Tinkle Bell Ch. 12

I know for a fact I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow sometime just before midnight. I also know I was suddenly wide awake, only moments after spewing what had felt like another "dream load", though just as before, I saw the shadow of Bella's form slipping out of my bed heading back out into the still dark hallway. She hadn't said a single word. I rolled over, my eyelids still heavy from lack of sleep as I glanced at the clock on my nightstand. It was just after 4 a.m. in the morning.

Seconds later I was sound asleep again, though it seemed like only moments had passed when the alarm rang. It was now 6 a.m. I rolled out of bed still groggy...but smiling. I headed off to the bathroom for my early morning pee. "No woody this morning!" I said to myself standing over the bowl relieving myself. I glanced in the mirror in front of the sink as I washed my hands taking notice of myself as I did so. I swear I had lost a few pounds, not that I really needed to, but I had been negligent in my workouts of late. Though considering it further, I'd been working out just as hard, if not more so in other ways.

I hated Tuesdays. They were my Mondays in a sense. I had a full schedule ahead of me, with a busy day filled with a quiz, one exam, and a research project I was working on, not to mention some study work I'd be involved in most of the afternoon. For the first time ever really, the last thing I wanted to do was be going to school. And though Bella would be going through almost the same hectic schedule I was next week, I was almost jealous of the fact she still had free time on her hands to enjoy herself. "Too much free time," I thought, and then chastised myself for thinking that. "Was I jealous of the time? Or her?"

She hadn't even been with us a week yet, and here I was entertaining thoughts and feelings that I really had no business considering. In six months, Bella would be returning back to her own country, her own family and friends no doubt, though she had really told me very little about herself, or any of that. I realized then, she was more stranger to me than friend...though I had already considered her to be that much. Though she was of course in many ways, more than that. She was my first...and the memory of that would stay with me forever of course. Regardless of what happened.

I quickly changed getting ready for the day and headed out into the hallway. I noticed the door to Bella's room was open as I passed by peeking in. Her bed was already made, though not quite as crisp looking as Doreen did it, telling me in an instant she had done so herself, far earlier than Doreen would have as I doubted she was even up making her rounds yet. Especially after last night. The memory of that bringing a smile to my face along with a little consternation. I had broken a personal rule about fooling around with the hired staff. The last thing I wanted to do was complicate things for my parents. They both liked Irene, Andy and Doreen immensely, though even that thought held me for a moment as I remembered the video camera, and the fact that Bella had recorded god knows what going on long before I had come down to the rec room. Once again, I shook my head considering that. Mom...dad. Even they had seemingly changed a lot since Bella's arrival. If we had all changed this much in so short a period of time, what would things be like in six months? The mind boggled.

And I was wrong about something else too as I headed down the stairs towards the kitchen. The smell of freshly brewed coffee reaching me long before that. Irene was obviously in attendance, no doubt planning out dinner for the evening. I knew dad would most likely leave for work straight from the hotel they had stayed at. Mom at some point, after lounging around a bit, doing some shopping first before heading home, wouldn't be home until sometime late in the afternoon. And for me...especially on Tuesdays, I wouldn't be home until almost seven or seven-thirty, just in time for dinner as things usually went.

Yeah...it was going to be a long day. Which I was thinking about when I reached the landing and nearly collided with Doreen carrying a load of freshly cleaned wash back up the stairs.

"Oh sorry, good morning David," Doreen said in her usual more formal tone of voice. It had taken me a long time to get her to call me by my first name rather than my last name when she first saw me after starting to work here a few years ago. Even then, greeting me by my first name still sounded somewhat formal perhaps. Which is the way it sounded now. I was almost glad for it this time as opposed to every other time. What we'd done...shared, and yes enjoyed...hopefully hadn't affected our relationship. I liked her yes. Hell, I'd fucked her, eaten her pussy, probed her ass, come all over her in fact. But the bottom line was, she still worked for us, or rather for mom and dad really, but I again didn't want what had happened complicating all that. By her tone of voice, and business like demeanor, it hadn't.

