*Edward*
Oh. My. Fuck.
There were little men running around inside my head with jackhammers. There had to be. This kind of pain just wasn't normal; couldn't be normal.
Even my fucking ears hurt.
I opened one eye and hissed, quickly closing it again and pulling the covers over my head as the sunlight shone harshly through the still open blinds in my childhood room.
I think I'm dying. Oh, this can't be good.
I groaned and rolled to my side, right up against someone's back. My eyes popped open and I ripped the sheet off of my head, hissing in pain once again as I looked down at a very naked Bella.
The men inside of my head were still working away, shooting sharp pains directly behind my eyes but I ignored them as best I could, squinting as I threw an arm over her waist and molded myself to her sleeping form. I buried my face into the back of her neck, smiling softly as the sun completely faded from my vision and breathing her in.
She was really here. She was really in my arms, really sleeping next to me where she should always be. Last night hadn't been some alcohol induced stupor I'd gotten myself lost in. No. My life was back.
And there was absolutely no way that I would give her up. Being without her was something close to torture and to be perfectly honest, I couldn't even imagine having to go through it again.
No, fuck that; I refused to go through it again. And if that meant meeting with Jeannie as soon as I stepped foot off of the plane tomorrow afternoon to tell her that I was quitting, I'd damn well do it. It wasn't worth it to live without the one person in my life that really made me feel like me again.
Bella shifted in her sleep, one of her elbows ramming back against my ribs and making me groan, the stampede of men in my head only getting that much worse as I moved in a sad attempt to make the pain lessen.
When that didn't work, I rolled onto my back and covered my eyes with my arm.
It was most definitely time for some beautiful medication before I was abused any further.
Placing my hand over my eyes, I squinted as I looked through the holes of my fingers, slowly sitting up.
Oh, yeah, no, that didn't help at all.
Whimpering pathetically, I swung my feet to the floor and stood up, blindly throwing the blankets over Bella with one hand before I bent down and groped around on the floor for the pants I'd worn last night. Finding them, I closed my eyes tightly and only ended up falling face first onto the bed as I struggled to get them over my feet.
I heard Bella groan and winced, turning my head to the side and watching as she slowly turned on her back and stretched her arms above her head.
And despite the fact that my pants were barely around my knees and the sun was only aiding in the ache behind my eyes, I smiled at her.
"Oh, fuck," she groaned, folding her arms across her eyes.
I untangled one hand from my pants and reached over to place it on her thigh, gently rubbing my thumb over the blankets covering her.
"Sorry, love," I mumbled, my voice raspy and rough.
"Mm," she mumbled, her voice just as bad as mine was as she waved me off. "Time?"
I slowly twisted around to look at the alarm clock and sighed, shaking my head.
"Nine."
She crooked one finger at me, not uncovering her eyes or moving much of anything else. Slowly – very slowly – I pushed myself onto my elbows and crawled over to her, looking down at her and placing one hand on her stomach.
"Yes?"
"Kiss me and wake me up in time for dinner."
I smiled softly and pursed my lips as I remembered that she was probably beyond jetlagged at this point. And extremely hung-over.
"Can we talk then?" I asked, my fingertips making patterns on her stomach.
"'Bout what?"
"Us."
She moved her arms up a fraction and I saw that her eyes were opened into little slits.
"What about us?"
"I'm not living without you anymore, Bella," I whispered.
I watched as her lips turned up into a smile and smiled back at her, leaning down to kiss her softly.
"Go back to sleep, love. I'll be here when you wake up."
She mumbled, slowly turning onto her side to face me and curling up against the pillows. I slowly sat back and pulled the blankets over her before sliding off the bed and struggling into my pants once she'd closed her eyes again. Successful with that, I walked over to the door and pulled it open, walking towards the bathroom at the end of the hall.
I pushed that door open and blinked at the naked form of my brother-in-law asleep on the purple bath rugs by the toilet, his head resting on his bicep, his hair matted to his face and one of his hands resting over the edge of the seat.
Reaching up, I ran my hands down my face before grabbing the doorknob and pulling the door shut again. Squinting as I made my way back down the hallway, I stopped at Alice's old bedroom and proceeded to pound on the door.
