A/N: I'm so happy with your wonderful responses to this little story, you lovely people! Thank you!

There's not enough word to express my love and gratitude for the lovely ForeverRobsessed. This was impossible without you.

*SM owns all, only the coaster is mine!


Chapter 2 - Designer of My Own Catastrophe

*Tuesday evening, Bronko's Pub*

"You are nuts, Ange! Who comes all the way to the other side of the city to have a drink only because you found a coaster of this pub in a phone booth?"Ben mildly chastises his wife, but in reality, the not-so-subtle teasing tone and the way his arm circles her closely indicates anything but.

To this jovial, easygoing man, his wife is the center of his universe, and he'd do anything to see her smile. He spends the long gruelling days away from home encashing these moments. These memories keep him alive inside, never letting the uncertainty of life consume him completely.

Stepping inside the pub, they immediately notice the interesting decor and the unusually long counter. They walk towards the bar at the end of the large open area. There are two girls and a boy managing it. One of the girls working closer to their side is rocking a pirate girl look. This blond bartender appears just as charming as the setup she is working in.

The pub is not crowded at this hour because it's a weeknight. The patrons present look like regulars, and the music is upbeat, but not the kind that would hurt the eardrums. Once Angela makes herself comfortable on a high stool, she turns to Ben, only to find him looking at the girl too intently. Then the girl notices them and screams.

"Benjamin Cheney! Is that you? Oh my fucking God! I can't believe it's you, Benny!"

With a curious smile, Angela watches as the girl rushes around the counter and wraps her arms tightly around her husband. Ben hugs the girl back with equal enthusiasm. After a few seconds, he pulls back and holds her at arm's length.

"After all these years you land here in Bronko's? Oh God! Mum will be ecstatic when she hears I found you again!" the bartender continues excitedly.

"I wasn't sure it was you, Jessie. It has been what… six years? Jesus! Six years since I last saw you. You were fawning over that dirty-looking pirate every waking moment back then. Looks like that hasn't changed!" Ben laughs out loudly, waving a hand toward her outfit. His eyes grow soft with memories and happiness.

"Hey! No knocking my captain!" Jessica punches Ben's arm playfully.

Turning to his wife, Ben introduces her to Jessica—or Jessie, as they used to call her back then. They have known each other for a long time given that Jessica's elder brother, Eric, had once been Ben's best friend. Eric died in a car crash six years ago, and his funeral was the last time they'd seen each other. Jessica was sixteen then. After getting their preferred drinks, they start catching up on the past years as much as possible with Jessica working on her side of the bar.

Angela looks around as she sips her drink.

The girl working at the other end of the bar, a pretty brunette with a somewhat distant look in her eyes, glances occasionally towards them, but keeps to her side. Looking closely at her, Angela finds her rather gorgeous. Dark skinny jeans, a bright floral T-shirt tied into a knot around her slim waist, chestnut hair styled casually into a long ponytail. Her eyes are smokey, and the red lipstick she has worn gives her a sultry look without seeming cheap.

"So what makes you come all the way to this part of the city? Certainly not just to get a drink here?" Jessica asks as she wipes down the counter after serving the customer to Ben's right.

"That's because of my darling wifey. She wished to come here and return one of your lost items," Ben jokes.

"Ben! Stop that," Angela hisses.

"How come?" Jessica has already sniffed a story there.

"It's nothing, Jessica," Angela answers with a flustered glare directed at her husband.

Ben, however, is unaffected and presses a quick kiss to her temple in reassurance before launching into a detailed description of how Angela found the bar coaster in the phone kiosk. He goes on to explain how she thinks the writings are significant to somebody related to the cryptic note. As the bar's name was the only definitive thing on the coaster, Angela persuaded him to come here for a drink and take a chance to get some answers regarding the message.

Jessica's eyes only grow wider as she listens. She glances at the opposite side of the bar a couple of times. Angela watches her reaction, and the hunch she had about the coaster solidifies.

Something's going on, she thinks.

"Hello, Jessica."

