The Epic T-Rated Contest
1. No lemons. Must be rated 'T.'
2. Has to have a line or reference to a cannibal.
3. Has to have a line or reference to a fireman.
4. All canon pairings.
5. Has to be a one-shot, but is allowed to be continued once the contest is finished.
6. Must copy/paste these rules to the top of your submission. Two entries per person. Collaborations acceptable.
7. Must PM Bronzehairedgirl620 to alert them of your entry so we can add your story to the C2 if it fits the requirements.
The contest will run until June 6th, 11:59 MST (Mountain Standard Time.) Submissions need to be posted to FF and must follow the rules above.
For: Daddy's Little Cannibal. 'Nough said.
Bella glanced up as the bells above the store door jingled, and then quickly glanced back down sightlessly at the books she was ringing up. Right on time. Same time, same day, and he'd always follow the same path as before.
He'd walk by without looking up from the floor, and turn into the third aisle of books. He'd walk out with one of them, sit down at the café table farthest from the front of the store, and read for half an hour. Exactly. Then he would return the book to the shelf or tuck it under his arm, walk up the small stairs to the register of the café, and order a regular drink, paying for the book there if he had one. He'd smile at the barista, making her visibly swoon, then walk out the door again. Without looking up.
Tuesdays were her favorite days to work now, even if the mornings were notoriously slow and dragged on forever. It didn't matter, as long as she got those forty minutes to peek over at him.
Admittedly, she was probably being pathetic. During one of her breaks after he'd left one week, she'd wandered over to that aisle and searched for any book with a cover resembling the one he'd been reading. It was surprisingly simple - nearly the whole aisle was Dean Koontz and other horror stories. She'd found the one he'd been reading after a few minutes of searching, and brought it with her to a seat in the café.
And it got worse - a week after that, she'd left the register in the hands of someone else for a "bathroom break" and walked by as he was ordering. He liked to get vanilla lattes, extra hot, double shot. She knew she was bordering on obsession and stalker tendencies, but… it wasn't like she was going to start following him out of the store and home or something.
Her thoughts had distracted her from his proceedings enough that when she glanced over, he was already sitting and reading a book. Bella spent a few moments ogling how the lighting reflected in his oddly shaded hair when suddenly another face popped in front of her vision.
"Hey Bella!"
Biting the inside of her cheek to keep from groaning aloud, Bella muttered back, "Hi Mike."
Mike was the brother-in-law of the owner or something like that, and she was pretty sure he was married or at least in a serious relationship, because the same girl showed up when he got off work and draped herself over him. Did that stop him from hitting on her, and any other single girl who came by?
Not. At. All.
Bella rested her chin in the palm of her hand, eyes unfocused as Mike babbled on and on, mindlessly filling the soft quiet of the small bookstore. Occasionally, she would offer up one of her vague smiles that kept him pleased and speaking, and slant her eyes back over to the Tuesday Guy. He'd leisurely turn a page, and sometimes he would look up and stare ahead of himself for a few moments. It was Bella's guess that he became lost in thought at those moments, because that was the best, logical explanation she could think of.
A few customers came up while Mike prattled on about mindless gibberish, and Bella rang up their buys, smiling and chatting with the ones she saw more regularly than others, and still being sure to share books she thought might interest unfamiliar customers when she saw a link between the book they were buying and one she knew of. Mike would finally pause in these moments, but then he'd go back to filling her ears with his boring noise.
Half an hour passed, and Tuesday Guy rose to put his book away. Bella sighed sadly, wishing Mike would go away, and wishing something would break the always bittersweet monotony of Tuesdays.
"-and so we were falling down the side of the mount-"
"Excuse me," a muted velvet voice interrupted, and she was never more grateful. Bella was pretty sure she'd just caught Mike staring down her shirt. Attempting to be covert about it, she reached down to tug the top of the shirt higher into place, glaring slightly in Mike's direction before plastering a smile on her face.