Once again Doreen attempted to slip by heading off to perform her scheduled duties. I stopped her mid-stride. "Ah...Doreen? You didn't happen to see Bella this morning have you?" She blushed a little answering.

"Ah yeah...for a while," she said blushing even more, though I decided not to get specific with her. "I believe she went out for her morning run," she said, "just like she does every day."

"Ah...ok, thanks," I said leaving her, heading off towards the smell of the coffee. "Morning run?" I then asked myself as I entered the kitchen. Irene was in fact sitting at the table pouring through several of her personal cook and recipe books. "Morning Irene," I said cordially pouring myself a coffee.

"Good morning Mr. Somers," she said formally just as she always did. It was almost a running joke between us. Once she had gotten the first Mr. in, it was David, or sometimes even Davy, or whatever else colorful name she had for me at the time. I liked her for that. But for whatever reason, she had always insisted on starting out the day like that.

"Ah...you know if Bella's gotten back from her morning run yet?" I asked. I glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall, I needed to be leaving in less than fifteen with my first class of the day just under an hour from now.

"She hasn't returned yet...no," she said with a hint of disapproval in her tone of voice. "Running around like that, out in the open," she added more to herself than directly at me, shaking her head though she went back to pouring through her books looking for something to put together for this evening. Once again I decided not to press the issue or ask her what she had meant by that. Obviously, whatever it was...Irene hadn't as yet taken to liking Bella all that much.

"Well, I best get a move on or I'll be late for class," I said finishing my coffee, putting the cup in the sink.

"Rinse it out," she said not even bothering to look back at me.

"Yes mam," I answered doing so, though I always did. That too had become a bit of a game between us, and one I actually enjoyed playing with her.

"The names Irene, not Mam," she shot back... again part of the game. "Though you'll never catch me running around the countryside bare-assed naked," she then added...which wasn't part of our morning ritual.

I thought it best to leave it at that as I headed outside to my car.

Pulling down out of the drive, I began heading out towards the main road passing by the orchards as I did, which is when I suddenly saw movement off to one side. I slowed, craning my neck a bit so I could see better. Sure enough I saw a figure. A very nice looking figure. Bella was indeed naked, angling over, running across the open expanse, just then making the trees heading towards me. All she had on was a pair of running shoes, socks, and what looked like to be a sweatband on her forehead. I stopped, waiting. I sort of understood what Irene had meant. Though we certainly had a lot of private property, one of the main roads passing by in front of the estate was fairly well traveled, though admittedly not too busy this time first thing in the morning. Still...anyone driving by, happening to glance out and over in the direction Bella had been coming from, would have had no problem seeing this naked woman running through those grassy fields.

She was hardly even breathless as she reached my window peering in, though she was covered in a fine sheen of sweat from running. Even this early, it again promised to be another hot day.

"Oh good, glad I caught you," she said leaning in through the window kissing me. "Didn't think I would, sort of got off to a late start this morning," she added. "Long night," she grinned. I figured it was pointless to ask her about the 4 a.m. thing.

What I said was, "Don't you ever sleep?"

"Sure I do...I always get my good four hours every night!" She told me. "I'm a bear in the morning if I don't!"

"You're bare now," I said meaning something else, unable to help reaching over giving one of her bare breasts a little tweak since it too had decided to come greet me through the window. She laughed at that.

"Yeah, well...I'm not sure Irene was too terribly pleased when I came outside for my run this morning. Even came out dressed, though I left my robe over the back of the chair on the patio. She stood there watching me as I ran off, shaking her head. Guess I'll need to see what I can do to fix that," she grinned wickedly.

Even with Irene...I wouldn't have made any bets against her being able to do that.

"So what are your plans for the day?" I asked, knowing I was now pressing myself for time, very likely going to be late for my first class of the day, though at the moment I could have cared less. Just sitting here, still almost absentmindedly fondling her breasts as they hung through the open window of my car was worth doing that.

"Well, I'm meeting Stacy in a couple of hours. We're going to go shopping together, and then perhaps lunch after that, then..."

