THE GIFT THAT STARTED IT ALL
Bella's heart nearly jumped out fo her chest the first time she saw him. She wasn't all that surprised, Edward Cullen was one of the hottest men on the New York University campus. Even now it felt like it was going to jump and he had stood her up on their date three months. She had a feeling that her heart would always jump a little bit when she spotted Edward as he walked across the quad.
Jacob one of her best friends (male best friend that is) since they were three-years-old was there to help her through the pain of being stood up. He stayed with her that night as the binged watch some random show she didn't care to watch. He locked her phone up so she couldn't repeatedly text Edward like she wanted to. She spends most of her time with Jacob now. In fact, they spent so much time together that a lot of their friends thought that they were dating. That would never happen for Bella as she only saw him as a brother, not boyfriend material.
Her female best friend happened to be Edward's little sister (by thirteen months) was Alice Cullen. Alice had been out of the country for a study abroad program for a semester when Edward stood Bella up. Bella never said anything to Alice because she didn't want to make things awkward. Bella had a feeling they would get awkward anyway since Alice was heading straight home from Paris this year while Bella was staying in New York.
Bella continued to watch as Edward took a seat next to his best friend Jasper Whitlock. This was third to last class before Christmas break. The professor (Professor Crossland) said that anyone looking to pass the class better show up or else you were likely to fail. He even mentioned in the last class that he might have an option for Extra credit. More students than normal showed up to class today because of that statement. There were about twenty extra students waiting for the professor.
"Sorry ladies and gents, my Uber got stuck in traffic. I guess the holiday season is the reason for that," Professor Crossland said as he strode into the classroom twenty minutes late. "I see that only a few of you chose to take the chance at extra credit, the rest of you, however, are always here."
There were quite a few grumbles as Professor Crossland continued to talk. Professor Crossland didn't care if you showed up to class or not, all you had to do was turn in the class work and take the final. Bella adjusted herself in her seat as she waited to see what the final project was. Professor Crossland had not included that in the syllabus he handed out during their first class.
"Professor Crossland, sir, what is it that you want us to do?" Jasper asked.
"Well, Mr. Whitlock your last class assignment will be to create a proposal for a charity." Professor Crossland said. "I would like you and your classmates to come up with a charity proposal over the next two weeks."
"Why a charity?"
"Because I want to see what research you can do." He replied. "Which is why I want you to include as much detail in your proposals as possible."
"Like what?" Bella asked. "Also are there any guidelines that you have for us?"
"I almost forgot about that, Ms. Swan." Professor Crossland replied.
Bella watched as the professor dug through his briefcase for a stack of papers and handed them to the student closest to him. He instructed that they take one packet and pass the stack on to the next student. It took them five minutes to get to Bella as she was the last one.
"Does that answer your question, Ms. Swan?"
"It does Professor Crossland," Bella replied. "And the charity can be anything?"
"You would be correct but there are some limits that are included in the guideline packet."
"Professor do we have to do the project on our own or could we work as a group or pair?"
"You may work by yourself, in a pair, or in a group but keep in mind that I will expect more from a group than I would from someone working by themselves." Professor Crossland said. "The more minds working on a proposal the more detail the proposal should include."
Bella started to make notes on what she might want her charity to be about as her classmates questioned their professor. There were several things she was quite passionate about but she wasn't sure if she could focus on just one of them in a charitable form. The page was filled with notes and bullet points and doodles before Professor Crossland let them go after wishing them a happy holiday.
Bella quickly packed up her bag and made sure that her metro card was in her front pocket. She made her way out of the building shed stop at the Chinese place down the block from her apartment for dinner and then head home to work on her proposal. She passed by Edward and Jasper talking to a pair of sorority sisters trying to get them to attend their Christmas party the day after classes ended, Bella didn't bother to stay and hear what Edward's reply was. If Edward was the type of man to go out with someone like her after standing her up he wasn't the type of man she would want to date.
She was almost to the subway stop when she heard Edward calling her name. Reluctantly Bella stopped and turned around to see what he wanted. Neither Jasper nor the girls were with him this time.
"Did you need something Edward or could I go home?"
"I just wanted to see if you would like to team up for the proposal for Professor Crossland's class," Edward replied.
