Dad was standing by the front door, thoughtfully chewing on his black mustache and frowning, while contemplating me and my ex-girlfriend, Lillian Mellon.
After returning from school, we first ate, then peacefully settled in a chair, at first side by side, but literally after ten minutes of quiet conversation and awkward touching, she was already sitting on my lap, hugging me tightly and habitually, and, of course, she was crying. No way it could've ended without it.
Even before my father returned from work, we'd already cooked dinner, settled back in the same place, with one plate for the two of us. Then I found a teapot that had never been touched by my father, it seems, since my last visit here, and then I took out the supplies I had brought with me from Arizona. Of course, not a samovar, but not a teabag either. If I have a choice, then no tea bags, all the gods of tea there are totally forbid me.
She took a shower first, I went in after and almost collapsed right there, almost whining with self-pity, when I realized that if I wanted to be consistent, then masturbating, imagining exactly how I want her and in what position, is simply not worth it.
There was a second cup of tea on the coffee table next to the morning newspaper, and I gave up almost completely and began to enjoy her presence more clearly, burying my nose in her collarbone. When I heard the rustle of tires and footsteps on the porch, we looked at each other and decided to untangle the limbs, but had no time.
The smell of carbonara with meatballs, freshly brewed tea with rose, the way she likes, was in the air, but my father did not look towards the kitchen, did not sniff at the delicious smells that filled his single life house, no, he looked at us with an expression of uncanny discontent on his face. This emotion seemed to me to be something like a slight hostility mixed with anxiety. I wasn't able to speak before Dad collected his thoughts. My ex-girlfriend, whom I have not yet been able to stop wanting, froze in my arms.
Charlie could definitely see from where he was standing that I was squeezing her waist until my knuckles turned white.
She didn't even notice it, but her tension from the meeting couldn't be compared to a mouse who met a cat, no. It was something like a mongoose versus a snake, really.
"Charlie, please breathe in and out before you get ready to give your opinion on this."
I looked warily into my father's eyes and tried to calm down. His reaction began to form in me the feeling that I would have to pack up and move again, hugging cactus and bags. And to move, this time, the fuck knows where.
"What does that mean, Bella?" he squeezed out of himself. "Who is this girl?"
"Dad, do you remember I told you on the phone that I can't be in the same room with Phil and because of this I really need to move?"
He swallowed and nodded. All the mongoose stuff left him somehow.
But then my ex-snake decided to insert her precious opinion, to which I rolled my eyes, but in principle she was quite right. Though the situation could totally do without it.
"I hope we won't have to run away from home and live on the couch again. Of course, I don't mind, but I think we had enough, don't you think?"
All Charlie could do was round his eyes and start gasping for air, trying to find what to say. The mongoose in him was gone, yes, but the fact that he started to resemble a beached fish did not seem any better.
"It was enough for us that we broke up." I muttered.
I rolled my eyes again, having stopped scanning Charlie with my gaze, because I realized that he wasn't going to throw tantrums a la Phil. Lillian twitched and slowly removed her hands from my shoulders, gasped brokenly. I realized that I didn't want to stand another round of her tears at all, so I added.
"Almost."
This silly started crying anyway.
***
I was stubbornly tinkering with the setup of the new hardware - it was brought to the house last night when Charlie was about to chase us to bed.
I realized his intentions due to the fact that the man stopped fussing and hovering around us. He got up from the couch every now and then and nervously walked from the kitchen to the stairs, to settle once again and stare at the TV turned on at a quiet volume. Instead of his hovering, he purposefully went to get a second blanket and an extra pillow from somewhere in his room.
A man of action, that's him.
As soon as I signed for the courier and gave the kid a ten for his fucked-up look, dad after all decided to tell me about his plans not to interfere with us sleeping in the same room, but warned that with all his reluctance to think that I, his beloved girl, had already grown up, his reluctance to hear confirmation of that fact was even more prominent.
So no sex, and that's why at twenty minutes to five in the morning I was already counting the cracks on the ceiling, and at ten minutes I was flashing my teeth in the mirror, breathing with cheap strawberry paste from the children's section. But generally I was inappropriately cheerful. By six in the morning, I had already consumed the remains of yesterday's carbonara, in order to then crawl out into the morning darkness and load into the back of the pickup truck everything I needed to take to a rented room. I will proudly call it the record studio for an unknown amount of time.
