The Man She Never Knew
AN: Hello my lovely readers! I want to thank all that have reviewed! IceFang7, thanks for the great reviews. TigerGirlNC, thanks for enjoying my writing, Aerobee82 I'm glad you think this is an amazing story, and I hope it continues to be. Now Aerobee82 asked told me that they can't understand why I am not getting more reviews, and the answer to that, is tons of you are getting alerts. I would love to get more reviews, but I am not the type to beg. So if you like the story, please let me know.
Chapter Six:
Shopping with Alice and Rosalie was therapeutic to say the least, but I was glad we were finally heading back to the house. My feet were killing me from all the walking, and I wasn't sure if Edward had been completely lying about how shopping with them was like entering the gates of the underworld, blowing out Hades hair and thinking he wasn't going to be pissed off. That thought made me laugh.
"What's so funny?" Alice asked me.
I looked at her and Rosalie and laughed harder. "Really it's nothing, but if you want to know, I was thinking about what Edward said with the whole shopping and Hades thing."
"Why is that funny, do you agree with him?" Rosalie asked me. I stared at her for a minute and laughed again.
"No, at least where you guys are concerned. I guess I haven't been shopping in so long that this excursion has been too much for my little tootsies. They feel as though Hades is trying to pull them into the river."
Alice assured me that we were done with the exception of one more store, and then we would be going back to her house. While Alice and Rosalie were looking around the clothing store, I couldn't help but think about the last thirty-six hours. The Cullen's were good people, and took me in with open arms. I could see the appeal of Charlie coming here. They could easily make you forget your problems for a little while, and with me being Charlie's problem it made sense that he would leave to come here.
I was so deep in thought that I hadn't realized that the girls had made their purchases and were heading out of the shop until Alice grabbed my arm. We walked to the car and headed back to the house.
As we walked into the house I heard someone clattering about in the kitchen. I went up to my room and dropped off my bags then headed down to the kitchen. I was starving! Just having the bagel this morning and coffee made me wish for the little diner Edward had taken me to. Entering the kitchen, I spotted Edward looking through cupboards and writing things down. I watched him for a minute while in the cupboard, then couldn't help but laugh as he wrote something down. His tongue was poking out of the side of him mouth as he wrote something down, it was just the cutest thing I have ever seen an adult do. "What are you doing?" I asked him through my laughter.
He looked up at me and smiled. "I'm making a shopping list of everything that we are going to need." He said simply.
"We?" I looked at him strangely.
"Yeah, our cook off is going to be today. Are you up for it, or do you concede this battle?"
I looked at him as if he were crazy. Why would I admit defeat? Laughing at him I started to laugh. "And who is going to be the judge of this epic cook off?" I asked him.
He thought about it for a moment and then said. "Well since my father has to work today, I was thinking that it could be Alice, Rose, Emmet, and my mom."
Well that left me at an unfair advantage, but then again, I wasn't too worried about it, I would just make my best dish and desert for this battle of the culinary arts. "Okay then, when are we leaving for the store?"
"Oh you don't have to go, I can do it, and you can take a nap. I don't want you to use lack of sleep as an excuse for you losing."
"You're a cocky little bastard aren't you?" I laughed. "There is no way that I am going to let you go to the store alone, you could end up buying already made meals and hiding them to cheat and win."
Edward looked at me with a fake shocked expression. "Well I never!" he exclaimed.
"What? Been called at cocky little bastard? I'm surprised to be honest." I was still laughing.
"You're something else Bella, you know that?" he said picking up the list. "Well come on and let's get to it, I have a cook off to win."
We were heading out of the kitchen, when I thought of something. "Edward, you have seven extra coffee cups right?"
"Why?" he asked.
I laughed again. "Stop fishing for information on my meal and answer the question."
"Yeah there are extra cups." He grabbed my hand and shocked me. "Now come on, we got to get this done so I can wipe you across the floor."
"In your dreams Cullen." I laughed as we walked out of the house and to his car. We got in and drove to the grocery store.
~ * ~
The moment I climbed into the driver's side of my car Bella started laughing. I didn't know what she found so funny, but with her being in such a great mood, it lifted me out of my funk from this morning. Thinking about Charlie wasn't going to help to get to know his daughter. "What's so funny?" I asked her beginning to laugh along with her. There was just something about this woman that she could make her mood shine on me, lifting my spirit along with my soul.
It took her a moment to calm herself enough to answer my question. "I was just picturing you in the kitchen. No offence Edward, but you are a pretty boy, and I am willing to bet that you don't have much knowledge in the kitchen. You have probably had your flavor of the week cooking for you."
I couldn't help but laugh. "Flavor of the week? I hardly have time for myself, what the heck would make you think that I had time for a flavor of the week?"
"All playboys have flavors of the week." She stated simply. We were sitting at a red light and I stared at her shell shocked. Was this woman serious? Did she honestly view me as a love them and leave them type of man? Sure that had been me in college, but that was when I was young and thought I knew it all. "Come on Edward, there is no way you expect me to believe that you are not sleeping with many different women."