A smooth voice greets from behind Angela, and she turns to see a very handsome tall man with a beautiful, but somewhat nervous smile.

"Ah! There you are, Mr. Edward 'Coaster' Cullen!" Jess greets the newcomer with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Not again!" the man groans. "Haven't you all had your fill of laughing at me already?"

"Awww, come on, Poppet. This is so much fun," Jessica replies, undeterred. She places a beer in front of him. "Looks like there's some cosmic connection going on here. Angela, do you have the coaster with you? Can I see it?"

"Sure." Angela pulls it out from her purse and places it on the counter.

"Ladies and gentlemen! This here is the most unusual, unorthodox, unparalleled…everything that starts with un…love note in the history of relationships. You have the pleasure of meeting one of the contributors, who was brave enough to try his luck using this masterpiece of wooing accessory." Jessica pauses to sweep her hand dramatically towards a grimacing Edward. "While the other artist had already fucked up royally."

Angela tries to hide her smile, while Ben laughs out loud.

Ignoring them with a hint of irritation, Edward levels his gaze with Jessica and says, "You agreed to help me and these theatrics don't fall into any category remotely associated with the word help."

"Geez! Are you an articulate ass all the time? Lose the stick where it's wrongfully stuck, Cullen, or you won't have a chance with the girl."Her next words are more to herself than for the other's ears. "Her shield is stronger these days than I've ever seen." There is a hint of softness in her voice that's so unlike Jessica.

"What does that mean?" Edward asks curiously, echoing Angela's unspoken thoughts.

"Not my story to tell or yours to know, unless you can earn her trust," Jessica answers much too sweetly.

Focusing her attention on Angela, she continues, "You, on the other hand, earned the ticket for the front row seat of this play when you found the coaster in that phone booth."

Edward starts to say something in protest, a little hesitant about sharing his personal information with strangers, but Jessica stops him.

"Relax. I'm not going to spill your dark secrets or the colour of your underwear."

"Jesus! Have you ever learned the word appropriate in your life?" He glares at her.

"Oh, cut it out! Your underwear would be the last thing I'd like to learn about." Jessica rolls her eyes.

"We don't want to intrude, Mr. Cullen. I was just curious about what was written on the coaster. Blame it on my fascination with mysteries or my job as a cryptologist." Angela tries to ease the tension showing on Edward's scowling face. "But it's okay if you don't want Jessica to divulge your personal matter in our presence."

"Well, I guess it's already out of my hand and personal zone." Edward tries to maintain his composure. "It's just that I don't want to come across as a cheap, dirty stalker."

"Oh, you are none of that." Jessica winks and Edward sighs in resignation, saying nothing else that would make it more enjoyable for her.

"You see that girl over there? That's Bella," Jessica starts with a subtle upside nod of her chin directed towards the brunette. "It was not the first night Mike Newton, one of our regular patrons, had tried to hit on B, but he'd finally gathered the courage to give her his phone number that day. Edward was also here."

"That was my first day here, though," Edward interjects.

"Mike didn't go for a napkin, but used a bar coaster instead to write his number down. Bella brushed him off as usual and didn't notice it. Also, her attention was occupied elsewhere." Jessica glances meaningfully in Edward's direction as the tips of his ears turn slightly pink.

"No one—not even Bella—knew that Mr. Cullen here also wrote something on that coaster." Jessica carefully lines up the clean glasses on the counter as she talks.

"Well, in my defense, it's pathetically immature and cheesy for a grown-up man to write zeroes in the shape of tiny hearts." Edward scrunches his nose.

He has already given up any hope of stopping Jess from spilling everything. He has also realized in the past couple of days that when it comes to Isabella Swan, he finds it difficult to maintain his normal reserved disposition. He still doesn't know what made him write those words on the coaster months ago or why he came looking for her twice in the past three months. Much to his disappointment, both times she wasn't here.

