You guys. I'm really sorry. Midterms this week and projects and college galore. I promise I'll make it up to you! Also, if you haven't received a reply from me yet you will shortly - I wanted to get this out tonight before anything. The feedback so far has been wonderful. Thank you all who have strapped on so far for the ride. :')
"Alice, I know we've only really talked once, but there's something about him," I explained. We were sitting at the counter, eating cereal before heading off to classes that morning.
"Well shit," she responded, shoving a spoonful of cheerios into her mouth. "Bella, this is amazing."
"What?" I questioned, furrowing my eyebrows.
"You. This. Edward. This will be good for you," she explained. "And I'm hoping and praying Rosalie wasn't exaggeration about his looks because when you have him over for dinner tonight I better not be disappointed."
I opened my mouth to protest but she stopped me before I could.
"It's Wednesday night. Cook up your best meal, put on something sexy, and we'll see if this Edward is too good to be true or not. There's no reason not to, Bell."
I hesitated. "Shouldn't I wait for him to, you know, ask me out or something first?"
Her expression was perplexed. "Why? You guys don't need to be dating to have him over for dinner. Start off with the whole friend thing," she suggested. "Actually," she quickly countered. "Maybe you shouldn't do that considering Jake is perpetually stuck in the friend zone and you two would have made such a great couple."
I grimaced. The fact that Jacob and I weren't dating was a sore enough subject to Alice as it was, add another attractive guy to the friend zone would mostly definitely ensue a fit from not just her, but Rose as well.
Hell, if Rose even knew I was debating this she would have had my head.
And an angry Rosalie was probably one of the most terrifying things I had ever witnessed.
"Fine," I sighed. "I'll text him and ask."
"Call him," she quickly insisted before winking. "It's more personal."
"Alice," I groaned.
I continued eating my cereal, and much to my surprise, my phone began to vibrate loudly on the counter. Alice quickly looked to see who it was before I had even picked it up, and I don't think I had ever seen Alice's face so smug.
Ignoring her "I told you so" smile, I quickly answered my phone, breathless.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Bella," the velvety voice sounded from the other line. "It's Edward."
"Good morning," I replied stupidly. Alice started choking on her cereal. I flipped her my finger before turning to face away from her in my stool.
"I was wondering if you wanted to grab breakfast this morning?" he asked.
I glanced at the time to see that I still had an hour and a half until my calc exam, and then I glanced down at my half-eaten bowl of cereal before quickly getting up and dumping it down the sink.
"I have my calc exam at 10:30, so I'd actually really like that," I told him honestly.
"Great, I can make sure you kick ass on it," he chuckled. "Not really, but I mean I'll try?"
What Edward didn't know was that he'd be helping me regardless of whether or not he actually helped me with calculus. Seeing him before my test would probably be more beneficial than I'd admit to myself.
"Perfect," I smiled.
I glanced around my shoulder to see Alice making lovely dovey faces, mouthing my words with elaborate hand gestures. I grabbed a cheerio from out of the box and threw it at her.
"I can pick you up in like fifteen minutes if you want?"
"I'll see you then,: I replied before hanging up.
"Oh come on, Bella," Alice clapped her hands in typical Alice fashion. "You always tease me with boys. I've just never gotten a chance because you never actually pursue any!"
Once the teasing had stopped, she was bouncing around the room, ecstatic. "Bella's got a man, Bella's got a man," she chanted repeatedly.
"Hardly," I rolled my eyes.
Fifteen minutes was enough time for me to compose myself as I got dressed for the day, gathered my work into my backpack, and looked out the window just in time to see Edward's shiny Volvo pull up in front of the building.
"Invite him to dinner," Alice reminded happily as I closed the door behind me.
When I opened the passenger door to Edward's car, he was wearing a smile, but it was different that from yesterday. It almost seemed forced, but I quickly glanced away before I gave myself anymore of a chance to read too far into it.
"Sleep well?" he asked as he drove, keeping his eyes on the road.
