Better Things

Chapter 5

A/N: Woot! Made it a few minutes before midnight, so I still got this posted on Saturday.  So from what I've gathered, we all hate Lauren, and I do promise she's not around much longer.  Some of you have been very vocal in your dislike of her, and I totally get it.  I wanted to thank you all for all the reviews.  They're much appreciated, and big thanks to Heather for fixing my errors.  

"Oh, baby! I've missed you so much!" Mom cried as she gave me a tight hug. I eagerly returned it before letting go and telling her I'd missed her too.

"Mom, you remember Alice, Edward, and Emmett right?" I asked, and she nodded. I then introduced her to Jasper, Rose, and Lauren. Mom smiled at them, but I saw her smile dim a little when she looked at Lauren. Maybe Mom saw what we did, the evil darkness of our little group.

I waved goodbye to them before promising to meet up for dinner on Sunday. All of them were headed to the Cullen mansion, and a mansion it was, for the weekend.

"So you're friends with that Lauren girl?" Mom asked once we were in the car.

I let out a snort. "Hardly. She's Edward's girlfriend, so it's a packaged deal. If we want to hang out with him, she will likely be around too."

"Hmm."

"She's a pain in the ass," I told Mom.

"And, I'm sure it doesn't help that she's dating the boy you have a crush on."

I stared at her, my mouth having fallen open. "What?"

Mom grinned and shook her head. "Don't play dumb with me, Bella. I've known you your whole life, and I've never seen you look at a boy the way you were looking at him."

Oh, God. Embarrassment rushed through me, and I knew my face was as red as a tomato. If my mom had seen that, what were the chances that everyone else did as well? I buried my face in my hands, not wanting to talk about it.

"Things will work out if they're meant to," Mom said before changing the subject. She told me Dad had to work late, but we'd hold dinner for him so we could all eat together.

The first thing I did when I got home was toss myself down on my queen-sized bed. I'd sure missed being able to stretch out and not worry about falling off the bed.

Later that night over dinner, I got quite the surprise, one I hadn't seen coming.

"We have a late birthday present for you," Dad said over a homemade dinner of meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

"What? You didn't have to get me anything else. You already got me that gift card," I said.

"Don't argue, Bells," Dad said, pointing his fork at me. I nodded and told them thank you even though I didn't know what I was getting. Birthdays weren't a big deal to me, but Mom loved them. She'd thrown me all kinds of themed birthday parties until she realized I'd hated them.

After dinner, Dad made me close my eyes before walking me outside. I stumbled more than once and would have fallen flat on my face if he hadn't been there to catch me.

"Okay, kiddo. You can look."

I opened my eyes and gasped at what was in front of me. It was beautiful in an ugly sort of way. A Ford Fusion in neon green, and I mean neon green. It probably glowed in the dark.

"I—how?" I managed to fumble out.

Mom and Dad let out a laugh, and Dad told me he'd gotten a great deal on it. The dealer was a guy Dad had helped out one night, and the man was trying to clear his inventory so he could get the next years cars in.