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Chapter 7
🕑 Added 2021-09-15 02:44:36 +0000 UTCRosalie and I had shared beds before in the past. It was part of being best friends. When we spent the night at each other’s houses or when we shared the same hotel room, we always shared a bed. It was more comfortable and usually cheaper that way. It made sense for two best friends to do that. I never once thought anything about sharing a bed with Rosalie. It felt natural.
Because of our history of sharing a bed together, it was no shock that I had woken up next to her. When we were kids, we normally spent the night with each other at her place because we could hang out with her siblings and there was more room in their mansion type house in the forest. But, even with my small room and bed, the few times we had spent the night in my room, we always slept in my bed. No questions asked.
That was why when I woke up next to her, I didn’t mind at all. It was normal. Plus it wasn’t like there was another bed in the house, unless you count the couch downstairs, that she could have slept on. What was shocking was how we were positioned. I knew Rosalie liked to cuddle, but the way we were positioned when I woke up was something new for me.
I was lying on the side of the bed that wasn’t against the wall. That wasn’t new. Rosalie liked sleeping next to the wall because she always said that she didn’t want to risk falling off in her sleep. I always laughed at her reasoning, but I couldn’t really argue against it. I had fallen nearly every time we slept together in my small bed. Waking up this time though, I wasn’t on the floor, thankfully, I was facing away from the wall with Rosalie lying right behind me. She had her arms around me in a hug that seemed like she subconsciously, in her sleep, doing what she could to keep me from falling off. For the first time ever, Rosalie was spooning me from behind, had me in a very tight embrace and even though I really had to go to the bathroom, that was the reason I had actually woken up after all, I didn’t want to move.
Lying in front of Rosalie, in her arms, felt so right. It was like there was only the two of us in the world, in our own little bubble. I could feel her deep breathing on my neck, signifying that she was still asleep. I could feel every curve her body had that most boys, and girls if I wanted to be technical, loved to see on her. I could practically feel her heart beat from how pressed against me she was in her sleep; which I thought was pretty impressive. I felt so content that I never wanted to move from my bed ever again. So, naturally, as quickly and quietly as I could so I wouldn’t wake her, I got out of bed.
I wasn’t ready to face all the new emotions that were being tossed at me. I wasn’t ready to face everything that Rosalie had apparently known the whole time. I had just gotten out of what I had thought was the perfect relationship; I had at least deluded myself to think that throughout most of the relationship, I wasn’t ready to leap into a new one.
But, I had already done that.
I had leapt so far into the relationship that some religions would deem it impossible to back out. I was so far in that there was only one step left in our relationship, at least just one major one, and I wasn’t ready to even pretend to think about that. I had leapt into getting married to Rosalie while I was drunk, before I had even properly broken up with Edward. I skipped so many steps with having a relationship with Rosalie; I even managed to skip the step where I gave thought to liking girls as much as I liked boys. Then again, if someone like Rosalie Hale was offering to marry you, who in their right mind would deny her? Boy or girl, I didn’t think anyone would even think about denying her. But that right there was my problem, I hadn’t thought about it at all. At least not soberly. Apparently drunk Bella thought it was a perfect idea.
As I snuck out of my room, I made sure to quietly close my bedroom door so that Rosalie could sleep for as long as she wanted. She was normally up before me, but I suppose since we were technically on some sort of mini-vacation before school started up again, she probably decided to get in some last minute sleeping in without homework or studying for tests hanging over her head. I could hear Charlie doing something in the kitchen and was very worried that he was going to try and cook something that he thought we might like but wasn’t one of the very few items he could actually cook. I would have to get down their quickly.
Charlie was another thing, or person really, that I wasn’t sure I really wanted to face. I mean, he is my father and I loved him, but his support of mine and Rosalie’s drunken, though the drunken part he didn’t know about, marriage was unexpected. It was like he had expected the two of us to get married the entire time and that he had only thought the thing I had with Edward was just a passing fad. I knew he liked Rosalie more than Edward. But, in all fairness, he actually likes most people more than Edward. I was pretty sure that Charlie had only decided to hate Edward because he was my first boyfriend, the first person taking his little girl away from him. And since he had decided to hate Edward, no matter what my ex-boyfriend did, Charlie would always hate him. But oh well, he didn’t have to worry about Edward stealing his little girl; Rosalie had done that and Charlie didn’t seem like he could have been any happier.
