AN: Chapter Two (: thanks to anon for reviewing (:
Right now, I'm in the process of rewriting/re-editing some plot faults in the coming chapters, so even though I'm spacing the updates out, I do have most of the story already written. This is hopefully going to be of better quality than my other ones since I'm spending more time on it (: Tell me how you like it!
DISCLAIMER: ALL TWILIGHT CHARACTERS BELONG TO STEPHENIE MEYER.
Picking up where we left off...
"What do you mean I haven't changed a bit?" I asked. One of my annoying habits as an editor was to have everyone clarify what he or she was saying, whether said person was a colleague who actually worked with me or not.
He opened his eyes. "I mean, you're certainly more successful and independent, but underneath all the professional stuff, you're still, well, you."
"Yeah, and underneath all your professional stuff, you aren't." I mentally slapped myself. I always lashed out at him for what he did at the most unexpected moments. I was a very outspoken person when it came to talking to friends. Back when we'd parted ways, he'd said that he was still my friend, but I knew the truth; he was too lazy to maintain our relationship. Once in a while when we'd meet because our parents were friends, I'd let him know how I felt about his actions. The worst part was that he always gave me this amused look when I did so and I'd start swearing at him in my head. I should have slapped him and never spoken to him again. But…you know. Ahem… awkward…
I really didn't know what I was doing or why I was so conflicted with all of this all those years ago and even now. The best thing to do, though, was to allow him to speak and then shove him off my favorite chair, kick him out, and shut the door in his face.
"Okay, really, Edward. I have stuff to do and places to go. Just tell me why you're here."
He slowly sat upright and the atmosphere was suddenly really serious. "Well," he said. "I…"
I was really curious now. What could be so important that he could suddenly turn so serious and go to me for it?
"Umm…"
"Edward." It was weird how saying his name kept giving me flashbacks of when we were in middle school. Him smiling, him laughing, some of those kinda "magical" moments were I swore he was trying to tell me he really did think I was his best friend.
"Sorry. I just-"
Hmm. His hesitation reminded me of something…
'Sorry, I just…wanted to ask you to prom,' he said shyly. It was like heaven had opened up just for me.
'You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to utter those words,' I expressed. He stepped closer…
Oh yeah. The crap book I'd edited last month. The author had claimed it would be a classic. It never even made it past my office. I mean, the detail was amazing, but the story line…eh. That wasn't the point though. My subconscious was mourning again. I had to come to terms that Senior Year was over for me and Edward never took me to prom. (Why would he, anyway…) I went with Jeff Jacobs. Good old, safe, reliable, Jeff Jacobs who I had no feelings for. Oh joy.
Whoa, back to the present… "Will you please tell me? My mind keeps wandering."
He looked up and his mouth turned into a sly grin. "What exactly do you mean by wandering?"
I gulped. "I'm warning you, this is a dangerous subject."
He laughed and smirked at the expression of murder on my face.
The exact moment he said, "Okay well I-" I grumbled, "I was thinking-"
He stopped. "You go first."
My eyes widened. I hadn't realized he would hear me mumbling to myself. I was going to say, "I was thinking about stinking senior prom," but that wasn't a good subject to bring attention to with him there.
"Nothing. You go."
He looked annoyed with my secrecy, but spoke. "Your parents are coming over to my parents' house for Christmas this year. They wanted us to come, too."
"Huh?" I couldn't remember the last time his parents had invited us over for anything. His mom adored me, but the family was all kinds of busy and rarely had time for any get-togethers.
"I know. I can't believe it either." Whoa, there. Wrong thing to say. I smacked him.
"Ow. What was that for?"
"You practically just admitted that it's weird your parents invited us over for something."
"Well, it is, isn't it?"
I tensed, ready to smack him again. He hadn't changed at all in the ways I hoped he had.
"Whoa, just hear me out. I said that because it's been eight years and they just thought of doing so. What were they doing all this time?"
"Gee, I was about to ask the same thing," I said, rolling my eyes. "Wait. You don't know what they've been doing these past years?"
He shook his head. "Every time I went over, it was just the four of us. That's what I'm trying to say. I can't believe they just thought of inviting you over."
I was gobsmacked. He actually cared? He had changed. "Oh. Well, yeah. But, uh…I'm happy they finally thought of us. It'll be…fun." My goodness. Did I just say yes?
He raised an eyebrow, but said, "Yeah. We have a lot to catch up on."
"Mmm-hmm." I was going to have to tell the "besties," of course, before they found out for themselves and ate me alive. Because I was curious, I asked, "Eight years and no Facebook interaction, messaging, nothing?" I grinned smugly when he stopped short.
"I could say the same for you." I grimaced. Oh yeah.
"Can you not approach me for once?"
He rolled his eyes. I suddenly remembered I had to do some stuff left over from work and then go shopping with the girls for Christmas season.
"Hey, um, Edward, you weren't thinking of staying over the entire day, were you?"
