AN: For those who reviewed, thank you! It's nice hearing that your work is appreciated. Just a tad dissapointed at the amount who reviewed... ENJOY!
DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT STEPHENIE MEYER (UNFORTUNATELY)!
Chapter 2- Dinner, Laughs and a Childhood Friend
Previously…
"Ow!" I cried rubbing my knees.
"I'm so sorry I didn't mean to startle you." The man said.
Still rubbing my knees, I turned and was greeted with very familiar emerald eyes.
I felt my eyes go wide at the familiar face, momentarily forgetting the pain in my knees. Hearing sniggering behind the man with emerald eyes, I glanced quickly behind him and saw Jasper and Emmett tyring to keep a straight face. I focused my eyes back on the beautiful man before me. Rose decided to step in and put an end to my humiliation, she coughed loudly behind the man.
"Sorry Bella, this is Edward. Jasper and Emmett were very close friends with him in college, they haven't seen each other for a year because they went their separate ways," she turned to Edward, "And this is Bella and Alice." She finished gesturing to me and Alice.
"Edward," I squeaked out.
"Bells," he replied. As I stared at him memories flooded my brain. I remembered swapping Christmas presents, I remembered visiting each other, I remembered playing endless amounts of games, I remembered getting in trouble, I remembered going to school together, I remembered being inseparable. My mind was overwhelmed with the amount of emotions running through me.
I rose slowly to my feet, my breathing fastening. He still had the same sparkling green eyes, the same messy bronze hair, but his face, his face once rounded now chiselled and well-defined, making him look like a stranger that bore small resemblances to my child-hood friend. We both stared at each other with the same expression plastered on our face, surprise and shock. I felt my mouth stretch across my face and crushed myself into his welcoming chest, his arms entwining around my waist lifting me off the ground he chuckled into my hair and spun me around, I laughed with him. I didn't want to let him go, it felt right having him hold me.
"I never got a welcome like that!" Emmett complained pulling me back to Earth, I heard Rosalie hit him on his head followed by an, "Ow!"
"Must you always ruin the moment!" glared Rose.
"Sorry," Emmett smiled sheepishly at Edward and me. I laughed, Emmett's apologies were always accepted.
"Wow! Look at you Edward, you're looking pretty decent compared to that chubby little kid I used to know." I laughed, no longer in his arms.
"I wasn't chubby!" He exclaimed.
"I'm just teasing Edward," I smiled up at him. When did he get this tall I thought. It was so surreal seeing Edward just in front of me, that I wasn't sure what I felt.
He gently took my hand and lifted it above my head, then spun it around making me spin a full circle.
"Hmm… Bells I would have never thought of you as a 'dress girl'," he commented, eyeing me up and down.
"Yea well I was eleven years old then, not many eleven year olds run around in dresses… and that was before I met her," I pointed at Alice, who simply waved. Edward looked over to Alice and chuckled, his eyes dancing.
"I never thought I would see you again," he was still holding my hand.
"Neither did I."
"So you guys were like friends when you were little?" asked a very curious Emmett from behind us.
"Obviously," Rose answered giving him an eye roll.
"Yea, we met in preschool, and we were best friends," I replied with a laugh. Emmett nodded, taking it in.
"But, what happened. I mean…" Jasper shook his head, he didn't know how to put it, but I knew what he meant.
I looked up to Edward and saw him looking at me intently.
"We fell apart," I answered softly, not breaking eye contact with Edward.
"Oh," Alice was visibly disappointed that neither of us wanted to say anything else.
"Uh, maybe we should start sitting," Jasper said, breaking the awkward atmosphere. He placed himself next to Alice.
"Yes, we should," Rose started pulling Emmett over to the side seats next to Jasper.
I silently sat back in my seat, knowing fully that the only seat left was the one next to me. Edward silently sat down on the empty seat gazing out the window. With his seat being so close to me I could smell him causing me to feel a rush of nerves sweeping into my body. The nostalgic smell made me feel at home.
"Hmm… so what should we order," Alice wondered reading the menu in her delicate hands.
I couldn't find myself to believe that the Edward Masen- my childhood friend was next to me so to keep my mind busy, I picked up a menu and started reading the food. As I scanned the food names, I heard my stomach grumble, groaning a pressed my hand to my stomach hoping to keep it quiet. The chair was moving next to me, Edward had clearly heard my stomach. I looked up, and sure enough he was laughing, then I sensed another chair moving next to me. Alice.
"Bella you really have to feed that stomach," laughed Alice.
I let out a frustrated groan, "Shut up Alice."
I sighed a relief when I saw a waiter approach our table after Jasper signalled him over. The waiter politely asked for our choices and we all took turns ordering our food. After a quick nod of his head he left our table urgently to serve other waiting customers.
"It's a busy night, isn't it?" Jasper was desperately trying to make small talk.
Murmurs of agreements and nods circled the table. I silently wished for the food to arrive soon, so I could focuse on my food and not about the man next to me. I raised my wrist so I could read my silver watch, courtesy of one of Alice's shopping sprees. After a few quick calculations I realised by the time I would get home it would be almost midnight, my eyebrows knitted together.
"Something wrong Bella?" Edward asked tilting his head so he could see me better.
"Nothing, it's just my Skandar will be lonely."
"Skan-dar?" Edward was clearly confused.
