A/N: Here's the latest chapter. I hope to have a couple done this weekend, but they are actually to worst time for me to write, so wish me luck. Review your little hearts out. I like reviews more than bottles of glenfiddich. Yummy.
*Disclaimer. I own the words, not the characters.*
Edward POV
This girl was one of the most frustrating, yet beautiful people I had ever met. She kissed me in the listening booth at the record store and then immediately apologized, using the same excuse that she just wanted to be friends. It was really hard to be friends with her when she was trying to shove her tongue in my mouth. I decided to let the incident go, blaming the damned haunting voice of Edith Piaf and tried not to think about it.
I had a good laugh when the record store clerk started glaring at me as I paid for my stuff. He was clearly into Bella, and from what she explained to me, it was not reciprocated, but he still hated me for the sheer fact that I was spending time with her and he wasn't. Then I overheard her tell the bleached blonde cashier at the bakery that I was taken, but not by her. Bella claims she is not interested, but she sabotages the efforts of someone else, who I would never even consider dating anyways.
I finally got back into the warmth of my apartment just after three in the afternoon. I quickly unloaded my purchases onto the counter and put the Edith Piaf record away in my closet for a rainy day. I hadn't bought it for myself, since I already had it on CD, but I figured I would give it to Bella one day. When, I didn't know. I changed into some comfortable clothes and started a load of laundry. It was still a lazy Sunday after all. I had just gotten relaxed on my couch to catch up on last Wednesday's episode of Lost, when my home phone rang.
"Hi Alice," I said immediately, having recognized her number on my call display.
"Where the hell did you go last night?" she asked with a hint of frustration to her voice.
"Bella took me home since I was a wee bit drunk," I admitted unabashedly.
"She took you home?" she said sounding absolutely awestruck by the concept that someone would care enough to make sure that plastered Edward Cullen got home.
"Yes Alice, and she slept over, and we went out to a record store and bakery this morning. Oh, and we found Emmett fucking Rosalie on Bella's grandmother's antique dining room table," I added hastily, trying to deflect the attention off of me for a moment.
"First of all, that is seriously gross. I hope Bella either throws that thing out or burns it. Who knows where either of those two has been? Secondly, are you guys dating?" she asked, going right to the point.
"No, were friends. Although, based on the signals she's giving me, I'm sure we'll be dating eventually." I said confidently.
"What signals?" I told Alice about what happened at the record store and then the bakery and she agreed with me that Bella was not giving off a just friend's vibe.
"I'm seeing her again next Sunday morning before heading to mom and dad's for dinner, so I will update you on any additional news then." I said. Alice quickly reminded me that she had a shoot scheduled with Bella for Wednesday, so she would grill her for anything additional on my behalf. I know she hated to be in the middle of this, but I have a feeling that she realized that Bella and I would be good for each other. After I hung up from her, I turned Lost back on and quickly fell asleep on the couch. Apparently I was never going to find out what was happening on the island anytime soon.
I was woken up an hour or two later by a loud banging on my front door. I seriously hoped someone was dying or the building was on fire, otherwise, the person on the other side of the door was dead. It was Emmett.
"What took you so long dude? You banging Bella in the bedroom again?" he asked as he wandered in, dressed in his disheveled suit from the night before.
"I was napping on the couch man, what are you doing here?" I asked angrily, as I watched him throw himself onto my couch.
"I left my keys here, and my car is downstairs. I kinda can't go home without it Edward."
"Okay, well here they are," I said throwing the keys onto his chest. "You can go now."
"Seriously dude, I need someone to talk to you and you just happen to be the closest someone," said Emmett as he sat up and actually looked serious for a minute. I sat down in my oversized club chair and turned off the TV, wanting to give him my full attention. "Dude, Rosalie is awesome." I had expected that response from him. "I'm inviting her to dinner at mom and dad's next week."
"What the hell Em? You've never invited any girl to dinner with the folks. None of us have brought anyone with us. You've known her for less than twenty four hours. Are you sure you want to do this?" I was very confused. Emmett would never bring any girl he slept with to meet my parents. Even in high school they never met anyone he had dated. Alice and I had followed his lead and determined that unless we were engaged or madly in love, no one was coming home with us either. Our parents probably thought we were all celibate or something.
"Yeah, Alice said she was bringing Jasper to meet Esme and Carlisle so I decided to bring Rosalie. I told you last night I was going to marry a supermodel. I should have been more specific. I'm going to marry that supermodel." I coughed so loudly, I think I started choking slightly.
"Emmett… are you still drunk?"
"Drunk on love" he said, sounding like a complete and utter moron.