Before her stood Tuesday Guy, grinning crookedly and with extreme amusement. When Mike simply stepped aside, Tuesday Guy narrowed his eyes slightly and turned completely towards her. "I was wondering if you could help me, miss. It seems no one is at the customer help desk, and I was wondering if you would mind helping me find a certain book?"
"Sure," Bella said, walking around the register desk, and leading the way to the computers where they looked up books in the system. When she stepped behind there, and looked up at Tuesday Guy's face, he was still grinning.
"I lied, you know," he stated.
"Pardon?" Bella asked, a little confused, at least momentarily. "You lied?"
He shrugged. "You looked like you needed rescuing." He leaned closer to her over the desk, his hands placed on the top and a smirk playing on the corners of his mouth. "I think that guy's a cannibal - he looked ready to eat you."
Bella laughed, unable to help herself. Tuesday Guy grinned, leaning back with a small look of satisfaction. Catching her breath, Bella couldn't stop grinning back, and decided to take this moment to admire him up close.
His eyes were a bright, unblended, undiluted green. Nice, full lips. Chiseled features, pale and perfect complexion. Jesus, he looked like a statue from the Renaissance depicting a god or epic hero. It should be completely illegal to be so good looking.
"Well, I appreciate you being my Knight in Shining Armor," Bella finally said, blushing at the slightly awkward movement in conversation.
Still grinning lightly, he responded, "Well, maybe it's in my blood. My father and uncle used to be volunteer firefighters when they were just out of college."
Bella smiled, unable to keep from picturing the guy in front of her as a firefighter. Talk about hot.
After another small pause, he held out his hand. "I'm Edward."
"Bella." Smiling, she offered her hand for him to grip. His was warm, slightly callused, and firm. Bella wanted to swoon, but for the sake of her pride, she managed not to. It was a close thing though, she felt.
When he took his hand back, it moved to rub against the back of his neck and he leaned a hip against the desk. "So, uh…. I see you here every Tuesday."
Blinking rapidly, Bella said, "Um, yes. Same… same here."
Edward grinned quickly, then added, "Well, I haven't exactly been irregular in my visits."
Blushing, Bella looked down, strands of hair falling into her face. Biting her lip to keep back her smile from growing too large, she held a breath before looking back up, hoping her expression didn't show how much she wanted to read into that.
Gosh, he struck her as even more gorgeous, looking up at her through his dark long lashes. What is it with guys and long lashes? It wasn't like they appreciated them, Bella thought absently to herself.
"There's been a reason for that, you know."
There's a reason they don't appreciate their eyelashes? Bella thought jokingly to herself for a split second. Outloud, however, she managed to respond normally. "Oh?" Bella felt a slight surprise to hear her voice come out coyly, with only a hint of her usual shyness.
He leaned back over the top of the desk, smirking slightly again. "I saw you once, and I had to keep coming back to see those large brown doe eyes of yours as you kept trying to not look at me."
Bella felt her cheeks turn fire engine red but couldn't stop grinning. This had to be all that good luck she'd stored up from all the bad luck of being clumsy in life. Heck, if being clumsy forever meant she got at least one date with this guy, she just might die happy.
"So," he said playfully, "In risk of being utterly embarrassed. Will you go out with me Friday night, so I can stop feeling like a stalker by coming here every Tuesday morning?"
Her grin split her face so wide it hurt, but she just couldn't stop. This complete stranger - gorgeous stranger - wanted to go out with her on Friday. The sensible side of her warned that for all she knew, he really was a stalker and she would get murdered. The side of her that had been basically stalking him back said it really didn't care, and that it should be sooner than Friday.
Reaching out, Bella grabbed Edward's palm in a spurt of confidence brought on by his admittance of coming here just to see her every week. Using the pen that waited with clones of itself on the desk, Bella scribbled her cell number on his palm and wrote her name underneath it.
Looking up into those intoxicating green eyes, she grinned, excitement and an almost nervous energy flowing through her. "Call me anytime."
A slow crooked grin spread over his lips, revealing perfectly straight white teeth. "That I will do Bella. Make no doubt about it."
Ha ha, I may be (alright, I so totally am) biased, but I think it's cute.