"No. I have a life."
I smiled and smacked him. "So do I."
"Oh yeah. My parents told me that after I invite you, we should hang out once before heading home."
I paused. "That's… doable." Tell. The. Girls. "When are we leaving?"
"Next Saturday."
"How about we make plans for that Friday?"
"Are you procrastinating me?" he smiled.
"Yes. You're the most annoying person in the world," I shot back.
"Okay, then. Next Friday. Good thing, because I'm booked the whole week."
I raised an eyebrow. "Edward, don't you live in New York? You have friends here?"
"Yeah, I live in New York. And yeah, I have some…former colleagues here."
"Ha! Liar. You need me this whole week, don't you?"
He frowned. "No. I have stuff from work I need to do. I'll be pretty busy."
"It's okay, Edward," I teased. "Just tell me you need me to hang out with you the rest of the weekend and I won't say a word."
He rolled his eyes. "Shut up."
I laughed. "Okay, well I'm busy today, so maybe I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Whatever. Later," he waved as I, only to satisfy myself, slammed the door in his face…just a little bit!
-.-.-.-
"Whoa. Unexpected," was Alice's reply when I told her about Edward showing up and inviting me over for Christmas. We were hanging out by the apartment complex pool (she lived in the same apartment building as me) and there was no one else around. I was half sitting up half lying down on my beach chair, absent-mindedly rubbing in more sunscreen. Alice was lying down in her bathing suit and I'd already seen some guys walking by who were wolf whistling at her, not that she cared anymore. We always got that kind of reaction here.
"Yup. And he lived in New York the last time I checked with my 'source.'" We both knew my "source" was Emmett, Alice's 20-and-a-half-year-old (he kept reminding us) brother, who still lived in Minnesota and went to parties involving Edward's parents all the time. I sometimes just called him our source to make it sound secretive. The rest of our little Indian crew thought it was more stalkerish than secretive. It wasn't my fault Emmett started to gush about Edward whenever I simply called him up to say hi…
"Turns out he was right. So why the heck would Edward fly across the country just to invite me over?" I said, taking my sunglasses off of my eyes to emphasize my surprise.
"Hmm. Maybe his parents feel bad about drifting away from us, so they made him fly across the country, told him to invite you over, and hang out with you for a while before you fly back home," Alice said, closing her eyes as she tried to sunbathe even though she was perfectly tan. Lucky bitch; my skin burnt every time I tried.
"Yeah. That's what I thought. But I also thought he'd rebel and be all 'No, mom, I'm an independent adult now,'" I said, imitating some kind of deep, buff voice.
She laughed. "I thought we weren't supposed to make fun of boys' voices anymore."
I shrugged. "You know what? Maybe he's just a Mommy's Boy."
"Or maybe he actually wanted to do it," Alice suggested offhandedly.
I narrowed my eyes at her as I thought to myself. No way would he want to do anything for me. At least, I didn't think so.
"Anyway, we should all hang out together. Maybe just go out for dinner and watch a movie or something? It'll be cool. Oh, and you'd better get shopping for Christmas. I could help, but you should ask Edward for help since you're going to have to give stuff to his family. Christmas shopping just got even more important for you, my friend."
"I like the dinner and movie idea, and yeah, I know. I'm not too freaked out about giving his mom a present, since she loves me and I'm completely comfortable with her, and his dad will be okay, too, I guess, but what do I get for him? You have a brother, what are you getting him?" I asked, turning to her.
"I just give him car servicing coupons. And sometimes I just say something cheesy and tell him that a brother/sister bond is too strong for giving each other presents. He accepts that once in a while."
"Oh. Nice!" Emmett was planning on getting his own place up here by his sister, thus probably needing coupons for car servicing.
"Yeah. It's us and the Denali family this year."
"Hmm. Have fun." Carmen and Eleazar Denali were nice people that Edward, Alice, and I had grown up with in Minnesota, but their daughters were another story. Tanya had what I liked to call a "chronic illness" that made her think that she had a chance with Edward every other year. She asked him out in eighth grade, then tenth grade, and then our senior year again. She reeked of desperation, and her sister Irina turned green out of jealousy as she watched her sister move on to guy after guy to desensitize herself to Edward's rejection.
"Anyway, do you want to get started today?"
"Let's do it. Call up the other girls and we'll get everything done together."
I nodded and an hour later we were off in Alice's red convertible.
"Hmm. I'm so glad you guys called me to come. I would've totally forgotten about Christmas," Zafrina thanked us as she stuffed her face with pretzels at last minute before hopping into the convertible. She and Maggie, who climbed in after her, were still in college, and it was pretty rare that they'd take the time to come Christmas shopping with us instead of taking a quick trip by themselves because of the loads of homework they got.
"Hey, we're just happy you decided to come," I smiled back as everyone got situated.
"So, Bella," Rosalie, our fourth friend, grinned, looking at me as I peered at her from the rearview mirror.