"I prefer to work by myself thanks," Bella replied. "Why not work with Jasper, I'm sure he'd have no problem working with you."
"I wanted to work with you."
"I work alone unless the professor forces me to work in a team and Professor Crossland has not done that," Bella said. "I usually get stuck doing most of the work myself while my partner or partners just slap their name on to it because they wrote a single paragraph."
"Come on. You know I'd put in fifty percent of the work if not more. If I don't pass this class I won't get into med school until next fall."
"That's not my problem Edward. I have my own grades to worry about."
"Sorry, I didn't think of that. I guess I will go bug Jasper about it now." Edward replied.
Bella watched as Edward turned on his heel and headed back toward NYU. She could tell he was disappointed but she didn't really care and she did have her own grades to worry about if she wanted to get into Law School at least that is what she was thinking of doing now.
Bella got to the subway stop just in time to catch her train. On the ride home, she decided against Chinese food and settled for whatever leftovers she had in her fridge if her roommate hadn't eaten them yet. She took her notebook out to look at the notes she had made during class and went over them on the ride home.
Once she entered her apartment she dropped her books, keys, and coat off at the bench next to the door. She sat down and stripped her boots off and put them on the mat so the melted snow didn't get all over the place. She didn't hear her roommate so she assumed he hadn't made it home yet or was passed out in his bedroom, stoned from all the weed he smoked instead of working. She didn't bother to look for him and took her books to her room. before going to dig something to eat from the refrigerator. She settled on a slice of cold pizza from the night before and a can of coke.
Bella ate her dinner alone and started to research for her charity proposal. Her roommate still hadn't shown up. She decided to take a break and watch a holiday movie on the Hallmark channel's line up. She had no idea what it was about other than it contained a fictional royal family since it had Royally In the title. It was the sappy romantic type movie that you would expect from the Hallmark channel.
The movie was almost over (with the lovers having reunited after they were kept apart) when there was a hearty knock at her door. Bella got up and answered the door. It was a delivery man carrying a very large assortment of candy arranged to look like a large three-tiered cake.
"Where would you like me to set this?" the man asked.
"Over there will be alright," Bella replied as she signed for the candy.
After the delivery man left the envelope felt heavy in her hand. She debated on whether or not she should open it since she had no clue who would want to send her all this candy. She loved it and it certainly wasn't something that she would buy for herself. After debating for five minutes Bella ripped the envelope open to reveal a plain white card with a ring of poinsettias around the edge of the card and a short typed note in the middle.
For the girl that has captured my heart but has no clue. I hope this candy gets to you and this is the first of many gifts I have for you this holiday season.
Sincerely, Your Secret Santa
Bella took the candy cake and placed it in her bedroom where her roommate couldn't get to it. it would be gone by tomorrow if he knew about it. She went out to the living room to catch the end of the movie only to find that the credits were rolling.
She decides to leave the TV on in the background as she continued the research for her proposal. She was so enthralled with her worst hat she didn't hear her roommate return even though the front door was in the same room as her.
"Hey, Bella could you move your crap to your room."
"Why should I?" Bella asked. "I was here first."
"Because the guys and I are going to watch the game."
"You are always wanting to watch a game and I thought baseball was over."
"It is we are watching a football game."
"Why don't you go to Paul's place and watch it there."
"Because his fiancé is throwing some kind of wedding shower tonight. Now clear out."
"It's my apartment to Jake. In fact, I am first on the lease and I pay the most."
"That is because you have the bigger room."
"Oh, that is a bunch of bull. My room is the exact same size as yours." Bella snapped.
She started to pack her things off of the coffee table and headed to her room. Once she was inside her room she tosses her stuff down onto the bed before turning back and slamming the door shut. She could hear Jake's obnoxious laugh after she slammed the door.
Bella he no idea why her childhood best friend mean-spirited now. He had been perfectly nice when he moved to New York seven months ago to help Bella out while Alice was studying in Paris. Bella was fed up. She pulled her door open and stomped back into the living room and pulled the plug to the television out making the screen go black.
"What the hell, Bella?" Jake asked.
"This is my home to Jake. I shouldn't have to move my study materials to my room just so you and your buddies can get drunk in front of the tv." Bella replied. "There are countless sports bars that you can go and watch the game at."
