Chasing Cars
By Ani aka Cherished Dreams
Disclaimer: I don't own Stephenie Meyer's characters. I own the plot though! Fic name from Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars.
Chapter One - Collision
"G'Morning Bella! I'm back early!" Alice, my bright eyed roomie says as she walks through our front door and spies me in the kitchen, closing my lunch bag. She's back early from a business trip.
She is royally dubbed, Miss Pixie, by the 'coven' as she calls them. By that, she means, the other people inhabiting our peaceful little apartment block. Taking in her physical features, you'd see why really quickly. She measures only four feet something inches, not including the added length of her short black spiky hair, or the designer heels she wears.
She loves to dress in only the most fashionable, trendy pieces known to mankind, and I sometimes can't help but wonder where she gets all the money to pay for it all. When I asked her once, all I got was a cryptic, "You've got to know where to put your money Bells." I swear I've spied at least ten foreign labels while doing our laundry. All that aside, she's one of my strongest, most loving, caring, not to mention - protective friends.
One glance at the clock and I know I'm right on time to leave for work. On mornings like these, she parks her Turbo (that's a Porche Turbo 911 - like I said - no idea where she gets her money) just behind my car (which pales greatly in comparision), in the underground communal car park. Each apartment gets only one space. Fortunately enough, apartment #11's (which has been rumoured to have been let out recently) car space is still empty.
"Move my car, yar?" I nod absently in reply.
We don't like to take up the space, in case the new renter moves in while we're out, and take turns moving each other's car into our space and move them out of the way whenever we can.
She heads into the kitchen and her face sparks up when she sees the fresh platter of waffles and pancakes, I've made for her and Angela, apartment #14, who breakfasts at our place every other day. She's a shy little thing, but has been one of the nicest neighbours and friends and she even helped us move in.
Alice plants a big one on my cheek in appreciation of my hard work in the kitchen and checks my apparel before approving with a slight wrinkle of her nose and letting me leave the apartment for my day of work. I laugh at her as she critically eyes my bag – only a large leather messenger bag holding the contents of my entire life. I swear she'd find a way to throw it out, and replace it with a Gucci or something like that, if I'd let her. Unfortunately, there aren't many designer bags out there that cater for a laptop, and so she lets it slide. For now, she says. She scares me like that.
I spend an average of twenty minutes in traffic getting to work everyday and try to keep myself preoccupied yet focused on the car in front of me. Heading down the highway is always fun for me after sitting in traffic, the sudden rush of being free of the slow crawl of traffic from one of the busiest main roads heading to the heart of Seattle, going eighty miles per hour, passing the large trucks lumbering in the slower lanes.
Today however, the traffic is a little worse for wear, as the dark gray clouds above start shedding rain down to Earth at a medium setting, seemingly growing darker by the moment. When we reach the curve, the traffics back down to seventy, but it's a slow crawl again trying to turn off into the main road holding the building of my employment. If I got out of my car and walked now, I'd get there in time to still order a coffee and have about ten minutes to spare, before the office's Monday morning meeting.
As I tap my chewed up fingernails on the steering wheel, nearing the turn, I hear a sharp screech of tires behind me and my eyes widen in alarm, when I realize it's the car RIGHT behind me. I brace myself for the impact, but my feet fumble and I'm too late to step down further on my brake and the front of my car, bumps the one in front slightly from the massive impact of the car colliding with mine from behind.
Luckily the car in front, a shiny silver Volvo, 'an expensive car to bump into' I add, cringing mentally, doesn't lurch forward as much as mine and it manages to prevent the domino effect of metal collision, I'm sure would've happened. I let out a shuddering breath of relief. I check myself for any injuries. No broken bones, thank goodness. A small shaky laugh passes my lips, in triumph. No hospital trip for me today.
