A F T E R D A R K | PAUL LAHOTE - 1

28

Was this ever going to get better?

* * *

The very last person I expected to be jumping through my bedroom window at nearly ten at night was Edward Cullen. And so when he did, I absolutely shit myself — books falling on the floor, the lot.

I placed my shaking hand over my fast heart and sat in my chair with my eyes closed, steadying my breathing before I stood up.

"I didn't mean to scare you." His voice said to me nonchalantly.

"Obviously not." I replied, my eyes still closed, "You'd think I was used to people jumping in and out of my window by now."

"I came to talk to you."

I opened my eyes and raised a brow at him. He was stood sheepishly in the corner of my room, "I didn't think you got mine and Bella's rooms confused." I told him sarcastically, "What is it you would like to talk about?"

Crossing my arms over my chest the only thing I could really think about was that Paul was going to kill me if he caught a vampires scent in my bedroom.

"You need to go to Florida with your sister." He told me bluntly.

Not this again.

I rolled my eyes, hard, and stood up, "Look, I've already had this conversation with Bella." I told him, "I'm not going, it's obvious she'd rather you go over me."

Edward sighed exasperatedly, "Why can't you just get over—"

"—One." I cut him off sternly, "That companion ticket isn't mine, it's my sisters, and two she's had the tickets for over six months and hasn't asked me to go therefore she doesn't want me to go."

Edwards jaw tightened and he breathed heavily through his nose, "Sophia—"

"—No, Edward she obviously wants to take you."

He rolled his eyes, "I'll buy another ticket if you just take the companion ticket!"

"What and third-wheel you two?" I asked, "I can think of better things to do."

"Why are you so stubborn?"

"Because I'm headstrong, I was born stubborn. It's in my nature!" I argued, "I can't help it."

"Yes you can." He told me, "Just get over yourself and take the ticket."

Was Edward trying to make enemies or was he trying to get on my good side? He was certainly going in the wrong direction and I wanted nothing more to get his supernatural ass out of my bedroom.

I narrowed my eyes, "Get over myself?" I asked him, "Look, Edward, I don't want it." I told him, "Go to Florida with my sister.. make sure she doesn't get sunburnt or something."

Edward sighed and his face dropped, he looked at me desperately, "Sophia, take the ticket."

I shook my head adamantly and crossed my arms over my chest again, "No." I declined stubbornly, "I don't want it, end of conversation. Now please get out of my bedroom."

He stuffed his hands into his pockets and sighed while looking at my floor. He took a minute to himself and I sat back down in my desk chair, picking up the books I had knocked off and putting them back onto the table.

"Just.." I looked at him again and he sighed, "Think about it, all right?"

I blinked silently before answering, "Goodnight Edward."

If he truly thought he could jump into my bedroom — uninvited — through my window and convince me to take the companion ticket he was dead wrong. If Bella preferred Edward to go over me then that was great, he was after all her main priority when it came down to choosing between the two of us.

As much as it still hurt Bella cared more for Edward than she did for me and it was just something I was going to have to get used to.

* * *

I looked at Charlie from across the room sat back in the small plastic chair with his arms crossed, head leaning against the eggshell coloured wall. I pressed my lips together in a thin line and forced an anxious smile as we sat in silence in the doctors office.

I'd had what would hopefully be my final set of scans and X-rays and if all was good I would be getting discharged from both the hospital and physiotherapy today. My foot tapped anxiously on the floor as we waited for the doctor to return with the results, my arms crossed over my stomach.

Everyone I had told was holding out for me getting good news today. Paul had called me three times already in the span of ten minutes, simply because I was due out twenty minutes ago. He was feeling it and he was taking the wait as bad news.

It was safe to say we were all feeling a little anxious.

When the door clicked open I straightened up as the doctor walked back into the room, a brown envelope in his hands.

"Here we go." He said to me, closing the door before he walked over to the light box on the wall and took the scans out.

"Nervous." I admitted honestly, rubbing my hands together. Today was also the day where I found out if I needed surgery if the fracture hadn't healed by now.

He cast a glance back at me, "There's absolutely nothing for you to be nervous about." He told me and flicked the light on, "Here is your X-Ray from three months ago when you were first admitted." He said, pointing to the film on the left, "You see the crack?" I nodded quickly and he moved on to the right, "Here is your X-Ray from thirty minutes ago."

He pointed his finger over the same area my fracture was and I held my breath looking at the result.

"Your fracture is completely healed."

I sighed in utter relief, my tense back and shoulders relaxing. I smiled and leaned back in my chair fully, "Thank god."

"If you look closely at the two you can see where the fracture was and how it's healed." He looked back to me, "You won't be needing any kind of surgery, just one last physiotherapy session now and then you'll be on your way."

"Thank you, Doc." Charlie said standing up and shaking his hand.

He chuckled modestly, "It's no problem. Here I'll show you out." He led us out the office and turned to us, "Oh and Sophia?" He called out and I turned back to him.

"Yes?"

"This doesn't mean you can start jumping off cliffs again."

* * *

A/N; So due to unpredicted weather conditions it looks like I'll be losing a few days of my holidays. Because of this I'll have a few days on my hands to write, permitting the power stays on and hopefully I'll be able to update another chapter!