"Surprisingly yes," I answered. "It doesn't happen very often."
Still not looking at me, I watched as he rose an eyebrow in curiosity.
"I have a really busy schedule," I explained. "Now that I think of it, I'm surprised I was actually able to say yes to breakfast this morning. Everyone thinks I'm crazy for working as much as I do and taking twenty credits this semester but who really needs sleep that much?"
I was rambling, and I needed to stop.
He didn't seem to mind though, and when he responded there was obvious concern in his voice. "That doesn't sound too healthy," he half-joked, half-warned.
I shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a fighter."
We pulled up to Annie's, a small bakery on campus I had almost forgotten about. I smiled, realizing it had been a long time since I had been here.
Edward got out of the car, and after his behavior yesterday, I half expected him to walk around and open my door for me. He didn't. He stood waiting for me, and when I approached him, he held out an arm for me to take. I couldn't help but smile, which I am sure is why he did it.
"Sorry about the short notice," he apologized as he set the muffin on our small table, sitting down across from me. "Jasper's a pain in my ass and probably would have kicked my ass had I not brought you to breakfast or something. Besides, I remembered you had your calc test and I figured I might be able to help."
"Jasper?" I asked curiously.
"We share an apartment," he answered. "When he heard about you I swear he almost cried."
My eyes widened. "You're kidding," I began.
"Yeah, not in a ba–" he quickly explained before I cut him off.
"No, my roommate is the same way. Alice. She's exhausting," I exclaimed breathlessly. "She actually is making me invite you to dinner tonight," I confessed.
He raised an eyebrow in amusement, running a hand through his hair.
"I like to cook, and I'm pretty good at it, when I have the time," I told him. "Wednesday nights are like Bella dinner nights. If you're not doing anything, you're invited. It's just me, Alice, and my friend Jake."
"You're friend Alice wouldn't happen to be single, would she?" he asked, not yet acknowledging the invitation.
I cautiously nodded my head before I realized where he was going with his question.
"So is Jasper," I stated for him. Again, my eyes widened.
He chuckled, tearing a piece from the muffin. "We will be there, Bella," he laughed. "It will be good for him. He's so single he lives vicariously through my non-existant love life."
"Are you sure you're not talking about Alice?" I giggled in amazement. It felt good to laugh. I hadn't had the time to lately.
"What time do you want us there?" he asked in his soft voice.
"Six thirty," I responded, trying to keep the embarrassing pace of my heart down.
Much to my surprise, that had been a lot less mortifying than I was anticipating. And I didn't even have to call it a date. Like Alice said, it wasn't a date. Speaking of Alice, she was going to murder me when she found out I had somehow found a way to take the focus of the night away from me. I decided it would be best to wait about an hour before dinner to break the news to her.
"Now about that calculus," he changed the subject with a smirk.
But like I had noticed before, there was something different about Edward's eyes.
I walked out of that exam feeling better about calc than I ever had before, and I was very convinced Edward was a secret genius, discover-the-cure-for-cancer kind of guy.
How had a month of struggling through lecture after lecture suddenly fell into place after a twenty minute explanation from this mystery guy?
I decided not to question it, just relishing in the fact that I had most likely not failed something I had been previously prepared to. I sat through my two other classes of the day debating on what I needed to pick up from the grocery store for what I was making for dinner that night.
There were five of us, rather than the usual three, and if Jake was any indication on how much Edward and Jasper would eat as well, I figured the more quantity I had the better. I wondered how much shit I would be getting from Jake for having the two over tonight. Alice wasn't the only one I dreaded facing later.
But none of that mattered because I would be seeing him again.
I smiled to myself for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, before grimacing at the disgustingly cheesy nature of my current mindset.
Jake was at my apartment when I got back from running my errands. Alice had let him in before she left for her last class of the day, and he helped me put away my groceries. He seemed like he was in an unusually good mood, which made both of us.
"What's on the menu tonight, Bells?"
