Chapter 11: Dinner Conversation
"You want me to do what?" Ary laughed hysterically when I delivered Charlie's dinner invitation. My face had been bright red and I even stuttered as I invited her over. "You're serious?" she remarked after judging my sheepish face. "Bella, I'd love to but…well, I can't eat human food—not successfully anyway." She smiled ruefully and crossed her arms.
"Just do what we do," Eric interjected with a mischievous grin. "Bring it up later."
Ary stared at him with a silent and blank expression before shaking her head. "Do me a favor," she replied with a monotone voice. "Don't speak and try not to think." She immediately turned back to me. "I'm really sorry Bella. Just tell him I'm busy."
I exhaled heavily as I saw the hole in her logic. Charlie was never one to hob nob with strangers; there was a hidden purpose behind his motive.
"Ary, it's not just a dinner invite," I said and rested my head on my fist. "He's using it as an excuse to meet the 'new family.'" I lifted my hands to mime quotation signs in the air. "I hate to say it," I continued, "but it'd be a lot easier for me, if I didn't have to sneak around." I smiled sheepishly as she pondered what I had said.
Twiddling my fingers anxiously, I hoped she'd find a way to help me appease Charlie. She exhaled heavily and shrugged. "I guess you can expect me at seven," she said despondently and slouched in surrender.
The day sped by—probably because I was secretly dreading the evening—and before I knew it, I was driving home. I stomped on the brakes as I realized that I had no idea what to cook. My mind raced over different possibilities as I made a U-turn and headed to the grocery store. The tiny shop was decorated with black and orange streamers, signifying the approach of Halloween—and Eric's 122nd birthday. I groaned as I remembered that I was invited to the vampire soiree. What should I wear? A costume or a ball gown, what?
Forcing the incessant barrage of questions to the back of my head, I focused on the task at hand. My eyes poured over the frozen dinners and I grimaced. I want to make this as painless as possible for Ary. The last thing I wanted was for Ary to go through the pain of regurgitating and entire meal.
I meandered around and found myself in the meat department, staring at a pack of venison steaks. I reached forward and grabbed two packages. Lots of people order their steaks rare. I nodded and headed towards the front of the store.
Ten minutes later, I was packing my purchases in the truck, and six minutes later I was unpacking them at home. After a quick call to Charlie—telling him Ary would be at the house by seven—I began prepping the marinade for the meat.
Charlie arrived home at 5:30, commented positively on my choice of meat, and settled down in front of the television. The atmosphere was tense, as I regularly check the clock, anxious for our guest to arrive. Charlie must have been equally nervous. Aside from the fact that he never really entertained guests, other than Billy and some others, he wasn't the most out spoken man. Just like me, Charlie kept to himself. However, after my flight to Phoenix last spring and my unusual behavior after the Cullens left, his habits had slowly begun to shift. His interest in me and my life had heightened, which annoyed me to no end.
Right at seven there was a soft knock at the front door, forcing a flock of butterflies to immerse themselves in my stomach. Here goes nothing. I opened the door and met Ary's friendly blue eyes. "Hi, Ary," I smile with an abashed grin.
"Hi, Bella," she said and smiled, her mouth seemed to be struggling against a laugh. Her light attitude relaxed me and I took a deep breath. Maybe this won't be so bad. I stared at Ary beaming until she leaned forward.
"Are you going to let me in Bella?" she asked and lifted one eyebrow curiously.
Laughing, I opened the door wider and let her in, my face flushing a little scarlet. When I turned around, Charlie was waiting nervously behind us.
"Oh!" I jumped in surprise but settled down quickly. "Dad, this is Aryana McRae; Ary, this is my father, Charlie Swan," I said formally and took a step back so they could shake hands.
Ary sashayed forward and took Charlie's hand. "Chief Swan, it's so nice to meet you," she said and smiled graciously. "Thank you so much for inviting me to your home." Her voice was sweet and endearing; I'd never heard her speak like this before.
Charlie appeared to be completely taken with Ary—and her dazzling blue eyes. His face was red and he stuttered quite a bit as he shook her hand. "I-It's n-nice to meet you," Charlie said with a delighted smile. "Those sure are some nice eyes—never seen that color blue before."
Ary's smile widened as she thanked him and moved away. I was a little surprised that Charlie didn't comment on Ary's morbid temperature; every time I touched her skin, I was shocked by how hot it was. All three of us moved to the kitchen, where I served the steaks. Ary winked at me when I served her a rare steak, dripping with blood. Charlie raised an eyebrow to Ary's portion but thankfully said nothing. As we ate, Charlie asked about the rest of the McRae family.
"How many are in your family?" he asked curiously.
"There are eight," she said pleasantly and continued chewing on her steak, despite Charlie's shocked expression. Families in Forks normally consisted of a mother, a father, and maybe two kids. The McRaes were definitely an anomaly, just like the Cullens had been.