"Because I want to watch it in the comfort of my own home."
"It's my home to Jake and you've steamed rolled me ever since you got here yes you helped me through the Edward thing but that doesn't give you a free pass to be an asshole."
"How was I an asshole?" Jake asked.
"You barged in here like you are the only one that lives here and told me to move my stuff to my bedroom." Bella replied. "I was working on a project that could affect my grade jake."
"Come on Bella you are my best friend just let me watch the game."
"No, I want to study and work on my project while binging cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies."
"You have a tv in your room."
"But I can only spread out in the living room." Bella replied.
"Jake man let's head to my place. The bridal shower is next Friday not this Friday."
Bella was still a bit pissed off when Jake and Paul left the apartment five minutes later. She didn't like that she was mad over something as silly as who could use the living room. She went and curled up into a ball her proposal lay forgotten. She got up only to pull a few pieces of candy off of the candy 'cake' and binged on more hallmark christmas movies until she drifted off.
Edward was tired he spend most of the day going to four out of his five classes and to the library after them to study and research for his final projects for all five of them. He was also a bit upset that Bella Swan didn't want a thing to do with him. She had texted him the night over their date saying that she was sick and couldn't make it. He didn't go out that night. He stayed home and planted the latest baseball game for the PlayStation4 until Jasper got home from his history class.
"Dude are you moping again?" Jasper asked taking his coat off.
"No." Edward replied without even looking at Jasper.
"Has Alice called yet?"
"She's calling back in fifteen minutes."
"Dang no time to take a shower." Jasper replied.
"No but you can change your clothes." Edward replied. "And douse yourself with a bottle of that cologne my sister makes you wear."
"Your sister doesn't make me wear anything I don't want to wear."
"Sure." Edward said. "Then why did you wear that gold shirt on Halloween that made you look like a male escort past his prime by like thirty years."
"I would gladly dress up as your sisters personal escort." Jasper replied as he wiggle his eyebrows.
Edward picked up a nearby throw pillow and threw it at him as hard as he could. Edward missed Jasper by a few inches and knocked over a pitcher of water he forgot to put back into the fridge. Edward jumped up and grabbed a mop from the storage closet and cleaned up his mess as Jasper laughed like a lunatic from his bedroom.
"Edward, hurry up your sister is calling." Jasper called.
"I know, I can hear the ring tone." Edward replied as he rung out the mop before putting it up. He placed the pitcher into the sink since it needed to be washed now that it had been on the floor. Edward then rushed over to the couch where he had his laptop set up.
"Nice to finally see you big brother." Alice said.
"Alice we talk every day."
"No we text every day we talk every other week and we FaceTime every two weeks."
"I can't help it that you spend most of the time talking to Jasper and or Bella."
"Well one is my boyfriend and the other is my best friend who just had her heart broken so I was trying to help her through that."
"But She doesn't have a boyfriend."
"Edward you can still get your heart broken without dating the person. It could even be your mom or dad that breaks your heart." Jasper said.
"How would you know?" Edward asked.
Jasper adjusted himself in his seat and told the story of his first love to Edward and Alice. His face grew redder with blush as he told the story. By the end of the story both Edward and Alice were laughing at him.
"Sorry Jasper, I know we all have a crush on a teacher at some point." Alice said once she calmed down. "Edward had a crush on our sixth grade history teacher Ms. Klein."
"Let me guess she was married," Jasper replied.
"No… Well kind of. She had a partner but announced they got married on facebook last year."
"You keep track of our teachers?" Edward asked.
"Only the ones that mean something." ALice replied.
"Oh."
"Okay Jasper what has my brother acting like a depressed without the makeup."
"He is head over heels in love with a girl that apparently doesn't want anything to do with him." Jasper replied. "He asked her out a while ago and then she called the date off saying she was sick but he says he saw her at the same place he was going to take her to with another guy."
"Okay does she even know how you feel about her?"
"No." Edward replied.
"Why the hell not?"
"Because I didn't get the chance to do so. That is why I asked her out."
"Oh my… you are such a freaking idiot Edward. Tell the girl how you feel."
"How she barely even talks to me."
"Send her a gift. In fact christmas is coming up send her multiple gifts. Like a twelve days of Christmas thing." Alice said. "It doesn't even have to be worth that much. Just something that you know she will love or that you think represents her and why you think that particular gift represents her."