That wasn't helping the workmen in my head and she'd probably come and rip my head completely off once she finally got out of bed, but the glorious little blue pills that would give the men the rest of the day off were inside the bathroom and I was not picking Jasper's drunken, naked ass up off the floor. And I sure as hell didn't want to see everything if I just stepped over him.
That's what he had his wife for. This was her job; not mine.
I didn't even want to know why he was naked in the first place and I didn't care enough to try figuring it out. He just needed to get out of the bathroom.
Now.
"What?" Alice hissed, pulling open the door and glaring at me.
"Your husband is naked in the bathroom. Please get him out so that my head will stop trying to explode."
"What the hell are you doing up so early?"
I merely pointed to my head and she rolled her eyes, pushing passed me and stalking to the bathroom. She slammed the door open and I grabbed my head in my hands as it hit the wall, the sound seeming to echo throughout the hallway.
"Jasper, you fool, get up."
I watched as she literally kicked his ass with her foot and managed to snort when he jumped and rolled on his back. I turned away, leaning back against the wall behind me and continuing to rub my temples. I heard him mumbling something and then heard her grunting. I looked up in time to see her stumbling down the hallway as she dragged him, thankfully holding a towel around his midsection.
I nodded at her as she glared at me before I turned on my heel and walked back into the bathroom. Yanking open the mirrored medicine cabinet above the sink, I snatched the bottle of Aleve and shook out four pills. Throwing two of them into my mouth and swallowing them dry, I grabbed one of the few glasses my parents kept stocked in the bathroom and filled it with water. I walked back to my room, smirking as I saw Bella curled up in the same position I'd left her in before setting the pills and water glass on the nightstand next to her. I leaned over and brushed hair off of her cheek, placing a kiss there before standing up straight and walking out of the room again, closing the door behind me.
Rubbing my face again, I took a deep breath and slowly made my way downstairs, spotting my father sitting on the couch with his head tilted back and his arms covering his eyes.
The living room was in complete chaos. Empty bottles, glasses and random decorations were scattered on the floor and any available surface, confetti that I barely remember seeing aside from when Jasper threw it at me before our shots covered the white carpet and it generally looked like we'd had one hell of a successful New Year's Eve party.
"Morning," I mumbled.
"Shut up," he groaned.
I snorted and walked into the kitchen to find my mother leaning against the counter, her hands braced against it as she stared down at the dripping coffee wearing her long red robe and the fuzzy matching slippers Alice had designed custom for her.
"Cleaning crew will be here in about an hour," she mumbled, her eyes transfixed on the carafe. "Not dealing with that."
"Sounds good."
She finally looked over at me, squinting at me.
"You're in a good mood."
"Woke up with Bella," I said, shrugging easily.
A smile flitted across her face before her eyes narrowed even further at me.
"Why aren't you hung over?"
"Oh, trust me," I laughed half-heartedly and walked around her to pull three coffee cups from the top cabinet, "I am."
"Don't act it."
"I've gotten very good at hiding a hangover when it's called for."
"Mm," she mumbled, nodding slowly before turning back to watching the coffee. "What time's your flight tomorrow?"
"Ten."
"Bella going with you?"
"I'm hoping so."
She reached over and placed her hand on my arm, squeezing slightly before dropping it back to the counter. She all but pounced on the carafe when the coffee was done and eagerly grabbed one of the cups I set down next to her. I laughed, wincing as that caused the men to come back in full force with their jackhammers.
"Gonna call in an order to the diner when everyone's up and about. You want?" she asked, reaching into the refrigerator to grab her flavored creamer.
"Yes," I moaned, grabbing the carafe from her before she could set it down. "Nothing like greasy fat food to cure a hangover."
"Damn straight." She nodded once, hissing through her teeth as she mixed the creamer in with her coffee. "Whoever thought of that stupid tradition needs to be shot."
"Think it was dad."
"Oh, Carlisle," she hissed again before turning on her heel, swaying a bit and then walking into the living room once she regained her balance.
I chuckled and set the carafe back on the burner, curling my hands around the coffee mug before following the path my mother had taken into the living room.
Yeah, my head felt like it would fall off my shoulders with one really loud noise, but I was home and for the first time since I'd gotten there, it finally actually felt that way.