Once I was done in the bathroom, I went straight to the kitchen to see what my dad was up to and to see if I could talk him out of it.
I walked into the kitchen to see him cooking up a very basic breakfast; something I knew he could without burning anything, food or otherwise.
“Morning Dad.” I greeted as I made a beeline to the refrigerator to get something to drink.
“Morning.” Charlie greeted, not taking his eyes away from the fast cooking bacon. It seemed that was the last thing he had left to cook. At least, everything else looked done to me. “Is Rosalie up yet?” He asked as I poured myself a drink.
“I don’t think so.”
“Well, go wake her up. If I remember correctly she doesn’t normally sleep in.” Charlie had never once remembered anything so mundane like sleeping habits with Edward. That was just more proof that he definitely liked Rosalie more than Edward. “Why don’t you go wake her up and we can breakfast together?”
For some reason, I felt that he was setting me up for something. The cooking breakfast wasn’t such an abnormal thing for him to do; even if he didn’t it that often. The weird think was that he obviously wanted Rosalie to join us. Charlie had never really been one for ‘family meals’. It was usually cook, get food, eat in the living while watching a game, then put plates away in the kitchen and one of us would clean it. We never really did the whole eat together as a family because if we did it would have been us just awkwardly sitting and eating quickly to end the silent meal. It was no fun for anyone. So if Charlie wanted to do this family breakfast thing, Rosalie was technically family since we were married, then he must want to talk to us about something serious. But I couldn’t think of what he would want to talk about that would involve both me and Rosalie. I wasn’t sure if I needed to be worried or not.
“Okay.” I said after putting the juice back in the refrigerator. The sooner I got Rosalie down in the kitchen to eat, the sooner I would find out what Charlie wanted to talk about.
I walked back up the stairs and a few steps from being on the top step, I noticed that my bedroom door was open and that that bathroom door was closed with a light on underneath it. I guess she was up already. I would just tell her to go downstairs soon so that we could all eat since we were waiting on her. I knocked on the door so I could pass her the message as I wasn’t going to wait for her to come back into my room; there was no telling how long it would take for her to be done in the bathroom since she was probably doing her hair and makeup in there.
“I’ll be done soon.” She responded, just loud enough for me to hear. She probably didn’t know if it was me or Charlie who was knocking on the door. Since there was only one bathroom in the whole place, something that would have immediately put me off from buying the home if it had been up to me.
“I kind of don’t believe you.” I teased knowing that Rosalie could take a very long time to do her makeup and hair if she wanted to. The results were always amazing when she did, not that she didn’t look amazing when she didn’t. “Charlie wanted me to tell you that breakfast is waiting and that apparently both of us are waiting for you to come down so we can eat.”
I was about to turn and walk away, not needing to hear a confirmation that she heard because I knew she did. Her entire family had eerily good hearing. I was sure it was because none of them listen to anything loud enough to damage their hearing like the rest of my generation liked to do. I had almost turned around, but I heard the door open so I stopped moving thinking she had something to say.
I was half right.
“I won’t be too much longer.” Rosalie said as she opened the door and invited me in. While growing up, when Rosalie had started to wear makeup, and taking her time on putting in on, it had become habit that since I didn’t wear makeup, I would sit on the toilet lid and talk with her while she finished. So, walking into the bathroom while she continued doing what she was doing was nothing new or really that unexpected. “I noticed that you had left before I woke up.” She said as I sat down, her statement throwing me off. She sounded a bit upset about it, or possibly annoyed.
“Yeah, I had to go to the bathroom.” I said nonchalantly since I didn’t think it was a big deal. “Then I went downstairs to make sure Charlie wasn’t going to burn breakfast. Which he isn’t, in case you were worried.” I said with a teasing smile.
“Oh.” She sounded disappointment and I was very thankful that Rosalie wasn’t one that made me try to make me figure out what she was feeling. Rosalie had no reservations about telling me what she felt or thought about any given situation. It made being her friend awesome because I could be kind of dense sometimes; I blame Charlie on that. “How did you sleep?”
