CHAPTER NINETEEN
°⋆∴☽°:۵≼

i. what are you thinking ?

— ANTHONY WAS RATHER GLAD HE'D TAKEN EDWARD'S ORDER TO HEART AND PUT ON HIS SEAT BELT. Especially when the Cullen whipped the car into ongoing traffic. Tony got jostled around quite a bit, but nothing too bad.

"I should go back, and rip those guys' heads off." Edward growled, glaring at the road.

Isabella was turned in her seat to look at him, her eyes widening in shock as she tried to come up with something to say.

"Uh, no, you shouldn't." She stated as if it should be obvious.

But if you do, Tony thought, he was beginning to understand how Edward's mind reading worked, how's about we take the stupid child lock off my doors and I pop out just to strangle them with my tubing?

Edward glanced at him in the rear view mirror and let out a coughed laugh when he saw Tony adjusting his nasal prongs with a smirk.

Deciding to move on from that so Bella wouldn't get too suspicious, Edward turned his attention to the road.

"You don't know the vile, repulsive things they were thinking." Edward scowled.

"And you do?" Bella asked.

Anthony figured now was the time to speak up, "With people like that, it's not hard to guess."

Edward looked at Tony through the rear view mirror yet again, a moment of understanding coming between them. Bella shouldn't know about this yet.

"Can you talk about something else? Distract me so I won't turn around." The Cullen asked.

Tony knew in that moment there was no time for jokes. Edward had explained how difficult self control could be for a vampire and desperately didn't want Bella, or himself for that matter, to see what a vampire without discipline was really like.

Anthony leaned forward and placed a hand on Edward's shoulder. The bronze haired boy sent him a grateful look.

"Just- you should put your seat belt on." Isabella pointed out, noticing the lack of material on his chest when she glanced at Tony's hand.

Edward laughed and Bella looked confused.

"Bells, maybe you should put your seatbelt on." Tony chuckled.

Edward proceeded to pass other cars on the road as fast as was legal, obviously trying to put as much distance as possible between himself and those disgusting frat boys.

— ISABELLA HAD LET EDWARD KNOW WHICH RESTAURANT THEY WERE PLANNING ON GOING TO, once the Cullen had calmed down and slowed to a regular driving pace.

They arrived in little to no time, though Anthony was sure they were too late to meet with Angela and Jessica.

When they pulled into their parking space, Edward got out and opened the door for Tony since it was still locked and helped get his oxygen tank out onto the pavement.

Anthony thanked Edward in his head, which received a nod, then grabbed the tank from him and they stepped after Bella.

Isabella was standing with Angela and Jessica who were just leaving the restaurant.

"Where were you? We left you messages." Angela asked, obviously worrying for Bella's safety. "We would have messaged Tony too, but we don't have his number."

"Yeah, and we waited, but we were, like, starving."

Edward appeared at Bella's side with Tony fast behind.

"Um, I'm sorry, I kept them from dinner. We ran into each other and got talking, y'know?" Edward said, saving the moment.

"Yeah."

"No... we totally understand. I mean, that happens, right?" Jessica laughed. "Yeah, we were just leaving." She stated, hinting for Tony and Bella to join them. "So, um... Tony, Bella if you wanna...?"

Edward spoke up again, "I think I should make sure they get something to eat." He sent a stern look to Tony who sighed and nodded, knowing it was what he needed. "If you'd like." He then turned to Bella. "I'll drive you home myself."

"Yeah," The brunette woman agreed. "Yeah, we should eat something."

Jessica and Angela began backing away from the trio, saying their farewells.

Once they'd pretty much gone, Edward turned and grabbed Tony's oxygen tank from him and lifted it up the stairs of the restaurant as they walked. Tony was appreciative, his shoulder always got sore when he did it himself.

Edward opened the door for the Swans and they all quickly tried to find a table.

Bella and Edward sat across from each other while Tony sat on another end, he tried to tuck his oxygen tank as far into his chair or under the table as possible, but it was too clunky and got in the way of a lot of people as they walked by.

Anthony could tell some people were annoyed with him but he could also see Edward glaring at them every so often which told him two things: 1- people were probably cursing him in their minds. 2- he was so lucky to have a family like the Cullens by his side.

Once they'd gotten ordering out of the way, it became rather awkward.

The whole time, Anthony and Edward had been having silent conversations. Tony would think of a question and Edward would subtly tap his fingers against the table, once for yes, twice for no.

Tony was beginning to get the hang of it.

Are there other vampires out there?

One tap, yes.

Are they all like you, then? You said you and your family were vegetarians.

Two taps, no.

D'you think that's what's been causing the— chicken.

Edward glanced confusedly at the boy, only to see he'd distractedly looked at another table and saw one of the dishes they had.

It was difficult to communicate by thinking when his mind could be so easily distracted.

Edward gained his attention again and he started over.

Right- do you think other vampires is what's been causing the attacks?

Tony stared at Edward's hand, but it don't move.

You're not sure? Is that why you're not tapping?

One tap, yes.

So you don't know them?

Two taps, no.

Their conversation was interrupted by their waitress bringing the Swan's their food.

"Alright, one mushroom ravioli and one cotoletta." She placed their meals in front of them, which they thanked her for, before turning to Edward. "So are you sure there isn't anything I can get for you?"

"No, no, thank you." Edward declined politely. He'd told Tony that any food literally tasted like dirt to him and since he didn't have a functioning digestive system, vampires had to find another way to get it out of their bodies.