And it was all because of the hung over, jetlagged, gorgeous woman upstairs asleep in my bed.
I plopped onto the couch next to my father and he groaned, reaching over and smacking at my head. I held back a scream as he made contact, sending the workmen and their tools scattering around the inside of my head and reached up to grab his wrist, throwing it away from me.
"Dad."
"Too much movement," he groaned, his head still back against the couch and one of his arms still covering his eyes.
"So your solution is to smack me and create more?"
He paused.
"Yes."
I narrowed my eyes at him and picked up one of my legs, stretching over and kicking his knee. He howled in pain as he was violently shoved into a different direction, uncovering his eyes long enough to glare at me while pointing one finger in my face.
"You are not my son."
"You are not my father."
We both glared at each other until he finally sighed heavily and snatched my coffee cup away from me, sitting back into his previous position with his eyes merely closed and his hands wrapped around my coffee mug.
He was lucky that he was old or I would've tackled him to the floor at that very moment. There are very few things or people who come between me and my coffee when I wake up with a hangover the size of the continental United States.
My father was walking a very thin line.
My mother sat in the armchair next to the couch, staring off at the carpet on the other side of the room with her cup raised in front of her mouth, her hands firmly grasping it and completely oblivious to anything that was going on between us.
"Bella alive?" he grumbled.
"Barely."
"Shouldn't have had her do the shots," he mumbled, lifting the mug to his lips and sipping off of it.
I glared at him again. My coffee.
"She probably won't be waking up anytime soon, you know."
"I'll get her up at two if she isn't up before then," I grumbled, my eyes transfixed on the mug in my father's hands.
He hummed his acknowledgment in lieu of the nod I usually got and sipped off the coffee again.
"Is she going with you tomorrow?"
"Hoping for it."
"She seems like a nice girl."
"She'll be your daughter-in-law soon enough. Now give me back," I started, huffing out a breath, "my coffee."
"Back up," my mother stated, finally choosing to focus in on the conversation between me and my father. "Daughter-in-law? Something you haven't told us, Edward?"
"Haven't gotten that far with her, mom. Dad, hand it over."
"Get your own."
"I did!"
"Edward Anthony Cullen."
I twitched and shrunk back against the couch, slowly looking over at my mother as she stared me down, one of her perfectly plucked eyebrows arched in my direction.
Oh I hated – more than words could properly express – when she used my full name. It never meant anything good for me. It was even worse when she said it so calmly.
I glared at my father as he snickered and slowly raised the mug back to his lips, his eyes dancing and laughing at me over the rim.
"Eyes over here."
She snapped her fingers, making us all wince before she grabbed onto her coffee mug again.
"Are you two engaged?"
"No."
"But you're sure that you will be?"
"Yes."
"How are you so sure?"
"Because I can feel it," I mumbled, plucking at an imaginary string on my pants and sucking my bottom lip into my mouth. "I just know."
She nodded, wincing again and closing her eyes tightly, sucking in a deep breath.
"Then I hope you two talk about what you're going to do," she mumbled, placing her fingertips of one hand on her temple and rubbing in slow circles.
"When she wakes up."
"Okay, good."
And that was, surprisingly, that. The three of us continued to sit in the living room in almost silence; me, glaring at my father each time he sipped off the coffee mug, my mother staring off into space as she continued to rub her temple and my father sitting quietly next to me, gloating each time he took a sip.
Yeah, sure, I was more than capable of getting up to pour myself another cup. But that wasn't the point.
I wanted that one.
Emmett walked down the stairs about fifteen minutes later, his head in both of his hands and his pajamas inside out and very obviously backwards. He walked into the kitchen first and came back with his own cup of coffee before plopping into the armchair across from our mother and blinking slowly at the blank television screen.
Alice and Jasper joined us twenty minutes later, neither of them looking very happy but at least Jasper had clothes on this time. He plopped down on the floor, blankly staring at the bottom of the couch while Alice shuffled into the kitchen. She came back out a few minutes later with two cups of coffee and the take out menu for the Forks Diner.
"Bella?" she asked, her voice hoarse once she'd given the second mug to Jasper and placed the menu on the coffee table in the middle of us.
