Chapter Fifteen
"How's she doing?" Bella asked, kissing my cheek as she walked into my house. I closed the door softly, sighing as I did so. Bella toed off her shoes and took her jacket off, hanging it on the coat hanger before turning to me. "Still nothing?"
"Not a damn thing," I muttered, rubbing the spot on my forehead where I could feel a migraine coming in. It had been a month since Jasper and Alice broke up and my little sister wasn't taking it well. At first I thought that maybe she was upset because Garrett had shot down her advances, but that wasn't the case. Yes, she'd made the wrong choices by going after an older man, but she still had feelings for Jasper and he refused to look at her, let alone listen to her.
Things were tense once she came back to school. Jasper asked for seat changes in the classes that they had together. Alice tried to talk to him in the hallway one time and he looked straight through her as if she wasn't standing right in front of him. He stopped shutting the rest of the group out and talked to us when Alice wasn't present, and we were smart enough not to bring her up. Alice started to pull away from everyone as the days progressed. She started losing weight because she couldn't eat and at night I heard her crying, but she wouldn't unlock her door. I heard my mom ask my dad one night if he thought she was developing an eating disorder, but he said Alice would grow out of it.
Then she started to crawl out of the shell she'd formed. She started coming out with Bella and I on the weekends and even went mud bogging with Emmett and Rose, something that she and Jasper used to do with them.
Bella and I started going to the cafeteria for lunch to keep an eye out for her and there were times that we caught her staring across the room at the small round table in the corner that Jasper sat at with a few of his buddies from the track team. Alice had been out of town last week because her chorus group had a state championship. Rose and Emmett decided to take advantage of off campus lunches, so Bella and I tagged along each day. Had we stayed at the school and eaten in the cafeteria we would have known. But how could we?
Bella decided that she wanted to show off her bowling skills the night that Alice came home, so the entire group, minus Jasper, drove to Port Angeles and rented shoes and a lane. Alice and Rose fought over the only hot pink eight pound ball, while Emmett and Bella gave us each goofy names on the electronic score card. I had trouble bowling because my left arm was still in a cast, but we managed to have fun and not let it bother us too much when Bella kicked our asses the first game.
Rose had went on the hunt for a different ball, claiming the banana yellow one she'd been using was bad luck, while Bella continued to flounce around, gloating on her supposedly epic win. Rose came flying back over to our lane, looking as if she had just seen a ghost and telling us that we needed to leave. We refused to leave because we had paid for three games, but Rose was adamant, pulling the woman troubles card so we changed our shoes and headed for the front door, just thirty seconds too late.
Jasper was standing at the counter explaining that he'd been given two different sized shoes. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Alice freeze up and Rose started to shuffle her out shoving her shoes into Emmett's hands. Just as Jasper turned and caught the five of us staring at him, Maria Rodriguez came into view and threw her arms around his waist and called him 'baby'. Jasper didn't acknowledge our presence as he grabbed his correct shoes and led Maria back to the lane that they were obviously occupying.
Alice remained absolutely silent the entire drive home. She left the four of us sitting in the living room and walked up to her bedroom, closing the door softly behind her. I hadn't seen her for five days and if it weren't for her breathing or nightly trips to the bathroom, I would have thought she died. My mother and father argued what was best for her, seeing as she refused to leave her bedroom, eat or go to school. My father won out, giving Alice an ultimatum, either she ate or she went to a doctor.
He knew that she was hurting, but he refused to watch her kill herself over some boy. Alice got angry, screaming that Jasper wasn't just some boy, but ended up promising to eat, so long as she was allowed time. My father compromised that if she ate two meals a day she could have one week off from school, but after that it would affect her graduating on time and he refused to let her bury herself.