"Wow," Charlie remarked and stopped eating. "That must be a handful for your parents, having so many kids and all."
I raised my eyebrows curiously at my father. Since when did he become so chatty?
Ary chuckled softly and shook her head. "Unfortunately my parents died three years ago," she said morosely and lowered her eyes to her plate.
"Oh," Charlie said, clearly embarrassed and intrigued at the same time. "I'm so sorry for that." Ary smiled and resumed eating. "So who do you live with then?" I peered warily at Ary, curious what she would say.
"Well," she said, setting down her fork and interlacing her hands on the table. "My older brother Avarice is our legal guardian and his friend from college, Argos helps out," she explained simply. "They're very mature for their age and surprisingly strict." She leaned back and rubbed her stomach. "Wonderful meal; my compliments to the chef," she said and winked at me once again.
Despite the vagueness of her responses to his questions, Charlie just nodded and commented on the largeness of her family before returning to his food. After a few more silent moments Charlie moved to the refrigerator and offered Ary some pie. Ary skillfully declined dessert and
as Charlie disappeared to the den—with the whole pie—we stole outside to talk.
"So, how did I do?" she asked as I shut the door and turned to her. "Did I play the part of teenage school girl well?"
"Perfectly," I laughed and sat on the steps. "Thanks for doing this, I really appreciate it." I smiled as she sat beside me.
"No problem." She gave me her normal lopsided grin. "Thank you, too, for the steak," she said and jumped off the stairs and stood upright. "So, now what do we do?" Ary asked with her hands on her hips.
I shrugged and shook my head. "I'm not sure," I said hesitantly. "What is there to do?" It was almost 8:30, to my knowledge nothing was happening.
"Well," she said thoughtfully. "We could go for a drive…or a run." I shook my head to the latter; I didn't feel like holding on to Ary for dear life tonight. "Then again, you could always ask me more of these questions you come up with," she added smugly.
"I don't know about that," I remarked anxiously. "Let's not forget what happened the last time I did that…well, never mind." I trailed off as Ary's guilty eyes locked on me. I flushed and cursed myself internally. Really considerate Bella! After you worked so hard to convince her it wasn't her fault!
Ary surprised me by laughing. "So Eric told me that you were informed of our compromise," she said and narrowed her eyes curiously to me. I sighed and nodded, a little depressed by the resurfacing of the subject in my mind.
"Bella, look at me," she said and I complied, raising my eyes to her slowly. "I don't want you to worry about it," I opened my mouth to protest but she silenced me with a raised hand. "It is between my brother and I, no one else."
I shook my head in disbelief. "But why Ary?"
She turned and stared into the darkness for a minute before speaking. "Because he has a good reason for wanting to kill me," she murmured softly.
What? I debated whether I should push her for more information. She seemed almost contented by the idea of Eric's reasoning for wanting her dead. True, it was between her and Eric and no one else, but that didn't stop me from being a bit upset. I didn't want to see my best friend killed, no matter the reason or the person. My mind stuttered as I referred to Ary as my best friend, a title reserved for one person only—Alice Cullen—and wondered if I really felt like that. Ary appeared to have taken up the slack that Alice had left behind, minus treating me like a Barbie doll. My mind felt packed with the thoughts of Ary and her compromise, as well as the wonderings about my friendship with Ary. In the end, I felt it better to drop it for now.
"So Eric's birthday is coming up," I said, trying to change the subject with small talk.
She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Please, don't remind me," she sighed and pursed her lips. "He's insisting on inviting some friends, which is not wise."
"You mean," I swallowed, "other vampires?" She nodded.
"I'm trying to dissuade him," she said and looked at me with sudden interest. "Of course he won't listen to me, but maybe he'd listen to someone he was pining for." Her eyes lit up as they poured over me.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked, not quite getting it. However, I replayed her previous statement and immediately knew what she was hinting at. "No, no way Ary," I insisted anxiously. "I'm not going to pretend to like Eric to—"
"Pretend?" Her eyebrows jerked up as she cut me off. "Bella, you don't need to pretend; it's written all over your face, whenever you see him." My face flushed and I turned away from her.
"I don't know," I muttered. I had only used a boy's affection for me once, and it was overly awkward. I cringed at the memory of flirting with Jacob Black to find out about the 'cold ones.'
"Bella," Ary said seriously and stood in front of me. "If you don't do something, I can't guarantee your safety at the party." I swallowed hard as her face grew even more grave, "or anyone else in Forks."
Charlie. My thoughts immediately went to my father and I knew that I had to do something. "All right," I begrudgingly agreed, "I'll talk to him tomorrow."
Ary grimaced slightly. "The sooner the better Bella."
I groaned softly. "All right, fine, let me see your cell phone."