It seems that Dad's idea with a pickup truck wasn't so bad. I seem like an ungrateful mongrel. Although I didn't tell him out loud about my dissatisfaction, so everything is fine. I'll just have to give him his praises, but that's only when I get back.
So, I was stubbornly tinkering on the hardware settings when the alarm clock on the phone rang. It was time. And it meant that I had to collect my meager belongings at an accelerated pace and lock the room with a key. I'd put another lock in there, stronger, my guitar will be here sometimes, and this is the same guitar that Lily decided to bring with, her long-time gift. It was valuable not only for attention, but also for the cost that I would not have paid for anything on my own, even if I had the needed amount of money.
In order to make such purchases, one must either be a fanatic, or consider such sums pocket change. It's easy to guess that Lily belonged to the second category, and I would be desperately jealous of her if I didn't understand that such envy would be a senseless waste of energy.
Although in fact I was more invested in the fate of the amplifier, headphones, microphone, soundproof plates and other gadgets that will be here not only sometimes, but very much constantly.
Although you have to be very deeply invested into the life of fearless criminal to rob the daughter of the town Scheriff. But everyone knows that there are a lot of absurd people on this earth, so I will totally get the second lock. It is necessary to contract Dad to find a man, or something. At school, it would be more costly to ask, they'll try to ask on a date. And I'm not quite as free as I thought it seems... Lying to myself, yeah, but not in this, no. I wasn't free even before she flew up here, I just ran away.
And those vampires, too, fuck them with horseradish, honestly!
For the first time in all my seventeen years in this strange new life, I realized where the hell I ended up! I just couldn't calm down yesterday because of the odd feeling of deja vu mixed with anxiety. It was after tired Lily started snoring peacefully, as soon as her head touched the pillow.
My name was Isabella Swan, and the Cullens appeared in the vicinity, strangely beautiful and, I would specify, breathtaking, if we talk about girls.
Neither geographical names nor names before the Cullens evoked any special memories for me, just new people in a new country and in a new life.
In the end, I didn't watch these movies purposefully, never really dug in, I didn't read books, how would I know anything at all?
The only thing I really feared before this - was getting used to these new people just to die again and experience that same state again as the first time I died. I missed everything familiar, ached for the few things I loved, the few people who loved me.
As soon as my small, child-like, brains became capable of processing information, my memories gradually returned to me, I cried like a child I was and did not talk about them, I became more withdrawn and gloomy.
Mom noticed, took me to a psychologist, and I started pretending that everything was fine. But I died and was born again, it's still not ok and can't be OK. It interferes with life, and it seems to me that's why others don't remember, that's why... My conspiracy theory is like this, yeah, alongside religion.
And no kidding, I didn't want to get used to someone again and experience the same thing again. So I tried to live without getting too attached.
And now I don't know what exactly I can do with this knowledge, and it seems to me that I hardly want to get into any contact with creatures that can kill me simply because they really wanted some blood around me.
I don't really know what the gist of the story was, I just heard a lot of jokes about vampires sparkling in the sun. And their last name sounds very bad in Russian. Kakalen, that shit related pun, is the least I've heard from those buds whose girls were pining for Patisson, or whatever his name was.
I know about Twilight, rather, from comedy shows, where they were made fun of when the movies were at the peak of popularity. Well, I don't have and won't have a plot armor of the romantic interest of the main ghoul, I'm very much into women.
As I understand it, these vampires have the two by two situation, that is, each resident ghoul has a beautiful girl. Only Edik, the one the other guys lead into the forest yesterday almost carrying him for some reason, is sitting on his balls all alone.
Although it shouldn't really matter who sleeps with whom at all. They are vampires, they drink blood, they are immortal and probably somewhat psychopathic because they are immortal. I wish they'd just go fuck themselves, because the only thing I remember about Twilight is that the story constantly tried to kill Bella while she was doing something that's called, literally, cunt-suffering in Russian. And she was doing it for the two guys, one's a big wolf, and the other is a telepathic Edik. Although no, this is not the only thing I remember, these are two separate facts, although related to each other.
But obviously the absence of my suffering for Edik cancels the presence of Edik in my life, right?
I just need to stay out of their way and not cause any focus of theirs to myself.