After the phone call on Friday, he doesn't know how to stop the constant war going on between his heart and his head. However, he knows that a strange sensation takes residence in his heart when he thinks about this beautiful girl. He hasn't talked to her before the phone call on Friday, but remembers every detail from the only time he has seen her…the day when Mike had made his moronic attempt to draw her attention.

The untold emotions in her eyes, the strong posture of her delicate body, the smile that doesn't always reach her expressive eyes—he remembers it all. Those images pop in his head during the most mundane tasks or even the most important meetings in the boardroom. Her body appeals to him like a musical instrument he wants to play delicately, to see how it responds to his touch and watch it reverberate in ecstasy. However, the attraction is not purely physical. He also wants to know her fears and hopes, her weaknesses and the dreams hidden in her heart in a way he never knew he would. Her words on the phone when she'd said that he was not the man she needed had felt like a punch in the gut. Maybe that's what brought him to the pub. He wants to be the man she needs.

"So Edward wrote that note with the weird tennis score reference. But due to the regular hustle and bustle of the bar, the coaster ended up on the floor under the counter where I found it. The next day onwards, Bella got busy with tests, and our schedules didn't match up for a couple of weeks. By the time we got back in groove, she had already given in to Mike's insistent pleas, and I forgot about the coaster," Jessica finishes.

Sometimes during their chat, Liam and Siobhan have come out of the back office and joined them. It's not uncommon to see Liam behind the bar, helping the girls, but Edward's visit yesterday ensured his wife's presence today. Yesterday, Jessica had grilled him about his intentions towards Bella, while Liam had simply observed the interaction. To Liam and Siobhan, Jessica and Bella are the daughters they never had. He has always allowed these two smart, hard working girls flexible shifts because he wants them to achieve something more than a bartending job. He feels very protective of them, but having no child of his own, he doesn't have the habit of hovering over them.

Now that Edward has finally managed to schedule his visit while Bella is present in the pub, everyone is eager to see how this is going to unfold. They hadn't expected the added company, though.

"I had the pleasure of meeting Edward a couple of times between that day and last Sunday, but unfortunately, neither Jess nor Bella was on duty on either occasion." Liam winks. Ben laughs good-naturedly at Edward's embarrassment, while Jessica can only gape in shock.

"You impress me, Mr. Romeo! You really aren't a cheap dirty stalker," she says sarcastically, bowing her head in Edward's direction.

After introducing Siobhan and himself to Ben and Angela, Liam refills everyone's drinks and suggests that Jess take a break. They move their chat away from the counter on Liam's request because it doesn't sit right with him for them to talk about Bella when she could be within hearing distance.

"Uh… Jessica? She isn't there." Edward points towards Bella's end of the bar, where a young guy is now attending to a couple of girls with a cheeky grin.

"Don't worry. She must have gone to the kitchen. We don't have a strict area rule here. She will be back in a few," Siobhan assures him with a smile before leading them to a table in the corner.

Liam takes Jessica's place behind the bar, so she settles in with the group with a bottle of water and continues narrating her story for Angela and Ben.

"Anyway, Bella kicked the dumbass out after a month, though I never understood why she gave him a chance to begin with. Playing the field has never been her scene. Last Friday, when Bella came in devastated because Mike had stolen her stuff and her phone, I wanted to kill the bastard first and ask questions later."

True to her words, Jessica looks murderous even talking about it. She unscrews the cap of her bottle with a little more force than necessary.

"Only then did I remember about the coaster. The last two digits were wiped out due to condensation from the glasses, but we talked her into trying it. For safety purposes, we decided to use the pay phone booth around the corner," Jess says and stops to take a much-needed breath.

"Hey, Jess? Can you give me a hand here?"

All heads turn toward Bella. She's back at her spot at the end of the bar and is now holding a tray full of some finger food and a few glasses over the counter.

Jessica stands and walks over to take the tray from Bella. One of the assigned servers for the night has not arrived yet, but the girls are accustomed to giving a hand whenever needed. Jessica serves the table of young college boys with her usual frisky approach, which earns a round of boisterous laughter from them.

