I was fidgeting nervously with the hem on my dress as I waited for Edward at the coffee shop he suggested. It was only a short drive from my apartment, which made me wonder if he lived close by. Did he live with Lauren? Why had he called so soon? Did he want to get our meeting over with so he could get rid of me? Alice and I had eaten lunch together three more times since Edward called to set up this coffee date, and every time she mentioned how much she missed spending time with him. I wondered why he was bothering to meet with me if he couldn't spare a phone call to his own sister.
It was silly: getting this worked up about getting coffee with a man who not only had a serious girlfriend, but who probably wouldn't look twice at me in a crowded room. Regardless, I spent extra time with my hair and wardrobe before driving over here.
I shifted in my seat, craning my neck to look toward the door. The place was crowded, and I kept thinking I had somehow missed him in the mass of humanity that filled every corner of the shop. I scanned the room for the twentieth time since I arrived, glancing down at my watch again. He was ten minutes late already. How long should I wait? Ten more minutes? Twenty? Would he call? And there go the nerves again.
Heaving a sigh, I doodled on the sketch pad I always had with me for times like these. Sometimes I would draw, sometimes I would write, and sometimes, like today, I just let the pen trace random shapes on the paper. The sharp squeal of a chair being pulled away from my table distracted me, and my pen swerved a little its intended path. I huffed in annoyance and looked up to meet Edward's bright green eyes, today covered up by black, thick frames.
"You're late," I stated, a little thrown by the glasses. After evaluating his face for a second, I decided they made him look even better.
He gave a small tight smile and scooted his chair closer to the table.
"Hi to you too," he said. "I'm always late, ask anyone."
"That doesn't seem like a very good trait for a teacher to have," I replied. "Call me crazy, but don't you have to try to keep to a regular schedule?"
"Well sure, if you teach a boring class," he teased. "Cool Mr. Cullen has a much more organic style to his music classes. When you've got anywhere from 50 to 75 students at a time you have to figure out creative ways to keep their attention. Mine is letting them have a reward for every five minutes I make us late."
"That seems like a bad system for someone who's perpetually late."
He shook his head in mock seriousness. "No, it's perfect, because every minute they make us late, either by not being present on time or goofing off when they should be paying attention, or not shutting the hell up when I call the class to order… well those minutes get taken away from their reward time. It keeps all of us on our toes."
"That's… kind of a good idea, Cullen." I was suitably impressed. He shrugged, still smiling that small, uncomfortable smile at me. I couldn't figure out what had him so uncomfortable, but I figured asking about it right off the bat was rude. Why would he tell me, anyway? We were virtual strangers.
"So… how have you been?" It was lame, but I couldn't think of anything else to say. Idly, I wondered how much of the conversation I was going to have to supply myself. He let out a big gust of air and looked at me blankly for a minute.
"Well that depends," he said.
"On what? It's a fairly straight forward question."
"On whether you want my stock answer or the real one."
Okay, I was not expecting that. He was staring down at the table, still incredibly tense, drumming his fingers. I felt nothing but pity. He looked folded in on himself and almost desperate. It made no sense.
"Of course I want the real answer, Edward," I said softly. He looked up, searching my face for something. He looked exhausted. Dark bags ringed his eyes.
"Things haven't been great lately," he admitted, staring back down at his hands as soon as he started talking. "Some days I feel like Lauren and my job are the only things keeping me together. I miss my family, but they don't get along with Lauren, so that's really hard. The other night was only the second time I'd seen Avery since he was born almost four months ago."
Without thinking, I reached across the table and gripped his hand with my own. He squeezed it briefly, and then kept talking.
"They just don't see the Lauren that I see. She strong and beautiful and … God, I don't know. She's everything, and they don't see." He looked up at me sadly. "I think you'd like her, Bella. She's a lot like you."
I raised my eyebrows in a silent question, and all of the sudden he was laughing, almost hysterically.
"You must think I'm crazy. Here we are, haven't seen each other since we were children, and I'm spilling out all my problems to you in a crowded coffee shop." He stopped laughing and looked up at me, probing me face again. I wish I knew what he was looking for.
"In a weird way, I guess I feel like we're still friends. I know I messed with you a lot when we were kids, but I always felt like you were another sister to me. With things the way they are… I guess I wanted to reconnect with some family."
A warm feeling washed over me, followed quickly by a surge of irritation. This was so stupid. They missed each other, and were letting what sounded like a silly personality conflict break up their family.
