LIMERENCE

Chapter 4

Bella's good mood lasted the rest of the night and into the next day. Even Charlie took note of it Saturday morning at breakfast. Bella's usually gloomy, reserved demeanor was gone and replaced with a warm smile as she cooked the eggs and bacon; chatting away with me and Dad.

Over the years Bella had become quite the chef. Taking over that responsibility from our mom; as her cooking was....interesting, To say the least. She placed two plates on the table, one of bacon and one of eggs– before taking her seat as Dad and I grabbed what we wanted and put it on our plates.

"This is good Bells," Charlie said nodding appreciatively.

"Yeah, your eggs are the best I've ever had," I say nodding along, stuffing a forkful of scrambled eggs into my mouth. She did a little mock bow to us and then resumed putting her food on her plate.

As we finished off our breakfast Charlie stood cleaning his plate.

"You girls have any plans today while I'm at work?" He asks, putting his plate in the dishwasher.

"We're gonna go down to Rose's and see what they have for our rooms," Bella spoke up, standing and loading her plate into the dishwasher with Charlie's.

"Yeah, We wanna get some paint and maybe some other decorations depending on what's there," I said leaning back on my chair. Dad nodded mulling over our plans.

"Sounds good," He says grabbing his coat. "I'm off now, try not to get into any trouble."

We nod giving our goodbyes as he closes the front door. Separating into our bedrooms to dress for the day.

The forecast slightly warmer but still as cloudy as ever in the small Pacific Northwest town—So I decided on some light blue jeans and a black Grand Canyon t-shirt I had gotten on one of our trips with Mom, Sporting a black zip-up hoody over it.

Reconvening with Bella on the front porch, who was in similar attire, dark blue jeans with a grey shirt and red plaid over top.

"Got everything?" She asks opening the driver's door and climbing in, I nodded in affirmation.

My phone buzzed in my pocket as the truck engine roared to life rolling out of the driveway and onto the road.

"Who's that?" She asked curiously glancing over before returning to the road. I side-eye her with a small smile as I read the text from Embry. I had exchanged numbers with both of the boys we met at the beach, wanting to keep in touch with the newfound friend group we had made. Quil and I hit it off instantly, becoming fast friends. We had texted a bunch since yesterday, Embry, on the other hand, was a bit slower in development.

"It's Embry," I replied to my sister who in return smirked.

"I see," She giggled, It was no secret I thought the boy cute, I had told her as much over our dinner last night. Forming some semblance of a small crush on him—Well as much as you could have a crush on someone you had met only a day ago.

It didn't take long to pull up to the small hardware store; situated in the middle of the small town next to a corner store and a small thrift shop. A large sign over the door reading 'Rose's Hardware'.

We stepped out of Bella's truck—making our way into the shop, a small ding could be heard throughout the space as the door opened. The smell of paint and wood filled my nose. As far as I could see Bella and I were the only customers. The only other person in sight was an older greying man sitting in a folding chair behind the counter, he gave us a nod of acknowledgment and then went back to the news playing on the old tv mounted on the wall in the corner.

We shuffled around murmuring to each other about what paint we liked the most, and if we should get some shelves to put up.

Finally, we gathered everything we wanted from the shop bringing it up to the counter. Bella had settled on a nice light green color and I had gotten a light pink—almost peach. We placed it on the counter to ring up along with some nails, tape, and sticky tack.

Thanking the clerk we stepped back into the gloomy air, the sky bright white as the sun shone behind the clouds.

"We'll stick the paint in the back and the rest of the stuff can go upfront with us," Bella said lifting her paint can up into the bed of the truck.

"Alright," I replied following suit with my own paint can and then lifting myself into the truck. "Where to now?" I asked as she buckled. It was only a little past noon now and we still had the whole day.

She shrugged,

"We can go get lunch and then head home to start painting, get as much done today, and hopefully finish sometime this week?" She said more of a question than a statement. I nodded my confirmation and we pulled out heading to 'Carver's Café' for lunch.

By the end of the weekend, we had finished painting Bella's room and made a considerable dent in mine—having only one wall left. Charlie had even helped us put a few shelves up on the walls to put miscellaneous items on.

I noticed Bella looking around the school parking lot as we pulled in Monday morning.

"Searching for your arch-enemy?" I asked grabbing my bag. She rolls her eyes, obviously not happy with my teasing.

"He's not my enemy, I don't even know the guy."

"Well, You should tell him that." I respond with a grin, "You think he's still ditching?" I asked.

"I don't know" She sighs gathering her own items, "I hope not, I wanna know what his problem is with me."

I walked into English slightly damp from the drizzle outside, taking my seat in the trio. River was already seated, Scribbling into her notebook; Kenny nowhere in sight yet.

"Didn't do the homework?" I asked with a sympathetic smile and she groans.

"No, I kept putting it off and the next thing I knew it's due in twenty minutes." She says trying hard to finish the reading entry before Mr.Casst went around to check off who had done their assignment.

"Hey, guys," A warm voice says pulling out the last empty chair in the group. Kenny took his seat and scattered his belongings across his desk. "What's up?"

"River forgot to do her assignment," I speak up looking at him with a grin.

The morning seemed to drag on forever, as lunch approached my mind wandered to Bella. Wondering if Edward had shown back up or not.

I seemed to get the answer to my question when I saw Bella standing at her locker with a tall bronze-haired boy. I caught eyes with her and opened my mouth, raising my eyebrows in a 'damn I didn't know he was that attractive' face. She ignored me, turning away to continue her conversation with the now smirking boy.

I continued on my way to the cafeteria—I hope she knows I will be demanding all of the details of the return of her beautiful enemy once we're home.