"Sleeping still," I mumbled, sighing heavily at the empty coffee mug my father still held in his hands.
"Alive?"
I nodded, looking over at her and smiling softly as she sat down on the floor next to Jasper.
"Thank you."
She cleared her throat, cringing and sipping off of her coffee before leaning against Jasper's shoulder.
"I got her two tickets for the return trip." My heart twisted in my chest at the thought of her actually leaving today. "One is for eleven tonight and the other is for tomorrow morning."
I raised an eyebrow at her.
"Same flight as yours, Edward," she said quietly, blinking slowly at me. "I wasn't sure."
"Thank you."
She nodded slightly before sipping her coffee and the room was once again shrouded in silence.
It was only broken when the doorbell rang throughout the house a few minutes later and we all groaned simultaneously. Emmett actually bowed over and placed his head between his knees, cursing the bastard on the other side of the door as he stared down into his coffee cup.
My father was the first one up, looking around the room at all of us pointedly before smirking slightly.
"Good way to start out the new year, don't you think?"
My mother glared at him before standing up, slapping at his shoulder, setting her mug on the coffee table and then walking over to the door that led to their master bedroom and disappearing behind it. He walked to the front door and let the cleaning crew in, the rest of us not moving as they started cleaning up the front entryway.
"Alice," I started, standing up and carefully stretching.
The men in my head had almost disappeared, only gracing me with a few sharp pains as I yawned.
"Yeah?"
"Call in the order? I'll go pick it up."
She nodded and leaned over to kiss Jasper's cheek before carefully standing up and grabbing the menu, flipping it to the back page where all of our preferences were already listed.
"Bella?"
"Cheeseburger."
She nodded and disappeared into the kitchen. Emmett finally looked up at me, his blood shot eyes squinted.
"Got you laid, didn't I?" he rasped.
I rolled my eyes, suppressing the urge to reach over and smack him as I walked around his chair and back towards the stairs.
"I did," I heard him mumble.
I rolled my eyes again and smirked, slowly shaking my head as I climbed the stairs and walked back to my room. I pushed open the door and blinked at the empty bed in front of me. Turning in a quick circle and forced to grab onto the edge of the door as I swayed, I poked my head out into the hallway to see that the bathroom door was closed.
That can't be good.
Walking back out of the bedroom, I went to the bathroom door and gently knocked on it, only to be greeted with the sounds of Bella heaving up whatever it was that might've been in her stomach yesterday.
"Bella, love?" I asked, gently tapping my knuckles against the wood again.
"Go 'way," she mumbled.
I winced as the toilet flushed, immediately followed by more of Bella as she emptied her stomach. I reached down and grabbed the doorknob, twisting it and pushing the door open. I walked in to find her wrapped in one of my bed sheets, huddled over the toilet with one of her small hands gripping the seat and her other arm wrapped tightly around her waist.
"Oh, Bella," I whispered, closing the door behind me as I sat down on the floor behind her and started to pull her hair back.
"No," she moaned, moving her hand from the toilet seat and trying to push me away. "'S gross."
"Yeah," I agreed, collecting all of her hair into one hand and reaching forward with the other to brush the back of my hand across her forehead. "But I'm not leaving."
"You don't need to see this."
"Well, this kind of is my fault," I sighed, moving my hand from her forehead to her cheek. "No more shots for you."
She groaned and I closed my eyes tightly as she lurched up onto her knees and buried her head in the toilet again. I rubbed her back in small circles, shaking my head at myself and sighing.
I was never letting her do nine shots of anything ever again. Next year, we were spending New Year's Eve in New York with her friends… where it was safer.
Twenty minutes later and one visit from Alice telling me that she'd ordered the food and that Bella's bag was in her room, Bella finally fell back against me.
"Feel better?" I asked softly, dragging my fingers through her hair and wrapping my arm around her.
"A little," she mumbled.
"Why don't you take a shower?" I whispered, leaning forward and kissing the side of her head.
"Yeah, okay."
I held out my hands, letting her place hers in them and helped her to stand up before I did the same, pushing a few stray hairs out of her eyes as she looked up at me.
"Do you still love me after this?" she rasped.