She didn’t exactly come out and tell me what she was feeling, but at least with that question I knew that she was just worried about how I felt about sleeping next to her. I was getting really good at reading Rosalie; I may be dense and she may have a very front of an ice queen, but we still seemed really good at reading each other. That, well, made us really good for each other. We went good together. Hence why were best friends… and now married.
“I slept fine.” I answered truthfully. She was probably hoping that I would provide more details about how I felt about the entire sleeping arrangement or even how I had woken up, I had no doubts in my mind that Rosalie was fully aware of how we had ended up in the morning, but I didn’t really have anything to add to what I had said. I surprisingly had no problems with waking up the way we had, even though it was something that I would probably have to think more on later. At the moment though, I was okay with just accepting what I felt without putting too much thought into it.
“As did I.” Rosalie commented as she started to put her things up, I guess she was done. “Although, I’m very tempted to ask Charlie if I can just buy a bigger bed for your old room. But I doubt we’ll spend enough time in Forks, in your dad’s house, for the purchase to make sense.”
“I’m also sure he wouldn’t want you to buy it. He would want to buy it himself.” Charlie was just as good as I was about accepting gifts. In this case, the bed wouldn’t really be a gift but it would make it easier for Rosalie and I to visit and sleep comfortably. In the future though, we may just spend the night in the Cullen’s house they still own in Forks instead of my dad’s.
I had to take a moment to mentally shake my head to clear it at that thought. I was already making plans of future plans with me and Rosalie as a couple in the distant future. Hadn’t I wanted a divorce not too long ago? I mean, I kind of still wanted the divorce because the marriage was done under a drunken haze. But a part of me, a part that was steadily growing, was finding it harder and harder to want a divorce.
“I could see him doing that.” Rosalie snapped shut her makeup case that was much too large in my opinion, even though she used everything in it, and held out her hand to me to pull me up from my seat.
I instantly grabbed her hand as it wasn’t anything new when I would sit and wait for her to finish with her makeup. What was different though, something I was pretty sure she had planned since I had walked into the room, she didn’t let go of my hand when I was on my two feet. In fact she actually kept pulling me into her, to the point that I was eventually flush against her. I barely saw from the corner of my eye that her hand that had been on her makeup case that was still on the counter release it. I definitely saw when she used said hand to cup my face and to pull me closer to her. I knew what was going to happen, I knew she wanted to do even though she hadn’t given me a chance to back away. But, even before it had happened, I knew that I didn’t need her to give me a chance to back away because I didn’t it.
Briefly, much too briefly when I later thought about it, her lips touched mine. Her soft lips, lips so different and much better than her brother’s, briefly touched mine with just enough pressure to make me aware that I didn’t her lips to leave mine. The moment I had that realization though, her lips were gone and I was forced to open my eyes to look at those delicious lips that had a smirk I was all so familiar with on them.
“Now, that’s a proper good morning.” Rosalie said before she turned around and walked to my room to put her makeup case up that she had barely grabbed before it was too late.
I hadn’t moved an inch from where Rosalie had left me while she did her task. I was too stunned to move. I wanted to be mad. I wanted to, at the very least, be annoyed that she had done that without so much as a warning beforehand. At the same time though, and most prominently, I wanted her to do it again. I wanted her to press me against the wall and for her lips to never leave mine again. I felt like a young girl who had just receive their first kiss from their crush. The difference though, was that Rosalie wasn’t my crush. She was my wife. And it wasn’t my first kiss, except it was because I had never kissed a girl before. But that kiss, the all too brief good morning kiss was the best kiss I had ever received. Either that said something bad about me, or something bad about Edward since he was the only other person I had kissed before. I chose to blame Edward’s newly poor kissing skills.
“Come on Bella.” Rosalie said as she nearly walked past the bathroom on her way to go back downstairs. The smirk she had on her face let me know that she was insanely proud of the reaction she had gotten from me. “We don’t want Charlie to be kept waiting for too long and start to think we might be doing something we aren’t.”
