Note: I posted two chapters for this in one day, so if you haven't read the prologue, go back and read that first!
Enjoy!
I don't own Twilight or its characters. No copyright infringement is intended. This story is rated M and intended for readers over the age of 18.
ICEBREAKER
CHAPTER 1
"You guys did what?" Rosalie shrieks into her phone. I glance up and catch Alice's eye in the rearview mirror as she drives toward the restaurant where we'll be having lunch. "Emmett McCarty Cullen, why do you torture him like this?"
Rosalie is quiet while she listens to her boyfriend's explanation for why he did whatever he did. Whatever it is, she clearly isn't pleased with him. "Yeah, right. I doubt Jasper had much to do with this. You two just leave him be. He'll do it when he's ready."
She's quiet again for another second. "I don't want to hear about it, Emmett. Just stop. I don't plan on dating a bully. I mean it."
She lets him talk a bit more before her voice softens. "Okay. I know you do. I love you too."
Rosalie ends the call and throws her phone into her bag.
"Emmett and Jasper are meddling again?" Alice asks. I can see her eyebrow arch in question in the mirror.
"Are they ever. They've reached a new low."
"God. What a couple of girls."
Alice swings her yellow BMW M3 into a parking space at the bar where we have decided to have lunch. It's a pretty hot day, irregularly so for Seattle, and we're all tired from unpacking my stuff in my apartment. When Alice suggested margaritas on a deck overlooking Lake Union, it took me and Rosalie about a half second to agree.
Alice slides her seat forward for me and I try to unfold myself as gracefully as possible from the car. God knows you have to make sure you're not doing anything embarrassing when riding around in a canary yellow car – it draws enough attention on its own. Alice had always wanted a yellow car (actually, a yellow Porsche) and her father promised one to her if and when she finished her master's degree. She did that, maybe against his expectations, and he convinced her that a BMW was the way to go because she could fit more of her friends into it. I think he was actually trying to give his pocketbook a break, even though that's a little ridiculous to say considering the car she got cost over sixty thousand dollars.
Once we're seated on the sunny deck under the shade of a large umbrella, we sit back and wait for the waiter to bring out drinks and just soak in the beauty of the day. The sun sparkles off of the water and glints off of the shiny windows of the high-rises downtown while boats with stark white sails drift around the lake and out toward the sound. Seattle really is a beautiful city, even though every time I come back, it seems much smaller than I remember it. I guess anything will seem small after ten years in New York.
Up until moving back here two weeks ago, I hadn't been back to Seattle in almost six years. After my dad died, Alice started to come visit me in New York. I wasn't ready to come home – not when Charlie wasn't there anymore. But after awhile, the homesickness started to set in and eventually it outweighed my fears that it would make me miss Charlie too much. I'd worked past the initial grief and even though the sadness was still there, I felt like I might be able to ease it with things that were familiar to me from when I still had him. One day, while perusing the articles on the law school alumni newsletter, I clicked on the employment advertisement link. My eyes landed on something interesting, but seemingly out of my reach: Assistant District Attorney, King County, Washington State. My first reaction was that I wasn't qualified for this. Having taken a couple of years off between undergrad and law school, I'd only graduated last year. But I had done well in the firm I was working in and had interned with a couple of attorneys who'd probably give me recommendations. So I applied. And I got an interview, and then another interview. And here I am.
Alice was ecstatic when I told her I'd decided to move back and took it upon herself to search for apartments I might like, which came in quite handy once I actually started looking. While it wasn't Manhattan expensive, Seattle was still one of the priciest cities in the U.S. and I knew I'd have to look a bit to find something that suited me but wasn't grossly out of my price range. After all, I wasn't in private practice anymore and would be operating on a county employee salary. I mean, public jobs had great benefits, but the liquid cash wasn't exactly pouring in.
