Short chapter ? Sure !
EPOV
Over the summer, Bella and I began packing up our things and shipping them off to the P.O. box we set up in New Haven bit by bit. Bella wouldn't take off work, but that was fine. She worked almost every day until it was time for us to leave. She wanted to save money, to help with the furniture and groceries, and to have some put away in case she needed or wanted something.
She quickly learned helping me with rent wasn't an option. I used the money my parents had put away for me to pay for the first year up front. However, my parents and Charlie together replaced that money, saying that our apartment would be paid by them, as a graduation present for us both. To help us with the financial struggles we would be sure to face over the next year. I appreciated it greatly, as did Bella.
When we arrived back in New Haven, we picked up the things we had mailed to ourselves from the post office and brought it back to our home. We had stopped by a furniture store and picked out what we wanted, paying for it to be delivered the next day. For tonight, we would be sleeping on an air mattress in our bedroom.
We unpacked what little we could, though there was a lot we couldn't touch until our furniture got delivered. Of course there was no way of cooking anything tonight, we didn't have any dishes nor did we have any food. We were supposed to be going tomorrow to get everything else that we needed.
I know we had a lot of work to do, however, the idea of doing this all with Bella was so exciting to me. She was who I wanted to build a life with, and it felt like we were actually starting.
We ordered pizza that night, and Bella insisted we have hot wings as well. Not something she went for often, but when she had a craving for it, that was it. I ordered for delivery, and turned to Bella once I hung up.
"What should we do while we wait?" I ask curiously, placing my hands on her hips.
She thinks for a moment and shrugs, "well, what we can put away is put away, our air mattress has been blown up, there's nothing to do but eat and sleep." She says.
"Well, there is one thing that can keep us occupied." I said, she arched her eyebrow, and I immediately knew what she was thinking. "Not that." She giggled, "keep your mind out of the gutter, Swan." I teased.
"Well, what did you have in mind?" She asked, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and unlocked it quickly.
I opened up my playlist and clicked on one of one of Bella's favorite songs. Silhouette by Aquilo. I pulled her into my arms and took in her beautiful smile before I began moving. We danced around our empty living room, and I continuously stole kisses, against her lips, on her chin, down her neck.
The song changed to Sugar, by maroon 5, and our moods changed with it. She became a giggling, playful little minx. I spun her around in circles and pulled her close to my chest as we sang the song together. Her fingers gripped the front of my shirt and she tipped her head back swaying to the beat as she sang along.
Then, after that, our song came on. Ever After. It was a harder song to dance to, but we managed to sway playfully, singing to each other and just having a good time. It was when that song ended that the doorbell rang, and I walked out to answer it. Bella was still laughing when I left her.
I opened up the wooden door and smiled at the delivery guy. He gave me my total and I handed it to him plus extra. I told him to keep the change and he smiled thankfully at me. I brought the food back to Bella and we brought it to our room to sit on the air mattress instead of the floor. We ate in a comfortable silence, and then when we were finished, I took the box out into the kitchen.
When I went back to the room, Bella had already stripped down into her underwear, getting ready for bed. I followed suit, taking off my shirt which she immediately took and slipped on over her bare body before climbing back onto the air mattress. I pulled on a pair of pajama pants and joined her, pulling her tightly to me.
She was asleep in no time, and I wasn't very far behind her.
I woke up first the next morning and slipped off the mattress, getting ready for the day quickly before leaving an unconscious Bella alone in the house. I walked to a little diner not far from our house and ordered some breakfast to go. I was waiting for our food when I heard a voice come from beside me.
"Hey, handsome." A feminine voice said. I turned my head toward a young girl with long, red hair. I was guessing she was a junior in highschool, if that. I nodded in greeting before turning back and waiting for our meals. "haven't seen you around here before." She said once she realized I wouldn't answer.
"Just moved." I said, the easiest explanation I could come up with. I really didn't want to get into my life's story with this girl.
"College boy, I assume?" She said. I nodded, and she placed her hand on my arm, "let me guess, football player?" She asked. "You have the muscles."
I laughed in disbelief, shaking my head. "You're funny." I said.
"And you're cute." She persisted. I removed my arm from her hand.
"And taken, I'm afraid." I said, trying to get her to take the hint.
"I don't mind that." She shrugged.
"I do." I rolled my eyes. I collected the bag with our food in it and went to leave.
"Wait!" The girl called after me, catching up to me at the door. I looked at her and raised my eyebrow in question , she fished around in her bag and pulled out a small piece of paper. She placed it in my hand and I looked at it. "my number." She explained, "just in case you ever need a break from your relationship."
She winked, and I made a show of crumpling up the paper and tossing it in the floor before leaving the diner all together. I went back to the house and found Bella sitting on the living room floor, going through a box. She looked up when I came in and waved.
"Thank God, you brought food." She said, eyeing the bag. "I'm starving."
"I did." I said, sitting beside her and opening the bag. I divided up our food and we dug in, I decided this diner was probably going to be my favorite breakfast place, and I should try more items to see just how good they are.
"I can't wait until we get a table." Bella mumbled once we were finished eating.
"Today." I reminded her and she nodded. "Speaking of, what's the plans for today?"
"Well," she began, moving to her hands and knees and stretching out to grab her phone that was a distance in front of us. She sat back down and unlocked it. "They are going to be delivering the furniture in the next half an hour, and the men that bring it will be installing it as well, I assumed that we would wait until they were finished and head out to pick up everything else we need, then come back here and tackle the rest of the boxes."
"I love a girl with a plan," I said, smirking at her. She turned towards me, her eyes twinkling mischievously. "Now what should we do while we wait for the delivery boys?"
"This," she said before lunging at me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and knocked me onto my back, my head thumping off the carpeted floor, I laughed, my hands automatically travelling to her back and holding her against me.
Her lips found mine, and I lifted my head slightly to better match the intensity of the kiss she was giving me. We stayed like that for a while. My hands at some point moving to cup her face in my hands as I greedily consumed her lips. We only broke apart when a knock sounded on the door. Bella pulled back, her lips swollen, she grinned and stood up, going to answer the door.
I gathered up our garbage from breakfast and brought it out to the bin, throwing it away. I watched as a team of men brought our furniture in, with Bella leading the charge and telling them where she wanted everything.
It wasn't much longer afterwards that they finished up and left after we tipped them and thanked them for their quick work. We left after that, taking an Uber to first, the mall and then the grocery store, doing all the shopping that was absolutely necessary.
We got home and Bella began putting away our groceries while I continued unpacking. Once we were finished, and ready for bed, we collapsed on our new sofa together and turned on a movie. I wasn't really paying much attention to it, however.
I kept looking around our little space, and feeling happy. This was our home. Our first home together. We would remain here until we graduated, most likely. This would probably be where I proposed to her. I knew it was coming, I couldn't wait to spend our lives together, but I wanted to give her time to readjust after her attack, and if I was being honest, she was still struggling with it.
I looked down and the beauty in my arms and smiled. I knew. From the moment I met her I knew.
This was the woman I would spend my life with. Now we finally got to begin.
A/N ; this was probably the last actual chapter. Up next will be the epilogue, and after a few long years, I'll be finishing this book. 😭