"Alice talks about you all the time," I said casually, taking a sip of my coffee. His eyes tightened a little at the corners, but otherwise he didn't react. "They miss you too, Edward."
When he didn't respond, I tried another tack.
"Tell me about Lauren, how did you meet?"
"A friend of mine hired me to play piano for his parents' anniversary party and she was there. She requested a bunch of songs and we just kind of spent the night talking. The rest is history." He shrugged, a small smile on his face.
"She's incredible. She works so hard, she's an assistant district attorney. Lately they've been really busy, she works late a lot," he said. He sounded so sad. "She moved in with me about a month ago, and I thought maybe that we'd see each other more, but that hasn't really happened."
"I'd love to meet her," I said. "Why didn't you bring her along tonight?"
"Thursday is girls' night," he said, rolling his eyes a little. "Her best friend Jessica comes over and they spend the night doing whatever girls do. I'm not allowed home until 10 because the apartment is a 'boy free zone' on girls' night." He used finger quotes, his tone biting and sarcastic. "I swear she sees Jessica more than she sees me."
"Well, you should have a boys' night," I said, trying to prompt a smile back to his face. "Poker, cigars, beer, wings. You know. Whatever boys do."
He laughed then, really laughed. I don't think I'd heard him truly laugh until then.
"Yeah, I guess." He shook his head, and then smiled a genuine smile.
"Enough about my issues. Tell me about Arizona, land of sun and sand. We have 15 years to catch up on."
Two hours later we were still talking, which frankly, was pretty amazing. After a few awkward stumbles, mostly involving comments about his family, we settled into easy conversation. We swapped stories about high school and college. He told me about discovering his passion for teaching, and I told him about my college paper and the job search that wouldn't end. At 10:30, he looked down at his watch in shock.
"Shit, have we really been sitting here for almost three hours? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to keep you out so late."
I giggled. "Wow, you're old. 10:30 isn't that late."
"It is on a school night, young lady." He shook a finger at me sternly, but his eyes twinkled. He looked 100 percent better than when he arrived, and it was a relief to know that he wasn't always so dark and serious.
"Well, I won't keep you out any longer then," I said. "We should do this again, though. I had a lot of fun."
We stood to leave, and then he surprised me by gathering me up and a hug. I hugged him back, trying to pour all the comfort I could into him. I was distracted by his scent again, inhaling deeply as I clung to him. He cleared his throat.
"Um, Bella?"
"Yes, Edward?"
"You can let go now." I dropped my arms, laughing to cover my embarrassment. Whoops! Mental note: try not to manhandle your friends.
I was in an odd mood the next morning. I paced around the newsroom, muttering under my breath about deadlines and modules, but my mind was elsewhere. Edward's face kept invading my thoughts, making it hard to concentrate.
"You okay, Bella?" Seth asked, sounding amused. He had been extraordinarily kind, sticking up for me every time one of the guys made a snide comment. I was really starting to rely on him, and he was the first person I went to when I had a problem or a question.
"What? Oh, yeah I'm just a little bit… distracted I guess," I replied.
"Why don't you take off for lunch early, get your head in the game," he suggested. "Garrett said he'd have his piece ready for you in an hour, and you're up to date on all the other postings."
I smiled gratefully and called Alice to see if she wanted to meet early. Fifteen minutes later we were walking through Millennium Park, looking for a bench to eat at.
"What are you doing tonight?" Alice asked as we settled onto the cool park bench.
"Well, I have a busy evening of absolutely nothing planned. Why?"
"I have a friend I just know you'll love," she gushed. "His name is Alec, and he works with me."
I opened my mouth to speak but she interrupted me. "I've told him all about you, and he can't wait to meet you. Now I won't take no for an answer. Meet him here at 7:30 tonight." She shoved a card in my hand with the name and address of a restaurant and bar on it. I shrugged and pocketed the card.
"It would have been nice to give me a little more warning, Alice. What if I was busy?"
She rolled her eyes. "Please, Bella. Have you done anything remotely social besides dinner with my family since you moved to Chicago?"
When I didn't respond, she smirked. "That's what I thought." She looked so smug, I couldn't stop myself from blurting out—
"I had coffee with Edward last night."
She stared at me in shock for a minute, then broke into a sparkling smile.
"Really? How did you manage to pull the hermit out of his hole? Was the lovely Lauren there?" She sounded a little bitter at this last question.
"No, apparently it was girls' night." She rolled her eyes. "We talked for a long time. He seems sad, Alice."