"That sounds like a lot of work."
"All the work will be worth it if she is the one." Alice replied. "I better get off my. roommate is getting a…"
"No need to explain." Jasper said. "You are like seven hours a head of us."
"Goodnight and I will talk to you later."
Alice blew a kiss at Jasper before waving goodbye. A few seconds later the video went dark. Edward shut his laptop and sat further back on the couch.
"So what are you going to do?" Jasper asked.
"Take a walk." Edward said.
Edward walked over to where he toed off his shoes after coming home and pulled the back on. He slipped on his coat, gloves and hat he mumbled a goodbye to Jasper and walked out the door. He turned left at the corner and continued to walk until his legs got tired outside of an old time candy store. They had a fantastical winter display being put up in the window. He started to walk past the building but turned around after a second thought and entered the shop.
The shop was small. there were shelves along the left wall filled with shelves that were stuffed to the brim of every candy you could ever think of. The right wall and part of the back wall were filled with display cases with the stores own had made candy. In the center of the room were six bistro style tables with matching chairs.
Edward sat down at an open table and took the whole shop in. Alice would go nuts in here he's sure Bella would do the same if she knew about this shop. He was on is second pass of the shop when he spotted a small display of massive candy displays arranged like cakes. He spotted one that had all of Bella's favorite candy.
"See something you like?"
Edward nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
"No, it's fine, I didn't realize that you were done with the other client."
"I own the place and it never seems to slow down for me and they were just placing an order for New Years. Is there something I can help you with?"
"I guess I want one of these but I was wondering if it could be delivered today."
"Depends on what time you'd like it delivered."
"As soon as possible if that's alright."
"Of course. Would you like a message to be included with the item?"
"Yes, do you have something I could write it down on?"
"We have stationary for just this situation. Have a seat and I will bring it right out to you. Now which display were you looking at?" The shop owner said.
"The third one from the left." Edward replied.
"Okay. I'll get it ready after I get the stationary for you to write your note." The shop owner said. "How would you like to pay?"
"Debit." Edward replied.
Edward followed the woman over to the register and paid for what he wanted. It was slightly cheaper than he through it would be. Once he was done with paying Edward took a seat at the table he had left earlier. The shop owner quickly dropped the stationary by his table along with a pen before going off to help another client.
He thought about what to write for five minutes before he even put pen to paper. And once he put pen to paper it took him no time at all to get what he wanted to say out. He even thought up a few more ideas for gifts. He'd have to buy them online if he wanted to get them on time to give to Bella. He was going to make sure that she had a great Christmas this year even if she really did not want to be with him. He sealed his note up into the envelope provided and went to hand it over to the shop owner.
"Finally done?" she asked.
"Yes. I couldn't figure out what I wanted to say."
"You are not the first." The woman replied. "Good luck."
"Thank you." Edward replied.
Once he left the candy shop Edward quickly made his way home. He had a lot of work to do for school and for Christmas. Jasper was gone when Edward arrived. He'd left a note on the fridge saying he went to watch the game with one of his frat brothers.
Edward was happy that he was gone he wouldn't have Jasper silently judging him about what he was buying the whole time. Edward opened his laptop and settled in for a night of shopping and before he knew it he had bought everything he wanted to get and he had even gotten a gift for everyone in his family he was obligated to buy for.
Once his shopping was done he started in on his charity proposal project for Professor Crossland. He heard the guy was a little weird but he had signed up for the class anyway because he needed another credit or he wouldn't be able to graduate and apply to med school on time.
"Edward, dang it man wake up. You fell asleep on the couch again." Jasper said waking him up a few hours later. "You know what stay there but I don't want to hear you bitching about it in the morning ."
"Oh give me a break. You cry like a little baby when you wake up hung over." Edward replied. "Besides I heard you come in. I just didn't feel like moving."
"If you are moping about that girl again I am going to knock you one." Jasper replied pulling the throw blanket off of Edward. "Now come on man get to bed. You have to be up early for that thing at he hospital."
"Don't remind me."
"A doc who hates needles I don't see how that is going to work." Jasper replied.
"Simple, I don't care if they are being used on someone else. I hate when they are being used on me."
