Kiss Or Kill

Chapter 15

Charlie was over the moon that Bella and Paul were getting along so well; it made living with her and working with him so much easier. He often questioned Paul on his feelings for Bella but Paul was usually vague and hesitant to reveal too much; and getting information out of Bella was like pulling a tooth with a pair of rusty pliers and no Novocaine. It worried him that she was so reluctant to answer the simplest questions and he wondered if there was something she was trying to hide.

The Monday following the bonfire, Charlie woke up to the sounds of laughter coming from the kitchen. He rolled over and looked at his alarm clock to find that it was only seven o'clock. Who was in his house this early?

"Bella?" He called out as he raced down the stairs

The sound of laughter immediately stopped and he could hear grunts and he was pretty sure he heard a couple of 'ouches' as well.

"In the kitchen Dad." Bella called back, amusement evident in her voice

When he entered the kitchen he found Paul and Bella on the kitchen floor, their limbs tangled in ways Charlie previously would've thought impossible.

"What's going on?" He wasn't sure whether or not he should find the sight in front him amusing or be angered by it because he had no idea what had led up to such a predicament

"Well Chief, Bella recruited me into helping her with breakfast and as you can see that's not going too well."

Seeing the look of confusion on her father's face, Bella hurried to fully explain.

"I was coming from the fridge with the eggs and I bumped into Paul which resulted in me dropping the eggs. Then I went to grab some paper towels to clean them up but ended up slipping on the mess and colliding with Paul and well….here we are." She blushed and giggled

A smile slowly crept across Charlie's face until it had become a full blown grin which then turned into laughter.

"Well Paul, now you know not to stand too close to Bella otherwise you go down with her when her clumsiness kicks in."

"Yes, I've learned that the hard way. You think you could help us out?"

Charlie continued chuckling as he made his way over to the two of them. It took him a few minutes but he was finally able to extract Bella from Paul, almost falling in the process.

"Thanks." Bella breathed reaching out a hand for Paul to grab

Paul just stared at her hand,

"You really think you're gonna be able to pull me up?" He asked laughing

After the mess had been cleaned up, Bella made a second attempt at cooking breakfast and succeeded with no accidents.

"So Paul, you came over at seven in the morning just to help Bella cook breakfast?"

"No sir. I was actually coming over because she'd ask me to take a look at her truck, so since I'm off today I thought I'd come before she had to go to school and see if I could get it taken care of and if not I was just gonna stay here and work on it and let her drive my car."

"Why didn't you just take your truck to Jacob?" Charlie asked Bella

Bella hadn't told her father about the state of her and Jacob's relationship; as far as he knew they were still the best of friends. She remembered the kind of strain that had been put on Billy and Charlie's friendship over the Cullen's and she didn't want that to happen again.

"Ummm, Jacob's been pretty busy so I didn't think he'd have time." She shrugged

Luckily for her Charlie accepted that answer and didn't question her further.