I felt my eyes widen in realization of what she meant and blushed at the implications. There was no way that I would ever do that with Rosalie in Charlie’s house. But did that mean I would outside of his house? I couldn’t argue with myself that after that kiss that sex wasn’t entirely off the table. She was my wife after all and wasn’t that something married couples do? Perhaps staying married to Rosalie wouldn’t be so bad after all. I really needed to rethink this whole ‘I don’t have romantic feelings for my best friend’ again, before we start to look into getting a divorce.
We eventually got to the kitchen table and had a nice breakfast with Charlie; the first time I had sat with him for breakfast in a long time. By the time we had started eating, after we were all seated, I had long forgotten that I was worried about what Charlie may have been planning to do, if he was planning anything at all. I instead chose to focus on eating and listening to Rosalie and Charlie talk about sports and cars. Rosalie wasn’t much of a sports person, but because of her brothers, she at least followed some of the teams. But she was very much into cars and had no problems talking with Charlie about how much work my truck needed if I didn’t want it to die on me. That was a conversation that I was able to join with no problem because I had to defend my truck.
The conversation stayed strong until we were almost done eating. Before anyone took their last bite, Charlie opted to suddenly change the subject.
“There is something I wanted to talk to you girls about before I leave.” Charlie had agreed to go fishing earlier this morning. He had gotten a call earlier this morning and was told that it was apparently perfect time to go fishing. So he was going to go and fish us some dinner.
“Sure Charlie.” Rosalie said as she placed her utensils down near the side of her plate. The small side glance told me that I should follow her lead, especially since Charlie had just taken his last bite of food, but I still had a few bites left and if what Charlie wanted to talk about was bad and somehow ruined my appetite, I didn’t want the food to be wasted. At least, that was what I told myself as I continued to eat, not bothered that Rosalie was probably annoyed by my lack of manners.
“Now, don’t think I’m not happy for you two.” Charlie started and that made me nervous. “But, I’m a little hurt by it, especially after I’ve had some time to think about it.”
“Hurt about what?” I nervously asked after I quickly chewed my last bite of food.
I was worried that he was going to say something like he was upset that even though he approved of the wedding, we still did it behind his and the Cullen’s backs. I was worried that he was about to say that he had changed his mind about being okay with the wedding.
“Like I said, I really am happy for you two.” Charlie said with a proud smile. “I had a feeling as you two grew up that you two would end up together.” I nearly choked at hearing that. He had said as much the other night, but I was still shocked to hear it. It was like everyone but me and Edward thought Rosalie and I would end up together. “But, I had hoped you two would have had a ceremony, or at least a part of some sort, to celebrate your marriage with friends and family.”
“You were looking forward to walking Bella down the isle.” Rosalie said with a tone of understanding. “I’m sorry Charlie, I know Esme and Carlisle were both looking forward to going to all of their children’s weddings. When Bella and I got married, it wasn’t planned. It was very much a spur of the moment thing.”
It was more of a drunken spur of the moment thing that I had no idea what I was doing. But I wasn’t going to say that to Charlie.
“I know. I get it and I’m not too upset about it.” Charlie started to look uncomfortable because we were talking about his feelings. That was something neither of us did very well. “What I wanted to talk to you two about, or actually ask, was if you guys had given any thought to perhaps having a small celebration with friends and family?”
I haven’t thought about it at all. Never once did even cross my mind. All I had previously thought was to get a divorce. And then more recently, I barely managed to think about not divorcing. I was still barely coming to terms with not wanting to divorce Rosalie, there wasn’t much room left for me to think about having a party to celebrate a wedding I hadn’t thought I wanted in the first place.
“We haven’t talked about it.” I answered right away.
“But I have thought about it.” Rosalie quickly added before Charlie could respond to me. “I’ve felt a bit guilty that Bella and I had basically eloped, unplanned as it was. I’ve though after either the semester or maybe even the whole school year is over, we may have a small commitment ceremony of sorts. Something we can do, like renewing our vows, for our family and friends to see and then a reception afterwards.”
I barely managed to hide my shock from Charlie. I hadn’t thought Rosalie was thinking about doing that. As far as she knew, we were still going to get a divorce once I had managed to save enough money for it. Why would we go through all the trouble of a ceremony and reception, only to shortly after get it all annulled? That didn’t make sense and I was more than sure that once Charlie left, we would be talking about this.