"Skandar is the love of her life," Alice stated as if it was the most obvious thing on Earth. I shot Alice a warning with my eyes, she didn't even bother glancing my way.
"Your boyfriend?" for some reason Edward seemed annoyed at the false statement coming from the small person next to me.
"Yes, he has the most adorable eyes," Alice, once again answering for me.
I stared at Edward while he stared at the table cloth, a scowl gracing his perfect features. As bad as it sounds, it felt comforting that Edward seemed put off that I apparently had a boyfriend. I let a smile find its way to my face, letting Alice continue her teasing.
"Really now, more or less adorable than his girlfriend?" he questioned.
My neck immediately started feeling warm after hearing Edward's comment.
"Well… probably more, but it's a close call," Alice pretended studying my eyes.
I heard Emmett chuckle, trying to be inconspicuous.
"Bella I really want to judge for myself, you wouldn't mind me meeting him would you?" he gazed at me with his piercing green eyes.
"Uhh-" I started.
"Don't be silly, of course she wouldn't," Alice smiled.
I kicked Alice's foot under the table, but only to be returned with a knock on my bruised knee from her un-bruised knee, I gasped at the impact.
"Bella you're really off tonight, are you okay?" Jasper asked, sensing my pain.
"I'm fine, Alice just accidently knocked my knee," I spoke through my teeth while glaring at Alice.
"Oops, my bad. Sorry Bella."
"It sure is your bad," I mumbled so only Alice could hear.
Completely disregarding my comment, she continued.
"I think tonight would be fine," Alice nodded at Edward.
"No it would be much too late, Edward wouldn't want to meet him in the middle of the night," I shook my head vigorously at Alice.
"You're right," Edward said.
"Exactly," I replied, still facing Alice with triumphant smile.
"How about tomorrow morning then?" my smile quickly dropped.
"Tomorrow's perfect!" Alice clapped her hands together smirking at me. She grabbed a pen from her clutch and scribbled down my address on her serviette, she passed it to Edward.
"This is Skandar's address?"
"Oh no, it's Bella and Skandar's," Alice replied. Edward studied the address and nodded tucking it into his jacket pocket.
Emmett was fed up being quiet so he told us a funny story about the time he got stuck in a public toilet. I relaxed when Emmett took over the limelight.
"… and the cleaner screamed so loud, I swear I went deaf in my ear for a second, thinking I was some rapist or something. She ran out and called security and I had to explain my whole story to them, surprisingly they laughed and let me go. Now whenever I see them at that shopping centre they smile and wave at me." Emmett finished with a big grin.
Laughter came from all sides of the table when he finished, trust Emmett to ease my mood.
"All in a day's work," he added leaning back into his chair.
"Emmett, I would hardly call wondering around a shopping centre all day work," Edward laughed.
"Well, I was there to get my mum a present," He defended.
"With her money," Rosalie said to us.
"Hey! For your information she offers me the money," he paused glaring at his girlfriend, "and anyway I don't have the heart to say 'no' to an old woman."
"Sure Emmett," Edward and I both said.
We turned to each other, he was smiling at me, it felt like we were eleven years old again playing games that have no point. The feeling however was short lived when I remembered we were no longer pre-teens, but in our twenties .
"Those two are creepy together," Alice commented. I turned back to face her and laughed, soon joined by Edward. Everything felt normal.
"Oh, the food's coming!" Emmett said banging his knife and fork on the table.
"Rose, do us all a favour and save us from Emmett's weapons," Jasper pleaded Rosalie.
Rosalie obliged, "Now Emmett if you're a good boy and sit still I'll give you back your knife and fork," she held his utensils far from his reach, making Emmett pout and sit still.
"That's a good boy," Rosalie patted his head.
Laughter surrounded the table again from Emmett's actions. The waiter finally arrived and served us our food.
"Mmmm, smells good," I commented, licking my lips before digging into my food.
While eating we caught up on everything in our friend's lives. I found out many things about Edward that Jasper and Emmett knew. Emmett came across Edward in a grocery store about a week ago and caught up there. Edward told us he had a doctor's degree in rehabilitation and found a job in a nearby rehabilitation centre, us girls were impressed that he was a doctor. Emmett and Jasper rolled their eyes at us when we started becoming very interested at his profession, firing question left, right and centre.
"Girls, I think that's enough about me, Jasper and Emmett seem pretty bored."
We looked at the two men, Emmett looking at his reflection in his spoon, while Jasper feigned falling asleep on the table. We giggled at the sight of them, Alice and Rosalie, being good girlfriends, smacked their boyfriends' heads playfully. Edward and I laughed at the scene in front of us.
We managed to eat the last bite on our plates. Remarkably, Alice only drank two glasses of champagne yet she was jumping up and down in her seat, her small body could only take so much alcohol. All feeling ten pounds heavier, we ordered for the bill. Emmett insisted on paying using his mother's money, saying that Edward was his problem and if it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be here. We all laughed at him, except the bronze-haired man, he acted mad, pouting his lips. He looked like the little boy I use to know.
Reviews make one very happy writer!
Right now Bella can't really believe that Edward has come back into her life... she's completely confused and doesn't know how to act with him around.
Also, I have no idea where this story is going... but I like it so far! I'm just writing what comes to mind.
Moral of the story- Plan before you write.