A/N: First a big thanks to all who read, added and even more so to the 4 who reviewd - making me want to post this a LOT sooner than I thought I would
Thanks to: Lenabeen, tiadorna, Alyj16 and galli - I give you all some cyber love - lol
Please - Enjoy!
Chapter 2
Walking out of our room Alice stopped outside room 324 before knocking. The door whipped open almost instantly with Edward looking at the four of us.
Alice, I guess being Alice walked right in pushing past Edward before stopping as she noticed the blonde boy lying sprawled out across his bed. Her smile made her face glow at the sight of him. I think she could be in there as the blonde was quick to sit up at her presence. He too wearing the look she had.
She held up a hand to silence the boy before he had a chance to even speak as she turned looking at Edward. "Name?" she looked at him pointedly.
"Jasper." His head nodded off to the right as he answered her with a smug grin on her face. He was gorgeous when he smiled; making him look the exact opposite of the broody boy I had seen earlier.
"Hi Jasper, I'm sorry for my brother, he sometimes forgets his manners." Her voice was subtle and smooth and screamed sex. Yep she was definitely after this one.
"Yeh I think he learned some after touching my guitar." He let out a low deep laugh.
"I like you already." She flirted with him as if no one else was standing in the room with her creasing her nose up, looking cute, as she smiled.
Emmett coughed breaking the spell and bringing Alice back into the real world once again.
"Anyway." She began. "We were going for dinner, do you want to join us. You know if you don't have any other plans." She shrugged almost shyly.
"I would love to, ma'am." He jumped to his feet placing his hands deep into his trouser pockets as we all turned to leave the room.
I ran quickly back into my room picking up my purse that I had left lying on the bed, walking out I ran into Edward placing a sweater on as he left his room while locking his door.
He looked across at me and I attempted to smile at him with him ignoring it and him walking briskly to catch up with Alice.
I had managed to catch up most of the difference but I don't think they were quite aware that I was as close as I was.
"I'm sorry." I heard Edward mumble close up to Alice. He sounded like he really needed her to say he was forgiven.
"You're an ass." She told him sharply.
"I'm sorry." He said again.
"You're always sorry Edward, why don't you just do something about it." She whispered her angry tone at him.
"I'm trying. Its…Its just hard." His tone was like a little lost boy.
"No, what's hard is me having to put up with you." There quite argument getting tenser by the second.
He was silent, but his eyes were talking, he looked at her begging for forgiveness.
"What's her name?" she asked suddenly.
"Bella." He whispered.
"Well at least you were listening." She grunted.
There argument was confusing me, trying to pretend that I never heard any of it I pulled out my phone and pretended to be occupied with it.
"Guys." I called on them running the yard of distance catching up with them.
Edward eyed me suspiciously as he pulled away to catch up with Emmett who was in deep discussion with Jasper.
"Does Edward have a problem with me?" I asked feeling uneasy.
"Bella, Edward doesn't like anyone." She shrugged. "Don't take it personally; its just he's always been a bit of a loaner, though it's brought on by himself. He's just not a people person. He doesn't do conversation to well even with me. He just finds it hard. Clever as fuck though." She finishes flippantly with a small smile that makes me ease a little at the prospects of a possible difficult dinner.
We had walked out the back of the halls and around the corner to where there was a canteen; we settled on this as it was nice and close and couldn't be bothered trailing around with the long day we all had had.
"…the next thing I know the flames are licking out the top and the smoke alarm is going off. Before I know it dad is behind me extinguishing the toaster as I stand there totally shell shocked. The reek of the flamed toast was through the house all day. My mum kept trying to get rid of the smell but it wouldn't leave." Alice finished shaking her head in embarrassment.
"How old were you?" Japer asks her, his interest on her through diner only getting more and more noticeable. Rose gave me a raised eyebrow as the boy seemed whipped by any word that left her mouth.
"It was last week." She let out with a laugh as the rest of us joined in. "I swear to god I can't cook a thing." Her hands covered her face to hide her red flushed cheeks as she tried to stop laughing at herself.
Jasper turns to me "What about you Bella, can you cook?"
I shrug "A little, my dads cooking resembles Alice's so it was either that or we starved."
"Well you know Bella, we have a lovely, unused kitchen at our apartment, feel free to mess it up and feed us anytime you want." Emmett called from the other end of the table.
