Story Title
A Thousand Ways To Say Yes
Summary
"I don't follow sports, I'm not into sports, this is just a job," I told Edward Cullen. "And I'm not into players of sports. I mean it."
Rating
T
DISCLAIMER
Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight.
The organizers of this contest and the authors of the stories submitted intend no copyright infringement.
ANONYMITY DISCLAIMER
This story is the work of its author and not of this contest. It has been submitted under the With a Burning Heart pen name for the purposes of this contest only. It remains the work of its author.
When Alice announced her latest madcap scheme to meet guys I was less than impressed.
"Vancouver? How are we supposed to get there every day? Kind of a long commute, don't you think?" I said, considering we lived in Washington.
"I've got cousins there we could stay with," she answered.
"And two weeks? Why would we drop everything for some short term job in another city?" I asked.
"Drop everything? What everything? We're not currently doing anything! Doing nothing versus two weeks of non-stop, fun-filled action surrounded by hot boys? It's win on so many levels," she pleaded.
"We wouldn't be near any of them. Come on," I groaned. "With our luck that's probably guaranteed."
"Look," she said, with that Alice expression I knew so well - that 'never admit defeat' expression. "It'll be a great job and a great experience you'll be able to tell your grandchildren about, whatever happens," she insisted.
I was very nearly beaten. She could be very persuasive even without resorting to the wheedle.
I made my last shot at resisting. "Where did you see this ad anyway? How do we know it's legit?"
"It was on the noticeboard at the gym! Stewards wanted for the Winter Olympics!" she said triumphantly, as I snorted. My dear bestie Alice was no gym bunnie, but she was prepared to go to any lengths in pursuit of hot boys. Apparently, she was prepared to dress up in yoga pants and a sports bra and prance around in front of weightlifters at a fitness center. And worse, apparently she was capable of applying for a job in Vancouver and uprooting me as well, just to get in a bit of perving. She was impossible.
I duly acceded to her rampant urging and we filled in our applications and sent them off. I wasn't even expecting to hear back, but we did and we were called in for interviews, which proved to be rigorous. After the interviews there were security checks and when we were called back for uniform fittings it started to look real, like it was really going to happen. Once we were summoned for site visits, we realized that we'd actually made it. Alice got the accommodation sorted and two weeks later we were doing an orientation course, being issued with a map of the various facilities around the city, and it was official. Alice and I were Olympic stewards. Unbelievable.
On the first day the dozens of us who'd scored the highly coveted positions were divided into teams. I got men's ice hockey.
"Oh, my god, Bella, you've hit the jackpot!" Alice yelped. "Have you been watching any ice hockey?"
"No, Alice I haven't, and if there's anything more time-wasting than a bunch of grown men skimming around a frozen rink chasing a little brown rubber turd so they can whack it with a stick I really don't want to know what it is," I sniped. Alice was staring at me with disbelief.
"Have you laid eyes on our proud nations' champion hockey players?" she asked. "You haven't, have you? Don't you ever peer out of that bubble of yours?" She shook her head sorrowfully. "Listen to me, Bella. Reasons to like Ice Hockey. Number one: Jasper Whitlock. Number Two: Edward Cullen. Number Three: Emmett McCarthy. Number Four: Jacob - "
I interrupted. "Alice, you're just reciting a list of names that mean nothing to me. I'm here to support you in your endeavor to make a fool of yourself swooning over some morons with over-developed muscles and under-developed brains and I wish you all the very best. I hope you enjoy your recreational ogling while I carry out my duties as stated in the job description."
"You'll see," Alice said, with the gimlet eye. "You'll see."
So there I was in the ice hockey complex, the subterranean labyrinth of utility rooms, locker rooms, corridors, showers, lavatories and offices and the multitudes of entrances to the the rink itself. My job was to present myself at the door to the American team's dressing room and escort them to the correct entrance at the correct time. Then I waited while they played and escorted them back. Prior to the starting of the Games proper there were warm-up matches and training sessions and then serious preliminary rounds to determine the initial play-offs. I will admit to feeling nervous and excited that first time when I stood at the door waiting for team to come out, despite my protestations to Alice that I couldn't care less. All the members had masks on and I couldn't see any faces properly. I couldn't even get a real look at what their physiques were like as the uniforms had protective padding, and apparently airpanels as well, however obviously there were extremely well-toned bodies filing past me. I'd always been more interested in what a man had to say than what he looked like but even so I was grudgingly impressed. To be at that level of your chosen field and to be that fit showed a dedication and degree of passion I found admirable, but god - if they could be that dedicated and passionate couldn't they put themselves to better use than running around with a surfeit of energy? Why weren't these people curing cancer or providing a solution to global poverty? What good are sporting skills in a world where children suffer?