"Stacy?" I asked interrupting her. She looked at me, slightly confused, and then smiled.

"Yeah, Stacy, you know...the girl we met in the clothing shop."

I asked myself how she managed to schedule that, but didn't as she continued on.

"And then later, I'm heading over to spend some time with Debra at the beach," she added. "Though I'm sure I'll be home long before dinner time."

"Debra? Who the hells Debra?" I did ask, not particularly proud of myself in the way I had asked the question. There was too much controlling of a tone of voice in that when I did so, which Bella picked up on, standing back, thus removing her tits from the window which I'd been playing with.

"Debra's the woman we met there. You know...the couple who had the three boys staying with them? The one's who came to my rescue?" She said reminding me unnecessarily. "That Debra."

Once again, I was curious as to how the hell she'd managed that, though she answered that one for me a moment later. "Apparently, his father knows your father, so they got the number. She called me, said she was alone for the day as their sons back home with their dad for the week going to school while he's working. She decided to spend the week there all by herself for a bit of additional relaxation and sun. Anyway, she invited me to come join her, so I accepted. Frank's picking me up later and taking me there."

"Frank?" I now asked, getting more and more confused by the second here.

"Yeah Frank. Debra's father in law, the one who knows your dad. He's picking me up, taking me over there since I don't happen to have a car at the moment...remember?" She said stepping away even further back from my car.

I felt like a shit, realizing what I had sounded like. "Well, sounds like fun then, but I'd best get going...I'm going to be late enough for class as it is."

"Oh I am sure it will be," she said with a look that told me perhaps I had indeed overstepped my bounds with her. "Have a nice day at school...David," she said with a tiny little edge to her tone of voice, and then with that, she turned and went back into a sprint again heading towards the house. I looked back seeing Andy standing there leaning against his shovel as she ran towards him.

It was time to leave.

**

I was late, though only a little bit so it didn't turn out so bad. What was bad however, was how the day went. I constantly had my mind on other things...on Bella rather, as opposed to my classes, and especially my work project. DeeDee, my partner a cute little blonde who had in fact flirted with me from time to time, though I hadn't made up my mind about her yet, was concerned at my lack of attention to the project we'd been working on together.

"You don't seem to be here today," she had asked me. "Anything bothering? Troubling you?"

I told her about Bella. She didn't seem too impressed. If anything...suddenly she too was as distant as I'd been. Maybe that was a dumb thing to do. We didn't accomplish much, and I was glad when the time we'd set aside to work together came to an end. Though she did surprise me just at the last moment when we decided to call it a day.

"You should call me sometime," she said. Taking my blackberry, and punching in her number. "There...now you don't have any excuse not to, unless of course you have other reasons," she hinted once again referring to Bella. Obviously...I had said too much.

I more or less drifted through the remainder of the entire day with my mind elsewhere. Thinking about Bella, wondering what she was up to...what she was doing, to whom...where, when and how. I had no right of course, she was her own woman, obviously...and had made that point perfectly clear.

I came to a decision. As much fun as everything had been up until now, not to mention the fact she was of course my first fuck...my best fuck, and that maybe because of that I'd allowed myself to have feelings for her. It was time to reverse that. At least a little anyway. Time to put just a little distance between us perhaps. Show her that I wasn't as jealous, or as controlling as I'd come off sounding earlier. Bella had put me in my place, so it was best that I accept that, and show her I didn't have designs on her, or any expectations beyond that which we'd already shared together. I picked up my phone, punched in the number and called DeeDee. She was obviously surprised when she saw who was calling her, though she answered with some excitement in her tone of voice.

"Didn't I just see you a couple of hours ago?" She asked.

"Yeah," I laughed. "I was wondering. You free for dinner tomorrow evening?"

**

I got home just as Irene and mom were setting the table. I noticed they had only laid out enough places for three.

"Good, you're home. Dinner's almost ready," mom stated. I looked at her not asking the question, though she must have seen it in my eyes. "Bella won't be joining us this evening. She received an invitation to stay and have dinner with Frank and Debra tonight at their place. Told me to tell you not to wait up for her either as she'll probably be home late, and especially with you having another full day of school tomorrow."