"She still won't talk to me because she thinks I knew that Jasper was dating Maria, so she refuses to talk to me," I explained to Bella as I led her to the living room. We cuddled together on the couch and turned on a movie even though we wouldn't watch it. We'd been together for over a month and a half, but sometimes it felt like she'd always been by my side. She knew exactly what I needed, sometimes before I even knew. We hadn't said those three little words yet, but we both knew how we felt. It was almost as if we were afraid to say it out loud after watching Alice and Jasper's relationship implode on itself. We were young and we couldn't promise that we'd be together forever, but I couldn't see myself without her.
"What are you thinking about so hard?" Bella asked, bringing me out of my thoughts. She tangled her left leg with my right and began scratching my scalp, an act that she knew I loved.
"Everything."
"Hmm... sounds interesting. Wanna talk about it?"
"Not really. It's nothing we haven't talked about already. Why bring up boring mundane topics when we can just sit in silence?"
"You're so dumb," she laughed, pulling lightly at my hair. "Do you mind if I bring up a topic that we haven't talked about yet?"
"There's actually one of those?" I joked, earning a slap to my chest. "Kidding. What is it?"
"Well, my dad wants to see me."
I froze and it didn't go unnoticed by Bella. "Oh, stop it. He offered to come down here, but he and mom are still weird with each other after the divorce and everything. They try to act civil, but it's still weird."
"Well, he's still in love with her," I murmured.
"Yeah, anyway I don't want him to have to come out here because he'll be uncomfortable and hotels pretty much suck balls. Sooo..." she took a deep breath. "Iwannagotoforksforspringbreak."
"I'm sorry, what?" I sat up a little.
"I'm thinking about going to Forks for Spring Break," Bella explained slowly, her eyes downcast. "I need some closure that even the best grief counselor here can't give me. I need to see Billy and I need to visit them. I couldn't before, but now I feel that I can't fully let go of the guilt until I do that. Why are you being so quiet? You think it's a ridiculous idea?"
"No, baby. I'm so proud of you." I kissed her surprised 'O' shaped mouth. "I think it's a really good idea and I'm going to miss you."
"Well that's the thing." She sat up so that we were almost nose to nose. "Rose told me that she and Emmett are planning on going somewhere for Spring Break and Alice is going off with her chorus group thingy down at Disneyland. Since you're gonna be alone, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go with me? I mean, you can say no, but I'd like you to come with me. You don't even have to answer me now. We have time. Not a lot of time because plane tickets are cheaper if you buy them in advance, even though no one wants to go to Washington for spring break but stil-"
"I'd love to," I cut her off, smiling.
"What?"
"I'd love to spend Spring Break with you and your dad in rainy, dreary Forks, Washington. I have to ask my parents, but I'm pretty sure they aren't going to care."
"Really?" Bella asked in disbelief.
"Yeah."
"Are you serious?" she smiled.
"Yes Bella. I'm going to go with you to Forks," I laughed out. "Do you want me to paint you a picture. Should I learn sign language? What will it take to get it through your head that I'd follow you to the end of the world?"
"You're so friggin' cheesy," she laughed, throwing her arms around my neck. "You make me so happy."
"Ditto."
We shared a kiss filled with as much love as we could muster. We didn't have to say it. We knew.
My cast was removed two weeks before Spring Break. The insurance finally came through and Bella accompanied my father and I to the dealership where I picked out the same Volvo I had before. They didn't have it in silver, so I decided to go for a sleek black. Later that week, when it arrived at the house, I went and picked Bella up from her house and we drove down a dirt road and made out until our lips were numb. After the cast was removed, I was finally able to hold my girlfriend properly, something I'd been dying to do.
We'd managed to convince my parents into letting me go to Forks. My dad took me aside after we initially asked them and gave me the safe sex talk, despite my argument that things weren't like that between us. Even so, he wasn't comfortable sending me off for a week with my girlfriend without a giant box of condoms and spermicidal lubricant. Later that night I told Bella what had happened and she pulled out a small baggy of some herb that she said her mother been trying to force feed her that would prevent pregnancy, despite the fact that Renee had been taking it when she got pregnant with Bella.