"Well, yes, that's probably because he is sad," she replied. "Asshole. He won't come around because he knows we don't like Lauren, and he won't even call Jasper anymore because we're dating. Now he's isolated himself from his only real friend and his family. I'm sure he's mopey and moody as hell."
She sighed. "At least he had the good sense to call you. Be a friend to him, Bella. He needs it."
We ate in silence for a while. Suddenly, Alice dropped her sandwich and looked at me, eyes wide in anticipation.
"Oh my God, I almost forgot. What are you going to wear tonight?" she asked as if my answer were of vital importance.
"Uhhh, what I'm wearing right now?"
She closed her eyes and frowned, shaking her head. "Oh no," she said firmly. "That just won't do. Presentation is everything, and first impressions are vital. You can't just show up to a first date in your work clothes. I'll come over after work today and we'll get you all fixed up."
With that, she tossed her lunch bag into a nearby trashcan and stood. "I'm heading back now so I can take off a little early. I'll call you and we can ride to your place together. I took the train today."
When I got back to the newsroom, the boys were in an uproar. There was something wrong with the archiving system and none of the past posts could be accessed. I spent most of the afternoon messing with code, trying to fix the problem.
"What good are you if you can't step in when this kind of problem comes up?" James sneered over my shoulder. Two of his cronies, Will and Joel, snickered. That's when I snapped.
"Listen you haughty, sniveling dipshit, fixing code isn't my job. I'm trying to be a team player and you are making it shockingly difficult. Believe it or not, I'm invested in people being able to pull up your work, so why don't you give me some God damn space!"
He stood there flapping his jaw for a second before the rest of the boys burst into laughter. All of the sudden I was surrounded; hands were patting my shoulder and mussing my hair. James turned a nasty shade of purple before turning on his heel and storming out of the room. Will and Joel looked stunned, but didn't say anything more.
"That was awesome, Bella," Garrett said, chuckling under his breath. "You just became the personal hero of half the men here."
"Only half?" I asked dryly.
The whole archiving disaster had exhausted me and taken up the rest of my day. Since it was almost 5, I took an early afternoon and jetted out, meeting Alice at the parking ramp near the Trib's offices.
As soon as we arrived at my studio, Alice turned into a tiny tornado.
"Now, are you more of an autumn or a summer," she mused as she scrutinized my face.
"Alice, I don't think…"
"Shhhhhh," she insisted. "Let me work."
Letting Alice work entailed a good deal of sitting still while she poked, prodded, and otherwise manipulated my face, hair, and clothing. I was perfectly capable of getting myself ready, but it seemed to make Alice happy. She was reasonably satisfied with my wardrobe, and it only took her about 45 minutes to pick out my outfit, and another hour for my hair and makeup.
"Oh my God!" she exclaimed. "Is that the time? You have to go!" She grabbed my keys and my purse, tossed them at me, and dragged me out the door. "Remember, his name is Alec Jameson, he's got brown hair and brown eyes, and he'll be waiting for you at the front of the restaurant. Have fun!"
I opted to take the train to the restaurant, since it was a Friday night and parking would be a nightmare. As an added bonus, it wasn't a far walk from the train. When I got there, I scanned the restaurant for my date. There were countless brown haired, brown eyed men, several of whom were openly staring at me. One particularly handsome gentleman was making eyes at me from the bar. I walked over to him and smiled.
"Can I buy you a drink?" he asked with a charming smile.
"You may. Rum and diet." I smiled back. "I'm Bella."
"Bella," he mused. "Beautiful." The bartender passed me my drink and I flashed my benefactor a flirtatious smile. Alice wanted me to be social? I could be social. If this guy was Alec, so much the better.
"I don't know if you know how this works," I said. "I give you my name, and you give me yours."
"Sorry, that was rude," he said. "I'm Tyler." Damn. Not my date.
"I'm sorry, did you say your name is Bella?" I turned toward the voice. A man was standing next to me, at least four inches shorter than me. He had a round, boyish face and longer, wavy brown hair. While he certainly wasn't bad looking, he also didn't look like he was capable of growing facial hair.
"Yes?"
"I'm Alec."
"Of course you are."
A/N: You guys are hilarious, it never even occurred to me that Lauren would be on the other line from that phone call. That's probably because I know where this story is going. Hehehe. We fell a little short the review goal... sad! Leave me some love ladies, let me know what you think! Thanks for reading.