The driver in front, flips on his emergency lights and steps out into the rain to inspect the damage. A male, it looks like, by the height, but its starting to get darker out and harder to see with the rain pouring down around us. I gather my senses, take a deep breath and step outside with my rainbow umbrella and approach the dark figure, bending over the tail of his car.
"I'm so sorry, are you alright?" I say hurrying as fast as I possibly can towards him. Of course, I wouldn't be Isabella Swan if I didn't slip and slide a little on my way there. But I'm sure the three inch heels, I earlier deemed safe, might've also had a hand in it. Someone upstairs must be amused at seeing me 'collide', because I slip just as I near and slam straight into his straightening form, as well. Curses.
I hear a familiar, "oomph" come out from my lips; and our wobbling bodies teeter back a tiny bit from the collision. "Whoa there", he says (do I detect a slight tone of amusement?), gripping my shoulders, pushing me steadily upright again. I blink and lift my head to look at him.
"Are you alright?" I nod dumbly, rendered speechless by his smouldering green eyes. His fingers light on my shoulders, keeping me upright, don't seem to help my vocal abilities. Heat rises and I feel my cheeks fill with warm blood. I groan internally knowing I'm probably red as a tomato. He chuckles lightly, probably at what I look like at the moment. The ring of his laugh shakes me back into reality. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding and turn the rainbow umbrella in my hand the right way up over us.
"I'm Bell—Isabella Swan. I'm so sorry about that. The impact from behind me was ... and I didn't get the chance to break harder and..." I try to explain, slightly rushed, and slightly shocked at it all still. He'll probably want to exchange insurance details in a moment.
He raises his cheek into what feels like a half smile, (but more of a sort of crooked grin) and replies, "Edward Cullen." His nicely angled features soon turn serious as he looks over my shoulder. "We'd better go see if he's alright don't you think?" He hesitantly grips my elbow gently and leads us past the length of my car, a slight incline (another reason why I probably slipped), and he lets go to open the small red car door, to see if the other driver is alright.
The first thing I see however is the driver's bent forward into his lightly inflated air bags. Steam starts pouring out from under his car hood at that opportune moment. I jump at the sudden sound. (Jumpy, jumpyyyy, Beeelllllaaaa.) I laugh shaken and raise a hand to my chest, heart throbbing painfully in my ribcage.
"Hey! Are you alright?" I ask, looking over the green-eyed stranger's shoulder, hoping I don't kill their eardrums from my abnormally loud and panicked voice (I think I also heard some hysteria in there too). The teenager rouses and leans back into his seat.
"I'm ... ok, I think", he lets out in a husky groan.
I'm slightly relieved until a familiar, yet stomach-turning smell reaches my nose. I don't need to see the red liquid, but I know its there – outside of its usual confines. I start swaying slightly on the spot, the rusty, salty smell allowing the sensation of nausea to run hazardously through my veins. I pull off the purple silk scarf from my neck unsteadily and try to pass it forward to the green eyed stranger to stop the blood flow with it. Blood pumps up to my brain painfully, and I know it's a start of a massive headache.
I reach out weakly, dots flashing in front of me, and my trembling hand collides with a smooth yet damp material. The last thing I see is flashing green eyes and hands reaching out towards me, before the world is extinguished of light.
"She'll be up soon."
I wince at the loud commotion going on around me, and I hear the occasional wooop of an ambulance's siren, pierce the air. I hear a sigh and I open my eyes and sit up. "You're feeling better then?" Edward says, sitting next to me, his face crumpled in concern. "If I'd known you'd bumped your head, I would've insisted you sit as I went to see how Jacob was." He sees my confused look and explains that Jacob is the other driver.
"Oh." I manage in reply. (Excellent Bella, a hit to the head and you're reduced to a blubbering idiot in front of this Adonis)
I gather myself up before explaining, "I'm not very good with blood." He chuckles at this and extends a hand to help me out of the ambulance. Once outside, I see, Jacob in another ambulance being fussed over. The police direct people around the lane a few meters back, and cars pass us slowly as drivers and passengers look out their windows to see what's caused this traffic. The EMTs give me a fresh cold disposable compress for my neck for the whiplash and an order to see my doctor should I feel anything more later on.