I flew out to Washington two weeks before I'd actually be moving and checked out some of Alice's finds. There was a cute mid-century place in Greenlake, complete with a black and white checkered kitchen floor and appliances that could have easily been in an episode of I Love Lucy, but it had a severe lack of closet space. High school Bella wouldn't have had an issue with that, but a decade in New York had changed my fashion habits considerably. The next place was in a modern building in Belltown and was beautiful but even smaller than my apartment in New York. Plus, I was guessing by the crack deal going down across the street, venturing outside by myself at night might not have been a possibility. The last place I looked at was a renovated loft in Ballard with hardwood floors and exposed brick walls. There were floor to ceiling windows and it was on the main drag – I could easily and safely walk to the store, to a restaurant, to a bar. I was barely there five minutes before I was asking to sign the lease.
Alice came out to New York two days before I was set to leave and helped me pack up the moving truck I rented to take my stuff back to Seattle. I had played around with the idea of hiring movers, but I really didn't have all that much stuff – the biggest volume of anything I had was clothing – so I figured I could bring it myself. I wasn't concerned about road conditions since it was summer and I figured I'd just drive to Boston and get on I-90, it'd be a straight shot from there. When I told Alice about my plan, she insisted on doing it with me. She said she's always wanted to take a road trip and when I argued that it wasn't going to be all that interesting, she said she didn't want me to do it alone. I had to admit that I hadn't been looking forward to three days of straight driving by myself and I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather do it with than my best friend.
So, two weeks ago, I watched New York City disappear in my rearview mirror as I drove toward Boston and listened to Alice talk excitedly about how great it would be for us to be able to see each other every day and how she couldn't wait for me to spend time with her friend Rosalie and 'the boys', who she said were Rose's boyfriend, his roommate and sometimes his little brother.
Alice had said that I'd like Rosalie instantly, and she was right. I'd never met her in person before moving back to Seattle – Alice met her at work a couple of years ago during the time that I wasn't too big on visiting. Rose was beautiful, statuesque in fact, and I learned from Alice during our drive that Rose worked her way through college on money she earned in modeling gigs. If I hadn't believed it before, her wavy blonde hair, ice blue eyes and perfect, porcelain skin would have sold me. She wasn't stick thin, more like a pin-up girl look, and I was betting she had men falling at her feet wherever she went. In the first ten minutes that I met Rose, she brought me a gigantic plate of homemade cookies, told me my shoes were 'fucking hot' and offered to help me unpack my stuff when I was ready. Oh yeah, I liked her alright.
"So, you guys are invited to Em's apartment for dinner tonight," Rose says after she finishes the last bite of her spicy macaroni and cheese. She recommended it when I was looking at the happy hour menu and I was not disappointed. My mouth was burning from the heat of the jalapeno, but I just couldn't stop eating it.
"Cool. We can pick up some drinks and stuff on the way home. Do you know what he's making?" Alice asks.
"I doubt he's making anything," Rose tells her, "I think he's ordering pizza. Is that okay, Bella?"
"Yeah, that's good. Thanks for inviting me." I smile at her and finish my margarita.
Alice drops Rose off at her house on the way back to my apartment with a promise to see her at Emmett's in a couple of hours.
"I really appreciate you guys helping me unpack all of my stuff," I tell Alice as we drive around the Lake Union, past Gasworks Park. "Work's been so busy the last couple of weeks; I just don't have the energy when I get home."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. I need to go through my closet and get rid of some stuff really bad, but I just ended up watching a lot of TV last week."
"Me too," I agree. "I did do one thing productive though. Well, maybe. I thought I'd try out online dating. Maybe meet some guys since I'm essentially new here."
"Oh, yeah? I've heard that some huge number of couples start out with online dating now. It's probably a good way for you to meet people since you're so busy with work."
"Yeah, I thought so too. It can be kind of harsh though, you know? I mean, you don't have the benefit of seeing someone in action so it's kind of hard to judge. You don't really know who's receptive. No vibes if they're attracted to you or not. I feel like every time I've put myself out there, nothing really comes of it."
Alice frowns. "Like they just ignore it, or what?"
"Yeah, sometimes. I don't mind that, though. I'm guilty of that myself."
"Okay…" Alice looks confused. "So what's harsh about it then?"