In the meantime, Siobhan picks up the story from where Jess had left off. "We never expected Bella to come back from the booth even angrier than before," she tells her captive audience. "She didn't give us any reason either, other than saying that she failed to catch Mike."

Jessica returns after handing the empty tray back to Bella and leans on the back of Siobhan's chair.

"But what's your connection to this latter part of the story?" Ben asks Edward.

"Now we come to the twist." Everybody except Edward leans forward as Jess stage-whispers the words. Edward simply shakes his head and glances quickly where his attention has been fixed since the moment he stepped into the pub.

Throughout the conversation, Angela has also been keeping an eye towards the end of the bar. She has noticed the difference in Bella's body language since Edward joined them. Edward's furtive glances aren't missed by anyone either.

"Last Sunday, this hot specimen came bearing information about the missing piece of the puzzle." Jessica snickers.

"He's our customer, pretty girl." Liam chides her as he comes through the door behind them, struggling to hold on to a crate of beer. "You will lose your bonus if I lose his business."

"Aye, Captain!" Jessica mock-salutes him as he moves away with a chuckle.

"So, Edward came looking for Bella on Sunday, but she had already taken that weekend off. On Monday, I caught him again, looking around like a lost puppy, so I had to step in."

"You mean you brought out the Spanish inquisition! Never in my life have I faced so many questions from a girl's self-appointed guardian." Edward rolls his eyes in fake indignation.

"Pfft! You haven't seen anything yet, pretty face. You'll be on your ass before you know it if you make a wrong move with her, no matter how sexy said ass might be."

"Whoa, calm down, Tiger!" Ben tries to defuse the heat. "I still don't get why Edward came to look for Bella after all this time?"

"When Bella was trying to call Mike by guessing the last two last digits of his phone number, she ended up calling me instead," Edward answers before Jess can start another round of dramatic explanation.

"What a strange coincidence! Of all the people she called you?" Angela's eyes bug out in surprise. She looks at Bella, who is still purposely ignoring this side of the room.

"Well, not much of a coincidence if I'm being honest here," Edward replies with a grimace."My phone number is the same as Mike except the last two digits. That's what I noticed first on the coaster. It felt kind of insulting seeing those hearts adorning my almost numerical identity. Anyway, over the course of these three months, I had forgotten his number and couldn't help Bella."

"But just like B, Mr. Cullen here also won't tell us what else he said to set her off… just that he wants to talk to her and make amends." Jess looks at him pointedly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"That story is for us to know and yours to keep your nose out of, Jessica,"Edward sings, imitating her tone from earlier, which makes Jess sneer at finishes his drink in one long gulp, puts the bottle down and stands. As he starts walking towards the other end of the bar, a hand catches his elbow firmly, making him stop and turn.

"Remember, Edward, we will be watching. Don't add more to her already-overflowing plate." Despite Siobhan's gentle words, her expression is anything but.

*The same evening at the other end of the bar *

Isabella Swan is having a weird evening behind the counter. Actually, it has been like this since last failure to locate Mike, as well as the strange conversation with Edward Cullen on that wrong number have torn apart the thin thread of control she was hanging by. After the call, she had come back to the pub and worked through her shift without saying a word more than necessary. Her employers and co-workers were accustomed to her occasional closed off phases, so they had let her be.

She'd started the week with a heavy heart.

The weekend with Rose didn't go well. She refused to blow the candle on her cake or let Bella sing happy birthday to her and didn't even look at the presents Bella had brought. So, after Rose was asleep under the heavier dose of medication, Bella held her hand and sang the Happy Birthday song in a shaky whisper. The lone candle she placed on Rose's cake went out by a drop of water from her own eyes. Tracy, the elderly nurse, tried to console Bella but she also knew it could be the last birthday Rose will have.

There's also the mysterious Edward Cullen. The way he talked through most of their conversation presented him as an arrogant ass. But those few seconds of playfulness they shared were also real. Bella still vacillates between anger and confusion whenever she thinks about his parting words… like she knew what he was trying to say, but couldn't exactly put her finger on it.