I laughed and nodded, framing her face in my hands and leaning forward to kiss her forehead.
"Always," I whispered. "I'll go get your bag from Alice's room. Come down when you're ready."
She nodded, taking one step forward to wrap her arms around my waist and hug me tightly.
"Even though that really sucked," she started, "I'm still pretty fucking happy that I'm with you right now."
I hugged her back, squeezing as tightly as I dared before pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
"Me too."
~*~
"Where are we going?"
I looked over at her and smiled, grabbing her hand as we walked down the path in the backyard of my parent's house and into the woods behind it.
In an attempt to avoid any more of Emmett's snide remarks about what he supposedly knew had gone on last night after we'd disappeared from the kitchen after our ritual, I'd decided that we needed to take a walk. There wasn't much snow on the ground, it wasn't that cold and most of all, it was blissfully quiet out here.
Plus, we had a lot to figure out and we couldn't do it with my family members hovering around us like we were caged zoo animals.
Everyone had taken some medicine or a shower and had started to resemble human beings about an hour after we finished eating. Bella hadn't attempted to eat yet and I couldn't blame her, but hoped that she'd start to feel hungry soon. And of course, since everyone was feeling better – even if we all were still flinching at loud noises and the blinds were still drawn to keep the sunlight out – they felt it was their duty to make sure that we knew exactly what they were thinking in some form.
Between my mother's mile wide smiles at us each time we caught her eye, Emmett's remarks, Jasper's cocky grins, Alice's attempt at trying to measure every inch of Bella for some new design she probably had in mind and my father's obsession with stealing my coffee and food all damn day, we'd desperately needed some peace and quiet.
And I just needed to be with her. Alone with her for more than five damn seconds. So we'd donned sunglasses and I'd whisked her out of the house before anyone could say or do anything else to embarrass or annoy us any further.
"There's this place I go to when I want some time to myself. I want to take you there."
She smiled over at me, squeezing my hand before looking down at her feet and watching each step she took very carefully. I laughed at her, pulling her against my side and holding onto her waist tightly.
"I won't let anything happen to you."
"Tree roots!" she exclaimed, pointing. "Edward, I'm dangerous when there are tree roots around."
"All right," I said slowly, pulling her to a stop and walking in front of her. "Get on."
I bent down and turned my head to look up at her, finding her eyebrows pulled together and a pretty damn adorable pout on her lips.
"What?"
"Get on," I laughed, reaching behind me and gently grabbing her ankles. "It'll be easier."
"You're gonna get really tired really quickly."
"It's not that far from here. Come on, love." I gently pulled her ankles and laughed when she lurched forward, her hands slapping onto my shoulders to keep her steady. "Hop on."
She sighed heavily and I smiled as she wrapped her arms tightly around my neck. I stood up slowly, grabbing the back of her thighs and hitching them over my hips.
"There. See? Not so bad after all."
She huffed and buried her face into my shoulder blades as I grinned at the trees in front of us and continued the short walk to the little meadow behind the house.
I heard her gasp of surprise when we walked into the opening and turned my head to look at her as I continued to the middle of it.
"Pretty huh?"
"Gorgeous," she breathed, looking around her and slowly sliding off of my back as I came to a stop.
I smiled and grabbed her hand as she came up to stand next to me, looking around at the wide open space. There was still some snow covering the ground and the bright sunlight that we'd all been cursing for most of the day was shining down through the tree tops and illuminating everything.
This was where I'd come to think through most of high school. When I needed some peace and quiet to make a decision or just to be on my own without someone hovering over me, this was the first place I came to. And whenever I had the chance to get out of California and visit my family for a few days, I always made a trip out here.
I'd never brought anyone else here. This had always been my space and for the first time, I wanted to share it with someone else.
"Alice has two tickets for you," I started softly, looking over at her and watching as one of her eyebrows quirked up. "One is for a plane tonight at eleven and the other is for tomorrow morning at ten… to California."
She turned to look at me, her bottom lip in between her teeth.
"Come to the premiere with me, Bella," I said quietly, squeezing her hand. "Please?"
She met my eyes and grabbed my other hand in hers, pulling herself close to me.
"There's something I have to tell you."