So I was very underwhelmed about the whole thing.
"Have you met any of the team yet?" Alice asked that night.
"No, and whenever I see them they have masks on like they're dobermanns or Hannibal Lecter or something," I said. "Like they're going to bite. How are you going?"
Poor Alice had been assigned to the women's curling team and couldn't believe it. "Oh, just bloody great," she said. "I'm here to perv at the delicious boys and I'm assigned to a women's team and you couldn't care less and you get to stand outside Jasper Whitlock's dressing room when he's in there naked only a few feet away! The god of irony is laughing at me. Can we swap jobs?"
"Not after that whole security procedure we went through. We'd be sacked on the spot and probably arrested as terrorists. Alice, you don't have security clearance for the arena at the right times, and it's probably just as well," I laughed.
Despite my disinterest in the whole hoo-haa I do admit to an internal cheer when our boys won their preliminary round, and an under the breath yahoo when they got into the semi-finals.
They'd come off panting and messed up, high-fiving each other and laughing and swearing, pulling helmets off and holding towels to their faces.
My breath did catch and my heart did swell a little when they got through to the finals. Even though I'd never spoken to any of them I was starting to feel that they were my team. Not because they were representing the country I lived in, but because they'd worked so hard.
There was absolute fervor going on in the media and Alice became more frenzied, saying, "There must be parties! They must all hang out together after the matches. Do they speak to you? Do they invite you?"
I had to assure her, "God, Alice, of course they don't! They probably all go back to their hotel and practice salute to the sun or something. They're probably all on special diets and if they were to eat so much as an extra sprig of parsley it would upset the balance decreed by their nutritionist. They couldn't be at their peak if they partied - this is serious Alice. And no, none of them speak to me."
"Bella, you're just not trying hard enough. Do you even say hello? You're pretty, they must have noticed, all it takes is for you to be friendly," she grumbled. She wasn't ready to give up yet. "Here have a look at this, and then tell me you have no interest in talking to them."
She held out the program opened to the Ice Hockey page it was the first proper look I'd had at our boys. I was speechless. This was a sporting event, right? Not a beauty contest - but they were all gorgeous. I put faces to the names I'd been hearing around me for days and I knew there was no way I could speak to any of them - not now, not ever.
The one Alice liked, Jasper Whitlock, was dirty blond and shaggy with a pouty lower lip and fuck-me eyes. The star player, Emmett McCarty, had perfect bone structure and was probably the handsomest man I had ever seen - male-model perfect. The one that caught my eye though was Edward Cullen, who seemed in a way apart from the others. He wasn't looking at the camera, he wasn't even bothering to pose. His gaze was distant, as though he was thinking of something a million miles away from a photo shoot.
"Now do you get it?" Alice demanded.
I handed her the program back. "Okay, they're good-looking. So what?"
She sighed at me. "Bells, lighten up. Relax. Allow yourself the tiniest bit of fun. It wouldn't hurt to say something to them. Hey - would you pass Jasper a note for me?"
"Alice, really, what part of the whole security concept don't you understand?" I asked in exasperation.
The next day was the day before the final. I checked my schedule and saw that America's finest were due for a training session on the small rink adjacent to the main arena. I turned up early as I always did and waited until it was time to knock on the door.
At my knock the door swung open as whoever had last gone through it mustn't have checked that the latch had caught securely. That was my first surprise. My second surprise was that there was only one person in the room and the rest of the team was nowhere to be seen. My third surprise knocked the breath clean out of me and caused my heart to lurch. The player, whoever he was, was stark naked.
He was standing with his back to me toweling his hair and I couldn't see who he was despite the mirror at the other end of the room because the towel was obscuring his face. He was tall and rangy and dripping wet. I stared for frozen seconds at the breadth of his shoulders, the rippling of his trapezius and deltoid muscles and the sheer power evident in him, the graceful sweep of his spine streaked with rivulets of shower water, the flare of his buttocks and the bulk and tightness of his thighs. His forearms and legs had reddish brown hair and so did his head, as I saw the second his arms dropped, taking the towel with them. He looked into the mirror and saw me there behind him, paralyzed and wide-eyed. It was Edward Cullen.
The mirror was chest height, so I couldn't see his front from any further down, but with the barest suggestion of a smirk, he turned around.