Tony could take a guess at what he meant.

The waitress left their table to serve someone else, which brought upon the awkward atmosphere again as Bella ate and Tony tried to stomach his food.

"You're really not gonna eat?" Bella asked.

"He's not hungry." Tony excused, rather quickly.

Bella just hummed and nodded, busying herself with her food.

"Hey man, watch it!" Yet another person tripped over Tony's oxygen tank.

The Swan bowed his head and mumbled a quick 'sorry' as he tried to shove his oxygen tank closer to his chair.

With somewhere like the Carver Cafe it didn't matter that his tank was sat on the floor because most of the time he had the seat by the window where no one was walking anyway, but in an open area like this people are bound to get annoyed.

The other two at the table glared as the guy walked away and Edward leaned over to help tuck the oxygen tank under the table, but it was no use

As if something had triggered Bella's reaction, she snapped suddenly.

"You gotta give me some answers." She told Edward.

Edward took the moment to mock her slightly.

"Yes, no. To get to the other side. Uh, 1.772453-" He began.

"I don't wanna know the square root of pi." Bells interrupted.

"You knew that?"

Again, someone tripped on the oxygen tank.

"What the hell?" The woman glared at Tony.

'Sorry' he muttered again.

The woman just huffed and stuck up her nose, walking away.

Maybe if you looked where you were walking, shit like that wouldn't happen.

Edward smiled fondly at Anthony but was somewhat upset that he was being treated like that.

Then a new waitress approached them, tapping Anthony on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." She smiled sadly.

Tony wanted to stand up and yell at her, but he knew it wasn't her fault.

"Yeah, uh, can I just get this to go please?" He asked.

"Of course." The waitress disappeared as Anthony stood up and pulled out money to pay for his meal.

"Y'know what- we can just leave." Bella began to offer, getting up from her chair.

"No, Bells. Finish eating. I'll be waiting for you in the car, yeah?" Anthony nodded and the waitress brought back a to go container and plastic cutlery.

As Isabella lowered herself to her seat again, Edward handed Anthony the keys to his Volvo.

"Don't worry about eating in the car, if you make a mess I'll just clean it up later."

"Alright Mr Clean." Tony saluted as he closed the container with his food now in it and left the restaurant.

Sliding back into the car, he didn't bother locking the doors again since he knew Edward and Bella wouldn't be long.

He finished off his cotoletta and closed the cutlery into the container before placing it on the floor of the Volvo next to his tank.

Then he took off his sweater to use as a makeshift pillow, and grabbed Edward's blanket as he laid down in the back seat.

The only light in the car came from street lamps and the lit restaurant, which reflected in the droplets of water left on the windows of the car.

Tony turned to stare at the back of the driver's seat and for a moment, his eyes traveled to the oxygen tank nearer to his feet.

And he glared at it.

— WHEN EDWARD AND BELLA GOT BACK IN THE CAR, Anthony was already asleep. He'd been sleep deprived as of late, even his sister had noticed his lack of energy, so they let him be and Edward simply started the car back up with the keys he found on the ground next to Tony's food container and oxygen tank.

The ride back into Forks could be described as tense considering Edward and Isabella's previous conversation and that Tony wasn't awake to break the ice.

"Okay, I think I'm warm enough now." Bells has stated as she went to turn down the heat.

"Leave it." Edward demanded, glancing at Tony's sleeping face in the rear view mirror. "He seems cold."

After a few more minutes, Tony finally woke to red and blue lights invading his eye sight.

"Are we getting pulled over?" Anthony asked groggily, rubbing his eyes as he sat up.

When he looked around with solid vision he realized they were at the Forks' police station, and there were ambulances and police cruisers parked outside with the lights on.

"No, something happened." Bella said as she unbuckled. "Dad's still here." She got out of the car and rushed forward while Tony rushed to sit up and pull his sweater back on.

Once he was situated and out of the car, he made it to Bella and Edward as fast as possible, also noticing Carlisle Cullen.

"Waylon Forge was found in a boat out near his place." Dr Cullen explained. "I just examined the body."

Edward shared an alarmed look with Tony, which Carlisle saw and narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

Edward noticed and got Carlisle's attention, nodding slightly to show that Tony could be trusted enough not to blab their secret.

"He died? How?" Bella asked.

"Animal attack." Carlisle lied, glancing at Anthony and Edward.

"Was it the same thing that got the security guard down in Mason?" Bella pressed.

Anthony grabbed his sister by the shoulder.

"Probably, but thats not the point right now." He said.

"What do you mean?" Bella looked at Anthony.

"I mean, Waylon was dad's friend. We should get inside. See ya later Dr Cullen. I'll see you at school Eddie." Tony nodded to the other men as he lead his sister into the police station in search of their father.

It was going to be a long night.

author's note

Finished at 3:50 am woo!

Also, I know what you're thinking 'wow kicking him out of the restaurant right before a messy and interesting convo? What a lazy author'

Yes, I am lazy 😂
But honestly, I really wanted to write that scene like I had so many ideas but I also figured I need to show Tony's struggle even just going places bc I feel like that's not represented enough in literature and motion pictures.

ALSO I never really got any feedback on an idea for Danny (which I'm not that surprised, I'm struggling to think of one too)

If you do have any suggestions,
I'm still looking for one
Like I'm willing to watch a full on show if it's suggested so really don't hold back 😂

On another note, I really appreciate all the support and comments that I've been getting- I try and reply to all of them and gUYS you're so much fun to talk to ♥️