"What would make you think that I was?" I asked as the light turned green. I really wanted to hear her logic on this.
"Edward, I know you have looked in a mirror. You are not blind, and I know you know that you are a very good looking man. You're what women call eye candy, what wet dreams are made of, so don't sit there and pretend that you don't know what I am talking about. I bet you have all the nurses at the hospital constantly throwing themselves at you. Can you honestly sit there and tell me otherwise?"
I hated to admit it, but she was right to an extent. Woman practically threw themselves at me hoping I would take them to bed and make love to them, but that rarely happened. Like I had told her I hardly had time for myself let alone a love affair, but there were a few women that were able to find their way into my bed since college and med school. I was a man, not a saint.
I sighed as we pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store. "Bella, I never said that I was a saint, but that doesn't make me a whore either." I paused and looked at her. "And what about you? You are beautiful, funny, intelligent, and are you going to tell me that you don't play the field?" I asked her.
She looked at me with genuine surprise in her eyes. "Beautiful? Edward, are you feeling alright?" she laughed then while shaking her head. "Come on, let's get what we need and go back to the house for this cook off." And she climbed out of the car and walked to the other side of the car. I was just sitting there shocked that she really didn't know how beautiful she really was. It angered me again thinking that he father should have told her she was beautiful, wonderful, funny sweet, intelligent, and everything else that made Bella who she was.
I felt the driver's side door open and Bella reach in to unhook my seat belt. She then grabbed my arm, pulling me out of the car. "Wake up pretty boy and let's go, I'm excited about our contest."
Reluctantly I stepped out of the car and we began walking to the store. I went to grab a cart, and as I pulled it out from the other carts, Bella jumped into the basket with a laugh, and said. "To the isles good sir!"
We were laughing through the whole ordeal. She was grabbing herbs and spices from the cart while I was getting things she couldn't reach. I would have been lying if I said that this wasn't the best shopping experience of my life. I couldn't remember ever enjoying shopping, but with Bella, it was as if we did this all the time. I was at ease with her, and I didn't feel as though I was trying to keep her or myself comfortable. It was just natural. We moved like it was second nature together, we bickered over items like an old married couple, fighting over cans of condensed milk, granulated sugar to confectioners' sugar, rosemary to thyme; the arguing was endless. It got to the point that she made me call my mother and hand her the phone and told her that I had stuffed her into a shopping cart and was throwing groceries at her! I called her a tattle tale, she called me a bully, I called her a snitch, she called me a punk, and yes this really was the best shopping experience that I had ever been on.
~ * ~
To say that shopping with Edward was fun happened to be a huge understatement. I had never felt so carefree until shopping with him. I didn't have to reign in my personality with him. Around my close friends, I was sarcastic and carefree, which I had not expected I would be here, and yet with Edward, I wasn't afraid to show that side of me, the real side of me that I hid from everyone that didn't know me all that well.
While we were in the checkout line I waited until he wasn't paying attention to what I was doing, grabbed an orange out of the bag, and pegged it at his head. I had to pay him back for the tattle tale comment. He whirled around and glared at me. I couldn't help it; I stuck out my tongue at him and started laughing.
The cashier looked at me, smiled then directed her attention to sex on a stick, as known as Edward. "You two are just too cute together!" she laughed. "How long have you been together?"
Edward and I looked at each other then burst out laughing. "You think that we're-?" Edward started laughing harder.
"We just met for the first time yesterday." I stated through my laughter. "Our fathers knew each other from college."
The cashier stared at us. "You would think you two have been together for years." She said surprised while I continued to put the groceries on conveyor belt.
Edward looked at me. "Are you planning on staying in that cart until we get back to the car, or are you going to get your snitching butt out and help me?"
"Well," I said looking at him in fake shock. "I would have gotten out and helped but you had to insult me and call me a snitch, so you can go ahead and bury me with the bags, I'll get out when we get to your piece of shit car." I started laughing.
"My car is not a piece of shit." He stated while he threw the first two bags on top of me literally. "I love my car, and if you want to make it back to the house I suggest you stop disrespecting my baby."
"Man whore!" I exclaimed laughing. "If it isn't women it's that damn car. I bet that's where you do it. Am I right?" Edwards face began to turn pink, and I laughed harder. "You aren't even going to deny it?"
Edward sighed lifting the rest of the bags and burying me with them. "What's the point, you'll just continue ranting and raving, why should I conclude that you'll stop?"
"Because it's fun." I stated laughing. "Now pay the woman pretty boy so we can go cook."
Edward paid the cashier and then led me out to the car. I handed him the bags so he could put them in the trunk of his car and then he lifted me out of the cart and placed me on the ground. "Let's get going before I throw you in a snow bank or something." He said laughing.
"Oh you love it Cullen." I laughed getting into his car.
"Yeah yeah." He said opening his door and getting in as well.