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Cupid Doesn't Help In A Trio
Brat
Edward has gotten so used to being moved around because of his adoptive father's job that he's ceased to sulk about it. Instead he puts on an easy smile to his loving parents and tells himself that it's easier this time.
This time he knows some people, Rosalie and her brother Jasper and boyfriend Emmett. Except they're a grade above, a pessimistic voice reminds him. He ignores it and trudges over to the bathroom to tell Alice to hurry the hell up and, -no it does not take that long to achieve public decency.
Red
He's gotten used to the stares, mostly anyways. Really with a bouncing four foot something sister chattering away at a pitch only some trained animals can decipher and with his unfortunate penchant for attracting unwelcome attention, it's almost normal. But it doesn't make it any less annoying.
Gawking, blushing, getting lost around the school, missing lunch because he doesn't know the bell schedule (until Angela kindly gives him a copy of her's) he's more than glad that the day's over and he's waiting impatiently by Rosalie's car.
He spots Alice surrounded by a group of girls, hyperactive and gesturing towards his clothes and he knows that if he doesn't pull Alice away now Rosalie will flay him for the long wait that's sure to come when Alice gets involved in a conversation about fashion. On the other hand just because he's an antisocial reject doesn't mean she can't interact.
Nonetheless, he's about to go over and drag her away when he hears a muffled laugh.
He whirls around warily, having experienced this often before and his fist tightens involuntarily.
The student is tall, muscular and obviously amused. "Your new right?" the guy asks.
"I wasn't aware the gossip interested the male half of the school as well," Edward says curtly.
He laughs again and raises a hand in mock surrender. "You don't have to listen to the grapevine to know you're new. Only someone new would lean against Hale's car and not worry about being massacred."
Edward blinks and feels slightly sheepish. Had he gotten so paranoid that he'd forgotten what it feels like to have someone be genuinely nice to him?
Yes, he answered himself.
"If it was anyone else," Edward admitted, "But I know Rosalie."
The guy raises an eyebrow. "So do I, but that doesn't mean I'd try that."
He smirked, "Not if you'd helped her pick it out."
The boy's eyes light up. "You know cars?" he asks eagerly.
Ironically it's Alice who has to interrupt his conversation when Rosalie arrives.
Mandatory
When Rosalie drops him and Alice off, they walk (well he walks and Alice skips) inside their home.
Esme smiles at them over the still full boxes. "How was your first day?" she asks warmly as she pulls out a lamp.
"Great," Alice chirps before Edward can answer. She casts a sly look at him, "Edward even made a new friend," she adds wickedly.
To his horror he finds himself blushing.
The beaming look on Esme's face makes him flush again, this time with some guilt. How worried is she about me, he wonders. "That's wonderful! Why don't you invite him over for dinner one of these days," Esme suggests.
He's all set to say no, but finds himself unable to at the sincere smile on her face and mumbles that he'll ask.
Sexuality
"Doyouwanttocomeoverfordinner?"
"Huh?"
Edward sighs, "Do you want to come over for dinner some time?" he rushes on, "Alice let it slip that I was having a semi-decent conversation with someone and my mom," he cuts himself off when he realizes how pathetic he's making himself sound.
Jacob Black looks at him oddly. "Um, Edward," he tenses because Jacob sounds nervous and he prepares himself for the worst. "I'm flattered and all, but I'm straight," he pauses and adds, "Plus I sorta have a girlfriend."
He snaps his jaw off the ground when he realizes it's open and hisses out a vile curse of denial that would have made Emmett proud.
Instead of looking offended though, Jacob looks relieved. "Well that's good," he says cheerfully, "I was afraid that I'd lose the only decent gear-head around here for company because of unrequited affection." He stretches. "What time?"
He stutters out the time, surprised to find himself annoyed and amused at the same time and realizes with a jolt that in a friendship with Jacob Black, those will be recurring emotions.
Tradition
Esme and Alice share embarrassing stories.
Jacob laughs.
Edward despairs.
Carlisle smiles warmly.
Favorites
"Your mom's nice," Jacob said out of the blue one day.
Edward is startled, but agrees immediately.
He doesn't find out till later that Jacob lost his mother in a wreck when he was a child.
Listening
Even Rosalie will agree that if there's one thing Edward's good at, it's listening.
The more he likes someone though, the easier it is to listen.
He finds out that even though Jacob loves cars he doesn't want to turn it into a career, that he has a pair of older sisters who are twins, that he's walked into bars and never been asked for an ID, that he wants to visit Amsterdam and Monti Carlo when he gets older (Les Vegas is for amateurs), but mostly he hears about Bella.
Isabella Marie Swan.
She quiet and shy, but she's got a sharp tongue, she's on honor roll in a different school (the first part he says proudly, the second part woefully) she's a brunette, she loves reading, her family and his family are old friends and she ended up in the ER after confessing her feelings to Jacob (she tried to run away in embarrassment and ended up needing stitches.)
Edward knows he is a skeptical person, years in foster care have seen to that, but he knows from the way his tone warms and his eyes laugh when he talks about her that Jacob is in love.
So when Jake suggests that they meet, Edward agrees easily.
Easy
He can tell immediately that Bella is a private person, but he also sees she doesn't mind the least when Jacob hugs her tightly and gives her a kiss.
He feels awkward and he sticks out a hand and blurts out before thinking, "Jake's told me a lot about you."
