#Belward – Chapter 6
"Who the hell is EC?!" Jake yelled. Because Bella was frozen in shock staring at the card, she didn't notice that Jake had walked behind her to read over her shoulder.
Jerking the card to her chest, Bella swung her body away from Jake and pushed him back. "None of your business, Nosey Nancy!"
Bella put the card in her purse, and stood up. Turning to Vanessa, she said, "I'll be in LA for a week, so we can Skype if anything important comes up. Give my munchkin a kiss for me. I'll need to steal her when I come back."
Grabbing her flowers, Bella turned to walk out the door.
"Wait, I'm not done talking to you," Jake said.
Bella kept walking without turning back. "But I'm done talking to you!"
She didn't know what to think. The whole taxi ride to her condo, she thought about it. What should she do? Should she call him? The whole thing was a little nerve-wracking because it was so unexpected. Who the hell would have thought that Edward Cullen, THE Edward Cullen, would send her flowers?
Yes, she thought he was a handsome bugger yesterday, but what living, breathing female didn't think he was a sexy beast? How did she know that he wasn't out to play her? She had too much going on to get into some sordid, romantic tryst. Even if she was just in it for sexy times, she wasn't out to be a notch in some Hollywood playboys bedpost.
But he didn't seem like a playboy. He seemed like a nice guy. He didn't try to cop a feel when he broke her fall, and he seemed to have put some thought into the flower purchase. He didn't send the cliché long-stemmed red roses, and he didn't even put his full name on the card. Maybe he didn't want people to know that he was sending her flowers. Did he do that to protect her from rumors? Or was he embarrassed of her?
She had a million questions and no answers. Bella sat on the stool in her kitchen staring at the flowers like they would talk back with the right answer. When all she got was continued silence, she put her head down on the cool marble counter top. Sighing deeply, she picked up her phone and held her fingers above the keys.
As her fingers hovered above the keys, Bella waged one last battle in her head. Not saying anything would be rude, and Charlie raised her better than that. Calling him on the phone was too big of a leap, and it might make her seem overeager. Texting was an acknowledgement without jumping all the way to a full blown conversation.
You're such a chicken, Bella thought to herself.
Sighing, Bella typed out a quick response to Edward.
"Hi Edward. It's Bella. Thank you for the flowers. They were beautiful. It was nice to meet you too. I hope your fitting went well, and I'm flattered that you thought to send me flowers."
After reading and rereading the message at least ten times, she hit send and threw the phone on the counter. In less than a minute, her phone chimed with a response.
Bella wasn't sure whether she wanted to read it. She was actually terrified. This was a social situation, and she didn't do social situations. She was a writer for a reason, goddamnit. She liked hiding behind her words and using the written language as a shield. She stuck to her close friends and her family. Her circle was small and tight knit, and she liked it that way.
But what was wrong with a dashingly, handsome man showing interest in her?
Dashingly handsome, Bella? Really? You don't even write shit like that in your novels. Fucking hell, Bella thought to herself. This whole thing was making her a little but nuts.
Shaking head to clear her thoughts and overactive imagination, Bella grabbed the phone and read Edward's response.
"Hi Bella. I'm glad you liked the flowers. I hope you didn't think I was too forward in asking you to call me. I wasn't sure what was appropriate, and I didn't want to ask my sisters for advice. They would have butt in, and that would have been a little bit too much."
"I didn't think you were too forward, but I have to admit that I didn't expect you to send me flowers or invite me to call you. I wasn't sure what to do. That's why I sent you a text instead of calling. It felt…safer."
"I understand, and I don't blame you. I didn't know what to do either. I felt like I wanted to say more to you than hello and goodbye yesterday, but I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. I'm a little bit inept when it comes to male/female social dynamics. Alice said I'm socially inept sometimes. I haven't been on a date in 12 years, so I didn't even know where to start."
"Really? Twelve years? That's a long time. I have to admit that I Googled you in the cab ride back to my condo. There are all kinds of interesting things that pop up in relation to your social dynamics. It must be hard to live like that where people speculate about your private life."
"It's been the week from hell. This is about the worst that it's been. Please believe me when I say that I am NOT gay, and I am NOT in a relationship with Rosalie and my brother. That's just wrong on so many levels. I'm single, and I have been this whole time. I don't sleep around, and I've never had a one night stand. I've just been working. This is actually the first time I've reached out to someone since I was in high school."
"I'm sorry it's been such a rough week for you. I can't begin to imagine what that's like. This is the first time I've talked to a guy that wasn't family, married to a friend, or on my payroll since college. Can I ask why me?"
"Why you? Because I looked at you and thought, wow. Because you didn't know who I was at first sight. Because you didn't look at me like I was something to eat. Because when I looked at you, it was like something inside me finally woke up after being asleep for so long. Too much? Did I scare you off yet?"
"No. It's a lot to process though. I'm not sure what to say or what to make of all that. As I said, all of this is very unexpected. I wasn't prepared for this. I wasn't prepared for you."
"I get it. I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing either. I just feel like I should be honest with you. I'm not trying to feed you lines or anything like that. I just don't want to put up some façade. I act for a living. I don't need to act when the cameras are not on. I'd rather just be me and see what happens. I don't expect anything from you, Bella, and I would hate to make you uncomfortable in any way."
"Thank you for that. Can we just start off quietly and slow? We can see where that goes. I don't want to jump in to anything without looking, and I don't want one of us to get hurt or burned. We both have public lives whether we like it or not, and whatever happens between us will have consequences. I want to make sure that we're both ready for whatever might come next. If there is something that comes next."