I pursed my lips, debating on my next words. "About that. . ." I paused. "We have company tonight, Jake."
His eyes widened. "You didn't."
I grimaced. "And then some. He is bringing his roommate for Alice."
"God damnit, Bella," he groaned. "Why does your cooking have to be so good to make me stick around and fifth wheel this double date?"
"It's not a date," I replied, placing the eggs in the fridge. "Which is why you are staying. Just dinner with friends, like usual." He rolled his eyes before my sentence was even finished.
"So Bella has a guy," he elbowed me with a toothy smile. "When did this happen?"
"I don't have a guy," I responded simply. "I've got my best friend who eats all my food, and a new friend who may even be smarter than you."
He stopped what he was doing, narrowing his eyes and waiting until I looked at him. "Friend? Really, Bella? How many more guy friends do you think Alice will let you have without calling one of them your boyfriend?"
"Hence the distraction," I replied, avoiding his skeptical eyes. "Edward's friend Jasper is apparently exactly her. So the hope is that she'll have her hands full and be too busy to worry about me."
"So you can make googly eyes at Edward all night now, right?" he winked.
I ignored what he said. "We're friends," I informed him.
"Right. Like us," he replied. I caught a glimpse of his expression and was confused by what I saw, but pushed it off before any over-analyzing happened.
"Like us," I grinned, ending the conversation in hopes he wouldn't bring it up again.
"Bella, I swear to god," Alice began, hands on her hips. "I said Edward. Edward. Just Edward."
"You actually never said just Edward," I defended slowly. "Come on, Al. Jasper seems like a nice guy. What's the issue?"
She threw her hands up in the air in exasperation, storming out of the room to get ready without a response because she knew in reality, there was no issue. I smiled smugly to myself. That's what I thought.
Judging by the outfit she had changed into, a part of her was really excited to meet Jasper. She just had no intentions of admitting it to me. She scoffed at my outfit and demanded that I change before I could remind her that this was not a date. Jacob promptly chimed in as well, giving his whole spiel and grumbling about being the fifth wheel again.
My phone vibrated on the counter, and Jacob picked it up and opened the message. "Down in the lobby," he read.
I grabbed it from his hands and informed Alice who was in the bathroom that I was going and getting them from downstairs. Jacob rolled his eyes.
I saw them before they saw me. Edward was wearing a pair of loose-fitting skinny jeans that emphasized his tall body, along with a plain black v-net tee that fit him well and left a lot to the imagination as to what was underneath. He looked yummier than my mushroom ravioli.
Naturally, I met his eyes right after the pink of my cheeks had set in as a result of his attractive appearance. I stepped down the last stair as the two of them approached me, and I was finally able to take my eyes off of Edward to asses Jasper.
Jasper did not fall short on looks either, and I was pleased with myself at the fact that Alice had no excuse to complain when she met him. He was tall, though not as tall as Edward. His hair was a dirty blond, long in a way that suited the sharp features of his face, and his expression read nothing but warmth.
"Bella," Edward said with a small, crooked grin.
Jasper held out a hand to me, grinning. "Nice to meet you, Bella." His accent had me smiling. It wasn't too evident, yet the slight southern drawl was definitely present.
"I hope you guys are hungry," I informed them, turning back towards the stairs for them to follow me back to our room. "I'm glad you could make it. It's usually just the three of us."
I noticed Jasper cock an eyebrow at Edward, something I'm sure I wasn't supposed to pick up on. Edward shrugged, giving him an irritated look, and I quickly turned back around, making it seem like I hadn't witnessed their odd exchange.
The whole thing felt a little awkward, but that's probably because I kept imagining that this was a double date. I knew as soon as I saw Jake my stomach would feel more at ease. Or I guess it could have had the opposite effect, and I would feel less at ease.
Something was off with Edward tonight. At least that's how it seemed.
Then again, me being the over-analyzer that I was, I was most likely just over-analyzing. Per usual.