"He's only saying that cause he means it." I hear Rosalie call from next to him before I heard Emmett mumble a 'damn rite.'
"Maybe Bella can give me some lessons before I become Mrs Cullen." She winks in my direction.
"You're other talents already out way any cooking talents needed." He nods his brows up and down.
"Please…I'm eating here." Alice complains as she throws a balled up napkin in Emmett's direction.
"Like I'm sure you're not like that with your boyfriend." Jasper comments but I think it's more of a hidden question."
She proudly shakes her head. "I'm a single girl. I just need a good looking boy who can put up with me." She smiles at Jasper nervously playing with her short hair.
"I cant ever imagine someone not being able to put up with you Alice Cullen. Your one of the best." he flatters unashamedly in front of others with Rose and Emmett rolling there eyes.
Edward sat across from me on the other side of the table looking off into space as the rest of us joke around telling stories. In a moment that the others were caught up I leaned into his direction. "Your quiet." I comment to him.
"Maybe, your all just too loud." His eyes don't meet mine and he looks back down at his tray before he stood up and walked away from the table disposing of his tray and walking out of the canteen.
I felt Alice's arm grip around my shoulder "Like I said…he's just not a people person." Her hand pulling back as I hear her laugh as she joins back into the conversation leaving me stare into space at the door Edward Just left through.
I lay in my new bed looking at the city lights flood through the window of my new dorm room twisting around in my new sheets. I felt uneasy at my new life in the middle of the night and the only thought in my head is of Jake.
"Cant sleep huh?" I hear Alice call from the other side.
"Sorry if I woke you." My head just doesn't seem to stop buzzing.
"No I'm awake, don't worry." She switched on the light sitting on the top of her bedside cabinet.
I wonder if everyone in the building feels the same trepidation as I do tonight.
"Hey budge." She orders me pulling back my covers and I look up at her a little surprised. She smiles an impish smile as she holds a pair of offensive looking toe separators in one hand and a sea blue nail varnish in the other.
I let out a small laugh at her antics.
"What, we might as well do something." She tells me before pulling at my left foot and placing the separators in between each toe. "So Swan, what's on your mind?"
"Nothing." I tell her simply.
"Oh come on, I have heard you toss and turn for the last two hours. What gives?"
"The light, it's just so bright in the city, Forks was always so dark, there were only a few dotted street lights outside my old window."
"Street light?" She asked me quizzically as she moved along my foot leaving a shimmering blue in her wake.
"It's all just such a big change and I don't have anyone-"
"You have me now." She winked at me.
"Yeh but I don't have any family near me like you do." my heart feels a little heavy at the closest person in my life, Jake, being so far away now. "Maybe I should just go back home and go to community college or something." I shrug feeling lost and completely unsure of myself.
She taps my right leg alerting me to my finished toes on my left foot as I slide my cold toes from out below the warmth of my duvet cover as she makes a start on the plain nail beds.
"We'll…I think you should relax, give it at least a week before you completely wimp out on me here and," She reaches past me to my bed side cabinet picking up my phone, handing me it. "…call Jake so many times you get fed up with him." A small smile on her face appearing as she goes back to finishing my toes again.
"Christ, I'm being a total crazy cow right now, aren't I?" I slap my hand on my forehead at the realization.
She lets out a little laugh at my actions. "Just a little crazy." She corrects and I roll my eyes at her.
"All finished." She informs me as I look down at my tropical blue nails.
"So…Jasper…" I raise an eyebrow "what's the story there then?"
"Oh he's so gorgeous." She gushes as if she has just met the love of her life. "Do you think I could ever land a guy like him?" she asks in a ramble obviously unaware of just the effect she had on at dinner.
"Are you kidding me? I though he was going to go in for the kill at dinner. I think Emmett and Edward was the only reason he never actually tried."
"You think?" her look is questionable as she looks off to the side.
"Think –I know. Ask Rosalie." Backing myself up knowing he was totally smitten.
"I'll maybe flirt with him tomorrow." I let out a loud laugh as I cover my mouth surprised at the sound myself.
"You flirted with him form the moment you met him." I slapped her leg shaking my head trying to muffle my sounds. "I like you already." I mock her earlier words with Alice's sex voice.