Alice was doing better. She returned to school after her week and threw herself into schoolwork and chorus, staying late for tutoring and going in early for practice. She eventually forgave me, even though I hadn't done anything, but I couldn't argue because she was talking to me again. She started hanging out in the library with a few of her friends from chorus instead of coming to lunch and when she was in the hallway, she purposely went another route to steer clear from Jasper. She wasn't her bubbly self anymore and she could care less about her appearance, a trait that I'd always believed would follow her to her grave. Nowadays, she spent less time in front of the mirror in the bathroom than I did. Jasper broke up with Maria the day after Alice returned to school.
"Hey babe, did you pack enough warm socks? It's freezing in Forks compared to here," Bella asked, tossing her carry-on bag into the back seat of my new Volvo.
"Yes, I did," I answered, laughing at the giant winter coat she had hanging over her arm.
"You laugh now, but just wait. I grew up there and I'm still not used to it. You've grown up in the sun; you're going to freeze your ass off."
"I guess you'll have to keep me warm." I waggled my eyebrows.
"Oh god! You have to stop hanging out with Emmett!" she giggled.
We'd already said goodbye to Renee when I picked Bella up earlier in the day. She gave us each a small herb pillow she'd sewn that was supposed to bring us home safely or something. I'm pretty sure I saw Bella toss hers out the window as we drove down the highway. My mom insisted that we come back to the house to eat lunch before heading to the airport. She made sure that we were thoroughly stuffed before deeming us ready to travel. She hugged the both of us and went to her room sniffling the entire way, so we decided to make a quick escape.
"You ready?" I asked.
"Yep!" Bella beamed.
Bella and I had a rule that we wouldn't listen to music when we were together in the car. Instead we talked about the most random things. Topics were casually thrown around quickly and there wasn't a dull moment the entire drive to the airport.
We parked in the short term parking lot and walked hand in hand into the airport to retrieve our tickets. I laughed when Bella grimaced when we had to take our shoes off at security. She muttered the entire time about germs and athlete's foot as she walked through the metal detectors. I almost dropped to the floor when she pulled a fresh pair of socks out of her bag and changed the ones she'd been wearing, before putting on her shoes.
We didn't have to wait long before our seats were called. After an intense game of rock-paper-scissors, Bella won the window seat. We shared iPods during the flight and played cards with a tiny little travel pack she'd thought to bring. We'd managed to get a straight flight to Washington without having to worry about layovers, so the flight was long. Bella fell asleep while I watched The Nightmare Before Christmas,which she had downloaded onto her iPod. The pilot came on over the intercom to inform us that we'd be descending shortly and that we needed to put our seatbelts on, so I shook Bella awake, chuckling at the sleep marks that marred the side of her face.
"What's so funny?" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes.
"Nothing, beautiful. We're landing soon though, so you need to put your seatbelt on."
"'Kay," she yawned, doing as she was told before leaning back against me. "Planes always make me sleepy."
"Yeah, I noticed. You wasted a window seat, that's what you did," I accused.
"Whatever," she smiled.
Thirty minutes later we exited the plane and headed for the baggage claim. Bella gripped my hand tightly because she was afraid she'd lose me in the throng of people trying to get their bags. We'd just managed to get our bags off the conveyer belt when Bella squealed and let go of my hand. I watched her run to an older man dressed in a police uniform. His Chuck Norris moustache was almost comical as he swung his teenage daughter in the air, pulling her into a fierce hug and talking the entire time.
"I'm so glad to see you, kid," he said, setting her on her feet and making sure that she was steady.
"I'm glad to see you too, daddy." Bella kissed his cheek before turning back to me. "Edward, come here."
I pulled both suitcases over to the duo and Bella grabbed my arm. "Daddy, this is my boyfriend, Edward Cullen. Edward, this is my dad, Charlie Swan."
"Mr. Swan," I greeted, holding my hand out for him to shake.
Instead he looked down at my hand as if I'd just wiped my nose or something and looked up at me. "That's Chief Swan to you boy."
Oh shit!
No comments:
Post a Comment