I was pretty sure my heart stopped at those words and a million different scenarios ran through my head. None of them were at all logical given the night we'd had but it didn't stop the unnecessary fear that ran through my veins.
"Okay," I managed, swallowing hard and managing to nod.
"I vaguely remember you saying something this morning about not living without me anymore."
I nodded again.
"And that really only leaves me with one choice."
"Bella…"
"I need to go back to New York, Edward."
I flinched at her words and looked away, staring at a mound of snow behind us. I'd moved too fast; she wasn't ready for that yet.
"Okay," I said quietly, nodding and closing my eyes tightly.
"I need to go back to New York so that I can find someone that I really trust to run the bookstore while I'm not there and I need to pack my things." My head snapped back in her direction and my hands tightened around hers. "Because I'm not living without you, either."
I choked out a laugh and shook my hands out of hers to wrap my arms around her waist and lift her off the ground, pressing sloppy kisses all around her face. She laughed, her arms tight around my neck and her legs coming up to wrap around my waist.
"Can't just leave the bookstore with Jessica, huh?" I joked, squeezing her tightly as I moved to kiss her neck.
"Actually, I fired her."
I immediately stopped and pulled back from her, peering up at her.
"What? When?"
"The day after you left." She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth. "And Jake's now dating Leah."
My jaw dropped.
"As in your stepsister Leah?"
She nodded and shrugged, a small giggle escaping her.
"They showed up at my father's house on Christmas and seemed to be expecting some dramatic display when I saw them. All I could do was laugh." She leaned down and rested her forehead against mine, our sunglasses brushing against each other's. "I guess they just don't realize how much I really love you."
The grin that lit up my face was probably insanely comical, but I didn't care. I kissed her again, tightening my hold around her waist.
"Why didn't you tell me before?"
"I wasn't thinking about any of that when I was talking to you. I blocked out everything but you."
I laughed and shook my head, my lips back on hers.
"You didn't answer my question, though," I mumbled between kisses.
"'Bout what?" she mumbled, her hands slowly and blessedly carefully threading into my hair.
"Come to the premiere with me," I breathed, hitching her up a little higher.
"Mm, oh, yeah," she nodded, shrugging easily. "I just have to call Rose or Angela and let them know."
"What about the store? Don’t you need someone to have it open?"
"I'll figure it out," she shrugged it off and brushed her lips against mine.
I grinned again and captured her bottom lip in between both of mine.
"You're sure about all of this, Bella?" I asked, breaking away from her. "I can just as easily tell Jeannie that I quit and come back to New York for good."
She grabbed my face in her hands and shook her head slowly.
"No, you won't do that. You are a talented actor and I won't let you give up something that you're insanely good at and mostly love doing. It's what brought you to me," she whispered, a smirk playing on her lips. "I can open another bookstore."
"But you love the one that you have."
"I'll still love it even if I don't directly run it anymore. I'm not giving it up as much as I'm handing it over," she stated, pursing her lips before smiling brightly at me. "Got it all figured out."
"You really do," I laughed, nodding.
"Well, see, while I had my head buried in a toilet this morning, I was strangely only able to think about you and not leaving and how I was going to make it all work out in our favor."
"You think well when you're getting sick, huh?"
She laughed and shrugged, her thumbs circling my cheeks.
"Apparently."
"And your house?"
"Selling it."
She immediately bit her bottom lip and leaned back from me. I raised an eyebrow at her and set her back down on her feet, keeping my hands on her hips.
"You all right?"
"Is… is it okay if I sell it?"
"It's your house," I said slowly. "You can do whatever you want with it."
"I just, uhm," she cleared her throat and looked over my shoulder, "I didn't want to presume…"
It clicked and I grinned, pulling her back against me and bending down to bury my nose into her hair, rubbing my hands on her back as her arms wound around my neck again.
"Live with me, Bella," I whispered into her ear. "Sell your house and live with me."
She laughed and nodded, squeezing her arms around my neck and bouncing a little on her toes.
"Okay."
I smiled into her neck and breathed her in, tightening my arms around her waist and closing my eyes.
I wouldn't have to let her go now. I knew she'd have to go back to New York after the premiere, but she'd be back with me in no time.
And it'd be permanent.
0 comments:
Post a Comment