"Are you meant to be here?" he asked.
"Perhaps not," I answered, my gaze locked to his with a super-human effort. "I'm sorry. Excuse me."
The smirk became more than a suggestion, it became an actuality. "Wait a minute - I know you. You're our steward," he said. "You never speak, you never smile. It's as if you don't even want to be here. Why did you take the job? A lot of people would have given their right arm for it."
"Maybe that's why it was given to me," I answered. "The organizers knew I wouldn't bother you. And without wanting to appear discriminatory they may have considered it advantageous that a steward have both arms. Sometimes we have to carry stuff."
His eyes narrowed and with my peripheral vision I could see he was draping the towel around his hips. My gaze never left his.
"Stoic little miss, aren't you?" he asked. "I'm Edward Cullen."
I took the hand he proffered, and mine was very small in his. "Bella Swan," I answered. "Where are the rest of the team? You've got a training session scheduled."
"You weren't in on the memo? Training was put back an hour. It appears you have a little free time. Perhaps you could use it to berate your supervisor for sending you to a locker room with a naked man in it."
"Yes, I think I will. Thank you for your suggestion." I turned to leave, but he stepped after me and took my arm.
"You know, sometimes people smile when introductions are exchanged. It's polite," he said.
"You didn't," I pointed out.
"No, but I'm smiling now," he said, and he was. His upper teeth were even, his lower teeth a little crooked. He had two or three days of stubble on his chin and upper lip. His eyes were extremely intelligent, way more intelligent than I would have expected to see in a sportsperson. My prejudices might have been a little out.
"Yes, that would definitely qualify as a smile. Well done," I said, needing to get out of there before I lost my composure. With a flash of inspiration I adjusted the mouthpiece of my communicator and pretended someone had just contacted me.
"Mr Banner? Yes, Swan here." Banner was the site manager. "Certainly. I'll be right there."
"See you in an hour, Chuckles," Edward called behind me as I fled.
And then, despite the fact that I'd been bluffing about the coms message, something actually came through from Banner.
"Swan?" he barked. "We're putting extra staff on for today and tomorrow. I'm pulling people in from other areas, and you're going to have a sidekick for the rest of the duration. Girl called Brandon. Go to checkpoint Foxtrot at eleven hundred hours and meet her there."
Brandon? I couldn't believe it. That was Alice.
"Yessir. Received and understood. Roger. Over and out," I answered, and he chuckled. He and I got on pretty well.
"Thank you, Bravo Sierra," he said. "You know what else BS stands for?"
"Sir, that's unprofessional," I answered.
Alice was waiting for me at eleven at the meeting point, and she'd found some way of making her uniform tighter.
"Ohmigod, ohmigod, I got a transfer, I'm hyperventilating, I'm going to see JASPER close up," she was panting and I grimaced at her.
"He's going to have his mind on other things, not meeting some lovesick, swooning desperado with 32A minuses in a push-up bra," I scolded. "Olympic gold, Alice? With Glowing Hearts? Remember?"
"Yeah, yeah. I've got to find some way to make him notice me. Then win or lose, I've got to get to him after the game."
"Alice, you're starting to scare me."
We had ten minutes to get to the team and escort them to their training session, and I spent all of it trying to calm Alice down.
"Do you peek into their room? Are they stretching? Like, warming up? Do they do any funny chants? Do you ever see any of them with their shirts off?" she was going on and on, and I just couldn't bring myself to tell her what had transpired earlier. I knew she would start squealing, because that would be her first, typical, essentially Alician reaction, and then I'd have to gag her and throw her in a closet and I'd be late, and the team would be late, and Banner would start speaking NATO to me again and it would all be very, very bad. So I didn't tell her.
"Just shut up and follow me. They appreciate that I don't say anything," I assured her, and presented myself at the door.
As they filed past, masked, one of them inclined his head towards me. Green eyes looked into mine. Okay, I don't know how many of the team had green eyes, but it wasn't a common eye color. And anyway, now that I'd seen Edward Cullen properly, I could recognize him, even with clothes on. I inclined my head in acknowledgement. Alice was too preoccupied to notice.
"I saw Jasper, and I said good luck and we're all very proud of you," she burbled happily, stars in her eyes.
"This is training. It's non-competitive. They're just whizzing around out there," I told her, but she refused to come back to earth.
"He smiled!" she insisted. "Oh God, I wish I could do physio. He's going to need a massage!"