We made it up to 331, and I opened the door slowly to give Alice and Jake a couple second warning. They were sitting casually at the counter, mid-conversation when we walked in. Jacob sat up straighter and the expression on Alice's face was priceless.
Edward stood on one side of me while Jasper stood on the other, and I realized she had no idea which was which. I made a mental note to ask her later who the ogling expression had been for.
Alice stood up and walked over to us, and Jacob followed slowly behind her. "Alice, this is Edward," I turned towards him, before then turning to Jasper. "And this is Jasper."
Alice flashed them both a dazzling smile. "You guys are so lucky. Mushroom ravioli is probably Bella's best meal."
"Edward and Jasper, this is my best friend Jacob," I introduced. The two both exchanged a hand shake with him and things slowly began growing less tense.
"We usually set the table all fancy-like but I'm sure Bella didn't want to freak you out," he teased, elbowing me. I shot him an unamused look before turning back to them and shrugging. "You can have fancy-like table settings next Wednesday if my food doesn't scare you away."
I took the food out of the oven and set out some plates and silverware, shortly followed by everyone helping themselves and finding a spot at the table. As soon as everyone had food in front of them the tension had almost completely dissolved.
Alice and Jasper sat next to each other, and I can't remember the last time I had seen Alice so giggly. I'm sure they didn't intentionally cut us all off from the world, but they were hitting it off so well that nobody dare disrupt them. Besides, it was cute. Adorable, really.
So that left Jacob, Edward, and I. Whenever Edward wasn't looking, Jacob shot me funny faces, causing me to giggle myself. I appreciated his attempts to ease my nerves.
Why the hell was I even nervous?
"This is fucking amazing," Edward exclaimed as he cleared his plate. Jacob stood up, offering to get them both seconds as he took Edward's plate. "Seriously, Bella. Holy hell."
"Too bad I didn't get into my dream culinary school," I joked.
"Why? Because you were too good at cooking?" Jacob asked as he sat down with his and Edward's plates.
"Probably," Edward replied, shoving another spoonful into his mouth.
I tried really hard to make sure Jacob was included so that Edward and I didn't end up in our own world like Alice and Jasper, but it kind of just happened.
"Are you a calc major or something? Because I'm pretty sure I got at least an 90 percent on that test, which definitely shouldn't have happened as of last night."
"I'm undecided," he replied casually. "But you're welcome."
"I never thanked you for breakfast this morning either," I told him. "So thanks for coming to my rescue again."
"Have you not been eating this? You don't get to thank me, because this tastes so damn good," he paused, his green eyes widening. "If anything I owe you more breakfast."
I laughed. "How about we're even?"
Our eyes met and he held my gaze for a moment longer than I was expecting. His expression was very cautious, like he was examining mine. I quickly looked away, blushing. It was almost irritating how easily he could affect me.
Much to my relief, Alice and Jasper left their private bubble and the conversation took a turn towards Alice and I's unfortunate luck with college situations. Jake even had a few stories he was able to chime in about. Jasper hung on to every one of Alice's words while Edward sat relaxed back in his chair, listening.
At one point I got up to take care of everyone's dirty dishes. As I was collecting everyone's plates, Edwards stood up, offering to help.
"You wash I'll dry?" he rose an eyebrow with a small smile.
"Deal," I replied happily.
Jake and Jasper had become really in depth with a conversation regarding the new gaming systems, and which one was better. I rolled my eyes at little Alice who attempted to chime in many times with a topic she had no knowledge about.
"I'm really glad you could come," I told Edward as I handed him a wet plate.
"Thanks for this. I needed it," he replied with a small smile.
I wasn't avoiding Edward's eyes, but at the same time I wasn't making it a point to look at them like I usually did. I worried my poor heart couldn't handle another long gaze from him without completely beating out of my chest.
Before I could stop it a massive yawn came over me. I felt Edward's eyes on me as I rested my body against the counter while washing the dishes.
"You should go to bed early tonight," he suggested. "Or any night."
I yawned again out of habit. "Sleep is overrated."
