Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of it's characters.
Hey guys! So I finally updated after a long time. I know that it seems like Edward and Bella still have a long way to go before they even start a relationship, but that is just the reality of life. Things don't happen in like two seconds. It takes time. I don't want this story to be one of those stories where the girl and guy just know there meant to be and crap like that. In reality, relationships are much harder and real life will be reflected upon through the relationship of Bella and Edward.
Right now though, I'm having fun with Laurent! I wanted to put a spin on all the characters. Basically, all the characters are out of character, except for Alice. I pretty much kept to Alice's nature, except she is much more perkier and irresponsible than the real Alice. Bella is definitely out of character. She is no longer shy and always blushing. I like having Bella as confident and cocky. It's much funner than reading about her blushing every ten seconds to the lamest things ever. Edward wont really be out of character, but you probably will find a few things that are so not Edward. Obviously the most out of character in this story is Laurent. He's definitely original.
Anyways, enjoy the chapter.
Chapter Three
It has been a full week since the Victoria/Laurent dinner. Thankfully, I haven't heard anything about them since then. Right now, me and Alice are sitting in our seminar for European History totally checking out our professor while he is babbling about some shit that happened in France zillions of years ago, like we give a fuck.
"So I assume you all got the emails about your term paper topic?" Cullen asked suddenly. He has such a nice ass...
Wait, what email? I check my email everyday and I think I would have remembered if I got one from Cullen. I might have even replied to invite him...haha, yeah right.
"What email?" I whispered to Alice.
"The one about our essay topics?" she whispered back.
I know for a fact that I didn't get an email from him. Of all the fucking people in this class, I had to be the one to not get an email. How ridiculous!
Alice shook my hand, "Don't worry; just ask him about it after class".
I nodded. I was kind of excited to talk to him, but at the same time nervous. I didn't want to make a complete fool of myself.
By the time class ended, I had already jumped up and was walking over to the front of the class. And there he stood, looking even more gorgeous close up.
"Professor Cullen?" I asked, hesitantly.
He looked up from his work. Did I mention he was tall, hot and sexy? Anyways, he had the palest skin I've ever seen, but it suited him, especially because it was a contrast to his reddish- brown hair. And his eyes! Wow! He had pretty nice green eyes. I was all for the blue sparkling eyes, but green is good.
"Yes, Miss...?" he said. Wow! Even his voice was hot!
I smiled. "Bella Swan". I held out my hand for him to shake. He shook it quickly.
"What can I do for you?" he asked. He was packing up his stuff and kind of distracted, but whatever, I didn't need his undivided attention. I just wanted it.
I sighed, "Well, I didn't get this email you were talking about. You know the one about our term papers?"
He looked up from what he was doing and looked at me. I mean really looked at me. If I didn't know better, I would say he was checking me out. He looked down and then back up. Yep, definitely checking me out. I would be a little bit alarmed, but I had done the same thing to him for the past hour, so I can't really judge. Plus, he was totally smexy!
"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to just email you one right now?" he said, stepping further away from the podium. Further away from me.
I followed him behind the podium. "Can't you just give me the topic right now? I mean, we don't need to waste anymore time on this." I suggested. He bent down to pick up something. Wow! Nice ass, Cullen!
"Uhh, sure! Let me see here." He pulled out a sheet of paper. "How about "Napoleon's Failure in Egypt and Success in France"?"
Hmm, how about NO! "Isn't there something else? I don't really know too much about history, much less about French history". I smiled, to be more convincing.
He just stared at me, "You can research it. That's what we have the library for."
"But I would rather do something I'm a little more familiar with. History is not one of my best subjects-"
"Fine. How about "Separation of the Church and State in Europe"?" He was growing wary of me already. It's not like it's my fault I never studied history before. Oh well, it's time to take matters into my own hands.
"How about I come up with a topic. Can't I do the American Revolution or something? Maybe the Civil War?" I asked, while batting my lashes. Seriously, this was taking forever.