“All I’m saying is that I’m sure both of your families and friends would love to be able to go to something to celebrate you two.” Charlie said with a relieved smile, apparently having gotten his point across and probably thinking that it was going to happen. “I’m going to go meet up with Harry and the others now. I’m not sure how long I’ll be.”
“Don’t worry about it Dad.” I assured him. I was already sure that since he fished practically every weekend, this weekend would be no different.
“We’ll see you later Charlie.” Rosalie said as he moved from his seat to put his dishes in the sink and then started to walk away.
It was an unspoken rule that since he had cooked for us, we would clean up. It had always been that way when I grew up; whoever didn’t cook didn’t have to clean. That tradition had followed into me living with Rosalie. It worked perfectly for me because I did most of the cooking and I didn’t like cleaning up after it. But I didn’t have to worry about that since Rosalie did most of the cleaning in the kitchen.
The two of us started to clean and since even though we had out rule of whoever didn’t cook didn’t need to clean, we still helped each other. Both of us worked seamlessly together. Even when the other didn’t have to clean, we still helped each other. Rosalie had claimed her spot in front of the sink to start washing the dishes as I cleaned up everything else and handed her the dishes to wash. By the time that everything was done, in silence I might add, all that was left was to finishing the dishes, Charlie walked back down the stairs.
“I’m off now guys.” Charlie said, causing me to turn to look at him and saw that he was in his fishing outfit. I already knew that his gear that he would use to actually fish with was more than likely already outside and waiting for him.
“Have fun dad.” I said from my spot of drying dishes next to Rosalie.
“Catch us all something to eat Charlie.” Rosalie said, not turning away from her task of washing dishes.
“Will do.” Charlie said with a smile. He seemed like he was about to say something else, probably something like ‘have fun girls’ since he always used to say that when he would leave Rosalie and myself alone when we were older but still in high school. He probably decided not to say because of what we could do that would be considered fun… adult fun that is. I had to fight the blush that was threatening to take over my face because I didn’t know if that was Charlie was thinking or not, but that was definitely what I was thinking and I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not.
Charlie left and even after we heard the click of the door closing, we stayed quiet for a little while longer while we finished cleaning the dishes. When Rosalie finished the last dish, she handed it to me and then leaned against the counter while I dried it and then put it away.
“What do you think of having a small ceremony and reception with our friends and family?” Rosalie asked once I put the dish away.
I didn’t answer right away because I really wasn’t sure. I initially wanted to answer ‘no’ right away. But before the word could leave my mouth, I didn’t it to. I didn’t want to say no. At the same time though, I didn’t want to say yes. I was whole-heartedly on the fence about it.
“Were you really planning on having one during winter break or after the spring semester?” I asked, purposefully not answering her question. I hadn’t thought she would plan on us having a ceremony or anything similar because it would, to me at least, make everything more permanent. That wasn’t the plan when we had first talked about this all.
“Let’s go sit down for this.” Rosalie suggested and I fully agreed with it. We both walked into the living room where I sat in the corner of the couch with my back against the arm rest and my legs in Indian style while Rosalie sat in the opposite corner, with her feet still on the ground and faced me. “I do want to have a ceremony and reception. Even though we got married in Las Vegas, while we were drunk, I still want to do this right.”
“But didn’t we agree that we would get divorced after I saved up for it?”
I saw the instant pain my words caused. Rosalie was really good at masking her emotions from other people, but we were too close for her to do so with me. If I hadn’t been paying attention, I probably wouldn’t have seen though; but I’m always paying attention to Rosalie. How could I not pay attention to Rosalie?
“We did agree to that.” Rosalie conceded. “But that isn’t what I want.” Those words hit me like a ton of bricks landed on my chest. I didn’t want to face the feelings I was starting to feel, but it seemed like I wasn’t going to have a choice. “You know very well what I want and I’m not about to hide that from anyone. What about you though, Bella? What do you want?”
“I don’t know.” The words came out of my mouth before I could even think of trying to say something. I didn’t know why, but I had wanted to stick to what we had agreed to; even though the words that came out of my mouth didn’t show it. I turned my head away from her to look at the blank TV while I thought.