I call my boss, Emily and tell her what's happened and she's ordered me to take the day off at least and hangs up on me, before I can even start protesting. The police question us quickly about any details we can give about the car accident and two tow trucks come to take away the red Lancer and my car.
I assess the damage to my beloved poor little Mini Cooper. A scratch to its front, and its backside dented in, with the body crumpled. I hoped to God that he would get all better with some surgery. Edward chuckles quietly beside me slightly and I turn to him with a frown on my face. He looks back with an ashamed look on his face, probably hoping he hasn't offended me with his apparent amusement.
"I don't see how this is funny, Mr Cullen. I saved up for my baby since high school; I've only had him for three years!"
My face crumbles a little and I look away from his face and from my car hoping the sadness will wash away. I hear him sigh. "Look I have a good friend who can take care of stuff like this in a flash and quite nicely, as if you'd never gotten into an accident at all. Would you like to give him a try?"
I look back at him a little taken back by his suggestion, but tear up a little as I see my car next to him.
Jacob rushes, as fast as he can after being with the EMTs and the police, next to me and sees my watery eyes as I look at my car and apologizes with grief apparent in his voice. "I'm so sorry Isabella! I should've slowed down and I saw you but misjudged... and your car! It wouldn--" I cut him off raising my hand.
"It'll be fine. Just be a bit more careful next time ok? We could've gotten into much worse," I say in a stern yet forgiving voice. He nods, still ashamed of his actions, so I add, "And call me Bella. Isabella is too formal like and makes me sound old and I'm pretty sure you both know that I'm not." I try to joke with a small smile. I'm graced with Edward's musical tinkle of a laugh and Jacob's easy booming laugh.
"And Edward's just recommended me a good mechanic to get my baby back on the road." Jacob's face lightens up with this news, as I'd hoped, and Edward, breaks out into that crooked grin which melts me a bit. He's nice enough to call ahead to his friend and give us--me a lift there, calling in to work to take the day off. Jacob, still sorry for the accident pulls open the passenger door of Edward's car and presses me into the seat, and insists on travelling with tow trucks.
"So... what do you do Bella?" Edward asks as he pulls away from the other cars and towards his friend's garage.
I tell him about my being a small time journalist and full time university student starting my third year. The pay and the experience aside, it was good decent work with great colleagues and flexible understanding employers. He tells me about being an arts grad student, trying to finish by the end of the year.
We fall into easy conversation and soon I'm so absorbed in his deep smooth voice, I don't realize we've arrived at the garage, until he turns to me expectantly. Still a little out of it, he snickers and pushes the button to release me out of the seatbelt. My face heats up. He doesn't wait for me, jumps out of the car and, quickly walks to open my door, surprising me. I take his proffered hand and a shot of electricity flows through me at the contact of his warm skin. Its unfamiliar and startling. I wonder briefly, if he felt it too.
"Thanks!" I say, forcing myself to remove my hand from his, in case I do something utterly embarrassing (like jump into his arms). My hand tingles from the contact. He lifts his cheek into that gorgeous crooked grin again before turning and walking to the garage. A big burly man, who I immediately assume is Edward's friend, walks up to him, and rumples his hair in greeting. I can't help but bite my lip to keep my bubbling laughter in, as he swat's his friend's hand away from his hair. I quickly retrieve my bag and join them. I hear a not-so-quietly mumbled 'lucky jerk' coming from the mechanic's direction, before I slide to a stop next to them.
Author's Note: Let me know what you think! :) A long first chapter to explain their meetings. I can only hope the future ones will be just as long! I'm planning for a multi-chaptered fic. Hopefully. Encourage me with your thoughts! :) Rating may go up in the future. I'm still trying to decide.