CHAPTER FIVE
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i. tom from accounting !

— THE REST OF THE DAY WAS UNEVENTFUL. Tony enjoyed a wonderful class with two wondrous female Cullens, and then Alice dragged him away to biology where his eyes were once again blessed by Jasper.

Then, before he knew it, Tony was striding towards Bella's sad excuse for a truck.

Noticing Isabella was already in the driver's seat, Tony wrenched open the door with a little difficulty and ditched his bag on the floor along with his oxygen tank. Huffing slightly, he tugged himself up into the vehicle and slammed the door.

"Isabella." He greeted in a condescending tone, staring out the windshield at the dark pavement of the parking lot which was soaked from rain.

"Anthony." Bella addressed as a warning statement. The girl waited until Anthony had put on his seatbelt before allowing the engine to roar to life, backing out of the parking space.

"We're meeting Charlie at the Carver Cafe for dinner." Bella stated, wringing her hands along the wheel.

"Not surprised." Tony muttered, referencing to their father's eating habits. The awkward silence in the truck was unimaginable, until Tony spoke up again.

"You know it wouldn't kill you to call him 'dad'"

Isabella proceeded to do that odd head tilt, stutter thing that she did when she was caught off guard and was trying to come up with a reply.

"I know- It's just... It's just weird, I don't know."

"How is it weird, he's our father." Anthony scoffed, rolling his eyes and aiming his gaze at the passing trees.

"He's never been there for us, Tony!" Bella snapped, slamming her hands against the wheel. Anthony almost asked her to pull over so she didn't crash the truck, because knowing his sister, a car accident would be a kind of thing she'd pull.

"Dad has always been there for us, Isabella, always! He never once turned us away when we needed help, everytime I asked him to come down to Phoenix to visit me in the hospital, he came- despite how much he hates Phil!" Anthony yelled, defending his father. "You need to get your head out of your ass and realize he's the only one that's always there for us, no matter what."

"You're wrong." Bella denied shakily. "Mom-"

"The only reason you think of Renée as your number one is because she rejected every one of your requests to see Dad when you were young. She conditioned you to think Dad was the bad guy." Anthony got quieter and quieter with each word. "She walked out on him remember."

Now the tension in the air could have been cut with a knife, but it didn't last long before they pulled up into the parking lot of their destination.

Just as it had been that morning, Tony rushed to get out of the truck, nearly tripping on his bag. Not bothering to wait for Bella, Anthony gripped the handle of his oxygen tank and swung the attached straps over his shoulders so he wouldn't have to worry about it getting in the way, and disappeared behind the door of the cafe.

Bella watched from the driver's side of the truck as Tony stepped in and greeted their father with a heavily faked smile before sitting down next to the window with his back facing her.

As a spur of the moment decision, the brunette woman harshly kicked the black rubber of her truck's front wheel.

— ONCE BELLA JOINED THEM AT THEIR TABLE, a pretty brown eyed waitress took their order and left the trio alone.

Bella continuously cast glances at Anthony, who was busying himself with sipping an iced tea.

It seemed like Charlie could sense the anger flowing between his two children, despite how hard they tried to mask it.

Obviously they had been trying to push it aside to try and enjoy a dinner out with him. He didn't quite know what their beef was, after not seeing either one in the same room since they were kids, he couldn't tell what they were thinking anymore. He could only hope it would get resolved and they could move on.

The waitress came back and Anthony took this time to glance at her nametag as she set down heaping plates of food in front of the Swan family. Cora. Her name was Cora.

Vaguely, Tony could remember sitting in this cafe as a child, when his legs were too short to reach the floor so they swung against the chair. He remembered when he'd kick his legs so much the chair would squeak and Charlie would have to place his son on his lap to try and keep the boy's excitement at bay.

Surprisingly, he foggily recognized Cora as the nice waitress lady that would give him extra chocolate milk at every visit.

"I just can't get over how grown up you both are." She said as she placed Tony's caesar salad in front of him, not taking another glance at the boy despite obvious reasons to.

A somewhat balding man approached from behind, a childlike smile on his face.

"Hey kids, you remember me?" Tony and Bella both stole a quick awkward glance to their father, not quite knowing who the man was, but the man continued to explain, "I played Santa one year."

Charlie looked slightly annoyed, despite this man being his friend.

"Yeah Waylon, Bella hasn't had a christmas here since she was four."

Waylon gave a hopeful look to Anthony.

"Sorry, I was only five so details are a bit blurry." Tony apologized.

"Bet I made an impression though, didn't I?" Waylon stated, smiling down at Charlie.

"You always do." Charlie agreed.

"Butt-crack Santa?" Cora joked, allowing room for some laughter

Anthony was preoccupied with passing his father some salt, so he missed exactly what Waylon replied with, though he did catch Cora shooing him away and promising to bring dessert in a moment.

The silence became a bit uncomfortable as soon as Cora stepped away, like they were performing a dance that no one knew the moves to.

— THE REST OF THE DAY WAS RELATIVELY UNEVENTFUL UNTIL NIGHTFALL. While Bella had promised to call their mother and chat a little, Anthony was meant to call Liv.

So sitting in his desk chair in the dark of his room, only one dim bedside lamp was lit and was casting yellowed shadows along every dark green wall, he listened to his phone make a faded dialing sound.

He had a CD player in the corner which was playing some soft indie music, but Bella's distressed voice from the next room carried quite a bit despite both bedroom doors being closed.

"Yeah I'm sure he's doing okay."