"Oh…well, this one guy, his profile seemed good enough. Educated. Maybe a little nerdy, sort of a fixer-upper, you know? Cute though. Definitely has potential. Well, I sent him a message to see if he wanted to have coffee or something and do know what he said? Thanks, but no thanks. That's it. Not, 'thank you but I've just started seeing someone else' or anything to soften the blow, even if it's not true. I guess I just thought it came off a little douchey. It's not a big deal though."
"Well, honey, I don't know what to tell you. Guys can be kind of blunt sometimes."
"I'll say."
#IB#
Alice drops me off at my apartment and I have just enough time to wash and dry my hair, put on some makeup and get dressed. I'm wearing dark skinny jeans and a tissue-thin white Henley tied in a knot at the waist to keep it from hanging down. You can just barely see my black bra through the white fabric and while I would have worn this in New York without a thought, I'm suddenly concerned that it might be risqué and add a white camisole under my shirt. I pick a simple necklace and am slipping on my sparkly black flats when Alice rings the buzzer.
I grab my phone and keys, check my door twice to make sure it's locked, and hurry out the door to Alice's car. Rose is already in the front seat.
"Hey, Bella," she greets me, getting out of her seat and sliding into the back.
"Oh! That's okay, Rose, I can sit in the back." I leave the seat tilted forward in case she'd like to switch.
"Don't worry about me, I'm fine back here." She buckles her seat belt and I push the seat back and get in. It takes us less than ten minutes to get to Emmett and Jasper's – they live over in Fremont in a complex that looks like nothing special but is clean and well-kept and actually has a lot of character once you're inside. It's light and airy with light, pastel colors on the walls and a fireplace that's surrounded with glass stones in various colors that create a crazy mosaic. Emmett, who is a big, bulky guy with dark curly hair and sparkling blue eyes skips the handshake and crushes me in a hug when Rosalie introduces me before setting me down in front of a lanky blonde. The blonde, who I'm guessing is Jasper, is only a few inches shorter than Emmett but looks flat out skinny in comparison. He's looking at me a little strangely, though not unkindly, as though he's trying to place me.
"I'm Bella," I say, holding out my hand to him. He takes it, tilts his head a bit and smiles.
"I'm Jasper," he says with a slight southern drawl. "I'm sorry – do we know each other from somewhere?"
"I doubt it. I just moved here from New York. Well, back here. I haven't lived here in about ten years."
"Cool. Well, it's nice to meet you. Can I get you a drink or anything?"
Alice and Rose were already in the kitchen and I could hear them talking to someone, probably a man judging by the deep timbre of the voice.
"Sure. Beer?"
"You bet. We've got a lot of different types. What kind do you like?" He waves me to follow him into the kitchen.
"Anything, really. Heffeweisen, maybe, if you've got that?" I trail after Jasper into the kitchen where Alice and Rose are standing on either side of a tall guy, the same slender build as Jasper, with messy, dark brown hair with a touch of auburn and green eyes framed by long lashes and black-rimmed glasses. His face is unshaven and he wears a too-big t-shirt with a NASA logo on it and baggy cargo shorts with converse sneakers that look like they're about two seconds from falling apart. I stop in my tracks because I recognize this man. This is the 'thanks but no thanks' guy.
He shifts his gaze to me when Jasper crosses the room to the fridge and I cross my arms over my chest. He looks uncomfortable, but I can't tell if it's because he recognizes me. It kind of seems like he doesn't, but he could be faking it.
"Bella!" Alice trills, "This is Edward, Emmett's brother. Edward, Bella is my best friend, she just moved back here from New York."
I hold out my hand to him, raising my eyebrow a bit. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't turning on a little of my attorney intimidation that I normally save for work. He switched the hand in which he held his beer, wiped his hands on his shorts and pushed his glasses back up his nose before he gripped my hand.
"Nice to meet you, Edward," I practically hiss, looking him up and down. "Or should I call you Maverick84?"
"Oh, shit," Alice, Rose and Jasper all mutter at the same time and my head snaps to Jasper then to Rose. How do they know about this?
I'm not sure who looks more confused at this moment: me, or Edward.
Review if you've got a second - I love to hear what you think!
LA