After the whizzing around during which I had to endure a near insufferable running commentary from my companion, the boys filed back out to us again.
"You're doing so well. I'm behind you all the way," Alice gushed to Jasper, who had his helmet off and appeared to be giving her quite the grin. If you liked effusiveness, she had it to spare.
I was walking ahead, but I felt a presence at my side and turned to see Edward.
"Is it part of your duties to towel players down after their showers?" he asked. "Is that why you came to our room this morning?"
"Of course not, you can all do it by yourselves, you're big boys," I answered, not willing to participate in any games.
"How would you know? You didn't look," he smirked.
I spoke without turning towards him. "Listen, I don't follow sports, I'm not into sports, this is just a job. I'm not a sports groupie, I wish you all the best and you're obviously at the top of your field and you've worked very hard to get here, and good for you. I admire determination. But you're wasting your time if you're trying to flirt with me. I don't appreciate it. Find someone who does."
"Stoic little miss, aren't you?" he said, and we were back at the room.
He hesitated at the door, instead of going straight in. "I've got a little free time this afternoon, and we're allowed to drink non-caffeinated herbal tea. Would you like to join me?"
Was he seriously asking me to meet him later? For a cup of chamomile tea? What on earth for?
"I have duties," I said, those being to soundly reprimand Alice for speaking to Jasper and to threaten her with a fate worse than no more chocolate, ever, if she should even attempt to speak to him tomorrow. "And, about having already said that I'm not remotely into sports? That applies to players of sports, too. I mean it."
"Oh, okay, sure. Fair enough," he nodded. I thought that would be it, but he didn't go through the door.
"Can I just ask - do you have some sort of obscure dental problem? I don't mean to be rude. Are you self-conscious about your teeth? Or are you just dour by nature? Why don't you smile?" he asked.
"Dour by nature, you got it," I said, but then I couldn't hold back a grin. In fact, within a matter of seconds it was a fully fledged smile, exposed teeth and all. He had looked so earnest, not smirking now, just genuine and nice. And I liked his vocabulary. I had never heard anyone actually use the word dour.
"At last, Bella," he said.
In my shared toom with Alice that night I was very stern.
"Don't you even so much as think about Jasper tomorrow. He'll pick up the vibes, and you'll jinx him, you'll put him off his game. You've got to just concentrate on not doing anything that could possibly be construed as distracting. Got that?" I insisted.
"Yes, Bella, I've got it. It's important, I know. I'm not going to give him my number until afterwards. You know Banner said the stewards will be needed at the big party to celebrate the Games closing? I can't wait. Please, please, please God, let Jasper notice me. Let him not already have a girlfriend. Ohh, I'm going to walk right up to him and..." and she started fantasizing, aloud.
"I am definitely making sure I'm not around when you pounce, Alice, because I don't want to be the one to have to clean up the blood," I said. "That poor boy."
The next day the atmosphere was electric. Everybody was acting like they were walking on eggshells, all the other staffers were beside themselves with excitement, and when Alice and I went to collect the team the air itself was charged. I caught a glimpse of Edward's face and he looked completely internalized, staring straight ahead with such steely focus it was incredible. Emmett and Jacob, two giants, were grinning and punching each other on the arms, but their smiles didn't reach their eyes. Everybody was tense and pre-occupied.
The stadium burst into an absolute uproar when our boys went in there, even though they weren't the home team. Everyone was just so damn proud of them. Alice and I stood in our allocated places and the teams assumed their starting positions, Emmett playing center for our team, Edward and Jasper as the two wingers, Jacob in goal and the other two players in the defence positions. Immediately prior to the beginning of the game you could have heard a pin drop, it was eerily still in there, the crowd seeming to be holding its collective breath waiting for the referee to blow his whistle and commence the action.
It was pretty exhilarating to be there, the air frosty and cold, Alice nearly jumping out of her skin next to me, and me hoping despite myself that our boys would acquit themselves well. Of course they already had, simply by being there. I went into a bit of a reverie as the whole thing started, feeling as though it was slow motion despite the fact that it was actually brutally fast. During the past few weeks, not to mention during my life so far, I hadn't really bothered to grasp the rudiments of ice hockey - all the stuff about offside and out of play, but the out of play rule suddenly affected me, a matter of five minutes into the game.
I found myself in hospital.
My head hurt like nothing on earth and Alice was hovering over me with an indescribable air about her of worry and frustration and God knows what else.