"Yeah I'm sure."

"Well I don't know, we're having a bit of an argument right now."

"Mom, no, don't call."

"Because he doesn't want to talk to you."

Tony wanted to roll his eyes, but he controlled himself. Of course he didn't want to talk to Renée, that was the first correct assumption Bella had made about him.

He didn't have much time to dwell on it.

"Hey handsome, what are ya wearing?" Liv answered the phone with her usual raspy voice.

Tony grinned, missing the girl even more so now than ever.

"A thong, how about you?" He muttered sarcastically.

"Honey is you fishing for an older woman?" Liv asked jokingly.

"You're twenty four." Tony deadpanned.

"And you're eighteen."

"Still legal."

"Damn straight."

"Yeah, too bad I'm not." Tony laughed, standing from his chair and laying on his bed. Straight jokes were what he and Liv thrived off when they were hospitalized together.

"That was smooth." Liv chuckled. Tony could hear some shuffling.

"So they let you out?" Tony discerned.

"Hells yeah, I'm a free woman."

"It was a hospital, not a prison." Laughing, Tony looked up at his ceiling at all the movie posters. "So anyway, how was Danny last time you saw him?"

"He was exhausted from chemo but he's almost definitely gonna survive. Give it a few days to call him though, he needs to catch up on his sleep."

"Roger that." Tony nodded.

"Dork." Liv called, though her voice held humor behind it.

"Nerd."

"Oh! Did I tell you good ol' Gideon is back in action?" Liv revealed.

"You did not, you're back with the FBI?"

"Yep." Liv confirmed. There was a crashing sound on her side. She let out a deep sigh. "Hang on- Mom, what the hell?" She yelled.

There was some mild conversation that Anthony couldn't quite catch over the receiver. Liv groaned before returning to the phone.

"Sorry about that. God, I need a smoke."

"Lemme guess, you're back in with your parents and they took away your cigarettes?"

"You know me so well."

Tony took a moment to look at the cigarette that he'd left lying on his bedside table, next to the dog tags.

"Find your suitcase and check the front pocket." He stated.

"Why?" Liv asked warily.

"Just do it."

He could hear shuffling and a zipper being pulled.

"Wait." He heard Liv mutter quietly, obviously fumbling around with the pocket. "Since when was there a split in the lining."

"Hell if I know. I stole a pack of your smokes and hid them in there though. I figured you'd have to live with your parents again and knowing them, they confiscate everything." Tony didn't support smoking but he knew if she stopped, her weight would drop even more. She can't battle against two addictions at the same time, she's bound to lose one of them and Liv couldn't afford for her anorexia to get any worse.

"Wow you really do know me."

"Of course I do."

It was silent between them for a moment and Tony was almost sure it's because Liv was lighting a cigarette and opening a window.

"So have you met anyone? Made any friends that aren't complete assholes?" She asked.

For a moment, Tony thought of the Cullens, they'd been so nice to him on his first day and he couldn't be more thankful.

"I guess. I hung around with this family of five today. I think you'd get along well with Alice and Rosalie."

"That's good. I'm glad you've got some people. How are you and Bella holding up? I know she's been avoiding you since you went terminal. It must be so weird."

"It is, trust me." Tony sighed, playing with his bed sheet. "We had a fight earlier."

"What happened?" Liv asked, fully invested in the conversation.

"It started with Dad but she's been upset about something else." Tony sat up on his bed, picking up the cigarette and staring at it. "I don't know exactly why."

"Well has she said anything?"

"Not really. She did say a quip about me living until graduation."

"What exactly did she say?" Tony could practically see Liv leaning forward in her seat.

"I don't know, she was- she was mad and she said something like 'don't die until after senior year, I'd like to see my brother graduate'." Tony elaborated.

It was silent for a moment.

"Oh babe, she's like that because you're dying."

Anthony saw more clearly, the
reason behind her anger. His eyes widened in realization.

"That's such bullshit." Tony whispered.

"Yeah, we've established that Bella is a bitch but at least now we know why." Liv muttered.

"It's not like I can control dying."

"Listen, I know you don't want to. But maybe you should just talk to her about it. Ask her why she feels that way, explain why it's happening. Maybe then she'd understand better." Liv stated calmly.

"Yeah, maybe." Anthony agreed, although reluctantly.

From the background of Liv's line, he could hear movement and thudding.

"Shit. She's coming upstairs."

"Act fast." Tony encouraged. He could tell Liv was trying to hide her pack of cigarettes whilst closing her bedroom window.

"There isn't enough time." Liv whined. "Damnit."

Tony listened as she moved toward her bedroom door, she creak of old wood giving it away as she opened it.

"Hey Dad! Moms cheating on you with Tom from accounting!" Liv yelled. Tony then heard the slam of the bedroom door and rushing around, followed by shrieks and yells from downstairs.

"That should keep them occupied." Liv stated calmly.

"Hold up are we talking balding Tom, weird nosed Tom or ear piercing Tom?"

"Ear piercing Tom." Liv confirmed.

"He's worse than balding Tom." Tony stated, his face twisting in disgust.

"I know." She laughed. "Anyway, I should finish up this cig and do my sit ups for the night. I'll call you tomorrow or something though."

"Alright Liv. Don't work yourself too hard. I love you, Nerd."

"Love you too, Dork." And with that the call was terminated, but for a moment Tony lingered with the phone up to his ear.

The simple reason?

He couldn't remember the last time him and his own family exchanged 'I love you's.