“Are you rethinking the divorce?” I could hear a bit of hope in her tone and I’m sure if I was brave enough to look at her, I would see hope in her eyes. “Or are you thinking about having me front the bill now and you pay me back later?”
She was giving me an out. She was being the amazing woman that I knew her to be by giving me a way out. But I didn’t want a way out. I liked the way things were set up now. Even with the escalated feelings. The feelings and realizations that I was having recently about Rosalie felt like an assault from my emotions, it was something I wasn’t ready to face. But at the same time, I was. I was so torn about my feelings that I was at a loss about what I really wanted. Did I want to keep things simple in the way they were with as best friends, or did I want to allow things to escalate to something that I wasn’t even really sure could happen between us? Was I even sure that nothing could happen between, or was I afraid of the new feelings I was being assaulted with? I didn’t know and I was much too much of a wimp and dense to want to explore my own feelings.
“I don’t know Rose.” I said, finally dragging my eyes back to her.
“Well, why don’t we stick with what we agreed to do and slowly advance our relationship?” Rosalie suggested. “We continue on like we are really married, or even just dating if that makes you feel more comfortable. If any time you feel outside of your comfort zone, you simply say something and we can slow back down.”
“I think I can do that.” I said after a moment of thinking.
I could help but feel a bit cheesy at thinking that while looking in Rosalie’s eyes, I felt like anything was possible between the two us. Was it weird for me to say that I felt she gave me strength to do something that made me insanely nervous?
“Why don’t we test that?” The smirk Rosalie gave me made me nervous. But I wasn’t about to turn back on what I had just said, even though I had no idea what she was going to do. Although I did have an idea, I was just choosing to ignore it.
“How?” I nervously asked before taking a nervous gulp.
Instead of verbally answering me, Rosalie’s teasing smirk grew into a more of a seductive smirk that made me shift slightly in my seat. She slowly scooted over in her seat in a way that I never though looked elegant until I saw Rosalie shifting closer to me on the couch. She didn’t stop moving until her thigh was pressed tight against me. Both of her hands moved to cup my face as her own face moved closer to mine. She kept moving closer and closer to me until we were just a breath apart.
“I think this is a very good way to test your answer.”
Just as soon as Rosalie was done talking, she pressed her lips against mine. It was like a shot of electricity went through me when her lips touched mine. I instantly had to press back against her. Rosalie kept her hands on my face while my hands moved so that I had one on her waist and another on her thigh. It was a simple kiss that didn’t escalate to either of us opening our mouths, but we didn’t need that. At least I didn’t think we did and Rosalie didn’t seem to mind either. She only pulled apart when we needed to breathe again.
She only pulled her lips far enough away from so that she could talk. I could feel her breath on me and I almost leaned back in to take her lips myself instead of her moving in. It was only her voice that stopped me; but not for long.
“Does that make you uncomfortable?” Her voice was much huskier than I thought I had ever heard it.
“Not even a little.” I admitted with a blush. I bit my lip in nervousness, even though I wasn’t sure what I was nervous about. I knew Rosalie already knew the answer. I guess it was just that it was the first time I had admitted, in a roundabout way, that I liked her.
“Good.” Rosalie said as she moved her hands so that one was grasping the back of my neck that made me think she had complete control of the situation. Which of course, it was Rosalie so she definitely had complete control of the situation and I was more than okay with that. Her other hand moved to my waist as she slightly adjusted her position so that she was more comfortable. “But I guarantee it can get so much better.”
I knew what she meant. I wasn’t some horrible virgin that had never kissed before and didn’t have a clue of what to expect after this. I knew how kisses escalated and I knew how good it could feel. What I wasn’t sure about though, was escalating things with Rosalie. At least, I wasn’t sure how far I was okay with letting things escalating. But at the moment, I was more than okay with pressing my lips back to hers.
As our lips met again and just before my mind went blank with what Rosalie’s lips felt like against mine, I had one last thought of thinking that I was very okay with kissing Rosalie all afternoon. Who needed to stop kissing Rosalie to eat when the ulterior option was to keep kissing her?