"Bella, holy heck, are you awake? Are you with me? How many fingers am I holding up?" she said breathlessly, staring into my eyes and waving her hands around in agitation far too quickly for me to count her fingers. I felt fuzzy.
"Do you know what happened?" she demanded.
"Aaarrgghh," I answered, raising my hand to where my head hurt. She batted my hand away.
"You got hit by the puck!" she exclaimed. "You were knocked right out - they stopped the game while you were put in a stretcher and carried away - Edward Cullen tried to jump out of the rink - you were on the TV news!!" she squealed.
"Wait," I moaned. "I've been injured? By a fucking hockey puck?"
"You sure have, sweetie pie. It was traveling at around a hundred miles an hour, and it smacked you right in the side of the forehead. Your face has been stuck back together with that special glue they use. No stitches, hon, don't worry. How're you feeling? The anaesthetic could be starting to wear off I guess, it doesn't look bad, honestly you're still gorgeous, it was Edward you know, the puck deflected off his blade, you should have seen his face, he came over to the side of the rink like lightning and the ref had to caution him..."
"Shouldn't we go back there? We're supposed to be working..." I mumbled.
"Oh Bella, it's all over. Our boys took the silver. Edward dropped his game so badly he had to be replaced, but it was still really exciting, apparently, I've been here with you so I missed it all but there's been a bit of footage to watch on TV, and oh Bella, it's the worst thing to have happened to you, and I'm so sorry, but can I just say one thing? Jasper spoke to me!!! He said, "I'm sorry about your colleague." He said he hoped you'd be all right! The doctor said you were okay. You've got a mild concussion..."
I put my hand up again, tentatively, and again, Alice stopped me. She reached out and laced my fingers with hers. It felt like my face was on fire, albeit with a dull flame.
"They're keeping you in for observation tonight, and you'll probably be discharged tomorrow," she burbled on.
"Have you got a mirror?" I demanded, knowing full well that of course she did, she always had a mirror. I'm not vain, but one side of my forehead was starting to throb and I wanted to see why.
"Oh, you don't need a mirror, don't worry about that, it's just a scratch, honestly," Alice tried to assure me, and then the curtain on the side of my bed opposite to where she was sitting drew back and a voice said "Jesus Christ."
I knew that voice without seeing its owner, although I hadn't heard it many times before. I turned to him now, and he visibly winced at me, looking horrified. Edward Cullen.
"I couldn't get away until now. I'm sorry it took me this long to get here." He sat down. "Bella, I will never be able to tell you how sorry I am about what I did to you. Injuries are part and parcel of the game, it's a risk we take, the players all know it, but injuring a spectator..." his voice tailed off as Alice eyed him with interest. "How are you feeling? As if I need to ask. Pretty bad, I imagine."
"Alice, mirror," I demanded weakly.
"You mean you haven't seen yourself?" he asked me, casting a worried glance at Alice.
"Mirror," I repeated.
"Bella, I've spoken to the attendant doctor and he tells me you'll be in overnight, but could I collect you in the morning? Would you have breakfast with me?" Edward asked, his eyes concerned, but there was something else there as well. I wasn't sure what, I wasn't quite all together yet. There was no mistaking Alice's eyes though. They were popping out.
"Well, I should go and get you a change of clothes and a toothbrush and stuff, and ah, Edward - could you stay here while I'm gone? In case Bella needs anything? I'm Alice, by the way, hello," she said quickly, already standing up, and neatly side- stepping the whole mirror issue again. I became aware that one of my eyes felt quite puffy.
"Oh, I've got a swollen eye, haven't I? I asked redundantly.
"Sort of a purple eye, more or less, but it'll go down in a day or two," Alice said, bending to kiss my cheek. "It's a lovely color. It suits you." Edward just sat there.
"Sports related injuries, huh? Am I the first person you've hospitalized or just the latest in a long line?" I asked him, intending to be funny but he looked immediately pained.
"God, Bella, I'm so sorry, you've no idea, of all the things that could go wrong, hitting someone has got to be the worst, and you, of all people..." his voice trailed off.
"Me of all people, what?" I frowned, although I didn't think the frown really came off, because I felt like something the size of a lemon was sticking out of the side of my face now. Only one eyebrow seemed to rise to the occasion.
"Well, you've made your feelings quite clear. You're not a big fan. It's not exactly a badge of honor for you, is it?" he asked.
"Alice said if we took this job we'd be able to tell our grandchildren about it," I shrugged. "As long as I don't have brain damage I'm doing okay, aren't I?"