Then his voice! There was something in it that made her shiver simply by thinking about it in the darkness of her bedroom.

Successfully hiding what's going on inside her head has never been her forte. Any inner turmoil always makes her feel vulnerable, and she hates how easily it shows on her face. To disguise that, tonight, she has graciously used her rarely-touched make-up kit. Putting on a confident and somewhat intimidating mask makes her feel untouchable and unaffected by prying she doesn't know is that it has the reverse effect on the opposite sex. Men see the alluring smokey eyes and her graceful neck as a sign of seduction, not recognizing the pain behind those brown irises or the weight life has put on her delicate, yet strong shoulders.

To make matters even more difficult, the handsome man with most beautiful green eyes she had seen months ago is here tonight. Jessica has been talking to him and a couple she hasn't seen before for a while now… It looks like they are old friends and are having a good time at the corner table. Even Sibby has been chatting with them.

I can ask Jess about Mr. Handsome later… or maybe that's a bad idea, Bella muses.

She glances towards them periodically—or at the green-eyed man, to be specific. Most of the time, she meets said pair of eyes, as they have been trained similarly on her. She hopes that he can't see her blush from the distance. That would be mortifying. For once, she is thankful for the long bar counter in Bronko's. She keeps herself busy with the handful of customers on her side and tries to act ignorant.

She turns to get a bottle of wine and rises on her tiptoes to reach the shelf above her head when a familiar voice stops her mid-action.

"Still chasing the lost game, Miss Swan?"

Bella freezes for a second, then whirls around…only to come face to face with the man who has visited her dreams many times in the past few months.

For more than a few seconds, they just stare at each other—Edward trying to keep his smug, confident look intact and Bella trying to keep her erratic heartbeat and emotions in check.

She breaks the silence first. "Excuse me? What did you just say?"

Edward hesitates for a second and then goes for the approach he has decided. Even without Jessica or Siobhan's warning, something tells him that he needs to be honest with Bella or he will be the lost game this time.

"Edward Cullen. We talked on the phone?" He extends a hand towards her.

As soon as the words leave his mouth, a rush of blood paints her face a lovely shade of pink, but the sudden stiffness in her shoulders is impossible to miss. She doesn't take his proffered hand, and after a few seconds, he lowers it to the counter between them.

"Bella, I came to apologize," he tries again.

"Isabella."

"Huh?"

"Only my friends call me Bella, Mr. Cullen."

Shit! She is shutting me off already, Edward thinks, panicked.

"Oh! Yes. Sorry. Isabella it is."

"That's right. And you came to apologize. Why?"

"For the way I talked to you and then hung up on you. That was rude and totally uncalled for. I'm sorry." Bella hears sincerity in his voice, but his eyes are guarded. She senses that he's holding something back.

"Tell me, Mr. Cullen, do you hunt down every person you behave rudely with to say sorry?" Bitter sarcasm laces her tone as a storm of varied emotions brews inside her.

Damn! She doesn't take shit and is even more beautiful up close! Edward reflects while trying to come up with a reply that'll help him shift the conversation to a safer ground.

"It's not that I am generally a rude person, Isabella. My mother taught me better than that. I acted badly towards you, and as I had the means to know where to find you, I came to say sorry. It's just that I was caught off guard." Edward tries to be as honest as possible without revealing the whole truth, which he knows he'll have to do before he loses his chance and Bella shows him the door. However, considering the way this conversation is going, his gut feeling says that might just turn out to be the case.

"What caught you off guard?"

"Uh…because you dialled my number?"

"So you are telling me that no one dials your number?" She arches an eyebrow.

"Shit! No, no. That's not what I meant," Edward says with a nervous chuckle.

"Try again, Mr. Cullen."She crosses her arms over her chest.

As they talk, some part of Bella's mind is surprised at the way she manages to remain composed without giving away the flutter in her stomach, but her past has taught her not to let her guard down easily. Recent events with Mike have strengthened that resolve more than ever. Edward Cullen is a rude asshole who doesn't deserve to see the effect he has on her, because his beauty is only skin deep.