"The American Revolution?" he asked incredulously. I didn't see what the big deal was. At least I knew what that was. He continued, "You are aware that this is a European History class? Right?"
Oh shit. "Oh yeah, my mistake".
He did not look too impressed. He sighed, "Okay, I'm going to give you this topic "Charlemagne: The Parallels Between His Reign and The Roman Empire". If you need any help with it you can come see me, okay. We'll be talking about the term papers next week, so don't sweat it for now, okay Swan?"
Charlemagne? Roman Empire? Fuck!!
"Yeah, can you just write that down? I don't want to forget!" I smiled to show my compliance. He quickly wrote it down, along with his office number and extension. He looked amused, somewhat. Well, Prof., I'm so happy I can amuse you today! I'm sure my term paper will be very amusing as well.
"Thanks." I muttered. I walked away and headed for the door. I could feel him following me. I could feel his eyes boring into my back.
"See you tomorrow Swan. If you need anything, you know what to do." We both left the hall. Then he was gone.
* * *
When I entered the apartment, Alice immediately bombarded me with questions.
"Where were you?" she demanded. She was standing there with her hands on her hips and with one foot tapping the floor repeatedly. I felt bad for the floor, because she was beating the shit out it.
I cannot believe she is asking me this, after she told me to go to the Professor. "Alice, I went to talk to Cullen about my term paper assignment. And you'll never believe the shitty topic I got! I don't even know what the fuck Charlemagne is!"
She stopped tapping. "Oh, well it was getting late and you didn't say anything to me. I thought you were like kidnapped or something". She moved to go back to watching t.v. I noticed she had her sketchbook out.
I dropped my bag and walked over. "So, did you make any progress on your sketches?"
Suddenly, Alice's eyes grew bright and her expression turned happy. "No, not really. Because Laurent came over."
He comes over? Oh thank God I missed that. "Oh, well that was nice of him. I thought he was going back to England with Victoria."
"Victoire now, Bella", Alice corrected. "Well, he didn't, but he found a nice house. Anyways, you have to see this house. It is totally gorgeous! But there's better news than this!"
Yeah, I'm sure there's definitely better news than Laurent finding himself a gorgeous house in fucking Seattle. Of all places he could move! I turned to Alice, "So what's the news?"
Alice shrieked and clapped her hands together, "Laurent asked me to ask you to go on a date with him! Isn't that awesome? Now you guys can get to know each other better. Much, much better". Alice giggled and winked at me.
This cannot be happening. I love you Alice, but NO. "Umm, Alice. I don't know. I don't really see Laurent-"
"Okay Bella! Relax. I'm not asking you to marry him....yet! But it's just a date. What's the harm?"
Well, the harm is that I will probably end up sitting at a really expensive restaurant with Laurent acting like a fool. Honestly, I just don't get why Alice just doesn't see them for what they are. Nasty people, who thrive on the embarrassment of others!
But OH! "Well, Alice, I just don't want anything to go wrong. He is going to be in Seattle now and he's going to be seeing you and by default me a lot. I don't want to date him and then have things go horribly wrong. We would never be able to sit in the same room together. It would be awkward. Now, do you really want that?"
Alice looked thoughtful for a second, but then looked at me pleadingly, "But I already told him yes for you!"
Oh my fucking God! "What? Why would you do that?"
Alice sighed, "Because Bella, he's my cousin! And I know you'll like him, if you give him a chance."
I cannot believe this. This is utter madness. Who does she think she is? My fucking mother? "Alice..." I began.
"Just do this for me Bella. If you go on this date with Laurent, I wont bug you about him ever again. If you don't go out with him you'll never know, right? So just go out with him this once, so that we can know for sure whether or not you guys would work? Please Bella!"
Well, I could use a date. I mean, I haven't been on a date since...well it was a long time ago, put it that way. "Okay, fine! But just this once. And after all is said and done, I don't want to hear a peep about me and Laurent and our perfect little, non-existent children. Okay?"
She laughed, "Okie dokie! By the way, he wants to know if your available this Sat. But I told him you were, so the big day is Saturday! Excited?"