"Apparently you've been scanned and all brain activity looks normal. I'm sure I'm going to have to make regular checks on you, though, starting tomorrow," he said, and took my hand. "Breakfast, remember?"
"You don't have to, Edward, really, look I'm sure there's a big party on and you should get back to the guys. And there's plenty of girls too, no doubt, all wanting to celebrate with their sporting heroes. Go and have fun, or whatever is it you do at parties."
He grinned. "This is kinda fun, actually. You're very diverting. I'd like to hear you deconstructing my athletic endeavors and criticizing the path my life has taken to get me here. And I'm sure you can expound on competition theory. And I would really love to hear more about your bias against sports players - is it based on personal experience or did you arrive at it through balanced theoretical analysis?"
Smiling back at him actually hurt, presumably because some of the muscles required were in the vicinity of my eye, so I gave him what probably looked like a rictus.
"Careful, Bella, your stoicism is slipping," he warned, still holding my hand, which I withdrew hastily.
"Can you take Alice to the party?" I asked, because I knew my loyal friend would insist on staying with me and passing up her chance to talk to Jasper, and I didn't want all her fierce wishing of the last few weeks to amount to nothing.
"You're not trying to set me up with her, are you?" he asked with a slight frown. Even frowning he was completely gorgeous.
"No, of course not. I don't even know if you're single. You could have some glamorous girlfriend waiting back at the stadium, in fact, I'm sure you have. A glamorous sports star girlfriend," I said.
He shook his head. "I don't have a girlfriend, glamorous or otherwise. I've been too busy, at my level of competition, and too dedicated. Anyway, I've yet to met a female sports star I've been interested in. I quite like stewards, though."
I wasn't sure quite what he meant by this last remark.
"Well, if you go along with Alice tonight she'll introduce you to a hundred of them and you'll be able to take your pick," I offered.
"Ah, well your friend Alice might be a little too occupied to introduce me to a hundred people," he replied. "One of my team mates has his eye on her and he's announced intentions to - er - monopolize her this evening. She spoke to him yesterday and he's been on cloud nine ever since."
"Good Lord!" I said in genuine surprise. Alice had only spoken to one of the team members. Could it be that her crush was reciprocated? I put my hand up to brush a lock of hair from my face, and my fingers came into contact the the tender lump sticking out above my eyebrow, causing me to flinch.
""Are you okay, Bella? Is it painful?" Edward asked, leaning forward in his seat. "God, Alice left me here to look after you, and I haven't even asked if you need anything. Do you want me to call a nurse? Can I get you a drink, or find you something to eat? There wouldn't be much on offer around here but I might be able to find fruit. What time are the meals? Oh, you probably don't know, how about I ask someone for you? Mind you, the meals will be inedible at best, and quite possibly toxic."
He was definitely rambling. Something had happened to unravel his supreme confidence.
"I could stay here this evening with you, if you like. I don't have to attend the event tonight."
"Are you thinking of the headlines?" I asked. "Edward Cullen Foregoes Olympic After-party To Spend Evening In Hospital With Trauma Victim?"
"Of course not!" he exclaimed. "That would be the furthest thing from my mind. Why would you even suggest that?" and I was sorry I'd said it.
Things were starting to get mighty uncomfortable now, and I was relieved when Alice bustled back in with a couple of shopping bags and wearing a ton of make up. She looked spectacular. Edward stood up.
"Oh, Bella, I've brought sandwiches and juice and some books and magazines and your i-pod and you and I will have a great time here being all girly together," she started, and I couldn't suppress a grin. She'd put all that lipstick on to sit next to a hospital bed?
"Alice, don't be ridiculous. You're going to the party and that's final. Edward has even offered to take you," I said and he cleared his throat.
"I couldn't possibly go and leave you here," she stated, but she was grinning back. "Are you sure? she added. "I wouldn't mind, honestly."
"For somebody I would expect to lie like a demon you're doing an appalling job right now," I said. "So go on, get out of here. And remember, you'll be working."
"I'll see you in the morning, Bella," Edward said, and he touched my hand briefly, his fingertips brushing me. "Sleep well."
Alice raised both eyebrows looking startled and gave me a wink, which I was glad he couldn't see. She leaned over to kiss my cheek, the one that didn't feel like a watermelon, and whispered, "I just heard on the news that Edward announced his retirement immediately before the game today. Do you want me to find out what that's all about?"
She would too, she'd be like a terrier with a bone. No-one could say no to Alice, she'd have his life story in minutes. Edward had no idea what he was in for, agreeing to accompany her to the party.