If only I remembered in time that any supposed person with yellow eyes and with the surname Cullen is bad news. Then I definitely wouldn't have left my mobile phone number to that funny elven girl of theirs, Alice.
***
"Why are you even talking to me, Alice?" I leaned wearily against the fender of my pickup truck and folded arms across my chest. "Everyone says that you don't socialize much with others. I understand your snobbish reluctance to waste your time on people you're unlikely to see after graduation, but I'm no different from them. So what do you need?"
"You're not so friendly, Bella! Though refreshingly straightforward," Alice showed her white teeth in a smile that made my heart skip a beat for a moment. "I had a question, so I came to ask it."
"I told you to call me Izzy," I rolled my eyes and muttered. "You may even call me Grape. But not Bella!"
Her smile faded a little, and for some reason her gaze slid from my face to the pendant, which I almost never took off, a paired gift to me and Lillian from Tomiko. I noticed this temporarily changed direction of her gaze only because I was looking at her face and following her expressions with an odd painful curiosity - as if she was alarming and exciting me at the same time. It felt like an extremely freakish combination.
"Who is this girl who was with you yesterday? Her visit was quite unexpected!"
"So this is the question which made you approach me now and tolerate my presence?" I snorted, pushed off from the car, then turned around and opened the door of the pickup truck and deadpanned. "Such an important question."
I had already taken hold of the door and stepped onto the step, but a new voice from behind made me stop halfway. The familiar voice of Rosalie Hale, which made me shudder a little the very first time I heard it, and now completely knocked my breath out of the blue.
"We were more interested in where she came from and why she was here at all, Isabella."
I coughed nervously, stepped back and slammed the door of the truck with a bang. I already turned to Dr. Cullen's two adopted daughters, whom I really didn't want to entertain right now with a conversation about my girlfriend. Judging by the rumors, and my eyes probably weren't letting me down all this time - these two were quite happy with their adoptive brothers, They also did not make a good impression on me when they continued to stare at our involuntary dramatic scene yesterday with a noticeable negative or even, if you get to the general attitude, condemnation.
"I didn't notice you came by, Rosalie," I tried controlling my voice in order not to allow any excessive emotion - because her beauty still made my heart tremble and freeze, much more and intensely than when Alice was trying to invade my privacy bubble.
"You turned your back so you didn't notice!" Alice laugh was so catching that even I, being in such a sour mood, wanted to join in. "So, could you clarify something about her, puh-le-e-ase?"
"I think during this day you've already managed to hear it all from the main gossip of our school. At least out of the corner of your ear, you did hear that she's my girlfriend back in Arizona. Not a friend, but a girlfriend, yes, I confirm this and this is not Mike's fantasy. And yes, my Dad knows, you won't be telling him anything new if you decide to use your tongues in the way I woudln't like."
"I wasn't going to..." Rosalie was somewhat confused under my irritated gaze, but after a moment she barely jerked her head and pursed her lips in a grimace of displeasure."That's not what we're asking, actually. Her name is Lillian Rose Melon, right?"
"Yes, but how do you know her middle name, I don't quite get,"
I felt suspicious, but in order not to show it more obviously, I felt the need to take out my tobacco and occupy hands, brains and mouth with something.
"Did you know each other in some way before?" I asked.
I continued smoking while I was waiting for the end of their meaningful glances at each other and their answer, obviously.
"Yes, in absentia," Rosalie suddenly muttered and it surprised her as well, because she made an uncertain sound that did not correspond at all to her cold and collected appearance. "Uh-m-m..."
"Rose and Jas have distant relatives in New York, that's why they've heard about Matthew Mellon," Alice explained, thereby saving Rosalie from my skeptical gaze.
If not for her completely pale skin, I would have thought that the blonde was embarassed about something right now.
"Hale..."
I remembered her last name, but no one canceled the roll call in class, and I have second-level literature with this lady, and second-level history with her silent brother.
"So you are probably distant relatives on her mother's side."
I smiled with relief and caught Rosalie's gaze, which for some reason suddenly became prickly.
"And I was wondering why something is, like, itching in the back of my head when I look at you!"
"What?" she seemed confused, and Alice made a sound like something between a cough and a laugh.
"Well, you look alike, you could say the same face, even." I shrugged.
