Perfect Strangers
– Chapter 6: The Non-Date at Starbucks
Disclaimer: Yeah, we don't own Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, or Midnight Sun. We don't own the rights to anything. We own copies of the books though. :)
AN: Thank you guys so much for getting Twilight-is-Lovee more than 100 reviews! She loves you guys more than you know!
Also, her 100th reviewer was TwilightSagaLover543. Go read her stories! They rock. One of them has been entered in the Twilight Awards! Vote for her! :)
And now, On to STARBUCKS! :)
October 4th, 2008
BPOV
I awoke that morning with a jolt. I had the best dream I'd had in a while. It was Edward and I . . . And we were doing some stuff that's not appropriate for people under 18. If you know what I mean. Wink, wink.
I was sweating bullets. Who knew Dream-Edward could do that to a person? I looked to my side and found the bed empty. Jacob was gone again. Or maybe he'd never returned home. I hoped it was the latter . . . Maybe then I wouldn't have to have the pressure of dealing with him ever again. How I wished that were true.
Sigh.
I got up and went to my closet. I usually wouldn't have cared about what I wore, but I wanted to make a good impression on Edward. I didn't know why, but I did.
Maybe because you love him, dummy, a little voice in my head said. I ignored it, though. I mean, I never had the urge to dress nicely for Jacob, so why Edward? Because Edward's different. You never loved Jacob, and don't try to argue with that because you know it's true. I couldn't deny the little voice then. Sigh.
I chose a pretty, blue blouse and some black, dress pants. I figured that hazel looks good with green, which is the color of his eyes, and hazel also looks good with blue. Hence, blue looks good with green. I smiled, satisfied.
I put the outfit on my bed, and went to go take a shower. I soaped, shampooed, conditioned, and relaxed all my muscles before stepping out. Next, I blow dried my hair, and straightened it too. Alice, my brother wife, would be so proud of me if she knew all the things I did to get ready that morning.
I even applied make-up! Well, not much. I put on some eyeliner, slight eye shadow, and some lip-gloss. I didn't put on any blush because, in Alice's words, I had an au natural blush. And I didn't like mascara because it was bad for my eyelashes and it took too long to take off. Even if I used make-up remover.
After my make-up was done, I put on my clothes and went to wake up Jason. It didn't take him long to wake up. He was excited about seeing Anna again. They went to the same day care, too. It was weird how Edward and I had never met even though our kids were best friends. But you know what they say, it's a strange world.
After I got Jason dressed, I made him a glass of milk, and he drank it fast. It was creepy. Jase hated milk. I ignored it, thinking it was his excitement again.
I drove him to pre-school, arriving at 9:30. I didn't see Anna there, so I stayed a while, watching Jase play. I didn't want to be too early to our 'friendly meeting' at Starbucks.
After around 10 minutes of watching Jason run around, I decided to just head on down to Starbucks, but drive slowly. And that's exactly what I did.
When I got there, I saw the Adonis himself. He was leaning against his car's door, looking amazingly perfect as always. The sight of Edward was breathtaking, and I felt like I was about to start hyperventilating, so I waited a few moments in the car to collect myself. I didn't want to have him think I was sick and go into doctor mode or anything. I took a deep breath, and exited my truck. I walked up to him, and couldn't repress the grin that creeped onto my face.
"Hey," he breathed, flashing me his crooked smile.
I blushed. "Hey," I replied shyly. Why was it that he always brought out the love-struck teenager in me?
"So, let's go in?" he suggested after a few moments of silence. I simply nodded and followed him inside to the order-line.
"Hey, Edward! The usual? Caramel Frappacino and a Toffee Almond Bar?" a man asked Edward. His nametag said his name was Eric.
"Hello, Eric. Yes, I'll have the usual. What about you, Bella?"
"Oh, er, I'll have a Vanilla Latte and a Blueberry Muffin, please," I replied, stuttering at first.
"Anything for a pretty lady," Eric said with a wink. From my peripheral view, I saw Edward grind his teeth together and let out a low hiss, much too low for Eric to hear. I smiled nervously, slightly embarrassed by Eric's comment. Yet, I got a strange pleasure by Edward's jealousness.
"Thank you, Eric," Edward said through his still gritted teeth, sounding frustrated. I worked hard to resist giggling.
"Total's 15.82," Eric said, his tone reproaching. I guess he knew not to mess with Edward. I reached for my wallet, but a pale hand touched mine and stopped me. I looked up at Edward, and saw him shaking his head at me.
"My treat," he said.
"No, really, it's fine."
"Bella," he said in a warning tone.
I sighed. "Fine."
He smiled.
After Edward paid, we went to sit down at a booth near the window. Normal Starbucks cafés don't have booths, but the small town of Forks, the town I've called home since birth, is just weird.
For a while, we just sat there, staring off into space, not knowing what to say. My thoughts kept drifting to the Greek God sitting across from me. The silence was awkward and lust-filled. At least for me. I only wished it were the same for Edward.
"So, Bella, how are you feeling?" he asked after a while.
"I'm good. I'm feeling much, much better. Thanks, Edward."
He nodded. "Anytime, Bella." His voice held some emotion that I couldn't understand.
"So, tell me about yourself." Wow, where'd that come from? I couldn't believe I'd found the guts to say that. Edward really does bring out a new me.
"Well, there's not much to say. I'm a doctor, as you know. And I have a three-year-old daughter whom I love. You knew that also. My dad's a doctor, and my mom's a housewife. I have a sister, Alice, who's a year younger than me. She's an annoying little pixie, but we're best friends. She's been bugging me about Anna lately. She wants to take her shopping."