Ughh! Saturday was in like two days! "Oh yeah, so excited! Where are we going?"
"I dunno. He didn't say. I guess it's a surprise.", she said seriously, "but I'm going to have to weasel it out of him. How else would I know how to dress you?"
* * *
Saturday. Oh time flies when you have a dreadful date coming up, doesn't it?
"So I was thinking you should wear this black Zac Posen dress." Alice said, while holding up the dress in question. The dress was black and tight at the top, but became fluid in the bottom. She has been going through our wardrobes and the "closet" for about an hour now, while I've been sitting on my bed with my robe on. She already did my hair and make-up. My look today was natural with waves in my hair. I have to look natural for the date, because "it's a must for the very first date". Her words, not mine.
While I bit my nails nervously, Alice was digging through my shoes as if she were a gold miner. Finally, she came back up, holding up strappy, silver shoos. "Aha! You have to wear these Jimmy Choos!" She threw them at me, then began to tackle our accessories.
"So do you know what we're doing on the date?" I asked. I knew Alice knew what was going down on this date. She obviously thought it was a great idea, but I can never be sure when it comes to Laurent and Victoria. I mean they are pretty bizarre and so is Alice when she's with them. I can just imagine how crazy this date is going to be!
Alice smirked at me, "Now, now Bella, I can't go and spill all the details, but it will be romantic and fun." Romantic and fun? I snorted. Laurent is far from romantic and fun! Especially romantic!
"More like geeky and bizarre, Alice!" I proclaimed. When I caught sight of Alice, I could tell she was hurt by my opinion of her cousin. Ughh, I guess I should apologize. Even if it's true! "Listen Alice, I really, really know that Laurent is not my type at all, okay? I'm not trying to be rude or anything. I'm sorry, I'm sure Laurent's a great guy."
Alice nodded, but I'm sure I heard her mutter, "You'll see".
* * *
Half an hour later, I was standing in our living room in my Zac Posen black dress, with my Jimmy Choo shoes and my Erikson Beaman bracelet (which was actually Alice's, but whatever). I must admit, I looked hot, hot, hot.
"Do a twirl for me Bella!" Alice said, as she snapped photos of me as if it were a high school prom. "You look so fucking sexy, I would do you!"
I inwardly cringed. Not because she would "do" me, but because she said it on the night of my date with her cousin. "Nobody's doing me tonight, Alice. Not you and definitely not your cousin!"
Alice laughed and winked, "If you say so!"
Ughh! She still thinks we're going to have a fairytale love story! God only knows why! I kept twirling and posing, while Alice took the photos until we heard a soft knock on the door.
Alice's squeals and my groans came up simultaneously. She ran to the door to open it, while I ran back to my room to get my purse.
Once I had collected my purse, I came back into the living room to see that Alice and Laurent were chatting away. I could see that Laurent was also dressed formally as well. He was wearing black slacks and a white dress shirt. His dark hair was brushed, more like gelled, to the side. It wasn't even like that awful, stuck to your head kind of gelled. It was like that tousled, wavy gelled to the side kind of gelled. It kind of looked sexy.
"Hello, Isabella! You look beautiful tonight!" Laurent complimented me as I approached. Was I just thinking he had sexy hair? Well, all that was washed down the drain as I heard him greet me in his god-awful, nerdy voice. He, unlike his sister, never, ever tried to hide his Russian accent. Not that I had anything against the Russian accent, but coupled with his voice and bizarre mannerisms, it was a no-no.
I put on a fake smile, something that would probably happen a lot tonight. "Hi Laurent. How are you tonight?"
"I am well, thanks!" He smiled brightly, which I'm sure wasn't fake at all. "Well, shall we?"
* * *
So once again, I found myself at a overly-expensive restaurant with my only companion being Laurent. To say it was an average night out with a date would be exaggerating.