"Emmett is Rosalie even aware that you consider her your girlfriend or were you planning to tell her at a later date?" I asked through my laughter. He was sounding less and less normal with each word coming from his mouth.
"Yeah, we're dating man. I actually needed to get my car so that I could run home and get changed. We're going out to dinner tonight. At least, we're hoping to. She has some weekly thing with Bella that she is trying to get out of," said Emmett, as I started to feel a bit bad for Bella, who I knew was looking forward to watching a movie with Rose tonight.
"You're a big boy Emmett, you will do what you want, but don't do anything stupid. In fact, when you need to make a decision, think long and hard about what you would do, and then do the complete opposite. Rosalie will probably be begging you to marry her within a week," I laughed as he stood up and headed to the door.
"Thanks for listening, and good luck with Bella. It looks like you might need it." After Emmett left, I had started throwing together a quick stir fry for dinner when my home phone rang again. I didn't recognize the number this time, but answered it anyways.
"Turn your cell phone on Edward," shrieked Bella. "I've been trying to call you for like twenty minutes."
"Oh calm down, what's wrong?" I asked, a little concerned.
"Rosalie dumped me for your brother tonight. Wanna watch Citizen Kane with me?"
"Not really, but if you come over I have some stir fry and we can pick something better to watch?" I offered, excited that she had called me to do something. We'd only been apart like 3 hours and she was already calling. That was a good sign.
"Okay, I'll be over in like ten minutes," she said as she hung up the phone and I proceeded to do a little happy dance around my apartment. I turned down the burner on my stove and ran into my bedroom to get dressed into something a little more Bella appropriate. I tossed on my favorite jeans and a black Armani t-shirt. At least I didn't look like a slob anymore. I tried to focus on dinner, but I was distracted by the fact that she had called me and wanted to do something. This was new.
True to form, Bella knocked on my door just over ten minutes later. She was still dressed in the same clothes from this morning, but she looked cute. The sweater did nothing for her amazing figure, but she had probably worn it because it had been so cold out. I quickly took her coat and she made herself comfortable on the couch, as she watched me cook.
"Does that have water chestnuts in it? Cause I hate those," she said as she flipped through my TIVO to see what I had saved.
"No water chestnuts. There is also no artichokes, brussel sprouts or parsnips." She laughed, recalling our conversation from the first night we met. I suggested she scan through my DVD collection to find something she was interested in; while I finished up the noodles I was cooking.
"Did you want to watch something funny, dramatic, classic? What are you in the mood for?" While I really wanted to say I was in the mood for more sex with her, I thought better of it.
"How about a comedy?" I said as I watched her scan my shelves for something worthy of her attention. She pulled out 'Office Space' and left it on the coffee table, for us to watch after dinner. Then she pulled her sweater off, revealing a tight tank top underneath. She was killing me.
"It smells really good," said Bella as she wandered into my kitchen and watched as I served everything into two big bowls. I handed them to her and she went to put them on the table as I served us each a glass of white wine. She was actually fairly quiet while we ate dinner, until the conversation came to Rosalie and Emmett. "Did you know Rose is going with Emmett to meet your parents next week?" she asked curiously.
"Yeah, I tried to talk him out of it. They are moving just a tad bit too fast for my liking. I'm sure Rose is a great girl, but Emmett has never brought anyone home to meet my parents," I admitted reluctantly. I didn't want to upset her and imply that Rose was some kind of girl that Emmett would date twice and then dump, but that was his usual MO.
"I told her that it wasn't that great of an idea. Then she tried to convince me to come with her. As if Rosalie had any authority to invite me to your parents' house?" she laughed as she took a sip of her wine.
"Do you want to go?" I asked casually, kind of hoping that she would say yes so it wouldn't feel so awkward sitting at the table with my parents, Alice, Emmett, Jasper and Rosalie. I would definitely be the odd man out, and my mom would spend most of the evening asking why I was still single, and seeing if she could hook me up with some 'lovely girls' that she knew.
"Huh?" she stammered as she put her glass back on the table nervously.
"Oh calm down. I figured if you wanted to go, to support Rose or whatever you girls do, then I could invite you as my friend. You see Bella, I do have the authority to invite you to dinner," I added sarcastically. Bella was completely silent. I started to wonder for a second if she was choking on some of the chicken from my stir fry, but instead she just nodded her head in agreement.
"Ok then, after we go out next Sunday, I'll pick you up and we'll all go meet the parents. Think positive, Alice will be there with her boyfriend Jasper for the first official meet and greet too. It'll be fun, I promise." Ok, so it would be excruciating and I was lying through my teeth, but at least I would have more time with her.