"I think that sounds reasonable, and I agree. I don't want all of the bullshit that comes with my life to affect you in an adverse way. Even if we only become friends, I don't want anything that is a part of me to hurt you. That wouldn't be fair. Let's just take it one day at a time and see what happens."
"Thank you for understanding, and thank you again for the flowers. Have a good rest of your day."
"You too. Thank you for texting me."
Bella held her phone in her hands and just stared at the text chain. She was dumbfounded. She didn't know what to do, and she was at so much of a loss that it felt like she was paralyzed.
It was in times like this that she wished she could call her mom for advice, but Renee wasn't that kind of a mom. She knew that Renee loved her, but she just wasn't the mature, maternal type. Even though she had a good relationship with Sue, Bella didn't feel completely comfortable going to her with any of this. Sue didn't fully understand Bella's life and everything that went along with it.
So Bella reached out to the next best person. An hour later, Angela was sitting in Bella's living room. Angela had taken the rest of the day off, and she changed into a pair of Bella's pajama pants and old *NSYNC concert tee shirt. Even though it was barely noon, they had an open bottle of Duckhorn Merlot on the table with a large pepperoni pizza that Angela picked up on the way over.
After the first glass of wine was gone, Angela turned to her friend, and said, "Okay, Bella. What's the deal? You rarely ever throw up the Bat Signal. What's going on?"
"A boy sent me flowers today," Bella said quietly, pointing to the flowers on the counter.
"Aw! You met someone? When? Who is it?" Angela asked as she looked at the enormous bouquet. Bella grabbed a piece of pizza and shoved it in her mouth. She mumbled something incoherent, which was a classic nervous tick of hers. "You're really freaking out about this. Bel, who sent you the flowers?"
Bella swallowed the pizza and took a huge sip of wine before saying, "Edward Cullen."
"Edward Cullen?" Angela said. "Like, THE Edward Cullen? The actor? How did you meet him?"
"He's Alice Cullen's sister, and I literally bumped into him yesterday after my fitting. I was coming out of the bathroom and pulled a Bella. I fell right into him," Bella said feeling her cheeks and ears burn bright with her blush.
Angela smiled. "That's awesome, B. You guys must have hit it off if he sent you flowers. How did he know where you lived?"
"He sent them to Grey. I happened to be there meeting with Vanessa and Jake when they were delivered," Bella said. After another sip, she said, "The weird thing is that we barely said more than ten words to each other yesterday. All I did was apologize profusely for falling into him. So it was a complete surprise when he sent me these beautiful flowers today along with his phone number."
"He gave you his number?!" Angela asked. "Holy cow. Girls would kill for Edward Cullen's number. Did you call him back?"
Bella shoved another huge bite of pizza in her mouth before admitting, "No. But I text him."
"And?" Angela knew that this was hard for Bella. She was an introvert, and she was naturally shy. She could be confident and assertive when it came to her work and the foundation, but she was only really extroverted with her close friends and family. Otherwise, Bella tended to be very guarded.
Instead of answering Angela directly, she handed Angela the phone, so she could read the texts herself. She watched as Angela read through all of them with a small smile on her face. When Angela gave Bella back the phone, Bella asked quietly, "Do you think I did the right thing?"
Angela reached forward and put both hands on Bella's shoulders. "Yes. I think you absolutely did the right thing for you."
"What should I do now?" Bella asked. "I'm at such a loss. It's frustrating me and pissing me off. They should write books about this shit. Wait, I know they do, but I don't want to read them. I want you to just tell me what to do. Please? Please, I'm begging you, Ang."
Angela laughed softly and shook Bella a little. "Bella, you are a grown woman. You are wildly successful, and you're smarter than anyone I know. But, I also think that you're a little socially inept when it comes to boys."
Bella pouted. "Not helping, Ang."
"Just keep talking to him, Bella. You can talk however you feel comfortable. If you're more comfortable just texting because it's a form of writing, then do that. If you get to the point where you can talk to him over the phone, do that. Then, when you feel like you can talk to him face to face, you can take the baby step to a Skype, or you can go on a full blown date. There are no rules, honey. It's what feels right for you and for Edward," Angela said. Squeezing Bella's shoulders, she said, "And the good thing about all of this is he seems to be happy with going at your pace. Follow your heart, B. Your brain will only get you in trouble on this one. You're too damn smart for your own good sometimes."
Bella leaned down and rest her head on Angela's forearm. "But I like being smart. There's less ambiguity when you just know the answer. It's safer. I like safer."
Angela moved her hands to the sides of Bella's face. Squishing Bella's cheeks together, she said, "Isabella Marie Swan, when have you ever played it safe? Really? You sent your first manuscript out to a publishing house when you were in high school. You bought your first property the day you turned 18. You bought your first million dollar listing when you turned 21. You gamble every day when you put that piece of yourself into a book and put it out there for the world to see. You are one of the bravest people I know. So stop being such a chicken shit and talk to this boy. He's just a boy, Bella. He might be famous, and he might be really fucking pretty. But he's just a boy."
Bella knew she looked like a nodding fish, but she bobbed her head up and down anyway. When Angela released her cheeks, she picked up her wine glass and offered a toast. "To talking to boys."
Angela tapped her glass to Bella and said, "Yes. To talking to boys. I can't wait for the day when we're toasting to you having sex with boys again."