He didn't press the conversation though I knew, just like everyone else, he wanted to.
Going to bed early that night sounded wonderful, but I had at least a hundred pages of reading to do for two different classes. I sighed, handing him another plate. It was going to be another late night.
Once all the dishes were done, Edward and I sat back down at the table and joined the conversation once again. Jasper and Jacob were still on the topic of video games and Edward slowly began contributing to their discussion. While they were all occupied, Alice began shooting me different looks.
They varied from her fanning herself, widening her eyes, and mouthing the word "damn" multiple times.
I suddenly began to crinkle my nose at the smell spreading through our apartment. I noticed Edward go rigid in the seat next to me while everyone else began registering the scent as well.
Just as I was standing up to investigate why we were all smelling smoke, I received the answer to my question. The dish towel I had carelessly tossed onto the stove started on fire, and the fire spread to the other flammable items nearby.
Alice rushed out of her chair to retrieve the fire extinguisher as I ran over to the sink to fill it with water. Jacob followed behind me, removing anything else from the area that had the potential to go up in flames.
"Fuck," I heard Jasper curse as he too rushed out of his chair.
Instead of helping Alice as she came running back into the room, I was frozen where I stood as I watched Jasper urgently attend to Edward. I hadn't noticed before, but Edward's whole body was shaking violently as he stared at the small fire Alice was now putting out. His eyes were wide, so wide.
His face was pale, so pale.
"Edward, it's gone," Jasper shook him. "It's gone, there's no fire. You're at Bella's. You're with me. It's gone."
His words didn't seem to help as I snapped out of my trance and turned to make sure Alice and Jake had everything under control. The air still smelled of smoke and I was surprised the smoke detector had yet to go off, until I remembered that Alice and I had failed to replace the batteries the past couple of weeks.
As soon as I saw that she had taken care of it, I cautiously approached Edward and Jasper.
He was coughing uncontrollably and when he wasn't, Edward's breathing was erratic. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. Jasper continued to try and snap him out of whatever was happening, and before I realized what I was doing, I reached out to stroke my hand through his hair.
His eyes snapped to mine while his chest rose and fell in rapid movements. There was so much fear that I was bewildered as to what was happening.
Somehow, Jasper got him to stand up. "Come on, Ed, let's head back to the apartment," he pleaded. "Everything's fine, man." He turned to me. "Help me walk him down?" he asked in panic.
Alice stayed to make sure nothing went up in flames again while Jacob stayed with her.
We made it down to the lobby and Edward's body slowly began to calm itself down. He was really saying anything, but he clung on to Jasper and I like we were his life support.
What the hell was happening?
I was so scared, and although Jasper's face read panic, it was resolved enough to make me believe that everything would soon be under control. At least that was what I hoped.
Edward's eyes were still wide, but when we eventually made it outside, the pace of his breathing went down a little more. Jasper reached into Edward's pocket and retrieved the keys to his Volvo. I let go of Edward, opening the passenger door to his car as Jasper helped him in.
When he was sitting down, he shut his eyes and leaned his head against the back of the headrest, inclining it towards the ceiling of the car as his chest was still rising and falling in a violent manner.
Jasper shut the door once he was in and slowly turned back to face me. His eyes were tired, exhausted.
Words wouldn't come out of my mouth due to the shock of the situation I had just witnessed.
"He'll be okay," Jasper informed me.
My mouth gaped like a fish until I was able to find my voice. "What. . .what just happened to him, Jasper?"
"Dinner was amazing," he replied quietly. "Thanks again for having us. Once I get him back to our apartment he really will be okay," he repeated, slowing walking around to the other side of the car. "You don't need to worry."
"Jasper," my voice was breathless. "What happened back there?"
He looked down at the door as he opened it before his gaze finally moved back to mine. His eyes were troubled and his voice was quiet.
"There's a lot you don't know about Edward."
And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
-Iris, Goo Goo Dolls
You guys are the mushrooms to my ravioli.
