Second chapter, since a few people seem to like the idea. It's kind of fun to make Bella defiant. Hehe. Let's do this!
Disclaimer: Somewhere, there is a chicken who wants to cross the road, but is paralyzed by the fact that everyone will question his motives. I question my own motives sometimes. Like, "Why do I try to make up funny disclaimers?", but people seem to enjoy them. So don't judge the chicken.
The sound of the front door creaking open woke me, and I was still for a moment, hoping that it wasn't the assassin gang member breathing in the other room, before I heard a voice call out. "Bella?"
"Edward!" I yelled, breathing out a sigh of relief. "I'm in here!"
He pushed the door to my bedroom open, where I was now sitting up on my bed. It probably looked like I had sex hair, since I had just been sleeping, and I always wake up with sex hair instead of bedhead.
Poking his head in, he grinned. "Have you been cheating on me?"
I laughed at the inside joke, remembering the first time he had seen me with sex hair from sleeping. "Only if sleeping with my bed counts."
It had been the first time he had used the key that I had given him for my apartment, and I had just woken up and was standing at the kitchen counter, making coffee.
I heard the lock tumble on the front door, and immediately knew it was him-he was the only other person I had ever given a key. He opened the door, and stepped carefully in, still wearing his police uniform, gun, radio, and everything. He had been working on getting promoted to plainclothes, but it hadn't happened yet.
He turned to me, and his mouth fell open, his eyes widening. "Bella, do you have something to say to me?"
"Uh...no? I mean, I don't think..." I stammered, confused as to why I would have anything to tell him, and why he seemed to be looking past me.
"Are you cheating on me?" he asked quietly.
It suddenly dawned on me that he must have been staring at my hair, which was messy, but didn't look messy enough to be the bedhead it really was. "Only if sleeping with my bed counts." I said, smirking.
He looked confused. "What? Do you think this is a joke?"
"Edward, this is bedhead for me. Other than waking up looking incredibly sexy," I said sarcastically, "I wake up looking like I just had sex in a closet."
He suddenly smiled lopsidedly, like he just got the joke. "But you do look incredibly sexy," he claimed, walking up to hug me from behind as I leaned against the counter.
And here we were again, using the same joke we had used for the past three months. If anybody else heard it, they would be confused but still find it slightly funny, even if they had no idea what it meant.
I heard a creak in the hallway outside my apartment, and I jumped, whipping my head around in the direction the noise had come from. Edward sat next to me on the bed, and I jumped again, turning back to face him. I could feel that my eyes were wide, and Edward seemed concerned.
"Bella, are you okay?"
I should have known he would see right through me. I had decided not to tell anybody about what I saw, but I still had to watch my back, so I was edgy.
I put on my brightest smile, and said, "Yeah, I'm fine! Actually, I was just about to go...shopping! With Alice!" Okay, maybe he knew I would never willingly go on a shopping trip with Alice-or at all-but I couldn't lie at all. Which might actually be an important skill soon.
He frowned. "What's bugging you?"
"When do you have to go back to work?" I asked, desperately trying to change the subject. He didn't say anything-he just stared at me. Finally, he broke the silence.
"I came by to make sure you were okay. There was a gang killing yesterday in front of the building, and I knew you would be leaving for work around the time it happened."
"No, I left early yesterday." I said, relieved when my lie came out smoothly. "I was early enough that Tanya had time to talk to me about a customer."
Edward's eyes tightened. He knew what I meant by "talk to me about a customer." We both knew Tanya was a bitch sometimes, but while I tolerated her, he didn't. He was overprotective enough that if I even mentioned Tanya's name he was immediately annoyed at her, even if she didn't do anything. Apparently just her living pissed him off. Although, she did occasionally fawn over him, and that might have contributed to the hate factor.
He was about to say something when his pager went off. He glanced at the readout, swore, and stood to leave. He gave me a goodbye kiss before turning towards the door. Walking out of the bedroom, he threw one more glance in my direction. I heard him close the front door, and then lock it.
It was 9 in the morning, so I had all day, since I didn't leave for work until seven. With nothing to do, I decided to call Alice and Rose and see if they wanted to go out-I could never stand being bored, and since my copy of Wuthering Heights was currently loaned out to my neighbor Angela, and I had read every other book in my house a few hundred times, I had nothing to do.
I called Alice first, who said she had been just about to call me, and she would love to do something today. She called Rose and then called me back, saying we were all going jogging at the park-something that used to be a tradition of ours, but we hadn't done it in a while.
We all met there, my truck contrasting greatly with their fancy cars. They had better cars, better clothes, and more money than me because their parents were all rich from stock market profit and franchising.
There was a lake in the middle of the park, with a dock that small fishing boats landed at, and in the summer, people would dive into the lake from the end of it. Benches were spread throughout the grass, most with grills next to them. There was a hot dog vendor standing near the lake, with a few teenagers standing near him.
Alice, Rosalie, and I started our jog around the lake-we would go around twice, and the last one to "our" bench had to buy the other two hot dogs. I had always been the fastest for some reason, and I easily beat them every time.
Halfway through my second lap around, I spotted him. He was sitting at our bench, eating a hot dog and looking like any other man at the park. But I knew better. He was watching me, and sending a message: he could find me, no matter where I was, and he could strike at any moment.
Alice and Rose both passed me at the same time, sprinting for the bench, and I jogged slowly to them when they tied. I would have to buy, but I didn't care. I was in danger just by being in his line of sight. Even when I couldn't see him, he could probably see me. And he knew what building I lived in, if not which apartment. He had probably watched me sleep last night.
He watched me walk by, winking at me when I passed by, a little too close for comfort.
How could a walk in the park turn into something so dangerous?