"No, Alice, leave him alone. Please. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Have fun!" I mumbled back to her, and with a shimmy of her pert little ass, she was gone.
The next morning, as promised, Edward turned up to collect me. My face was still swollen but thanks to tylenol I wasn't in too much pain. I hadn't been able to concentrate on reading because of the medication, but I'd leafed through the magazines and listened to music until I'd dozed off, my brain lost in confused trains of thought about Edward. He wasn't as arrogant as I'd expected him to be. He didn't have to come and see me, but he had. He had very clearly and effortlessly shown me that I was underestimating the intelligence of sportsmen and women. He was friendly and funny and I wasn't immune to his good looks. And what was the business about him having announced his retirement?
Alice had texted me first thing and said "Have 2 talk 2 U," leaving me wondering how last night had gone. Once I was finished with being discharged and Edward was walking me to his car, I asked him.
"So, the party. Did you see Alice?"
He shrugged. "Yes and no. I saw her early on for a bit of a chat, but it was all pretty busy as you can imagine, and I didn't really catch up with her again. I have nothing to report, if that's what's you're asking."
"Nothing?" I echoed. "Did she even speak to Jas - I mean, the team mate you mentioned?"
He gave a smile, opening the door for me. "I believe they may have spoken. However, it's not my story to tell."
"You know something! What happened?" I demanded.
"My lips are sealed. What would you like for breakfast? Eggs and toast, that sort of thing?" he asked, and wouldn't elaborate further. I started to fume.
"I'm going to keep asking, you know. I will break you. In the meantime, how was the party for you? Did you meet those hundred stewards?" I asked.
"The party for me was very dull. I didn't meet anybody. It was anecdotally bereft," he grinned. "I couldn't enjoy myself at all. I kept picturing a poor little injured camper with a black eye lying all alone in her little crib, missing me..."
"Oh, get lost," I scoffed, trying to process it. Of course, he was kidding.
But then of course since he'd mentioned my eye I had to check it out in the rear view mirror. Whoops. It looked dreadful. It looked even worse than it felt, and and that was bad enough. I turned to him with a wail.
"It's not that bad, honestly. Purple's a very popular color. Do you feel okay? I promise I'll try not to do it to you again," he said, not leaving me particularly mollified, but there was nothing I could do.
We went to a cafe and I wasn't really hungry, which was probably an aftereffect of the head injury, but he ate like a lion.
"Are you allowed to stuff all that food down your gullet?" I asked faintly as eggs, sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes, home fries and toast all disappeared, followed by liberal amounts of coffee and juice.
"I am today," he laughed, wiping his mouth with a paper napkin with a expression of sensuous pleasure. I had to look away.
"Ah, yes. I heard you retired. So now you're going to dedicate yourself to a life of idleness and indulgence and raising your cholesterol?" I grimaced, sipping daintily at my decaf.
"No, missy, I am going to concentrate on my actual career, and I will be anything but idle, and I will be monitoring my cholesterol, don't you worry about that," he said. He leaned back on the bench seat with his arm stretched along the back of it and regarded me steadily. "Any more questions?
I smiled and nodded. "What happened last night?"
"I really have no idea."
"Yes, you do," I stated, and I reached out, not believing my own nerve, and put my thumb on the inside of the top of his knee and my fingers on the outside, and I started to squeeze. Damn, he felt good. Damn, I was really close to him. Damn, I liked it.
He spluttered. "Christ. Stop it."
"Nope," I answered, defying him.
"That is below the belt," his voice came quietly, and he leaned towards me, one of his hands over mine. I could tell he was stifling laughter, but his eyes looked very serious at the same time. "If I tickle you, you'll scream."
"But you're not going to tickle me, are you? Because you're helpless under my onslaught. Tell me what I want to know or I'll increase the pressure," I threatened, and we both knew perfectly well that he could have stopped me any time he chose to, but he didn't. He played along.
"Give me all you've got, but please stop before I pass out," he challenged. I tried to press harder but I felt pathetically weak. I was enjoying pretending to myself that he liked it, although I couldn't really see why he would.
"Well, I think Jas - I mean my team mate - may have asked for your friend's number. And I think I may have have seen them standing quite close to one another. Closer than you might expect a steward and an athlete to stand. About as close as you and I are right now, as a matter of fact. More than that I cannot say."
"I still have questions," I answered, because I wasn't prepared to let him go.
"So do I. Does that mean I get to put the death grip on your knee now?" he asked.
