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Two
I had a hard time sleeping that night; I kept dreaming about seeing Edward Cullen. I was following him through a crowd, but I was losing ground; every time I thought I was catching up, he'd disappear around a corner or through a door. I got up at seven even though it was Saturday and only Alice had to go into work. I showered and dressed, trying to remember what time a nearby coffee house opened. It didn't matter; I needed to get out of the apartment for a while. I left Alice a note saying I was out for the morning and grabbed my coat to leave.
It was a cold morning, the clouds so thick it looked more like eight at night. Fog had rolled in overnight which added to the eerie feel of the empty streets. I pulled my coat tighter around me and decided to walk regardless; I had a strange urge to clear my head. About half way to the coffee shop it occurred to me that I'd forgotten my umbrella; it occurred to me because it had started raining, heavily. I felt the water seeping onto my skin despite the jacket and I was drenched and shivering by the time I got to the front doors. I pulled the door open and rushed inside.
I should really start paying more attention.
The lid popped off the cup before he actually dropped it. We were close enough to each other that we were spilled on pretty equally; I don't know if that made me feel better or worse. He hissed through his teeth as the coffee burned him despite the shirt he wore. I immediately pulled my own t-shirt away from my body at the chest, trying to avoid a similar fate. I stood there moronically for a moment, my dripping hair doing nothing to dilute the coffee spill that was puddled around our feet. I looked up, it was Edward Cullen. Of course it was.
"Um, I…I'm sorry?" Did I just ask him if I was sorry? "I mean I am…sorry." Oh much better. At this point, a staff person had come to clean up my mess. I apologized profusely and offered to help, but she waved me off. I backed up and looked at the object of my last night's dream. "Can I get you another one? I feel really…" I sighed to myself, "I'm really embarrassed if that helps," I muttered.
"It's quite alright," he chuckled at something. "And it doesn't help." His voice was almost as gorgeous as he was; it reminded me of a rich dessert.
"You'd think I wouldn't be, this happens more often than you might think." Why did I just say that? I'm going to stop talking. I looked up at him, even if I wanted to say something, I don't think I could. He was looking at me intently, I wondered if he looked at everyone that way, with a lopsided smile on his face. My mouth opened a fraction; I closed it before it could drop to the floor. I tried to think of something to say despite my earlier vow of silence. "Are you sure I can't get you another one?"
He tugged at his bottom lip with his teeth momentarily and I thought I might stop breathing. "Ok, you look too sad to say no to."
My joy was mitigated by the second part of that statement, I looked too sad? Truthfully, I had no idea what I looked like. Typically I didn't care too much about my appearance, but there was something about him that made me want to check a mirror. I'd looked decent enough when I left this morning but…the rain. I had to get to a bathroom. "Um, excuse me a minute." He nodded and I tried a casual jog to the restroom. Inside, I looked at myself in the mirror.
I looked like a drowned rat.
I hoped it was the lighting, my normally pale complexion was even more pallid than usual, my shirt was damp with water and coffee and, to my absolute horror, mostly see through. It was white. I buttoned my coat which mostly took care of that problem. My hair was wet, but beginning to dry; I dug around in all my pockets for something to pull it back with. I found a hair tie and pulled my hair up off my neck. I didn't exactly look like I'd pictured when I met the literal man of my dreams (or dream), but I looked better. I hoped he wouldn't notice the change too much when I walked back out.
I didn't want to admit it to myself in the bathroom, but I half expected him to be gone when I came back. Thankfully, he was still there; a small smile played at his lips, but he didn't say anything. I gestured toward the line; there were three people in front of us, but no one appeared to recognize him. From what I gathered from Alice, he seemed to attract the teen girl set and it appeared to be too early on a Saturday for them to be awake yet. "I'm sorry again; it's one of those mornings I guess."
"It's alright; it woke me up more than if I'd actually drank it." He paused and glanced down at me, something indecipherable crossed his perfect features. "I'm Edward."
"Bella, nice to meet you." I wanted to shake his hand, but by the time I'd gathered up the courage, the moment had passed and it would have just been weird. I didn't know what I could say to him without revealing that I already knew who he was, so I stood there in awkward silence and prayed for the line to move faster. When it was our turn he ordered his coffee and I got the same. We stepped out of line to stand at the pickup counter.
"So Bella, what are you doing out so early on a Saturday?"
"I've been up for a while, felt the need to get out for a bit. You?"
"Oh, I have to be into work pretty soon, but I needed a breather. Too many people around, you know?"
"Yeah," I sort of did, anyway. He could have said he'd just killed someone and I would have found a way to empathize.
"What do you do?"
"I work in a bookstore downtown, it's a little independently owned one, has lots of rare books."
"That fits," he grinned while I tried to interpret what that meant. Was he saying I was bookish? Boring? Quiet? Bella plain and tall? I'm actually not even tall. Before I could say anything else, the barista called our order. Suddenly, I felt like I was dragging my feet, as uncomfortable as this was, I didn't want it to be over yet. He grabbed both coffees and handed me one, I noticed he drank his black. "Well, it was nice meeting you," he smiled part way, "thank you for the coffee."
I smiled, "nice meeting you too. And I'm sorry about the clumsiness."
"It's charming." He took a sip from his cup, "see ya, Bella."
"Bye," I wanted to say something brilliant to keep him from leaving, but "bye" was all I could come up with. He nodded once and then walked quickly out the door. Outside, there was a black car idling on the curb waiting for him that I hadn't seen when I got here.
I sat on one of the oversized chairs in the corner and waited for the rain to let up. I picked up a newspaper that was sitting on a small table beside me; it was yesterdays. At once I flipped through it until I found the passage Alice had shown me. It didn't say where exactly they were filming, which I'd known already. That's when I remembered Alice.
She was going to kill me.
It was almost nine o'clock which meant she should be at work; I waited another few minutes just to be sure.
By lunchtime I knew I couldn't put it off any longer. I had changed into something more suitable at this point so I grabbed my keys and my jacket and headed to the bookstore.
"He spoke to you?!" Alice was not pleased that she'd missed my morning coffee dumping experience. I'd invited her out to lunch; I figured she'd get in less trouble being exclamatory outside.
"You're missing the point, I dumped his coffee all over us; it was humiliating." We sat inside a diner eating sandwiches, well I was eating and Alice was moping.
"Did you touch him? Like shake his hand or anything?"
"Just when I ran into him and mostly that felt like burning hot coffee." I took a bite of my food.
"I'm jealous. Was he nice? Is he as attractive up close as he is in movies?"
"Yes and I wouldn't know, but yes he's very attractive. Really, really attractive."
"You should go to wherever they're filming and try and talk with him, make friends," Alice smiled mischievously.
"That sounds more like something you would do. I'm fine with the way things are, besides he'd probably run if he saw me again."
"You're such a pessimist."
"Oh, he did call me charming," I grinned at Alice's beaming expression.
"That settles it then; you need to go find him."
I sighed, "Alice, eat your sandwich."