Chapter Six
"It's fine mom." a sad voice called from behind the screen door.
I breathed a sigh of relief as the door swung open revealing the girl that had plagued my mind for over two weeks now. She looked like she had lost more weight, if that were even possible, and the dark bags under her eyes clearly stated that she hadn't been sleeping well either. Her dark blue cast was now replaced with a walking boot, but she still moved slowly, almost lethargically onto the porch, swatting at the mass of bubbles in front of her.
Tanya wasted no time to bound up the stairs and introducing herself, even though it was clear that Bella had heard the entire conversation we had had with her mother. She gave a quiet hello as she shook Tanya's exuberant hand before turning to me. Her eyes were still haunting, a sadness hiding deep within and struggling its way to the surface.
"Hi Bella," I breathed.
"Hi Edward," she said flatly. "Thanks for coming by. It was nice… of all of you." She leaned a little forward and gave a pointed look towards the car. I glanced over and realized that there were three curious faces glued to the windows as they watched what was going on. Bella's mother waved happily and all three girls shrunk back embarrassed at being caught ogling.
"I'm going to go teach some girls some manners. Bella, Miss. Bella's mom, it was great to meet you both," Tanya said before turning to me. "Let me go deal with them."
"Thank you," I whispered, watching her jog back to the car and open the passenger door. I was frozen in shock as Tanya climbed inside
and the car shot off down the road leaving me stranded in Bella's yard with her and her mother.
"Uh..." was the only thing I could come up with and I heard Bella's mom laughing at me.
"Looks like your stranded, huh?" she joked. "Some family you got there, my boy."
"Yeah, um..." I felt around my pockets and remembered that I had plugged my phone into the car charger before we left the house. "Can I use your phone? I'll just call my dad and ask him to come get me and start walking."
"No," Bella's mother simply stated with a smile. "You were kind enough to come check on Bella. Why don't you stay for lunch and we'll give you a ride home later?"
I gave Bella a questioning look. It would be nice to hang out with her and try to apologize for what had happened. Her sad eyes just stared at me, void of any emotion, but the corner of her mouth lifted up minutely and she nodded.
"But before you go, we could use a man's hands around here," Bella's mother said, smiling mischievously. "I have been dying to hang these shelves in the living room for my shot glass collection, but I just don't have the muscles, and Bella isn't up for it."
"Sure, I'd love to," I agreed and walked up the stairs, trying to dodge bubbles that were still pouring out of the machine.
"You can help me with lunch if you want," Bella said flatly before turning to go inside. I gave her mother a questioning look, as if to ask if she wanted to do the shelves now, but she patted my arm and gently pushed me towards the door.
"Go on inside. You two need to talk and I need to weed the garden," she answered, pointing to a pitiful square in the yard that was overrun with weeds and dehydrated wilted plants.
"It's beautiful, Miss. Swan," I lied, but I'm sure my blush gave me away.
"Stop lying, boy," she scolded, swatting my shoulder. "I have no green thumb, but I try to do my part for the environment and making the world beautiful. And please call me Renee, or Mom. Miss. Swan died a long time ago when Charlie and I divorced, and my maiden name is worse than being a reborn Swan."
"Renee," I said, nodding, uncomfortable with calling her Mom.
"Go on inside. I'm sure Bella's working up a huge treat now that we have a guest. She will have to eat," she said sadly. "She might get crabby and make you feel like she doesn't want anything to do with you, Edward, but please be patient. She's been through a lot and I have a wonderful feeling that you're going to be the one to help her through her difficult time."
"I'll do my best, Renee," I said solemnly. "I've wanted to help her since the first day I saw her."
Renee's eyes lit up. "I saw you coming."
I stepped back as she touched her temple, afraid that she was as Bella had said, a nut case, but she laughed. "I read her tea leafs before we left that day. She had an axe, which means difficulties over come, and a boat, a visit from a friend. You're her friend Edward."
"I really wanted to be, Miss- uh, Renee. But I think I ruined those chances when I-"
"She told me what happened. She was very upset when I got home that day. But trust me when I say this. If you weren't her friend, or Bella felt no pull towards you, she wouldn't have came out of the house and would have told you to start walking when those girls left you here," Renee said, grabbing my hand. "You're going to be around for a long time and I am so happy that you found her. Just please keep in mind that Bella's a stubborn soul and she's also been through something very traumatic. Give her time and you both will open
up."
