In Which I Tolerate Eclipse: Chapter 2 -- Evasion · 3:03pm Apr 26th, 2018
Oh, dear. One sentence in, and we’re already adding to the Clinginess Meter.
I felt oddly buoyant as I walked from Spanish toward the cafeteria, and it wasn’t just because I was holding hands with the most perfect person on the planet, thought that was certainly part of it.
CM + 1
School’s buzzing about the upcoming graduation and subsequent parties. When Angela mentions she has a lot of cards to write, to all of her very large extended family, Bella volunteers to help. She’ll go over Angela’s, since she’s not grounded anymore and she’s sick of her house. During the conversation, Alice suddenly zones out into a vision. Edward, naturally, knows what it is, but he doesn’t tell Bella throughout the whole day.
After school, the two of them go to Bella’s house and have a kissing session as she waits for her computer to boot up.
His golden eyes were smoldering, just inches away, and his breath was cool against my open lips. I could taste his scent on my tongue.
I couldn’t remember the witty response I’d been about to make. I couldn’t remember my name.
If I had my way, I would spend the majority of my time kissing Edward. There wasn’t anything I’d experienced in my life that compared to the feeling of his cool lips, marble hard but always so gentle, moving with mine.
CM + 2
Once Bella’s computer is running, she rereads an email from Renee that she needs to respond to. Bella reacts with amusement to some of her mother’s antics and claims that she was a much better caretaker than Phil.
I was a very different person from my mother. Someone thoughtful and cautious. The responsible one, the grown-up. That’s how I saw myself.
Apparently Bella’s a pathological liar. Not that surprising.
Edward is shocked by the remains of the stereo Bella ripped out of her truck in the last book and comments that she didn’t get much use out of that particular birthday present. Then he proposes a form of celebration for her un-grounding: they’ll fly to Jacksonville to visit Renee, using the plane ticket vouchers he got her that they never had a chance to use. While the idea is appealing to Bella, she doesn’t want to push her luck with Charlie. Her flying with Edward would definitely be unappealing to him. She suggests they wait a week or so, then asks Edward about Alice’s vision. He claims she saw Jasper unexpectedly visiting some vampires in the southwest and that it’s probably nothing.
After dinner that night, Edward brings up the plane tickets with Charlie. Charlie likes the idea of Bella visiting Renee until he realizes that Edward’s going along, too. Bella tries to play the “I’m an adulllllllllllt” card and convinces Charlie to let Edward come along through a combination of guilt trips and actual blackmail. See, technically, Renee still has primary custody of Bella and could take her from Charlie if she wanted. Bella threatens to tell Renee that Charlie doesn’t think Renee’s caretaking ability is all that great, and Charlie reluctantly agrees to let Edward go. Bella claims to feel bad about it afterwards, and yet she still did it. Requoting:
I was a very different person from my mother. Someone thoughtful and cautious. The responsible one, the grown-up. That’s how I saw myself.
Thoughtful. Cautious. Responsible. Grown-up. And a blackmailer. That’s our Bella!
The two of them swing by the Cullens’ for a while, and there’s an admittedly amusing scene where Edward and Alice play chess. One can see the future, and the other can read the first’s mind, so they just stare at each other for a few minutes until Alice surrenders. When Bella gets home, Charlie asks how she’s balancing Edward with the rest of her friends. Bella admits that, while she’s making cards with Angela, she hasn’t been able to talk to Jacob. She’s suddenly seized with a desire to drive to La Push and talk to Jacob directly, so he can’t evade her any more. With Charlie’s permission (side note: Charlie not-so-subtly tries to push Jacob as a replacement boyfriend instead of Edward throughout the book, and it’s annoying), she gets in her truck, only to find that it won’t start. The engine just clicks.
Edward pops in, saying Alice got nervous when Bella’s future suddenly disappeared. She can’t see their futures, so when Bella goes to join them, her future also disappears. We get a possible explanation of why Alice can’t see werewolves (with their two forms, it’s like they have two different futures that they switch between unpredictably) before Edward admits that he disconnected her car battery to prevent her from leaving. Bella reluctantly heads back up to bed.
You know, one partner keeping their significant other from seeing other people is a prime warning sign that the relationship is abusive. Just saying.
Clinginess Meter: 8
The chess scene is perfect evidence of how much better this series would be if Bella weren't in it. Alas, that mature, responsible figure is here to stay.
So… she’s got synesthesia?