So I used these outtakes to bribe for reviews of Controlled Burn, but hopefully if you are reading them here you will be kind to me and review CB anyway. :)
Characters are not mine.
When Alice came home from visiting Grandma, all she could talk about was Bella. Bella was so funny. Bella was so cool. Bella was her best friend. Alice and I had always been close. She was the one person I knew I could count on. She treated me like an equal instead of a younger brother. If Alice liked Bella, I liked Bella. I trusted her judgment. Then I saw her picture. She was perfect. She was beautiful. She was sending my pubescent mind into overdrive. Her body, long silky hair, and big brown eyes ignited something in me I couldn't explain.
For the next few years, my ears perked up whenever I heard her name mentioned. I almost cancelled my trip to summer camp the year she came to visit Alice and begged my mom to let me stay with my sister in the city instead. I dreamed about her at night. I thought about her almost every day. It was ridiculous really, I'd never met her, but she was my fantasy. My ideal. I imagined making her mine. She would be my first. She wouldn't mind that I was younger and inexperienced. She would teach me. I even had a file of pictures of her saved on my computer. I would steal them from Alice when Bella sent them to her. She grew even more attractive to me over the years, and I spent way too much time strategizing on how to nonchalantly get more information out of Alice.
I held on to this dream for years. Bella. Beautiful Bella. I was almost eighteen by the time she came for Alice's wedding. I was a man. I hoped she could see me that way. I spent the week before she arrived working on a song for her. I'd been fine tuning it, trying to get it just right. She would be here any minute, and the trick would be finding the right time to play it for her.
I was looking it over, making sure it was perfect, when Jake came into my room.
"Whatcha doin?" he asked in his obnoxious voice.
"Get out."
"Okay," Jake said too easily. The next thing I knew he grabbed the sheet music off my desk and made a run for it. I chased him down the hall and up the stairs prepared to end his life. I practically ran into her. She was even more beautiful in person, but if Jake read those words out loud it would ruin everything. I could hear Alice and mom yelling at me to stop, but I couldn't. I tackled Jake onto his bed, ripped the paper from his hands, punched him as hard as I could in the gut, stuffed the paper in my pocket, and went to meet my Bella.
I could hear Alice telling Bella about how I hated Jacob. It was partially true, but I didn't want Bella to think I was a complete jerk.
"That's because he won't stay out of my CDs, and he smells like wet dog," I said trying to make it sound like I was joking.
"Edward, this is my friend, Bella. Bella, this is my brother Edward," Alice introduced us.
"Finally, the famous Bella. I expected you to have a halo or something the way Alice talks about you." I love you by the way.
"Nice to meet you, jailbait," Bella said and then winked at my sister.
"Excuse me?"
"Oh, well you might be too young for me now, but in a few years I'll have established myself financially, and I will be able to support the two of us. Alice and I have been planning it for years."
What was she saying? Did she know? Was she serious? I studied her face hoping for sign. For some flicker of hope that she meant it.
Alice broke into a full fledged cackle. "I can't believe it. You've left him speechless!"
No she wasn't serious. I was a freaking joke to her. I wanted to punch the wall, but I tried to play it cool. "You guys are ridiculous. Bella it was nice to meet you. We can discuss this further in a few years." I winked at her, kissed my sister on the cheek, walked to the kitchen, pulled the sheet music out of my pocket, and threw it in the trash.
Controlled Burn Chapter 2 Outtake in Edward's POV
Setting: Alice's Wedding