"Certainly not. If you tickle me I'll scream. You've already said so. There'd be an incident. Anyway what could you possibly want to ask me?" I said. I reluctantly moved my hand. This was all getting far too silly. I'd be going home soon, like, the day after tomorrow. And then I'd get back to my normal life, which consisted of Alice and me trying to find jobs so we could put some money together towards next year when we'd both be studying. I wouldn't be sitting around in cafes having breakfast and engaging in banter with hot guys who had their hands on my leg, which he now did.
"Oh, I have a whole list of questions I want to ask you, but the answer to the first one will have a bearing on the rest of them. Are you seeing anybody?" he asked.
"Did you really just say that?" I demanded, prevaricating to cover my shock. He signaled the waitress for the check and waited for me to answer. The waitress was there in a flash because she'd been hovering, as well as salivating, but he had to wait longer for me.
"Okay, well I see Alice on a daily basis and I see all sorts of people for all sorts of reasons," I mumbled eventually.
"So, no, in other words," he concluded, and the over-confidence seemed to be about to re-surface. It was kinda cute. He took my hand and led me back to his car, holding the door for me. "And for the record - I'm retired, remember?" he said. He actually had the cheek to lean around me, getting the seatbelt and buckling it in. Then he tucked my hair behind my ear and smiled.
"Look, I don't know why you'd be interested in who I'm seeing, it's not as though you'd want to date me, but I live on the opposite side to the country to you, and I wouldn't want to date anybody who's retired, and I'm going to be very busy soon and I can do my own seatbelt up thank you very much, I'm not an invalid, and I'm going to be a paediatric nurse, I want to look after actual real people, not babysit egos..." I said and he was still smiling, meltingly.
"I know exactly where you live, and it's actually not too far from me, and I know what you're going to study because I quizzed Alice quite extensively last night, which she will no doubt tell you. And this will probably come as a shock, but our chosen careers aren't actually too far apart. You know Olympic athletes have to be amateurs? My day job is in a research hospital providing physical rehabilitation to kids who are disabled, either due to injury or illness, or because of congenital problems. I help them walk and run, if they can, and I help them catch balls and swim. I'm in my mid-twenties now and ice-hockey is a very unforgiving game. I always planned to stop competing after Vancouver, and I want to get back to doing what I'm really passionate about. But Bella, I like that you don't give a shit that I'm a so-called sports star, I like that you wouldn't let me flirt with you while you were working, and I even like that you didn't check me out when you saw me naked. I want to talk to you more. Would you have dinner with me?"
"Did you hear me before when I said I don't follow sports, and I don't have anything to do with sports and I don't have any interest in people who play sports?" I asked.
"You're here now," he pointed out.
"Yes, but this was breakfast," I told him. He smirked and arrogant Edward was back.
"You could have refused the invitation," he said. He was quite right, but the thought hadn't even occurred to me.
"Uh," I said by way of a stalling tactic while my brain went into overdrive. I had a mental checklist for potential boyfriends. 'Not a tosser' was first up. Edward Cullen was a bit of a tosser, wasn't he? Maybe not. 'Taller than me' was there, but most people were taller than me. I was trying to remember my other pre-requisites. 'Must like children'. 'Must be smart'. 'GSOH'. He was scoring ticks in quite a few categories. Oh, help.
I gave him the address of where I was staying with Alice, without answering the dinner query.
"OK, Ms Swan," he said, as we arrived. 'I've got your number, thanks to Alice, and I'll give you a call later on today. I'll want to check on your forehead. I'm worried that blow to your skull might have affected your hearing since you haven't answered me about dinner. Or are you thinking of a thousand ways to say yes? One will suffice."
"You're a bit of a tosser, aren't you?" I asked and he laughed out loud.
"It's been said," he admitted.
I mumbled something about thank you for picking me up from hospital and for breakfast and I scrambled out of the car to find he'd gotten around the front of it really quickly and was standing right there. He gave me the tiniest little kiss on the top of my head, staying well clear of the disaster area.
"See you tonight?" he murmured into my hair. I doubted Alice would be finished her interrogation of me by then, to be honest, and I doubted I would have finished my interrogation of her, and there would probably be torture methods implemented on both sides and I would probably be very tired and not too hungry.
"Won't you be at some function or event or something? Celebrating your medal?" I said.
"No, I'll be with you. Say yes already, you're killing me!" he answered.
"Yes," I said, raising my face to him and smiling.
"At last, Bella," he said.