"Ah...ok," was all I said in answer to that, and then hurried upstairs to my room in order to change clothes.

It was strange. Both mom and dad seemed to be more like their usual selves. Mom once again dressed rather conservatively. Dad too seemingly preoccupied with his thoughts as the three of us sat there in silence, more or less toying with our food as opposed to actually eating it. It seemed that Bella's mere presence seemed to draw something out in mom and dad that I hadn't seen in either one of them in a very long time. Not until recent anyway. And now...here we were again, almost like it had been before. Eating dinner together yes. But in silence, even more so than we'd done in the past. None of us had finished when I excused myself and headed upstairs to my room, explaining I had a lot of studying to do, and yet again another full day ahead of me. I began doing that, but more often than not, found myself just sitting there staring at my computer screen. I had hardly done anything at all when I heard the sound of a car's tires crunching along the gravel drive way. It wasn't late...but it wasn't early either. It was just after eleven. I was fairly sure that Bella may very well drop in on me if she saw a light coming from beneath my door, so I hurriedly turned everything off and jumped into bed. Doing something I hadn't done for a while, leaving on my briefs as I slipped between the sheets having turned off all the lights.

A short time later I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Sure enough, I heard them walk a bit further past her own bedroom door, and then stop, turning...heading back again. That sound was soon followed by another. The sound of her door opening, and then closing. I lay there for what had to have been twenty minutes, finally starting to feel sleepy and knowing that I would be drifting off soon. I wondered as I did that, if I could expect another nocturnal visit in the middle of the night.

I didn't. I woke up to the sound of my alarm going off. Well...sort of. I'd been staring at it for the past hour waiting for it to do so. When it did, I reached over turning it off and slipped out of bed heading towards the bathroom. I didn't have a morning woody this time either.

**

I dressed, headed downstairs for my morning coffee, went through my morning ritual with Irene, though I really wasn't in the mood for it as we did that. Something she seemed to sense as I rinsed out my cup in the sink, without being asked to do so.

"And in case you're wondering," Irene said. "Bella didn't go for her morning run this morning."

"Oh? She didn't?" I had assumed she had. I had again walked past her open bedroom, her bed made already once again, no sounds coming from inside.

"No...she's waiting for you in your car," Irene said. "Said something about wanting to go to school with you again, wanting to see what a normal day was like so she could herself start getting prepared for that, or some such thing anyway. At least she was dressed."

I actually did smile at that, though saying, "In my car?"

"Unless there's another car you have that I don't know about yet...yes," Irene said sarcastically, and then adding. "Can I plan on you being here for dinner tonight?"

And then I remembered. DeeDee.

I had thought about taking her out, and then for some inexplicable reason, changed my mind. "Yes, I will be. And in fact, plan on one more guest for dinner. I'll be bringing a friend home with me tonight," I told her, to which she raised her eyebrows curiously, looking at me.

"A woman?"

I nodded my head.

"God help you," she said. "Better make it a light one then. I seriously doubt anyone will be eating very much."

**

Sure enough Bella was sitting inside my car when I came out. And somewhat to my surprise, she was in fact a bit more appropriately dressed. She was wearing a nice pair of form-fitting jeans with a rather demure looking blouse on, that though still emphasizing her body beneath, didn't come out and scream that she was ready for sex.

"Good morning...sleep well? I hope I didn't wake you when getting home last night," she said the minute I got in, turning on the ignition.

"Ah no...you didn't, didn't even hear you come home," I told her, receiving a look that told me otherwise upon hearing that. "So...how was your day anyway?" I asked, not really wanting to hear...but wanting to.

Bella settled back in her seat as we drove down the drive heading towards the main street.

"It was nice," she said pleasantly enough. "Met Stacy for some shopping, a little fingering, more shopping, more fingering, and then lunch. Couldn't do much of anything else, there really wasn't any real opportunity to do so, though we did make plans to get together again...soon," she added.