"What?" I said back.
"I heard Edward showed up at your doorstep." I opened my mouth to tell her off.
"Isn't that what happens in, like, romantic movies and stuff?" Zafrina oh-so-helpfully pointed out before I could say anything.
"Gross," I said automatically. Everyone laughed.
"To answer your question, Rose, yeah, he did. But not to 'proclaim his love,' hon," I said, rolling my eyes at Zafrina.
"I knew it," she insisted.
"Sure you did," Maggie said.
I quickly filled everyone in on the whole story and they all agreed with the dinner and movie idea Alice had come up with…except Rose.
"Nope, nope, nope. You cannot pay me to sit in a room with him," she said, turning away from Alice as she tried to persuade her. Rosalie'd had a little spat with him a while ago, too.
I laughed, completely understanding how she felt. But I'd seen how he'd changed, slightly or not, and wanted her to meet him after all these years and see the difference.
"Dude, Rosalie, you know I'd be the first one to take your side, but he's changed a little… in a good way, of course. You should meet the newish-him before deciding anything—but that's just my opinion," I added as I practically saw the smoke coming from her ears.
"I'll take your word for it," she said hesitantly, "but heaven help me, if that boy does anything I don't like, I'm out of there faster than you can say 'hot, egotistical bad boy.'" All of us burst out laughing at this.
Rose used to like Edward, but then when he accused her of being a stalker—which she wasn't—her love melted into pure hatred and out of confusion, she nicknamed him 'hot, egotistical bad boy' in middle school.
"It'll be fine," Alice dismissed, but then thought about it. "I hope," she corrected as we parked the car in the mall parking lot.
-.-.-.-
"Well, I'm pooped," Zafrina announced, dropping her bags on my couch and plopping down to sigh in exhaustion.
"No feet on the table," I reminded her as she popped a pistachio in her mouth. I always left a plate full of pistachios there incase someone came over unexpectedly. I didn't know why, but everyone seemed to enjoy it.
"Dude, you're such a neat freak these days," Rose pointed out, rolling her eyes. "Is it because you want your place to look impressive for when Mr. Rich Man possibly comes over again?" She grinned saucily.
It was my turn to roll my eyes. "I was going to ask you guys to stay over, but now that you're being mean…"
"No, don't even listen to Rosalie. I don't and look at how happy I am," Sanya told me.
"Hey!" Rose laughed. "Whatever. I'm staying over no matter what." All of the girls agreed and Alice went to the freezer to get out my last tub of Ben and Jerry's. We crowded around my coffee table and shared a few funny work stories while we thought of what to do.
"We should watch a movie or something," Zafrina said, finally bored.
"We've watched them all," Alice reminded her. "Bella, when was the last time you updated your movie collection? The last year you lived with your parents?"
"Ooh, diss," Rosalie said, only saying so because she really needed something to do.
"Really, guys? Are you sure we've watched Bounty Hunter before?" I mocked.
"We saw that, and I would not like to experience it again," Maggie waved off.
Just then, my cell phone rang. I looked at the caller ID.
"Edward?"
Everyone started at the phone, then at me.
"Quiet, everyone! Stay still!"
"Shh!"
"Shoosh!"
The girls looked at me, anxious to listen to the conversation. Was it just me, or were we back in high school again?
"Hello?" I answered. They leaned closer so they could hear. I shook my head and put it on speaker.
"Hey. Just wanted to ask what exactly we're doing on Friday."
"Calling on the same day you visited, Edward? Not cool," I teased. Alice giggled and Rose gave me a thumbs up sign.
"Oh, haha. Shut up. Seriously, tell me."
"Well, I talked to the girls…"
"The…girls?"
"Yeah. And they said we should all get together and go out to dinner and then come back and watch a movie at my place."
"Do I know 'the girls?'"
I bit my lip and looked at them.
"Don't tell him," Alice mouthed and winked. I knew exactly why she said so.
"Umm, well, I don't really know. Do you?"
"Come on, Bella. Answer my question."
"Hey," I defended. "Now you know how I feel all the time when I talk to you."
I could practically see him rolling his eyes at me on the other side, but he sighed in defeat. "I won't forget to ask later," he promised and threatened at the same time.
"Sure you won't, buddy," I said back, and Zafrina was so surprised by my teasing that she choked on her ice cream.
"Okay, I like the idea, so see you Friday," he said reluctantly. I could totally tell he was trying to suppress his curiosity.
I laughed to myself. "Okay. See you." I hung up.
"That was beautiful," Zafrina said as she wiped an imaginary tear from the corner of her eye. "We've taught you well."
"No kidding," Alice said. "He's not the only one who's changed even in the slightest bit."
"I haven't changed that much," I disagreed.
"Well, you changed in a good way; you are now immune to his bullcrap. That's all that matters," Maggie said.
We all laughed.
AN: Hopefully I gave you a bit more material this time! Please feel free to leave a review (:
