose asked, while Bella hugged me tightly.

"Jasper and I broke up," Alice said simply, before sitting down on the love seat. "What movie are we watching?"

You could have heard a pin drop, it was so quiet. Emmett's mouth hung open mid chew, showing off the mouth full of Skittles he'd been eating, while Rose froze in front of the DVD player with the same shocked look on her face.

"Did you already pick one? If not we should watch something good, like Zombieland or something funny," Alice said pulling a bag of Sour Cream and Cheddar chips off the table and stuffing her face with them, as if nothing had happened moments ago.

"Oh yeah, we, uh, picked The Hangover. Is that okay?" Rose asked a little hesitantly.

"Oh yeah! I love that movie!" Alice squealed, fist bumping. Bella hadn't said anything, but she kept giving me a weird look as if to silently ask 'When the hell is it going to hit her?' Truth was, I couldn't answer that question any better than Alice could.

About five minutes after Rose had just hit the play button on the menu screen, we heard laughing coming from the love seat. Bella froze against me and my hand stopped rubbing her back. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Emmett and Rose had both frozen, too. The giggling continued throughout the movie, until we realized that instead of laughter, we were listening to Alice's hysterical sobs.

"Hey Albo? You alright over there?" Emmett asked, sitting up a little.

"Yeah, that was just so sad. I mean, she doesn't even know where her fiancé is and they're getting married in like hours and, yeah, his friends can't even find him," Alice sobbed, while the rest of us just stared at her like she'd grown a third eyeball. "I'm going upstairs to get my blanket. Does anyone need anything?"

"Um... no," I answered, followed by everyone else. Alice wiped her eyes and ran up the stairs quickly.

"What the fuck was that?" Bella asked, sitting up. "Seriously, should someone call Jasper or something?"

"No. Maybe this has to do with her mental thingy. Should we call Garrett?"

"Garrett? Is he coming over?" Alice asked, causing all of us to jump. When did she come back?

"No, uh, Rose was just asking when you were going for another meeting with him," I covered.

"Oh, not until tomorrow morning. He asked if we could meet tomorrow morning at the hospital instead because he's doing some charity thing. He's such a good person," she said, smiling dreamily.

"She's totally into Garrett," Bella whispered in my ear. "Dude, he's like twenty-seven, I think. That's so gross."

"Yeah, well, this shit isn't going to fly." I muttered

"I'm going to bed. Rose, I set up the guest room down that hall for you and Emmett," Alice said after the third movie was over. We'd all been ready to go to sleep after The Hangover, but were too afraid to leave Alice alone. Bella was passed out and I felt a moist spot on my chest where she was drooling in her sleep. Is it weird that I thought it was cute?

"Is Bella sleeping with you in your room, Edward?" she asked, her head tilted to the side.

"I, uh, don't know," I stammered. "If not, she can have my room and I'll sleep down here."

"I'm not taking your bed," Bella mumbled, sitting up. "We can sleep together without sleeping together."

Emmett giggled like a school girl at her answer and Rose smacked him upside the head before leading him down the hall. Alice just smiled and left the room carrying an arm full of garbage. Bella stood up and straightened her clothes.

"Is that alright with you?"

"Yeah, it's just like sleeping down here, but with a little bit more room," I shrugged. Bella changed in the bathroom while I put on some sleep pants in my walk in closet. She knocked before she walked into the room and nervously stood by my bed that I was already laying in. I lifted the blanket and she slowly slid in next to me, wrapping her arm around my waist.

"Do you think that everything will be okay? With Alice and Jasper?" she asked tiredly.

"I don't know. She's acting weird and that's a lot to say when talking about Alice," I yawned. "We'll just have to see how it goes."

The following day Rose, Emmett, Bella and I went out for breakfast. Alice had been long gone when we woke up, leaving behind a note that said she didn't expect to be back until after lunch, so we were on our own. We ate our pancakes and walked along the strip mall, hitting the local arcade and making asses of ourselves on the Dance Dance Revolution game. Bella was surprisingly good, despite having a walking cast on her foot.

"How dare you doubt my expertise?" she argued, slapping me when I voiced my thoughts.

"I'm just saying," I laughed, holding my hands up in surrender.

We had just made it home and were in the kitchen making sandwiches when the front door slammed shut and a high pitched sob rang through the house. Alice came storming into the kitchen, dressed in a skimpy dress with a large amount of makeup that was practically melting off of her face from the amount of tears pouring from her eyes.

"What happened?" I panicked, rushing over to her.

"Garrett... Ugh... I... stupid," she blubbered, throwing her arms around me as she continued to wail.

"You're going to have to calm down, Alice."

"I thought he liked me," she sobbed. "But no, he's engaged and I, ugh! I thought he liked me. So I dressed nice and he even complimented me. He took me out to lunch after we were done at the hospital and I thought he was trying to kiss me, so I kissed him."

"Oh god," Rose groaned.

"Yeah," Alice hiccupped. "He was just reaching for napkins. He told me that he couldn't help me anymore and now I'm...ugh. I'm going upstairs. I just want to be left alone. I've ruined everything!" She pulled away from me and left the kitchen, leaving the four of us just as confused as we were when Jasper left yesterday.

"Should someone say it or shall I?" Emmett said. "What in the hell was that?"

"I don't know," Rose, Bella and I said simultaneously before turning back to our sandwiches.

"Maybe we should go home and let you be here for Alice or something," Bella said a little while later. We had just finished playing poker, Emmett had ran to get Mexican for dinner and Alice was still holed up in her bedroom, blaring girly love songs and refusing to come out. Rose was currently knocking on her door, trying to give her a bottle of water and a sandwich.

"No. We planned this weekend to hang out and stuff. She's the one that made bad decisions. Let's just hope that she can live with them," I shrugged. "Emmett called Jasper and he's having a hard time, too. Apparently when he confronted Alice about Garrett, she told him she wanted to see other people and that's when he left the house."

"What? Just a week ago she told me that she'd tell you to fuck off if you ever told her to stop being with Jasper," Bella said, her eyes brimming with tears. "What if that happens to us? I mean, my first boyfriend, but I don't want to turn out like them."

I pulled her into my arms and hugged her tight. "That won't be us, Bella. I promise. Things will work out with the two of them, and if not, we'll all have walked away having learned something. Don't let their drama ruin our weekend. Stay please?"

"Alright," she sighed. "It's going to be weird having to leave tomorrow though. I liked spending every waking moment with you yesterday and then our sleeping moments together,too, last night."

"I know. I liked it, too."

Rose came downstairs carrying the tray with her. "She's not opening the door and I can hear her talking to someone on the phone. It sounds like she's maybe leaving Jasper some voice mails or something. I dunno," she rolled her eyes. "Lunch is going to be awkward on Monday, eh?"

"Hmm... there's a reason Edward and I go to the library," Bella laughed.

"Oh no, you don't!' Rose cried. "The two of you are coming to suffer right alongside me tomorrow. Please don't do this. I thought you loved me, Ed."

We finally agreed to eat lunch in the cafeteria with Emmett and Rose on Monday, but it was all in vain. Alice cried all weekend, which resulted in her having a hell of a sinus cold, so she was home sick for the day and Jasper ignored everyone, including our teachers. Bella called Garrett, but he didn't pick up, so she started to feel that maybe he blamed it on her because she was the one that referred Alice to him. All in all our awesome parent-less weekend ended on a pretty sour note.