Chapter 26 ¾ Got Condoms?
Bella
Rose takes me aside as the rest of her family heads to their minivan. I glance across the room at Edward deep in conversation with my dad and Ben.
"Bella?" Rose asks.
"Mm hmm?"
His eyes look a little glassy. I think he's on his fourth drink. Maybe his… oh my god, maybe his eighth? He's really into their conversation. Kind of gesticulating wildly. Dad's cracking up and claps him on the shoulder. Then Edward catches me looking at him and smiles.
I duck my head but can still feel his eyes on me.
"Bella!" Rose nudges me in the ribs just like she's been doing with Emmett all night long.
"Geez, Rose. What is it?"
She shoves something into my hands. Plastic unfurls, snaking its way to the ground, revealing a long sleeve of condoms.
"Jesus," she huffs, quickly folding it all back up again. "Way to be smooth, Bella."
"What the hell, Rose?" They're pale yellow and encased in clear plastic. Generic, like she's hitting up free clinics for me or something.
Rose looks me in the eye then glances over her shoulder to her very large family piling into their minivan. "Take it from me." Patrick's frantic cries can be heard all the way from the car.
"Dude, I know about birth control, Rose. You, on the other hand..."
I try to hand the condoms back.
"No. Really. Like, take these from me, please. I took your advice, but Em and I decided on an IUD when I'm ready. So you should take these."
"Why me?"
Rose looks past me and I turn just in time for Edward to look away. He stares a little too hard at my dad.
"I know you guys showed up together at the hospital the night Patrick was born. I may be the good kid, but I'm not dense."
"It's not what you -"
"Keep telling yourself that. But hold onto these just in case." She takes the condoms from my hand and drops them into the pocket of my hoodie. "I mean, you're probably going to need them more than Alice, right?"
"Wait, what?"
"I'm the good kid. I'm not dumb." She nods toward Alice who's smiling like a lovesick fool as she texts someone. "Jane's nice, isn't she?"
I narrow my eyes. "Jane's great. They're so young, though."
"Em and I were barely twenty when we got hitched. It could work."
Suddenly, Edward's standing in the doorway holding Liam's stuffed Hulk in my face. "I think someone left this behind."
"Would you mind bringing it out to him, Father?" Rose asks.
Edward jogs down the steps. He only stumbles once. Not bad, considering his likely blood alcohol content.
"He's no Father Volturi," Rose says.
I hum. "Not even close."
I help Rose gather all her family's stuff and some leftovers from Mom. When we look back toward the street, Edward's half in and half out of the minivan.
"... and that's why Iron Man is so much better than Captain America."
"Can I just have my Hulk, Edward?" Liam whines.
"Yo, that's Father Edward to you," Emmett corrects his son.
"Edward's fine," Edward tells my nephew.
"Yeah, he is," I whisper under my breath.
"It's a stupid rule anyway," Rose says. "A man that fine should be allowed to have sex. The way he gets so worked up when he gives his homilies..."
My mouth drops open. Rose just laughs. "Come by and hang out with Eddie before you leave?"
"Eddie?" Edward asks, meeting us back in the doorway. He holds onto the wall as he stands next to me. He's trying to be all casual, but I'm an old pro. I think he's trying to hold himself upright.
Rose's blue eyes twinkle. "If we called him Edward, we'd always be getting him confused with Bella's priest." She winks at me.
"But his name is Patrick," Edward insists. Rose waves to us both as she walks down the front steps.
"So, Eddie it is," I say, rocking on my heels. Feeling proud.
"Poor kid."
I surprise myself because I completely disagree. Eddie's got a solid family, a decent mom and dad, an army of siblings to look out for him. Two thirds of his aunts would do anything for him. Eddie's got it made in the shade.
"It looks like I'm going out for a drink with your dad and Ben. Emmett too, maybe," Edward tells me.
"What?"
He runs a hand through his hair. "I felt like I had to say yes."
"I'm sorry?"
"Drink," he says as he pushes a stray hair behind my ear. He looks like he really wants to kiss me.
"I've had enough. You too, maybe?"
"Not if it's up to your dad." He chuckles. "Your family can really hold their liquor."
I try to think of something witty to say. Anything really. Anything at all. Because the stuff going on inside my head is crazy.
Like, I want Edward to drink right along with my dad. And I want to be there to watch. Any random Thursday. Sunday after mass. That kind of thing.
"I like your dad," Edward's saying. "Emmett too. Ben on the other hand… Has he apologized to you?"
"For what?" I ask.
He huffs. "Lord, help me." He looks up toward the ceiling. He sways a little, and I grab his arm just in case he's in danger of falling.
"What about Angela?" Edward asks, his hands actually balling into fists.
"She mentioned she needed to talk to me before I head out, but I'm hoping to avoid it. Less is more when it comes to Angela."
Edward takes a deep breath, like he's trying to calm himself down. Then he takes both my shoulders in his hands. He smooths my shirt. He looks like he's thinking. Debating. For a second I'm sure he's going to hug me, right there in front of Ben and my dad.
"Stay and hear what they have to say. Okay?"
"But I kind of hate them."
"But you deserve better, Bella."
I know he believes it. Standing here with him, I believe it too.
"If you say so."
"Trust me?"
"I do."
I do.
I want. I trust. I love.
All of it.
Butterflies flutter in my chest.
Edward seems lost in his thoughts. Maybe I am too.
I'm caught somewhere between the way he looked on Facetime last night and how I would love to be able to kiss him right now. I'm lost between the words 'I do' and how it's going to feel when I head back out on tour Sunday night.
Or maybe I'm just lost whenever he's near me.
"Bella, I-"
"Yo, Edward… I mean Father." My dad laughs. "Come on. Ben's meeting us later. Em's coming after he puts the kids to bed."
"So Dad and the boys, huh?" I ask.
Edward shrugs. "Did you have other plans?" His eyes twinkle.
"As a matter of fact."
I'm prepared. I take the little piece of paper I've kept rolled up in my pocket and slip it into his waiting hand.
No comments:
Post a Comment