"I did not sound like that." she rolls on to her side laughing with my interpretation.
"You did." I challenge her.
"I can't help it if I sound like sex all the time." She jokingly pretends to flick long hair over her shoulders while pouting.
"You're not right." I shake my head in amusement at her antics.
"Anyways Edward has probably scared the shit out of him now, he will think were all like that." her tone going down again.
"I think he's aware Edward is a bit…Different. What's the deal with that anyways?" I paw for more information, curious at his strange behaviour.
"It's Edward." She shrugs matter of fact. "I just hope he settles in ok. I don't like to talk about it because, well it's his thing, but he was born with a kind of strange condition. I really don't want to talk about him like that though." I nod understanding. "High school was hard for him, this is his new start, no one knows him here."
"You don't have to tell me anything, but if you feel he gets too much for you, like earlier, you can talk to me ok." I squeeze the side of her thigh in reassurance and comfort.
"Thanks." She whispers our conversation coming to an end.
"Well I think your right, I think I'll call Jake until I get fed up of him, starting now." I wave my phone in front of her.
"Just now?" she asks surprised.
"He's use to me calling at all crazy times of the night." I shrug as I get to my feet reaching for my dressing gown.
"I think I'll be sleeping when you get back." She lets out with a yawn pulling herself from my bed to hers.
"Night." I call as I walk through the door hearing her call the same back to me.
I pad along in my bare feet with the toe separators still in place walking down the end of the corridor down the three flights of stairs to the double entrance boxing me in from the sleeping students and the cool summer's night.
I look down at my phone coming to Jakes number, knowing he will be the only voice that would sooth me completely form my uneasy night. If I was at home he may just be sneaking into my room right now, being the weekend. A trick that he had managed for almost two years.
I remember the first night he did it. I lay in bed with tears in my eyes wishing I could be anywhere but Forks. Charlie and I had argued earlier in the day and Billy had stopped in with Jake not long after it. The entire evening I sat outside with Jake talking it through, him talking me into me not really wanting to leave Forks, that I had to stay to keep him in line.
They left a little after ten and by twelve thirty I heard a rustle in the tree outside my window and Jake's form climbing in through the window. I could have died of a heart attack. He guided me back to my bed placing me below the covers before he held me, my eyes still crying, as I fell asleep. That morning he was gone, but many more times he had stayed, and I got a little more than being held. I still smile at the memory.
Once we were caught by Charlie but he believed the story that we made up. That he had gotten to the house early and that I was helping him with some homework. We'll, he turned a blind eye at least.
I called his mobile and he picked up on the third ring answering in a sexy sleepy gravely voice. That tone always managed to make me shiver. It's was one of the best part about wakening him up. "Hey," He called down the phone.
Hey
It was our word.
I stood by a huge red truck looking over at Charlie as he spoke to his friend Billy who I struggled to remember from the last time I visited about eight years before. His son stood tall, but shorter than now, smiling at me from the end of the drive way. I smiled back as he walked up to me.
"Hey." He greeted me.
"Hey." I mimicked.
He stood there lost for a moment looking at me. "Hey." He called again. I laughed, I relaxed, I was won over. Ever since then he had me.
"Hey." I called down to him down the phone like I did every time I spoke to him. And like I knew it would, his tone soothed me like a lullaby to a baby.
"I miss you." The three words I was desperate to hear and the three words that broke me.
I felt like I could cry, but I didn't. I knew it would only upset Jake more knowing that he couldn't be here this time to come sneaking into my room and comfort me.
"I miss you too." I ran my fingers in an attempt to distract me and to calm me, playing with the ends, inspecting them.
"So how was your day after I got home?" his tone sounding more awake as I could here him shuffle up right at the other end.
"Yeh…It was good I guess. We went out for dinner, all of us."
"Even the guy with the attitude problem?"
I smile at the look I know would surely be on Jakes face right now.
"Even him and his roommate."
"Poor bastard having to put up with that guy for the next year." He let out a little laugh on the other end "Did he talk to you?" he asked me.
"Not really, I tried talking to him and he mumbled something then left, we never seen him for the rest of the night. But his roommate, Jasper, he seems like the kinda guy that can just roll with whatever comes his way."
"You mean unlike me?" he jokes.
I laugh at his observation "Exactly." I smile down the phone to him.