"Yes ma'am." I pulled my hand out of hers. I was starting to get freaked out by the way she talked. What'll be next? She's going to read my aura and tell me she's a witch? "I better get inside, to help Bella."
"You do that. And tell her to start some water for tea. We should do another reading," she replied, smiling wistfully as she meandered over to the garden plot.
I walked into the house and headed straight for the kitchen. Bella was pulling out a number of mixing bowls in different sizes, so I walked over to help her. We worked in silence as she handed me different utensils and I set them on the island in the order of which she handed them to me.
"I need to apologize," Bella said as she started pulling containers out of the fridge. She hadn't made eye contact with me since I entered the kitchen, but now I found myself lost in her eyes as she stared at me intently.
"I need to apologize, too," I said softly.
"Well let me go first, please," she breathed. "You didn't know that that picture was something that would trigger my panic attack, but it was my fault. I should have hid it better than just pushing it behind another photo. I'm sorry for freaking out on you. There. I said it."
She still left me with about a hundred and one questions, but I didn't let it bother me. Like Renee had asked, I would give her time. All the time in the world.
"I'm sorry for snooping around. I shouldn't have been so nosy. You're the first girl I've been around that wasn't my little sister or one of
my best friends or a really bad blind date. I was nervous and we weren't exactly talking, so I guess I was trying to find something that I could talk to you about." I knew I was rambling but I couldn't stop. "I saw your smile in that pictur-"
"Let's not talk about it. I accept your apology," Bella cut me off.
"I accept your apology," I uttered, nodding. I knew she had reached her limit for the time being. "So what are we making?" I asked, wondering what Bella wanted to concoct this afternoon.
For a brief second I saw the smile. If I had blinked I would have missed it, but for the second that I did see it, my entire body warmed and my heart started beating rapidly in my chest. It disappeared almost as soon as it appeared though.
"Homemade pizzas. I haven't had them in ages and we were planning on making them for Christmas dinner, but my mom decided on tacos," she answered.
"You have tacos and pizza for Christmas?" I asked.
I thought every family was the same, turkey on Thanksgiving, ham on Christmas. I didn't know any better because it had always been that way, even the year Dad blew up the fryer and set the garage on fire. Mom had thawed another turkey and roasted it, refusing to let anyone eat until it was cooked. Needless to say, we didn't have Thanksgiving dinner until eleven that night, but it made a wonderful memory. We had a lot to be thankful for that year.
"Yeah," Bella smirked, bringing me back to the present moment and off memory lane. "Have you met my mother?"
"Oh, that reminds me. She wants you to start a pot of tea, something about a good day for leaf reading or something." I shrugged before grabbing a large round pan that she had pointed to.
"Yeah, I accidentally dropped the tea on the floor this morning," Bella sighed dramatically as she pulled a giant bag of flour out of a cabinet. "And if she offers, don't drink any coffee made by her because it stains your teeth."
"Huh?"
I turned toward her only to realize she was entirely too close. We bumped into each other, the bag of flour between us emitting a small cloud of powder that shocked the both of us, leaving me coughing up a lung.
"Sorry," we said together before pulling farther away from each other and laughing.
"She can read coffee grounds, too," Bella said quietly, turning towards the counter and setting the bag down.
We worked in silence, first mixing the dough and letting it set while we worked on a pizza sauce from scratch. My mother was a great cook and I have helped out a time or two in my lifetime, but I always thought that pizza sauce, pasta sauce, hell even Alfredo, came out of a glass jar. I voiced my thoughts and Bella turned around from the spice rack a little too quickly and almost toppled over, before laughing softly. Like her smile, it only lasted a second.
"Edward, you can't be serious? How do you think those things got to be in a jar?" she challenged, rolling her eyes and grabbing three different jars of spices before tossing one to me. "Sprinkle that onto the pan after you spray it with Pam."
I watched as she continued to add spices to the pizza sauce, stopping every few stirs to take a small taste. She looked happy, like she was in her element in the kitchen, but at the same time she looked so entirely sad.
"Stop staring at me," she said, turning to the sink and rinsing her spoon off.
"Sorry," I apologized, blushing, before we continued to work together quietly. She gave me the job of cutting fresh mushrooms, green peppers and grape tomatoes, while she grated a giant block of mozzarella cheese.
"So how was your Christmas?" Bella asked as I sautéed the mushrooms I had cut. I could tell she was trying to make conversation and I admired her for it. Renee had said that they had had a rough holiday.
