Van OOM (in progress)
Edward was cross when he finally made it to the car.
Alice took it personally, yet flippantly, since she had last spoken to him before he went up to dress. There was no way to explain to her sensibly, especially with Jasper, Emmet, and Rosalie, right there, too, that it had nothing to do with her and everything to do with having been bound in Milliways.
And a pirate dressed Bella Swan.
She probably hadn't even meant it the way he took it.
Yet he was annoyed. Grateful that it meant they stopped talking. Frustrated because he'd been an ass to her. Again.
Why couldn't he just act normal around her?
At least as normal as not killing her could get?
The drive was short and fast and the music he chose was loud. It annoyed Rosalie, but he ignored her mental tirade on how his sanity was not worth the melting of her brain, even as she elbowed the humming along Emmett. Alice was watching out the window, half absorbed in her own world and Jasper was glancing between the two of them.
Edward just ignored it all and drove.
Class would be simple. He'd attempt being civil in class again.
When they'd parked and gotten out, Bella had nearly slipped and fallen three times on the ice and was now staring at the tires of her derelict truck. Edward watched her with a wave of intense curiosity. Why was she looking at her tires of all things like that? Why couldn't get he hear her thoughts? Why her tires? They were average, snow-chained derelicts, too.
"No!" Alice gasped suddenly.
Tyler's van--the tires right then hitting the ice at the worst possible angle--was going to spin across the lot and crush the girl who had become the uninvited focal point of his world. The girl (Bella), standing in the exactly wrong place at the back of her truck, looking up, bewildered by the sound of screeching tires.
Her eyes, wide and warm and brown and horror-struck met his, and then turned toward her approaching death.
Not her!
Edward moved without thinking about it.
"How did you get over here so fast?"
"I was standing right next to you, Bella."
"You were by your car."
"No, I wasn't."
"I saw you."
"Bella, I was standing with you, and I pulled you out of the way."
"No."
"Please, Bella."
"Why?"
"Trust me."
"Will you promise to explain everything later?"
"Fine."
He had betrayed them.
For a single thought of only two words, only halfway into Alice's vision of Bella's demise, he had betrayed everything they built up.
He deserved the thoughts which poured out of his siblings while they loitered as far away as possible, annoyed that they must now play concern over his well being. He knew at least two of them would have rather liked to pick the van up and launch it at his head.
He might have found it deserving if he wasn't utterly caught in plying the excuse of Bella's concussion to anyone whom she might mention the extraordinary circumstances of being alive to, never giving into the fear that threatened to strangle his thoughts that in saving her he might have done her damage as well.
There was the ambulance with its EMTs and then Charlie.
A long road and then there was Carlisle.
You did the right thing. And it couldn't have been easy. I'm proud of you, Edward.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"You're father is waiting for you."
"I'd like to speak to you alone, if you don't mind."
"What do you want?"
"You owe me an explanation."
"I saved your life--I don't owe you anything."
"You promised."
"You think I lifted a van off of you? Nobody will believe that, you know."
"I'm not going to tell anybody."
"Can't you just thank me and get over with it?"
"Thank you."
"You're not going to let it go, are you?"
"No."
"In that case...I hope you enjoy disappointment."
"Why did you even bother?"
"I don't know."
Alice took it personally, yet flippantly, since she had last spoken to him before he went up to dress. There was no way to explain to her sensibly, especially with Jasper, Emmet, and Rosalie, right there, too, that it had nothing to do with her and everything to do with having been bound in Milliways.
And a pirate dressed Bella Swan.
She probably hadn't even meant it the way he took it.
Yet he was annoyed. Grateful that it meant they stopped talking. Frustrated because he'd been an ass to her. Again.
Why couldn't he just act normal around her?
At least as normal as not killing her could get?
The drive was short and fast and the music he chose was loud. It annoyed Rosalie, but he ignored her mental tirade on how his sanity was not worth the melting of her brain, even as she elbowed the humming along Emmett. Alice was watching out the window, half absorbed in her own world and Jasper was glancing between the two of them.
Edward just ignored it all and drove.
Class would be simple. He'd attempt being civil in class again.
When they'd parked and gotten out, Bella had nearly slipped and fallen three times on the ice and was now staring at the tires of her derelict truck. Edward watched her with a wave of intense curiosity. Why was she looking at her tires of all things like that? Why couldn't get he hear her thoughts? Why her tires? They were average, snow-chained derelicts, too.
"No!" Alice gasped suddenly.
Tyler's van--the tires right then hitting the ice at the worst possible angle--was going to spin across the lot and crush the girl who had become the uninvited focal point of his world. The girl (Bella), standing in the exactly wrong place at the back of her truck, looking up, bewildered by the sound of screeching tires.
Her eyes, wide and warm and brown and horror-struck met his, and then turned toward her approaching death.
Not her!
Edward moved without thinking about it.
"How did you get over here so fast?"
"I was standing right next to you, Bella."
"You were by your car."
"No, I wasn't."
"I saw you."
"Bella, I was standing with you, and I pulled you out of the way."
"No."
"Please, Bella."
"Why?"
"Trust me."
"Will you promise to explain everything later?"
"Fine."
He had betrayed them.
For a single thought of only two words, only halfway into Alice's vision of Bella's demise, he had betrayed everything they built up.
He deserved the thoughts which poured out of his siblings while they loitered as far away as possible, annoyed that they must now play concern over his well being. He knew at least two of them would have rather liked to pick the van up and launch it at his head.
He might have found it deserving if he wasn't utterly caught in plying the excuse of Bella's concussion to anyone whom she might mention the extraordinary circumstances of being alive to, never giving into the fear that threatened to strangle his thoughts that in saving her he might have done her damage as well.
There was the ambulance with its EMTs and then Charlie.
A long road and then there was Carlisle.
You did the right thing. And it couldn't have been easy. I'm proud of you, Edward.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"You're father is waiting for you."
"I'd like to speak to you alone, if you don't mind."
"What do you want?"
"You owe me an explanation."
"I saved your life--I don't owe you anything."
"You promised."
"You think I lifted a van off of you? Nobody will believe that, you know."
"I'm not going to tell anybody."
"Can't you just thank me and get over with it?"
"Thank you."
"You're not going to let it go, are you?"
"No."
"In that case...I hope you enjoy disappointment."
"Why did you even bother?"
"I don't know."