She smiles shyly and takes his hand, "Mostly good I hope," she says with a little glance at Jacob.
"Mostly," he says crookedly, suddenly at ease and Jacob laughs guiltily.
Rhythm
Bella, like him, is content to laugh and listen as Jacob talks and teases. She isn't that loud, but she does have a temper as he's found out on numerous occasions.
The three of them find a natural beat to everything they do and Edward becomes rapidly aware that they are well suited for each other and Bella becomes one of his closest friends.
Glance
Much to their chagrin, Bella and Edward find themselves at a party. It loud, crowded and awkward, especially since they know the only reason they were invited is because of Jacob.
Jake hands them some drinks and slowly they find themselves appreciating the music and not even minding all that much when they're being constantly interrupted by people who want to talk to Jake.
Somehow though, on her way to the bathroom, Edward suspects Bella got lost and Jake is evading several advances. He's being nicer about it than he would, Edward notes. Friendly, but firm about it.
One girl, exceptionally brave (or drunk) is laughing at something Jake says and when he darts a discreet glance at the doorway for his girlfriend, she catches him off guard with a kiss.
Her advances are unwelcome and he notices distantly that Jacob seems to be in shock. Edward is startled out of his suprise when he sees Bella glance over in their direction. He's sure that she gasped, because her lips move, her eyes fall, and she stumbles back into the crowd.
Jacob has unfrozen and is pushing the girl firmly, no longer so gently, towards her friends. He looks toward Edward pleading and ashamed, but Edward shakes his head and mouths Bella's name.
Without even speaking they split up.
Fluid
In the end it's Edward that finds her. Hiccuping and drunk. He tries in vain to lug her into his car and call Jacob at the same time, but gives up after Bella drunkenly knocks the phone out of his hands.
He coaxes her into his brand new Volvo, a seventeenth birthday present form his parents and prays that she isn't a vomiting drunk.
When Bella kisses him out of nowhere however, the last thing he thinks about is vomit.
Instead he tastes punch and alcohol and something else that he thinks is unique to only Bella.
He kisses her back.
Later, he's horrified and disgusted that when he pushed her away, it's because she's drunk, they're in front of her dad's house, and in his car. The fact that she's his best friend's girlfriend doesn't occur to him till the drive home.
Simple
Bella's home safely, he texts.
Thank you.
Edward feels like vomiting himself at the sincerity, relief and gratitude he can feel emitting from Jake's simple reply.
Knife
The next day when they meet up, they're together, but there's tension everywhere. Bella won't look at him or Jacob, Jacob's hand keeps reaching out to touch her shoulder and faltering halfway and Edward wishes he looked older so he could order a Long Island Tea.
New
Slowly things go back to normal. Jacob is trying hard to fix what he thinks is his fault and Bella is able to look at them more frequently. Edward is painfully aware of things he hadn't noticed before.
Bella doesn't wear anything but chap stick, but her lips always look moist.
When she smiles her eyes darken.
The absence of her casual, friendly touches hurt more then he wants to admit.
Kind
Sometimes he catches Bella looking at him and he feels an ache when he realizes she thinks of that night too.
Shade
They are very similar, he realizes, he resorted to distancing himself from Jake out of guilt and so does Bella.
Jacob does not take this well.
He should have known even happy-go-lucky Black has his limits.
Sober
Bella is in tears again, and looking at him for comfort.
He wraps a comforting arm around and tenses at the burning heat he feels in his limbs. Without thinking, he leans in and neither come up for air for quite a while.
Truce
Jacob is trying, Bella is trying, he's trying, but he's sure deep, deep down, they all know it's futile.
Maybe that why it's so easy to push the guilt away when he finds himself alone with Bella without meaning too.
Cheer
When Bella gets her letter of acceptance to Yale, it's him she calls in her happy frenzy.
They both realize this half way into the conversation when Edward inadvertently says that him and Jacob still have a year to go before they can catch up.
She hangs up quietly.
Lamp
Determined he goes over to Jake's house to admit everything, his feelings, his guilt, the kiss.
Jake, for the first time in a long while, beams at him with that grin that stretches from ear to ear.
He forgets that Jacob is the glue, the one who's been trying so hard to keep them from breaking, and this is the first time he's tried to do anything besides swallow his guilt.
"He's been moping lately," Rachel whispers in his ear as Jake scours the kitchen for something to eat. "Hanging out with a friend is just what he needs."
She smiles at him and Edward feels like a coward, because he know's he's not saying anything today.
Mile
What goes up must come down.
What's private, must go public.
Somehow, Jacob finds out.
Déjà vu
It feels almost like the first day of school, people are staring at him, whispering and he's stumbling along.
But this time, there's no friendly giant there to help him through it.
Nature
Bella comes to his house more frequently, in varying stages.
Angry, sad, hysterical, quiet, desperate.
But no matter how hard it is to bare, he's glad that she wants to share them with him.
Idiocy
Rosalie and Alice plan a surprise anniversary party for Carlisle and Esme.
Emmett, stupidly invites Jacob.
Jacob, surprisingly, accepts right away.
Date
Jake doesn't bring a girl. He brings an entourage. Their mostly boys from the rez his around his age, but a couple are girls.
He tries not to flinch at the relieved sigh Bella makes when she sees how each of the girls is specifically affectionate with certain males and that none of them are Jacob Black.
x0x
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