"It was alright. Christmas isn't as exciting as it was when we were younger," I shrugged. "Alice bought everyone enough clothes to last us a lifetime and our parents bought us each new laptops because mine was starting to become rundown and Alice ended up getting viruses on hers from MySpace that even Geeks On Call couldn't fix. The Triple D's bought me a subscription to Playb-" I stopped abruptly, realizing that I had said far too much already, but Bella snorted.
"Who the hell are the Triple D's?"
"My cousins. You met Tanya, but there are three of them, triplets: Irina, Kate and Tanya. They look alike, act alike, and drive me absolutely crazy." I frowned remembering how I was tortured this morning before they left me stranded here. I was pissed about the Polaroids, but I couldn't find it in myself to be angry at the latter. I was making progress with Bella and I had them to thank for it.
"I figured that after they ditched you. I mean that's pretty ballsy to leave you somewhere and take off with your car. SHIT!" she pulled her finger up from the grater and I could see the blood dripping from her finger as she squeezed it.
"Bella?" I rushed over grabbing the dish towel from the counter and wrapping it around her hand just in time. As soon as I had steadied her hand, I realized she was shaking and looked up to see her eyes roll in the back of her head as she whispered "So much blood" before her knees buckled and I scrambled to catch her.
"RENEE!" I screamed not knowing what else to do as I cradled Bella's silent body, gently lowering us both to the floor.
"Bella. Please wake up. BELLA!" I shook her softly as I heard the door open and shut, and then the sound of shuffling feet.
"What happened?" Renee asked sitting on the floor and taking Bella's head in her hands.
"We we talking and she cut herself on the cheese grater. I tried to help her clean up the blood, but she started mumbling something and then she fainted," I rambled, realizing that I was still holding her bloody hand. I lifted the towel to check the damage and sighed in relief when I saw that two of her knuckles had been badly shaved a few layers of skin but she didn't need medical attention.
Renee quietly asked me to help carry Bella into the living room and I stood up before picking up her frail body and carried her to the couch. Renee told me where to find the first aid kit in the kitchen and I would have laughed at the sight of the giant box of medical supplies if it weren't under these conditions. Renee expertly pulled out a few bandages, peroxide and Neosporin. I watched as she cleaned the wounds on Bella's fingers and bandaged them like a pro.
"If you're going to be around for a while you should know," Renee held up the bloody gauze. "This is a normal day for Bella. She's always hurting herself."
"Should we take her to the hospital? She fainted," I wondered, looking down at Bella's face. She looked to be sleeping, and if I hadn't been front and center when she fainted, I would believe that she was just taking a nap.
"No. She faints at the sight of her own blood. She has since she was little," Renee laughed. "She hasn't been sleeping very well lately so give her a little while. Until then we can finish lunch together if you'd like."
"Sure."
Cooking with Renee was a lot like cooking with Darcy, a five year old that Alice used to watch during the summer last year. Crazy and messy. She ruined the first pizza crust by trying her hand at flipping it in the air, it hitting the ceiling with a sick thud before falling onto the counter by the sink, three feet from where she was standing.
"Oops," she simply said, shrugging her shoulders. "We're lucky Bella made extra."
We managed to stretch out the large pizza dough into our own version of a circle. To me it looked like an oval, but Renee swore it was an egg, meaning sacred geometry and that it was a good omen or something. I tuned her out after she started talking about reading my palm. We set to work at spreading out the sauce evenly across the oval egg shaped crust, Renee trying her hardest at getting the sauce as close to the edge as possible.
"I hate crust on a pizza. I think it's Papa John's way of ripping us off," she retorted, before grabbing the bowl of cheese shredded by yours truly. We had just set the pizza in the oven and started doing the dishes together when I heard Bella start to cry from the living room. Renee looked at me quizzically before gesturing with her head for me to go check on her.
I entered the living room quietly, trying not to startle her if she was awake, but she wasn't. Instead it looked as if she was stuck in a nightmare. Her hair was a mess and she looked a little pale and clammy as she thrashed around, murmuring indistinguishable words. As I neared her I could hear her whimpering the same words she had in the Biology lab. I calmly placed a shaky hand on her shoulder and stood in front of her so, if she did jump, she wouldn't fall of the couch before crouching down and speaking softly in her ear.
"Bella... it's just a dream. Please wake up. It's not real."
She whimpered again so I spoke a little louder. This time earning a louder whimper as her eyes flew open.
"It's real Edward. They're gone," she said softly before starting to sob uncontrollably.
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