I rubbed my chin thoughtfully with my shoulder and bit the tip of my tongue a little to bring myself to my senses and stop blurting out everything that comes to mind when I look at this girl. After all, I suddenly realized why I reacted so much to the appearance of Rosalie when my eyes first stopped on her.
If it weren't for her eye color, pale skin and the absence of even the slightest moles on her face, I would be looking at a less happy with life version of my girlfriend.
"Well, who's prettier?"
Now it was my turn to make the sounds of freaking out, choking on smoke and desperately clearing my throat.
"Fuck it, who are... kha... even asking questions like this? Kheh!" I wheezed out.
Alice asked her terribly stupid question in the same enthusiastic voice, but as for me, she just decided to embarrass me in order to shift the conversation and not let me ask additional questions about the relation of Rosalie and Lillian.
At that time, it didn't bother me, although it would probably be worth wondering why they started asking about my Melon. But everyone is smart in hindsight.
"But still?" Alice decided to finish me off, flashing the same annoying smile as soon as I cleared my throat and threw the crumpled cigarilla towards the nearest trash can.
My answer was ready almost immediately, as soon as the shameful first thought of recognizing Rosalie's supremacy was crushed by me the next moment it appeared.
"Of course, the one I'm sleeping with," I grinned sincerely, fixing my gaze on Alice and stubbornly not looking at Rosalie.
Even some odd hissing from her side, which somehow reminded me of a quiet version of an angry cat, did not make me change the direction of my gaze.
Fuck those thoughts where I allow myself to feel something as uncompromising to a girl who is definitely not into me.
Although I don't love Lillian like some people say they love other people, but... She is really the most beautiful to me when I bring her to the finish line and she comes into the state of a trembling reddened jellyfish. Ot when she, in turn, descends south of my navel while I am watching her with rapt awareness.
The memories made the level of my already glowing - because of the night we spent together but without sex - arousal jump slightly, so I tried to say goodbye to the girls of this odd family as soon as possible and get to the studio.
Melon and I agreed to meet there exactly for these wonderful purposes of catching up on what was lacking at night. She and my father were supposed to control the insertion of new locks sometime this afternoon, and therefore most likely we will be able to christen the couch by the end of the day.
Before starting the engine, I still couldn't resist and finally looked out the window. Of course, my accidental look was immediately drawn to Rosalie - and I did not expect, not at all, that she would be squeezing Alice's forearm with two palms and freezing, closing her eyes and clenching her teeth.
I rolled down the window to ask what's the matter, maybe menstruation is hard, you never know, at least I could sympathize - but as soon as I opened my mouth to ask, I heard a quite perceptible crackle from Alice and Rosalie.
"What the fuck," I stated instead of a question.
"Leave."
Jasper crept up from somewhere stealthily, scared me so much I flinched, what an asshole.
"Shit, fuck, you really are something."
I flinched once again. The men of this family just alarmed and made me tense, no odd thoughts about possible sex arise, that's for sure.
"And if you give me a heart attack, will you tell my pops something on the lines, excuse me, Sheriff Swan, I didn't wish for it, it happened all on its own?"
"No heart attacks here!" laughed Emmet.
I have already noticed Emmett, how can I not notice such a hulk, especially when I was looking in the direction from where they came. Apparently they got tired of loitering near their cars and they decided to join the torture of my precious psyche.
"You had such a blast today in phys ed, you'd be the healthiest of us all. Are you in sports or something?" he continued.
"Well, certainly not your sport, Mr. dream-of-all-football-coaches." I grinned.
But I was still unable to resist and squinted at Rosalie. Jasper got to her and for some reason froze just as oddly, even though he didn't close his eyes the way she did.
"Is your girlfriend all right?" I asked.
"Yes, it happens sometimes, Jazz will help," he shrugged his shoulders and sighed theatrically. "I don't want to have my head bitten off, you know. Why would you say..."
"Alice," I obviously passed the buck, which caused Emmett to laugh, but I felt awkward and not joking at all - it's his girlfriend who's somehow not well right now, and he's talking to me here.
"Come on, no one forced you to drive her crazy like that, I know you said something here! She can totally kick your ass, Izzy."
"Yes, I have no doubt that she can try," I chuckled. "They asked me about my girlfriend, why tho - well, obviously not for the gossip!"