"Well, for starters, it's not an everyday occurrence that people, especially a beautiful bartender calls me and asks for Mike Newton." He smiles a crooked grin that makes his face look boyish and mischievous.

Bella digs her nails into her palm to maintain a stern face.

"And?"

"And when that beautiful lady claims to be none other than Isabella Swan from Bronko's, how could I not be caught off-guard?" He smirks, which irritates Bella because she isn't ready to marvel at the charms of this beautiful man.

"Really? What's so special about Isabella Swan from Bronko's?" Her voice is sharp and her eyes grow harder.

Everything, he says silently.

"And what's with this cryptic lost game reference?" she continues before he can reply. "Feels like I know it from somewhere, but can't catch the meaning of it."

"I'd apologize for one more thing, but I'm not actually sorry about it. Because that's what has brought me here."

Lips pressed tightly in a thin line, Bella tilts her head and waits silently for him to explain. She is thankful that Jessica and the other bartender have had the good sense to guide the patrons away from her side, because this is not a conversation she'd want anyone to overhear.

This is not going how I thought it would! Oh well, I didn't even think it would go anywhere for that matter. Edward draws a deep breath and launches into his confession, all the while preparing himself for the "fuck off" that is likely to be on the tip of her tongue.

"Look, I was here the night Mike Newton gave you his phone number on that damn coaster. I didn't know his name, though. You didn't pay any attention to it, so he left it on the counter and went to sit on the corner table. I got a good look at it then. It was either a weird coincidence or fate that the number written on that was the same as mine, except the last two digits. But the awful, tiny heart signs had irritated me the most." His face scrunches in disgust, and Bella tried to ignore how adorable he looks in that moment. "So I wrote that line. It refers to the game of tennis. They call zero as love. Like instead of fifteen to zero, they call it fifteen-love. You shouldn't settle for a man who equals his love with zeros."

Her eyes widens as soon as the words leave his mouth. He shouldn't know that! He shouldn't know how actually she had settled for Mike. But how dare he tell her what she should or shouldn't do?

Unaware of Bella's mounting ire, Edward finishes his explanation with the hope of securing a second chance with her, a better one, of course.

"So...yeah! That's about it. I knew who you were when you told about the name of the bar and the coaster. I shouldn't have been rude to you, though. Again, I'm very sorry for that."

For a few immeasurable moments, Bella just stares at him. Edward Cullen is breathtaking in his open honesty, and she is angry at herself for liking it a bit too much. He holds her eyes steadily, hoping she can see that he has nothing but respectable intentions towards her.

If you can call the desire raving in your veins respectable, Cullen, a voice echoes inside his head.

Then, abruptly, she breaks the eye contact and turns back to get the bottle of wine from the upper shelf as she was doing before he interrupted. Edward stands there, confused, as she turns back and starts walking away.

"Isabella?" he calls after her.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Can I get you something or have you already placed your order with Jess?" she asks without any hint of emotion in her voice. Even the anger is now gone.

"No, thank you. I don't want a drink. But are we okay here? I mean after what I told you, are you still mad at me?" Edward asks. His hand rubs the back of his neck and tugs at his earlobe in nervousness.

A thin line appears on her brow, and she smiles strangely.

"First of all, there's no we. So there's nothing wrong for you to make right. That brings us to the next part of your question. I don't have any reason to get mad at you, Mr. Cullen. I am a bartender and getting hit on by patrons comes as a part of my job. It's rather chivalrous of you two to write on a coaster instead of my boobs." She pauses to draw in a lungful of air and exhales slowly, while Edward tries to figure out the abrupt change in her behaviour. "However, I shouldn't have called random numbers to get hold of Mike. It's my fault that I disrupted your schedule that day and compelled you to be rude. So you don't need to worry about me getting mad at anything. Have a nice evening, Sir."

With that, she walks away, leaving him speechless.


I said this will be a weekly affair but I don't know! They might want to talk to you more than once in a week? They don't always listen to me ;)