It was the most painfully, disastrous date I've ever been on in my life! And I've been on quite a few dates. The date was going alright, until right about now. We were just looking at our menus, when the waitress came up to the table to take our orders. It seems that her appearance triggered something in Laurent's brain to remind him that he needed to act more retarded. In the beginning, he was acting like a normal human being. Now, he was staring at me with his eyes as wide as can be, while simultaneously tapping his foot under the table. I just don't understand him! It's not as if he was raised by animals. He was born very rich. You'd think the rich would teach their children how to act in a normal, social setting.
Once the waitress took our order, Laurent started babbling away in his annoying voice about shit! He must be really nervous, because I couldn't understand what the fuck he was saying! I just nodded my head and said "Yeah".
After a couple minutes of that, he was now looking at me intently, waiting for an answer, as if it was the most important thing in the world.
I smiled brightly, hoping that I looked like I was paying attention earlier. "Sorry, I didn't catch that. Could you repeat what you said?" The only way I could tolerate Laurent was by treating him like a really slow person. You have to be extremely nice and you also have to appear happy.
"I asked about what you're studying at the university..." he reminded me
"Oh, right...yeah. I'm doing my undergraduate in English and Creative Writing." I smiled my fake smile, again.
He looked surprised, "I thought you were taking business".
"Nope! That's Alice your thinking of. I want to work in publishing or something like that."
He opened his mouth to reply, but luckily he was stopped by the waitress, who had come back to our table with our order. Talk about perfect timing. Laurent was beginning to bore me all over again!
By the end of the night, Laurent had paid for our dinner and was now leading me back to his car, which happened to be a black Mercedes. It's a little bit odd that Laurent (who should have been the image of perfection with all his money, royalness and cool, expensive gadgets) is a complete dork. Anyways, Laurent drove me to my apartment in silence.
Once we arrived, I let Laurent come around to open my door. He seemed really eager to do this, so I just let him. As we started for the entrance to the building, I noticed Laurent's fingers on his right hand twitching.
Holy fuck! Now what was he doing?
After some awkward moments of Laurent's fingers reaching in all directions, I realized that he was trying to reach out to hold my hand. Well, I was having none of that! Yuck! What made him think that I would want to hold his hand? The date had been awful and awkward! Fuck, I had ignored him for most of the date!
Anyway, his hand was slowly and creepily coming towards me. I have to make my hands do something now! Oh shit! I have nothing in my hands.
Except my purse.
I quickly put my purse in both my hands, which was also the moment Laurent grabbed my left hand. Nervously, he plucked his fingers off me and my purse and stuck them into his pockets.
Awkward.
Once we reached my door I turned to a dejected looking Laurent.
"Here you go", he said quietly, while handing me a bag. The bag contained my leftover pasta, which I was going to enjoy tonight, while thinking about how this was never, ever going to happen again.
"Thank you". Oh just leave, Laurent! There's nothing that can be salvaged here.
He hesitated. "Well, I had a good time tonight". Seriously? He had a good time? Oh Jesus!
"Well it was a lovely evening". I replied, rather reluctantly, I might add.
He was looking at me intently again. What the fuck? He moved closer to me. Okay seriously, he is creeping me out. Once he was like a breath away, I unintentionally dropped my bag of pasta.
SPLAT!
I closed my eyes. When I opened them, I looked down to see Laurent and I both covered in pasta, from the hip down.
I gasped, "Oh shit! I'm so sorry."
Laurent began wiping all the pasta off of his clothing and shoes. The place was a mess.
"It's okay", Laurent said creepily. His face looked as if all hope had vanished for us being together. He was going to kiss me, if the pasta hadn't ruined everything. Thank God I had the pasta in my hand or else things would have gotten ugly.
Even though I was happy I didn't have to kiss him, I still felt bad. He was Alice's cousin, after all. "Would you like to come in to clean up?" I offered.
He shook his head and said he would go. Now I had to walk into my apartment and face Alice, who probably watched this all go down.
And then that was it. Our date was over. Alice would never bug me ever again.
Thanks for reading once again. I appreciate any advice or suggestions, so don't be afraid to drop me a line.