"Wait, Alice . . . Jasper's wife?" I asked.
"Yeah, you know them?"
"Yep, Alice has been begging me to let her take me shopping. I hate shopping. And Jasper . . . I wish I didn't know him, but he's my brother."
"Wow, small world," he mused.
"Small world, indeed," I agreed.
"Why do you wish you didn't know Jasper?"
"Well, I mean, he's my brother and I love him . . . But he's always talking about his law nonsense that I always fail to understand."
"Law nonsense?" Edward asked, sporting an adorable confused look.
"He's a lawyer."
"Damn, I wish I knew that before," Edward muttered under his breath. I didn't think it was meant for me to hear, but I heard it anyway.
"Why'd you say that?"
He hesitated for a moment, but he seemed to realize something. He said, "Well, I don't really. . . love Tanya, my wife, any more. I don't think I ever did. I didn't want to marry her in the first place. The only reason I proposed was because of Anna. I felt she needed both a mother and a father. And at that point, Tanya was still the sweet girl I'd met in high school. But when we got married was when she showed her true self. She turned out to be a . . . a slut who didn't give a shit about her child. I don't think she ever truly cared about me either.
"She's lost Anna at least three times. Each time, though, we were lucky enough to find her. And just a week or so ago, she told me that she never really wanted Anna. She wanted to get an abortion. So, I really just want to break it off with her. To get a divorce. The idea of that has been in my mind for a while, but I've never done anything about it. But now that I know my brother-in-law is a lawyer, I think I will deal with the Tanya situation."
His story made me gasp, and all I could manage to squeak out was, "Whoa."
"Yeah, but enough about me and my sob story. Why don't you tell me about yourself now?" I nodded and took a deep breath.
"Well, I'm a simple girl. Nothing too extravagant. I'm not even all that pretty. I was born here in Forks and have lived here my whole life. I have three brothers. Jasper, Emmett, and Jason. My mom died while birthing Jason, and Dad died 6 months later due to depression. I took Jason in and treated him like my own. He calls me Mom because as far as he knows, I am his mother. I have a boyfriend named Jacob. And," I took a deep breath as I said this, "And since you told me about Tanya. I feel right to share this with you. Remember those bruises you saw all over me yesterday?"
"Yes." He nodded slightly, willing me to go ahead. It must have been obvious I was nervous about sharing this with him.
"Well . . . Jacob beats me. And even Jason once. I don't know how to stop it. I want to break up with him, but I'm worried about the consequences. Because I'm sure that if I off things with him, he'll beat Jason and me even more, and I'm afraid he will never leave. He wasn't like this when I first met him, but then we moved in together, and he . . . changed! I – I don't know what to do about it, Edward."
"I am . . . so sorry," he said, his eyes full of pity and . . . love? Whoa. Then he added angrily, "I wish I could kill that monster for doing that to you. Bella, you need to get a lawsuit against him. If not that, at least kick him out. Please. I can't bear to see him hurting you. It disturbs me that he does that to you. Please deal with him, Bella."
I nodded. "I will. I just . . . don't know how yet. But I will." Anything for you, I added in my mind.
"Good."
"Wow, I never knew how good I'd feel letting all that out."
"I know, me too. I have all this stuff on my mind. You have no idea how relieved I feel to be able to share it with someone." I smiled.
Suddenly, both of our phones started beeping and we pulled them out.
"Ugh," we said in unison.
"Time to pick up the kids," I said.
"Yep." We walked out and he said, "So, will we see each other again?"
"Definitely," I answered with a smile.
"I'll call you then."
I nodded. After staring and smiling for what seemed like an eternity, he tentatively reached out and hugged me. I froze for a millisecond, but hugged him back. The feeling of our bodies together was . . . mind-blowing. It was as if we fit. Like two puzzle pieces. Meant to be together. I was never one for all the soul-mate bull, but . . . I think I'm a believer now.
The hug ended ever too soon, but he kissed me cheek before letting go completely. I felt like I was in heaven.
We said our final goodbyes, and I entered my car. I sat there for a while, thinking of our 'non-date at Starbucks.' The car was completely silent. The only sound being my breathing. There was only one thing I could manage to say, even to myself.
"Wow."
So, what do you think?! Oh, Twilight-is-Lovee's cousin had an interesting question. He wasn't sure if Bella was a virgin or not. And that made us think that you guys might be wondering the same thing.
So:
Question: Is Bella a virgin?
Answer: Yes. She won't let Jacob take it away from her. But she has given Jacob a BJ, but only because he forced her to.
Question: Is Edward a virgin?
Answer: Of course not. He has Anna, remember? But he's only done it once. That was the time they conceived Anna. After that, he figured out he didn't truly love Tanya. So he never felt like doing it with someone he didn't love. Remember, this is Edward the Virtue-man! Hahaha! :) Wow, that's Twilight-is-Lovee's new name for Edward! Virtue-man! :)
Also, what Bella ordered at Starbucks is another one of Jamillia's favorites. :D
Review goal:
Twilight-is-Lovee LOVES you guys! You guys got her 112 when she asked for a 100! So, will it be safe to ask for 130 reviews this time? She loves you guys. Remember that! :D
Jamillia wants 105 reviews. Please? You guys got her 90! So that's only 15 reviews! Please, please, please?
We love you guys! Mwah! :)