"No, not for gossip," Emmett snorted again and leaned against the truck door, blocking half of the window and smiling even harder. "Rose just wanted to know if these are the Mellons she knows or not. And how did you meet each other, Izzy?"
"All in all, it's a weird story," I muttered.
I decided not to get started right now, even though this insistent "leave" from Jasper was still making my insides flinch, and my hands seemed to be reaching out to get the hell out of here all on their own. But Emmett was beaming with openness, though I don't understand how you can be afraid that you will get caught in a hot hand if you give a shit about the person, especially love them. If only she were my...
I shook my head, shaking myself out of this weird reverie, and focused on Emmett again. He asked again.
"So what's the story?"
"I think you've heard, even Eric and Angela managed to write about it, that I dig DJing and generally have not so amateurish results in making music." he nodded, and I continued. "Well, I was returning home after a gig and in the alley next to the club I heard the voice of my pal. He's kind of a rich jerk whose uncle is the owner of the place I was just in. This guy had a habit to bum my sigarillos all the time, and I just ran out, so I decided... well, to bum his this time."
"Well, where comes the first meeting with your girl then?" Emmett frowned and rested his chin on his palm.
"I just heard a voice, you know? It's just that the tone of his voice was familiar, not what he was talking about." I spoke softly and all this talk made the most unpleasant memories pop up. "Well, this guy, as much as he's an idiot, but quite harmless. He was trying to dissuade his friends from assaulting the girl whom those assholes had pinned face to the wall. But he was barely standing on his feet, this jerk. That's why when he pulled one of his... not friends, as it turned out, by the elbow, one push was enough for him to fall unluckily, break his arm and howl. This scared the rest of the fuckers, so when they looked at the way out of the alley, it became clear to them that there was a completely sober witness to what they were up to there."
"And what happened next?" Rosalie's face, oddly faded and frozen in coldness, appeared near Emmett's shoulder.
I clung to the steering wheel, grumbled at my unsafe thoughts, which immediately manifested themselves regardless of the internal autosuggestion, thanks to the spatial proximity to the target of these thoughts - and finished extremely quickly, without details.
"I broke their legs, assisted in sending my pal to a rehabilitation clinic with the help of his uncle, and then they were going to sue me. I got to know Melon only after a trial with a divine-level defense lawyer who suddenly appeared. Such an awesome dude, prevented my mother with her "why don't you just apologize and be done with it" at the root. I don't know what I would've done without him at all..."
"Once again, legs?! Broke?!" Emmett laughed again, but now it's kind of strained, I don't know if my aptitude somehow made him nervous, or he thought I was lying. "You got not much weight in you!"
Apparently, the second. He thinks I'm lying, then.
"They were going to rape and beat up us both. I learned to break people's legs just to prevent such a scenario from happening, you know."
"Sounds kinda... Fantastic," Emmett chuckled. "How many of them were there at least?"
"Legs?" I grinned sadistically and looked him straight in the eye. "Twelve."
"Ah..." he faltered, but I continued.
"Balls as well... twelve. They tried to pin excessive cruelty on me, but I was underage and did not admit that it was me who did it. Unlike my mother, who immediately believed in the version of opponents, the court didn't know me."
"So what, in the end, you saved her, is it? And that's it? Love forever?" Rosalie chuckled and pushed Emmett's shoulder, almost playfully and as if forgetting about her previous state.
"You could ask her, cus I have no idea why she sleeps with me," I decided to joke a bit, otherwise they might ask something heavy like whether I love her or not, they seem invasive like this. And it would be very embarrassing for me to tell them to go fuck themselves while I still can't take my eyes of Rosalie.
I need to come up with something that will distract them... Oh, well.
"Where's that Ed... What's his name? Edward?"
Alice slipped between Emmett and Rosalie like a nimble little beast so she could look me in the face as well.
"Why do you ask?" she smiled.
"I want to shift the topic of conversation," I answered honestly. "Why would you even ask about Lillian? It's not like you'll never see her again, you could talk to her on your own. She's transferring here after all."
They froze and looked at each other. How fucking odd they are, after all.
"She's transferring because of you," Rosalie muttered loud enough for me to hear.
"Well, certainly not because of the best education program," I snapped and started the truck, forcing them to draw back. "See you soon. Ciao amigos."