"And Alice? Is she still bouncing around?" he asks, generally interested in all the changes.
"I think she's asleep now. She just painted my toe nails since I was keeping her awake."
"Oh the price you pay for sharing. Just as long as she doesn't turn you into a complete fashion feign."
"I wont let her, I promise." I move against the wall sliding down huddled in to a ball as I continue to talk away for another five minutes or so before I end the call, letting Jake get the sleep he always seems to need.
I sat there for a few moments absorbing the conversation, feeling lighter for it as I look down at my blue toe nails shimmering with the small dull light that hangs above me illuminating the boxed entrance.
The silence is broken as the front door creeks sharply open making me jump as I pull myself away from the door before I'm stood on.
The light escaping through the door spills on to my visitor making him visible to me as I recognise his face as Edward.
He looks down at me, bothered, pausing for me to move out of his direction from my spot on the floor.
"Where have you been?" I ask in a nonchalant tone trying to make light conversation in passing.
His response is to glare at me as I make my way on to my feet, as his eyes move quickly from me to the door behind me that will let him into the main building.
I stand a bit perplexed that he won't even answer a simple question I ask him. I didn't know if it was just me, like Alice said, 'don't take it personally', or if he really is like this with everyone.
His hand runs through his rusty hair as he looks off to the side of me waiting for me to move.
He doesn't bother waiting long and he pushes by me making me lose my balance and landing against the wall before he accidentally stubs my toe by bouncing his black vans off of my bare feet as I yelp in pain.
He paused momentarily, looking at me and then down to my feet, my toes still in there little dividers that Alice placed on me.
I expect an apology or something, some kind of recognition at least.
And then he speaks.
"Nice toes." He lets out dryly before looking at me in the eye with distain before he once again races off through another door and into he night.
A delayed moment of shock form Edwards behaviour I yelp again taking my toes into my hand, curling my fingers tightly around my little bit of blue as I tried to ease the pain.
I peaked behind the door frame of the shower, eyeing my route my bedroom making sure the coast was clear. Me being me…well, I managed to forget my clothes. The realization of what coming to me when stepping out the shower to be greeted with a relatively small towel that was in fact, meant to hold my wet hair.
I looked down the empty corridor from one end to the other feeling somewhat safe about the obvious sprint back to my room.
Gearing myself up I held onto my towel tight at the top making sure not to give a view to any others that my end up coming my way from the mixed sex corridor. My other hand holding on tight to the back bottom end of the towel, trying to salvage the last tiny shred of dignity I would have left if I was to be caught.
Taking my chance I bolt along the corridor past the few doors to my room running in closing the door behind me as I begin talking to Alice. "Oh god you never guess what…" I was stopped mid sentence as I turned round to be met not only by Alice, but Edward too.
"You forgot your clothes." She happily filled in for me as I stood there holding on tight to the towel that surrounded me as I looked down to the flood in shame.
"Edward, avert your gaze." She told him sharply with a smack to the back of the head. He never listened to her and continued to look at me with a look of repulsion or somthing.
I felt uneasy as he looked at my face, his eyes never leaving mine but his expression written all over his face as water trickled down my back making me shiver.
"Edward, door." Alice ordered him before he broke his gaze looking down to my feet.
"Nice toes." His tone matched the one he spoke with last night after he stubbed my foot with his vans.
"Yeh, I know." Alice called from behind him. "We couldn't sleep last night so I jumped her." Alice laughing as if this was what she did to everyone.
His head cocked to the side taking in her words but never attempting to look at her, instead he continued to look at me once again before he headed for the door leaving it wide open.
"I'll leave you to get changed." She let out a little hesitantly, the atmosphere of the room changing with Edwards's departure making the room feel somewhat heavy.
She left with a light click of the door, me standing in my towel as I felt a shiver run down my spine at remembering the look he gave me.
He hated me, I was sure of it.
I just didn't know what I had done to deserve it.
A/N: Me again - please please please review and let me know what you think. - it helps with the writing process.
Chapter 3 is nearly fininshed with and chapter 4 already has quite a clear outline for writing already.
Also I have another Twilight story called Closer- I'm on a short hiatus with it right now but will be getting back to it in a couple of weeks.
And...also a one shot up called Open Window - please take a read at both of these.
peace
