So I was sifting through the cluttered expanse of my documents when I happened upon this lonely little one-shot that I'd completely forgotten I'd ever written. My guess is that I probably finished this sometime last year before Breaking Dawn came out. It takes place during Twilight—I think you'll be able to figure out when exactly.
This is written from Mike's POV.
Please review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Bella, or Edward. If anything, they own me.
"Mike, can you believe this?" I looked up from my pathetic PB & J sandwich to where Jess was gesturing. Bella, sitting across from Edward Cullen.
I shook out my head, trying to clear it. This was too weird.
"I know. It's insane. She's insane." I coughed, trying to hide the agony in my voice.
I liked Jess, sure. She was cute and everything. But what I wanted was Bella.
"Insane doesn't cover it," Lauren muttered menacingly.
"I mean, honestly," Jessica blabbered on, "I could barely believe my eyes when he showed up the other night in Port—"
"What?" I choked on my soda, and had to brace myself against the table to keep from drowning.
"Excuse me?" Lauren shrieked in agreement.
"I figured you must heard by now…" Angela mumbled.
"Oh yeah—didn't I tell you, Mike?"
"Wait, what?" Tyler cut in. "Cullen met Bella in Port Angeles?"
Angela looked up. "Well, he didn't meet—"
"Yep," Jess confirmed. "Don't even try to deny it, Angela. You saw with your own eyes. Either he's some crazy stalker—which I highly doubt—or she called him and planned it."
"How did she get his number?" Eric asked, looking all wounded. Oh, please.
It was actually kind of funny how attached Eric had gotten to Bella. If anyone was going to date her, it was going to be me. It was really sort of confusing how she kept turning me down…I mean, for the dance and everything. I could tell she liked me.
"Yeah—how did he get her number?" I demanded. The freak. He probably threatened her…
"Guys, there is no way Edward Cullen gave the new girl his number, okay?" Lauren rolled her eyes.
"How do you expect me to know?" Jess said, answering my question. "Geez. Look, guys, Bella was telling me all about it in Trig…"
Everyone reacted immediately to this.
"She was telling you about her date with Cullen?" Tyler put his elbows up on the table, leaning forward. "What happened?"
"Jess—what happened?" I said.
Jessica rolled her eyes, like this sort of thing happened to her all the time. Hey, it wasn't our fault she knew everything. If she would just get on with it already…
I was hyper-aware of Bella and Cullen sitting together some few tables away…
"Alright, alright. Listen—for one thing, Bella told me all about how the waitress at the place they ate—"
"They went out to dinner together?!" Tyler and I said at the same time.
"Shut up guys, I'm telling you. Right, so the waitress. Very pretty, in her twenties, and she was totally flirting with Edward, um…right—"over-the-top" is what Bella said."
Lauren snorted. "I'm not surprised."
Jess flashed her a grin. "I know, right?"
"Jess!"
"Sorry. Anyway, so Edward was totally not paying attention to this waitress, and just kept looking at Bella. Which, honestly, I'm thinking Bella must have lied about. Because there's no way…"
"Yeah, gotcha." Tyler urged.
"Okay, so, she thinks he's really good-looking—she told me so—I mean, practically told me she couldn't think around him…"
"I know the feeling," Lauren muttered.
"Alright, you two, we know how hot Edward Cullen is or whatever, tell me what happened!" I said.
"Well, Bella said that he's—quote—even more unbelievable behind the face. Which I haven't a clue what that means, but whatever."
Lauren snorted. "No way they're sleeping together already. I mean, right, guys? She does seem like kind of a slut—"
"Watch it," I snarled.
Lauren rolled her eyes. "You don't have to go all Bella-Protector on me, Michael. Like I was saying—I wouldn't be surprised if she was into it, but Edward doesn't seem like the mingling type…"
"I guess even freaks are into mingling if it means having sex with Bella Swan…" Tyler muttered.
I sighed, understanding how this alternative was probably the truth.
"No way," Angela suddenly said. "Bella's not like that."
"Yeah, she's right," Jess said, although she seemed more in denial than feeling confirmed. "And neither is Edward."
"How do you know what Cullen is like?" I demanded. It was starting to bother me how she's always talking about him like they were best friends…
Jess looked away from me. "Do you want to hear the rest, Tyler?" Great. She was ignoring me. Way to blow the only chick that actually likes you, dude. Or wants to date me, anyway.
"Yes," I answered for him.
"No interrupting," she said. "Bella said that she really likes him, more than he likes her, but that she can't help that. And that he's always very cryptic…not hard to believe…and that he picked her up for school today."
Lauren spitted soda halfway across the table, hitting me in the arm.
"Ugh! Lauren!" I shook the moisture off my sweatshirt.
"What?"
Jess smiled and giggled at Lauren's expression, and I could see that she was really enjoying herself.
"How can you think this is funny?" I burst at Jess.
Everyone quieted down to look at me, and then at Jessica.
Jessica became still right away, and then looked me straight in the eye. I'd practically just declared my love for Bella Swan, but somehow the embarrassment wasn't hitting me yet. I glanced over my shoulder. Bella and Edward were leaning across the table towards each other, inches away, caught up in tense conversation.
"Why is this all so horrific to you, Mike?" Jess spit. "I doesn't seem to me like this reaction is all that called for."
I looked down, trying to think of a way to save the situation. I looked like an idiot.
Tyler was getting defensive now. Great. "Yeah, why?"
"I just…I just don't like the Cullen kid, that's all," I stuttered.
Lauren rolled her eyes for the fourteenth time. I swear, one of these times they're going to get stuck mid-roll…
"Well," Jess said, "I don't think Edward has done anything wrong at all. Bella really shouldn't be moving in on him like that…"
"Jessica! Does that look like moving in to you!?" Tyler pointed at Bella and Edward, Edward was leaning across the table towards Bella, smiling.
UGH. What gave him the right? She'd been here all of what, five days? Maybe a little more—whatever. He was—all of them—all perfect and sickly white and too pretty—never given a damn about anybody before. Why her? Why her??
"Come on, Mike. I heard we're doing blood typing today. You don't want to be late." I looked up to see Angela standing alone at the foot of the table, the near empty cafeteria filtering out around us.
I nodded weakly, glanced at the unmoving couple—no, not couple, just…pair. The unmoving pair—by the window and heaved my book bag up on my shoulder.
"Great—Bio. Exactly what I need right now."
